Hi There :-)

[RonnyTX]

Hi there! :-) Ronny here from rural,small town NE Texas.  I have known about UR for around 4 1/2 years now. First heard of it when I was on WebTV and when I was posting in one of their groups. There was a fellow there by the name of Jim Muffo,who posted about such. When I first heard of such,I thought it sounded too good to be true! And from an infant,I was brought up in an independent Calvinistic type Baptist church. There I had been taught to believe that God had chosen/elected to definately save only a small part of the human race and that by way of Jesus Christ and the cross.  And the two main beliefs I knew of,were the Calvinistic and Armenian/free will way. And I had been brought up taught the first in church and taught to never question such and I never did. Then this fellow posted about the UR way of believing,in that WebTV group. I know one thing he posted was the scripture that reads,in Adam all died,in Jesus Christ all shall be made alive. That sounded wonderful to me;but right at first I did think,this is just too good to be true! :-) (ha) But one thing I was determined to do and did do,was read more by people who believe UR. I wanted to see what they had to say,the scriptures they used, their reasoning and why they believed as they did? And I wanted to get this,straight from the sources I then knew about. Many of those,I found on the Tentmaker website. And the more I read,the more I saw that these people were right. And I had believed for years that we all died in Adam;but what a revelation and a wonder,that we all were also made alive in Jesus Christ! :-) And that he was truly the Saviour of the whole world and that, with no one left out at all! :-)

I remember when I first thought I was saved,at 12 years old. I felt really guilty about something and went up at church one day. The pastor told me about God,Jesus Christ, the Bible,etc,etc and of course,I believed everything he told me.  I  believed him because I'd been taught in church to never question anything that came from our church's pulpit. And the pastor thought I'd been saved and the other church members must of believed the same. Then one week later I was baptized and made a member of that church.  I went that way for 4 years,completely believing without question,that I was saved,that I was a Christian.  Then at 16 years old,I and an older brother had got to a Baptist Bible camp in Oregon. One night,my brother,I and some of his friends were out driving around, when all out of the blue,God simply let me know that I was lost! Whoa,was that ever a shock to me! I have a much longer story to tell about this;but it's past midnight tonight and I should get back to sleep in a bit! (ha) But the main things are,God let me know that I was lost and God led me to seek help on that. And that help ended up being a man at this Bible camp,who simply read some scriptures to me. Never commented on them;but just read them to me. And as he did,I knew I was in the presence of God,holy God. And God let me see my sin,my sinfullness and that as compared to God and God's holiness. I agreed with God,with all that God showed me and in this way,God led me to repentance towards God. And just as soon as I had agreed with,repented towards God,the love of God began to pour out upon me  :-) and God showed me Jesus Christ on the cross. God put  a picture in my mind of 3 crosses and I knew that on the center cross was Jesus Christ and that he was there for me,there taking my sins upon himself. For the first time in my life,I realized and knew that Jesus Christ/God,loved me just that much. :-) So God proved to me,that God loved me. And the guy who was reading some scripture to me,he asked me if I wanted to pray? And I did. And my first prayer to God,was simply a prayer of thanksgiving,with me thanking God for saving me. Then I went on to tell my brother and some other people,about what God had just done for me! :-) Then I went outside that night,to where both some younger and older people were,around a campfire. And I proceeded to tell them as well,what God had just done for me. :-) In later years, I was to remember,that at that time,my greatest wish was that all people would also have the exact same type of relationship,that I then had with God.  And in later years and after I learned about UR and the truth of that,I was reminded of the scripture that says that God gives us the desires of our heart! :-) Well,God gave me one desire when God saved me; but in a Calvinistic type believing and teaching church,I was taught that God only elected/chose to save a small percent of the human race.  And I believed that,because I was also taught to believe in that church,that everything that came from our pulpit, was straight from God and true beyond question. So for many years,the desire that God gave me after saving me,I lost that desire. And of course,I couldn't see it or understand it then;but what I was doing for so many years and on so many things,was simply listening to and believing what some people taught me and I wasn't simply listening to and believing God. But back when I was 40 years old,God did start teaching me to depend fully on God and if I didn't understand something one way or the other and simply lacked wisdom on the matter,then God taught me to go directly to God and ask God to guide me and show me the truth of a matter. My I was shocked,when I truly saw that scripture,in James chapter one.  The one that says,if you lack wisdom,ask God. And that's what I began to do,with the full assurance,that in God's time,God would show me the truth of a matter. That,I had no doubt about at all. And that,was a big switch for me,for before that, I had simply believed so much,simply because it was what some church leaders had said and taught me to believe in church. Things they taught me,came directly from God and were true beyond question. Well,they had taught me that to question their word,was the same as me questioning God and for me to disagree with anything they said,was the same as me calling God a liar. And that's the type of church I grew up in. That's how I was taught to believe by some people;but not by God. But God freed me from that,when I was 40 years old. :-)

