Mat 16:3And in the morning, [It will be] foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O [ye] hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not [discern] the signs of the times?
“For My people, saith the LORD, set the watch in the night-time, yea, rise and pray and let not that hour come upon thee unaware.
For the time is short, yea, the storm is gathering fast. Ye see the clouds in the sky and ye say rain is approaching.
Can ye not discern the events that are currently shaping up in the affairs of men and been as keen to observe their import and know that disaster and holocaust is in the making?
But thou art prone to fall into the same snare as others-to presume that prosperity and peace will continue, simply because ye wish so strongly that it might be so. Ye are not ignorant concerning the prophecies of My Word as some are, and yet ye allow the feelings and attitudes that are abroad in the land to invade your personal life.
Be more with Me, and let My Spirit pervade thy spirit, and then thou shall be more influenced by Me than the world around you. But be prepared for the fact that you will be of a different mind and attitude than those around you, and be willing to accept the difference and be able to ignore misunderstanding.
For many will not accept a message of warning, because they have set their own personal ambitions against the will of God, and they are so intent upon their own pursuits that they refuse to tolerate the thought of possible interference of any kind.
But you beloved, be much with Me, for there is a great and heavy burden upon My heart. For God taketh no pleasure in the death of the wicked. My long-suffering and grace have continued because I deeply desire than all men should come to repentance. But the grapes of wickedness are full,and the vat of the wine-presses are already beginning to receive the juice, and ere long they shall be running full.
For the times of the Gentiles are drawing to a close, and I come. Yea, be ready, for I come quickly. ”
From the book of prophecies, “Come Away My Beloved” by Frances J. Roberts. I recommend this book for all Christians seeking a deeper walk and understanding of Jesus. I was told by a friend years ago that the LORD wanted me to have this book. When I finally ordered it and began reading, I began to weep because I could recognize my Saviors words in it speaking as directly to me. Other than the bible itself, this has been the most meaningful and instructive volume I’ve ever had and the nearest to my heart because it has spoken to me, comforted, edified, and taught me and given me peace through many hard trials.
The Bible speaks of a time at the end of the age when gross darkness will cover the land. That there will be a famine for the Word of God. Not a time of a great awakening for mankind but rather, a time when all creation groans waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. A time not of a massive “revival” to reawaken the people of God but rather a time of apostasy, (falling away). Even in this hour, we are seeing great delusion sweep through the world, and many in the church being swept along in this overflowing scourge of darkness and delusion.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;2nd Thessalonians 2:3
19 We know that we are of God, and zthe whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 1 John 5:
From Herescope. A powerful new article on the command to separation from God to His church.
“Separation is God’s prescription for treating the disease of apostasy. It is not ours to repudiate, for it is a divine command, not a human idea.”
“The biblical doctrine of separation is founded upon a verse that appears in both the Old and New Testaments: Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. (2 Cor. 6:14; Is. 52:11)”
Instead of separation in these perilous times, we’ve seen the church adopting more of the ways of the world, and into a more ecumenical of a multitude of Starbucks, coffee drinking seeker friendly, “come as you are, stay as you are” worldly conformists, where “tolerance” and “acceptance” passes for, and overshadows the command to separate from the world. And the church as a whole is embracing this false doctrine.
Where is Edwin Young now? Did he just take the money and run?
You Tube Video of So-called “pastor” Edwin Young brow-beating and berating a woman from his bully pulpit. No wonder people are leaving the churches in droves these days. This man exhibits none of the fruits of the Spirit, nor does he bear any resemblance to the Lord Jesus Christ, or his gentle nature and characteristics. He does however more closely resemble the ravening wolves that the Apostle Paul tearfully described that would enter in amongst the Lord’s flock after Paul’s death.
A very godly man, a pastor himself, once told me, “When a wolf preacher gets control of a church, it will always come down to two things in the end, sex and money”. Meaning that when that man feels confident and arrogant enough, he will begin sexually abusing women, girls, or sometimes young boys. I believe it because that very issue has become epidemic in churches all over America…
In today’s world divorce and remarriage is easy to come by, insofar as civil laws are concerned. Even in Christian circles, divorce and remarriage is becoming very common, and many Christians, claiming to be devout Christians seem to think it’s acceptable. However, God’s Word makes it clear that what may be acceptable in the eyes of man is an abomination to God. God’s Word is not hard to understand on the very important issue of marriage, divorce and remarriage. In fact, it’s very clear, unless people just try to gloss over the scriptures and pretend they aren’t there or that they surely don’t apply to them.
I started thinking about this issue because a couple recently came to me who are planning to “get married”. It’s an odd case. The woman was first married to a man who abused her as well as committed adultery, and she divorced him. According to scripture, she would have been free to marry again, which she did within a couple of years. That too was a mistake, and they divorced. He had not committed adultery, but eventually he died prematurely. During this period of time she remarried again, this time to an alcoholic, and he too died of his alcoholism. He had not committed adultery during the time of their marriage.
Shortly after than, she remarried the first husband, which only lasted a few months. During that time he did not commit adultery, (this time). They divorced, and shortly after, she married the next guy, and they separated after a couple of years. During the time they were married he didn’t commit adultery. They parted ways, but are still not divorced yet.
Please bear in mind that this woman had been “saved” early in her life, but had backslidden, (obviously). Between marriages she also had numerous sexual encounters, by her own admission, including living with different men.
Are you confused yet? If not, you probably will be if you continue reading. So, now, this man she is planning to marry has never been married before. The plot has already thickened, but now gets a little thicker. There is a serious scriptural indication, at least according to the proper understanding of God’s Word, (not the loosey goosey man made version), that not only this woman will be violating God’s marriage covenant laws, but will be causing this man she marries to commit adultery as well…(even if she legally divorces the guy she’s still married to). I might add here that this case may seem to be extreme, it’s not all that uncommon in Christian circles. and not only that, but be accepted into churches without so much as a raised eyebrow.
Now, many Christians, in reading the Word, and translating it in their own way and understanding seem to think that this is all very legalistic and harsh. But I’m not the one who made the rules, God did, and He makes it very clear in his Word:
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5.
Does that sound like some pretty heavy stuff not to be dabbling around with where you’re eternal destiny is concerned? I would think so! People may be making all kinds of excuses to skirt the issues but God takes His Word very seriously.
This link is EXCELLENT,and covers all the ground, including that of what applies in the case of an abusive spouse, or abandonment.
Divorce and remarriage have become common as civil law allows no-fault divorce. A husband or wife may dissolve a marriage for almost any grounds and remarry, regardless of the will of their spouse. The result is that many people marry without considering the teaching of the Bible. Is fornication (or adultery) the only Scriptural grounds for divorce, or does the gospel allow marriage to be dissolved for other grounds? Please consider this careful study of the Biblical teaching.
In this video, Joyner compares Todd Bentley with King David, and tries to convince his gullible audience that Todd “just made a mistake”. Maybe he’s also trying to cover up his own tracks for having promoted Bentley in the first place. It’s telling that he continually uses the word, “restore” claiming Todd Bentley is being “restored”. I think the word repentance would be more in order, if indeed he had repented, but I see no broken and contrite heart evident in Todd Bentley OR Rick Joyner. Rather, from Joyner ones sees more of an arrogance and boasting about how wonderful his work in “restoring” Todd Bentley is and how that makes him such a loving and forgiving fellow…er, false prophet. Frankly, I’m amazed that either one of these wolves have the audacity to get up in front of the public and lie in their teeth the way they do.
These two birds are in reality vultures who will pick the church clean if allowed to do so! It’s amazing to me that anyone claiming the name of Christian would fall for any of this false, smarmy, side-show trash anyway. Where is the discernment? We must truly be in the age of apostasy, the great “falling away” (from the faith), the bible speaks about.
Rick Joyner himself is a disgrace to the church with his Kundalini drum beat New Age teachings and lying signs and wonders leading thousands of victims down the primrose path to destruction.
Wake up people! Do not trust, follow, or believe either one of these false prophets who’s only purpose is to merchandise the church and deceive them.
Bentley here, trying to explain away his sin and snow people into believing he and his now ex-wife….you know…the one he cheated on in an adulterous relationship with another woman, are now the best of buddies since their divorce. And oh yeah, what a “good daddy” he is.
Here is the foreward from Mishel, and I feel it’s very important for those Christians who are still following Rich Joyner to give earnest heed to:
“What if everything you believed to be true, everything you had built your life upon, was a lie? What if discovering the truth and turning from error cost you everything? The View Beneath is the true story of one woman’s journey into religious deception through the teachings of Rick Joyner, a spiritually dangerous leader that many consider a true prophet. After moving to North Carolina to attend his ministry school, she began her descent into a dark, deceptive movement that took her away from Biblical Christianity and immersed her in another gospel. Part testimony, part expose, The View Beneath is an inside look at the growing invasion of dangerous false doctrine. Mishel investigates deep beneath the surface of MorningStar Ministries and the Dominionist Movement at large. She candidly shares her journey as she discovers that beneath the double speak, the Christian-sounding terms, beneath the claims of trips to heaven and divine revelation, beneath the prophecy and claims of a Kingdom ruled by men, what is really being taught is the occult.”
Admittedly, I haven’t read Rick Warren’s Book, “Purpose Driven Life”..however, I knew enough about it not to even bother. But realizing how many people are being deceived by this man, his agenda, his popularity among those who are seeking more of a self help way to God, I feel compelled to offer up this series as a warning to stay away from this dangerous man and his deceptive doctrines. Just the mere fact that he weaves so much obvious New Age deception into his book and teachings and that he is a proponent of Robert Schuller, who I know as a false teacher- is enough for me to feel confident that I am not offering up a misguided take on this man! He is indeed a deceiver and New Age change agent!
These videos are an interview with Warren Smith about his book, “Deceived on Purpose”…and his expose on Rick Warren.
My name is Preston Mott and I am seventeen years old and live in Woodstock Georgia. Before I begin to tell my testimony I just want to share a powerful prayer for anyone that reads this. Dear gracious and loving Heavenly Father, I come to you in prayer and ask that whoever is reading this will be flooded with your Holy Spirit. I pray that they will be given reassurance that you do exist God and that they will never doubt their faith in you. Please forgive them of their sins and protect them wherever they go. In your holy name I pray, Amen.
At the early age of four years old I was diagnosed with a very rare disease called “primary sclerosing cholangitis.” But trying to discover the disease wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. You see, when I was in preschool I started getting frequent nosebleeds and my stomach began to enlarge as well as my spleen. At the time my mom didn’t pay much attention to it and just thought she was feeding me too many French fries and burgers. She decided to take me into the hospital for the nosebleeds but was hit with an unexpected answer. The doctor told her that he wasn’t sure what was wrong with me but thought it could somehow relate to cancer. Over the next weeks she was given different answers from other doctors claiming I had leukemia. Finally she came across the right doctor a who discovered my disease and said I needed to be rushed to the hospital emergency room. I didn’t realize it at the time but my life was about to change forever.
April 1st of 2000 is the year I got my liver transplant. it may have been on April fools day but I can assure you this was no joke. Even to this day I can remember the doctor giving me permission to pull out my staples all by myself. during the two week surgery recover many nurses took a liking to me. They played dolls with me and let me play the Nintendo 64 for as long as I wanted. There is so much I can say about this part of my life but I don’t remember a lot of it and don’t feel like spending hours on the subject.
