To the diverse Christian Church of America, whether in buildings or homes, organized or not. Greetings from a servant called James who is joined to God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

I think it is apparent that the American Church has achieved an amazing level of success in this world. I say this because there is a stark contrast between what I read in the Bible and what I view of the modern form. I'm not referring to the drastic difference in culture, for EVERYTHING has changed in that respect. No, the discrepancy I see presents some pretty interesting questions which the church, as a whole, seems reluctant to deal with ... except in a superficial manner.

How is it that you have come to associate physical, temporal well-being with the blessings of the gospel and, therefore, any damage to that well-being as coming from a of a lack of faith? Is that why you hide your failures from each other? Does that mean you have forgotten the promise of God that says afflictions are a gift that increase your dependence on Him? Why, then, would you seek to hinder the results of the work that teaches you to stand, in faith, as perfect and complete, and lacking in nothing? Unless, of course, some of you really don't know God. If you are coming to realize that this is the case, then ask God, who gives impartially and generously and without ridicule -- and understanding will be given. But the request must be for the miraculous work of God, and not your attempt to motivate Him with deals or promises. Those who approach God like this may look like they have it all together, but on the inside they are raging back and forth like the ocean in a storm. Let such a person expect NOTHING from God; for in reality, they've asked nothing from God. They have only divided their mind to accommodate the idea of God, for they ask just in case He is there. In truth, their whole life is unstable, despite all appearances.

What difference should it make to the offspring of God how they are rated by the system? So, what measurement do you use to determine your worth? Don't you know that a nothing in this world is everything in God. Now, those who rate well by this world's standards also need to consider the poverty of that illusion. Haven't you seen enough to know that those who are caught up in the insane pursuit of wealth are cut off in the middle of their endeavors (no matter how long they live) and that they die unsatisfied? So, do you really think your worth can be validated by the ILLUSION that you are doing well in this world? What if true "approval" cannot be revealed except by means of its CONTRAST to the approval rating of the world? What I'm telling you is that God's validation of you will never rate well on any of the "checklists" of successful living; for those who truly "do well" are disqualified by their obvious ongoing failures. Your "fortunate" situation won't be seen until the approval rating of the world is gone for good, where those who actually love Him are revealed as the recipients of life. For this is what God has promised.

I can hear it already from some who would take this opportunity to say, "God made me do evil!" To which I say, You're full of it!" Evil desires don't come from God so what you suggest is an impossibility. The desire to do evil comes from a source other than Him. A person gets carried away because of the corresponding desires within him. These desires conceive and give birth to sin; and when sin grows up, it produces death. Do you not realize what comes from where? There is only one source of true goodness and perfect gifts and that is from above. It comes from the Father, who is light, who doesn't change or have any hint of darkness in Him. Our miraculous birth is the result of HIS desire being conceived in us by the True Word. And what is the fruit of God's desire? He has produced a new creation from out of the old which belongs to Him!

Those who have been born of Him know this within themselves. So, I say, LISTEN ... and be quiet long enough to hear the reality of God. Do you really think those initial reactions of righteous indignation by which you defend yourself and attack another are God's doing? Don't you recognize the old motivation of using anger to say what you really wanted to say? Believer, why do you hold on to the old source as if it had value? Discard the perception that those evil motivations still belong to you. Instead, realize that your deliverance is not found in your abilities, but in the miraculous conception of the Word within you.

It is imperative to discover who you really are. Does the implanted word activate you from within, or are you one who only has the hearing of the natural which gives an illusion of godliness? It's just like a man who checks himself out in a mirror, and is hit with the stark reality of what others see. The problem is that the urge to do something about it goes away as soon as he can't see himself and forgets what he looks like. But what if one's gaze was to be held in place upon the finished reality of freedom, and instead of becoming a forgetful hearer he miraculously becomes an effective doer of the word that has captured his gaze.

