Welcome!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Glossary of Terminology

As with any group of people you join, the Christian family has some words and phrases that are used that you may not understand.  Below is a list of some of those words and phrases (this list will continue to be added to, so, keep checking back).

Fellowship: Depending on how this word is being used, it can refer to a particular church or it can refer to believers socializing with each other.

Grace: This word usually relates to how God views us. When someone is gracious toward someone else, they are usually forgiving and willing to downplay the faults of another.  This is true with God as He deals with us.  This is not to say that He turns a blind eye to our sin, but He chooses not to let our behavior keep Him from loving us and being a part of our lives.  Also, because He deals with our sins, He is being gracious toward us in that it is not good for us to continue in a destructive behavior because it will ultimately bring us harm, so, He intervenes, just as our earthly fathers will, and corrects us for our own good. 

Mercy: This refers to God not treating us the way we deserve to be treated.  We will often treat someone rudely if they treat us that way; however, God does not do that. 

Righteous: We are made righteous in God's sight by asking for and accepting God's forgiveness for our sins which we received by believing that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Think of it like this. You have committed a crime for which you are now standing before the judge. You are guilty and the punishment for your crime is the death sentence. The sentence is about to be handed down to you, but someone approaches the judge's bench and says that he wants to pay the penalty for your crime and let you go free. The judge then transfers the penalty to this person, the penalty is carried out (this innocent person was executed) and yet you have gone free - never to pay the penalty of your crime.  Because Jesus had never sinned, He did not have any sin of His own to pay for, therefore, He was able to pay the penalty for us all.  How many people do you know would do that for you?  Jesus did!  Hallelujah!  Jesus' righteous standing is transferred to you, therefore, this has nothing to do with how good you are, but how good Jesus is toward you.

Baptism

Baptism is something that each believer does as an outward, physical demonstration of the new relationship they have with God.  A person gets baptized by entering a big tub of water called a baptistry (some churches do not have a baptistry and will baptize new believers in a swimming pool, lake, river, etc.) where the pastor (or other church official) will ask them a question about their faith in Jesus Christ, give them a chance to respond and then baptize them, "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".  Then, the pastor will immerse the believer in the water and then quickly help them back up.  Usually a prayer of dedication of the new believer is given either before or after the baptism, and an opportunity for the new believer to speak is usually given, too.  The reason a person is completely immersed in the water (or "dunked" as some call it), is that the action identifies the believer with what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.  Jesus died and was buried (the act of going down into the water) and then was resurrected (coming back up out of the water), therefore, our baptism reflects what happened to Jesus and we are then making a statement that we believe that Jesus died, was buried and then, most importantly, rose from the dead.  Also, the scripture tells about Jesus' baptism (you will find this in the gospels located in the beginning of the New Testament), and so it follows that if He believed it was important for Him to do then we, as His followers, need to follow in His footsteps.  It has been my experience (not only personally but as I have spoken with other Christians) that the Lord will direct you to get baptized when the time is right. 

There are differences in opinion about how baptism is done.  Some call it "sprinkling" as the pastor will only sprinkle water on the head of the believer.  I personally believe that because Jesus was Himself immersed, according to the scriptures, that is the way that most closely reflects what Jesus did for us as described above.  The most important thing to do is to ask the Lord to direct you. (This is the end of the basic blogs; please select a topic of interest)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Church Attendance - Part 2

Now that we have discussed why it is important to attend church, we turn our attention to what to look for in a church. To begin, we need to choose a church that believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our sins and that He rose from the dead and is alive in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father, intervening for the saints in prayer. If a church does not believe these things about Jesus Christ, and does not teach them, then move on to another church. Many churches disagree over various issues, such as speaking in tongues (another language), healing, etc., and those are truly not important enough issues to argue about and allow to cause divisions. However, if they do not believe in Jesus as depicted above, then this is a serious issue and you must not put yourself under their teaching or authority. They may teach various things that Jesus Himself taught, but if they do not believe that He is God, then, they have mixed the truth of things Jesus taught about with a lie saying that He is not who He said He was. Dear One, this is what satan does. He mixes a little bit of truth with a little bit of lie/deception, which then causes the whole thing to be tainted. The way to discover what a church body believes is to ask them for a copy of their constitution, which is a document that states what they believe about God and the Bible, and which should clearly state what they believe about Jesus Christ. It will contain other things, too, but look especially for what they believe about Jesus Christ.

