PAGING JESUS THE CHRIST! PAGING JESUS THE CHRIST!
Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up
Telling the world who Jesus truly is
My Search For The Messiah Of God
"IS GOD AND JESUS TWO DIFFERENT GODS"
Does the Jesus you serve seem different from the God of the Old Testament(Covenant)? When you read the words of the New Testament Jesus, is it hard to visualize Him as the God of the Old Testament? When you read the words of God at Mount Sinai, or anywhere in the Old Testament, does He seem different from the Jesus of the New Testament? And does He seem to be talking about someone else other than "The Christian"? This is what the teaching of the church world has caused in me. I found myself asking the question--"Is the God of the Old Testament not my God?" and "Am I not one of God's people?" and "Is Jesus a different God than the one in the Old Testament?" "If Jesus is God--which one am I suppose to be serving?" "Did Jesus' authority usurp the authority of the God of the Old Testament?" "Did Jesus do away with the God of the Old Testament and make Himself a new God to the christian?" These questions started----
"MY SEARCH FOR THE REAL JESUS"
I gave my heart to the Lord in January of 1965 and for every intent and purpose I lived the Christian life the way I thought I was suppose to. I went to church every Sunday and Wednesday night; sometimes it was on Tuesday and Thursday nights, depending on which denomination I was a part of at the time. I read my bible, prayed everyday, had a singing ministry with my husband for several years, but I don't think I ever really knew who Jesus was. Oh, I knew He was suppose to be the son of God, and that He was born of a virgin, that He died for my sin and rose again the third day so that I could have everlasting life. I know that is probably all you have to know to get saved; along with repentance and water baptism. All those years I tried to live for the Lord, I thought sins were--drinking, cursing, adultry, not going to church, not obeying your parents etc. They are sins, but no one ever told me that those sins was just a part of breaking the commandments of God! They never told me that these sins were the attributes of the one sin that all humanity is guilty of---even christians!
S0-- after a few years, when great adversity came my way, there was no depth to my faith, no understanding of God's word and what I was to do with it. I didn't know who Jesus was enough to know how to let him handle the problems that had risen in my life. When my life fell apart, I fell apart, and my faith fell apart. Suddenly this Jesus, that I professed to know for so many years, was no where around; not in my prayers or in my pain. So I left this Jesus behind and let the world swollow me; and in my mind destroyed me.
Did I backslide? To some of the church world--I did. For 14 years I wander the world of the lost and the damned, yet all the while something inside me kept crying out to this Jesus I thought I had known; but I couldn't find Him. After a while the lifestyle I had chosen became easier, and the crying inside seemed to go away for longer periods of time; until soon it had almost disappeared entirely.
One day in May of 1997 I am sitting in my living room, an apartment I shared with a girl named Debbie, on the couch crying my heart out because I was so unhappy. I was so lost and felt so alone. I tried to pray to Jesus but no peace came. Suddenly the phone rang and jerked me back to reality. I quickly wiped my eyes and picked up the phone; and to my surprise it was my sister in California. She said, "Annie, I have been thinking about you, and I want you to come to California and stay with me and help me in the church. We need a piano player." I laughed and said, "You don't want me in your church playing the piano. I am so far away from God that I can't be found." There was a moment or two of silence; then she said, "Annie, I believe God wants you to come here; so I am going to pray for two weeks to make sure that this is really what God wants." Again I laughed and said, "Well, I'll tell you one thing--God will have to drop a bomb and put the hand writing on the wall before I would ever leave my job, and all that I have here, to come back to California." All I have here! That was a laugh! We talked a while longer and then she hung up.
I sat there wondering why I didn't tell her the things I was going through, I always had before. I spent the rest of that day thinking about when I first gave my heart to Jesus; and wondering if I went there could I find him again. But no--I determined that day that I would not ever go back to California for any reason. But, to my surprise, a series of events took place the next day that caused me to retract that statement. Because you know what--God had other plans for me that I didn't know about at the time.
GOD'S TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE. I am sure you have heard the expression, and some have said it is in the bible, but I am not so sure the bible says it like people do; they have said, "The Lord works in mysterious ways." And I am sure that is true; for His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are high above ours. However, the Lord did come to me in several mysterious ways, and it is almost beyond belief. If I had not experienced it myself I would probably think it a far fetched story. And you are not that much unlike me, so I am sure you will have your difficulty in believing it to. But nevertheless, this is a true story.
