TESTIMONIAL 1:
I was born and raised in a faith healing-suffer for your salvation-works based church. All my life never associating with anyone out side the church. Associating with any one outside that church was strictly prohibited. You could have work or school relationships but only surface relationships never getting close to anyone out side the church. All outside the church were considered “worldly”.
Looking back to when I was 18 years old and had a boss that was a Christian outside my church asked me if I was “saved”. That question was completely foreign to me, being saved was something I did not understand, salvation outside our church was impossible. All I knew of salvation was if I did enough good works and they outweighed my sin I MIGHT go to heaven. That question my boss asked me “ are you saved” puzzled and haunted me for years.
Fast forward about 20 years and a friend approached me and asked me if I had ever watched a pastor by the name of Adrian Rodgers on tv . He had his sermons broadcasted on TV on Sunday mornings. I was very reluctant to watch, watching anyone outside the church was strictly prohibited. Every pastor thought-out the world was considered a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they were only considered as hirelings, in it for the money. I eventually decided to start watching him but In secret. If anyone from the church knew I was watching sermons I would be completely cut off. Well upon hearing the gospel preached my life was completely and forever changed. Through many, many ups and downs over the next several years I came to the truth that I needed to leave that church and start attending a gospel preaching church. I have lost most of my family and many friends upon leaving the church I grew up in. Once anyone leaves that church you are cut off completely and rejected. There are many details I have left out but that’s my story in short.”
– M.C.
TESTIMONIAL 2:
No matter where you’re at in your walk with Christ, if you’re struggling Jesus is worth the pain. I was born into a church that taught false teaching. This church has closed itself off from the world. No one can join, you have to be born into it. They think they’re the only ones going to heaven. There is no pastor in this church; the last pastor died in 1969. There are no elders in this church, the last one died when I was a young boy. No sermons and very little Bible is even talked about, they only sing hymns. It’s all about living to the traditions of the elders. We never learned about Jesus, I knew he was God’s son and died on the cross, but that was all. I had never heard about Grace. We prayed to God but only understood the wrath of God, not his love, not his Grace. IF we did enough works and traditions, we might get to pay our way into heaven. Then in June 2017, a pastor walked into that church. God had given him a message to give us. He didn’t come to be our pastor, but to only give his message and then leave. Many men yelled at him to leave, but God gave him strength to give the message. He stood there in faith, enduring the wrath of the crowd. The pastor said, “God had put a message on his heart to tell us”. “We’ve forgotten what Christ did on the cross. We’ve forgotten Grace”! Grace…. What is Grace? What was he talking about? I didn’t know. In my heart I felt I needed to know. I needed to find out about this Grace he spoke about. I told my wife about the pastor’s words of Grace, and she was hungry for Grace too. We were full of fear to talk with anyone in our church about this Grace, this Jesus. If we went against the traditions of the elders, we would get kicked out of our family, the church and lose everything! I was drawn to a small group of men who were starving for this Grace too. We couldn’t stop talking about it, we then started stumbling our way into the Bible. We were like lost sheep in need of a shepherd. We started to listen to sermons online also, It was so scary! We had never heard sermons before. We were taught to fear anything that was outside of our traditions, and hearing someone preach the word of God who wasn’t a part of this church was against the rules. Once you hear a sermon preached and you see Grace…you’re changed forever. We listened and listened to sermons. We couldn’t get enough! I’m talking 30 to 50 sermons a week. We were starving for the word. So, after a couple of months we decided to start a Bible study. That was a big deal. You don’t do Bible studies there, It was a big no-no! We didn’t know what a Bible study even looked like. We googled it and found out a couple local churches were doing studies, so we sent a couple guys to check them out in secret. They went to the studies and brought back papers and notes on what a Bible study looked like. After much discussion, we chose one and started our first Bible study. Our first month of doing the study we basically just cried. The Holy Spirit was moving in such big ways we could hardly contain our emotions. It was so powerful, reading the Bible for the first time. Then we decided to have our wives join us and make a group Bible study, again a huge no- no! We were breaking down walls “Who do we think we are?” People in the church were getting very upset with us. The study went from about 20 at first, then 30 people, then 60 then 80 then 150 people. We outgrew the house we were in and rented an old fire station to meet in. It was so amazing!
If you read the Bible, naturally baptism will come up. We’d never seen a baptism, so again we went to google and had a lot of discussion. We asked a pastor to our Bible study to talk with us all about baptism and what it really represented. We were already starting to be shunned by members of the church, but if we were baptized, we all knew it was going to cost us everything.
