June 5, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Setting The Matter Straight

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, who passed away on December 25, 2015, at the age of 83, was considered one of the most influential psychiatrists of his generation. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Spitzer and ultimately became one of his case studies with regard to freedom from same-sex attraction. The article below, titled “Setting the Matter Straight,” capsulizes much of Dr. Spitzer’s study. My condolences to his wife and children.

In 1973, Dr. Robert Spitzer, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, opposed the prevailing beliefs in his profession by leading the effort to remove homosexuality from the list of psychiatric disorders. For this, liberals and the gay community respected him, even as it angered many of his psychiatric colleagues.

Ultimately, a controversy erupted when Dr. Spitzer reported the results of a study that asked an important scientific question: Is it really true that no one who was predominantly homosexual for many years could strongly diminish his homosexual feelings and substantially develop heterosexual potential?

What Dr. Spitzer found was that, in the unique sample he studied, many made substantial changes in sexual arousal and fantasy and not merely in behavior. Even subjects who made a less substantial change believed it to be extremely beneficial.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Spitzer at the American Psychiatric Association Convention in Chicago in May 2000 as well as at a conference in San Diego. Ultimately, Dr. Spitzer knows me much better than I know him. I was one of the 200 people Dr. Spitzer interviewed for his study.

After my second interview with Dr. Spitzer, with my pastor and secretary at the time sitting in on the interview over speakerphone, Dr. Spitzer volunteered, “It’s undeniably true you have experienced a major and significant change in your life.”

Thankfully and gratefully, I am far from the only individual that has experienced change. God has not been silent to the cries of men and women wanting freedom from homosexual feelings and behavior. Many have experienced the power of Christ to address the deep needs of both men and women trapped in same-gender struggles. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, God has, is, and will be delivering people from the snare of homosexuality.

However, today, we are still considering the question: Can a person experience a change of not just behavior, but desire related to homosexuality? The answer to the question is accurately wrapped up in an answer from 2004, which was prior to Dr. Spitzer’s change of heart on his study. Yet the data still bears up under scrutiny and has not been removed from the psychological journals.

For an important, if not vital, view from Dr. Spitzer, please watch the following: from YouTube, An interview with Dr. Robert Spitzer

How is it we have dismissed or forgotten that He is God; The One that spoke the universe into existence, The One that has enabled the lame to walk and the blind to see, and The One that has hung each star in its’ place. Is healing a person’s sexual orientation too big for Him?

The question, “Can homosexuals really change?” is a fair and monumentally important question. The men and women that have exited homosexuality span a wide variety of ages, personalities, occupations, nationalities, and church denominations. Some of these men and women have been free from homosexual involvement for ten or twenty years. They are not just suppressing their homosexual or lesbian longings. There has been a true resolution of this issue in their lives.

While it continues to be taught and preached that God can do the impossible, do we still believe it?

When an individual who was once controlled by his sin is now free from that sin and engaged in a new kind of life pattern, hasn’t change occurred?

Oswald Chambers states in My Utmost for His Highest, “A man is a slave for obeying unless behind his obedience there is recognition of a holy God.” I find it remarkable that God never insists on our obedience, but when we truly know Him, we want to instantly obey Him and live according to His perfect will from sunup to sundown.

There is no identical plan of action for healing from same-sex attraction. No quick fix or one-two-three formula. Ultimately, a person’s freedom from same-sex attraction comes from a Person, rather than a method or even a program. That Person is, has always been, and will always be, Jesus Christ.

Such Were Some of You is a documentary that takes you on a journey that begins with a contrast between the opinions of people on the street and experts in theology and psychology. Then over two dozen former homosexuals tell their stories.

For further information about Such Were Some of You, or for a preview of this documentary, please visit SuchWereSomeOfYou.org, also available through MasteringLife.org

Many years ago, I said goodbye to homosexuality and the gay identity. All Christians face the decision of accepting or rejecting Christ’s Lordship. Coming out of homosexuality required deep emotional healing and a restructuring of my whole identity. As our Creator, God is the only One who knows exactly how to restore our personality. I remember so vividly, when coming to know Christ at the age of 35, what it meant for the first time in my life to be a man. But more importantly, what it meant to be a godly man. I liked it then. I like it still. Or, as I have heard it sung in a wonderful old song, “I wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.”

