GREAT IS THE LORD AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED IN THE CITY OF THE LORD IN THE MOUNTAIN OF HIS HOLIENESS. PSALM 48:1

How I CAME TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST AND BECAME BORN AGAIN

Opening statement. The following is a interview with some questions you might have if you have not become a follower of Jesus Christ and been born again. It is my story with God. My prayer is that you too will find salvation that comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In the book of John 3:16 it says, “For God loved the world so much that He gave his only begotten son Jesus to die in our place. So that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

“Jesus said he was the way the truth and the life. He also said that no one could come unto the Father but through him.”( John 14:6 )

A scripture verse in the book of John 17:3 says; “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

The following might be some questions you might ask me about my faith.

Question 1 - Before you became a follower of Jesus Christ;
What was your life like? What was your mindset?

I am 49 years old and for the first 15 years of my life I live in a very tough situation that included poverty and neglect, physical, emotional, social, and sexual abuse.
I had a father who was an alcoholic, who also was illiterate because he never was sent to school when he was a child.. He was put to work in the logging camp where his family lived . He met my mother who was dating his brother and she ended up marrying him. My mom came from a good family and it was hard for them to see her with this man and his family who were all drunks. My mom had 5 children in less than 5 years, and the last 3 of us were 11 months a part, and I was the middle child.

My earliest memories are of living in a one room tar paper shack, and of my father taking off and leaving us with nothing to eat. My grandmother (mothers side) did all she could do to make sure we had food and cloths. My mother would leave my father and move us all to my grandmothers house, then would after a few months bring us all back to my father. This pattern continued throughout my childhood. Although my mother hated my father because he abused her, and neglected the family, she still kept going back to him.

By the time I was 5years old I had been hospitalized due to abuse, My father's youngest brother was very mentally ill. He lived next door to us and would abuse us. One day when my father was gone he raped my mother in front of us kids with a knife. He would sexually and physically abuse us kids and we lived in terror of him all the time.

My brother Ray was 11 months younger than me was, and he was mentally retarded. He was institutionalized when he was 8 years old. We felt that he was the lucky one because he got out.

My sister, 2 other brothers, and myself lived this double life. My mothers brother would come and get us and bring us to my grandmothers house where she would have cloths for us and would give us hair cuts, clean us up so the rest of the family would see all these cute little kids.
All my childhood pictures show us in all our nice new cloths and no pictures were ever taken in the other place. I made a decisions when I was very young that I did not want to be like my father's family.

Back in the 1960s many of the children who were impoverished were sent to special schools because in many situations the children were socially maladjusted because of neglect. My 2 brothers, and my sister were sent to one of these schools which robbed them of any kind of education . But I thank God I was sent to regular school. I felt like an outsider in my home because I didn't go to the same school as my siblings. I still ended up being sent to a camp for mentally retarded when I was 9 years old. Because of this I felt that there had to be something wrong with me too. We had no running water and no indoor plumbing in this old house we moved into that was old and a wreck. It seemed that we were always fighting off head lice and bedbugs.

By the time I was 15 years old I was a mess, I felt like I had no way of escaping from this the pain and agony in my soul. I had started drinking at 12 and smoking was going down a road to destruction. I had no way of dealing with the darkness that was growing inside me. The only thing I could think of was quiting school when I was 16, that was my great goal of my life. I had nothing beyond that to look forward too.


Question 2 - What caused you to begin considering God? How did you come to the conclusion that Christ was the solution to your needs? What finally motivated you to actually come to God for forgiveness and to accept Christ as your Lord and savior?

I had a relative who was in a terrible accident and became blind. He started going to the church that was near my home. I remember the pastor coming to see my relative. Then he and all his family started going to church. I went to church with them some times. I had a man who would become the pastor of that church, he told me about salvation, but I was to young at 10 years old to understand.

I had a great Grandmother (mothers side) who was a Christian, and she was called the holy roller of the family. I am sure she prayed for me and my family to find Jesus.



Question 3 – Tell me what took place, and tell me how did you receive Christ?
Did you go to church? Did you read the Bible? Did some one tell you how to do it?

In the winter of February 1975 when I was 15 these three men came to my house from the church and invited us to come to a youth group called, “Word of Life Bible Club” That day I remember that my older brother and myself were just going to talk to them to mock the preacher boys as we called them.

Something happened inside of me that day as they shared about Jesus to us, and my heart was changing. Then next Saturday 2-16-75 they came to my house again and one of them ask me what my greatest need was? I said, “ I need help to get rid of my hate that was in me.” He said Jesus would help me to get rid of the hate that was in me. So I said I wanted Jesus in my life.

We all got on our knees in that old house where I had suffered so much, where there was so much evil, and right there I ask the holy Son of God to come into my heart, and you know what? He did!
I felt such joy that I wanted to cry. I never felt anything like that before in my life. I was a new creation in that moment, and I have never been the same since that day when I met my best friend Jesus.

Question 4 – After you received Christ and became born again; What are some of the changes that have taken place in your life?

The greatest thing that changed in me was that I had hope, and I had confidence that God was in my life. I felt forgiveness, and I felt that I had a future now. The hate was gone and I felt loved.

God helped me to do better in school. I went on to be the first one in my fathers family to graduate from high school. I even went on to get an AA in Christian ministry.

I have seen most of my family come to the Lord also including my mother, my father, my grandmother, (mothers side) my brothers, and sister.

Question 5 Do you have a favorite verse which is important in explaining your Faith Story?

My favorite scripture is Jeremiah 6:16a that talks about how God brings us to crossroad moments in our lives, we are to ask God to show us the best path to go down, a path that will lead to peace.

Prayer to be saved
Dear God the Father,
I realize that I am a sinful person, if I look at the 10 commandments I see that I am guilty of violating most of them, your word teaches that if I am guilty of one of them that I am guilty of all of them. So here I am, a sinner and I am worthy of your full judgment. Your word says that even though I am a sinner and that as a sinner death and judgment await me;
You have provided a gift for me of eternal life; this life comes through placing my faith in the Jesus your son, believing that he paid the full price that I owed. I don’t deserve any thing, but I ask for mercy. Forgive me, I now repent of my sin and turn to you.

I ask that you would cause me to be born again, Jesus I open up the door of my heart to you and you promise that if I invite you to come in to my life, that you would come. Right now I receive the new birth.

Thank you for coming into my life, thank you that the blood of Jesus washes away all of my guilt and shame, right now I am a new creation, old things have past away all things have become new. I believe that the blood that was shed by The Son Of God washes away all my sin.

You will never leave me or forsake me; and I can do all things through Christ who now gives me the strength. I am now the temple of the Holy Spirit and God now live in me.

Father, Your word promises me that the Holy Spirit will now abide with me forever, He will be my coach, and will help to produce the character of Christ in my life.

I don’t understand it all right now, I am like a baby who has just been born and I will need a spiritual family to support me in my growth. I will seek out a fellowship of others who know you also.

Again I thank you for salvation, Thank you Jesus, for you are the way, the truth and the life, thank you for saving and loving me and allowing me to be part of your family. Amen.

SPITIUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE

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BIBLE REFERENCES
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life; For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.

Rom 3:23
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,

Rom 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 10:9
Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

Rom 10:10
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.

1Jn 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Eph 2:8-9
For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

1Co 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?