Thanks guys, hope to hear your testimonies if you want to share it.
TK , Brown may have been debating Tovia Singer the appointed debating Rabbi who works with "Jews for Judaism" who are anti-missionaries against "Jews for Jesus."
Ironically i heard a testimony from a jewish believer who inadvertantly got converted by Tovia Singer. Tovia was demonstrating how to answer missionaries and he played the role of a missionary and presented Isaiah 53 in a mocking way. This jewish person checked out Isa 53 on his own and it helped lead to his acceptance of Christ.
My testimony
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_STEVE7150
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Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
actually- the debate i saw was vs. a rabbi named schmuley boteach-(i did some checking) apparently he is rather popular with several books and a radio show. i heard them discussing the Davinci code, along with a couple of other panelists. it was very interesting.
TK
TK
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
"Were not our hearts burning within us? (Lk 24:32)
Re: My testimony
It looks like it has been a while since anyone was here, but the thread title is appropriate so I hope it's okay to share my story here. Before I do, I want to say that I appreciated reading the other testimonies on this thread. Thank you for sharing them.
Ten years ago today, I placed my faith in Jesus Christ being God. I first gave my life to Him when I was seven but, being raised in a SDA cult---like a psychological David Koresh experience, I eventually fell away. "The end of the world is coming" and "you will be persecuted" and "you are sinning" "so you are going to hell" were the usual messages of life. I was indoctrinated daily to expect detailed, horrific tortures that were said to happen "any month now." At each milestone, I was told Jesus is "coming soon" and the "Time of Trouble" is "any day now." "You will NEVER graduate from high school!," a dramatic preacher's wife declared as I graduated junior high. Since I couldn't keep all the commandments (not just The Ten Commandments, but a long list of doctrinal beliefs and practices) I was said to be "going to hell." Compound that with my alcoholic dad and other complications and my life was pretty sad. I look back and believe my ray of light was my mom's dad; I called him Daddyearl. He was my grandfather, a practicing amatuer carpenter (built six houses for his family, the last of which I watched), a writer, poet, philosopher, and Sunday School Teacher in the "Disciples of Christ" (First Christian) denomination. I didn't get to spend huge amounts of time with him but his influence on me, I believe, was a light in the darkness. He was a gentle man.
At age 16, I married so I could have a child before Jesus came and, according to Matt 24, hopefully get him weaned before the Time of Trouble "run to the mountains." I got pregnant right away and had a wonderful little boy and I felt that for the first time in my life, I knew unconditional love. He didn't care what my voice sounded like; he cooed when I sang. He laughed with me and played with me; we grew up together. During those early years though, I got divorced by age 18 and found street drugs relieved the pain of life. I believe the Lord used my son's presense in my life to keep me from the depths of sin, but I was a lost and lonely hippee in those years. By the time he was five, I knew I had to "get it together" or else I was destined to pass on some really painful stuff to him. I sought help but wedded a second husband and we had two more wonderful children, but then I got divorced again. By this time, I was determined to "make something out of my life" so as a single mom, I joined the Twelve Step Program for Adult Children of Alcoholics and went to college to earn a four year degree--the first person in my family to do that. Then, I earned my masters in a humanistic discipline. While in college, I studied philosophy, psychology, religion, anthropology, and unfortunately got excited about New Age spirituality, including mind-control techniques. I was looking for truth, but "settled on" extensive studies and practices in Buddhism and Native American philosophies. There was a meditation room on campus that I frequented, but a Christian colleague prayed for me. He earned his masters two years before me so he and I often debated theory. We never agreed. But he never got mad; he only defended his point of view with reason and kindness. (A few years after I became a Christian, I went to his office and told him, "You were right; I was wrong." We shared a good laugh! It was then when he told me that he used to pray for me when he saw me go into the Buddhist meditation room. As a new Christian reading the Bible for the first time in 24 years, I soon realized that I had unwittingly played the Jew, looking for a sign, and the Greek, seeking after wisdom. (I Cor. 1:22)
While attending college, the "Die with Dignity" legislation passed in Oregon, and that stunned me to think that the majority of people in Oregon wanted the right to take life if they wanted to. I could see that morals were spiraling down to what I termed a "popularity contest." Right and wrong was no longer a part of American life, but rather if you could convince enough people to go along with your idea, then that somehow made it okay. From then forward I could not stand with my New Age friends, but could not stand with Jesus either because I had become so convinced that He was not--could not be--God.
