The Rapture Testimony
You may be wondering about the title of my testimony. Don't worry, I do not think that I have experienced the Rapture before anyone else. However, the Rapture has played a big part in my Christian life.
I was born into a Christian family in 1992. When I was about 8, I began reading about Jesus a lot and even wanted to be him for Halloween that year, though, my parents told me that I couldn't since Halloween is a kind of pagan holiday. The next year, I got saved in a Christian denomination church. The Christian denomination is one that believes that both accepting Christ and Baptism is essential for Salvation, however, I do not believe this. I am a Baptist. The way that I know that you don't have to get Baptized to make it to heaven is look at the story of the Crucifixion. The criminal was hanging next to Jesus and said "Remember me when you get to your kingdom". Jesus responded to the man by saying "Today, you will be with me in paradise". This criminal didn't get baptized. He didn't have time to get baptized, he was hanging on a cross.
Anyway, back to my testimony. For the first couple of years after I got saved, I lived as a devoted Christian. We went to church all the time and I loved it. However, soon, the people in my church began to shun the preacher because unlike most pastors in this day and age, he was preaching on sin and hell and I guess it offended them. So the deacons and members decided they didn't want him to preach anymore. The preacher decided to move back to his hometown in Ohio. The night before he and his wife left, my mother fixed spaghetti and we went over and ate with them.
After that, me and my parents didn't go to church for a while and I began living a casual lifestyle. I still believed wholeheartedly in Jesus Christ and I followed many Bible morals but I didn't really study the Bible or worry about the Bible. I just went on with life, wherever it took me.
In sixth grade, a student decided to start a Bible club in school and I joined it. We would go to the library at the end of the day and read the Bible, discuss it, and pray. However, after three days, the student decided that he didn't want to live a life for Christ anymore, so the Bible club just kind of quit meeting. I began reading my Bible a little more after that though.
However, by the start of seventh grade, I wasn't reading it anymore. I was back to the casual lifestyle. High School finally rolled around. In Freshman year, I lived with a major sin problem. No, I wasn't going to parties and drinking and smoking, but I did have a problem with one sin. It was one of the seven deadly sins. Jesus spoke of it as adultery in the heart. It was lust. I had a crush on more than ten girls in that school year. Now, I wasn't having sex before marriage and I have never wanted to, however, I still had lustful thoughts pass through my mind about all of these girls that I desired.
I continued these lustful thoughts all through the summer between freshman and sophomore year, however, it was sophomore year that really saved me from my sins. It was a hot summer day in the middle of August. My hometown was suffering a heat wave as much of the United States was. My Dad was driving me home from school when I said "Man, it is so hot". My Dad replied by saying "I believe we are getting close to the end of time. The Bible talks about stuff like this". BAM. It was like a brick hit me in the face. I had always been scared of the Rapture because I wanted to live my life before it happened. I wanted to experience learning to drive, High School graduation, marriage, having kids. I wanted to know what all of that was like before I was taken off of this Earth.
However, I began thinking that I wanted to know if my father's claims were true so I began researching the Rapture. I had always known what would happen in the event but I wanted to know a little more about it. What were the signs of its coming? When might it happen? Would I be alive when it did?
I soon found a series known as the Left Behind series. I bought the entire series and began reading it and I found all of my answers about the event and my fear of it was taken away. I no longer fear the Rapture. However, I have now turned my life back over to Jesus Christ completely.
I was watching the third Left Behind movie and began looking through the special features and saw one titled "Way of the Master". Curious, I clicked it. Upon the screen came actor Kirk Cameron talking about his television program "The Way of the Master". I began researching the program and found that it was about Evangelism. As I began watching it, I found that I had a desire to seek and save the lost even more powerful than all of those desires I had had for the female species in my Freshman year of High School. I had now matured out of those sinful lusts of my past and desired to fulfill new works in which I would seek and save the lost.
I have now started my own internet video ministry called "Following in His Footsteps in which I put out weekly episodes talking about different Christian topics. One week I could be talking about an informational topic and the next helping Christians to understand how to seek and save the lost using the Way of the Master's teaching. I have a great concern for the lost and hope to bring as many people to Christ as I can, before it is too late.
