Living Testimonies

Modern Day Paul - African Warlord Who Killed Thousands Repents; Now Christian Evangelist

2012-01-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

It’s a story of transformation that has surprised thousands and shocked all who have heard: a brutal African warlord with a violent past finds Christ and dramatically turns his life around.

Selected for The Economist Film Project, an initiative by The Economist in partnership with PBS NewsHour, “The Redemption of General Butt Naked” is a chilling documentary about the changed life of Joshua Milton Blahyi, once dubbed to be one of Liberia’s most feared warlords.

Now renouncing his violent past – which includes confessing to killing nearly 20,000 people during Liberia’s 14-year civil war – after converting to Christianity, Blahyi seeks to reinvent himself as an evangelist, traveling the nation as a preacher and asking for forgiveness from those whom he had hurt in the past.

Filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion spent five years with Blahyi, closely following his troubled life as he sought forgiveness from his former soldiers and his numerous victims.

Strauss had become interested in Blahyi after he read about him in a book called The World’s Most Dangerous Places.

“It was just a tiny blurb about a notorious warlord who had killed thousands and was now walking the streets preaching truth and reconciliation,” Strauss told The Los Angeles Times. “I wondered, ‘Could someone like this really exist?’”

“Was transformation this extreme even possible?” Anastasion added. “And how would that play out in the real world?”

Offering a glimpse into their questions through their documentary, the filmmakers created “The Redemption of General Butt Naked,” highlighting faith and forgiveness.

“The film forces [viewers] to question the very nature of what true, meaningful reconciliation looks like in a country where justice has not been available,” the film’s website noted.

“It’s only Christianity that can help this nation, because Christianity, it is the only belief, the only faith that tell you to love your enemies, that tell you to accept and forgive the one who hurts you,” Blahyi stated in an excerpt from the movie, according to PBS.

“All of us you see sitting here were notorious rebels. The only thing that is able to disarm them is love, the love that disarmed me. Only God is able to turn lives around.”

Prior to his conversion, Blahyi, a member of the Sarpo tribe in Liberia, was a spiritual consultant to the late Liberian president, Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe.

At age 11, he was initiated as a tribal priest and participated in his first human sacrifice, which he practiced monthly until he was 25. Later appointed as high priest to the Krahn people and then spiritual adviser to Doe, Blahyi previously told the South African Star that he “met Satan regularly and talked to him.”

He was dubbed “General Butt Naked” for entering battle with nothing but shoes and a gun, believing that his nakedness made him invincible to bullets. The previous general also claimed that he killed children, offering their blood to his god, and sometimes even plucking out their hearts and eating it before battle as well.

It is no wonder that all throughout the country, people still fear him, despite his conversion.

In 1996, Blahyi had a dramatic encounter with Christ during one of the most brutal fights in the history of the Liberian war, an encounter many deemed similar to Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.

Jesus appeared to him as a blinding light and told him that he would die unless he repented of his sins, the Daily Mail reported.

Accepting Christ and asking forgiveness for his sins, Blahyi promptly laid down his weapons, left behind his soldiers, and went to a refugee camp in Ghana where he began his conversion process.

Now preaching where he once murdered, Blahyi hopes to rebuild the people whom he once hurt, advocating peace and not violence.

“It’s the toughest moment in my life to see somebody who I hurt in the past,” Blahyi reflected in the film. “There are thousands of people that can stand up here and say, this is what he did to me, this is what he did to my brother. I’m guilty. I’m 100 percent guilty for all the things I did in the past.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he repeated. Though many believed in Blahyi’s repentance and transformation, a few believe he is lying.

Despite their doubts, however, the former warlord continues to prove his turnaround through his actions, tirelessly preaching the Gospel to everyone he comes across.

He is currently the president and founder of the End Time Train Evangelistic Ministries in Ghana, which he founded in 1999, existing to shine the light of Christ in remote parts of Africa, including Togo, Benin Republic, Nigeria, Chile Republic, Guinea, and Liberia, his home land.

He returned to Liberia after six years of living in exile in 2004 and assisted in the disarmament process for one year, according to his ministry’s website, before returning back to the refugee camp in Ghana.

Three years later, he traveled back to his home country with a desire to return to Liberia with his family, which consisted of his wife, Josie, and their four children.

During that period, Blahyi agreed to admit his crimes before Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an act very few warlords agreed to do, though he did not know what the consequences of his confession would be.

“I went to the TRC because I wanted to reconcile with my country and be free of my conscience,” he shared in an excerpt. “And the fate turned out that they recommended amnesty for me.”

After he was recommended amnesty, however, Blahyi received several death threats from other warlords and fled to Ghana as a result. He has now returned to Liberia, preaching the truth of Jesus Christ to his people and teaching the broken about God’s infinite mercy and hope for mankind for sinners like himself.

The film will air on the Documentary Channel on Jan. 22.

PBS NewsHour ended their yearlong collaboration with The Economist magazine this week, highlighting the work of independent documentary filmmakers through The Economist Film Project.

Though they received more than a thousand documentary submissions, they chose only 19 films to showcase, ranging from skateboarding in Afghanistan to art made in the world’s largest landfill in Brazil.

Learn more about the film project and visit Joshua Milton Blahyi's site here.

Message by Eryn Sun | Christian Post Reporter

Testimony of Bill Courtemanche : CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

2010-04-05T22:15:00.001-07:00

Miracles Part IV: Can You Hear Me Now?

Shared by Kononia House at www.khouse.org

On a Sunday morning in early 2008, Bill Courtemanche knelt at the altar of his church in Hedgesville, WV, frustrated over the suffering around him. The church was still grieving over a 36-year-old wife and mother in the church who had died of cancer. Bill knelt and asked God, "Lord, what is going on? Why do we have all this suffering? Do you even hear our prayers?"

Bill had struggled with alcoholism early in his adulthood, but in 1984 he had rededicated his life to the Lord and had been sober ever since. He believed that his faith had grown strong over the years, but now he was struggling with what seemed like God's lack of action in the middle of great need. Things kept going wrong, and it seemed as though God had gone silent.

The fact was that Bill couldn't hear very well anyway. In 1992, Bill had worked as an undercover drug task force officer. One night during a drug raid, a gun went off near his ear, and the concussion of the shot permanently damaged his hearing. His left ear became completely deaf, and he lost 40 percent of the hearing in his right ear. For the next 17 years, Bill lived in a world of muffled noises. He learned to lip read, but he told us his deafness, "really irritated my wife. She kept bugging me to get a hearing aid." Still, he grew used to living with a lot of silence.

That day in 2008, as Bill knelt at the altar pouring out his heart before God, he suddenly felt a terrible burning in his ears. "I felt like my head was on fire, like it was about to explode. My ears were burning up, and I felt really ill. So, I went home after church and lay down." He slept that afternoon, and when he woke up he felt much better. The burning and nausea were gone. Then he noticed something strange. After 17 years, he was able to hear out of both his ears. "It was bizarre," he said. "I would hear things. I went to an audiologist, and he said, there's nothing wrong with your ears.'"

Bill grinned, "I always justified it as God's saying, 'Can you hear Me now?' "

That was just the first miracle.

On a Thursday night, Bill got a call that his mother had been found dead on her bathroom floor. The paramedics had arrived and worked on her and decided to take her to Uniontown Hospital, where her heart stopped beating again. At that point they put Bill's mother on life support.

"She was an elderly person who had just had a heart attack and was dead. I don't know why they put her on life support. They life-flighted her to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which was a screw up because they aren't supposed to transport people on life support."

Even though his mother was technically brain dead, Bill spent the whole evening sitting beside her, praying for her and reading to her, "and doing the things you do when you don't know what to do." He went down to the chapel the next morning, and a chaplain came in. The chaplain approached Bill, who explained the dilemma he felt he was in. He did not want to remove the life support and let his mother die, but she was only "alive" because she was hooked to machines. "I was troubled," Bill said, "His answer to me was that life support machines are man-made and only God can terminate a life. If she was meant to go Home, she'd die, and if she wasn't, she wouldn't." So, they set a time on Saturday to remove the life support, and Bill's brothers and sisters went in to say goodbye.

About 11:30 on Saturday morning, Bill entered the hospital room in order to have the machines removed. He told us:

"I was told to kiss her on the head and kiss her goodbye. When I did, she woke up! It freaked everybody out. The doctor there said he'd been up there for 15 years as the head of the cardiology unit. He said literally, 'It's a miracle, she's supposed to be dead.' The funny part of it was, I was talking to her that afternoon and she told me, 'You know the most annoying thing? You know how hard it is to sleep when somebody sits there all night reading to you?' Here's a woman who has no brain activity hearing everything that I'm reading to her. She was out of the hospital two weeks later."

The Apostle Paul described the curious mixture of struggle and victory in the Christian life when he said,"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed," (2Cor 4:8-9). We may feel sometimes that God has abandoned us, but He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5). God loves us so deeply, so truly, so completely, that He gave His Son to die for us. He would not pay that great price just to drop us. As we celebrate Passover Week and Resurrection Sunday, may we thank our Savior in the truest way possible. May we believe Him when He says He loves us and trust Him enough to put our lives fully in His hands. Perhaps when we get there, we'll find we're better able to hear Him after all.

Love Never Fails

2009-03-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

This is very touching story and after seeing the pictures below I feel grieved.
See the movie also guys, u can buy in Immanuel, Maranatha or Christian Shops.

I attach some picture of this couple starting from their wedding until cancer slowly damaged Ralph face and made him look so terrible... I hope this testimony will be a great blessing and strengthen all of you.

You can also watch the testimony video here:

Dear my beloved friends.....

This is a beautiful testimony which was made in a documentary called “Love Never Fails"

The movie is really touching. The story is about a Singaporean actor who recently got married and after about a week he realized that he suffered from cancer which was diagnosed in his nose, you could have just imagined the suffering and pain his wife must have gone through after hearing this horrible news.

At First Ralph was in great shocked and disbelief when he heard the news. The doctor informed him that he got cancer and he had to go through radiotherapy to kill the cancerous cells but this would mean that the radiation would affect his normal cells as well. After the treatment Ralph was in great agony and it was quiet painful for him to drink water, however his wife prayed day and night.

One day Ralph wanted to eat and asked his wife to feed him as he was in pain but his wife was helpless with his situation, so she continued to prayer and said, "Lord you are God who can do miracles, can you please help us?”

Later he remembered a verse about the red sea, and then the actor saw the hand of God holding his hand and lead him to take to take the glass, and then he was able to finish the entire glass of water without any pain. It's truly amazing to experience the power of God through a simple prayer request from his wife.

Later the doctor gave out the bad news and said that the cancer became fatal and started spreading to his left eye and brain, this cancer got aggressive and the doctor predicted that he will live just for 3 months. The cancer also began to damage his hair and face steadily. His wife was very afraid that this Ralph’s current situation could de-motivate him and he could stray away from God.

But something remarkable happened; In spite of all his burdens Ralph was still faithful to God, infact he was ever more determined. He understood that God loves him and he truly believed it. After the doctor left the room Ralph spoke to his wife and said, “Alice, the bible tells us that, our lives are in the hands of God NOT in the hands of a doctor. It is not God’s will that I go to heaven yet. I know that God wants me to experience HIM more". A statement coming from a man who was in terrible pain and had very little time as he going to die soon. He always told his wife that he still believes in God, "I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ 100%, God’s love is infinite; He is great and a supreme God." God was the source of his strength throughout his journey.

Each day Ralph began to testify about all the love that God gave to him although his condition was getting worse. His wife Alice was always by his side, she was there all the time to help Ralph and prayed for him. One day when he opened the bible God strengthened him with the verse from Joshua 1:9 have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

It happened one day that he met with a stranger who didn't know Jesus, with his ugly face and barely unable to open his eyes he greeted the man and said ""have you ever heard about Jesus?".

With the cancer and all the pain he would still approach people around him and say to then that Jesus loves them.

On Chinese New Year 1995, Ralph returned to Singapore and asked his wife, do you know why I return to Singapore? You must me thinking because I miss my parents, but actually no, I return to tell the people here that God loves those who don’t know Him.
His wife knew that he return just to finish the task that God gave him. By the time they reached Singapore, they visited their families, relatives and friends just to tell them that God loves those in despair and burden.

Whenever Ralph began to talk about God he really felt an incredible strength, he proclaimed the bible with spirit and always praised God, he kept on saying that God never changes. He was grateful to have a devoted wife, even the doctor who treated him was amazed by the strength of his wife, and she managed to look after Ralph alone compared to the three nurses in the hospital. She prepared his meal, feed him, cleaned his wounds and she slept on the chair to protect her husband.

The fact that a spouse given by God will always stand by your side to help you and guide you towards God no matter how bad the condition is.

When his wife saw that Ralph’s health began to drop rapidly and his face got worse she would hug him, she was not afraid to look at thim.She said, "each time when I saw my husband’s face I saw the love of Jesus coming out from his face, to me as it was as if Jesus was looking at me everyday and It made me want to kiss him more. I truly felt that this marriage was the greatest blessing in our lives, He made as one body, and I learned so much as a wife."

On one occasion, his wife saw Ralph crying to Jesus and his wife said, "Lord, his life is in your hands. Lord, Ralph is yours not mine. You Love him much more than I do. I thank you lord that you love him. Lord have mercy. Please give me strength to through this moment.

In their difficult time his wife often sang a song which strengthen them and they continued to worship God.....

Let us sing to the Lord a new song
Sing to the Lord all the earth
Sing to the Lord
Praise His name
Proclaim His salvation day after day.... hey
Declare His glory among the nations
His marvelous deeds among all peoples
For great is the Lord
and most worthy of praise
He is to be feared above all gods
above all gods

After Ralph passed away his wife believed that now he is in heaven and he is alive, he is resting and being united with God where there is no more pain but the love of God.

One favorite song which Ralph always love to sing:
The Lord is my strength my strength
The Lord is my strength in times of trouble
The Lord is my help my help
The Lord is my help, an ever-present help
The Lord is my refuge my refuge
The Lord is my refuge and my heart is steadfast
God is my strength and my help
Only God Himself is my refuge

From this story we can see someone who deeply loved Jesus even in pain and suffering.Inspite of several burdens in his life he still could be thankful and be grateful for all His goodness. He believed that all the pain that he had gone through was because God loved him and choose him, so that he can be used for His glory and he can share to people thru his living testimony and people get strengthen in Christ, even his whole family in the end they all accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. It is real that behind all suffering even the hardest one; there is beautiful plan of God for those who love Him and God's plans are beautiful.

Last word from me, be strengthened always in the Lord Jesus Christ and be grateful and faithful in all matters, all your sufferings are just temporary. Make all that a way for God to do His great work so that you can be a living testimony where you can lead many soul to Christ.

Testimony of Shelley Lubben Former Porn Actress and Prostitute

2008-11-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

Shelley Lubben's Story

www.shelleylubben.com/

This is an amazing testimony of Shelley Lubben, former porn actress and prostitute in the 90’s was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder and addictions to meth and alcohol due to years of trauma from the sex industry. She was prescribed anti-depressants, Lithium, and sleeping pills and recommended counseling for the next twenty years! She also caught Genital Herpes, a non-curable disease, in the porn industry where she was prescribed Zovirax for the rest of her life. She was totally hopeless and in great despair. But God had a different plan.

You can read her written testimony below or watch the video.

