Chapter One

Well here I am sitting at McDonald’s at what I hope is the end of a season of purging. Of the world, I have nothing, I am nothing and I desire nothing. Of the spirit, I have everything, I am, and I desire fellowship. Not fellowship with men, fellowship with spirit. There’s a tremendous excitement in my spirit for what is in the future, but I am not to take thought of it. I just know that I know that I know there’s something big on the horizon. I press forward to the high calling of Jesus Christ as I take thought for the past to judge myself as a child of God. So many miracles, so many persecutions, so many mistakes, so many lessons, so much pain, so many mountaintops, so many valleys, and through it all I see the glory of God working in my spirit, molding me to completion to prepare me for the next season in this life, if He desires. I am committed to Him for I have been bought by Him, for Him, and now I live in Him. I am a Bondservant of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have peace because He is peace. He is my Master. My trainer and guide is the Holy Spirit, and from the Father comes blessings, chastening and an unconditional love that most of us, sadly, never partake of. How can we, if we are not told, shown, and directed to do so? This is why many are called. But few are chosen. The chosen must rise up and bear witness to the called and the called must tell the world about another kingdom which is within and has come upon the hearts of those who believe in the only begotten son of the Almighty- Jesus Christ. I will now give an honest report of how I got from birth to this day however painful.

Chapter Two

I was born in Miami, Florida. My dad was tennis professional and my mother was a homemaker who was a gifted artist. The Dysfunctional nature of our home led to dysfunctional emotions, decisions and lives. It was not my parents fault. There were obvious generational curses, a lack of any spiritual warfare knowledge to break these curses, and no-one that I know of that wanted to help break these curses. My dad’s dad left him at age seven. He overcame this by playing tennis culminating in being one of the top tennis players in the nation at the University of Miami. My dad was raising two children when his wife was killed by a drunk driver. My mother was raising four children when her husband died of a sudden heart attack at age 32. When my parents got together, they had four more children, me being the first. They fought a lot. My dad drank a lot, my mom complained a lot. The marriage ended when I was seven years old. My dad came home drunk one night and kicked me across the room and my mom put him out. My dad left and my mom retreated to the solitude of her room for the rest of my childhood. To their credit I can see they did exactly as they were trained to do. My mother raised us with the bare minimum of resources and my dad never seemed to help. He was abusive to me calling me “stupid”. It’s no wonder I grew up doing stupid things. “Death and life is in the power of the tongue”. I see people speaking death over their own children and then wondering why they turned out the way they did-more death speak! By the way, they are children, not “kids”. A “kid” is a goat and goats go to hell-read God’s word.

 

As for me, I just never seemed to fit in. I found that the only semblance of perverted love came from outside the home or from masturbation. Today’s children have it even worse. Some people’s only feeling of love is when they go to a doctor and get the attention they need. My sister recently told me, “you were the best little boy”. I don’t see it that way. I was incapable of making any commitment to anything- that was my training. I needed Jesus Christ to heal my heart, but no one was showing me or at least telling me. My religious background was going to the Catholic Church for Saturday “CCD” and Sunday mass. I did feel much better after confession. As I reflect on how ineffective the church is in practice, I cannot recall a single visit from the church members to our house to assist my mother raising ten children. Talk is easy, it’s in the “doing” that God requires and where you will find Him. If you never “do” His will, you will be deceived. You can cover your conscience by giving money or talking about helping, but you will not cover God’s eyes to your hypocrisy. When I was nine, a priest asked the class to tell how they knew there was a God. I answered, “I can look at a tree and know there’s a God.” He laughed at me and said, “Ridiculous”. Forty plus years later I can look at a tree and know there’s a God.

I earned mostly straight “A”s up until fifth grade. Once I received five “A”s and one “B”. My mom said, if you only did a little better in that class, you would have got straight “A”s. I thought the hell with this, I worked hard to get those grades. My mother was never satisfied. “You can always do better”, she’d say. By the time I hit Middle school, I was a mess. I skipped school without remorse, I was in survival mode. Didn’t matter anyway-no one cared, least of all my family. Unfortunately, I started treating people the way I was being treated. I knew it was wrong, but in some foul way, it made me feel better. That is one of satan’s tricks- to perpetuate the curses.

I played a lot of tennis but lacked the commitment to get to greater levels. It was ok to be number 5 or 6 on the team. My dad would tell me how stupid I was when I played and how great all the other children were. Didn’t matter anyway, by seventh grade I was numb. I received some pats on the back for practical jokes and being a “funny guy”, but that was not long lived. One time at a school tennis tournament, I told the opposing team I was French and couldn’t speak English. It threw the other guy off and I won the match. My teammates thought it was cool, but the coach was infuriated. Didn’t matter to me, he was having an affair with one of the girls on the team. It seemed like everyone knew it except his wife. Personally I couldn’t see why he would, his wife was beautiful and the girl was a pig. He had no credibility to tell me anything. That’s the way I saw it. Today I realize people in sin do what they shouldn’t do because that’s what they do. It’s a spirit of disobedience and “do what thou wilt”. Getting things they shouldn’t have even if it’s bad for them. I lived this life.

I just went to school because that’s what there was to do. I got over the skipping part by ninth grade. I never once did homework. I just “got by”. My mom used to tell us she would send us to school in our underwear because our dad didn’t pay child support. Throughout High school, I had two pairs of pants and three shirts. I would space them out during the week. I really never gave a crap what other people thought, I was numb to others. I learned it at home.

There was one friend, Eddie, whose family lived on the next street. They seemed to be the perfect example of a perfect life. They had money, stuff, a pool, and a complete family-dad and mom at home a boy and a girl. I spent a lot of time over there and they were good to me and my family. Eddie is still one of my very best friends and has the most “Christ-like” hearts of anyone I know. He is a true brother in Christ.

One day in High school, a teacher asked me what I was going to do after High school. I said, “What when I grew up?” The whole class laughed at me and yelled, “We are grown up!” I wasn’t and I knew it. It scared me to think of it. In fact emotionally, it was going to take about thirty more years for me to feel “grown up”. By the time I finished High School, I had no direction, no purpose, and nowhere to go. I started at the Community College and thought it would be nice to be an Architect. It was not a direction I truly had in my heart, it just sounded good to say to others who seemed to need to know what I was going to do with my life. Since there was a lack of commitment, you can guess the outcome.

