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Conversion stories?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by convicted1, Apr 15, 2008.

  1. convicted1

    convicted1 Guest

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    You know, we spend so much time in arguing/debating about such things as "Elect" vs "Non-Elect" "MK" vs "No-MK", that I want to start a thread about what led us to where we are now. I know it takes God to call, convict, justify, cleanse, forgive our sins, gives us adoption, etc, but what transpired in each of our lives that led us to Him saving our never dying souls? I want to do this so that we can all see that when it all comes to being saved, our journies may, or may not, be as far different as we may think. Glory to God!!

    Willis
     
  2. standingfirminChrist

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    Here is my testimony.

    "note: The december date at the very end should read 2004 instead of 2005.

    By the time I noticed my mistake, it was too late to correct it.
     
  3. Palatka51

    Palatka51 New Member

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    At the age of 51 I am still moved by this my testimony.

    There are many things that lead a person to Christ. While there are many persons that have responded to the gospel at first call, many of us have held out with very stubborn hearts. Believe it or not a 5 year old child can have a stubborn heart too.

    I am the oldest of four children, the only living son of Alvin and Ann Hall of Palatka, Florida. My Dad has been a preacher for as long as I can remember. He has been faithful to God, family and country.

    My mother was pregnant with, my brother, her third child. I was four going on five when they rushed her to the hospital. I do not remember it very clearly other than I was left with a great aunt and that my parents were in distress. Mom lost my brother in late term pregnancy. She was devestated and even today she will tear up when this time of her life is recalled. I do not remember when they told me, but I know it was very early in my life. They simply said that my brother was in Heaven. That simple witness began to work on a 5 year old's heart.

    Sometime around the age of 6, I began to ask questions about my brother being in Heaven. They basically said to trust Jesus and someday you will see him. A simple answer to a child like question.

    Dad was very faithful with family devotions and Bible readings. The thought of wanting to see my brother was constant and it was God's way of calling a young child unto Him for salvation and cleanliness of sin. Don't ask me how a child can grasp the concept of sin but at the age of 8 I knew that I was a sinner. In February of 1965, on a Wednesday night, after prayer meeting at Welaka Baptist Church of Welaka, Florida I rushed out of the Church and straight to the back seat of our 1965 Ford Station Wagon and poured my heart out to Jesus and made this statement to Him, "Lord if you will come into my heart I will go forward on Sunday and tell the Church." I can't tell you how He did it but He changed an 8 year old's heart that night. I told no one about my prayer and Sunday came.

    I waited until the invitation was over and prayer of dismissal was given. Every one had walked out but the Preacher, Brother Paul Cartledge, and I. He was at the alter counting that morning's offering and I, a shy 8 year old boy, made his way to that alter. I told him that I asked Jesus into my heart and that I wanted to be baptized. I was in tears and he was shouting. He ran down the isle and out of the door of the building and asked everyone to come back in, that he had a surprise for them. They filed back in and I told them again of my intentions.

    I was baptized in Marvin's Lake on Mother's Day Sunday, 1965.

    I know now that God used that horrible event in my mother's life to call a child to repentance. I will see my Lord one day soon. Either in death or in the sky.

    If God can use the death of the unborn to call one child unto Him, He can use the life that is forming in the mother's womb to live for Him at conception. He has a purpose for every soul that has been conceived. I don't care if that child has Down's Syndrome or is born to wealth, poverty or to a single mother. It has a purpose. For me that purpose was to call a resistant 8 year old boy.
     
  4. nunatak

    nunatak New Member

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    Great thread and testimonies. Soli Deo Gloria!
     
  5. pinoybaptist

    pinoybaptist Active Member
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    I wished I had an earth-shaking testimony of conversion to share, but I don't.
    But I do know of two or three testimonies of people I have either known personally, or by association.

    One is that of Boy Bilibid which I have once shared with folks on the board, but seeing as how there are a lot of new "faces" around here, let me just recount a summarized version.

    He was a communist hitman back in the 70's and 80's. He was born and raised into the communist armed underground struggle and grew up knowing nothing of God and spirituality except that these were all metaphysical concepts used by the ruling classes to keep the exploited masses subdued.

    His daily fare consisted of Mao-tse-Tung's thoughts, of Marx and Engels, and Lenin, and of New People's Army regulars coming in out of ambushes or patrols and sitting around in groups around the camp conducting their criticism and self-criticism of the actions they have been.

    At a tender age he made his first kill, and had kiled and killed and killed, close up and personal as an assassin, until one day he was caught and locked up for trial of his crimes.

    It was then that a police officer gave him a Bible to read, and having nothng more to do, he read the Bible, and kept on reading until one day he said he felt so dirty and damned and so guilty and he just knelt down and cried out for mercy the whole night.

    From then on became a model prisoner and gained the officers' trust in a way that they allowed him to go out and buy his food knowing he will surely come back, and allowed him more comfortable sleeping quarters on top of the very table where they had once interrogated him, unguarded.

