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Peace at Last!

by Gale Palmer

We went to church every Sunday. I believed the Bible was true. When I was 6, Dad became a missionary. We traveled the U.S. Dad spoke to churches about the work. One day in the car, I heard a sermon on “Hell”. I became convinced that, as a sinner, I deserved, “Hell”! The Preacher said, “Everyone is a sinner, but if you believe in The Lord Jesus, you can be saved”. I tugged on Mom's sleeve. “Mama, I don't want to go to Hell! I want to be saved!” Dad pulled over, stopped, and both explained verses and asked questions. They helped me to pray. I did everything they told me to do. I did not want to go to “Hell!” They seemed pleased. I thought, “If they’re happy, then I must be alright.”

Next Sunday evening during the invitation hymn Mom nudged me, and I walked to the front. The Pastor's wife read some verses and asked a couple of questions, to which I nodded, not really hearing or seeing much. She prayed with me and the hymn ended. The Pastor called me to the front, said something, “Yes, Sir!” I answered, and finally it was over! I was baptized. I thought, “Well, I must be 'saved', now!”

Years passed. I watched God’s miracles in the lives of others, and longed to have my prayers answered, but God seemed deaf! Many nights I stood under the jungle stars, begging God to hear me! My heart turned bitter and rebellious. I was depressed and resented anyone who seemed to know God. I felt that God had deserted me! First chance I got, I left home! I didn’t look back. I was on my own and liked it! I got a job, married, had children, and totally forgot God.

One night I dreamed there were people around me muttering and shouting angrily. I looked up. I was standing under a cross! I stared at the figure hanging there! His body was torn and bleeding! I couldn’t recognize his face! It dawned on me, “This is Jesus!”! Sorrow suddenly overwhelmed me. I awoke and sat on the edge of the bed, tears running down my face! Still feeling deeply sorrowful, puzzled, and troubled, I dressed, and left for work.

Weeks passed, but the dream still haunted me! To my family’s surprise, we started attending church again. I felt better. I thought, “This must be what God was trying to tell me!” I ushered, led singing, taught Sunday School, and preached occasionally. When I did pause to think, I was still restless.  “What more could I do? What did God still want from me?” I grew miserable, and at the end of my rope, I contemplated suicide. I couldn't handle life anymore! God seemed deaf and I was bitter and deeply depressed! Heaven seemed made of solid brass!

Late at night, on a Friday evening, I sat at my desk. Everyone was in bed. I felt really, really alone! My shoulders sagged, under an invisible weight. “God,” I said, “if you don't help me tonight…...I'm ending it all! Please talk to me! Do something for me! I beg, You!” The thought came, “If God is going to talk to me it will probably be through His Word, The Bible. But, where do I begin?” John 3:16 came to mind and so I began reading. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I read other passages and came to John 14:27. Jesus, just hours before His death said, “Peace I leave with you, My Peace give I unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” I thought, “That's it! I don't have peace...but...if I don't have peace...I don't have Christ!...(then deeply troubled)...Without Christ, I can’t be saved?!...(confused)...Wait! I got saved as child...I think...but...God doesn't lie! He can’t, because the Bible is true!” I kept reading. Verse after verse confirmed my fear and added to my confusion!

Weeks prior, I had attended a course for those wanting to help others to know Christ. A key verse was Romans 10:13. In the margin, I had written a question, thinking, “What if someone reads this and doesn’t know what to do?” That night, I read this, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD, shall be saved.” ..….Have you called? My eyes fell on that question in the margin. It hit my consciousness like thunder, so quick and powerful, it stunned me! I Silence followed. The question echoing demanded a reply. Finally, drifting back to my childhood experience, the details became clear. Try as I might, I could not remember calling to God for mercy! Suddenly, it was clear! I had believed and prayed a prayer, but I had not trusted and called! The Voice demanded, “WHAT WILL YOU DO?”

Again stunned, I humbly bowed before what I knew then, to be  the presence of God, and cried brokenly, “OH GOD! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!”

My heart lifted, and the great weight rolled off my shoulders! Tears of despair turned to tears of Joy! My heart sang! “Peace! PEACE AT LAST! OH PRAISE THE LORD!”

My Friend,
Are you troubled? Are you deeply depressed? Is life just too much? Cry out to Jesus! He loves you! He died for you! He waits  to save you from your despair and sin! His Peace, for the asking! Don’t let fear, pride, or doubt stand in your way! Jesus is waiting patiently, NOW! “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD, shall be saved.” ..….Have you called?  “WHAT WILL YOU DO?”

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Addendum - It Is Well With My Soul

God’s ways are not mysterious to the faithful. Most of my life had been devoted to serving in the Church and helping the Body of Christ, but I had always longed for closer fellowship with God. You can find peace and fulfillment in service to His Majesty, but there may not be any Joy in your life until you learn how to enjoy intimate fellowship worshipping at the feet of the Master.