Other things to look for when selecting a church, are: whether they are actively teaching God’s Word (the Bible). Are there opportunities to study the Bible? Are there Sunday School classes for everyone in your family? Are there Bible studies that meet outside of regular church time? Are there opportunities for you to get involved in the life of the church (social gatherings, community outreach), as well as tasks that need to be done that you can do (typing letters, cleaning, childcare, music ministry, etc). Most importantly, are the members there enjoying a personal relationship with God? Do they reach out to others? Also, do you feel more comfortable in a large church or smaller one?  Your personal preferences play a part in your decision, but there are times when the Lord may lead us to a church that we don't quite understand the reason, but we do it because we love Him and He's asked us to attend that church.  Just because we find ourselves in difficult situations does not mean that God didn't lead us there.  He has something to teach you and the people around you, so don't run from the difficulties.  Learn to ask God to help you understand what He's trying to teach you, and wait for His answer. 
(Please click on the "Baptism" blog)

Church Attendance - Part 1

Now that we have begun our relationship with God, we turn to our relationship with other believers. It stands to reason, as in our own families, if you have a father and your father has other children, these other children are your brothers and sisters. The same is true in the family of God. Other believers are your brothers and sisters, and although they are not blood relatives in the physical sense, they are blood relatives in a spiritual sense, through the blood of Christ. As it is not good for any of us to try to live life on our own (actually it is an impossibility because we cannot avoid interaction with others), we need our brothers and sisters in Christ to help us grow and to help correct us at times, too. We are all at different ages spiritually; some are very old, 60 - 70+ years as a believer, and there are some who are infants. We are all at different stages of growth and understanding of spiritual matters, both through teaching and life experiences. In my experience, we can learn from the youngest to the oldest of believers around us. How many of us have had a young person teach us something? My daughter has done that for me countless times, as has my little granddaughter who is, at this time, five years old. She has taught me about loving freely and even though life is not exactly as we would like it to be, we still hold joy in our hearts. My daughter has shown me simple faith when I try to make things more difficult than they have to be. She has had maturity beyond her years, and I have learned from it. My point here is that going to church is not just about getting our Bibles out, dressing up and going to church to socialize, hear a good sermon and perhaps do a few things to help out there. It is about engaging in relationships in the family of God. Think of it as a weekly family gathering. Are there conflicts? Most definitely, but there are, more often, times that refresh us, encourage us, lift us up and help us move forward into the coming week with hope as a result of interacting with our family. As in any family, conflicts arise, and there may be someone there we just don’t like or agree with, but again just as in our flesh and blood family, we tolerate them and even come to appreciate them because they are a part of the family. Perhaps we just have to learn to agree to disagree and let the other person be. Families stretch us, challenge us, can cause serious frustration, give great joy, provide laughter, hugs when we need them, a word of correction when needed, too, and most of all, they hang in there with us and we with them. It is good for us to be around others, because many times, someone else there has gone through the same thing we are now facing and can give us encouragement and hope to make it through, just as they did. They are there to hug us when we’re sad and to celebrate with us when we are happy. When we are unable to stand under the pressures of life, they are there holding us up in prayer. We need a family. We need to be loved as well as to love. This is what church is all about. The best way to find a church where you will find this family is to simply ask God where He would have you to go. He will guide you to the best place for you and for those in that particular church.

