Why Are You A Christian?

[amigo de christo]

If the type of communication exhibited here is what comes from the love that is God:

I'll take a heaping helping of the devil, please.

Never again say that . say this rather . THAT AINT THE LOVE OF GOD AT ALL .
but never say i will take a heaping helping of the devil .
Jim is in dire and deadly danger . I have by grace been trying to help him .
But the false love gospel has taken a deep root within many a heart .
They now see things that are love as hate and hate as love . Its all going down hill barney .
seeker friendly was of the devil and till folks flee it , they wont make it .

 

[amigo de christo]

You have gone totally mad!

Men can quote the "scrips" and say "God is love" "But rest assured they know neither GOD NOR HIS LOVE". So you're saying that men (and women?) quote Scripture and don't know God or His love". You're including yourself, of course, in this truly bizarre statement. Are you saying that when you quote Scripture, you don't know God?

Satan never said "God is love"! John wrote that, so is John "Satan to you?

I bet that Satan, unlike yourself, can clearly express himself in English. Here is an example of your horrendous English: "SATAN [capitalized] SURE CAN QUOATE [misspelled] the scrips [a form of money] VERBATUM [misspelled] yeah i actually said verbatum [misspelled again] yesterday ."

And you claim that you can read and understand the King James Bible? Why do I doubt that? Gee, I wonder! It's like a second grader claiming to understand calculus.

Keep trying jim . anyone who reads it will understand what i meant .
Satan can quoate the scrips pard . HE can quoate GOD is LOVE
but he gonna bring another version a sensual version of what love means .
So lets focus on the topic . CAN satan speak the scripture . AND WE SEE he can . BUT he is gonna bring
his twist on it . Just like many who follow him now do .
THERE IS a love getting preached and IT AINT NO LOVE . and they are saying GOD IS LOVE
but they are calling evil good and good evil .
I see folks holler GOD is love a lot . Yet embrace sins and even call the sins LOVE .
And then if anyone comes along to correct the sin , they get called hater and told GOD IS LOVE .
THEY ARE USING THE PHRASE GOD IS LOVE and using that love to support inquity .
CHARITY DONT DO THAT JIM . but the social all inclusive sure do .
As they wrap their arms around homosexuals and tell them all is well , its not sin , its love and GOD IS LOVE .
THEY ARE USING the phrase GOD IS LOVE and yet use it to support evil .
THEY doing it with everyones path now too .
OH GOD IS LOVE they holler and the muslim says it , the buddist says it
the hindu says it , the inclusive christain says it . YET NONE OF THEM KNOW GOD or HIS LOVE .
And if you dont believe me GO watch the video POPE francis himself did on the vatican site .
IT had all them false religoins gathering as one and all saying GOD IS LOVE .
Implying that all religoins are of GOD . THEY have made the path to GOD very braod through this false
social justice all inclusive dung pile .

 

[Jim B]

Never again say that . say this rather . THAT AINT THE LOVE OF GOD AT ALL .
but never say i will take a heaping helping of the devil .
Jim is in dire and deadly danger . I have by grace been trying to help him .
But the false love gospel has taken a deep root within many a heart .
They now see things that are love as hate and hate as love . Its all going down hill barney .
seeker friendly was of the devil and till folks flee it , they wont make it .

If the type of communication exhibited here is what comes from the love that is God:

I'll take a heaping helping of the devil, please.

@amigo is in dire and deadly danger. I have by grace been trying to help him but his false gospel of judgement and condemnation has taken a deep root within his heart. He sees hatred and judgement as loving people, including most of the body of Christ. He ignores the fact that God loves His creation and didn't send His Son to condemn the world, but that it would be saved through Him. John 3:16-17 says this clearly.