Here is her story,
I was born in 1968 and grew up in southern California. I am the eldest of three children and was born a strong-willed child with a "spirited" personality. The first 8 years of life my family attended a good church where I learned about God and Jesus. As a little girl, I knew and loved Jesus very much.

When I turned 9 years old things changed in our family. We moved to Glendora and left the church and friends we knew and loved. My parents stopped attending church and our family drifted away from God and each other. I grew up not having much of a relationship with either of my parents, although they were not bad people. Much of our our family time was spent sitting in front of the television. Our family loved to watch television. I still remember most of the episodes from the 70's and 80's shows. I watched a lot of television and from it began to develop wrong and harmful thinking. My Mother always said the tv was the best babysitter.

Growing up, I was different than other kids. I was highly creative and writing poetry and short stories at a young age. I was very frustrated because I had no place to channel my creative energy. My parents didn't involve me in extracurricular activities and most of the time I was very bored. At 6 years old, I wrote, directed, produced and "starred" in plays I put on at my school. My first grade teacher saw the creativity in me. She told my mother that she was amazed by me and she wanted to see where I was when I was in my 30's. She believed I would become a Hollywood actress or movie producer.
I was also peculiar in the fact that I began masturbating and had sexual tendencies at a very young age. I was sexually abused by a girl and her teenage brother when I was 9 years old and from then on had several sexual encounters with both girls and boys before age 18. Sex became confusing to me. Sex meant "love" to me as it felt good to be wanted by someone and receive attention but at the same time I felt dirty. I didn't recognize until later that I had been sexually violated as a child.

As a teenager, I looked for love in boys and alcohol and started having sex at age 16. My teenage years were filled with constant yelling and arguing between my parents and I. I had a mother who was often mad at me and a father who seemed busy to have a relationship with me. I don't remember anyone saying "I love you" during those years. My parents weren't bad people but I felt they didn’t take much interest in me and I became a rebellious resentful teenager who acted out to get attention. But instead of get their attention, my parents preferred to maintain peace in the home. So I was allowed to do things like dress up as a playboy bunny at age 15. I was allowed to date boys they didn't know. At 15 I was allowed to go to a prom with an 18 yr old boy who got me drunk for the first time. This began a lifestyle of partying for me and I started hanging out at nightclubs using drugs at 16. My parents knew I had alcohol problems but they didn't know what to do with me. We attempted family counseling but it was short lived. So I went searching for a new family and found "love" in the wrong crowd, drinking alcohol regularly and getting high on marijuana. My parents went through a lot of anguish because of my actions, and finally–being at their wits end– told me to leave home at age 18.

I ended up in the San Fernando Valley with no food and no money. A “nice” man saw I was upset and told me how sorry he was. He put his arm around me and consoled me and then offered to help me. But then he told me he knew a man who wanted to have sex with me and he'd give me money. I was still in shock and so full of rage because my parents kicked me out that I didn’t care anymore so I accepted his offer. I sold myself for $35 and a life of prostitution began for me.

Before long I met a madam who introduced me to the "glamorous" side of prostitution. She taught me every trick of the trade and how to manipulate men. At first it seemed exciting with men giving me money, jewelry and gifts but soon it became a life of slavery. I found myself having bizarre sex with strangers and began to hate it. Clients would do things like break condoms on purpose or follow me around and stalk me. One man tried to kill me and hit me with his truck. Another man carried a gun whenever he was with me and threatened to kill me if I didn't perform certain sex acts. Men made demands on me and I was constantly having to lie in order to get out of very frightening situations. I became a professional liar and could literally lie my way out of anything. I even lied my way out of several DUI's and several near death experiences. This is the standard for the sex industry and is the main survival tool for any stripper, prostitute or porn actress.

The sex industry lifestyle was getting worse and worse for me and I felt like I had no where to turn. Jesus kept tugging at my heart but I ignored Him. I figured, God wasn't taking care of me so I had to do what ever I could to survive.
This vicious cycle of working as a prostitute and exotic dancer in Southern California lasted for eight years. While working as a prostitute, I became pregnant three times from clients and it devastated me. A million questions formed in my mind each time. How could I let this happen? How would I take care of the baby? Should I have an abortion? Where could I turn to? I didn’t even know who the fathers were for two of the pregnancies. Then I remembered Jesus and I begged Him, “Please help me”. God comforted me and I knew I could never kill a life so I kept my baby. Two of the pregnancies ended in miscarriage but one of them did not and I had my first daughter, Tiffany, at age 20. She is mixed with Asian and is very beautiful. I tried to go back to doing only exotic dancing, but prostitution crept up on me and was hard to resist, especially as a single mother.

After a few years as a single mother and working as a prostitute and dancer, I began to drink very heavily and developed a terrible addiction to alcohol and drugs. Tiffany grew up a sad little girl neglected and her innocence was often violated. As she grew older she realized strange men were "visiting" me and was angry with me. I use to make her hide in her bedroom while I "entertained" clients. She also saw me in "peculiar" relationships with women. She didn't totally understand it all but she definitely was subjected to living with a lewd wild woman. I was such a bad mother, that I use to give Tiffany a beeper and make her go to the park while I pulled tricks. She was only four years old.

I began to see myself as a complete failure. I lost all self worth and hated myself for being a horrible mother. I was so tired from always trying to survive. There was never any rest from the lifestyle. Men followed me home, slashed my tires, called me at all hours, came over drunk in the middle of the night, and even attempted to kill me. To function, I always had a big bottle of Jack Daniels on hand. Sometimes I'd go sit in a corner with my bottle and cry out totally drunk to Jesus, "Please help me!", but it seemed He wasn't there. Yet I always felt a strange "protection" around me.

As my painful journey progressed, I became involved in the adult film industry. I learned I could make quick easy money and it seemed safer and more legal than prostitution. Many of the prostitutes I knew were getting raped and sent to jail and I didn't want that to happen to me. Also by this time I was a hardcore alcoholic and drug user and pretty incapable of making rational decisions.

When I did my first adult film something very "dark" came over me. I could almost hear the devil say, "See Shelley, I will make you famous and THEN everyone will love you." A powerful strange force enabled me to perform at intense levels only to come off the high and find myself shattered from the shame and degradation. I loved the attention but hated myself at the same time. I loved to hear how great I was but hated the brutal sex. I began to do very hardcore movies and only more drugs and alcohol could get me through them. It was like I had something to prove to the world and to everyone who had ever hurt me and when the porn industry opened their big arms to me and invited me into their "family", I finally found acceptance. But the price I paid for family "membership" was the price of my own life. I sold what was left of my heart, mind and femininity to the porn industry and the woman and person in me died completely on the porn set.

I also risked becoming infected with the AIDS virus like other porn stars did. I played a crazy and deadly game of Russian roulette with my life. The industry did not and still does NOT enforce condom usage so STD's and HIV were and are still a high risk among porn actors and actresses. In May 2004, The Adult Industry Medical Foundation (AIM), which offers monthly voluntary testing of porn performers for HIV, announced that five pornography “actors” had tested positive for the AIDS virus. I was luckier than those actors. God had spared me from contracting HIV. I did however catch herpes, a non-curable sexually transmitted disease. I wanted to end my life. At the time I caught herpes, I had no help and no one to help me deal with the disease. But since AIM came on the scene, the organization claims to have lowered some of the spread of HIV in the adult industry and increased awareness among performers. But the truth remains, porn actors continue to risk their lives and spread disease. In an interview on Court TV with AIM founder, Sharon Mitchell, also former porn actress, admitted that among porn actors today there are "7% HIV, and 12-28% STDs. Herpes is always about 66%. People are medicated with acyclovir for herpes, which is very effective in preventing the herpes outbreaks. Chlamydia and gonorrhea, however, along with hepatitis, seem to stick to everything from dildos to flat surfaces to hands, so, pardon my expression, but we are usually up to our asses in chlamydia." Those are her words and the interview can be found at http://www.courttv.com/talk/chat_transcripts/2001/0723mitchell.html

Nothing is more devastating than to receive a positive test for a non-curable sexually transmitted disease. I wanted to end my life.

I swallowed a number of prescription pills and sliced my wrists but it seemed no matter what I did, I couldn't die. The pain was overwhelming and I had terrible mood swings. One minute I walked around like a zombie and then the next minute I'd throw fits of rage, yelling and breaking things. I was mad at God, hated myself and hated my parents. Only alcohol and drugs could soothe my pain. I cried out to Jesus to help me and tried to give up the lifestyle but within a week I'd be back in the vicious cycle. I lost all hope and hated my life. I was completely hopeless and life was utterly meaningless. After becoming infected with Herpes, I quietly left the porn industry but went back to prostitution to survive.

In 1994 I met a man named Garrett. He was 22 years old and innocent compared to me. I told him I charged money to date. He pretended to need my "services" for a bachelor party so I gave him my card. He called me often to go out but I kept saying no. I wasn't able to have a normal relationship because my heart was completely black and cold toward all men. Later on though, for some GOD reason, I changed my mind and went out with him. We became friends instantly. As we spent time together, my broken black heart started to feel again. I remember feeling actual physical pain in my heart when Garrett tried to get close to me.

I tried to keep the relationship distant but it was hard because Garrett made me feel like a little girl again. He'd come over and we'd get high on meth and play checkers and cards for hours. We were like two little kids having fun. I hadn't had "fun" since I was a little girl. Garrett and I would talk about everything and one day we both brought up Jesus. Both of us grew up as kids loving and knowing Jesus Christ. I learned that Garrett was raised in a Christian home and grew up attending Christian school. For two people who met at a bar, this was an amazing "coincidence". I opened up about the trauma I had been through and he was there for me. He knew I did porn and was a prostitute but he felt so bad for me. He said He wanted to rescue me. I never met any man like Garrett. He saw something in me no one else did. He was a friend to a prostitute, just like Jesus. We knew God was working in our lives so we turned back to Jesus and got married on February 14, 1995.

Our new life together began as a total disaster. Garrett lost his job after we were married because he was high on drugs at work. We had to go on welfare and receive financial help. Everything got worse and the temptation for me to go back to the old lifestyle was overwhelming. But God had a better idea. Garrett joined the Army.

After basic training, Garrett returned a new man, free from drug addiction and on his way to Fort Lewis military base in Washington state. I became pregnant and gave birth to our daughter, Teresa, in 1997. I was able to quit drinking during the pregnancy but soon went back to alcohol.

Every time I held my new baby, I was reminded how utterly rejected I felt by my parents and all the men and women who abused me. God allowed me to feel the deep pain so He could heal me but I couldn't handle that pain. I grabbed alcohol instead. But the pain was getting worse so I went for counseling at the Army mental health clinic and was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder, Alcohol Dependence, Depressive Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was prescribed zoloft, sleeping pills, lithium and counseling. I was given anger management videos to watch which only made me more angry! I went through the Army’s substance abuse program but still drank. I was also diagnosed with early cervical cancer and told I needed to have surgery. The consequences of the sex industry were catching up with me. I wanted to give up. Nothing was working!! But God had a better plan.

God led Garrett and I to attend an awesome church called Champions Centre in Tacoma, Washington where we were taught how to live a champion life. The church is known for building Champions for life through the wisdom of God's Word. I was taught how to live a life where I could overcome ANYTHING because with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. With God, I had true forgiveness from all my sins and a chance to grow into a whole new person without being perfect first. That was a relief! I learned that God loved me unconditionally, regardless of my past, and even had a plan for my future. God had a plan for my life? It was like someone turned the light on for me.

In November, 1999, I gave birth to our daughter, Abigail, and though I drank alcohol during part of the pregnancy, God spared her life. After she was born, God FINALLY answered my prayers and took my alcohol addiction away. I began sobriety on April 9, 2000, and it was a very special time in my life. I started to hunger to know God more and to learn everything about being a "normal" woman. I started reading books on how to be a great mom and wife and how to cook and take care of my home. I watched other women to learn how they did laundry, how they dressed, how they talked to their husbands and their kids. I was a perpetual EAVESDROPPER for many years. I would be standing in the meat section of the grocery store and listen to the lady next to me describe how to cook a pot roast and then I'd run home and try it! I hung out in the grocery store just to learn!! Literally, I probably have over 100 mentors who don't even know how much they mentored me. I had to start ALL OVER from scratch and rebuild my life and learn how to be a normal person living in a normal society.

I also practiced God's principles in everything I did and began to experience real joy for the first time in over 10 years!! God also helped me learn web design so I could have a sense of accomplishment and use my creativity. I owned and operated my own web design business for 4 years. I also began attending college and am almost completed with my Bachelor's in Theology and Counseling degree.

Because I chose to follow Him wholeheartedly, He blessed everything I touched just like His Word promises: Jn 13:17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. After walking in that first day to the Champion center broken and shattered, eight years later I walked out a Champion woman healed and excited to live life! God restored me from drugs, alcohol addiction, painful memories, mental illness, sexual addiction, sexual trauma, and the guilt and shame from my past. God took me out of the old life, offered me a new life, and though I couldn't see it in the beginning, I put my hand in His and took a chance on Him. That was the best choice I ever made!

God also restored my femininity and healed my sexuality, which is a major miracle for me. After doing prostitution and porn I lost ability to function sexually. The fact that I can enjoy a healthy sexual relationship now is an absolute miracle. God also healed me of the non-curable disease Herpes (HSV 1-2). I was part of a special military study for pregnant women with herpes at Madigan Army Medical Center in 1996 and when I was tested they said I couldn't be in the study because there was no Herpes virus in my blood. Even though I had become infected with Genital Herpes in the porn industry in 1994, the test came back negative! I also am cancer free as the doctors were able to remove all the cervical cancer. He's Jehovah-Rophe the God that heals us!

God also healed our marriage in a remarkable way. Garrett and I have a beautiful and loving relationship and are best friends!

God has done many other miracles in my family as well. Garrett has a great job so I am able to stay home and be a Mother and do outreach to porn stars and porn addicts.. Our three beautiful daughters are being raised as Champions. My eldest daughter Tiffany, who is now 20, has forgiven me and allows me to be a Mother to her. She has overcome many things in her life and now shares her story with others to inspire and encourage them. I am SO thankful I didn’t have an abortion because Tiffany is a beautiful brilliant young woman with so much to offer. God also restored my relationship with my parents and brother. God is good!

As you can see, God has been working very miraculously in my life these past thirteen years. I did have to go through eight hard years of recovery. I had to make the choice to start my life over and believe what God said about me, not the lies of the devil or the lies I believed about myself. God became my true Father and He taught me how to love, forgive, and look to Him for my identity, not my past. I also learned how to live a successful life by practicing God's principles in everything. Whatever God's Word said about it, that settled it for me. I became a powerful new creature through the power of Jesus Christ, a Champion for life!

God now sends me out to proclaim to the world the reality of His awesome love. How He made each one of us in His image and that we are completely loved and accepted no natter what we've done. How He sent His Son Jesus to free us from drugs, alcoholism, sexual addiction, rejection and all the lies of Satan. I love to show the world, that YES God took a porn star and prostitute and made a Champion out of her. God is the best Father and wants all of His children to find their way back home to Him so He can heal them and raise them up to be Champions too. But it's a choice only YOU can make.

I also want everyone to know that whatever God did for me, He will do for you. He'll do this because He LOVES you and sent His Son Jesus in order to give you a whole new life. All you have to do is come to Jesus and learn from Him.