I've wrote a good bit tonight. (ha) LoL It's past midnight now. Need to get to sleep in a bit and get some bills paid tomorrow! (ha) Plus,I've been sick for several weeks now, still taking two meds for this. Not quite over everything;but so much better than I was! :-) The funny part is,one med makes me hyper and one makes me sleepy! LoL Well, better get off of here in a bit,get some more sleep and get somethings done in the morning. Like  bills paid! (ha) :-)

I just wanted to add,that the Tentmaker website has been a real blessing to me! I've done a lot of reading on here over the last 4 and 1/2 years. That,both in the articles and in this discuss forum. To say it's been nice,to find this forum and other UR websites,to say it's nice,is really a very big understatement! For this site and others like it,over the last few years,they have really been a huge blessings,from God to me! Thank you all! :-) God bless you all! :-)

[WhiteWings]

Hi and welcome Tex :banana:

[jabcat]

Yep, glad to hear from you.  Welcome!

[Tom]

Welcome

[rosered]

Welcome
  Bro Ron ,

Great testimony   ,  you coming to Christ  ,   When God makes it personal, its powerful ! :flowerred:

   I am constantly  judged for not going'' to church''  and told I am in the wrong      and my only comment is   and to my defense is,  I do not believe the way they do ''  lots of wagging heads .

[ed]

 :dsunny:

Howdy Ronny!

[eaglesway]

Blessing bro Ronny

[RaiderGonzo]

Hey dere partna' - where did'ya park yoh horse  :thumbsup:

[bushy]

Welcome to the forum, Ron, and thanks for writing your story. I appreciate hearing the sometimes long road we have to take to find the truth.

[jbertonbounds]

Hello Ronny,
I enjoyed reading your testimony.
You truly are blessed to have been freed from the church/cult.
Keep searching for truth.
John, from Alabama - fellow Southerner/brother in Christ.

[Tom]

One of the problems with the church is folks are taught to not question its authority not because it's the mediator between God and man but because the church doesn't have the answers to your questions. Only Christ is the mediator between God and man, and I think only the inspired written word of God has your answers. You need to read an accurate translation though. My questions led me to leave the Roman Catholic Church in my teens and then the Protestant Church a few years later because both contradict the word of God. Now, when I say "church," I mean both because they both have the same basic doctrine even though Rome has some extra crazy stuff going on. The word "church" is not even scriptural. It is an intentional mistranslation of the Greek "ekklesia," literally "out-called," accurately translated "ecclesia" which is the "body of Christ" called out of the world. The church is part of the world system. You were right to question despite the warning. That's how you eventually found the truth. God bless you.   

[RonnyTX]

Hi and welcome Tex :banana:

Ronny to WhiteWings:
Thank you WhiteWings! :-)

Not sure how much I'll get to post today? Just took a generic Advil or something like that about 30 minutes ago and somethings are already doing better now. :-)

[RonnyTX]

Yep, glad to hear from you.  Welcome!

