Journal of James Hartline

From The Journal Of James Hartline: "The Many Mothers In My Life"

2009-08-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

From The Journal Of James Hartline
December 23, 2005
"The Many Mothers In My Life"
*
When Jesus therefore saw His mother,
and the disciple standing by, whom He loved,
He said unto His mother,
"Woman, behold thy son!"
Then said Jesus to the disciple,
"Behold thy mother!"
And from that hour,
that disciple took her into his own home.
John 19:26-27(nasb)
*
Bakersfield
December, 1965

A piercing howl could be heard in the dark night. Some must have thought it was a wounded animal, crying out from some recently inflicted injury. Screeching, deep from within the inner soul of that lame creature, came a repeated yelp of pain. Lights came on, doors swung open, faces peered out into the black night. Concerned neighbors, walking out into the frigid December cold, perked their ears in the prayerful hope that they could better gauge where the cry had come from. And then, as if on cue, there it was again. Almost in unison, all of the neighbors recognizing the cry's source, let out a collective sigh of resolved air. As usual, it was just the little boy on Crestmore Street, crying as he always did at that time of the year.

If they could see into that little boy's home, they would see the same scene played out every year: a little boy, alone, rejected, abandoned. All lights had been turned off. This was not the type of manifestated environment others would imagine during the Christmas season. Yet, every Christmas season, the same bleak and painful scenario was played out for him. There weren't many social events in Bakersfield, California in the 1960's. A bland, rural town, mostly smelly oil rigs and refineries, combined with endless fields of cotton and alfalfa, stood in stark contrast to the big cities of San Francisco to the north and Los Angeles to the south. The Bakersfield Christmas Parade was one of the few city events that brought out the hopes and dreams of the area's families, all united under one festive December banner each year. Thus, it was something that an abused child would look forward to each year as a reprieve from a life that was scorched with daily beatings and emotional deprival.

This always made the wound even more grevious, when the boy's mother would find an excuse the day of the parade, for punishing him, and denying his going with the rest of his family. This was a demented scenario played out every Christmas. His angry and abusive mother would always find a way to punish her little son, before he could receive his gifts. It was, in a twisted way, her way of reminding her son, that there was always a painful price to pay if one was to receive any good thing in this life.

Frozen with fear, facing a kitchen corner wall in the pure blackness of the lightless house, a cry of isolation and rejection gurgled up from his little, hungry belly. Finally, out of the pure agony of being abandoned by his family, he released another screech into the cold atmosphere of his silent house. Also on cue, a car drove up the driveway to the frontdoor of the house, where the boy stood huddled inside. Keys jingling, a door unlocking, and then a voice that terrorized the whimpering boy pierced the lightless house, "Shut up! You got what you deserved. Now get up and get in the car!" Once again, that damnable scenario had played out its festering climax. Punishment than reward, his mother had it down to a wicked art. At the parade, as Santa sat atop his passing sleigh, children cooed and shouted excited chants of exhultation. One little boy, lucky to be at the parade at all, just stared coldly at the passing red suited giver of gifts and wondered if Santa could let him get on his sleigh and drive him as far away from Bakersfied, California as the reindeer could fly him. At the time, that little boy had no idea just how far away from Bakersfield he would some day fly.

San Diego
December, 2005

That was forty years ago, and I have indeed flown a long way since those cold Bakersfield winters and abusive holiday seasons. My poor old mother, now nearly 68 years of age, still lives in Bakersfield. Not much has changed with her. I occasionally hear from her, but she really never has come around to mending the broken places within herself, much less the breach between herself and her son. God has mended me, however one day I had to come to that place of surrendered realization that my mom will probably never be a mom for me. I have learned in my walk with the Lord to release my mom from her responsibility for my upbringing. I have forgiven her but it never lessens the pain or hope of having that good mother-son relationship.

I have often pondered that same aspect in considering how Mary must have felt in that dark day when she saw one of her sons hanging on that executioner's wood, rusting steel nails impaled into his hands and feet, the groaning from Jesus' throat intermingled with her own agonized wimpers combining to form an atmosphere of familial dispair. Where does the son go as his image of a mother not to be, descends into that valley of lost hope? Where does the mother go, when her son wanders far from the path of that mother's great aspiration for her offspring? What message is there for all us, when we do not realize in our family relationships, that classic mirage of the Brady Bunch fantasy?

Three months ago, I had gone with my friend George Kerr to the Donovan State Prison to fill out the application to become a volunteer with the Chaplain's Program. I had in my past been a prisoner at that prison, the penalty for my many years of being a convicted thief. That was years ago, and I had finally gotten to that place in my life of wanting to go back and help the other inmates find a better way through Jesus Christ just like I had. I have found in my walk with the Lord that the best Christmas present one can give is to give one's self in service to those who are beaten down by the very circumstances that we, ourselves, had once been held captive. Thus, with continuous expectation of being approved I waited for the envelope that would contain my volunteer application approval.

Finally, two weeks ago during this Christmas seaso, the envelope arrived. I was so excited as I opened the letter, expecting to read the date when I go into the prison to minister to those still incarcerated. Expectancy soon turned to gloom as I read the denial. My applications had been disapproved. The reason was made clear: I had not been discharged from prison for the minimum ten years. I just sat there, very disappointed.

And then I heard the voice of the Lord say to me, "Why are you so sad?"

"Because I can't go visit the prisoners," I retorted.

"So, you are upset, because you can't go back to prison...." the Lord inquired.

With that realization, my spirits perked up. Oh yeah, I shouldn't be sad, I should be glad. For nineteen long years, I could not get out of prison, no matter how much I wanted. And now, in a twisted way, I was upset, because I couldn't get back into prison....no matter how much I wanted. It was one of the shining moments, when I realized that the Lord, and His word, had truly brought me full circle back to the place of restoration. A knock on my front door, also brought me back to the reality of my current circumstances. "What is it?" I said through the closed front door. "James, you have a big package up front, a really big package," my neighbor replied.

Now full of curiosity at who would be sending me a big package, I forgot about my prison volunteer application and raced for the front of my property. There it was, a gigantic brown box. "What on earth?" I wondered what this was.

As I ripped open the very tough tape and clawed opened the top with my hungry little fingers my eyes stared in disbelief. I had never seen so many wrapped gifts in one box. In my nineteen years in prison, I had never once received a Christmas present. Christmas had become just another day for me. It had never been a real pleasant experience for me in the first place, much less in the dark, grey confines of a concrete and steel prison.

I just stared in wonderment as to who would have sent me all these gifts in one box. Each one of the wrapped gifts had a card so I opened a card to read who it was from. It read:

"May The Peace And Joy Of Christmas Be With You Always,"
Love All Of Your MOM'S
Your CWA Mom's, We Love You, James!

I tell you I was just overwhelmed. All of the dear, sweet ladies of Concerned Women for America had taken the time from their busy holiday times with their husbands and children to put together a gigantic Christmas box full of goodies, and special wrapped presents, just for me. I have been a servant of the Most High God crying out in the wilderness for many years and it was as if the widow woman had arisen all over again to feed Elijah in the midst of the drought.

I have learned one of heaven's greatest revelations. When our earthly family assignments don't go according to our most earnest desires God will mend the broken places and send us a replacement family. My earthly mom may never come around but God has brought me many, many mom's in her stead. It is the glory of the living God to bring healing to our soul in this way.

Jesus conveyed that important principle as He was dying on the cross. He said to His mother Mary, "Your son," referring to the Apostle John. And to the Apostle John, "John, your mother." From that day on, Mary and John would become a new family, each looking after each other. Jesus knew that they would need mending after His terrible execution. He knew these two souls would need healing from seeing the trauma inflicted upon Christ's battered body. It is His way. It is heaven's way, to fill in the void, repairing the breaches created by broken family relationships. God will bring that person to you to repair the family void and mend the broken places inflicted upon us by failed family obligations. In turn, He will also bring us to those who need healing in the same way. There are many lonely mothers and widows that need "new" sons. And there are many sons that need "new" mothers.

In turn, there are many Godly moms in our society who are crying out for the Sons of God to rise up and help them. I have been given a mandate from the Hand of the Lord to rise up and help defend all of the moms of my generation. The Lord has said to me, "Son, rise up, go fight for all of your moms. Fight for them, as a good son would do. Defend them and drive out from the doorsteps, every evil that has besought them, and every devil that has sought to destroy their families."

This Christmas, my CWA moms, my VIP moms and my other church moms, have made me walk down the streets, singing just a little louder, and a whole lot stronger.

Elderly Prop. 8 supporter roughed up is filing charges

2008-11-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

An elderly California woman will file charges against homosexuals who attacked her during a protest against the passage of Proposition 8.

Last Friday evening, homosexual activists and their supporters gathered at the Palm Springs City Hall, protesting voter approved Prop. 8, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Phyllis Burgess went to the rally, and carried a Styrofoam cross through the crowd. As ABC affiliate KESQ-TV carried that rally live, homosexuals surrounded the 69-year-old woman, began pushing her, reportedly spit on her, and grabbed the cross from her arms and threw it on the ground. (See video report) Burgess remained calm throughout the melee. "I was really so overflowing with peacefulness in my heart that I just couldn't see this," she says. "It wasn't in my mind, it really wasn't."

Initially, Burgess said she did not want to file charges, but changed her mind after authorities encouraged her to do so (see related video). She says she went to the rally "just to get my remarks across at my city hall, where I have lived for 30 years." She adds: "If it takes endangerment, should that stop me? I'm a senior -- we respect elder abuse in this city." Police are reviewing video in hopes of identifying suspects. Charges would be assault and vandalism, both misdemeanors.

If this had been a citizen who had gone and torn down a rainbow flag off of a gay center, then the homosexuals would have been screaming for justice. Why aren't they demanding justice for this woman who was denied her right free religious expression in America, as well as the fact that they brutally suppressed her right to free speech as she was carrying the cross?

We will see more acts of violence and hypocrisy from the "tolerant" crowd in the days ahead. And the result will be a dramatic turning of public opinion against the radical homosexual political agenda.

The so-called oppressed are now the neighborhood bullies. Yet, we always knew that was the case.

My Journey From The Gutter To God - From The Journal of James Hartline

2008-11-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

The Journal of James Hartline
Preparing For My Departure
But Running My Race Until I Leave!

My Journey From The Gutter To God
A Chapter From The Journal of James Hartline:
Gaining Life By Overcoming Death Through Jesus Christ

"It is better to be a poor but wise young man than to be an old and foolish king who refuses all advice. For that young man has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom." Ecclesiastes 4:13-14

God has granted me the privilege of prophetically looking into the mighty vision that He is in the process of establishing for this generation. In this vision for our nation, I have seen the coming glory of God which shall envelope and transform America. Ironically, this vision shall be carried forth by those who are deemed to be the least desirable citizens in our nation. Vindication is coming swiftly for those who have been judged as unimportant and socially defective by those who are considered important because of their wealth, their social standing and their ability to show disdain for the things of God.

Indeed, the Lord presents us a prophetic revelation in the fourth chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes which confirms His intention of reversing America's social order during this coming move of God. The writer in Ecclesiastes declares, "Out of the prison shall come a young man who will be king." This nation shall soon find itself in its darkest hour, an hour when money cannot buy a calming of the mind or a healing balm for the terrified heart. When the rich and greedy least expect it, God will release a new kind of leadership upon this great and burdened country. Out of the prison shall come a king. Out of the wasteland shall come the warrior. Out of the abused shall come royalty. Out of the raped shall come the beautiful. Out of the fires of affliction shall come forth the purified servants of the Most High God. This is the way of the Lord.

I have been told by those in power within our morally-neutered southern California society, that I have no value and that I don't qualify to speak on behalf of my generation. However, according to my own experiences as a determined soldier in this culture war, the powerful ruling bureaucrats in this society have no say in the matter of my involvement in this culture war that God has asked me to wage. I did not seek permission from the powerful when I began my campaign that has now successfully closed ten pornographic businesses in the city of San Diego. One of those evil businesses that I fought a four year battle to close, was a gay bathhouse located in the heart of San Diego's homosexual community where many men used illegal drugs and were infected with the AIDS virus. During that long and trying battle, I received many threats against my life. Still, I did not give up and now that business has been permanently shut down.

Nor did I wait for a permission slip to be granted me from some city council when I motivated hundreds of my fellow citizens to go to war to keep the giant public cross that sits atop the Mt. Soledad Veterans War Memorial from being torn down. For two decades, atheists with the help of their discriminatory attorneys sought to tear down that cross. Any observer who was present during those long and exhausting city council meetings, will tell you that my passionate pleas to uphold our religious rights were among the most vocal and sincere of any that were sounded in the city council chambers. You can watch my life and death speech to preserve the Mt. Soledad Cross by going to the city council video archives for March 8, 2005. First click Video for that date and then click on the segment "Break Return" and slide the time ruler to 44:00.

I also did not seek affirmation from the homosexual power brokers in San Diego when I began seeking justice in our city during my battle over the multitude of sex offenders and pedophiles who were working for the San Diego Gay Pride organization in 2005. After a lengthy investigation that year, I discovered that the San Diego Gay Pride organization was allowing dangerous sex offenders to work in their annual festival and parade, events that lure in hundreds of young minors each year. Despite many threats against me because of my investigation on this matter, I stayed the course and the sex offenders were subsequently forced out of the events where they had the potential to harm the youth of my city.

When history is recorded and our generation is chronicled, it is my greatest hope that I will be listed among those who fought bravely and died courageously for the children of my generation.

There is no day upon which the sun arises, that I do not scheme or plot to make my community safer for the little boys and little girls who will rise from their beds to face their many scandalous enemies. I know what it is like to grow up and to be held captive by an abuser. As a young boy, I was all too familiar with the dreary days that turned into neverending months, and those neverending months that turned into hopeless years, and no one, absolutely no one, came to my rescue. I have known a time as a small, four year-old boy, when I was beaten so badly that I needed stitches in my skull. I also know of a day, just six years after that earlier violent and physically damaging episode, when I, as a ten year-old terrified little boy, received so many punches to my head that I was taken back to the hospital to get more stitches.

I know the fear and pain of not having a single friend to run to when I was under the care of a mother who I trusted with all of my youthful innocence, only to find out that the one I trusted ended up being my greatest enemy. Let there be no doubt among those in our culture who are bent on contaminating and corrupting the youth of America, that I have made a vow to the children of my generation, a vow which declares that as long as there is breath in my body, I will fight for America's children. I will be their best friend.

Let America also understand that I will be a deliverer for the abused children of this nation. At every turn when I become aware that adults are attempting to hurt the kids of San Diego, I rise up to stand in the way. In 2005, when I found out that adult nudists were exposing young kids to their perversions at nudist parties in San Diego, I created a national outcry which culminated in the elimination of their use of the public venues which they had been using to hold their filthy parties.

In June of 2007, I learned that the the San Diego Gay Pride organization was scheduled to hold a gay pride celebration in July at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, at the same time that the Padres had scheduled a children's free floppy cap giveaway. With a history of hiring pedophiles and promoting pornography, the San Diego Gay Pride organization is one of the most dangerous groups when it comes to the issue of involving children in their events. One month after I released a nationally-recognized article on the controversy, over 100 Christians showed up to stand with me at the baseball park as we alerted parents about the dark history of the San Diego Gay Pride organization.

In 2005, my nationally-recognized investigation of the San Diego Gay Pride organization led to shocking revelations that the group was hiring sex offenders to work in events that involved scores of very young children and teenagers. The citizens of San Diego were particularly outraged when it was discovered that the group had also hired a registered pedophile named "Marty the Clown" to entertain children in the gay pride children's garden.

