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Sought, Separated and Saved
My Personal Testimony
I was saved and called to Preach in the late summer/early fall of 1986. I do not remember my exact spiritual birthday, but I do know how God saved me and I do know that I became a new creature in Jesus Christ. I was saved out of one of the most violent and active street gangs on the Northside of Chicago which was called “The Kenmore Boy's.” We dominated Kenmore Ave. from half way between Irving Park Rd. and Buena at the Circle Park behind St. Mary’s, to Montrose Ave. Where our hood began at the El Tracts which was the Montrose Ave. entrance to my neighborhood. Certain drug dealers I knew were afraid to come to my neighborhood. I honestly think some Cops were afraid! Yet now that whole neighborhood is like a beautiful Gold Coast area.
Anyhow, I got my first taste for the dark side from the older youths in a Baptist Church youth group I attended where they taught the doctrine of "Unconditional Eternal Security." The Christian parents had no idea that these youths (their teenagers) were operating a Satanic Cult out of the Church Youth Department as well as a drug dealing operation. I was the youngest member of the group and it was there at the age of 11 years old that I smoked my first joint of marijuana and first tried hashish and began drinking beer and hard liquor. And yet that which altered my life the most negatively was the day I first heard Ozzy Osbourne’s songs “I Don’t Know” and “Crazy Train.” Because as I listened to what I thought was this fantastic music, I became demon possessed in a manner that was like unto a religious spiritual experience. I mean something literally entered into my soul and I became another child. In that I was instantly deluded to believe that I was a “god of darkness” and it was my mission and calling in life to convert every child and young person I knew to my new found religion of Heavy Metal Music. It was at one of the Church youth nights that I first heard Iron Maiden’s "Number of the Beast 666” Album, and every where I went, kids and teenagers and young adults were all talking about the "Number of the Beast" and playing it on their Ghetto Blasters.
Looking back, I now realize that something very powerful and evil was unleashed upon the world through the music in the early eighties. It was more than a passing fad. It was like the beginning of a Cult of Antichrist at best and/or a revival of the Church of Satan at worst. The seeds of the Sixties Sex, Drugs and Rock Music Revolution had finally reached their full fruition and the army of the Antichrist was born. Yet I was only one of millions that served as a soldier in the Devil’s war for soul’s against God Almighty.
After Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” album came out, the older members of the Church youth group began to vandalize and spray paint “666” and other satanic graffiti in the bathrooms and on the outside walls of places that the youth group would go on their outings. It was all covered up by the leadership of the Church for a time. But when these occult markings and graffiti began showing up all over the Church and in the neighborhood around the Church, they needed someone to blame. Me being the poor kid from Uptown, they naturally blamed me when it was their own children.
My Mother sent her kids to that Church to get us away from all the bad influences in our bad neighborhood. Little did she know that the Devil was in that upper middle class Baptist Church in Ravenswood called “Ravenswood Baptist Church.” And he was corrupting and destroying the lives of its youth. I know of one 15 year old girl who some of the older teenagers actually gang raped in a supply closet while Church business went on as usual. She was one of the few (perhaps only) virgins in the youth group. After telling me what they had done her, she made me promise to never tell anyone because she knew that the parents would all blame her and she feared her Dad finding out. I was only a 12 or 13 year old kid at the time and I kept that promise not understanding that I was perhaps doing her more by not telling than if I did expose these guys.
There was not only occultism, drugs, sexual abandonment and drunkenness going on at the Church. There were also several Street Gang Members who came to the youth gatherings because there was always willing girls and plenty of drugs. I think that was where the seed of desire to be in a street gang was first planted into my heart. It was the power they had to do as they pleased and the respect that everyone else seemed to give them. So it was only natural that after being falsely accused and kicked out of that Baptist Church. I ended up joining a street gang. After all, that was what they taught me: that I was unworthy of salvation and that they themselves were unworthy to offer it to anyone.