At the end of the day, science can never be used to trump God’s Word. Yes, change is possible. The interesting thing about the change process is that change is not our ultimate goal. Change is what results as a person pursues a more important and compelling goal: knowing, loving, and “beholding” Jesus. Pastor Phillip Lee Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

May 31, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Update/Twitter Account

Letting everyone know that I might be losing my Twitter account permanently, starting June 1st. Please note the other addresses below, in order to follow my blog, wwjwmtd.

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

May 30, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Finding Purpose with Fulfillment

Purpose without love does not allow for purpose with fulfillment! One will not find nor have any fulfillment at all without love being the motivational factor or support for one’s purpose(s). Humankind is not capable to operate without purpose and purpose has no meaning without love guiding its actions.

Satan will always offer you more and diverse purposes, but his suggestions only bring unfulfillment and total emotional meaningless.He only offers you selfishness, self-gratification, or material goods all of which give only unfulfillment and eventually emptiness on the inside.

God’s approach is simple: Purpose(s) with His love offers fulfillment and personal well-being. It is time we find hope and joy in living in the world. Accept Jesus’s love and begin to love Him back with all aspects of your life and watch how quickly purpose with fulfillment changes your life.

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

May 29, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Are You Important?

There is nothing you can do to make yourself important, absolutely nothing! A healthy self-esteem is found in helping others, not in making oneself more worthy than another. Neither good looks nor prestige, talent nor money, possessions nor notoriety, nor even an elevated Christian status in the Body of Christ can make one important.

‘Importance’ is only found in Jesus Christ and your ‘Calling of Importance’ is found in being a servant to all and accepting no honor or glory or status, but all is given to Christ alone.

“Importance, I have none, but because of Jesus Christ I can do all things in serving others.”

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

May 23, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Is An Olive Tree Your Calling?

God said we are like trees—Olive Trees to be exact. I like olive trees, in fact, my ranch is called, Olive Grove Ranch. I have been trying to grow Olive Trees for a few years now. It has not been easy, and the learning curve has been longer and steeper than expected.

Olive trees require a few specific climate requirements: four distinct seasons with rain & drought, wind & stillness, heat & cold, and sunlight & darkness. You and I need those qualities affecting our lives each year we walk with Christ: times of growth & times of hardship; times of producing good fruit and works & times of no fruit; and times of ‘where are you God?’ & times of spiritual renewal/revival.

A wise person understands that and accepts what God chooses for us (this is the fear of the Lord). Proverbs is very clear about wisdom and promotes the realization that to walk with God is to walk and ‘keep walking’ in good times and bad. I ‘look up’ when in the valley when I am on my knees praying, and ‘I look up praising God when standing on the mountaintop. Either way, both are God’s will for my life, but do remember, that the Evil One should never win nor make decisions for me when he shows up in the valley or mountaintop.

The ‘easy life’ is not in this life on earth, but in heaven that is where I want to be—with Christ. However, it is the anointing of God that brings purpose and strength to this life on earth. Most Christians would like the presence and the anointing of Christ to be with them all the time. Without ‘the anointing’ one has no ministry and without ‘Christ’s presence’ one has no strength or drive to continue serving Him.

Bible readers need to understand the importance of the words ‘olive oil’ in the Bible in order to discover the truths behind the words ‘anointing & presence’. If you follow the biblical significance of olive oil you will realize what anointing is about, how it works, and its importance for each of us.

Olive oil comes from olive trees of course, but there are hundreds of varieties of olive trees, and not all olive oil is alike. Just like not all wines are the same, neither is olive oil. Good olive oil takes a variety of requirements to have a four-star rating. Here are some facts about olive oil you need to know to understand God’s anointing:

1. Olive trees need a good root system—to get that root system the soil must be good (Your anointing depends on your character—the cleaner the better).

2. Olive trees like hills/mountains to grow on, not flat ground. You can grow olive trees on level grown but the olives produced will not be as good as mountain-grown trees and their olive oil (anointing takes mountain-top living to be the best anointing. Note: Jesus went into the mountains to pray).

3. Olive trees like four distinct growing seasons—so does anointing. Do not expect great anointing without ‘seasons’ in your spiritual life & walk with Christ.

4. Once olives are picked, you have only 24 hours to press the olives to retrieve the olive oil or it will spoil. Anointing is a daily experience. Yesterday’s olives are never good for today’s oil. God presses your olives to give you an anointing for today.