In the later years to come who faced many trials due to my liver transplant. Everyday for the rest of my life I have to take medications so my body doesn’t attack my liver since it recognizes that I wasn’t born with that liver. Therefore, I have a very weak immune system and get sick more then the average kid. There was even one point where I was only in fifth grade for three months cause everyone kept getting chickenpox at my school and I couldn’t go to school or else I would get it. one time I picked up a disease called parvo human b-19 virus and had to get eight blood transfusions. Other times I have considered myself fortunate to only be sick in the hospital with a bad cold or the flu. One time I was in the hospital with a terrible illness that the doctors couldent figure out. My mom was very worried and got an unexpected phone call from my p.e. teacher at Johnston elementary school. She asked my mom to lay the phone on my chest so she could say a prAyer there phone. The very next day they did blood tests on me and one of my doctors spoke to my mom and said ” we can’t explain it but Preston is completely normal and all of his bloodwork and liver numbers have came down. He can actually go home now” this was definitely a god thing.
From my later years in Highschool I can sadly say that I wasn’t exactly doing my best to live out a Christian life. I was highly caught up in my image and reputation. I was going to parties all over the county, smoking tobacco, smoking weed, hooking up with girls, and cussing left and right. Didn’t care much about anyone other than myself. After going into a routine clinic visit my doctors told me that my liver numbers were reaching “scary” high numbers. They told me that the liver biopsies and medications weren’t cutting it anymore. My liver has begun to scar and they felt that I was approaching the road to having to get another liver transplant in the next few years. I can’t tell you why because I do not know why but for some reason this didn’t scare me and I continued to live my horrible life style. You see, when you are so filled with pride you begin to think you are invincible. then it takes something big to knock you down and I was about to get it.
One of the first acts the doctors took to help keeping my liver as long as possible was placing a stint in my bile duct connecting to my liver. The stint was suppose too open up the duct for everything to flow through. We waited weeks after but my liver numbers continued to rise. So they took the next step and put two stints in and but still my numbers would not come down. I forgot to mention that after an endoscopy procedure you have a one out of one hundred chance of getting pancreatitis and my luck just happens to be so good I got it both times after this procedure. I can not begin to explain the pain that comes from it. If I had to sum it up I would say it feels like being hit with a hammer all around your stomach and then someone driving nails in it while your whole front side is about to pop. Months later the doctors confronted us and told us the final and final step was something called a reux en y procedure. If that failed then I was going to have be put on the list for another liver transplant.
If you are still reading this I promise you that I am almost done.
Over the last couple of months I have been under surgery again where they performed the reux en y procedure. after the surgery my stomach swelled up and had a bad infection. They had to cut me open on the spot on a clinic wheel around table. Ever since they have been putting gnaws in the holes (my wounds) to drain out and soak up the infection. They put me on a wound vac machine to speed up the process. And at this very moment typing this, I am currently still on the wound vac and one of my wound holes has completely closed up! after the recent surgery my doctors told my mom that they didn’t believe it was going to do much and that I would need a new liver soon. Well as of right now ALL of my bloodwork and liver numbers have came down. The doctors are very surprised and are in shock of how good a condition I am in.
Now comes the reason.
The purpose for staying up till 3:30 in the morning typing this is because I want that whoever is out there reading this to know that through these last two months I have endured trial after trial after trial (all my life actually) but during these two months its like I have been re-awoken in the Holy Spirit. I’m no longer living how I was living, I spend every night reading the bible and spending time with god. And my faith has grown so much from this experience. I have never asked the question “why me” because I know whhas if you read the book job, job has literally his whole life taken away from him but yet he still remained faithful to god. And god gave it all back to him for believing and remaining faithful in him. I truly believe I am going to have a powerful testimony about my life one day and that something good will come from all that I have gone through. I want to save lives and bring glory to god by doing his will. Soon I will be going off to the baptist college of Florida and hope to change many people’s lives there with my testimony and bring them closer to god. So whatever trials you come across in your life please I beg you not to loose hope or your faith in god. He will lift you up when your down and even when your up. Remember that satan tempts you and god tests you. please please please don’t ever loose your trust in The Lord. no matter how hard times may get in your life, have faith that god will be there with you through them.
Thank you
Posted by prestonmottFiled in Salvation
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Exercising Faith. Don’t Stop
December 21st, 2012
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God – Roman 10:17
Faith in action … It happened many years ago, but I would like to share it with you to both publicly glorify God and to help encourage you to keep trusting – obeying God in the midst of every dark trial you will face in the future, and may be facing right now.
At the time I was a single mother and my oldest daughter was rebelling against me, so I requested of the Lord a job that would give me the same schedule as my children. Within one month I had a job in the school system. I was an assistant teacher in the Pre-K department. I had been assigned to teach eight 2-year-olds without the primary teacher. I consulted the Lord and He counselled me. These were His specific instructions in my hearing.
“I want you to walk to work every day. I want you to get there 30 minutes early and then read out loud the 91st Psalm 3 times a day before your students arrive.”
I obeyed this daily, and The Lord gave me a schedule of activities for the kids that we all enjoyed. Working with the kids was a very easy job. It was working with their parents that made the job frustrating. Nevertheless, I now had the same schedule as my children, and this allowed for me to be a better and more aware leader of my own household.
As a single parent, I think this is imperative, especially if your children have reached their teenage years. This allows you to keep possession of leadership in your household (along with communion with God). Otherwise chaos and confusion and feelings of powerlessness as a parent may show up on the scene. This may stress one to the point of giving up leadership of the household and let the inexperienced adolescent make decisions that are not theirs to make!
God only knows how the request for a job that allowed for the same schedule as my growing children made a difference in my respected authority as the leader in my own household. NOW I got off work and made it home one hour before everyone else, which was great. I decided that I would worship God in that hour on a daily basis. I had a secret place in my home that I had dedicated to the Lord; a meeting place for me and Him. I would go there everyday and just worship. I must tell you that during this time of worship there was only one thing that I was aiming for. I simply wanted to be in the presence of the Lord. I did not go asking for anything except to be closer to Him. Many times there was no prayer, there was no song, there was no music — only a time of worshipping the Almighty in silence. Being still in the presence of the Lord.
Looking back on it now I realize that this was a very, very prosperous time in my life – SPIRITUALLY! The Lord had accelerated my growth and I was growing exponentially with leaps and bounds.
Soon after I got the job, I went to the Lord and I TOLD him that I wanted a few things for the house. I wanted some items for the bathroom and kitchen. I did not wait for the Lord to give me a yea or a nay about this matter. I just proclaimed to Him that I was going to Walmart to start a lay away, so that’s what I did. I went and purchased about $300 worth of merchandise and immediately starting paying it off.
One day in early September – while I was in my secret place, worshipping the Lord – I heard the Lord give me more specific instructions. He spoke into my hearing , “I want you to make sure that you make it to a meeting in Dallas, Texas on New Year’s Eve.” It was so profound in my hearing that I got a pen and paper out and wrote it down. I believed with all of my heart that God had spoken this to me, and I had every intention of obeying this Rhema word.
I had been following a ministry in Dallas TX, but I had been following afar off. I lived in Biloxi MS at the time. I did not know one soul in this body of believers. I just listened to the Word by tape that God used them to minister through on a regular basis.
On a different day in the secret place, I heard the Lord speak to me again, and give me more specific instructions. He said to me, “I want you to give up your layaway at Walmart! Take the money, then go to Sam’s Club and buy 20 sweatshirts and then put designs on them.” Once again I believed this was God speaking to me and giving me direction for my own personal life. I had every intention of obeying this Rhema word.
And OBEY is exactly what I did! By this time, I had about $30 left to pay on the layaway, so I cancelled it as the The Lord had instructed. I went to Sam’s and bought 20 sweatshirts; had designs put on them at a screen printing shop and went out and advertised. Each sweatshirt cost $20. (Now it did not take me days to obey God; I obeyed God immediately). But you know what? I did not sell one shirt — NOT ONE! But in my heart I knew that God had spoken to me to do these things.
So I pressed on. I took all of those shirts, put them in a plastic bag, and placed them on the top shelf in the closet, and continued with all the other instructions that My Father had given me.
Then we were up to the month of November, and I made a request of the Lord concerning the meeting in Dallas TX. This is what I said, ‘Lord – if that was You speaking to me about the meeting in Dallas TX, please have the ministry send me a brochure.’ Within two weeks I had a brochure, with the location and the times of this meeting in Dallas TX.
All the while, I was obeying all the other instructions that My Father had given me concerning my household, concerning my job, concerning my life, because I really believed that the Almighty God was (IS!) speaking into my hearing.
We started approaching the Christmas Holidays, and my children had their Christmas list. Bills still had to be paid and food still had to be put on the table. I was still a single mother. No shirts had been sold, and there was no extra money in sight.
Christmas had come and gone – it was on a Monday that year – and it was now December 26. The New Year’s meeting was approaching and I did not have a quarter. NOTHING! But, I knew with all my heart My Father had spoken to me and commanded me to be in this meeting in Dallas TX on New Year’s Eve.
The entire week passed, and the Lord had not allowed any money to touch my hands.
The meeting was for three days. Saturday thru Monday, December 30-January 1 — Monday was New Years Day.
Saturday morning arrives: I am still in Mississippi with no money. And according to the brochure, the meetings in Dallas TX start in two days at 11 am.
It is 8 am and no money.
9 am – no money!
10 am – no money!
10:45 am – no money!
By this time I was really starting to lose hope. It felt like I had been flying in a high place and all of sudden, someone hit me with an oversized bat. I began to tumble down into an earthly realm of depression and defeat. I was so depressed that all of a sudden, I got in the bed and I curled up like a baby and began to cry. My desire had been so strong to please the Lord … yet when I started to accept the fact that I could not attend this meeting, depression and defeat came to torment me.
BUT OHHHHHHHHHHH … WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!
As I was laying in the bed crying, this huge angel stepped into the room. He was so huge that He fitted himself into the contour of the room! He had to bend down to talk to me, because if he had stood up straight, he would have been completely above the roof of the house — a two story house, I might add. This angel took one of his wings and pulled me close to his bosom and spoke these words into the hearing of my spirit: “GOD has spoken. Can He NOT perform it?!”
Ohhh – when he spoke these words into the hearing of my spirit, the FAITH in me rose up like a mighty governmental mountain! I literally made it to my feet, stood erect like a soldier in the military and SALUTED! (THIS WAS A POWERFUL VISITATION!). As a soldier under his commanding officer, this was my response to this God-sent messenger: “What would you have me to do?”
The Angel responded to me, “You have shirts, don’t you?”
I said, “Yes I do!”
The angel commanded me, “Walk this floor and decree a thing; decree that money will come to your door!”
I immediately began to walk the floor, back and forth, decreeing that money would come to my door.
Within 15 minutes I heard a knock on the door, and it was a young man asking to buy a shirt!
I took the shirts from the top of the closet, laid them out and let him make his choice. And in this same room that this MIGHTY messenger of God had shown up to give me guidance, the young man bought one.
I was so amazed that I followed him to the door. I stepped out the door and just watched him as he made his way down the street. I watched in amazement … because I knew this guy as a petty neighborhood drug dealer. GOD can speak to and use anybody to do His bidding! He is no respecter of persons.
As I continued to stare in his direction, all of sudden the guy turned around and comes back up to me on the porch and says, “Hey, Ms. Stephanie, I want to buy another one.”
Praise God!
It is now 11:30 am and I have $40.00. So I go back to the spot where I encountered the angel and I speak these words—- “Ok Lord, I have $40. What would you have me to do?”
Believe it or not, I got a response! I could no longer see the angel, but my hearing was so keen. This is what I heard. “Go ask your sister for $20 and she is going to give it to you.”
You see, that’s not my thing at all — to ask my family for money. But you know what? I obeyed.
I asked and she gave it to me immediately.
It is now 1:30 pm and I have $60.