Now, I would like to take a moment to address one common reason people have for not attending church, and that is because of some conflict with another person, or they have observed supposed Christians doing very un-Christian things and it has turned them off from wanting to get involved in things like that. Who hasn’t heard about sex scandals, theft/dishonesty in the church, political issues, etc. going on in churches all around us? We expect that Christians are going to be a cut above everyone else, and we think that none of the above issues are going to be present in a church; however, we must remember that each church is made up of people, and the Bible says that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. We are all sinful in nature. It is unrealistic to think or to expect that you will find a church where there isn’t some issue rearing its ugly head among the family there. Also, if we take a good look at ourselves, we will realize that we have issues that continue in our lives even though we have become a Christian. As a result, if we understand this about ourselves, we can better understand it in the lives of others, expect it, accept it and forge ahead loving others because this is what Jesus told us to do. He said that love never fails, and we will either choose to believe Him or not. I can personally testify that I have deliberately loved people who appear to be unlovable and mean, despite their reaction to me. I have persevered in it, and have, most of the time, finally reached a point where the person begins to respond favorably to me. There are those who just don’t want to, and we have to respect that. We mustn’t condemn people, because we don’t know what circumstances were in their lives to cause them to see life and react to it the way they do. I do not believe that anyone was ever born with the intent of being a miserable person; life has a way of causing many to be bitter, and some people have been hurt terribly. I just ask that you continue to love them, no matter what. If you say that’s too hard or not a reasonable request, then I remind you of the Lord Jesus. The Bible says that we know love because He (God) first loved us. He did not wait for us to ask Him or to become worthy to pay the cost of our freedom. He held nothing back to win us back, and if He can do it, we can, too, with His help. Sometimes we are not even willing to do as the Lord asks us to do, but if we can be utterly honest with Him and tell Him this, and go on to say that we are at least willing to be made willing to do as He asks us, He will work mightily in our hearts and bring us restoration in ways that we never knew were possible.

Whew! All this about church attendance? Yes, because church attendance is about relationships with others. They are our extended family, through the blood of Christ. As difficult, confusing, frustrating as well as comforting, joyful and helpful as family relationships are, they are worth it.

Here is a short prayer that you could pray: Lord Jesus, please help me to find the church family you would like me to be a part of, and please help me to love them as you love me. Thank you.  (Please click on the "Church Attendance - Part 2" blog).

Relationship with God

At this point, it is important to take a look at what the elements of relationships are. To begin, it is about two people who want to spend time with each other. So, when you get together, what do you do? You both talk some, listen to what the other is saying, do things to please the other person, do things for the other person because you care about them even though you may not like the activity, help each other through difficult times, comfort each other, laugh with each other, spend quiet time together just enjoying each other’s company, and the list goes on. As time goes on, there is an element of trust that develops, and you protect your relationship so as not to harm the other person or do something that will cause them to not trust you. If you don’t have trust, there is no basis for security in the other’s presence. Each person must believe they can tell the other anything and it will not be used against them, spoken of behind their back, or used as a reason to reject them. We all have our faults, and to learn to accept each other, warts and all, is true friendship. Now, when we think about our relationship with God, these same aspects of relationship apply. We can talk with Him, listen to Him and do things that we know please Him. We must learn to trust Him, too. It’s not easy, especially if we have discovered we can’t always trust other people. No human being is completely trustworthy, but God is. We need to understand what He thinks of us, that is, us personally and not just “the world”.  

Another aspect of relationships that we must keep in mind is that we have different kinds of relationships with people. For example, the person we married is our mate, our friend, the mother/father of our children, our partner in business transactions concerning the home, etc.  The same is true with God.  Let me explain. God is first and foremost our Creator. He formed man out of the dust of the earth. He is also our Father, having given each of us life. He is our Friend, who is there to help us and to spend time with us. He is our Master, who has the right to command that we do or not do certain things and to expect that we will carry out His wishes; after all, we have been bought with a price (ransomed) - the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Brother as well as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit is our Comforter as well as Counselor and Guide through life. There are many different aspects of our relationship with God. He is there for us in any way we can conceivably need Him to be. He is not, however, a genie in a bottle, there to do our every command, but He is there to help us live this life He has given us. He did not just create us and then set us on our own wishing us good luck and hoping we make it to Heaven. He is with us (Immanuel - God with us) every step of the way. The one thing we need to remember, which underlines all of the different aspects of our relationship with God, is that above all, God is our authority. He demands and deserves our obedience, not because He is power hungry, but because He already knows all about the pitfalls of life and how best to avoid them; we do not. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they did indeed come to know good and evil; however, they did not know what that meant or how to deal with it. He loves us and wants the best for us, therefore, He tells us obey His rules in order that we will live happy lives as well as to help others around us do the same.