Mt 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Do you want rest for your souls? I know I did. I was sick and tired of being beat up by life. I was tired of living everyday in survival mode. I just wanted peace and to find real love but the world couldn't give it to me. I searched for love in men, in porn, in fame and riches, in drugs and alcohol and I STILL came up empty. All I wanted was a normal life. Then I discovered the truth:

Jesus came to give you life and give it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Sure enough, I FINALLY found the life I always wanted.
Why not put your trust in God and His Son Jesus and really experience the abundant life? It may not happen overnight, but I promise you, it WILL happen. I know this because it happened for me. I am living proof that God exists, that He loves YOU no matter what you've done, and that He has a perfect plan for your life. Please click here to learn more about God and His awesome love for you.

If God can heal a porn star, He can heal anyone.

Shelley, friend and missionary to the sex industry

To contact her or find out more about her victorious life in Christ please visit her website at : www.shelleylubben.com/

Baptized In the Name Of Jesus Christ

2007-11-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Baptized In the Name Of Jesus Christ
A testimony by Daniel Pivano

Growing up as a catholic I knew about Jesus Christ but did not KNOW Jesus Christ and what He did for me and the whole world! I did not know that all I had to do was to put my trust in Him and follow Him to gain eternal life. We were taught that Jesus died on a cross but I thought that He had received a bad brake. I was not aware that Jesus was both God Himself and man Who was begotten of the Father, came to earth to die on that cross and be raised from the dead to take the penalty of my sins away, wash me clean and seal me with His Holy Spirit.

As I grew my teenage years through my early 20's were centered on drinking etc until the following happened to me.

At the age of 22 I watched a change of a fellow worker at Grumman Aerospace Corp where we built the F-14 fighter jet for the US Navy. His name was Tony and was a real tough hippie sort of a guy, long hair past his waist, drugs, girls and so on. One day I saw this same Tony reading a Bible while working on his milling machine. His hair was cut and he seemed different. I worked a few feet away from him with other guys. After a week or so the guys I worked with started to make fun of Tony and amongst themselves would call him a Jesus freak. I became curious about this change in him and went to talk with him one day. I said something like " Tony are you reading a Bible? He said yes and got down from the milling machine and began to explain that he had gone to a church and received Jesus as his savior. I really did not know what it meant but I was impressed with this different Tony. As time went on and a few more talks with Tony I remember working one day and asking God this, "Holy Spirit change me like you changed Tony". That's all I knew how to pray at the time. Little by little after that prayer I started to read the Bible and attend church. As time went on I asked Jesus into my heart and later on was water baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but not in the Name of JESUS!

Believe me there is a difference!

About 5 or 6 years later after some really rough times I backslid. I fell back into my old ways and lived that way for a number of years until I was brought back to my spiritual senses by God. He mercifully brought me to a church where I was baptized in the Name of Jesus.

Immediately as I came up out of the water I knew something that I never experienced before had happened.

From that moment, drinking, cursing, lying, etc was gone! I mean gone! My whole attitude was rearranged and changed where I now wanted to serve God and hungered after Him like never before!

Coming out of the water all I could do was lift up my arms towards the sky praising and thanking God!

This change has not left me but increased! Since then doors have opened up for me that were closed where I can serve God.

No I did not speak in tongues, they will come, but first I needed cleaning up spiritually. The Lord Jesus Christ took all the stumbling blocks out of my way. I was going down the tubes and most likely headed for hell. Thank the Almighty God for His mercy, kindness forgiveness and rescue from my folly!

Like I said years ago I was water baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost but not in the Name of Jesus!!!. No change like this ever took place in me before in my life!

Now I walk with Jesus in newness of life, I walk now after the Spirit, not after the flesh, Praise God!!! This dramatic change that God has so graciously done in me will last till He calls me home.

Daniel Pivano

Dpivano@msn.com

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6
NKJV

Testimony of Bruce Marchiano

2007-11-06T21:05:00.001-08:00

Bruce's Story

http://www.brucemarchiano.com

"As an actor playing the role of Jesus I not only learned how He lived His live 2000 years ago but how He would have me live my life today!"

There's so much to tell and at the same time, so little to tell. In so many ways my upbringing was so typical, and in so many, so untypical.

I grew up in southern California, Orange County to be exact. Back then it was all Orange groves with a scattering of suburban housing tracts. What a wonderland it was for me and my buddies - Kevin Connoly, Joey Goode, . . . We would disappear into those orange groves for entire afternoons, playing all sorts of imaginary games. And the building sites - wow! There were all sorts of neat things lying around that we could use for clubhouses and all. I remember we even built a puppet theater in Kevin's garage with those building scraps. We modeled it after Disneyland's 'Tiki Room,' charged admission and everything. I don't remember what kinds of reviews or crowds we got, but it was great fun, that's for sure.

There can be no doubt my love of acting was birthed in those orange grove and backyard role-playing games. I remember Superman was real big back then. Of course everyone wanted to be Superman. I don't remember how often I got that title role, but what I do remember is that the reason I loved playing Superman was different from the rest of the kids. They all wanted to play him because he was so powerful, but I wanted to play him "because he saved people." I remember it distinctly, and looking back, I can't help but think that even way back then the Lord was shaping me for the future He alone knew I would step into.

Interesting thing about my growing up, I was by no means the cool so-cal surfer kid. In fact, I didn't like the beach at all until I was well into my high school years. You see, I was a real chubby kid - loved to eat, and the cultural environment I was raised in was anything but dietary.

My father is Italian and my mother is Syrian. The two of them met here in California, dancing at the Figueroa Ballroom in the big band swing days. My father and his buddies were out on a vacation from New Jersey and mom was living out here, transplanted from Rhode Island with her Syrian family. Dad took one look at Mom and his ship was sunk. The next thing he knew he was raising a family on the west coast.

But given that, all the relatives I remember, and all the family gatherings, holidays, and weddings were all steeped in the Syrian/Arabic culture. I remember belly dancers at all the weddings, and the old uncles would grab their traditional instruments and provide the music, and we'd do a line dance called the 'dubke,' and all the Syrian women would get together for days in advance, cooking and cooking, and cooking some more.

But you can imagine the food I grew up on - dishes considered exotic/gourmet these days. And the sign of a healthy kid was the quantity he ate. I remember stuffing myself with my grandmother ('Sitto' in Syrian) standing behind my chair exclaiming in Arabic what a healthy child I was. And 'healthy' I was! More, more! And my mother made this pudding dish that if you didn't take it away I'd clean out the entire pan in one sitting. Wow!

In any event, I was an overweight kid, and when it came to things like the beach and the locker room, it wasn't so nice. My only saving grace is that I was pretty athletic, so the way my brother puts it, "You never looked really fat, you just looked like a big square." Gee thanks, bro.

But I would struggle with my weight on and off until my 20's. One afternoon I stood in a clothing store buying a pair of pants. The girl behind the counter was real cute, but she didn't look at me even once, let alone twice. I can remember it distinctly - it hit me so hard I went home that day determined to get fit. And get fit I did. Praise God! It was such a big thing to me, to this day I wonder who that girl was, and if I'll ever get the chance to thank her for ignoring me.

But that weight was a big thing, I'm convinced that it shaped my sensitivities for the future. To this day, I find myself always gravitating toward the underdog - the guy left out - doing everything I can to impress the truth that God has a plan for his or her life.

In terms of my acting, I was on stage for the first time at 13, in a high school production of 'Oliver.' I was in the chorus of orphan boys and Fagan's gang and had one big line. Boy, did I practice it, over and over: "What next is the question?"

I'll never forget, one rehearsal the director said to me, "Bruce, I wish all my actors were like you. You're always in character." Wow! That validation meant the world, and I knew from that age on that I wanted to be an actor.
Following high school, university, post-grad, and 2 years in an office job that I thought would make me go out of my mind, I finally moved the 60 miles to Los Angeles. I got an apartment on Beachwood Drive (the street you drive up to view the Hollywood sign), signed up for acting classes, and dove in.

One morning in 1984 my phone rang and it was the casting director for 'Murder, She Wrote.' He asked me if I could do a walk-on - 3 lines - for the show, and I was ecstatic. It was my first professional gig, and as far as I was concerned, it was "Kevin Costner, step aside!"

Well, as wonderful as that first acting job was, it would only launch me into several years of struggle. I'd study by night and pound the streets by day, doing everything I could to get someone on the other side of the desk to take me seriously. There were occasional opportunities, occasional jobs, an agent here and an agent there, but the bottom line was struggle.

The only upside was that everyone was struggling. We were a whole community of out-of-work actors, drinking coffee all day long and 'talking film.' I made some great friends and had some great fun. And there's an interesting thing about struggle - one gets pretty inventive and creative in how to have fun. And sometimes that's the best fun of all.

One of my greatest joys then (and now) was softball. Saturday was the entertainment league where different TV shows would put teams on the field. It was very competitive, and guys like me who weren't on a show were brought in as ringers. I remember one great player who played for the Days Of Our Lives team. He was so good that they actually gave him a regular walk-on role, just so they could claim him as an official player.

Sundays were pickup games at North Hollywood Park. We'd play game after game, starting around 10 am and going all the way through 5 or 6. It was wonderful, out there sweating in the sun all day long, fielding grounders and running the bases.

I remember one player in particular that used to come out to those games. He always played the outfield, and his brand new glove was a dead giveaway that he wasn't the most experienced guy in town, but he got better and better as the weeks went on. He was quieter than the other guys, but when he did open his mouth, it was so funny that the game would almost stop. He drove an older black Porsche, and I'll never forget the day he walked on the field and everyone was congratulating him for an appearance on the Tonight Show. Then years later, I turned on the TV and there he was in his own sitcom. It was Jerry Seinfeld.

But movies were my life, and unfortunately, it was a pretty one-sided affair. I loved them, but they had yet to love me. And when I did work, it was always a character somewhat 'rough around the edges.' A boxing manager, an ex-con living in his car, a black market dealer, . . . It was undoubtedly my dark looks, and that was just fine with me, as long as it got me work.

And then in mid-1987 my head was spun around by a beautiful young actress. She was a honey-dripping southern girl, and no need to say more. Suddenly it wasn't just movies anymore, it was movies and this girl. She and I would go out for the next 2 years, and for me it was a roller-coaster of emotional feast or famine, crashing late one hot July night.

By that time, though I still wasn't consistently working, my career was taking on a nice pace. I had latched on to a talent manager who was passionately pushing me, and it was beginning to work. I was getting into doors that had been shut for years, getting meetings for shows that had been stone walls. So between the girl and the career, the lifelong dreams of a chubby 13 year old boy in his high school play were beginning to take great shape, and for the first time in many years, I was having the time of my life!

But then that hot July night came, and simultaneously, career opportunity dried up as well. Life went into a tailspin of broken dreams, and I'll tell you, there's only one thing worse than never seeing your dream, and that's catching a taste then having it snatched away. I remember being so ashamed, I just couldn't tell my parents, or my brother, or anyone about any of it. I would just drive to a park in the hills by myself, and just search and search.

Over the years, many of my friends had given their lives over to Jesus, 'receiving Him' as savior. They would talk and talk to me about it, but I thought they were nuts. I called them 'Bible-beaters,' and mourned our never being able to go out and have fun together anymore.

I remember when I was 19, dating a girl who was 'born-again.' I thought she was nuts with it all, but I didn't care - she was so pretty, I'd go to church with her anyway.

And then there was this guy I came up with as an actor. He was this incredible looking guy, and I used to hate going anywhere with him because the girls all swooned as he passed by. But he was a great guy and we had great fun together.

Then one day he announced that he'd been 'born again.' "Ugh," I thought. There goes a good friend. But you know, as much as the constant Bible in his hand was an irritation, that's how much I silently respected him. You see, his agent was negotiating for him to play in a soap opera called 'Loving,' but when he became born again he called his agent and told him, "I'm a Christian now, and I can't do a show like that."

At the same time, he was living with his longtime girlfriend. He loved her lots, but when he came to Jesus, he felt he had to move out. It was a huge risk, and I'll tell you, as much as I thought he was out of his mind, that got my respect. (They're married with 3 girls now, by the way).

Well, aside from sharing the Lord with me, all these friends who had come to Jesus had been praying for me. So, one July afternoon, in that park in the hills, all those prayers and all that sharing took root, and I gave my life to Jesus. Praise His holy name!

Well, then my career REALLY took off! I started working from show to show, LA Law, Hardball, Columbo, . . . never losing once on an audition. I remember screen-testing for a lead opposite Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham in 'By The Sword,' and for another lead at Universal for the brat-pack film, 'Mobsters,' and when you're having those opportunities, you're playing the big-league game. My confidence was skyrocketing, and as I look back, I have to believe it was the Lord making sure I knew that He was very real and very interested in me. It was wonderful!

He began working and working in my heart, as well, healing and shaping. As I dove into the Word and nestled into a great church (Church On the Way), I began to grow and grow.

Then in 1991 I felt Him calling me to join a drama ministry that was traveling to Australia. I fought that call all the way, then finally cried, "Uncle!" as it felt like the Lord was twisting my arm behind my back. Kicking and screaming, I joined this ministry team that I was certain would ruin my career.

And ruin my career, it did. When I returned from the tour, my agent dropped me, saying, "Bruce, this Christian thing is getting in the way." Boy, was I angry with God. The next year-and-a-half would be nothing but out-of-work struggle, all over again. After tasting some success, I remember it being bitterly shameful, like chewing on glass 24 hours a day.

But somehow I clung to my faith (it was all I had!), and then one day my phone rang. It was Jerry Fisher, the leader of the drama ministry that had taken me to Australia and had seemingly ruined my career. I can still hear his words today: "Bruce, I got this letter from a South African director who's making a new Jesus movie. He's looking for a more down-to-earth, more real-looking Jesus. He's looking for a professional actor who's born again. I think you might be right for this."

The next thing I knew, I had a beard and long hair, and I was on a plane to Morocco to play the role of a lifetime - The Son of the Living God made Man - JESUS!!!!

One detail I left out about it all. When I was a kid in university, I had a history professor who knew and loved Jesus as his savior. He was a real mentor to me in those days, and I'll never forget, once in his office, he looked at me and spoke these words: "Bruce, God has something big planned for your life. I don't know what it is, but it's really, really big."

And so, many years later, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't receive a letter from some corner of the world, from some life that's been changed by that Jesus movie, or by the ministry and books that have been born from it. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not blown away by where the Lord has taken, and what He has done with a chubby 13 year old who had one line in a high school play.

Every time I stand in front of an audience, every time I hold a child in Africa, every time I walk by a book rack and see my name under 'written by,' every time a flight attendant stops and says, "Aren't you the guy who played Jesus?" Every time, every time, every time; every day, every week, every month, every year, . . . . I stand amazed, stunned, astounded, marveling.

He is God. He is God. He is good, and He is God

To contact Bruce or find out more about his victorious life in Christ please visit his website at : http://www.brucemarchiano.com

Jesus and Oscar

2007-09-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

Testimony shared by Greg Laurie, click here to visit his website for more spiritual uplifting article.

In my last column, I told you the story of a man named Nicodemus who was decent, moral and well educated, but something was missing in his life. It was that elusive something that sent him on a search that led to Jesus one dark night. His life was forever changed.

I knew a modern Nicodemus as well. He was my father, Oscar Laurie.

Oscar was an attorney who lived in New Jersey. My mother, who was married and divorced many times, married him while I was still a young child, and he adopted me.

