Leona N. Andrews became the current General Pastor in 2003. She served as the Assistant General Pastor from 1945 to 2003.
Spiritual Musings
Doing the Will of God
2009
The Full Salvation Union had been in the mind and will of God. For six months, E.A. Andrews heard in both ears, “God wants to direct his own work.” The words had a heavenly tune and never got monotonous. The Lord gave him our future name and a few years ago the Holy Spirit revealed to me that it was born in Heaven like the cross. Full is the vertical post that points up as a symbol to fully know God through Jesus who paid for our redemption. Then the horizontal bar on one end gives us Salvation through the cleansing blood of Jesus. The other end represents Union by the operation of the Holy Spirit. The whole cross is encased with the grace of God’s agape love. We had no animosity for our former affiliation with the Free Methodist Church. Three of our ten children attended the Free Methodist Church college at Spring Arbor, Michigan located just a few miles southwest of Jackson in the south central part of the state.
E.A Andrews, our first General Pastor, was faithful to God in preaching the anointed revelation of truth when he was a District Elder of the two Lower Michigan Districts of the FreeMethodist Church. He was also on the church General Conference Board at Winona Lake, Indiana. Often, when people hear our inspired truth the Holy Spirit will challenge their religious security. They will either receive it and grow up in Christ to a higher realm or they reject it. Some complain to their pastor and this is what happened to E.A. Andrews when members of the General Governing Board confronted him regarding the truth that he was preaching. He was innocent before God but he told the Board that if they wanted him to resign, they could vote him out. So in 1934, he left the FreeMethodist Church, moved from the parsonage, and opened a store-front meeting place in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was there that he bought a house for a parsonage and built a church. He had departed without malice but rather with love and prayers after a life time of service in the Free Methodist churches in Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio and Michigan. It was difficult for E.A. and his wife Bessie to leave many friends but it was necessary to follow the will of God
Born Again
2010
Within the past century no negative force has been able to hinder the expansion of knowledge for every human need except religion which has failed in being informative. In the early 1930s we heard no particular theology but prayer was answered as the Holy Spirit did a work of grace with the evidence of being a new creature in Christ called born again. Years later we heard we are a spirit and live in our bodies, we have a soul of mind, will and emotion. This sounds like a theory but I have had Holy Ghost experiences stamping indelibly in detail with knowledge not taught by man. I learn now that my spirit was born again. Then the scripture came and I “received with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your soul.”
When it is time to leave this world and the body is placed in the ground our spirit returns to God who gave it; just as Jesus committed his spirit back to His Father. The soul has made its abode in the body until this mortal puts on immortality. Then the perfected soul takes a soul-body for eternity.
When I was about to testify in church one Sunday about 10 to 15 years ago, the Holy Spirit said, “Soul-Body” to me. It was new to me then but God is not in a hurry and now the inspiration of the Almighty has brought understanding. The scriptures fit together like a puzzle and one explains another. The Full Salvation Union is interdenominational in effort and nonsectarian in spirit. Christian fellowship is good but the will of God is to embrace the Kingdom of God. It is not another doctrine. But be blessed for “all things work together for good for them who love God and are called according to his purpose.”
When people feel the Holy Spirit urging them to unload their burden of guilt and sin their minister will ask them to give their hearts to Jesus. No one ever questions what that statement means. All know intuitively that it is a real and all-consuming desire to have a good attitude and to know God. Sometime ago a prayerful request was made by an elderly man; “Oh God break my stubborn will, victory is welcomed.”
When E.A. Andrews heard a Bishop, in his church, who was very ill and near death say, “we know so little,” we agree and have always had the policy to change our views when the Holy Spirit sanctioned new light. When so many different gospel messages are broadcast and sent around the world, anyone would hesitate identifying with any one of them. I personally feel that my religious feet at the present time have been firmly established by the inspiration of the Almighty that gives understanding.
Religion versus Kingdom of God
2006
Modern religious organizations may have the idea they should question the words in the scriptures concerning the virgin birth, the atonement and the pure life of Jesus. It could be called a social gospel; live one’s life doing what satisfies or feels good, not counting the cost or results. Many could be sincere honest people but are spiritually unaware of their condition.
