Brethren,
I have been writing articles for quite a few years. It has been my joy to have done this for the Lord. I cannot fully express my love for each and every one of you.
I never even considered myself a writer until my sister in the Lord, Cindy Nuara, encouraged me to send my testimony into Raptureready.com. That was the beginning of a ministry for which I was so grateful to the Lord. It started with Raptureready; then I was a feature writer for Nowtheendbegins.com. Then I made my own WordPress site where I house all of my articles. I have met so many wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ through Raptureready.com.
My Family
I’m pretty sure that we are not alone in the struggles of our families against Satan and his demonic forces. We have a grandson who has had more hardships in his short 19 1/2 years than most people have in a lifetime.
A biological father who wanted nothing to do with him – then he found the closest thing to a real father and loved him dearly, but that marriage would end and our grandson would once again be plunged into deep depression.
If that were not enough, this young man would come close to death when he was 14. He had type 1 diabetes and we nearly lost him. He spent over a week in PICU at John Hopkins until he was stable enough to come home. Since then, his life revolves around insulin and needles every day to keep him alive.
He now is in a very dark place. I’ve written to him to assure him of the love we all have for him and that we will be standing with him through whatever comes. I told him to never forget how much Jesus loves him.
Baptism
When he was a young boy, we would take him to church with us every Sunday. He saw a boy his own age get baptized. He told me when we got home that he wanted to be baptized. A couple of years before this, he told me that he wanted to know that he was saved. We had just watched “The Jesus Film” project before he asked me this.
I went through everything with him to be sure he knew what being “born again” really meant. Also, I spoke to him about repentance and agreeing with God that we are all sinners in need of a Savior – Jesus Christ. I felt that he understood the gospel, and I could see that he was so ready to repent and trust the Lord and His finished work on the Cross for his salvation. I prayed with him that day for his Salvation.
My husband and I were on the praise team at this church. Our grandson was sitting toward the front, and I told him that we would be back as soon as worship was over. My heart sank when I saw the pastor sliding in beside him, and our grandson’s countenance changed from ‘joy’ to a look of horror. When I sat down beside him, he asked if we could just go home. He had tears streaming down his face, and the three of us did leave the service. I was so worried about him.
He was told by the pastor that Baptism means death
I had contacted this pastor after our grandson expressed his desire to be baptized, and I know that pastors like to talk with people before baptism to make sure they understand. In the car ride home through tears, our grandson kept saying, “Grandma, I don’t want to die when I’m baptized!” I assured him that he would not die physically. I told him that baptism illustrates the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. I told him that being baptized was an outward expression of our belief and devotion to the Lord, and it a powerful witness to the unsaved who come to watch.
I also told him that Jesus did ask those who were born again to be baptized in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Nothing I said was helping. He had been traumatized by the pastor’s words. This pastor came to our house and apologized that night. He admitted to me that perhaps he didn’t use the right words. I asked him if he would tell our grandson the truth about baptism. Our grandson lived with his mother so he was not in our home when the pastor came. That pastor never reached out to him to make things right. Our grandson never wanted to come back to church with us.
Our Daughter
Our daughter was molested by a lesbian – one of the helpers in the youth group of a “Seeker” church we unwisely joined because we had heard about a dynamic youth ministry. It turned out that they did not vet the prospective volunteers – not even to see if they were true Christians! Our daughter to this day will not attend a church because of this trauma.
More Struggles
For the last 5 years, it has been a non-stop struggle against the enemy. My health has deteriorated – heart problems and many other things. But my family is most important, and God spoke that to my heart.
I used to write my articles from morning until night. Now I will use the time to be in God’s Holy Word, and to pray for my family, and to do whatever I can for all of them. My three children fell away during college, so I do have a lot to pray about. And I believe that every prayer which goes up to the Lord – He hears and will answer.
Once last thing
Brethren, I have been sounding the alarm for quite some time that persecution is coming to Christians in America. Many do not want to believe this, but I am telling you the truth. Satan is working like never before to silence the Christian witness.
We are being banned from most social media. This will continue and get much worse. And believe me when I say this: If the so-called “Equality Act” is passed and if the Left take back the White House, I believe that we will be placed in re-education camps and possibly even worse if we are still here.
Why would American Christians be spared of persecution when our brothers and sisters in places like China, North Korea and the Middle East are being arrested and killed? God has held back intense persecution, and His placing Donald Trump as our president did give us more time – a reprieve.
Leaders of the U.N. have said that the only thing holding back the NWO is a strong America. If the Left take our White House and our Senate, we can expect incarceration and a nationwide gun grab.
I am not telling you these things to scare you but to “prepare” you.
We ALL must be on our knees, asking God to save the unsaved in our families and also asking Him for strength to endure what is coming. We must get our own homes and our hearts right with God.
Don’t think that God does not see everything going on – He does. And God does NOT wink at Sin. We are not perfect – we won’t be until we receive our glorified bodies. But if you are living IN sin – that is vastly different from falling into sin and repenting of that sin and asking God to forgive us and cleanse us. You must realize that if you had the Holy Spirit living within you, He would convict you of your sinful lifestyle and you would be miserable.
Do not believe for a minute that a “prayer” you said years ago, but continued to live IN sin, will help you on Judgment day? God knows each of our hearts, and He is not mocked.
Please pray that I will hear clearly if I am to return to the writing ministry. But as for now, I truly believe that the Lord wants me on my knees for my family, my friends and my country.
Shalom b’Yeshua
MARANATHA!!