Introduction and testimony

Introduce yourself, get to know others, and commune with one another!
User avatar
dwight92070
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:09 am

Introduction and testimony

Post by dwight92070 » Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:09 am

Hello, I'm Dwight. I'm from Denver. I am 66 and have a wonderful wife and 5 children, one of which is still at home. I was on the forum a while back, but have recently returned. I was born in South Dakota and grew up going with my parents and 3 siblings to the Baptist church. Even though I heard "you must be born again" countless times, as I was in church each Sunday, yet I never experienced the new birth until I was 21 in 1970. I was halfway through my Air Force 4-year enlistment, and very lonely and confused. I cried out to God and He answered me. That was in San Antonio, Texas.
I decided to explore different religions (before I was saved) to find answers to life. My first thought was to avoid researching Christianity and just look at several other religions. But it must have been God directing me because I had to admit that I knew little about Christianity. I grew up hearing Bible stories and memorizing verses to win prizes, but I never really read through the Bible. I don't recall our pastors ever telling us how important the Bible was, rather they just kept harping on how we must be born again and how we were bound for hell if we weren't. Must go to work ... to be continued.

User avatar
dwight92070
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:09 am

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by dwight92070 » Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:51 pm

So I thought that I would give Christianity the benefit of the doubt and search it out first. To do that, though, I knew I had to read about Jesus and see what He taught. I didn't even know where in the Bible to find that, so I asked the Air Force chaplain at the chapel. Fortunately, he knew. (Many chaplains aren't even saved) He told me to look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Well, I had a red-letter edition of the King James Bible, so I began to read Matthew and was determined to go through all four books. When I got to chapter 5 and the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, I was immediately in tears. The fact that Jesus would extol character qualities like being poor in spirit, being one who mourns, being gentle, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker, blew me away. I had never heard anyone talk like that before. It's like He was saying He was on the side of the underdog, i.e. the one who is not respected by most of society, through no fault of their own. In my many years as a Baptist, I never really knew if I was saved or not. That was another term that the pastors equated with being born again. I always wished that I could know for sure. When I read Jesus' words, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied", I believed that Jesus was assuring me that I was indeed saved, even though I did not totally understand righteousness.
Another thing I remembered from the Baptist church was how important it was to make a public stand for Jesus, so they gave altar calls, where people would come forward after a church service, to proclaim publicly that they wanted to follow Jesus. Well, sometimes I would watch a Sunday morning church service on TV in my barracks in San Antonio. That church gave altar calls after their service, so I determined to go there the following Sunday and to go forward, which I did. The next day, a church secretary called me and said that they were baptizing people during the next week, and asked if I wanted to be baptized. Well, I immediately remembered reading that Jesus Himself was baptized, so I wanted to follow Him, so I said "Yes".
On the night that I was baptized, I was riding back to the base on my motorcycle. While riding, I prayed, "Okay God, I've done everything I know to do to follow you. I'm waiting on You." Right or wrong, I expected God to do something supernatural, (as if He had not already, when I read His word). Well, that night I had a dream that stunned me. In my dream, I was standing on a corner of a 50-foot square raft, floating on the ocean. I was staring at the opposite diagonal corner of the raft and noticed that the water was calm and peaceful. Then I heard voices and laughter on my left. When I turned to look, I saw maybe two dozen people swimming in the ocean, enjoying themselves, and I remember thinking that they were my friends. Then I turned my gaze back to the opposite corner. Suddenly, I noticed the corner rising and lowering and realized that the ocean was quickly getting rough and growing in intensity, but i kept staring at that corner. Then I heard blood curdling screams and shouts of pain and agony on my left! I jerked my head to see that all my friends had been attacked by a large school of sharks! Then I woke up, shaking. I was unsure of the total meaning of the dream, other than that God wanted me to warn people to get on the raft to avoid being killed. Getting on the raft was following Jesus. The sharks represented satan and hell, i.e. destruction. (will continue later)

User avatar
dwight92070
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:09 am

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by dwight92070 » Wed Dec 09, 2015 10:28 am