Fresh out of college as a "late bloomer" with teenagers, I began to look for a job in my field where I could maintain daily time with my children. During college years, it was easier to do this since I could take my classes during their school hours. During this time of transition, I was informed of a platonic drug buddy from the 70's, supposedly dying, in a southern US prison. Finding this news felt like someone cut off my legs at the knees. I was stunned, shocked and grieved because I always thought that friend would have a beautiful family somewhere and be living a happy life. I thought my life was the struggle, but never thought his would be. This really got me thinking---again---about the suffering of humanity, not just his, but it grew to a global concern. My heart sank as I counted the names of young people that I had known before they died in the "drug war." I counted my family members who died from alcoholism. My thoughts were deeply troubled by the realization of the '90s Rwandan blood baths. I had thought Buddhism answered the question of human suffering, but couldn't accept the philosophy of illusion any longer, and my pre-conceived New Age "positive thinking" crumbled under the weight of the issue of suffering.
So it was on the Thursday before Easter of 1999, ten years ago today, that I entered into a Catholic church to gain what I thought would be emotional relief and an eclectic spiritual experience. (The Catholic Church was the only church open on a Thursday night before Easter!) I had already spoken with my Buddhist teacher and Native American vision-quest guide. Neither of them had answers that I could accept as loving toward the suffering one. I wanted, somehow, to care about people and to find others who cared about people too. I thought of it as seeking a people who would give some of their lives for others to live too. By now, the question of authority was looming large in my mind too. "By what authority do you speak into my life?" kept growing in my mind.
I sat in the Catholic Church listening to the litergy (my SDA upbringing taught that the Pope is the 666 from satan) and I cried so hard my blouse was sloppy wet. During the welcoming moment, the priest came down off his pedestal, walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "peace be with you." I didn't look up but was amazed that he cared enough to do that. The meeting went on and as I heard the story of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemenie, I was on my knees wet with tears. I heard someone reading that Jesus was on his knees sweating drops of blood--suffering for mankind--for me! As I listened, they read how Peter denied Jesus three times in one night. I couldn't count the YEARS that I had denied He was God! Now my attention was turned from the issue of human suffering to my relationship with "the God of the Universe." Jesus said, "I am God." I felt this impression grow in my senses until I could not ignore it anymore. I thought, "I only have a drop of faith that You are God and I have a bucket of doubt." "I'll take you on that drop!" I felt that so clearly that I agreed to believe. Then, I remembered a verse from 30 years prior, "Lord, I believe, help me with my unbelief." I asked Jesus what he wanted me to do. I felt Him clearly impress me to "READ MY WORD! Stop reading all those other books about all those other religions!" I began to calm down as the meeting grew to a close. I felt a freshness of resolve to get to know the real Jesus Christ through reading the Bible for myself. I lingered in the sanctuary and looked at the images, thinking about "666," SDA and all the other religions I had "tasted." The priest smiled as he calmly said, "He rose again so come back Sunday." I sincerely thanked him, but did not return.
Over the last ten years, again and again, the Lord has taught me that being a Christian is simply being a disciple of Jesus Christ. I hope this story encourages others to pray for your older loved ones. They say older people are hard to reach, but the Lord can go anywhere. He can reach your loved ones too. My young adult daughter gave her life to Jesus eight years ago and we started a discipling relationship within a week. We met for Bible study 7 1/2 years weekly in person, drawing the interest and attendance of many of her friends. I even had the great privilage of leading her husband, my beloved son-in-law, to Jesus Christ. What a humbling and loving experience! My daughter and I continue to read and pray together daily by cell phones. Almost everyone in her family has been baptised in Jesus, even her father, step-mother and step-sisters. Jesus Christ is my King and He continues to stretch me to live His ways. Just last night, I feel that the Holy Spirit woke me early to guide me through a stewardship issue. I'm always learning more about how He wants me to give Him honor and glory. Today, I praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our Father and Holy Spirit for ten wonderful years of living in His light and grace!
p.s. I know this is long, but I need the reader to know that God taught me never to embark on a career outside His will. Obviously, I didn't ask Him about college because it was steeped in New Age teaching. My career never "made it" but the Lord has always been faithful. I still pray that He use my mistakes to further His kingdom.
Ten years ago today, I placed my faith in Jesus Christ being God. I first gave my life to Him when I was seven but, being raised in a SDA cult---like a psychological David Koresh experience, I eventually fell away. "The end of the world is coming" and "you will be persecuted" and "you are sinning" "so you are going to hell" were the usual messages of life. I was indoctrinated daily to expect detailed, horrific tortures that were said to happen "any month now." At each milestone, I was told Jesus is "coming soon" and the "Time of Trouble" is "any day now." "You will NEVER graduate from high school!," a dramatic preacher's wife declared as I graduated junior high. Since I couldn't keep all the commandments (not just The Ten Commandments, but a long list of doctrinal beliefs and practices) I was said to be "going to hell." Compound that with my alcoholic dad and other complications and my life was pretty sad. I look back and believe my ray of light was my mom's dad; I called him Daddyearl. He was my grandfather, a practicing amatuer carpenter (built six houses for his family, the last of which I watched), a writer, poet, philosopher, and Sunday School Teacher in the "Disciples of Christ" (First Christian) denomination. I didn't get to spend huge amounts of time with him but his influence on me, I believe, was a light in the darkness. He was a gentle man.