Oscar Laurie was the only man during my childhood who actually treated me as a father should treat a son. When I messed up, he would discipline me. When I did well, he would commend me. He taught me respect, and he taught me manners. Because he treated me as his son, I respected him and loved him, which is why it was hard when I came home from school one day and the car was loaded up. When I asked my mom where we were going, she told me we were going to Hawaii.

"Where's Dad?" I asked.

"He's not coming," she told me.

My mother left him and married another guy, and on it went.

After I became an adult, I really wanted to see Oscar Laurie again. I had become a Christian at the age of 17, and I wanted to tell him about what Christ had done for me. With the help of someone from our church who worked for a Bar Association, I was able to get in touch with him. He told me he wanted to see me. I mentioned I was coming to New York soon for a speaking engagement and suggested we have lunch.

He said, "No, come stay at our house." Because he had remarried and had a family, I didn't want to impose. But he insisted. So I went to my speaking engagement and when it was over, I got on a train to Oscar's house. When I got off the train and saw him, I recognized him immediately. As we spent a little time together, I found out he had recently had a heart attack and almost died.

One night, after his wife had made a wonderful Italian meal, we were sitting around the table talking. His wife said, "Well, Greg, tell me about how you became a Christian and a pastor." As I shared my story, Oscar's wife was very responsive. My dad, on the other hand, sat at the other end of the table, listening quietly, like a judge hearing a case in a court of law. I thought, "This is not going well." But he reminded me a little bit of Nicodemus. He was a moral man. He was an educated man. He was a good man, a man of integrity. But he didn't have Christ living in him.

At the end of the evening, he said, "Well Greg, do you want to go walking with me in the morning?" (The doctor had advised him to get exercise because of his heart condition.)

"Sure, Dad," I said. "What time?"

He said, "I'll knock on your door at 6 o'clock."

Well, that meant 3 a.m. California time, but when the knock on the door came the next morning, I got up. As we started to walk along, he said, "Greg, I listened very carefully to what you said last night," (suddenly I was wide awake!) "and I want to become a Christian right now."

I was shocked.

"I ... I want Jesus to come into my life."

I couldn't believe it. I didn't even think he'd been doing anything more than being polite while I talked about my faith and here he was, wanting to be part of it.

"Well, we should pray," I told him.

He said, "Let's pray right now." So he suddenly dropped to his knees, right there in the park. As we prayed, tears flowed down the cheeks of this not-so-emotional man. When we finished, he said to me, "I know the Lord has come in." Then he added, "Let's pray for my heart condition. God can heal me too."

So we prayed a little more. When we were done, he said, "I know I'm saved. And I think the Lord has healed me. Let's go tell my doctor."

"Now wait, Dad," I said. "I don't know if God has healed you."

"Well, I think he has." So we went to his doctor's office. We walked in, and my dad told his Jewish doctor, "I just got saved. Christ is in my life and I'm healed."

I'm not quite sure what the good doctor thought.

It was hard for me to leave New Jersey and to return home to California. But I located a church for him to attend and told him, "Dad, just start reading the Bible and I will be back."

Three weeks later, I returned. I was afraid he wouldn't be doing well. So I said, "Well, let's read something from the Bible."

I read a verse and he said, "Oh, right. That is Paul in Ephesians, right?"

"Uh, yes it is. That's right."

As we went on, I discovered he had read the entire Bible while I'd been away. And it started changing his life. He got involved in his church and eventually became an elder. He got involved with The Gideons International and helped distribute Bibles. He served the Lord for the last 15 years of his life. Now he is in heaven, and I am looking forward to seeing him again someday.

Maybe you know people like Oscar Laurie. You know they aren't caught up in intentional sin. They are not drug users, alcoholics or party animals. They work hard. They pay their taxes. They are trustworthy. They are dependable. They are admirable. You have told them about Christ, but nothing has happened. You think it is never going to work.

Remember Nicodemus. And remember my dad. While they didn't know Christ, they saw their need and came to faith in him. So keep praying, and don't give up.

God can change each one of us if we will come to him on his terms. We can experience a true "extreme makeover," not on the outside, but on the inside.

A letter from hell - read and listen !!!

2007-09-27T01:15:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Check this link and prayer for our friends who don't know Jesus as their personal Saviour...Its a dramatic presentation .... but it will help us know our responsibility towards our friends and towards GOD. It will touch our heart and make us cry.

Never be ashamed of talking about GOD before our friends.

Our main work is to confess Christ before men and win them for His Kingdom (Matthew 10:32,33). Jesus warned, "Whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words in this .. generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angles" (Mark 8:38)

A Wife Of A Jobless Husband Shares Her Story of Waiting

2007-09-06T02:47:00.000-07:00

This wonderful testimony shared by Bo Sanchez click here to visit his website for more spiritual uplifting article

A Wife Of A Jobless Husband Shares Her Story of Waiting…

I’m taking a break from my teaching series on “Getting Rid of Hidden Addictions.” (I’ll give the next article next week.) Let me pause to take a breather and share with you a beautiful story.

I met Yane Pe Benito when I gave a talk at her company, Pioneer Insurance. Yane is a lovely woman with such an amazing story to tell, I decided to share it to the world.

Two years ago, Yane’s husband, Beni, without warning, lost his job. It was doubly painful because it was a great job. For 6 years, Beni enjoyed working in a multinational distribution company for skincare products. But because of a reorganization that happened in the company (which is happening in many companies nowadays), he was “redundated”.

Yane decided to tell her two small children, Gabriel (then age 6), and Marga (then age 4) about the sad news, carefully choosing the words she’d use to put it to them. “Kids, we have to take better care of our things… and not waste our money because …Daddy doesn’t have a job anymore.”

Little Gabriel said, “You mean Daddy was fired?” Yane was surprised at the bluntness of his words. “Now where did you learn that word?!” Her son said matter-of-factly, “From Peter Parker - Spiderman.”

But yes, redundated was just a fancy word for “Get out, we don’t need you here anymore.” Losing a job is always painful, even if it goes with a “separation pay” or a “redundancy package”. While Yane was thankful for the windfall, part of her was anxious, wondering how long their family was going to have to live off the separation package.

The first few months were OK; Beni got an average of two invitations per week to come for interview. But as the months stretched to a year — and then more, the invitations got fewer and far between.

During the almost two years of her husband’s joblessness, Yane was going through her own anxiety. As a mother to two growing schoolchildren, she saw their savings getting smaller. (As a contingency measure, she moved out of her 8-yr old job to accept a higher-paying one.)
But aside from the dwindling funds, she was also worried about Beni’s self-esteem. It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying; it was apparent thatthere just weren’t enough job opportunities for middle-aged men with his background and experience. There were actually two jobs that he accepted, but both were short-lived. Call it a conflict of personalities or a clash of styles, but he couldn’t see himself working there long-term. Anguished, Beni would walk out the door again.

And their marriage started to suffer too, since she was the one who was now earning for the family. “Will my husband’s ego take this for long?” she asked herself many, many times. As each month passed, she was getting more and more worried for Beni.
Yane began questioning God, “Lord, I don’t understand what else you’re trying to teach us! How else should we pray? What else should we pray for?”

That was when Yane realized that their prayer had to be more specific.
So she gathered her two kids around her and said, “Let’s pray for Daddy, that he would find a good job with a good boss – someone like his first boss in his former company.”

And so that became the family’s specific prayer. “Lord, please help Daddy get a boss that is as good and kind as his first boss in his old company, in Jesus name.”

One day, about a year ago from today, Yane came home from work and saw the kids and her husband in a huddle. “What’s all this about?” she asked.
She heard her kids whisper excitedly, “Show it to her now!”
Beni handed her a brown envelop.
Yane thought it was something from the kids’ school.
But no. As she slowly pulled out the paper from the envelope, she read the name of a company…then her husband’s job title… then his salary… At these, she merely nodded in satisfaction.
But when she got to the bottom of the paper, she was shocked. For there was a signature. It was that of Beni’s favourite boss!
To her kids’ astonishment, Yane began to cry and laugh at the same time. She could hardly believe it! Like a child, she jumped up and down with joy, much to the kids’ amusement who jumped and laughed along with her.

Gabriel asked his mother, “Mom, why are you crying and laughing at the same time?”
Yane saw a great opportunity to explain, “I’m crying because I’m so happy, son. Remember how you prayed for a good boss for Daddy? Look at this name,” she pointed to the paper she was holding. “We were merely asking for a boss that would be like Daddy’s old boss. But no, God gave your Daddy exactly the same boss! He answered our prayers!”
That was when Gabriel began to sob.
“Why are you crying?” Yane asked.
“Because I’m so happy too,” the little boy said, as the entire family embraced each other.

When Yane shared me this story, I knew I had to share it with you.
Because all of us go through many hardships and losses.
We lose our jobs, we lose our loved ones, we lose our money, we lose our friends… And sometimes, we wait and wait for the pain to go away, for the loss to be recovered. Sometimes, we wait for a long time. (Yane and Beni had to wait for two long years.)
But in the end, I believe that God has prepared the very best blessing for you.

Have faith. Trust. The best is yet to come!
I remain your friend,
Bo Sanchez

23 Minutes in Hell

2007-06-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

"Even if you don't believe my story, I hope you will believe the Scriptures and avoid hell just the same." -- Bill Wiese

The fact is that all of us humans will one day die.
But what will happen to you when you die?

Bill Wiese finds himself in a cell to be tortured in Hell.
See www.billwiese.com for more information.
Reference website: www.spiritlessons.com

Part 1 of 7

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Testimony - Converting Kirk Cameron

2007-06-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

"I was rich, I was young, I was famous, I could do anything I wanted with whomever I wanted." - Kirk Cameron

BELLFLOWER, California - At the height of his Hollywood success, former "Growing Pains" sitcom star Kirk Cameron started worrying about something his money couldn't buy: salvation.

He had more than just legions of fanatic fans. He also had stalkers and kidnapping threats, and was sometimes driven to the set in a bulletproof car. It got him thinking about his own mortality. He had it all, but still felt empty.

"I was raised not going to church. We never prayed didn't know how. Are you supposed to close your eyes, keep them open? Look up? Look down? Get on my knees? What do I do?"

Cameron started reading the bible and going to church. He became a Christian, but says his transition had some growing pains of its own.

Click here to Read the rest of his testimony and watch the video

The amazing story of Frank Jenner

2007-05-30T20:00:00.001-07:00

Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a man who goes out and sows seed. This is the incredible story of Frank Jenner and how God used him in George Street, Sydney, to spread the good news of Jesus around the world. God bless you and empower you to be a bold and unembarrassed witness of Jesus Christ.

You can read the story at this following website : http://www.spiritlessons.com/Man_from_george_street.htm

Or watch the video here :

This updated version of the story of Frank Jenner is produced by http://www.personaltract.com/ and is based on the book "Jenner of George Street" by Dr Raymond Wilson.

Ps. Thanks to Heather from personaltrack.com for the updated version of this story.

A testimony to the healing power of Jesus

2007-01-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

Greetings friends,

I grew up in a "Christian" home grew up in the "church" going there my whole life. I even accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was three years old sitting on my mothers lap. I remember this because we had gotten in an accident. I was always have been a very spiritual intone individual even at a very young age. But my life was far from normal. I grew up in a Christian home as I said, but my family's lives were very far from God.

I grew up with my father serving in the Army as a Lt.Colonel. He was a very quiet man yet at the same time he was also very controlling and manipulative. I can recount several times he beat my older brothers, and abused me verbally not to mention mentally as well. My mother at one and the same time tried to make up for all of this of course by being both the mother and the father. Which of course did not work, which in turn lead to further tension in the home. I can remember so many times when I wished all the fighting would end, all the yelling would stop between everyone.

My parents and my older brothers tried to hide everything from me so that I wouldn't be exposed to it. How I regret that to this day. The hypocrisy and double standard in my family's home was such that it was really bad. Spiritual tension was a reality that I lived with growing up.

I was sent to "church" to be good a good little boy. But I wasn't a good little boy. I was an anger kid with a temper to back it up. I would get in fights to take out my anger on other kids. So many times I was in the principal's office. In fact my parents had to send me to a private school because I was such a bad kid. I would smash kid's noses and the like. But my anger wasn't focused, it wasn't healthy. I was labeled "ADHD" and "BIOPOLAR" because I couldn't control my anger. But then what happened in my life I will never forget. One night me and my dad were fighting which was no big deal, and after that I went up to my mom and told her I cannot handle this anymore with my dad. I have been delivered and completely healed from the satanic lie of Adhd and bipolar, because of the shed blood of Yeshua.

Within the next few weeks my parents were separated. I of course was hanging out with the wrong crowd, yet I was still a leader at the church I was going to as well as at school. I was living a double life just like my parents. Then the truth smacked me in the face like a hammer. God had put several people into my life at this time who were really godly men. They helped me to see without them even telling me the reality of Christ is a present reality a reality that I have to live not compromise as I was.

I was on a mission's trip when this happened when God just broke through my distorted view of Himself and just broke me.

It was a long and hard road back to restoration. There was a problem of course. At this time I was addicted to pornography. I got in so deep man I was making nine hundred dollars worth of phone calls a month not to mention the internet and so on. This went on for years till one day I just couldn't hack it anymore and said enough is enough.

Then the year after that mission's trip which was my freshmen year in high school I went on the same mission's trip.

There God once again spoke to me and took me to another level in Him. But this time it was much more personal. When I was six years old I remember God speaking to me so clearly its words were like fire in my bones I kid you not. God told me that I would be a vehicle to bring the Body back to Unity and order, that families would be restored and lives would be changed. Little did I know till my freshmen year in high school what that would mean. God has to take me literally through the fires of hell to show me what this meant as I will explain later.

Then another year went by and my life was in shambles yet still. I was still involved in leadership. At this point I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what I was supposed to do but I was stubborn as heck. After all, I'm part Irish. Norwegian, Scottish and Wales so naturally I'm going to be stubborn as heck. I went on that same mission's trip again, and it was my junior year now in high school. God spoke to me so clearly there that I got on my knees and started weeping clearly yet I was still stubborn after all I wanted to be a professional golfer and nothing would stop me from that. But God was still at work in me.

Then it happened my Junior year. I was on my knees in my room. I had to move out of my house because my mother was treating me so poorly. I was living with my middle brother just outside of Seattle, Washington. And God spoke to me so clearly as light is day.

He told me I had to forgive my parents and that He was going to bless me beyond anything that I had ever seen. And the next day I walked down the road with my father and I forgave him for all the emotional abuse that he had done to me and my family. I didn't have to do this but the Lord told me something else. That summer at camp the Lord a few months before that had told me that because of this act that I had done He was going to move like never before at the youth group camp.

The camp was jam packed. Our youth group had almost four hundred kids at this camp. We were all around pasture participating in a rodeo. The rodeo was almost over when all of the sudden one of the freshmen riding a horse (which was part of the rodeo) at the last lap the horse fell down and died for no apparent reason at all because the horse was in top flight condition. But at that moment I knew what God was up to because He spoke to me. Everyone literally was weeping it didn't matter who you were. God moved there I mean you couldn't hardly breathe the Presence of the Holy Spirit was so strong. There was weeping, repentance all over the place. It was truly glorious. But as I looked around I said, "Lord is that what you meant earlier this year?" And then I walked outside and sat on a chair and then the Holy Spirit came upon me so strongly I bowed my head and started weeping uncontrollably. I could see nothing but pure white light as if the Presence of the Holy Spirit was just right there upon me. And my eyes couldn't open either. But I came out of it and say that a bunch of my friends were around me to hug me and love me. They will never know what that meant to me.

