My Testimony

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My Testimony; Robert
Topic Started: Aug 25 2006, 10:44 PM (80 Views)
LancashirePOF	Aug 25 2006, 10:44 PM Post #1
Advanced Member Posts: 350 Group: Members Member #30 Joined: August 9, 2004	I feel like typing and have a bit of time...hey why not. I was raised a Catholic and I always wanted to be close with God. I had a fear of hell to a high degree and as a child this kept me out of trouble. I honestly don't remember how much I knew about Jesus back then because the church upbringing was really shaky. I was a very good kid that feared God and His ability to send me to hell. In my teens things changed. I became a very wild teenager and with every year I became worse. At 13 years old I was getting drunk on the weekends and by the time I was 18, I surely was a drinker. Although I was never heavily into drugs, I used to experiment -- They scared me too much. But I loved drinking and was doing things wrong. I still prayed and had somewhat of a relationship with God, but I didn't really understand how drinking was such a sin. I did know I was doing things wrong though and perhaps God would just be cool enough to understand and allow me too, and let me escape hell. When I was 19 yrs old I had a brief point where I calmed down, due to some problems. This is when we finally got cable TV and I was flipping through the channels and I came across a cool preacher and I really liked what he was saying. It felt right and I remember my Mom saying this is what you need more than anything lol. That was 21 years ago and his name is Fred Price. His church was very small back then lol. I kept this to myself and a few months went by and one night I was out drinking with a buddy. We were really drunk and went to grab a bite to eat and on the way out this guy Eric I knew.... Well lets talk about Eric a bit: He was one of the coolest kids in school. He was a musician, good looking, had all the girls/woman, and at that time to me, he was just the coolest dude around. He was mega-cool. ok, so on my way out Eric, who normally would never talk to me said, " Hey Robert, Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior" and he kept going on and on, in fact the whole place probably heard him. I just listened and I said, "Its funny you mention this because I've been sort of watching some guy on TV talk about the bible and it seems alright. He said, "Here is my number, give me a call tomorrow" I said, "sounds good" Soon as I walked out the door, I looked at my friend and we laughed and I tore up the number. We were drunk and it was something for us to goof on. The next day I ordered a pizza to pick up. I walked in to get my pizza and Eric was standing there! I've never seen him out anywhere before and now this was weird. He walks right up to me and says "I'm waiting for you to call today" I said....oh yeah I'll call, but write your number down again. I got home and called him and he told me a few things on the phone and told me to come over his house, and I thought this was interesting. I walked in his room and he shut the door and he told me what happened. He said, " I was so high one night, that I just kept going and gave up...I killed myself and I saw my body on the floor and all I could remember was what my brother said about Jesus. He said, "I was running down a dark tunnel and yelling for Jesus and all of a sudden he appeared to me and told me I would not die, but was to go back and tell everyone about this" I knew this was serious and he talked electrifying. He kept hushing me and saying wait the Lord is telling me something, and then he liked to open up and get versus and they would usually be very specific. The things he did were alive and real. He said, "Do you want to come to church with me" This would have been a weird request to go to a church on a Thursday evening, but due to his sparkle and energy, I said for sure. We went to church and wow was this a surprise to me. people were having visions and all kinds of things and I was like...man this is a bit initimidating, but I hung in there. It wasn't long before I accepted Jesus 40 or 50 times just to make sure, ya know. After a couple of meetings, Eric said let me pray for you. I figured why not. He pulled out a bottle of oil -- he was more ready than I thought lol. He layed hands and started speaking in tongues and started talking to me and was referring to his son Jesus, he kept going on and I thought to myself, this is actually God talking and He was saying extremely sharp things. Then boom..slain in the spirit, and we fell down a hill together. I loved this so much that everytime we were together I asked him to pray for me and great stuff happened. A few weeks later I went through a baptism in the Holy Spirit seminar, with Eric who attended them monthly lol. One thing I noticed about Eric was his boldness in witnessing. He waited outside of shopping malls and waited for them to close so he could tell people walking out, all about Jesus. People persecuted him, but like in Acts, he counted it worthy to suffer for His Name. What happened to me? I turned into another Eric!! I was witnessing to people with him and without him. Friends, family, people I'd come across. Most rejected me, but it