We scurry about in humble servitude completely bypassing the Source of our strength, the JOY of the Lord. We are so often caught up in and burned out in the drudgery and doldrums of serving the Lord, without ever coming to the point where He matters more to us than our “service” to him. We equate serving Him with loving him, and it’s true that if I love Him I will serve Him, but we so often serve out of duty and not pure, unfeigned love and affection. We try and try and try to “feel” that faithfulness is love but it is not.

A man can stay faithful to a wife he doesn’t love out of duty, but he’ll have no joy. Satan has convinced us of the heresy that service comes first and it’s how we prove our love. Balderdash! God sees our hearts and He knows exactly how we feel towards Him. Joy only comes from relationship, not service. We may fool others into thinking that we have an intimate relationship with the Almighty, but we cannot fool God. His eyes peer into all the secret corners and crevices of our soul and He knows if we truly love Him or not.

To love someone you must spend time with them. Not just casual conversation, but long quiet talks that reveal intimate details. We find intimate details out about God by spending hours studying the scriptures and by baring our soul’s secrets before Him through confession and fervent prayer. We must literally “Practice the Presence of God.” We must constantly and consistently live in the realm of his Presence. “Pray without ceasing” is not a suggestion. Our Joy depends on intimacy with a Holy God. Don’t let Satan side track you with service. It will only steal your Joy. Your service will be a spontaneous outpouring of your glad heart when you truly learn to walk with Him every moment.

I found my heart intensely longing for that intimacy about the turn of the century, the year 2000. I had always strived to please God, but it was not as much love as duty. I was grateful for my salvation, but I was not happy. Oh, I was at peace in my soul about my eternal Home, but I knew that there was still something missing. I began earnestly communing with God and begging Him for an answer to my yearning. It’s a thirst that can only be quenched at the Fountain of Living Water. I had no idea how God would lead me to the answer, I just knew He would and that I would know it when He did.

In October of 2004, at age 52, I suffered a stroke. I was always a very active, hard working person. I had been serving and working in my local Church for about ten years when the incident occurred. Lying helpless in a hospital bed I had no other recourse than to seek God’s face. That’s when the realization hit me. God had brought this upon me as an answer to my prayer. As I lay there, great peace settled on my soul and I began earnestly spending time with my KING. Words cannot adequately begin to describe the pure Joy that filled my being. Suddenly, all worry and care melted away, and I knew that underneath me were the Everlasting Arms of God.

I began looking around me to others in the same situation, trying to convey to them some of the hope I had been so graciously given. One of the reasons I know my “Calamity” was of the Lord, is that during my stay in the hospital I had several bedmates that came in as wanderers and left as seekers. There were many others on the ward to whom I was able to minister the grace of God. When I left, one gentleman thanked me with tears in his eyes for the help God had enabled me to give. I gently reminded him that the Saviour was his “hero,” not me.

I spent the next years worry free. God amply provided for my needs, financially as well as physically. Friends came out of nowhere. “Anonymous” gifts from dear friends helped ease the financial burden. I was told that applying for Social Security benefits could take up to two years to acquire. I was not really worried. I had God on my side. I did what I could do about it and concentrated on enriching my relationship with the Almighty. I didn’t neglect my duties, but I didn’t find them as consuming as before. In April of 2005, I received a letter from the Social Security office stating that I had been approved for 100% disability and that there would be some retro-active compensation for the previous 6 months. It only confirmed what I already knew. God would take care of me completely if I loved Him completely.

In late 2006, I suffered a second stroke. I had been able to walk about and do for myself prior to this stroke. My left side was about 50% affected with the first stroke and the second affected my right side about the same. I began to understand how Jacob felt after his wrestling match. At this point in time, I lost the ability to walk without a walker. Was I discouraged? No. I reasoned that God had a job for me to do so I started looking around for someone that needed hope. Another bedmate came in a God-hater and left a God-lover. It was elating to know that the Holy Spirit is using you to pour out blessings to others. Several of the staff, including a nurse, would steal away to come sit by my bed and fellowship around the Word. The nurse had been through some personal tragedy and was questioning, as we all do sometimes, “Why?” I was able, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to lift her eyes to the Lord and understand that “tragedy” for the believer is just another leaning experience. The more we lean on Him, the more we find Him to be trustworthy and faithful, and the greater our Joy will be. They were never able to determine the exact cause of my strokes.