    One day they brought in another captured communist hitman, he didn't know the guy because the communist movement under the dictatorship was so compartmented one red warrior cannot just move into another zone and declare himself a comrade. He might just end up dead.

    But the other guy knew him by name and reputation, and confided to him that on his arraignment day his comrades will spring him and he, Boy Bilibid, can come along if he so wishes. He did not rat on this guy, but he advised him not to do what he was planning to do.

    At any rate, the day came, and on top of an overpass/bridge their three car convoy was ambushed. He and the other hitman was on the second car. The officers on the first and third cars were killed, the other guy had jumped out at the start of the ambush, Bilibid stayed in the car, grabbed the gun of one of the officers in their car (both had been seriously wounded at that point) and fired back at the ambushers, thus saving the lives of the wounded officers.

    Because of this action, his sentence was commuted by the court to a lower number of years. Eventually he was released, and right now, from what I gather, he is pastoring a small church in a village of a municipality in a province where he once sowed terror as a communist cadre.

    Another one is that of a former Muslim rebel. Now, he is not Muslim himself, but he joined up with this Muslim rebel group because he found some sort of identity with them.
    In a firefight he was wounded, so he crawled into a small nipa hut in the middle of a forest planted with some cassava and sweet potato patches, tied up his leg wound, and waited for night, and death.
    As he did so he just hummed and sang native songs and war songs.

    Around eight o'clock that evening somebody came into the hut, slowly and non-menacingly, but either way he was already too weak at that point to
    care. He was resigned to die.

    He says he was surprised to see that this guy was an American, who spoke the dialect rather fluently, albeit with an accent. The American said he was a Baptist missionary and had just come from visiting his members when he heard him singing, and mentioning in his song that he wanted nothing else in the world but water.

    The American knew there had been an ambush and a firefight, and he said he thought whoever was singing might need help. He gave him a sip of water, and then dressed up his wounds, and had him take some aspirin, and made sure his bleeding was being controlled, and changed his dressings every hour. And prayed by his bedside.

    At daybreak, satisfied that he will make it, the American boiled some ginger for him to drink, prepared some cassava for him, and then left, after praying for him once more.

    Five years later that American, a former US Air Force medic from St. Paul, Minnessota, whom I will not name, and the former rebel met once more, this time at the ordination of a new minister. The former rebel, Pastor Joel Mahinay, was at that time, 1985, pastoring a small Baptist church by the foothills of the very area he once roamed as a Muslim rebel.

    He said the American left him a small New Testament, in the vernacular, which he read, and re-read, and read again, and read again, and again, until the Spirit brought him to conviction. He surrendered, was pardoned, sought baptism, and went into the ministry.

    I don't know where these two gentlemen are at this time.
    They came from two different violent movements that required blood in, and blood out.
    But I know wherever they are, the God who loved them before they loved Him, is greater than any violent movement on this earth.
     
  6. North Carolina Tentmaker

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    Wow! Thanks for sharing those SFIC and Palatka51. There is nothing so moving as a personal testimony. I think that is the most effective preaching we can ever do, sharing what Jesus has done for us.

    I was saved in a jail cell when I was 9 years old.

    OK, let me explain that.

    I grew up in church. I can’t recall a time when we were not active in a Baptist church. My parents taught Sunday School and sang in the choir and everything else. In 1976 we were living in Raleigh NC and after church on Sunday’s sometimes we would go to Dillard’s restaurant. Dillard’s was a pizza place with a western theme to it and there was one table that was set up like a jail cell with iron bars around it. If you got there early and were lucky you could sit at the jail cell table and the waitress would lock you in and take your order. It sounds silly now but for a 9 year old boy it was cool.

    So one Sunday after church we were sitting in the restaurant and I asked my father if I could accept Christ as my savior. I grew up on Jesus. I can not remember a time when I did not know about Christ. I knew about the manger and the cross and the miracles and the resurrection. I knew everything Jesus had done and never really doubted it. But I remember that day when I realized that Jesus did not simply die, but that he died for me, and that this savior I knew all about could be my savior as well.

    There have been a lot of ups and downs since that day, deaths, births, losses and gains. Times when God felt close and times when He felt absent. Alcoholism, military service, running from God, surrendering to God, called to preach, bible school, pastoring, and so on, lots of good and bad. Of course I was usually the bad and God was usually the good.

    But that same Jesus that came into my heart 32 years ago is still with me today.
     
  7. Palatka51

    Palatka51 New Member

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    SFIC, I am honored to be here to stand with you firmly in Christ. May our lives continue to glorify Christ as we learn more of His wonderful grace. :applause:
     
  8. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Praise God for His mercy and grace!

    Side note: I noticed you were born on Sept 9 (my son's b'day) in 1959 (the year I was born). I just thought that was interesting. :)
     
  9. standingfirminChrist

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    Do you mean to tell me I ain't the only one born on September 9th? Where's my lawyer? :laugh:

    Actually, although I truly was born on September 9th 1959, I was also born on September 8th the same year. At the time I was born to American parents in Africa, it was still the 8th over here.