So, we met down at the river. And a few of us got baptized. It was amazing! There were over a hundred people there that we didn’t know. The word had gone out to a couple of churches that we were giving up all to follow Christ. They had come to support us. We sang Amazing Grace there at the river. I can’t sing that song without tears in my eyes now. It cost most of us everything. All of our families and friends kicked us out of the church and out of our families too. They treated us like we had died. We were shunned because we believed in Jesus Christ as our savior. We believed in Grace, and we wanted to read the Bible. Matthew 19:29 says: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or mothers or children or lands for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”
We may have lost all of our families and friends, BUT God is so good! Just like in Matthew 19. We’ve gained so many brothers and sisters just like you here before me. We were drawn to good churches that preached the word correctly. It’s so powerful hearing the word preached. It’s not about the traditions of the elders, it’s all about the truth the Bible teaches. I wasn’t looking for Jesus the day that pastor walked into my church. But God, through the Holy Spirit, that day, opened my eyes to truth.
– Anonymous in Oregon
TESTIMONIAL 3:
I grew up in a church with a lot of rules. We had no television, we were not allowed to listen to music, play cards or wear pants, or even wear our hair down, it always had to be in a ponytail or a bun. We went to church twice on Sunday and one week night. We were told we were the one true church. Our ministers claimed they were just like the apostles (except that a lot of them are woman) they have no job no home no income, congregations spanning all over the world. Questioning church doctrine was not allowed, I was always had so many questions, trying to understand what I believed. Kids from school thought we were weird and wanted to know why we did what we did. I never knew why, it made absolutely no sense to me. I left as a young adult and took my own path, which led to sin and destruction. By the grace of God, in 2010 I started listening to John MacArthur sermons and reading my bible with my sister, we did fundamentals of the faith ( a study ) together over the phone. The Lord opened our eyes to see who he was, for the first time. We never knew who God was our entire life, then of course we started realizing that we were sinners in desperate need of salvation. By Gods amazing grace he granted me repentance and I became a new creation in Christ Jesus.”
– S.N.
TESTIMONIAL 4:
“I was 4th generation born and raised in a system that called itself “THE TRUTH”. The men and Women who went out 2×2 to “preach” believed along with many others including myself that they were truly the continuation of the first “Apostles” that the Lord Jesus Himself called and sent out in luke 10 and Matthew 10 which made “this way” alone the way of Jesus, and the “professing” people alone true followers of Christ after the early church.
I was a self righteous Pharisee looking down my nose at those who did not conform properly to the mostly “unspoken”and “outward” rules of being one of the few “children” of God in “His only Way”. Like the Pharisees I was full of hypocrisy and sin abounded in my evil heart.
I do not remember ever doubting “the way” but I never felt hope or an assurance of salvation because I know now that I did not know God and I was not “born again” (John 3 )
I now understand that the Holy Spirit of God was at work all along in my life as He knew what I did not until I was 50 years old that I was one of His “lost “ sheep that “He must bring also” as He so kindly drew me out of a false system to Himself and that he alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
As I devoured His Living Word His amazing grace removed the scales from my eyes and turned my heart of stone to a heart of flesh showing me that He is THE Triune, Holy, Sovereign God of gods and Lord of lords and I am a wretched sinner undeserving of His Love and Forgiveness but can have both because of His precious son who left the glories of heaven, became flesh and dwelt among us,died for my sins and rose to give me new life in Him and because if Him alone I will be accepted into Heaven by the Father because I am covered by His Righteousness.”
– T.K.
TESTIMONIAL 5:
Jesus concludes a parable in Matthew 22:14 with this summary statement: “For many are called, but few are chosen,” which was His way of stating that coming into relationship with God is a “weeding out” process. God’s invitation to relationship with Him is available to all, but not everyone will choose to follow His ways by faith in His ways and on His terms.
My personal faith story is rooted in family. From a human perspective, my “calling” to relationship with God started with my Swedish great-grandmother (whom I never met) praying for a future grandson or great-grandson to come to faith in Jesus, and then to become a preacher! My parents, who had received God’s free gift of salvation just prior to my birth, raised me in a home and church that placed the highest value on God’s Word. When I was 8 years old, my brother knelt beside me between our twin beds and helped me pray, asking God to forgive me for my sins and sinfulness, and save me from an eternity in hell, so that I might live with Him in Heaven.
This began an ongoing process, lasting more than six decades now, of shaping my life more and more into who God created me to be. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). I am thankful for 72 years (and counting!) on this planet, but I’m also looking forward to an eternity in the New Heaven and on God’s re-created New Earth!
– T.R.
TESTIMONIAL 6:
I was blessed to grow up in a loving Christian home. The church community was my extended family, where I observed different generations worshiping, learning, serving, enjoying one another, and many, including two siblings, committing their lives to sharing the good news of the gospel overseas. I would say much of my formative years in the faith were caught as well as taught.