I approach the Lord afterwards with these words. “Ok Lord, I have $60. What would you have me to do?”
Another shirt was sold for $20.
It is now 2:30 pm and I have $80. I go back to the Lord and speak these words. “Ok Lord, I have $80. What would you have me to do?”
This was His response to me. “Call Ann. Tell her that her shirt is ready, and she will come right over and pick it up.”
I immediately picked up the phone, called Ann and told her that her shirt was ready. Within 30 minutes Ann was in the yard, ready to buy her shirt!
So it is now 4 pm and I have $100.
I go back to Lord with a different question this time, because I realized I would be in Dallas TX on New Years Eve for the meeting that the Lord had commanded me to attend.
“HOW do I get there? Do I take the bus, or do I fly? What is my mode of transportation?”
The Lord did not speak to me immediately about this matter.
During this time I had the task of returning a borrowed car. I had to stop to put gas in the car. I used gas money that my daughter graciously gave me – $3.00.
When I got to the gas stop, I noticed a woman at the bus bench. While I was sitting there getting things together to go inside and pay for the gas, this woman at the bus stop stood up and began to walk across the parking lot. I immediately noticed that she was on FIRE in the spirit. The FIRE of God consumed her and all I could do was stare in amazement at what God had opened my eyes to see! I realized she was going into the store, so I got out and I went to pay for the gas.
We ended up standing across from each other, and we looked at each other eye to eye for just a moment. She departed the store and went back to the bus bench, and I went to pump the gas.
To my amazement, the bus came. The bus just passed her like that! And it passed me TOO!
So I asked the Lord, “What is going on?” and the Lord responded to me, “I want YOU to give her a ride.”
So I finished pumping the gas and I drove toward her and let the window down, and I asked her where was she headed. “I’m going to the Edgewater Mall.” I tell her that I am going that way and said, “I will be glad to give you a ride” and she accepted.
I was so excited about the recent events of the day. I automatically assumed that God wanted me to say something to her, so I inquired of the Lord. “Lord, what do you want me to say to her?”
The Lord responded to me. “I don’t want you to say anything to her, because she is going to say something to you!”
So I started a casual conversation and asked, “Where are you from?”
She says, “Oh, I am from Vermont. I just graduated from college and I decided that I wanted to travel. So I hopped on the Greyhound and started riding across the country, and whenever I run out of money, I get off the bus, get me a little job in whatever town I am in, put some money back in my pocket, get back on the bus and keep on rolling.”
My response was, “Who are you with?”
She answered, “Oh, I am by myself.”
I responded, “You are out here traveling across the country by yourself. Aren’t you afraid?”
She answered, “I am not alone. God is with me.”
I exclaimed, “GOD?! YOU ARE A BOLD WOMAN!”
We chit-chatted for about 10 more minutes and she got out at her destination.
When she got out of the car — I went back to the Lord, and I asked, “God, what was that all about?”
The Lord immediately responded to me with these words, “You want to know how to go to Dallas don’t you?”
And I got it. I said “Ohhhhhhh – you want me to get on the bus!”
So immediately I called the bus station to find out how much a round trip ticket would cost to make it to Dallas TX from Biloxi MS. I was informed that it would cost $198 for a round trip ticket.
I immediately go back to the Lord. “Ok Lord – a round trip ticket to Dallas TX is $198! I’ve got $100. What would you have me to do?”
The Lord responded to me.
“Buy a one way ticket.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Buy a one way ticket?!”
I stopped and I began to think of all the reasons this was not a good idea. First of all, I knew no one in Dallas TX. There was no one for me to call and say, ‘ I am coming. Can you meet me here at this or that time?’ Secondly, I had never walked in the city of Dallas; not even one day in my life; had no idea of how anything worked; the city was absolutely huge compared to Biloxi. What if I got lost? I went through this mental process for about 45 seconds. Then I stopped and said out loud to myself…If you keep this up you are going to talk yourself right out of obeying God.
By this time it is 5:30 in the evening. I am back home from delivering the borrowed car, and the bus station is less than half a mile from the house. The next bus to Dallas leaves at 8 pm which will have me in Dallas, December 31, at 11:30 am. Glory to God! The very day that God had commanded me to show up!
I packed one bag. I told one person exactly what I was doing and why. That was my oldest daughter, and she looked at me in my face, and said these words to me, “Mama, you are a bold woman.”
You see, I was due back at work on the 2nd of January, or I would lose my holiday pay, but to be honest with you, I really was not putting that first. I wanted to know what God had for me in Dallas TX.
Another thing – I had never travelled by myself halfway across the country for anything. This was all new to me, but I was excitedly willing to walk this out. But the biggest thing was…I was going to Dallas on a one way ticket and I had no Idea how I was going to get back, let alone how I was going to get back on time.
But like I said earlier, I was excitedly willing! And I walked out the door at 7 pm on my way to the bus station. And when I did, I kid you not, I felt the spirit of Abraham surround me like a whirlwind and heard the voice of eternity speak to me, “Do not look back!”
So I did not! I looked ahead and with confidence I embarked on this God-planned journey of faith.
I got on that bus in the p.m. I bought the one way ticket, which was $98, but the bus attendant – without me even asking – said, “I am going to give you a discount. He charged me $92 instead of $98. I had $8 left. Glory to God! I was thankful for that!
As soon as we started to pull away from the bus station, I began to hear this song start to be sung over my head, and I knew the angel of the Lord was singing over me: “Jehovah Jirah, My provider … His grace is sufficient for me. My God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches in Glory. He will give His angels charge over me … Jehovah Jirah cares for me!”
This song was sung over my head the entire time I was on that bus!
I slept off and on and arrived in the city of Dallas about 11:30 am. I got off the bus and opened my carry-on bag to find the brochure. I needed directions. What a surprise I got when I realized I had left the brochure back in Mississippi!
I immediately consulted the Lord. “Ok Lord, I left the brochure back in Mississippi. What would You have me to do?”
I walked across the street. There was a man there and I asked him, “Can you please tell me how I can get to the Harvey Hotel?”
He said to me, “Which one? There are five in the city.”
I guess he saw me gasp, because I had no idea what to do.
Then he said to me, “It’s no problem. Just call one of the Harvey hotels and tell them what function you are trying to attend, and they can lead you from there.”
So I got changed, got the number and called the Harvey Hotel. Praise the Lord, I WAS FIVE MINUTES AWAY FROM WHERE I NEEDED TO BE!
I saw the big yellow buses, so I went back across the street to the bus station and I asked a stranger to please tell me about the buses in the city, and he said to me, “Where are you headed?”
I said, “I am going to the Harvey Hotel on Pearl,” and he said to me, “I am headed that way, I can give you a ride.”
But I hesitated, because at that very moment I heard my mother’s voice speak to me and tell me not to get in the car with strangers, and I felt the spirit of fear beginning to dress me up, like I was putting on a pair of pants. Immediately I heard and felt the presence of an angel behind me. He said in my hearing: “God has not brought you this far to forsake you, now GO with this man!”
So I moved forward and followed this man to his car. I got in and within 6-7 minutes we were at the door of the Harvey Hotel!
I thanked Him for his kindness and made my way to the meeting room, just as I was.
When I entered, I was amazed at the message that was coming forth, because it was the same exact thing that God had been teaching me personally for months: LIVING UNDER THE RULING GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD! I was amazed – so amazed!
By the end of the first session I knew that God wanted me to stay through the night, but I had less than $8 now. But I also knew that He had prepared a safe place for me to lay my head for that evening. I just had to wait for Him to lead me to this place.
I went out into the church foyer and I began to talk to the Lord about my short stay. I said to Him, “Lord – I know that You want me to stay overnight in this city, and obviously You have a safe place for me, because You know what is in my pockets. I am going to go over and have a seat, Father, and whomever You have chosen to help me, please let them come and sit and talk with me.”
Within two-three minutes a woman showed up and we sat and talked for about 15 minutes. I did not tell her anything that had recently transpired. We just talked about the goodness and the faithfulness of the Lord. After she left, a man showed up, and I told him about my current situation and he said he would help me. We chatted for a few minutes and we parted ways.
While I was sitting alone, the voice of the Lord spoke to me and told me to give the ministry $1,000. I started laughing, because by this time I had no money; a portion had gone to the offering and the other portion to a sandwich. But I was intrigued to learn of this request and stayed open to hear more.
The PM service started and God blessed me through His magnificent word once again! I was so glad to be there. Then the Pastor said God had laid on 10 people’s heart to give this ministry $1,000, (I was not expecting that). The Pastor said, “If that is you, please step forward.”
So I went forward. He prayed for me and explained that this was a seed that could be sowed over time. Praise the Lord, I went back to my seat.
When I got back to my seat there was a man there, sitting right next to me, that I had not noticed whatsoever before. He immediately started talking to me and I did not like it. So once again, I consulted the Lord. I said, “I want to hear what the man of God up front is saying – not this person beside me!”
Upon saying this, for some reason I purposely gave my full attention to the man that was sitting next to me. He was talking to me about jobs in the Dallas area. Suddenly, the man went into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet; took out a $20 bill and handed it to me. I looked at him and begin to refuse this money by shaking my head and saying “No” at the same time, but the man spoke to me with authority and said to me,” NO?! GOD wants you to HAVE this lady!”
So I took the money, and he returned his wallet to his back pocket. He started to talk again. Within 2 minutes the man took his wallet out of his back pocket again and handed me $20 more! So by the end of the night I had more money than what I had showed up with!
Not only that, but the brother that told me he would help me, introduced me to the same lady that had sat down and talked with me in the foyer. He informed me that she had volunteered to house anyone who did not have a place to go. GOD MADE A WAY, a complete and full way! And I went home with this lady.
When we got to her place, we fellowshipped a little bit and went to bed. I slept absolutely sound. WHAT A WAY TO BRING IN THE NEW YEAR! HALLELUJAH — underneath the manifested rule, dominion, provision and government of the Kingdom of God!
I woke up the next morning, rolling over in my mind all that had happened. Obviously through the night the Almighty God had delivered me from quite a few things, because all I could do was shake and cry! Here I was…in another city – hundreds of miles away from my home, and there was not one person alive who could take credit for it — not even ME! There was no church, no nonprofit organization, no family member, no friend, NOT my job, and certainly not my wit or some secret bank account…BUT GOD the FATHER Almighty had orchestrated all of these things on behalf of ‘lil ‘ole me! I had heard Him speak to me and I believed with all my heart that it really was Him, instructing me. And I stepped out on what I heard Him say to me. What a SUPERNATURAL result!
All morning I shook and cried. I shook and cried, because I knew under what circumstances I had arrived. By the POWER of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I was in Dallas TX. And not one man alive could get the Glory for it! Not even me, had I tried.
We made it to the church an hour early and I just could not stop crying. The glory of the Lord was manifest in my eyes and I was beholding it. All I could do was shake and cry — shake and cry — and behold how good and how pleasant He is. I was so WOWed and humbled of His choice! ME — that he would choose me! A single mother, never married, with a 12th grade education, who had always lived on the brink of poverty! …That He would choose to reveal Himself—TO ME. I could not stop shaking and crying. Who am I that you are mindful of me, to reveal such things to me?, I kept repeating to Him. I was in absolute AWE.
Praise God!
It was Jan 1, 1996, and I am at the Gates of Glory Church New Year’s Eve convention. It is a New Day. That day the Pastor was very busy ministering to the needs of the people, and you know I don’t know if he even preached the Word or not, because I was truly caught up to another place … even before we showed up to the place of worship! Nevertheless, at 2:30 pm the angel of the Lord showed up and begin to speak to me from behind—“IT’S TIME TO DEPART THIS CITY.”