 

[Jim B]

Keep trying jim . anyone who reads it will understand what i meant .
Satan can quoate the scrips pard . HE can quoate GOD is LOVE
but he gonna bring another version a sensual version of what love means .
So lets focus on the topic . CAN satan speak the scripture . AND WE SEE he can . BUT he is gonna bring
his twist on it . Just like many who follow him now do .
THERE IS a love getting preached and IT AINT NO LOVE . and they are saying GOD IS LOVE
but they are calling evil good and good evil .
I see folks holler GOD is love a lot . Yet embrace sins and even call the sins LOVE .
And then if anyone comes along to correct the sin , they get called hater and told GOD IS LOVE .
THEY ARE USING THE PHRASE GOD IS LOVE and using that love to support inquity .
CHARITY DONT DO THAT JIM . but the social all inclusive sure do .
As they wrap their arms around homosexuals and tell them all is well , its not sin , its love and GOD IS LOVE .
THEY ARE USING the phrase GOD IS LOVE and yet use it to support evil .
THEY doing it with everyones path now too .
OH GOD IS LOVE they holler and the muslim says it , the buddist says it
the hindu says it , the inclusive christain says it . YET NONE OF THEM KNOW GOD or HIS LOVE .
And if you dont believe me GO watch the video POPE francis himself did on the vatican site .
IT had all them false religoins gathering as one and all saying GOD IS LOVE .
Implying that all religoins are of GOD . THEY have made the path to GOD very braod through this false
social justice all inclusive dung pile .

You are clearly out of your mind! Try reading the Bible -- a translation that you can actually understand -- and learn what it truly says.

Among other things, Jesus challenged the Pharisees for their self-righteous judgement of others. You are no different than a Pharisee! You claim that nobody knows God but you; that is identical to their thinking but Jesus said that they didn't know God!

Matthew 16:6, "Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Luke 6:7, "The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see whether ... they might find grounds to bring an accusation against him."

Luke 12:1, "Meanwhile, when the crowd had gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy."

 

[BarneyFife]

Never again say that . say this rather . THAT AINT THE LOVE OF GOD AT ALL .
but never say i will take a heaping helping of the devil .
Jim is in dire and deadly danger . I have by grace been trying to help him .
But the false love gospel has taken a deep root within many a heart .
They now see things that are love as hate and hate as love . Its all going down hill barney .
seeker friendly was of the devil and till folks flee it , they wont make it .

I generally say that which I believe to be appropriate, Amigo. I have no superstitious fear of hyperbole. But thank you for your concern.

I suspected you would react the way you did, but I cannot, in good conscience, conduct my affairs to suit your convictions.

Superstition is one of the primary weapons of Rome. I'm surprised to see you wearing the open wounds thereof. I could, of course, be mistaken.

There is due and timely warning and then there is imposing one's will on others. The latter is the way of Rome. Take care that you be not found practicing the arts of the one you so thunderously eschew.

You will find that I take very seriously my stewardship of a will surrendered to God that operates as His Spirit has granted it liberty in Christ—very seriously, indeed.

I'm sorry if my involvement here disturbs your perceived jurisdiction of operation. I'll try to avoid interfering when I can. That's the best I can promise.

Always a pleasure, Amigo.

 

[GRACE ambassador]

op: why am I a christian?

Hopefully so I can learn 'how to' gently "plant and water" seed as a "co-labourer"
With God ( "Approved Unto Him" ), being prepared for my Judgment!:

"I [ Paul ] planted, Apollos watered, But God Gave The Increase..." (1 Co 3:6-15)

Regarding this, part of this 'christianity' are the heartbreaking discussions I have encountered
involving "biting and devouring one another" / "bashing disagreers over the head" with
Scriptures... Very Troubling indeed... Please, LORD God, Help us all, please?

Precious friends, hopefully my gentle 'planting and watering' produces:

Please Be Very RICHLY Encouraged, Enlightened, Exhorted, And Edified In
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided! (+ I and II!) * ← PG rated "Approved" *
↑ Most Important in my 'christianity' ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

Grace, Peace, And JOY!…

* PG = Perfect God / Parental Guidance:



Extra Bonus study:

Handling The Word Of Life

 

[Johann]

op: why am I a christian?

