God's testimony-set free in Christ
I grew up in a loving home, at least I knew my parents really loved me, and that is more than alot of people can say nowdays sadly. My mom was and is a loving, caring giving mom, she was my best friend in all my years of growing up. She has one of the best senses of humour I have ever known anyone to posses. She had it ROUGH growing up, and was orphaned at a young age. Her daddy died of cancer, then her mom committed suicide leaving her with only one brother, and very little support. She ended up in California for a while, working as a maid in Beverly Hills, so I guess you could say I'm the offspring of a real, live Beverly Hillbilly! LOL I like to tease mom about that sometimes.
My dad was extremely depressed as I was growing up. He resisted becoming a Jehovah's Witness when mom started studying with them when I was only 2 years old. He hid in the basement. But gradually, he started to come out of the basement unfortunately, and he too started to study with JW's and was baptised into the Organization soon after, not far behind my mom. I have often wished he had of stayed IN THE BASEMENT since finding out many eye opening things about the Org. When I was young, my Daddy got so depressed that he was trying to committ suicide on a regular basis. One time when I was young, he said "Laurie, you or I are not happy, why don't we end it all?" I had caught him hooking up the exaust of the car... Looking back now, I can see God's hand of grace, holding us back that day. I was depressed too, from the constant fear looming over my head of finding him dead.
Growing up as a JW was not easy. It was tough in many respects, but I thank God today for allowing me to be where I have been so that I may more understand what cult members go through. Once I got old enough to date, it soon became apparent that the boys I had grown up with in the Kingdom Hall were more like family than anything, and I could never have feelings for them other than friendship. I soon began secretly dating young men "of the world". When I got caught, I was told to leave. So I lived in a one room apartment over a small, rowdy, dingy bar in the city closest by.
Once I got a little taste "of the world", I thought to myself it is party time. I call these years "the lost years", because I spent them in a "purple haze" of drugs and alcohol and other things, that caused such a downward spiral in my life, I find it hard to even think about it today. I choose to leave it behind, and I won't go into it as Paul says in Philippians 3 "forgetting those things behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14
Yet in a state of despair, I cried out to God, and said, "God, if you are out there, please send someone into my life to show me who you are..man or woman, I don't care, just a friend who will show me who you are." The Lord sent Mike into my life, who is now my husband of going on 17 years. He ironically had witnessed to Jehovah Witnesses who came to his door for many years, and he knew a fair bit about the teachings I had grown up with. He would have talks with my parents and I, all trying to convince him that the JW's were "the truth". Poor guy, he would sit patiently through these "discussions" while we hammered as many questions at him we could. He took all 3 of us to Hebrews 1:6 one night, where the Bible says "ALL the angels worship Jesus", and then he asked a question that tore the veil from my eyes that was preventing from knowing the TRUE Jesus of Scripture...he asked, "Well, if all the angels worship Him, SHOULDN'T WE?"
I can't explain it, but I KNEW and UNDERSTOOD that Jesus was indeed God. It was a time of Joy and sorrow intermixed, such JOY knowing that God had come to shed HIS OWN BLOOD [Acts 20:28] to save me, but such sorrow in knowing that the religion I had grown up in, and that my family were still very much a part of was a BIG LIE. The more I read the Bible on it's own, without all the WT helps, the more I realised just how far away from true, Bible believing Christianity we were as JW's. I found out that God requires us all to have a new birth to see His kingdom, not only the 144, 000. 1 John 5:1 clearly says "WHOSOEVER believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God". And I am a whosoever, and so are you. John 1:12 says that to as many as received Him [Jesus], to THEM gave He the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God."
This new birth is for all the whosoever wills may come, and is not limited to the # 144,000. Once God miraculously Saved me by His Grace, everything changed. My eyes were open to so much, and I felt greived at all the sin in the world. I also was greived with my own sins, and I desired things opposite of everything I had enjoyed before. The alcohol I loved, I grew to hate, I seen what a trap and a snare it was in my life. I seen clearly how I had put a bottle up as my god, and had served and worshipped the god of "partying" for so many years, "the lost years".
