Personal Testimonies

[theo]

I would like to share my testimony on how I came back in to the church. First let me say this is not "my" testimony but rather a testimony of the power of JESUS and His  working in my life.

I posted part of my testimony over on the addiction part of this site so if you have read it please bear with me.  That was only part of what JESUS has done for me.

I was raised an SDA, my dad was an adventist pastor. I was raised in a home and church environment that was very overbearing and personally degrading. Very little love and training but lots of discipline. because of this my image of GOD became one of a very severe and harsh, unforgiving god. Because of this I developed an image of myself as bad and unforgivable.  Sataan had me where he wanted me.

I went to SDA schools all the way through college. Along the way I learned to smoke, chew tobacco, drink(lots), and use drugs. I turned my back completely on GOD. As soon as I got out of school and no longer "had" to go to church, I left the church completely.

After college I quit using drugs but continued drinking heavily, partying pretty much at every opportunity I had. I know now that I was running, searching, looking for answeres but not knowing where to turn. My image of GOD was so bad that I refused  to look to Him but yet I was miserable. For anyone who has been in this position you know how miserable it is.

After about 10 years of this I quit drinking. Up to that point I loved drinking, but it was destroying me, I new I should quit and started trying to cut back but had not quit completely. one day I bought a 6 pak of beer, brought it home and took a swig. For some reason that day something happened to me.  As I started drinking it was as if someone flipped a switch. That beer was the worst thing I had ever had. I had this moment of clarity as to the destructive power of alcohol. From that day forward I have had an intense dislike for alcohol. This was 5 years before I gave my life to JESUS. I beleive He Knew it was time and gave me what I needed to quit even though I had not asked for it.

I continued chewing tobacco amd searching. About one year ago someone from the local church gave me a set of Doug Batchelor tapes.
I watched them and decided to honestly try GOD for myself. I started reading the bible and praying. I knew I needed to quit chewing but I had been unable to. I had tried many times over the years without success.Finally I prayed to GOD and told him I knew I needed to quit but that I couldn't. I told Him that in all honesty I liked chewing and deep down I didn't really want to quit and that if he wanted me to quit he would have to do something because I was powerless. The nicotine addiction is powerful, don't let anybody kid you about it.

Well the next day I literally had amnesia, I didn't remember that I chewed. All day I had no conscious thought of tobacco. This is very important because before I had never been able to get through the first day. GOD took my addiction away, it is as simple as that. That was one year ago.

Needless to say I was excited and thanking GOD. This was a powerful experience and made me believe in the power of GOD.

I decided to get rebaptized.

Have you ever heard of the calm before the storm? Once I made the decision to get baptized, things started going terribly bad. I started fighting a spiritual battle that I cannot describe adequately in words. I became severely depressed and was assulted with thoughts that the bible is a hoax, there really is no GOD, If there was a GOD it was too late for me, all sorts of powerful negative thoughts. I couldnt sleep, I couldnt work, I had to take a month off from work. It was miserable.

I started praying like never before. I learned that prayer is the key to surviving the attacks of sataan. I went ahead with my baptism in the middle of this even though it was a struggle to go ahead with it.

Several weeks after my baptism, one night about 1 am, I was unable to sleep and had gotten up for a drink of water. I had really been struggling spiritually. As I went back to bed I got an impression to read psalms 31. I got up and read it. It is a prayer of faith in difficult times. I was amazed at how much that chapter spoke to me. I turned the light out and went back to bed. Again I got an impression to read psalms 51. I got up and read it. It is a prayer of repentance. GOD was telling me I needed to have faith and repentance. I was amazed. I went back to bed. Again I got an impression to read matthew 24. I got up and read it. It is the discourse of JESUS on the time of the end/time of trouble. This kind of confused me. I couldn't figure it out so I went back to bed. Again I got an impresson to read Ezekiel 36. I got up and read it. At first I didn't understand what GOD was trying to tell me. It took me a while to figure out what GOD was telling me.Ezekiel 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26. I  will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27. I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgements and do them.- GOD was telling me to have faith and repentance and he would bring me through my time of trouble and give me a new heart and a new spirit(born again).