felt great, I knew it was right. What a fire... The church was actually a pentecostal Catholic church!! The priest had zero hang ups and Thursday nights were the Lords. This Priest and place was extremely evangelistic based. Much more of an "Book of Acts" tone than any other I've been to. Well, the Catholic stuff didn't mix well with Fred Price, so I left there and decided to take that focus with Freds teachings and the Lord led me perfectly to what felt comfortable. Talk about passion? I didn't have a VCR back then, I used to take an old cassett player and watch and record Dr Price's message with the players MIC standing next to the TV....EVERYDAY. My Mom had to be quiet with this type of recording setup lol. I had boxes of tapes and even eventually VCR tapes. I collected every book he published. This went on for a couple of years and then once I started meeting girls, I started to backslide badly. I was 22 at this time and wasn't bald and looked good and 17-18 year old girls became very easy to date, etc. Before you know it I was doing everything wrong. Finally I met my future wife and she had very solid morals and I started to realize I needed to get on track and I basically balanced out a bit. 9 months later, I was married at 26 years old. For the next 10 years I read my bible and prayed pretty much nightly, but I didn't have that same passion for witnessing and although all the teaching was wonderful, it wasn't evangelistic oriented, was very faith oriented. That's not a knock on his ministry...hey I was just reading his books and watching him on TV again and I'm sure the members of the church were and still are evangelistic. The faith teachings I studied were powerful and really helped me grow. 4 years ago, I had a failing business and I really turned closer to the Lord, fearing my marriage could end through all my mistakes. One day I was searching Fred's TV ministry on the internet, "Ever Increasing Faith" and the Lord led me to a book titled that by a man named Smith Wigglesworth. I was VERY protective of Fred Price. No one could be better and I was upset this guy stole the name of Fred's TV broadcast. Then I searched on Amazon and realized this guy was WAY before Fred. I said this is odd...maybe he inspired Dr. Price. I read some pages on Amazon and I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit off the Words like never before in an authored book. I ordered it and before it arrived I ordered more!! I collected everything Wiggs had and became filled with the Spirit and really was charged to my highest point by far. Now I had bible understanding, filled, and wanting to grow. Then a year or so later, I met a very inspiring Pasor/Teacher, named Dan, and he suggested Kenyon and Lake. I said ok and ordered them, but they sat on my shelf for a long time. I decided to order a bunch of kenneth Copeland CD's... I have over 100!! I listened to them over and over...I grew even more. Then one day I started reading John G. Lake's book that was sitting for months and it didn't take more than a day before I realized this was better than anything I had on my shelfs, including Wiggs. I mixed in E.W. Kenyon, Aimee Semple McPherson, Andrew Murray, Maria Woodworth, Watchman Nee, F.F. Bosworth, T.l. Osborn, A.W. Tozer, A.A. Allen, Taylor Hudson, and D.L Moody. Apparently going by the first two initials was popular lol. I'm not trying to talk anyone out of modern day teaching, but I'm just sharing with you what was a huge draw to me. Of course my Bible is THE BOOK. 2 years ago...well, I joined Crosslight and I contacted my friend Eric after 19 years!!!! We drove down to North Carolina twice and stayed with them many days. He backslid and got on track almost to the year the way I did. Eric is a prophet and yes when someone is talking, he puts his hand out, because he has a Word from the Lord! Eric and I have discussed the passion of witnessing and how we did it and how these days the church simply has put that message aside. We were baptized in the Holy Spirit and acted like it etc. No excuses or embarrassment for witnessing...none of that stuff. No one will ever convince me we can't be like in ACTS without special this or special that, when Eric and I were doing a pretty good job at 19 years old and being very ignorant in knowledge of the Word of God -- think about that. We are to witness, its DIRECTLY connected to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We believed it and it was, we still believe it and it is....The modern church has hurt this message and that is the truth. Currently, I know I have two callings. One is a teacher and the other is an Evangelist. I had a vivid dream and I knew I was a called teacher and I said Jesus what calling do I have -- I knew there was more. He pointed to something that looked like a rock and said "Robert, greatly you will suffer for my Names sake" I immediately woke up and knew that corresponded with other indications from the Lord that a calling of an Evangelist was there. My wife is a teacher and I know more...we shall see. Our ministry starts in 2007 and it involves leadership for local churches and ground work evangelism. Both calls will be fullfilled for my Lord Jesus. I hope this has been interesting and a blessing. In Jesus name, Robert



