"What if salvation is not obtained when everyone thinks?"
That terribly gut-wrenching question manifested itself in my mind approximately six months prior to the Lord seizing my attention in the middle of the night, just hours after reading the following parable.
Matthew 25:1-13
"Then the
kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went
out to meet the bridegroom. Now five were wise and five were foolish. Those who
were foolish took their lamps and took no oil, but the wise took oil in their vessels
with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and
slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go
out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the
foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going
out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for
us and you, but go rather to those that sell and buy for yourselves.' And while
they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those that were ready went in with
him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came
also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I
say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day
nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."
The Sovereign Lord woke
me up one night to talk with me face to face. He asked, "Did you think
those were women I was talking about in that parable?" Naturally, I said,
"Yes.” After thinking for a moment I said, "I don't know why I
assumed that.” He replied, "A lot of people assume a lot of things that
are not in My word." He then tells me, "Like how My Spirit is
received." He tells me, "I am the one who baptizes a person with My
Spirit." After reading Acts 15:8-9, He let me know once He has purified a
heart through faith, then He gives His Holy Spirit.
Talking to God face
to face is just like having a conversation with somebody, even though you
cannot see Him, you know He is there. It occurs with me only when He wants me
to correct misconceptions about His word.
The enemy did not
want this testimony corning into fruition. He tried everything in his power to
discourage me from writing it. With my heart being totally fixed on Jesus, I was
able to get through it all.
Knowing some of you
might be wondering what possesses me to write a brand new testimony every year,
well, all I can say is that the love of Christ compels me. It is as if
something or someone has taken me over. I have no idea what has gotten into me.
I am sorry for lying to all of you, I know that is not a good way to treat
anybody. You see, I know exactly what has gotten into me. It is the same thing
those five wise virgins had in their vessels with their lamps.
Welcome brothers and
sisters, believers and unbelievers, to my fifth, and if the Lord wills, final
testimony while incarcerated. Yes, I know I only shared three with Charis, let
me explain what happened to the fourth. That one is hopefully sitting on the
U.S. Pardon Attorneys desk waiting to go in front of the President of the
United States of America to be signed.
Due to there being
many things that Jesus has given me to talk about tonight, allow me to give you
a brief account of how this all came about. After fasting with a bunch of
Christians to have some laws changed, my celly was put in for a compassionate
release. A year prior to him getting put in, I was led to pray and tell Jesus
that I would not consider being released that way a miracle. Not knowing why I
told Him that, I am glad I did because He had lots to tell me about how He
controls His brother’s circumstances. I need to worship Him. Jesus, you are
truly worthy of all glory, honor, and power, for you alone are wise, awesome,
and you are the Sovereign Lord of the universe. You knew what laws were going
to need to be changed and you changed them.
I thank you Jesus for
revealing it to me that you would change the hearts and minds of those who
govern the laws, and you put new criteria into the compassionate release
program. After that I went and prayed, asking how I can get a reduction in my
sentence. Jesus told me to file for clemency. Many have said things, to put it
civilly, they were telling me it was going to take a real miracle, as if they
were doubting the sovereign power of Jesus.
Jesus told me He has
full control over all of His brother's circumstances, when He let me know that
was the meaning of the life of Joseph being in the first book of the Bible. As
for me, I will always listen to what Jesus tells me.
Jesus speaks to me in
lots of ways. One of them is through my every day circumstances. He wanted to
teach me a lot from this one person He gave me as a celly. One of them is the
meaning of faith without works being dead.
He used my celly's
hoarding as the example. It was uncontrollable! Everything was to an excess. He
put it on my heart to try and help him with it, which in turn, I also learned
some valuable lessons.
I did not know why he
would not believe Jesus. Did He not say in His word, “Do not worry about your
life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you
will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?"
He hoarded all that stuff. Did not Jesus say, "For your heavenly Father
knows you need all these things.
Jesus was showing me
is that anybody can think they trust God, but it is those who are willing to
let everything go. Those are the ones who truly have faith in Jesus. Those are
the ones who will find the kingdom and His righteousness, whom all these things
shall be added to.
After writing that on
Monday, June 3rd, I went and watched the first installment of the Bible at
faith lessons. Something really touched me as Abraham was offering his son
Isaac as a sacrifice. Talk about giving everything up. His obedience and belief
in the Lord proved how genuine his faith really was.