I could feel myself responding like a military soldier. My response, “What would have me to do?”
The angel of the Lord responded to me, “Call Greyhound and find out the cost, to return home.”
I obeyed and went to the payphone. It was $96.
I said, “Ok Lord, it’s $96 to get back home. I’ve got $40 in my pocket and you told me to put $20 in the plate, so I’ve really got only $20. What would You have me to do?”
The angel of the Lord instructed me, “Tell the man of God your problem.”
Back with the people — I was standing somewhere between the middle and the back of the congregation. I lifted my hand, and the Pastor motioned for me to come to the front. I did. When I got to the front, it did not go anything like I expected. The Pastor simply stuck the microphone to my mouth and I instantaneously said, “My name is Stephanie. I am from Biloxi, MS, and I bought a 1-way ticket to make it to this meeting. Could you please help me get back home?”
People all over the building began to stir. I immediately saw this silver water begin to rain down in the room. One lady jumped up and slammed a $50 dollar bill in my hand. God provided $260 for me to return home that day! The Pastor graciously gave me every penny, and within the next couple of hours, I was out the door on my way to the bus station.
I made it back to Mississippi about 11 am the next day, Jan 2. I was late for work, but I simply did not care, even though it did not count against me.
The faith of God in me had been moved exponentially and I returned to my home not just believing that God was for me and not against me … but also KNOWING that God was very near me all the time and not afar off at all!
Posted by msstephanieFiled in Salvation
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Our God is Faithful, He never Sleeps nor Slumbers
December 21st, 2012
I am sharing this testimony as thanksgiving to God for His faithfulness and as an encouragement to anyone who feels like waiting on God is in vain. I come from a middle income family and grew up well, exposed to the best schools in my country. We never lacked anything and we were generally a happy family. However, I was the only practising Christian. My dad, mum, two sisters and one brother had no interest in Jesus.
Ten years ago life changed when my mother retired from her very well paying job. Two of my siblings were attending high cost schools and my parents retirement house was still under construction. My father’s business was not doing well and neither my sister or myself had good jobs. We had to adjust our lifestyle and it was very hard. I was the only graduate amongst my siblings and I worried about the future of the others. God has called us to cast our burderns unto Him. I made a conscious effort to encourage myself in Him and stand in the gap for my family. It was a difficult time , struggling with school fees for my siblings, episodes of violence (two of my sisters underwent horrific rape ordeals) and my father got into an affair that caused my mother high blood pressure. Our extended family turned against us and took every opportunity to wage false accusations. I held on to my faith that God would deliver us from all trials.
Today, I can only praise God. My parents house is complete and beautiful and all that without a loan from the bank! My mother attends church without fail and I am trusting God for salvation. My father has given up his illicit affair and is trying to rebuild his relationship with my mother. One of my sisters has given her life to Christ. All of us – four children- now have a university education. My sister and I are happily married. If you had told me that this is what it would like ten years ago, I would have found it hard to believe. I am full of joy and bless God. Indeed He is faithful and all my trust is in Him. I am still believing God for the salvation of my parents and two siblings and I know I will be back here with a testimony. God bless you all.
Posted by WamuwaFiled in Salvation
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Fatimah’s Personal Testimony
December 2nd, 2012
I’m Fatimah Nuzrah. I’m in my 20’s. My Father is Muslim. My Mother is Christian. My Father left me when I was 2 years old and my bro was 5 years old. He has his own reasons but mainly it was over a religious conflict. So it was the end of my mom’s marriage. Since then I and My Brother grew up with one parent. My mother took care of us alone without anyone’s help and dedicated us to the LORD as we were born. Praise the LORD Almighty for he had already blessed my mom’s life with a good professional job at a well-known company that she played the role of both parents so well more than we could ever ask. I still remember when I entered 1st grade; I was guided to learn Islam, because of my birth name. Then with the help of my mother’s friend who was a teacher at school guided me to learn Roman Catholic. Afterwards whenever I was sent to learn Islam during my religion period I used to come running to learn RC. I learned about Jesus Christ, who I started to Love the most as my Father and my God.
I don’t remember missing a father figure (my own earthly Father) until my teens, maybe because my mother provided all my wants and needs. But I always missed something in my life as I grow up. I used to be a horny, lonely, weird kid at school thus I wanted to change my life and get adapted to the worldly behaviors. As a result I made up loads of friends and began to love the world. I thought dancing, drinking and partying with friends day-to-day were the real life! In a short period I got addicted to many things that I was too obsessed with them to get rid of. International cinema, modeling and dancing are few of them. My focus, intentions and goals were so on the world that I hardly talk to my own family those days. I was a lost kid, seeking for company of friends rather than my family. But it was always the bad ones.
By then I was too far away from the LORD that I seldom went to church or talk to him and also I had many arguments with my mom over simple things which usually ended up making her cry and making her regret of ever giving birth to me. Whenever she scolded or advised me, my only complaint was missing my dad around me. This complaint rose over and over again when I was in my teens. Maybe because I always doubted my mom favored my brother than me. Now I know I’m totally wrong. But I couldn’t help at that time. Somehow my love for the world lasted for a short while. Because gradually the world started hating me, the friends I thought who were my best, became jealous back biters, back-stabbers, betrayers, liars, cowards, deserters, double-dealers and pretenders, who abandoned me, talked behind my back, embarrassed me and finally betrayed me.
The more I experienced the world the more I was disappointed that I got too sick and fed up of it. I was passing my teenage years when I had to face these struggles. It was too hard for me to bear that every day I lived in this world was like hell. When the world started hating me, I hated myself and my own family and tried to run away from them. I felt so alone that I couldn’t seek anyone’s support or help since I rejected the ones who loved me. I was mocked and criticized for every single thing I did. I lost hope in me. After finishing school, I lived hating this world and was too afraid since they judged me. I had no one to share my pain, my struggle, my life or my feelings. I was too ashamed of the mistakes I did and of the sinful life. At the end of it I thought that I lost the game, lost to myself. I never even thought going before the LORD to confess my sins cuz I felt so unworthy of myself to go to his presence.
After many struggles and inner wars, one night (8/1/2011), I reached him, my true Father JESUS CHRIST. I told him about how this world was treating me and how I too badly want to come to him. I asked him to accept me as his child.
I confessed my sins. I repented that I was too sorry for the things I did and asked for his forgiveness. I’d been confessing for many things, but that night and hour was indeed a special and last night of my sinful life. Where I confessed so deeply and encountered the LORD of LORDs and KING of Kings in a dream.
Yes, that same night I had a dream around morning, where I found myself standing in my school yard looking at the sky. It was not a mid day nor night but I saw there the sun in the sky and it was getting into many shapes from star to an octagon. I felt weird when the sun changes, got a feeling like it was the world’s end. As I was kept looking to the changes of the sky, the clouds were parted slowly and the earth was appearing to me so visibly in a round shape. I was more eagerly gazing up and felt deeply within me that I was going to see something unexpected. In my dream, I had my friends near me who I called on to look to the skies to see what I was seeing, but in that same dream, they couldn’t see what I saw up on the skies it was me only alone who could experience not my school mates. Then I saw one third of the earth was being completely burned and consumed with fire and removed totally from the earth and the rest of the part which was split joined the other like there was no destruction happened.
“….One-third of the earth was set on fire…” (Revelation 8:7)
It was more seemed like a prophecy from the LORD which was about to happen on this earth soon. When it was ceasing to be visible I saw the LORD JESUS CHRIST’S face where he hung on the cross with his eyes closed in pain. Wearing the crown of thorns, that his eyes were barely opened. I called for my friends to see him on the sky, though no one could see him except me. It lasted for only a few seconds, afterwards there was a transparent layer of the sky which went invisible slowly that I began to panic and felt deep in me that something terrible was going to take place as soon as the clouds joined. I ran to the school entrance to get out of the school (The place I saw all the incidents took place) All of a sudden an angel-like girl with two plaits entered the school carrying a hamper. Some tiny portions were inside of that hamper and she went ahead of the yard throwing them here and there. It was more like throwing powder in the air.
Wherever she threw it, buildings collapsed to ground, one by one into dust. After destroying some sections of the school with that portion, she came near the place where I was standing; I was terrified. She stood a bit far away from me, and then started calling my name. As soon as I heard it, I raised my hand and went running towards her to tell that it was me she called out. She then held my hand, took me aside and told me “The LORD has forgiven all your sins” also she added “You have to come with us”
I was like OH MY GOD! I had feelings of relief, amazement and confusion by what she just said me which really made me shed tears of joy and relief in that dream. I asked her back when I should come with her? As she just went on about it, I couldn’t get her properly, it was unclear for me thus I could remember only up to that in my dream. Maybe she didn’t want me to know the date of my death or maybe not though all I could clearly assure was she’s a messenger of the LORD Almighty.
Anyhow, it’s the most unforgettable experience in my life which I realized deep within me that I’d got the salvation through JESUS CHRIST. Hallelujah!!!!
“My life began in the moment when you proved your glory.
I hit my knees for the first time in the season of my mourning.
I’ve been set free, and now I see.
This is the start of a new beginning.
This dark season has begun to fade.
Start living like I’m a new creation.
Burn inside me, and I’ll go your way.
Another day, I pray that you reveal more of my story.
Take my life.
Make it something more for you the one and only savior, redeemer, my truth.
I’ve been set free, and now I see that…
This is the transformation, the ending of the season.
I’ll go your way.
I’ll sing a proclamation.
This is my burden’s calling.
Set your truth free.
On my knees, I am free.”
Lyrics for New Beginning by SHAKEN
Posted by njFiled in Salvation
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A Story Of God’s Mercy And His Patience
November 28th, 2012
Born & raised in Compton, California (in August, 1989), life didn’t begin so easy for me. I was surrounded by gangs, drugs, fornication & violence my entire life – not knowing the relevancy of my being, I dabbled in all of it.
I got Saved as an early teen. Not knowing the importance of being Saved, I inevitably backslid (went back into a life of sin). In the year 2008, I was still living in poverty. Because I didn’t know God to be my Jehovah-Jireh (my provider), I began to “do me” – attempting to make things happen on my own. I was a musician (alias: Too Much On The Beat)… rapping, singing & producing songs that glorified sin – the very thing that my God hates.
In 2009, I produced a song for music group The Vixenz called “I Need That” (later remixed by rap artist Snoop Dogg & aired on Power 106). The song ushered in the “Jerk Movement” – beginning in Los Angeles, California, then spreading to neighboring states and eventually the East Coast. In my mind, I was on top of the world, unaware that I was wretched, miserable, poor, blind & naked (Revelation 3:17).
After a random night out with friends (drinking alcohol accompanied by foolishness), I decided to stand inside the car (hanging out of the car with the door still open). The driver pulls off & begins to speed down the street, that’s when I fell off the car – scraping my entire face, arms & legs… busting my skull in 2 places & fracturing my collar bone & index finger. I should have died in my sins, but my God was merciful!
Near-death STILL wasn’t enough to cause me to forsake sin & before I was done healing, I was back composing secular music, smoking weed, abusing drugs & drinking alcohol. I was a slave to sin (John 8:34). Read the rest of this testimony »
Posted by JustMePierreFiled in Salvation
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Tyler’s Testimony
November 26th, 2012
I would like to start by saying thank you for letting me share my testimony with you today. I believe that a testimony is a powerful thing so I am happy to share mine with you today. I was born in California on October 7th 1996. My birth mom was addicted to drugs and alcohol, was jobless and in no way was ready to take on a child. I was not the first child she had though. My sister, Sabrina, was her first child. My mom, technically my aunt, agreed to adopt Sabrina when she was born because my birth mom knew that she was not ready for a child. But when my mom wanted to take me too, my birth mom claimed that she was trying to steal her children away. I was given to my aunt Alice until my mom went to court and fought for custody. She won the case against my birth mom and gained legal guardianship over me when I was 2.