Incensed at the San Diego Gay Pride organization's depth of corruption towards impressionable minors, I refused back down from the war that I intended to wage in the city of San Diego unless justice was brought to bear on this abominable situation. When the smoke had cleared, and I had waged my war, all of the sex offenders had been removed from the organization despite weeks of refusal by the Gay Pride organization to remove them. Additionally, as a result of my stand against the gay pride organization and its hiring of sex offenders, the City of San Diego, for the first time in eleven years, refused to issue an annual proclamation honoring the San Diego Gay Pride celebration. Nowhere in America have Christian Evangelicals achieved such a victory as that which was won by our side in 2005. This is evidence which confirms the Bible's declaration that when a man or woman commits themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be heaven-sent signs to follow. This again, is the way of the Lord.

There is a price to pay for the stand I am making on behalf of the youth of my generation. I have been the target of many death threats by atheists and homosexual activists who despise my work of exposing those who seek to harm our little boys and our little girls.

Before we enter into a permanent agreement to serve God for the rest of our lives, Jesus presents all of us with the full consequences for following Him and the mandate He has for this generation. I fully understood what Jesus was declaring when He said, "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down, and count the cost, as to whether you will be able to finish it?" I was fearful, and apprehensive as well, when I considered what Jesus said about the life ahead for the Apostle Paul once he had been subjected to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit: "For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake."

Knowing that I would be hated by homosexual activists for standing up to the terrible things they were doing to the kids of my city, I made a sober decision that the lives of the children of San Diego far outweighed the concern I might have felt for my own personal comfort. As long as God grants me life, the children of my generation will not be abandoned in the same horrible fashion that I was as a young boy.

This nation and the children that live in it are in need of a precedent-setting miracle. According to the prophetic visions which I have received from the Lord, God is about to bring about a comprehensive and consuming change in the leadership of this nation. It will be the kind of change that creates a nation which honors the presence of our youth. However, this kind of monumental change will not come about by the same broken means which have produced such dangerous times for my generation.

As we have seen by the Biblical examples of Joseph, who God rescued from the dungeon to lead the entire nation of Egypt, and by the beautiful sacrifice of Queen Esther, who came from slavery and obscurity to rescue the lives of the entire Jewish race, God raises up royalty out of life's most unbearable circumstances.

Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house. See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." Genesis Chapter 41

"And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen. However, the King did not know that Esther was a Jew. Mordecai, who adopted the orphan Esther, said to her, "And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" Book of Esther

One significant thing that I have learned during this long and dangerous journey of mine, is that God's ways of dealing with the affairs of mankind are nearly always opposite to that of the way that men in their fallen state deal with each other. God's priorities are not man's priorities. Men will rarely ever make God's desires a part of their human agenda until men learn to subject themselves to a spiritual metamorphosis.

The Bible teaches us that the farther down a man has fallen in this life, the more likely it is when that man repents and is forgiven of his many sins, that he will go on to become a leader who God can raise up to influence his generation towards greatness. When reflecting upon the gratitude demonstrated by the prostitute whom He had forgiven, Jesus told His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Like the prostitute that Jesus helped, I have been a deplorable sinner in need of God's forgiveneness. Because Christ has loved me and forgiven me much, just as He did that prostitute 2,000 years ago, I owe Him everything. This is why I am so obedient to His every demand. This is why I am so dedicated to His concern for the children of my generation.

As He was moving ever closer to His voluntary execution for the sins of all humanity, Jesus declared to His followers the significant responsibilities that will be given to the man who has been faithful with the graceful new life granted to him by the Lord, "Blessed is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions."

The man who has learned life's most difficult lessons through hardships and trials will be a humble man who knows passionately the Biblical passage which declares, "I know that nothing good lives in my flesh, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out." Yet, when filled with the very Spirit of the living God, that same man can state with a peculiar and profound confidence, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

There are no losses or defeats for the citizen who resides in the Kingdom of God. Only in this carnal world are the rich and powerful allowed to judge men and women as losers based upon the amount of money they possess or the scholastic degrees which have been granted them by a college where the existence of God is quite likely to be denied. The great irony in all of this is the fact that the rich and famous are empowering a world that seeks to sexualize and harm our children, while a person like myself, empowered with only a high school diploma, is doing everything possible to protect the children of my generation from the exploitations of the rich and famous.

Throughout history, there are some men and women who are born with lives that grant them great suffering from the very moment they draw their first breaths. There is a scheme of God in His allowing these individuals to suffer in such a manner. I am one who has been chosen by God to be a part of this suffering breed. I have always known suffering. It is as familiar to me as the moon is to the night. For those who have been chosen by God to lead the way during humanity's darkest hours, the human experience often begins in rancid poverty and eventually ends with hushed groanings among the underprivileged.

Joseph was our forerunner for establishing God's pattern of taking a young man plagued all of his life by injustices and discrimination, and then transforming that young man into the leader of a very desperate nation. In every generation, there is a Joseph who is being groomed by God for a season when fear and catastrophe come together to create a national crisis. This tried and tested servant of humanity will always be an independent flame, a flame fueled by the very fires of God Himself.

In the hours of my greatest despondency, I always felt this unshakable kinship with Joseph. It is the many years of great suffering that I endured which drew me to learn of Joseph's godly way of dealing with his own horrific tribulations. It has been my apprehending of how God uses suffering to mold a man into the image of Christ, that finally allowed me to come to a place of comprehending what Jesus meant when He said, "For many are called, but few are chosen."

Many years ago, in what seemed to be another lifetime altogether, I came to my senses and realized that I was rotting away in a gutter. Lost in a life that homosexual leaders had promised me would be a gay life full of happiness and acceptance, I now found myself strung out on crystal meth. Covered in my own fecal matter and vomit, the gay life had brought me to such a shameful place that I was using my own dirty garments as a covering from the probing eyes of a God who was desperately searching for me, His lost little lamb, before it was too late.

It was during the latter years of my dreadful thirty-year experiment called the gay lifestyle, that I finally came to a permanent realization that homosexuality and God just do not mix. They never have and they never will. It is so clear to me now, why God put His warnings in the Old Testament about homosexuality. He did so because He loves us and doesn't want us to suffer the damnable consequences that will ultimately come with such evil practices. The New Testament reiterates God's warnings from the Old Testament as the Apostle Paul reminds humanity, "The wages of sin is death."

The Apostle Paul also warned those who are hurting God by their involvement in sins, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit." God, Who created us in His image, has feelings just like He put in our own human personalities. His Spirit grieves over the offenses of His created beings. One day among the many days when my spirit battled with my flesh over the terrible grief I had caused God because of my involvement in homosexuality, I came to a fresh reality that sharply pierced through my own corrupted reasoning. It was an awakening of sorts, a reality that became a revelation.

This newly found revelation gave strength to my exhausted mind, a mind that had been desperately searching for a path out of those dark and hopeless days. It was the dawning of a new day for me as I now understood this: God was extending mercy to me, but not because I had had such a dreadful and abusive past and thus, I was a victim deserving of His mercy.

Thinking that I deserved God's mercy because He had to make up to me all of the years that He had allowed me to be abused by my mother was a fatal and immoral flaw in my thinking. That degenerate way of thinking had kept me, for years and years, repeating a vicious cycle of victimization where I demanded that God give me compensation for my suffering. I simply could not move into the new life that God had for me because I had been stuck reliving the past, waiting for God to resolve the terrible crimes that had been committed against me as a child.

The cycle of victimization was being broken as I realized that God's grace was appropriated to me, not as recompense for the abuses committed against me, but because He is merciful to everyone regardless of their upbringing. All are in need of mercy, the rich and the poor, the undeserving and the desperate. I could have had a magnificent start in life, and I still would have needed God's mercy and forgiveness. This is why the Apostle Paul declares to every man and woman in the Book of Romans, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

For nearly ten years now, I have been completely liberated from the homosexual life. I have truly become a free man, having encountered the great gift of God's mercy that He extended to me in my darkest days. Yet, in today's world of the self-confident, the carnally minded and society elites, people like myself are judged as unimportant and disfigurements upon the landscape of wealth, privilege and higher education. They mock and ridicule my Christian values. Their hatred for people like me is of such an intense nature because they cannot put into a comfortable little box, the fact that I have overcome such a deplorable life -- without their professional help. No secular twelve step programs or books about "the 7 Steps to Victory" have been the tools of my liberation. Indeed, it has been the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which has granted me total freedom from my past.

The sophisticated secularists cannot fathom the existence of a man they deem to be a misfit -- and an undesirable Bible thumper -- who has actually closed down ten pornographic businesses in the city of San Diego. They cannot comprehend how a man who spent 19 years in prison for being a convicted thief is now a totally transformed human being with a life story that has been broadcast on international television.

These elitist homosexual leaders and their secular intellectual partners cannot understand how a former prisoner and drug addict, and particularly an ex-gay Christian, could possibly get done the remarkable things that I have gotten done. After all, I live in poverty, sometimes barely able to put food on the table. I don't own a car and don't even know how to drive one. My suits all come from thrift stores. And all I possess is a high school education. In reality, according to the standard of success established by the homosexual elites in America, I am a real loser.

I may not have much money and I may not look that good in my thrift store suits, but I have something far more precious in the sight of God than all the power and all the money that people like anti-christian homosexual musician Elton John and anti-christian lesbian entertainer Ellen Degeneres could ever buy. For I possess the willingness to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ so that He will surely have a man in this nation who is willing to lay down his life for the saving of the children of this generation. God has molded my spirit through many years of being in the fiery furnaces of affliction. Now, out of the furnace and its fires, I have come forth as a refined vessel willing to serve Him in every uncomfortable situation that life might present.

My willingness to serve God with such passion stems from God's love which now consumes my internal being. His love for the children of my generation has now become my love for the children of this generation. I have come to a deeper comprehension of the standard of love that Christ was proclaiming when He told His disciples, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Jesus also let His disciples know that it is a very precious thing for Him to have the assurance that there will be faithful servants of the Lord who are serving Him in the last days prior to His return to the earth to establish His eternal kingdom. He said to His disciples, "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" The one thing that Jesus desired, and the one thing that I have the capacity to give Him, is my life. To have faith in God is the greatest act of gratitude that I can express to the Lord for all of the wonderful things that He did for me when He rescued me out of that damnable gutter. How could I resist the desires of the Darling of Heaven? I cannot. My life now belongs forever to God.

When we find ourselves in love with our God, we begin to separate ourselves from those people who are not seeking to walk a similar path. It can be a lonely life at times. In many respects we are social outcasts. Yet, God is a comfort to the lonely and to the outcasts.

The Bible gives outcasts some very clear and prophetic directions for the last days. The Bible declares in Isaiah 27:13: "So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria; And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem."

God is calling the outcasts of the earth to come back home to Him. The outcasts, the rejected, the so-called losers of this world, are being recalled back to the Lord where He can assemble them into His mighty Last Days army. It is why He reached down into the very depths of deepest depravity to redeem me. I can only imagine the amazing tales that shall soon be told from the lips of the other outcasts that I shall meet in the days ahead.

I was born an outcast. I resided for so many years in the gutter, a place where outcasts usually dwell and die. Yet, isn't that the way of the Lord, that He looked even in the gutter to find me? As we look to the example of Lazarus, covered in his funeral garments, placed away in the tomb of final darkness, we hear the Lord shouting, "Lazarus! Lazarus! Come forth." After being dead for four days and stinking from the stench of death and decay, Lazarus awoke and emerged from the tomb. Like Lazarus, I too was dead, dead in the land of the living, floundering in the gutter. But God said to me, as He said 2,000 years ago to Lazarus, "James! James! Come forth."

I have surely kissed the grave. And now, I have kissed the hand of the Lord who reached down into the gutter and pulled up my wasted existence so that I might stand as His redeemed servant in the land of the living. My eyes are straining from the newness of my brand new day. I can see the sunlight. I can feel the living breath of the eternal God upon my face. I am alive! I am alive!

This has been a published article from The Journal of James Hartline.
"Preparing For My Departure - But Running My Race Until I Leave!"

The Journal of a Christian Candidate in an Anti-Christian World

2008-02-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

The Journal of James Hartline
~ Dated February 18, 2008 ~
The Joy and The Agony of Being
A Christian in 21st Century America

There Is A Price To Pay For Making A Stand
As A Christian Candidate In An Anti-Christian World.
~ On The Campaign Trail In 2008 ~

It was Sunday, February 17, 2008 and I had just finished going to the grocery store to buy some fruit to contribute to a local church picnic in the relaxed San Diego neighborhood of Kensington. I was happy to have a brief respite from the harsh schedule of my campaign for the San Diego City Council. I was also gratefully enjoying the early afternoon walk towards the park where friends from Mid-City Christian Fellowship were gathering for food and fellowship. However, my comfortable walk to the park soon turned into a drastic brush with death. Seconds after I had stepped off of the curb and onto the pedestrian crosswalk leading into the park, I was hit by a black four-door Toyota station wagon.

Time seemed to stand still as I watched the car approaching me at about 15 mph. I just assumed that the driver was going to stop at the red light. Instead, this madman behind the wheel kept coming at me. Already six feet into the pedestrian walkway, there was little room for me to maneuver away from the inevitable impact I was about to have with the murderous grill attached to the front of the Toyota.

My shock soon turned into a strange dancing motion that allowed me to roll along the hood of the car and safely land feet first at the left side of the assaultive vehicle. Once again, I have had my faith in God reconfirmed as I was miraculously spared any injury. The driver got out of his car which was now stalled completely across the pedestrian walkway. With bloodshot eyes and a twisted disposition, the driver had been drinking, something he admitted to me when I accused him of being drunk. Because I was not injured and the drunk driver had returned to the accident scene after fleeing, the police said that they would not be charging him. In fact, the police officers only gave him a sobriety test because I had stated that they were going to let a drunk driver leave without charging him which could potentially endanger other vunerable community members.

One hour after I had first been hit by the drunk driver, I finally left the location of the incident and walked into the park. Having my life threatened has become routine for me in the assignment that God has given me to save our nation. Some things are more easy to endure than others. While I expect the constant threats to come my way from the radical gay activists who are determined to stop my stand for Jesus Christ, there are other kinds of spiritual assaults and pitfalls along this path that are not so easy for me to dismiss.

For me, there is nothing so agonizing as the sight of my city suffering the fires of moral decay -- and only a handful of professing Christians willing to come and help me to put out the destructive flames. As I compete for a seat on the San Diego City Council, I am confronted daily by a Christian Community that seems to have been injected with a sedating toxin so spiritually devastating that I fear they may never awaken from their comatose state.

In 2004, we were on the brink of losing a major component of our constitutional right to free religious expression. The cross that sits atop the Mt. Soledad Veteran's War Memorial was close to being removed and most San Diegans had lost all interest in the legal case. I began to rally Christians to reinject themselves into the battle. I was able to get hundreds of Christians to turn out for hearings at the City Council. Long before the rich politicians got involved in the Mt. Soledad Cross battle so that they could gain political favor with the voters at election time, I was crying out for churchgoers to make their stand for our religious freedom at city hall. You can watch one of my many speeches on religious liberty and the Mt. Soledad Cross legal battle at the San Diego City Council by logging into the following:

San Diego City Council Video Archive --
Go To View Video -- Mar. 08, 2005 --
Click on Break Return and slide time ruler to time of 44:08.

Despite the fact that one million Christians in San Diego are now enjoying the blessing of seeing the Mt. Soledad Cross still standing, only 34 Christian voters have contributed to my campaign for a seat on the San Diego City Council.

After all of these years of fighting for the protection of the kids of my city, and after all of the battles that I have waged to clean up the moral rot in our community, I am virtually treated like a dog by the vast majority of pastors in San Diego. In my campaign for the San Diego City Council only 7 of the 2,000+ pastors in San Diego have endorsed my campaign. These seven courageous pastors are good and faithful men. They are more concerned with pleasing God than what others may think. Out of the 2,000+ pastors in San Diego, only one pastor has contributed financially to my campaign.

