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How I Became A Christian?Gods’ Deliverance from a cult"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations," Jeremiah 1:5 There was a Prophetic word in the late 1980’s in a large Vineyard church there was a major prophetic word that many Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons were going to start coming to the Lord on there own accord. I believe that I am an answer to that prophetic word. There is great power in a persons name. I believe that God ordains names according to His purpose for that persons life. Well as my dad was looking through a book of names he felt like God wanted him to name me Jeremiah. Because in the name book he was reading it said the name Jeremiah means appointed by YAH or God. I believe that God gives gifts and talents to all people before they are born that are part of their natural character and ability that they learn and develop in life. Every person has the choice to follow their God given ability or seek their own way. Gods gifts are irrevocable. I believe according to the word of God that those God calls He equips and that those that He FOREKNEW HE PREDESTINED. Predestination is nothing more or less than God blessing what He knew would happen. He has given all people the ability to reason and choose between right and wrong. God lays the plans He has before you life and allows you to choose to walk in it or not. Gods plan for ones life is revealed through prayer, bible study and obedience to the impressions that God lays upon ones heart. It is all about grace and mercy not merit. God freely gives to all that ask. He is near all who draw near to Him. I come from a mixed religious background. My mom was a nominal Christian but became a Jehovah's Witness when I was 4 years old. My dad was raised Catholic but rebelled and got into drugs and new age movement. My mom had influence over my upbringing, morally and socially. I was taught, “Bad association spoils useful habits.” I wasn’t allowed to play sports or have non Jehovah's Witness friends. I never celebrated my birthday and I didn’t get to participate in holidays like Christmas or other social or fun events. I was raised in an abusive home that sent mixed signals. One of doing the right thing and another of doing the wrong thing. It was so bad at some points that in elementary school the principal would know me by first name within the first month of school. I was always fighting at school. I was also devoted to God but still torn between the conflicting messages from my parents. At one point I was having bible studies with kids at school and the teacher told me not too so I flipped him off and cussed him out. I got a whooping from the principle for that one. That was back when they still practiced corporal punishment. "For
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace
and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and
go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me,
when you search for Me with all your heart," Jeremiah 29:11-13 I was raised to be a Jehovah's Witness by my mom most of my life. My dad was a nominal Catholic but he later got involved with New Age spirituality. My mom was 15 and my dad was 17 when I was conceived they God married over a year latter. They were young and irresponsible and not mature enough to handle the pressures or the responsibility of Marriage. However, they married out of family pressure, feelings of obligation and on my moms part wanting me to have a father. My dad was not a Jehovah's Witness. My mom brought me to the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall and trained me in the ways of the Jehovah's Witnesses. She even had me going door to door at a young age. I had no reason to doubt what I was taught, the Jehovah's Witnesses were nice people and I was doing Gods work. So, I thought! However God had different plans for my life. When I was eight I new the bible so well my mom would ask me how to spell hard words. One day after this I remember waking up from my nap with this desire to go to heaven. So I asked my mom “how can I go to heaven?” My mom told me I had to be one of the 144,000. And so like any curious kid I asked, “what makes them so special.” She said, “Because they know the bible real well.” I said, “Who are the 144,000?” and my mom told me “that Brother Brown was one.” He was overseer in our church. This happened to be a Tuesday and we had Kingdom Ministry School that night and I remember still having this desire that I wanted to go to heaven. When we got to church I remember walking near the front of the church. And as I was at the front of the church by the stage I remember looking back seeing Brother Brown still with the desire to go to heaven fresh on my mind. As I looked at the elder, I had this intense desire to go to heaven. So, I asked God to "Give me the knowledge of the truth like that elder." Then God convicted my heart and I said, "Teach me your truth whatever it is because I want to go to heaven!" I believe that this was the beginning of a life in pursuit of God and His truth. I believe this occurrence was a vital part leading toward my ultimate salvation and faith in Jesus Christ. Sometime during this time period my family went back to Iowa to visit family and we went to my grandmas sister Ruth who used to be a Jehovah’s Witness. My mom told me she was an apostate inside I felt something I liked it was cool. I feel like she had prayed for me and has continued to pray for me and my mom and the rest of our family. I never talked to her but I felt something different that gave me this desire to have what she had. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever, " Isaiah 9:6-7 By the time I was
age Twelve I had read the bible two and a half times through. About this time God
started dealing with me on a deeper level. I was half way through the bible
again reading Isaiah Chapter Nine and I came across Verse Six which calls
Jesus "The Mighty God," and "The Eternal father." And
I started wonder what kind of kid is this he is "The Mighty God,"
"The Eternal father" and “his government shall know no end.”
