Popular Post Heavyduty053 Posted July 12, 2011 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) I want to relate my story to anyone who wants to read it and the rest can bash if they want to. I grew up in a home in the Alabama in a family of seven kids, me being the last. My dad was a share cropper meaning he live off the land on the farm we had. We grew our own vegetables and dad with the help of neighbors would kill hogs and cows for our meat. The men would all gather on a pre determined day usually a saturday in winter so the meat wouldn't spoil to help the neighbor with this. Each neighbor would set aside a time to have this at their house because this was the way that families would have food for the coming months. When i say farm i remember it being maybe 10 acres or so. My dad went in to the ministry and became a Southern Baptist preacher and that was some time around 1950 and as he told me God came to him one day while plowing and he tried to run from it but the feeling grew stronger until he gave in. He was one who preached from the Bible and lived it. Yes he believed in preaching hard and did up until the day he died in 1995. Kids who came to church where we were usually were allowed to sit together somewhere towards the back if we were quiet, but i remember one sunday while dad was preaching something caught my attention and held it until the end of service. At 7 years old i gave my life to christ even though i had no clue of what i was supposed to do. Thru the years Mom and dad fatefully went to where ever dad was preaching at. At the age of 14 i quit going to church because i fell into to much the world had to offer. I went the way of the world not fully realizing that God still had me in his sights. He let me taste what i wanted to within reason i guess, i never got into serious trouble. I joined the Air Force at the age of 18 in"1971". When i joined it didn't dawn on me that i would be sent out of this country but i was. When they told me i was headed for Turkey for 26 months. During this time over there i was fornunite enough to go to Ephesus and walk thru the ruins of that ancient city of the Bible. I walked the streets that the Apostile Paul walked. On that day it had to be 98 degrees but i remember i had cold chill bumps on my arms walking down those pathwaysi had no idea why. Skipping ahead a few years when i got out of the military i got married had kids, still going down the wrong path. Seemed like there was never enough money for family. It felt like someone or something was holding me back for some reason and i did't have enough brain to figure it out. Still never wanting to have anything to do with God or church i found other things to take its place. One sunday morning at about age 30 i told my wife lets go to church. My dad was retired from active preaching and just filling in when and where they needed him so we went to the church they went to. Little did i know there was a guess preacher that sunday morning and he preached my life down my throat. As the service closed i went up to the alter kneeled down with tears in my eyes and heard jesus say to me " Welcome home " all i could say was i'm sorry lord for what i have done. My mom and dad came up and put their arms around me and mom told me she had been praying for this for a long time. When i was baptitized afin into Gods family My dad pertisipated along with the preacher there and this meant more to me than anything in the world. He shared a lot of wisdom with me thru his remaining years and i am glad i listened because it has helped me through some ruff times. They are both gone now i know that i will see them again someday but until then i will remember that God has my back and with him all things are possible. It is hard to write something like this and trying to keep tears out of your eyes so you can see. My dad and mom was poor by some standards and even though they never told us kids they loved us it was plain to see it was shown everyday. They never gave up on me and prayed on my behalf for so many years and i am glad they cared enough. I have finally figured out that God let me go the way of the world so when it was time to come home i would have seen what it was like and the troubles and heartaches it brung with it.........How do i know that god was with me thru my rambling years ever though i didn't recognize it..... because there was many times throughout my life that i should have been dead. Heavyduty053 Edited July 12, 2011 by Heavyduty053 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlnd Posted July 12, 2011 Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks HEAVYDUTY053 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonnet Posted July 12, 2011 Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks, HeavyDuty . . . no matter how far we run . . . His Love is deeper still . . . His Grace is Amazing!!! Thanks for sharing it with us. +! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the next contestant Posted July 12, 2011 Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks Heavy, you are always an inspiration. We may not agree 100% on everything, it's more like 94%. But that's more than some of my long time friends. Lol. If we never meet down here, there will be time up there! Just remember Jesus's grace is more than sufficient for you and me. And it's renewed each morning with the sunrise! Bless you my friend. Peace 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyduty053 Posted July 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks Heavy, you are always an inspiration. We may not agree 100% on everything, it's more like 94%. But that's more than some of my long time friends. Lol. If we never meet down here, there will be time up there! Just remember Jesus's grace is more than sufficient for you and me. And it's renewed each morning with the sunrise! Bless you my friend. Peace Amen brother if i don't see you on this side i will see you on the other. They can take everything we have but they can't take our faith. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinars4me2 Posted July 12, 2011 Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 What a heartwarming story, Heavyduty053...thanks for sharing it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyduty053 Posted July 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2011 What a heartwarming story, Heavyduty053...thanks for sharing it!! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hashim1968 Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Good Post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Native Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thank you, Thank you for sharring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caleb08 Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thank you for telling us about your life. My family was also poor and there were 5 of us all girls. I never new we were poor even when my relatives would make ugly remarks to us. My parents also died in 1995 and when I saw that your father died in 1995 I started crying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyduty053 Posted July 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thank you for telling us about your life. My family was also poor and there were 5 of us all girls. I never new we were poor even when my relatives would make ugly remarks to us. My parents also died in 1995 and when I saw that your father died in 1995 I started crying. i wish more people would be true to themselves and share what life was like growing up and what brought them to where they are now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
429 Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks, Heavyduty053. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AoK Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks Heavyduty053! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkerBee Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks for sharing Heavy. Even thought we have free will, I'm a big believer in God's perfect will. Some of us just take longer than others! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turner561 Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Great Post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyduty053 Posted July 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks for sharing Heavy. Even thought we have free will, I'm a big believer in God's perfect will. Some of us just take longer than others! If God had not of given us free will of choice we would all be doomed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanga Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thank-you Heavy. Many have been down your path and survived do to Gods will and strength. I share my story sparingly and only when the spirt moves me to do so. God Bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPSprayduster Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thumbs up Heavy!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmw Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 gave me chills reading it...thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyduty053 Posted July 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 That was awesome, I think giving our testimony is a powerful thing to do and I know for a fact that it can lead others to the Lord. I have done this before here and for your effort I would like to do it again... I want to do something here that I am a little concerned might cause me some issues, Nevertheless, something tells me that you might benefit from this. If so then Praise God, If not then please understand that what I have wrote I have done not only because of my love for Jesus Christ, but my love for humanity as a whole. Muslim, Jew, Christian, Atheist ... and the rest, I pray that God will use these words to his glory.... There is nothing that I can say that would change your mind, of this I am sure, so I am not making any attempt to do so. I simply want to tell you about my experience with Christ, what you do with that is up to you. I was raised Lutheran, but at the age of 13 my sister had an affair with the preacher and his wife found out. So she decided to confront him with it on a Sunday morning. Thus ended my family going to church. It did not, however, end Gods dealing with me. From the age of 13 to 18 I lived as secular a life as any teenager, and have suffered the consequences of that my entire life. It was one Sunday while I was 18 that I felt like going to church, I went alone and do not remember why. Just did. I heard the gospel preached for the first time in my life and indeed was quite moved by it. At the end of the service the preacher told us that if we wanted to give our life to Jesus we could simply stand up and say this little prayer. I followed his prayer and thought myself to be saved, as they call it. A few weeks later I joined the Marines and was stationed in Hawaii, KMCAS 3rd bat/ 3rd marines H co. I know what a rough duty station. We went on a west-pac and one fly-away to Okinawa. So as you can imagine it did not take me long to forget about the commitment I supposedly made with God. It was in Hawaii that I met a young man through a collage program who introduced me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As you probably can perceive I did not grow up in a stable family environment, so, the " Mormons " family unity was extremely appealing to me. I was Baptized and became a Mormon. It was at this time that I began to study the bible and the book of Mormon with more intent than a seminary student. I feel confident that my knowledge of the word of God, while it can always get better, is far better than most preachers. And I love it when I meet someone with more understanding than myself, as I thrive on learning. After three years I became an Elder in the church and have even done some temple work. It was at this time in my life that I began to have a serious problem with the doctrine I was being taught. You see I not only need absolute honesty, I demand it. I will not accept anything less, especially where my God is concerned. I have always thought, If God is real, and this is true then I darn sure do not want to get it wrong. Mormons believe that, as God is we shall become. Ok that sounds plausible given the concept of eternity. But it does not stop there, as we are God once was. Now hold the presses, you probably could convince me that given eternity I could be able to create universes, however, I simply can not accept that my God, any god for that matter, could ever have been as stupid as I. After some time I lost faith in this and all religion, and set out to live my life as you so eloquently put it, " this is all we have..." It was some 10yrs latter that my second wife insisted I go with her to a Baptist church. I told her that I would give it a chance but after she had to stop nagging me about it. You know I never had any intentions of accepting what was said. Nevertheless, for the first time in my life I heard the word of God preached with power