I remember during one Church service before I was old enough to join the youth group when we first started attending that Church. As they prolonged the alter call, telling us that we could walk out that door and be in an accident and open our eyes in hell. And it really put everyone on edge that was unsaved because they went on to say that hell is eternal and if it were possible for a humming bird to take a grain of sand and fly to the Moon to drop it off. And then return to get another until finally it had transported all of earth’s sand to the Moon. And even though it would take millions of years it would not even be the beginning of the pain of burning in hell because hell is forever! That night God was dealing with both my older Brother and myself and we responded to the alter call and went forward and got on our knees to pray. Yet evidently the speaker had one of his own relatives in mind to be saved? Or perhaps a loved one of one of the more influential members in mind? Because instead of coming down and praying with us to be saved like they always did for everyone else. This preacher by the name of Dave Acock immediately rushed over and got us up off the alter and directed us to a side room while the alter call was still being given.
Once in that room, this man began questioning our motives for coming to the alter and it was like he was giving us a test in theology wanting to know exactly why we wanted to be saved. He then began trying to discourage us by telling us that we had to count the cost and were we willing to face persecution and give up the world. He made it sound so hard. He actually talked about “Holiness” as being demanded by God, but he only did so in a negative context trying to dissuade us against salvation. Looking back I now realize that this man was a die hard "Once Saved Always Saved" believer who didn’t even believe in holiness. Yet he kept us in that room until the alter call was over. And to be sure we didn’t try to pray on our own at home, he told us to spend some time thinking about the cost and to be sure that we really wanted to live what he described as being such a miserable life as being saved. I remember leaving that office with a sick feeling in my stomach. Because even as a child I knew what he was doing and I knew that it had nothing to do with his concern for our souls or with just wanting to be sure we were understanding things.
It’s really sad that far too many Baptist Churches are like religious social clubs where religious snobs go to put on a fashion show and look down their noses at others while claiming to be eternally secure in their own sins. Simply because they had a moment of half awakened faith and went to an alter once and cried under the stress of knowing that they were going to hell. So very few in the Baptist Church ever get past repenting for the consequences of their sins unto actually repenting because they are truly sorry for them. And yet what else can be expected when their Pastors are telling them that all they have to do is “Admit” they are sinners, “Believe” in Jesus and “Confess” Him openly by going to an alter and then proclaiming: “Hey, I’m Eternally Saved! I can now sin like a devil and still go to heaven!” They actually call this easy believism the A.B.C.’s of the gospel. It's A.B.C. alright! A.B.C. as in: “A Backsliders Christianity.”
Sought
As a sinner, life was so easy for me. Everything came my way. (All the bad things of sinful pleasures I mean.) I had so many friends and connections that the party never seemed to end. By the time I was fifteen years old, I was selling drugs by playing the middle man and taking a pinch of the goods for my own use while over charging people for my own financial cut. I never cheated my close friends but I made both drugs and money depending on what others needed me to score for them. Then one day while standing with one of my best friends in front of his brother’s apartment building. A middle aged man walked up dressed in such a way that was totally out of any style of fashion. And he looked like what might be considered as very goofy or nerdy. Like he might of got his cloths from a Golfer's second hand used Cloths Store? The pants he wore were striped and checkered and didn’t even fit as the bottoms only came down to just above his ankles. In other words, he was flooding badly.
Yet before this man ever walked up from behind us, I felt a very unusual change in the atmosphere all around me which seem to be strongest from behind. And my friend most have felt it too because he turned around and there was this man walking toward us. Then my friend said: “Get a Load of this Goof Ball.” And as I fully turned around to look at this man, I sensed something very sacred about him that was almost fearful. Even before he began to speak I knew that he was to be respected. I can not explain it, I just had this sense that I was in the presence of someone whose very being commanded respect. And it had to be God's presence upon this man coming upon that scene because I seriously doubt that there was anything within me or that I personally had anything to do with recognizing this man as being different. Then he spoke in such a powerful voice that seemed to fill the very atmosphere with power. As if his very words burned through the air evaporating every distracting sight, sound or thought. At the time I did not know that what he was proclaiming was in the Bible. Yet this is what he proclaimed:
“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Jude 1:14-15
As this Man of God was preaching these very words, my friend’s brother’s girl friend came walking up cursing him with the most evil and foul profanities she could have uttered. And she turned and walked in the building as my friend followed her. But for some reason I stood there and watched this Man walk around the corner and I immediately followed right behind him to see where he would go. Yet as I turned the corner he was gone. The strange thing about that was the fact that there was no where else to go for a block down the street. There were no door ways or entrances on that side of the street and he didn’t have time to cross the street without me seeing him. He simply had vanished into thin air.
