ULTIMATE TRUTH

A fatherless to a Father!

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 09:01:00 +0000

A fatherless To a Father!!!...

"My earliest memories as a little boy were that my father was never around. I knew I had a dad, but I never saw him. I never talked to him. I had absolutely no recollection of him.” Tom Davis’s father deserted the family when Tom was only a toddler. He hoped his new stepfather would be the kind of daddy he always wanted. "My mother remarried when I was six years old. I remember that I was excited, because I was so longing for a father in my life. It wasn’t long after they married that we started to realize that this was going to be a difficult marriage. My stepfather was an alcoholic,” Tom tells The 700 Club. “My whole idea of a father switched from someone who was never around to this violent alcoholic person that you had to walk on pins and needles. Anything you might do would set him off.”

Tom found a source of stability in his grandparents. They often talked to him about God and took him to church. He says, “I remember this one service, and they [said], ‘You know, Tommy, you have a father in Heaven who really loves you.’ The whole concept of a father was really difficult, because the only idea I had of a father was two things: a person who was never there and now one who was physically abusive. At [another] service, I remember having an altar call. I walked up to the front of the aisle of that Baptist church and gave my life to Jesus. It was the first time that God’s father heart was revealed to me as a little boy. He was real. He did love me. I knew He wanted to be different. "Tom's home life was anything but nurturing of his new faith.

“I hated my life. I would cry night after night, going, ‘Why, God, if you love me so much, am I in this situation?’ Am I going to have to wake up again and face another day not knowing if I’m going to get beat up or my mother’s going to get beat up? "There were a couple of things that were starting to happen: one was self-hatred. I started thinking, ‘Maybe God just doesn’t love me. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.’ That started a pattern in my life of ‘I don’t like who I am.’ I feel like God isn’t as close and present in my life as I’d like Him to be. So I can use alcohol and later drugs as a way to cover up that and become somebody I’m not.” By his teens, Tom was drinking and using drugs. Eventually, Tom left home and found a way to support his lifestyle. He says, “It started with working at a company that was a little shady, but I was making a ton of money at 17 years old. We started doing things we never should have done, like counterfeiting traveller’s checks, assuming identities and being somebody we weren’t so we could create money out of thin air. I was drinking so much I didn’t remember what had happened the night before.

"My drug use was getting terrible. I had gotten so despondent and discouraged, so depressed from my lifestyle [that] I decided I was going to commit suicide. So a friend of mine and I decided we were going to end it all. We took a box of sleeping pills, locked ourselves in a garage with a car that was started.

“I felt my body shutting down. I felt all of the oxygen, all of the life, coming out of me. At the last second, God woke me up in that car in that locked garage and said, ‘This isn’t your time. You got to get out of here now,’ and literally I don’t even know how I made it out. I crawled out of that garage and had the most bizarre experience. When I hit that door, I saw the life come back into my body.” Tom and his friend both survived. He recalls, “I was at a crossroads. That’s when God came into my life and said, ‘I am going to give you another chance, but you’ve got to seek Me with your whole heart. When you seek Me with your whole heart, you’ll find Me.’

“I wanted to know what it was like to have intimacy with God, for Him to love me and there to be a relationship. I said, ‘I’m going to know you. I’m going to know the depth of these words You’ve written in the Bible.’ I ended up literally packing up, disappeared and didn’t tell anyone where I was going and went to Bible School. Through the relationships that I had at that Bible School, God would just minister to me and heal those areas in my heart that I couldn’t heal on my own and that nobody else could touch.”

Even after God radically turned his life around, his past and the FBI caught up with him.

“I thought I had left all this stuff and that it was not going to affect me. I ended up going to my attorney’s office and sat down with two FBI officers. They showed me the fake IDs that they had found. They told me stories about how they had been following me, the things they knew I had done. I sat there in front of them dumbfounded. I told them everything I had done. I told them things that they had no idea I had done. I told them the whole picture. They looked at me and said, ‘We’ve never seen anybody as honest as you are about this.’ I had just incriminated myself. I just sentenced myself to 60, 70 years in a federal penitentiary. They said, ‘Why don’t you go back to Bible school and we’ll call you and let you know what we’re going to do.” Soon the FBI called to tell Tom they were reducing the charges to one federal offense. A judge gave Tom the lightest sentence possible: one year in federal prison.

“When that gavel came down, I had to go serve time for what I had done,” he says. “Then I got out. I had this black box on my ankle, and after that was over, I was free, and everything else in my past was gone. Now I could start all over again.”

When he was released, Tom became a youth pastor and an author. Today he’s married with six children. He’s runs an international adoption ministry.

“I wanted fatherless kids or kids from broken homes to know that God is a father. He loves them. He’ll heal them, just like he did for me. I was deep in my sin and the junk that was in my life. I had no hope, and God just healed those places. He said, ‘You can trust me. I’ll be your father. Even though you’ve never had a father, I will teach you what it is like. God has proved Himself as my father. He has reaffirmed who He is in my life. He has taught me the things I needed to learn when I needed to learn it from a father. He has been faithful. “
ultimate truth