Ronny to Jabcat:
Thank you Jabcat. :-)

[RonnyTX]

Welcome

Ronny to Tom:
Thank you Tom. :-)

[RonnyTX]

Welcome
  Bro Ron ,

Great testimony   ,  you coming to Christ  ,   When God makes it personal, its powerful ! :flowerred:

   I am constantly  judged for not going" to church"  and told I am in the wrong      and my only comment is   and to my defense is,  I do not believe the way they do "  lots of wagging heads .

Ronny to Rosered:
Thank you Rosered. :-) And I do love telling others,how God saved me. :-) And now that God has shown me the truth on this matter,it is a great God given blessing to me,to be able to tell others,that what God has done for me,God will also do for them! :-)  I can tell people,the ones not yet born of God,that I don't know the time that God will do that for them;but what I do know,is that what God has done for me and some other people, God will also do for them;but that coming for each one of us,at the time of God's choosing. So,it's no longer a question of will we be born of God;but,it's just a matter of when,for each individual person! :-)

I can understand what you mean,about not going to church.  And how some people react to that. Just try and keep in mind,that its not how some people look at and judge you, that matters. As for myself,I know of no church in my area,that would have me. Well,not unless I lied and kept my mouth shut about somethings. Too,I have a ready made excuse,as to why going to a local church,would be of no use for me,etc! (ha) That's because I'm so hard of hearing and even with a hearing aid,I can't understand but maybe one out of 10 words,that come from the pulpit area. Several years ago,I was at a local church because of their food pantry. The pastor there was trying to get me to go to church there. Personally,I think he was trying to guilt trip me! (ha) LoL And I told him, that even with a hearing aid,I was too hard of hearing to understand the preaching from the pulpit,etc. Now from the way he looked,I'm not sure he believed that! :-) LoL  Too, at the time I was still Calvinistic in belief and this was a freewill/Armenian type church,so no way would that of worked out for me then! :-)

And I was in church from an infant to my late 20's. I'm 59 years old now.  And my local church that I was a member of,it was wrong on a lot of things,though I didn't know that back then.  And one thing I do remember and miss,is the singing. :-) The songs that were simply praising God,etc. We were a small local church;but sometimes when we sang,you would think we would blow out the windows or raise the roof off of the church house! :-) LoL Well,every since God saved me,I did believe in making a joyful noise unto the Lord! :-) I have a number of favorite songs,with just 3 of them being, Amazing Grace,The Love of God and How Great Thou Art. :-) Yeah,I do miss the congregational singing of songs like that,of people praising/thanking God in that way;but what I don't miss,is the very wrong man made teaching,that God only chose/elected to save some and at the best,simply let everyone else go to hell.

[RonnyTX]

:dsunny:

Howdy Ronny!

Ronny to Ed:
Thank you Ed. :-)

[RonnyTX]

Blessing bro Ronny

Ronny to Eaglesway:
Thank you Eaglesway. :-)

[RonnyTX]

Hey dere partna' - where did'ya park yoh horse  :thumbsup:

Ronny to RaiderGonzo:
:-) 'Fraid I haven't owned a horse,since I was a teen! And I'm 59 years young now :-) and have been staying with my older sister for awhile. Now she has this horse,that is spoiled rotten! LoL That one hasn't been ridden in years now and I'm not really sure why?
But I remember an older brother of ours riding it a few years back. Personally,I have no urge to get on that spoiled thing,for fear she might just do me some damage?! :-( LoL And have told Sis,she needs a wagon or buggy,to hook that horse up to. :-) Maybe a buggy,say like Doc had of the old Gunsmoke TV show! Now using such as that,that looks like fun to me! :-) LoL

[RonnyTX]

Welcome to the forum, Ron, and thanks for writing your story. I appreciate hearing the sometimes long road we have to take to find the truth.