My adoptive dad, Mel worked on radio towers for the Christian channel on television and my mom had a home day care. We had more than enough money and food and for the most part life was good. I was able to see my friends every day because of the daycare. I visited my aunt Alice frequently who I was very close to. Going forward just 4 years after I had been given to a financially stable Christian home, everything began to go wrong. Mel stopped going to church. He was rarely home because of work and my parents very rarely seemed happy.
One night I was woken up late at night and was told that we were going to Aunt Alice’s. When we got there mom ran inside screaming and yelling. Aunt Alice sat me and Sabrina down on the couch and told us to try to sleep. Mom was still yelling about Mel over and over again but I didn’t understand why. I was only six when I saw mom run out of the house and slap Mel when he showed up with his new girlfriend. The man I trusted and considered to be my dad, a person I’m supposed to be able to look up to, had cheated on my mom after 20 years of marriage. He had become addicted to gambling drugs and alcohol. He abandoned his children and threw away the life that he would give anything for today. My mom was crushed.
She went into a deep depression and because of his actions and choices I lost both my mom and dad. My mom moved us to Louisiana the next day. Frist we went to Shreveport and I was able to start building a life for myself. I made friends and even got to know the neighbors. We were there about 3 months when my mom tells us that Mel will be coming to live with us. It didn’t last long. One night I woke up to the sound of him yelling at mom telling her to turn off the radio. He was high or drunk and just got back from gambling away our money. She told him over and over again that there was no radio but he didn’t believe her. He hit her multiple times until he saw me watching and started to run for my room. Mom tried to hold him back yelling leave them alone but he swung back hitting her in the throat sending her what seemed to me something like 10 feet back onto the bed. I was able to shut and lock the door right before he got to it. I heard him yell that he would kill me and my sister when he got to us.
He punched the door so hard he broke a hole the size of a plate in one side of the door. My sister called the police and when he heard the sirens he ran out of the house to the car a drove off. I was 7. After the school year we moved to another spot in Louisiana. When mom heard from Mel she again believed that he had changed and again invited him to live with us. He again came drunk after gambling but we were quicker this time. When we saw that he was about to cause a scene we ran for the phone but he saw us and tried to stop us. Mom tried to hold him back but he was still too strong for her. Again somehow my sister and I managed to escape long enough for the police to arrive and I watched as he was dragged away. I was 8. We moved again. This became a cycle. Same year as the second one I was in the car. Mom was yelling for him to stop and let us out. Every time she did he would go faster and faster.
Every time something would happen we would move. I never went to a school for more than 1 year. When I was 10 I had gone through 6 or 7 moves, stayed in multiple shelters and was even sent to California with my sister back to my birth mom for 3 months because my mom could not support us because she could not find work. We stayed in a house covered in kitty litter and dirty laundry with little to no food alongside my birth mom her 4th husband and my 2 little sisters, Satasha and Devon. Sometimes we would have nothing to eat but tums but somehow we were happy together. We stayed for Christmas and it wasn’t the worst but wasn’t the best of my life either. When mom brought us back she had settled things with Mel for good and we were now living in an apartment in Bedford Texas. Mom though she had settled things between her and Mel was still in a deep depression and rarely came out of her room after work. Though all of this me and Sabrina had grown closer and closer.
Because we had moved so many times we both did not have strong friendships and mom was very reclusive. If we needed something we came to each other for it. Mom was still in the mind thought that she needed a man in her life and so she started to get on different dating sites and would look for people. She eventually met Bob. He was a doctor and had plenty of money and a big house and was all the comfort mom thought she needed. We ended up moving into his house in Arlington and I started to go to school there. Things seemed good. He taught me how to do a lot of the things I know how to do today on the computer and was good to my mom and sister. Then he lost his job. We couldn’t afford the house and so we needed to move. A house was for sale in a little town called Lake Dallas. It was lake front property and had a huge lot with a pool and a ski channel in the back but it needed a lot of work.
This is when things started to change. He became very controlling and very demanding. It went from us working on a few things to me working from when I got home to when I went to bed. I never went anywhere during the summer and I never went to any friends or activities. I wasn’t allowed to join and sport or be part of any clubs. I worked and went to school. Even during free time I was no longer able to play video games which are what I always used to escape when life was hard. Sabrina was not allowed to read anything but non-fiction. Even when we watched tv which was only during dinner he always choose the channel or the show. I was lonely but I was also used to being alone because I had been my entire life but now my sister was separated from me because she was always inside working. I was separated from what I enjoyed doing and I was forced to do hard work every day to the point of exhaustion. It got to the point that I couldn’t even control my own appearance. I wasn’t allowed to cut my hair in any other way than having it buzzed to a half inch. While working I was to wear a white tee-shirt and a flannel over shirt and when I went to school I had to wear a tee-shirt and jeans. I became so divided from people that I became very socially awkward around people at school and any chance of gaining friends was lost.
When I was in middle school Cody thought I was mentally challenged because all I would do is stand in the lunch line and whistle to myself the entire time. Bob could not find work so my mom now had to support all of us again but she got a job right away and somehow we always managed to find enough for the bills and food. After 2 years of not being allowed out of the house I was given one hour after school to go do whatever I wanted. For a while I just went to the park or road around until my time was up because I didn’t have any friends but it was still the greatest time I had. The work continued to get harder and harder restrictions became stricter and stricter but that one hour was never touched. If I messed something up or something broke or anything happened I would be blamed and would be punished harshly sometimes getting smacked to the ground and hit but I always had that one hour of freedom. The hits turned to blows and the punishments to beatings. I would sometimes have sharp and dangerous tools thrown at me but somehow I was never seriously hurt or scared and I always had my one hour. It was close to the end of my 6th grade year when my mom was able to regain control and send him away to California. It was only then that I was told of the terrible horrifying things he did to the people I was closest to. My mom was tormented constantly by the thoughts he put in her head. She was never able to find peace and comfort even in her own house. He did terrible things to Sabrina but the most devastating thing to me was that I blamed myself constantly because all these terrible happened while I was gone. It all happened during the only time that I gave to myself. It all happened during that one hour a day. I was depressed and I felt a deeper sadness than I have ever felt. I felt so alone. I had betrayed the only person I could rely on. I had allowed harm to come to her while I was enjoying myself. I was at a breaking point. I lay in my bed every night just thinking about my life. I thought about the men that had all walked out and gave up on me. I thought about how my mom was never really there. I thought about how I had no friends and no hope for any of them. I tried to think of anything I enjoyed anymore and I couldn’t think of anything. I tried to think of the people that now relied on me and I couldn’t think of anyone. I thought about the pain I caused and the suffering that could have been avoided. I tried to think of anyone that would miss me and I thought to myself if they knew what I could have kept from happening they couldn’t miss me. I was in a very dark place and I thought that I deserved to be there. I blamed myself for everything that had happened. I had thoughts about how much better off everyone would be if I weren’t there. I broke. I looked over at my desk and I had only 2 things on top of it. One was a pocket knife and the other was the bible I hadn’t touched in years. I hadn’t gone to church in years and I hadn’t even given him a thought but in that moment I had a choice and somehow I choose to pick up the bible and that night I read. I read until I fell asleep with the bible in my hands and I remember that before I did I finished the book of Matthew and for the first time in months I smiled because I had a reason to. I had so much peace after that night. All my worried were forgotten at least for a little while. I didn’t realize what was happening until about a week later. When I realized what he had done I got down on my knees and I prayed to Him asking him to be my personal Lord and Savior. From then on I have tried to live my life for the Lord because he gave me purpose for my life again.
Mid-7th grade I’m riding my bike around town and I stop at a street corner and watch to people I don’t know at all try to kick a ball over each other’s heads so they have to chase it. One was a boy one was a girl and they looked like brother and sister. I was waiting for the bus to drop off a guy that was kinda my friend but not really. Anyway the boy sees me just sitting there and even when most people would have just waited for me to leave like I probably would have because it is really weird to have some random weird kid sit and stare at you and your sister for half an hour but instead of ignoring me they invite me to join them. They introduced themselves as Jonathan and Autumn and I haven’t left them alone since. They introduced me to Lake Shore and I started to go to the youth services. I started to grow closer and closer to Christ and soon I started going to Sunday service as well. I became part of the youth group and I had people I could rely on. I forgave myself. We still struggled financially because the earlier events left my mom’s credit devastated but when it was time for Panfork and D-now the church sent me.
At Panfork I started to get to know Neely better and when we got back we continued to run together. We became brother and sister to each other. When we started to get close her parents naturally would want to know who this random kid their daughter calls bro is so they heard I was trying to earn some extra money and invited me to come mow the lawn and also to dinner. I’m really not sure how but the next thing I know Chad is telling me that if I am willing to be a brother to her daughter he is willing to be a father to me. God has provided me with so much. We aren’t by any means rich but we are stable. We have a house and great landowners. I have a church family. I have a dad to help me grow into the person I want to be. I have goals for my life. I have been separated from all the bad people that were in my life. I have good friends that love God and encourage me. I have a girlfriend that I can talk about God with. I have pastors that are willing to help me when I need guidance but the greatest gift of all is that Christ has given Himself so that I may have a personal relationship with him.
I’ve been studying 1st Corinthians and these verses really stood out to me so I would like to share them.
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1st Corinthians 2:1-5
Posted by TylerFiled in Salvation
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A Troubled Teen, This is my Testimony.
November 16th, 2012
I was loosely raised around Christianity, meaning, I knew God was there and His Creation. I just didn’t believe it. My childhood wasn’t the best but I was thankful for all that I had. In my first year of High School (In my state that’s ages 13 to 16) things started to get a bit shaky. I got in with the wrong crowd, I started smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. After a while I started to get with people. Mostly males, but some females as well. I was only 13 at the time. That happened for the rest of the year. In the next year, some nasty rumors had started to spread and I wasn’t feeling too great about myself. After a few months, I made a terrible mistake. I decided that I would get with a person, considering him and his girlfriend ‘broke up’, I did. When I went to school two days later, she had found out. Not only was she angry about the fact that I had done what I did, but also because I had texted her later that day pretending to be her friend. We have hardly ever seen eye to eye, so I figured that it was time to get back at her. As I was getting off my bus, I was greeted by her. She tried to hit me several times, and then her friends dragged her away. I didn’t know what to do. The whole school thought I was nothing but a dirty person. No one would speak to me, the teachers pitied me. I just couldn’t handle it. My father and my step mother had no idea about the person I became, all they knew was that I smoked and this girl was giving me a trouble. I spoke to them and they agreed to home school me, seeing how I couldn’t handle school. We sorted it all out with the government. I hardly done any school work in the year that I was being home schooled for. By the time I was 15, I had major depression. My father and step mother only really cared about the money they were receiving for me. I couldn’t handle it. I was cutting myself, thinking about killing myself and then one day I tried. Clearly that didn’t go to well.
I was on the beach, soaking wet from the water I had just tried to drown myself in. When I got home, I called my mother, and said “Mum, I can’t handle it here. Can I move in?” she said yes. After getting settled in with her, she made me go to school. It’s a rather small Christian School and I still attend it.
