GOSH you are really horrible and quite without any perception.
I was saved 28 years ago and of course I didn't know the Bible at all then. Since then, as I said, I have made up for lost time, even being CRITICIZED for reading it too much...in all those 28 years, getting to know that what the Lord planted in me was in fact all written in His word.
You seem incapable of reading a post on here without misinterpreting it. Why would that be? You claim to have the Holy Spirit but I am wondering what kind of spirit it is that leads you into such arrogance, that you would attack people who clearly know by experience the testimony of Jesus, as opposed to all that head knowledge you like to boast in.
Perhaps you would like to tell us what happened when you "received the Holy Spirit" as you claim. I could talk all night about my experiences because they are a source of constant joy and full of revelation.
How about you?
Thank you so much for asking me to give my testimony of God's glorious salvation of my soul! I can only praise the Lord for this opportunity to share how I was saved, and the transforming work God has done in my life and heart.
So I was a professional musician, making people drunk for a living. Including myself. What I put myself through doesn't bear repeating, but God must have had his hand on me even in those days.
I knew I was empty, and I went from total atheism to realizing there must be some sort of "god" which was a revelation from God himself. So I started searching for spiritual truth. I studied with Hindus, meditated with Buddhists, got hooked into the New Age movement and people like Alice Bailey. I danced with Sufis, and jointed a Bah'ai study group. I was really going downhill fast - if you can go downhill after you hit bottom!
Meanwhile, there was a revival going on in the area where I lived. One man, who had been a drunkard, and sleeping with his wife's best friend got miraculously saved. His wife, who was raised Jewish, woke up in the middle of the night to the Hebrew prayer of the dead. God told her to look across the room and there was her husband on his knees, praying to Jesus to forgive him. God told his wife that the old man was dead, and the new man was born again through Jesus.
That man became an evangelist. There was a 50 minute ferry ride, I had to go on daily, and he would ride it all day, give out tracts and give his testimony. It freaked me out. Because I knew there had been an amazing change in him, from the jerk he had been. I knew he believed that Jesus was real, but I just couldn't believe it.
But it did make me decide to read the Bible, mostly out of respect for my Christian, praying grandmother, and because I had tried everything else. But the Bible was a total mystery to me. I had question marks and circles on every page. It just didn't make sense. Or maybe it was because I was coming home drunk from the bar and reading it? No, it just made no sense to me.
So more and more people were getting saved and witnessing to me. It was downright convicting, but if you don't believe, and you can't believe, it just remains a nice story seen from the outside.
Then my future husband and I decided to take a trip - he had to do some job interviews, and I wanted to take a look at the university I had applied to, to continue my education. We were up on the top of the mountain visiting my beautiful new university, where I did eventually graduate from and also got my teacher's certificate.
We wandered around and enjoyed the view, the buildings etc. Then we got back to his Blazer. The truck wouldn't start. We even tried to jump start it and it was just dead. Then I heard a small voice telling me we needed to hit the solenoid with a hammer. I told my future husband and he laughed - he knew a lot about mechanics! But he did it anyway and that old Blazer started, and worked the rest of the time we were away, and took us the 500 miles home. But it gets better. W(hen we got home the Blazer died again in front of my house. This time my future husband had all his tools. He took the battery out and charged it. It would not hold a charge. He took it to some mechanic friends of his, and they said they had never seen a deader battery. But God just kept that battery going, because he knew he was going to show up and save me on the way home! An amazing miracle!)
On the way home, my husband started talking to me about repentance. I had a Bible background from Baptist Sunday school as a child, so we started recalling all the Biblical characters who repented. Like David, Peter and Mary Magdalene. I told him about some demonic strongholds that others had put on me.
Suddenly, I heard a voice saying, "I am the Saviour of the world." I was stunned. I knew it was Jesus. Then, I realized that Jesus was MY Saviour! I told my future husband and we stopped the car, and had a praise and prayer meeting. God told me to give up drinking, and I have never had another drop or wanted one either, in 35 years. He told me to read the bible. I already knew I needed to go to church.
When I got home that night, I picked up the Bible I had been reading. I looked at the pages of that Bible, that I had not understood in months of reading. I looked at the circles and question marks and suddenly the bible made sense! It was all about Jesus! It was the revelation of Jesus! I had met the author of the book, and the Holy Spirit began began to open my eyes to the truths laid out in the bible.
People were stunned when they saw the change in me. I went to that man that first witnessed to me and we rejoiced together at the miracle God had done in not only saving a sinner like me, but in changing a broken and yet hardened heart.
As for me, I realized that God had been standing behind me the whole time. He was just waiting for me to turn around - repentance! Shub in the Hebrew, metanoia in the Greek. My husband filled in that part of the missing puzzle for me. And he has done that with many other people, in bringing them to Christ.
So I found the truth, or really, the Truth found me! As for the next 35 years, some ups and downs, highs and lows, but Jesus always walking with me, the Holy Spirit always leading and guiding me. Some major failures on my part to obey God especially concerning the call to Seminary. But God gave me a second chance, and the journey continues to be a joy, a delight, and sometimes a challenge.
And getting back to the OP, I did a book study in Seminary of Pilgrim's Progress, because I needed one more credit hour of on-campus courses to graduate. It wasn't a course I would have taken otherwise. I don't like archaic language. But it turned out the language was pretty understandable. And the book seemed to document my journey after I was saved. It is amazing how the Christian experience with God remains the same through the centuries, and how God touches the hearts and lives of his people as the obey and follow him with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength.
