Hello friends, I hope that the “My Journey Till Now” blog entrees have challenged you to look at where you are in regards to your walk with Christ, and I trust that they were a blessing. My heart in sharing my testimony with you is that you could see that God is much more than what we have made him, God has so much more for us than we have embraced, and God has a much greater plan for our lives than we could imagine. There is a life that we were created to live, and that life can only be found “IN HIM”. We can have experiences with Christ anywhere He chooses to show up. I was in a Missionary Baptist Church at age 13 when I first met our glorious savior. I have seen, felt, and experienced Him in Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, and non-denominational churches. He has been with me while driving down the road, at concerts, in living rooms, on street corners, in the hospital, and many other places. Just because we have a heavenly experience with God in a certain denominational structure, does not make that structure God’s chosen constitution for His Church. All church organizations claim to be the way to God. Every one of them believes that their way is the right way, and that their doctrine is true doctrine. However, Jesus says that He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. His name is not Baptist, Methodist, or Pentecostal. His name is Jesus (Yahshua).

Jesus in deed has a body in the earth, but it does not carry a banner of some denominational name either. It can, however, be recognized easy enough; It will look just like Christ. Do not look to some organized church system to find out what Christ is like. Read about Him in scriptures. You will find someone who had left His home, came to earth, spent his time with the scum of the earth, healing the sick, and He became a servant to everyone around Him. Jesus had no place to lay his head, He did not own anything of earthly value, and everything he did was for the salvation of us all. To prove that to all of us, He stretched out His hands and he died on a cross. All the things that Jesus taught to us were not just words; they were who he is. He tells us things like love our neighbor, do good to those who do wrong to us, love our enemy, give your shirt to the one who will take from you your coat, lay down your life for those around you, pick up your cross and follow him. Everything that you hear him teach is wrapped up in one word…Love…The love of Christ. Love is the fruit of a true child of God. Love is what we produce when we abide in Him. That is how we know if someone is a true disciple. True disciples are not known by their many words, their great interpretation of scripture, or their great doctrines. They are known by their LOVE. Inside of this four-letter word, you will find all that Jesus taught. I would like to challenge all of you once again to do an extensive study on Christ and his teachings.

What if I told you that I have found a people that fits Jesus’ prerequisite of being true followers of Christ. What if I was to say that there are a people who lay their lives down every day for one another. A people who have left and forsaken all that they once regarded as life to follow Christ. A people who are not out to gain their American dream of houses, cars, and fat bank accounts. What if I told you that there are a people who have truly become living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. Let me confirm to you that I have. The things that God showed to me that was missing in the church system, I have found living and breathing in about 300 people down in Selmer TN.They are not a flawless people who never make mistakes. They are not people who are exempt from the temptations of the enemy. They are not Super Saints walking around thinking they are better than anyone. They are, however, a people who love and fear God. They are a people who are crazy enough to, actually, believe that they are supposed to live out the life Jesus told us to. There are no halfhearted Christians here. Believe me, you cannot live in the kingdom of God and be halfhearted. They love God, and therefore they love one another.

Let me give you one small example of the love of Christ that can found among these people. About three years ago, the doctors found a cyst on my pancreas. It is not cancer, but it can be life threatening. The problem I had was that this ailment required a great deal of medical attention, and I could not afford to pay for it. I did the best I could, but I had no health insurance and so I could not get the care that I needed. I was living with a great deal of pain back then, and there was nothing I could do about it. The church that I was attending at the time was a good size ministry, with churches all around the world. Everyone was aware of my condition and my lack to take care of it. I was never offered any help to make sure I was taken care of. All that was offered to me was their prayers. Now do not get me wrong, prayer is a good thing. The problem is faith without works is nothing but dead faith. The people here at Rose creek village acted in complete contrast to former. As soon as they knew about my condition, they have not failed to make sure I was completely taken care of. They give me time off work to go to the doctor, they help pay the dr. bills, and they even put me in a job position that would not aggravate the cyst. This is just a small example of the love of Christ here. They are a people who care more about me than what I can do for them. In fact, they do not expect anything in return for the love they give. It sounds a little like Jesus does it not.