Hopefully so I can learn 'how to' gently "plant and water" seed as a "co-labourer"
With God ( "Approved Unto Him" ), being prepared for my Judgment!:

"I [ Paul ] planted, Apollos watered, But God Gave The Increase..." (1 Co 3:6-15)

Regarding this, part of this 'christianity' are the heartbreaking discussions I have encountered
involving "biting and devouring one another" / "bashing disagreers over the head" with
Scriptures... Very Troubling indeed... Please, LORD God, Help us all, please?

Precious friends, hopefully my gentle 'planting and watering' produces:

Please Be Very RICHLY Encouraged, Enlightened, Exhorted, And Edified In
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided! (+ I and II!) * ← PG rated "Approved" *
↑ Most Important in my 'christianity' ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

Grace, Peace, And JOY!…

* PG = Perfect God / Parental Guidance:

View attachment 34026

Extra Bonus study:

Handling The Word Of Life

How on earth do you navigate through the Berean Bible Society? Using the One Minute?
Johann.

 

[GRACE ambassador]

How on earth do you navigate through the Berean Bible Society? Using the One Minute?
Johann.

Very slowly? There is a 'Summary of Links' at the bottom of the home page.

I get The [monthly x 11] Berean Searchlight by email. Also the:

"Two minutes [daily] ( and 'More Minutes' [weekly] ) With The Bible" can be
subscribed by email.

Please be Very Richly Enriched, Encouraged And Edified on your spiritual journey.

ChrisE

 

[L.A.M.B.]

I have lived in the South all my life ,it is well known as the Bible Belt of the U.S.
Living here, there were always vacation bible schools among the many many churches and denominations, as a diversion in summer, our parents let us go.
I was introduced to the gospel and hearing of the word of God at a young age. As I grew older it seemed as though there was a pulling in my heart and a hunger in my soul to be a true part with Him.
Of course, it was the conviction of the Holy Ghost to draw me into righteousness with God.
At 19, I made a commitment to follow Christ and live in the Spirit and obey the word of God. He forgave my sins and washed me in the regeneration of his blood sacrifice and I was born again.
What has been hard is my discipleship. As Paul said, when I want to do right there is the war of the flesh vs the Spirit. I have never found God to be unfaithful in his promises and his word.

Therefore I am a follower and believer of my God, my Lord and my saviour!

 

[amigo de christo]

I have lived in the South all my life ,it is well known as the Bible Belt of the U.S.
Living here, there were always vacation bible schools among the many many churches and denominations, as a diversion in summer, our parents let us go.
I was introduced to the gospel and hearing of the word of God at a young age. As I grew older it seemed as though there was a pulling in my heart and a hunger in my soul to be a true part with Him.
Of course, it was the conviction of the Holy Ghost to draw me into righteousness with God.
At 19, I made a commitment to follow Christ and live in the Spirit and obey the word of God. He forgave my sins and washed me in the regeneration of his blood sacrifice and I was born again.
What has been hard is my discipleship. As Paul said, when I want to do right there is the war of the flesh vs the Spirit. I have never found God to be unfaithful in his promises and his word.

Therefore I am a follower and believer of my God, my Lord and my saviour!

Hit the trenches my dear sister . In all that we do and say may it honor the glorious Lord .

 

[Jn1.Chris]

A full testimony of why would require a very long post indeed. I knew of God and in way I tried to live on His side from the age of 6 years, but it was not until after I was married and we had two children that God showed both me and my wife that something was missing in our lives. It was God that missing. Without Him our family was doomed. With Him, we just celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary this past June.

Give God the glory!

Testify! There is a forum for it and everything! I'll read it for sure

 

[amadeus]

Testify! There is a fun for it and everything! I'll read it for sure

First Part is a discussion between me and a Catholic some 15 years ago:
Quote:

Originally Posted by Loretohouse If you were at Mass regularly you would have heard the complete Bible read in a 3 year period. Many Catholics can not quote the exact chapter and verse for Jesus' first public miracle but they know it is the wedding feast at Caana.

