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I have been a bad blogger lately. The problem is, is that I don't really get a chance to be on the computers much because everyone else is always on them. I'm not going to list all the days that I have missed and what I am thankful for, but will start from this day forward and try to keep up with it.
Day 21 - I am thankful for Salvation through Christ alone.
I was raised in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The church I was raised in was very legalistic. We lived under the law and fear of God's judgement. Our church taught that you could not know that you were saved, that it was based on our works and hopefully when we died our good works would out weigh our bad. Ha! I wasn't stupid, I knew that there was no way my good could ever out weigh my bad and I was a good kid. We had so many things that we weren't allowed to do: have our ears pierced, wear make-up, go to the movies, dance, wear jewelery, eat pork, spend money or do any kind of work on the sabbath, and the list goes on. All of these things would keep us out of heaven for sure. We also lived in fear of the Sunday keepers. We were taught that everyone who went to church on Sunday had the mark of the beast and that one day they would turn against the Sabbath keepers and kill them.
I always loved Jesus and wanted to know that He loved me. When I was little I would play sabbath school with my stuffed animals and dolls and read my Bible all the time. I tried hard to keep the ten commandments, but failed often. When I was baptised at the age of 12, I thought all my sins were washed away. I promised to myself and God that I would never sin again. To my dismay my sister and I got in a fight on the way home from my baptism. I knew I was doomed to fail. When I was 14, I walked away from the church. I knew that there was no way I could please Him and so I stopped trying, well not completely. I would still pray and seek Him, but I knew it was too late for me.
After Alex was born, I started to feel the need to raise Alex with some sort of religion. I knew Jesus was the answer, but I still was under the misconception that I had to earn my salvation. Then when I got pregnant with Caty, I really wanted to go back to church. I had tried a few churches but always had my hangups because of my upbringing.
Then one day this lady that Brien worked with invited us to her house, she told us about the church she went to. It just happened to be right down the street from where we were living at the time. She then persisted that we check it out. I appealed to Brien's love of singing and history. The Bible is full of history, you know. :-) He agreed and we went on a Wednesday night. We knew nothing about the Pastor, not even his name. We dropped Alex off in the nursery and then I proceeded to do my pregnant lady bathroom check. As I was getting ready to check it out, a familiar face from my childhood was walking down the hall. It was Mrs Martin, my seventh grade teacher at the adventist school that I attended. Her and her husband Pastor Martin were asked to leave our church 10 or 11 years earlier. We were told to never talk to them, that they were teaching heresy and had started a cult. She quickly said to please call her Leslie, I reminded her of who I was. I had changed quite a bit since the last time she saw me, when I was eleven. We chatted a bit and then she told me to make sure I said hi to Mark, that he would love to know I was there.
During the service, I was a bit apprehensive. I didn't know what to expect. I was warned that he had started a cult. Everything he taught was straight out of the Bible, there was no need for the prophetess Ellen G. White anywhere. I didn't hear anything that sounded an alarm, in fact he seemed to bring the Bible to life in a way I had never heard before. Brien even enjoyed it. Brien was still an agnostic who believed strongly in evolution and the occult. You can ask him about his testimony later. :-) After service, we met with Pastor Mark and spoke for a while. He gave me some tapes on adventism. I couldn't wait to listen to them.
The next few days I listened to the tapes and watched as my belief system was unraveling before my eyes. Things I believed were in the Bible weren't really there. I was still afraid that maybe I was being deceived by the Martins. Brien agreed to go back on Sunday. Mark had just started teaching in Revelation and that piqued both of our interests. I'm not sure how many services we attended before Brien got saved, I think it was only two, he thinks it was more, but it isn't really important. The important thing is that Brien accepted the Lord. :-)
As for me, it took me a little longer to come to grips with salvation by grace. I listened to more tapes and through Mark's messages on the covenants I came to know Jesus in a more personal way. He became my Lord and Savior through grace. It was very freeing. I now serve God out of gratitude and love for what He has done for me and no longer out of fear that He will reject me one day. I now rest secure in my salvation. Do you?
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Galatians 2:21 "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
Ephesians 2:8,9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
To learn more about the SDA church go to www.exadventist.com .
To visit Pastor Mark Martin's Website go to www.calvaryphx.com .
Because He lives,
Donna
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