CONVERTED FROM SATANISM

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:46:00 +0000

Converted From Satanism.
I am a Christian converted by God from satanism. After leaving a comment online about a Christian video, I started receiving mail from a satanist. Since then we have corresponded back and forth. He sends a satanic hymn, and I send him scricpture and do my best to witness to him. I pray the Lord opens his eyes. The following includes my testimony and was my first letter.
Dear satanist that left me a comment that I deleted:
Perhaps the Lord sent you here for a reason. I'll be praying for you. You don't know why but I hope one day you'll see before it's too late. I used to be a satanist myself. By the way, you seem like you're a lot nicer than I was then.
When I was four years old my parents were avoiding each other. I have flashbacks from before then, but that's all I can remember in terms of their relationship to each other. When I was five my parents were getting a divorce. All I knew was that my dad had just become a Christian and now my mom was moving out. So I hated him for it. And not only that, but I listened to the lies of the devil and hated the God of my father as well. I set my rebellious heart fiercely against Him. From ages 5-16 (until I moved out of my dad's house), I attended church - twice on Sundays, and on Wednesday evenings. I hated it. I had hateful eyes towards the people there. I purposefully shut my ears to the truth. However, there were a few people there I couldn't help but like. They were few and far between, but they were genuine and real, down-to-earth people that took an interest in me and liked me, even though my hate for the church had to be written all over me. Why they reached out to me I didn't know. But bottom line, I hated the hypocrites and to spite them I rebelled against God, never wanting to spend a second with them in the next life. And where were all the hypocrites going to end up? Heaven? I don't think so. Little did I know I was headed to hell where all the hypocrites were going to be too! I lied to myself constantly, making a discipline of hardening myself to anything Christian; resisting any temptation to be moved by anything I had heard and had been stirred or touched by. Oddly enough, the Christians were the only ones trying to save me. I don't think an atheist, satanist, or buddhist ever cared that much. I was never going to allow myself to become a Christian - it would be the farthest thing from me. I took pride in myself and lived for me, self-exaltation, superiority, self-indulgence, etc. . . . self-styled.
I thought it was ironic that I went through so much depression. Later I acknowledged to myself that I was probably bi-polar. I wouldn't let it show because I didn't want to show any signs of weakness, even though I think I was the most insecure person I knew.
When I was six we lived next to some satanists who killed my neighbors pet rabbit and told the little girl about it. I still thought they were cool. Cops were there almost every weekend. They lived there for a couple of years and then moved. When I was in the fourth grade my older sister started a bible study with my older brother, her boyfriend, and four others; two people from the church, a gangbanger hiding from his gang, and yep, an ex-satanist. I wanted to know all about their past that seemed so glamorous to me. The ex-satanist, now preacher, was a pastor's son who watched his best friend get taken over by demonic possession. About a week later his friend died in a car accident on his way home from a ritual. The gang-banger lost his faith and stopped coming - I never heard what happened to him. I always wondered if his gang ever found him. I continued on my rebellious ways, still unsatisfied with life and running into depression. I was 8 when I almost got arrested (a subdivision board had mercy on me and didn't file charges-the police were involved). The same year I was almost expelled from school for property damage. When I was 12 I finally got arrested. I almost when to juvenile hall for that one. Inwardly and outwardly I was evil. Yet somehow I thought I was wiser and better than anyone! I should be dead or in prison right now. Anyway, I married my high school sweetheart when I was 20. I bought a house at the same time. I was high every day for the next two years, and drunk frequently. On the weekends I would wake up and put whiskey in my coffee. I was wretched yet self-righteous. I justified everything I did and in my head I was always right, and if somehow I couln't justify it I shoved that memory aside. I was happier than my wife because I made sure I won all of the arguments. I felt I was doing more than her because I brought home a bigger check. Most fights started because I thought I did more around the house, even though in all reality she did a lot. I just ignored it. And I didn't even stop and think for a minute that she was tired from working so much and worn out. On top of her stressful job, I had destroyed her self-confidence at home and made her feel worthless. I never hit her; I just made her feel like nothing. My wife loved me anyway. All in all I thought we mostly had a good marriage.
I could only keep the depression down for so long before it would flood me again. Sometimes I would lose all emotion and become apathetic. One night that was the case. I had just been through a low spot and had finally lost almost all feeling. I was pretty numb. I had what I thought was a moment of clarity. It was 2:00 A.M. and my high was wearing off. I took a vaguely honest look at my life. I admitted to myself I was a scumbag . . . too big for the bag anymore. All of my years before seemed wasted. I couldn't figure out the past puzzles that my mind wouldn't let me let go of. Like when I was four or five and was hitting my older brother over the head with a wooden hammer while he just sat there, holding the square block in his hand, just sobbing. (He wouldn't do anything else and neither would I. I couldn't figure out why he just sat there. Still, 20 years later and I still couldn't figure it out - he was four years older than me. Worst of all I thought, if my dad didn't catch me in the act what would have happened to my dear brother? Now I know that the Lord had intervened and stopped me from the evil thing I was carrying out.) Or what about the other many other mind-bending past mysteries? But I was in agreement with myself that I had had enough of myself, as did the rest of the world. I cursed the day I was born. I was going to do what I had thought about since I was a little boy in grade school. I finally had the guts, had seen behind every appealing promising trap, had sucked life dry, no longer felt responsible for anyone’s feeling I might hurt. I felt totally alien to the world. I felt as if I wasn't supposed to have been born, yet somehow was. I was named in honor after a miscarried cousin, somehow I felt I had been cursed or reincarnated. I was never going to write a suicide note, either. I didn't want to leave some sappy, self-pitying note for my family or friends. At the same time I didn't want anyone to have one of those puzzling memories haunting them, too. I tried to justify and explain it every way I could. I wrote a three-page note. I then decided I would not leave a note. So, I decided to stop wasting time and to get on with it. I very methodically took the hose off of the vacuum cleaner. I went quietly outside and taped up the hose to my tailpipe. I tied the back door shut and went inside. I thought I should have warmed up the engine because it was freezing inside. Then I realized it wasn't going to matter anyway. The fumes were surprisingly potent. All I had to do was close my eyes and take a nap. I was shivering too much to fall asleep, although I thought I would. I closed my eyes and felt a sudden tight, jerky, pull of despair within me. As if someone pulled a rip cord on the bottom of my heart and said "Man, didn't think it was gonna be like this. I never thought my life was going to turn out this way." A total sense of worthlessness and failure fell over me. For the first time I actually prayed and said "God . . . I'm sorry for the mess I've made." Next thing I know I'm thinking of how my wife reacted hysterically when she found her dead pet. Then I thought about what I would be doing to my wife. I didn't deserve her and she could have found a guy way better than me who would treat her right. And I couldn't help but see her going hysterical over finding me in the morning. And in my heart I knew she would snap. I don't think she could handle that. And I realized further what a jerk I really was capable of being. Ashamed and still alive, I turned off the engine and reversed my procedure. At 3-something A.M. I went to bed next to my wife.
While believing in a god, I started to live my life with a new positive outlook, yet I still lived in my sins. I thought I had gotten to know the God of the Universe and started to become kind of "spiritual" - I did a lot of searching. I thought I had lightened up on rebelling against God and started embracing Him. Yet I did not know Him. While trying one day to cross-reference something I had read in a book, I bought a Bible and started reading Revelations. I was instantly convicted and for the first time scared. For at that moment I knew I was an enemy of God and totally at His mercy. I knew then that the former sense of spirituality I felt was entirely false. I had no ground to stand on. I was afraid and knew that for whatever reason God had mercy on me and spared me from the plan I was going to carry out the few weeks prior. I knew at that moment that my life and the rest of my eternity were in God's hands. I felt very small at that moment. I cried out to God for mercy. I was face down saying from the depth of my heart that I was sorry for all the lies I had spoken about God. Shaking, I asked God to take over my life, that I couldn't do it anymore. My eyes were opened by God's grace and I knew the truth. The morsels of the gospel I had grown up with came back to me. I felt the love of God wash over me. I never thought God could actually love me with love as I have never known before. I read the Prodigal Son and cried. That God would take someone like me and call me His. Me, the guy who only cried a few times that I was aware of in my life - had poured everything out. I felt like a son loved by a Father he never knew before. One who made Himself known to me, and made my soul know His love for me. Something the devil tries to keep me from all of the time now. The fellowship that I long for. I knew Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I knew God and forgiveness.
Day one of my new life. I burned about fifty books, which don't burn fast, threw out videos, some drugs, related devices, liquor, about half of my record collection - cds, etc . . . I decided to follow Christ. While I started out strong, I started to slip while new in the faith. Old ways within die hard and some never die at all. But Christ has given me grace and strength through it all. I've had my share of doubts, shaking sand. But Christ has always carried me through it. Thank God He won’t turn me away or let me be snatched out of His hand. He is the Father that does what is best for His children, whether they know it or not. And by His grace, He has brought me to Him. And I know my eyes have been opened, I knew reality as I knew it before was blindness. When my eyes were closed, and I was obliviously marching to a hell I thought would be cool while the devil was drooling right in front of my face and my eyes never saw it. I was on my way to hell, proud of it, never knowing how much the devil wants to murder you and see you fall from God's protection from evil. The spiritual death that happened to mankind was caused when the serpent (Satan, the father of lies, the evil one) tempted Adam and Eve to sin against God and they followed him and rebelled against God. Since then, man is naturally alive to sin and dead to God. This is the way it is. Man follows the devil, most times unknowingly, deceived into thinking that they are actually living for themselves, and/or following their own god. Or born-again man, by God's grace, follows the one True God; being one God in three persons; that is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God, who has defeated the evil one by taking the death that we deserve upon Himself, in the body of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, and came from heaven, sent by His righteous Father, to be obedient to the Father, who laid His life down for the sheep (the lost are astray and are blinded in darkness under the dominion of the devil). By His mercy our eyes are opened, and we have a Savior of our souls and will be saved from our sins.