Two years ago when the holy city of Jerusalem was about to be infested with some of the most perverted sexual events in history, I was the first voice to cry out against this ungodly injustice. I wrote the first Christian news story about the World Gay Pride event and the plan by gay activists to come to the holy sites in Jerusalem where they would pollute them with evil and vile perversions. Because of my initial reporting on this disgraceful event, a worldwide protest began to stop the World Gay Pride event in Jerusalem. Christians and Jews throughout the world were eventually able to celebrate the stopping of the World Gay Pride event.

Two years later, as I campaign for the San Diego City Council, only 34 Christians out of the millions who have been blessed by my work to stop the World Gay Pride event in Jerusalem have even contributed to my campaign for the city council.

Last year, I was the first Christian writer to report on the horrible event at Petco Park where thousands of young San Diego children were going to be exposed to the gay organization which had hired dangerous pedophiles in 2005 as part of the San Diego Gay Pride festival. Thousands of San Diego parents were able to protect their kids because of my reporting and my Christian activism against the Petco Park assault on the youth of our city. One year later, only 34 Christians and one pastor have said thank you by contributing financially to my campaign for the San Diego City Council.

Over the last five years, I have led the charge to shut down nine pornographic businesses in the city of San Diego. Included in the list of these terrible businesses that are now shut down is a gay bathhouse location where thousands of men over a period of 22 years were exposed to AIDS and illegal drug use. Today, many lives are being spared because this death house is now closed. Today, only 34 Christians have said thank you by contributing to my campaign for the San Diego City Council.

I recently asked God about the role of my particular city council campaign in our city. The Lord responded by letting me know that my campaign is a test for the Christians of San Diego. You see, pastor after pastor preaches in the pulpit about the corruption and immorality in our culture. These same pastors now have a chance to do something about the things they have been preaching about. If they do not support my campaign for the city council, than all of their complaining is just empty rhetoric.

My campaign is a test for me and it is a test for the Christian Community of San Diego. For me, it comes down to my obedience to God. God instructed me to run this race. Whether anybody supports me or not, I still have an obligation to God to follow Him and to remain obedient to His call for my life. For the Christians in San Diego, my campaign is an opportunity for them to prove whether their years of complaining about the corruption and immorality on the San Diego City Council has been an honest concern of theirs or just the bitter verbage of lukewarm Christians who are all talk and no action.

I would imagine that if I was rich and influential in our culture, the 2,000+ San Diego pastors would be lining up to support me. After all, when wealthy politicians like Leslie Devaney ran for the San Diego City Attorney in 2004, pastors in San Diego gave her their pulpits and their time to help her campaign. I recently found out that one of the most influential pastors in San Diego brought mayoral candidate Steve Francis before a conference of hundreds of Christian leaders to introduce him. Francis is one of the most rabid supporters of homosexuality in the Republican Party. He is also one of the richest.

While millionaire Steve Francis has been campaigning to become San Diego's next mayor, and at the same time, destroying the Republican Party's opposition to homosexuality, he is being helped by pastors in his campaign. These same pastors have never helped me with anything in my years of faithful service to God, yet they can help a pro-homosexual millionaire in his bid to become mayor of our city.

Perhaps if I supported homosexuality and had millions of dollars, this same pastor who is helping Steve Francis would help me in my campaign for the city council. Sadly, this pastor has never once offered me any help or assistance with my ministry, much less my campaign. Instead, I now see this pastor more in the light of this story told by Jesus:

Jesus said, "There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed and who lived
each day in luxury. At his door lay a diseased beggar named Lazarus. As Lazarus lay
there longing for scraps from the rich man's table, the dogs would come and lick his
open sores. Finally, the beggar died and was carried by the angels to be with
Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of
the dead. There, in torment, he saw Lazarus in the far distance with Abraham. "The
rich man shouted, `Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these
flames.' "But Abraham said to him, `Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being
comforted, and you are in anguish." Luke 16:19-25

My campaign volunteers and I may not have the wealth of this pastor and pro-homosexual candidates like Steve Francis and gay Republican activist Carl DeMaio, but we know we have our dignity and we are obedient to our God. We may live in one of the poorer neighborhoods in San Diego rather than the wealthy suburban safezones of pro-abortion mayoral candidate Steve Francis and homosexual activist Carl DeMaio, but we will not compromise our obedience to God or His word.

When I caused a media uproar in late 2007 by reporting on the treacherous plan of the San Diego City Council where the council was planning to issue a legal brief in support of gay marriage, all of the so-called family organizations like Concerned Women For America were down at city hall in front of the cameras clamoring for televsion time to promote their organzations and their opposition to gay marriage. Yet, during my campaign for the city council, not one of these women have helped me with my campaign. Not one has contributed to my campaign or endorsed me.

Our city is burning - burning down. Our morals are disintegrating and sexual anarchy is exploding in our city. I am fighting the good fight. Yet, less than two dozen San Diegans have even contributed to my campaign. While homosexual activists have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to my opponents, I am left with a few good people supporting me and the rest of the churches completely turning their backs on me during this grave battle.

God has spoken to me about my campaign. The Lord has said to me that my campaign is a test of where the churches in San Diego are. While Christians do alot of talking about the problems in our culture they show little action. They show even less interest when it comes to supporting Christians who run for office. While I have been going to the city council for years to stand up for God's people, only one pastor in San Diego has contributed financially to my campaign.

If Christians are not willing to suppport a faithful Christian candidate in their own community than all of their complaining about gay marriage, abortion and bad politicians is just a bunch of hot air.

I am not the first servant of the Lord to articulate the apathy of a lukewarm group of believers. And I won't be the last either. The Bible talks quite a bit about those who are negligent with the things of God. 2 Chronicles 29:11 states:

"My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him,
to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense."

The word negligent means to deceive. When we promised the Lord to serve Him, to honor Him and to help our fellow Christians as we gave our lives to Christ, that was a vow we made to God. When we become negligent in our vows to God, we are deceiving the Lord. When we say that we need to get rid of the bad politicians, but then we won't even support our Christian candidates, we are deceiving ourselves if we think that God is going to be pleased with our actions.

If we don't turn this nation around by electing Godly leaders we are going to be the generation responsible for destroying the great land that God gave His servants 400 years ago. Let us remember that the Bible clearly states that revival and the healing of the land is solely the responsibility of Christian believers. Let us remember the plan of action that God gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and let us be diligent to act upon it:

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

This has been an exclusive story from the Journal of James Hartline.
Now Read Daily By Over 17,000 Concerned Citizens Of Conviction.

I Am Making My Stand!
Have You Started Making Yours Yet?

You can read other major Christian Conservative news stories
at California Christian News

James Hartline, Publisher
The James Hartline Report
Educating The Church
Fighting For Our Generation

The Journal of James Hartline: How A Girl On A Bicycle Saved My Life and Taught Me How To Fight For The Kids of My Generation

2007-12-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

The Journal of James Hartline:
From The Diary Of A Christian Warrior
In The Last Days
- Dated December 17, 2007 -

How A Girl On A Bicycle Saved My Life
And
Taught Me How To Fight
For The Kids Of My Generation

Over the last few years I have intensified my public campaign to protect the children of San Diego, California from predators and radicalized homosexual activists. There is a passion in my soul that causes me to stand up for my generation's youth. In this war to fight for our kids, I have been castigated and attacked by gay community leaders and even some church leaders. These attackers say that I am too aggressive and too divisive in my efforts. Well, let me tell you -- there is a reason that I am an extremist when it comes to fighting for our kids.

Let me take you back to 1966, to a time when I was just nine years-old. It was the winter season in my hometown of Bakersfield, California. That winter was colder than most people in southern California were used to experiencing. For me, the winter weather was not the only thing that was cold in my nine year-old life. Life indeed, had become frigid and cruel for me. Already, I had experienced years of beatings and daily torture at the hands of my disturbed mother. She was the kind of mom that ranted about immorality in the culture at the same time that she used every kind of profanity imaginable when describing how worthless I had become in her life. Her verbal assaults were always finished off with the swinging of a belt or a punch in my face from her angry fist.

By the age of nine, I had become a real expert in the art of covering up bruises and welts. I had also become a master at converting my well-worn pants and shirts into effective camouflage bandages that hid the evidence of my mother's use of belts, electrical cords and cooking spoons which she used when beating me.

At school, I had a reputation for always getting into trouble. For me, the fourth grade was more like the fourth round in a boxing match. Eventually, my parents could no longer explain my outbursts at school as evidence that I was just a "problem" child in need of psychological counseling. Fist fights at school had become my way of expressing my deep frustration over the injustices that were inflicted upon me in my own home. Finally, my apathetic father and my abusive mother handed me over to the Kern County foster care system where they could "fix" me. My vicitmizers had finally thrown me away as if I was an old coat that they no longer wanted to keep in a crowded closet.

Thinking that my escape from the vicious hands of my mother would free me from the beatings that I had endured every day of my life, I was even more dismayed to find out that abuse was not limited to my parent's home. At such a young age, I had no idea why I had been placed in a foster home of foreigners where my new foster parents had decided that they had the right to hit me and deprive me in the same cruel fashion that my mother had.

The foster home that I was placed in was run by a middle-aged mother and father who still had three older teenage boys of their own living there. Added to this crowded situation were four other teenage foster boys. I, being nine years-old, was now a very small boy living in the land of dangerous giants. Not only did this new foster mom decide that foster boys were a means of profiteering off of government welfare checks, but she also decided that foster boys didn't merit such things as hot meals or milk with your cold cereal. What was a kid to do with a bowl of corn flakes and no milk? I found out real soon what happened to a little boy who stole milk in a foster home. He got beat up by the real sons of the foster mother.

Who was I to go to in that dark hour? My parents had sent me to this new home of deprival and degradation. They wouldn't be helping me. I remembered always seeing a big family Bible laying on the table in our living room when I was at home. As a little boy, I didn't know much about praying. Occasional trips to my Dad's Baptist church usually consisted of me going to Sunday School and singing songs about "stepping on a tack and breaking the devil's back." Whatever that meant, I certainly didn't see much help coming from those experiences. Particularly, since my Dad had always shown more interest in his obsession with football games on television than he did with standing up to my mom when she abused me.

The one escape from abuse that I experienced as a child came in the form of my ability to get to school and stay there as long as possible. While most kids couldn't wait to get out of school, I ususally found a way to arrive early and stay late. The foster home I found myself in was an extra long walk to my new elementary school. Oftentimes I had to decide between breakfast and making the school bus. Sometimes my little belly made the choice for me. Unfortunately, this particular foster mother decided that she was going to keep the food money and spend it on herself. Breakfast usually consisted of cold cereal without the milk. Only the woman's real sons got milk on a regular basis.

With five foster boys and three other sons in the house, I was forced to engage in some real food warfare to survive. Quick dashes into the kitchen, and even quicker, hand-in, hand-out, refrigerator tactics to get some milk for my corn flakes, had taught me early on that life is primarily combat maneuvers over the basic necessities of life.

The one great joy of my life during that foster home experience was my membership in my elementary school choir. I used to sing, sing, sing, in those dark days. I don't know how I would have ever made it through those degrading days if I had not been accepted into the choir. The problem was, however, that choir practice occurred before school started. That also meant that choir practice occurred during my kitchen excursions to look for food to eat. Life just seemed to get more complicated for this hungry nine year-old singer in foster care.

One early December morning, the students at my school were informed that auditions would be held for the school's Christmas play. Arising extra early, I thought I could get into the kitchen, get my milk and corn flakes, and hit the road to make it to the auditions. My plan was not to be. Waiting for me as I snuck into the kitchen was the foster mother -- and a belt in her hand that looked more like a rattle snake than a piece of leather to hold up her husband's pants.

"Don't you ever steal from me, you greedy brat!" she screamed. Hungry, beaten and demoralized, she kicked me out of the house and into the cruel December winter. What made the cold weather even more bitter was the fact that I only had ten minutes to get to the school auditions. And it always took me at least fifteen minutes to walk the distance to the school from my foster home.

I wasn't much of a prayer warrior in those days, but I think I prayed harder during that harsh incident than all of the times I had prayed before -- combined! You never know how a prayer is going to be answered...expectations can be quite wild for a nine year-old. My answer quickly came in the form of a bell...a miracle bell. A bell on a bicycle that is. Slowly coming up behind me was a girl on a bicycle -- and she was ringing her bicycle bell. Turning around and wiping the snot and tears off of my gaunt nine year-old face, I came face to face with a freckled face girl riding on a boy's bicycle -- the kind with a seat that could illegitimately carry two kids.

"Hey you better hurry," she exclaimed to me above her loudly ringing bell. She slowed her bike down so she could ride at my walking pace.

"What?" I retorted in fearful shock.

"Oh, I just moved up the street from you and I joined the choir yesterday. Aren't you going to be in the play? We have to hurry if we're going to make it for the auditions," she cried in her best motherly voice. She was that kind of best friend who knows everyone...and knows what's best for everyone as well.

"I can't make it in time," I responded in my angry and dejected 'me against the world' attitude.

"We have to have you. You are the best boy singer in our school!" she said as she campaigned to win me over to her side.

As I kept walking, she pulled slightly ahead of me, bringing her bicycle to a stop. "Come on now, get on! I'll get us both there." She was bigger than me and more persuasive than I could be. I was in no condition to fight against the cold or her offer to help.

This girl on a boy's bicycle got us both to the audition on time. And every morning leading up to the actual Christmas play, there she was: waiting for me out in front of my house to give me a ride on the back of her bicycle. And everyday, her and I used to sing a little louder than the rest of the kids as we practiced our parts. I really got to like this girl enough to actually laugh with her as we both made ridiculous and goofy faces behind the choir director's back.

On the night of the Christmas play, all of the parents showed up to proudly watch their kids perform. All of the parents except mine. My foster parents did not show up. For them, my participation in the school play was merely a means to have one less kid and one less voice to hear in their home. I didn't care. All that mattered to me was the victory that I and my friend on the bicycle had achieved by being in our school's Christmas play. That Christmas, the girl on the bicycle had become my family.

Over forty years have gone by since that Christmas play. I eventually spent many more years in foster homes, reform schools and prisons. It took me many years to undo the tragic abuse that had been inflicted upon me by my own parents and a foster care system that had added further scars to the ones I had already borne upon my skinny, nine year-old body.

For the past seven years, I have been standing up for the kids of my city. I remember what it was like to be so small and have no defenders. With the help of God, I have every intention of fighting for the children of San Diego, California in the hopes that they will always have a voice speaking out on their behalf. As long as there is a breath in my body, I will be the kid on a bicycle who comes to the rescue of abused children -- children who might not make it without the extra help of a mysterious friend who shows up at just the right time.

When my opponents judge me for going after their pornographic businesses they had better realize that I will never stop fighting to keep their wares from harming the children of my city. When gay activists scream at me because I publicly protest the events they hold to target teenagers, they had better realize that I will not move out of their way as long as God is keeping me alive. I know what it is like to be abused as a young child. And I will fight to make sure that every child in my city is free to be children and free from the same trauma that I knew in my early years.

This Christmas, I hope in some small way, like the girl on the bicycle who befriended me when I so desperately needed a helping hand, I can be a friend to a child in need. And Lord knows there are lot of kids who need my help.

This has been a writing from the Journal of James Hartline.
James Hartline is a current candidate for the San Diego City Council
where he hopes to become a bright light for the needy kids of his city.

I Am Making My Stand!
Have You Started Making Yours Yet?