I believe that God sent this man to me, because after that experience I began meeting Spirit filled Pentecostal Christians every where I went. And they gave me Bible tracts and witnessed to me. Come to think of it, as far back as when I was a child, God was reaching out to me. Beginning when I was just a little child my Mother was saved and read the Bible to me. Those stories about King David, Jonah, Daniel and Jesus made a deep and lasting impression within my soul. And then through the years of my life growing up, there were always God sent witnesses and reminders of who He was. Yet as stated: it was beginning with this Messenger of God coming to me and proclaiming God’s Word that suddenly every where I went I was meeting Christians who were giving me Bible Tracts and talking to me about being saved.
Then one day I was visiting my best friend “Buzz” and he and his sister Wendy had some photos she took at the lake and in one of them there was a perfect image of Jesus in the clouds with outstretched arms just as I had seen Him in a dream. Afterward I went to another friend’s home named Johnny and as I was telling him about those photos and my dream, we both about fell out of our seats as we beheld another sign in the heavens that was being shown on the evening news on his television. It was a cloud that appeared in the sky which looked exactly like a scene right out of heaven. It was Jesus sitting on a Great White Throne with boys and girls on His knee and standing all around him as sheep and little lambs stood and lay all around. It was so beautiful and colorful and there was no mistaking the image because it looked as though it had been both sculpted and perfectly painted in that cloud by the hand of God.
Yet typical enough, the Evening News people said that though it did look like a sign of Jesus in the sky, it was actually a cloud of gas that had formed as the result of some accidental chemical spill. So in other words they just dismissed it as being coincidental. Yet both me and Johnny knew that it was no coincidence at all. But that in reality it was a confirmation to us that the photo from the lake which I was just talking about, was indeed an authentic sign from God. And while I’m sure many present day unbelievers would just scoff at what they would interpret as my ignorance. The fact remains that Johnny was going to soon discover that he had cancer and he died not long afterward. Yet because he had seen that sign in the heavens on the evening news, it lead to his salvation and he died as a Believing, Blood Washed Child of God.
After seeing that sign of Jesus on the evening news, I met two of Johnny’s neighbors who invited me in for a beer. As we sat talking about these signs, both of these men fell under deep conviction and they became very emotional as they told me that they were once Pentecostal Preachers and were back sliders. Then they told me that the Spirit of God was upon them telling them that I had a very powerful calling of God on my life and they were very sorry that they had given me a beer. I then felt kind of awkward and left after that but I wanted to speak to them the next day. So I went back the next day and Johnny asked me what it was that I said to them? Because they told him that they were getting right with God and could no longer live in that environment. They had moved out that very morning.
I wish that I could say that I had gotten right with God as a result of all these witnesses and signs, but I was so lost in darkness that I was totally blind to my own wretched state of soul. And though I had never thought much about it, I was totally brain washed and conditioned to believe in “Eternal Security.” Because like so many others who grow up in “Once Saved Always Saved” Cults, I had developed a personal belief system thinking that as long as I mentally agreed with and in my heart believed that John 3:16 was true, then that meant I had everlasting life and was saved.
Then one day I was in the middle of setting up a drug deal for a half pound of marijuana and I stopped by my older brother’s apartment on Gunnison Ave. off Marine Drive to call and confirm the deal. A Satanist who was my brother’s room mate and the drummer for a New Wave Band called “Natural State” was there. And he was watching a Preacher on the T.V. and he was blaspheming God as he mocked and cursed this Preacher. It was as if the very Word of God was infuriating this guy. And it was much more than a simple disagreement or dislike. It was a total hatred that this guy seemed to take very personally. And he wanted me to join in with his blasphemy. Yet as bad as I was, I did respect and fear God in my own ignorant way.