God cleaned up my mouth, I swore worse than anyone I knew. Every other word was a curse word. God put His Word in my mouth in place of it, and I told my family and friends about my new found relationship with the Lord Jesus, and how I was now born again. They looked at me like I had been abducted by aliens and reprogrammed..LOL
There was such a drastic change in me, no one could help but not notice. My JW mother even said at the time it had to be God to change me. I know she was concerned about my life of alcohol and drugs before, but I know it bothered her that the God that set me free was the Jesus of the Bible, and I never ceased to give Him all the glory. I simply could not change myself, I KNEW I needed a Savior BADLY. I knew Jesus the Lord was that Savior. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. [John 3:16] If He can Save a wretch like me, He can save you too. You may think you are basically a "good person", but he Bible says "there is no one that doeth good, no, not one". All have sinned, and fallen short of the Glory of God. But God has built a bridge between the gulf that was separateing me and you from him called sin. It is the cross of Christ that is the bridge.
It is by placing your faith in the One who 2000 years ago said "It is finished" on the cross, that we find forgiveness. Paul preached "repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:21 Repentance means turning from sin, and turning to Christ, which will include a change of direction. Once I was Saved, it was a Joyous time. The scriptures opened up to me, and I could understand things that just didn't make sense before. The doctrine I have grown to love to study the most is the Trinity. It is all the way through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I have come to realise that once we are Christians, that we need to grow in wisdom and discernment to be able to know the difference between truth and error. There are alot of preachers on TV who are more than willing to tickle our ears, and we need to be so careful. I'm always saying to my dear friend Josh "be careful brother"..I must drive him nuts...but I just love him so very much, and I'm so glad to see God giving him wisdom and insight, it gives my heart so much joy! There was a time when you could go into a Christian bookstore, and pick anything practically off the shelf, and it would be pretty good. Those days are gone. We need to learn to be Bereans [Acts 17:11] to be sure that what we are reading lines up with the Word.
I grew up in a loving home, at least I knew my parents really loved me, and that is more than alot of people can say nowdays sadly. My mom was and is a loving, caring giving mom, she was my best friend in all my years of growing up. She has one of the best senses of humour I have ever known anyone to posses. She had it ROUGH growing up, and was orphaned at a young age. Her daddy died of cancer, then her mom committed suicide leaving her with only one brother, and very little support. She ended up in California for a while, working as a maid in Beverly Hills, so I guess you could say I'm the offspring of a real, live Beverly Hillbilly! LOL I like to tease mom about that sometimes.
My dad was extremely depressed as I was growing up. He resisted becoming a Jehovah's Witness when mom started studying with them when I was only 2 years old. He hid in the basement. But gradually, he started to come out of the basement unfortunately, and he too started to study with JW's and was baptised into the Organization soon after, not far behind my mom. I have often wished he had of stayed IN THE BASEMENT since finding out many eye opening things about the Org. When I was young, my Daddy got so depressed that he was trying to committ suicide on a regular basis. One time when I was young, he said "Laurie, you or I are not happy, why don't we end it all?" I had caught him hooking up the exaust of the car... Looking back now, I can see God's hand of grace, holding us back that day. I was depressed too, from the constant fear looming over my head of finding him dead.
Growing up as a JW was not easy. It was tough in many respects, but I thank God today for allowing me to be where I have been so that I may more understand what cult members go through. Once I got old enough to date, it soon became apparent that the boys I had grown up with in the Kingdom Hall were more like family than anything, and I could never have feelings for them other than friendship. I soon began secretly dating young men "of the world". When I got caught, I was told to leave. So I lived in a one room apartment over a small, rowdy, dingy bar in the city closest by.