I had been living in California for a couple of months(in 1997) and I attended my sister's congregation meetings, and I played the piano for their singing. Nothing really changed much in my life, that I noticed, except that I felt very guilty being a part of their services when I was as dead inside as any corpse. One day I was sitting with my sister at the vegetable stand where they sold produce every year, and we were talking about me(again) and what had been taking place in my life, and I ask her these questions� "Why did God let all this happen to me?" "Why did He let me lose my family; and why would He let me go so far away from Him?" "Couldn't He stop me?" "Or didn't He want to?" She sat there looking at me for quite some time; I guess she was praying for an answer, and God was giving her an answer for me. When she spoke she quoted a scripture in Daniel 11:35�"And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for a time appointed." Well I knew what that scripture was talking about, and I told her so. This is not talking about me, I said, "Why did you say that to me? I am not those of understanding that fell�I understood nothing when I fell." She said God allowed me to fall to purge me and make me white as snow; and to cause me to understand. I thought to myself--Understand what! She said that God had always had a plan for my life, and that I would never let him fulfill it in me, because I always thought I knew it all, (that hurt a little). She said God could not get through to me because I would never shut up long enough to hear what He had to say to me. Well, needless to say, that was a shock to me also (how blind we are sometimes). But her words stuck with me and I kept asking myself if what she said was true.
For the next few weeks I reviewed the past 32 years of my life. Eighteen years of those 32 everyone thought I was serving God like I was suppose to, and for all intents and purposes I was. But my heart kept wondering back into some old habits that I had difficutly keeping away. I tried very hard to study a lot and know the scriptures; and I did know the scriptures; and I let everyone know I knew the scriptures, and I was very critical of all those that I thought was not living right (what a pharisee I was). The beam in my eye was so large that I could not see my own faults--only the faults of others. I could not see that I was losing my most precious possessions until they were actually lost to me. It is a strange thing that one cannot see their own faults and failures until they loose everything they hold dear. I couldn't, and now 32 years later I am sitting in California wondering what to do with the rest of my life.
One night I was at the house alone; I am not sure where my sister and the others were, probably at church, and suddenly I get the strongest urge to pray that I ever had in my whole life. I felt like if I didn't go pray that I would never get the change to pray again. I knew that my time had come, either I was going to die, or something even worse was going to happen to me. Death didn't really scare me until I truly thought that God would take me. But instead of something horrible happening; something so fantastic, so awesome, so marvelous happened that is it almost to difficult to explain. That night I truly met Him--the "I AM"--the "ONE TRUE GOD".
For the rest of the story---click on the globe.
ENTER PAGE 3
PAGING JESUS THE CHRIST! PAGING JESUS THE CHRIST!
Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up
My Search For The Messiah Of God
"IS GOD AND JESUS TWO DIFFERENT GODS"
Does the Jesus you serve seem different from the God of the Old Testament(Covenant)? When you read the words of the New Testament Jesus, is it hard to visualize Him as the God of the Old Testament? When you read the words of God at Mount Sinai, or anywhere in the Old Testament, does He seem different from the Jesus of the New Testament? And does He seem to be talking about someone else other than "The Christian"? This is what the teaching of the church world has caused in me. I found myself asking the question--"Is the God of the Old Testament not my God?" and "Am I not one of God's people?" and "Is Jesus a different God than the one in the Old Testament?" "If Jesus is God--which one am I suppose to be serving?" "Did Jesus' authority usurp the authority of the God of the Old Testament?" "Did Jesus do away with the God of the Old Testament and make Himself a new God to the christian?" These questions started----
"MY SEARCH FOR THE REAL JESUS"
I gave my heart to the Lord in January of 1965 and for every intent and purpose I lived the Christian life the way I thought I was suppose to. I went to church every Sunday and Wednesday night; sometimes it was on Tuesday and Thursday nights, depending on which denomination I was a part of at the time. I read my bible, prayed everyday, had a singing ministry with my husband for several years, but I don't think I ever really knew who Jesus was. Oh, I knew He was suppose to be the son of God, and that He was born of a virgin, that He died for my sin and rose again the third day so that I could have everlasting life. I know that is probably all you have to know to get saved; along with repentance and water baptism. All those years I tried to live for the Lord, I thought sins were--drinking, cursing, adultry, not going to church, not obeying your parents etc. They are sins, but no one ever told me that those sins was just a part of breaking the commandments of God! They never told me that these sins were the attributes of the one sin that all humanity is guilty of---even christians!
S0-- after a few years, when great adversity came my way, there was no depth to my faith, no understanding of God's word and what I was to do with it. I didn't know who Jesus was enough to know how to let him handle the problems that had risen in my life. When my life fell apart, I fell apart, and my faith fell apart. Suddenly this Jesus, that I professed to know for so many years, was no where around; not in my prayers or in my pain. So I left this Jesus behind and let the world swollow me; and in my mind destroyed me.
