Fire on Wet Wood: The Wide Gate or the Narrow Gate?...The Choice Is Yours

By John Edward Farmer

Personal testimonies to life changing to educating the worldthe various denominations or religions and how they all end up to the same Spiritual Being. Knowing and understanding the keys to the kingdom. Getting all various denominations of religions to come together and understanding that each still focuses on the same and one Being. No matter how we call him or what name we use, he is still One.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: May 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781466986305

John Edward Farmer

John E. Farmer has done it again! Coming out with his third book (first, From the Psychoanalysis Mind of an Intelligent Black Man from the Project, and second book, Analyze Me). Born in Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York, at Mercy Hospital, yet raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York. As soon as he came into the world, the nuns who at that time were head nurses would say a prayer over him as they would brush his hair, being amazed that he had so much hair as an infant—according to what his parent had told. At an early age, he was taught about Jesus and involved heavily in the church yet still has the passion in the world of politics. He still resides in Greenville, South Carolina.

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Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4669-8629-9 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-8631-2 (hc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-8630-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904976

Trafford rev. 04/30/2013

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Contents

My Confession and My Potentials

Hello Mother… I’m here

What is L.IF.E?

Citizenship in Heaven

God’s Financial Solutions

The Fear of Preachers Preaching the Truth

To Preach the Gospel is… To Tell the Truth about God

To Tell the Clear Truth about Man

To Tell the Uncontaminated Truth about Christ

To Articulate the Truth about Salvation

Nothing to Glory of In Preaching

Necessity Laid Upon Me to Preach

Woe Is Unto Me If I Preach Not

Downfall of Bible Colleges

The Preacher

Through the Anointed

Faith and Action

Backtrack

Moving On

The Preacher’s Obligation

You are Blessed

Stepping Outside the Boundary Line

In Order To See Him, You 1st Must Be Saved

How to be saved and what has God provided for man’s salvation?

How to be saved—What must a man do to be saved?

To Be Early Is To Be On Time

The Train Ride to Heaven Leaves in the Morning

The Significance of Preaching

Yahushua

Why use Yahushua?

His Name is Wonderful | Call Upon His Name!

Who is Yahshua’s Father?

Two Creators

Yahweh is One

Elohim—Plural or Singular?

The Image of Yahweh

Yahshua is from everlasting?

Receiving Worship and Forgiving Sins

The Word was God?

Who is the Creator?

Know the Scriptures

No Man Has Seen God?

Appendix A

Christ’s Fulfillment

Credits

Sowing Seeds + Putting Faith to Work = Blessings from God

Seeds%20-%20AA039285.jpg    Faith%20-%2087571221.jpg    Blessing%20From%20God.jpg

Put a group of people in a room in plain clothing, not mentioning what religions conviction they are affiliate with and they will all agrees on one accord; take those same group of people and put them in their religion trend and there will be conflicts.

The worst place on Earth is the human’s heart.

Job 32:9-10v—⁹Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. ¹⁰ Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.

Who to Thanks and Why

First I want to thank God for giving me life and wisdom to write this book to share to the world; it is God who I glorified, praise and His holiness of blessing.

Next I want to thank my parent Eddie and Janell Farmer, who provides me with love and understanding, never giving up on me and letting me learn from my mistake. I want to thank them for praying for me, as their pray are being answer.

I want to thanks Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church for their empowerment, love and understanding. Eventhough I had move to another city, you have still kept me in your heart and mind. The love that you all shown, knowing that I still have a home to come to.

To Apostle Ron Carpenter Jr., thank you for being direct with your message, as you had reminded me of me back in ’91. Never being afraid to speak your mind and feeling of those that it may affect. Your involvement and encouraging of me to express my true skills and talents that God planted in me to shine. The fire that has grown in me has gotten hotter and hotter and helping me to take my talents to the next level. Also for having one of the best diverse Places of Worship here in the United States of America; for breaking down walls of racism, crossing cultural lines, and changing poverty mindsets.

