Hi.
I stumbled "accidently" onto your page when I was
redoing the weather
on my companies home page. What weather has
to do with this...I don't know, but here I am.
I'd like to very quickly share my thoughts with
you.
First of all, I'm a Christian.
Just....straight Christian.
Although I attend the Vineyard church, I do not
consider
myself to belong to a denomination, as
such.
I like the Vineyard because it allows me to have
the freedom
to worship my God without many
limitations.....unlike some
old fashioned churches filled with "pickle suckers"
who if you
were to raise your hands to God, they'd probably
take you out
back and try to deliver you of some kind of
demon.
I've only been a Christian for alittle over 3
years. The one thing that
I can say that HAD TO BE UNDERSTOOD by anyone who
doesn't know
Jesus.... It is IMPOSSIBLE
to understand what it is like on this side of
the fence unless you ARE THERE. If you come
and then leave, you never
were here. I know it sounds nuts, but its
true. If you're honest, something
happens that I don't have the words to
describe.
Jesus isn't about religion. Jesus is about
relationship. The bible is a wonderful
book and has a lot of wisdom that this sick world
could use, if it were willing.
But sadly, Christians through the centeries have
left little to be desired by
anyone honestly searching for "God".
The change I experienced was immediate and
incredible, and its not
usually that way for most people....I think it had
to do with the willingness I had
to do anything to improve my life at that
point.
I wish I could explain it to you, but I
can't. There are no words or great logic I can share with
you that will change your mind or anyone elses, or
give you a glimps into what (I believe) most
Christians never seem to experience.
Religion is about rules and regulations and
"have-to's". Jesus, if you don't have some narrow minded
believer in your face trying to shove Him down your
throat, is about getting to know Him and Him
getting to know you. Don't get disillusioned
by PEOPLE. People are people and we all screw up.
Lets say that the "Bible is true" and Satan is real
too. (just humor me...)
The Mormons look pretty good, (but they don't
believe Jesus was God). Hmmmm....no threat to Satan
and his ruling of the world. How about the
JWs? Well, they don't believe Jesus was God either. No
threat
there. All the other "religions" do not
believe that Jesus was God. No threat there...and most of them look pretty
good.
OK...now lets look at those Christians. Their
"so called" beliefs must not work because they
screw up everything they do...they take sides in
battles that they shouldn't....they commit adultry
and opening admit to it on national TV and they
"luvingly" shove Jesus down the throats of loved ones
and friends without mercy or consideration for
anything other than their narrow minded selfish crap.
The Mormons and JWs attract more people that
Christianity does
because they are harmless and look very good to
those on the outside. Well, guess what....life doesn't change
for most of those people in those
religions...except of course to follow even more brutal "rules" than I've ever
had to.
The JWs had to change a huge part of their doctrine
to support the fact that the guy who wrote it, thought they'd
all be in heaven by now. If you haven't
investigated it, you might find it interesting. Talk about being lied
to...!!!
If Jesus is truly what He said He was.....then
wouldn't Satan do everything possible to make all those
Bible thumpers look like shit... Think about
it.
The power I've experienced is real. The
presence of God that I've experienced is real.
The voice of God I've heard with my own ears, is
real too....for me and many others
The Toronto Airport Vineyard church has been
experiencing a revival for over 2 years.
People get healed (for real) and stuff happens that
really freaks out those old fashioned
believers.
In Brazil, there's been a revival for almost 13
years. People get raised from the dead down there.
Its mind blowing and noone in North America knows
anything about this stuff. The papers won't print
it and the media will not broadcast it. I
swear this stuff is true. No non-believer will ever believe
it.
One more thing...
The unfortunate thing about people finding
Jesus......is when you get saved they tell you you have to do
things.
They can write out lists of what you need to do and
where in the Bible to find scripture to back that up.
Well, guess what? I'm a saved, born again,
spirit filled Christian and I don't have to do anything.
Jesus gave everyone the freedom to choose
everything they do in their life. How can anyone claim to
love
anyone and force them to do things? They
can't.
I was told the greatest gift you can ever give
someone is the freedom to let them be themselves.
Jesus loves me the way I am...and there's nothing I
can do make Him love me more...or less.
Keep searching..
Sometimes choosing Jesus is an intellectual
decision. I understand that.
Now that I'm on this side...I've learned 2 very
important things.
1) God..smart. Me....dumb. (keeps
me from making stupid decisions that can affect other people as well as
Christians)
2) God tells me that we're (He and I) are not
compatible. The funny thing is He isn't going to change.
I guess I'll have to.
After 20 years as a traveling rock musician, 2
failed marriages, drug and alcohol addiction for most of my life,
years of being a slut behind me.....
What He accomplished in me in a few short minutes
absolutely blew my mind.
What He is going to do in me over the rest of my
life,...that's really exciting!!!
I would enjoy "chatting" more, if you
like.
I can only share my experiences. However, if
I had known that there was a "world" out there that noone can
see but can influence everything you do...and the
responsibility I have as a Christian to use the authority given to
me
to help make that different...has been absolutely
terrifying....and I probably would have ran out of that church that day a few
years ago and never came back.
Take care and keep looking up.
Being a Christian is not about eternal life and
spreading the Word...
Yes, those are big parts, but I'm a Christian today
because in all the searching I did, Jesus was the only
one to give me those things I've searched for all
my life. He's never let me down.
People always let me down.
Anyway, I gotta go to my folks for dinner...and I'm
late.
Its a good thing I'm not supposed to be
perfect...but progress is a good thing.
Take card
Gord.