I guess now is as
good a time as any. Hello, my name is Steve. I am the prisoner of the Lord.
Condemned without mercy on account of my willful disobedience to Jesus and everything
he told me in His word is the reason I have received the honor and privilege of
coming before you all this day.
Jesus threw me a real
curve ball when He told me “It does not matter where you are from because you
were once a slave in the land of Egypt.” Just like the Israelites I wanted to
go back into bondage due to my unwillingness to obey Him. For that reason I
will only talk about things that bring Jesus glory,
After asking Jesus to
be my Lord and Savior, truth be told, I wasn't always a Christian. I could only
say, I was one on paper. Knowing some might be disagreeing, but, did not Jesus
say, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I
say." That is Luke 6: 46. This was due to my carrying around the same lamp
as those foolish virgins. Here I am thinking I am all set because I had
something, but truly I was empty. I did not have the Holy Spirit living inside
of me. Due to all of the cares of this world coming before Jesus, I had no
relationship with Him.
For did not Jesus
say, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And
he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." It hurt
once Jesus opened my eyes and allowed me to see what He was saying, which is if
I love anything more than Him, if I am not willing to let go of everything I am
not worthy to have Him.
I probably should
have just asked Him to be my Savior because that is the way I treated Jesus for
the first 8 years I was a Christian. I completely left the Lord part out. That
is not how it works. I found this out when Jesus showed me His power. That
would be as ridiculous as my thinking I was saved because I was born a certain
faith.
I was deceived by the
enemy of our souls. It is kind of humiliating, I feel so stupid admitting it,
but I know the truth needs to come out. Due to all the men pleasers who do not
preach the true message of Christ, but rather pervert the meaning of grace to
fill their pockets, I was deceived into thinking I was saved and that I had the
Holy Spirit living inside me. Needless to say, I fell for one of the evil one's
greatest tricks; I listened to all the lies he told me repeatedly; you are all
set, you said the prayer, you have nothing to worry about. Considering I know
now, that nobody but Jesus can assure me of my salvation, I could not believe
that I listened to others telling me not to worry.
On account of their
twisted theology they instilled in me no desire to seek the Holy Spirit, never
mind a desire for Him period. Once the five foolish virgins realized they
needed the Holy Spirit, it created a desire for them to seek Him, but
unfortunately it was too late for them.
Therefore, I went and
lived my life exactly the way I wanted. Galatians 5:19-21, proved to be an eye
opener. It says, "The works of the flesh are evident which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy,
murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand
just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice· such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God.
Thankfully Jesus
allowed me to see through His word that living my life my way was not going to
get me into heaven. These two scriptures told me that the only way to heaven
was through the only Book God ever wrote. Romans 1:16. It says, "For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation,
for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." And
then 2nd Thessalonians 1:8 and 9, which read, "In flaming fire taking
vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."
Jesus reminded me
about something He told me in a dream one night about a year or two ago. He
said that I was His friend. According to John 15:14-15, from Jesus speaking,
"You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call
you servants for a servant does not know what his Master is doing, but I have
called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made
known to you. "
John 14:15-16, Jesus
speaking, "If you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the Father
and He will give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever."
When you truly love someone, they become your world, you just want to please
them and them alone. Since Jesus called for obedience, that is what I showed
him. Acts 5:32 says, "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so
also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."
It was not until I
received His 'Spirit that Jesus truly had His way in me. It is when His word
began to clean me up from all those things that proved I was unholy by changing
my mindset as to the cares of this world. One way I have noticed the Spirit
working in me is any time I have an inclination, or a thought about anything
that goes against Him and His word come into mind, I am immediately convicted.
Those things I once wanted to do, you know, all the cares of life, whenever
they enter my mind are brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
I have no idea why
Jesus enlisted me into His army, but I do know it is all about His grace,
meaning if He can save a scum bag sinner like myself, who was so deserving of
death in the eyes of the world, then He can save anyone. After reading Acts
chapter 9, it became clear as to why Jesus chose a former member of a renegade
faction of the Mafia, and appointed him to magnify His Holy name. Jesus
appeared to a disciple in a vision and told him to do something for a person,
whom this disciple was afraid of. Jesus said, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of
Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I
will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.