And to the Redemption World Outreach Center, I want to thank you all for your love and kindness that each and every one of you had shown. Letting me be able to complete my goals and getting back to what I love. Accepting me for being me, regardless of how I look or how I dress. Learning from each and every one and the knowledge I had gain from listening and putting into practice… . THANKYOU—THANKYOU—THANKYOU

Lord Please Help Me—Save Me

Jesus I come to you, I know that I am a sinner,

I believe you died for my sins and were resurrected from the grave

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and forgive me of my sins,

I love you with all my heart and I will follow your way so that I may have eternal life in your kingdom.

In Jesus name, I pray, Amen."

Get Fired UP!

Get fired up for the Kingdom that await you, don’t worry about what others may say about you or think of you. When you enter and get to know about the Kingdom; supernatural things started happening, those that you used to hanging out with, you begin to be with self in peace,

You begin to feel Joy…

You begin to Experience new things in life…

You begin to See things different…

Others will not Understand your stories…

You begin to Sing a different sound…

All you have to do is call out His name… . JESUS!

You’ll stop hanging with those that tend to hold you back, your walk will become different . . . other will notice that your talk is different . . . the style of your clothing will change—pants not showing your backside, women not revealing in skimped outfits . . . your back will straighten up . . . you be looking straight-forward with your eyes on the prize and not looking down in shame . . . A small *spark* will begin to grow building the fire within you, in a way that you just could not hold it and have to let it go! Hopefully this book wills GET YOU FIRED UP!

My Confession and

My Potentials

I can remember sitting in the back of my parent’s brown Pontiac vehicle, when a voice came to me to get in the front seat with my mother, who were sitting in the passage side and my father who were driving. As I climb toward the front, my father insists me to sit in my seat. Yet, the voice continues ordering me to get in the front. After the fourth time, then my father stated come on up. Which then seat belt or minors were not in regulation or put into law for being in the front. So, I climb up into the front seat onto my mother’s lap, sitting still as I look at my father, focusing on the road. Then about one minute after being in the front seat with my parent… Bam! A truck ran the stop sign hitting the rear passage side of the vehicle, crushing part of the trunk and the seat I were sitting in. I was three (3) year old when this happen.

My life has been changed by accepting Jesus as my lord and savior and having a relationship with Him. My story has three parts. The first part is before knowing Christ, second is the process of getting to know who Jesus was and is, and the third is how my life has change for the better.

I grew up in a family that had very strong spirituality throughout the generations, as far as I can remember. My parent will take my little brother and me to Sunday’s school every Sunday morning; which I didn’t like, because it was boring, dry and the teaching was not fully in detail to make it interested for my attention. My family loved me and I loved them, but throughout my generations didn’t give me any real way to make decisions in life. Just work hard, which is not a bad value, but didn’t achieve what God want me to gain, which is the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.

During and after finishing college, I started a career. I worked hard to get the things that I thought would make me happy, things that the world said would make me happy; And I did. You know the stuff that show on TV. A smart, pretty wife, a big old house, a fancy car or two, taking some great vacations, having tailor made clothes, and be part of a membership. Where I’m from things was o.k. I was looking good, successful at work, played for a semi-professional football team, got an opportunity to tried out for a professional basketball team, everything seem great… on the outside.

But on the inside, things were different. My life was all that great it was just a big mess. Most of the things that I had achieved or the material things that I had really didn’t make me happy. It seemed like my life was still searching for something, I was just feeling incomplete; as if I was missing something. Yet, that hole I was missing created some problems, a whole lot of problems. I tried to fill it up with other things; going to clubs, house parties, having multiple girlfriends and more things that the world said and show of being OK. Yet, I was still a workaholic. I went to work when I was off and after clocking out, still came home late for no reason at all. I abused everything. I drank all of the time, being out late at night, and some other things that I won’t go into now. Suit to say, I was lost and my lost-ness was killing me, mentally & emotionally. My life was ruled by the emotions of fear, greed, anger, frustration, and depression.

Now remind you (in New York) that I had attended Sunday’s school, been on the choir, and a Marshall on the Usher, but those (the church) only encourages entertainment and not the true understanding in details about the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit and other life learning in the Bible. Reading the Bible caused me to think about things that had never occurred to me before. They raised more questions than gave answers. I thought, is it really possible that the whole world that we know and the entire universe is by chance? Was the story of Jesus really true? Could I have a relationship with God? Was there really a God who knew me and cared about me? I was really confused.