Stace4Jesus	Aug 25 2006, 11:16 PM Post #2
Administrator Posts: 3,225 Group: Admin Member #2 Joined: March 6, 2004	Yes, it was very interesting and a blessing. I remember you two years ago, on aol I think. I bet you were evangalizing the chat rooms. Maybe, not sure. But it is cool the way the Lord snags us up and out of the world. I am glad that you feared hell and had a desire for Jesus. Many others will be blessed by your ministry for Jesus and they will miss hell too. Wheeooo! Are you and Eric going to work together in a ministry? stace



FresnoJoe	Aug 26 2006, 05:50 AM Post #3
Advanced Member Posts: 92 Group: Members Member #110 Joined: July 21, 2006	Great God! Does He love us littles or what! Thanks for sharing! Love, Joe
	Meet you on the boards. Meet you in the air! Love, Joe Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10) Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalms 51:10) Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) "When I get on my high horse, I usually find Jesus rides off on his donkey."


Bill and Joan	Aug 26 2006, 07:25 AM Post #4
Administrator Posts: 2,756 Group: Co-Admin Member #7 Joined: March 10, 2004	Good morning Robert, Thank you for sharing you testimony. And, yes, I was blessed in the reading of it, recalling my own Catholic background. I, too, encountered a spirit filled Catholic church but it was long after my husband and I had taken a class called Power For Abundant Living by Dr. Victor Paul Weirwille, back in the late 70's. This man opened the Bible to us like I had never heard it shared before. Could all that was in the Bible be true??? Of course it was true, even my Catholic upbringing taught me that! But there was such a difference from what I had been taught in the the Catholic church compared to what I was reading in the Bible. I had many discussions with our heavenly Father about that! Show me Your truth, Lord, I pleaded. At that time I wasn't hearing His still small voice as I thought I would (this class was big on the gifts and walking in faith) but He revealed His answers in other ways. Like you, I had been a pretty good kid and I don't know if it was my fear of hell that kept me that way then or the firm but loving hand of my Mom (which when I become older, had my own children and continued to seek the Lord I recognized that it was the Christ in her that almost demanded my respect, my obedience - not because of her just punishments but because of her true love towards me and others). Oh, there were times when I thought my Mom was being totally unfair in her punishments, like the time I picked some flowers in the garden to bless her and instead of being happy when she saw those flowers she grounded me, reminding me that she had told me before never to pick those flowers but to allow their beauty to last in the garden because when you pick them they die quickly, being disconnected from their life source. Well, as a young child that didn't make any sense to me. Yes, I did recall she had told me not to pick them but that seemed secondary to the purpose I had in mind, blessing her with them! It just didn't seem fair, ya know. You'd think she'd be happy I thought about her, but no, I was grounded. It wasn't until years later she explained to me that we were growing up in the nuclear threat era and it was of utmost importance that she taught us kids to listen to her, to be obedient to her demands becasue she was trying to keep us safe. Amazing how we learn later that that which we thought was put in place to spoil our fun was really there to protect our very lives. OK, rabbit trail. Ah, Dr. Price! Didn't hear of him until the 90's when I saw him on tv and was blessed by his teachings. Oh, there were so many then, Dr. Cherry, Eddie Long ("watch this, watch this"), Dennis Leonard, the Copelands (love seeing Billie Brim on there with Gloria), Clarence McClendon and many others. It was Joyce Meyers who really spoke to me in a manner that I could so easily relate to, making Scripture alive and pertinent in my every day life. Robert, I know you are not big on experience, yet it is becasue of the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, that which the Lord has done in our lives, that overcomes the enemy. I am reminded of Revelation 12:10-11 which reads, "I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. They overcame him because of the Lamb's blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life, even to death." Our personal experience with the Lord, our testimony is more powerful than anyone really knows. Your own testimony of the Lord working in your life will and has touched many lives and will continue to do so as you share Christ with them. Books? My, my. I love books written by or about precious saints of God as well as Christian books for our learning. My husband and I could make a small library up with the many books we have in our house ranging from Watchman Nee to Rick Joyner with many of the names you listed. My search with the Lord started in my late teens and I am now fifty-eight years old. God amazes me in so many, many ways that I cannot even count. I have also learned that He does not always do things the way I think He should. Guess that shows that He is God and we are not, huh? It sure is better that way cause He's a whole lot smarter than us, bless Him! Robert, I praise the Lord for your life for you love the Lord and His people. Continue to allow Him to flow freely and deeply within you as I pray He does with me and all of His children. We are in a critical hour within the church. Goe is asking for unity, even in the place of some disagreements, for it is not about us and what we know, but it is about Jesus, what He has done and what He continues to do to the glory of our heavenly Father. Hallelujah! Love your sister in Christ, Joan



LancashirePOF	Aug 26 2006, 10:37 PM Post #5
Advanced Member Posts: 350 Group: Members Member #30 Joined: August 9, 2004	Hey Guys, Stace, Eric remains in N.C. and is a staff sargent in the Marines and continues to inspire others. We talked about how we would love to have a ministry together, but the Lord has other plans, at least in the next couple of years ahead. I am to stay in this region, till further instruction. Joe, What can I say? You're a serious blessing and compassion,encouragement, and love radiate off all your post. Joan, Thanks for the detailed reply. You came back and blessed me with sharing part of your past...Thank you so much as I read it a couple of times and really absorbed it I totally agree a testimony can be a major blessing! I really am all for experiences that correspond to the Word of God... I am only against the ones contrary to the Word of God, that specifically lead to bending the Word of God. Actually I'm glad you brought that to my attention, because I can get really into poutting down experiences, however what I mean and others are receiving could be different. I will write a more detailed post about experiences..thanks for the insight. Its much easier for me in person, than on a message board etc. I always mean experiences that bend the Word -- will explain more soon. Thanks everyone Blessings



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