James Hartline, Publisher
The James Hartline Report
and
California Christian News
Educating The Church
Fighting For Our Generation

Liars In The Church -- How A New Plague Of Lying Threatens American Christianity: In The Classroom Of James Hartline

2007-05-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

In The Classroom Of James Hartline
- An Online Classroom For Radical Christians -
May 14, 2007

"Liars In The Church"
How A New Plague Of Simple Lying
Threatens American Christianity

"Do not lie to one another,
seeing that you have put off the old self
with its deceitful practices."
Colossians 3:9

Of all the many mandates in the Bible that we Christians have been given, there is none so important as the mandate of truth. Truth is at the core of every facet of Christianity. It is what distinguishes the Bible from all other religious texts and it is the very energy that is exhaled from the breath of God upon humanity. Truth is so important that God eternally encoded it in the ten commandments. In the ninth commandment, the Lord forbids us from lying about one another:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
Exodus 20:16

Satan also recognizes the great power that truth is and how it is the foundational component that connects man with his God. It is why Lucifer, given over to his own deluding falsehoods, was so driven to ensnare Eve in the Garden Eden. This beguiling serpent of deception so seduced Eve with lies about God and His word that she gave up everything to become humanity's first liar.

God demands that His people live in truth. We are to intellectually breed truth. And we are to be truthful with each other at all times. The Apostle John wrote of the intimate intertwining that truth has with any disciple of Jesus Christ. It is in this eternal love affair with God's truth that we become liberated from our unregenerated sinful nature:

Jesus said to the people who believed in Him,
"You are truly My disciples if you keep obeying My teachings.
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 8:31-32

Sadly, I see a darkness, unlike any I have seen before, that has creeped into the body of Christ. It is swirling about in our midst like a new plague. It is a real spiritual disease. Left unchecked, this plague will challenge the truthful foundations of the Christian Church, leaving it mortally wounded and terminally disabled. This growing epidemic of deceit is worse than a false theology, for it is germinating inside of the church and it is spreading by the words of our own lips. It is the plague I call "the simple lie". Those who engage in such actions are "simple liars".

Today, many church attendees have given way to this epidemic of simple lying. Yes, lying. Today, we so easily lie to each other, and we so easily give way to telling falsehoods, that many Christians are no longer even aware when they are lying.

Christians in the modern American Church have so lowered their standard of moral interactions with each other, that they don't even think twice about lying to one other. Over and over again, I have had fellow Christians, in a sort of lazy and careless fashion, lie to me. It is as if their conscience has become numb and their lying habitual. In a world where so many lie to get ahead, the church too, is exhibiting a growing familiarity with the unholy art of lying to get ahead.

How many times have you promised to have a fellow believer over for dinner and then failed to carry out that promise? I have had many fellow Christians, even church leaders, say to me, "Oh, James, we're going to have you over for dinner next week." Not only did they not have me over for dinner, but they never even bothered to tell me that they weren't having me over. In fact, I've never even seen the inside of the homes of most of those who promise to help me or have me over for dinner. It seems as if today's Christians have so reduced their obligations to each other, that the level of honesty in many churches is no different than that of secular corporations.

"Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine,
and learn from those who follow our example.
For I have told you often before, and I say it again
with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose
conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ."
Philippians 3:17-18

What does it mean, in a world that is getting more dark and more dangerous, if the Christian Church is being made into the image of this deceitful world? If our churches have become more consumed with building programs and sporting events than the saving of souls, what will our attitude be towards those in our midst who lie and break their promises?

As Christians, what are our obligations to each other? Does our level of truthfulness and loyalty reflect the depth of our professed Christianity? I have a friend who always helps me get to church and who really reflects a wonderful brotherly kindness. I have known this friend for only one year, but he is always there to help me. On the other hand, there are people in my church who live in my neighborhood, who have never once even offered to have a cup of coffee with me. Even though these folks have known me for over five years, they have never demonstrated one sign of Christian fellowship. Can you see the difference between these two examples? These two examples reflect the growing divide within churches in America between those who are demonstrating truth in Christianity and those who do not.

I believe it is a bleak sign in these last days that the spiritual watchmen and the pastors of modern Christianity have not sounded the alarm on this matter of lying. These leaders are responsible for correcting the false ideals and reproving the liars within our churches. Why are we allowing this pattern of lying to one another to fester and grow in our midst? Are we not giving birth to a new Judas generation where people tell lies now, but in the future they will turn into great betrayers of the cross?

Christians today are cleverly changing the terminology they use when addressing sin in the church. Instead of calling the act of lying a sin, they are now calling it a "mistake". Lying has always been a sin, yet many Christians today are more likely to resolve the issue as if they have been reading the Big Book from Alcoholics Anonymous rather then the Bible. The dangerous part in this erroneous approach, is that without an acknowledgement of sin, there can be no repentance. Without repentance, there can be no revival.

We must have correction on this matter or we are dooming the American Church to a second-class Christianity where demonic forces will dominate us -- and will eventually destroy us. When we gave our lives to Christ, we made an eternal oath to the living God. To renege on our commitment to Christ by refusing to end our soft approach to the sin of lying, is to make a complete mockery of the Gospel.

"When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
For He has no pleasure in fools.
Pay what you have vowed --
Better not to vow than to vow and not pay."
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

When we make promises to God or to each other, we should not delay in following through with our oaths, for God takes no pleasure in us when we do not keep our commitments. Ecclesiastes 5:6 warns us not to let our mouth cause our flesh to sin. Furthermore, the writer in Ecclesiastes tells us not to call it a mistake when we refuse to fulfill our vows:

"Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the
messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry
with your excuse and destroy the work of your hands."
Ecclesiastes 5:6

In fact, the writer in Ecclesiastes goes as far as to warn us that we could end up destroying the very church we are trying to build up when we make excuses for our sinful refusal to keep our vows. There could be no greater warning for Christians who refuse to stop lying to their fellow Christian brethren.

Refusal To Challenge The Liars In Our Midst:
Biblical Consequences For The Body Of Christ

The psalmist details his great distresses in the 120th psalm. The psalmist cries out for deliverance from the deceitful tongue and lying lips. It is the deceitful tongue and lying lips which have become the greatest of burdens for this man of God. Look what he writes:

"Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
And from a deceitful tongue
What shall be given to you,
Or what shall be done to you,
You false tongue?"
Psalm 120:2-3

If the psalmist is pleading so sincerely to God to deliver him from the lying tongue, what should our opinion be of those in our own churches who promise to help us or give to us, but then they just abandon us? To make a promise and then fail to keep one's word: this is lying. It is a sin. Yet, so readily, believers do not keep their word and they don't even say anything about the sin of such actions. Rarely do they even apologize when committing this great sin against their fellow brethren.

The Book of Proverbs repeatedly speaks on the issue of lying. In this great book of wisdom, the lie is presented as one of the great troublemakers. In fact, Proverbs, Chapter 29 presents the lie as a plague which can destroy an entire government:

"If a ruler pays attention to falsehood,
All ministers become wicked."
Proverbs 29:12

It is a critical play being scripted in churches throughout America, where members of the body of Christ are becoming more and more dishonest with each other. There are more Christians getting divorced than the non-christians. There are leading pastors like Ted Haggard, who get in the pulpit on Sunday while have sexually sinful affairs on the side. The lie comes in many forms and fashions, but it all begins with small, seemingly insignificant half-truths.

As I stated earlier, I have had Christians who have said to me, "James, I'm having you over for dinner next week." Not only did they not have me over, but they never even called to cancel. It was simply a lie. These types of lies are told everyday in churches throughout America. This lack of honesty, this lack of forthrightness, is creating a corporate atmosphere of dishonesty in American Christianity.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote of the deceptive mentality of ancient Jerusalem's leaders. He stated that these Jewish leaders had made a covenant with hell and the hallmark of that dark contract was the lie:

"For we have made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."
Isaiah 28:15

Many Christians, in their drive to be "liked" by everyone, will constantly make careless commitments that they really have no intention of keeping. These personal campaigns for acceptance run counter to Christ's teachings where He instructs us to become servants and not pursuers of worldly gain and popularity. The Book of Proverbs reminds us that the pursuit of earthly gain by the use of a lying tongue will only result in death:

"Getting treasures by a lying tongue
is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death."
Proverbs 21:6

The Apostle Paul taught the Ephesians to watch over the words that come out of our mouth:

"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,
but what is good for necessary edification,
that it may impart grace to the hearers."
Ephesians 4:29

Paul further instructs us to confront those in the church who are deceiving or lying to us. We are not to tolerate false Christians in our church who are lying and deceiving:

"Let no one deceive you with empty words,
for because of these things the wrath of God
comes upon the sons of disobedience."
Ephesians 5:6

Clearly, God is moving within our midst to clean out the leaven in His body of believers. A line is being drawn which separates those who are seeking to be truthful and righteous from those who want to continue living lives of dishonesty and deception. Those that are seeking for truth will live out lives that reflect holiness. We, the bearers of God's truth, will grow morally brighter and brighter in these last days. Those who come into our churches seeking to gain some advangtage in this perishing world will become more and more obvious.

In these last days, we must remind ourselves of the words of Jesus from the last chapter of the Book of Revelation:

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:
and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still;
And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still:
And he that is holy, let him be holy still."
Revelation 22:11

In closing this Bible study let us remember that Jesus declared to John that there would be a clear distinction between the ungodly and the godly in these last days based upon our life choices. Let us renew our commitment to being truthful and honest in every area of our Christian walk. Let all of us be known for the godly condition of our character and the truthfulness of our daily deeds.

Thank You For Spending Time In The Classroom Of James Hartline
www.JamesHartline.blogspot.com

"Preparing For My Depature
But Running My Race
Until I Leave."

James Hartline
Servant Of The Lord
In These Last Days

Prophetic Insights For The Last Days: Beware Of The Gibeonites

2007-04-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

In The Classroom Of James Hartline
April 24, 2007

- Prophetic Insights For The Last Days -

"Beware Of The Gibeonites"
How Deceivers And Political Schemers
Are Corrupting The Church In These Last Days

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to
the cities of Jericho and Ai, they resorted to deception and went
and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on
their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, and worn-out and
patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves;
and all the bread of their provisions was dry and had become
crumbled. And they went to Joshua to camp at Gilgal and lied to him
and the men of Israel, saying "We have come from a far country; now
therefore, make a covenant with us."

So the men of Israel took some of the Gibeonites' provisions,
and did not ask for counsel from the Lord.

Joshua proceeded to make peace with the deceiving Gibeonites
and made covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the
congregation swore an oath to them.
Joshua 9:3-5,14-15

Over twenty years ago when I was still in bondage to sexual immorality, drugs and thievery, I had a tremendous visitation from the Holy Spirt that would initiate the long battle for my deliverance from satan. This experience also revealed to me key components for the ministry that I am now involved in. It is always worth noting that God may reveal our future assignment years before any actual manifestation of that assignment. In the years of waiting between revelation and actuality, satan will come to get us off God's course by sending to us deceiving ambassadors. In this study, we will learn about the Gibeonites, a deceptive people who lied to the leaders of Israel to get God's chosen family to make some very bad deals. I have learned that we all are vulnerable to such deceptions. Hopefully, this study will teach us all how to detect and protect ourselves, our families and our churches from falling into one of satan's oldest tricks in his black book.

Over the last five years, I have repeatedly seen the manifestation of the call of God upon my life as revealed in that experience those many years ago. In recent years, God has had me investigating the root causes of much of the evil in our culture. Of all the matters that I have uncovered in my investigations there is none that has caused me more pain and grief then to see modern day Gibeonites coming into our churches. These new Gibeonites are deceptive and they are corrupt. They have covertly invaded our churches and infested our flocks. It fills me with tremendous sadness to watch as the very things that I have been fighting against in our secular culture are now being paraded right in the midst of our own churches. A way of visualizing this sad picture is this example: Imagine if you were preaching in your church against the sins of drugs or sexual immorality and then you find out that your very own spouse or children are doing those sinful things in your own home. You can imagine then, how I feel on this matter.

The Gibeonites lied to get favor with the Israelites. They falsely presented themselves as foreigners. The Israelites had been ordered to kill off all of the inhabitants who were dwelling in the land of promise. The lie worked and the Gibeonites, who actually lived nearby, were spared. Israel had locked themselves into a permanent contract of compromise. Today, there is a whole new army of Gibeonites who are gaining favor in our churches by acts of deception and trickery. We are in for a very rough war with these deceivers as you will learn in this study.

Open Doors For The New Gibeonites

In 2004, my church, Mission Valley Christian Fellowship (www.mvcf.com), realized that we had to engage our culture if we were going to impact the future of our nation. With the possiblity that anti-christian bigots might successfully remove the cross that sits atop the Mt. Soledad War Memorial, MVCF Pastor Leo Giovinetti sparked a national fire to bring America back to its original godly roots. His historic sermon series "Righteousness Exalts A Nation" can be heard by going to the website, America Bless God, (www.americablessgod.com/index.asp). Our church proceeded to begin a multi-prong war on many fronts. From saving the Mt. Soledad War Memorial Cross to ending a massive effort by homosexual activists to hold a World Gay Pride Festival in the holy city of Jerusalem, Mission Valley Christian Fellowship began to have a real impact on America.

Unfortunately, when we enter into battles to reclaim territory long held by satan, we also open the door for Gibeonites who are looking for any opportunity to infiltrate the vessels that God has chosen for his missions and assignments. In the last three years, I have watched as political schemers and deceivers have repeatedly entered our church to get members of our flock to make covenants with their wicked political agendas. We are certainly aware that we take risks when we go out to make a difference in our culture, but it has been a trying time for me personally, as I have watched these Gibeonites feed on my fellow brothers and sisters. Reporting on these Gibeonites has not been easy for me. These new Gibeonites have viciously targeted me to silence me. Like Joseph, son of Jacob, the bad brothers hate when a man of God reports on their wicked schemes:

And Joseph brought back a bad report about his brothers to their father.
And his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his
brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms."
Genesis 37:2,4

God told me several years ago to start reporting on all of the evil that I observe. That is really how my successful internet newsletter, The James Hartline Report, got its start. Today, it is read by thousands of people everyday. Everyday, I also receive emails from many Christians thanking me for the information they are receiving. Unfortunately, there are some who hate what I am doing, just like Joseph's brothers hated him. I think that the Gibeonites have infected every church in San Diego where I live. And the Gibeonites will try to destroy you if you reveal their schemes and plans. Take for example, the case of Foothills Christian Church in El Cajon, California (www.foothillschurch.org).

Foothills is one of the great churches in San Diego County. Some of the finest Christians I have met attend Foothills. And I am convinced that Foothills is destined to raise up an army of youth who will reclaim our culture for the Lord Jesus Christ. With a tenacity rarely found in today's "take the easy way out" culture, Foothills Christian Church has fought many uphill battles just to obtain church property. When many churches would have given up, Foothills said, "Press On!" Yet, Foothills Christian Church has a terrible Gibeonite problem and if they do not rid their church of this problem, they will quickly succumb to a terribly tragic future.

For over a year, I have written the church leaders about cleaning up the political corruption that is attached to their church. The response from these leaders: "Don't email us anymore." On one occasion, a powerful community leader associated with this church actually called me and threatened me if I didn't back away from exposing this situation. I have stored and hidden all of the correspondences and responses which document the terrible way I have been treated by those tied to this very corrupted situation. It is really hard to believe that God's people can go down such dark paths while claiming to be doing "the Lord's work."

Part of the problem at Foothills Christian Church relates to campaign contributions being given by some who are associated with the church's building fund (www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20020206-9999_2m6taxcode.html). Take the case of John Gibson, an advisor to the Foothills fundraising campaign (www.foothillschurch.org/fcf_Campaign/cabinet.html). John Gibson is employed with Hamann Construction. John Gibson gave thousands of dollars to help elect one of the most evil candidates in the 2006 California State elections: Joel Anderson. Anderson worked for the city council campaign of Phil Thalheimer in 2004. Anderson and his company earned over $400,000 from Thalheimer during that campaign.