So I begin to have a nightly Bible study by myself. There I learned a lot of things. All of us have issues. This was a safe place to share what my life was really like. A chance to be real to myself just for an hour at night; not just to read the Bible, but other religion books. Sometimes it answered questions, sometimes it raised more.

As I had gotten older to decide to go to church or not; on Sunday morning I’d sit in the basement of my parent’s home, watching other pastors on television delivering the message, while my parent went to church. Most of the time I would go, but when I did went, I can feel the hatred of so-called saved who were very, very judgmental; yet, none of them tried to reach out to welcome me in, till they show their fake gratitude when my father introduce me. Some of you may have faced this experience.

So, after a lot of studying, reading books and the Bible, and also having small group discussions with friends, it finally occurred to me that God loved me too. That the story of the gospel was true! And that through Jesus and what he did on the cross, he offers us a chance at a new start in life, a new beginning.

The Bible talk about the fact that not only does God forgives our past sins but forgets them too. We start life again with a clean slate. So what is my life like now, how has it changed?

God does worked quickly in the beginning and my desire for some of the most sinful behavior slowly but yet vanished away. Now remind you we all sin daily, whether it verbal, mental and or actions. Even to this day I believe that on Sunday, whether one worship or not, all business should be closed from 2AM on Saturday till 12 Noon on Sunday, I will explain later. I have a desire to change not for myself, but for other who are lost and may need to be put back on the right path that God has plan for them.

My personal relationships have improved. I seem to be able to love others more now, such as my friends, those in need of help—even when they did me wrong and random people. I just see them differently now. Like that guy at work who I really don’t like, the person who has a different political opinion than I do, the guy who cuts me off in traffic… well sometimes.

The only way the economy and job creations can improve are three things, all businesses should be closed from 2AM on Saturday till 12 Noon on Sunday, paying your tithes and offering and for America to become Producers once again. I know many of you are scratching your head like… WHAT!? See the reason why many thing are happening here in America which I focusing on at this point, is the people forgot about God, they had let their job dictate who to serve on Sunday. Don’t believe me? The way jobs can keep you from going and worship God is to either schedule you to work on Sunday’s morning and by offering to pay you, time and a half; which seems great in making a few extra bucks, but your soul will become more and more voided. In reverse, they now (most corporations or companies) will try to get many to work Wednesday’s night or up to 9pm, for you to neglect Bible study. Could I be wrong about this… maybe, maybe not? But when you do miss many Sunday or Wednesday months on end, your heart will begin to created an emptiness and you will lose since of knowing, feeling lost and don’t know why, you may also slip into old habits or not having life outside of work.

I can remember my Pastor (Reverend Wade Richmond) stated about titling; that if you don’t have no money to tithes, then still come around and touch the plate or basket. His philosophy is for those to not feel left out or unwanted. Only God knows what is in your heart; I had walk around and touch the plate and said, Thank you, God, for what He is about to do and going to do in my life. If He can do it for me, I know He will do for you.

I now see my business behavior differently, how I handle my expenses at work, how I deal with my customers, how I manage my funds… just what will I say that will get the big deal done.

America has stop becoming producers or I should say Innovators; we had now become consumers to other countries of the world. American also needs to understand why companies outsource to other countries. Due to the facts, that when customers do a survey on a customer service representative and fail them on the call; it gives the companies the abilities to have reasons to move to other countries. How so… ? Well, when failing our customer service representatives, they get laid off or have them to work elsewhere beside the call centers; therefore making it more and more difficult to hired individuals to come and work for a call center, which cause the company more money to let go of their employees than it is to replace workers. So what do they [company] do? Move oversea where there is less overhead cost and taxes are fixed.

I love to screw up; I am still a mess in a lot of ways. Yes, I AM A WORK IN PROGRESS. I do not always do what I know are right and what I want to do or be done. I am tempted by a lot of things, to abuse alcohol, smoking some of my favorite cigars, to exert my power and control. But my life has meaning and purpose now. Just like your life has a meaning and purpose. The Bible says that when we promised to follow Jesus, we become adopted into His family and we are children of God. God has a plan for my life and it really exciting to see what it is, and how I might be able to be part of it.

