A recent comment prompts me to re-introduce myself to Xanga and RevelLife readers:

My parents named me Jerry Wayne Hill, but the Spirit of God renamed me “Jerusalem” Hill.  I am a disciple, worshiper and minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I am a sinner saved by grace continuously, totally unworthy of eternal life except for my new life in Him!  I grew up in Parke County Indiana and saw much of the world in my adult life.  Then Jesus sent me back to Parke County, paradoxically calling me to be His“foreign missionary.”  Indeed,  I more fully understand that all who are in Christ Jesus are foreign missionaries here and now.
 
Two key quotations guide my ministries:   “It is very possible for an earnest Christian to be so poorly taught and to so misunderstand the truths of Christianity that he is unable to adequately practice the Christian life!” (Victor Matthews, in Plant My Feet On Higher Ground, Emmaus Bible College)   And  "True Christianity is not the formal, powerless thing that so many have come to know.  Real fellowship with the living Christ, the Anointed One, results in the destruction of every bondage, the removal of every burden, and the fulfillment of every good desire.  There is no life so exciting as the victorious life that is true Christianity."  (Keith Moore, Moore Life Ministries)

"Jerusalem" Hill is a name the Lord Jesus gave me in 2001 when He revealed my calling to me more completely.  He answered my prayer for a public name which directs attention off of me and onto Jesus Christ and His finished work..  To test the spirit of it,  I asked Him for Scripture confirming it.  And I received "look at Revelation 3:12," which says  "He who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.  Never again will he leave it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem..."   Romans 4: 17 says that He calls things which are not yet true the truth as if they already were true.  On that day He told me that He had seen my obedience to Him in the face of great opposition and that He would continue to empower me to overcome the opposition!  He called me He who overcomes...  Jerusalem!  And He said I would teach others how to overcome the opposition too.  He said I would teach others about victorious living!  Now that is increasingly happening!

"Jerusalem" isn't the only new name God has given me, just the latest one.  After I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus called me His "fellow servant!" And years ago when I finally began to realize that Jesus is not only my Redeemer and Savior but also my rightful Lord, fully entitled to my obedience and service,  He began to call me "Onesimus," which means useful.  ( See Philemon.)  Before that, He called me several other names which all pretty much meant ignorant, useless, but nonetheless beloved! 

Using these nicknames, Jesus has revealed Himself alive to me and called me ever deeper into His service and into friendship with Him, continuously humbling me and yet raising me up for His own purposes  The Bible tells about other people who had this experience with the Lord.  And, if you will listen for His voice, perhaps the Lord will deal with you in this way too.   It most assuredly is NOT all about me! Have no doubt that He is seeking a deeper friendship with you, too!

Sadly, I am no longer surprised to discover, often within mere minutes, that someone who asks "Do you know the Lord Jesus?" himself or herself actually does not!  Usually I find such know quite a lot about the Lord Jesus, but do not actually know Him Personally and intimately as Someone with Whom they have two-way conversations.  They know Him only as a historical figure Who died in their place for their sins and purchased for them their eternal life.  But often they are totally confused about what Jesus is doing within them right now, day-after-day during their remaining, present lifetime here on the earth.  In these cases I have to wonder if they EVER read Romans chapter Eight in the New Testament! Which prompts me to mention a few highlights of that passage here:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Those who are truly Christians -- "in" Christ Jesus -- "walk," that is they live their lives paying attention to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Jesus, Whom they perceive and recognize living within themselves.  They do not "walk" merely following the rules which they have heard or read in scripture or "according to the flesh."

Gotta go. Hope to write more later.  Meanwhile, why not read Romans 8 for yourself?

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Now that I have well-established my username here and elsewhere on the web, the username which Christ gave to me Personally, I can tell folks on various social sites that they can find me by simply web-searching for me by name.  From here they can contact me without paying a fee to anyone.  That's exciting because it is enabling me to meet people more rapidly than ever before!  And that's what Jesus intended when He gave me this name.

Scripture says there will be many, many of us Jerusalems!  See Revelation 3:12 to see if you are already one or soon will be.

If you're reading this because you web-searched JerusalemHill or Jerusalem Hill, please do take some time to explore this whole site -- especially the archives and photos -- and get to know me.

Jerry

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I'm counting my blessings today, which include having electrical power and air conditioning.  I'm saddened and concerned for the two million or so people East of me tonight who have neither.  And also for the thousand or so families who lost their homes to fire West of me.  I do not allow myself to complain about having to stay indoors for hours during the heat of the day.