During that 2004 campaign, Thalheimer participated in the pornographic San Diego Gay Pride Parade and Festival. Additionally, Thalheimber told the Gay and Lesbian Times that he has a man with a sex-change operation working for his company. Anderson worked for Thalheimer, a man who fully supports homosexual unions and giving syringes to drug addicts. Repeatedly, I informed John Gibson about Anderson. What was Gibson's response: he and his wife gave even more money to Anderson's campaign. In fact, on October 31, 2006, just days before the election, Gibson and his wife gave Anderson another $5,000 in campaign contribtutions. It was as if the spiritual air was just sucked out of the church when I found out what the Gibsons had done. To make matters worse, one of the lead pastors at Foothills also gave money to Anderson after this immoral politician had worked for Thalheimer.

During this same period of time, Joel Anderson was filling his campaign coffers with thousands of dollars from pro-homosexual GOP leaders like Steve Francis and a multitude of donations from individuals tied to the embryonic stem cell industry and the gambling industry. I know that the Bible warns our churches not to be yoked to ungodly people. I know what the consequences are for churches that allow ungodly influence in our midst. I repeatedly pleaded and begged the pastors of Foothills Church, as well as John Gibson, to not support Joel Anderson. They soundly rebuked me and told me to get lost. In this instance, the Gibeonites had their way and got their deal.

There are literally, dozens and dozens of other examples that I have uncovered over the last five years where San Diego County churches are compromsing with rotten politicians. Our entire county is polluted because church leaders are making backroom deals under the guise that they are helping their church with property deals, school permits, fundraising schemes, etc. etc. etc. There is a reason we have completely lost our culture to ungodly leaders. The Gibeonites are surely having their day.

Catastrophic Compromises

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in
sexual immorality with Moabite women. These Moabite women
then seduced the Israelites to make sacrifices to their gods. The
people proceeded to eat and bow down to these foreign gods.
So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor.

And the Lord's anger burned against them and a plague broke out.
Numbers 25:3

Those of us that have been great sinners before coming to the Lord are keenly aware of the terrible price that we have paid for our rebellion to God. As a result of my many years in homosexuality and drugs, I was infected with AIDS and hepatitus a, b and c. I know all to well, that the wages of sin really is death (Romans 6:23). God habitually warns us in His word, that if we allow ungodly influences and behaviors into our lives or our churches, we will pay dearly. In the Book of Numbers, God warned His people not to intermingle with the foreign nations, but rather, they were to completely destroy them.

God knows human nature. Our sin natures are prone to bond with ungodly people and their seductions. The Moabite culture was full of paganism and political darkness. Despite being warned by God, the Israelite men allowed the Moabite women to mingle in their midst. The result was catastrophic. Within a short period of time, the Moabite women had seduced Israel to bow to their foreign gods. God, disappointed and angry, struck His own people with a plague.

Contrary to the unbalanced opinions of many American Christians, grace is not an excuse to sin. Grace is also not a protection against the consequences for rebelling against God. So many churches today are allowing bad political advocates to come into their congregations and seduce congregants to participate in outright rebellion against the will of God. There are pastors that believe that if we just get these people into their services that their preaching will change the bad people into good ones. It might work once in awhile, but in most cases it is like playing spiritual Russian roulette with the flock because most of these bad political advocates go on to corrupt the sheep.

Many women's ministries love preaching about the Song of Solomon and the beautiful verses of song, love and relationships. Solomon had it all. Great wealth, good looks, security, servants and military superiority. Much like modern America. Yet, we must also be reminded of the dark path that Solomon eventually embarked upon.

But King Solomon loved many strange women, together
with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and the Hittites;
Of the nations which the Lord said unto the children of Israel,
"Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you:
for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods."
Solomon did indeed fall in love with these ungodly women.
And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines.
And his wives turned his heart away from the one true God.
1 Kings 11:1-2

The same foolish and horrific path that Solomon needlessly walked down, has been built into most of the churches in the United States. In San Diego where I dwell, I see it happening. Every week, I personally observe deceivers entering into the churches in San Diego. These deceivers have come to steal the hearts of the pastors and his church members. We must be awfully arrogant to think that we can allow such deceivers into our midst and remain immune from the same terrible compromises that finished off Solomon's reign. God will never allow His people to rebel against Him and remain penalty-free.

Last year, God allowed me to observe a truly toxic script being played out during the 2006 elections. A particular husband and wife in the real estate industry had, for many years, devoted themselves to politics. It really seems like this couple's consuming interest in politics borders on idolatry. This couple was particularly engaged in a campaign to help elect a very corrupt group to a local school board. The outcome of this particular school board race was critical for those that want to make money on land and construction deals. You see, this particular school board will vote on the location of a new high school in Alpine, California. Construction companies stand to make new fortunes based upon the construction of this school and all of the accompanying infrastructure roads, water systems, and housing projects.

While this couple claims to be committed Christians, I personally watched them conduct some of the most corrupt actions I have ever seen in a political race. Sadly, this husband and wife team will not repent and they will not cease their reprehensible actions. Yet, I know of a church that is allowing this couple to have full access to ministry meetings where they continue to lure church members into traps of compromise. Again, the Gibeonites are having their day.

I have seen examples, like that of this husband and wife, played out over and over again in San Diego County. I'm sure that it is also happening all over the United States. It is one thing for this type of behavior to occur in the secular arena, as terrible as that is, but the fact that it is tolerated inside of our churches, brings the situation into an entirely different level of moral darkness. Everyday, I wake up and fearfully ponder, "Is this the day that God allows a plague to break out in the churches where corrupt political forces are at work?"

I know the poison being created by these types of compromises is working its way deep into the corporate mindset of the church. Rather than heeding my warnings to clean up the political corruption that is weaving its way into the local churches of the San Diego area, the pastors are beginning to attack me more and more. Instead of focusing on those that are using our churches for ungodly deeds and financial gain, many are instead, pointing to me for being "judgmental" and "critical". And Joseph brought back a bad report about his brothers to their father. And his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms."

God warns of great spiritual blindness that comes upon Christians who hate their fellow brothers. As church leaders demonstrate more and more disdain for God's call upon my life, they are actually sowing more spiritual blindness into their own minds. Look at what John wrote about this:

"But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness,
and does not even know where he is going, because the darkness
has blinded his eyes."
1 John 2:11

God explicitly warns us not to partner with those who engage in ungodly enterprises. And yet, when I have warned the church leaders of such ungodly works, they have chosen to attack me rather than addressing the compromise.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion has light with darkness?"
2 Corinthians 6:14

The Apostle Paul was very clear when he wrote 2 Corinthians 6:14. We, as Christians, are not supposed to allow our churches to be breeding places for ungodly political agendas. There are people right now, that are inside of our churches plotting and planning how to seduce our fellow Christians to support and vote for morally rotten candidates. Moses warned his people in Deuteronomy to beware of such seducers.

"Beware, lest your hearts be deceived and you turn away
and serve other God's and worship them. And the Lord's
wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up heaven,
that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit;
and ye perish quickly off the good land which the Lord giveth you."
Deuteronomy 11:16-17

What is the problem in all of this compromise? I have spent hours, days, months seeking God for the answers to why there are so many who are compromising the word of God. I think there are some answers that I have learned in this journey of inquiry. I do believe there is an epidemic of fearlessness in the Body of Christ. And I don't mean fearlessness in a good way. What I mean is that there is no fear of God in much of the Body of Christ. Christians don't fear God anymore. Why else would a man claim to be a Christian, but then watch pornography? Why else would a woman claim to be a Christian, but then cheat on her husband? Why else would a man claim to be a Christian, but then campaign to help elect candidates who support the murderous procedure called embryonic stem cell research? Why else would a woman go to church and then give money to candidates who support the murder of abortion? People simply don't fear God anymore.

Then, there is the matter of greed. There are people claiming to be Christians, yet they are just plain greedy for material goods. And they are teaching their children to be just as greedy. Everytime their child wants something, the child just throws a temper tantrum and, bang! the parent gives them whatever they want to calm them down. Not only is this not Biblical, but it is the foundation for raising up a generation of youth who are consumed with materialistic anti-christianity.

Paul countered the culture of corruption and greed when he wrote young Timothy in his letter: But godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:19). Our churches seem as if they are never satisfied with the great wealth and blessings that God has already given them. We wan't bigger buildings and bigger stages, more cars, larger houses, more clothes, tickets to concerts, football jerseys, and on and on and on. This mentality is the environment that is fermenting a church that allows corrupt politicians and their advocates to set up shop in our congregations. These corrupt people come into our churches and they feed on the materialistic hunger of the flock. They promise property deals and big money and access to elected officials. Thus, we give these new Gibeonites places of exposure and access in our churches that they should have never, ever been given.

Paul gives us a stark warning about not doing this terrible political and materialistic dance in our churches:

"But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through many sorrows."
1 Timothy 6:9-10

We Must Be Vigilante

The Book of Proverbs give us critical yellow lights when we need to slow down and assess our spiritual condition. It also gives us some flashing red lights when we need to stop all together.

"My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
Proverbs 1:10

"My son, walk not thou in the way with them;
refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil,
and make haste to shed blood."
Proverbs 1:15

I believe God is flashing an eternal and bright red light for our churches to stop! and hault! We have allowed too many ungodly political spies and their plans to enter into our midst. God is calling for us to renew our eternal priorities. If we continue on the path of intermingling with these ungodly Gibeonites, we will be hindering the work of the Holy Spirit. Our time on this earth is short. We must clean house. What if we die today? What if we die in the midst of doing deals with these new Gibeonites? What excuse would we give to the Lord? God is calling us to go over the Jordan. And the Gibeonites cannot go over with us.

Thank You For Spending Time In The Classroom Of James Hartline.

Preparing For My Departure:
But Running My Race
Until I Leave!

www.jameshartline.com

Prophetic Insights For The Last Days -- Remembering Jonah: How America's Pastors Have Run From Confronting Evil

2007-03-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

In The Classroom Of James Hartline
March 20, 2007

- Prophetic Insights For The Last Days -

Remembering Jonah:
How America's Pastors Have Run From Confronting Evil
And
Caused The American Church To Be Thrown
Into The Coming Catastrophic Storm
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying,
"Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it; for its wickedness
has come up before me." But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found
a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thererof, and went down to it,
to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah 1:1-3

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty
tempest in the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken. Then the mariners
were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth wares that were
in the ship into the sea, to lighten it.
Jonah 1:4-5a

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship;
and he lay, and was fast asleep.
Jonah 1:5b

Over the last several years I have had dozens of prophetic dreams from the Lord where He has shown me great disasters occurring in various locations in the United States. In many of these dreams, I have learned of dark spiritual forces that operate in the unseen world. There is a spiritual realm where demonic beings plot and plan to harm humanity by accessing spiritual breaches created by corrupt human beings. In fact, God is very clear about the existence of such places and our relationship to them. Remember, in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the apostle documents such places:

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Ephesians 6:12

If God is so concerned with our earthly affairs and the decisions we are making, then shouldn't we also be as concerned? It has never been the will of God that we allow evil to prevail. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil: "But when people keep up sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the Devil." 1 John 3:8. It is not God's will either, that we end up being controlled or destroyed by evil governmental or political leaders. Considering that millions of Christian leaders in America pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," how have we ended up with so many anti-christian bureaucrats controlling this nation?

God describes the Christian Church with many dynamic definitions and concepts. We are the Body of Christ. We are the Bride of Christ. We are the Warriors for Christ upon this earth. We are heaven's ambassadors. We are also His flock. As His flock, we are assigned shepherds. The assignments of the shepherds, also known as pastors, are wide and varied. Most importantly, the pastors are the guardians of the flocks of Christ. If there are wolves or evil agendas coming against the church, it is the responsibility of the pastors to stand up and confront these evil threats. The Bible describes false shepherds as those who see evil coming and they retreat, leaving their vulnerable flocks to be devoured by the wolves:

"He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees,
and the wolf snatches them and scatters them."
John 10:12

There is overwhelming evidence that the American Church is being devoured by wolves. The Reverend Ted Haggard is the perfect example of a pastor, engulfed in perversion, who allowed his flock to be devoured by a world looking to destroy the effectiveness of those representing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Who is responsible for addressing the corruptive political forces that are demoralizing this nation? Who does God appoint as His representatives with the responsibility of standing up against those who are driving God's purposes from the public square? I think the Bible gives us some very clear and effective answers to these questions. Let us take a journey back in time to visit the story of the Prophet Jonah and we will find a most interesting comparison to God's dealings with the ancient City of Nineveh and our own distressing political situations in America.

We need to look no further then the Biblical account of Jonah to find an example which perfectly describes the current display by America's pastors and their epidemic apathy towards the sin in this nation. Like Jonah, American pastors have been given a prophetic assignment. They have accepted and professed God as the Lord Most High. With that assignment comes marching orders. God told Jonah: "Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it; for its wickedness has come up before me." God has not changed, nor have His commands. Like Jonah of old, pastors today have been commanded by God to go speak out against the wickedness in their respective communities.

One of the clearest examples of the gross apathy of today's pastoral leaders towards our many cultural problems was seen in 2004 during the battle to save the Mt. Soledad Cross. The ACLU and their anti-christian attorney had been seeking to tear this cross down for nearly two decades. Mission Valley Christian Fellowship, a large homeless church in San Diego, California, held a rally the night before the November 1, 2004 election to save the cross that sits atop this famous veteran's war memorial. Despite sending out thousands of invitations to the 1,700 pastors in San Diego, only four pastors showed up for the rally (http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/afa/122004f.asp).

Recently, I personally sent out thousands of requests to local Christians to stand with me at a board meeting of the San Diego Unified School District in the hopes of stopping a local elementary school from marching young minors in the annual pornographic gay pride parade (www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54538). Dozens of local pastors were among the recipients of my request. It was a heartbreaking time when no local pastors showed up at the meeting to speak up for protecting the kids. I think there is no greater sign in America that we are in the Laodicean Church period. I really don't know how San Diego pastors sleep at night as they collect their big paychecks while they do nothing about the sexualization of children in the San Diego Gay Pride Parade and Festival.

- Coping With Pastoral Abandonment -

When I was a little boy, I was one of the most perplexing students that my teachers had ever come across. So perplexing, in fact, that my parents were repeatedly called in for parent-teacher conferences. My brother, who preceded me by one year, was a straight-A student. Additionally, he was rewarded with those same A's for conduct and citizenship. My sister who was a year younger than me, did just as well as my brother. This is why my teachers had such a hard time figuring me out. Oh, I got the good grades, just like my siblings, but my conduct and citizenship received the annual "F" because I was always fighting or getting in trouble. My parents always told my teachers that they had no idea why my behavior was so different from that of my brother and sister. Eventually, the truth came out, and school leaders learned that my mom had been abusing and beating me everyday, which inturn triggered my outbursts at school.

Eventually, juvenile authorities in Carson City, Nevada placed me in a group children's home to get me away from my abusive mother. During my stay at the children's home I began to runaway and steal. This led to my placement in the Nevada Youth Training Center. While there, my family simply moved to another state. They never said they were abandoning me. They just left and moved away. In my greatest hour of need, those who should have cared about my young and troubled life simply abandoned me. I learned at a very young age to readily identify abandonment.

My memories of having a family that abandoned me in my most dire moment has given me an easily identifiable example of today's church leaders who are abandoning our grievously troubled culture. In epidemic fashion, our pastors have left far too few Christians to take on the evil people who are destroying our nation. These pastors will not make waves. They will not engage the moral conflicts being ignited by radical pro-homosexual and pro-abortion activists. America is drowning in a cesspool of immorality and the thousands of well-paid pastors in America will not throw us any life preservers. I know this abandonment well. God experienced abandonment as well, when He commanded Jonah to go and speak out against the wickedness of Nineveh. Jonah simply moved away from God's assignment and basically told God, "Love the title, but not the trouble. See you later."

