Sid Roth

SID: Sid Roth here. Welcome to my world where it’s naturally supernatural. You see, as a brand new Jewish believer close to 40 years ago, I had the privilege of meeting a woman by the name of Kathryn Kuhlman, and this woman used to say, “Please,” she would almost beg you, “please don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. He’s all that I have.” And a lot of people don’t know this, but she wouldn’t start her service until her best friend, the Holy Spirit showed up. My guest is a world class teacher that experientially knows the Spirit of God and biblically will take you into, you see, most believers say, I want the power of the Holy Spirit, but where are the people that want to have intimacy with the most misunderstood person in the Bible? Where are you? Now most of you are familiar with John Bevere. You’ve either read or heard of his book, “Bait of Satan,” But what you don’t know is he’s written a number of books, some five, six million in print. His curriculum is being studied by 20,000 churches in the United States of America alone, and who knows throughout the whole world. But what you don’t know about John Bevere is he was a horrible speaker. And in school, he took the SAT and your score was what?

JOHN: 370 on the English, the verbal. And the whole audience just went…

SID: Now put it in perspective.

JOHN: Well that’s, I like to say it’s like F-, minus. So when God—

SID: So how do you write all these books, bestsellers?

JOHN: You know, it’s amazing. Because when God came to me in 1991 and said, “Son, I want you to write,” I kind of laughed and said, “Okay, you have so many of us kids on the earth now, you’re getting us mixed up with one another. You don’t want me writing any book. I mean, talk to my English teachers.” And so I didn’t do anything for 10 months. And 10 months later, two women came to me from two different states in America, and they both said the exact same words. They said, “John Bevere, if you don’t write what God’s given you to write, He’s going to give the messages to somebody else and you will be judged for it.” And the second woman from the state of Texas said it two weeks after the first woman from Florida. The fear of God hit me. I said, I’d better write. So I wrote out a contract with God. I literally got a notebook piece of paper and I said, “Contract.” I said, “I think you’re making a big mistake,” basically, “because you have far better writers.” I said, “So I need grace.” And I signed the contract. And of course now the rest is history. I believe my name is on those books because I was the first guy to get to read those messages. I really believe they’re from Him and they’re for His church. I’m just the donkey. Okay. So that’s my view of the whole thing.

SID: He scored so low. He’s only heard of a couple of people that scored as low.

JOHN: One person.

SID: One person that’s ever scored as low. He’s not very good at speaking. He’s not very good at English. He’s not very good at SAT scores.

JOHN: Let’s talk about the speaking. So the first time my wife hears me preach 31 years ago after we got married, right, she’s in the front row. Within five minutes, she’s sound asleep. Okay. And she sleeps through my whole message. Front row. And her best friend sitting next to her has drool coming out of the side of her mouth. Okay.

SID: Bestselling author. All right. But he started out as a youth pastor and one day the head pastor walks in and what does he say?

JOHN: He just said he had a vision he night before. He said he literally saw it like he was watching a TV program. And he said, “One of these pastors,” there were 11 pastors sitting around the table, “One of these pastors will not be on our staff much longer. You’re going to be traveling out and back, and out and back, and you’re going to be a blessing to the Body of Christ.” And he goes, “That man is you, John Bevere.” And when he said it, the Spirit of God fell on me and I started weeping. And so I remember God spoke to me and He said, “Don’t write pastors, don’t call pastors.” The first four years I traveled I didn’t write one letter, I didn’t make one phone call and God supernaturally started opening up doors. I remember one time, this meeting, I was in a meeting near Detroit, and the movement of God broke out, and the church was packed for 21 straight services. Well I called my wife. Remember no cell phones in 1990. I called my wife at a public pool in Florida. I said, “Look, I got to send you tickets. This meeting is not going to stop.” Well there was a pastor of 2000-member church in the public pool. He walks up to my wife and he says, “I’m so sorry. I was listening to everything you were saying to your husband on the phone. I want your husband to come to my church.” That’s the way God started opening up doors for us.

SID: You know, when it’s God, it makes such a difference. I know why I am so intrigued with the Spirit of the Living God, the Holy Spirit.

JOHN: Yes.

SID: But why are you so intrigued?

JOHN: Because I wouldn’t be who I am today, I wouldn’t be where I am today, I wouldn’t know Jesus without the Holy Spirit. I am so in love with the Holy Spirit. And the thing that so grieves my heart, Sid, is most people, the church, now if you back them in a corner, they’re going to [unintelligible] but they really treat Him like an it. For example, would you get in your car and drive 20 minutes. Let’s say you car pool with somebody next door. You get in the car. You drive 20 minutes to work every day and not say one word to them, not good morning, how’s your family, how did you sleep last night, nothing, nothing, all the way, all the way back every day, you don’t say a word. And on top of that to add insult to injury, you turn the Christian radio station on and you just blast it. So he can’t say anything to you. That’s the way we treat the Holy Spirit. How many times do we get in the car, we never say one word to the Holy Spirit? I personally believe He’s the most ignored person in the church. I mean, if anybody’s ever got a problem with feeling like they’re ignored, just talk to Him. He can totally relate. But He still loves us. That’s what’s amazing. And He still yearns for us on top of that.

SID: You know, you know what you’re saying reminds me of the statement I said at the beginning of the show. Kathryn Kuhlman used to plead with people, “Please don’t grieve the Holy Spirit.”

JOHN: I wish I could have met that woman.

SID: He’s my best friend. We’re going to find out more about your best friend, too, when we come back.