That’s a powerful kid. I started praying about it and God spoke to me. He told
me that this was, “talking about Jesus and that if my bible calls Jesus God
then He is God.” He reminded my about the JW teaching that there is one true
God, according to Deuteronomy 6:4,
"Jehovah Our God is One Lord." God reminded me that their was "One True God" and in
fact Their bible here was calling Jesus God. I felt like God said if my scripture
calls Jesus God he is God. So I did not argue that but I knew the JW's taught
otherwise, I accepted it as truth but I had questions. So
walked out of my room and I asked my mom how could the JW's believe that Jesus
was a created archangel it made
no sense when scripture called Him "Eternal Father" and "Mighty
God." She pulled out here ‘Reasoning from the Scriptures” book and
tried to explain it away saying Jesus is The Mighty God and Jehovah is The
Almighty God. However in my little mind that would make Jesus a false God
because there is Only One True God and if Jesus is God he is God. My mom could not explain it to me so she took me to one of he elders to help me out. I knew he was going to try to explain away Jesus being God by illustrating the difference between Jehovah the Almighty and Jesus the Mighty God. Therefore, I decided to ask him how they believed Jesus was a created archangel when He is called the "Eternal Father." Speculation does not line up against the weight of scripture. At the age of twelve I was out thinking adults, this was only by the power of God. So when we got there I asked him "If Jesus is ‘Eternal Father,’ that means from eternity to eternity he is father. How can you say he is a created archangel?" To me it made no sense that one scripture said that he spoke with the voice of an archangel and they thought he was an archangel. As a kid I could impersonate allot of voices. If I talked like ET It didn't make me ET this seemed childish to me but I still didn't have it all together. I was still trying to listen to God. Especially when I was talking to them I was asking for God's help. The elder started trying to explain the difference between Almighty God Jehovah and Mighty God Jesus. He was not making any sense he was simply trying to prove a point with a liberal allegorical theology, saying the exact same thing my mom had already said. Their doctrine says every time a scripture says something that is in apposition to their doctrine it is figurative. This is basically allegorical teaching. Contrary to a recent book they wrote called, "All scripture are inspired of God beneficial for teaching, reproving and setting things straight." They left out the part "That the man of God may be fully equipped." It did not make sense if they said all scripture are inspired why can’t they and why don't they and why didn’t they take it literal. The elder would not answer my question he just kept talking about their allegorical beliefs, and I believe God just protected my heart. Then the elder said you will not understand all things now you must trust us, it will work out in time. I had a strong belief to respect my elders so I just said "yeah! Unhunh!" repeatedly until he was satisfied. He ended up saying, "Yeah, you won't understand everything, you will have to just except it." I said "Unhunh yeah." He was more or less proving my point that you can't understand why Jesus is God you have to just except it. I kept it to myself because I did not want to be manipulated into some untruth. This debate I believe is in answer to the prayer I prayed when I was eight. That was like my first personal altar call I guess I am not sure what you want to call it. God worked with me in His own sovereign way. God in those early years taught me to pray before I read His word and when I prayed and read his word he would touch me and change me. I remember one day at school I wanted to tell people about God because of what I was feeling It