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My Testamony; Testimony of new member GoingUp!
Topic Started: Dec 16 2007, 10:10 PM (316 Views)
GoingUp!	Dec 16 2007, 10:10 PM Post #1
Advanced Member Posts: 139 Group: Members Member #2,400 Joined: December 16, 2007	THE TESIMONY OF GoingUp! I can still recall my first experience with going to church as a child. We lived in Chaska, Minnesota at the time. I was about 4 years old and it was a Sunday, and I told my mother; “Mom I want to go to Sunday school.” She responded by saying; “you’re sick and it is raining out, and you will get sicker.” In the purest of child like faith I responded; “Don’t worry mommy God will take care of me!” I ran to Sunday school and as best as I can remember, I was healed from my sickness. My mom was divorced from our dad when I was less than 2 years old. While we were living in Chaska, she remarried to a man in the army. His mother lived in a small central Minnesota town called Nisswa with a population around 600 people. We then moved from Chaska to Nisswa, and moved in with his mother. His mother died a short time later, because our new dad was in the army, we were all alone with our mother. I don’t know what is the truth surrounding the divorce of my new dad with my mom, but I do know that she began to drink heavily. Our neighbors down the street from us were Christians, and the Pastor of the Methodist Church along with his family lived next door to them. I became a friend of both of these families’ children. It was through these friendships that I went to the local Methodist Church on a somewhat regular basis. My Uncle had come to live with us. He became involved with some religion whose leaders last name was Armstrong and he had his own magazine. My Uncle talked about what would happen in the end of times, so I read the book of Revelation for myself. I drank, smoked, and cussed as a child. I didn’t always look for trouble, but it always found me. I knew that Satan was real, and because of all the bad things in my childhood, I would always say to myself; “How could God create such an imperfect and evil being. I don’t want to have happen to me the things that God says will happen in Revelation!” I was terrified that I would someday have to face the plagues prophesied in the book of Revelation. I knew that I didn’t want these things to happen to me. My mom then married for a 3rd and final time, and we then moved to Oregon. When I was 17 I joined the Navy when we were in Oregon. I volunteered for submarine duty. I got married in 1987 in the service. The marriage was doomed from the beginning. I had no parenting skills, and the only family I had known was a dysfunctional one. To top things off she was an adulterous and partying woman. Her carrying on got to the point that it was affecting my job performance and making me wish that I were not alive. I was drinking heavily and threatened suicide. They sent me to the psychiatric ward at the naval hospital for observation. The first thing they do is try and determine if you have a drug or alcohol problem. They sent me over to the alcohol rehab ward and they determined I had a drinking problem. They sent me back to my sub and set up a date for me to attend alcohol rehab. Upon return to my sub my Commanding Officer talked to me and said to me; “Chief I know you are a highly capable, skilled individual and I do not want to lose you. I need to know that I can rely on you.” I responded with an almost a total peace and said; “Captain I don’t think my problem is drinking, but the Navy has given me 40 days to figure it out, and I will get to the root of my problem.” I got to the alcohol rehab ward and part of my indoctrination was I found that the Chaplain visited every fourth Tuesday. I was looking forward to it with much anticipation, because the last time I was in a church for services was when I was about 10 years old and I was now 30. The date the Chaplain was to visit was February 14th 1989. The day arrived and we all gathered in the conference room. The Chaplain started off by saying; “Normally I have a sermon prepared, but the Lord laid it on my heart to leave the time open for discussion." I was overjoyed at that response. I was the first one to ask a question and I asked; “Why did God make such an imperfect being like Satan.” He replied; “He didn’t, Satan had freewill to choose good or bad and by disobeying God he became evil.” And he expounded further about him. Then at that moment I said in my heart; “God is perfect I believe every word in the Bible!” I felt a warm glow around my abdomen all day, it was a pleasant sensation, and it got stronger as I continued to roll over again and again my thoughts about God and his perfection. That night as though I spent my whole life rehearsing for it, I prayed. I got on my knees beside my bed and I told God that I believed his son died on the cross for my sins, admitted my sin, and asked him to forgive me. At that moment that sensation that was in my bowels now swept through my entire body. I now knew that I knew God! Oh what a joy, and it still is, and it just keeps getting better. I didn’t know many scriptures or any terminology associated with being a Christian. I did know beyond a shadow of a doubt at that moment that I knew God, I was going to heaven, and I no longer dreaded the things in the book of Revelation coming to past! I cannot think of a better Valentine’s gift for anyone! I