At age 16, I married so I could have a child before Jesus came and, according to Matt 24, hopefully get him weaned before the Time of Trouble "run to the mountains." I got pregnant right away and had a wonderful little boy and I felt that for the first time in my life, I knew unconditional love. He didn't care what my voice sounded like; he cooed when I sang. He laughed with me and played with me; we grew up together. During those early years though, I got divorced by age 18 and found street drugs relieved the pain of life. I believe the Lord used my son's presense in my life to keep me from the depths of sin, but I was a lost and lonely hippee in those years. By the time he was five, I knew I had to "get it together" or else I was destined to pass on some really painful stuff to him. I sought help but wedded a second husband and we had two more wonderful children, but then I got divorced again. By this time, I was determined to "make something out of my life" so as a single mom, I joined the Twelve Step Program for Adult Children of Alcoholics and went to college to earn a four year degree--the first person in my family to do that. Then, I earned my masters in a humanistic discipline. While in college, I studied philosophy, psychology, religion, anthropology, and unfortunately got excited about New Age spirituality, including mind-control techniques. I was looking for truth, but "settled on" extensive studies and practices in Buddhism and Native American philosophies. There was a meditation room on campus that I frequented, but a Christian colleague prayed for me. He earned his masters two years before me so he and I often debated theory. We never agreed. But he never got mad; he only defended his point of view with reason and kindness. (A few years after I became a Christian, I went to his office and told him, "You were right; I was wrong." We shared a good laugh! It was then when he told me that he used to pray for me when he saw me go into the Buddhist meditation room. As a new Christian reading the Bible for the first time in 24 years, I soon realized that I had unwittingly played the Jew, looking for a sign, and the Greek, seeking after wisdom. (I Cor. 1:22)
While attending college, the "Die with Dignity" legislation passed in Oregon, and that stunned me to think that the majority of people in Oregon wanted the right to take life if they wanted to. I could see that morals were spiraling down to what I termed a "popularity contest." Right and wrong was no longer a part of American life, but rather if you could convince enough people to go along with your idea, then that somehow made it okay. From then forward I could not stand with my New Age friends, but could not stand with Jesus either because I had become so convinced that He was not--could not be--God.
Fresh out of college as a "late bloomer" with teenagers, I began to look for a job in my field where I could maintain daily time with my children. During college years, it was easier to do this since I could take my classes during their school hours. During this time of transition, I was informed of a platonic drug buddy from the 70's, supposedly dying, in a southern US prison. Finding this news felt like someone cut off my legs at the knees. I was stunned, shocked and grieved because I always thought that friend would have a beautiful family somewhere and be living a happy life. I thought my life was the struggle, but never thought his would be. This really got me thinking---again---about the suffering of humanity, not just his, but it grew to a global concern. My heart sank as I counted the names of young people that I had known before they died in the "drug war." I counted my family members who died from alcoholism. My thoughts were deeply troubled by the realization of the '90s Rwandan blood baths. I had thought Buddhism answered the question of human suffering, but couldn't accept the philosophy of illusion any longer, and my pre-conceived New Age "positive thinking" crumbled under the weight of the issue of suffering.
So it was on the Thursday before Easter of 1999, ten years ago today, that I entered into a Catholic church to gain what I thought would be emotional relief and an eclectic spiritual experience. (The Catholic Church was the only church open on a Thursday night before Easter!) I had already spoken with my Buddhist teacher and Native American vision-quest guide. Neither of them had answers that I could accept as loving toward the suffering one. I wanted, somehow, to care about people and to find others who cared about people too. I thought of it as seeking a people who would give some of their lives for others to live too. By now, the question of authority was looming large in my mind too. "By what authority do you speak into my life?" kept growing in my mind.
I sat in the Catholic Church listening to the litergy (my SDA upbringing taught that the Pope is the 666 from satan) and I cried so hard my blouse was sloppy wet. During the welcoming moment, the priest came down off his pedestal, walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "peace be with you." I didn't look up but was amazed that he cared enough to do that. The meeting went on and as I heard the story of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemenie, I was on my knees wet with tears. I heard someone reading that Jesus was on his knees sweating drops of blood--suffering for mankind--for me! As I listened, they read how Peter denied Jesus three times in one night. I couldn't count the YEARS that I had denied He was God! Now my attention was turned from the issue of human suffering to my relationship with "the God of the Universe." Jesus said, "I am God." I felt this impression grow in my senses until I could not ignore it anymore. I thought, "I only have a drop of faith that You are God and I have a bucket of doubt." "I'll take you on that drop!" I felt that so clearly that I agreed to believe. Then, I remembered a verse from 30 years prior, "Lord, I believe, help me with my unbelief." I asked Jesus what he wanted me to do. I felt Him clearly impress me to "READ MY WORD! Stop reading all those other books about all those other religions!" I began to calm down as the meeting grew to a close. I felt a freshness of resolve to get to know the real Jesus Christ through reading the Bible for myself. I lingered in the sanctuary and looked at the images, thinking about "666," SDA and all the other religions I had "tasted." The priest smiled as he calmly said, "He rose again so come back Sunday." I sincerely thanked him, but did not return.