I never regret my request for His presence in my life, even at the expense of my mobility. I began writing. There was little else I could do. God had left my mind intact and unscathed. My voice suffered somewhat, but I was still able to communicate fairly well. I began writing a daily journal. I sent it to a few friends and they suggested that I send it to others. God has allowed this ministry to blossom into a large number who receive a daily devotion. The secret is; I get a bigger blessing from it than anyone, because it is a product of my daily stroll with the KING. I live to sit and read His Word and glean hope from it for each day. As I write and compose, the Spirit dictates my thoughts in a blessed intimacy! I have since been hospitalized with severe peritonitis. It has sapped my physical strength even further, but my soul is satisfied with His presence. I wouldn’t change a thing, “for I know, whate’re betides me, Jesus doeth all things well.”

"…Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

Gale

My Conversion

By Doug Stewart

My conversion occurred at about 7:10PM on the evening of 8/19/85, answering the Spirit's drawing in the living room of Mr. Starr Merritt, who was working for CBN in Va. Beach, VA at the time as a TV news reporter.

I had been working as a loan officer in the residential first mortgage business, and had been laid off due to a branch office closure resulting from the second tumultuous mortgage industry downturn in the mid-1980's.  I started in the business as a mortgage originator, which means a sales person.  I would call on real estate offices with the hope of developing positive relationships with realtors, who would then give me a call when they sold a house, so I could come take the buyer's mortgage loan application. 

It was during this time in the early 80's that I was the loan officer for Starr Merritt's home mortgage.  Though I don't remember who the real estate agent was, I'll always remember that when she called, she strongly instructed me to not smoke or curse during the mortgage application process because the applicants (Starr and his wife) were REAL religious.  

I always did a thorough and professional job with my loan applicants, and also did with the Merritt's, and in 60 days, their loan was processed, approved, closed and funded, and they were in their new home. 

About 3-4 years later, after working my way up to Branch Manager, and vice president of secondary lending, the company I was with, folded due to the collapse of some faulty investments.  I was laid off, and was looking for a new job.  I took a position as eastern Virginia regional manager with a Savings and Loan association home-based in Richmond, VA.  In 90 days, they were bought by a large mortgage lender which already had a Virginia presence and I was again laid off.  I was devastated and my savings were wrecked.  

I saw an ad in the paper regarding an 'employment ministry' and it's search for folks like me who were seeking full time jobs.  I called, at first not remembering Starr nor he remembering me, but as he lived nearby, I went to his home at the appointed time, 7PM. 

In the first ten minutes, we recalled each other, and he asked me to tell him what had led to my layoff.  I began to share the things that I thought I needed to get my employment situation in order, and care for my family.  In the process, he told me that he knew EXACTLY what I needed.  This riveted my attention!  Starr looked me square in the eyes and said, "You need Jesus Christ". 

When he said this, it was like ALL the lights being turned on together in a very dark room.  I could "see" with a clarity like I never had before that moment.  I knew without any doubt that Starr was 100% right concerning what I needed.  I had the sense
of stepping over a threshold, beyond which there would be NO turning back!

It was about six years later was when I finally entered Christian radio in a sales position with a Christian radio station in Chesapeake, VA.  I soon learned that Starr Merritt had worked there as a board operator with them, and had voiced many "liners", break messages and commercial messages for them.  One day I happened to be in the control room when the program director was just getting ready to throw out many of Starr's old
messages.  I now have all those messages on a cassette tape of my own.  Starr is deceased so it's a joy for me to hear his voice when I play that cassette.

I had talked with the station manager about my interest in being on-air and having a radio program.  Having prayed about it, the Lord had given me a program concept to interview a wide variety of local, regional and national people, from a wide variety of backgrounds, having our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as common denominator.  I wound up doing this for exactly three years, while continuing to sell advertising and programming to generate revenue. 

For the first 9-10 programs, my program intro was a time of honoring people who had played a special role leading to, or in my new Christian walk.  One of those programs was to honor Starr Merritt, but in trying to contact him to send him a copy of the program, I learned of his death from his wife. 

About three years earlier, I had felt led to find Starr to thank him for being obedient to his leading to play the role he did in my life.  I ultimately found Starr working for a radio
station in Maryland.  I could hear his delight that I had given him a call to thank him.  In talking with his wife after I entered Christian radio, she remembered him talking with her about my call, and about my having originated their home loan.  I sent the program cassette to her.  

My radio program name and theme song came from a music album, "Talk About It", which was the intro and outro for all of my programs.  After producing and hosting this talk program for exactly three years, I became sales manager for the station group, as they added four new stations to the broadcast group.  Now I was selling mainstream Christian talk, Urban (black) Christian talk and music, and mainstream contemporary Christian music.

Among other things with them, I was Owner's Agent (construction manager) for a new FM station that was built, and is still the primary station in that market for KLOVE Christian Radio.  I was also the development director for another newly-constructed Christian music station (WWIP-FM, "The Word in Praise"), which I think is still audio-streamed. 