By ignorant, I mean that I was not walking in the light nor did I understand how that I ought to have reverenced God more perfectly. But I certainly had enough sense to know that God was the wrong Person to provoke or speak against because I remembered those Bible Stories that my Mother told me as a child about God being all powerful. And I was not about to provoke this Holy God against myself. Then as I was standing there waiting for the call back on a half pound of grass. Suddenly this man on the TV started running across this stage with a Bible held high in the air shouting: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:1-5
When he did this, God’s Word came out of this Preacher’s mouth like a sharp “Two Edge Sword” as he shouted. And when that Sword hit me, I heard this shattering noise like thick glass being broken all around me. It was like I was suddenly aware that I was trapped in a dark casket which had just been shattered. And I heard and felt demons ripping out of my spiritually dead carcass as fast as they could go. Now I realize that Satan was described as falling from heaven like lightening by Jesus. But that doesn’t apply in what I'm about to describe. Because we must remember that Jesus also describes His own coming by comparing it to the coming of lightening. As it is written:
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:27
God made lightening not Satan, so we can't very well go around giving Satan a deed of ownership to lightning simply because Jesus used it as a metaphor describing Satan's fall (See Luke 10:18). Satan does indeed mark his territory by using power symbols of lightning as well as other things like pyramids, fire and stars. But we have to use common sense in a balanced manner without trying to read Satan into every thing. He is a powerful creature, but he is certainly not above the limitations that God gives him in God's Word. I had to clarify this matter before going on because my enemies would certain try to use my own testimony against me by saying that I had an occultic conversion simply because I am using a description of lightning to describe the way that God came to me.
So, as I was testifying: In that very instant as the Preaching of God's Word shattered the spiritual darkness which engulfed my soul. The Power of God also struck me like a bolt of lightning from the tip of my head to the tip of my toes. And like a breath of life, this anointing power of God swept into my dead lost soul and filled me with a touch of His life giving power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit and a breath of true spiritual life like I had never known before. A power so filling, satisfying and wonderful that every drug, pleasure and experience that I had ever had in this world could never compare to. Sin only promised an escape but could never fill the deep void of emptiness within my dying soul.
Strangely, I never knew how utterly empty, miserable, wretched, blind and undone I really was until God in His mercy reached way down to me by shining forth the marvelous light of His Word into the darkness of my hardened heart. Like every sinner, I was blinded by Satan who is the god of this world. And I would have just walked away were it not for the gracious kindness of God in shattering the darkness that imprisoned my soul. That’s why I am a firm believer in the old fashioned Preaching of the Word of God. For it was by the Preaching of the Word that I was found of Him, though I sought Him not and He was made manifest unto me though I ask not after Him. And it was all because I heard a Preacher. As it is written:
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.” Romans 10:13-20
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1st Corinthians 1:18-21
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2nd Corinthians 4:3-7
Separated
I was not saved at that very moment when God so powerfully touched me, but I did taste the goodness of God and caught a glimpse of that true life of which the blood bought Saints of old have spoken of in songs and testimonies since the days of Pentecost. Yet for me, that anointing power was gone as fast as it had come. And God left me standing there totally stripped and spiritually naked, unable to hide or deny my wretched sinful state. For the first time in my life I was faced with my true self without sins blinding power or the demons deceiving my soul. I was the undone spiritual wreck of myself. And Oh God, there was such a thirst for this living God who had just touched me.
I had to know Him. I had to find Him and I could no longer live without Him. The neighbors all heard of my experience because I was suddenly seeking God and asking questions and reading Bibles. The Homosexual man from upstairs paid me a special visit to warn me that if I became a Christian, I should know that one day in the future when the gays were powerful enough, they have already planned and were going to burn all of us Bible Believers to death in steel cages! That is exactly what he actually told me. And other adults who hated and despised me for being such a bad sinner were suddenly trying to befriend me and to talk me out of getting saved.
