BORN AGAIN! MY TESTIMONY

Every true believer has a testimony.  This summer marks 20 years since I met the Lord.  I’ve known the Lord for 1/3 of my life on this earth, the other 2/3 were spent in darkness.  Praise God who called me out of darkness into his marvellous light!  Praise His Holy Name!

I think about how seldom I hear a testimony of a genuinely changed life.  The thought was especially prevalent recently because I listened to Keith Green’s testimony again.  How often do we hear a testimony like his?  Then there was the fruit in his life.  Jesus did say that we would know them by their fruits.

Over the past twenty years I’ve seen a famine for the true word of God.  Bold proclaimers of truth are few and far between.  I have discovered that you cannot please God and man.  Impossible.  You either take up your cross and follow the Lord or you compromise.  No compromise.

Read  … MY TESTIMONY

I’M GOING TO A CITY …

I’m going to a city,
To a place I’ve never been,
The Lord is now preparing,
For the day I’ll enter in.

My family there is waiting,
What sweet fellowship there’ll be,
With God’s children round His throne,
All in perfect harmony.

I’m going to a city,
Where all trials and troubles cease,
No one is ever lonely,
A great throng lives there in peace.

There is no need for sun there,
‘Cause God’s glory is bright light,
The Lamb is always shining,
In that city there’s no night.

I’m going to a city,
And it’s only by God’s grace,
I’ll join those gone before me,
I’ll see Jesus face to face.

by Cathy White – 2009

(Hebrews 13:14) For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

(Hebrews 11:16) But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

PROMPTINGS & A WORD FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT DEATH IS CLOSE

Kim was a member of a church we once attended.  She hugged me after a service one Sunday morning and I remember that I felt the love of the Lord in that hug.  She worked as a nanny for the family of one of our pastors.  This is how I recall the story.  The Lord told her in prayer that she would not be there long.  She didn’t know exactly what that meant but shared it with her mom who lived quite far away in another state.  She thought perhaps she would be going back home.  But the Lord meant something else.  At the time she was dating a Christian man who also attended our church.  You can imagine the shock when she was found dead a short time later having succumbed to a medical condition that would not necessarily have caused her to die at such a young age.

When visiting a relative’s church we heard the following two stories.

The first is about a woman who told us that one morning as her husband was leaving for work he turned back and said to her that if anything happened to him that she should stay close to God’s people.  That day he was in a car accident and died a short time later.

The second is about the pastor who went to visit his former congregation.  A man who was converted years before under the pastor’s ministry was there.  He greeted him and told the pastor that he was going to have surgery soon.  I think it was heart surgery.  He also told the pastor that the Lord told him he would not survive the surgery.  He didn’t.

Then there’s the story of Keith Green.  Keith was going for a short plane ride on the ministry property with two of his children and visiting missionaries.  His wife and one daughter stayed at home.  Before  heading out the door Keith turned to his wife Melody and said that if he didn’t come back that she should raise their daughter to be a godly woman.  Melody, who was pregnant with their fourth child at the time, said “wait” then asked if he wanted her to name the baby after him if it was a boy.  He said no, you don’t have to do that.  The rest is history.  Keith Green, two of his children, the pilot, and a couple with their six children all died when the plane crashed soon after takeoff.  It happened just a short time after they had that conversation.  Melody Green told this story on a DVD I recently purchased.  It made me think of the other three stories above.

Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

2 Timothy 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

AN ARROW POINTING TO JESUS …

Keith Green died before my husband and I were born again and we were not exposed to his ministry until after his death. What we see in Keith Green is an arrow pointing to Jesus, and a love for lost souls. He was truly born again! That’s what comes through, and that’s what he would have wanted to come through. Primarily, he was a minister and an evangelist who preached the Gospel using the gift of music that God had given him, and obeyed the Lord when he felt the Lord tell him not to charge for his music or charge to attend his concerts (which were more like worship services.) If you want to be refreshed, stirred and encouraged in the Lord, in a day when much of the preaching is sterile and passionless, and often void of truth (google Keith Green’s Catholic Chronicles), I would highly recommend this CD/DVD. It’s not about the quality of the music (which isn’t bad) it’s about the fruit of the Spirit. Keith Green was real.

See info at Amazon …

Keith Green, The Live Experience, Special Edition

THE CULT THAT FEW CHRISTIANS RECOGNIZE …

What follows is the conclusion of Keith Green’s Catholic Chronicles.  His preaching was a breath of fresh air and flowed from rivers of living water, pure and clean.  It is truly a tragedy that in today’s professing “church” there are so few who are willing to take a stand for truth.  Few understand and few are willing to learn.

“It is obvious by even this brief glimpse into the doctrines of mortal and venial sins, confession, penance, and purgatory, that the Roman Catholic Church has constructed one of the most unbiblical doctrinal systems that has ever been considered “Christian”. The fear, anguish, and religious bondage that such a system of “reward and punishment” creates, has tormented millions of lives for centuries, and continues to prey on those who are ignorant of the biblical way of salvation.

To merely call such a system “a cult”, would be to throw it into the vast category of religions and quasi-religions that are currently making the rounds of our college campuses and city streets, snatching up many an unsuspecting youth. No, the Roman Church is not a cult. It’s an empire!

With its own ruler, its own laws, and its own subjects! The empire has no borders, it encompasses the globe with its eye on every person who does not vow allegiance. It calls the members of other faiths “separated brethren” (The term used by Vatican II to describe the members of Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant churches.) and has as its goal the eventual bringing together of everyone under its flag.

I know that many will not be convinced or moved by this article (or any of the others) to make such a conclusion. They are impressed by what they’ve heard about recent stirrings among the Catholics in the “charismatic renewal”. Many evangelicals (especially Charismatics) have been thrilled by the reports of Catholics speaking in tongues, dancing in the Spirit, having nights of joy and praise, even attending “charismatic masses”.

Mouths that used to speak out boldly against the Church of Rome have been quieted by the times. It no longer is in vogue to speak of the pope as “the antichrist” (Although the following people unhesitatingly did: Martin Luther, John Bunyan, John Huss, John Wycliffe, John Calvin, William Tyndale, John Knox, Thomas Bacon, John Wesley, Samuel Cooper, John Cotton, and Jonathan Edwards.) or the Catholic Church as the “whore of Babylon”. Now Protestants unwittingly believe that “our differences are not so great”. Ah, that is just what She needs us to think!

I’ve never completely understood why God led me to write these articles. But it becomes more clear with each day of study, and each page of research. Never has something so black and wicked, gotten away with appearing so holy and mysteriously beautiful . . . for so long!”