Jubilee Connection Ministries
Welcome
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I want to
welcome you to our new website. On this website you will find that we
have a unique view of God as opposed
to the church that is referred to as
evangelical. Evangel, i.e. gospel, means good news but
in the evangelical church what is taught is only partial good news, for
there is also taught a lot of bad news. I will say to you up front
that there is no bad news in the good news.
We differ in one significant way, and that is we teach the all inclusive love of God. All mankind have been redeemed (bought back, made righteous in the sight of God) through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the Cross of Calvary. I want to say unequivocally and without reservation that there is no Hell where millions upon millions of people will be literally burned forever because they did not pray a prayer asking for forgiveness from their sins. Let me tell you they
don’t need to pray that prayer because Jesus prayed that
prayer on their behalf while He was on that cross. He prayed it for
everyone past, present, and future. His
prayer justified i.e. declared blameless,
made righteous, all of mankind. When Paul the apostle declared I
am crucified with Christ
nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me
and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God who loved
me and gave Himself for me, he was stating what
took place in the body of Jesus Christ on His cross. It was His faith that redeemed us.
Justice was served when God got back ALL of His creation.
You may see some points repeated over and over in this site, but that is a good thing. If you are like me, being in the evangelical church for over 60 years, when you first hear the good news it seems too good to be true and it doesn’t really register, and like anything spiritual it needs to be meditated upon until it becomes a part of who you are. At that point you will wonder how you ever could have believed that God only loved some of His human creation. I want to declare to you that Jesus Christ, the true light who enlightens every person who comes into the world—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, didn’t fail because love never fails and God is love! God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. I’m James Forehand and there has been a tremendous paradigm shift in my life, spiritually speaking, and I’m hoping for the same in yours as you come to see the good news. This shift has manifested itself as a dramatic change of mind, for I now see so much of life through different eyes. I do not think like I once thought. The world has taken on a different atmosphere. When I say world I actually mean humanity, past, present, and future. Now, when I see God, in my mind’s eye, it’s almost like I am seeing a different God. Almost like seeing the difference between the God of Islam and the God of Christianity. He is the same God that He has always been, but He appears so much more loving, and gracious, than I thought Him to be. I am now looking at God, and His relationship to the world, through different eyes. Let me tell you about what has happened in my understanding. I have been involved in Christian evangelicalism all of my life. I have served in just about every area of church life, but, and you have heard this before, there was something missing. I tried real hard to live up to about every main stream teaching that told me I needed to “do” this or “do” that to please the Lord. He was seemingly just out of reach. It was like He was holding the proverbial carrot out before me letting me take a nibble from time to time, but not truly able to take a satisfying bite of the carrot. This went on for more years than I care to remember. I came to one point in my life that I wondered whether there was really a God and if there was did He really care about me. I wanted more than anything in the world to be pleasing to God and to live in His joy and peace, but it just wasn’t happening no matter how hard I tried. Then something happened in the year of 1994. Something most unexpected took place. In the mail came a news letter from an individual I had never heard of before. This letter came from somewhere on the east coast as I recall, and was called the Shofar Letters. I had sensed a word from God, the year before, in 1993, that the Jubilee (freedom) was coming into my life, but when I received the Shofar Letters I didn’t connect the dots. The Shofar was the horn that was blown at the beginning of the Year of Jubilee, indicating freedom was coming to the land of Israel. The author of the Shofar Letters was Larry and Betty Hodges. Larry has since passed on. Larry wrote that the cross of Christ redeemed all mankind, and to say the least, that was a revolutionary idea for me. I have to say at first I could not accept that the Cross of Christ redeemed all of humanity. It was to much to behold–yet could it possibly be true? Is anything to hard for the Lord? I began to study Larry’s writings. I am not a teacher. I’m not the smartest guy around, but the more I read the more it began to bear witness with my heart. Could it be that so much that I had been taught all my life was wrong? I had been an Elder in my church for 30 years. I had friends in the church community throughout the city. If I embraced this understanding that God was the redeemer of all, how would this effect our relationship? Well up to this point (Oct. 2007) I have to say my friends have been gracious to me, especially my Pastor and I hope it will continue to be that way. I suppose some believe me to be heretical, at least they are not expressing it. I was not asked to leave the church, in fact I was asked to stay, just stay quiet about my belief. Of course I could not promise that so I resigned to have the freedom to do what I am presently doing. I have met people from around the country who have had a similar experience, with the Lord, as I have had. I have for all practical purposes lost many of my old friends and has caused some difficulty in my family, but I have made many new friends for whom I am most grateful. Another thing which I am so thankful for is–I have had a most satisfying bite out of that carrot. I now know God was not being mean to me, but if I had been satisfied with where I was, believing what I did, about the partial redemption of the world, I would not know what I now know about the all inclusive love of God. I have lost some things, but I have gained so much more. My life is so much different today, for I am experiencing the gospel of grace and peace in a much more fulfilling way. I could never go back. I can only go forward sharing the good news. I conducted a funeral recently for the wife of a young couple. It was a sudden death without any hint that it was coming. A brain aneurysm instantly took the young lady’s life and left a grieving husband and son. They did not relate to any church so I was asked to speak at her funeral. I did not hesitate when asked for now I see people through the eyes of the gospel and not through the eyes of misunderstanding that claims to be the gospel. Even though I didn’t know if she ever prayed for salvation or not–what I do know is that Jesus prayed for her as He hung on the cross “Father forgive them (her)” I believe God heard His prayer. He that knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. There has been a paradigm shift in my life and I believe it has only begun. God bless you as you seek Him with your heart. I hope this website will aid you in your spiritual growth. Thank you for your interest. Sincerely, James Forehand |
James
and Loretta Forehand
There’s a Revolution in the Land There’s a revolution in the land In Jesus Christ we do stand A revolution of truth and love This command comes from above The Mosaic law has been replaced Now with the gospel we’ve been graced For freedom we’ve been set free And in this freedom there’s no degree Death, sin, and judgement no longer our lot Love, grace, and peace now fill that spot All mankind have been reconciled Because of the Cross of Christ God has smiled What God lost He has gained back The sacrifice of Jesus Christ produced no lack There’s a revolution in the land And in this battle for truth we stand By James Forehand . |