So, with these things said, the best way to begin a relationship with God is the same as with anyone else; spending time with Him and living life with Him. When you get to points in your life where you don’t know what to do, ask Him what to do. Share your thoughts and feelings with Him. Share the good, the bad and the secret. Do you think “what good will it do to share all those things with God?” Perhaps you wonder if God will reject you for what you say or the way you say it. All kinds of questions about what the result will be if you should start a close relationship with God arise, but then you will never know the answers to them if you do not try. Oh, did I forget to tell you that there is an element of risk when you start a relationship with anyone? Oh, yes, there is, but you will never understand that there really is no risk where God is concerned if you do not take the first step toward discovery. Risk of rejectino from other people? Certainly. From God? Never, but again, you won’t know that until you do what Moses did just before the waters parted before him...he got his feet wet first. He stepped into the water before he fully understood how God was going to meet his need (you will have to read the story to find out what I'm talking about). I can spend the rest of my time and effort telling you how great a relationship with God is and how trustworthy I’ve found Him to be, but this knowledge will never be yours unless you try to find this out for yourself. My hope and prayer is that you will step out of your comfort zone, take a risk and “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

As for the mechanics (the “how to”) of relationship with God. You take time to read the Bible, which is God’s words to you, and as you read, you will find that something which is written strikes a cord with you, and then you pray, or talk with God about it. You may find that you want to study that topic a little more, in which case you get out some of the study aids that have been mentioned in the "Tools of the Believer" blog to help you do this. We read God’s Word, and He “talks” with us through it, and we respond in prayer to Him about what He has said to us. As you go along, you will understand that there is no audible voice, but it comes through your thoughts; something will “pop” into your mind or when you read a scripture, it “pops” off the page at you and “speaks” directly to something that is on your mind. Remember, the Holy Spirit lives within you if you are a born again believer, and He speaks to us from our hearts. You will see that even after your quiet time with God is over, you may read something or someone may say something and it “speaks” to the issue you were discussing with God earlier in the day. There are all kinds of ways that God communicates with us, so, I encourage you to begin spending time with Him and begin to see for yourself just how wonderful a relationship with Him can be. May God richly bless you in this.

The Bible - Where to Start???

Now that you have a Bible and hopefully a journal (an inexpensive notebook will do just fine) and pen, you're ready to start reading your Bible.  But....where?  The Bible is huge! Not only that, it has a lot of other smaller books inside it!  Before, we get started reading, let's understand the mechanics of the Bible first.  As we've already noticed, the Bible is divided up into many smaller books, 66 books in total make up the entire Bible.  These books are divided into two main sections, the Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books).  The Old Testament contains writings before Jesus Christ entered into history, and the New Testament contains writings done after Jesus' earthly life.  The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Books of the Law or Pentateuch, in which we have a history of the creation of the world and all that lives in it, God's laws and God's earliest dealings with human beings as well as various sacrifices and festivals that God commanded His people to observe.  There are books that contain history of the early Israelite nation.  The biggest book is a collection of songs, called the Psalms, which were written by several men.  Proverbs is a collection of writings of wisdom that King Solomon wrote, and after that comes the most beautiful love story (Song of Songs).  This is followed by the prophetic books written by several of God's prophets.  The New Testament begins with the four books which make up the Gospel (good news), which contains a history of Jesus' birth, ministry, death, burial and resurrection from the dead.  The Book of Acts gives the history of the beginning of the church and follows the ministries of various apostles (those who had been around Jesus and witnessed His death and resurrection).  From there, there are various writings from different apostles who are writing either to churches in different regions or certain individuals in order to teach what Jesus had taught them.  The last book is the Book of Revelation which tells of things that are yet to happen and ends with all who took Jesus as their Savior, living in Heaven and the new earth for all eternity with God.  In Genesis, we see where sin made its entrance into the lives of the human race, and in Revelation, we see how sin was dealt with and will no longer affect another human being for all eternity. 

Now, getting back to where to start.  The Book of John in the New Testatment (you should be able to find it in the Table of Contents in the front of or in the middle of the Bible) is a great book to start in as it tells about the life of Jesus and what He taught.  Just go to the first page of the book of John, or whichever book you choose, and begin reading.  (Please go to the "Relationship with God" Blog).

Tools of the Believer

To begin, there are different items you will need as you begin your relationship with God (some things are just suggestions and not absolutely necessary, but they do help in understanding the Bible more fully or make Bible study easier).