The men here at Rose Creek go to work every day to help provide the needs of the widows, single mothers, the poor, and orphans every day. The love they have for each other means more than any disagreement they may have. Out there in the church world, that I came from, when someone would have a disagreement we could just agree to disagree and move on, but not here. Here, preserving the unity of the faith has the upmost importance. We work through all problems that may arise until we find God’s truth in the matter. This is a beautiful thing to see.The best thing I could tell you here is to just “COME AND SEE” for yourself. Words cannot describe the beauty that is found in such unity. We have heard much teaching on the body of Christ, and we thought we had an understanding of what it is, but when you really see it for the first time, it is breathtaking. Do I think that the people here at Rose Creek Village are the only people of God in the world…Absolutely not? They are, however, the first demonstration of the true body of Christ I have seen. I have seen true Christians out there, I know there are many people who love God, and they are intertwined in several different ministries. I have seen missionaries who have laid their lives down for the sake of the gospel. There are people every day pouring their lives into the lives of others, and are demonstrating the true love of Christ, but this is the first time I have ever seen a whole body of people with the same heart, mind, and spirit. I know there are others out there, and I am always looking for them. We have found some in Rhode Island, South Dakota, and possibly some other states that we are aware of. It is exciting to see what God is doing.

I am forever grateful for what God has opened my eyes to see. I may have lost friends, and possibly some family in the process of following the path God has laid; however, He is worth it all. I love every single friend and family member I have, and it kills me to think that they’re hurting in any way, but I must follow God. He is my way, my truth, and my life. Where ells could I possibly go.

Do I think that I will always be at Rose Creek Village…I do not think so? I will, however, always be attached to the body of Christ. All I know at this point is I am where God wants me, and my prayer is that God would let this life spread into every town, city, state, country, and nation.

Oh God, let your Kingdom come.

Hello friends, once again I would like to share with you my heart and all that God has taught me concerning today’s Christianity. As always, if you are new to this blog, please read from the first entry and work your way up to the present so you will know how I got to this point. I am almost finished telling you about my journey (at least the short version) that has brought me to where I am now. God has taught me so much; however, it would take too much time to write it all down. I just wanted to focus on a few highlights to give you an idea of how I have arrived where I am now spiritually.

I left off last week sharing how God opened my eyes to see the “church establishment,” what it has become and its absence of the unity of Christ. The body of Christ was never meant to be divided just to come together a couple times a week. Close your eyes and get a mental picture of a body scattered abroad; completely separated from itself: a hand over there, a leg over there, a torso living over there and so on. If you get the same picture that I do, it looks like something from a Steven King movie. It is not a pretty picture, so imagine what God sees looking down at all of that. You may say that the body of Christ is supposed to be taken spiritually and not literally, which brings up another question I would like to ask; why do we choose one verse of scripture and say that is meant to be taken spiritually and another is supposed to be taken carnally? What would happen if we just took the scriptures for what they say and not try and read into them all of the time. Now I am not saying that when the bible says to cut off your right hand when it offends you that you go get a hacksaw. A good example would be the billboard that reads…”that love your neighbor thing…I meant that, singed God”. God means exactly what he says; He says not to murder and in the Hebrew translation it means, you guessed it, do not murder, so when God refers to His body needing to be fitly joined together, it means just that. Now, do not get me wrong…I believe that the scriptures are extremely spiritual; by this I mean that when applied in the natural there will be spiritual results. Now, I know that there are deep things that will nourish our souls in the scriptures however, I am just trying to make a point that we need to take God for what he says.

Anyway, let us move along.

I asked God to open my eyes and He has. Dear reader, remember, I was in this system, I believed in the system, and I loved that system, so you can imagine what I was feeling like at this point. I could no longer enjoy ministering; I no longer had any idea of what I should preach about. You want to hear something really crazy? I could not stand even going to church any longer.