Born and raised in Norfolk, VA, I was surrounded by reminders of the Confederacy, but they had no meaning until about 3 years ago.  My interest in Southern Heritage occurred, and was like a second conversion experience, with that kind of life-changing power.  I don't know why the Spirit of God has chosen to make this a REALLY BIG DEAL in my life, but He has, and it sure is!  I'm also a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans, and League of the South.  This takes up a lot of my retirement time at the present.  It's also fueling my interest in moving to South Carolina, the first state to secede. 

Revived, Not Reformed

by Virginia Bahs - Dec. 2002

      My older brother Gale Palmer encouraged me to write this down and share it while still fresh in my memory in the hope that it would be a blessing to someone else and a witness to God's infinite Grace, love and mercy.

As the daughter of Baptist Missionaries I grew up believing that God was real, that Jesus was his son, that He was born of a virgin, suffered and died on the cross of Calvary for my sins and the sins of the world, was resurrected on the third day, and went back to heaven. I don't think there was ever a time when I did not believe this. I even made a profession of faith at the age of 13 or 14 and was baptized. Soon after I graduated high school, I left the church completely, went out in the world, and led a very immoral and sinful life. I knew full well what I was doing was wrong, but I was not overly worried or convicted about my life style. I was married in 1987 to my husband and we attended a Protestant church sporadically. Once the children were born, I even joined a church because quite a few of my husband's family attended there. They never once asked me if I was saved, redeemed, or born again. Plus, I knew I was not living the life I knew a Christian should live.  My mom and dad sent the children Bible story books, which I read to them. I had the knowledge to answer their questions, but it left me under great conviction. My words rang hollow as I was teaching them scriptural truths, because I knew I had not been living them.

About two years before my father passed away in April of 1998 I began looking for an Independent Baptist Bible Believing church. Shortly after his passing I found and united upon letter of transfer to Grace Baptist. I was to see both of my children and husband saved and baptized there. When an opening came up in the Sunday School Dept., I was asked to teach a Sunday school class which I did.  I had the doctrinal and Bible knowledge to do the job, but it brought me no joy.  I was just doing what was expected of me. After all as a Baptist Missionary's daughter I knew how to walk the walk and talk the talk, but I knew I had no real testimony of salvation in my heart and life. I didn't sense any power in my prayers or the lessons I taught. I could see the joy in others and thought, maybe I just needed to read my Bible and Pray more, after all I told myself, I was living a good "Christian" life now, I had "come back" to God, had even called and made amends to folks I had wronged in the past, I was a “reformed” person.

After attending Grace Baptist Church for a few years and hearing the word of God taught three times weekly as well as studying for Sunday School lessons, I began to question whether or not I was truly born again as the scripture says you must be in order to enter heaven. I struggled for over a year with the question of my salvation; I went to the altar during the invitation time after time under deep conviction unable to be honest with myself, praying for understanding, asking God to forgive me and to soften my heart that had become hardened by my years of living a sinful life. Many times no words would come, just tears. I know when we can't find the words to speak that God knows our hearts, Praise the LORD he knew mine.

Then one Sunday the pastor preached on Ezekiel chapter 37 and the valley of dry bones, he talked about how even after Ezekiel prophesied (preached the word of God) and the dry bones came back together and the flesh and sinew was on them they were re-formed but they still had no LIFE in them. He talked about how hearing the word of God can certainly bring about reformation, because it shows you what you need to do to live a good life, but reformed is not "resurrected", those bones with flesh and sinew could not come alive until God breathed on them and gave them life! WOW! That hit me like a ton of bricks! "That’s me"! I had been put back together (re-formed) was foolishly trying to live a "Christian" life. (Because, of all people, I knew how!) Beyond studying for a Sunday school or Vacation Bible School lesson, I had no joy or desire to get into the scripture to see what God had for me. I knew deep down this was not the way it should be.

For about 3-4 weeks after hearing that message, I couldn't get it out of my head; "re-formed not resurrected" was all I could think about! I could no longer say I was saved or born again, I now knew better. Still I kept putting it off not wanting to admit it, especially not publicly, “What would people think?!”

Finally the night of Dec 9, 2002 I could put it off no longer, I went to bed but God would not let me sleep until I got things settled. I got out of bed, went down stairs knelt beside the couch in the living room and prayed. I confessed to God that I was a wicked sinner, unable to save myself, unable to live a Christian life without Him and unworthy of His forgiveness. I ask Him to forgive me and told Him that I wanted to know Him personally, and please give me the desire for Him and His word, I wanted the joy! I saw in others. I asked Him to SAVE me and come into my life as my LORD and Savior. I know I didn't use those exact words but God knew my heart! I cannot describe the burden that was lifted off my shoulders that night, I still had to face my family, my church and my pastor and ask for their forgiveness, but I was no longer fearful, I was SAVED! Born Again a new creature in Christ! GLORY! Praise God!

