By mid-1981, I was on radio from coast to coast in USA.
I had written two little booklets which were sold in faith movement churches.
One book was "Taking Thoughts Captive" ... the other book was "Healing the Wounded Believer". (Published by Harrison House, a faith movement publisher)
As I recall, these booklets were into multiple printings and faith movement churches couldn't keep them on their bookshelves due to high volume sales.
My meetings around the USA often had between 500 to 2000 people.
Everything was going very well and growing rapidly.
I was very popular.
At that time, the subjects God had given me centered around these topics:
- Following God by HIS Spirit
- The work of the Holy Spirit in the believer
- Taking thoughts captive
- Dealing with destructive thoughts
Very soon a big change was coming.
*****
At a meeting in Seattle, I was en route to the airport when God spoke the following to me by HIS Spirit.
"The foundation is laid. Now we're really going to move."
I was very excited over this, foolishly.
I didn't have the sense that Mary had.
Luke 1:28-29 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
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The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
At that approximate time, God gave me a dream.
In the dream, University of Texas (major football team) was playing North Texas (very minor team). A very skillful running back who had once played for Texas was now playing for North Texas. The ball was about to be snapped. I knew this running back would be crushed by Texas and the weight of the players. At the snap of the ball, I heard: "Don't go until you see Exodus 15."
I had been in the faith movement and even a "rising star" on radio in that movement.
Now I was speaking what God had shown me to be errors in the faith movement doctrine.
I knew I would be crushed.
So it was very easy for me to understand the dream.
I had my schedule of meetings for 1982 completely filled.
I cancelled all meetings immediately.
One of our board members said, "Joan ... you can't do this. You must go out. If you go out, they will give money. If you don't go out, you will lose money."
I replied: "I'm not going. God told me not to go, and I'm not going."
That was early 1982.
I haven't gone out physically since then.
(But two decades later God worked it out nicely for the messages HE gave me to go out daily all over the world through our blog ... Jesus Ministries Exhortations ... and through the books we publish on Amazon.)
And I am completely free to publish any message I believe to be from God without influence or without threats of being removed from distribution areas.
*****
A couple of years after I was born again, while I still was operating my business, a man from the church I was attending came to my shop to talk with me. He identified himself as a prophet. He said he had a message for me. It centered around the following scripture:
John 21:18-19 Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
This spake HE (Jesus), signifying by what death he (that disciple) should glorify God.
And when HE (Jesus) had spoken this, HE saith unto him (to the disciple), Follow ME.
*****
A few weeks later, approximately summer 1981, I was on an airplane, returning from speaking to a church group in Hobbs, New Mexico (USA), when the Holy Spirit began speaking to me.
I heard these words over and over:
The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
At that approximate time, God gave me a dream.
In the dream, University of Texas (major football team) was playing North Texas (very minor team). A very skillful running back who had once played for Texas was now playing for North Texas. The ball was about to be snapped. I knew this running back would be crushed by Texas and the weight of the players. At the snap of the ball, I heard: "Don't go until you see Exodus 15."
I had been in the faith movement and even a "rising star" on radio in that movement.
Now I was speaking what God had shown me to be errors in the faith movement doctrine.
I knew I would be crushed.
So it was very easy for me to understand the dream.
*****
I had my schedule of meetings for 1982 completely filled.
I cancelled all meetings immediately.
One of our board members said, "Joan ... you can't do this. You must go out. If you go out, they will give money. If you don't go out, you will lose money."
I replied: "I'm not going. God told me not to go, and I'm not going."
That was early 1982.
I haven't gone out physically since then.
(But two decades later God worked it out nicely for the messages HE gave me to go out daily all over the world through our blog ... Jesus Ministries Exhortations ... and through the books we publish on Amazon.)
And I am completely free to publish any message I believe to be from God without influence or without threats of being removed from distribution areas.
*****
A couple of years after I was born again, while I still was operating my business, a man from the church I was attending came to my shop to talk with me. He identified himself as a prophet. He said he had a message for me. It centered around the following scripture:
John 21:18-19 Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
This spake HE (Jesus), signifying by what death he (that disciple) should glorify God.
And when HE (Jesus) had spoken this, HE saith unto him (to the disciple), Follow ME.
That was about to happen to me.
*****
A few days after hearing, "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God," The Holy Spirit began calling to my attention various things being done by ministers and showing me what they were doing was sin.
- one minister had added a country western type music to his meetings to draw more people to his meetings and to increase the size of the meetings by entertaining the people with music, according to his advertising agent.
- another minister had allowed his group to take up an "offering" for his birthday to send him and his wife on a fun trip to Hawaii (tax deductible offerings)
- to another minister there was a message about adultery and fornication and a warning
- one minister was tricking the airlines into shipping boxes of books, tapes, and Bibles to her meeting cites
- one minister "killed a prophet" by keeping her from speaking freely on his TV talk show
- several pastors were changing doctrines in their churches away from that which was written in Bible and were adding made up stories to portions of the Bible, failing to hold forth truth in their preaching
As a prophet of God, I knew I had to communicate with these ministers and tell them that which the Holy Spirit had shown me about them.