My faith story has been progressive in nature. As I grew in understanding, I would face new choices to follow or reject Jesus. As a young child I grew up knowing and singing that Jesus loved me. I had no reason to doubt that great truth. Around the ages of 6 or 7, I became aware of my tendencies toward sin and also knew the penalty for that sin would be eternity without God. I had memorized the Bible verse in Romans 6:23 that said, “The wages of sin is death (separation), but the free gift of God was eternal life”. So, at a young age, I responded to what I knew by trusting Jesus’s work on the cross, and was baptized. This was a decision centered on me and my great fear of what would happen to me if I didn’t. Trusting in Jesus as my Savior was easy. What was difficult was learning to put Jesus in his rightful place as my Creator and learning to submit to his lordship over me.
My teen years would best be described as a tug of war of wills within my heart.
I was learning that God respects our right to choose him or reject him in the daily activities and habits of our lives. But with those choices come consequences that would lead me toward a path of life or death. One evening, at 18 years old, I was encouraged to spend a few hours quietly alone with God, asking Him to search my heart and show me my true self and how he saw me. During that holy conversation Jesus lovingly showed me that I had been sacrificing peace and a deep joy of his presence. My pursuits had left me empty and longing for the abundant life promised me in the Bible. That night I bowed not only my knee but also my heart to King Jesus, repenting of trying to take his rightful place over my life. That evening was key for me and changed the trajectory of my life.
I am so grateful that my Creator designed me to be in a loving relationship with Him.
I have learned that God’s great love for me can be trusted, and that he has great plans for my life that are beyond what I could think, ask him for or even imagine. Plans that would bring him glory, and me, my greatest joys.
– D.R.
TESTIMONIAL 7:
I grew up in a God fearing house with my younger brother and sister, with loving parents. They taught me about God and Jesus and that the Bible is the word of God. I was taught how Christians behaved and that things like lying, cheating, and foul language were wrong. I’m so thankful to have had parents that wanted me to know God, and only wanted the very best for me and my brother and sister. Growing up I was told that, the way our congregation currently was, is wrong and that there are things that our congregation didn’t have that we needed. I was taught to read Gods word to know the truth, for God can not lie. We constantly read about how we are to be baptized into Christ and partake in the lords supper. Our congregation didn’t do those things (baptisms and the lords supper) and those were not popular topics to talk about. My parents let me know early on that we might not be treated very well by everyone at church because we thought that way. Even with all that, I had friends and lying helped me to fit in. I thought that we would be ok out there because God knew our situation and that being a merciful God he would make a way for us. It was hard for me to trust in that and believe it, so I tried not to think about it and moved on.When I was a teenager I shamelessly lied my way into or out of anything. I knew how to act like a Christian on the outside but inside was no different then anyone in the world. I was proud, arrogant, desired more to please people and get my own way than to please God. In my heart I openly invited the lust of the flesh , lust of the eyes and the pride of life. But outwardly I could fake it and did my best to ignore any guilt. In spite of my rebellion to God, and in His abundant mercy, He blessed me with a wonderful, supportive, loving and faithful wife. In my marriage I failed to be a spiritual leader, I was selfish, never considering her and her needs over my own. I was far from being someone that she should respect or follow. When I did read the Bible it was to point out how others were wrong, always failing to examine my self and my faults, I was exalted.Despite my way of life, God blessed us with 3 beautiful healthy children. For the first time I began to feel the guilt for the way I had been living and it wouldn’t go away. Tho God had blessed us with healthy happy babies, guilt was eating me up. I was ashamed of the hypocrite I had become. I would try to live the right way, I would try not to lie or look down on others. Or try to put others first but found I was only doing it so that I would look good in front of others. This would discourage me and before I knew it I was right back to my old ways. Looking back it seems it was around this time when God stepped in. At church one day someone said that Christ died for my sins, tho I had heard that a thousand times it sounded different this time, it hurt me, I felt shame when he said it! I realized that I was a sinner, in that moment I saw the weight of my sin, I am the one that should die. But in His mercy, he spared me and it was Jesus who died because of sin, my sin. I remember Dad telling me once, that if I’m truly sorry I will stop doing it. I never understood that until then. That is repentance!”Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.“Acts 2:37-38My life hasn’t been the same. There is a thirst and a desire that I have never had before! Looking back on my life, it makes me sick to think how undeserving I was while he was so loving and forgiving.“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”2 Corinthians 5:17-18I was the sick that Jesus healed….I was the lame that was made whole…I was Barabbas, for whom Jesus took the place of on the cross.I owe everything to him, and profess to you all that Jesus is my Lord and savior and the King of heaven and earth.– E.D