What difference does it make what someone thinks about himself if it's not true? How many consider themselves religious or God-fearing and yet their words reveal something other than their boast would suggest? Now, don't make the mistake of focusing on the occasional slip of the tongue, for one whose words deceive his own heart are right out there in plain view. Such a one cannot help BUT to reveal his true nature by what comes out of his mouth. But recognizing it requires listening past all the self-endorsing claims. And then, the worthlessness of this man's religion becomes obvious. Is there such a thing as a pure religion that isn't corrupt? As far as God is concerned it would be this: helping those you would be looked down upon for even associating with; giving where there is no possibility of a return; doing good, knowing it may be judged as evil; refusing the approval found in comparison.

Friends, where do you get the idea that this miraculous faith we have in Jesus Christ coincides with your personal biases? I find it amazing how quickly a person's worth is evaluated among you by the car they drive or that little label on their clothes. This is the attitude of a corrupt judge who is bought by those whose payoff is the highest. My fellow heirs, is it, or is it not true, more times than not, that God has chosen those who are at the lower end of the financial scale to bestow this rich faith upon? After all, this is what He had promised to the people who loved Him. So, why is it that under all the pretenses, those who don't seem to measure up are often considered losers? Isn't it usually the upper class or the yuppies who give you the most grief, and who have the means to hire “shark” lawyers to steal from you? And don't they also make sure to insult you by calling Him into question (which is the real evil they speak of the name by which you are called)?

Now, if you are loving your neighbor as yourself, which is the fulfillment of our king's rule, then you are doing well. BUT if you are playing the game of picking and choosing those who can benefit you, you are sinning. And the law will do what the law does: it pronounces you to be a law-breaker. You could keep the whole law and yet mess up in JUST ONE THING and you would still be guilty of all of it. Do you think you can get around the law's judgment by pointing out those whose sins are “worse” than yours, as if that makes you look any better? A law-breaker is a law-breaker, and it condemns you no matter how well you think you are doing by it. So, why do you evaluate yourself and those around you by its fixed reality? Instead, speak and act as those who are to be judged by the fixed reality that has freed you from condemnation. The judgment of the law shows no mercy on those who don't show mercy, which comes from partiality. But mercy prevails over damnation.

So, my friends, are you so easily fooled by the wagging of the tongue? Do you think a man's CLAIM to believe will override the reality that he has no life working within him? Do you think a faith that consists of words will deliver him from the judgment of the law? What kind of miraculous power do you suppose is contained in mere verbiage? If you were tell a cold, hungry man, “Jesus loves you, be warmed and filled”, and yet you don't give him any clothes and food, what has been produced by your pronouncement? The same holds true for this professed faith. If the claim is there, but the substance of it that works from within is not there, then it is a lifeless thing.

Do you find yourself often in the position where you have to tell people that you have “faith”? Well, don't be surprised if someone challenges your words by saying, You have 'faith' and I have the doing of it; show me this faith you speak of that has no substance, and I will show you my faith by the stuff that is produced by it. What are you going to produce – more words? So what if you believe that God is one? The demons have no doubts about that, either, and it scares them silly. Your rationale borders on insanity if you don't realize that this faith is worthless without the functioning of it.

After all, wasn't Abraham, the father of faith, shown to be righteous by what he did when he set out to kill his son for God? Considering the fact that the only eye-witness to the deed was about to be offered as a sacrifice, Abraham was obviously not trying to please men (but I doubt anybody would have thought it was from God). Don't you see how faith was the invisible substance behind his actions; and in turn, the actions were the visible instrument by which that faith was carried to completion? And so, that which had been declared about him – Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness – was shown to be true . By the way, who do you suppose circulated the story of Abraham's faith so that he came to be known as the friend of God? Abraham … or Isaac? Don't miss the fact that this story shows a man motivated by faith, doing something that didn't appear right, but being shown as righteous by the thing he did to the one who had the greatest reason to doubt it. It wasn't only his claim to believe God.