So my senior year in high school came around. I had a strong feeling because of what the Lord was doing that I was going to enter into the Pastoral ministry. My plans were to go to a bible college yet my heart was still set on golf. How silly I am! Yet God was still working on me. The Lord then put me in a position of great responsibility. I moved back home to my hometown in Washington. But this came with a great price. I had to live with a bunch of friends during the summer months because my own mother wouldn't accept me back into her home. But God had a plan. Then after I had lived with quite a lot of my friends they suggested that I move into a shelter so I had a stable place to live. So I moved to a homeless shelter in downtown Seattle. I lived there for two months with all sorts of drug dealers and what not. Yet at the same time the Lord has placed me as the senior class leader for my class. I was singly responsible for putting all the leaders in my senior class youth group in place. I actually got to pick who was on the senior class leadership team and call the meetings and what not. It was really cool! But I wanted to be closer to my friends not having to wake up at in the morning to travel across Lake Washington to go to school just to be close to my friends. And then the Lord two months after living in a shelter provided me with my own place to live closer to all my friends. It was so awesome it was mind blowing.

Then I graduated from high school after going to three different high schools. At this time I knew that I had no choice. I couldn't go to golf school, I had to go to where the Lord wanted me to go. So I prayed about it my whole senior year, and the Lord lead me to a small community college up near the Canadian border. I walked on campus the first day went into the computer lab and said to the Lord, "Lord your going to provide me with some Christian friends." Little did I know the guy sitting behind me was the President of Campus Crusade for Christ on campus. So what happened after that was that God actually put me in the position he was in after the first meeting of campus crusade for Christ. It was amazing I tell you. Then I started meeting with the campus pastor, and he turned over the reigns of all the school ministry over to me to oversee. I meet with him every week to talk about plans for ministry and what was going on. It was amazing to be able to serve Him that way.

Before I left for college I started an internet ministry called Servantsofgrace. It was to be a ministry where God's Word would be preached without compromise without a doubt just His Word, and His love would be shown to the nations of the world. I started it with little in mind, but God has greater plans for it. As I started to see people's brokenness as a College Pastor God showed me that this was not just in my area of service for Him but all around the world. The people I was ministering to are the same people on the net that are hurting as well. And then I started getting more and more involved in my ministry. Then the Lord made it very clear that I was to get serious about serving Him. Now Servantsofgrace is not just online but offline on several continents and multiple countries all around the world.

God has taught me so much about what it means to be a Servantsofgrace. It has been such a hard journey with a lot more bumps along the way. All along my passion for Him has grown as my knowledge of Him has increased. God has done a wonder in my life, and He hasn't even begun. God has done such amazing things in my life. He has such great plans for you reading this. If He can take my callous heart, and change it for His glory then He can take your heart and change it as well.

On August 12, 2003 I enlisted in the United States Army to go into the Chaplain Core to minister to the soldiers of the United States Army. I managed to get discharged May 21st from the Army after being at Ft.Jackson for three months from March 2nd to May 21st,2004. This was very hard and hurt me a lot. It hurt me to the point where I questioned why God? Why even let me go through this? It hurt a lot because I had wanted to carry on my families history of military excellence, my father being a retired Lt.Colonel, my grandfather a retired Staff sergeant under General Eisenhower, and my uncle a retired Chief Petty Officer who worked in Washington D.C. before he retired. I wanted to continue this tradition by going to Iraq and serving my country.

This however would not happen as my drill sergeant said because he saw something else in me. He told me that I was very intelligent and that I should not be in the military due to some of the emotional problems I had in the past. They did not feel I would do well in that setting. I am here now even as I write this I feel no regret about the decisions I've made in my life. I feel no regret over the things that have happened to me, my parents or anything in my life.

In fact I praise God for allowing me to go through these things, because they have given me a greater understanding of what grace is all about. Grace is all about living, about being, about developing about knowing God so well that we will come away from being around Him, from reading His Word not unchanged, but changed. This is what I've learned throughout my life my story of my journey with Christ. It has been paved with many harrowing roads, and thorns, but I rejoice and am glad in who He has created me to be, His Child, and He will forever be the lover of my soul.

In 2005 the Lord took me through the abuse of my nephew by his babysitter, almost having my condo complex being burnt down, and countless other things. Through it all God showed me His faithfulness and my pursuit for His presence got even stronger. Through that God has shown me that it is not about the things I do for Him, but growing in passion in pursuing Him in such a way so as to draw others into His presence through the ministry He has given to me. It is not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit working through His children that we can come into contact with His presence, as God operates through the broken things of our lives so as to reach others through our own broken experiences so that others can experience His healing power.

If He can take me and heal me of a chronic addiction to porn, and depression He can heal you. He wants to heal you but you have to first come to Him. Won't you come into His arms today? He has such great plans and purposes for your life. He wants to take you higher, and deeper into His eternal plan and purpose for your life. Present your life to Him, and watch as He takes the broken pieces of your heart, and transforms them into a testimony for His glory.

When I write a sermon or teaching from the Word it is because the Lord has touched my life in such a deep way that nothing else in my life makes sense other than what He has shown me through the studies of His Word, and what His Spirit has shown me through those studies. When I preach about the Cross, it is not because I have to speak on it, rather it is, because the Cross of Christ has changed my life. It is at the foot of the Cross everyday, that I lay my life down; presenting my life afresh to the Master who gave up His life, so that I, a sinner might be saved by His grace. Surely it is not by my power or intellect that I can/or do anything, but it is Him working this this broken vessel to achieve His purposes in this last day hour to His people, and creation by calling them back to the foot of the Cross where they can experience afresh His mercy, forgiveness and grace. I invite you today to come to the foot of the Cross, and give your life to Jesus. He longs to heal you of your brokenness and pain. Won't you allow Him to come into your heart, and heal you of your brokenness today, even right now? He stands at the door of your heart and knocks, and only asks will you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that He died on the Cross, rose again from the grave and ascended to the Right hand of the Father.

by Pastor David Jenkins at SERVANTS OF GRACE

You Have 3 Months to Live

2007-01-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

After my doctor broke the devastating news, I began to discover the true power of prayer.

By Stephen J. Tomasi

"Stephen, you've got three months to live." With that one simple statement, my life came to a screeching halt. In a fraction of a second, all my hopes and dreams vanished. Stunned, I sat rock still while my physician droned on and my wife, Deborah, sobbed quietly.

Why me? I thought. Why me, indeed. I had always taken care of myself and was a very active non-smoking, non-drinking 49-year-old. How could I have a terminal disease? The events of the next few months would test not only the limits of what my body could endure, but the strength of my beliefs as well.

I had always been a spiritual person but was nonetheless a little skeptical about the power of prayer. But that was about to change.

I had an extremely rare blood disorder called primary amyloidosis, a first cousin to leukemia but much more aggressive. The condition is so uncommon that each year fewer than 200 people are diagnosed with it.

Though the disease was usually terminal, there was a slim chance that a new oncologist might be able to help me. This oncologist had moved to town only the week before and just happened to specialize in rare blood disorders. Coincidence? I thought so at the time. Now, looking back on the events of that period, I am convinced that there are no coincidences in a Christian's life.

A 50/50 Chance

The next day, Deborah and I sat in the oncologist's sterile office surrounded by unpacked boxes and daunting machines. He confirmed the diagnosis but told me it might be possible to buy more time. First he had to do a bone marrow aspiration (a type of biopsy on my bone marrow). Then I was to begin chemotherapy the very next day.

Waiting a week for the aspiration results was agonizing, but I was relieved when they finally arrived. My oncologist was elated--the involvement in my marrow was only 2 percent. It was unheard of to catch this disease so early in its growth, and I became a likely candidate for a bone marrow transplant, my only hope of survival. Coincidence?

"Facing the greatest battle of my life, all I could do was pray to the Lord. Where once I had been prideful, I found myself humbled."—Stephen Tomasi

By now, I'd come to the realization that I could no longer keep this from our 18-year-old daughter, Aly. She knew that I was ill, but just how ill was another story. In one of the most difficult moments of my life, I sat down with Aly and told her the prognosis. We held each other and cried, but finally she wiped her face with the back of her hands, looked me in the eyes, and said, "Dad, we just have to trust in the Lord. He will pull us through this." Her words would sustain me during some dark hours.

Six months of chemotherapy left me bald, gaunt, and listless, with legs swollen from repeated steroid use. Still, despite very poor health, I was accepted by the City of Hope Medical Center in southern California, one of the top hospitals in the nation for experimental medicine. The oncology board scheduled my bone marrow transplant for February 9, 2001. In the surgery, my own cells would be collected, irradiated to kill the malignancy, and then put back into my body. It was a groundbreaking procedure that would not require an outside donor.

After a full week of pre-tests at the City of Hope, Deborah and I sat before the head oncologist. He told us that there was a 50/50 chance that I wouldn't make it. Bolstered by hope, I responded, "Then I have a 50 percent chance of making it." He said he liked my attitude and that was one reason why the board had accepted me as a patient.

Taking Prayer SeriouslyI was reared in the Southern Baptist church and had learned such adages as "The Lord never puts on us more than we can handle." But as we drove home to wait for the date I would be admitted to the hospital, I was angry. I remember thinking how much I disagreed with that proverbial claim.

My world was in shambles. As a teacher at a public middle school, I loved being in a classroom, but I had now been off the job for several weeks, and I was running out of sick leave. Facing the greatest battle of my life, all I could do was pray to the Lord. Where once I had been prideful, I found myself humbled. I begged God for nine more months so that I could see my daughter graduate from high school. I began reaching out to others, seeking their prayers, too.

After Deborah and I first received the diagnosis, people began to hold me up in prayer. I got letters, cards, and e-mails from family and friends across the nation. What surprised me was not only the number of former students who had heard of my plight but the variety of denominations placing me on their prayer lists. I was choked with emotion when I received a prayer quilt from a nearby church. Many of my students and fellow teachers attend this church, and each had said a prayer as they knotted the quilt. I kept that quilt with me the entire time I was at the City of Hope.

One night just a few days before I was to enter the hospital, I was lying on the couch in my den. My Bible was propped on my chest, and I had been reading and re-reading passages of Scripture. I wanted to go to bed, but my ankles were so swollen that they ached. I began to pray for the strength to get through all that was ahead of me, when suddenly a voice filled my mind. It was a powerful and yet gentle voice that challenged me with, "What are you so afraid of? Open your eyes and see what I have done for you."

I did as I was told and opened my eyes to see something unbelievable. My ankles, a major source of concern for weeks, were suddenly back to normal size. I was stunned. Only minutes before I had been rubbing them, trying to get some relief. As I stared in awestruck silence, the voice once again filled my mind, but this time it was softer, almost a whisper. "And you think I can't cure your disease?"

I jumped up, dashed to the master bedroom, and turned on the bedside lamp. When Deborah opened her eyes, I stood back and pointed at my legs. As I related the events of the past few minutes, tears began to course down her cheeks. "Let's thank Him together," she said. And we did.

From that point on, I've lived my life by letting go and letting God take the burden. I won't say that the months of chemotherapy, the transplant, and being away from friends and family were easy times for me, but with the Lord at my side I found I was able to face each obstacle with the assurance that He would be there to lift me up.

A Higher Authority

After a year of treatment, and three months at the City of Hope, I was released. Before I left, I asked my doctors if I could expect remission and was told, "No, we've merely bought you time. Remission isn't possible with your disease. Go home and enjoy the time you have left." I thanked them but thought to myself, "We'll see."

In three months we did see. After my first follow-up bone marrow aspiration, I was declared cancer free. My oncologist was thrilled, and yet when I asked if this meant remission, he replied, "No, this disease is illusive. It's probably somewhere in your body. We'll do monthly blood tests as a precaution."

The monthly blood tests began, and each time they came back clear. My blood work was perfectly normal. It wasn't until my third bone marrow test that the doctors admitted that I must be in remission. What sweet words they were, and yet the doctors were still amazed. I smiled and said, "Makes you realize there is a Higher Authority than man, doesn't it?" This time, they agreed.

Against my doctors' wishes, that fall I returned to work. It was a challenge to regain my strength, but before long I was able to resume teaching full time. One day I called my oncologist and asked him to fax a copy of my latest "clear" bone marrow test to our family physician, Dr. Strategos, the young man who had originally diagnosed my illness. A few days later, Dr. Strategos responded with a short letter:

Dear Stephen,I am very happy that the bone marrow sample was favorable. We have much to be thankful for. Direct all thanks and gratitude to God, for as it says in John 15:5, we can do nothing without Christ.

After reading his words, I knew that not only had the Lord worked a miracle in my life, but he had been working through my doctors as well. I still read his letter from time to time. And although it's been more than two years, I still am overcome by those simple words.

I now share my testimony with anyone who will listen. Until the end of my days, I will tell everyone I see that God's promise is true: "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you'" (Isaiah 41:13).

Stephen J. Tomasi lives in Bakersfield, California.
Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today International

I was Despised, Forsaken, Abused... and so was My Savior

2007-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

Shhhh, Mama's still asleep. At age five, I stood on my tip-toes and reached in the pantry for the big jar of peanut butter and bread. Being careful not to scratch the kitchen floor, I inched a chair to the counter to make a sandwich. I wanted to eat while I walked to kindergarten. I even remembered to wash the messy knife.

But I was too loud.

Her feet stomped behind me. She held a belt in her fist. "Why haven't you left yet!" She whipped my skinny legs. "Stupid, don't you know anything?"

Then Mama handed me a quarter to buy candy. Maybe she's sorry this time.

I bought a Hershey bar and inhaled sweetness through the dark wrapper. After a nibble, I decided to save for the rest for later. Something to look forward to. A patrol guard at school spotted my chocolate. She demanded that I hand it over.

Giving away my Hershey bar, I stared at the sidewalk. Peeking back, I saw the girl eat it. Don't cry. I clicked my pretend control button to kill my feelings.

Even before age five, evil lies had wormed holes into my soul, heart, and memory: You can't trust anybody. Nobody loves you. You're messy, stinky, and stupid.

I added Patrol Girl to the list of people who'd hurt me. Self-hatred and bitterness settled in my heart like cement.

My school picture from second grade shows my desperation. Rather than face Mama's wrath at my knotted hair, I cut out chunks of tangles. Even today, I see terror in those seven-year-old eyes and whisper healing truth: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

Daddy tried. He took me to church and we read the Bible together, but like everybody else, he was afraid of Mama. Surely God loved good church ladies, but me? At age nine, I asked Jesus into my heart. I entered the warm baptismal water and watched my white gown float. You can't ever be good as an angel, but this is what it feels like.

The sparkling-clean feeling didn't last long. Almost before my hair had dried, a relative sexually molested me. I told Mama. She called me a trouble-maker and beat me with a metal clothes hanger.

Later, my mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, manic depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction. She believed everything that went wrong was my fault. So did I.

Like other abuse victims, I learned to disconnect from pain. But manifestations of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse clung like leeches hives, bedwetting, promiscuity, drugs, and alcohol. My goal? To hide from myself. Escape the ugly, smelly, pest named Jan.