Amadeus:
I probably now read the Bible through at least 2 or 3 times a year and have been doing so for a long time.

When I was a Catholic, while there was always a Bible reading at each mass, I am certain that there was no program in place then to read the Bible through in the manner you describe. The mass itself, of course, was then in Latin. I stopped attending the Catholic church regularly after I graduated from high school in 1961. Prior to that I was a devout Catholic. I had expressed interest to the parish priest in becoming a priest before starting high school and fully intended to go that way. The priest said he would speak to my parents and get back with me. He never personally got back with me, but I learned from my mother [my father was never a Catholic during his lifetime] that the priest called her in and spoke at length with her. She was against me becoming a priest, but she didn't tell me that until many years after I had separated from the Church and the information was only history to me.

Quote:

Loretohouse: When I hear of a Catholic who left the Church I think of the scripture where Jesus asked Peter..Will you leave me also? Peter said "Where would we go, Thou art the Lord!

Amadeus:
I hear you on this as I heard CC regarding his Catholicism. I won't argue with it because when I was a Catholic, no one could have convinced me that any other place or way could possibly have been correct.

I will say that at this moment I have found the Lord again [I did know Him when I was a Catholic] and could not possibly return to the Catholic Church. There are too many things that I could not personally embrace again. To do so would be to act against my own convictions and beliefs.

My primary purpose now must be to please God as it was when I was a Catholic, although I could not have then expressed very well.

Quote:

Loretohouse: For what ever a person has left the Church know that Our Lord would be very happy if they returned home.

Amadeus:
I understand here your use of the word, "home", but it is no longer 'home' to me. The last time I remember attending mass was as a soldier in Viet Nam. I only went once, but there was nothing there for me at the time. I remained a nominal Catholic until drawn into the UPC in 1976.

My only outward expression of my Catholicism after Viet Nam was when my wife and I were married by a Catholic priest. The marriage was performed in the chapel of San Jose State University. The officiating priest was a friend of my mother's. [My mother remained Catholic until her death in 2006.]

My wife's experience with Catholicism had no favorable parts to it. She was an effective orphan in a Catholic orphanage under the authority of an evil nun. I will not amplify on that because it would not be edifying to anyone.

Quote:

Loretohouse: You will never find a person who truly believes in the Eucharist who left the Catholic Church.

Amadeus:
I believe in eating the flesh and and drinking the blood of Christ by partaking daily of the Word and the Spirit. I don't believe that I could honestly ever participate in a Catholic or a protestant [of any denomination] communion consisting of bread or crackers and grape juice or wine. I do not condemn anyone for disgreeing with me on that. This is where I am with the Lord. I am not you or anyone else.

 

[amadeus]

Testify! There is a fun for it and everything! I'll read it for sure

Second Part is an overview written by me several years ago:

I have been on Christian forums for a great many years now. I remember, early on, the many times I would spend a lot of time writing out a post and then before hitting the 'enter' button something happened [momentary power outage or computer quirk?] that caused me to lose the whole thing. I used to get a little upset because of all of 'my' wasted time and effort. It was not immediately, but eventually I came to understand and acknowledge that God was in the loss because He was not in the writing. I wrote it... not Him. Who is our Interpreter?

This goes back to my own history long before that. When I was called to God in 1976 and began to read the Bible at age 32 for the first time in my life, I read and studied my Bible constantly. I had received the gift of the Holy Spirit in 1976, but I was seldom led by the Spirit in the reading, my studying and my life in general. In those several years I became a knowledgeable student of the Bible, but I did not know much about God... although at the time I would have not said that, nor did I believe that. I really believed that if I learned the Bible well enough I really could become like Enoch or even Jesus. If I could just learn it well! Ha! My delusion!

In the early 1990's I back slid and was gone for about 10 years. [One man on a forum argued at length with me that no one could back slide for that long.]