This evening promises the possibility of some badly needed rain, and already the temperature has dropped into the seventies with enough breeze to open up the house.  I went out to the yard swing with a bag of cherries to practice pit spitting so that I can win the contests with Helpmate next time she's here swinging with me.  I also hoped the two adolescent raccoons I've been seeing lately would show up.  And they didn't keep me waiting.

They didn't notice me for awhile, too busy hitting the bird bath for a cool drink and then climbing the bird feeding table to rob the woodpeckers' soot cakes.  When they did see me, they jumped down from the table and slowly climbed the nearest tree to check me out.

I watched them for awhile, continuing to eat cherries and spit the pits at my target pan, and speaking to them as gently as I know how.  Finally, I walked slowly to the bird feeding table and left a pile of cherries for my little masked buddies, and came on in to open up the house.

Now that I've finished this little update, I'm gonna walk back to the front of my little house and see if they've found those cherries yet.  Life is good.

God has created all the good things for us to enjoy.  All He asks in return is that we worship and revere Him instead of all those good things He created for us to enjoy.  And how is that not a great deal for us!

But then along come these modern-day Pharisees with their made-up rules about how, when, where and with whom we should enjoy all the good things in life!  They perpetuate some personal notions of that wonderful old Pharisee in recovery, the Apostle Paul, as if they were "God's Word!"  One of my teachers calls these "the New Testament ethic."  But they are simply religious hogwash!

Now it's true that we can make anything at all into a false god in our lives.  Possessions.  Professions. Recreations, Food, Sex, etc.  I stopped my list right there because SO MANY recognize their own and others' propensity toward pursuing and worshiping sex as a god!  So, it makes my point well.  But how simple it is -- seems to me -- to just accept sex as one of the good things God has given us to enjoy and to rejoice in it, to be thankful to Him for it, to responsibly love our neighbors as ourselves with it.

Yesterday I invited a cousin to join my mom and me at our favorite, local restaurant when I spotted her, sitting alone at another table.  I was motivated by simple Christian hospitality; but I began to regret it almost immediately.

You see, my cousin is one of the biggest gossips in my community.  Hers is one of the faces which comes into my mind whenever the Holy Spirit  reminds me to continuously forgive those who gossiped about me with the horrific slander which eventually sent me to prison for a crime which neither I nor anyone else actually committed.  That was years ago.  I'd like not only to forgive but also to forget it.  But truth be told I'm still wrestling with it in my soul.  It just keeps coming up again, over and over.  ("an agent of satan to buffet me...")

After grumbling about how on-the-job training of some new waitresses had adversely impacted her usual level of personal attention on this visit, she began to tell my mom and me about the latest rumors going around in her circle of gossips.  I did not care to hear this gossip.  That apparently revealed itself in my demeanor because she complained that I wasn't paying close enough attention to her and what she was saying.  Well, DUH!!!  (As I'm wondering why God did not give me the grace needed to gently confront her right then and there, He just spoke to me that she could not and would not have received such; and would have made a loud enough scene to offend me beyond my own ability to receive it gracefully.)  Yep!  Still wrestling with it.

And yet I remember this woman did her best to welcome me back into our community when I came home from that prison stay.  She found a discrete moment to remind me back then that Christ has forgiven us all of our sins, including the crimes (she assumed) I had committed.  I truly believe she had no idea at all that her assumption of my guilt concerning the crimes I was slandered with stung me all the more deeply because she is a relative and should have known better.  I steeled myself then and said in my heart, as my Savior had said regarding me, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"  But being coarse, carnal, and far from perfected in my faith, I added "So please forgive the ignorant bitches, especially those who are my brothers and sisters in Christ!"

Ain't the sanctification process a grand trip!?

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These days, when unbelievers hear the word Christian, they are likely to think of someone who judges himself to be so much better than they are than of someone known for loving other Christians and caring for his neighbors!  Bumper stickers proclaim: “Jesus, save me from your followers!”

And, unfortunately, we Christians rarely restrict our self-righteousness to judging those outside the church!  No, we eagerly direct it toward our sisters and brothers in Christ, those whom we judge to be living below our personal, denominational or congregational standards of acceptable Christian conduct.   We point fingers at one another and gossip about each other, judging and condemning one another as too liberal, too conservative, too legalistic or not trying hard enough, "probably not even a real Christian," etc.And we isolate ourselves into small, likeminded groups in a futile effort to avoid the loveless slander, gossip and condemnation which flows, inevitably, not just from the world of unbelievers but also from other believers as well.