 

Chapter Three

 About this time, I found something that did accept me-Cocaine. Most of my friends were using. It just seemed to provide comfort to an area of my mind that I didn’t like- the real me. Finally, something that made my inner being “feel good”. The problem was and is the same today with drugs is that the “feel good” is short lived and an insatiable appetite begins to grow, one that cannot be quenched which soon leads to crime to support this appetite. Everything changes, what was important is now not important and vice versa. I had a wonderful girlfriend that I drug through the depths of this problem. I became what I hated about my dad. He drank, I became worse, a drug addict. At first, I was functioning fairly well. I worked and made good money, but it was never enough. I began borrowing what I couldn’t pay back and stole to continue doing what I couldn’t afford. The guilt would be so bad in the mornings that I had to cover it with; you guessed it, more drugs. This root of addiction occasionally reared its ugly head for the next twenty years. I was still playing tennis and started playing tournaments. My lack of commitment kept me from getting anywhere great.

On my 24th birthday I was greatly depressed. My mom asked me what was wrong and I said, “A quarter century wasted, I haven’t accomplished a thing.” She thought about it and said, “Wait a minute, you’re only 24. I felt better, but I should have realized how messed up my life was when I thought I was 25 when I was 24.

I was working out of town a lot. I met my new girlfriend who would become my wife in a small town of Port Charlotte, Florida. Our relationship was good, but rocky. A lack of real commitment on either of our parts would take its toll on the marriage. We had two boys, Brian Jr. and Justin Dale. Two of the best boys anyone could ask for. They certainly didn’t deserve a dad with a lack of commitment to anything but selfishness. The greatest regrets in my life are what I did to my children. The instability instilled in me, I instilled in them. To this day I pray for God to “loose” them from the spirit of rejection and instability. Thankfully their mother was and is a great mother.

 

 

Chapter Four

  After ripping off a drug dealer, I decided it was time to make a change. I wasn’t a praying man, but I remember clearly asking God to “help me make a change and find a way out of this cycle of depression covered by periods of exaltation by drugs.” Sure I covered the depth of despair in my heart with lies, deception and false bravado, but deep inside I had nothing and I knew it. I did drugs to cover the nothingness. It’s common today. I meet people every day that their entire life has been a futile attempt to cover the nothingness inside. There is only one solution to this emptiness and His name is Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, no one has told me yet.

So after my girlfriend got pregnant, a change had to be made. I went to join the Air Force. The recruiter said to meet him at his office in the morning and he would take me to test. I arrived and he drove me to the test site out about an hour away. After the test I waited for him to pick me up but he never showed up. All the other recruiters came and went. Then after waiting about an hour, the Army recruiter came by to pick up his test scores and he offered me a ride. In the car he looked over my test scores and said I “maxed” the test. When we arrived at the recruiting offices, the Air Force recruiter was nowhere to be found. I waited and waited. The Army Recruiter kept poking his head out asking if I wanted to wait inside. I finally went inside and he said he could get me a five Thousand Dollar bonus with my scores. That sounded great. I asked how fast I could go and he said the next day. That sounded great too.

Before I could grasp the weight of this decision I was in Fort Bliss getting my hair cut off and waiting to be sent “up the hill” to start basic training. I called my girl that night and she was crying saying the Air Force recruiter called her and said, “The Army sucked and that for a family it would be terrible and that my decision was horrible”. He was fortunate I was so far away.

The day we were sent up the hill was my twenty fifth birthday. They gave us a false sense of security the first week prior to this day. This changed quickly. I did about a thousand pushups. Not bad for someone who could barely do twenty. This little tiny bad ass drill sergeant came to me and asked me why I didn’t shave today. I said I had and he slammed his “round brown” drill sergeant hat into my nose and told me not to lie anymore. About a minute later a giant drill sergeant came down my row toward me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the little drill sergeant walking in the row behind me. The giant stopped in front of me and yelled, “Why didn’t you shave today?” I cowardly said, “I forgot.” The little drill sergeant chuckled and they walked off.

I woke up the next day barely able to move. I didn’t think I could walk, run or much less do anymore pushups, but in agony, I did about a thousand more. This pain gradually, and I mean gradually diminished over the next week. I started to excel. I could see rewards for effort and I liked it. The American military can sure motivate you.

I graduated after thirteen weeks of training. I was fifty pounds lighter, stronger and faster than I have ever been, and best of all “drug free”. I had direction, purpose and one of the best caretakers there is, the Army. I was obsessed. Drugs taught me how to be single focus minded and now my focus was all “Army”. Over the next thirteen years, I graduated number one in every school I went to. I was promoted at the earliest possible promotion date for every rank. I was a changed person----On the outside……

Brian Jr. was born at Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas. Life couldn’t be better. After two years, we were assigned to Germany where Justin was born. We had a rocky marriage, but never outwardly fought like so many couples I saw. I was still focused. I made Sergeant (E-5) at two years and Staff Sergeant (E-6) at four years. I excelled and wasn’t making any mistakes for the first time in my life. I went to Special Forces orientation course from Germany and was “selected”. I was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I went to airborne training “in route”. What a blast!!!

Then came Desert Storm. I was in the 82nd Airborne Division. I hurt my knee the week before the call went out. I was sitting on the plane to go and the Colonel told me to get off and get my knee fixed. I didn’t want to miss this one, but he said, “We’ll be there a long time”.

He was right. After surgery to repair my knee, I headed over just in time for the war. I didn’t have to spend the time in the desert for the “build up” like most of the soldiers. The war was over quick. On a chartered plane, we headed back. When we took off the plane immediately turned back toward the tower and passed it several times. We knew something was wrong. The pilot finally said the landing gear didn’t retract on one side and when he put it back down to try to retract it again, it got stuck. Anyway, we flew to another airport where they put down foam on the runway. We were all poking fun at the situation when the stewardess said, “shut up, put your heads down and brace for a crash landing”. Several soldiers mocked her. She said, “You can just get off this plane’. A soldier in the back yelled, “That’s what we get paid for baby, give us some parachutes”. It was funny until the last few minutes. I found myself praying again. Funny how we pray only in the direst circumstances. We landed without incident and after a few hours of repair, we flew home.

Shortly after returning to Fort Bragg, I received orders for recruiting duty. With the shape my knee was in, I figured it would be best for a while. I was selected for promotion to Sergeant First Class (E-7) shortly thereafter. I returned to my wife’s hometown for recruiting duty. To my surprise, the same Air Force recruiter was still there and guess who outranked him.

I was speaking at schools about the war. They even did a newspaper article on me. I went to see my dad. I was proud of my accomplishments and wanted to show him what I’ve become. All he said was, “There are a lot of drugs in the Army” in the most demeaning voice he could muster. ‘Ouch” is all I could think of.