Today's pastors are well aware of the great wickedness that has swept across America like a violent and evil wind storm. These pastors have accepted payment from their churches to be spokesmen for the cause of Christ. Pastors have nice homes, nice cars, vacations, paid medical bills, all the result of accepting paid positions with their respective churches. God says, "Okay, now that you have been paid, go speak to the wicked culture what My word says." Instead of following the Lord's commandment to go and make public stands for righteousness, the pastors in America simply refuse to say anything. They won't go to their respective city councils. They won't go to their local school boards. They won't go to the street corner, nor to the train or bus stations. No, these pastors are far too busy to be bothered with that. What was Jonah's response to the Lord's commandment to go and speak out in Nineveh against that city's great wickedness?

But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord,
and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish:
so he paid the fare thererof, and went down to it,
to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah 1:1-3

There is no doubt that we Christians are suffering because the pastors will not speak out against the moral rot that is destroying our nation. We are being broken because the pastors in this nation are too busy to go to their respective city and government officials and speak out against the immorality that is destroying our nation. We Christians are being beaten down while our pastors have their nice cars, their nice homes and their lovely vacations. Our nation is burning under the tyranny of a vocal and aggressive anti-christian army. It is easy for these pastors to speak of such dire matters in the comfort of their congregations where there is no opposition. Such opposition would not be tolerated in most churches. In fact, in most congregations if you demand that your pastor go and speak out at the local city council, he would probably instruct you to leave the church. Recently, I was actually threatened by one San Diego ministry leader because I was exposing the financial corruption at one large East San Diego County Church.

Look at what happened when Jonah ran from the Lord and His order to go to Nineveh:

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty
tempest in the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken. Then the mariners
were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth wares that were
in the ship into the sea, to lighten it.
Jonah 1:4-5a

We know that we are never going to return to the self-confident days of pre-911. Nothing will ever be the same again. We are in the last days and these are dark days. Yet, by the complacent attitudes of most Christians, you would never think that we are in such dire straits. From one end of this nation to the other, coast to coast, state by state, radical homosexual activists are engaged in a relentless war to seize the minds of this nation's children. The response of most pastors to this national nightmare: they have banned any mention from their pulpits of the issue of homosexuality or the gay agenda's war against our children. This year, nearly two million babies will be butchered in the wombs of American women. The response of most pastors: they have banned from the pulpit any mention of abortion or Planned Parenthood's vile corporate agenda. On issue after issue, the pastors in this nation have waved a putrid white flag that offers up no resistance to the forces of evil that have made America the world's largest exporter of perversion, pornography and child abuse. Recently, a group of pastors did find the time, however, to speak out against global warming (www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w070312&s=plumer031507).

In one dream that I had about five years ago, I saw a terrible storm strike the place where I was speaking. Everything was destroyed. Outside of the destroyed building I was standing and encouraging a steady stream of men who were coming out of the rubble. Not to belabor all of the details of this dream, I will say that I know that this dream represents a terrible thing that is coming upon the church. I know some of us will survive the catastrophe. But it will be a time of great hardship. We must take heed from the story of Jonah and how God dealt with this prophet's refusal to follow through with his assignment:

"Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."
Jonah 1:17

None of us have wanted our churches to go through distress. We all want prosperity and expanded ministries, great Christian schools and preaching halls. But the pastors have given God no choice. They will not comply with God's simple demands to go out and speak to the ungodliness that is destroying our nation. So, like Jonah, we are about to see the great humiliation of the American Church. We will suffer. We will be swallowed up in the belly of a great beast. It is not want any of us have wanted. None of us want to suffer needless pain. But the pastors will not listen. And thus, we all are going to suffer for it.

What Do We Do Now?

The Bible says that when Jonah got fed up with being in the belly of that tortuous fish, he finally humbled himself and cried out to God:

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,
and said, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord,
and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice."
Jonah 1:1-2

Eventually, Jonah obeyed and went to Nineveh. As a result of Jonah's fine preaching, Nineveh humbled itself and mass repentence for its great sins occurred. The sins of Nineveh were horrific. Mass killers, abortion, sexual immorality, rampant crime and child abuse were all public practices of the Assyrian culture. Nineveh was Assyria's capitol. Imagine combining the evil of Jeffrey Dahmer with the Taliban, NAMBLA's pedophilia and San Francisco's homosexual agenda, and you would have a semblance of Nineveh's cultural profile. Despite the hopeless carnality that controlled the minds of Nineveh's citizens, the annointing that God had placed upon Jonah was strong enough to bring the entire city to repentance. This is exactly what God is asking of the pastors in America. God wants the pastors of America to rise up and make a public and united call to this nation to repent.

Will the pastors of America heed the demands of God? We can only pray they do. But should the pastors continue to refuse, then we must prepare for the hard times to come. We who know the will of God for this nation must move ever closer to God. We must hear from the Lord in this dark hour. When the storm comes we must be prepared to suffer. We must also believe that God will humble these pastors, and in the midst of the suffering, they will come to God and finally agree to stand in the public square and cry out against America's great evil leaders and their sins. Remember Jonah. Remember Jonah. Remember Jonah.

Thank You For Spending Time In The Classroom Of James Hartline
James Hartline, Director of The Hillcrest Mission
www.hillcrestmission.org

The Journal of James Hartline
Preparing For My Departure:
But Running My Race Until I Leave!

Prophetic Insights For The Last Days: The Sleep Of Death - How The Lukewarm American Church Will Be Destroyed If It Doesn't Wake Up

2007-03-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

In The Classroom Of James Hartline
Prophetic Insights For The Last Days
March 12, 2007

The Sleep of Death:
How The Lukewarm American Church
Will Be Destroyed If It Doesn't Wake Up

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of My mouth. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore and repent."
Revelation 3:16,20

I have authored hundreds of Bible studies and other related writings all with one goal in mind: to inform Christians about the troubles in our culture and hopefully motivate them to do something about it. The work of being a Christian activist is really a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is gratifying to know that I am doing what God has commanded me to do. However, on the other hand it is a painful calling. When Jesus proclaimed, "Many are called but few are chosen," I don't think most believers fully appreciate His words or the high cost that must be paid by those who are called to stand in the gap for Christ in our culture.

With so many threats regularly launched against me by my opponents, as well as the great physical pain and exhaustion that comes with my assignment, it is a particularly painful blow to my spirit when so many church leaders close their ears to my cries for help in this battle to save our nation. I have cried out against the abuse of our youth by homosexual and lesbian activists, and rarely do the pastors ever respond. For many years now, I have regularly gone to the San Diego City Council to represent God's people by speaking out on issues of moral significance. I send thousands of emails out requesting that Christians stand with me during these city council meetings. Rarely, do I get more than ten people who will stand with me on issues like child abuse and pornography. There is nothing that has troubled my spirit more than the recurrent apathy that seems to have a death grip on the American Christian church. Why is this? What has created the soil from which this root of oblivious apathy has sprung up in western Christianity?

The prophet Isaiah provides a keen answer to this tragic mindset:

"For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers."
Isaiah 29:10

Why would the Lord do such a thing? Why would He pour out such a spirit of blindness and apathy over our leadership? Look how Isaiah answers this perplexing dilemma:

"Then the Lord said, 'Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of traditions learned by memory and repetition.' "
Isaiah 29:13

Why is this so important to me? Why am I so concerned with the superficiality of church leaders and the apathy of those that follow their instructions? Because I have a love for my fellow Christians that will not allow me to give them over to the coming destruction of our culture. You see, there is not a day that goes by that I do not feel the devil's breath being exhaled into his unholy plans for this nation. In hundreds of dreams from the Lord over the last eight years, God has permitted me to see satan's blueprints for this country and the church. Satan has an unholy scheme for this nation and he is hatching it. It is coming. It is something so terrible and so vile, that it causes me to freeze in a consuming contemplation over our future.

The other day as I was praying and fasting, I asked the Lord, "Am I on the right course Lord, for hardly anyone will listen to me?" That night, God revealed to me through a dream, "Stay the course, you are doing what I have required of you." There was some solice for me in God's response. However, there was little comfort for me with the awareness that the American Christian church is, in reality, comatose. Truly, the American church as created its own "separation of church and state" mindset, where the pastors don't mess with the culture and they don't encourage their followers to make waves either. As a result, we are completely vulnerable to the impending catastrophes that are sure to come.

- A Prophetic Revelation Of The Coming Catastrophe -

Nearly three years ago, I received a prophetic dream from the Lord that has troubled me ever since. It was a vision of something terrible that is gathering energy in America. For all general purposes, what I saw was the construction of an evil, anti-christ system being built while the church sat idly by watching. Let me describe this dream for you:

-- I could see inside of a gigantic construction project. It was the largest structure I have ever seen, more massive than a football stadium. At the peripheral of the structure, lining the outer walls, were bleachers on which individuals were just sitting and watching the structure as it was being constructed. All of sudden I heard a voice shout, "Show me how it works." Then all of the exits and entrances to the structure were closed with no escape. The spectators began to panic and run around looking for a way of escape. Out of nowhere came these horrible gigantic guards who began to round up all of the spectators who had been sitting and watching the construction of this gigantic structure. The spectators were forced to get in a line. Each one of spectators was brought before a judgment table and asked by the judge to give an account for themselves. None could give any justifiable explanation for their passivity and their inaction over the building of this gigantic structure. It then appeared that each spectator was judged and found guilty. --

I have spent the last three years seeking God for an answer to this vision. It has been a great burden upon my mind and upon my soul as to what I saw in that dream. I have asked God many times, "Who were these spectators?" "Why were they so passive, so apathetic, so uninvolved while this structure was being built?" And I have asked God many times, "What is this gigantic structure?" As time has gone on, God has given me answers in varying degrees of revelation. The answers are as troubling for me as was the vision.

The "Too Comfortable" Church

For the past six years, I have been actively fighting to save the City of San Diego from its own corruption and moral pollution. I have exposed corrupt politicians who falsely claim to be Christians just to win the Christian vote. I have fought with our city government to shut down pornographic businesses located right across from elementary schools. And I have stood against radical homosexual activists who are seducing our young kids into sexual anarchy. Yet, the most difficult aspect in these battles has not been the wicked forces which are seeking to destroy our city. The hardest part has been the extreme apathy of pastors and those who follow their example. I believe that the spectators which I saw in the vision are the apathetic Christians and pastors who refuse to engage the culture and the moral catastrophes that are routinely being launched in America. One of the clearest signs that this is true can be seen while reading the various ministry lists within most churches. One look at most church websites and you will find almost no evidence for local evangelism or local missionary training programs.

While advocates for homosexuality are on an insidious march, pulpits throughout America are deadly silent on the matter. While nearly two million babies will be aborted this year, most church websites are completely void of any mention of the abortion issue. Most studies reveal that over 1/3 of all pastors are struggling with pornography. Yet, there is almost no mention on any church website of this moral debacle. I believe this terrible display of silence and apathy was manifested in the vision God gave to me. He showed me that these were the spectators who were sitting and silently watching the construction of this gigantic anti-christ system.

Literally, the comatose Christian church in the United States has sat idly by while our nation has been completely overrun with evil. We have sat by and watched as this anti-christ system has been constructed without any interference. How is this possbile? How can we have 90% of this nation claiming to be Christian, yet, our country has been completely polluted by the greatest moral rot in the history of humanity?

Applying sound theological standards, the Bible astutely calls the person who is lukewarm in their Christianity to be in great sin. Read what Jesus said to the Apostle John when speaking of the lukewarm church in Laodicea:

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of My mouth. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore and repent."
Revelation 3:16,20

This is truly a profound matter according to the Lord. Think about this: Jesus, the Master, is telling the lukewarm Christian to repent. How do we define this state of lukewarmness: the condition of the soul wretchedly fluctuating between torpor and a fervour of love. The implication of being in a state of torpor is very serious. Torpor means to be apathetic or in a state of hibernation. If we can consider what this means for an active Devil and his evil minions, then we can certainly begin to understand why God considers the Chrisitan who is lukewarm to be in great sin. Diruna torpor is when creatures 'deep sleep' for only part of a day. Examples of Diruna torpor are bats, the California pocket mouse and the dormouse who 'sleep' (are dormant) during the daytime but are active at night. I know alot of Christians who are like this: they are dormant when it comes to making a stand in the culture for our values, but they are extremely active when promoting their favorite sports teams and movies. One of the most horrific fruits from this travesty of torpor Christianity was seen in the recent 2006 elections, when millions of Christians helped to reelect pro-abortion, pro-homosexual Governor Arnold Schwarznegger, yet they refused to vote for Prop. 85, the Parental Notification Initiative.

Look at what Jesus said about the Laodicean Church:

"Because thou sayest, "I am rich, and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
Revelation 3:17

The Coming Church Catastrophe

I believe that the dream I had of the gigantic structure being built was a prophetic vision of a coming catastrophe for the American church. The Christians were mere spectators while that structure was being built. I believe that the structure being built was the current anti-christian system that has taken over major parts of this nation. It has consumed the political system. It has taken over the educational system. And it is being weaved into the church as well. Eventually, it will be fully activated and there will be nowhere for us to turn when it comes after us. It will be triggered in a moment, and like Nazi Germany, it will begin to terrorize God's people in ways that we cannot even fathom.

The Apostle Paul warns the church at Thessalonica about this terrible time. He identifies the circumstances that would be pervasive leading up to this evil period. Read what Paul says and tremble:

"For when they shall say, 'Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child;
and they shall not escape.' "
1 Thessalonians 5:3

This is why Jesus considers it such a sin to be in this passive and apathetic state. When Christ has appointed us to be warriors on His behalf, God considers it to be a most foul thing for Christians to be appeasers with the ungodly culture. All of the modern day American church that is preaching a rancid gospel where we avoid all trouble, is the opposite of everything that Christ and the Apostles Paul and John preached. Instead of attacking the devil and his works, the "can't we all just get along" crowd is holding cute seminars on diet, marriage and wealth building.

Paul goes on to emphatically demand that the Thessalonians stay on the alert. He commands this young church to stay awake so that they would not be caught up in the Day of the Lord and all of its implied disasters:

"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you
as a thief. You are all the children of light, and the children of the day:
We are not of the night, nor of the darkness.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-5

Oh, how the Lord warned me in the vision of the Christians who were nothing more than mere spectators during the construction of this anti-christ system. Is it not so in today's world? Isn't the church nothing more than spectators in this ungodly world? It just seems that the church is watching the world become darker and darker, as if they are watching a movie, a video, like the Left Behind series. Who is leading the multitude of Christians to act this way? If there is someone in our church who is commiting adultery or reading pornography, would we not confront them and demand that they repent? Yet, the pastors in America, for the most part, are leading their flocks to look at the corruption in the government and the perversion in the culture and do nothing more then sit on their hands and remain silent.

Is this how the Apostle Paul instructed us to conduct ourselves. I say, "No!" Look at what the Apostle Paul said regarding our attitude and mental alertness:

"Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
1 Thessalonians 5:6

I believe if the Apostle Paul were alive today, he would be the first one to stand with me at the San Diego City Council or the school board when I ask Christians and their pastors to stand with me to fight the gross immorality and child abuse that is rampant in our culture. Yet, I can tell you, that there are pastors in San Diego who have actually threatened me for my constant petitions to get their church members involved in my various civic protests. There are even pastors in San Diego who have used their pulpits to mock me and fight against me in the battle that God has called me to.

It is extremely important to take a closer look at the word watch that the Apostle Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 5:6. Look at how this word is defined:

Watch - Greek (gregoreou)
1) to watch
2) metaph. give strict attention to, be cautious, active
a) to take heed lest through remission and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one
a) to arouse from sleep, to awake
b) to arouse from the sleep of death, to recall the dead to life
c) to cause to rise from a seat or bed etc.