I cannot begin to tell you how powerful this experience has been for me. I feel I was given a direct promise from GOD.Over the next several weeks the same thing happened to me but with the book Desire of Ages. I would be having a hard time and I would get an impression to read a certain page or pages in the book and it would be exactly what I needed to hear.(this also cleared up for me as to whether or not EGW is inspired).

Those were difficult days but the power of GOD prevailed. It has been tough coming back in to a church I had so much anger towards, but I have learned that my relationship with JESUS is not about the church. It is just me and HIM and that is all that matters.

We need to remember that without the power of the HOLY SPIRIT anything we say or do, even if it is truth, is powerless.

There are many people out there who like myself, have had a bad experience with the church. GOD can reach them if they let Him. His love and power is beyond our comprehension. We just need to be careful that people see CHRIST in our lives and not ourselves.

sorry this post is so long, I just wanted to share how GOD has worked in my life.

May GOD bless each of you in your lives and witness.
               

------------------
theo

[theo]

I just figured out there are multiple pages on this section so it looks like I posted my testimony twice. I thought it never went through in Nov. when I first posted it.

Sorry folks, didn't mean for you to read it twice.

[Richard Myers]

Brother Theo,  no need to apologize. Sometimes God puts His hand over things so we cannot see them. It is His way of accomplishing something that would not otherwise be done.  It is good for you to have posted this testimony of God's love and power twice. It is not only good for you to tell it over and over, but for us to read it over and over. I would not have been blessed again if you had not done so.

Your blessings from the promises in Ezekiel 36 and The Desire of Ages is what Jesus wants each of us to experience. I have spent almost my entire Christian life repeating these blessings that God wants to bestow upon His people. The Desire of Ages was given that we might know our Saviour and thus our heavenly Father. The promises in Ezekiel 36 are greatly needed when we discover that we are under the condemnation of the broken law.

Thank you for submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit and testifying to the goodness and power of our God. There are others besides me that need to hear just what you have shared. Let us continue in prayer that hearts will be moved and completely surrendered to Jesus. He is coming soon and we want all that can be saved to find this peace that passes understanding and the power that lifts us above earthly trials.

The devil is as a roaring lion, but our Saviour is more powerful. Where sin abounds grace does much more abound!  

Please join me in the King of Kings forum where you can continue to share what Jesus is revealing of Himself.

In His love and grace,     Richard

[Laurie Mosher]

Brother Theo,
THANK YOU for that POWERFUL TESTIMONY!
 It is OBVIOUS that God is leading and controlling your life.Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And it is important for allof us to realize the devil isn't going to let us get away from him, without a struggle. He's had a little more time to know the weak points of each of us, but ALWAYS REMEMBER God defeated Satan at every turn. Our ONLY hope to get thru is to TRUST IN JESUS.

Praise the Lord for His loving kindness and grace, and mercy!

------------------
Keep "the" faith,BUT pass it around!

 Bro. Laurie

[Laurie Mosher]

Brother Felipe!
  I haven't forgotten YOU, either. Thank You for updating us and telling of your church's revival. Would to God that ALL of us would experience a revival and reformation.
 Jesus is coming soon. I'm looking forward to meeting ALL of you there.

 It's really quite interesting!  There are probably very few posters in TRO, that I have actually met face to face, but someday SOON, we will see each other.  

 Let us remain faithful!!

------------------
Keep "the" faith,BUT pass it around!

 Bro. Laurie

[Richard Myers]

Seven or eight years ago I was in Washinton D.C. for a meeting on foodborne disease. I had just come out of the Senate building and was met by a well dressed young man who said he had lost his wallet and needed money to catch a bus home. He had a pair of "praying hands" pinned on his lapel.  I had my wallet out and was ready to give him the amount he had asked for when another well dressed business man from accross the street began yelling to me not to give him any money. He was very upset and he was very big also. He continued to come over and really laid into the young man. He had given him money and then found out from the guard that he had been ripped off. I thanked him and the Lord.