At seventeen, married, pregnant, and miserable, I added God to the snake-like list of offenders. Soon we divorced and I raised my son, Chris, alone. Years later, I remarried. Despite my college degree, name-brand clothes, and nice house, I remained a broken little girl.

Three months after the wedding, a drunk driver killed Chris. My only reason to live. I died too, leaving arms and legs, a blank face without a spirit. I didn't eat, sleep, talk, or glance in a mirror.

God hates me. I can't trust Him.

But out of my only son's death, the holy sledgehammer of truth begin to chip away at my dead unforgiving heart. Miraculously over time, God resurrected me and changed my stony heart to a heart of flesh. He ministered healing through professional counselors, transparent women, and the Bible.

Numbly, I'd memorized scripture as a child. One morning pieces of Isaiah 53 returned to me like forgotten friends:

"He was despised and forsaken

"He was pierced for our transgression

"He was oppressed and afflicted

"Like a lamb led to slaughter

"By His stripes we are healed"

"Jesus, oh sweet Jesus. You understand. You were abused. God, Your only son died, too." Kneeling in the den, I began to forgive those who'd hurt me everybody from Patrol Girl to the drunk driver who killed Chris. Palms open and high, I released rage and cried, "I need You."

Women everywhere, in malls, grocery stores, and at PTA meetings, appeared almost spotlighted. See her eyes? She needs My love. Those long sleeves hide bruises. That prostitute by the stop sign? She's a child abuse victim. Smell the alcohol on your friend's breath? She's trying to escape.

Show them your scars.

Compelled by my ongoing healing, I wrote Set Free: God's Healing Power for Abuse Survivors and Those Who Love Them .The book reveals the pain of six women. A part of me, of every abused child, lies in each one.

Meet Elaine, the daughter of evil; Liz, the keeper of shameful secrets; Debi, the prostitute; Gayle, the daughter of condemnation; Karissa, the party girl; and Gloria, the hardened heart. You might discover yourself or someone you know.

The child abuse statistics are harrowing:

Every two minutes a child is sexually assaulted.
Fifty million women in the U.S., or one in three, were abused as children.
Two children die daily in the U.S. at the hands of an abuser.
Eighty percent of substance abusers were abused as children.
Ninety-five percent of prostitutes were victims of child abuse.
Often abused victims marry abusers.

For those who survive, the damage includes: Brain injuries leading to changes in memory, emotion, and basic drives, STDs, mental retardation, speech problem, depression, low self-esteem, self-destructiveness, physical aggression, and adolescent pregnancy.

( Please see: www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats, www.preventchildabuse.org, www.childtrends.org, www.washtimes.com, www.safechild.org/abuse.htm )

We have an Advocate who understands. He's been there, too. Despite the rawness of abuse, there's healing and forgiveness bought through bloody redemption of our Savior.

Adapted from Set Free: God's Healing Power for Abuse Survivors and Those Who Love Them, copyright 2005 by Jan Coates. Published by Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Minneapolis, Mn., www.bethanyhouse.com.
Jan Coates has worked in sales, marketing, and creative writing for more than 25 years. She is a speaker, has appeared on television and radio, and owns her own sales and marketing consulting company (CC/MS). As a teen full of shame and guilt from child abuse, she turned her back on the Christian faith. Then in 1982 a drunk driver killed her only child. Jan rededicated her life to Jesus on Easter Sunday, 1983. Today Jan and her husband are the parents of two teenagers who were adopted as babies. She and her family live in College Station, Texas. www.jancoates.com.

Testimony of Steven P - Series of bumps in the road to finding religion

2006-12-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.(Rom 5:1-2)

My life has been marked by a series of bumps in the road to finding religion. Indeed, I never thought that I would be writing a Christian testimony. But I wanted to let people know that no matter how difficult their religious path seems, never stop trusting in God. You will be led in the right direction if you keep your heart open, and trust in Him.

I grew up in a Presbyterian household. My parents were not too strict with matters like letting us boys stay up till all hours, etc., but religiously, I felt they were quite strict. In those early years, my life centered on going to church, reading the Bible (even if it were a children's version), and having little Bible studies with my parents and two older brothers. I caught on to this way of life at an early age, for when I was about five, someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told him I wanted to be a priest (despite the fact that Presbyterianism has no priesthood). All the early doctrines made me feel very safe and secure; that Jesus loved me, that I'd get to spend eternity in heaven with my family, and that I could read His words whenever I wanted to. This security really changed as I hit the teenage years.

Very early on in adolescence, I began to read a lot of books on Christianity, and began actively listening to sermons that I would go to hear three times a weekor more. I read how there was not only a heaven, but also a place called hell to which even some so-called Christians may go. I became extremely scared when I heard this! I talked to my pastors about it on a regular basis, and worried that I was not "saved." They said, "Well, were you sincere when you prayed to God to save you?" My reply was usually, "I certainly want to be!" They would reply, "Maybe you don't have enough faith." I lived my life till I was about eighteen in this fear that though I followed Jesus, I might not be saved. No one bothered to tell me that it is God's grace that saves; not the amount of my faith.

I tried everything I could to convince myself I was saved. I learned Hebrew and Greek, and even tried witnessing to a few people. I even wanted to go to seminary. "If I can only do this; if I can have enough faith; if I can translate this part of the New Testament; God will save me." That became my cry of hope. I know that it sounds pretty ridiculous, but when everyone is telling you that only a very small minority will get into heaven, that can have a big impact on a kid. I was too embarrassed to tell people I was a Christian because I didn't understand what Jesus did for mehow could I when everyone was basically telling me it wasn't enough? And that I was home schooled and even went to a Christian school my senior year didn't help. For everyone emphasized that we humans are puke in our angry God's eyes, and if we doubted for an instant, we were going to spend eternity in a lake of fire.
This fear rather quickly turned into anger not only at my teachers and pastors, but God Himself. I was also furious at the fact that I was being held accountable for Adam's sin. "I didn't do anything wrong! Why should I have to be held accountable for what he did?" It all began to feel unjust. I also found emptiness with trying to live up to a moral code I knew I could never keep. For no matter what I did, it was a sin. I didn't experience God; I only kept a bunch of commandments humans had made me follow. No one told me that God doesn't expect us to be perfect. He wants us to, but He can change our hearts. I later learned that while it takes but a second to become a Christian and to be saved, it takes a lifetime to become like Jesus. I only later learned that God is patient. Instead, I was told, "You're sinning, you're not sincere, you have to earn God's favor and work till you're dead to keep in His good graces." With teaching like that, I wanted to get out of this religion as quickly as I could.

Now also, when still very young, I developed a fascination with ancient cultures, especially the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. I also looked a little into the occult. I dabbled, got scared a few times, so I didn't bother with it again for years. Even so, I read my first book on the occult in my elementary school's children's library (!) before I was even old enough to read most of the words on the page. Though I had a great interest in the occult, I suppressed that interest as best I could so as not to "give Satan a foothold."
By the time I got to college, I was spiritually weary. I was tired of worrying about salvation and pleasing a seemingly unappeasable God, and tired of putting up with the hypocrisy of other Christians. I was tired of my parents controlling certain aspects of my life under the auspices of "honor your father and mother," and I was sick of the televangelists telling everyone that they're going to hell. In fact, I was flipping through the TV channels in a friend's apartment my freshman year in college, and saw a televangelist holding up a picture of a little Jewish girl who had recently died. He said, "This little girl looks so cute and innocent, yet she is screaming in the depths of hell! She is screaming for her mother to come save her, but she will never receive comfort! I don't care how young you are, if you don't accept Jesus Christ, you too will scream for your mother!" That did it. I had officially had it with Christianity. I wrote a document that I have since lost, but in it, I declared my independence from God. "Any God who makes you love Him or choose eternal punishment is no God at all," I remember writing. "He is a rapist. For that is no love at all; it's rape." With those stinging words, I became an atheist.

I literally lost my mind for a while. I committed as many sins as I could so that in case there were a God, I would make Him as angry as He had made me. I slept with every woman I could get my hands on, and dumped the girl I was datinga devout Catholicto live a life of licentiousness. I read The Satanic Bible. I knew I could never be a Satanist, but I certainly agreed with what the book had to say. Hate everyone, destroy all remnants of God, and be as selfish as humanly possibleto me, that was life. I got madder and madder at a God I no longer believed in, and people around me began to notice a change for the worse in me. I was always hot-tempered; but now, I wanted to destroy everything in my path. A lot of people became very scared of me, for I made myself to look very unapproachable and mean, but that false toughness was a façade to the inner turmoil I was experiencing. An account of all I did in that time would be too long, and emotionally upsetting for me to disclose. But it was a life of sex, violence, and hate.

Now there was an occult bookstore in the downtown area of the city I was in. When I first walked in, I was taken aback by the strong smell of incense. The two people, a Kufutu healer and his native American wife, who worked there (actually, there were three, but the third left around that time) were extremely friendly, and I soon confided in them about my troubles. I told them I liked the Satanist point of view of hating everything in the world, but I still yearned for something other than hate. (I didn't like the idea of Satan real or imaginaryand I could never be a Satanist. Plus, I thought the movement was rather silly, but I enjoyed the words of Anton LaVey. Still, all that hate began to make me physically ill.) For hate quickly exhausted itself in me. The woman brought me a copy of Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. I read it as quickly as I could read anything. I also bought a copy of Modern Magick, but I found I could not use it effectively since I could not bring myself to say the names YHVH, Adonai, or even Gabri-el. They reminded me too much of Christianity. I bought many more books, and read up on everything I could.

Soon, I felt Wicca was for me. No salvation, no hell to be saved from. Just you and the Earth. I liked that. It was very nice and peaceful, and it was what I needed at the time. I finally was able to indulge in my life long interest in the occult, and I never tired of what I could discover. But I felt Wicca to be too nice, and I didn't like that whole idea of "the Gods are what you make Them to be." So I searched more; this time, not through magic or spells, but through philosophy.

Two years had gone by, and I was now a junior. I was beginning to calm down a little, and for the first time in years, I wanted to know if a God really existed; if so, I wanted to know Him...or Her. I don't know what prompted this desire; all I know is it came at the right time, and set the stage for the greatest time of spiritual exploration in my life till then.
I was in the park on campus, and I asked myself, "What is God?" I knew that God could not be confined to heaven, for that is too limiting. So, I thought, if God exist, God must be everywhere, but not separate from His Earth. I had been taught this as a Christian, but never understood what that meant. For if God be everywhere, one can experience Him any time one pleases. I soon became a "panentheist", not to be confused with "pantheist." A pantheist believes everything is God. A panentheist believes God exists in everything. I began reading some non-Christian mystical works (that wound up being based off of Christian mysticism) that talked about how God created the world to be as a veil for Himself. For how else could we know the majesty of the invisible if it were not made manifest? This led me to a deeper question: does God care for me?

I was studying geology at the time, and we had been studying the great "hows": this is how plate tectonics works, this is how humans evolved, this is how mountains are formed. But we never hit on the "why." My teacher was not a Christian, but he believed that a great mind had formed all these things. So, I began to see God as a great minda sentient force in nature, if you will. But I also noticed how orderly things were, how the green grass is so beautiful as the sun hits it, and how intricately designed humans are. "Surely a God who did not care would not take the time to be as careful as He seems to be." Now I saw God as the sentient personal force in nature. I began to sense God's presence everywhere, and I needed to make sense of it all. So I turned to Hellenic Reconstructionism for the answers, having looked in many places first.

Hellenic Reconstructionism is the revival of the ancient religion of Greece. Like all things, I approached it skeptically, but soon fell in love with it. I'm of Mediterranean descent anyway (Italian to be exact), and so the fit was a perfect one. But I hated the myths; I felt that they were belittling of the gods, and I felt that they were taken too literally by the masses. I really found my home with Greek philosophy. Especially Plato. This set the stage for my return to Christianity.

In philosophy, the gods are not real; but they are symbols for natural phenomena as well as symbols for divine truth. In other words, Zeus may send rain from the sky, but that rain falling is also a symbol of how the gods provide. But even deeper, most of these philosophers believed in one god, To Hen (The One, in Greek). They were essentially monotheists. I felt very comfortable with this idea, and I never saw the gods as separate "plastic" entities, but as aspects of The One (a concept expounded on by the Hindus). I was also studying Greek pagan mysticism, and about this time, became the president of the pagan organization on campus.

This mysticism basically centered on getting in touch with the One God, going beyond the "gods" to The One they all represented. I began various ancient mental and relaxation exercises, and over the course of a month, I began to feel very close to God. Indeed, I felt I experienced Him on a personal level; and this, constantly! I soon felt enraptured in love, and I kept praying, "To Hen, may You lead me to the truth, whatever it may be." I began to write pagan praise music, and even wrote a cantata for baroque orchestra. Nothing I did felt separated from the love of the One; till one day, I had the first of two visions that changed my life.

Well, it wasn't really a vision; more like a really intense day dream. I was just sitting one day reading, when suddenly, I felt myself being thrown into hell. I saw the Father standing over me saying, "You rejected My Word and My Son! You have chosen this!" The sky was black, and all I felt was the heat of fire. I was terrified, to say the least. I longed for my good feelings I had had with my experience with what I thought was the Divine. I longed to feel loved again, but all I felt was fear.

I lost a lot of weight. I hardly slept. I was about to graduate college, have a birthday, but I was miserable. I said, "Why is this coming back to me? Why do I feel so condemned?" I tried to explain it all away. I began to think about Jesus, too. But not in an orthodox way. "He was a great man," I would say. I had read The Jesus Mysteries and Jesus and the Lost Goddess and I felt I had Jesus pinned down to nothing more than the Jewish version of the Greek Dionysus myth. And I heard a song that posed a question I could not answer, the first line of the song being, "Who is this King of Glory?" I knew, but I didn't want to admit it. Besides, I was having too much fun, too much sex, too much of everything I ever wanted. I didn't want to think about repentance. So I went to see a pastor friend of mine. I told him what was going on, and he asked me a very simple question: "What did Jesus Christ do for you on the cross?" I just sat there, dumbfounded. (Now I really couldn't sleep.) I struggled with this question so much. I also kept hearing a voice in my head saying, "Read the first several chapters of Romans." I heard this over and over. So I got a Bible and began reading Romans.

It didn't take too long. Up until this point I had been saying something we've all heard too often that we should not say: I am a good person. After reading a mere few lines, I knew this was not the case. (It was thundering outside, and the rain was pouring down. It was as if God was purposefully being dramatic!) I read, and read, and felt more and more condemned. I read how we can't reach God by our own works like I had been trying. I was hopeless! I felt so convicted: I knew I wasn't good. Now I began to fear. I feared God's judgment that Paul described. I wanted a way out of this judgment. Then I had a bona fide vision.

I saw the Father, coming towards me. He was huge, and he came to me and said, "I am sorry, Stephen, but I must punish you for all you've done. You've sinned, and the end result of sin is death." I began to cry out, "No! No! I don't want that!" He continued, "You're far from me; a few mystical experiences don't get you off the hook. I'm sorry, but this is how it must be." I felt more fear then than in my entire life. He drew closer to me as I pleaded, "Somebody, save me!" Then I saw a man step between the Father and me. He held his hands up: "Don't touch him. Punish me instead; mine are the blows." I was in shock! Then I looked down, and saw that the Man had holes in His wrists. I knew exactly Who it was Who had come to rescue me. He turned to me and said, "All you have to do is believe." That really perturbed me. "How can I?" I shrieked. "I have spent the last four years trying to disprove You! I could never have belief enough to save myself." And He smiled and said, "I know. That's what kept you from Me all these years. It isn't about how much you believe. What I did on the cross was enough. All you have to do is accept, for My love is greater than any hindrance you could have." With that, I fell to my knees, and said, "I accept." The Father and the Son vanished, and I knew I was forgiven. Then I felt almost a pain strike me; I felt like someone had died. I had that feeling you get when someone calls you and says, "Someone has died," and that person ends up being someone close to you. I lay on my bed for a very long time, unable to move. All I could do was thank God.