I still had my depression but things were looking up. Over 2011 and majority of this year, things were looking up. I went to a Student Convention, where, one of the speakers were sharing a story. I was listening and I could see the mans pain behind the story he was telling about his passed nephew. When he finished, everyone filed out for supper and then bed. I stayed behind. My intention was to go over and give him a hug because he had been crying. When I pulled back from the hug, he asked me if I knew who Jesus was. I said I knew him, but I didn’t believe in him. He told me that I therefore did not know Jesus. After an awkward silence, he looked me dead in the eye and said, “Would you like to be saved tonight?” Without a though, I said yes. We sat and he showed me to Roman Road (Romans 3:23 A knowledge of sin, Romans 5:8 the solution for sin, Romans 6:23 consequences of sin, Romans 10:9 my escaped from sin and 1 John 5:11-12 assurance of salvation.) He told me that if I can own up and confess with my mouth the sins I have committed and that if I truly believe and asked to be saved by the Lord, it will happen for it says so in Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” I told him that I do, and he said that all I needed to do, was say in a pray that I wanted to be saved. I had no idea on what I had to say or do. I was so overcome with emotion. He told me all I had to do was bow my head, say “Dear Lord, I want to confess to you my sin and I want your forgiveness. Amen.”
So, I done just that. I bowed my head, said “Dear Lord, I confess -” but I stopped. I started to cry my eyes out. To confess everything to God? To feel his judgement? To know that I will be saved? It was, in all honesty, scary. I cried for a full five minutes. and then I just blurted out the rest of my prayer by saying “- to you my great sins, I want your forgiveness and I want to be saved. Amen.” That night, the 3rd of October, 2012. I was reborn.
Within a week though, my mother had fully burst at the seams. She had become mentally ill. At first, I hated God for doing this, but then I spoke to my teacher and he said that maybe I should see it not as God, but a dive from Satan, for he has lost a soul and wants to regain one. My mother. I prayed and I prayed, having no idea what to do. God showed me, and at first, I was very reluctant. Admit my mother to a mental home. No. I couldn’t do it. But I did. I had to move back in with my Father which I was fairly weary of doing, but I knew it was in God’s plan. My mother is on the mend and I pray that one day, she’ll come back to her normal mental health and that I can show her the love that our God gives us.
Tonight, God has shown me a verse that I will so dearly hold to my heart. It’s Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” For me, it says alot. Knowing that I was on the brink of suicide, and full of Satan, and that the Lord has given me a hope, and a future.
Posted by JacquiFiled in Salvation
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Delivered from Demonic Sexual Attacks
November 11th, 2012
Hello I thank my Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ for what he has done for me even when I myself didn’t realize how far I had sunk. I am now in my mid 30′s and was once born again when I was in my early 20′s however, I used to hear people give testimonies of what they had done, where they had been and I always in my heart felt that ‘i have no testimony’ and would feel like I wasn’t as much of a christian as the people with the big testimonies.
With time, I wandered off and went back to the world, and this is where the real story begins. The bible says that when a spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places and finding no place to rest, returns to its original house, finding it clean, it goes and brings seven evil spirits more stronger than itself. That is what happened to me. When I gave up salvation for the world. I was like the prodigal son who asked for his inheritance and by the time I came back, I was worse than he was for my life had become a playground for demons. I had demons that used to sexually attack me at night, even sometimes getting me off my bed spiritually and waking up in other places. Sometimes even under water.
I was afraid to go to bed because in the middle of the night, the demons would come, with a very strong paralysing fear and when I was under that cloud of fear, then they could do whatever they wanted with me. I lived like that for almost 2 years, knowing that there was no one that could help me and being too ashamed to share it with anyone. How do you explain to your mother that when you are sleeping someone have sex with you? How do you tell your friends? Especially if it happens night after night? Sometimes it wouldn’t even be a man, but a creature like the underwater episode was a scaly creature. It was nightmares that I knew nobody in this life could save me from. However I wasn’t about to turn my life around to Jesus. I was having too much fun. But He was watching me, and He knew I needed deliverance, so things worked out in a way that I found myself leaving my country and my friends and going to a different country where the only people I knew were the ones I met through a church.
They invited me to go to a christian conference and I thought it might be fun to see a different city, so I went. During the last day, I was so convicted that I ended up going forward to give my life to the Lord, but I did it with the utmost resistance. It was comical, I was so convicted that I was weeping buckets but I wouldn’t budge from my seat. One of the ladies I had gone with came and led me to the front, but I was so undone that that night I refused to go to my bed, and slept with her. After that the demons still came, but this time, I was not alone for Jesus was with me. I love it when David in the Psalms says that God is his God who teaches his hands to war. For that is what He did for me. He taught my hands spiritual warfare. He led me in the bible leading where I came across verses I might never have found so fast like Luke 10:19
Behold I give you power and authority to walk on serpents, scorpions and over all the powers of the enemy and nothing shall in any way hurt you.
I remember one time that the demons came for me like they normally did, they came in a cloud of fear and I got paralysed however this time, I called out to Jesus and he reminded Luke 10:19 and I turned around and quoted the scripture to the creature that felt, I couldn’t see it , like a big bird like creature with wings and I grabbed it and as I quoted the scripture to it, tore it piece by piece and I could feel gooey stuff running down my fingers, and I was throwing the pieces on the ground. The thing was limp and powerless in my hands. I couldn’t believe it! For almost two years, this thing terrorized me and here all along I could have had the means to tear it to pieces! The demons became subtle though and they would come in form of fake dreams.
I might be having a conversation with someone (it could be anyone) but if the person asked a question that I said yes to, I was attacked. But still the Lord was with me and He would reveal to me their devices. It got to the point that I couldn’t even be lied to in a dream. He has been so wonderful to me. However there was something interesting that he revealed to me. He revealed to me that it was easy for the enemy to attack me because I had a spirit of fear. I had been bullied when I was 8 years and since then, I became a very fearful child. So in order to be completely free of their hold on me, I had to be delivered of this, which He himself did for me one night while I was alone at night. I am in my mid-30′s but that night, before the Lord I turned into that 8 year old girl again walking home by herself and taking the long way home and arriving hours later. I remembered the pain and the loneliness of those days and I told Jesus about it and He told me I never walked alone, he was always with me. I was able to share my pain, shame and loneliness with him and he healed me and the spirit of fear had nowhere to hide anymore. I was set completely free.
Since then I have had a wonderful relationship with my Lord, one day early on in my salvation I cried out to God and told him I needed to see him. I told him I have seen a lot of evil and wanted to see something good now from him and nowhere else. He gave me the best surprise that I have ever received in my life. For months he would send an angel to wake me up to pray. It was amazing, sometimes somebody would gently scratch my feet and I would wake up praying and then later I would think “that was crazy! Somebody scratched your feet and your launch into prayer?” Other times somebody would push my back from behind (and at this time I am lying on my back) so how can one get their hand through the mattress? And yet it would happen and I would go straight to prayer. At other times somebody would gently knock my headboard. The recurring theme in all of these episodes was that when this happened I would launch into prayer and not the sort of ‘help me Lord’ but praise and thanksgiving. It was such a big difference from the demon visitation where I would get completely paralyzed and my mind would get scrambled, it actually started to happen this way when I got born again and so sometimes I would be attacked but couldn’t pray because my mind was all scrambled. I am so grateful that my God brought something beautiful in my life to replace the nightmares I went through. So now I look foreward to going to bed because I know my God might send his angel to come wake me up, isn’t it beautiful that he has replaced my nightmares with special moments? Actually now, night time is my best time because when I go to bed, sometimes I just lie in bed and meditate on him and sometimes I feel his very presence with me. Sometimes I lie for hours just talking to him and it is so incredible that sometimes I feel that we are having a real conversation, sometimes I ask him questions that I hear the answers immediately.
I remember when I first meditated on him and I felt his presence, it was so great, so peaceful full of love and joy but all I wanted was to run off. So the next time, I asked him why I just want to run away though I want to stay too and he told me because I don’t know how to receive love, and I realized that it was true. I told him then He has to teach me to love and to recieve it and He is doing that step by step. I no longer run away from his presence now but I don’t go to him as much as I want to, which still shows that I still I am leery of pure love, but I know He will not give up on me. Another time, he told me that I don’t trust him. I was shocked, but he actually started showing me how I trust him as much as I trusted my father who was never there as I grew up, and again I had to go back to him and ask him to show me how to trust.
God is wonderful and he really really cares. He cared enough about me remove me from all the distractions that kept me away from him, he cared enough to have my friends invite me to the conference, he has cared enough to show me how to overcome my failings and I know not to be surprised anymore for Jesus came that they might have life and have it in abundance and I have seen him reveal to me all the areas of my life where I am not living life in abundance. I learnt, I am sure He lead me, to always pray that He might reveal to me any lie that I believe about him, and He has been faithful to do it and He has not only revealed them to me, but written the corresponding truth in my heart. I have learnt to trust him because He can be trusted. He actually told me that He is not a sadist. I had very many misconceptions about God and I always make it my prayer to pray for truth in all things and how He has surprised me! I now realize that when I left him before, I hadn’t really known him. Now that I know him I say with Peter “Lord where can I go, seeing that you alone have eternal life?” God bless you abundantly for reading my testimony and may you also make “Lord, reveal to me any lie that I believe about you, and lead me to your truth in all things” your prayer and you will be very surprised at how much you come to know him. God bless you all.
Thank you my Jesus, my Lord and my Master all the glory and honor belongs to you for who you are in my life. Amen
Posted by kui77Filed in Salvation
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I am back! Miracles of God 🙂
November 11th, 2012
A simple believer in life. A rescue as a part of miracle by God is what I’d like to share with you all.
Praise God!!! Long story short! I m one of those prodigal daughters however always a solid believer in the Almighty… 25 years old. I met with a near death accident last year and recovering still. I lost my face in the accident and reconstruction in progress.
Every day is a miracle. I am healing in God’s way!!!
Link below tells more of it in brief.
People, He is coming!!! Just Pray!!!
Pray for my healing!!! Only Prayers and His Will took me this far after my Near Death Experience
Posted by sunithaliveFiled in Salvation
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My Testimony on how the Lord saved me.
November 6th, 2012
As a child I was always a believer in God. I had, as I thought a relationship with him. I always had a prayer life. I didn’t know the Bible, I didn’t know about Jesus nor really who he was. I just had a simple prayer life, and that was it. My family was Catholic and we would go to church just a few times. I never considered myself to be religious In fact when we did go to church i didn’t understand why we were even there as i was not learning anything about God, Not even what Jesus did. So, to me it was just a gathering, when church was over it was like a watever kind of thing. But i still went on praying to God, my family never went back to church although they were still Catholics we kids would argue with my parents saying we didn’t want to go to church. As i grew in my teen years starting 14, is when i really started rebelling. I met my older sisters’ freinds, and i even started dating someone who became so close. I first drank my first beer at 14, i even smoked weed at 14, after that expirience i never drank or smoked weed after that. I knew it was wrong. So, as i got older i still went on praying to God even though i was in sin.
There came a time at 14 years of age when i completley stopped praying to God, that’s when i was going through difficult times i talked with my sister and she just told me to pray, so i went back to praying and never would stop up until that day. At 18 years of age last Senior hgh School, My senior year is when i just went through the toughest year of my life. While everyone was getting ready for prom, and for senior school dances i didn’t have any freinds. I was always alone at school. I knew everyone was drinking, and smoking, etc, I wasn’t doing any of that. My priority was not school. Sometimes i just wanted to skip classes, and i would. So, on top of not having freinds, my family was not there for me as well. I was completley lost. Waking up in the morning was a struggle, i didn’t know how to get through the day, no one wanted to hang out, or talk to me since i was looked down upon. So, i felt completley worthless. Didn’t have a job eaither as the unemployment rates went down, The person who i was once closest to since 14 years of age had completley want nothing to do with me as i still wanted to find a way to restore that relationship since i had knew him for so long, he met someone else and just completley left my life as i thought he was the only freind who would still be around, but he wasn’t. So, i was just lost, to the point of commiting suicide, i was at that point in my life where i didn’t even want to live. That’s when i cried out to God, something inside me said “Don’t do it, or you will wake up in hell”. I didn’t know about hell at the time, i didn’t know the Bible, i didn’t know if you died not saved you would end up in hell. But that voice in my heart told me i was going to be in hell if i killed myself. I knew it was God. I didn’t plan on killing myself after that. Couple months later it was graduation day I didn’t go to my graduation, i got my Diploma, i was out of school and that summer i felt better knowing i wasn’t going back to school getting treated like nothing from everyone there. I was not thinking about God, or getting right with him that summer after what happened.
