FROM RELIGION TO RELATIONSHIP

MY TESTIMONY

During Bike Week 2009, my third, i was put in the position of "put up or shut up" so to speak. We were witnessing down at Main and Hollywood in the thick of it all and the moment came for me to speak my testimony for the first time on the "hailer." A few years back i heard the term "1/2 mile hailer" and i did not know what that was. i asked PT. It is a megaphone of sorts with a microphone attached. Well, here it was, my time to preach my testimony. i have, over the years, shared parts of my testimony with hundreds one on one as i witness on the streets, but this was different.

When i was finally, lovingly convinced that it was "time to pour out what had been invested into me", i began to pace and pray. I began to speak and continued to pace. i do not remember all of what i said, but now as i think back on the opportunity the Lord offered me, i know it was about "Religion to Relationship." My Testimony. i had to die to give it. To all of myself because it is not my testimony, but it is His in my life. Amen.

"For where a testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." Hebrews 9:16

i was raised pretty much from birth, in the Roman Catholic Church. A dead dry religion. The rise of Catholicism, this church, began back in AD 605-1517, in the ancient church of Thyatira (Revelation 2:18). Back in 380AD, in the Church of Pergamos (Revelation 2:12), Constantine, by signing the Edict of Milan made Christianity the official religion, sponsoring the Church, thereby marrying Church and State. This caused many to join the church just because it was the official state church and they could avoid persecution, death and say they were Christian. So rises the Roman Catholic Church. Pergamos invited the world system into the church and Thyatira adopted it, turning it into a world system of religion that still exists today.

The Catholic church tolerates to this day the Jezebel Spirit (1-2 Kings) by allowing the praying and worshiping of Mary. Believing she intercedes to Jesus for people. NOT TRUE. The Catholic Church eats things sacrificed to idols...they believe the wafer and wine are transubstantiated into the the actual body and blood of Christ. NOT TRUE. The Catholic Church is full of rituals such as confession to a priest, communion, RCIA, confirmation, penance, purgatory, prayers for the dead, prayers to statues, adoration of wafer (Host), celibacy of the Priesthood, worshipping Mary, infallibility of the Pope, the list is long. It is a cult that has brainwashes its parishioners. It is the seat of Satan and i believe that the False Prophet of Revelation 13:11 will be rising out of this Religion.

The Bible teaches us about ornamental outsides which are dead inside, about pagan churches. One place is Matthew 23:27 and 2 Timothy 4:1-5. Also about earthly things being the enemy of the cross in Philippians 3:18-19 and not to worship graven idols, statues of saints, Mary or anyone.. Exodus 20:4. Praying to the dead, talking to them....called necromancy, also forbidden and condemned by God in Deuteronomy 18:10-12. Not eating meat, the celibacy of the priesthood are doctrines of devils with no Biblical foundation...1 Timothy 4:1-3.

Anyway, this is the religion i was born and baptized into as an infant and snatched out of by the love, grace and mercy of our God and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. All my past sin, my alcohol abuse, sexual immorality, lies, anger, hate, all of it were washed away by the Blood of Jesus and the cross he died on for me (Romans 6). i am now living in relationship with Jesus, and with an eternal God perspective my eyes are on Him. i now live in relationship with the one who lifted me out of the miry clay, gave me eyes to see and ears to hear. i enjoy the unshakable peace and joy of my Saviour. The Holy Spirit of God lives in me and leads me to all truth. Lights my every step, makes my path straight. i am new every day and i follow Him alone every day.

What i know now is that there is nothing for me here in this world where Satan reigns. What i know is that i am here to guard my heart by taking every thought captive, to live each moment for God, deepen my relationship with him, bring others to Jesus, and edify the body of believers. i am here to serve my God and nobody or nothing else. i know Jesus and he knows me.

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death." Revelation 12:11

As a young girl, of 5 or 6 i believe God gave me discernment of the truth for my life. i loved God and Jesus then and kept searching for him. The adults in my life led me astray because they did not know Jesus either and ascribed to the man made rituals of the church. My dad has always been an atheist and still is. i went through some turbulent and sinful years in my 20's and early 30's all the time believing God was God and Jesus was Jesus and praying as i knew how. In 1995 i went to a Billy Graham Crusade in Oakland and went to an alter call there and it was the first time i has heard the real Gospel preached. i even went twice!! My world changed then as my heart burned and yearned for more of Jesus, but still i had no teacher.

During this time i cleaned up my life and began teaching others what i knew.. i had been a Youth Minister since 1989 so now i was teaching the kids how to read Scripture and pray. We would buy bags of burgers and hand them out in the SF Tenderloin and the Mission with tracts. But my family and i became estranged as they thought i was very "self-righteous" in my quest to save them. i was pretty Zealous and the church did not have much patience for me either. i finally had to leave the Catholic church. i eventually found a four square church. It was ok for a while, but it was seeker friendly, big on love and fluff, short on fire and true Gospel word. i felt alone in the world seeking God and his will.

Then in June of 2006 a preacher came to our church...but i missed him there. He preached at one of our satellite churches at the time and i was there. That was Pastor Troy. i had never heard preaching like this man of God preached. i could feel the Holy Spirit for the first time and when he prayed over me i fell out in the presence of the Lord. He said he was the founder and director of RAVEN Ministries International. The fire in my heart and bones now had a discernable reason, and it was to reach others for Jesus. i found a teacher. This was the weekend of a trip to the Tenderloin with Pastor Troy, putting a new perspective on it for me. It was also the weekend Pastor Rudy's baptism and the Birth of RAVEN West Coast. God is good.

From this time, i went on as many outreaches as i could with RAVEN Ministries. Still seeking the Word of God for my life. Skid Row, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Mexico, our first RAVEN Gathering in Texas, and each time i would soak in the word of God that PT taught us. He taught every time we gathered. i was a sponge. i had a million questions. i could not get enough. In March of 2007 i went to Florida to visit PT and Mel... it was then in prayer and seeking God that i knew God was directing my path and in August 2007 i moved to Florida. i knew that God had place Pastor Troy in my life to teach and disciple me. i now have an earthly spiritual father who has invested in me the urgency of my relationship with Jesus, the urgency of reaching the lost, the urgency of being in my word, of praying and fasting and doing God's will 24/7. And he still does. i have a family of God fearing Jesus Freaks all across this nation that i love with all my heart. And i am blessed to watch what God is doing in a bunch of the next two generations of Jesus Freaks all across the nation. i am truly blessed.