Post by ejuliot on Jan 31, 2006 21:07:48 GMT -5
I have been reading everyone's posts and I was wondering what everyone's testimony was. I have read a few so far but not many. I will go first.
My name is Elizabeth Juliot, I am 19 years old and currently go to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. My family was very involved in the church so I grew up with a Christian background. I was never sure if I was saved as a child because I had never gone up for an alter call. I went to a Christian camp for a weekend and I finally went up for the alter call. The music was playing and the lights were turned down really low. I was an amazing emotional experience. I was relieved because I had finally gone up for an alter call. I thought that I was saved for sure now. I believe that it was either the same camp or the next years when a funny thing happened. This little Australian guy spoke at our camp. When he got up to the pulpit he began to speak about false conversion. He said that conversion doesn't come from an emotional experience when the lights are low and the music is playing and you are just drawn up to the front of the church. At this point I knew I didn't like this man. He then went on to preach the parable of the sower and the dangers of false conversion. I could not stand that man! I came home from that camp and continued to struggle with sin. I never repented of any of my sin but I thought I was saved this entire time. My senior year of high school 4 students died brutal deaths. My world was shattered, I realized that at any moment I could die or someone close to me could die. This was a very traumatizing time for me when I began to think about eternity. I then left for my freshman year at Westmont College. I thought that I had escaped from my life at home. I could start over new and forget all the pain and anger I had accumulated over the years. I was not able to escape anything. I had nightmares about people dying and my anger toward my family consumed me. My family had fallen apart my freshman year of high school. I had so much anger built up because of what had happened. To make matters worse, my brother had had an amazing conversion a few months before that made me very bitter because I had struggled to be a "good" Christian since middle school and he became a "super" Christian in a matter of months. Well, of course my life fell apart when I got a phone call from my sister telling me that my favorite teacher from back home had just died. Not only him but another teacher and a friend of mine had also died. 7 people died in two years. I was really thinking about eternity now. When I came home I was so bitter I caused my family to fall apart. I realized that things needed to change. So I began to read my Bible and as I did God changed my heart. The anger I had toward my family disappeared. I realized the reality of hell and I began to witness to my friends. My brother said that there was a huge change in me within two weeks! God really woke me up! My life totally changed after this. A few months later my brother was listening to Ray Comfort in the car. I was very familiar with his sermons at this point, but all of the sudden I realized that this man who I now considered a Godly man was the same man that had preached at the winter camp that I had been to a few years earlier! He had been right all along about me being a false convert! It has really been amazing to think that God who knew me in the womb had put me in situations that eventually led to my salvation. For the glory of God, the lover of my soul!
My name is Elizabeth Juliot, I am 19 years old and currently go to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. My family was very involved in the church so I grew up with a Christian background. I was never sure if I was saved as a child because I had never gone up for an alter call. I went to a Christian camp for a weekend and I finally went up for the alter call. The music was playing and the lights were turned down really low. I was an amazing emotional experience. I was relieved because I had finally gone up for an alter call. I thought that I was saved for sure now. I believe that it was either the same camp or the next years when a funny thing happened. This little Australian guy spoke at our camp. When he got up to the pulpit he began to speak about false conversion. He said that conversion doesn't come from an emotional experience when the lights are low and the music is playing and you are just drawn up to the front of the church. At this point I knew I didn't like this man. He then went on to preach the parable of the sower and the dangers of false conversion. I could not stand that man! I came home from that camp and continued to struggle with sin. I never repented of any of my sin but I thought I was saved this entire time. My senior year of high school 4 students died brutal deaths. My world was shattered, I realized that at any moment I could die or someone close to me could die. This was a very traumatizing time for me when I began to think about eternity. I then left for my freshman year at Westmont College. I thought that I had escaped from my life at home. I could start over new and forget all the pain and anger I had accumulated over the years. I was not able to escape anything. I had nightmares about people dying and my anger toward my family consumed me. My family had fallen apart my freshman year of high school. I had so much anger built up because of what had happened. To make matters worse, my brother had had an amazing conversion a few months before that made me very bitter because I had struggled to be a "good" Christian since middle school and he became a "super" Christian in a matter of months. Well, of course my life fell apart when I got a phone call from my sister telling me that my favorite teacher from back home had just died. Not only him but another teacher and a friend of mine had also died. 7 people died in two years. I was really thinking about eternity now. When I came home I was so bitter I caused my family to fall apart. I realized that things needed to change. So I began to read my Bible and as I did God changed my heart. The anger I had toward my family disappeared. I realized the reality of hell and I began to witness to my friends. My brother said that there was a huge change in me within two weeks! God really woke me up! My life totally changed after this. A few months later my brother was listening to Ray Comfort in the car. I was very familiar with his sermons at this point, but all of the sudden I realized that this man who I now considered a Godly man was the same man that had preached at the winter camp that I had been to a few years earlier! He had been right all along about me being a false convert! It has really been amazing to think that God who knew me in the womb had put me in situations that eventually led to my salvation. For the glory of God, the lover of my soul!