The next day, I was riding with another airman to our job site. I felt a strong "push" to tell him about Jesus, but I was scared to say anything and I didn't know what to say. Finally I blurted out, "Have you ever wondered what it's all about?" He said, "Yeah, but I think the Bible is a bunch of (bleep)". Isn't that interesting? I never even mentioned the Bible. Apparently, he equated "looking for answers to life" with the Bible, but his negative opinion of the Bible was actually keeping him from being saved. That was my first experience of "witnessing".
Shortly after being saved, I volunteered to go to Vietnam. My brother, Steve, either had already been there, or was there at that time in late 1970. I was accepted and was stationed in DaNang, just south of the DMZ. With my job as a Radio Communicatons Analyst, I was very grateful that I did not have to be in combat. I quickly got "plugged in" with other Christian GI's from the Army, Marines, and the Air Force. We were a tight-knit group and there were even some officers (Higher rank, usually in some type of leadership job) among us. In fact, one Lieutenant led a Bible study. One of the guys played the guitar, and we would meet often to just sing to the Lord. They also had an outreach, where we would all meet at the airport, just a few blocks away. Soldiers were coming and going, so there was a lot of waiting. Well, we would 'set up shop" in the waiting area among all these soldiers, and our guitar player would lead us in singing. He would often sing, "Oh How I Love Jesus". In that song, there is a part where he sings a question to each of us: "Oh Dwight, do you love Jesus?" Then I sing a response, "Oh yes I love Jesus" Then he would ask each of the other guys the same question. The concept of loving Jesus was somewhat new to me, but I played along, nonetheless. In fact, today, as I look back at that, I question how effective that form of "witnessing" really was. A lot of trappings and traditions have crept into the church, even with regard to witnessing. I can't imagine the 12 apostles going to the marketplace of some village, and then all of them start singing, "Oh, how I love Jesus". Then they get up and go to the next village and say to each other, "Boy we really witnessed to those people, didn't we?"
While in Vietnam, I still felt a strong "push" to tell people about Jesus but again, I was very afraid. I even came up with a plan. We lived in wooden two-story barracks. We did not have rooms, we had cubicles, with a bunk bed for 1 or 2 men in each cubicle. Well, my plan was to go to each cubicle, starting downstairs on the end, and tell them about Jesus. I knew who the man was who lived in that cubicle, even though I had not yet met him. Well, I thought about this for a couple of days, but chickened out and did not do it. The next day, I was eating lunch in the chow hall, when I noticed a group of men standing up around one of the circular tables. On that table, a man was flat on his back, unconscious. I immediately recognized that man. He lived in that cubicle, where I was going to go first, to witness to him. Well, he had had a heart attack and died! I was devastated! I went to my fellow believers, told them what happened, and they attempted to comfort me. I felt so much guilt.

crgfstr1
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:55 am
Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by crgfstr1 » Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:32 pm

Thank you for sharing your story!

steve7150
Posts: 2597
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:44 am

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by steve7150 » Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:47 pm

I immediately recognized that man. He lived in that cubicle, where I was going to go first, to witness to him. Well, he had had a heart attack and died! I was devastated! I went to my fellow believers, told them what happened, and they attempted to comfort me. I felt so much guilt.











If I understood correctly you were a very new believer at that time so not witnessing a stranger certainly is not something to feel guilty about particularly since God didn't give you any insight about his soon to be death. But now that you are 66 and this was over 40 years ago, what happened sine then?

steve7150
Posts: 2597
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:44 am

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by steve7150 » Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:51 pm

The concept of loving Jesus was somewhat new to me, but I played along, nonetheless. In fact, today, as I look back at that, I question how effective that form of "witnessing" really was. A lot of trappings and traditions have crept into the church, even with regard to witnessing. I can't imagine the 12 apostles going to the marketplace of some village, and then all of them start singing, "Oh, how I love Jesus". Then they get up and go to the next village and say to each other, "Boy we really witnessed to those people, didn't we?"









Probably not but there is no perfect formula because all we can do is plant the seed, so singing about Jesus may be a seed for some people. I used to think apologetics was effective but it doesn't really seem to soften hard hearts.

dizerner

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by dizerner » Sat Dec 12, 2015 11:48 pm

This really impacted me thanks for sharing.