I excelled at recruiting. I loved the Army and it showed. The other services had no chance. They were getting fired left and right. Recruiting duty is difficult for most, but for me it was easy. I could relate to the hopelessness most of the youth had and I exploited it. After two years I became “Station Commander”. This was different than recruiting. Now I had to motivate soldiers to recruit. I was off the front lines and I didn’t like it. Most of the soldiers were pissed off at being taken from their main job and placed in recruiting. A lot of turmoil, long hours, and some unfaithfulness took its toll on my marriage.

New job requirements, financial problems, a divorce, a change of duty stations to Alabama and I found my life start to unravel. I wasn’t making enough money to support all my obligations. Suddenly the Army didn’t have the same draw for me and I lost focus. After the Somalia incident where they drug our soldiers through the streets naked and President Clinton doing nothing about it except for having two homosexual soldiers for dinner in the Whitehouse with that “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” BS, I stated, “If he gets reelected, I’m out.” I was selected for E-8 and then the country reelected you know who so I got out. Funny how I stuck to that word when I wasn’t sticking to my other obligations.

All in all, I loved the Army. It was the first time in my life I had affirmations for doing good. I felt smart for the first time also. With a dad that called me “stupid” every day, I really needed that.

Just before I got out, I got my real estate license and started working at a real estate company in Birmingham.

Chapter Five

I couldn’t stand the residential real estate so I set my sights on Commercial Real estate. I excelled at this, but I wasn’t living right. I can tell you now, how clear it is, but in the midst of it, I was blind. Before I got out of the Army I met my soon to be second wife. She was just what I needed and I thought we could make it forever. Unfortunately I started making a lot of money. Definitely an enabler for someone with a root of addiction that was dormant but not gone. Anyway, I found out what opiates were and couldn’t get enough of them. I couldn’t function without them and they consumed me. Well it was ok because I got them from the Veterans Hospital for my knee. Certainly justifiable-“The Doctors gave them to me”. Well one day I ran into a cocaine dealer. I’m certain satan himself set this “chance meeting” up. Anyway, the next few years were all too familiar to me. Back to lying, cheating anyway I could to get money, etc...

Everything on the outside “looked good”. I had a big house, my own brokerage, money, cars, family, etc… My third son, Christopher Andrew, was born in Birmingham Alabama. We were separated during the pregnancy and I was already looking elsewhere for “comfort”. We reconciled a month after “Andrew’s” birth. I was determined to be a better dad and I was. Andrew is an angel, just like Brian and Justin.

It was during this period of time that my mother was getting worse with cancer and she was became paralyzed from the waist down. This was hard for her. My mother was very independent and active.

Right before getting out of the Army, I got a “compassionate re-assignment” to help with her care in Miami. My little brother was doing a good job of it already. He had taken care of her for fifteen years of cancer. After I was there for a month or so, I went into the room one night and she was in bad shape. I told her. “Mom, we have to pray”. I left the room and slept on the couch. In the morning, I went into the room and she looked great. She told me she hadn’t prayed in seven years, but she did last night. There was a great peace upon her. I went to work and she died an hour later. God waited on her to “come back”. At the wake, I could feel her dancing. No need to go to the funeral, I knew where she was. God was opening up my eyes to the spiritual.

 

 

 

Chapter Six

It all fell apart when some of the deals I was working on didn’t close fast enough. It was time to get out of Alabama while I still could. I sold my brokerage to two young men who worked for me for about a year. They were loyal, I thought, but they just weren’t experienced or committed enough to make it work. I moved to Georgia and lived on Lake Lanier for five years.  Through all of this, I went to church nearly every Sunday.  I was looking for help or something. I needed Jesus Christ not religion. I know today that the “religious” killed Jesus and they still do it today. Jesus Christ is freedom, religion is not.

Why couldn’t just one person come to me with this answer?  An entire life goes by and no one tells you. I have been around the world, in church nearly every week, and not one person, no not one, ever offered a real Jesus.

After five years, it was time to come back to Birmingham. We found a home and I started doing construction.  It wasn’t going to work; I was now on methadone and couldn’t think straight if I wanted to. The VA was sending me five medications every month like clockwork. It wasn’t enough. Don’t be deluded, drugs never satisfy. You always need more. That’s why disability is such a sham. I watch people live this lie of government care. They have one week of “good”, one week of “OK”, one week of “survival” and one week of “Hell”. What a roller coaster ride. I was on that ride-seemed normal too. 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

I was remodeling a house across the street from where we lived. I was working for very little. You must watch who and what you are working for when you are “down and out”. People will capitalize on your “state” to make their god- money.  You don’t feel worthy of even minimum or decent pay and you “settle”. Then you get upset for not being paid and there is never peace. The bible says, “They justify the wicked for reward”. Don’t you know that is exactly what most rehabs are doing? That’s why they are so ineffective.  Their god is money and because of this focus there is no anointing that breaks the yoke of satan’s grips. Most are working to help you get a better life (in this present age) instead of getting life itself - Jesus Christ. 

One day four people came by and all four said, “Jesus Christ is coming soon”. They didn’t know each other and weren’t there at the same time.  I knelt down and prayed, “God, if this is so, do whatever you have to do to get me ready”.  This is a dangerous, but necessary, prayer. It’s a prayer of surrender and it moves God to act. Unfortunately you may get something least expected in this life. Fortunately, you WILL get something least deserved in the next life!

As I walked through the front door of my house a week later I was overwhelmed with a feeling of complete loss of control. I buckled to my knees. My wife was sitting on the couch and I said to her, “Baby, I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but I know I will need God’s help to get through it.” An hour later I was pulled over and the officer said I had fourteen warrants for my arrest. I said I doubted that and he said, “Let me check again.” He came back and said the county wanted me and that they would come get me. This was the first time I was in “real trouble” with the law.  I spent nine days in the county jail. I was confused and in great pain from drug withdrawal. When they finally brought me before the judge he informed me I had fourteen bad checks from my business. He was quite “colorful” with his verbal assault until the DA said that someone else’s signature was on one of them. This opened the door for an offer of two years probation with an appeal opportunity within two weeks.  I jumped at it. He told me I owed twenty six Thousand Dollars and asked how much I could pay back. I merely divided the amount by the probation time and said, “I guess just over a Thousand a month.” I didn’t know that I didn’t have to pay it off in the probation period. They gave me no counsel. It would not have mattered… God was in charge now. I could feel something changing. Anyway, I just wanted out of that hell hole. Unfortunately, I had two checks in another county and they came to get me. By the time I got out the two weeks later the opportunity for appeal was gone.