1. The first item you will need is a Bible that you find easy to understand. There are different versions of the Bible: King James version (KJV), New King James version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New Living Translation (NLT), the Message (not recommended for intense study) to name just a few. The King James is the oldest and may be the most difficult for a new believer to understand as it is written in old English. The New King James version is the KJV in updated English; the others are also written in more modern English, so, feel free to look through them to see which format you like the best. You will be spending a lot of time reading your Bible, so, be sure you're comfortable with it. Also, there is a wide range in the cost of a Bible, so, if you go to your local Christian bookstore or to amazon.com to research Bibles, you will most likely find one that is best for you in all ways. The nice thing about amazon.com is that you may be able to find used Bibles that are in good condition and cost a fraction of a new Bible in the store, i.e. you may find a usually expensive Bible for a lot less. Bibles come in different bindings (hard, leatherbound and paperback), various colors, different sizes - from pocket size to much larger sizes, etc. There are also Bibles that are written especially for teenagers, young children, Mothers, Fathers, as well as themed Bibles which emphasize faith, womens' issues, more in-depth study Bibles, etc.  Even if you don't purchase a Bible online, you may like to visit Amazon or Christian Book Distributors just to look at all that is available.

2. Another item that you will find helpful during your Bible study is a personal journal where you can write down the passage you read, what you learned from it, how it applies to your life, what God said to you through it and prayers that you prayed. You may also like to get a small notepad to take with you to church to take notes in so you can review what you learned later on at home.


3. Other items you might find helpful are highlighters to mark scriptures that you find helpful, bookmarks, special pens/pencils that you use for your devotions (the time you devote to Bible reading and prayer), book tabs that you place on the beginning page of each book in the Bible to help you find a particular book more quickly, and a carrying case for your Bible which could be big enough to take a small notebook and pens/pencils with you to church.

4. A concordance and a Bible dictionary are very useful items. A concordance is a listing of various words that are found in the Bible and what scriptures contain that word. A Bible dictionary lists meanings for words found in the Bible that we are not necessarily exposed to in our modern day language or that may have had a different meaning at that time. You will be able to find a host of different websites that offer these items for free to use online (biblegateway.com is a very good resource). You may also like to look for books or websites listing topics that are covered in the Bible. You can do word studies (i.e. pick a word like “prayer” and look it up in a concordance to see what scriptures contain that word and what the meaning is in that particular passage).  (Please click on "The Bible - Where to Start???" blog)

Our Foundation

When you build a house, you have to have a good, solid foundation underneath it, because if you don’t, your house won’t remain standing for long. So it is with the foundation of our relationship with God - the foundation of love. It is vitally important that you understand that God loves you, right where you are, as you are, and regardless of what you’ve done in the past. He loves you regardless of your social standing. If you are human, then you are a beloved creation of God.

You might ask how I can be sure of God’s love for us. Perhaps you’ve had difficult relationships in the past where words of love were spoken but not acted out. This is where God’s love shines brightest. Not only does God tell us of His love for us in the Bible from cover to cover, but He showed His love for us when Jesus stretched out His arms on the cross and took the penalty for our sins upon Himself. Jesus showed us His love for us when He endured a brutal beating, whipping, rejection, being spat upon, and made fun of. He felt abandoned when He cried out to His Father, “why have you forsaken (abandoned) me???” from the cross. He endured all these horrendous things for our sakes, why? Because He loves us. He spoke words of love to us and then underlined them when He died for us. Pretty powerful. Not words only. Speaking of words...don’t just take my word for it. Using a concordance (see the "Tools of the Believer" blog), look up the word “love” and the phrase “God’s love” and let God tell you Himself. Let Him have His say. Others in your life have had theirs.....now it’s His turn.

If this wasn’t enough, God draws us closer to Himself by calling us His children. This is a very intimate relationship, and it includes privileges that outsiders don’t have. We can talk to God whenever we want, and we know He listens to us and responds to our prayers. We can find comfort, instruction, guidance, sympathy, love and acceptance from Him. He is happy that we exist! Has anyone ever told you that? When God was done creating the world and all things in it, He looked at it all, including mankind, and said it was all good. He was pleased with what He’d made, and this means He’s pleased with you. If we make mistakes or even sin willfully, He still loves us. Eventually, the unconditional love that He lavishes upon us will sink into hearts and we’ll find ourselves avoiding those things out of our love for Him. Take some time to really think about this. When you’re done, offer a prayer of thanksgiving to Him for loving you so much and then tell Him you accept His love for you. You can even ask Him to show His love to you in new ways; I know He will. As a matter of fact, if I know God, He will show you not just once, but many, many times.  (Please click on the "Tools of the Believer" blog next).

