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Report a TypoJohn ◦ Chapter 16
1"I have told you all of this so that you will never believe things about me or my Father that are inconsistent with what I have revealed, and so that your confidence will never waver.2They will disfellowship and excommunicate you, and call you 'evil' and 'heretic;' in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will actually think they are doing what God would have them do.3They will practice methods of misrepresenting what you teach, using force, intimidation and coercion–just because they have accepted Satan's lies about me and my Father, and they believe we are like them.4I tell you this now so that you will remember: None of this has taken me by surprise, and since you have been warned, it will not take you by surprise either. I did not tell you earlier because I didn't want you to worry and be distracted from learning all that I had to teach you.5"Now the time has come for me to return to him who sent me, yet none of you are now asking me, 'Where are you going?' "6Because I have told you I am leaving, you are sad and grieving.7But I tell you the truth: It is because I love you and want what is best for you that I am leaving. Unless I go away, you will not stop coming to me to answer your questions, you will not start thinking through the issues for yourselves, nor will you seek the guidance of the Helper; but if I go, you will open your hearts and minds to the Helper, and he will come with all the truth I have revealed.8When he comes, he will expose clearly the sickness of selfishness infecting the human heart, dispense the Remedy necessary to experience a new and righteous heart, and reveal the inevitable outcome of rejecting the Remedy.9He will expose the fact that the sickness of selfishness persists because people do not value or trust me.10He will dispense the Remedy, as I will be with my Father and no longer here to apply it myself.11And he will reveal that the inevitable consequence of rejecting the Remedy leads only to death, as the prince of this world of selfishness now stands fully exposed as a liar, fraud, and failure.12"I have so much more to tell you, but you are not currently able to comprehend or understand it.13But when you open your minds to the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you in comprehending all truth. He will not be speaking for himself; he will speak what he hears from me, and he will reveal to you what the future holds.14He will honor and glorify me by taking what I have done and reproducing it in you. He will connect together in your minds all the evidence I have provided — so that you will comprehend the truth about me and the Father, our methods and principles, the nature and character of sin, the destructiveness of Satan's methods, the true character of Satan–and he will take my perfect character and reproduce it in you.15Everything that belongs to the Father is equally mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will not be speaking for himself but will take all I have achieved and reproduce it in you.16 "In a very short time I will be gone from you, and then after a short time I will return to you."17Some of the disciples were confused by Jesus' comments and began to ask one another, "What does he mean when he says, 'In a very short time I will be gone from you, and then after a short time I will return to you,' and 'I am going to the Father'?"18They kept asking each other, "What does he mean by 'a short time'? We don't know what he means." But none of them asked Jesus to clarify."19Jesus, however, seeing that they were confused and wanted to ask him about this, said to them: "Are you wondering what I meant when I said, 'In a very short time I will be gone from you, and then after a short time I will return to you'?20I tell you the truth: Your hearts will be broken, and you will cry and grieve while the selfish world rejoices. You will grieve for a short time, but then your grief will be turned to overwhelming joy.21Consider a woman in labor: she has pain because the time to complete her pregnancy has come, but when her baby is born, she forgets the pain and is filled with joy.22So it will be with you: Now your time for grief has come, but I will come back to you, and then you will be filled with joy; and such joy no one can take away.23In that day, you will no longer need to present your requests through me, since you will finally be in complete unity with the Father yourselves; and anything you ask the Father in harmony with me and my methods and principles, he will give you.24Thus far, you have not asked the Father for anything in harmony with me or my methods and principles. Ask with your heart unified with me in purpose, principle and love, and your joy will be full and complete.25"Thus far, I have been speaking to you in figures of speech and symbolic language; but now, I will not use symbols and metaphors any more but tell you plainly about my Father.26You will simply ask the Father yourselves — in harmony with my character, understanding my mission, and valuing my methods. I will not ask the Father for you:27there will be no need, because the Father has always loved you, and now that you understand that I came to reveal the Father, you realize that your love for me is love for the Father.28I came from the Father and brought the truth about him into the world; now my mission here is almost complete, so I am leaving the world and returning to the Father."29Jesus' disciples said, "Finally, you are speaking clearly and without symbols or metaphors.30Now we understand and realize that you do know all things; you even know what we are thinking, before we ask you any questions. You are able to know our thoughts before we tell you, and this convinces us beyond any doubt that you came from God."31Jesus answered, "Praise God! You finally believe!32But even so, the time has come when you will all flee to your homes and abandon me — you will leave me all alone. Yet, even though you leave me, I am not alone, because my Father is with me.33I have told you all these things so that you will not be afraid when they transpire, and that you may have peace knowing that nothing takes me by surprise. In this selfish world, you will be opposed and harassed. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.