On the opposite side thousands of churches have been started and organized by people who became enlightened when hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s love for humanity. When they become believers the Holy Spirit can open their understanding to their miserable condition and God’s salvation from sin. Many do not know where their spiritual heart is located or that they have a soul to be redeemed.
Bible teachers tell us that we are a spirit and our soul is our mind, will and emotion. Yet people sometimes do not know who they are, where they come from or where they are going. This is a sad lost condition. Only the spirit of God through Christ Jesus can awaken a person to this condition and the need for salvation. When people admit that they are sick and tired of being sick and tired, then they are heading into the knowledge of the truth. Deliverance and freedom are experienced when people admit their undone condition by repenting and asking forgiveness from God. His love and grace covers all sin. But in the process He will have us know that His forgiveness demands that we forgive any who have wronged us or have hatred toward us. All must make a definite choice in their minds and hearts to forgive others if we expect God to forgive us. It can be done by determined action with prayer for God’s grace. We all need to strive for full surrender of our whole being, body, soul and spirit to God which is our reasonable service.
People may not understand that they inherited from Adam a soul that was dead and separated from fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit is a living spirit and our only help in saving us from eternal death. So always honor the Holy Spirit and His move within us. Now the dead soul needs to be regenerated. So the spark of divine life is called “being born again.” This is salvation instead of a theory of religion.
Love carries the desire to do God’s will. We need to make progress in knowing how to follow. Now with our soul alive we are in a day by day race to keep it on the upward track. Heaven is our goal and eternal home. The scriptures are filled with aid to realize the salvation of the soul. Many hymns have been written; “It is well with my soul.” A solid foundation of believing in spiritual truth accompanied by faith will bring victory through many trials and tests. One mainstay is the power in Jesus’ name. To defeat Satan we need to read the Bible for guidance and inspiration to follow Jesus and to understand the Kingdom of God for it is not of this world.
The Full Salvation Union was birthed by God’s spirit to be an example in this church system. We knew then that we were called out of religious bondage and being led on a new pathway to experience and live the Kingdom of God. I am the last one of the original generation as many have fallen asleep. For them, the battle is over and the victory was won. Therefore, a crown of righteousness is laid up for them.
My Words and Meditation
2010
We smile at the disciple Thomas’ question when he asked Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus answered him by saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” It sounds sincere but Thomas missed the point. We should pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer.”
Over the past many years, individuals have speculated about standing before the judgment bar of God. But how about standing there in the present time? When a gifted television brother falls and the critical news agencies and tabloids ridicule him, what is your attitude? Did the words from your mouth speak life or death? Were there negative or destructive meditations in your heart? Our Heavenly Father has a purpose in all things. This brother could be experiencing a small measure of the suffering endured by the Lord Jesus. The unregenerate mind will have words but how about the heart baptized by the Holy Spirit? Conclusion: “It is the manner of spirit that you are of” that determines if you pass the test.
Natural Body Spiritual Body
2010
The Bible records the words, “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” I feel this applies to Jesus who was raised having a natural body then walked out of the tomb in His spiritual body. This body took him down into hell where he preached. He took many forms: He walked down the road as a man talking to the two men on their way to Emmaus. On the sea shore the fishermen thought it was a spirit but Jesus called out, “it isn’t a spirit; does man have flesh and bones as you see me have?” He did not say blood like a natural body. Then he appeared in spirit in the upper room.
As a teenager I read E.A. Andrews’ book Reminiscent Musings. One experience that he relates in that book occurred in a Christian college that he was attending in Nebraska. E.A. met with some boys one evening for a prayer meeting. Soon a heavy burden resulted in a loud outpouring of prayer. E.A. stood up and raised his right arm. Then his natural body was held still like a statue. Next, his spiritual body walked out a distance until prayer from the boys weakened. He then returned toward his natural body. Then a volume of prayer sent him out further where he seesawed for nearly an hour. Was he battling the “principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places?” At last, he walked far out as the boys won victory. He returned into this natural body and taking his arm down. They were all elated following this experience.