and could not dismiss this. Shortly thereafter I was again baptized and set out to live my life as a,"good Christian". It was not until after witnessing Christians doing some of the most despicable things to other Christians, and another very nasty divorce that I once again lost all faith in religion. But not God this time. I became one of those people who believed I did not need to go to Church to follow God. I would tell others about Jesus whenever I could and indeed led some to the Lord. In the grand scheme of things I found myself back in Mississippi with a Christian friend and we started having church in my house. We led some more young adults to the Lord and for a time I thought myself to be a good Christian. But as people always do there own self interest crept in and began to quench my faith once more. It was a friend of mine that began to ask me to go with his family to a, " revival ". He just would not stop, kept telling me how much it would help my faith grow. Of course I reminded him how that the scriptures tell us, " in the last days they will heap to them preachers, having itchy ears". In my believe only God could give a revival, and that would be more like the day of Pentecost than what we now call revival. Once again I submitted to go only one time if that would shut him up. A couple of years prior to this event I bought a King James 1611 study bible and one of the first verses that I underlined in red was Mathew 7:21-23 ," Not everyone that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven....22 many will say to me that day, Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And I will tell them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity." I put a red question mark above it because I could not understand how God could say such a thing to people who had done so much for him. Well this, revival, preacher got up and like all baptist preachers started making a few jokes. I looked at my friend and scratched my ear, he new what I meant, but only smiled. Finally the preacher told us to open our bibles to Mathew 7: 21-23. The second my eyes looked at the red question mark I had made so many years before I seemed to have lost my hearing. That is to say I could not here another word the preacher spoke. That is because God himself started to speak to me. I AM GOING TO SAY THOSE WORDS TO YOU. YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT ME, INDEED YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT ME THAN THE PREACHER IN FRONT OF YOU NOW. BUT YOU DON'T KNOW ME. ALL YOU HAVE IS BOOK SMARTS, ALL I WANT IS A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP. IF YOU DON'T COME AT ME LIKE A CHILD TO HIS DADDY AND DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH ME THEN YOU LIE TO YOURSELF. YOU WILL GO TO HELL. I would love to tell you that I went down and got saved rite then, but that did not happen. Even after hearing the voice of God himself I just could not grasp that after 3 baptisms I was not saved. After Church I went to my friends home for dinner. I relayed to him the experience that I had, seeking his advice. I conveyed to him that I just could not accept that I was not saved. All my friend would say to me is, do you want to go to the evening service early to talk with the preacher? I agreed to and what happened there is something that very few people here would admit to. But as I have stated before, I must have total honesty when it comes to my God, and that means here also. I made up my mind, I was going to go over every sin that I knew I had committed and some that could only be a portability. I asked this preacher, Can a Christian commit adultery? He said, Yes. Can a Christian commit murder? Again, Yes [let me clarify here, if you get a woman pregnant and she gets an abortion, in my opinion you are guilty of murder.] Can a Christian lie? Yes Can a Christian steal? Yes Can a Christian manipulate others with evil intent? Yes I then stopped, thinking to myself two things. What other sins have I done that I do not know? And second I was thinking, wheew this morning must have been some kind of fluke. It was then that this preacher sorta cocked his head in amazement and said to me, " but Scotty, a Christian who did those things would be so overwrought with guilt that they nearly could not live with their self. Then it happened, POWER the such as I have never felt before or since in my life hit me. Without control I began wailing, crying with such a guilt that I just wanted to die. Indeed if I would have had a gun at that moment I probably would have. Then he asked me if I wanted to pray the prayer of deliverance with him? With tears streaming down my face, bawling like a 2year old I said NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! this is between me and my God alone, then I cried out to God, " please save me Jesus, please save me from myself. I can not do this anymore, I don't know how to. Oh God I need you, I need you to make this real for me. PLEASE SAVE ME FROM MYSELF " Later that week I was baptized in the name of Jesus for the only time that mattered. I wish I could tell you that we have lived happily ever after, but that would be a lie. What I can tell you is this, I am a rebel, a Bad Boy for Christ, if you will. And believe me if your truly saved by the grace of God, when you sin, you will feel GUILT! The Holy Spirit will eat you alive until you either repent or push him away. But God has a plan and he ALWAYS gets what he wants. I have spent every day since June 18th 1998 at 6:30pm seeking the kingdom of heaven. Drawing nearer to God, and he is faithful. What will he do with me? Lets just say, What can God do with a person 100% committed to him? I pray I find out, but know I am not worthy. Let everything I do be in the name of Christ, for his glory. Because when your saved God never gives up. Read more: http://dinarvets.com...0#ixzz1S0440A3B J.F. that was an awesome testimony and i Thank You, i hope we can keep this going. Easyrider started this with his testimony and it inspired me to come forward and share mine. Jesus said if you are ashamed of me i will be ashamed of you before my father. We who call ourselves christians should not be ashamed to write, hear, listen to, or talk about the one who is our savior. So many pass up the opportunity and lower their heads in shame. Come on people if you are proud to call jesus your savior then speak up...........step up........ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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