One night God reviled a scripture to me that messed me up worse, if that was even possible. It is found in 2^nd Cor

chapter eleven, and it says this,” 2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him”; read that whole chapter. Paul was writing to the Corinthians and warning them of these “super apostles” coming in, blinding them of the simplicity that is in Christ (it goes back to what I was saying about making even the scriptures more complex than they really are), preaching about a different Jesus (remember, Jesus is being preached, but not the same Jesus Paul preached about), receiving a different sprit, and was hearing a different gospel. I am afraid that the same fear that Paul had towards the Corinthians has become true in today’s Christianity.

Jesus is being preached today in fact, you may hear him being preached in your church but what I ask you is: is it the same Jesus we find in scripture? I would suggest that you do an extensive study on Christ and see what He did, hear what He said, and really learn what He taught. Then ask yourself, is this the Jesus that is being preached to me?  I believe the results will mess you up as they should anyone!

How about the Sprit you have received? How sure are you that the Sprit you have received is truly the Spirit of God? Do you refer to the Spirit as being a goose bump, a feeling of some sort, or some other emotional experience? If so, where in Scripture do you get that ideal? Where I came from, when someone would feel the spirit, they would shout, cry, or some other outward manifestation would take place. In another church, you may see someone laugh, run, pass out, and even bark…what in the world is that about? Let me ask you another question, we can all agree (I think) that Jesus walked in the Spirit, why do we not read where He went around shouting, barking, or anything else that would give us an ideal that these are the things that happen when the Spirit is “moving” on us? Remember, Jesus is who we model our lives after. Could it be possible that we have indeed received another sprit? The Bible says we are to test the spirits and see if they are of God.  Now I know that not all denominations practice the examples I have made here, but the truth is, most of those churches that try to avoid the word spirit as much as they can just do not want to be identified with “holly rollers.” Now, I know that when you feel the presence of God it can be somewhat emotional but we are talking about the indwelling spirit of God ~ God IN US; the spirit that Paul says we should walk in. Folks, if we walked around barking, falling over, shouting, or any of those things, we would not win one soul to Christ; in fact, you would, more than likely, end up in a mental institution.

The Spirit of God is not a feeling at all; He is our link to heaven and to the will of God. For us to walk in the Spirit means to be linked with God all of the time, that He may guide your every step. The truth is today’s Christianity does not need the Spirit of God because we have our own links to God. We have pastors, elders, teachers, and, dare I say, the Scriptures. Who needs the Spirit of God when we have the Scriptures? Dear reader, I thank God for His written words we call the Holly Bible; it is a beautiful thing to read the words He has given us through His beloved servants. However, they are not to take the place of His Spirit. What we have done is exalted our interpretation of the Scriptures above Christ Himself. Our faith and trust is not in THE WORD - that is to say Christ - but in our interpretation of the Scriptures and what we think they are saying. Look around you dear reader there is a church building on almost every corner of this country. Every one of them claims to know the Will of God, and they base it upon their interpretation of the bible. The bible says that every man is right in his own eyes, but the end of those ways is death. How am I any different from anyone ells you ask? I am no different. If I were you, I would not trust me either because I do not even trust myself.  God is who we must trust my friends. Like I said in an earlier entry, if what I say is true or not, is for you and God to decide.  All I am doing is sharing with you the path that God has brought me down, and these are some things He opened my eyes to.

What God was showing me back then was that I was not serving in his Kingdome at all but rather, as a friend of mine says, serving in a kingdom of words. I have come to understand what the difference is between the relationship I had with God when I was a young man and the absence of His presence latter. It was because I had left Him to pursue knowledge of Him. My failed spirituality did not come from the “honeymoon” being over. It came from me leaving Him to pursue Him. The fact is I had such a great relationship with Him back then because I was a child, and I knew nothing of doctrine, bylaws, church government, and things of that nature. All I knew was the Love of Christ. I know many of you can identify with what I am saying here. Think about it…Jesus says that such is the Kingdome of God. What is? Children, right? We call ourselves the children of God, but I think we are more like the grumpy old men of God that are no longer on their honeymoon with Christ.