And there's another unlikely example from the Bible that shows how a person is justified by what they did. Her name was Rahab, and she was a PROSTITUTE and also a foreign enemy. She turned against her people and hid the spies who were sent to survey her city before destroying it. And then she lied to the guards as to the whereabouts of the intruders; and then sent them safely back with a promise from them for protection. For she, also, had been motivated by the miraculous working of God to do this thing. Once again, in the life of this woman, the outworking of faith was not something that would have appeared to be right in the eyes of her own people, nor would her emotions have convinced her that it was of God, but it was. For as the body without the life of it is dead, so also faith without that which carries it is dead.

My friends, in view of illusions so easily created by words, I recommend that you seriously consider your desire to become teachers. Don't you realize the intense scrutiny it puts you under? For we all mess up in many ways, but in order not to mess up in what you say you would have to be perfect, able to control every other part of the body. That's the way it is with bridling a horse; the bit goes in the mouth and you can turn the whole thing. Ships also have huge and powerful engines, but it's a relatively small rudder by which the pilot steers it in the direction he desires. And the tongue is no different. It's a small part of the body, but it makes huge, unsupported CLAIMS. Learn the lesson of 'Smokey, the bear': it only takes a spark to get a massive forest fire going. And the tongue is a flame thrower, for it speaks from the realm of sin. It is positioned in the body in such a way that it adversely affects everything. For the whole body follows along on the path created by its unfounded claims, which come from the source of evil.

In the realm of nature, man has learned to control every kind of creature he has discovered, but has not managed to tame the tongue – it is uncontrollable and full of poison. But you'll keep trying anyway. We use the tongue to say wonderful things about the Lord and Father, and then with the same tongue abuse those who were created in His image. Cursing and blessing from the same mouth? My friends, there is something wrong with this picture. Do you get both pure and contaminated water from the same source? Can an orange tree yield a crop of apples, or a tomato vine produce lettuce? No way. And you won't siphon water out of the ocean thinking that maybe you'll get a fresh drink, either. It's time to rethink this whole thing.

Those of you who have been given insight and understanding: don't get duped by the illusion that what you say can PROVE the reality within you. Instead, wisdom calls you to let your motivation speak for itself by the outworking of His goodness. But if the wisdom within you is bitter, unfulfilled desire and selfish ambition don't make claims of having His life, for it is a lie against the truth. This wisdom does not have its source in the God who is outside this realm, but is tied to the earth, to the natural, to the demonic. For the source of unfulfilled desire and selfish ambition is filled with instability and every evil. But the wisdom that comes from the source outside of the natural is, above all else, untouched by contaminants, then harmonious, considerate, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without pretense. And this fruit of righteousness is sown accordingly by those who have been made compatible with it.

But those of you whose life-source is motivated by partiality, tell me where you think the arguments and conflicts among you come from? Which source do you suppose they originate from? Don't they come from your desires that are at war within you? You have unfulfilled cravings which drive you to murder. You don't have the ability to get what you want so you fight and nitpick each other. Your desire is not met because you don't ask. And then you ask and don't receive because your asking is not for the miraculous working of God, but is just your attempt to get what you think will fulfill those unquenchable desires.

You unbelieving, godless people, don't you know that your alliance with the world keeps you in hostility to God? The one whose desire is the friendship of the world proves to be the enemy of God. Or don't you think there is any meaning to this verse: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? And His greatest gift is found in this, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Hang all your pretension and submit to God. Resist the evil one and he will flee from you. You've heard the words, now, listen again. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” “You sinners, cleanse your hands”; and “you double-minded, purify your hearts!” I have no comforting words for the enemies of God. Instead, be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. I am tired of your games and your pretenses. Open your eyes to the insufficiency of the life you boast in, and He will become your sufficiency!

How do you rationalize speaking against your brother? The one who speaks against a brother, or judges him, speaks against the LAW and judges the LAW. If you judge the law, then you are not one in whom the law is fulfilled, but instead a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, and He is the One who is able to deliver or to destroy. So, what place do you think you have to judge your neighbor?