did forget that there is a Holy Spirit and that he is part of the trinity of God. Even though I did not know that this was the presence of the Holy Spirit whose fellowship I was relishing with the greatest of joy, his presence back then with such power and awareness sets me to continual envy to this very day! I can hardly describe how strongly he showed himself on my behalf, and it is my wish that every Christian would be allowed this awesome privilege of his presence in such a great magnitude before they get to heaven! I now realized I never had a drinking problem, I had a Jesus problem prior to this day. I realized then that when we are without God we are always constantly searching for complete fulfillment and satisfaction through relationships, material things, or by our pastimes. We are totally unaware that what we are really looking for exists only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. My first question was; “Does God cause the bad things to happen to us?” I had my Bible but I had never read it before now, so I started at Genesis. I decided that I would jump to the referenced scriptures as they came up. As I was reading one verse it referenced the book of Job chapter 38. When I read the statement; “Have you walked in the springs of the sea?” I realized these were the deep underwater “thermal belcher vents” that had only been discovered recently. I was so taken in by this revelation that I said to myself; “I have to read this book from the beginning!” So I commenced to read Job from the beginning and that is when I learned about the way God allows things to happen to us as Christians. The next day every other word out of my mouth was about God, and not that like before where every other word was his name in vain. The twelve-step program totally encompasses a set of beliefs that revolve around a higher power. Being a new, milk fed, and Biblically illiterate Christian it should only stand to reason that Satan wouldn’t want me to be so joyous. Within the week all the counselors had me in the office saying I wasn’t doing the twelve-step program. Looking back on it, they only attacked me because their own conscious was searing like a hot iron from their own conviction. They claimed that I thought I could sit back and have God do it all, so I was fearful that if I failed to do it their way I would be discharged from the Navy. I merely paid them lip service, knowing fully well that not only could God do the program for me, but had in fact done it! We were headed to an AA meeting one night right after I got saved. We found that the train backed up the traffic, and I wondered in my mind; “I wonder if the train is just stopped or accident has happened with it?” Just then I saw the blue flashing lights in the rear view mirror and knew it was an accident. I then prayed my first real prayer and without thinking about my old selfish self. I prayed; “Lord please let whoever got hurt be all right, and whoever caused the accident to forgive them and ease their guilt.” The next morning we were in the middle of the hospital and I said to one of the individuals from the ward that read about the accident in the paper, “I didn’t know it was an accident until I saw the lights in my rear view mirror.” Out of nowhere this guy appears and says; “I was the police officer in that car that you saw and the kid who got hit is a big troublemaker, and I wished he had died!” I then realized my prayer was insufficient, because I now had to pray for a man who thought a mere troublemaker should die. This kid come to find out was thrown 212 feet from the train hitting him! The Marine at the gate to the base who performed emergency treatment until help arrived was a graduate of the ARS ward where I was at in the hospital! The kid who got hit lived, praise God. I often wondered after that what had happened to him. Well About 1 year after the accident my son Joshua developed a 105-degree fever. I took him to the emergency room at the naval hospital. While I was sitting in the waiting room one nurse says to another across the room; “Remember the boy that was hit by the train?” the other responded; “Yeah, how is he doing?” she said; “He’s fine, he has a prosthetic leg and doing fine!” My son came out of the room where they had taken him to try and draw his blood, and the attending nurse said; “I can’t explain it, but his temp went from 105 to 98.6, he’s fine! That is when I realized that God merely got me there to hear what had happened to the man who was my first prayer as a Christian. We went to an AA meeting one night and I was standing outside having a cigarette afterward standing in one spot. We headed back to the hospital, and I was the driver, and I felt something crawling up my leg. I was new to South Carolina, so I had never been around Fire Ants and didn’t know what they looked like. I pulled up my pant leg while driving and brushed off the ants, and I asked the guys in the van; “If Fire Ants bite you, will you know it?” They promptly responded; “oh you’ll know it all right! They can’t be Fire Ants if you don’t feel an awful burning sting!” Well we got back to the hospital and I was talking to my wife on the phone and they were still crawling on me, so I swept them off again. After I got off the phone I went to the bathroom and I still felt one last ant crawling on me. I pulled up my pant leg and removed the ant. I know that if you squeeze a stinging insect’s abdomen