I stopped attending church and I stopped reading my Bible. No one had home computers and regular Internet access and such things in those days, not yet. What I had was stacks of notebooks that I had filled over the years with notes I had taken from my own Bible studies and from the preachers and teachers over the years since 1976. When I was backslid and was sure I would never get back into it again, I purposely destroyed all of those notebooks. To this day I regret my action in destroying those notebooks... but what did they contain anyway? What had I destroyed?

When I was drawn back to God in 2002 I had a computer already and God showed me a better Way. This was when I really began looking for and following God in the Spirit. [I thought that was what I was doing as a young Catholic (until 1961) and as a Pentecostal convert (between1976- to abt. 1992)... but I did not know then what lay ahead of me.] That [2002] was when I began to seek His will actively. The Leader [the Holy Ghost] had been there all of the time, but I had become proficient at quenching the Holy Spirit so I backslid... My actual return to God was a miraculous thing and my detailed testimony is given already in other places.

It was some time long after my return that I had the experiences I mentioned at the start of this post with the loss of things written to be posted. I won't say it never happens any more, but certainly not so often. I learned [God showed me] that talking to Him for Internet discussions was just as important as talking to Him in the morning or during the day when involved in any my offline secular routines.

God will at times use each one of us. If we are available He will use us for 'good', but if unavailable for that He may then use us for 'left hand' activities so that curses invoked might come to pass. We would rather, I believe, always be working in "right hand" of God type of activities. So then let us all learn to talk to and listen to God at all times... even when [or especially when] wanting to respond to someone on a forum such as this one.

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Phil 4:4

"Pray without ceasing." I Thess 5:17

I still miss the way too often... but God is not finished with me yet. Now I realize better now how little I know, but... God has lifted me up! This is where the current connection with Him is important...

Give God the glory!

 

[amadeus]

Testify! There is a fun for it and everything! I'll read it for sure

Third Part also written a number of year ago:


In a sense from my earliest memories I have always believed in God. My first memory of considering the existence of God was when at the age of 6 years I was baptized in a Catholic Church. I built on and/or God built on that first vision of Him at age 6.

There were two periods when I tried to NOT believe and it simply did not work. Both occurred during the time between leaving formal Catholicism in about 1961 [high school graduation year] and being called into Pentecostalism in 1976. Nominally I remained Catholic during those years, but other than a couple of feeble efforts on my parts early on I made no move to worship God or to attend any gathering of people for the purpose of serving or worshipping Him... yet during that time He did things to keep me from becoming atheist in the most literal sense. Agnostic, I guess I really was, or was trying to be, until I remembered what He had already done in my life.

When He called me to Him, He did so big time. With a wife and two toddlers both of us loved our marriage had reached it final breaking point. Without posting the details, God saved the two of us and our marriage. That was in 1976. We are still serving God and we are still married. It will be 47 years of marriage this coming June.

There is no place I can see to go but to God. This world offers things which have at times had their attractions to me, but I have learned sometimes through great needless [or very needful] trials to avoid such things with all of my being. My being certainly is unable to do so...alone! I also am a man!

 

[amadeus]

Testify! There is a fun for it and everything! I'll read it for sure

Fourth Part was written in about 2010 and includes some details not shown in the other one posted:

I started out with water baptism as a Roman Catholic at the age of 6 years. I served faithfully as an altar boy until graduation from high school. I seriously considered the RC priesthood as a teenager.

I received first holy communion in the RC and later was confirmed in the RC.

Through college and military I remained a nominal Catholic, but was never again an active Catholic other than to get married by an RC priest.

At 32 years of age, my wife and I became a member of a Oneness, Jesus Only, UPC. I remained in that and related groups for 11 years. That ended in 1987.

From 1987 to present I have been active in some non-denominational groups that believe neither the Oneness doctrines of the UPC nor the trinitarian doctrines.

I have been an active speaker in unknown tongues since 1976. I have over the years been known to dance in the Spirit.

I do not believe in eternal torment.