God is calling us back to the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. He is calling us to go back to the basics and learn what we had missed. We must forget about the things “we know” and ask God to teach us the elementary things we have no idea about or have forgotten. Like to Love the way Christ Loves, to live the way Christ lives, and to walk the way He walks. We need to learn what it means to lay down our lives for Him, to die for Him, to come out of the world and be separate. We must learn what God wants when it comes to us being His body, His people, and His children on the earth. To not come together but be together…One Body in Christ. Therefore, the whole earth can know That He is King. We will not do that with meetings, worship music, church buildings, doctrines, t-shirts, and bumper stickers. We will do it by showing the ONE; one body, one mind, and one soul…THE SIMPLICITY OF CHRIST…LOVE.

I will try rapping up my journey on the next entry. Thank you once again for reading this blog. Until next time, I pray God will lead you into the simplicity that is in Christ

Here is part three of my testimony (including the introduction); I hope it has blessed you in some way. I does get a little more uncomfortable from here on … Again, feel free to ask questions and make comments.  God bless.

Hello once again my friends, I am lying here in bed feeling a little under the weather, so I thought I would take advantage of the time I have here to share a little more with you. It is nothing to worry about; I believe it is just a cold, so I am trying to nip it in the bud before it knocks me out of work. I know my entries have been short, but I am doing what I can with the little time I have, so please bear with me. Once again, if you are new to this blog, you will want to go back and read my previous two entries before reading this one, or you may be a little distorted with what is going on.

I left off from the last entry telling you of how God was really making me look at where I was in relation to where He was, which, to my surprise, was not the same place. He was teaching me that my hope and trust was in a system and not in him. I have come to see that so many of you have fallen into that same deception, therefore, my heart is to, as I said in my introduction of my blog, is to have you, the reader, look at yourself and ask; what is my hope in?

Anyway, I heard a minister speak one night, at the church that that I was attending at the time, about “the church system”, and how it was a man made system and not one from God. I have to admit, I thought he was crazy, just as some of you will think about me. He spoke about church pews, stain glass, the podium, and the steeples. He said that all of these things, among others, where all the residue of the Catholic Church carried over through the reformation; therefore, he named our beloved system the Cathagog system (a blend of the synagogue and the Catholic Church). His words, though they sounded completely ludicrous, got me thinking. Could this be possible, could these words be true, if so…what ells could be wrong with the beloved system that I had labored in for so long? I begged God to give me eyes to see, and once again, He stood true to his word “what so ever you ask for in My Name shall be given to you”.

God put it in my heart to get up at 4 am every morning and spend time with Him. It was during this time that God began to reveal simple truths to me through his scripture and in prayer. Everything I would read in scripture would lead me to the same thing over and over again…LOVE. Four letters, yet I learned that it was the very glue that held every page of that bible together. From geneses chapter one all the way to revelation chapter 22,it was LOVE. LOVE is who God is, LOVE is what Christ did, Love is how we know, and are known, that we belong to Him.

Love is a word that we use very loosely here in this country, for example, I love pizza, I love that car, and so on. The bible, however, paints a completely different picture of what LOVE is. Love is a cross; Jesus demonstrated his love to us by giving his life on a cross. We as well, if we have true love, have a cross we bare. We stretch out our hands and feet and let the “world” crucify us. We who belong to Christ, who are true disciples, must carry our cross (or should I say lay down our lives) Mt 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Without this cross, our cross, we cannot be his disciple. Lu 14:27 “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple”. Remember dear reader, I did not write these scriptures. I know we can bend and twist any scripture to make us feel better about what it says, this too is a tradition of westernized Christianity, but I challenge you to simply believe what is says with no alterations.

Anyway, I set out to look for the true cross-baring love in the church, and WOW, was I disappointed in what I seen or, should I say, did not see. The love that I read about in scripture was virtually non-existent. Don’t get me wrong, there are people in the church system that do show the love of Christ, but ,for the most part, what God showed me broke my heart.