Plan of Salvation

In the beginning....God.... These are the very first words written in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis. The word, itself, means, the origin or coming into being of something, as defined by Webster's dictionary. Beginnings. Do you ever wonder who was there at the beginning of the earth, the solar systems, galaxies, etc.? God was. He decided to create the earth and all that lives in it, including human beings. He created us to have a relationship with Him; however, due to a bad choice on the part of the first human beings, all of us are born with a nature that is bent toward doing the wrong thing (sin), which, in turn, has created a broken relationship between us and God. If nothing is done to restore this relationship with God, we will go to a place called Hell when we die. Sound scary? Yes, it is, but it doesn't have to be. You see, God saw that man could not possibly mend our relationship with Him without His help, so, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for all mankind's sins, making a way for us to have this relationship with Him. Now, there is just one thing that stands between us and God and that is our freedom of choice. We can say yes to Him and accept His presence in our lives, or we can say no and turn away from Him. He makes it very clear, though, that if we reject Him, our eternal destination will be in Hell where there is great suffering forever and forever. If we accept Him, we will live with Him forever and forever in Heaven, which is a place of great joy, peace and freedom from all evil. Best of all, we will have a wonderful, face-to-face, relationship with God who loves us more than we can even imagine.

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking...it's God's way or no way, right? Well, that's true. I guess when you're the one making the rules, you can make them any way you want them. But think of it this way. Let's say you built a washing machine to wash your clothes in, but it tells you that it doesn't want to wash your clothes and just sits there doing nothing. The washing machine is not fulfilling its purpose, and it's not like you can use it like a toaster or a lawn mower. It has one purpose, and it's not fulfilling it. It's the same thing with us and God, and isn't that the most wonderful thing? God didn't create us to make Him richer, more handsome, have more importance or power or to be a servant to Him). God created us to have friendship with Him. He created us because He wanted to love us, and not just a little, but the Bible talks about lavish, extravagant love. Don't you think God giving His Son's life for ours is a pretty extravagant kind of love? Do you see how very much He loves you? He didn't hold back His own Son to restore a relationship with you. He even turned His back on His relationship with His Son, in order to restore the one He wants with you and He didn't have a guarantee that you would accept! What a risk He took! Do you see how much it cost Him? Would you give your only child so that you could have a relationship with someone else? I highly doubt it, but this is what God did. Therefore, let this love that God has for you, draw you to Him and please don't let this time go by without accepting Him into your life. If this is what you'd like to do, please pray something like this: Dear God, I admit that I have sinned and broke my relationship with You. I ask you to please forgive me, and I thank you that Jesus has paid for my sins. I ask you to come into my life. Thank you. Amen. Welcome to the family of God!  If you already prayed a prayer similar to this one, then, you don't need to pray it again.  Once you are saved, you are saved forever.  We will talk more about that in a later blog.  (Please click on the "Our Foundation" blog)

My Testimony

My name is Judy Webster and I live in the Binghamton, NY area.  I grew up in Groton, New York, which is about an hour's drive northwest of Binghamton.  I have a family heritage of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ from both sides of my family.  I grew up attending church where we celebrated Jesus Christ's birth and memorialized His death, but I never knew why He became a human being or why He died on a cross.  It wasn't until a friend of mine in grade school, Sue, invited me to Christian Camp that I first understood why He was born and why He died such an awful death, and it was there that I gave my heart to Him.  However, I kept attending my parents' church, and never really grew in my faith.  When I was 22 years old, I was living in a small apartment in Groton and Mr. Billy Graham was on the television talking about a "mugwump" or a fence sitter.  He said this is a person who has one foot in the world and one foot in Heaven (wanting to have their cake and eat it, too), and Mr. Graham said that we can't have it that way.  The Bible says that we must choose one or the other, and that day, sometime in March/April 1982, I asked the Lord Jesus to be my Savior.  I then went on to attend Word of Life Bible Institute (1983/1984) where I graduated with a one year Bible diploma.  I have been learning, growing in the knowledge of my Lord, and entering into a closer relationship with Him ever since.  (Now please click on the "Plan of Salvation" blog in the Blog Archive Section)