I now know I am truly SAVED by his power divine, SAVED to new life sublime” I have the witness within that speaks to me and says welcome home you are a "Child of the King"!

"…and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know (not guess or hope but KNOW, emphasis mine) that ye have eternal life". I John 5:11-13.

I can sing with the writer of the song “Whosoever Meaneth Me,"

“I am happy today and the sun shines bright, the clouds have been rolled away,
For the Savior said whosoever will can come with me to stay!"

Praise the LORD!  Thank you Jesus!

Friend,

If you read this and you are like those dry bones, trusting in you own self made reformation, I urge you to repent and turn to the Savior like I did so you can know Jesus as your Lord, Savior and Friend! Just Tell him that you believe Jesus is his son, that he was born of a virgin, suffered and died for your sins, and was resurrected on the third day and that you realize there is nothing you can do to save yourself`, that you are turning from your sin to him as your Lord and Savior. Then go and tell others about his wondrous salvation.

If you accepted Christ as your Savior after reading this, please email me and let me know so I can rejoice with you!

E-mail: vrbahs@verizon.net

My Testimony

by David Biber - John 16:33

I was born February 16, 1986 to a Christian family. It was not until I was about to turn six that I knew for sure that I was a sinner, and because of my disobedience, I was on my way to Hell. On the Sunday afternoon of January 12, 1992, I was getting ready for a Sunday rest when I told my Daddy that I wanted to be saved. Naturally, he went through the plan of salvation again to make sure that I completely understood what I was getting myself into. But there was no question I wanted to get it settled right then and there. That evening, at Maranatha Baptist Church in Charleston, West Virginia, I made my decision known publicly, and was baptized the next week by Pastor Bill Bartlett.

In July of 1993, our family started the Victory Baptist Church in Sistersville, WV. Though I realize there are no small churches, we were small in attendance. Most of the time it was just our family for services. Dad was the pastor, and Mom was a Sunday School teacher. We had our first service in a little store front with fourteen people in attendance. Of the years that we were there, I had the privilege of being the usher, perhaps even the youngest usher. I recall the hours we spent, with the help of our home church, Maranatha Baptist Church, to remodel the facility. The hard wood floored auditorium, the metal folding chairs, cathedral like ceiling, and florescent lights around the room covered by valences was the view of the interior. It was set on the same street as the city parades, so it was a nice way to “advertise” our church.

After three years, the church had grown to a high attendance of over fifty people. Most of the members had transferred from another church in the area. With these people, the Lord had provided a piano player, a van route, and even men who gave many hours of their time to put up siding on our house. But though we seemed to have a church going, God had other plans for us. The church that the majority of the members had come from had lost their pastor, and so they left to help it again. And so our attendance dwindled down drastically though we still had a few faithful members.

Many times it was only our family again, but through the faithful work of my parents, attendance remained steady. We eventually were able to move the church into an old restaurant in the next town called, Friendly. If you were to see the before and after pictures of the building, you would be amazed. The kitchen was transformed into the fellowship hall; the break-room became the nursery which also had a small restroom; the dining room was made into the auditorium; and walls were built around the beverage station to make a Sunday School room.

We continued to work in reaching others with the Gospel and inviting them to church. My mom homeschooled my sister, Rachel, and I. We attended a Christian school for our first two years in Sistersville. The church was growing, but not the finances. Dad had to take on a part time job to help cover the expenses of church and home. In the summer of 1997, with the help of Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Jasonville, IN, and under the leadership of Brother Jerry Ross, we were able to hold our only Vacation Bible School with the highest attendance that week of sixty-eight. Afterwards it seemed difficult to keep the new contacts coming to church. Our family prayed for God's will to be done. In May of 1998, Victory Baptist Church close its doors. Though we were sorry to have to leave, God had plans for us.

For two years, we sought God's will. We were active in the churches in which the Lord had put us. We helped in churches in West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. In 2000, Dad resumed his call to be a pastor. We traveled to churches in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. Finally, after many hardships, the Lord led us to Lighthouse Baptist Church in Delevan, New York on December, 2000.

Before coming to New York, I had started to teach myself the piano. My sister, Rachel, had taken lessons from a pastor's daughter in Ohio, so she already had some training. The Lord was preparing us for a purpose. We were homeschooled again until we graduated. We were getting into our teenage years and were already involved in ministries of the church. Our favorite was the Nursing Home ministry which would meet the last Sunday of each month. Eventually, I would become involved in not only the Nursing Home, but also the music, bus, and jail ministries.