HEALING OF A SMALL CHILD

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:56:00 +0000

I want to share with you the recent miracle that took place in my life. When I was 5 months pregnant, my son was diagnosed with two cysts, one on each side of the brain. They tested him for Downs Syndrome and I thank God that all of his tests came back normal.
After he was born, when he was about 5 months old, I took him for a checkup and his doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to see if the cysts were gone. The cysts were still there and she seemed very concerned about this. She said he had several cysts called Colloid plexus cyst. She called a neurosurgeon to look at the ultrasound and he recommended having an MRI done. The MRI was scheduled on June 18, 1999.
I prayed over my son and I fasted the week before the MRI was to be done. On the day of the MRI, my son was to be put to sleep but right before we went in, he had already fallen asleep in my arms. I asked the nurse if they had already given him something to make him go to sleep since they had already put an IV in his hand. She said, no, they had not given him anything, but it was good that he had already fallen asleep because they wouldn’t have to give him as much of the sedative as they would have.
After the MRI had been scanning for about 20 minutes, one of the doctors that had given him the sedative came in the room because Devin had started waking up before the MRI was done. He told me that he did not see anything on the scan. He and the radiologist were in a room viewing the pictures from the MRI. When he told me he could not find any cysts, I felt an overwhelming burst of joy in my heart. God had answered my prayer. I met with a specialist to go over the MRI and he told me that he could not find the cysts that they had seen earlier on the Ultrasound. He said my baby was perfectly normal. I told him that was what I had been praying for and he said, “Well, your prayers were answered.” I thank God for healing my son Devin who will be 1 year old.
I praise God for being faithful and keeping His promise according to Matthew 18:19:
"If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask for, my Father in heaven will do it for you."
Matthew 18:20:
"For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I will be right there among them."
I want to encourage anyone who needs healing to trust in God. He has been faithful to me all my life. Anytime I have needed healing for my family, He has kept his promise, that He is JEHOVAH RAPHA.

A BROKEN HEARTED BRAHMIN RECEIVES CHRIST.