In court the judge made the comment that when you do something stupid you need a good kick in the head. Sounded just like dad. Since I had made plenty of money in the past I figured I could push through this and put this all behind me. Unfortunately, three months later I found myself behind in payments to two courts, new warrants hanging over my head, and a feeling of drowning. Our judicial system should rename probation to “drowning” because that’s what they do-drown you. They give you a little air and then down you go again. They make it nearly  impossible to “get out”.

I was back doing construction. The people I was hanging around with were mostly drug addicts in survival mode. One of them stole my medication that arrived at my house. I called the VA. They investigated it and called me in for an appointment.  Upon my arrival I was arrested for the outstanding warrants. The officer at the VA was very nice. He let me use the phone. I called my wife and told her it looked like I would be in jail for a while. She cried and asked what she and my son were going to do. I knew she was a “fighter” and would make it. My greatest concern was for my son. I went before the same judge and he started yelling obscenities at me. The he assigned an attorney to me. The first thing he said was that he was semi-retired and that he doesn’t go to other counties. He wasn’t working for me; that was clear. The judge threatened sending me to prison for two years. Just then three friends of mine that I was working with entered the court room. The attorney said I was Two Thousand Dollars behind and that he was going to talk to my friends. After he did so, he said, “You’ve got some great friends, they brought Four Thousand Dollars, You’ll be out of here in a minute”. He went back into the judge’s office and we could all hear the judge screaming. The attorney came out and asked if I had pissed him off. I said, “Not purposely.” He said, “The judge wants all the money or you’ll do time.” I had learned a little in the jail about time. When he offered six months in the county jail I replied. “I’ll go down the road for a year.” I knew four months killed a year down the road. The judge agreed to four months in the county. God had another plan. He gave me little by little, as much as I could handle. I thought I would get out in two months with good time, but was told I had to do four months “day for day”.  I was sent to the work block and put on laundry detail.  What a relief. There was food there; quite a different story than the regular blocks. I already lost a pound a day in the first sixteen days. I can remember being more hungry than I ever had been in my life, even worse than survival training. This particular county had an incentive pay policy for the sheriff and the head of the kitchen where they split the difference in food cost savings between themselves at the end of the year. Can you imagine their judgement day? Starving people to line their pockets. God have mercy on their souls.

I had my own cell in the work block. I needed my reading glasses but was not allowed to have them because they were not prescribed. God made a way though. I found a “Giant print” Bible on the clothing shelf. I started reading.

I was losing everything of the world. My wife sent a lawyer in with divorce papers. I was glad to get them because I knew she was “making it”. I was told all of my stuff at the house was lost. I was down to the clothes in the holding room as my entire earthly possessions. I couldn’t make phone calls and didn’t like watching TV. It was “Jail Heaven” for me. The first time in my life that I was able to take an honest account of my life, read the bible and fellowship with the King of Kings. I spent two months forgiving everyone I was holding anything against, all the way back to the doctor who slapped me coming out of the womb. Forgiveness is the most empowering thing you can do. If you can learn to forgive like Jesus, no one can ever hurt you. It’s the un-forgiveness that hurts. Render its grip powerless and forgive! By the way, un-forgiveness in any measure keeps God from forgiving you; it’s to eternal death not to forgive.

One day I was watching TV and heard the testimony, “In America, out of every ten houses, there’s seven divorces, six alcoholics, five drug addicts, four, etc…”  I thought how this could be in the “Land of the free’. Then I heard, “And one Christian, a real one.” I decided to draw a banner (flag) that would identify this house. I put three crosses on a flag. That night God moved “over me”, I heard my name called. I felt the fear of the Lord and it pressed me to the core of my being. It was God’s love forgiving and pressing out my sin. When I sat up, my drawing was folded in half and creased. I didn’t do it and I was the only one in the cell.

The next three months were spent devouring the word of God. I kept coming to one verse which God was laying on my heart. Mat 19:29 says, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life”. I felt like I needed a “hundredfold” to break even from the present state I was in. I had already lost everything I had except my three boys. In my heart they were definitely between me and God. I can remember telling God, “OK, you have everything but my three boys.” His reply was always, “That’s not enough.” By the way, He will talk to you if you draw nigh to him, quite your mind, and seek Him with all your heart. Try turning off the TV and stop listening to the garbage music.

It took three months of praying, fasting when I could, and seeking His face for me to one day “break” and say, “Alright, you’ve got them too”. I was immediately overwhelmed with His love. I realized I didn’t even know what love was until this day. God’s love is so different than what the world calls love. The world’s love is control, manipulation, guilt ridden, limited and oppressive. God’s love is free, abundant, overflowing and empowering. It presses the very nature of the old man out of you, as well as all your sin. I felt the presence of God and He called my name, then said, “I didn’t tell you to forget your children, I told you to put me first so I can show you what love is and then when I restore you to them, you will be able to love them as I love you”. As I write this, I only ask Him to forgive me for forgetting this “First Love” from time to time. I am being overwhelmed right now. I pray that whatever you are holding to before God that you let it go right now. It is the very thing that is keeping you from His fullness. My experience is that you will get it all back a hundredfold anyway. Quit kicking yourself! God doesn’t want your obedience (that will come later), HE WANTS YOUR HEART-ALL OF IT! Most local churches are so consumed with obedience and reputation that they never experience the power of God through surrender. It’s not your obedience, it’s Jesus’. It’s not your way, it’s “The Way’- Jesus. It’s not your righteousness, it’s Jesus’. It’s not what you do, it’s what Jesus did!

How did I spend two months on forgiveness and three months on Matthew 19:29 in four months you ask? They “forgot” I was in jail and did not send me to another judge I had to see in another part of the county for one check. They apologized when I inquired and they said I would see him “this week”. Well, efficiency is not what the Government is known for. A week later, I went before this judge and I thought I would get out that day. He asked me a simple question, “Where are you going to live?” When I hesitated he smiled and said, “You don’t know, I’ll see you next month and have someone come speak for you on that day”. I got a message to one of my friends and he said he would be there. On the way back from court I realize the judge did me a favor as I saw my jail room in a different light. I had a place to go. It was a place of peace. It had electricity and water. So what if it had bars on it, I was free for the first time in my life despite my environment. The guards used to say, “There’s something different about you”. I would reply, “I’m free”. They would say I wasn’t and that I was crazy to say so. I knew better. For the first time in my life I was not “needy” for things and people of this world. I prayed to God to keep me as long as necessary. I was in His hands!

The next court date came and went. They didn’t take me to the judge until the following day. He said, “Who’s here to speak for you?” I replied, “He was told to come yesterday”.  I showed him the court order for the day before. He said, “No one came anyway, we’ll see you in a month”.

A week before the next court date I was reading through the bible and when I came to James, I heard, “Save that for court.” The morning of court at “prayer call”, a brother in the Lord said, “God told me to read James today’. I was overwhelmed. When I went into court, my name was called and the judge immediately said, “I’m going to let you go”. I replied, “I thought you would”. I was learning that if God is your defender, you don’t have to say a word. When you try to defend yourself, you are taking his place and it won’t work.

Chapter Eight

I was released and sent to Shelby County jail. I was physically, emotionally, and most importantly spiritually stronger than I have ever been in my life. Although it was another jail, the environment was completely different. I was put in a block where there were about sixty men. There was four “lockups” in the back where we slept. The racial makeup was different too. There were six black guys, a few Mexicans, and the rest were white.

As I walked in the jail, the inmates were all yelling, “Fresh Fish.” I watched as the black guys harassed the white guys, stole their food and slapped them around. I thought about what Jesus would do. The next day a NASCAR race was on the TV. The white guys were watching it, or trying to, as the black guys would come out of their lockup and change the channel and laugh. I came out of my lockup and positioned myself where they would have to walk by me to change it again. This time only one of them came down, I told him he would have to get passed me to change it again. He started yelling obscenities and cowardly went to get his friends. I had no hatred in my heart for this man, only hatred for what he was doing. Amazingly, I felt love and sorrow for him. They surrounded me and the one kept yelling. I asked him to go into the lockup, just me and him and whatever happens stays in there. He said, “OK, let’s go”. As I walked into the lockup, I prayed a “gate” over the entrance that he could not pass. After a half an hour of bravado, carrying on, and talking trash, he was exposed as a fool and a coward because he couldn’t come in. Personally, I knew I could beat him in the flesh or in the spirit.

They all backed down when the guards came in. The white guys came in and congratulated me. I said, “It’s not us against them, I will help anyone in trouble, black, white, Latin; it doesn’t matter”. I started a bible study and invited the black guys. All of them, except one, became some of my best friends; especially the one who wanted to fight me.

The one that wasn’t “won over to Christ” in jail, I saw about six months later and we had peace between us. I saw him at the Wal-Mart and before he remembered who I was, I gave him a big smile, reached out to shake his hand and said, “Hey Brother, how you doing” in a loud excited voice. He smiled and shook my hand. Then he remembered, looked a little puzzled and walked away. A week later, I saw him again and he had definitely changed towards me. We greeted as old time buddies would. He said he was going to church and “doing good”. Hallelujah!

In my block was one guy who said “F… that stuff” to the bible. His name was “Red”. After talking with him I found out his dad was a preacher. Red had three young girls visiting him. He laughed about the idea that they each thought he was their only boyfriend. He talked continuously about doing drugs. I knew his foolishness would lead to a life behind bars. I wasn’t reaching him with talk. He was going to have to “see it.”

Another one, Jerry, became one of my best friends. He was “digging in” the word and came to all bible studies. We played “Combat” basketball when they let us outside. “Combat” basketball is a combination of basketball and tackle football mixed with a little boxing. Basically, anything is legal. Anyway, Jerry was one of the funniest people I ever met. If circumstances were different in his life, he would be well known for comedy. I could see a deep sense of hopelessness, despair and desperation for “belonging” in Jerry. God was definitely chasing him. He was close, but not quite ready, yet.

A few days later Curtis came in. A humble brother who (by his admission) was falsely accused by his ex-wife. They arrested him without a warrant. I believed him. He read the bible all day and was peaceful through this process. “Blessed are the persecuted.” It took two weeks for him to get out. He was an inspiration to many.

Craig came in a week later. He was a “seasoned” prisoner. He had been in prison for twelve years previously for stealing two trucks. Every day he was “twenty-something” was spent in prison. He had been out for two and a half years when he caught this new charge. He was a con man and brought in a spirit of trouble to the block. His first con was a NASCAR race gamble where everyone had a chance to win about fifty candy bars and for his part Craig took about twenty for himself.

Craig asked me one day, “How long do you think they’ll give me for stealing a motorcycle stand?” Here’s the rest of the story. He got out of prison with the help of a sponsor. The sponsor gave him a truck and a job. He did great for two years. Then one day he hired a young guy that liked drugs. The young guy kept poking fun at Craig for “missing out” on the good times of being twenty. After two months, Craig started to weaken. One day the guy told him to take him by a house where he could get something. Upon arrival, the drug dealer inside asked, “Is this the guy who never did drugs?” Craig fought off the initial attack, drove down the road a half a mile, and by his own testimony, “Something grabbed the wheel and turned me back, I started using and in three months I was doing Heroin continuously.”

One day the worker had a motorcycle stand to trade for drugs. Craig went by the drug dealers place and he wasn’t interested in the stand. Craig left. He was driving to work when he dropped his drug bag. He pulled over and was frantically looking for it when a policeman drove by and saw “something weird.” Just as God would have it, the policeman just came from doing a report on a stolen (you guessed it) motorcycle stand.

Craig’s theory was that he got twelve years for thirty thousand dollars worth of vehicles so he should get about one year for a three hundred dollar motorcycle stand. I said, “It doesn’t work that way, God is chasing you, twelve years didn’t fix your disobedience, you’ll get more than twelve years, maybe fifteen.” He said I was crazy and he didn’t talk to me for a week. They offered him eighteen years. He was humbled when he came back and said, “You are right, I have to make some changes, can you help?” We prayed and asked God for mercy. Craig gave his life over to Jesus. He even told the married woman coming to see him that it was over and he couldn’t see her anymore. He looked like a glowing light bulb. He was reading his bible and coming to bible study and prayer. God came through as he always does. The DA changed his mind and gave Craig one year.

I was at peace and didn’t have a care where God wanted me. I felt like I’d be here a while. One day a guard said, “Hardie, Pack it up, all the way”. I didn’t believe it and went to the shower. When the guards came back, they were not happy. I dressed so fast, I didn’t put on socks. The clothes I had to leave in came out of storage and were all bundled up. My jeans were too large now since I lost weight. I must have been a sight with the most wrinkled shirt in history, too large jeans and some “old school” Nike shoes someone gave me in Jefferson county jail. It’s no wonder I walked thirteen miles without a ride offer. I didn’t need a ride, I praised God every six steps like David did bringing back the Ark of the Covenant. After thirteen miles I prayed, “God, you know I can walk a hundred miles, but I feel a few blisters coming on, can you help me?” I heard, “Do not hitchhike, he’ll come from the other direction and he’ll take you wherever you want to go.” I took ten steps and a van pulled off the road from the other direction. The driver said, “Hey brother, come on in, I’m going to take you wherever you want to go.” When I got in the van, he handed me a card and on top of the card was three crosses. He had drawn a square around them which made it look just like the flag I drew in Jefferson county jail. The passenger asked, “Where you been, buddy?” I said, “Jail.” He said, man they starve you in that place, I craved pizza so bad when I was in there, what did you crave?” I said, “I guess Kentucky Fried Chicken because they pass by it when they take you to court and it smelled so good.” He reached down and said, “Well here you go brother” as he handed me four pieces of fried chicken.

 

Chapter Nine

When I arrived at a phone, I called my now ex-wife. No answer. Where could I go? I looked in my bible and found a phone number for a guy I met in Jefferson County Jail. He answered and said he had a room for me at his house.  He even came to pick me up. I called my ex-wife several times to see how I could get Andrew for the weekend as written in the divorce. I called her sister twice and the second time she hung up on me. I called her attorney who said I could call but not to harass them. I said, “Bob, you’re a lawyer, if I had known they didn’t want to talk to me, I wouldn’t have called, but now that I know, I won’t call again. I’ll put in God’s hands and you better watch out.”

I don’t remember where I got a cell phone, but I got one. I called a prison minister I met in Jefferson County. On Saturday he picked me up and took me to a clothing ministry where I got four “sets” of clothes.  I even got a duffle bag to hold all my “stuff”. It was Friday and evening was coming. My new landlord was talking about getting some pot to pay off his bills. I recommended he didn’t. He said, “Who do you think you are? You can’t even take your son to Chucky Cheese!” I replied, “I just want to see him and give him a hug.” He laughed. He hadn’t seen his son for three months since he got out of jail because he couldn’t “buy him something.” How absurd. 

A simple question for you: If your dad or mom asked you to choose between going somewhere and spending some money on you or spending the day where they would actually spend some time loving you, listening to you, and talking to you, which would you choose?

How about your children, if you have any. I recommend spending some time with them, get to know them, teach them something they can hold onto the rest of eternity—The Love of Jesus Christ!

I fasted and prayed for God’s will to be done. The two verses I held onto for eight months kept ringing through to my spirit: Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (What the world uses for evil against you, God uses for good). And Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

On Sunday, I woke up and wanted to visit a church. I walked down the road and on the front of a big Baptist church I saw a sign that said, “Welcome.” That was all I needed. I went to a class. Then we went to the church service.  I sat in the balcony right above and to the side of the preacher. He gave an awesome sermon. At one point I stood up and said, “AMEN!” I got laughed at by the audience, but the preacher smiled. The Holy Spirit revealed to me, “This is what lukewarm looks like.” The preacher wasn’t. After church I spoke with him. He seemed frustrated with the move of God, or better, the lack thereof in his congregation. All I could think of was that these people were way better than me, they deserved heaven, they paid their bills, did everything right in the world, where is the justice in His outpouring to a sinner like me??? Weren’t they the “Good” people?

I heard the preacher told his congregation to get out, go visit other churches and bring back the presence of God. A brave man of God! Can you imagine a preacher saying that to a big church?

I fasted and prayed Monday until I received a call from my x-wife around 6:00 pm. She said, “I need forgiveness for something (I won’t say here, but it’s something she did illegally against me. It’s wasn’t a big deal unless I wanted to make it one, and I wouldn’t). I said, “You’re forgiven.” She said I could see Andrew on Wednesday. I said. “No, I am on my way to get him. What could she do? 

When I asked my landlord for a ride to get him, he brought up the “You can’t even buy him a burger story again.” I didn’t care and I knew Andrew wouldn’t either, I got the ride. On the way there, my x-wife called again and said, “I need to ask you forgiveness about another thing, I told Andrew that you left us.” I told her, “You’re forgiven.” She was in survival mode and had to do whatever she had to do. When I picked Andrew up, I held his hand until we got back to where I was staying.. When we got out of the car, I pulled him aside and told him that although my actions and inactions caused me to leave, that I would never leave him purposefully. I said, “Andrew, I love you, I was in jail, I was five minutes from here and you could have visited every week. In fact, I looked for you every Wednesday night for eight months.” He jumped into my arms and hugged me, I held him as I walked around the block. All the pain was being washed off of us and was behind us! We had the best weekend “catching up”.

On Sunday we went to the same church and had an enjoyable time. The preacher really took to Andrew. Later that day we walked up the store. On the way home Andrew said, “Hey dad, there’s four guys following us.” I said, “Don’t worry.” He said, “They have masks on.” I said, “Don’t worry.” He said, “One has a bat.” The spirit rose up in me and I said, “I said don’t worry, I’m glad you are here today to see this.” Just then out of the corner of my eye I caught the one guy with the bat to my right. I handed the bags from the store to Andrew and turned around. I said, “I’m a black belt in Karate and I was a First Sergeant in the Army, but I don’t need any of that, you made a mistake today, you brought something man-made against something God anointed.” One of them pulled out a gun and asked, “Yeah, but can you stop a bullet?”I replied, “No, I can’t, but God can and today my friends, GOD WILL!” I stepped towards them and they all stepped back which made Andrew laugh. I said, “I know why you are doing this, it’s because you need Jesus Christ.” I reached out and asked them to pray. One of them said, “No way, we’re not stupid.” Then they ran off and as they did so one of them said, “He didn’t have no money anyway.” I turned around and Andrew and I continued our walk with a little chuckle. I realized my pulse didn’t rise; I didn’t have any fear whatsoever. True peace!

Most people are so fearful that they never come to a place of peace. It’s fear that keeps you from coming to God, fear of losing something. Well if your life isn’t working in this world, perhaps it’s because you haven’t tried to follow the life you were made to follow? True peace only comes from God through Jesus Christ. It does not come from money, drugs, alcohol, relationships, death or anything else of this world. It comes from another Kingdom. There are many miserable millionaires, many miserable drug users, and many miserable whoremongers. Few find ‘The Way.”Are you ready? Are you ready to have peace in your life? It takes a surrender of what you think (or have been trained to think) is peace. It ONLY comes by asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart and holding on to this treasure. Just ask! He’s always knocking.

 

Chapter Ten

Looking out the window, I could see the Mexicans making their delivery. It was time for me to leave. I packed up my “stuff” and walked out. I was asked where I was going and I said, “Wherever He wants me to go.” I walked about a half a mile and prayed the following, “OK, God, if you want me to be homeless, I’m ready.” A few seconds passed and the cell-phone rang. It was a lady from the church. She needed someone to watch over her house while she went to Florida. I said, “When do you need this person?” She said, “Now” and asked me where I was. I said, “The church parking lot.”

The next year and a half was a growing time for me. I spent nearly every night in prayer and reading. God made a way for daily miracles. Something inside of me was growing and I liked it. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” I was brought to and through many experiences.   I watched in amazement of how God uses trials, tribulations, persecutions, blessings and curses to work out His purpose in our life. He does not allow us to “Live in sin”. Although you may and do sin, you can’t “Stay there”.

By the way, if you think your obedience pleases God, you better understand what obedience he is talking about. He’s talking about obedience in belief, obedience in faith, obedience in love first to Him, then to your brother. God wants you to display the characteristics of His son, not the character that is pleasing to the world. In fact, a friend of this world is the enemy of God. Jam 4:4  reads, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

So I am working on my obedience to Him. He wants us to “Do” his work while being His. We are servants and not allowed to make agreements with the world.  My first “ministry” experience came at a home for women coming out of prison or other problems. It was a time of great strength for me. I would pray every night from midnight to 6:00 am, sleep until 8:00, then walk to do His work. There was no pay involved. I began to understand the difference between the ministry of death (putting people back under the law) and the ministry of life (setting people free in Jesus Christ).  After nearly six months “ministering under the radar screen” I left with the “right foot of fellowship”. Praise God.

During this time, I also worked with Bill Glass’ “Champion’s for Life” prison ministry. After much turmoil within their ranks, I was selected as “Head Coach” for Alabama. This is where I learned the power of spiritual warfare. This ministry in the state of Alabama was under satan’s grip. NY, LA and Atlanta were doing large functions four to nine times per year. In Alabama, it was one large function over the past seven years.  After much “warfare”, a large event was held where 1602 prisoners received Jesus Christ. Now you may say and I have heard, “no one knows the number who will really hold to this.” My answer to you is, “That’s up to God, what are you doing for the Kingdom?”

I started out as the “recruiter”. 300 to 500 people were needed for “the event”. I thought it would be simple to get enough people and thought one person out of half the churches would be a joke.  This is where I learned where the “doers” are. There are 2,700 churches in Birmingham, Alabama. I started recruiting. After six months of working harder than I imagined, we had 148 people.  I had visited and recruited at hundreds of churches.  Most Pastors pledged support and people, but no one was signing up. Only one Associate Pastor showed up the day of the event. I thought, “What is wrong with these people? You go in one day with professional sports figures and get to witness for Christ.”

One month before the event. We went on a little talk radio show to talk about the event and within one week we were up over three hundred. The “doers” are out “doing it”. They are not hiding behind the four walls of a church building. Anyway, jealous ambition led to me going in another direction.

It was time to “disciple” people….

Chapter Eleven

On that radio show, I met a man that had twenty houses that he said we could do ministry in. It was a new direction and one that I learned more about how to truly help someone than any book could give me.  Over the past three years we had the opportunity to help over six hundred people. That was the “Crop” and the yield (success or failure) is up to Him. I had guns pointed in my face, been threatened too numerous times to count , cursed at, but mostly blessed.

I sit today humbly acknowledging the truth that God is faithful. He has restored everything I lost a hundredfold (Matthew 19:29). He does it not because of me, but because He said it. He is the true King, who can do all things except Lie.

All of God’s answers to prayer are “Yes and Amen”. When Jesus said not to lay the old foundation, he’s talking about how we speak. I learned to listen to others and myself. The words coming out of our mouths are either blessings or curses. The old foundation is cursed. Speak life.

I can tell what kind of life someone has by listening to them for five minutes. Most people say things like, “This is going to be a bad day.” God answers, “Yes and Amen.”  Or , “I’ll never have enough money for my bills.” God answers, “Yes and Amen.” Or, “My wife’s a fat B…” God answers, “Yes and Amen.”

Mat 12:36  reads, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” One day before God, he will show you what you built with your mouth.  

Chapter Twelve

What you “do” is NOT who you “are”.  Your new identity is “a child of God”.  Joh 1:12  reads, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Your identity changes once you accept Jesus Christ into your heart. Although satan has lost his “first attack” mission, which is to keep you out of the Kingdom, he never ceases this attack because it is part of his “second attack” mission, which is to keep you from operating in that Kingdom. It’s an attack against your influence.

Being “Born Again” changes you. There is something different and the world hates it. You have done something most never do-SURRENDERED TO THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST.  It is difficult to understand surrendering to a king because we don’t see it in the natural. We rarely see it in the world and definitely do not see it in America. The kingdom changes in your heart; from you to Jesus Christ. Most do not want to relinquish this lordship. Unfortunately, no matter how good you make your kingdom, you cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven without this change. It cannot be purchased. Fortunately, it is a free gift. One that must be received like a little child receives a gift.

I am and will forever be His. His kingdom works differently. The entire focus of my heart changes from glory to glory as long as I pursue this kingdom with all my heart. The greatest thing is that what I use to fear has no power over me. I seek no credibility from man. I do not have the same needs anymore. My needs are as He chooses for my growth. My desire is to be in His presence. I don’t need to be accepted or loved by anyone else. His love is sufficient. The scales are removed from my eyes. I can see directly into the hearts of others in order to help them.  I can see the depth of despair and hopelessness that people are trying to cover with the ways of the world.

1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

I will be a fool of this world to gain His wisdom. I will be despised to walk with Christ. I will suffer to stand in His glory. The ways of the world I set aside for His ways. The walk is not easy it is rewarding and the only thing that matters.  What people think of me matters not. I can help them, if they choose help. I love them and most hate me. I want good things for them, though they want me to hurt. How about you? Are you following His way or your way?

2Co 13:4  For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. 1Co 4:20  For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Let the peace of Jesus Christ reign in you!

Jesus Christ bless you!

Chapter Thirteen

RESTORATION – A HUNDREDFOLD

Mat 19:29 reads, “ And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

Here it is manifested in the life of a sinner-ME. If he can do it for me, he can do it for you!

Blessed to serve and minister to over 600 people through a housing ministry where we preached the Gospel of Peace in Jesus Christ. “The ministration of Life.”

Blessed with all the spiritual gifts.

Blessed to have my relationships restored with Brian, Justin and Andrew.

Blessed with a hundredfold wife (Morgan) and three step children (Tyler, Alyssa, and Zoe).

Blessed with transportation, housing, food, clothing and friends.

Blessed with persecutions, trials and tribulations for my growth.

Blessed with the love of Christ.

Blessed with a joy that gives me daily strength.

Blessed with a peace that surpasses any and all worldly circumstances.

Blessed with patience to wait on the Lord.

Blessed with faith focused in Jesus Christ.

Blessed with increasing temperance.

Blessed to be in His kingdom, despised by this world; both are gifts.

Blessed to have my eyes open (scales removed).

He gives us the desires of our heart. Most only think of this in the positive things he gives. The truth is He gives us all the desires of our heart-Good and bad. The good because it’s his good pleasure and the bad so it will be revealed that it is actually bad. Search out your heart. Bring the bad desires into the obedience of Christ before it’s too late!

 

 

Statement of Faith

 

STATEMENT OF FAITH

 Faith

 G4102

πίστις

pistis

pis'-tis

From G3982; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

 G3982

πείθω

peithō

pi'-tho

A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty): - agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

I believe in One God...

1Jn 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Mal 2:10  Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

Mar 12:32  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

Rom 3:30  Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Gal 3:20  Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Jas 2:19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

 I believe in the name of God and His name is Jesus and He is the Christ.

Mic 4:5  For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

Mat 16:16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God

I believe in the two commandments for all born again believers....

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Luk 10:27  And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

1Th 4:9  But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1Jn 4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Jas 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

 I believe in the scriptures and the fulfillment of all scripture...

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Mar 12:10  And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:

Mar 15:28  And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Joh 2:22  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Joh 13:18  I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Joh 19:36  For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

Joh 19:37  And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

Act 1:16  Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.

Rom 10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

 I believe the power given to the believer...

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Jas 2:23  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

I believe in walking by faith...

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

I believe every believer must work out their own salvation...

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

I believe in the apostle's doctrine for salvation:

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Act 2:39  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Act 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

I believe in baptism in the name of Jesus Christ...

Mat 28:19  GoG4198 ye therefore,G3767 and teachG3100 allG3956 nations,G1484 baptizingG907 themG846 inG1519 theG3588 nameG3686 of theG3588 Father,G3962 andG2532 of theG3588 Son,G5207 andG2532 of theG3588 HolyG40 Ghost:G4151  “the name” NOT the names (titles) – the name is Jesus

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Luk 7:30  But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Act 8:12  But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Act 8:16  (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

Act 10:48  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Act 19:5  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Act 22:16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

 Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

 I believe in speaking in tongues and that there is “unlearned”, “unknown” and “Divers”  tongues. I believe in the initial sign of receiving the holy Ghost with evidence of speaking of tongues. I believe in the gift of tongues and the interpretation thereof.

1Co 14:39  Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

1Co 14:22  Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

1Co 14:18  I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:

1Co 14:5  I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

1Co 12:10  To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

Act 19:6  And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

Act 10:46  For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,

Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

I believe we must do all things in love...

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1Jn 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

 I believe in the “catching away” on the last trump at the end of the 3 ½ yr tribulation.

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Mat 24:1  And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

Mat 24:2  And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Mat 24:3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

Mat 24:10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Mat 24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

Mat 24:18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

Mat 24:19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

Mat 24:20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you before.

Mat 24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

Mat 24:39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:40  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Mat 24:41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Mat 24:42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Mat 24:43  But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Mat 24:44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Mat 24:45  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Mat 24:46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Mat 24:47  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

Mat 24:48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

Mat 24:49  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

Mat 24:50  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

Mat 24:51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I believe there are many antichrists and that the spirit of antichrist is on the earth; yet there is one antichrist (the first beast), one False prophet (the second beast) and one dragon (the devil).

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1Jn 2:22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

I believe there will be “an” antichrist that will rise to power at the beginning of the great tribulation and he has done so..

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

 I believe in the five fold ministry “to” the body

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

I believe in the elder ship of the church and how the true church operates...

1Ti 5:1  Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;

1Pe 5:1  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

 1Pe 5:5  Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

Act 14:23  And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Act 15:2  When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

Act 15:6  And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

Act 15:22  Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

Act 16:4  And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.

Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

1Ti 5:17  Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

Tit 1:5  For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:

Heb 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

1Pe 5:1  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

 Paul the Apostle went to the elders...

  Gal 2:9  And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

 I believe in assembling together with other believers...

Act 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

Act 2:45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Act 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Act 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

I believe that those “in Christ” must suffer as He did...

Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

I believe Jesus Christ is in all and that all was created by Him...

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Rev 10:6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

I believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin...

Heb 10:12  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

I believe in service to God with all your heart..

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Deu 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jos 22:5  But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1Sa 12:20  And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;

1Sa 12:24  Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

I believe that Jesus is the Christ...

1Jn 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

I believe you will find Him when you search with “all” your heart...

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Joe 2:12  Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

 I believe in the righteousness of God, not man...

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

That even the devils know...

Mar 1:24  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

 I believe in repentance....

Luk 15:10  Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

 I believe in honor that comes from god ONLY...

Joh 5:44  How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

 I believe in the power of the gospel of Christ...

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

I believe in “spiritual” Israel (all born again believers)...

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

 I believe in the “free gift”...

Rom 5:15  But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

I believe that each of us will give an account for ourselves to God...

Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

I believe in body ministry where all in the body bring gifts to the body as distributed by God...

1Co 7:7  For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

1Co 7:17  But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

 I believe in living in peace and being thankful...

2Co 13:11  Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

 I believe in forgiveness...

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Mat 6:15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 I believe we are to live a holy life departing from iniquity through the power of the Holy Spirit...

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

 I believe in growing in the faith, the maturing of the saints...

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

I believe that the true church is the “called out” (ecclesia) body of believers, not what most call church (the building). I believe that the false church is an abomination to God...

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

 I believe we can know other brethren by the fruits of the Spirit...

  I do not believe in the false doctrines of...

Once saved, always saved.

The Word faith movement

The pastoral position of leadership which lord's over people.

Name and claim it

I do not believe...

that you can willfully sin and get away with it.

in assembling with non believers

 

Impressum

Texte: Brian Hardie
Bildmaterialien: Brian Hardie
Lektorat: Brian Hardie
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 20.06.2013

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To My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