That’s when it was summer of June, and i was a bored teen not knowing what really to do, I happened to have a phone with internet on it, so i started viewing porn. After knowing i had done such a thing, i knew very, very well that it was wrong. So, i convinced myself never to do it again. There came times where the forces of darkness would be so strong to the point of having to view more, and more. I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to be addicted, little did i know it was powers of darkness luring me on to filth. I couldn’t take it, that’s when i went to an internet page and kept asking everywhere where could i stop myself from viewing this, controlling myself because i couldn’t. i would even go to phsycology pages trying to ask online how i could stop it, i would read them but i still couldn’t stop the lust. That’s when a particular individual happened to be on those websites and told me Jesus can save me, all i got to do is call upon his name, he will cleanse my mind from filthy thoughts, he will help me get through this, he will forgive me and started putting Bible verses. I didn’t know any of that, as i was never taught that before. So, i called out to Jesus, i called out to God. i told him to save me, to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. That’s when i trusted. After that i knew the Lord had heard my cry. I didn’t automatically right away read the Bible. I just knew he had saved me. I never viewed porn after that. My mind went to other things, (not porn) But knowing i was never going to view it again.
July went by, And then August came. I was still in sin, not viewing porn, but i was still in complete sin. That’s when on an August afternoon in the last month o f summer, it was nice and quiet out so i decided to go sit down in my back yard. The view was beautiful. i started thinking about things. Then the thought of knowing i hadn’t viewed porn in over 2 months came. I realized i hadn’t, and i was happy about that. Then i started thinking about God. A still small voice was speaking to me, i didn’t hear the voice but someone was speaking to my heart i knew it. I don’t quite remeber what God was speaking to me about. But i know what he was saying and i remeber in my heart, i can’t write down the exact words. But all of a sudden there came a hunger in my heart for him as i never known before, He had spoke to my heart and told me to give him my life. At that moment all i wanted to do was please him. So, i knew in my mind to do what is right, little did i know i was a sinner and i couldn’t do anything to please God within myself. Acouple days later, It was night time my sister had just came back from being with her boyfreind and told me they went 25 miles from where we live to a town, and they had picked up a woman from the airport whom they did not even know. Now i found that to be stranger than strange. My sister and her boyfreind would never so something like that. Especially because the gas was expensive at that time. They had picked up a woman at the airport who handed them a book called ”40 days with Jesus” it wasn’t the Bible, But it was from a Christian Author. I saw it, and i knew to read that book Asap. My sister told me i could have it, she never read it. So, i read it and as i was reading the book i knew this was from the Lord because the book was talking about as if Jesus is speaking to me personally. After reading that book i knew to accept the Lord as my saviour. I did.God lead me to repent, he lead me to read the Bible. And he lead me to a great church. The Lord has completley changed my life and i can’t thank him enough! I am a born again Christian, and so happy to be a child of God! What a mighty God i serve! *John 3:16*
(For your discernment. As for me, I feel these coming judgments prophesied by Steven Crowder, (below), are in the making, due to the organized churches complacency, worldliness, and selfish disregard for God, combined with the sinfulness, unbelief and ungodliness of America.
America and the lukewarm mainstream apostate church have become like unto Sodom and Gomora. The sins of Sodom and Gomora were pride, idleness, fullness of bread, and they didn’t take care of the needy.)
“On the 26th day of February in the year 2001, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Write down what I speak to you!The first of three judgments is soon to be upon this country.”
“For weeks I have been stirring your spirit and showing you things that you must tell My people.I’ve shown you My…
Why did Jesus say He HATED the Doctrines and the Deeds of the Nicolaitans? Do you think it just possibly might be due to just some of the men, and their deeds included in this video? Read on in Rory Moore’s fine article below to understand just what, and who, the Nicolaitans were, and are, in today’s churches, and why Jesus HATES IT! And by the way, Nicolaitans don’t have to be TV evangelists that live better than most kings; they can operate out of dinky little street corner churches, main stream organized church denominations,in store fronts. OR, even on the INTERNET..!! It’s the way they operate, lording over the LORD’S flock in an authoritarian manner, rather than as a humble, loving servant shepherd that marks them as a Nicolaitan.
Preparinghisway
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Nicolaitane Errors as Their Mystery is Revealed
Overcoming The End-Time Nicolaitanes
“neither as lords over God’s heritage” ???
disclaimer: At times it may sound as if I am anti-pastor. This is not so, I am a teacher-pastor.
We love the overseers whom God has graciously put in our lives.
The truth is for exposing the harlot system and her institutions, and not at any individual.
JESUS said:
“But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate
So hast thou also some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner.
Repent therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with
the sword of my mouth.
VERY few Christians recognize the Nicolaitane error and fewer “hate” that which they do not understand.
Not only are the Nicolaitanes singled out in that passage, but upon examination we can find them
throughout the scriptures!
Revelation 2: (To the church at Ephesus)
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate;
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Here is the truth:
What He detests happens to be the most common form of church government .
“Nicolaitane” is from two Greek words “Nike” and Laos”, and means:
The word “nike” means “to conquer”…to dominate/ intimidate/ manipulate.
The word “laos” means “the people”, the laity.
Therefore hidden within the word itself is the answer.
By definition the deeds and teaching are of those who conquer, dominate, manipulate, and “lord it” over the people.
Today they are known as “Reverend”, “Bishop”, “Pastor”, “Apostle”, etc., (note the Capitalized Titles) because they are part of an institutional church system God never created.
The difficulty in identifying the Nicolaitane error is because the labels have changed,
thus the illusion that something is not what it is.
Most of us who were part of that system had no clue as we followed the church culture.
Why does Jesus “HATE” their deeds and doctrines?
Simply put, when men take authority by means of a Title, hierling, or Bible College Degree, they often take the place of God, through the process known as “having respect of persons”, in which a mans titled position elevates him as a “lord over God’s heritage”.
This has become modern idolatry in the New Testament. (see Two Ways to Answer God’s Call )
Clergy over the laity virtually guarantees the majority of God’s people never mature into faith as Christians and walk in the steps of Jesus or do what His disciples did in the book of Acts.
People follow their “leadership”, rather than Jesus Christ, as men make “disciples after themselves” as Paul warned in Acts 20: 30
-In other words, the local church is conformed to the man with the title, who usually gets his position from his denomination or group.
The church or ministry is then conformed to that mans image, which is an incomplete image of Christ.
Denominational, factious, competitive Christianity has given the church a hierarchial, professionalized, titled,
church governmental system foreign to scripture, i.e., “the error of the Nicolaitanes”. For example:
There is no senior pastor, pope, cardinal, Arch Bishop, General Superintendent, priest, or denominational structure in scripture
There is no scripture giving any pastor-priest sole rulership, headship, or authority over God’s people.
There are no formal titles or labels attached to any New Testament disciples including the obvious ones like the apostles.
There are no church boards, assistant pastors, co-pastor, associate pastors, or senior officials.
There are no presidents, superintendents, youth pastors ; there are no capitalized Apostles, Prophets, Bishops, Pastors, deacons, Elders. Anyone wearing a formal title is well on the way to becoming a Nicolaitane.
The word “pastor” is used only once in the New Testament, and not even one Titled pastor is named!
. The practice of one man being used in all of the 5 fold offices is unbiblical and a way to avoid accounability to scripture.
-How easy it is for a leader to use a hierarchial structure and authority against people,
but how hard it is for the people to use it with a leader.
Jesus said He hates the Nicolaitane error and the Nicolaitane error usually prevents leaders from being held accountable for either sin or error.
Overcoming the Nicolaitane error and deeds
In Revelation 2, this is for the people of God who have “eyes” and “ears” to overcome.
To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it.
-that mysterious verse is understood by those that DO overcome and are taught of the Lord Himself, which is the Spirit-revealed truth of the Word.
As opposed to those that only learn to repeat what they hear in church from the doctrines of men, especially the teaching (doctrines) of the Nicolaitans .
Several strong admonitions are given in scripture in regard to what Jesus said was the relationship among the brethren and what correct church government is: (we have a series on this http://www.preparehisway.com)
Here is what Peter said in 1Peter 5:
1 The elders (plural) among you (the church) I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Tend (feed) the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint (force) ,
but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre (not for reward) ,but of a ready mind;
3 neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.
In this passage, note the elders (plural) are among us, Peter includes himself as an elder, and there is no specific mention of “pastors”.
Why not? Because God gave elders to have oversight and “tend” the flock. The “elders” were to do so not from duty, obligation, or money.
– “neither as lording…”?
“neither”: “as in not even, no, not once”.
Lording is “to control, subjugate: – exercise dominion over (lordship), be lord over, overcome”
But this is exactly what the Nicolaitane error does and Peter said not even once was the flock to be carnally subjugated, controlled, or have someone exercise dominion over the flock. When the Christian sees the truth of scripture, he will need to realign his thinking in terms of what the New Testament ministry truly is, not from what we have seen all around us.
1Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ;
(not a pastor, Bishop, apostle, or Senior Church official)
The ministry is given to serve, edify, and stewardship the faith.
They are to comfort, correct, and contend for the faith. The faith they are to condend for is THE faith of scripture, not the fragmented, conflicting, sectarian confusion of faith found in the church world.
The ministry is not to become the head of every man and woman. There is no “spiritual covering” as such, in scripture.
Friends, Jesus gave, taught, and lived THE FAITH to His disciples, who in turn gave the same gospel and the same faith to the churches they established.
The Bible record bears no resemblance whatsoever to the practices and structure of the modern church and one-man ministries around us.
No pews, pulpits, choirs, worship leaders, assistant pastors, co-pastors, boards, orchestrated services, voted-in or hired pastors, etc… see what the Nicolaitanes have wrought: “NOT in Scripture?”
Part 2
1 Cor 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, *governments, diversities of tongues.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
*governments”?, The word “governments” means: “pilotage, directorship, steerage”.
Do we need to correct ourselves here?
Should we put the hired flock tenders, tithe collectors, hierarchial leaderership, titled clergy, robed or Gucci suited, camera focused, accent lighted, big screen, weekly orators back on their platforms so we can devour their words, visions, and fund their programs?
Let’s look at the verse again and run for the shelter of scripture.
1Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, *governments, diversities of tongues.
1. NOTICE the order “God hath set in the church… governments “,
if the pastor is the primary governmental “director, pilot, and steerage” of the body, then he is way, way
down on the list behind the prophets, teachers, miracle workers, and healers.
2. Where in the verse does it say the word “pastor” in terms of “governments”?
3. IF pastors are the head of local church governments, where is that in the verse?
4. If pastors are “governments”, then why are the helps, healings, miracles,
AHEAD of the directorage-pilotage-steerage?
5. If pastors are “governments” then why are teachers, prophets, and apostles ahead of the directorage-
pilotage-steerage?