I do not believe in a chief or poppa devil [often known as satan or lucifer]

I do believe that a person can by his own choice lose the favor that he has found with God.

I do believe the Bible. In English I read the KJV, but I own several with other versions and/or language Bibles which I use.

 

[amadeus]

Fifth Part written by me on a forum in response to our good friend @Helen [ then known as By Grace] in 2018:

"ByGrace" said: ↑

True words Amadeus.
So often we can get interested in something and go off at a tangent ..and end up down the preverbal rabbit hole. Then we come to ourself and realize that although it was fun..and even a good topic for conversation...it adds nothing but knowledge, but without 'the life'.

Amadeus:
For me not "fun" like it once would have been. When I was still working [retired almost 18 years ago] I loved my job because it was complex and full of variety. I was never bored. I ended up retiring early because I was getting burned out in the brain. If I had tried to continue working for a few more years as was my plan, I would have died and I don't believe that is an exaggeration. My wife agrees on this. I was working my 40 hours per week plus all of the overtime they would give me. I was continuously working on everyone else's Social Security troubles. My mind would not and could not rest. At the same time I was trading postage stamps with from 35 to 45 people all over the world, but especially in Spain and Spanish American nations. That trading took most of my time when I was not working for Social Security.

There was no time for anything including God. That was my long 10 years away from God.

My first day off upon retirement I went home and crashed. I slept for 72 hours straight getting up only in a daze to go to the bathroom. No food, no thinking, no nothing. Fortunately my wife understood and let me sleep. When I finally woke up officially retired I did not look back. The job that had obsessed me was out of my mind and I have never missed it. I did not look at my stamp collection for months and I quit all of my trading partners without notice. I still greatly regret that as I had many friends who were not to blame for my foolish obsessions... but I know some of them were hurt by me just quitting on them.

I replaced all of those things with God...but for a long time He would not answer me. When He did... the chastisement coming my way was terrible yet the miracle at the end of it was incredible.

When I was serving God before that 10 year lapse, I could quote dozens of scriptures. Now I really cannot quote John 3:16. God has given me a different gift now, which you may recognize, but I still suffer severely when I push too hard on thinking and drawing conclusions. That is exactly what I did on the job I loved so much. I am gone from that job because I really let it become more important than God. That was the reason for the chastisement.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matt 6:24

By Grace:
Dave tends to do this..and for us who are retired it is sure of better value than reading some novel or watching some game on the TV..
Sometimes he bores me with things he has studied. But don't tell him that!

Amadeus:
I usually only talk to my wife about the details of scripture when we have a real life problem, ours or someone else's, to deal with. Then we do because we know that God really does have the necessary answers and sometimes He shares them to us. Sometimes we are able to help someone else.

By Grace:
The first line of the bit I quoted from your post is - < My search is never ended for more from God, >
I know you read 4 different translations per day...but do you believe that "more of God " is found in the Bible itself?
Obviously I don't, or I wouldn't have asked the question

Amadeus:
I do... but only three translations [English, German & Spanish]! For me reading and studying the scripture is eating His flesh. Along with that I drink His blood and then sometimes a new thing is quickened to me... that is, written on my heart for proper use at the proper time. It is not always easy as some parts of scripture as you know are not easy to read, but I never skip anything when I am doing my regular reading. That is the flesh and I may skip something that God needs to accomplish His work in or through me. Jesus always had the right answer even if the answer was to remain silent. My success rate falls a bit short of that, but that is because sometimes I still quench the Spirit. Without the Spirit I am dead.

By Grace:
The only "more of God" I have ever found has been in quiet time before God Himself ..with a pen and paper always at hand...but not a bible.
"more of God" for me...starts when I shut up...and allow His life to flow and fill my innermost being. I have often done that for three hours and still I don't wish to have to 'come back' to the world or the duties it lays upon us.
' Deep calleth to deep...'

Amadeus:

Not everyone hears in the same way. Elijah heard a still small voice, but you or me or the other guy may hear in an entirely different way. We cannot put God in a box. He always does it the right way at the right time for the right person.