was awesome. I was feeling the power of God inside me and I hadn't fully gotten delivered from all the J.W stuff I was still going to their church not knowing what to do I was still about twelve to thirteen. So I went out witnessing that afternoon with the JW’s my whole face, body, and everything was dead I could not smile, laugh, nothing. I had no life it was the opposite of what I felt at school and when I was away from my parents’ house and away from the JW’s. I felt like and knew that there was something wrong. When I was in one JW service I felt God call me to lift my hands and worship him I felt awkward because JW's don't do that and I felt called to worship God. It was another one of those soul-rending occasions of seeking God to find out what he wanted and had for my life. The bible does tell us to lift holy hands and worship Jesus. There was one instance were we drove past a church when I was about 15 – 16 years old that was experiencing revival my mom said don’t go there they were demonic. I felt like asking what was wrong with that because my spirit felt drawn toward what I felt in my spirit what God was doing but I decided not to I thought it would cause more problems than not. Gods spirit was dealing with me although I had not been to a Christian Church or had any idea of what they believed. I had not been informed of what they believed but I felt strangely drawn to them. I was told they were apostates, which meant totally nothing to me. My family
didn’t communicate and I couldn’t have friends so I would go on walks away
from everybody to escape the pain of the neglect and the abuse my family dished
out. I remember one time feeling desperate and alone. I had heard about prayer
but I didn't really know what it was so I decided to be real and talk to God
like a real being. I started praying, “God are you really there? I feel lonely
and hurt. I need your help.” This started to become a way to vent and feel
important. By the time I was a freshman in high school my dad had multiple
affairs. Then my mom decided to get even and she had an affair. When the
Jehovah's Witnesses found out my mom got disfellowshiped from the Kingdom Hall
and we quit going to the meetings. My mom had separated with my dad twice
because of all the affairs and the fighting. She kept saying she wanted us to
have a dad and would go back with him. I finally said, “Mom he is no good for
you, we don’t need him. You need to divorce him and go on. He is no good for
us. He is an alcoholic. He is abusive and he has had allot of affairs. What is
going to keep him from having another affair?” I tried to help my mom through
that time and help her make the right decision because I didn't want my mom to
go through that and I didn't want to go through the abuse. At this time it was really hard,
even though I did not admit it at that time. God made it somewhat easier; He
showed me a scripture in the Old Testament that the oldest son was to take
charge if the dad was gone. Therefore, I took responsibility in encouraging my
mom and sister. That was pretty hard my mom hated guys and took it out on me
saying she hated all guys and much more. During the divorce neither of us kids wanted to go with my
dad because he was a drunk and abusive. My dad always had marijuana plants in
the house and got locked up for Marijuana possession a couple of time. My dad
did speed and other drugs. After all this stuff happened I started to rebel.
Going through the divorce was tough all kind of accusations were flying both my
parents we trying to uses us as pawns. Trying to escape from the pain I started
stealing , vandalizing, drinking, doing drugs and hanging with the wrong crowd.
I got locked up a couple of nights for theft and violence and had to do
community service. I went from hanging out with gang members at one point to
hanging out with the gothic crowd. We would play Rifts and Dungeons and Dragons.