Why had Christianity not worked for me when I was younger? Because I felt that I had to believe enough, or have faith enough. The real Christian message is accepting what God did for us on the cross. If we had to believe enough, we'd still fall short. Besides, that's just another work. But if we accept what Christ did, that is salvation. You're called; all you have to do is say, "yes." (And for once, unlike when I was younger, I have no shame in telling people I'm a Christian. After all, if you can go four years with telling people you believe in Zeus, saying you believe in Jesus Christ isn't so bad.) Also, I have resigned from the Pagan club of which I was president. Few of them know I am Christian, for I have only told a few. But for those I have told, I am glad to have had the opportunity to show what happens when you pursue truth.

For a while, the old habits crept back in. I began to doubt my salvation. But I know that it is God's grace that saves; not the amount of my faith. Salvation is so simple we fear it. For we are taught that if it's too good to be true, stay away from it. I have learned that we're not saved because of our faith, but through it. Now I see how great God's gift of grace is!
That is my testimony. Now, for the Pagans

Scott Cunningham can only tell you so much; your "spirit guides" can only tell you so much; the futhark can only tell you so much. If you want to know truth, ask the Divine. I'm not going to say you're going to hell, nor am I going to mock your practices. I was one of you once! But I will ask that you pursue the truth. A. E. Waite may have gotten things wrong as much as Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John could have. You can't rely on humans to feed truth to you; we too often mess it up. But you can rely on the Divine. If you are on a spiritual journey, pray to the Divine to lead you to the truth, and don't resist when you find it. Pagans are supposed to have an open mind; open yours up to where the Divine truly leads you; not of your will, but of His. After all, wouldn't it be better to follow God than your own mind, which could lead you astray?

by Steven P. at exwitch.org

How a robbery gone bad - changed a man's life

2006-11-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

The old man was choking and I was trying to save him. Under other circumstances I might have been a hero. But when he died guilt washed over me; I had become his killer.

It had looked like an easy robbery. My partner and I craved the money for drugs, and the man we targeted kept cash in a safe. We only planned to restrain him, take the money and run. He was so terrified by the ordeal he began to choke and wheeze. In minutes he was dead.

I can look back and identify the same factors in my life that push a lot of men and women to the wrong side of the law.

The oldest of five children, I was born in 1958 to teenage parents in Trinidad, Colo. Both of them were alcoholics. My father became a policeman, but he was prone to violent, irrational outbursts.

After nine years of abuse, my mom took us and left my dad. But the grip of alcohol never let go. A parade of men came in and out of our home as my mom moved from relationship to relationship.

One year later, my dad and mom agreed that he would take my two brothers and me. She would take my two younger sisters. We would go our separate ways.

As I grew up with my dad and stepmom in Tennessee and Colorado, they began to change their lives and draw closer to God. They got us involved in church. But by then I was fighting my own battles with alcohol and drugs. Those battles continued when I moved out on my own.

In 1980, I was living on the edge. I had put together a band; we played in bars and at parties in little Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Life became a continuous cycle of revelry and recovery.

There were bright spots in my existence. That June I married Cheryl Savage, the woman of my dreams. Somehow I convinced her I had kicked my addictions. But I was living a lie.

A friend and I heard about a guy who kept a lot of money in a safe. We decided to rob him. No planning. On a drug-induced whim we threw reason aside and broke into his house. We never dreamed it would cost that man his life.

The four days that followed the crime I was wracked by fear, guilt and horror. Whether it was the drugs or satanic forces or both, I could hear audible voices swirling around my head. They taunted and jeered, telling me the only way out was to commit suicide.

Still, small voice

The sheriff was conducting his investigation in the area; I knew sooner or later he'd come to my house. When he did, the voices got louder and louder. It's over. You're worthless. Just end it all. But I began to hear a soft voice as well, and it whispered a compelling message The truth shall set you free.

When the sheriff knocked on the door, I opened it and blurted out a confession. "I did it," I said before he could even begin to ask questions about the crime. He was dumbfounded.

"I did it; I'm your man," I repeated. He quickly called for backup and put me in cuffs. Cheryl watched in disbelief as I turned over my drug stash and was soon on my way to jail.

I spent the next four days naked in a drunk tank as my body cleansed itself from all the poisons I had poured into it. I was charged with second-degree murder, robbery and burglary. The D.A. was asking for "life and 40." But no prison could match the bondage of spirit I was in.

One of the hardest moments was facing my young bride. We had been married only eight months. I rehearsed my speech again and again as I waited on the inmate side of the visiting room; it was the size of a closet with a dirty steel mesh between the inmate and visitor.

Cheryl entered. She didn't say a word; she just looked at me. For the first time she saw the needle tracks on my arms. I had kept them covered with long-sleeve shirts.

"I don't expect you to hang around," I said. "I've made enough of a mess of your life. If you want a divorce, I'll give it to you."

Her response stunned (and still stuns) me: "When I said 'I do' I meant it; we'll get through this somehow."

I didn't deserve this woman. For the next five years she waited for me. Our first anniversary together was our sixth.

Encounter with Jesus

I had been in jail about two weeks when I received an unexpected visit from Marion Moss. Marion was a Spirit-filled Lutheran in her late 60s. I met her at a Bible study a year earlier during a time I was exploring Christianity.

Marion talked to me about Jesus. She told me of the second chance He offers sinners. She encouraged me to look for God in the Bible. She gave me an old King James Version and I started diving in. The "thees" and "thous" peeled back, and I encountered eternal truth.

I can't pinpoint the time or day when it happened; I just remember coming into the realization that I knew Jesus and He knew me. He spoke to me from the pages of Scripture. He was in my dreams at night and thoughts throughout the day. He consumed me. I couldn't get enough of the Bible; I met Jesus on every page.

During the five months I was in jail I read the Bible cover to cover about four times. I felt a freedom I had never known. I was in jail but I was free. God's Son had set me free.

One day I was sitting in my cell, reading and praying. I closed my eyes and raised my hands to Jesus in worship. I was overwhelmed by a sense of His presence. Suddenly I felt like I was burning from the top of my head to the tips of my toes; I started speaking in tongues. I didn't know what it was at the time; I'd never seen Pentecost before, though I'd heard about it.

I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. For two hours all I could do was walk around speaking in tongues. The other inmates thought I'd lost my mind. One even threatened to jump me. I couldn't stop.

Purpose through prison

In October 1981 I was sentenced to 11 years in the state penitentiary. But for me it became seminary. I enrolled in correspondence classes through Moody Bible Institute. I wanted to be able to read the New Testament in Greek, so I took two semesters of Greek via correspondence.

Three Lutheran pastors became instrumental in my early spiritual formation. Kenneth Ebb was a Spirit-filled ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) prison chaplain who taught me the importance of finding God in Scripture. David Habermas, a Missouri Synod Lutheran chaplain, encouraged my passion for Greek. David Zitlow, a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran pastor, visited me monthly. He was passionate about truth and its impact on one's character and behavior.

Soon I was leading Bible studies in small groups on the recreation yard. When our groups grew to 20 or so men, they broke us up. A "mob" of inmates on a recreation field is not a good thing.

Without knowing it, I was planting my first church. I spoke to Chaplain Ebb about an inmate-led Bible study. He convinced the warden to give it a shot. We started with a half-dozen inmates meeting on Thursday afternoons.

Within a year that group had grown to 50 with a waiting list of 200. (The warden put a 50-man limit on the group.) Men came to Christ, received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, learned the Word of God and became part of a Christian community.

I was transferred to another facility 14 months later. Dan Brygger, a Campus Crusade volunteer chaplain, took the group over and kept it going after I left.

Full-time ministry

Cheryl and I were growing closer together. She visited once or twice per month; we were allowed a six-minute phone call once a week. We wrote often.

In time I was transferred to two other facilities before entering a drug and alcohol treatment program required before I could be considered for parole. In each institution, I built a Bible study group and taught classes in the chapel.

I was paroled December 2, 1985, and reunited with Cheryl. We had both grown in Jesus. An Assemblies of God church in Sturgeon Bay reached out to her while I was away and gave her a church family; that's why we're in the Assemblies today. They really believed in God's redemptive power and were committed to helping us experience it.

After several church planting projects and serving with our national church planting leadership in Springfield, Mo., we are poised to start a new church in Summit County, Colo.

I guess my life has come full-circle geographically. Elements, our home-group-based church, will reach out to a new generation facing the ageless challenges that tore apart my life.

But Jesus is faithful.

Last Sunday, Jeff McElhattan was our guest speaker here at WFA (hear his message). Many people mentioned that they would like to hear his testimony. This article is, in fact, Jeff's testimony, as it appeared in "Today's Pentecostal Evangel" on April 30, 2006.

How a robbery gone bad changed a man's life by Jeff McElhattan with Scott Harrup. Jeff and Cheryl McElhattan are Assemblies of God U.S. missionaries. For more information on Elements, visit http://www.elements.sc/ Scott Harrup is associate editor of Today's Pentecostal Evangel.

9/11 Firefighter Remembers 'Taste of Hell'

2006-10-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

Elite Member of Rescue Squad Sees The Fingerprints of God at the Pentagon on 9/11

Larry Everett

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA (ANS) -- Larry Everett is a member of the elite Fairfax County, Virginia, Fire and Rescue Department and he remembers exactly where he was on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

On that fateful morning five years ago, Everett had a taste of hell.

Pentagon aerial view

According to an article written by Terry White for his denominational newspaper, Everett was called in to assist when a hijacked Boeing 757 slammed into the 29-acre Pentagon complex on September 11, 2001 a day that will take its place in history alongside Pearl Harbor.

"Everett vividly recalls entering the third floor of the massive facility and being met with a wall of fire. Temperatures exceeded 2,500 degrees -- he and his crew of 25 watched metal desks and file cabinets melt before their eyes," says White.

Wearing firefighting gear rated for only 1,500 degrees, Everett is convinced that God protected him in the inferno. Everett and his colleagues spent nine hours in active firefighting that day.

White says: "Their strategy on the upper floors was to push the fire further back into the building where it would starve and be extinguished. But no matter what they did, they could not escape the intense heat."

"This is what hell is going to be like," Everett remembers thinking. The impact of the airliner and leaking fuel produced intense heat and a smoky blaze that penetrated three of the building's five rings.

White says that when the firefighters entered the first floor, they found a dark area within the collapsed building. Eighteen inches of water covered the floorit had filtered down from firefighters on the upper stories.

There in the basement Everett saw his second picture of hella darkness that was so complete it established itself as a presence. "You could feel the darkness," Everett recalls. "Hell is the complete and utter absence of God."

"You Start Where You Start"

Firefighters at the Pentagon

When he arrived on the scene in truck No. 402, Everett muttered into his microphone, "Where are we going to start?"

His driver, hearing the question, answered, "You start where you start."

Everett leaned into his strong faith in God and uttered a quick two-part prayer. "Please give me wisdom to make good decisions that will get the job done and protect my men," he asked. "And please protect my eyesdon't let me see something I shouldn't, that I don't need to see."

White says that God answered both prayers for Everett.

He asks how Everett and his men, taking 20-minute shifts, worked effectively in temperatures nearly double the rating of their equipment?

"God created a tunnel of wind that left an opening," Everett said. That wind tunnel effectively kept cooler air flowing and enabled them to work in the intense heat.

The second prayer was answered by the 18-inch-deep water on the lower floor. "We never saw a body, we never saw a body part," Everett recalls. "They were therebut 18 inches of water will hide a lot." The crash killed about 200 people, including all 64 on the plane and 125 at the Pentagon. Most of the dead were on the first floor. Everett and his men concentrated on the first and third floors.

"There were lots of miracles that day," Everett remembers. One of them was that American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that went into the Pentagon, was only half-full. On a normal day there would have been twice as many passengers.

"And why, of all the places it could hit, did the plane go into the building at a point that had been under construction for several years and was almost completely unoccupied?" he reflects.

Everett refers to September 11, 2001, as the "second greatest day of my life."

The first, White says, was November 29, 1988, when Everett gave his heart to Jesus Christ. A fire truck in which he was riding collided with a car full of teenagers, an accident that impacted Everett greatly. He'd been working as a part-time insurance agent, and a client whose portfolio he'd reviewed said, "We've talked about life insurance. Now I want to talk about life assurance."

The friend urged Everett to give his heart to the Lord, which he did. "I was physically different the next morning after that experience," Everett said. "The change in me was real." Eighteen months later his wife, Andrea, gave her heart to Christ, as well.

John "Larry" Everett, 40, grew up in Rockville, Maryland. He started as a firefighter with Montgomery County, Maryland, was with them for five years, and has now had 20 ½ years with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.

White writes: "From firefighter he was promoted to hazardous materials technician, to lieutenant, to Captain I, then Captain II, and this past June 24 was made Battalion Chief. He is now responsible for 75 people in seven stations, covering 80 square miles in elite western Fairfax County, Virginia."

Hopes to Be in Youth Ministry

White reports that along the way, the gregarious Everett has earned degrees in youth ministry and church business management. After he retires from the fire department, he hopes to be in full-time youth ministry.

For the last eight years, Everett has provided valuable help at the Brethren National Youth Conference, primarily in public relations and transportation.

Everett first came in contact with Grace Brethren churches while attending the Frederick, Maryland, church, where he led the youth group for seven and a half years.

The Everetts began attending the Clinton, Maryland, church about five years ago and now live in Clinton, where Andrea works for the Clinton church as the kitchen manager.

The oldest of their three children, Philip, will enter Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, this fall. Rebekah is 15, and Joshua is 13.

White continues: "Partly because of the 9/11 experience, and partly because of his natural skills in public speaking and human relations, Everett has a blooming career as a public speaker. With his schedule managed by a national speakers agency, he averages several engagements a month to groups ranging from 25 to 3,000.

"He often speaks at school assemblies. If they ask for his Christian testimony and a call for salvation decisions, he is happy to comply. He also speaks to business and secular audiences, giving his observations on God's protection and guidance."

White says that last year Everett spoke at an 1,100-student high school for a week and there were 175 recorded first-time decisions for Christ and 130 recommitments. He often uses the title "Fingerprints of God in 9/11."

This spring he was the speaker for the Ashland County (Ohio) Prayer Breakfast, a citywide gathering sponsored by a consortium of churches. About 450 attended the event and Larry Edwards, pastor of Southview Grace Brethren Church in Ashland, said, "He gave a powerful, clear, and compelling testimony."

The assistant principal of a Georgia high school said of Everett, "Your presentation is phenomenal! You have turned a tragic event into something positive. Your motivational speech was well-received by our student body. You provided them with 'food for thought' in lifelong lessons."

Although he may have seen hell that day, Firefighter Everett also knows -- and freely shares -- the way to escape a literal hell. He has seen the fingerprints of God in 9/11.

By Michael Ireland
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service,

You may contact Everett by e-mail at: eversafe@comcast.net.