    Mother just kept the b'date as the 9th though.

    I have recently thought about putting my b'day on eBay. I am tired of getting older and I can only wish someone will buy this date off of me so I can forever remain a young age.:laugh:
     
  10. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Sorry SFIC, but you are not the only 9/9 baby! :laugh:



    I was born on 4/4

    My mother was born on 8/8

    My son was born on 9/9

    Now if this pattern continues when my son has children, that will be truly weird. :laugh:
     
  11. BaptistBarb

    BaptistBarb New Member

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    I was saved at a revival meeting. I wasnt planning on it, but the Lord grabbed a hold of me that night and all I could do was surrender to his grace.
     
  12. pinoybaptist

    pinoybaptist Active Member
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    (irresistible grace ?)psssssst ! careful what you say around some folks here. :smilewinkgrin:
     
  13. standingfirminChrist

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    Irresistable Grace is a smokescreen.

    Stephen said of those who murdered him:

    Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

    In order for them to resist, the Holy Ghost had to have tried to speak to them.

    The grace of God is resistable to those who refuse to accept Him.
     
  14. Palatka51

    Palatka51 New Member

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    Surrender is the key, no longer in rebellion then set free in His blood. :godisgood:
     
  15. menageriekeeper

    menageriekeeper Active Member

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    I'm sure I've told this before, but here goes:

    My dad's favorite "car" subject was Jesus. Didn't matter where we were going, if he had one of us kids in the car just the two of us, he was going to bring up Christ or the Bible. (I never remember him talking about these things when there were other family members in the car.)

    So one night when I was about 7, my mother sent us down to Hudson's to shop for something. Don't remember what. But, Hudson's was in a whole 'nother part of town so Dad had plenty of time. :D By the time we got to the store, I was ready to accept Christ and did, right there in the front seat of whatever car we were driving at the time. (Can't remember the car either) It was an experience I will never forget.

    Now for the baptism story:

    I was a very literal and obedient child as well as very shy. The whole walking down the aisle thing had me terrified, but I had no doubt whatsoever that I was saved and KNEW I had to be baptized. So, Dad told me just to walk down (get this, my parents didn't walk me down the aisle, I went all by my little self!) tell the preacher I was saved and needed baptizing. Easy right?

    So here I go down the aisle trying very hard not to let everyone know that I'm shaking in my shoes (literally) and I get down to the preacher and he takes my hand and asks me what I need. Dad told me he'd say this. So I told him and he asks, all in one breathe "And just where were you saved, young lady? At home or at church?" Dad didn't tell me he would ask that. :eek:

    First problem is that the term "young lady" used in reference of myself meant I was in trouble. So, before I can answer I have to determine what, if anything, I had done wrong. I figure that out pretty quickly, but now what was the question? Oh, where was I saved? Now how much detail does he want to know. It does NOT occur to my 7 year old brain that my dad has most likely already talked to the preacher. So do I tell the man, the great authority figure that stands next to God in stature, that I was saved in the front seat of the car????? But he only gave me two choices. Does he just want one of those? Front seat or home? front seat or home?

    Meanwhile, the poor preacher is standing there staring down at me wondering if this is my normal shyness or if I've suddenly gone mute. (not really, this was just my perception) Now I was trained well to not make an adult wait for an answer when I was asked something. The pressure is building....building....building....."HOME! I was saved at home!" I said figuring that since my parents always prefered the answer they gave me, the preacher would too.





    Then I worried literally for years that I had lied to the preacher!

    (to give you an idea of my size at the time, the baptismal water came up to my chin when I stood on my tiptoes. The preacher was over 6 ft (as tall or maybe a bit taller than my dad) ).
     
  16. Friend of God

    Friend of God Active Member
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    This may sound strange, but I swear that it's true.


    My family have always been Baptists, but I, however; just wasn't interested. My Grandfather[ on my Dad's side] and I had always been close and when he died of a stroke in 1986 I was devastated. All of a sudden I started asking some very important questions.


    I remember it like it was yesterday: I was watching "Highway to Heaven' and the story was about a town that had been devastated by a flood. There was this dog that went with Michael Landon and was helping all these people. Toward the end of the show they found a plane that had crashed, after making their way to the plane they looked inside to find the pilot still alive; but at his feet was the dog that had helped Michael Landon, the dog was dead it had died in the crash. But it had been the dog that had helped all those people who needed help. But, if the dog had died in the crash who had really helped save all those people? The inference was simple and very plain...the dog represented Jesus saving the lost.


    This was the clincher: At the end of the episode just before they ran the credits we see the dog sitting facing the screen. The dog lifted his front paw to "shake" as if to say Here I am, I want to be your friend.


    I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior right then. That was in 1986 and I've never forgotten it.
     
  17. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Goose bumps.

    God works in wonderful ways! He knew just what you needed. :godisgood:
     
  18. webdog

    webdog Active Member
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    It's awesome how God uses anything and anyone to bring Truth to everyone :thumbs:
     
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