- Dec 28, 2013
- 29
- 10
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- In Relationship
Hello everyone!
I should be sleeping right now, but I feel led to share my testimony with you group of believers online. Here it goes!
I grew up in a household that you could call "Christian" when looking from the outside. I have very few memories of my life before 2 years old, when my sister Emily was born we moved into a bigger house in Somerset county NJ.
I don't think my parents were going to church before I was about 8. We found a church home at a Congregational church during this time. I attended the children's school classes for many years, until my eventual confirmation at 13. I look back at this time, and especially now after reading my confirmation paper from back then, something was off.
This church I had been going to was the problem. The statement of faith on their website says this: "We believe that the Bible contains the word of God"
Uh-oh, you know something is off when a church doesn't believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Not once did I ever hear a sermon in this church that said "Jesus died for our sins". Not even once, it's like they took out the single most important thing in Christianity and replaced it with inspirational stories about puppies and airplane pilots.
I was always seeking for more in those sermons, but never got it. I look back now and see there was nothing spiritual satisfying about any of those sermons. Of course not, there was no gospel!
High school was very hard for me. Thankfully, I did not fall into the darkness of depression like my sister did later on, but times were tough. I was constantly ridiculed by teachers and peers about my grades and overall performance, which has affected my overall confidence in myself recent years. My grandfather died my senior year, which was a huge strain. Around this time was when I was asking those hard questions in life no one can seem to answer: why are we here? What am I supposed to do with this life?
God's work in me really started in 2009, about to be a Junior, 2 years before my grandfather passed away. That summer, I started getting interested in mysterious things, particularly UFOs, aliens, and of course Christianity. However, this was the time when I was heavily involved in sin; lust and masturbation. I entertained these thoughts because of my sexual interest in video game characters at first, but then it became very bad. I was lusting after children on the computer. This most definitely opened up some demonic doors in my life. Surprisingly, this was not something God took away from me right when I got saved.
In late 2010, I was watching sermons on YouTube, and one particular sermon caught my interest in the title: "The Shocking Youth Message" by Paul Washer. In the sermon, Washer explains how countless youth and adults go to church, claim they are Christians, but have no evidence that they are truly born again. This allowed me to examine my own heart, and I realized something: I was one of those people. This whole time I claimed to be Christian, but had to fruits or evidence to prove it. I then started to question for months after that whether I was saved or not, which was an idol in itself. But I see now that God was doing that to draw me to him. In April 2011, I finally just let go and received God's forgiveness, and I knew right there that he saved me! I joke with people saying I was saved because of the internet, but I guess that's sort of true.
God has revealed things to me not many people know about. For a really long time, I wanted to know the truth about supposed aliens, the ancient world, other gods, spiritual realm, etc. God has patiently shown me truth on these matters, starting with the fact that we are in spiritual warfare with powers of darkness, Satan and his demons. I started having strange sleep paralysis episodes, accompanied by demonic attacks, and this continues to happen. However, the name of Jesus Christ is powerful, and demons flee at his name. God has given me the gift to "feel" the spiritual realm. I can feel when a congregation is on fire for God, and I actually feel this spiritual fire! However, I can also sense when demons are trying to harass me or tempt me, but now I am mature enough in my faith to cast them away in Jesus's name.
Even now, I'm learning the reality of the spirit realm, and what God can really do through servants like me. It's amazing that God would want me for anything, but Jesus died for me, and praise him because Jesus Christ is truly Lord of all! Thank you for reading this long testimony, God Bless you all!
- Andrew
I should be sleeping right now, but I feel led to share my testimony with you group of believers online. Here it goes!
I grew up in a household that you could call "Christian" when looking from the outside. I have very few memories of my life before 2 years old, when my sister Emily was born we moved into a bigger house in Somerset county NJ.
I don't think my parents were going to church before I was about 8. We found a church home at a Congregational church during this time. I attended the children's school classes for many years, until my eventual confirmation at 13. I look back at this time, and especially now after reading my confirmation paper from back then, something was off.
This church I had been going to was the problem. The statement of faith on their website says this: "We believe that the Bible contains the word of God"
Uh-oh, you know something is off when a church doesn't believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Not once did I ever hear a sermon in this church that said "Jesus died for our sins". Not even once, it's like they took out the single most important thing in Christianity and replaced it with inspirational stories about puppies and airplane pilots.
I was always seeking for more in those sermons, but never got it. I look back now and see there was nothing spiritual satisfying about any of those sermons. Of course not, there was no gospel!
High school was very hard for me. Thankfully, I did not fall into the darkness of depression like my sister did later on, but times were tough. I was constantly ridiculed by teachers and peers about my grades and overall performance, which has affected my overall confidence in myself recent years. My grandfather died my senior year, which was a huge strain. Around this time was when I was asking those hard questions in life no one can seem to answer: why are we here? What am I supposed to do with this life?
God's work in me really started in 2009, about to be a Junior, 2 years before my grandfather passed away. That summer, I started getting interested in mysterious things, particularly UFOs, aliens, and of course Christianity. However, this was the time when I was heavily involved in sin; lust and masturbation. I entertained these thoughts because of my sexual interest in video game characters at first, but then it became very bad. I was lusting after children on the computer. This most definitely opened up some demonic doors in my life. Surprisingly, this was not something God took away from me right when I got saved.
In late 2010, I was watching sermons on YouTube, and one particular sermon caught my interest in the title: "The Shocking Youth Message" by Paul Washer. In the sermon, Washer explains how countless youth and adults go to church, claim they are Christians, but have no evidence that they are truly born again. This allowed me to examine my own heart, and I realized something: I was one of those people. This whole time I claimed to be Christian, but had to fruits or evidence to prove it. I then started to question for months after that whether I was saved or not, which was an idol in itself. But I see now that God was doing that to draw me to him. In April 2011, I finally just let go and received God's forgiveness, and I knew right there that he saved me! I joke with people saying I was saved because of the internet, but I guess that's sort of true.
God has revealed things to me not many people know about. For a really long time, I wanted to know the truth about supposed aliens, the ancient world, other gods, spiritual realm, etc. God has patiently shown me truth on these matters, starting with the fact that we are in spiritual warfare with powers of darkness, Satan and his demons. I started having strange sleep paralysis episodes, accompanied by demonic attacks, and this continues to happen. However, the name of Jesus Christ is powerful, and demons flee at his name. God has given me the gift to "feel" the spiritual realm. I can feel when a congregation is on fire for God, and I actually feel this spiritual fire! However, I can also sense when demons are trying to harass me or tempt me, but now I am mature enough in my faith to cast them away in Jesus's name.
Even now, I'm learning the reality of the spirit realm, and what God can really do through servants like me. It's amazing that God would want me for anything, but Jesus died for me, and praise him because Jesus Christ is truly Lord of all! Thank you for reading this long testimony, God Bless you all!
- Andrew