that its stinger will come out. So being the scientific type I squeezed it, and my eyes got huge with disbelief as a stinger protruded from its back end! I then realized they must have stung me and proceeded to pull up my pant leg for an inspection. Again my eyes got huge as can be when I saw all the pustules caused by the fire ants stinging me! I didn’t feel one single sting, and I knew that God had kept me from feeling them. My wife had come to visit me and was telling me about her new friend, so I asked her; “Is she married?” She said; “I don’t know, I’ll ask her.” I didn’t know why, but I said; “No, she will tell you!” She then reiterated what she said and I really emphasized what I also had said. I came home that weekend and she says to me; “You’ll never believe this! When I called her on the phone the first thing she said was; “Oh Diane, I am so sorry! I forgot to tell you I am married!” I said to my wife; “Didn’t I tell you that she would tell you and you would not have to ask her?” I called back to Nisswa, Minnesota that weekend to see if the pastor was still there to let him know I had become a born again Christian. He had passed away, but his wife was still very active with the Lord. They last saw or heard from me at age 12, and I was now 30. I said; “Gracie do you know who this is, I am saved now?” She replied; “Well praise the Lord, this is Ronnie isn’t it?” I said; “Yes it is!” I knew God had to have revealed that to her. We had a good conversation, and I asked her to pass along the good news. My wife could already see the changes in me. I was sitting on the end of our waterbed and my cat right next to me. I don’t know how we got on the subject, but my wife confessed that she had been involved with Satanism before. Had I known that before I would have never married her even as a non-Christian. As we were discussing it, I felt a cold sensation touch me from the bottom of my foot to the top of my head and it started to move from my right side to my left. At first I thought I was imagining it, but after it passed over me, which was in the direction of my cat, and my cat hissed and her hair stood up on end I knew it was a demon. I got real scared and yelled; “Get out! Get out!” while I slammed my fist on the bed. My wife got wide eyed watching this transpire. I then immediately got on my hands and knees and asked God to forgive me for being fearful, since I knew that Satan had no power over me. When I went back to work on the submarine, I let everyone know how I felt about God. God blessed me almost immediately by sending me a new man to my division who was a born again Christian. He came at a critical time, my wife had left me because she wanted no part in God, and she said she was embarrassed because of my talking to other people about the things God had done for me since being saved. Jim, my new man in the division, taught me much to help me get rooted in God’s word. One of my friends who watched my 2 year old son for me from time to time I loaned him a Christian video tape called “Hells Bells” about the dangers of Rock n Roll. He came back to me later explaining that he only felt this feeling once before when in church. He also made known, which I was unaware of, that he was a Wiccan, and was also into tarot cards. I explained to Chris that it was the Holy Spirit of God calling him to become a Christian. He tried to justify to me that Wiccan is “white magic”, and is not to be confused with “black magic”. He also told me how one time that they were having a coven get together, when these 2 guys show up and ask; “Who wants to learn some real magic?” He says I didn’t join in. I explained that there is no such thing as “white magic” and Satan would use that to deceive you into believing it’s innocent, but in reality it will take you to hell. I told him that is his ploy to try and pull others deeper into it, making them believe that he is both powerful, and that they have no way out. He finally realized what I said was the truth and he bowed his head and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. A few weeks later we had a get together at my house out in the country. The afternoon thunderstorm clouds were starting to form, and Chris finally shows up. Come to find out, he brought along all his Wiccan, tarot, and witchcraft books to be burned! Chris, Jim, Sean and I with lighter fluid and matches all gather around his books on the ground. I doused them with charcoal starter fluid, and handed Chris the matches and said; “You do the honors!” The moment that Chris’s match hit the books it thundered out of heaven for the very first time that day. There is no doubt in my mind that it was God voicing his approval over us destroying Chris’s books! A few weeks later Chris’s brother Take came over from Greece, he was about 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 285 pounds. I think he could eat a whole refrigerator in a single sitting. His name was Take, (Sounds like tock’ ee.) and he wasn’t a bad kid, I think he just had no direction in life at that time. I talked to him about Jesus Christ, but he said he wasn’t ready for him yet. My wife, who left me, demanded her quote share of the household property. I went to secure a rental truck and all I could afford was a 17-footer and I let Chris and Take know this. So they all started to help me pack up her stuff, and I remarked; “A 17-footer is not going to be big enough for all this!” So