There was a time when we attended a megachurch on and off for several years. Since leaving this apostate place, we feel vindicated in the fact that this church has been publicly called out by other discerning eyes in recent years for having a well-known and prominent woman pastor, who is also a false teacher, come and preach to men and women one Sunday at this church.
Also, even more recently, the ‘progressive, skinny jeans wearing, secular/worldly loving pastor’ has been outed for plagiarizing a message almost word for word from no other than another prominent heretic! When called to the ‘online floor,’ this pastor went onto his platform to unashamedly defend this act as if it was a good thing! Even though the information he was presenting and teaching to his congregation was not only from a known false teacher but one who also blatantly attacks and goes against the Bible! Mortifying, to say the least! *incredulous stare*
1 Corinthians 14:34 “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.”
Anyhow, a redeeming quality that I can take away from our time there was when we attended this one particular life group. First, let me start off by saying that this megachurch is in one of the richest counties in the state, and most of the congregants there were more or less of the ‘wealthy persuasion,’ if that gives you any idea. So, needless to say, by our being in any life group there, for that matter, we would more than likely be befriending and ‘rubbing elbows’ with some pretty well-to-do people. Anyhow, every month, the life group would plan a get-together for some fellowship, and oftentimes someone would volunteer to open up their home and have everyone bring a covered dish to share and eat and spend time with one another.
Seeing how most of these people lived in multi-million-dollar houses, suffice it to say this one particular couple’s house that we went to was like something out of a magazine! Literally every house on their street radiated opulence, and their home inside had floor-to-ceiling glass walls in the back, allowing you to see the views. And the pool behind their house was nothing short of breathtaking! From the hardwood floors and the matching beams on the ceiling to the huge granite-laid kitchen island and the gorgeous glass-doored entryway, not to mention the white stone fireplace that extended all the way to the ceiling. Just everything about their house was awe-strikingly spectacular!
At this gathering, my husband, in his usual joke-telling fashion, had everyone around us laughing from all of the crazy massage stories and experiences we’ve had over the years. There were several of us laughing for so long and so much in the expressive fervor and vivid description detailed by my husband that some of us were literally crying! Looking back, I’ll never forget the time we had there as we spent such a fun evening with those lovely brothers and sisters in Christ. We even took selfies with some of them at one point, too, at another venue… writing this now makes me miss them.
Anyhow, one Sunday soon after this bonding time, the wife of the couple’s house that we visited volunteered to give her testimony during class time. Basically, it was about how they met, their college years, marriage, having children, and how both of their careers started to take off or, as she described it, became ‘Wildly Successful’! But also during this time, there was a crisis in their marriage, and she detailed how it led them to turn to God to save their marriage and family, all the way to how they are now growing in their faith and here at the church today. It was a beautiful testimony, and this lady was truly a sweetheart, for she prayed over us concerning our heartbreaking situation and would even call up to see how I was doing during the week too.
At one point, I remember telling her that I believe that we are in the last days, and as she seemed silent on the topic, I went on to ask her if she believed that we were in the end times, to which she replied that she didn’t. She said there have been bad times all throughout history and that she didn’t think now was any different. After our phone conversation, I realized that many who live in opulence are in a type of ‘glass bubble,’ so to speak. For when the ‘sun is shining, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and there’s not a cloud in the sky, and when everything is beautiful in your world,’ you’re not going to see, or rather, not want to see the darker sides of life. You’re not going to want to believe that the end is near. After all, you’re ‘wildly successful,’ and life is good… so, why rush it?
Still, this woman was a total sweetheart and precious sister in Christ, but I’m afraid that wealth blinds people in many ways, especially to the ways of God, which are not our ways. For His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. What is loved in this world is hated with God, and what is loved with God is hated in this world. Basically, it’s the opposite of what the world says and thinks. Not what we really would like to hear, but at the same time very true.
Proverbs 23:4 “Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.”
‘Wildly Successful,’ Spiritually Speaking
Speaking of opposites: the meaning of our loved one’s name, who has caused us so much angst and grief in recent years, is ‘Victory of the People.’ Even while being in this wilderness time and low valley experience, I can see how this person is the ‘victory of the people,’ for God never lets a crisis go to waste. The pain that this person’s rebellion has caused was the very catalyst that ignited our faith from being somewhat shallow to now being deep! The suffering only made me press into God further, which in turn produced fruit that I never had before! Just like the crushing of wheat produces grain, or the pressing of grapes brings forth wine, or the pressure on coal turns it into a diamond, such are the effects of our being crushed and ‘spending time in the pressure cooker,’ so to speak!
Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”
In the last several years, I have ordered 100 gospel tracts every other month of each year, and we have put them out non-stop everywhere we have gone ever since! Furthermore, when my husband’s job started having him travel all across the country about 6 years ago, he also brought the ‘salvation packs,’ as I call them, with him and has left countless tracts at airports, restaurants, gas stations, and hotels all over! We always pray that they would reach whom God would have them reach.
So, if you multiply 100 tracts times 6 times a year, that is 600 tracts times the last 8 years, which more or less equals 4,800 tracts! Now let’s imagine only 10% of those salvation packs are ‘truly effective’ at reaching lost souls; that would mean roughly about 480 people in the last 8 years got some sort of ‘seed planting’! But let’s be even more conservative than that and estimate that only 10% out of those truly became ‘born again believers’; that would mean by God’s providence, about 48 more souls will now be ushered into the Kingdom upon leaving this earth! Talk about amazingly and ‘wildly successful’ for God and His Kingdom!
If all our pain and suffering helped to bring about even 48 souls to Christ, and that’s what it had to take to produce such fruit in us, then it was all totally worth it! Our pain and suffering were definitely not wasted! God knew exactly what He would bring about this whole time! Even if it is that out of those 4,800 tracts, only 1 person got ‘truly saved and born again,’ then that would still be considered ‘wildly successful’ in God’s eyes! May we go on to be ‘wildly successful’ in the spiritual things of God by winning souls and bringing them into the Kingdom, gaining more precious brothers and sisters in Christ to spend all of eternity with us there!
So, ‘victory of the people’ was a fitting name for this person, and I’m thankful for all that transpired, no matter what! Thankful that it also purified us and readied us for these last days (that some in their opulence and comfort don’t want to see or believe). More than that, it readies us for the soon-coming rapture and allows us to avoid the subsequent tribulation. I would much rather be in this kind of predicament than any other way! For we know that this is the act of God’s grace, and the whole thing that happened was truly a ‘blessing in disguise,’ spiritually speaking! Nevertheless, what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good!
Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
Chick.com: Chick Cartoon Gospel Tracts Make Witnessing So Easy!
Tract Pack – JESUS IS Gospel Tracts – 120 count (kjvprepper.com)
Until next time… Maranatha!
Sincerely & In Christ,
Candy Austin
(I have no Accolades….
I am just a Nobody,
Trying to tell Everybody,
All about Somebody,
Who can save Anybody!)
My Mission is to be ‘Salt and Light’ to a Lost and Dying world.
To be an Ambassador for Jesus Christ.
All for Him and His Glory!