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:54:00 +0000

My name is Miss.Saraswathy. I am a college student studying in the 2nd year in B.E.Course. I belong to a Brahmin Hindu family. My parents praticsed me in Idol worship. My family is well to do and so I do not experinced poverty and suffering, as I am the only daughter of my parents, they loved me so much, everything I wanted from them was given to me.
During this period I happened to come in contact with a young man, he was older than me by two years,at that time I was studying in 12th standard in the school and he was in his second year in the college. I know my parents will not agree with this love because I am a Hindu Bramin, but he was a hindu of some other caste. Thus ,our love prospered day by day, I loved him whole heartedly with out my parents knowledge,as he was poor comparitively, I used to help him with all my pocket money which was given to me by my parents.
As soon as I passed 12th standard from my school, I joined in a college for my higher studies,I took B.E,Electronics and Communication as my main subject, because my boy friend is the same stream in his 3rd year, I am wantering to make more contacts with him using this oppertunity, my college life seems more free from studies and parents, so I spend more time with him,so far I could not get any chance to understand his internal disposition.
One day I got a Chance to open his bag when we were in a park. I was terribbly shocked when seeing the intoxicating drugs,cigarettes and 2 photos of rich young girls and several letters exchanged by those girls. This incident made me to cut off his love and relation.
He pretented to love me for two years,but it was a real cheat to get money from me. When I realised it,I cried bitterly and stopped giving him money after cutting my relation with him, and I met those 2 rich girls with whom he had contact and revealed to them about his cheat, so they too neglected him.
This made him so angry and he entered my class room with his friends when I was alone and tried to torture me. He could not do any thing, because the watcherman of the college appeared in the scene. All of them ran away seeing the watcherman.
Therefore I came to a conclusion that there will be no safety for me in this college and went home depressed and grieved. I did no reveal any of this incidents to my parents, but just told them that I did not like to continue my studies there. So they got admission for me in another college with in a week.
My life in the new college began to grow bad to worse. I could realise that my co-students were addict to drugs. I too began to use drugs in order to set right my mental strain caused by my love failure and worry. Not only with drugs I also addicted to the Cyber sex. I was in front of the computer for whole night,and thus my life was more worse than ever before.
As soon as this news reached to my parents through my friends,they were worried and distressed too much and they beleived that relief from this fatal pratice could be obtained by pilgrimages to hindu temples of Varanasi(Banaras),Rameswaram and Kanyakumari.
Accordingly they pre-planned a trip to those places,we went to Varanasi(Banaras) first,then to Rameswaram and finally to Kanyakumari. But the pity thing is the idol worship and holy baths in that places of pilgrimage could not do any good to me. Finally we returned from Kanyakumari to Hydradbad via Madras. We meet you in Kanyakumari-Madras Express Train which you borded in Nagercoil town.
I could clearly understand, believe and experinced that my sinful life has transformed through Lord Jesus Christ. I believe His blood in calvary cleaned all my lusts and sins, I beleive in His Death and Resurrection on the third day and I am experiencing this every day in my life with a great peace and consolation in my mind. My parents along with me also beleives that Jesus Christ is the only way for salvation and He is the only living God.
Our Heart-felt thanks for the free Bible,Bible study Book and many Christian Counselling Pamplets for youth. It is very much useful in improving my faith as well as my parents faith in Jesus Christ. Now I am totally set free and my mind is over flowing with peace and happiness. I am praying and crying for my friends to beleive Jesus Christ.
My mind grows with a great passion to serve to Jesus in this only life. The last lesson in your Bible study book: 'How to live for God' is pulling me to preach the unchangeble powerful word among the people deserving salvation. Please keep in touch. I am praying for your Christian instution and all the missionaries working with you to spread this powerful word of Salvation through Jesus Christ.

TRAPPED BY SEXUAL LUST

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:41:00 +0000

TRAPPED BY SEXUAL LUST

If you’re a believer in Christ and you keep hiding your sin … especially if it is sexual sin … you may have to learn the hard way that there are painful consequences to pay. I speak from experience, in hopes of being used of God to keep others from ending up in prison where I am now.
I gave my heart to the Lord when I was eight years old. We had an evangelist named Cowboy Bill during a Vacation Bible School at the old Calvary Baptist Church. After one of his lessons he asked if anyone wanted to know the Lord. I did, because I wanted to make sure that I would go to heaven when I died. They had me go with a leader one on one, where she led me through the sinner’s prayer where I confessed my sins and asked Jesus into my heart. I felt peace, knowing that if I were to die, I knew I would go to heaven and not hell.
My parents were not Christians but they allowed us kids to go to church. I am the youngest of four children so I was the last to enjoy going to church and learning about Christ. Over the years I was able to encourage my parents to go to church, where they eventually came to know Christ as well. They even came to see me get baptized when I was 15 years old. My mom wanted me to be old enough so I could understand the significance of being baptized.
Throughout my junior and senior high school years I did my best in learning the Bible and understanding the Lord. I graduated from the AWANA club that I was in at church. My parents were very proud to see me learn so many verses from the Bible. Throughout my high school years however, I became very rebellious. My grades suffered and I just barely graduated.
The one thing I was good at growing up was having a gift to listen. I believe that God had gifted me with a listening ear. So my friends knew they could come to me if they ever needed someone to talk to, but even with those gifts I was not a strong Christian.
After I graduated from high school I moved to Texas for a year and a half. But things were even harder there. I lost my uncle and my grandfather from my dad’s side.
After seeing how distant they were with each other before their deaths, I swore that I would not let that happen to me and my dad, so I decided to move back home to be close to my parents. When I got back, I quickly found a job and went back to church. However … I was playing secretly with sexual sin, and God allowed me to get trapped by it, which landed me in jail.
For eight - nine years, my greatest weakness was sexual lust. I had gotten into pornography really bad and that led me into cheating and ruining two marriages that actually had a good chance of being happy and successful. It also ruined a great relationship with my high school sweetheart, so you can see the consequences of sin if you don’t surrender it completely to God. All the counseling in the world doesn’t mean a thing unless you are truly willing to give your heart completely to God. It’s all or nothing when it comes to God to be set totally free from sin. Like He says in His Word, “I am a jealous God.” (Deut. 5:9). In my life, my “idol” that I “worshipped” or paid more attention to was pornography than God. Many days and nights I prayed for the strength to overcome my addiction but my spiritual walk with the Lord was so weak that I didn’t have enough discipline to make it happen.
On the outside, I came across as a loving dad and husband. On the inside, there was a sin that had ahold of me, and behind closed doors I had this obsession that eventually would make me lose just about everything.
Thank God, at least I still have my immediate family and some friends from my home church. I caught my case in 2002 but it happened two years prior. I won’t go into details except that I am now taking my earthly punishment. I’ve been locked down for 2½ years now and I have had a LOT of time to reflect on my past sins and to see how by the grace of God His love has brought me thus far. Had God not allowed my sin to be exposed, only He knows how many more lives I may have hurt if I had been allowed to stay on the destructive path I was on. Sexual lust, like all lust, is simply a heightened state of selfishness. Sexual lust will almost always look for greater thrills than constant, incessant masturbation. The only thing that holds it back is a guilty conscience before God, and getting caught and punished. Once others are contaminated by your sexual lust, it begins to slowly keep spreading like a wildfire out of control, scorching everything in its path.
I can honestly say that for the first time in a very long time, that my heart and mind is the clearest it’s ever been, thanks to God. I am not perfect, and I won’t be until I get to heaven above. Satan does and will attack me, even here in prison, but I know that in Christ I am free. He paid the ultimate penalty for my sins way before I ever knew, but I can proudly say that I am His child and He watches over me. There are days when I have a rough time, but that’s when I turn to God and trust in Him more than I have before. As I read my Bible everyday and spend time with God in prayer, my spiritual strength grows more and more. By the time God lets me go home from prison I will be more than ready to be in God’s army. I will also be well equipped to live the life that I was supposed to have had before.
I want to encourage you, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to stay strong and keep in the Word because in the worst of times that is where you will get the encouragement and strength to turn to God. He is always there but it is up to YOU to ask Him for help, then to accept His help.
I also want to warn anyone reading this that if you are a Christian and you are struggling with sexual lust of any kind, and you refuse to say no to it, or refuse to seek Godly help to stop your addiction, you are playing with fire. Lust of any kind is the bait of Satan. Lust for fame – lust for power – lust for money – lust for drugs and alcohol - lust for unhealthy food – lust for sexual gratification that is usually fueled by pornography … Satan wants to entice you into constantly gratifying your lust. Why? Because he knows that sooner or later, God allows judgment to come upon those who practice on-going sin. Judgment always involves pain in one degree or another, and Satan is into inflicting as much pain as he can upon Christians.

