The Fool Who Would Be Holy > Articles by: Ian Johnson

Author Archive: Ian Johnson

I have been in Christ since 1991, and have been writing about the general subject area of this site since 1996. My less relevant qualifications are: B.S. (Chemistry) and B.A. (Linguistics), 1976, Wichita State University. M.S. (Biochemistry), 1982 (course work finished in 1980), Iowa State University; J.D., 1982, University of Iowa; M.A. (History), 1984, University of Iowa; plus one year of a History Ph.D. program, 1984-1985, University of Kansas. I was employed from 1991 to 2016 as a research paralegal in a firm that handled mostly complex civil litigation, including toxic tort litigation (in which I was always involved). That firm merged with a larger litigation firm in 2016, where I have been employed ever

Encouragement, good and bad, and the importance of “Today”

June 15, 2023 0 Comments

When God told the people to go in and he would give them his promise “Today,” they did not trust he was good. So they believed their fears instead. As a result, they could not go in, as he had said, “tomorrow.”

A God who Speaks, Consequences, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's Voice, Promises, Refusing to hear, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Salvation, Sin, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

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Why have I always resisted the idea that departed believers are really still here “with” Jesus?

May 29, 2023 0 Comments

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.  For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,  if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked.  For indeed we who are in…
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Complex unity, Desire to have our own way, Eternity, Eternity Present, Forgetting God, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, His Children, Jesus the Son, Omnipresence, Restoration of God's Image, self-serving worship, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be in his image, Trinity, Unity, What is sin?

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You are not the one to build…

May 14, 2023 1 Comment

A summary of my calling and life direction. I am becoming comfortable with the idea that most of the positive effect of my life will occur after it is over and that, among humans, I will receive no credit for it.

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, In prayer, Prophecy, Repentance, The Bible, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity

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Going to Be With the Lord

April 16, 2023 1 Comment

No faith is needed where the thing hoped for can be seen. And the difference between not yet seeing and fully seeing Is the whole difference between being in the body and being out of it and “with” the Lord.

Eternity, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's sovereignty, Immanence, Must Trust God to Enter, Omnipresence, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be in his image, To see God's glory, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word

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Commands I Can’t Keep If God Doesn’t Speak to Me

March 20, 2023 0 Comments

If God never speaks to me, it will be impossible for me to keep his commands to keep a soft heart toward his words, to hear and obey him “TODAY”, while I am still hearing him. Beginning the discussion of entering God’s rest today, while God is speaking to me–and the consequences of Israel’s rejection of his voice.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, idolatry, Language and Speech, Refusing to hear, self-serving worship, Through Jesus, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

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The Mind of Christ, and Rejecting It

February 17, 2023 1 Comment

God speaks to us individually, and also collectively as his Body. We must hear him and walk with him individually and also depend on each other for his voice. Believers all have the mind of Christ, but none of us alone has all of the mind of Christ.

A God who Speaks, Desire to have our own way, God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, Holy Spirit, Pride in accomplishments as our own, Refusing to hear, Through others, Through the church, Trinity

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God Speaks to Us through His Spirit

February 9, 2023 3 Comments

God speaks to us through his Holy Spirit, who must teach us–by building within us–everything we truly know of God. God also speaks to the world through us, by his Spirit who is building his image within us.

A God who Speaks, God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, His Children, Holy Spirit, Promises, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, The Bible, Through Jesus, Through teachers, Through the church, To be in his image, To bear fruit, Trinity, What is sin?

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God Speaks to Us

January 22, 2023 2 Comments

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” God says he will speak to his sheep individually, call each by name, and lead us, and he does. Stephen and Saul of Tarsus are an example of this.

A God who Speaks, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Through Jesus, Through others

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The Kingdom of “the Heavens” in Matthew

January 15, 2023 2 Comments

Throughout his Gospel, Matthew repeatedly quotes first John the Baptizer, then Jesus, taking about the “Kingdom of the heavens”–with “the heavens” in this formula always stated in the plural and preceded by the definite article. In using this language, the intention was clearly to teach that God’s Kingdom is not limited to the far future but is present with us…
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Desire to have our own way, God's purpose for us, His Friends, Must Trust God to Enter, Pride in accomplishments as our own, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To bear fruit, What is sin?

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