on the day we were to get the truck and load it up, the U-haul rental place forgot to reserve me my 17-foot truck. I knew the Lord was behind it, because the only available truck was a 26-footer! When I brought the truck to my house Take remarked; “I thought you reserved a 17-footer?” I replied; “I did, but they didn’t have one on hand.” Much to my surprise Take responds; “God did that didn’t he!? I said; “That’s right! Praise the Lord!” Take moved away and later joined the Peace Corp. Chris told me one day that Take had called and said they were at a campfire Christian service and that he had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Chris said; “Take said to make sure you tell Ron I am saved now!” I said; “Praise the Lord!” to Chris. One day on the submarine I was at the ship’s office, and seaman Mendosa says to me; “Chief Rush I know this world doesn’t have much time left because it is getting so evil.” I responded by saying; “You are very wise in your observation.” “I would love to have you come over to my house and discuss it.” He was a young man with a Catholic background who had a wife from a Baptist background. He and his wife came over and I talked about God and the Bible. When it came time I asked them both; “Would you like to invite Jesus into your heart?” David said; “Yes!’ His wife said; “I am not ready for that yet!” So David prayed and when we finished the prayer David said; “Jesus Christ is Lord!” I said; “Amen to that!” How ironic because one would think that a person from a Baptist background would have been the one to accept and the catholic to decline! I allowed them to live at my house for a time so they could save up to get their own place. I had been a Christian just a short time, but I highly valued my 45-minute drive to the Navy base in the morning. I spent the time from the moment I got up until I got to the pier where my submarine was tied up praying. When I first got saved my now ex-wife’s cousin reminded me a lot of myself, so I began to pray for her salvation along with a multitude of other people. She lived in Connecticut, while we resided in South Carolina. After about a year my wife left me because she wanted no part in following the Lord. Then about 1 year after she left I got a phone call from the dad of my ex-wife’s cousin. Bob says; “Ron, would there be any chance Kelly, her friend, and I could come stay at your house. The job market here is not very good right now and it will only be until I get a job and save a little money for our own place.” I replied without hesitation; “Yes, of course you can!” I got off the phone and was jumping for joy and saying; “Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord!” It was right near Mother’s Day when his daughter and her girlfriend arrived. The night they showed up I was praising God so much that when I went to get them at the Gas Station up the road, that I think God took over my driving for a second and put me on the onramp on the Interstate. God wanted this praise time to continue, since they weren’t going anywhere, I was totally ecstatic with joy, and God knew I would have to praise him for a half an hour before I could get back to them. Just so you know it was only a five-minute jaunt to where they were. I invited them to church that Sunday, which was Mother’s Day. When the time came for altar call Kelly had tears running down her face, and the pastor was inviting mothers to come forward and get saved. When I saw she wasn’t going forward, although her friend did, I asked her why she wasn’t going up to get saved. She replied; “I am not a mother.” So I went up to the pastor and said that; “The girl Kelly that I brought today is not coming forward because you have only called mothers and God is dealing with her.” So he changed it to invite all that want to get saved and Kelly got saved who had never been in a Christian Church before, and her friend was saved also. Her dad came at a later date, and attended church regularly with me. I explained the salvation message to him. Bob was a very nice and kind man. But as we know all to well nice people don’t get into heaven on their own merit, however, I as a Christian would have hated to see this man go to hell. Then one day he came to me and made me a belt out of leather, and at the same time he stated that he and Kelly were moving back to Connecticut. I couldn’t stay in the room, I asked to be excused and I went into my bedroom crying and praying at the same time. God wiped my tears, and told me; “Bob will be saved.” I returned to the living room and told Bob; “God told me to quit praying for your salvation, because you will be saved!” He then departed, and we had one more Wednesday service before he and Kelly departed for Connecticut. Up to this time Bob dressed down when he came to church, and had worn his hair in a ponytail since the time I knew him. I was sitting in church the last Wednesday he was to be here, and in walks Bob not only with shirt and tie, but also with his hair cut and no ponytail! I knew he was saved. So I asked him; “You’re saved now aren’t you Bob? He replied; “Yes I am!” So after the service I asked Bob; “What was it that finally broke you to come to the Lord? What was your stumbling block?” He replied; “I didn’t think I could be saved, but when you told me that God said I would be saved, the moment I got in the door to my apartment, I looked up and asked the Lord to save me. Their