HEALING FROM A SICKENESS WITH AN UNWAVERING FAITH

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 06:26:00 +0000

I grew up with atypical absence seizures, the kind you get the aura . . . then stare out . . . but they never went away. I grew up taking Phenobarbital. I also grew up in a family that didn't know Jesus. I got married when I was 19 - and after we got married he pressed this Jesus thing on me and I rejected it. Our marriage was always off and on . . .
Then, in my early twenties, an odd type of seizure kept trying to show up during stressful times . . . and I wrote it off. Mind you, it was twice as stressful, for I still wasn't into Jesus. Then, I was blessed with my being pregnant with my daughter, Tory - in kind of a rocky relationship. Soon after, during the pregnancy, my seizures got worse. And they never got better. And my neurologist in Alabama kept increasing my dose of Phenobarbital. When I had my daughter, the seizures still never got better. And neither did the relationship. I went back to Arizona to find a neurologist who could do something else. In time, my husband, felt he had to as well.
I had my first brain surgery in 2002 at the Mayo Hospital . . . I wasn't into Jesus yet . . . it was painful . . . but I was seizure free. I had, oddly, bought a cross right before the surgery - not sure why. Then, two months after my surgery, we had to move to Texas where my now ex-husband was stationed with the Army. Four days after getting there, the first night in our apartment, he beat me. The Army pulled him out, and in time my daughter and I went back to Arizona, where I was in dire need. I was in tears . . . and turned to overdosing on Phenobarbital, my medicine, to numb the pain. I knew I needed something else.
I somehow found this purple sign that said "Cornerstone." It became my church on Feb 9, 2003. Since then I have been there. I sought Him that year, finding wellness. I almost didn't make it once . . . and that was when I turned for good, knowing I'd never turn back.
I have been on fire ever since. And He has opened doors for my health since, such as a second brain surgery in 2005 that was fabulous. I have had every test you can imagine and been on every drug you could have questions about, along with knowing that if you don't have faith in Him . . . seizures tend to climb back up. Seizures were controlled for a while but then I had more than several medication changes . . . faith tests. When you get very ill it is hard. But you must look up to Him knowing He will hold your hand through it all. They found I had a kidney that doesn't work right - only 12% functional, air in my salivary gland that stings, TMJ, RLS - and for a couple years had some signs off and on of MS. Then they set in harder this year - and they're really hard right now - and I am praying it lets up.
I went in for testing. We will see. God has reasons for everything and will see me through. If He helped me find Him . . . He will help me live for Him! He is amazing. I pray my family comes to Him. Nobody has. We weren't raised to know Him. So I feel blessed with all I went through and praise Him for the trials. I will never regret them. I am thrilled to serve Him!
In His Love,Hetty Siebens
Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.Phillipians 4:6-7

god loves instead of our shortcomings

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Hi, my name is Lakendra Phelps and I wanted to let everybody know that God has truly blessed me. I went through so much stuff in my short 16 years. I almost drowned, I broke both of my wrists and he got me through the time when I shoplifted at Hechts not that long ago. I thought that nobody loved me or cared for me because I was doing things that were ungodly and I thought that nobody approved of what I did. Until I really sat down and prayed to God. I realized that He does love me and cares for me. He got me out of all my sins and shortcomings. I am so thankful for Him. I will now and always follow Him and love Him for the rest of my life. He will bless me for the little things I do. I know He will never leave me nor forsake me. And I will never leave Him nor forsake Him. He has my word.

christian preachers face arrest in bringham

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:07:00 +0000

christian preachers face arrest in Birmingham
A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.