Give God the glory!

 

[BarneyFife]

@amadeus

John, it's testimonies like yours above that make wading through the junk you'll find here worth the effort.

We so often argue over trivialities but then while reading your testimony I got a re-realization that, while I've never been involved with Catholicism or Pentecostalism, the way God has apparently worked to reach your heart is so similar to the way He's worked to reach mine that the differences seem almost meaningless by comparison.

It embarrasses me to really think about the way I've often thundered away to protect institutions and forms of worship.

I do believe God has some things in mind for us that seem unimportant but are not, for reasons that ONLY HE can ultimately make clear to the individual heart, but I'm coming to believe more and more that the closer we draw to Him, the less we will fail to take advantage of the opportunities all around us to partake of the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

 

[amadeus]

Sixth writing: And then I wrote this in 2012:

Well consider that God had rejected Saul and had even instructed the prophet, Samuel to stop mourning his loss. That looks the one way, but I have a personal testimony that looks the other way:

I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in 1976. In the early 1990's I backslid badly. It started slowly by simply missing a lot of church services. Eventually my attendance dropped to zero. Along with this, my prayer and Bible reading diminished and finally disappeared. I had been serving God before that, but there were some major things that stood between me and God.

I was like Saul. I was blessed from the beginning because I had humbled myself... in the beginning. My knowledge grew as I read and studied scripture heavily.

I know you have heard people speak of having a proper balance. Well I got way out of balance. I was eatng a lot of flesh, but it was dead flesh. I was not drinking enough blood to bring the flesh consumed to Life within me.

Do you know what happens if a tourniquet is placed around your upper arm and the pressure is maintained for too long? The lower arm, which is receiving no blood, or insufficient blood will die. Gangrene will set in and it will have to be amputated.

I was like a lower arm, a member of the Body of Christ, but when my blood supply was critically reduced over a period of time, I began to die and it was time to be amputated.

I was away from God, I believe, for about 10 years. When finally, like the prodigal son, I realized how miserable I was, I wanted to come back. I tried to read the Bible again and I tried to pray. I attended church service. Like Saul, I was unable to hear God at all.

Like Saul, I was desperate. He went to a witch. I began by trying to attend church, but I could not attend more than once. Each time I attended, I pressed in, but was unable to find what I sought. After each church service attended, I would be unable to attend again for a month or two. This repeated itself for about a year in the very early part of this millennium.

Finally, after making a vow with a humility that I could not recall having had before, God drew me back in to Jesus. I was wiped out and empty. To this day I cannot quote scripture, even though, prior to my backward slide, many scriptures were printed word for word in my head simply because I read the Bible a lot. I had never tried to memorize, but it was done.

Now, the Lord tells where things are in scripture when I need them or the right words come to my mouth, but never are they exactly as per the KJV version, which the primary English Bible I have always read. They are what He has written in my heart, which is not in a human language at all.

After drawing us back in, God then led us (my wife was with me on all of the downhill as well as the uphill journey) through the very worst period of chastisement of our lives. When everything that the flesh cherished had seemingly crumbled before our eyes, we held on and continuously renewed our vows to Him. We refused to put anthing but His Kingdom and His Righteousness FIRST!

Then the floodgates of heaven really opened to us and He brought us to a great place of Rest in Him.

So then, was Saul saved? I cannot say, No, because my place, from what I am able to see, was certainly as bad as his and He brought me back. Leave the things of God to God. If He wants us to see more or to have more, He will do so!

Give God the glory!

 

[amadeus]

Seventh and final testimony written in 2011 which includes some details of the chastisement:

I received the Holy Ghost in 1976 and tried to walk with God for several years. There were, however, some flaws that brought me to a place of discouragement and in the early 1990's I fell away from the Lord. I never blasphemed Him, but neither did I repent for about 10 years. In 2002 When I finally wanted to repent and I began returning to church services trying to humble myself and get Him to somehow accept me again, He would not. It scared me terribly. I would go to services perhaps once every month or two and each time tried to get in, but He wouldn't accept me and I could never attend two services in succession. I thought that He was finally and completely done with me, but I was wrong.