One example of this is found in 1john 2: 15-16; it says this, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of the world”. Christianity, as we know it today, is going after the world so much that they even make it gospel. You hear, so called, ministers of the gospel preaching sermons on how to conform to the world all the time these days. What is the result of these false teachers… their disciples, which is you and I, surender to “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? Where does that leave us…without the love of the Father, go back and read 1 john 2:15-16 again. Today’s “Christians”, for the most part, work and work to gain riches in this world, and what is worse is they give God credit for giving it to them. When you see the heart of such disciples, it is easy to see that their goal is not for the kingdom of God, but rather for their own lustful desires. You may say how I can make such judgments on another man’s servant, but the scriptures tell me I can judge only one way, and that is by their fruit. The fruit of such “Christians” is easy to see…houses, cars, and big savings accounts. Another way I can make such a judgment is the results of my own pathetic life. Remember, I, myself, am a product of westernized Christianity. It is extremely hard to see the residue of all the doctrine that has been poured into me over the years, and it is even harder to get it out.

I just recently set out to buy a pre-owned automobile for my family because all I had was this pick-up truck with a small-extended cab. I have three children and my wife, so this truck was excessively small; my kids are not getting any smaller if you know what I mean; therefore, my wife and I went out to get something practical. I had all the right things in my mind that would make our new vehicle a smart buy. We wanted something that was good on gas, something that was automatic, great safety fetchers, and nothing flashy, so we found a wagon that met “our” description of all of these things. To my wife and I, this was a great buy; however, what was not flashy in our eyes is not the same as not flashy in Gods eyes. The young people (teens) where we live where drooling over this car. They thought it was an awesome car, which is exactly why my wife and I did not want anything flashy. Those kinds of things will tempt a young heart to desire such worldly things. “If it is ok for Frank (me) to have a car like that then it’s ok for me to go after such a car. You might not think that this was a big deal, what is wrong with a nice car? Little things like that explode into much bigger things in a heart of a child. My point to all of this is this, even though my intentions where good, I still have a lot of scum in me that was imputed through the “American dream” doctrine taught to me through the years. Every man is right in his own eyes, but our ways are not God’s ways. Anyway, sorry for chasing that rabbit, let us get back to my revelation.

John says if the things in this world are what you are after and desire, then the LOVE of Christ is not in you. In fact, Paul says we are to become poor so others may become rich; Not earthly riches, but by adoption into the beautiful kingdom of God. This is just one example of what God showed me during this time of cleansing. I could go on and on, but this is the dissected version remember. This revelation alone however, was enough for me to see that this, so called, church system lacks the very proof that enables us to know that they are true Disciples of Christ…what is that proof…the lack of cross bearing love.

I know what happens when one reads such words as I have written today; this self-righteous indignation rises up in you. All of a sudden, scriptures that have embedded themselves in various different rooms of your religious domain come to surface. You want to strike back with every verse of scripture you can muster; you must defend yourself against such an enemy that would attempt to tear down your comfortable dwelling place. I did that for years. I do not want to convince you that I am right and you are wrong. I am not looking to get into some biblical debate of your vs. mine interpretation of what the scriptures are actually saying. Again, this blog is to simply challenge you to look at where you are, and ask yourself “am I truly in the body of Christ, or have I bought into a great deception?

I read a great book not too long ago by author, and fellow erroneous misfit, Shane Claiborne, in his book Irresistible Revolution, where he quoted a well-loved singer songwriter Rich Mullins. Rich, as he was speaking to a crowd of people at a university, said that we hear many preachers preaching about Nicodemus where he asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, and , as we all know, Jesus’ reply was to be born again. However, Rich brings to our attention another young man in scripture who asked the very same question…the rich young ruler. Jesus did not tell him that he must be born again; he told him to sell all that he has then give it to the poor. Why do we choose one scripture to anchor our faith in yet practically ignore another? Oh, we may hear a good sermon on the rich young ruler about how we must “be willing” to lay it all down for Christ, but the problem is Jesus did not tell him to be “willing” to sell all that he has. He told him that is what he must do to be saved. The problem is, if a preacher preached the truth of that scripture, most of us would react the same way that poor lad did…walk away sorrowful. This is just one, of thousands of examples of the polluted water-downed gospel that has infected our world, namely the western world. The sad thing is, we are taking that same message of westernized Christianity to the world. God, please open our eyes to see what we are doing.

