What I believe ...

I had a true conversion experience when I was 25 years old and experienced the love and mercy of God through the person of Jesus Christ. I'd like to be able to say that I had it all together from that point forward, but I really didn't. I have come to see that being born again is often a process and we are not always completely converted just because we come to believe in the Lord. Even Peter was admonished by Jesus at one point when He declared that "when you (Peter) are fully converted ..." indicating that it is probably something that takes time. At least that's the way I see it.

I am convinced that Jesus IS the only way to Heaven. Everyone else and everything else is a thief and a robber.

I am also convinced that He paid the price for my sins. And I am saved by grace.

But I also believe that He didn't abolish the whole of the Jewish religion when He died. No, I see the New Testament Church still living as Jews, albeit with more liberty. And whenever we come across some of the original customs of the Jews of His time, we can appreciate more fully a lot of the parables that Jesus used. He spoke from His experiences and from the customs of the day.

There is a whole other page included in this sub web devoted to the Holy Days and how Jesus is the fulfillment of each one of them. He said He came to fulfill - He didn't say He came to abolish! But I do believe we have more liberty to choose and it's in the choosing that we find great delight in these occasions.

I believe Jesus came to perform a heart transplant, too. He's a Master Heart Surgeon. And it's HIS heart we need to receive. In fact, I believe that except for the difference in our outward appearances, Jesus is actually creating clones of Himself inside each of us.

I believe in total immersion (water baptism) and that it is a commandment of the Lord that we be baptized upon accepting the Lord. It's not an option.

And Jesus promised and delivered still another baptism: the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I can testify truthfully that I simply asked for - and received - the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and experienced more Christian growth from that day to this because of it. Twenty + years passed from the time I was saved (in 1968) to the time I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (1989). And it's like I was living in the shadows by comparison!

I have experienced miracles and healings and I have had at least one real vision. I KNOW that the Lord loves me very much. He shows me every day.