User avatar
dwight92070
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:09 am

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by dwight92070 » Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:58 am

I have struggled a lot over the years in the area of telling people about Jesus. I went to a Bible school where we were required to be a part of a particular outreach. I chose "Street and Park" ministry. This was my first exposure to street preaching and eventually I was doing it. But I have gone back and forth on whether this is a good method or not. Recently, after listening to your teaching again, Steve, on street preaching, I have come to agree with you. I don't see any precedent in the Bible for this method. It's too "in your face", provoking people more than drawing them. It's also very unnatural to go up to a total stranger and attempt to persuade them to follow Jesus, just "out of the blue". However, we most likely have all heard of famous street preachers who seemed to have great success. But usually, that was another era, possibly when street preaching was more accepted than it is today.

User avatar
dwight92070
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:09 am

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by dwight92070 » Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:29 am

Later, in 1971, I was sent to Udorn, Thailand to an army base called Ramasun Station. While there I was introduced to a group of American believers who talked a lot about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, telling me that this was a 2nd experience after salvatiion. Two of these believers were American missionary women who had set up a coffee house in Udorn, specifically to reach out to American soldiers. These ladies, Nina and Ruth, were continually urging me to read about and investigate the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I picked up a book by Pat Boone called "A New Song" and was greatly influence by that. But I was also concerned that I might be getting into something that was off the wall. So after about 8 months of prayer and reading, I was convinced that this was an experience that I wanted and needed. So these two ladies prayed with me and urged me to pray in a different language, which I started to do, and it seemed as if something else took control of my tongue. So I was amazed but quickly realized that I could stop or start this new prayer language whenever I wanted. I guess you could say that this was my door into the pentecostal world. When I got out of the Air Force in 1972 and returned to Denver, I quickly started attending a non-denominational charismatic church, where they believed in and taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
They had all the Biblical proof texts, especially from the book of Acts and Corinthians. I was encouraged to pray in tongues often and to believe God for healings, miracles, prophecies, etc. After almost 20 years, my wife and my 3 children and I left that church in search of a fellowship that was more like 1 Corinthians 14:29 and following. After about 9 years of looking for and attending over 10 churches, we finally settled into a home church called just that - homechurch. The pastor, Dan, and I have had many discussions about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, especially when we first started attending. Dan believes in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, however he thinks that it is the same experience as salvation. I have come to agree with him. The truth that clinched it for me was something that Dan pointed out to me. That is, if this 2nd experience known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit, was that important, and IT IS, then why didn't the writers of the New Testament constantly urge the believers to seek this 2nd experience? Apparently, because the believers ALREADY HAD THIS BAPTISM WHEN THEY WERE BORN AGAIN. Those who teach that there is a 2nd experience are usually quite vague in explaining how it differs from our 1st experience. Even Chuck Smith, for example, said that believers have the Holy Spirit, but the 2nd experience is when the Holy Spirit "falls upon you". Bill Bright says that believers have the Holy Spirit, but later they need the "infilling of the Spirit". John the Baptist said that Jesus was the One who would "baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire". I find it unlikely that when a person sincerely comes to Jesus, that He only gives them 1/2 of what they really need, and then later, if they seek Him further, He will give them the other half.
Happy New Year to all of you!

crgfstr1
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:55 am
Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Re: Introduction and testimony

Post by crgfstr1 » Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:49 am

Dwight,

Very interesting point. I have wondered the similar points on this topic as well. I fear speaking in a language that I don't understand I might say things I don't agree with. I could easily see some trick of the devil like the new age movement where they are very spiritual but seem not to care so much about who/what that spirit is as long as it does "good" things for them. I already have enough trouble coming up with the right things to say in a language where I sort of know what I am saying. Just as I think it is very important that I know who I am praying to, it would seem it would be very important as well to know what I am praying.

The bible does say though that the Holy Spirit knows what to pray for us even when we don't. I don't think though that means we have to make sounds we don't understand in order for that to work. Some argue that the speaking in tongues is only languages that other people understood but the person speaking didn't. I have heard them argue that if there is no one there to interpret the tongues then not to do it. That seems to make sense to me.

It seems though some very good Christians believe otherwise so I would like to hear from them on this point.

Post Reply

Return to “The Courtyard”