Last week I was getting fuel and a young man came up and asked me to buy a model motorcyle so he could get gas to take his baby to the hospital. I told him I did not want a model. He politely left. After I paid for my gas, he was still standing by his truck which was in front of my car. I walked up and asked him about the baby. His wife and children were in the truck and she told me about the need for the child. I told the family I would loan them money for the gas. I gave them my phone number and asked them to call me when they could repay the loan. I also gave them a copy of Steps to Christ. I prayed for them and went on my way.

Yesterday I got a phone call from the young man. He wanted to pay me back. I spoke with him and found out that the family was in real need and got their address. I was so pleased that the Holy Spirit could reach through my resistance to give money to those who stop me on the street. Generally, I will give food, but not money. This time, God wanted this family to know of His love for them. Please pray for them. His name is Duane and their baby has downs sydrome and was jaundiced.

God is good and we need to tell others in every way that we can. The Holy Spirit will open the doors as we ask Him to lead us to those that are open to the truth.  

Richard

[This message has been edited by Richard Myers (edited 12-25-2000).]

[Laurie Mosher]

Brother Richard! Thanks for sharing!
 I am very often placed in similar circumstances, and have /ongoing helping a Salvation Army family with food and medicine. God , I believe, keeps us humble when we work with Him in helping others!

------------------
Keep "the" faith,BUT pass it around!

 Bro. Laurie

[WendyForsyth]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was born a Seventh day Adventist, the daughter of an Adventist minister. Over the course of my childhood we moved numerous times as my father was in great demand around the country. We even served as missionaries in Brazil. I just wish I'd been old enough to enjoy it. Growing up a PK was everything that the stereotypes portray it to be. I have been down every road I shouldn't have traveled, and hurt my parents in many ways. I can only imagine the pain I caused my Father in Heaven. When I was 25 I married a man who later turned out to be an extremely angry, aggresive and violent man. He beat me through two pregnancies and one week after my second C-section with my youngest son, he threw me down two flights of cement stairs and when I made it back up to make sure the babies were okay, he put my head into the wall. My 20 month old son was so terrified, he hid behind the television set in the corner. He could still remember that incident at four years old. At that time,I had no relationship with God whatsoever. No spiritual life, no study. But still He spoke to me and told me to leave or else my sons would grow up to be wife abusers as well. So with no real skills I ended up on welfare with a 2 year old and a six-week old baby. It was not an easy life. I spent the next two years in a haze of depression. One Sabbath, I felt strongly impressed to search out the local Adventist church. What I found there was such a sense of family and openness that I was completely overwhelmed. The minister was a terrific speaker, and after attending his Revelation seminar, I was moved to rededicate my life to the Lord. I won't say it has all been uphill since then, but with Jesus at my side, I can't go wrong. I am now remarried to the most wonderful man in the world who shares my desire and drive to work for the Lord. We have a daughter together, and as a family of five we have many adventures. Some good, some bad. But through it all we remain steady because Jesus is Lord of our family, and my husband is priest of our home. All things work together for good for them that serve the Lord and He truly has blessed us, and together we lift our eyes heavenward because our redemption draweth nigh!
Wendy
---------------
Maranatha!!!

[This message has been edited by WendyForsyth (edited 12-26-2000).]

[Dugald T Lewis MD]

Dear Wendy,

Your testimony warms my heart and reminds me of the love of God that can bring his people
through the greatest of crisis that they may undergo. It will being encouragement to many.

Sincerely
Dugald

[theo]

Dear wendy,

Thank you for your encouraging testimony.  It is good to hear how God does not give up on us even though we often are in situations that seem hopeless.

I too was raised a PK and left the church early on. It is only because of Gods persistant love that I have dedicated my life to Him.

I think the devil works overtime to seek to destroy the famalies of pastors. Praise God He led you to where you are today.

The past may have been difficult, but I know in my case, because of Gods grace, I am stronger for it and it sounds like you are too.

Thank you for your courage to share your testimony. May God continue to bless and lead you.

