Around April 2002 I started to have concerns about my Christian beliefs, I began noticing that the Pastors messages were basically the same, “this” represents sin/Hell and “this” represents salvation/Heaven. I was attending a Pentecostal church, faithfully, since Nov. 93.
Nov. 93 – April 02: Were focused mainly on:
Companionship
Seeking a girlfriend, finally finding one and getting married, the struggles of the first years of marriage.
Job
For ten years my job experience prior to Nov. 93 was being an engineer onboard a Navy warship and then on an assortment of civilian ships. Finding a land based job was challenging/frustrating.
Children
May 2000: As the stay at home dad my thoughts, time and attention were on them.
When bottlefeedings and diaper changings were finished for our last child things began to slow down for me, this is when I started to have concerns about what I was learning at church. I wanted to know, for sure, that what I was learning was the truth because my kids would be learning this doctrine soon.
It was June 2002, the beginning of what I call, “My transition”. It was a Wed. evening service and the associate Pastor began preaching what I began calling the, “2+2=4″ type of message meaning that it is basic Christianity that the congregation has heard over and over. I looked around at the congregation thinking that someone new was in the service this evening, when I realized there wasn’t I asked myself, “Is this Christianity?” “Are we doing this the right way?”
Over the next few weeks I began praying and asking God for answers, I would always start my prayer, “Father forgive me if this is wrong for asking…” I thought that unity among like-minded churches in our town should be closer in fellowship than what they were, so in late 02 and early 03 I would occasionally mention to the Pastor or associate Pastor about uniting in some way with our fellow Christians.
March 2003: The Pastor read a letter that listed churches who were taking turns having service, i.e. “We will go to your church this Sunday and you come to our church next Sunday.” These churches were encouraging our church to join. I thought that this was great! I waited for our church to make the decision to join in this uniting of churches, but it never happened.
June 2003: I wasn’t sure what to do, I had stopped mentioning anything about joining this group of churches to the Pastor and associate Pastor, I was still praying about what to do though.
One morning when I was getting the girls dressed, I checked the tag on their t-shirt to make sure I was putting it on the right way and on the tag in big letters was the word UNITE. I immediately knew what I was being told, I looked at the tag closer and saw that UNITE stood for Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile.
God was telling me to unite with this group of churches, this was difficult to do, my wife had been going to this church for nearly her whole life, we had family and friends here.
The obvious church to go to was the church that had, about 20 years earlier, split from our church, my wife knew and was friends with many.
As the weeks went by at our new church I noticed that the messages were the same, but I knew that this church was unifying with others.
Sept. 21st 2003: An evangelist spoke to us. I immediately knew that this was the food my Spirit needed, at the end of the service I was baptized in the Holy Spirit something that I wanted for nearly ten years.
This evangelist taught us five days about our position and authority as Christians and this teaching was given to us on cd and cassette tape.
The Christian bible is the most adored book, yet most Christians can’t seem to tap into the power that was demonstrated among early Christians.
The problem is we have been led to believe that being saved and born again are the same thing, when in fact they are not the same.
Being saved means your spirit has been changed, being born again changes your body and mind.
Being saved is like “2+2=4”, being born again is like advanced calculus!
The following will get you started on being born again and once you get started God will be your guide.
Philippians 2:5-6, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God…”When I first heard this from an evangelist, my thoughts were, “A man being equal with God? That is blasphemy!” I prayed about it over a period of days, simply asking God, “Is it true? Is that the way I’m to think – equal with?”
The Holy Spirit helped me to understand all of this better with the following image:
Equal with is better described as a partnership with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The circle represents this partnership with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We are a reflection of our Father.
Greater than is a mindset that God does not tolerate, the devil tried to get there and failed. Less than is the mindset most Christians have today.
Partnering with God is why you now have the authority to stop sickness in your body and to keep you from harm. Partnering with God is why you are now God’s representative on this earth, just as Jesus was.