Remember that hole, that emptiness? I do now realize that God makes us—all of us—with that hole. But the Good News, which we don’t get to hear much in this world; is that it’s (the hole) shaped like God, and he is filling up mine as well as yours. Isn’t it wonderful to know that no matter what we do, how lost we may be… God is there for us… That’s great. But if yours is not and it’s still empty, you’re in the right place now. Just get into a good Bible—based place of worship and commit daily in reading & jotting down question for your pastor or his or her assistant to get the answer, but many of the time if you ask God for the answer… He will deliver them to you whether by sign or dream.

On October 09, 2011, Apostle Ron Carpenter tend to say some crazy things or quotes when he vent during his sermon and me who is from New York, sometime will hear some country slang that will grab my attentions and I would jot it down and the Spirit will begin to open a new door for me. This is the reason why I title this book Fire on Wet Wood; you can look at it from two different points: one is from those who are "saved and those in the process of being saved". I will explain and hopefully by delivering a few messages will make you want to continue to read on into the following chapters.

From a saved standpoint; the wood is being symbol as the heart, the water is symbolize as the oil, the anointing—which is from the Holy Spirit, also known as Christ. And the fire may be look as sins; such as drugs, alcohols, violence toward others whether it mentally or physically; but it the Word (Pray, Praises, Healing, etc.) that is driven daily in the spirit of the body. I think you get the point. Now many of time when we (including I) enter into a place of worship, many of us act holy, kind to each other, doing things that most of us would not do outside of the walls of the place where we worship; Yet, we only see the wet wood. But as you know when you pour water on wood it just wet the outside of it, but soon it will dry up, from the fire. This is one reason why when those come to the altar, they are not automatically spiritually change; it is a process of ridding the things or person(s) to make your life better. Pouring water over the wood is not going to protect the heart from what had been corrupted. In order [the fire] to change the direction or to drive out sins is to submerge (i.e. baptize) the wood in the water (oil, anointing, Christ) for the water to saturate deep into the wood (knowing as baptisms or being baptize). Once the holiness is on the inside, the whole dimensions of the person change. The walk become different, the separation from negativities is notice, the tongue speak different, kindness and love are express the same both in and outside of the walls, where one worship. You begin to dress different and the world will know that you are anointed and a child of God.

Now let look from the other perspective, not all water are pure… don’t you agree? The only way for the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ to enter within your heart (wood), is to rid the polluted water. Polluted waters are non-drinkable, it can cause sickness and mostly death, if consumed; you can see the dirt that float on top, and at time unable to see clear through. As I recall of how most, maybe many come forth to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior; but then a few weeks later, or that same week on Friday or Saturday night, they slip back to their old habits. The heat from the fire may have been applied, but the wood has not been clean throughout or dried out. We see that the outside of the wood is dry, but it is still moist on the inside. The filth, the same old situations as the person goes through the changes, more heat from the fire (which can also be the Word, the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Ghost) must continue to be applying to the wood to ensure that the wood is dried throughout. Once all of the polluted water has been desiccated (dried out, dehydrated), then the Holy Spirit (pure water) can enter in. Once the Holy Spirit is invited within, then the goodness & praise will come out through as we speak.

I going to implements example of words that will get you ready, encouraging and fire you up as you prepare your heart and mind. Most of the study are from various so-called religions and how they are taught a little different from view points, but all end up about one thing, and that God—Himself.

When you learn how to pray—you won’t have to talk to so many people. Most folk after church will ask pastors or the church (we—the body) to pray for them or their love ones, and talk about their problem(s); yet, they—themselves don’t talk directly to God and they wonder why their issues are not being answer. We need to stop asking another human-being to pray for our situation(s) when we have the direct line of communication to God.

Your money should fund your business and not determine; growth is what sustain change. In other word, most would get paid and go out to buy ten thousand ($10,000) dollars rims, but won’t pay eight ($8.00) dollars a month for life insurance. Don’t you get my point? Too many work hard for their money and don’t have their money work for them. Money does not sleep, putting money in an interest bearing account it will keep working—it doesn’t need no break, vacation or take any sick days. Your money should be working for you while you are sleeping, vacationing, etc.