Once I got a little taste "of the world", I thought to myself it is party time. I call these years "the lost years", because I spent them in a "purple haze" of drugs and alcohol and other things, that caused such a downward spiral in my life, I find it hard to even think about it today. I choose to leave it behind, and I won't go into it as Paul says in Philippians 3 "forgetting those things behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14
Yet in a state of despair, I cried out to God, and said, "God, if you are out there, please send someone into my life to show me who you are..man or woman, I don't care, just a friend who will show me who you are." The Lord sent Mike into my life, who is now my husband of going on 17 years. He ironically had witnessed to Jehovah Witnesses who came to his door for many years, and he knew a fair bit about the teachings I had grown up with. He would have talks with my parents and I, all trying to convince him that the JW's were "the truth". Poor guy, he would sit patiently through these "discussions" while we hammered as many questions at him we could. He took all 3 of us to Hebrews 1:6 one night, where the Bible says "ALL the angels worship Jesus", and then he asked a question that tore the veil from my eyes that was preventing from knowing the TRUE Jesus of Scripture...he asked, "Well, if all the angels worship Him, SHOULDN'T WE?"
I can't explain it, but I KNEW and UNDERSTOOD that Jesus was indeed God. It was a time of Joy and sorrow intermixed, such JOY knowing that God had come to shed HIS OWN BLOOD [Acts 20:28] to save me, but such sorrow in knowing that the religion I had grown up in, and that my family were still very much a part of was a BIG LIE. The more I read the Bible on it's own, without all the WT helps, the more I realised just how far away from true, Bible believing Christianity we were as JW's. I found out that God requires us all to have a new birth to see His kingdom, not only the 144, 000. 1 John 5:1 clearly says "WHOSOEVER believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God". And I am a whosoever, and so are you. John 1:12 says that to as many as received Him [Jesus], to THEM gave He the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God."
This new birth is for all the whosoever wills may come, and is not limited to the # 144,000. Once God miraculously Saved me by His Grace, everything changed. My eyes were open to so much, and I felt greived at all the sin in the world. I also was greived with my own sins, and I desired things opposite of everything I had enjoyed before. The alcohol I loved, I grew to hate, I seen what a trap and a snare it was in my life. I seen clearly how I had put a bottle up as my god, and had served and worshipped the god of "partying" for so many years, "the lost years".
God cleaned up my mouth, I swore worse than anyone I knew. Every other word was a curse word. God put His Word in my mouth in place of it, and I told my family and friends about my new found relationship with the Lord Jesus, and how I was now born again. They looked at me like I had been abducted by aliens and reprogrammed..LOL
There was such a drastic change in me, no one could help but not notice. My JW mother even said at the time it had to be God to change me. I know she was concerned about my life of alcohol and drugs before, but I know it bothered her that the God that set me free was the Jesus of the Bible, and I never ceased to give Him all the glory. I simply could not change myself, I KNEW I needed a Savior BADLY. I knew Jesus the Lord was that Savior. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. [John 3:16] If He can Save a wretch like me, He can save you too. You may think you are basically a "good person", but he Bible says "there is no one that doeth good, no, not one". All have sinned, and fallen short of the Glory of God. But God has built a bridge between the gulf that was separateing me and you from him called sin. It is the cross of Christ that is the bridge.
It is by placing your faith in the One who 2000 years ago said "It is finished" on the cross, that we find forgiveness. Paul preached "repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:21 Repentance means turning from sin, and turning to Christ, which will include a change of direction. Once I was Saved, it was a Joyous time. The scriptures opened up to me, and I could understand things that just didn't make sense before. The doctrine I have grown to love to study the most is the Trinity. It is all the way through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I have come to realise that once we are Christians, that we need to grow in wisdom and discernment to be able to know the difference between truth and error. There are alot of preachers on TV who are more than willing to tickle our ears, and we need to be so careful. I'm always saying to my dear friend Josh "be careful brother"..I must drive him nuts...but I just love him so very much, and I'm so glad to see God giving him wisdom and insight, it gives my heart so much joy! There was a time when you could go into a Christian bookstore, and pick anything practically off the shelf, and it would be pretty good. Those days are gone. We need to learn to be Bereans [Acts 17:11] to be sure that what we are reading lines up with the Word.