I emptied my heart to Him and vowed to serve Him with all of my mind and heart and all that I was if only He would accept again. I knew that I was unworthy, but I knew there was nothing worthwhile anywhere else but Him. Then He accepted me but it was not without severe chastisement.

My wife and I had had some tight financial situations throughout our marriage, but we had always handled them. Sometimes we had trusted in God, but more often we had just trusted in ourselves. I would work maximum overtime and take on second jobs to get it done. This time that wasn't going to happen. To start with, I had retired from my federal govt. job and was on a fixed income. My wife was already fully disabled and couldn't handle a job.

In 2002 God took us back (yes, my wife was involved in it). We buried ourselves in Him. We prayed and read the Bible (neither done for about 10 years) and never missed a service.

Very shortly AFTER coming back to God financial trouble hit us as it had never done before. An error in our checkbook caused us to bounce a check. That one bounced check was the beginning of a landslide. To salvage our situation we turned back our new car to dealer. We were also on the verge of losing our house.

We lived about 15 miles out of town and had no transportation. My wife has severe and chronic asthma, which in spite of medication was not completely under control. If she had an attack, we had no way to get into town. We would have to wait for an ambulance. But...we were trusting God and she never had a severe episode during that time.

A brother in the Lord was saving money to fix his house. It had a faulty concrete foundation that eventually would ruin or destroy his home. He recognized our need and believed it greater than his own. He found a good operating a car, paid $2000.00 cash for it and gave us the pink slip. God had provided us with transportation.

We were still in danger of losing our home. I went to work helping a tree trimmer and mowing lawns and picking up aluminum cans and doing anything else that a man in his late 50's who had worked a desk job most of his life could find. My wife began to sew for additional extra income. All of those efforts might have done it...but when I went to work helping a man replace the siding on his house, I got physically ill on the job. I knew that I couldn't afford to lose the job so I worked on in spite of my sickness, but after about two hours, in the boiling hot Oklahoma sun I was on the verge of passing out. I just had to go home and trust in God. I had no other choice.

Finally, we filed bankruptcy. We had held off on this until there was no other recourse. We had spoken to financial counselers and they saw no other way for us.

Remember that all of these difficulties came on us immediately AFTER we had been accepted back by God. Nevertheless, we refused to give up on God and in spite of the impossible financial pressure we never stopped giving a portion of our income to Him.

About 2 or 3 weeks after filing bankruptcy, but before going to court for it, we received a phone call in Oklahoma from a private detective in Arizona. He had been searching for my wife in connection with an estate. She had an aunt that she had not seen or heard from since she was a little girl in California over 40 years earlier.

The aunt had died in Kentucky and had no children. Her estate was divided among nieces and nephews including my wife. We advised the bankruptcy trustee about the inheritance and he froze the inheritance to apply it toward our creditors. When the inheritance was received it paid off all of those we filed bankruptcy against and gave us a little beyond that.

It still brings tears to my eyes when I think of how great God is and what He did for us. I love Him too much to turn back now.

 

[amadeus]

@amadeus

John, it's testimonies like yours above that make wading through the junk you'll find here worth the effort.

We so often argue over trivialities but then while reading your testimony I got a re-realization that, while I've never been involved with Catholicism or Pentecostalism, the way God has apparently worked to reach your heart is so similar to the way He's worked to reach mine that the differences seem almost meaningless by comparison.

It embarrasses me to really think about the way I've often thundered away to protect institutions and forms of worship.

I do believe God has some things in mind for us that seem unimportant but are not, for reasons that ONLY HE can ultimately make clear to the individual heart, but I'm coming to believe more and more that the closer we draw to Him, the less we will fail to take advantage of the opportunities all around us to partake of the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Just keep giving God the glory, my friend and brother in Christ!