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06090031.htm

Heaven Scent - Story of Diana Blessing

2006-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

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A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away

But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain." Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Here are excerpts from Diana Blessing's message to truthorfiction.com on 8/21/00:

"Yes, the story known as THE SMELL OF RAIN is true. "The original title is 'Heaven Scent'. About 5 years ago now, the C.E.O. of Columbia hospitals decided to compile some of the wonderful stories that he had received and put them into a book formatted similar to the 'Chicken Soup' series. This book was titled 'Miracles In Our Midst.' Danae's story was submitted and picked in rough draft written by my mother. The 'writers' then called and interviewed me, finalizing the story from this interview. When the book was released, he decided to use his, 'favorite story' to promote the book on the internet. It happened to be Danae's story. People then began the long journey that has now revolved over and over all around the globe as they took that little story and forwarded it to their friends and loved ones. The story has been in numerous church newsletters, two magazines and has most recently been published in the latest 'Chicken Soup' book titled 'Chicken Soup For The Christian Family Soul.'

"Danae is now a lively, beautiful, active, free-spirited, blissful, God-loving fourth-grader. She is in the Gifted and Talented program. Still petite, but growing daily. She loves to play 'active' sports. Soccer, softball, basketball. She had taken gymnastics and loved it. Especially the fact that she shares a birthday with Shannon Miller, but decided to stick with the more aggressive sports. She swims like a little fish. Loves all animals. Has several of her own.

"Danae has a compassion for other people that I have never witnessed with another child and I work with children daily. She is a pure joy to be around and is NEVER at a loss for words. When I first began getting response from the story I was startled. I quickly realized that God was working his magic. I praised him for allowing me to be blessed in such a way that I see his well doings each and every day. My husband and I decided that if sharing Danae's story touched even one person, than that is what was meant to be. I know now that it has touched many, many and continues everyday. I am so grateful to know the Lord and to have him so evident before us. I am also thankful for the widespread response and blessings from so many of the people that have received the story and have been touched by it. Hopefully it will continue to spread the news of God's love.

"I knew when I first saw Danae that she could not and would not be contained. She screamed to be shared. We couldn't walk in the grocery store without someone commenting about her. So, I painfully acknowledged the fact that she would not be mine alone. Danae has a lot to give. This story is only the beginning.

"Thank you for taking the time to verify the truth. I am excited to imagine all the lives that will be touched even now that they know it is true!

Sincerely,
Diana Blessing-Luckiest Mom on Earth!

The Hot Bottle Water - A True Story By Helen Roseveare

2006-10-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

One night, in Central Africa, I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all that we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying, two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive. We had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator, and no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.

A student-midwife went for the box we had for such babies and for the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly, in distress, to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "...and it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over a burst water bottle. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chilled. I also told them about the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt consciousness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby'll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, " ...And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?" As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything: The Bible says so, but there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time that I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone; so, I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then, there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children began to look a little bored. Next, came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - - that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. As I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be? I grasped it, and pulled it out. Yes, "A brand-new rubber, hot water bottle!" I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone: She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday School class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. One of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child -- five months earlier in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "That afternoon!"

Helen Roseveare a doctor missionary from England to Zaire, Africa, told this as it had happened to her in Africa. She shared it in her testimony on a Wednesday night at Thomas Road Baptist Church.

"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." (Isaiah 65:24)

This story originates from Helen Roseveare, a missionary from Northern Ireland. She included this story in her book "Living Faith." She has written about the revival that took place in the 1950's in what was then the Belgian Congo. She has been associated with WEC (World Evangelization for Christ at http://www.wec-int.org/index.html). Some of her writings can be ordered from (http://www.wec-int.org/ministries.htm#books)

He Will Find You - True Story from John Powell

2006-10-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Following is a true story from John Powell a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writing about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy. Enjoy the story and God bless you all.

But Jesus said, "No, go home to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." Mark 5:19 NLT

Some years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the first day I saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders.

It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped.

I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange ... very strange. Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father-God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone: "Do you think I'll ever find God?"

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically.

"Oh," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out: "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line: "He will find you!" At least I thought it was clever. Later I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report, I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm. "Tommy, I've thought about you so often. I hear you are sick!" I blurted out.

"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?"

"Sure, what would you like to know?"

"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?"

"Well, it could be worse."

"Like what?"

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real 'biggies' in life."

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification God sends back into my life to educate me.)

But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, " is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!' which surprised me. Then you said, 'But he will find you.' I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My "clever" line. He thought about that a lot!) But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, then I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.

But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.

Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn't really care ... about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that. "I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.' "So I began with the hardest one: my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him."

"Dad". . .

"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.

"Dad, I would like to talk with you."

"Well, talk."

"I mean. .. It's really important."

The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"

"Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him: "The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me.

And we talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me. "It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry about one thing: that I had waited so long. Here I was just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to.

"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't come to me when I pleaded with him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through.' 'C'mon, I'll give you three days .. .three weeks.' Apparently God does things in his own way and at his own hour. "But the important thing is that he was there. He found me.

You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for him."

"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.' Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell them."

"Oooh . . . I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class."

"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call." In a few days Tommy called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date. However, he never made it.

He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed.

He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time. "I'm not going to make it to your class," he said.

"I know, Tom."

"Will you tell them for me? Will you . . . tell the whole world for me?"

"I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to hear this simple statement about love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven: "I told them, Tommy . ... ...as best I could."

Prayer: Father thank you for finding Tommy and let him know we told 'em. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

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Copyright (c) 2004 - Pastor Bill - Christian Cyber Ministries - All Rights Reserved. CyberDailyDevotion - Powered by ccm4me. Vision of Ministry: "ChristianCyberMinistries is called by God to encourage Worldwide Christian Growth using the Internet."

Joseph Y Lee - The Narrow and Wide Paths

2006-10-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hello, I am Joseph Yosuk Lee. In 1994, I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley as a physics and applied math major. In 1997, I also graduated from UCI in the materials science and engineering department with a Master's degree while I got another Master's degree in the electrical engineering department at the University of Southern California. Now, I work at Samsung in South Korea as a PCB engineer, and I play the piano and violin.

I was very devastated when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley. I realized that I was not as intelligent as I thought, and I had a lot of pride. I was one of the top students at high school. At college, I was average. While I was struggling with a B average, my electrical engineer friend Tony made a 97% on the
midterm. I, myself, received a 70% average on that same exam, and even my professor made a mistake in his own midterm. My professor is an intelligent man when he is a physics professor at Cal-Berkeley. Despite this, I felt that Tony could easily surpass him, although Tony was an electrical engineer and computer science major. While I did not have the faintest clue how to solve any of my 7 physics problems, he could easily solve all of the problems in the textbook spending only three hours per chapter.

I was very hurt, as well as humbled. I thought that my greatest friends were my GPA, test scores, and professors' recommendations until I met Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ became my best friend and He loved me so much that He gave His life for me.

You are My friends if you do what I [Jesus] command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:14-15

There are many stories of mothers dying while giving birth to their children. There are also many stories of men dying for their comrades in a war by throwing their bodies on top of a grenade. However, Jesus died for sinners like myself, for strangers like myself, and for the rest of us, who are chosen. He did it because He loves all of us as His friends. Grades and academics cannot love you nor I. Only the Lord can do that. I depended so much on my happiness on school that I became miserable when I was not doing well. At Berkeley, I was alone and did not have many friends. I used to believe that school was far more important than family, friends, people, and my own life. I almost wanted to use some illegal drugs so that I could enhance my school performance. When I was at the bottom of my life, I finally accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior during a church retreat at the mountains of Santa Cruz. I gave my testimony about my bitter life telling every brother in a circle that I study a lot and that my parents were disappointed in me when I did not make it to MIT or Harvard. After we left the circle, I talked to my pastor outside in the dark and cried on his shoulders during one Saturday night on October 20, 1990, and he comforted me.

After I accepted Jesus Christ, I finally gave up my pride. I really wanted to share my faith with Tony and I realized that it was too late. Tony killed himself by jumping off the Holiday Inn Hotel at Emeryville, California. To this day, I do not know why he did it. All I know is that if I had not accepted Christ, I would have taken my own life. Tony and I took two different paths in our lives. God helped me choose the narrow path while Tony chose the wide and easy path.

"Enter the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:17

Steps in becoming a Christian.
1. You need to know that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' The Hebrew translation for 'sin' is 'missing the mark (of perfection in terms of thought and action).'
2. You need to know is that there is a price on sin.

Romans 6:23 'For the wages of sin is death.'
3. You need to know is that Jesus paid the price.

Romans 5:8 'But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' You must trust his death on the cross as the sacrifice for your own sins.
4. You need to know is that you must call upon the Lord in order to go to Heaven.

Romans 10:13 'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' 'Whosoever' means everyone-it includes you. 'Calling upon the name of the Lord' means to cry out to God in prayer and ask Him to save you. Being 'saved' means to be saved from your sins and from Hell. You must believe that Jesus Christ is full God and full man in order to be saved. See John 3:16, John 20:28-29, and Colossians 2:9.
5. Last of all, Jesus will sanctify (to purify or make you holy) you as time progresses.
Hebrews 13:12 'So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.'

Just pray and call out to God through this simple prayer like:
Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, who deserves to go to hell, but thank you for paying the price for me. I invite you to come into my heart right now and forgive me for my sins that nailed you to the cross. Save me and take me to Heaven when I die. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the son shall not see life;' John 3:36.

Please call me if you become a Christian at (031) 217-2814 and let me help you find a decent church. E-mail: JosephYLee@aol.com, Website: http://www.josephylee.org/ Japanese Translation: http://www.josephylee.org/JapaneseNarrow.html

Rev. Majed El Shafie - Egyptian Ex-Muslim

2006-10-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Torture spurs man to fight for religious freedom by MIKE MASLANIK

Finger Lakes Times
mmaslanik@fltimes.com

NEWARK Seven hellish days of torture in an Egyptian prison did nothing to diminish Muslim-turned-Christian Majed El Shafie's faith in God, but it did ignite a passion for helping other persecuted Christians worldwide.

El Shafie, founder of Toronto-based One Free World Ministries, will share his harrowing story and testimony at 7 p.m. Sunday at Em-manuel United Methodist Church in Newark. Through his ministry, he has reached out to lawmakers in the United States, Canada and Israel to relieve the plight of persecuted Christians in Asia and the Middle East. El Shafie urges love and forgiveness in the face of terrible hardship.

"I decided to forgive those who tortured me, but with forgiveness comes action," he said. "We have to help the people that are suffering for their beliefs."

Born into a prominent Muslim family in Cairo, El Shafie seemed destined to go into law. His father and brother are successful attorneys and an uncle serves as a judge on a high court.

"When you're born into a family like this, you have lots of books on law, justice and freedom," he said.

While studying law in Alexandria, El Shafie was shocked to see the harsh treatment of Christians. Building churches is illegal in Egypt, he said, and Christians are treated worse than second-class citizens.

Struck by this intolerance, El Shafie began studying the Bible. In 1998, when he was about 20, he converted to Christianity and organized an underground congregation that attracted 24,000 worshippers within two years.

It was literally an underground church, worshipping in caves near the outskirts of the city.

El Shafie ran afoul of the Egyptian government when he appealed for equal rights for Christians. He also took issue with the harsh teachings of the Koran, which the government used to justify persecuting Christians.

"It's not that they're bad because they're Muslims," he said. "Our problem was with their teaching of Islam."

He was arrested and confined in Abu Jaabel prison in Cairo, a place locals call "Hell on Earth," he said. The government charged him with inciting a revolution, trying to change Egypt's religion to Christianity and "worshipping and loving Jesus Christ."

While they had him in custody, police tried to get him to name names. El Shafie refused.

"They told me, 'If you want to play tough, we can play tough,'" he said.

Authorities took El Shafie to an underground portion of the prison and tortured him for seven days straight, he said, noting they shaved his head and held him under scalding hot then freezing cold water. He was hung upside down and beaten with belts, burned by cigarettes and had his toenails torn out.

In a final insult, he said prison guards tied him to a cross and left him there for two days.

"The only thing I could remember was the taste and smell of my own blood," he said.

El Shafie remembers losing consciousness and waking up in a hospital bed. A guard tipped him off that he was about to be executed, so he escaped out of a back window, he said.

When the government learned of El Shafie's escape, it issued a $100,000 fatwa on his head, he said.

"My picture was on TV and in the newspapers, so I knew I couldn't stay in Egypt," he said, describing an escape reminiscent of a James Bond movie.

He said he rode across the Red Sea on a jet ski, crossed the Sinai Desert and turned himself in to the Israeli government. He remained in Israeli custody for 16 months while the United Nations and Amnesty International investigated his story. He was finally granted political-refugee status and emigrated to Toronto.

El Shafie emerged from his experience a hardened advocate for persecuted Christians.

"This whole thing changed my life," he said. "I'm not giving up because I know people are going through that."

Becoming a Christian cost El Shafie his home and his family, who have since disowned him, but he gained a new purpose in life.

Since founding the 1,000-member strong One Free World Ministries, El Shafie has been lobbying for condemnation for regimes that persecute Christians. He has also raised money to send farming equipment to Christian communities in the Middle East and Asia.

Every year, 165,000 Christians are killed for their beliefs, he said, in places like North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia. It's the duty of all people to recognize this harsh treatment and to do something to stop this suffering, he said.

To all governments that persecute Christians, El Shafie offers this message:
"The persecuted Christians are dying, but they're still smiling. They're in a deep mine, but they're holding the light of the Lord. You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream."

For more information on El Shafie's ministry, visit his WebSite : www.onefreeworldinternational.org

From Life Without Limbs to Life Without LIMITS!

2006-09-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

I read this from an e-mail sent by my friend. A fantastic testimony which I could resist to share with you all and an amazing story of faith in adversity. If Nick's story doesn't convince us about God's love & His power & what faith can do, then nothing else will.

The Curious Incident - No arms, No legs, No worries A Remarkable Story of God's Grace

My name is Nick Vujicic and I give God the Glory for how He has used my testimony to touch thousands of hearts around the world! I was born without limbs and doctors have no medical explanation for this birth "defect". As you can imagine, I was faced with many challenges and obstacles. "Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.." ....To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy?

To read the rest of his story please visit his website at Life without limbs

Or watch the video here :

Nick Vujicic is A Giant of Man

Victory in God's Grace and Perfection

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 1 of 3

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 2 of 3

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 3 of 3

Nick's testimony about overcoming circumstances in one's life

Freedom from Satanism

2006-09-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Jeff honestly believed that Satan had defeated Jesus Christ on the cross and that by serving Satan he was serving the victorious god of this world. However, that was before Jeff met the Man who rose from the grave! Jesus Christ has set Jeff free from Satanism and we invite you to read his story of being delivered from a lie into the TRUTH that will set all who find it, free from darkness!

Introduction in Jeff's own words: I was an eclectic or self-styled Satanist. In other words, if it worked, I used it. I started out basically a philosophical Satanist; LaVeyan Satanism. But, I found out that there was a 'power' or demons were available, thus I began to pursue traditional Satanism, while holding on to what worked from LaVey; his self-centered philosophies. I ended up being possessed by demons because I gave myself over to them in exchange for their 'power'. After coming to Jesus Christ, I was delivered from the demons. To read the rest of his testimony please visit his website at Refuge Ministries