I challenge the arrogant boasting of you who say things like, “Today or tomorrow, we are going to build a business and make 'X' amount of dollars in the first year!” But the simple fact is that you don't even know what might happen to your life tomorrow. You are just dust in the wind that goes as quickly as it comes. A wise man would say, “These are my plans, but as always, they are subject to the greater plans of the Master.” But, no, your life is a pretense of arrogant claims, for all such boasting is evil. But you are digging your own grave. For in your arrogance, as you claim to know the right thing to do, but don't do it, that thing, to you, becomes sin!

You who are rich in this world, but have nothing in God, pay attention to what I say. I will be your “Ghost of Christmas Future”, for it is bleak. Feel the heaviness as you buckle under with uncontrollable sobbing. For behold, your riches have disintegrated and your “toys” are all broken. Everything you have valued has been devalued – the memory of your loss will haunt you forever. Are you unaware of the significance of this time in which you store up your temporary riches?

All the money you gained by taking advantage of the misfortunes of others will come back to haunt you. And the cries of those devastated by your greed have reached the ears of God. You have lived a life doing what you wanted when you wanted, and your greed has made you fat just in time for the butcher. You have condemned the righteous, you have squashed his life … yet he makes no move against you.

My beloved family, wait for God's work to take care of itself, for He brings all things to a conclusion. Learn a lesson from the farmer who waits for the ground to produce its crop. Though it rains in the spring and later toward the end of summer, most of the time it is dry. But he knows that the dry season is all part of the growing cycle, so he is not discouraged as he waits for the expected rains. Be like that farmer, wait in hope. And know that this time, where the more you look for growth the less you see it, will come to a close. Be strengthened in knowing that this lack of appearance is not a mistake. For you are those whose gaze has been fixed upon the reality of freedom – don't fall back into comparing each other to unkept principles. Otherwise, you will find yourself playing a game in which you also come up short. Consider this: the Judge, with His righteous judgment eagerly waits to reveal the righteous ones and their righteous deeds. So, why do you insist on evaluating by a system that will never detect it?

You have not been left without some positive role models in this high calling of suffering and patience, you know. Consider the heroes of old who spoke in God's name. Don't we respect them because of the hardships they endured? Job has become the icon of 'suffering without cause'. His wife begged him to curse God and die. His three friends (who first sat silently for a week in mourning) ended up taking turns trying to convince him that he was to blame for all the tragedies. And yet the conclusion of the story was that God justified him and restored to him more than what he lost. For despite appearances, God remains faithful and compassionate.

Do you know what I want you to learn most of all? That you don't have to fall into the trap of trying to prove the truthfulness of your words with more words. After all, how much validity is added to what you say by affirming it with, “I swear to God!”? A thing is either true or it is not; let your words reflect that reality without having to call upon a mute god to backup what you say. Otherwise, you force yourself back into the mentality of judging and being judged. Is that what you want?

So, let your words fit with what's really going on. If you are suffering, let your words be directed to the One who is working the very best in your life. If you are encouraged, let your words come out in songs of praise and rejoicing. If you are in a weakened condition, let your words call for those who stand strong in Christ so that their words are directed to God on your behalf as they present you as one in whom the Spirit lives. And the prayer of faith will deliver you and the Lord will pull you out of this. And as far as any sins that have been produced, they will not be held against you.

Therefore, be open with one another about such faults and together speak to the Father so that healing may take place. For the true words that issue forth from those made righteous by God can accomplish much. The prophet, Elijah, was a man just like you and me and he spoke the words of God that it would not rain, and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Then he spoke again and the rains poured down so that the earth bore fruit again.

My friends: if you see one among you who strays from the truth and you turn him around, I want you to know that the one who shakes a sinner from his deception will deliver his soul from death and will cover a lot of sin.