Ronny to Bushy:
Thank you Bushy and you're welcome too. :-) And yeah,it can certainly seem like a long road,before we get to where we know the truth of a matter. But then I also think,our life, it's really not that long,in the overall scheme of things. But,it still seems like a long time to us,when we have been taught to believe a lie and before we learn the truth of a given matter,from God. I'm 59 years old now and it's been 19 years since God taught me,to simply ask God about things I wanted to understand and know about,for sure. God taught me not to depend on any person or persons for that;but to simply ask God, read and study the scriptures and trust that God,would give me the answer,to a particular question. To something that I really wanted to know,for sure.

Just thinking,how I was brought up in church,never to question what I was taught there. Or if I did,I was taught to keep my mouth shut. From my teens,just remember one thing church leaders taught and believed,that I knew was not right. Now they never mentioned this much and maybe not at all in church? But one teaching was that the worst sin any young single person could commit,was to have sexual relations before being married. That just never made any sense to me,as I thought about things/sins like rape,murder and abuse of a child. For how could those not be worse sins?!

A funny story here. Years ago my home church pastor,he was making the comment at home,that he didn't know what young people were coming to nowdays?! That,in regards to some having sex before marriage. Well,his wife just popped up and said,they're not doing anything more than what you tried to talk me into doing,before we got married and the only reason we didn't,is because I wouldn't let you! :-) Yeah,the preacher got kinda upset,at his wife telling off on him! :-) LoL

[RonnyTX]

Hello Ronny,
I enjoyed reading your testimony.
You truly are blessed to have been freed from the church/cult.
Keep searching for truth.
John, from Alabama - fellow Southerner/brother in Christ.

Ronny to John:
Tnank you John. :-) And you're right,that God surely has blessed me,by freeing me from the church/cult.  But at one and the same time,I can also say I'm glad that God let me first go through such.  For having personally gone through such and then having God deliver me from same,that makes me so greatly appreciate,what God did for me. And with the man made lies that God delivered me from,that makes me better able to help some others,who are going through and or have gone through the same. And I can't always put this is the best words;but this I know,no matter what God has chosen for me to go through,God will always bring good out of that,out of all things. And about that,I have not one doubt.

BTW,I still have some family,living in Alabama. :-) There's a late cousin,whose family still lives there.  His wife and several of their kids and grandkids. And I used to have an uncle, who pastored a church in Alabama.

And I gotta tell you about a great Grandma of mine,who came from Alabama to NE Texas,in the 1880's. Her husband had died,she had two young children and one on the way.  Well,after her husband's passing,she hitched up the mule to the wagon and headed for Texas,to live with a brother of hers,who was already here! This by herself,with two kids and her pregnant! When I first heard this part of my families history,I thought my, that Grandma of mine,she sure must of been one tough,hardheaded lady! :-) LoL

[RonnyTX]

One of the problems with the church is folks are taught to not question its authority not because it's the mediator between God and man but because the church doesn't have the answers to your questions. Only Christ is the mediator between God and man, and I think only the inspired written word of God has your answers. You need to read an accurate translation though. My questions led me to leave the Roman Catholic Church in my teens and then the Protestant Church a few years later because both contradict the word of God. Now, when I say "church," I mean both because they both have the same basic doctrine even though Rome has some extra crazy stuff going on. The word "church" is not even scriptural. It is an intentional mistranslation of the Greek "ekklesia," literally "out-called," accurately translated "ecclesia" which is the "body of Christ" called out of the world. The church is part of the world system. You were right to question despite the warning. That's how you eventually found the truth. God bless you.