Warned: Arthur Cunningham [left] and Joseph Abraham Photo: RII SCHROER
The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a "hate crime" and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that "no-go areas" for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities, as the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed in The Sunday Telegraph this year.
Arthur Cunningham, 48, and Joseph Abraham, 65, both full-time evangelical ministers, have launched legal action against West Midlands Police, claiming the officer infringed their right to profess their religion.
Mr Abraham said: "I couldn't believe this was happening in Britain. The Bishop of Rochester was criticised by the Church of England recently when he said there were no-go areas in Britain but he was right; there are certainly no-go areas for Christians who want to share the gospel."
Last night, Christian campaigners described the officer's behaviour as "deeply alarming".
The preachers, both ministers in Birmingham, were handing out leaflets on Alum Rock Road in February when they started talking to four Asian youths.
A police community support officer (PCSO) interrupted the conversation and began questioning the ministers about their beliefs.
They said when the officer realised they were American, although both have lived in Britain for many years, he launched a tirade against President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Cunningham said: "I told him that this had nothing to do with the gospel we were preaching but he became very aggressive.
"He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station."
The preacher refused to give the PCSO his address because he felt the officer's manner was "threatening and intimidating".
The ministers claim he also advised them not to return to the area. As he walked away, the PCSO said: "You have been warned. If you come back here and get beaten up, well you have been warned".
West Midlands Police, who refused to apologise, said the incident had been "fully investigated" and the officer would be given training in understanding hate crime and communication.

OUT OF THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT TO JESUS

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:55:00 +0000

Out of the New Age and to Jesus
I want to share an abbreviated testimony for what it is worth. Probably, people who are still out there involved in the "new age" movement will not be poking around these kinds of sites, but then again, you never can tell what the Lord will do! I was raised a Christian in a mainstream Protestant denomination. I will not mention it, because I do not want to cast any aspersions on that denomination, but I never really found a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ in that church -- so maybe it was just me. But the Lord had a great and tortuous and rewarding journey planned for me. I was saved, in heart and spirit, one night alone in my bedroom, when I was about 15. But it was like the seed cast upon rocky soil-- without nurturing, I immediately fell away. I went into drug experimentation, bad lifestyle, abuse of alcohol, and eventually at age 30, entered AA under the influence-- divine influence, I believe! God used that program as a last call for me to either get straight, or get taken home. By the grace of God, I am sober today, twelve years later, but through the program I got introduced to the New Age movement in a tremendous way-- sort of Satan's last big fling at my soul. Psychobabble, mumbo-jumbo, Science of Mind, Emmett Fox, Christian Science, energized crystals, spirit writing, channeling spirits (i.e., demons), opening chakras, attending Buddhist services, Bahai Faith— there was not much I did not try in my search for the "Truth". The last big belief system in which I became ensnared was A Course in Miracles, which could aptly be renamed, Lost Souls 101. I studied it intensely for four years. All the while, God was drawing me closer and closer to Jesus. See, deep down, I thought I was not good enough for Jesus, that I had done too many bad things for Him to ever love me -- how could He? That is exactly where Satan wanted to keep me, uninformed, and in doubt. But things started happening in my life -- God led me to my husband in 1987-- we felt we had been put together by God, but we were both out of fellowship. One night, once again, in my bed, as I was reading the "Course." I felt I was getting the very strong message from my reading that I should kill myself in order to be one with the "Jesus." Something inside me cried out against that self-destructive message -- I know now it was the Holy Spirit fighting for my life. That night, I suddenly realized I ought to go in search of the belief of my parents, back to my Christian roots. Maybe there was something to it! Maybe I had just not quite gotten it right... I began to pray for God to lead me-- and lead me he did, right to a word-teaching, fundamental, bible-believing church, which I promptly embraced. I began actually READING my bible, almost every day -- I won't claim I did it right all the time. But God used the Word to draw me, and, after reading Romans, I became convicted to rededicate my life to Jesus, to Whom it hadreally belonged all along. And I went to our pastor, and asked to be baptized to show what the Lord was doing in my life. Praise the Lord -- that was nearly five years ago, and He has not stopped working in my life since. I even had the chance to teach English in a Christian school-- me, a worthless sinner, whom the Lord loves anyway! He continues to bless and reward us, and we have seen our five sons come to the Lord in faith, and are watching them attempt to continue in His ways -- some times are more rocky than others, but we have the gift of His faith that He is faithful to finish when He has begun a work in someone's life, and we are secure in the knowledge that He is always in control. And I thank Him it is not me, because just look what I was able to accomplish without Him! All glory be to God!