So many unbelieving people are longing to be brought into eternal life which only Christ can provide.  And believers are longing as well, to be drawn and lifted into a more-victorious, joy- filled, present-daily life. They know too well, that they fall far short of actually living a sinless life and will always fail to earn a relationship with God.  They long to hear not only of the God who loves them anyway, but also of a church which really loves them anyway too.

I pray we all choose to be guided by Jesus’ teaching and empowered by His Holy Spirit, that we may put aside the idea that it is our duty to somehow rid the world, or even our own community or congregation, of those whom we judge to be ungodly.  I pray we all learn to minister the Christ Living Within Us to others, to unbelievers and to believers, by living the life of love which God has poured into us, openly and without fear, which declares for all to see: NO MATTER WHAT YOU MAY THINK OR SAY ABOUT ME, I AM SAVED AND BEING CLEANSED OF MY SINS DAILY, NOT BY MY SELF-EFFORTS, BUT BY THE LOVING GRACE OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

May 25, 2012

1        My prayer against the lingering cellulitis in my lower legs was answered.  Augmentin antibiotic and Burow’s Solution has eliminated the cellulitis and is eliminating the rash on my lower legs.  As I posted here earlier, the Lord had to remind me to use the faith and authority over demonic activities which He gave me years ago.  But the results began immediately after I began to exercise those.  Suddenly my new VA care provider thought of treatment options which hadn’t been tried.

2        My weight loss program is at another plateau, down to 345 from 360 lbs back in April, but holding there for three weeks.

3        Type 2 Diabetes is controlled to near-normal glucose levels using Metformin tabs and a change to Lantus long-acting and Novolog fast-acting insulin injections.  I find it difficult to maintain a high degree of compliance with the Diabetes Reversal Diet, but to the extent I succeed the results show up on the glucose tests.  Downloaded and began using a glucose readings tracker to my PC which builds neater charts than my handwritten recordings.

4        The recently-increased daily diuretic regimen has virtually eliminated edemas, both in my chest and extremities.  In other words my heart and lungs are working better, and my feet and ankles are no longer swollen; so I am able to be more active and mobile than I was before.  Yard chores are enjoyable again.  My front yard is a wild bird and squirrel feeding station.

5        The Kindle Fire, a Christmas gift from my brother, has been a spiritual battery charger for me; especially since March when I downloaded many of my Bible College textbooks and began to revisit them.  For a change of pace and relaxation I enjoyed  reading Amy Thomas’ novel (@pickwick12), usually one chapter with a cup of coffee whenever I just needed a break from serious thinking.  Sure makes the waiting times at the laundromat more productive.

6         Lately I’ve noticed some of my old friends appear less needy and don’t seek my counsel as often as they used to.  On the other hand I’ve been meeting more new friends who are needy in the areas for which I have been prepared to help.  And I feel well-used as the only man on my home church’s prayer chain.  Spring has sprung in more ways than one.

I sense in my spirit that many of my Christian Brothers and Sisters, especially ministers of the gospel and others in leadership in the churches, are themselves being judged for their sin of judging in an unChristlike manner, publicly finding fault with and condemning other believers.

"For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (I Cor. 11:31-32).

The Apostle Peter says,   Amp.    1^st Peter 4: Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you…     For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God?   

 Our Lord Jesus Himself said, "DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves.  For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you...

However,The Apostle Paul said 1^st Corinthians 5 that Immorality in the Church Must Be Judged By The Church:"IT IS actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, impurity of a sort that is condemned and does not occur even among the heathen; for a man has [his own] father's wife.    And you are proud and arrogant! And you ought rather to mourn (bow in sorrow and in shame) until the person who has done this [shameful] thing is removed from your fellowship and your midst! As for my attitude, though I am absent [from you] in body, I am present in spirit, and I have already decided and passed judgment, as if actually present, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the man who has committed such a deed. When you and my own spirit are met together with the power of our Lord Jesus, You are to deliver this man over to Satan for physical discipline [to destroy carnal lusts which prompted him to incest], that [his] spirit may [yet] be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. [About the condition of your church] your boasting is not good [indeed, it is most unseemly and entirely out of place]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven will ferment the whole lump [of dough]?  Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of purity (nobility, honor) and sincerity and [unadulterated] truth. I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually] with unchaste (impure) people--Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun the immoral people of this world, or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters, since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether!  But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of [Christian] brother if he is known to be guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater [whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God], or is a person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering], or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber. [No] you must not so much as eat with such a person.  What [business] of mine is it and what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not those inside [the church] upon whom you are to pass disciplinary judgment [passing censuring sentence on them as the facts require]?    God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside. Drive out that wicked one from among you [expel him from your church]."