Well, that is enough for today. If I have not completely lost you, I will continue the revelation of how God has brought me to where I am today at a later date. I have yet a great deal to share. Like I said in the intro, I will bring you up to date then I give you a week-to-week account of what God is doing in me. Once again, thank you for reading this blog, and feel free to give input in the comments section. My prayer is that God will help us all to open our hearts and let his light revel the dark truths that are dwelling therein.

Be sure to check out the video on my myspace, it brings a great ending to this blog entry. You can find the link on the right side of this blog page under blogroll.

As I mentioned in my last entry, I will be sharing my testimony once again for all of you who have not yet read it. It will be in several parts, scattered over the next few weeks. If you have read it already, I would encourage you to read it again, and make any comments, or ask questions that you would like.

Hello friends, this will be my first real entry to my blog. I thank you for taking some time to read a little of what God has been doing in me. If you have not yet read my introduction to this blog, I ask that you read it first. Then read all of my blog entries in the order that they are written. Otherwise, some of what you read may make little since.

As I said in the introduction of this blog, I want to share with you a little of what God has brought me through, or should I say bringing me through, so in order to do that, I must take you back through some years. I will do my best not to bore you; therefore, I will give you the dissected version.

Where do I begin; It’s so hard to know where to start because for the past six or seven years God has taken me on such a journey it would make David and Goliath look more like David and the dwarf ( or at least that’s how it feels to me). It would take many pages to dictate what God has allowed me to see and experience on this journey, so I will do my best to keep it short and to the point as much as possible.

I came to know Christ when I was thirteen years old, and man what a change he made in me. I went from parent’s worst nightmare to a young man full of life and love for everyone. I was filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. All I wanted to do was to share this amazing experience with everyone I encountered, and I wanted to know all I could about the One who brought this life to me. Little did I know, that same zeal for knowledge would be the very thing that would suck the very life out of me. Anyway, I went to church, Sunday school, and bible studies; I was taught by elders, pastors and from anyone ells I could learn from. Man, I learned a great deal. I got to where I knew the scriptures and could debate with the best of them.

I was about seventeen when I first felt the call of God on me to preach the gospel, even though I did not answer that call until several years down the road. God seemed to be doing a great deal in me during those years; however, it seemed that the more I “went after Him” the farther away I got, and the farther away I got the more (at least in my mind) I would go after Him. I studied more and learned more. I became a minister of music, went to bible college, I was a youth pastor, a school guidance counselor at a Christian school, and a DJ at a Christian radio station. I was a Sunday school teacher, preached in churches, held revivals, evangelized cities, went on short term missionary trips, and I preached in another country. I seen God do some awesome things in those days.

There was great joy in preaching and telling people of an awesome redeemer who had come to save them from their inevitable destruction; however, inside I was still dying. Dying… how can this be? Somehow, in the midst of “doing God’s work”, I lost track of Him. I no longer had the joy, the peace, and the sweet presence of God that I fell in love with years earlier. What happened? I could not understand it; how could I have missed it? I did what I thought I was supposed to do as a God loving, God fearing Christian. I asked other preacher friends of mine if they knew what was going on in me and if they had ever experienced any such thing. More than one of them told me that what I was going through was called “the honeymoon factor” and what I was experiencing was the end of that honeymoon with God. They said that God was still with me as he was before, but I was no longer on the milk but on the meat. Much of what they told me made sense, but I knew in my heart that there was something greater amiss. I was now more determined than ever to come unto the fullness of God. I always knew in my heart that there was so much more than just knowing scriptures and “doing ministry. God would through me a crumb or two my way to let me know there was indeed more.