Theo

[Richard Myers]

Thanks for sharing, Sister Wendy. God is GOOD!  There are many times in life when we are not aware of God's presence, but He is there and working for us.    His grace is far greater than our sins!

Richard

[WendyForsyth]

Thank you all for your support! Theo, I think you are right about Satan working to destroy Pastors. When he couldn't malign my father's character, he destroyed his health. He lives with a morphine implant because an orphan disease destroyed all the myelin sheath on his nerve endings. He is in constant pain even with morphine dripping directly into his spinal cord. Well, he can't preach now can he? Satan won out in the long run. But dad is getting his spirit back and finding other ways to serve the Lord. Praise God!

Wendy
----------
Maranatha!!!

[Richard Myers]

Sister Wendy, Satan has lost the battle. Your father glorifies God in his suffering just as Jesus did. "We glory in our tribulation" for Jesus is seen within our hearts. Six thousand years the demonstration has continued, but the great controversy is seen for what it is. The character of Satan has been unmasked at the cross. It is left of us to see it. We must choose between good and evil.

It is not the health of your father that will reveal his success, but rather the salvation of his daughter.   Your testimony that you have shared is of more value to your father than his preaching. Christ heard his prayers for you and contended with the devil for your salvation. You are your father's greatest encouragement.    Stay close to the Lord. We will be praying for your family and your father.  

In His love and grace,   Richard

[WendyForsyth]

Yes Brother Richard,
Sometimes my fingers don't keep up with my thoughts. What I meant was, Satan won the battle to remove my father from the ministry. Praise the Lord however, for he has found a way to continue serving the Lord even through years of depression.

Just a little side story. My dad was asked to preach in our little church(12 members,no pastor)With all the meds, he was a bit unstable, but a real trooper to get up there and preach with power. However, when he looked out over that small group of believers and saw, not only myself but my brother back in church for the first time in 10 years, he burst into tears. Bless his heart, he was so embarrassed. But the joy of seeing his family all together in church again was more than he could hold. He had not one dry eye in the church. It really was a blessed experience, and made me determine anew to always walk with the Lord.

Wendy
-------------
Maranatha!!!

[Laurie Mosher]

 Sister Wendy, I'm reminded of the saying, "There but for the grace of God go I." It's also true that "when the going gets tought, the tough get going."  My, you must have a tough constitution.

 You've literally been thru it all, and still bounced back. The devil must be some upset with you!! Well, Sister, let's continue to give him a headache! Satan knows his time is short, and pretty soon will be "pulling out ALL the stops". Let's not give him any vantage ground.

  AS Brother Richard , Dr Dugald, and Theo have put it, YOU are the fruit of the witness of your father. I believe if I were a member of that little congregation, I would have wept with him, just to see his family back. That's what we "remnant", need to do, Weep more, and PRAY MORE.I believe there is a quotation from SOP about "Those sighing and crying for the abomininations...sorry for their OWN sins, and others in the church.

  I have just finished reading AGAIN the chapter in "Desire of Ages"-Gethsemane...It's impossible to read that chapter without crying!

 Thank you for sharing with us.Testimonies like these give us ALL hope!  

------------------
Keep "the" faith,BUT pass it around!

 Bro. Laurie

[WendyForsyth]

Brother Laurie,

You made ME cry!

God bless,
Wendy

[Richard Myers]

Well, pass around the tissues.  

The key to good preaching is reaching the heart as well as the brain. The Holy Spirit was able to speak through your father to the small congregation and reach many hearts including yours, Sister Wendy!    And now, ours!    Thanks again for sharing.

In His love and grace,    Richard

[WendyForsyth]

 

[Dugald T Lewis MD]

Dear Wendy,
You are a very special person. Its great having you here with us on TRO.  
Dugald

[WendyForsyth]

Brother Dugald,

Satan is after me again, so I just now read the above. Thank you so much for those encouraging words. It feels like family here. I'm glad I'm finally back! I missed you all.

God bless,
Wendy
---------
Maranatha!!!

[This message has been edited by WendyForsyth (edited 01-08-2001).]