And this is the apparent attitude of too many in leadership in the church today!  They miss the fact that Paul later pulled back from this attitude and recommended "instead of further rebuke, now you should rather turn and graciously forgive and comfort and encourage the one who committed incest" and "reinstate him in your affections." (2nd Corinthians 2 )  And later in his life (See Galatians 6)  the Apostle Paul proposes a different solution to immorality in the church: "BRETHREN, IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.    Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it].    For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.    But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.   For every person will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [little] load[of oppressive faults].    Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.    For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

Judging without compassion and mercy, condemning and publicly finding fault with another person IS a product of the lower human nature, NOT the mark of a spiritually mature Christian.  And cancer is just one form of the “decay, ruin and destruction reaped” by this sin!

My Christmas present from my brother was a Kindle Fire.  I barely knew what a Kindle was, much less what the Kindle Fire is capable of.  But thanks to Amazon.com I have downloaded cheaply and reread some of the New Testament Expositions which guided me deeper into my faith in Christ back in my prison days, 1999-2002.  Most importantly as it pertains to my Praise report today, I'm speaking of the Authority of the Believer in Christ Jesus!  And I began asking the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth about this, again.  Just my seeking the Lord immediately began to have physical results.

At Christmas 2011 I weighed 360 pounds and was continuing to gain weight despite dieting and some limited exercise.  My NP at the VA clinic approved my increased daily dosage of the diuretic furosemide.  After a week of increased urination I noticed I could breathe more easily and could walk farther, faster without becoming winded and without angina (chest pains.)  This encouraged me to greater levels of mild exercise than had been possible before.

She requested -- perhaps demanded is the better word -- that I get serious about checking and recording my blood glucose levels at least four times per day.  And she expected to receive a copy of my record every week!  I realized that my new NP intended to be a serious accountability partner, and I went for it!  My records were at first a total mess as I included details of what and how much I ate, and how I thought that had affected my glucose levels.  By now my records are neat and tidy because I only record known lapses from my intended diet plan.  But the bottom line is I could not escape making my diet and blood sugar monitoring a very high priority in my daily routine.

Later my NP suggested a change to my regular insulin injections, from Novolin N to Lantus, from an intermediate to a longer acting insulin.  And to this she added the Novolog Pen, fast acting insulin injections to correct high blood glucose levels just before eating.  This change was accomplished in March with a noticeable improvement in blood glucose control.

Three weeks ago my Helpmate strongly suggested  I weigh myself, something I had avoided because it had become a discouragement.  But on that day I weighed 348 pounds, meaning I had lost 12 pounds since Christmas.

That following weekend I experienced extreme and sharp pain in the lower part of my spine.  Treatment with heat packs and Motrin only made the pain slightly more tolerable, prompting me to seek an appointment with my NP for a prescription for a stronger pain reliever.  The earliest appointment I could get was eight days away on April 24th.  Damned frustrating!!!  And I admit I was feeling desperate, which I confessed to my Lord Jesus.  Why?  Because I know He heals in response to faith and NOT to desperation.  I actually felt my faith rising within me, anew and refreshed.

I'm embarrassed to report here that I finally, at this point, began to pray again in the manner I was taught by Kenneth Hagin Sr. many years ago.  In Jesus' Name I commanded the unclean spirits causing me pain and illness to depart and not come back.  And I continuously command them now using the automatic pilot which Lord taught me personally in 2001, that my prayer of command be repeated born upon my every breath. And, I praise God for all things He is doing in me!  I acted upon my faith in Jesus Christ and my knowledge of the authority He has given me and every believer who knows about and acts upon it.  The result: The back pain began to spread out and weaken in intensity and then went away, and with it many other pains with which I had simply grown accustomed to and tolerated.

I had thought I would cancel my appointment with my VA NP care provider, opening it up for a more needy veteran than I.  But Helpmate insisted I keep the appointment and share other concerns with my NP, most notably the continuing persistent  problem with cellulitis in my left calf.  The result: I'm now in the fourth day of taking Augmentin and already seeing improvement in my leg.  I'm also awaiting delivery of Borow's Solution to soothe the discomforts of the skin on both legs.

This morning I weigh 341 pounds and feel really good.  Thank You Jesus Christ for all that You are doing in me!

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