Thursday, July 5, 2012

Heart4God Website Update

Joseph Herrin (07-05-2012)










I invite the readers of this blog to make use of the resources now available at the Heart4God website.

www.heart4god.ws

I have been working on updating and revising the website for the past couple weeks. I am happy to report that all of the books I have written are now posted there in PDF (Portable Document Format) files in their most current versions. Most Internet web browsers come with the ability to view PDF files, but if your browser does not support PDF files, you can easily add this capability by downloading and installing the free PDF file viewer from Adobe. It is called Adobe Reader X and can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html

Rather than displaying the books as webpages as they were found on the old version of the website, the books are available as PDF files for the visitor to open, read on their computer, print out, or save as a file to share with others. This extends the reach of each document and also alleviates some complaints about the former webpages not printing properly.

You will also find a webpage with the various presentations listed that I have created and posted. These presentations utilize a lot of graphics and were originally created to be shown as slide shows. These too are available as PDF files to read, print, or download to share with others.

Next, there is a greatly expanded page that lists the various topical writings (Articles) I have posted over the past thirteen years. I added a number of writings to the Heart4God site that have been posted to the Parables Blog site since its creation in April of 2008. I frequently have requests from people for resources on various subjects. For example, I am frequently asked about celebrating Christmas and Easter. Now I can direct people to the Articles page on the Heart4God website, and invite them to download the teaching titled Syncretism. Or I can provide them with the URL to go directly to this document.

http://www.heart4god.ws/index_htm_files/Syncretism.pdf

Please note that the books which are posted, the presentations, and some of the articles contain a large number of graphics and may take a few moments to download depending on the speed of your Internet connection. I do not believe there are any documents that are more than 10 MB in size, and most are substantially smaller.

You will find on the Articles page that I have used three icons to indicate the genre of the articles listed. Following is a key to understanding these symbols.







Bible Teaching\Doctrine









Discipleship\Christian Walk






Current Events\Prophecy

If you are new to the writings on the Parables Blog, the articles listed on the Heart4God page provide an excellent way to search for past writings on various topics. The icons for each article are created to display a “mouse over” effect that will pop-up a brief description, or key words, related to the article. Previously, a person had to use the Google search utility on the Parables Blog to find articles on various subjects. This is still available, but it is limited in that it does not display serial posts in the order in which they were created. On the Heart4God website I have combined serial posts into a single document to make it easier for the reader to view, print, or share the entire series.



















Parables Bookshelf Newsletters

On the Heart4God website you will also find a page that lists the newsletters that I was led of the Spirit to put together beginning back in 2009. While spending time in jail I saw firsthand the lack of any substantive spiritual teaching material for prisoners. Even the chapel services conducted by local men from area churches were terribly deficient. The prisoners were told week after week that all they needed to do was say a sinner’s prayer and they would go to heaven when they died. There was a complete absence of instruction on living a victorious, overcoming life as a disciple of Christ. Not only were the men in prison not getting anything beyond milk in the doctrines delivered to them, but most of the milk was tainted with false teaching.

The Father put it upon my heart to take the 14 books I have authored, as well as a number of shorter key teachings, and to put them into newsletter format to mail to men in prison. I originally had about 60 newsletters created, but I have been expanding this number over time. At present there are 88 newsletters listed. I have separated them by book and subject to make them easy to retrieve and print. You can now find all of them on the Heart4God website.

If you are yourself interested in reading a specific book, or sharing it with others, downloading the book in newsletter format is an excellent way to do so. The newsletters are ideally suited to printing on both the front and back of a sheet of paper (duplexing). This is especially helpful when mailing to others. It requires a 65 cent stamp (at present cost) to mail a newsletter, but this amount would be higher if you printed only one side of a sheet of paper.

The newsletters are attractively designed, and have additional information on the front and back. They have been exceptionally well received by earnest men in prison who are desiring to live a transformed life pleasing to Yahweh. I regularly receive correspondence from men in prison, and the number of men asking to receive the newsletters is steadily increasing where I anticipate needing an assistant soon just to handle this specific aspect of the ministry. I believe the Father has already pointed out to me who this assistant will be. It is a young man who is currently in prison, having been incarcerated since the young age of 17. He has a very sincere and fervent commitment to walk worthily of the Father. If you are so led, please pray that Yahweh would soon release this young man and permit me to serve as a spiritual father in his life. His name is Nicholas.

Although the newsletters were originally designed with men in prison in mind, I have had requests from others to receive them. A significant percentage of these folks are elderly brothers and sisters in the Lord who either do not have regular Internet service, or they find reading from a computer screen difficult. Yahweh continues to provide the funds to send the newsletters at no cost to all who request them. I am deeply appreciative for those members of the body of Christ who have sent financial gifts to continue this work.

