Artie
From: Newnan, Georgia
“…I would experience times where I felt “frozen” in darkness, to the point where I couldn’t even talk. One night, during an especially low point, all I was able to do was mutter the word, “Jesus”. I immediately felt (starting from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet) a sensation that can only be compared to as a vibration. The deep heaviness left me and I began to speak in tongues.”
I grew up in what I thought at the time was a normal Christian home — a home that had perpetual issues and disfunction. My parents would fight almost every night due to my father’s alcoholism and my mother’s promiscuity. All the while, they would throw God in the midst of it all and go to church on Sunday, claiming to be Christian. To me, church was merely a place where I could sleep peacefully during the service!
At the age of 8 or so, I did what the adults told me to do: I came to the altar one day, repeated a prayer, and then was told I was saved. That was what I believed for most of my life: the adage of “once saved, always saved.” A few weeks later, I was baptized by full immersion in water, as the Bible instructs. All I can truly remember from that experience is that I cried.
Despite my church experience, my teenage years became entirely about me and the world. I hung out with street thugs who claimed to have all the answers through drugs, and through many other things which I won’t mention here…
I was married very young, had two kids, and I threw myself into work to support them. Being in the construction field, it was easy to live a rough, sinful life — which I happily chose to do. Despite my self-imposed situation, though, I always felt God was there. It was as if He was on the outside looking into me, promising a better way to live. But, I just didn’t want to let go of what I thought was a “fun” life. Eventually, my ways caught up to me and it led to a divorce, which only shackled me stronger in the slavery of sin.
My life began to turn for the better when I met my beautiful wife, Sharon. After we were married, we started attending various churches. We dutifully performed our “checking off the box” kind of religion, though no matter how dedicated we were, it only ever seemed superficial at best.
We eventually joined a small church that my mother-in-law attended. We weren’t there for very long before I was given a leadership role. Both Sharon and I diligently served the church in every way we possibly could. Soon after, I was asked to sit on the board at the main campus, which was a 2,000+ member church. Yet, I constantly had this feeling inside of me that something was very wrong. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t shake it: an anxiety overload with a healthy dose of depression.
My state became worse, and I would experience times where I felt “frozen” in darkness, to the point where I couldn’t even talk. One night, during an especially low point, all I was able to do was mutter the word, “Jesus”. I immediately felt (starting from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet) a sensation that can only be compared to as a vibration. The deep heaviness left me and I began to speak in tongues. From that moment on, I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in me. I didn’t understand why or what I had, but I began to feel an urging to pray in the Spirit. It was like a soft voice was telling me to. So, I basically flipped a switch and started praying, and my heavenly language was very complex.
I would pray in the Holy Spirit every day. Just as the scripture says, it truly is an intercession between myself and God. My relationship with the Lord grew stronger than ever before, and I began to have a feeling deep inside my heart that there was soon to be a big change coming in my and my wife’s life. Not long after, a family moved in next door to us. I was handed a card from the wife and Mom, which said, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” I told her that we were all were going to get along wonderfully!
Then, I discovered that change that I had so strongly felt was coming. My new friends and neighbors showed me in scripture something I had brushed over up until now: John 3:5, where Jesus says to Nicodemus: “…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was falsely taught that eternal salvation came simply by saying the sinner’s prayer — a manmade bunch of words that aren’t found anywhere in the Bible! I had believed this, and was serving in a church that promoted the simple recital of the sinner’s prayer as the ticket to salvation.
Through His Word, God further revealed the truth of salvation to me and my wife. The early church would baptize you in water and pray over you to receive the Holy Spirit as salvation, which always came with the evidence of speaking in tongues. This sinner’s prayer that is being taught today is a completely man-made doctrine, originating from the Billy Sunday movement. The true gospel has been tainted and watered down, and I was a part of it.
I’m glad to say that God called us to a higher purpose. It is now our ministry to pray over as many people as we can to receive the Holy Spirit, and baptize them in water, and further help them to live a Godly life and to share the truth with others.
My walk with the Lord is stronger than ever before, and it has been an incredible journey as I grow closer to Him. I now truly feel the joy and peace that I was missing, and I’m no longer plagued by the sickening anxiety and depression that used to haunt me. I wouldn’t trade this new life in the Lord for anything in the world, and I know that alongside my wonderful wife, it will only get better from here. Praise be to Jesus!