I read skipping through several Bible versions including the New American Standard Version, the New International Version and a paper-back Good News Bible. I was looking for that Spiritual Water of Life which God had so graciously allowed me to taste and which I knew by gut instinct had to be out there. Yet all these Bibles proved to be dead to me but I searched on because the Holy Spirit deeply convicted me that there was indeed a Bible that could answer my Spiritual Hunger. And I was dying inside without His WORD like a man crawling through a dry desert in the burning heat of the mid day sun. I even prayed that God would send me His true Word and then one day my Dad handed me a Bible and said: “My friend has lost his mind like you. He forced me to take this Bible but I didn't want it. Here you can have it!” As I walked away with that Bible, I heard God speak so clearly. He said: “You prayed to me for my true Word. And though your earthly father may have given you this Bible, it was I, your Heavenly Father who sent it. Never turn from this version of the Bible. No not even to the right hand or to the left. Because this version of the Bible which you hold in your hands is my true Word.” It was the Old Authorized King James Version Bible.
God said this to me as I walked down Sheridan Road crossing Sunnyside Avenue in Uptown Chicago. Being new to the things of God, I had no clue about any debate over Bible Versions in the Church. I was just seeking God and could not find Him in any of those other versions of the Bible. And when I got home and opened this wonderful Old King James Version of the Holy Scriptures and began to read. Even though I had to skip over the big names and words I did not yet know. I'm telling you, I found it to be just what the Doctor ordered. I was so thirsty and hungry for God, and as I read and thought upon those things written therein, it was like eating the Bread of Life and drinking from the River of Life. This version of the Scriptures had something the others did not. Jesus was manifested to me in a way of spiritual life that I can't begin to describe. I began repenting of every thing that I could as I learned of God's ways and what pleased Him and grieved Him. I came out of the world and stopped going any and every where that I knew would be a compromise and an offense to God. Suddenly my phone rang off the hook with drug deals I once would have loved to make. Girls I knew began calling. But I just kept seeking God and obeyed the Bible which says:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2nd Corinthians 6:14-18
I even sought God for the ability to forgive my enemies and I prayed for them and I went to an Elementry School where I stole a book as a child and confessed my sin and offered to replace the book. I prayed daily and nightly to be saved and I studied the life of Jesus, and God kept convicting me by bringing me back to the Cross and dealing with my heart and mind concerning the following Scriptures:
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Matthew 10:32-39
“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
So I finally realized what I had to do. I had to go to my next Gang Meeting and tell them why I had not been around and that I must quit the Gang, which meant that I had a Violation coming. That is where you must walk through a line of all the Members and take a brutal beating. Some of these guys disfigured people's faces with each hit. I know because I’ve seen them in action. But I knew that I loved and needed Jesus in my life more than I loved and needed them in my life. So I went and Confessed before every one that I met Jesus Christ. And I had to quit the Gang because I loved Jesus and could not serve Him and be in the Gang. You could have heard a pen drop. Until Ace spoke up and said that I had to be violated. Ace was a giant over six feet tall if not bigger. And he was one of those who disfigured people's faces with his fist. But Scorp the President of the Gang spoke up and said: “Ray's not getting violated, any one touches Ray they have to go through me first!” That settled it there. I honestly expected to be violated, but I knew what God was telling me to do if I wanted Him and so I obeyed.
Saved
After leaving that Gang meeting that evening I felt very good knowing that I pleased God, Yet I never had a clue of what was about to happen to me. I went to bed that night a lost sinner seeking salvation but the very next morning I woke up with the Living God in my heart. It was like waking up in a completely different world. Suddenly I knew exactly what the old hymn writer meant by saying: “I was blind but now I see.” God was no longer on the outside knocking to get in, He was on the inside and I was so full of Jesus that it felt like I was going to bust open at the seams. I could not stop smiling and I wore a smile from ear to ear. I felt such glory, joy and happiness that it was as though my head would just split open and my Spirit would go flying through the heavens to God's Throne. The Bible calls it “Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.” I got saved the Bible way, which was by repenting. It was not one of those fire escape prayers or a heartless decision made for my own carnal pride and satisfaction. I met a real living man named Jesus Christ and He was true to His promise: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
Since that time I've been through many dangers, toils and snares like the old song “Amazing Grace” tells us. And it is by the Amazing Grace of God that I am alive today. I wish that I could say that I have handled all the tests and fiery trials, which have come my way, faithfully. Some and even many I have, yet to be perfectly honest, I’ve crawled through just as many on my knees spiritually speaking. I’ve had to learn obedience by the things I’ve suffered and I am still learning. I’ve not always took joyfully the spoiling of my goods and I’ve not loved my enemies like I should have. Yet it is in going through these fiery trials that our true characters are brought out and we are able to repent and be transformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ.