I began taking these messages to these big-time ministers. (Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Kenneth Copeland, and a few others... and I warned many pastors of their sin in the loose handling of scriptures from pulpit and of deliberately telling of fabricated stories instead of giving the pure truth cited in Bible.)
But I found even though I was relatively well known at that time, I was unable to reach the big-time ministers with these messages for they isolated themselves and kept "body guards" around them to keep people away from them.
I tried sending these messages by letter, identifying myself as a prophet. But I learned the letters were intercepted by their office staff and thrown in trash and the message never reached the minister.
*****
In one case, Jim Bakker, I received a response to the message I had sent.
The letterhead upon which I wrote the message is "Jesus Ministries" ... Baker supposedly replied saying:
"Dear Jesus. Thank you for your letter. Jesus, I want you to know Tammy and I prayed for you today," Jim & Tammy Bakker
(Of course it was just a standard form letter he was using to reply to all who wrote to him ... he never saw my letter at all ... hypocrisy from Bakker.)
The message sent to Bakker concerned adultery and fornication.
Later it was revealed he was committing adultery and fornication with one of his church secretaries and her name was even made public to everyone.
Also he was committing fraud against his followers concerning a theme park scheme, and was tried in US court, found guilty, and placed in a USA prison.
Tammy Faye divorced Bakker, married another man (adultery) and died of cancer. Bakker is out of prison now and has resumed preaching. (see Jim Bakker: Wikipedia)
*****
I finally decided to tell of these sins of various ministers and name the minister by name on my radio broadcasts.
Then the message reached these ministers.
Hate mail poured in from their followers.
Radio stations began putting me off the air.
Offerings to my ministry decreased dramatically.
*****
One message was about Jimmy Swaggart.
He owned two of the radio stations where I was broadcasting: KWJS in Dallas and a station in Houston. They put me off the air immediately.
But I had no doubt the message had reached him.
Swaggert had deliberately increased country western type music at his meetings to attract more people to his meetings. (My advertising agent told me Swaggart was their client at that time and he was tired of preaching to such small groups of about 500 and he wanted big groups at his meetings so he used this music to draw people to his meetings) Later he was caught with a prostitute. He made tearful plea on TV asking for forgiveness. Then he was again caught with another prostitute. This time he said "the Lord" told him it was "flat out" none of anyone's business. (see Jimmy Swaggart: Wikipedia)
*****
One message was about Kenneth Copeland.
Although his mother, Vinita, was a close friend, I was unable to reach Kenneth with the message.
I had a meeting at that time in Fort Worth where Kenneth lived. The meeting room was filled with his followers.
At the end of the meeting I told them I was now giving them the opportunity to leave the room if they wanted to leave for they were not going to like what I was about to say. And once I began speaking, the doors would be locked and they would not be permitted to leave the room until I had finished speaking.
No one left.
I presented the message which I had been unable to get to Copeland.
Now the message reached Copeland.
Copeland had permitted tax-deductible offerings to be received for a "birthday present" for himself, to send him and wife to Hawaii. Later on Internet, Copeland is proudly shown with his arm around the Catholic pope. He was so proud that the pope granted him a 3 hour audience. Also pictures on internet were shown of Kenneth Copeland's 6-million-dollar house, estate.
In 1982, God said to me, "He (Copeland) is antichrist ..." There are many antichrists. He is just one of many who are antichrists (opposite to the doctrines of Christ in Bible and exalting themselves over these doctrines in front of the church) in today's ministries. II Thessalonians 2:4
*****
I was able to get a message to Robert Tilton ... my own pastor at the time, 1981.
Bob was a very ambitious person, even stating from the pulpit that he was going to be greater than Kenneth Copeland and have more TV-radio stations than Copeland.
This is the sin of "emulation" (Galatians 5:19-21 / work of the flesh).
Bob had a TV talk show on a station in Dallas. He invited a prophet from his own church to be on the show. Just before they went on camera, he said to Ava, "Just one thing. Don't say anything about being a prophet because it's not popular."
After the show, Ava called me in tears, telling me what Bob had done.
I sent a cassette tape recording to Bob.
I told him by doing what he did he "killed a prophet" ... and as a result his house would be left desolate unto him. Matthew 23:33-38
I had a report from Bob's office staff that several, including Marte, Bob's wife, gathered in his office to hear the tape I sent.
Afterward they yelled and danced around a waste basket as Bob cut the tape into pieces and threw the tape pieces into the waste basket.
(But I know they heard the message and I know they might destroy the tape but the message will ring in their ears and repeat over and over, for it was the Holy Spirit speaking that message.)
What Bob did in cutting up the tape, reminded me of the following OT story.