As I began seeking for the truth of my stalemate spirituality, God stood true to his word, “if you seek Him you will find Him”. God gave me a vision, or to sound a little less charismatic, a picture in my mind, of a room. This room was filled with pictures of God; you know… blue eyes, long blown dried hair, and a nice trimmed beard etc. There were bibles, banners with the names of God, and all kinds of memorabilia I had collected over the years. There was even a sweet fragrance of God filling the room, but God was nowhere to be found. God was showing me that I had filled my life with nothing but memorabilia from the life I once had with him. This vision reminded me of a verse in Song of Solomon where she looked everywhere for her beloved; she would catch glimpses of him and even hear him at the door, but she looked and looked for her long lost lover with no avail. God began showing me more and more truth, which (I might add) scared me to death.

This is where I must stop for now. I have so much more to share with you, but for now, I must go. I will try, as I said in my intro, to write at least one entry a week; however, I will do my best to get more to you sooner. If any of my experiences sound familiar to you, I would love to hear about it. If anything offends you, feel free to share your heart as well. Until the next time, my prayer is that you seek God with all of your heart, so he can stand true to his word to you as well; That you will find Him and all His glory.

Over the next couple or few weeks, I will be re-entering my testimony that some of you may have read already. It was entitled “What a Journey”. If you have read it already, I encourage you to read it all again. This is the main reason I felt to start writing my blog to begin with. The journey that God has brought me through to this point has been amazing, and I look froward to seeing all that is ahead. I would also encourage you to ask questions or make any comments you wish. Remember, however, I am not writing so I can get some great debates started. I am merely sharing what God has done in me, and has opend my eyes to. Find out why I have titled my blog “The Veil Has Been Lifted”. God Bless.

I am new to all of this, so I ask for your forgiveness as I plunder my way through all of this blog technology. I started all of this because I thought it would give me an opportunity to share my heart, and all that God is, and has been, doing in me. Once again, I beg your forgiveness as I am no great writer, but I hope that God, in some way, will dictate his heart through me so we can examine ourselves to see whether we are truly in the faith. 2Co 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” KJV.

Did you see anywhere in that verse of scripture that says go and ask your pastor whether or not you’r in the faith, or ask your Sunday school teacher if there is something written in the bible that can give you that assurance? NO. Nor will you find anything in scripture that says as long as you fly you banner under some denominational name or follow the same traditional religious pathway your father and great great granddaddy traveled will give you the blessed assurance that you are in Christ. Maybe you are putting your hope in the fact that you get holy goose bumps or other emotional experiences. Are these the things you really want to rely on for having abundant life in the kingdom of God? If so, then this blog will be a big waist of your time; however, if you’re one of those who have had something rise up in you and make you wonder if there is something more to Christianity than you have seen, and that God has to be more than just mere entertainment, bible studies, stain glass, and steeples, then you are why I feel I need to write this blog. Just look at me as someone who would like to help you put 2cor 13:5 into action.

All I would like to do is just share with you the path that I have traveled that brought me to where I am today. I must first tell you that I by no means have “arrived”, if you know what I mean. I do not claim to know all the answers to your questions. All I can tell you is what 1Jo 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life “. I will leave it to you and God to decide if what I speak is truth or not. I just ask you to search you heart and test if you are in the faith.

I also write this blog for another reason. I would like to share with my family and friends that feel I have left the faith and have joined some cult, the truth that has set me free. My prayer for you all is twofold, one: that God would give you peace in your hearts that I am truly in His hands, and that he is the creator of this life that I now live, and two: that your eyes also will be opened to some truth as well, and that you may be set free from the religious bondage that once held me captive. My love for you all is deep as the sea, and I hope that, no matter what you may read in this blog in the weeks to come, you never forget that.

In my next journal entry, I will begin my testimony of the past years, and how God has broke me, crushed me, and brought me through his own personal detox program to begin washing me clean of the religious system we call Christianity. I will do my best to write something at least once a week. My plan is to bring you up to date to where I am now, and then give you a week-to-week account to what God is doing with me. Until then, may God give you a hunger, like never before, for His righteousness.