A Testimony and a Special Thanks to Two Servants of the Lord and the Local Churches, R.R.

I was saved on an icy cold night in January, having been invited to a Christian meeting by a good friend at school. Shortly before that I had horrible experiences meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses. I had been intensely confused by them about what the “truth” in the Bible really was. They told me of blatant flaws in mainstream Christianity that were clearly indisputable. But my mother's pastor pointed out to me serious heresies taught by Jehovah's Witnesses that were even more indisputable. I was left greatly troubled, not knowing who to listen to or who was right. I knew that this serious issue had eternal consequences if taken carelessly. I needed to resolve it, yet I knew no one that could help.

Then my friend persisted asking me until I agreed to go to this meeting. I told him, “this one time and one time only!” I expected the worst. Before I entered their rented building, I could see through the double glass doors faces aglow with ecstatic happiness. Something was obviously different. It was a sight that I'd never seen before and was utterly unaccustomed to. As I entered, seemingly everyone was genuinely interested to meet me. There was waiting for us an extremely well prepared feast of foods of all kinds. We ate together and continued with a gospel meeting. The preaching was filled with enormous convincing power, the Word of God, and the pitiful condition of the human race. The speaker spoke of the need for the Savior Jesus. At the end he pointed me out in the crowd specifically as if he knew me personally.

He led me to pray. I prayed very feebly. And suddenly, the Lord dawned within me as a great explosion of light. His presence was like a warm comforting blanket enveloping me on the inside. The experience was very strong, clear and comforting. All I knew was that God had now justified me. I expected nothing at all like this! I met the Lord! No one ever helped me to know that a sinner could actually know Christ personally, let alone, experience Him in that way!

My first comment was: “I never knew this place existed; I would have come here long, long ago!” Finally, I just had to ask someone, “What's the name of this church?” The answer to this question would be very, very important to me. I braced for the answer. He answered, “We don't have a name, we just meet as the church in this city.”

I was extremely excited with his answer because I had learned that denominational names were not found in the Bible. By this I began to know that I was in the right place. I told the speaker that I wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. They baptized me that night.

The confusion I experienced before being saved actually propelled my interest to learn more of the truth of the Bible for myself. I made a point to check all that I learned against the Bible directly, as did the Bereans in Acts (Acts 17:11). The more I checked the more it was confirmed that indeed the Bible is squarely centered on Christ and the church--not just Christ who is God, but also on the church as His body, His heart's desire. Having studied typology, numerology, Christology, Greek and history I began to deeply understand some of the deepest and profound things ever known to man. Then everything began to make sense to me. I began to understand God's purpose, the world and its problems, the created universe, human nature, and most of all myself. With much help from mainly two authors, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, I experienced wave after wave of revelation pouring out of the pages of the Bible. The more I read, the more waves of light, life, truth, revelation, wisdom, happiness and ecstasy beamed out. Until now, I have taken in uncountable messages, books, tapes, conferences, trainings and studies by these two Christian writers. I have found them to be monumentally helpful to my knowledge of God, Christ, the Spirit, the church, the Kingdom, the Christian life, the purpose of God, the Bible, the gospel, prayer, Christian discipline, proper character and countless other topics of vital importance. And even more than their teachings, these men of God have also recovered for us a practical, tangible environment, a day to day church life that a serious, seeking believer can realistically give his entire life to in service to God.

To conclude, I would announce to anyone and everyone who is a serious seeker of God and Christ, and as one who strives to be true to his Master, reading prayerfully and objectively the weighted truth of the aforementioned servants of God has brought depth of insight to me. What they have brought me personally has given me enormous gratification, a totally new course of life, a Christian life that is worth living.