Did I backslide? To some of the church world--I did. For 14 years I wander the world of the lost and the damned, yet all the while something inside me kept crying out to this Jesus I thought I had known; but I couldn't find Him. After a while the lifestyle I had chosen became easier, and the crying inside seemed to go away for longer periods of time; until soon it had almost disappeared entirely.
One day in May of 1997 I am sitting in my living room, an apartment I shared with a girl named Debbie, on the couch crying my heart out because I was so unhappy. I was so lost and felt so alone. I tried to pray to Jesus but no peace came. Suddenly the phone rang and jerked me back to reality. I quickly wiped my eyes and picked up the phone; and to my surprise it was my sister in California. She said, "Annie, I have been thinking about you, and I want you to come to California and stay with me and help me in the church. We need a piano player." I laughed and said, "You don't want me in your church playing the piano. I am so far away from God that I can't be found." There was a moment or two of silence; then she said, "Annie, I believe God wants you to come here; so I am going to pray for two weeks to make sure that this is really what God wants." Again I laughed and said, "Well, I'll tell you one thing--God will have to drop a bomb and put the hand writing on the wall before I would ever leave my job, and all that I have here, to come back to California." All I have here! That was a laugh! We talked a while longer and then she hung up.
I sat there wondering why I didn't tell her the things I was going through, I always had before. I spent the rest of that day thinking about when I first gave my heart to Jesus; and wondering if I went there could I find him again. But no--I determined that day that I would not ever go back to California for any reason. But, to my surprise, a series of events took place the next day that caused me to retract that statement. Because you know what--God had other plans for me that I didn't know about at the time.
GOD'S TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE. I am sure you have heard the expression, and some have said it is in the bible, but I am not so sure the bible says it like people do; they have said, "The Lord works in mysterious ways." And I am sure that is true; for His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are high above ours. However, the Lord did come to me in several mysterious ways, and it is almost beyond belief. If I had not experienced it myself I would probably think it a far fetched story. And you are not that much unlike me, so I am sure you will have your difficulty in believing it to. But nevertheless, this is a true story.
I had been living in California for a couple of months(in 1997) and I attended my sister's congregation meetings, and I played the piano for their singing. Nothing really changed much in my life, that I noticed, except that I felt very guilty being a part of their services when I was as dead inside as any corpse. One day I was sitting with my sister at the vegetable stand where they sold produce every year, and we were talking about me(again) and what had been taking place in my life, and I ask her these questions� "Why did God let all this happen to me?" "Why did He let me lose my family; and why would He let me go so far away from Him?" "Couldn't He stop me?" "Or didn't He want to?" She sat there looking at me for quite some time; I guess she was praying for an answer, and God was giving her an answer for me. When she spoke she quoted a scripture in Daniel 11:35�"And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for a time appointed." Well I knew what that scripture was talking about, and I told her so. This is not talking about me, I said, "Why did you say that to me? I am not those of understanding that fell�I understood nothing when I fell." She said God allowed me to fall to purge me and make me white as snow; and to cause me to understand. I thought to myself--Understand what! She said that God had always had a plan for my life, and that I would never let him fulfill it in me, because I always thought I knew it all, (that hurt a little). She said God could not get through to me because I would never shut up long enough to hear what He had to say to me. Well, needless to say, that was a shock to me also (how blind we are sometimes). But her words stuck with me and I kept asking myself if what she said was true.
For the next few weeks I reviewed the past 32 years of my life. Eighteen years of those 32 everyone thought I was serving God like I was suppose to, and for all intents and purposes I was. But my heart kept wondering back into some old habits that I had difficutly keeping away. I tried very hard to study a lot and know the scriptures; and I did know the scriptures; and I let everyone know I knew the scriptures, and I was very critical of all those that I thought was not living right (what a pharisee I was). The beam in my eye was so large that I could not see my own faults--only the faults of others. I could not see that I was losing my most precious possessions until they were actually lost to me. It is a strange thing that one cannot see their own faults and failures until they loose everything they hold dear. I couldn't, and now 32 years later I am sitting in California wondering what to do with the rest of my life.
One night I was at the house alone; I am not sure where my sister and the others were, probably at church, and suddenly I get the strongest urge to pray that I ever had in my whole life. I felt like if I didn't go pray that I would never get the change to pray again. I knew that my time had come, either I was going to die, or something even worse was going to happen to me. Death didn't really scare me until I truly thought that God would take me. But instead of something horrible happening; something so fantastic, so awesome, so marvelous happened that is it almost to difficult to explain. That night I truly met Him--the "I AM"--the "ONE TRUE GOD".
For the rest of the story---click on the globe.
ENTER PAGE 3