Jeremiah 36 1-2 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah (the prophet) from the LORD, saying,
Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
... 4-6 Then Jeremiah called Baruch (the scribe) the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
... 7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
... 14 The princes sent for the roll (tablet of paper) where Jeremiah had written ... Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
... 16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch (Jeremiah's scribe), We will surely tell the king of all these words.
... 19-26 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.
Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he (the king) cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he (the king) would not hear them.
But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet:
but the LORD hid them.
... 27- 31 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.
And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.
... 32 Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
*****
Bob Tilton heard the words I sent to him. Though he cut the tape in pieces and threw the pieces in the waste basket, this did not destroy the message which would no doubt ring in his ears during the following years, and also come to the mind of those people that day who heard the tape recording of the message I sent by the Spirit of God to Bob as a result of his killing a prophet.
Later, Bob and Marte divorced.
Bob's big, 8000-seat church building ended up torn to the ground and a hockey center built in its place. Today there is no evidence of a church having ever been in that location.
Bob remarried and the second marriage ended up in divorce and in lawsuits over money and power.
Bob moved to the Southeast and remarried another woman, his 3rd wife.
In between these wife problems, ABC News did an Investigative Expose concerning Robert Tilton where they managed to get on film, in secret, Bob saying inflammatory, derogatory remarks about another race of people (Jewish as I recall)
This was presented on ABC's Primetime Live TV Show.
They closely investigated his ministry, and especially the hundreds of thousands of "prayer requests" solicited by Bob during those years on radio and TV.
ABC News found (and reported on TV Primetime Live) that the prayer request envelopes were being routed unopened directly to a bank in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they were opened by bank staff and the money was deposited in Tilton's ministry account and the prayer requests were thrown into the garbage cans by the bank employees. (there were thousands of these prayer requests letters in the dumpster in alley behind the bank)
A member of his own congregation began suing Bob over his "100-fold" offering statements in which Bob was guaranteeing 100-fold return to them in the amount of money they were giving to him at church.
Bob's house was left to him desolate, though he still tries to continue on TV and over 2 million dollars per year are still being given to him in solicited TV offering.
At one point, prior to the ABC NEWS story, over 80-million dollars was received per year by Tilton's ministry.
(See: Robert Tilton Wikipedia)
I Timothy 5:24-25 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
*****
Marilyn Hickey was having a meeting in Dallas in the early 1980's. I picked her up at DFW airport to take her to her hotel. Marilyn had a large number of boxes of tapes, books, and Bibles which she sold at her meeting. These came in the cargo area of her plane and arrived at baggage with her luggage.
(The man who took me to DFW to pick up Marilyn had to make multiple trips between airport and her hotel to be able to get all the many boxes of books and Bibles she had shipped with her personal items.)
Marilyn proudly told me how she managed to ship all these boxes without paying the cargo fees.
She said: "Always check in at curb-side (which they allowed in those days). In your hand have a large roll of bills where the check-in man can see them. After he puts shipping tags on the boxes, then hand him the "tip", the roll of bills."
Then Marilyn proudly said: "And I've taught Sarah (her daughter) to do this and she can do it." (Sarah was 12 at the time this happened.)
Later I realized Marilyn was stealing from the airlines as she shipped ministry type books, and even Bibles, to sell to people at her meetings.
*****
After I delivered some of these messages on radio, literally thousands who had given money to us left us.
Hostile mail came into the office by large amounts.
People attending my meetings reduced greatly.
My own office staff said they would like to wear paper bags over their heads to my local meetings so no one would know they worked for me.
My best friend left me.
She said to me, "Joan ... Is there any way you could be wrong about this?"
I replied, "No."
She withdrew from me.
It was an extremely difficult time.
*****
At a meeting in Seattle, the manager of the Seattle radio station was waiting for me outside the meeting room as I approached the meeting. George had always been very friendly and supportive. But now he looked very sober and serious.
He said to me: "Joan ... you have many 'good' messages. Just speak those messages. If you keep speaking these judgment type messages I don't know what is going to happen to you."
Out of my mouth came words that would define the remainder of my life in ministry.
I said, "George ... If I don't speak the message I believe to be from God then I don't have a message and I may as well be off the air."
About 1/2 of my stations stopped the broadcasts.
*****
In 1984, I decided to terminate the radio broadcasts on those stations that remained.
My father had died in 1982 and I felt it would be good for me to move from Dallas to Clovis, New Mexico (USA), where my mother lived and be there to help her.
Life for me in Dallas had become dead.
My friends there had all left and I was almost alone at my apartment.
I began a new life in Clovis where I remained until my mother died in 2002, after which I put all the properties up for sale and moved to Lubbock, Texas.
In approximately 1997, I was introduced to personal computers. This was going to change everything in the years to come.
*****
HYMN: BLESSED ASSURANCE
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine:
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of HIS Spirit, washed in HIS Blood.
(Chorus)
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long,
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
(To hear this hymn played on piano and to follow along with the words, click on the following link and then when it appears on screen, tap on the play arrow, > )
*****