Ronny to Tom:
Thank you Tom. :-)

And I'm sure,that over 99.9% of all I was taught in my home church,I never questioned. I was just that well brainwashed,to listen to and believe some people,instead of simply listening to and believing God. And as I've said in another post,right after God saved me, I went out at that Baptist Bible camp and told everyone in earshot,about what God had just done for me. :-) Well,I then wanted everyone to have the exact same type of relationship with God,as I then had. The day after this,was the end of the Bible camp and a brother and I went on to another town and to a church,where he knew some people there. While he talked to them,I looked for and found some gospel tracts there,got them and walked out on the street a ways. Stopped in front of a big store and started passing those tracts out to people,who were coming and going from there. I was scared! :-) Guess I was afraid someone might bite my head off or some such! :-) LoL But no one did and everyone was nice to me,smiling,etc. But I never said a word to anyone,for I was too scared to. :-) Well,I was a 16 year old kid,who was growing up in rural,small town NE Texas. The only people I knew that well,were from my small church and very small rural school. I think there were all of 15 kids,in my high school graduating class! And less than 40 members,in my local church! And I think I was seldom if ever in the presence of a stranger,without family or some friends around. Yet there I was 2,000 miles from home and passing out gospel tracts to people,who were complete strangers to me! So It was scared;but yet God,the love of God,compelled me to do such. For God had saved me, the day before and as I've said,I then wanted/desired for all people to then have the same type of relationship with God,as I then had. Then on the plane ride back home,I shared with my seatmate,about what God had just done for me. Back home and in church and I simply set in church and waited for church leadership to tell me what to do then. I thought we would have visitation and passing out of tracts,etc;but we never did.  That really surprised me at first;but then I'd been taught there,that church leadership knew best and I was to follow there example. And what ever their teaching and example was, why,that had to be right and best. Or so I was brought up in church,taught to believe.

I still remember the first time I disobeyed church leadership and chose to obey God instead and that,simply because I knew it was the right thing to do. We had a 7 day church revival meeting every year and church people were expected to go out and invite others to that.  I was out driving around one year and doing just that. Just going from house to house and inviting people to come to our revival meeting. Then I came upon a house where I saw several black men sitting out front. Now I knew my church leaders wouldn't want me inviting those men to our church. What to do?! Well,I did what I knew God would have me to do,I did what I knew was the right thing to do. I simply stopped, talked to them and invited them to our church revival meeting. I should put in here,my  parents taught me right on this matter,before church leadership could teach me different and wrong. For in my growing up,both of my parents taught me,I was not to look up to or down on anyone,because of the material things they had or didn't have or because of the color of their skin. So my parents taught me right on that,before I was old enough to see that some of our church leadership felt and taught differently on the matter.

And I did love my home church pastor;but he was racist. An irony was,that in later years I found out that his "white" family,was actually part black! (ha) Then later on than that,I also learned that my "white" family,was also part black! (ha) And from a very young age, I knew I was part white and part Native American Indian. Then I found out,I also had some black ancestors. So as I put it then,I'm a perfectly good 100% American mutt! :-) LoL 

And I agree with you about the RCC and Protestant churchs. They all have some things wrong. And in my time online,I've posted with some people from  both groups. And made some mad at me,in each group. :-) And from somethings I've read,I would say you're also right in saying that the word church,is not scriptural.  And you're right,that we, who are the presently saved of God in this age,we are the called out ones. For God calls out and saves people,at the time of God's choosing. P.S. I need to read some more about that,about the word church. I have read some on that in the past;but that's been awhile back now.

[RonnyTX]

I think I've replied to everyone's post in this thread? And if I skipped anyone,I sure didn't mean to. But just want to thank everyone again,for the warm welcome I've been given here! :-)

[Searching_For_The_Truth]

Welcome to the tentmaker forums Ronnie, I enjoyed reading your testimony. I am also from Texas as well. God Bless you and it is an honor to have you here.

[Lazarus Short]

Ronny, welcome to the Tent!  :friendstu: :gimmefive: :friendstu:  I enjoyed your testimony very much.  Glad to have you!  :cloud9:

[Lazarus Short]

The church is part of the world system.

Yes, it is.  Your words above jelled my thinking as I realized that most churches (if not all of them) are run on a business model, and having IRS agents tell them what they can and cannot say from the pulpit in keep their precious tax exemption makes them a de-facto State Church.  World system indeed!  Doctrine can get awfully worldly too... :sigh: