 |
 |
|
|
Faith should be the center of every persons life. Every person has faith
in something or someone. In some cases this faith is in themselves or another
person. Sometimes faith is placed in an organization or a human characteristic.
In my case I have tried all of these things. I have finaly found that faith
can only be placed in one thing and one thing only. That is God , The triune
God of the bible consisting of the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit.
My faith has been tried and tested many times and a few times it has failed me. Not that God has ever failed me but my own human side failed. I was born again (John 3:3) on March 3 1985 at 8:01 pm at a church in Summersville WestVirginia. I had been involved in some very anti -christian activities such as paganism and alcahol abuse for many years. Before my salvation I beleived in neither a God or in a Satan. I however chose pagan and sataninc totems because they was much cooler in my mind and quite honestly made some people fear me and many girls interested in the mystery of it all. I am not saying that secular music will send a person to hell or cause a person to loose their salvation if they listen to it but secular heavy metal and rock music had a big influence on my life before I became saved. Being a guitar player I would find myself analyzing the music and the lyrics for something I could follow as a path in my life. But as you can guess in secular music there was no truth nor moral guiding for me as a youth. It had a big part in the anti-christian values of my life. Also a big part of my life was the redneck lifestyle mainly demonstrated by racism against any non-white and mass consumption of beer and liquor. Fast forewarding many years after I became saved, I got married to a Godly girl. We had children and our life was going well as we served God together. Satan chose this area of my life to strike at me next. He caused three doctors to misdiagnose my wifes complications of a genetic illness she had called Marfan Syndrome and my wife died on Christmas Eve of 1999. This caused me to backslide in a major way and join both the National Alliance and the Imperial Klans of America. In these organizations I did many things that I am not proud of. I am very thankfull that God and my new girlfriend did not give up on me. To back up a bit, God seen that I was alone and needed someone to help make my life as an adult male complete. He broght me a wonderful Godly lady as a girlfriend. Her name is Kim or as she goes by on line Kejsarrinna. Through her prayers and the prayers of my daughters I left the Klan and all of my racist ways that was so opposed to the ways of God. She has been a godsend to me and a help of biblical proportions. |
Even
though I did leave all of the racism behind I failed many times in keeping
the racism at bay. But God in his infinite wisdom used a somewhat
unorthidox method of bringing me back to him in strenth and power supplied
by the Holy Spirit.
The method God used was a movie called The Passion. This movie had an impact on me like I have never felt before since the day I was born again. The things that I seen in the movie just made everything I had been reading since my salvation to life. I was finaly able to put a visual picture to what my mind and heart had been taking in from the bible. When I watched this movie it had only been one day before that Kim and I had got into a huge argument about racial matters. Though I tried so hard on my own I was unable to see completely through the eyes of God and to think with the heart and mind of Christ. This movie showed Jesus being willingly beaten bloody beonde recognition. It showed how we are commanded to love one another even unto death. I broke down in tears as the first beating of our Lord took place in the movie. By the end of the movie it was like God through the Holy Spirit took a giant spike and drove it through my heart into the seat in the theater and pinned the hatred and violence down to the chair. When I got up and left the theater the old man full of the vile ways of hate remained nailed to the seat never to enter me again. I began to finally get real about my church and the part I could have in it. I began taking my girlfriend and my children and her children to church regularly and praying again and honestly seeking for the will of God the way the Word of God tells us to search for it. All of the anger and hatred is replaced with love and caring for those whom Jesus died for (John 3:16 and 2 Peter 3:9). I had searched long and hard for a church that held the beliefs that I had. One ministry that I was familiar with since my salvation was Sanctuary International and the pastor of this ministry named Bob Beeman told me to check out a Calvary Chapel . I finaly after many years of praying found two in my state. One in Princeton WV and one in Beckley WV. I go to the one in Beckley because it is only 50 miles from me. Yes this is a long distance to travel but when you consider the biblical teaching of this church it isn't really far at all. Everything that God asked me to give up for living for him he replaced with something better. Even my music was replaced with excellent christian metal music . Calvary Chapel is a church that uses music deeply in its ministry. I urge you to check a Calvary Chapel church out. God Bless. Jim Burns. |