This account of E.A. Andrews’ experience must have been in my subconscious for a great number of years until one Sunday in church I stood to testify and without thinking I first said “soul body.” No one knew what it referred to. God was in no hurry to reveal those two words. He inspired me to speak those words at that time. My husband James passed away in 2003 and I moved north to my present home. While here alone, I began to receive revelations concerning how the hand of God was involved in forming the Full Salvation Union in order to live the Kingdom of God.
Inspirations
2010
Dreams
Over the last few years I have heard in word and song the great importance of having a “dream” for your life. “If you do not have one, how can it come true?” I honestly never had a dream for my life from the time I was 16 years old until now at 96 years of age in 2010. Back in my early days I was not burdened with the devices of Satan but rather with my own depraved nature. On one occasion, an older lady in our congregation was a source of irritation to me. Although she was a precious child of God, she disturbed me by the things she spoke. After three weeks I had hatred in my heart. I sought prayer and after a short time, a light and sense of electricity, a symbol of Jesus’ blood, went down my body and out my feet. The hatred was gone and a warm lump of agape love was in my soul. To get born again I “presented my body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” I was determined to not be conformed to this world or to think like this world but to be transformed by renewing my mind to prove that good acceptable and perfect will of God. He used an imperfect vessel but I aimed never to be a fake or a fanatic.
Observation
A disgusted former church member left her lifetime church because it had only religious television programs that she found were not fulfilling. Watching one together I agreed. When preachers have a dogmatic and harsh position or constantly walk back and forth on the platform, be sure that the people and camera will not be patient and will read “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part” and “For now we see through a glass, darkly.” It is because we know so little of spiritual reality. Perhaps waiting for the inspiration of the Almighty is in order. It is fulfilling to have a visual truth. I learned about the meaning of the Full Salvation Union in that it was formed in Heaven when the Holy Spirit said to E.A. Andrews for six months, “God wants to direct His own work.” He then found a submitted group who would live and demonstrate the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is not just mentally accepting another doctrine and then going out and promoting it. The Kingdom must be a living reality.
Problems
People born in this world throughout the ages have had problems. A peaceful village would see in the distance a hostile army with swords and spears coming to wipe them out. That was a big problem. All throughout the Old Covenant God wiped out whole rebellious groups. That ended their problem. We are thankful that God sent His son who was born to fulfill the Law that was written on stone. He opened up a new and living way now in the New Covenant which is written in our hearts: No longer is it “Thou shall not” but “I will not.” There are some who have held onto the old law and have made it a problem. I do not know what your problems are but I know Him who gave His life’s blood to wipe out our problem of sin and to provide for Salvation with a throne of grace while here on earth and then on to eternal life.
Amazed and Perplexed
Perhaps many radical preachers will, after leaving the body, see and know heavenly reality. Yet while in the mortal these same preachers will use the excuse “we will understand it better bye and bye.” They tell their followers that healings ended when the Disciples died. Others will say that speaking in unknown tongues is out of the Devil. Many more examples could be cited. I experienced this reality at one of our Full Salvation Union camp meetings many years ago. Following an altar service I remained in the sanctuary where my husband James sat on the altar plank beside me. I was drawn by the Holy Spirit up into a funnel to a higher realm. I did not see individuals but was aware of their presence and in the same order as the scriptures state, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Gospel Song
There are two men who have sung their songs and played their guitars for a number of years. I have a CD from each artist that includes the same song. The first time hearing the song I shook my head but will admit that it has a lovely tune which may cause many to endorse the words: “I want to stroll over heaven with you some glad day, when all our troubles and heartaches are vanished away, then we'll enjoy the beauty where all things are new. I want to stroll over heaven with you.” We are to think that the individual has gone from earthly dream to heaven’s reality. I personally disagree with the whole idea. We know so little of heaven. One thing that I experienced from heaven, involved my sister-in-law who passed away several years ago. One day, some years ago, when I was walking through my living room I heard her audible voice: “Leona, stay true to Jesus.” It was her same soft nasal voice. In these later years, I frequently dream of those who have passed on.