I am going to get
spiritual. After dodging the draft for the first 8 years, Jesus laid the smack
down on me while I was awaiting sentencing at a nursing home. Due to sin I
committed with some of the staff, He sent conviction upon me. Being that deep
burning conviction, it caused me to feel ashamed because of my betrayal of the
Lord for temporal pleasure. Therefore, I started praying again. Jesus knew what
He was doing. Knowing this conviction placed on me was enough to make me ask
for two things. So I started crying out repeatedly to be made a better
Christian and for time served.
Talk about lazy, I
just wanted Jesus to zap me. The whole time I was asking, I put no effort into
becoming one. I ignored all of His efforts to help me. He put it on someone's
heart to ask if I wanted a bible and to go to church. I said no to both. I used
a bible study in order to justify my saying no to church and BibleGateway.com
for the bible.
Then the chaplain who
ran the bible study came in and invited me to it. I did not give him an answer.
I did not really care to go with a bunch of old people. He then hands me a pamphlet
that said, "Do you know where you are going when you die?" I was
thinking yes, because I was a Christian for many years. When I opened it and
saw what it said on the inside, I was greatly offended. It said, "To
hell." Wow-wee talk about pride issues. I am thinking this man of God had
just disrespected me. That was my whole life story, nobody better mess with my
pride, or else.
After being told the
six years I had already served will be sufficient, on the day of my sentencing,
my attorney told me everybody was on the same page as to my time. Here I am in
court thinking, if all else fails He will part the ceiling to tell the judge
that I am a beloved child of His just because I asked to be one.
When it all boiled
down to it, and I was ln front of the human judge, I was condemned without
mercy. I know Jesus was showing me His power due to my refusal to grow in the
grace and knowledge of Him. He caused someone who was once very grateful to
have a total change of heart as he gave his impact statement. Thank you Jesus
for allowing the scales to fall from my eyes, so that I could see the state of
my salvation. If I could not make it in front of an earthly judge, how would I
even think I would be able to stand in front of the great I AM, when it comes
my time.
Jesus has taught me
that I did not choose Him, but He chose me and appointed me that I should go
and bear fruit, and my fruit should remain, that whatever I ask the Father in
His name, He may give me. - John 15:16.
After praying one
morning in my sleep, Jesus answered my prayer for Him to show me His power on
this day. First He sent a person into my room who had been struggling in his
walk to tell me that he just could not understand the Word like me or Q. After
asking Him a few questions, I realized that he did not have the Holy Spirit
living inside of him. In accordance with Luke 11:13, I had him pray asking
Jesus to give Him His Spirit. I prayed, then I laid hands on him just like the
apostles did back in the day. Then he starts speaking in an intelligent tongue.
Jesus then tells me
Paul was going around terrorizing all of His followers, except for the
apostles. How when they were scattered throughout all the surrounding regions,
they went and preached the word everywhere. He told me that He used Paul to further
the Gospel before His conversion. This revelation came while I was reading Acts
8:1-4.
Then He let me know
that many people get caught up trying to do the Holy Spirits job. That was
enough to convince me that if Jesus does not tell me to do something, then I
will not do it, because the Lord, when He brings it, it is so much more than we
can ask or think. Just pray. Remember what happened when Abraham heeded his
wife voice.
Since He brought you
all here this day, allow me to tell you another way Jesus showed me His power.
About a year ago, I had a dream and a voice told me His name is Jesus. I was
led to pray one day and ask if He wanted me to tell everybody about praying
directly to Him, that it would have to be 60 degrees sometime in the week of Thanksgiving.
The whole week it was nice, and the day before it was 60. That is unheard of,
in Minnesota!
Jesus loves an
obedient follower, so much that it seems like those who are one, have a never
ending joy to them. Lord Jesus, I want to continue to magnify your Holy Name,
send me, I will go. You are truly awesome, I understand why you chose me and
appointed me to magnify your name. It is because there is power in the name of
Jesus. I love you Jesus, you know I will do anything for you, thank you very much
for allowing me to write this testimony which you gave me. Thank you Jesus for
drawing all the people here that you wanted to hear it. Thank you Jesus for
being you. I love you. Amen.
Please give Jesus all the glory, for He is worthy!
Please give Jesus all the glory, for He is worthy!
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