 









Audio Files

You will find on the Heart4God site pages for Audio and Video as well. These pages are currently under development. I hope to have them fully functioning in the next week, or soon thereafter. You can view the listing for audio files on the audio page. This listing is also greatly expanded from what had previously been offered. I have taken a number of messages from my recent trips across the nation and edited them for posting. There are now approximately 80 audio messages available.

Due to transitions in Internet technology, it has been a learning curve for me to determine the best way to make these available. Many browsers, as well as Apple devices and numerous smart phones, are no longer supporting Flash media. Additionally, not all web browsers support MP3 files. For example, Firefox does not support native MP3 files due to a licensing issue. The Firefox web browser uses OGG format instead. Therefore, I am posting the files to the web in both formats to insure compatibility. This has been time consuming, but I am learning some things along the way. I will announce through this blog when the audio and video pages are ready.













Photo Albums

One thing you will find new on the re-designed Heart4God website is a photo album page. I was not able to post photos on the old site due to some software issues. Because of this, I created a Facebook page and have shared photos there. Now that I have new web design software, and am able to post the photos to my own website, I will be closing my Facebook account.

I invite you to check out the photos posted on the Heart4God website. These also are designed with a “mouse over” effect which causes the image to fly-out and enlarge. You can then use the arrow keys on your keypad to move between photos, or you can continue to use your mouse if you prefer. I will be adding captions to the photos as I have time. I have posted them at present without captions as I wanted to get the site up and running as soon as possible.

I will close this blog by sharing the following parable. Ever since 1999 when the Father led me to write The Remnant Bride and create the Heart4God website to share truth with a scattered remnant of His people, He has been instructing me in many truths and providing what have been to me new revelations. I have been guided by the Spirit to share these things with others through books, articles, presentations, and the spoken word. The Bible refers to teaching and doctrine as food.

Hebrews 13:9-10
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

In this passage, the apostle Paul uses the words “teachings” and “foods” interchangeably. He speaks of the overcomers in Christ receiving food from the Father’s altar, food that those who serve the tabernacle (the flesh) have no right to eat. The spirit is nourished with spiritual food. Yahweh has desired that His sons and daughters might feed upon that which is wholesome and nutritious and will encourage spiritual growth. Much of the church today is feeding upon the equivalent of a spiritual junk food diet. They are attracted to a prosperity message that appeals to the flesh and soul of man, but which cannot produce spiritually mature individuals.

In a sense, Yahweh has had this Joseph storing up grain over the past years since 1999 to feed those who are spiritually hungry. During this season there have been very few with a desire to eat solid food which is for the mature. The message of the disciple’s cross, a surrendered life, and an afflicted path that leads to life has largely been ignored. I believe we are at a time of transition. Yahweh is getting many of His servants prepared for an expanded ministry in coming days.

Recently I have shared about the Father directing me to purchase a larger trailer and store up grains and beans, get a grain mill, and begin baking my own bread. I see in this a parable of that spiritual work He is calling me to perform. An hour is coming when a remnant will begin to seek out the members of the Joseph Company to receive spiritual food in a time of famine.

As I have been getting the Heart4God website in order, updating my teachings, and getting as much as I can in readiness to feed the spiritually hungry, I do so with an anticipation of an increase in the number of those who desire that food which comes from the Father’s altar. In the book of Genesis we read of Joseph taking food from his table and distributing it to his brothers.

An interesting detail to this is that Joseph’s only full brother, Benjamin, who was also the last born son of Jacob, was given portions five times greater than the rest of his brethren.

Genesis 43:34
[Joseph] took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

I believe that in this last hour there will be sons born who will partake abundantly of the things of God. Their appetite for those truths gained by afflicted servants will be much greater than their brothers who came before them. Symbolically, when Jacob spoke a prophetic blessing upon Benjamin, he compared his youngest son to a wolf.

Genesis 49:27
"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil."

Even to this day a wolf is associated with a ravenous appetite. We speak of being “Hungry as a wolf.” I do not believe there can be anything more satisfying to those typified by Joseph than to see this great and eager appetite for spiritual food among his brethren. Even as there will be a Joseph Company to set forth food for the hungry, there will be a Benjamin company of latter born sons who will be zealous for truth and eager to be fed spiritual truth.

Already at this time I am beginning to see an awakening of this appetite among the sons of God. This has been most evident to me among men in prison who receive the newsletters I send to them. Some have already gone through the entire series of 88 newsletters and they are begging for more. Please pray that Yahweh would satisfy the desire of these who are hungry for true spiritual food and drink.

If you are hungry for spiritual food, I invite you to sample the resources available on the Heart4God website. Please share these teachings with others who are hungry for the things of God. Freely we have received. Freely we give.


Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

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