I have spent many hours crying out to God that He would somehow move to awaken the church before it is too late. I can see the coming disaster. I have seen the coming storm. No matter how unjust the pastors have treated me, I cannot give up. No matter how I have been tormented by the apathy of most Christians, I cannot leave the course that God has set before me. I cannot bear the thought of quitting on God. Nor, can I wish or desire that any of my brothers and sisters go through the terror that the devil is seeking to unleash upon our nation.

Oh, Christian will you wake up? I am begging you to wake up. Do not think that you are going to avoid the catastrophes that are rapidly approaching. They are coming. I have seen them in my dreams. I have seen them in my visions. They are coming.

We will now come to a most serious question in this study: Is God willing to intervene? I know He is. Why does the Lord show me the coming disasters? Does it really matter who He shows divine things to? God shows His dreams and visions to whomever He wishes. I just happen to be one of many who are recepients of God's flowing Spirit and revelations.

Hopefully, after reading this Bible study, you the Christian reader will take a more intimate look at 2 Chronicles 7:14:

"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Amazingly, the grace of God is even extended to the unbelieving nation. If they will repent, then God will relent and withhold His promised judgment. Remember the story of the Prophet Jonah and the city of Nineveh? God told Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Like many of today's church leaders, Jonah did not want to speak out against the evil of Nineveh. In fact, Jonah ran from his assignment, just like many today are doing. After repenting of his own disobedience to God, Jonah finally obeyed and went to Nineveh where he cried out against the sin of that vile city. Heeding Jonah's warning of impending judgment, Nineveh humbled itself and repented:

"And Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey, and he cried, and said,
'Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.' So the people of Nineveh
believed God and repented, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest of them even to the least of them."
If we could find a city today that looked like Nineveh we would find a city replete with the terrorism of al-qaeda and the sexual immorality of San Francisco--combined! That is how evil Nineveh was. Yet, they repented after hearing the preaching of Jonah. And look at the merciful response of God to Nineveh's humility and repentance:

"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;
And God repented of the evil, that He said that He would do unto them,
and He did not do it."

If Nineveh can do it, can't we in America? I pray so. I pray so. Will the American church rise up and take the mantle of Jonah? Will the American Christian, from San Diego to San Francisco, from New York to Miami, rise up and cry out like Jonah did? Or will we continue to remain neutral and spiritually neutered? Will we remain silent until God's judgment is unleashed? Hopefully, those that read this Bible study will be provoked to move from the status of spectator to that of active leader in our battle to save this nation.

Thank you for spending time in the Classroom of James Hartline.
Preparing A New Generation For The Next Great Awakening!

James Hartline, Bible Teacher
Preparing For My Departure
But Running My Race Until I Leave

www.hillcrestmission.org

Journal of James Hartline: Lessons That John The Baptist Taught Me To Overcome The King Herods Of My Generation

2007-02-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

The Journal of James Hartline
Preparing For My Departure:
But Running My Race Until I Leave
February 4, 2007

Lessons That John the Baptist Taught Me
To Overcome the King Herods of My Generation

John said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet."
John 1:23

I have spent many years studying the life of John the Baptist. For even the most seasoned of Biblical scholars, John's life is a most perplexing one. One of the complex questions about John's life that has always plagued me is the issue of why John suffered such a terrible ending to his life when he had lived so obediently to the will and dictates of God.

Why would Jesus allow John to be executed by the most heinous man on earth when this John the Baptist was living in complete obedience to our heavenly Father? While Jesus was healing many who were living extremely sinful and disobedient lives, He allowed John to be taken into prison and then beheaded. I know these difficult questions have been placed into my heart by the Holy Spirit. God has driven me to find answers to these questions. In my quest for the answers, I have been on a journey to the very core of God's purpose for me while I remain upon this earth.

Picture for a moment the grand beginnings of John the Baptist:

And there appeared unto Zacharias an angel of the Lord standing on the right
side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and
fear fell upon him. But the angel of the Lord said unto him, "Fear not, Zacharias:
for thy prayer is heard; thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and
thou shall call his name John. And thou shall have joy and gladness; and
many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord,
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the
Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God."
Luke 1:11-16

There was so much heavenly hope in the womb of Elizabeth. John was ordained from birth to turn the hearts of an entire nation back to God. This would be no easy task in light of the moral decay that ran deep within the soul of Israel. Under the pagan dictatorship of the Roman Empire, Israel's religious and governmental leaders had subjected themselves to the evils of Caesar's mandates, and thus, only a man filled with the Holy Spirit of God Almighty from birth could interject a societal mindset that gave credence to the Kingdom of Heaven and Christ the Messiah. In other words: Enter John the Baptist, the Forerunner of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.

As the life of John unfolds, shift for a moment to that glorious incident within the waters of the Jordan River where a mild, but intellectually gifted carpenter's son comes to the Baptist:

And John came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins; John said unto them, "As for me, I baptize
you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to tie
the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Now when all the people were being baptized by John, Jesus was baptized,
and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended
in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My
beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."
Luke 3:3,16,21-22

"He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30)," were the words of John as he recognized his God-ordained and declining role in the ministry of Jesus. That one statement has become for me, one of the foundational concepts in every aspect of my life as a Christian. All of my old sins and all of my old rebellion must decline and die off as Christ increases within my soul and life decisions. I am not sure that John fully realized when he made this statement just how prophetic and final it was for his own earthly ministry.

And now, shift one more time to the latter stones upon the road that John the Baptist walked. Remember the glorious appearing of the angel of the Lord as he articulated in holy splendor the destiny of John. Remember the precious assignment of John as he held the head of Jesus in his gnarled hands and slowly and lovingly baptized our Messiah beneath the murky waters of the Jordan River. And then think about this:

King Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his
wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod's brother Philip). John kept
telling Herod, "It is illegal for you to marry her." Herod would have
executed John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people
believed that John was a prophet.
Matthew 14:3-5

But at a birthday party for Herod, Salome, the wicked daughter of
Herodias, performed a dance that greatly pleased him,
so Herod promised with an oath to give her anything she wanted.
At her mother's urging, the girl asked,
"I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!"
Matthew 14:6-8

So John was beheaded in the prison and his head was brought on a tray
and given to the girl. And the girl, laughing and giggling, gave it to her
wicked mother, Queen Herodias.
Matthew 14:10-11

John would not compromise the calling God had given him. From his birth to his death, John would not endulge his flesh. While others drank liquor and had adulterous affairs, John was crying out in the wilderness, "Repent! Repent! Make ready the coming of the Lord." He would never be a father to any children, for he never married. He lived a life alone, segregated in allegiance to God. John's only priority was to the throne of heaven and the King that sat upon that throne. John was repulsed by the self-endulgent society that surrounded him. In severe defense of the word of God, John attacked all religious leaders who sought to contaminate the sovereign domain that God had assigned him to defend.

John had a way of angering all of the hypocrites of his time. And the hypocrites, from King Herod to the temple priests, despised John:

But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Saducess come to his baptism,
he said unto them, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come?"
Matthew 3:7

The vile King Herod could no longer tolerate the constant outcry of John as he confronted that blasphemous king for his immoral and repugnant leadership. I can, with great sadness, envision the moment those brutal guards arrested John. They beat him with the blunt end of a sword, knocking him down. Trying as he always did to rise up with the courage of a lion, John tried to straighten his moldy garment of camel's hair, the blood flowing from the wound on his brow. Striking another blow, John fell into the very waters that he once had baptized Jesus in. With blood oozing down his face, Herod's soldiers forcefully placed heavy iron manacles onto John's wrists and ankles. Grabbing John by his soiled long hair, one of the burliest of the guards drug John out of the Jordan and threw him atop a prisoner's cart. From that place, a territory known in ancient Israel as Perea, the cart began the long, desolate ride to Machaerus.

Machaerus, the Fortress of Herod.
Machaerus, the fearful place, the ancient place of Herod's evil doings.

The isolated mountain on which the fortress stood is located at the end of a ridge between the Wadi Zerqa Ma`in to the north and the Wadi Heidan-Mujib (Arnon) to the south. The mountain isolated by deep wadis forms two saddles to the south east and north west sides. It could be reached from the Dead Sea on the west or from the region of Madaba on the east.

Machaerus - just the mention of that name, created dread and fear in the hearts of the common citizens of Jerusalem. To offend the royal family in any way could result in a trip to the dark recesses of Machaerus. John knew what could happen to him for speaking out against the immorality and spiritual rot that had permeated the political and religious leadership of Israel. Yet, John's obedience to God was more important to him than the fear of Machaerus or Herod's death squads.

While the wealthy elite of the Jewish government wined and dined with Herod's adulterous family at Machaerus, the music would play so loudly in the banquet hall that all sounds from the dungeon below were drowned out. During crowded parties, the pagan drum beats coordinated the seducing rhythms of nearly nude virgin dancers in the halls of the fortress. On one such night, when an outside observer could not distinguish between the dancers and the demons which appeared among the drunkards, the unconscious body of John the Baptist was drug through the iron gates of Machaerus.

It seemed that the music got louder and the drum beats faster, as two heavy and sweating guards pushed open the rusting gates that lead down into the dark recesses of the dungeon. As they hauled John's body behind that devil's entry, the guards abruptly stopped and covered their nostrils with well-worn towels. Oh, the stench, the filthy stench. There was no running water in Herod's dungeon. There were no air vents to bring about a breeze. This was to prevent the hellish odors from rising up into the sumptuous rooms of the residential part of the castle. Even with their faces covered, the smell of human waste and vomit nearly caused the guards to faint. In the midst of decaying flesh and the prisoners who were covered with sores and maggots, the guards chained dear John the Baptist to the wall in the darkest part of the dungeon. The new prison cell of John the Baptist was simply called: the pit.

The pit: a five-foot square hole in the lowest bowels of the dungeon. Sinking into the filthy mire of Herod's torture chambers, an unconcsious John began to awaken. John thought that it would only be a short period of time before Jesus came and miraculously removed him from such an unholy predicament. Afterall, a lifetime of obedience would surely result in his rescue. To John's utter dismay, Jesus never came. In a brief moment of lost faith, John conveyed to a rare visitor, "Go ask Jesus, 'Are you the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?' "

Suffering under the tyranny of Herod's control, John was frustrated that Jesus never did come to get him out of the prison. One day, John noticed that the vague laughter flowing down from the banquet hall was louder than usual. Oh, how they loved to mock John, especially that witch Herodias who was living in an adulterous relationship with her husband's brother. Herodias despised John. Everytime he was brought up for questioning by Herod, John would point at her and demand she repent of her adultery and witchcraft. She never did repent and on the day that the music played louder than usual, two guards with black hoods upon their heads entered the cell of John the Baptist.

John was chained to the wall. He could not even lift his hands to defend himself. Herod had reduced this once mighty man of God to a life worse then that of a dog. Without so much as a warning, one of the guards brought out a large, razor sharp sword. The other guard grabbed John by the hair and held his head back. With one swing of that device, the head of John the Baptist was disconnected from his earthly abode. Shrieks of laughter exploded among the political leaders within Herod's banqueting room as the guard handed Herodias the platter holding the head of dear John the Baptist. The wicked rulers of a society consumed by hell's delicacies had triumphantly silenced a prophet of God.

For the first thirty-five years of my life, I was basically the personification of sin and wickedness. Captive to a lifestyle of drugs and homosexuality, there was surely nothing good going to come from my existence. There was no doubt in my mind that I was headed straight to hell and I was desperately trying to find a way out of my dire circumstances. Ultimately, God did answer my constant cries for deliverance. Somewhere on my road to redemption, God really did change me. I owe God everything because He rescued me from an eternity in hell.

As my life in Christ has matured, my appetite for sin has diminished more and more, and my hunger for God's word has steadily increased. I think I have grasped what John the Baptist so eloquently articulated when he said, "Christ must increase and I must decrease." My spiritual journey with Christ has begun to come into a more fuller maturity as I daily draw closer to God's merciful throne room. Today, I am consumed, much like John the Baptist, with giving all of my life to whatever God demands of me. What else could I do, but give my all to the God who has given me eternal life?

It seems that God has driven me into a wilderness. On many days, it is a lonely place, but with that loneliness, comes a great and divine peace. I know I am where God has brought me. It is a lonely place for many reasons. One of these reasons is that few are called there. Most Christians do not really want to be completely segregated from the things of this life. Oh, they will tell us they do, but when the demand to cut off the sinful ways are put before them, there is usually a justification for continuing on with their consumption of such sinful produce.

I am impelled by God to call out to our society to repent. I cannot help it. It burns within my belly. I have no peace if I do not cry out what God has commanded me to tell the world. God tells me to warn the people. There are great catastrophes coming. Our entire culture, our nation, our very existence is in grave danger. Yet, many times when I warn those God has called me to warn, I am raked over the verbal coals of the hot mouths of degenerate political and religious leaders.

I cannot remain silent. It seems as if the spirit of Herod has risen from the grave. There is a vicious hatred in our culture rising up against me. And that hatred is coming from many pastoral offices right here in San Diego, California, the place where I live. It would be easier to remain silent. But God has not kept me alive this long so that I can remain silent. What good is my life, to say I know God, but then disobey my Lord because I fear the tyranny arising from those who claim a form of false godliness.

I had always assumed that if I repented and turned from my wicked ways, that everyone would be so jubilant. That was the greatest false assumption that I could have ever made. The spirit of Herod and his adulterous wife Herodias live on in many churches in the city and county where I live. There is a great spiritual wickedness and corruption in many of the churches in San Diego. I have sought high and low for the answer to this dilemna. I have poked and prodded into these churches and I have come away with a delirious disappointment.

I have actually been threatened by pastors and other church leaders here in San Diego because I have exposed their corruption. It is a most heartbreaking experience. For I know that their attitudes are reflective of very dark things to come. I have seen how the love of money has taken captive the focus of many pastors in San Diego. Their building programs have replaced the New Testament's main mandate which is local evangelism. There is barely any breath left in the local San Diego body of Christ for local evangelism. The pulse of the local gospel is rapidly diminishing. It is a startling occurence in light of the fact that there are over 1,700 churches in San Diego. Many of these churches have buildings bigger than Herod's Fortress at Machaerus and yet the light within them to save the lost in San Diego is darker than the dungeon that John the Baptist died in.

God has commanded me to root out corruption in the cities of San Diego County. I must obey. But oh, how I am despised. I am hated by the radical homosexual activists who consider my stand for God against their ungodly enterprises a major threat to their agenda. I am equally despised by many San Diego pastors who have become enslaved by their own quests for bigger church venues, schools and music programs. And in all this, they resist the cry of God to return to their first love.

There are also some pastors who are partnering with corrupt political forces in San Diego. These dark alliances are creating grave compromises that are ulitmately killing off the effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Working in tandum with each other, I have been informed by numerous confidential sources that these unholy teams are working to silence my voice in our city. For them, it's all about "unity." Unity for what? So they can build bigger Christian schools and elect more corrupt politicians who will approve their building projects. These individuals despise my constant crying out against their corruption. They are indeed, like the Herodian Clan of old.

There is an extremely large church in East San Diego County that actually has a member who advises their building fund. This individual gave thousands of dollars to an extremely wicked politician in the recent 2006 election. Why would he do this? How could he compromise the values of the Bible? How could someone so closely tied to the fundraising project of this large church, compromise the Bible's commandment that we believers are not to partner with the evil works of darkness? Yet, the pastor of this church also gave money to the same politician. What has been this church's response to me for bringing this up to them? I have actually been threatened by some of the leaders associated with this church if I don't back off from confronting this situation.

What does this situation say about the gross darkness that is saturating San Diego, California? With over 1,700 churches in San Diego, California, how is that we have a lesbian District Attorney and a mayor who marches in the gay pride parade each year. I know of numerous Christian leaders in one of the largest churches in San Diego who helped elect this pro-gay mayor. What hope do we have from the impending catastrophes that will surely come when God judges this grotesque injustice and compromise of His word?