And even when I gave up on myself and thought that God did too, He has always been there to pick me up and to comfort me in my pain and bitter sorrow. I’ve faced betrayals and discovered that sometimes even those you thought you ought to be able to trust the most can be among your worse enemies. It’s hard to walk in forgiveness when you face unrelenting attacks. Yet we must forgive others and the only way I can find the grace to do so in some cases, is by thinking of God’s grace for me and by praying for the virtue of Jesus Christ to let the offenses go. I'm not perfect in love nor have I arrived yet. I still have a ways to go. Yet I’ve found that those who boast of their own Christian virtues of love and forgiveness the most, are usually people who live a lie and if they faced half the battles that a real Saint faces they would soon be discovered as the hypocrites they are.
Faith never dulls pain, but it sure can sustain and strengthen your heart to face what ever the Lord allows to come your way. I’ve never understood these “System Christians” who describe their religion as being a bed of roses when it is written: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2nd Timothy 3:12) Far from smooth sailing, it is written: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:21-22
Life can seem very unfair and even cruel at times. We all face the reality of that truth; yet even more cruel would be facing life without Jesus Christ. I could never imagine a worse nightmare. Where would we be without the privilege to take our problems and pains to God in prayer? There are so many Scriptures that God has given me in answer to prayer, as promises which has gotten me through in times of desperate need. And I would not know where to begin or which to choose as a final testimony to sum up my personal testimony. So if I might just close with this song of victory: “He Takes Me to the Mountain Top.” I feel that it would best express that which I have so labored to convey. Grace and Peace be yours and may you experience the reality of this true salvation that is in Jesus Christ. May God Seek, Separate, Save, keep and bless you always.
Your Friend in Jesus Christ Evangelist Raymond Bolton Pena
“He Takes Me to the Mountain Top”
Jesus reached down so low, when I was blind and could not see He said ''LIVE'' and made me whole, Heavens grace shined down on me
When I was lost my soul He found, He set me free when I was bound When I was down in Death's Valley, He took me to the Mountain Top
When I'm down in the Valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top When the storms of life are raging, and they just don't seem to stop
O hear just what I say, it's by His grace I stand today When I'm down in the valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top
I have stood embittered, at what seemed my journey's end Yet the Lord reached down and touched me, renewing my heart once more within
Through Battles long and hard I've trod, that's how I learned to trust my Lord and God When I was down in Death's Valley, He took me to the Mountain Top
When I'm down in the Valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top When the storms of life are raging, and they just don't seem to stop
O hear just what I say, it's by His grace I stand today When I'm down in the valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top
When my heart is sorely broken and another battle I have lost When I'm sitting in the darkness and my soul is torn and tossed
When my mind is vexed and troubled and my Sword begins to drop When I'm down in Death's Valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top.
When I'm down in the Valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top When the storms of life are raging, and they just don't seem to stop
O hear just what I say, it's by His grace I stand today When I'm down in the valley, He takes me to the Mountain Top © 1998 Raymond Bolton Pena Though the Articles and Poetic Contemplations on this Website are copyrighted, you are most welcome to make printed copies for free distribution only according to these conditions: You must copy them in their entirety, including the copyright notice at the end of each poem along with this notice of permission. Thank You. RemnantLifeMinistries.Net <<<<{{{{((((((((R.L.M.)))))))}}}}>>>>
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