In 2003, I was in my junior year of High School. I began to look for a Bible college to go to. Our family had received information or visited familiar ones in Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky. A friend of ours from Indiana had attended a Bible college in another state, but suggested one that she had visited before but had never heard of. So taking a different route home, we stopped by Commonwealth Baptist College in Lexington, KY, a ministry of Clays Mill Road Baptist Church under the pastorate of Dr. Jeff Fugate.

At that time, the college had met in the education building on the church property. We had come in late to one of the classes, but our host took the time to make us feel welcome and to show us the new piece of property that was to be the college. This college seemed to be different than any other college I had visited. I enjoyed the spirit and the opportunity of being able to see growth for the future. Our host gave us a little tour of the horse farms surrounding the college area and pointed out to the city skyline of Lexington. I began to pray what the Lord would have me to do.

That summer, Rachel and I had gone to a church camp in Louisville, KY. Pastor Eric Capaci was preaching that week, and one particular message entitled, “I Must,” really spoke to my heart. That week I had surrendered to be a preacher. But during that week, my parents made a quick stop in Lexington again to see the updated building for the college. When they picked us up from camp, they pulled out pictures they had taken of the remodeled building. While viewing those pictures, I became excited and knew that it was where God wanted me to be.

In June of 2004, I finally graduated from High School and had the graduation service in our church. Considering I was the only senior, it was nice to think and joke about being the Valedictorian, Highest class honors, and so on! The men of the church challenged me in making a true representation of the church that I come from whether it was in New York or Kentucky, to continue in the fight and to not quit, and to encourage myself in the Lord my God when times would seem to get tough.

That summer, Lighthouse Baptist Church was reaching its peak. The Lord allowed us to purchase an old Methodist church building to move our church into. It was nice to get away from an old funeral home to a real building. After that our church seemed to be growing in attendance little by little. Then in August, it was time for me to move on to “new adventures.” College life was here, and the Lord had provided just enough funds for me to be able to start out.

Since then, I have had a major growing experience spiritually. I began college life as a shy and fearful guy. It has helped me into being now one who hardly meets a stranger. I have learned not only through the classroom, but also with hands on experience. I have learned to be a better soul winner, to be a better preacher, and to be a better friend to others. Many times the Lord has had to teach me what the meaning of patience and trust really is. Since going to college I have seen over twenty come to know the Lord, at least four baptized, and others attending church regularly.

Briefly, I’ll tell you some specific blessings that I have had during or away from my further education. The second semester of my freshman year, a Christian student from a secular college began supporting different college students as missionaries. He would write out a check supporting that missionary. The Lord laid it on his heart to choose me for some reason. While I was waiting for a gentleman in the church to cut my hair after an evening service, I received a check for $1,000! All it needed was my name on it. It had come during a time that I had lost my job and was searching elsewhere. The Lord sure knows what He is doing.

In the summer of 2006, I had the privilege to travel with a missionary to Japan, Dr. Ron White, and Evangelist Richard Harper with his family for a mission’s trip to Japan and the Philippines. Starting in January, I had raised over $4,000 to go when I only need about $3,200. In Japan, we visited mostly American military churches. We were able to visit some Baptist Japanese churches as well. The main attraction of the trip was to be a worker at an American Bible Camp, directed by Missionary Dan Gardner. We had both Senior and Junior weeks with Brother Harper preaching both weeks. I had the opportunity to be a cabin counselor during that time and had a chance to work with young people like I have always wanted to. I also had the chance to go to the Philippines for a field conference for Baptist International Missions Inc. hosted by Gospel of Christ Baptist Church in Cebu, and played the piano for services. Though I‘m not called to either place as a missionary, I did enjoy the opportunity to be a help and a blessing.

During the summer of 2009, I helped my parents in their new church. My dad is now pastoring at the Oak Park Road Baptist Church in Madison, Virginia. I played piano for all services, ran a van route, and started a boys' Sunday School class. I also participated in nursing home services at least twice a month. Our tour group from Commonwealth Baptist College, Voices of Melody, also visited. They were a tremendous blessing to our church, and I looked forward to starting another year in school after the summer.

My major in Bible College is Pastoral Assistant. I know the Lord would have me to work with young people. I was reading one day in my devotions in Ezra chapter 3 how the young people only knew of the idolatry that the children of Israel had practiced that led them into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. After Babylon had been taken over by the Medes and Persians, King Cyrus had let the people go to rebuild the homeland. This was the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and some other Prophets preached to the people while they rebuilt the walls. The nation used to have a. Since the captivity, raiding had destroyed the golden temple built by King Solomon seventy years earlier. Though it may not have been as elegant as the first, the young people, twenty years old and upward, decided that it was time to rebuild the foundations of the temple once more. The past generation watched them, and the Bible says that you couldn't tell whether they were sorrowful or rejoicing.