a testimony of a taoist girl who was changed miraculously

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:13:00 +0000

I was born as Singaporean Chinese in the Year 1983, into a Taoist family. I was automatically made me a Taoist by birth. I was a big troublemaker since I was a baby, crying endlessly, and refusing to allow anyone to carry me except those people whose faces I recognize. As such, my grandmother suggested bringing me to a fortune- teller to see my fortune, and my mother agreed, worried for my future. The fortuneteller told my mother that I was an unlucky sort of baby, and most probably would not live past the age of 21 years old, unless I do not celebrate my birthdays for seven years. My mother followed what he said, and thus I never celebrated my birthday for the seven years of my life. Feeling still very unsafe over my future, my mother brought me to a Taoist temple and dedicated me as the adopted daughter of the Goddess of Mercy, one of the Chinese god in the Taoist religion. All these of course were kept as a secret from me for a long period of time.
I do not know why, but from as young as the age of eleven years old, I was a very negative child, who do not desire to live long. I always have this belief that I will die before the age of 21. Since I believe I will die young, I dedicate my young life into indulging in pleasures. Why not enjoy myself in this life, since I might die just any time in my life, thought the young me, and so that was how I lived my life when I was a child. My first suicide attempt was at the age of 11. After being unjustly slapped by my father, I intended to kill myself to make him regret for life. My mother foiled the attempt. Being a shy and reserve girl in school, I do not have any friend and thus, was a lonely and sad girl who always wishes that someday I might just cease to exist. I was also quite against Christianity, always siding with my Buddhist uncle to counter-attack all attempts by my Christian aunt, one of the only two Christians in my entire family, to share about Jesus. My knowledge of Jesus was very limited. I only knew him to be the weird guy that hanged on the cross, and my young perception of the church was very terrible. Whenever my dad drove me home, and we passed by a church, I would shudder just to see the cross on top of the church. To me, who then, had no idea what Christianity is, a church is a place that breeds Draculas. After all, my only contact with a church was the many Draculas' shows I watch as a child. Therefore, the church to me was a terrible place where horrible monsters such as Draculas roam about in freedom.
So, when my aunt brought me to her church to watch her Christian concert one-day, I was very reluctant. I was thinking about Draculas. Yet, I found no Draculas in the church. Eventually, I assured my young heart that Draculas appear only in shows, not in real life. We seat ourselves at the many benches in the Church, and the show began. It was a touching story about a virgin giving birth to a baby. During the whole performance, my eyes were glued to the actors and actress in the shows, and a feeling of peace entered into my little heart, a feeling I will never forget for the rest of my life. For a moment, I lost track of my fear; Draculas simply vanished from my mind as I watched the birth of this little baby. I was somehow touched in my heart by the show. After the show, I asked my mother many questions about Jesus, which she just answered briefly, being a non-Christian herself. That was my earliest and only true contact with Jesus during the period when I was a child, and it is important because it makes Church less frightening to me, and also destroys much of my hostile feeling towards Christianity.
As I proceed to become a teenager, my negative feeling about living in this world intensified. I desire... to die. To vanish from this world. To cease to exist. I completely lose faith in humanity by the hypocrisy of everyone I see around me. I was very rebellious. I was always shouting and yelling with my parents, both of whom I thought do not love me. I hate the world I live in. I hate myself. I hate school. I hate everything around me, including everybody. My teachers hate me, too and always drove me to tears by their speech. My classmates reject me. In school, it was hell. I dread school. But home...was it any better? Absolutely no! I faced a mum that told me everyday how disappointed she was with a daughter that was always doing badly in her school examinations. I faced a father that I never spoke to, since I first began Secondary School (High school). I faced a sister that despised and looked down on me. Everywhere... it was the same, it was hell to me, and I wanted to die. My world is a miserable world, where I am all alone, the target of everyone's hate.
I was disgusted with myself, and also with the whole of mankind after reading about wars and atrocities, as well as witness with my own eyes the hypocrisy of my teachers and classmates in school. At this point in time, I had already long lost faith in my Taoist god, and was believing in an unknown God, whom I believe was the one true God, but whom I do not know come from which religion. There were so many religions in this world, and how can I know for sure where he comes from? The truth is, I do not know, and I was lost and confused. Somehow, I started to mess with the occults, surf satanic websites, consult guardian angels and prayed to the devil once in a while for favor. I started to indulge in seeking pleasure through Japanese anime, comic books and collecting cards. While my pleasures were highly intensified, my emptiness... grows.
Empty! Empty! Empty! I feel so empty! Why... why... why do I feel so empty? God, where are you? Who are you? Where do you come from? Why am I so empty? God, can you tell me? Can... you tell me? Will someone tell me WHY I am feeling so damn empty! Silence screams roamed and traveled in my heart, but no one could give me an answer, no one wants to give me an answer. My feeling of emptiness... a lack of meaning to my life... strengthens my desire to die. I... want to die!
Somehow, I do not know why, but somehow, at this empty period of my life, my attachment to the Christian God grows. Somehow, he seems to be very similar to the unknown God I pray to. But I cannot be a Christian. My mum won't allow me, and so I never became a Christian through the whole period of my Secondary years, even though that desire was strong.
In the Year 2000, I went to a junior college, and it was there that I met this girl Jia Yan who was thinking about becoming a Christian. Feeling positive about Christianity, I highly encouraged her to be one. She was convinced and not later, she was converted, and she told me about her wonderful conversion. I was jealous of her, thinking why she could be a Christian while I was searching harder for God than her. (I was a very self-righteous person in the past.) Jia Yan brought Jie Yin, the one who converted her to my school. Jie Yin started to talk to me about Jesus. I was very interested by what she said except when she told me that now Jia Yan believe in Christ, Jia Yan was spiritually higher than me, something I strongly disagree. However, when Jie Yin wanted to lead me to Christ, I agree and she led me through the sinner's prayer. And I prayed to God as she led me. I successfully prayed through the sinner's prayer.
For some, their success stories or testimonies joyfully end here. Mine do not. For the first few months, I was happy as a Christian, desiring truly nothing in the world, but after a while, I was back to my own self, again. I went back to consulting guardian angels, began to surf Satanic websites on how to conjure spells etc, and continue to satisfy my pleasures by reading about the occults. Eventually, my empty feeling came back once again, swallowing away every joy I might derive from my pleasures. I pursue and pursue pleasures, one of which is the writing of stories. Such pleasures bring me away from the real world into a world of fantasy, where I interact with make-believe characters who satisfy the lonely feeling in my heart, and they give me so much pleasures that I temporarily lost tract of the deep empty feeling in my heart. But like I said, such pleasures were temporal, and whether I like it or not, I was soon brought back to reality.... the reality that I still does not understand what is lacking in my life.
One day, I came across a new age book called, "Conversation with God" by Mr. Walsh, but I did not knew it was a new age book. I thought it was a Christian book. Mr. Walsh claimed that while writing some questions down on a piece of paper, "God" answered him and he was inspired to write down the replies "God" gave him. That was how he communicated with "God". I decided to try it out.
I started to write a letter that goes something similar to this. “God, I read a book written by Walsh on communicating with God, and if it is true, can you answer me. God, are you there?” I prayed very sincerely. No response. I waited a while, and the pen started to move. I wrote the word, “Yes”. And thus, I started to have a conversation with “God”. From communication through pen, this "God" started to communicate with me eventually through my thoughts. He was able to speak to me, by conveying his voices through my thoughts, and I in turn reply to him back either through my lips or my thoughts. I was completely deceived that he was God, and started to listen to him in everything he tells me. He kept telling me how much he loves me, and I was deceived soon into loving him back. He told me many truths, which made me even more convinced that he is God, and then he started to lie to me. But I believe in all of his lies.
I believe in him for about seven months. Throughout this period, however, a feeling of uneasiness often came to me. I often doubted that the one I spoke to was God. But I dismissed the thought. More feeling of uneasiness came. I started to have nightmares. In my dream, I was always with Satan, and Satan was always portrayed as my best friend who kept oppressing me, but who lived in the same house as me, and refused to live. I started to feel uneasy. Why do I keep dreaming about Satan as living in my house, oppressing me? I became desperate, wanting some Christians to prove to me that the "God" who spoke to me everyday, every free moments of my life was not the devil, but truly God. So I went to a Christian message forum and get people to pray to me. A miracle happened in that Christian forum. One of the posters was posting a post about evil spirit deceiving me as God and confusing my life, but God will free me through all this. Her message, unfortunately vanish completely. While she was deciding whether or not to post the message again, the Holy Spirit told her to wait and see. Surprisingly, the next day, when she went on the forum, her message was there, but it was not posted by her, but by two other Christian posters in that forum. The combination message of these two Christian posters was the exact form of the message she posted earlier which vanished, word for word.
I learnt of this miracle, and after a serious day of reflection, became convinced that the message was from the true God, despite what "God" tell me. I immediately renounce "God" in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet, at the same time, the self-righteous me, instead of thanking God for my release from deception blamed God for not stopping the deception in its earlier state. I could not understand why my sincere search for God resulted in the devil coming in disguise as God. I lost all hope, and felt that all was lost. I felt too ashamed to face God. I was also very angry that God did nothing to stop me on my very first day of deception. That day, I was greatly humiliated. I had always thought I was a very wise person, and yet in my wisdom, I believe the most ridiculous of the devil's lies. I had always thought that I was the most God-seeking person in the world, and one of the most righteous person ever lived, but this incident, clearly a great sin in the eyes of God made me realized that like others, I too, sin against God. For the first time in my life, I realized I do not deserved to be saved. What will had happened to me if God had not saved me, if God had not use the miracle to tell me that it was the devil speaking to me? So much for me seeking God. So much for my wisdom. I felt... that day like the most foolish person in the whole wide world.
So, not long later I rededicated my life to Jesus once again, telling God how sorry I was to believe the devil was God, asking God to forgive me once more, and this time, I sincerely accepted Jesus as my lord and savior. I asked God to make me into the Christian he wants me to be, and free me from all demonic deception in the future. My moment of victory came... at this moment, and I could have stopped here, but I do not want to. I want to share with you the many rich blessings God had brought into my life. After I rededicate my life to God, my struggle did not stop here. The devil continued to try to talk to me, to pretend that he really was God. However, I was not fooled. I kept rebuking him in the name of Jesus Christ. When the devil knew that I could no longer be fooled, he revealed his true color. He told me all sort of horrible things about God and myself. It was hard ignoring what the devil said but I kept rejecting him in the name of Jesus. Soon, he gave out his control of me. And I was thus, set free from his deception. Praise is to God! God is great!
Also, with my current new trust in God, I felt that I was more and more attracted by the love of God. This spurs up in me a new love for God, a love that I had never felt before for the one who made me. Suddenly, God became more real to me. He became closer to me, and this was not something I had experienced before. This made my heart grateful for what he had done for me.