Temptation is temporary; it is just an obscure illusion with no outcome in the end. Before getting into a sexual relationship, let patience take its course and it comes in through the 3’s C; first is Character, understanding the Character (who you are and who they are), knowing about the person, what are your potential and what potential the other person true potential. Understand the Covenant (can they do the job), can they walk the walk and not trying to impress; is the Chemistry there (can you relate to them), not because you and the other partner have the same likeness, but can you relate the differences. See you have to be careful what you get into; there are many re—LEECH-ionship and no relationship. These are people who will suck and drain you out, whether it money, mentally, emotionally—well I guess you get the point.

Every church has a culture; every church creates its own culture. A toxic culture will eat vision for lunch; for example, you can have a great steak (church), but if your plate (the members) is mess up, you don’t have a clean culture (environment within the church). The strongest forces in the church is the culture, in other word, the hardest work a farmer does before he plant the seed—he has to cultivate the ground. We have cultures that are set in their own ways—stating this is how we do things here. The church creates two types of culture; who becomes hero in the church and who are monster in the church (can I speak the TRUTH!?) But to the Pastors and Leaders—What do you punish in your church? Churches has gangs, who control what turfs, who should be head usher, who should be lead singer, if the musician have you in the background and never ask of you to lead a song, stay in your place. There are many family members trying to control the operation of the church—who’s in control of the choirs, who’s in control of cooking, what food to serve different to our guests. So you must understand, if the people do not understand the why, then the people will not understand.

Most church wants to grow from the outside in and not from the inside out. It is about expanding your core; the reason why most church not growing is because they are not taking care of the core. I will explain it in the word TRUE.

T: Trust—which is to hold things together, honest open and transparent; it can take a life time to build trust, but thirty (30) second to destroy that trust. Whether at work or doing a duty for someone, you don’t get promoted for your work—it just that they TRUST you more in what you do.

R: Responsive—How quickly we are to respond to change; are we responding to young fresh ideas that may enhance the church, which may get more from the outside to get a better understanding about the Holy Spirit, about Jesus and about God? Are we responsive to answering questions that may steer those in the right direction or the right path? Are we responding in a positives attitude that may change the heart of those who are hungry in wanting to know? How are we responding not just in the place of worship but as we leave, entering into the world?

U: Unafraid—being able to face the unexpected; there are many talent within the church but when it come to new innovation, the old ways of doing things are so afraid of change. God do not sit on the past or the present, He expect new sounds, new energy from the church. We need to stop being on this set program of how the church should be run.

E: Exclusion—How things are getting done; in the place of worships, more are being said than being act on. So many folk within the church got so much to talk about how things should be done, what should be done and in what fashion; yet they themselves are not stepping up to the plate or taking leadership to help guide and develop future leaders of tomorrow.

So how true are we not to each other, but to yourself, within your own heart.

We need to stop always looking to blame someone else for your own fault. The devil did not create your issue, he don’t have to do anything to stop you or make you do wrong things. Remember we are all born in sin, till we accept the Holy Spirit within us. Every person in this world is born with a hole in their heart as we get older, whether it being Accepted; Approve by other to be accepted; needing to be Encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others; needing the Support to help you get more encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others; looking for Comfort so that you can get the support to help you get more encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others; looking to be Respect by other to receive the comfort so that you can get the support to help you get more encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others; looking for Attention that you never receive from your love ones which can give you the respect to receive the comfort so that you can get the support to help you get more encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others; not being Appreciated for who or what you may had done to please those to get their full attention which can give you the respect to receive the comfort so that you can get the support to help you get more encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others; and wanting that Security from someone to feel appreciated which obtaining their full attention which can give you the respect to receive the comfort so that you can get the support to help you get more encourage so that you can be approve which may make you accepted by others.

The church (we as individual) need not to criticize those who come as they are, pray for them that whatever they feel or the word they may hear will change their heart and the way they may think. When the heart change, the lifestyle being to change, the ones they use to hang with being to fade, so don’t criticize—get involved and be positive.

Let go on to something else… Man is the spiritual being of soul and body,