I started seeking supernatural power and got involved with Indian spiritualism
finding my spirit animals and all that stuff. I felt like it was wrong and evil
so I didn’t get to far into it. I was testing to see if it was real and it was
and I wanted the good side not the bad side. I remember one time John Jacobs and "The power team" came to my high school. Of course they broke brick's and led us through the sinners’ prayer, I felt God there but my beliefs were not challenged. I believed in Jesus as the son of God who died for my sins. I told one of my friends there afterwards, "Hey, I know about that stuff. I am a Christian." He said, "Really what church do you go to?" I said, "the Kingdom Hall, I am a Jehovah’s Witnesses." He walked of real quick and that is the last time I heard from him. I was ripe for the picking, I was open, hungry for truth and I didn't have any bias. I just wanted God and my friend well lets just say he was a powerful evangelist the James Two Type of Evangelist never heard, seen or thought of, out of sight, and out of mind... note the tinge of sarcasm. Even though a lost person cannot come to Jesus without a preacher. This illustrates what C.P Wagner calls the "Follow up Gap," after massive crusades there are allot of new converts with no where to go and no personal discipleship. These new converts are usually left to be swallowed up by the cares of the world. We must find out how to follow up more completely. One of my favorite things is nature. I always enjoyed nature and the beauty of what God created it always brought me nearer to him. This is why since I was in the fifth grade I found art and draw picture of Gods creation to inspire me. Art was my major from fifth grade until my first year of college. This is one of the things that helped me hold unto God as He changed my worldview. During a time when who I believed God was changed to who God really was. I knew God was real and I knew if there was something wrong it was with my view of God not with God. Because I know and knew God was and is unchangeable. I respected my moms’ wishes to be a Jehovah's Witness out of honor until I was eighteen. When I was about to turn 18 my mom said, “If you go back to the Kingdom Hall I will.” That put allot of responsibility on me and I took it seriously. So I started asking God whether I should be Jehovah's Witness or a Christian. So, I started having Jehovah's Witness book studies again and followed their regimen of book studies, meetings, training and door knocking. I remember some time about this time I was walking back and forth outside the Kingdom Hall after church asking God whether I should be baptized as a J.W or a Christian. and a friend of mine asked me what I was doing and I said, "Praying about whether I should get baptized as a Jehovah's Witness or a Christian?" He replied, "Why would you even wonder about that." He said this because we were all forced to believe that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was Gods one true church, that is was The Truth and that everything else was Apostate. Well I explained to the brother that I had allot of disagreements with what they were teaching and I don't think I could be a Jehovah's Witness. That was the one of the last times I ever went to a Kingdom Hall. After that I had this feeling that God wanted me to be a Christian. While still living under my mom's roof a friend of mine who was one of my Karate instructors asked me if I wanted to go to church with him. I said I couldn't because my mom wouldn't let me and he left me alone after that. I had taken up martial arts to be able to defend myself more efficiently because growing up in Oceanside with all the gang activity and violence I had been through allot of fights and had gotten beaten up a couple times. Coupled with the abuse of my father I decided to learn how to defend myself and I put my heart into it. I was dedicated to learn how to defend myself using against larger assailants envisioning my father pummeling me to the ground and multiple opponents because of the gang members that would mess with me. I was still having my Watchtower Bible and Tract Society studies during this time and the brother I was studying with threatened to disfellowship me if I didn’t stop doing martial arts. "I said were is that is the bible." He said, "Just do it." I said "Why?" He said, "Just do it." In good conscious, I could not just follow orders without scripture backing up what was being proclaimed as truth, at least not without scripture backing it up. Not long after I turned Twenty one of my friends went with his friend to church one weekend and the next weekend I asked if I could go be because I felt like going. The first church I ever went to was Family fellowship Church of Oceanside. It is an Pentecostal Church, I felt God there but the worship was awkward. I was raised in the southern California so I grew up listening to rap, and the worship music sounded like rock. It was okay with my spirit but it wasn't what is was used to. It gave me a headache so I went outside until it was done. I came back in when the sermon started. The preaching was good and mellow and I actually was able to stay awake. It felt good, I felt Jesus in it. I felt like this was my home church, but I was not ready to listen to that kind of music. So, I started going to a home cell church. It was a small group of Christians that met in a home. They had acoustic