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Because of His love and concern for His disciples and shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus told them, “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me.” He knew a troubled heart was emotional with unpredictable reactions to startling events. He fortified them by reminding them of their belief in God the Father and in Him. To explain the “heart” Jesus could have said, “Let not your mind be troubled.” The heart and mind are both found in the scriptures.
It is said that we are a spirit and have a soul which is mind, will and emotion. However, few try to explain the nature of the “heart.” Some think that it can be located along with the soul which we keep by Salvation. But our spirit returns to God just like Jesus’ spirit did. I was called to present my whole body to God as my reasonable service so that I can testify that the will of God has prevailed.
The Peace of God Passes All Understanding
Many years ago I attended a General Conference meeting near Flint, Michigan. I had borrowed an umbrella tent with a screened-in porch to share with my Grandmother. The tent had a canvas floor and we slept on a straw-tic bed. Our eating equipment was on the other side. One afternoon, rather than attend a missionary meeting, I went to the tent for a nap. I woke up to a big thunderstorm of lightning, wind and a downpour of rain. I heard dead tree branches falling and knew that a tent in the woods was not a good idea. Not knowing what might happen next I thought “if anything should happen would I be ready?” I thought that I could die right there. Just then, the center pole slowly fell toward and blocked the door. The next thing that I realized was that my whole body was filled with a calm peace. I lifted the center pole and unblocked the door. Some men came and said that the stakes had been pulled up. We straightened the center pole and found that the porch top had filled with water. The water was removed, the stakes were replaced and I was safe. I had experienced a peace that passed all understanding.
Islam and the New World Order
2010
It just took a Florida preacher to voice his intentions in memory of the 9-11 tragedy. Both the media and electronic age sent his intentions out to every nation. He can never mend the damage done. What was your reaction to seeing our American flag being burned in various places around the world? In Florida the preacher’s community was upset and the preacher’s life was threatened. He and some members of his small congregation took up guns for protection. “Perfect love casts out fear.” And we all know that hate will stir up more hate.
My understanding favors the words of one who has experienced both sides of the issue. A lady on one of the television religious programs stated her opinion that Islam may be a political ideology disguised as a religion. Only God knows the answer and we should be content to leave the issue in His hands.
Some sixty years ago a family friend brought a stranger to our church service and he preached the idea of “The New World Order.” He foresaw a one-world government. Neither my husband nor I received his persuasive talk but God planned for me to test this stranger’s spirit. Over the next several months as I listened to this man, I began to experience something like a brainwashed mind. He preached the message that he was the good one with a bona fide religion that you need and you are the evil one so come and join me or be destroyed. We believe that Satan comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. I have experienced the blessed power of God since I was sixteen years old when I was born again and presented my body a living sacrifice. On the occasion of this brainwashing, I tried to offer reasons not to submit but have already given the result of submitting. Some time later on a Sunday morning as I listened to my husband preach, I glanced toward my right shoulder and saw a black shadow leave. Immediately, my mind was restored and I could see clearly what error I was drawn into. My warning is to beware of a false religion.
All things are in God’s permissive will or in His perfect will and it is not essential that we decide which. We need only to be true to God.
The Broad Road or the Narrow Road
2010
The verdict is still out on all the religious roads that claim to be pointed toward Heaven. Does our heavenly judge see a jungle of religious understanding? We read of those traveling on the broad road that will lead to destruction. Then the narrow road has travelers filled with love, peace and joy. Some are devoted to their church doctrine and believe in those who claim the good baptism of the Holy Ghost. Then there are those unbelievers who think that speaking in tongues or the “unknown language” is of the devil. On another road people get born again, join the church, then are instructed to seek sanctification as a second definite work of grace wrought in the heart of the believer subsequent to regeneration.