I believe even today that there are past generations watching young people like me and others to see if we will one day rebuild the foundations which are now torn down. If it was young people who once years ago messed our heritage up, it will be the young people that rebuild the foundations of the truth of the Word of God.

There is much more to say, but space is limited. In a nut shell: I want to do right, do it the right way, and inspire my generation to do the same. Thank you for your time, but the story isn’t over!!

From Catholicism to Calvary

by Jim Civale

Hanging up from a rushed, long-distance phone call from my brother in New Jersey, I stared at the fax machine, waiting and wondering. What was this big decision he had made “that would be best communicated in writing”?
Finally my fax machine cranked and sputtered as three pages inched their way across continent and ocean. While the letter was still attached, I raced to read. I was stunned. Vince had left the Catholic Church.

Worse yet, he dared suggest I do the same. Did he forget who I was? Surely he recalled that I almost joined the Jesuit priesthood seven years earlier. He knew that although I chose to marry a woman I had met while serving as a Catholic missionary teacher in Samoa, I was no less devoted to the Mother Church than if I had been one of her priests. Vince knew I had had all of my children baptized Catholic and that I attended daily mass, not wanting to go even one day without receiving Christ through the Eucharist. He knew I had been the Director of Catholic Education and was no mere nominal Catholic.

As an active member of the Legion of Mary, I knelt weekly before Mary’s marble likeness and religiously recited the Rosary. How, then, could I help but take umbrage at his attacks on such sacred things as Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity? There was only one right response to my brother’s offense. I would defend the Mother Church. I would prove how gravely mistaken my less-learned brother was. I would show him from the very Scriptures he claimed would lead me away from my former faith why he must return to it.

Having no Bible of my own (only the Vatican II documents, Daily Missals, and the Catholic Catechism), I decided to use his King James Version. During the next six months, I worked on the apologia. However, I found more questions than answers. Where was the evidence of Peter’s papacy and Mary’s mediation? Why were we practicing vain, repetitious prayers when our Lord had forbidden them? Why were we forbidding marriage and promoting abstinence from meats when the scriptures associated such with apostasy? What was I to do when the two sources of Divine Truth (Church Tradition and the Sacred Scriptures) contradicted one another? “They never do,” the Monsignor told me. But they did.

During that time of intense questioning, the Lord sent me the gospel again and again. It began with an independent Baptist missionary at the airport who gave me a gospel tract with his church information on it. I carried that tract for six months before I got saved, never dreaming I would become the pastor of that same church. While that tract sat folded in my wallet all those months, I came home from mass each Sunday and watched the same preaching program on television. I loved the clear Biblical preaching and practical teaching which was so different from what I was used to. There was only one problem. The preacher found a way every week to “twist” whatever he preached about into a you-need-to-get-saved pitch. Every Sunday I turned off the television and vowed not to get sucked in again the next week. But I did.

Finally, on Christmas morning 1996, before my wife and children awoke, I humbled myself and prayed. God’s holiness, my sinfulness, and hell’s terror loomed large in front of me. I knew I was a sinner in need of salvation and that the Catholic Church could not save me. In that moment I fled from Catholicism to Calvary and put my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The veil was rent in twain from top to bottom before me and I joined the priesthood of all believers.

Jim & Emi Civale, Missionaries to Samoa
Address:  Maui Jim Civale / Asau Village Post Office / Savaii, Samoa
Phone:  011-685-58063 (home)   011-685-772-6760 (mobile)
Email:  civalejim@yahoo.com

Born Again!

by Bill Holko

I was raised in a solid and ethical Roman Catholic home.  Mom and dad were devoted to their faith and diligently required my younger brother and I to follow the Catholic path…Mass every Sunday, catechism classes, First Communion, monthly visits to the confessional, praying the Rosary regularly, etc.  I recall my parents telling me that if any “Protestants” took issue with Catholicism, I was to tell them that while, “Jesus started our religion, Martin Luther started theirs.” 

I remained a Catholic throughout my college years (1966-70) at Miami University, attending St. Mary’s Church in downtown Oxford.   Obviously, this period of time was quite tumultuous and it definitely impacted me.  Due to the influence of professors and the general cultural trends of the time, I began to question all of my values, including my belief in God.  While I can’t say I ever became an atheist, I certainly no longer subscribed to the teachings and tenets of Catholicism.  Upon graduation in June of 1970, I saw myself as an agnostic at worst and a “Universalist” at best. 