I feel there are new Herod's breathing down my neck. But if my obedience to God means I must lay my neck on Christ's sacrificial altar, then I say, "Take my neck and everything else I have in this life." When I get to heaven, I think John the Baptist and I will have alot to talk about.

From The Journal Of James Hartline
A Voice Crying Out In The Wilderness
February 4, 2007
"God: Use My Life To Save My Generation"
www.jameshartline.com

My Gethsemane: Wrestling With Death To Gain Eternal Life - From The Journal Of James Hartline

2006-11-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

The Journal of James Hartline
November 20, 2006

My Gethsemane:
Wrestling With Death
To Gain Eternal Life

"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane,
and saith unto the disciples, "Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder."
Then saith He unto them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful,
even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with Me."
Matthew 26:36,38

Oct. 5, 2005 Cover Story In San Diego CityBeat:
"How James Hartline Became Hillcrest's
Most Notorious Christian Soldier"
(www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=3628)

I have found that place where eternity has staked out a burial plot for the carnality of all mankind. It is the place where all personal dreams and ambitions are brought into direct conflict with the will and purposes of God. It is called Gethsemane. Gethsemane, the garden of anguish, the garden of death. It is the last place that Jesus went to prior to His betrayal. It was in Gethsemane, that the Master wrestled with His humanity and overcame it. With drops of blood flowing down His tormented brow, Jesus crucified each and every emotion and thought, bringing them into subjection to the will of the Father. All of His fears, His anxieties, His entire shuddering flesh: brought into alignment with the impending cross of cruxifiction. And the cross prevailed upon the mind of Christ. That is Gethsemane's purpose: the wrestling out of all spots and blemishes from the resisting soul until nothing remains but the purified will of the Father.

I, too, have been to Gethsemane. Strangely, and unfortunately, I find myself returning again and again to Gethsemane to wrestle with my humanity. It is always a low blow to my carnal mind, when I know I must drag my screaming carcass back to that garden of death to bring some place of resistance into agreement with the will of my heavenly Father. It seems that there is a daily resurrection of some portion of my buried flesh. And when that triumphant hand raises itself up out of the dirt of its burial plot, I must once against drag that snarling, rebellious corpse back to Gethsemane. In this life, Gethsemane's existence will always be an unfortunate and painful necessity.

We all must go to Gethsemane. Each man's Gethsemane is uniquely different. We all will surely know when we have entered into that place where human reality fades and the critical debate between our flesh and spirit will fight to the death over our eternal priorities. Each time we enter into Gethsemane's dark and eerie domain we get ever closer to the place where Christ, Himself, surrendered all. Oh, how I moan at times in fearful thought, that Christ should ever find me on the outskirts of Gethsemane, asleep, while He intercedes with the Father for more of my will to be given over to His heavenly purposes.

And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,
"Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch for one hour?
Keep watching and praying, that you may not come into
temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Mark 14:37-38

My Gethsemane has been a lonely and arduous battle for me. The long shadows of death have encompassed me for nine years now. On December 1, 1997, I was infected with the virus that causes AIDS. There is no cure. That is the beginning and the end of the matter. Without a miracle from God, I will one day succumb to this wretched disease. Those who engage in homosexuality will eventually bite into what the Bible calls the "Vine of Sodom." Once I bit into that seductive fruit, the poison began to make its parasitic march throughout my bodily organs and systems. Oh, what a fatal flaw, did my thinking provide me, when I thought that sin's consequences would pass me by on its deadly way to others.

I have had to go to Gethsemane many, many times to wrestle with God and my flesh in dealing with AIDS. Each time, the wrestling has brought me closer to Him. Most bound in homosexuality will die in their sins rather than repent and surrender to Christ. The mind, once given to that reprobate state, will rarely find its way out of that pit of delusion and eternal damnation. I am most fortunate. For, in my wrestling over this disease of AIDS, I have surrender my flesh and all homosexual desires to God. In the process of seeking healing from AIDS, I have been completely delivered from homosexuality. Gethsemane has served me well in the eyes of God.

Arrows of Hate, Arrows of Scorn

"Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you
from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil,
for the Son of man's sake."
Luke 6:22

Most American Christians are obvlious to the extreme hate that is now manifesting in major metropolitan areas of the United States towards those that adhere to a belief in the Bible. Nowhere is that hate more intense then inside of the homosexual communities within America's urban areas.

Living inside of Hillcrest, the homosexual stronghold of San Diego, California, it seems as if I have been swallowed up at times, into a great caldron of hostility and bigotry because of my faith. What have I done wrong? What have I said that has germinated such anger towards me. Simply, standing for Christ and proclaiming the Word of God, has brought me into a war that I did not invent. Nevertheless, by surrendering to the will of God, I have enlisted in such a battle. It is a war over philosophies. It is a war over ideas. And most assuredly, it is a war with titanic spiritual dynamics: it is the war of ages between God and the rebels under satan's spell. Everyone who chooses to pick up the cross of Jesus Christ will enter into this conflict. To wave a white flag in surrender to satan, is to drop the cross and deny Christ.

There is a permeating emnity between those bound in the snare of homosexuality and those that speak the truth of the Bible. Once I renounced my former life and its sinful attire, I too, became the focus of a major campaign of hate and intolerance by San Diego's homosexual advocates. On a daily basis, I am ridiculed and mocked by those that claim that I am hateful and demented because of what they term "religious zealotry." They claim that opposition to the sin of homosexuality is intolerant zealotry. I say, in stark opposition to them, that those who will actually die in their quest for sexual fulfillment, are the ones who are demented zealots.

On August 21, 2005 the entire world was made aware that my life was constantly threatened by radical members of San Diego's homosexual community, when World Net Daily published an international story
detailing a death threat made against me
that had been posted on the Hillquest Website:
(http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45879)

For nearly seven years, I have lived just one block from San Diego's Gay and Lesbian Center. I have been the target of many threats living in that location. The Gay and Lesbian Center is the physical manifestation of an entire neighborhood in complete rebellion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From the promotion of homosexual marriages and pornography to an orchestrated campaign against the Boy Scouts of America, this government funded temple of immorality stands as a testament to rebellion against the Word of God. It was, however, the indoctrination of young teenagers into homosexuality, lesbianism and transsexualism by the Gay and Lesbian Center, that really stirred my soul to go to war against this organization of evil.

"Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven,
that one of these little ones should perish."
Matthew 18:14

"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends"
John 15:13

This is where I have many times had to go to Gethsemane. I know that those who are determined to take these little ones and steal their innocence for ungodly purposes, have plotted my demise. But God has commanded me to stand for Him in the midst of such gross darkness. I have taken my fears, my burdens, my pains: all potential negative outcomes, to Gethsemane. I have wrestled them down to the earth, and pinned them to the ground into submission to the will of my Father in heaven.

There is no place in Hillcrest that I can walk where I am not recognized. My photographs have been circulated throughout the city. A cover story in the widely read weekly newspaper, San Diego CityBeat, circulated my picture under the title "The Enemy Within: How James Hartline Became Hillcrest's Most Notorious Christian Soldier." On many days, as I walk about the streets of Hillcrest, hateful glares will come my way, but my eyes stay focused on Christ and His mission for me. How we have come to a place in our society where the alledged "victims" of intolerance and hate crimes, have turned out to be an army of victimizers against Christians, is truly a sign of how asleep the watchman on the walls have been.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him,
"What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God,
if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."

Photo from Fox News placed
on gay website that regularly mocks me
called the James Hartline Watch.
(www.hillquest.com/community/jhartline.htm)

Free From My Steel Cocoon

How HIV Turned James Hartline to Christ
By Amy Reid and Tim Branson On CBN"s 700 Club
(www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/james_hartline021706.aspx)
You can watch the interview and story of James Hartline that was told
internationally on CBN's The 700 Club:
(www.cbn.com/vod/index.aspx?s=/vod/AR28)

Free From My Steel Cocoon:
What Do I Do With This Liberty?

"Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name:
the righteous shall compass me about;
for Thou shalt deal bountifully with me."
Psalm 142:7

"And I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts."
Psalm 119:45

Once we have been to our Gethsemane, where do we go from there. Well firstly, we know we would not have been to Gethsemane, if the Lord had not drawn us there. Thus, we know that since God brought us there, to crucify our own plans, and our own ambitions, He will also draw us into His purposes afterwards. For so many years, I had known nothing but sorrow, sickness and failure. How could a man who had been involved in homosexuality for thirty years, been in prisons for nineteen years, as well as mental illnesses and drug use, do anything worthwhile for the Lord Jesus Christ?

And Jesus looking upon them said,
"With men it is impossible, but not with God:
For with God, all things are possible."
Mark 10:27

If the devil could have killed me, he would have already done it. God has called me, and it is irrelevant what man thinks of that, or of me as a person, for that matter. Whom God calls, He qualifies. It is not a matter of education, or societal standing, or physical prowess. Simply, I am the least likely. In all facets, in the eyes of man, I am qualified for only one thing: the trash heap of all things failed. My God has called me to look the devil in the face and remind him that he has no say in my destiny or my success. It is God. He called. He qualifed. He equipped. And the devil has lost. I am eternally grateful for Gethsemane.

Nov. 1, 2004 Rally To Save The Mt. Soldedad Cross
Plotting to save the Mt. Soledad Cross with Pastor Leo Giovinetti.
Pastor Leo & Mission Valley Christian Fellowship adopted me
as their "Christian Pit Bull" and son in the Lord.

James Hartline In Chicago Preaching The Word Of God
During The World Gay Games in July of 2006

The Journal of James Hartline
Preparing For My Departure:
But Running My Race Until I Leave

James Hartline, Director
The Hillcrest Mission
www.hillcrestmission.org

Six Years In Sodom

2006-09-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

From The Journal Of James Hartline
September 4, 2006

- Six Years In Sodom -

"But at the same time, God rescued Lot out of Sodom
because he was a good man who was sick of all
the wickedness and immorality around him.
Yes, he was a righteous man who was distressed and
vexed by all of the wickedness that he heard and saw
day after day." 2 Peter 2:7-8

On September 1, 2000, I moved into the little apartment that I still live in during these hot, closing days of the summer of the year 2006. It is has been a long, hard six years. However, as I celebrate the sixth completed year in this location, I would not have exchanged this experience of trials, tribulations and great triumphs for anything. God has trained me in His school during these past six years and it has prepared me for my assignment in these last days. Most Christians who are placed in the kind of difficult circumstances that God has placed me in for this ministry-training experience, will run, rather than absorb the spiritual benefits that come with that assignment.

During these past six years, I have dwelt in the midst of one of the darkest spiritual places on earth. To the natural eye, the neighborhood I live in does not seem all that unusual. Shops, restaurants, quaint little houses intermixed with condos and high rise apartment buildings, and yet, it is, in the spirit realm, one of the blackest, demonic places in our city. Indeed, I have lived in the midst of a modern spiritual Sodom, a neighborhood called Hillcrest, the homosexual stronghold of San Diego, California. The moment that God instructed me to move into my present location in 2000, the devil came to me and said directly to me that I would not survive, that he would kill me off.

There it was, in one unsettling fragment of time, the devil declaring war on me. His fury at my stepping foot into his domain, ran down my neck like the breath of death, and I was repulsed into a place of uncertain contemplation. Emaciated from AIDS and recovering from years of drug abuse and imprisonment, who was I to obey God while the devil, who had always held me captive, now sought to issue me my final death certificate. God had emancipated me from thirty years of homosexual slavery and now He was sending me back, so soon, to a great California city of spiritual Sodom to liberate the land. This is where the testing of the soul and the revealing of the true Christian commitment is made sure. Am I really that one who stands at the front of the church declaring myself a born again Christian? Or am I all talk in front of the flock, but unwilling and unyielding in the secret places when God calls me to give my all to His will for my life. After six years of great spiritual warfare, I am still standing firm in my commitment to Christ and I think I have done my best to keep my covenant to God and His will for my life.

Since that day on September 1, 2000, the devil has taken his best low blows at me. I have received many death threats. I have been spit on by supporters of the gay agenda. I have been grabbed around the throat and thrown to the ground by a demon possessed homosexual activist. I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians (http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2006/08/here-he-comes-again.html). I have no fence around my apartment and over these past six years, the angels of God have encamped about my home. I have certainly learned in the deepest part of my spirit man, the meaning of Psalm 91:10-11, "No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your dwelling. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways."

In 2005, after two lesbians allowed a death threat against me to be posted on their website (http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45879), I was awakened at 3:00am to the sound of someone trying to turn the doorknob of my front door. Outside, I could see two men on my patio. The police were called and without even checking for identification, they just let them go. My only recourse was to turn to the word of God. To this day, I now have posted on the inside of my front door a piece of paper which declares, "In peace, I will both, lie down and sleep, for Thou alone, O Lord, doest make me to dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8." The word of God is my law enforcement, and I haven't had a man or a devil try to get into my house in the middle of the night since!

The Book of Genesis describes the ancient city of Sodom to be a cruel and evil place. So vile were the men of that perverted city, that they actually attempted to rape the angels sent by God to rescue Lot:

"Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord."
Genesis 13:13
"And the men of Sodom surrounded Lot's house, both young and old, all the people
from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men (angels) who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have sexual relations with them."
Genesis 19:4-5
"But they said to Lot, after he pleaded with them not to touch the men (angels), 'Furthermore, this one came in as a judge; now we will treat him worse than them.'
So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break down his door to get to the angels to rape them."
Genesis 19:9

The same treacherous and demonic immorality that was pervasive in ancient Sodom has arisen again in the newly resurrected Sodomic gay communities around the United States. I have lived through six years inside of the gay community of Hillcrest as a commited Christian and I am a sure witness that Sodom has, in fact, resurrected itself. The anti-christian hatred that continues to grow unabated inside of this neighborhood has been cloned, spiritually speaking, from ancient Sodom. The atmosphere, the attitudes, the sexual immorality, they are all the same as that which permeated ancient Sodom.

God, even back then, was looking for a way to spare Sodom. He heeded the pleas of Abraham to spare Sodom from destruction, if the angels of judgment could find a certain number of righteous citizens. God has sent me to help drive out the demonic forces that have ensnared the citizenry of Hillcrest, that God might spare them as well. Sadly, the hatred and abuse that is daily extended to me, is a misguided and delusional perspective harbored by my neighbors towards me. They do not understand why I am here and why I do what I do. They do not comprehend the mercy of God in placing me in their midst. I fear, that the same outcome that destroyed Sodom is quickly approaching this territory as well. The clock is ticking loudly towards midnight.

When I renounced my thirty year involvement in homosexuality and picked up my cross and followed Christ, I assumed an obedient life and that meant living by myself. Most men with AIDS who are living in the homosexual lifestyle will shack up with their sexual partners and share their finances and live in nice homes and take care of each other. I choose to go without many of the things that they have when they pool their combined resources. I have been greatly blessed above and beyond everything I could ask or think, including complete deliverance from sexual immorality, the cleansing of a foul and reprobate mind, and liberty from the imprisonment of my spirit to many demons. I will surely live alone as an obedient man of God with the Spirit of the Living Maker dwelling in my house, rather than appease my flesh with some void, sensual and ungodly relationship.

I have lived six years in resurrected Sodom. I am now in the seventh year of my assignment. The seventh year, the year of harvest, the year of restoration, the year of jubilation.

"If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you,
than he shall serve you six years,
but in the seventh year, you must let him go free."
Deuteronomy 15:12

I have faced the devil and I have lived to tell the tale. Six years in Sodom. Six years in the midst of the devil's prison camp. Let every citizen and prisoner of Sodom claim their lies and their immorality, but I am alive, yes, alive with the Spirit of the living God, even in Sodom.

From The Journal of James Hartine
September 4, 2006

Preparing For My Departure:
But Running My Race
Until I Leave!