All those who travel these different roads face a lifetime of tests with jealousy, anger or more. Their peers think them the victims of “back-sliding.” Some religious roads are broad while other spiritual roads are narrow. However, all roads with their travelers are pointed toward heaven. If God repented that man was formed, His backup was slain from the foundation of the world. Ever since Eve disobeyed and Adam followed, so both lost their fellowship with their Creator, and their posterity right up to the present is in the same condition. Man has built churches filled with members who adopt creeds, doctrines and traditions until we now have a religious jungle where every person appears right in his or her own eyes. Jesus was rejected by law-keepers saying “Thou shall not” from the Old Covenant and refusing to follow Him into the New Covenant where His spirit within a person says, “I will not” by receiving the engrafted word in his heart. Jesus said He is “the way, the truth and the life” and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and of Heaven.
Do You Know Jesus?
2011
Adults today recall attending Sunday school as children and hearing the historical facts of the baby’s birth to Mary. His name was Jesus and then when as a man He would die on the cross and His blood would cover all our sins. Now people take this mental understanding and believe they know Jesus. However, there is also a personal and spiritual experience making Jesus alive plus being a friend within: You can walk and talk with Him.
There is one thing Jesus requires and that is that you believe in Him. To be saved some think of horribly bad sins or lesser ones but God hates them both. When we surrender our lives to His cleansing power by the operation of the Holy Spirit it is then that we have a change of heart, we have a new attitude and we love those that we may have formerly disliked. This experience is called being born again and is a supernatural spiritual experience and not simply a religious experience in the natural mind. Our spirits return to God like Jesus’ spirit did. Our souls need Full Salvation to receive a garment of righteousness to stand in the judgment before God rather than appearing before Him naked.
Do You Know God?
2010
I believe our God is not a ghost which has neither shape or form, but rather a Devine eternal intelligence with multiple emotions. Jesus knew that carnal-minded people do not understand spiritual reality so He took a child aside and said to his disciples “unless you become as one of these you shall not know the Kingdom of God.” So I will simply say “get off your high horse” of judging eternal spiritual reality. You do not understand but leave it to born again Holy Spirit-filled Christians who can feel and experience the mind of God within their being. Religious minds may know creeds, doctrines and traditions but may think of deeper truths as fanatical.
As a 16 year-old new believer with a change of heart, I wanted to know God and His reality. I purposed never to be a phony or a fanatic after having had several spiritual experiences which are etched in detail in my memory. Each one of these experiences has been a blessing to give me a clear understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work of locating my soul. When God breathed the spirit of life into Adam’s nostrils it went down to his bowels where the living waters flow. Adam became a living soul. Two different times I felt a warm lump of Agape love that is God’s love to give. Many people around the world are sincere in their beliefs but may worship false gods. A woman in India was seen kneeling before a rock and was crying and praying. The people in that country have multiple gods plus thinking that their Grandmother has been reincarnated and returned in a cow. The Jewish people were unbelievers as they hung on to the Laws of Moses and refused to accept the One who came in the flesh and kept all the laws of the Old Covenant. They refused to open the New Covenant of the new and living way. Thank God we worship Him and not a tablet of stone.
The United States has had fanatical cults that self destructed. Years ago James Andrews visited a country preacher and suggested that we give the Bible back to God who gave it to us. This country preacher jumped up, threw up her arms and went moaning and groaning around the church protesting that she could never give up her Bible. What she could not give up was her understanding of the Bible. That same Bible tells us to trust in the Lord and to avoid leaning on our own understanding.
In 1931 I was saved under conviction. I was too miserable to live and too scared to die. Thankfully I was spared from becoming a fanatic. Some feel the Holy Spirit should move in you. The Holy Spirit moves within an awakened person wanting to know God. He opens up a person’s mind to repent for sins and to develop a belief in the true God. If people feel alone and surrender their will and lives and receive the evidence of an empty feeling being satisfied then old things lose their value and all things become new. It is called being born again. A minister may ask if you believe Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead. If you state that you receive Him, then the minister will tell you that you are born again. Remember, that is not enough. You need the Holy Spirit as a witness. Others say that salvation requires only that you “repeat the three things about Jesus that you believe.” That too is not enough.
Leona N. Andrews