6. If pastors are “governments” should they not do what Jesus said “them that believe” would do in Mark 16?
17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
In Matthew 10, Jesus said:
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.
I have been to far too many Christian funerals for those who died young and were never healed according to the Word. And that freely give part? ….. well, you can figure out what free means without me.
The pastors of scripture were the “no-name” laborers of their day, “among the people”, serving, supporting, and sharing their substance with the believers as the apostle Paul was “careful to do” and as he told the bishops of Ephesus to do likewise in Acts 20:35.
The same went for the prophets, apostles, teachers, and evangelists, who all served Christ without expectation of fame or fortune. They were the elders, overseers, deacons, teachers, and ministers of the faith who did so without a smidgen of self-promotion or lording any carnal authority over the people God gave them to serve. (Except the wolves like Diotrephes in 3rd John)
These actions were NORMAL for the Christians and pastors of scripture, but they are rare today.
Many pastors compare themselves to Moses who led the people of God to the “Promised Land”.
The idea there must be a solo leader-centered administration of a church body over the folks in the pew is 100% Nicolaitane.
As the Nicolaitanes John wrote about in 90 a.d, . imposed their error and deeds upon the church, the pastor-priest became the preeminent personage; i.e., the directorage-pilotage-steerage.
It was never meant to be.
Who gave the pastor-priest preeminence over the rest of the five-fold ministry and the false hierarchial system of “accountability”?
It was the Nicolaitanes.
And as many of us finally realize, this is the most common form of church government around us. .
Before the end of the kingdom of ancient Israel, (the last days of Israel), the Lord was manifested in flesh and called His people to come out of the harlot, the apostate church of His day which was ruled by the Nicolaitanes. History now repeats, the same pattern is being played out in the last days of the church.
How do you “overcome” the Nicolaitanes?
For most, it means walking out the “church” doors, going home, and asking God Himself to take their error and deeds out of your hearts. It means leaving the deceiving comfort and false assurance of a fallen church system you cannot find in God’s Word.
HUSBANDS AS PRIESTS IN THE HOME:
A Different Gospel
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.( Gal 1:6,7)
There are many ‘different’ gospels being taught across the Christian world in this day. Paul wrote to the Galatians “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8) And he remonstrated with the Corinthians : “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (2 Cor. 11:4)
One such perversion is the very common teaching that a husband or father has been ordained by God as the priest in his own family home. In its extreme form those who propagate this teaching state that a husband is ordained to be the ‘prophet, priest and king’ over his own family. In a brief internet search on this subject I even came across someone peddling the idea that a husband is the ‘high priest’ in the family home.* This false teaching is akin to the ‘covering’ doctrine which teaches that believers must be spiritually “covered” by someone in the church with more authority than themselves (e.g. pastor, apostle etc.) For more on the covering doctrine please see our article “Uncovering the Covering Doctrine” at our website.**
The idea of male headship in the home is based on an incorrect interpretation of the Greek word “kephale” in 1 Corinthians 11:3 and Ephesians 5:23, which in its purest form conveys headship as the original source (as in the head of a river), not a chain of command as traditionally taught. This controversial issue has been well covered elsewhere ***. My purpose in this article is to focus on priesthood rather than headship.
There are two very good reasons why any sincere Christian, male or female, should find this doctrine of male domestic priesthood offensive to the gospel. The first one is that this teaching simply does not stand the test of scripture. It is based on a hierarchical view of Christian family life that demotes wives to junior partnership in the marriage relationship, when the New Testament clearly teaches that all believers, regardless of gender, are ‘joint heirs with Christ”.
There is , however, an even more important reason to be offended by this false teaching and to reject it totally. To teach that there is a priesthood solely based on gender and marital status is an affront to the unique and unequalled priesthood of Christ Himself who alone in the New Testament is named as Priest, High Priest, and Great High Priest of the New Covenant (Heb 4:6; 3:1; 4:15). Proponents of the ‘husband as priest in the home’ teaching clearly demonstrate their lack of understanding of Biblical priesthood and of the gospel they claim to serve. As there are absolutely no New Testament scriptures to support this false doctrine, those who teach it commonly cite the Old Testament Aaronic priesthood which was hierarchical in nature. Under the New Covenant, however, the old priesthood has passed away and a totally new priesthood, the Melchizadek priesthood, is operating. Indeed, even Jesus’ own priesthood would be rendered legally invalid under the old Aaronic priesthood because He was born from another tribe, Judah rather than Levi (Under the Old Covenant all priests were from the Tribe of Levi, see Numbers 1:49-54, 3:12, Hebrews 7).
What is Priesthood?
Under the Old Testament law, the priests were set apart by special consecration from the rest of Israel to exclusively minister to God (Ex. 29:44). Israel as a nation had been chosen and set apart from the other nations by God as a ‘kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:5,6). Within Israel the Levites were further set apart as the priestly tribe (Num. 3:12). And among the Levites it was from the family of Aaron that the High Priest was to be appointed. The main role of the High Priest was as a mediator between God and His people. He would oversee the Levitical priesthood and once a year He would enter the Holy of Holies with sacrificial blood to atone for and obtain God’s pardon for Israel’s sins since the last Day of Atonement. This Aaronic priesthood, however, was merely an imperfect and incomplete picture of that which was promised to come (Mal. 3:1,Hebrews 8:6-13).
We are not of the Old Covenant, we are of the New. We are not of Aaron, we are of Christ. Under the New Covenant ‘there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5) The New Testament teaches us that we have come ‘to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Heb. 12:24) Furthermore, “both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Heb. 2:11). Take note: “those who are being sanctified are all of one…..”. God’s people are one. There is no longer a special priestly tribe set apart with a specific consecration to mediate between God and His people. There is “He who sanctifies” and “those who are being sanctified”, who He calls His brethren, and we are one people with no special role based on external factors such as tribe, family, race or gender (Gal 3:28)
To assume a place of mediation between God and another believer based on some imagined ‘special priesthood’ is unscriptural and presumptuous. Those who teach and practice this are usurping Jesus’ exclusive role as Great High Priest under the New Covenant. Apparently it is only females who need this extra priestly mediation through their husbands (or fathers), which implies that the Blood of Christ is insufficient for you if you are a woman. Those who impose this teaching on women would do well to remember that Christ’s all-sufficient priesthood came at great cost: His own Blood. I have yet to meet any other human being who could equal that cost.
Believer’s Priesthood
Nowhere at all does the New Testament make reference to a special priesthood role within the confines of marriage or home. What does the New Testament have to say about the believer’s priesthood then? Simply this:
The apostle Peter addressing the whole church:
“…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” ( 1 Peter 2:5 )
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9)
The Apostle John addressing the whole church:
“ To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us kings and priests**** to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen” (Rev. 1:5,6) (NKJV)
The twenty four elders who fall down before the Lamb:
“You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests**** to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9, 10) (NKJV)
Those who teach men, women and children to observe an extra biblical ‘priesthood’ that is found nowhere under the New Covenant are teaching error. Their attitude is “never let the truth get in the way of a good tradition”.
Prophet, Priest and King?
Having dealt with the fact that there is no New Covenant priesthood based on gender or any other external factor, we will look briefly at the teaching that a husband is also a prophet and a king to his wife and family. If our understanding of the role of a prophet is one who is anointed by God to speak to God’s people on God’s behalf, it follows that a man who is a prophet to his family must have a special anointing to speak to his family on God’s behalf. That in itself would not be a problem if the teachers of this erroneous doctrine did not believe that this prophetic anointing is only available to males. It is a wonderful thing to receive and give a word from the Lord, or to share insights received directly from God’s heart with the ones you love. Jesus, speaking to His disciples, promised “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you (the church) into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” (John 16:13).
Under the Old Testament individuals were singled out by God (both men and women) as prophets who would speak truth to His people and guide them through His revealed will. Some of these were Samuel, Nathan, Deborah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Huldah, to name just a few. However, under the New Covenant the Holy Spirit has come, not to specific individuals, but to the entire church to speak that which He hears from the heart of God and to guide us, collectively and individually, into all truth. So again we see confusion among the proponents of this teaching between Old and New Covenants. The promise of the Spirit was given to the church, not to a certain section of the church based on gender (Acts 1:4, 2:33; 2:39) The teaching that a man has a special prophetic role over his family which is not available to his wife has no scriptural foundation. Rather the Bible teaches that all may hear from the Holy Spirit and all may prophesy (1 Cor. 14:31).
The New Testament is clear that God has poured out His Holy Spirit so that each one may hear directly and choose to obey. “ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (children) of God” (Romans 8:14). It is clear from scripture that no such idea of a husband as ‘prophet priest and king’ was held in the early church. That is why Saphirra was called to account by Peter for her own decision to agree with her husband in lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-10). God is not unjust: if Ananias were her ‘prophet, priest and king’ she would have been expected to follow his leading and would have held no guilt of her own.
The church is called to be a prophetic community, and while I believe God does raise up individuals to function as New Testament prophets, such ones are sent by Christ for the express purpose of building up His church (Eph. 4:11-16). Scripture does not support the concept of only a husband being a prophet within the specific context of his marriage and family.
What then of kingship in the home? According to one proponent of the ‘husband as prophet, priest and king’ teaching, “God’s kind of husband/father is also a king (completing the trilogy of responsibilities). Old Testament Israel was theocratic, and yet God raised up kings (Saul, and then Davidic kings) to lovingly and wisely rule for God.”*****
Please check the scriptures for yourself. God did NOT want Israel to have any other king but Himself. He allowed them to have a human king because they had rejected His own Kingship over them. Furthermore He gave Israel a solemn warning that the king who reigned over them would cruelly oppress them (see 1 Samuel 8). Though there were kings such as David who sought to reign righteously over Israel, the majority, including Saul, did not do so.
The root of the ‘husband as priest and king in the home’ teaching lies in the view held by the Puritans that God has ordained a ‘divine order’ in state, church and home and has appointed delegated authority to each of them. According to respected author Sue Hyatt: “Each institution was divinely ruled by means of delegated authority: that is, in the same way that the head-of-state allegedly derived authority from God, the head-of-church derived authority from God, and the head-of-home derived authority from God. And the head (meaning ruler) of each of these had to be a man because, according to their theology, God had predestined man to rule!”******
Biblical kingship simply speaks of authority to rule spiritually. Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to His church (keys speak of authority) (Matt. 16:19). Under the New Covenant there certainly is a believer’s kingship that can belong to all disciples (see Romans 5:17, 1 Tim. 2:12, Revelation 5:10, 20:6, 22:5) This kingship is a reigning over creation and spiritual enemies. It is not a reigning over other disciples. Jesus made it very clear that His idea of rulership is not exercising authority over other believers (including wives) (Matt. 20:25-28). Biblical kingship is a spiritual attribute of the church, under the one true King of all Kings, Jesus Christ. The kingship espoused in the “husband as prophet, priest and king” teaching is an unscriptural domestically based rulership arising from a carnal understanding of spiritual authority that has no basis in New Testament scripture.
Conclusion
There is only One who has the right to claim the title of Prophet, Priest and King. He is the One to whom all knees will bow and the One whose Name shall be confessed by every tongue. Viewed under the light of scripture, the ‘husband as prophet, priest and king in the home’ teaching is nothing other than a different gospel which all sincere followers of the Lamb should reject and oppose. Under this false doctrine countless women and girls are subjugated daily and countless men labour under unrealistic, unscriptural expectations. There are many faithful, loving Christian men who sincerely desire to follow the Lord and nurture their families under His grace and sovereignty. I thank God for such brothers. The issue here is not with them. It is with those leaders who, rather than repent and turn from their error, continue, for whatever reason, to perpetuate a false gospel and impose it on those they supposedly lead.
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