Soon after graduation, I married my high school sweetheart, who at the time was a practicing Lutheran.  Following our wedding and subsequent move to Akron, Ohio where we commenced teaching careers in the Akron Public Schools, I found myself on a journey to rediscover God; however, I was convinced that “Christianity” (as in Catholicism) was not the way I wanted to go.  I was drawn to the Unitarian Universalist Church because it seemed so inclusive of a variety of religious beliefs and expressions.  Additionally, it aligned so well with the liberal political perspective I had adopted in college.  I really thought I was on to something!  How my wife Diane tolerated my thinking at the time now escapes me.  She patiently attended the Unitarian Church with me as I found my way through the religious maze I was attempting to navigate.  In hindsight, I think she was an example of what we find in 1 Peter 3:1, 2.  "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."

After a period of weeks attending the Unitarian Church, I found myself questioning the basic logic of their theology.  Having studied the “World Religions” in college, it was obvious to me that there were differences and contradictions which seemed to say, “They can’t all be true”; however, I continued to attend.  During this time period, Diane asked me to attend a Saturday night “party” at the home of one of her elementary teaching colleagues.  As a point of information, Diane was teaching at Rankin Elementary School and I was teaching at Buchtel High School, just a few blocks away.  So, on a January evening in 1971, we joined a fairly large number of people at this particular home. 

Within a few minutes of our arrival, the pastor (Dr. David Burnham) of the church (The Chapel in Akron) which our host and hostess attended entered.  I was introduced to him and almost immediately, he began to engage me in conversation.  (I learned later that I was the “target” that evening and that all the other people in attendance were members at the Chapel.)  I recall that we had a very engaging dialogue for well over an hour, but the subject of religion never really came up in any great detail.  I guess I had said enough about my liberal perspective on things that pastor Burnham decided not to press the issue that night.  We talked primarily about history…I was teaching world history at the time and he was an obvious student of history.  Interestingly, I learned afterwards that as he exited that evening, he remarked to the hostess, “I doubt that guy will ever come to Christ because he fashions himself as a former Catholic and liberal intellectual.”  Little did he know…

Following Pastor Burnham’s departure that evening, the people who remained at the party moved to the basement to listen to a “Bible lesson” from one of the church elders.  At first I was uneasy, thinking, “Oh boy, here we go.”  The man doing the teaching was an older gentleman named Paul Tell.  His topic was the “Second Coming of Christ.”  As he spoke, I found myself intrigued and thinking, “Wow, I have never heard this stuff before.”  As I listened, God was getting my attention.  As we left for home that night, we Diane and I were invited to the Chapel for the next morning’s worship service.  We accepted, but my head was swirling!  We went to bed and while my wife fell asleep, I could not.  Finally, I quietly got out of bed and fell to my knees.  I remember what I prayed because the prayer was so brief…”God, I’m confused.  I just want to know the truth.  Please show me the truth.” 

The next morning, our hosts from the previous night picked us up to go to church.  I can honestly say that I went with open mind and it became obvious that the Holy Spirit was working on me.  Pastor Burnham’s message that morning was incredible!  What he said penetrated my heart.  It was as if I was the only person in the sanctuary of what truly is a very large church.  When the invitation to receive Christ was given, I turned to Diane and said, “I have to go forward.”  Her immediate response was, “Then go!”  As I came forward, I could see a look of obvious surprise on Pastor Burnham’s face.  It was as we were on our way home following the service when our hostess from the previous night informed me of what Pastor Burnham had said to her as he left her home…I could only chuckle at that point.

As we rode home, I was on “cloud nine!”  I was so at peace.  I remember thinking how for so many years, I thought I knew what “Christianity” was all about, but in reality had never heard the true Gospel preached.  I was now born again, a new creation in Christ Jesus!  As I then began to read and the study the Bible, The Holy Spirit taught me so much.  Possibly because of my innate interest in both history and science, I was especially drawn to the areas of prophecy and creationism.  I was, and still am, absolutely fascinated by all the Bible has to reveal about the God of the Universe!  I praise Him for saving me, for redeeming me, for sustaining me, and for giving me the gift of eternal life!  My “life verse” is John 14:6. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." I believe this verse is so compelling to me because as an educator in the public arena, I am constantly confronted with the religious pluralism advanced by our culture…The message of “All roads lead to Rome”…”It doesn’t matter what religion you are as long as you are sincere”…These are bold-faced lies.  Jesus claimed to be THE Son of God and the only way to the Father.  If true, we had better take Him at His word and receive His offer of forgiveness and eternal life.  If false, why would we choose to follow Him?

We live in perilous times and I believe that the “Second Coming” of which I first heard back in January of 1971 is very near.  Jesus is in fact coming again, and I thank Him with all my heart that I (and Diane) are  members  of His family and will be with Him for all eternity.

In His precious name,
Bill Holko