Over the last ten years, again and again, the Lord has taught me that being a Christian is simply being a disciple of Jesus Christ. I hope this story encourages others to pray for your older loved ones. They say older people are hard to reach, but the Lord can go anywhere. He can reach your loved ones too. My young adult daughter gave her life to Jesus eight years ago and we started a discipling relationship within a week. We met for Bible study 7 1/2 years weekly in person, drawing the interest and attendance of many of her friends. I even had the great privilage of leading her husband, my beloved son-in-law, to Jesus Christ. What a humbling and loving experience! My daughter and I continue to read and pray together daily by cell phones. Almost everyone in her family has been baptised in Jesus, even her father, step-mother and step-sisters. Jesus Christ is my King and He continues to stretch me to live His ways. Just last night, I feel that the Holy Spirit woke me early to guide me through a stewardship issue. I'm always learning more about how He wants me to give Him honor and glory. Today, I praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our Father and Holy Spirit for ten wonderful years of living in His light and grace!
p.s. I know this is long, but I need the reader to know that God taught me never to embark on a career outside His will. Obviously, I didn't ask Him about college because it was steeped in New Age teaching. My career never "made it" but the Lord has always been faithful. I still pray that He use my mistakes to further His kingdom.
Jesus said, "I in them and you in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." John 17:23
Re: My testimony
selah,
Thanks so much for posting your testimony. I was very moved by it.
Michelle
Thanks so much for posting your testimony. I was very moved by it.
Michelle
Re: My testimony
Really?Michelle wrote:selah,
Thanks so much for posting your testimony. I was very moved by it.
Michelle
I thought it might be boring (and definitely long winded) so I didn't know how it would go over! Thanks for sharing your reaction. Do you have yours posted somewhere?
Selah*
Jesus said, "I in them and you in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." John 17:23
Re: My testimony
Hi Selah,selah wrote:Really?Michelle wrote:selah,
Thanks so much for posting your testimony. I was very moved by it.
Michelle
Do you have yours posted somewhere?
Selah*
Today was one of those days that when you get to the end of it, you wonder, "What's the point?" Work was tedious, my water-heater is wonky, and I've got a million little things to take care of. I'm in the middle of one of those seasons where the mundane things of life crowd out the spiritual things and everything seems to just keep going on and on in endless cycles. Your testimony reminded me that God is at work in our lives, whether it is dramatic and emotional, or quiet and imperceptible. It was refreshing for me to read your story and be reminded about how great and gracious our Lord is! And, for the record, it was not boring in the least.
Here is mine. I posted this a while back, and in the meantime the account I used to use was deleted, so it appears to be anonymous, but it's me.
Michelle
Re: My testimony
Michelle,
Thank you for sharing your testimony with me. I read it last night and surprised myself when reading that you had parents who knew Elizabeth Elliot. Jim & Elizabeth Elliot have been examples to me for years. I have read everything they wrote! I wept for my lack of knowing them, but grateful that you did. Then, I cried when I read that your husband died--from drug related causes. (same in my life) I had to shut down the pc for the night. I guess I'm going to cry again...but not just about that...I visited two young adult ladies today who have serious needs. I'm trying not to sound dramatic
but reality is real.
I am so glad we have a loving God! Thank you for sharing your testimony with me! It has deepened and fueled my resolve to lead young people from turning to drugs (and/or the world). I may not meet you until we get to heaven, so I look forward to going to heaven! to meet you there!
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your testimony with me. I read it last night and surprised myself when reading that you had parents who knew Elizabeth Elliot. Jim & Elizabeth Elliot have been examples to me for years. I have read everything they wrote! I wept for my lack of knowing them, but grateful that you did. Then, I cried when I read that your husband died--from drug related causes. (same in my life) I had to shut down the pc for the night. I guess I'm going to cry again...but not just about that...I visited two young adult ladies today who have serious needs. I'm trying not to sound dramatic
but reality is real. I am so glad we have a loving God! Thank you for sharing your testimony with me! It has deepened and fueled my resolve to lead young people from turning to drugs (and/or the world). I may not meet you until we get to heaven, so I look forward to going to heaven! to meet you there!
Thank you!Jesus said, "I in them and you in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." John 17:23