guitars and did allot of the mellow Vineyard Praise and Worship Music. It was mellow enough for me and after a while I started catching the groove of it. I loved the home church, it was focused on healing, they did a little prayer counseling with me. During this time I got injured real bad in my Karate I had torn both of my rotator cuffs and I was useless I quite my job because I couldn't work. During this time I started going through clinical depression because of the abuse as a child, family pressures, I was failing at school, I got injured and couldn't work or do my pride and joy, Martial Arts. I didn't know what was going on but I was real sick and the doctors couldn't find a physical cause they realized that I was so depressed that my bodies was getting sick. Not long after this I got locked up in a mental institution for trying to commit suicide because I felt like my life was over, I couldn't do anything right, my dad threatened to beat me up and leave me in the dessert to die, my parents were using me as a pawn in their bitter divorce battle, I couldn't live up to either of their expectations and my fiancé was cold and careless. During my night in the mental institution I was crying out to God and I was thinking about what religion I was and what God wanted me to be. I was still fighting the indoctrination that the Jehovah's Witnesses were The Truth but I felt like the church I was going to was The Truth. That night pinned to the bed drugged up crying out to God. God told me that "I am a Christian." No long after this I heard about a healing crusade by Wayman Mitchell the founder of "Potters house." The miracle crusade was cool. When brother Mitchell was preaching He used the name "Jehovah Rapha" which I thought was awesome. He used God's divine name which at the time I thought Christians didn't use enough. He explained healing, sin, repentance and salvation. He talked about Adam and Eve, the fall, the provision for their sin, sacrificial atonement, then the ultimate atonement once for all sins, Jesus on the cross. He shared How God had to shed animals blood to cover their naked bodies, and how Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and that he was alive, present, and here to heal today. Everyone shouted I thought it was exciting. At the end he gave the alter call, I gave my life to The LORD for the first time at an official alter call on August 27, 1996. I went up on stage to get prayer for healing. While Brother Mitchell was praying I felt burning in my shoulders but I didn't think anything of it because when my shoulders hurt they would feel like that. God healed me, I got healed of two torn rotator cuffs. It was awesome. The day before I went I could not drive a block without asking my fiancé to drive however the day after I drove from Oceanside California to Rancho Bernardo California and back twice in my 1978 V.W bus that had no power steering. It was awesome I was totally healed. I had to test whether I was healed or not so I went home and was tossing around a foot ball with the kids in the apartments. If you know anything about torn rotator cuffs you know this is amazing. At this
point I started going to the library to study all the different religions,
denominations and church history to find out what I believed and why. I used
the bible as my number one source lining it all up with what the word of God
says. I had a hard time leaving the JW’S because the told you
it was the truth and that God would judge me and that they would disfellowship
me. So, I didn’t want to miss God so I figure if the JW truth was truth it
would hold up to testing. So, I used the Kingdom interlinear along with Vines
and Strongs to see what the original intent of the writers was. I found
scriptures like and looking into the Greek I found that the JW bible didn’t
hold up to there own literature. ü
John
1:1 The word was God. ü
John
20:28 were Thomas Called Jesus My Lord and My God ü
Titus
2:13 Our great God and savior Jesus Christ. ü
Isaiah
7:14 Immanuel-"God with us" Matthew 1:23 ü
Acts
20:28 The church which God purchased with His own blood ü
Philippians
2:6 Christ being in the very nature God. Even the Kingdom Interlinear Translation didn't agree with their doctrine. So, I continued to pray and seek God's will for my life. I was no longer bound by the lies that if I left what they called "The Truth," I was damned. I knew that what they taught was a lie so I choose to follow the Lord and His word. I ended up going back to the Family Fellowship Church and got filled with the spirit of God and received the gift of prophecy. I was feeling the call to ministry started looking for a bible college to attend. I received my prayer language a few months later at Southwestern Assemblies of God University during a Campus Day Chapel Service. During this time of Renewal of my soul, I got an urgent impression from the Holy Spirit to start witnessing. Soon after my church started an outreach to downtown. That wasn't enough for me I started witnessing to people at the bus stops and at school. I began to do the work God has called every Christian to do to proclaim the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. The best is yet to come, what God has started he will complete and I thank God from whence I came but I also praise Him for were I am headed. God is good and His love and faithfulness endure forever. |
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