FROM ASTREET GANGSTER TO A PREACHER

noreply@blogger.com (ULTIMATE TRUTH) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:58:00 +0000

As a child, I went from troubled - to bad - to worse. By the time I was 17, I had dropped out of school to become a gangster. I was addicted to alcohol, smoking, vulgarities and pornography while pursuing a life of crime. One day I met a girl who invited me to church. There I met Jesus Christ and surrendered my life to Him. I have never been the same again, as my life continues to undergo an amazing transformation.
I was born in Singapore in 1980, and grew up in a Christian family. Despite hating to go to church, I was forced to attend by my parents. They sent me to a Christian school but that didn't help. When I reached high school, that's when I was influenced by my friends, and got involved in a gang, smoking and skipping school. Things were turning from bad to worse as this became a lifestyle of bondage for me.
Then I started stealing, vandalizing, drinking and getting into fights. My folks found out about it and tried to talk me out of it, but it didn't work. I was very rude, hot-tempered and vulgar. My teachers, the school staff, relatives, good friends and even counselors tried talking to me, but none of them could get through.
STREET LIFE

I was expelled from school because of my bad attitude and poor attendance. I became a dropout at age 17. It didn't really matter to me that I was a dropout. Rather, it gave me more reasons to become a full-time gangster.
I frequented pubs with my gang members daily. I became a very heavy smoker and I got hooked on alcohol. I was full of obscenities and got addicted to pornography. I started womanizing and stayed away from home most of the time. There were times I got involved in armed robberies. Most of my friends were drug addicts and ex-convicts. This troubled life took control over me. I was so lost in my sin. I became the worst guy in my family. No one could change me; not even the Army.
After I was drafted into the Singapore Armed Forces, many people thought I would change for the better, but unfortunately, I did not. I got himself into the army prison (detention barracks) for going A.W.O.L (unauthorized absence) and for my bad attitude. I was also brought back to the police station a couple of times. My lifestyle kept pointing me to the prison, but I would always escape without getting caught.
My slavery to the devil came to an end just a few years ago. I had had quite a number of girlfriends in the past, and most of them were unbelievers. Five years ago (as of 2008), I got to know a girl who was a Christian. She brought me to her church. The Lord Jesus touched me and I started to break down. I suddenly felt so in love and loved, but I didn't know how or by whom. All I knew was that this love was something beyond human experience. That day I received Jesus as My Lord and Saviour.
Life Transformation
My life was not the same after that day. As time went on, Jesus delivered me from so many things. Nine years of heavy smoking ended. Six years of alcohol addiction was gone, and as time went by, God supernaturally took me out of the gang; delivered me from vulgarities, anger, womanizing, pornography, filthy lust and many more bad habits. The Lord made me see women in a different way.
I became a new creation in Christ. And I was also healed of a 10-year urinary bladder problem. Amazing grace! What man could not do, Jesus did. The people who knew me were shocked at the changes in me. The Bible says, with man it may seem impossible, but with God, all things are possible. It also says that sin shall have no dominion over us for we are not under law but under God's grace.
The Lord is still working in my life. I have felt the power and the manifest glory of Jesus in my transformed life.
There is hope in Jesus Christ. I'm living proof!