From the dawn of man the people knew in their minds that there was a God. He speaks to man more often than they think and he speaks not in words or audible voice but in sudden bursts of understanding or a leading to do something. His voice is clear to me as his presence is close to me. I have learned much more of him as I have aged and struggled with life. I have learned the way he wants me to lead my life and the way of his will for my life. It is with joy abundant that I tell you how much of a relief that was to find out! When I was younger I thought that God wanted me to go on some religious crusade to Africa or something. I was terrified!

I stumbled around from error to mistake in my young life. Life was hard for me, that was for sure! My problem is that my parents did not go to church and my friends didn't know any more than I did. I was terrified of preachers and I really had no way to learn anything. Still I had heard the voice of God when I was young deep in the heart of me. I had no way of putting words to it or speak of it until one day my mom told me, just like that, that there was a God. That was about it too...

I knew then that seeking God was to be important in my life although I really had no way to find him. At age 11 I got a King James Version Bible. It was way too big and looked to be difficult in 15th century English and all those thee's and thou's. This was going to be hard! Anyway, I didn't know what most of the words meant. I put a marker in that bible where the ten commandments were located. I had read them and as far as I knew about God those were pretty important to him. I assumed that I would never break one and so I closed the book and then it gathered dust for a long while.

I really don't know any way to explain to you about God except you read about my life and the way I learned and the revelations that he gave to me. Right now, I should say that I don't want to run afoul of doctrinal snags or what you might think or what you might believe. I am only going to say the truth as it happened to me. Not everyone is the same. If you are afraid I might shake your dogma then stop now.

One day around the time that I was thirty. I did the unbelievable thing. I broke a commandment! I was going to hell, yes, the hot one! You see, I had heard of Christ but didn't know where to put him. I had God, so what did I need him for? Well, God is always on time. I was totally lost and heartbroken at that time. I was home alone and so I turned on the TV. The truth is that God intervenes in our lives a whole lot more than people think he does!! The TV came on with a church program on. The preacher of a local church was speaking on the ten commandments. On the very one I broke! Gee! how is that for luck! He first discussed the sin of breaking the commandment and then for the first time in my life I learned something very new about God. He had a safety net for those who had fallen through the cracks in life. That was where Christ came in! Well, I always wondered. He went on to explain that Christ gave himself for man so that the repentant sinner would have a path to heaven. He did so right before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Before that the Mosaic law was all man had. His timing is always right in time.

Needless to say, I jumped at the opening and accepted Christ into my life. I resolved to toss away my bottles of brew and quit the stuff. I was still a mess though, and so weak in Christ I still knew nothing and had such little faith that most of the time it was absent without leave...

Then I began to doubt my conversion. Something that most Christians go through. I had a time of sagging faith but in the depths of doubt I resolved a firmness to go forward with Christ and accept the Bible and try to learn more. Then things got better. I began to go to churches. I read my Bible and began to understand. I listened to preachers on TV too and got a better understanding. Over the many years I discovered that simply believing in God, accepting Christ and believing the Bible was not enough for most churches. They had their own thing going. In the early times of the Christian church the believers would just gather somewhere and sing and read and share their belief with others. Then came Constantine! The Emperor Constantine I was the sole ruler of the Roman world between 324 and 337 C.E.; his reign was perhaps one of the most crucial of all the emperors in determining the future course of western civilization. He made Christianity the religious foundation of his realm. In so doing he changed the nature of Christian gatherings into a state religion. He built churches and hired men to run them. He has even been sainted by the eastern orthodox church. The question that appears to me is should a hired man be the spiritual leader of a church? Over time some churches became so large that they could afford to build new churches and sent men of their own choosing to lead them. Is this the right way for believers to assemble?

Over time these churches did things their way. Did they develop dogma out of their desire to build a simpler church? Perhaps they did. It became obvious that they did not want to teach all of the Bible and many of the people were simple and could not even read. Some churches did not even want people reading the Bible. The preacher wanted to rule supreme and not be corrected by someone else who had read the book. Then we got so many different kinds of churches. Mostly variations of accepting part of the Bible and perhaps other books too. The Bible warns severely about this on the last page but they disregarded it all. Today's churches are in serious trouble. Some churches do not even believe in God. They have strayed far from the truth, but there are still some churches who hold to the truth and some pastors who are mature Christians. It is up to the believer to sort them all out. To find a church that still believes, for all Christians should continue to gather together

I stated all this to get you to understand more of God. There is so much untruth out there to confuse you that you will have a difficult time if you are to mature spiritually. I was struggling with all the different doctrines and dogmas too. It was hard for me to believe that a preacher cared more for his dogma made by man than he cared for the truth and for God. I decided about this time that I wanted to place no limits on what God wanted to give me. I had learned enough by then to realize he wanted the best for me and I wanted all I could get and more! Man has nothing to fear from God if he is committed to him and living apart from sin. Ah Sin! That troublesome word. The most political incorrect word of the new century. Some Christians believe that they are living in sin and being Christians too. To my understanding that is not correct. Pardon me for thinking and reading my Bible but to me it is a family thing. Once a person accepts Christ, for sure he is adopted into the family of God. He is no longer living in sin. Sure we still all do stupid things and make mistakes, but there is a big difference! Does your father kill you because you wrecked the car? Lets hope not. You are still family and so he corrects you and he still loves you. You are not outside the family and in sin. When you are in sin you are at enmity with God. That means you are an enemy of God. See the difference?

When I was young in Christ I wanted to see him do big things like miracles and something spectacular. I know I was silly, but I knew he could do it, and I wondered why he avoided it. As I grew older toward the end of my life I began to see though the flimsy framework of this world and the things that I wanted to see in my youth were all around me. I wish I could tell you of the wonderful things that my wife and I have seen God do. Such love he has for us is never quite understood. His love is bigger than we are capable of understanding. While he wants the best for us as we are struggling and growing he knows that we need that time to become an overcomer of this world. I live today at the peak of my life. I care not if it is on the edge of this world. No matter to me. I have no fear because I live with him so close to me that life is a joy. I know that the best lies ahead. It is a shame to me to realize that so many people only wanted a fire insurance policy out of their church and may never come to realize what God could mean to them. They attend church while they still live in unforgiveness and hatred. One church condemning the other, and people doing what they have always done. Building walls between each other. If only, if only, they could get a real peek at God. To understand his love and to have his seed of love he placed in us grow to mountain high. To become what he wants of us. Nothing is impossible with God!

To understand God is really too simple for most people. He wants to help and love you and to lead your life through the problems; To permit you to grow into something you will be proud of. He still has the best for us later on, but life is still our test. Our life is not our own. We still live, but in such joy with him that life has taken wings. To be selfish and live your life without God and for yourself is to become evermore an alien to the commonwealth of God and to live in a depraved short life. God's wish is that all would recieve his love and that all would come to his call. Today, only very, very, few make it. The world has become quite hostile to Christians and that will only get worse. The choice, as always, is yours to make. He gives everyone free will to choose.

Revelation 22:18-19 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.

The OldSalt