5. In order to produce enough olives, you need wind—lots of it! Only the Holy Spirit (which is a type of wind in the Bible) can bring about enough olives and therefore olive oil in your life. One must receive/allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life to receive anointing.

6. Just as olive oil has health benefits so has anointing. Want better health, and have more anointing in your life? The earth is falling apart; you need His anointing!

7. As olive oil is good for many things, so is anointing. Do not think anointing is just good for preaching—what a mistake in this line of reasoning. Anointing can assist all of us in our thinking, health, countenance, power/strength, abilities, direction, and the list goes on. Do not leave anointing for only those in authority positions—every Christian needs the anointing operating in their life.

8. Every olive tree needs another olive tree (s) to produce fruit. Olive trees pollinate each other through ‘wind action/winds movement’ not through bees or insects’ activity. Without the wind (Holy Spirit) and multiple trees (members in the Body of Christ (a single olive tree cannot self-pollinate), olive trees cannot produce fruit and therefore no oil is produced without a harvest. We need each other!

9. Olive trees take very little water. In fact, too much water (the words of God/the Bible) and an olive tree will not produce fruit. The same is true about reading the Bible. Reading the Bible alone does not produce anointing, but stress/drought and watering at the right times produce fruit. Four verses in the Bible that are anointed by the Holy Spirit bring more results than 400 words without God’s anointing.

10. It is time to become an olive tree, allow the Holy Spirit to move through your life, depending on the direction of the Holy Spirit to bring the Bible to life (not scholarly reading), rely on others to bring about anointing (fruit) in your life—the need for each other and the unity in the Spirit, and realize anointing to good for much more than ministry—God’s oil/anointing brings all of the Kingdom of God into our lives.

It is no accident that olive oil has become the leading oil in the world today, and there is ‘great purpose’ with God for anointing in all our lives. Let’s pray, desire, and walk with the presence and anointing of God over, in, and through our lives each day.

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

May 22, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Warning, Warning to California

There is so much to say about California’s sin, so much that it would take a 20,000-word document and still not be detailed enough. But what you should know is that God’s judgment is very close and so pervasive that everyone will be effective in some way and there will be no escape. This is a warning!

The Spirit of the Lord says, “You have been warned, Californians.

You say, ‘I have no sin’, but your sin is very great!”

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

May 21, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)

Jesus Failed…

There is little doubt; no, there is no debate at all that ‘Jesus’s disciples believed that Jesus failed!’ When a leader claims to be the Son of God, performs miracles, and when He spoke people’s lives changed, but then He was arrested, convicted of treason in a trial, and then put to death leaving no hope for the fulfillment of His teachings nor hope for a bright future. What would you have done? Of course, you would have believed ‘Jesus failed’ and doubted He was the Son of God. (We see this today—Christians being convicted of crimes when no crime was committed and society says, ‘they failed’.)

Because the disciple’s unbelief was so great, Jesus had to show up a few times after His death, each time looking different, talking differently, and doing miracles in order to encourage and admonish His disciples to believe and not be faithless. (Read the last chapters of the 4 Gospels.)

There are only two followers of Jesus that displayed any ethical character and moral strength, Josepha of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The Bible states, “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.He was accompanied by Nicodemus,the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.Because it was the Jewish day of Preparationand since the tomb was nearby,they laid Jesus there.”(John 19:38-42) These men are my heroes and role models.

I find so many parallels today, far too many to mention, among church people who claim to believe in Christ, but their works display only unbelief and faithlessness. To have faith that works one must believe in Christ first. Then and only then does or can a person respond in faith (no longer faithless) to the will of God—respond to God’s purposes and action plans. If you believe in Christ, then act like you are a Christian—respond to the will of God and be a person of faith.

I am blessed, the Bible says, because I believe even though I was not there at that specific time in history when Jesus was seen by His disciples. I choose to believe and by faith, I respond to the words of Christ today. In fact, my faith is greater than the disciples because I believe even though I have not seen Christ in the flesh. Yes, Jesus failed but only to unbelievers. Thank you, Jesus, for turning all my failures into successes because you did not fail me.

http://wwjwmtd.com

(using Google or other search engines)

https://wwjwmtd.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/wwjwmtd

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.