friend, come to find out told me she had been in a satanic cult, and refused to let them sacrifice her son when he was born. Everything here was the Lord’s doing, I marvel at the very fact that the first person whom I had started to pray for their salvation that God brought them to me and allowed me to actively participate in their salvation. I tried to walk as Jesus did while onboard the submarine, Satan however, rose up 2 of my shipmates against me my Weapons Officer and the Chief of the Boat (COB). These 2 individuals were so miserable in their lives, that the only way to satisfy their conscience was to blame their life’s problems on me. They would always look to use me as their punching bag. The most notorious thing they did to me was try and deny me the opportunity to see my real dad for the first time in my life. I was the weapons department leading Chief Petty Officer and we were in Fort Lauderdale doing a Weapon System Accuracy Test. I asked if I could have time off to go visit my dad for the 1st time in my life, and they both said the same thing; “I don’t give a good G. D… about your dad, we’ve got a WSAT to do!” I could have taken it to the Captain, and they would have been in really big trouble, but I held my peace. I stood watch as Diving Officer under way, and one of the Seamen who stood helms/planes watch could not get over how much I had changed. Seamen Hopkins would say to me on watch; “Chief I cannot get over how much you have changed!” I would always reply; “If you think I had anything to do with it, or did it in my own power you are crazy.” He would then reply; “Here comes that Jesus thing again!” I would say; “That’s right!” My prayer for him is he will keep remembering that Jesus thing, as he likes to say. My drive to the naval base took forty-five minutes every morning, and I would pray from the time I got up, until I reached the pier where my submarine was moored. My time was always special to me, and I always felt a deep serenity when I was in prayer with the Lord every morning. I never thought that the moment could be actually caught visually. Much to my surprise one morning a shipmate who was a non-Christian came up to me and remarked how he passed me on the Interstate. He said; “Chief I passed you on I-26 this morning and I cannot get over the look you had on your face. You had the most peaceful look I have ever seen on anyone’s face in my entire life! I just can’t get over how peaceful you looked. I interrupted him and stated; “That was because I was praying, and I pray all the way to work every morning.” He repeats himself again; “I still can’t get over how peaceful you looked out there on the interstate!” I left the Navigation space, and he was still going on about my peaceful look. He knew that I was a Christian and now he knew that I prayed all the way to work. I praise God that he got glory just by a mere outward manifestation of that which is inward, and in this case it was prayer. I do in a way feel deprived though, because he got to see something reflected on the outside, that I only get to see on the inside. I do wish I could have had a photo of what he saw! However though I praise God that he was able to bring glory to himself just by an individual taking note of the appearance of our facial expression! I also pray this same individual will need to find that same peace someday by accepting Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. Praise the Lord!
	1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: KNOW YOUR ENEMY! IF THEY CAN'T CONFESS: "I CONFESS JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH" YOU "KNOW" THEY ARE THE ENEMY
Wil	Dec 19 2007, 01:56 AM Post #2
Administrator Posts: 9,248 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: September 21, 2005	Thanks for sharing going up, always love to hear testimonies of how God has worked in others lives. The Armstrong group you mentioned, I used to belong to them for 8 years before the Lord opened their eyes to all their errors which led to my having a similar encounter with the Holy Spirit as you did when you accepted Jesus.
GoingUp!	Dec 19 2007, 12:09 PM Post #3
Advanced Member Posts: 139 Group: Members Member #2,400 Joined: December 16, 2007	Hey Wil thanks for your comments I got a question about that cult since you are kind of recently out of it. DOES THE CULT HAVE COMMUNAL LIVING OR ISOLATE ITSELF FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC? The reason I ask is I have an uncle that was in it and I think he still is. I think he may be in the San Diego area. God Bless You!
	1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: KNOW YOUR ENEMY! IF THEY CAN'T CONFESS: "I CONFESS JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH" YOU "KNOW" THEY ARE THE ENEMY
Wil	Dec 20 2007, 01:52 AM Post #4
Administrator Posts: 9,248 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: September 21, 2005	The original church which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong did not isolate itself from the public, at least not physically, and did not have communal living. After it came into true biblical chrisitanity though in 95 many dozens of splinter groups emerged and I suppose its possible one or more may do those things, if you know or can find out the name of the group that your uncle is in they might have a website you can check out, I know a number of them have one.
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