Tag: Christian Encouragement

Share Your Testimony

Testimony Tuesday: Karen’s Story

Michelle Lesley

Karen’s Story

From the Pulpit to Repentance

Several have asked me to share my journey from the pulpit to repentance. Ten years ago, my husband and I were Charismatic ministers. We served together as Associate Pastors of a church in Texas. I was on the preaching schedule with the men, monthly. Yes, I got the accolades and approval of the church, and the association we were involved with until…. The grace of God reached down and pulled my husband and me both back to the Word of God and out of the fire.

Here is a snapshot of the journey, our journey. It is hard to share. In fact, I have shared our story with select few. Sure, this will bring fiery darts my way, but I really couldn’t care less. I trust that this will help open the eyes of those seeking Truth.

I met my husband in an evangelical church, he was a youth pastor at the time. Both of us were from very Biblically based churches. My husband was the son of a Baptist minister. As a student at Biola College, I remember the warning given to the students by my professor, Dr. Curtis Mitchell, against tongues and the unbiblical Charismatic movement. Truth is, I was curious as most college age young people. I found myself wondering if Dr. Mitchell knew what he was talking about.

I met my husband my sophomore year of Biola. He had a full time job and was a youth pastor. He had a ministry to teens and the kids loved him. He was everything that I prayed and asked God for. We were married one year after we met. I wish I could say we lived happily ever after. When you are on God’s team, attacks come, and they are very real. As a young couple, we found ourselves in two churches, both with serious issues.

After one year of marriage, he was offered a position as a youth pastor at the beach, one block from the ocean. It was an awesome church where we were both very happy. The youth group was growing, kids’ lives were being changed, and parents were grateful. All was well until . . . the senior pastor asked a friend of his to become the Associate Pastor. The new staff member immediately began to breed distrust between the staff. He had an agenda, to bring a copy of the Satan bible into the youth group and have the kids read it. We found ourselves in a spiritual battle that we had never anticipated. We did not want to cause a church split so my husband resigned. (We found out later that this man had a history of going from church to church and causing splits!)

Another local Baptist church contacted my husband. His youth pastor was being transferred by his full-time job, and Phil was asked to step in.

Things were going well at the new church. The youth group was thriving. Nine months in to the job, the senior pastor was asked to resign, the music director’s wife divorced him, and then the music director committed suicide. Upset, discouraged, angry at God were only some of my emotions. I wanted to quit the ministry. We both were so discouraged. It was at that point that Phil decided that he was through with the ministry. We were done!

The last two churches had taken their toll on us. We hardly read the Bible, only attended church. Our marriage was having issues and another baby was on the way. We were trying to keep ourselves together, no one knew the depth of our pain and discouragement. Looking back, I can see clearly that what happened to us was a direct attack from the enemy.

In the midst of the pain, I knew that the God was the answer. Not wanting anything more to do with the traditional church, I gravitated towards the popular charismatic movement. Some of my family had gone that direction, they seemed happy – so I thought maybe that’s what we needed.

Looking back. I now see now that it was all a trap. The discouragement with the church, the hurt, thinking that God let us down . . . we were slowly being destroyed. I got into the Charismatic movement first. I started by going to meetings, listening to TBN, talking to my family. Phil tried to warn me but being hard headed, stubborn and thinking I knew more than he did (he wasn’t reading his Bible so what could he say to me????) I took the bait and had my first experience. I say “experience” because everything seemed to be an experience from that point on. To be truthful, I did feel happier, read my Bible, (substituted the KJV with the Amplified version), and was nicer to live with. He decided that because I had made some positive changes that maybe I was on to something. He jumped in with me and we started attending a Charismatic fellowship. Please note as I write from this point on, the progression . . .

Discouragement, mad at God, feeling empty, Charismatic appeals, we take the bait.

At no time did we consult God’s Word on any of the teaching we were hearing. The Bible was used in the sermons with enough truth that we bought into the lie.

We moved our family to Tulsa. Phil enrolled in Rhema but half way through the first year, he left school. We look back and see the grace of God even in that situation. In the meantime, we had become friends with another couple and she and I were convinced we were supposed to be ministers. Women ministers were all the rage, and all were serving with their husbands, so why not us? We all continued in the Word of Faith churches in Tulsa, voraciously reading every book, attending meetings. At one point, we all decided to be ordained. After applying and being interviewed, we were ordained along with many other couples.

We found a church that was growing and we got involved. We thought we could use our “ministry gifts” there. We did become leaders in the church. I led a woman’s group and together we did a weekly care group in our home. We were being destroyed emotionally as the church was spiritually abusive. It was taking its toll on everyone, including our kids. We both began to see how the Word of God was being twisted from the pulpit to say things that were not there and there was no demonstration of the love of God.

One morning, while having my quiet time, I read an article about spiritually abusive churches and the signs of a toxic, abusive environment. Everything I read we were experiencing. It was clear that we had to leave.

I went to my husband with tears streaming down my face and shared what I believed God was saying. I trusted him to make a family decision. It was the next Sunday that the pastor stood up and said to the congregation, “If you are called to this church, you are called to me.” Walking out, my husband looked at me and said, “We are done.” We quit the fellowship with a resignation letter and never looked back.

A job change was in the air. We both got jobs in Dallas, TX. We left Oklahoma and never looked back. Our daughter moved to Seattle and within a few years, our son did the same. We were all out of Oklahoma!

After a couple of years, we decided to go back to church but did not know where to go. Someone had invited us to attend a little Charismatic start up church and we went. We fell in love with the Filipino pastor and his dear wife. We started going and helping them. The pastor invited us to be on staff and he submitted papers for our ministerial license. (We had rescinded our other ministry certificates years earlier). We became co-associate pastors. We loved the people and we both preached one Sunday a month. Phil and I had begun our personal studies at home, using the KJV Bible. We studied the Emergent Church and saw how it was infiltrating the organization. We read John MacArthur’s book, Charismatic Chaos, and scales began to fall from our eyes. Everything that John MacArthur wrote in his book was 100% accurate. We had experienced it first hand and had lived it.

When I saw that I had not held to the faith that was once delivered to the saints, tears of repentance gushed. I cried for weeks. I had wronged the Lord. I had been duped, taken the bait of Satan, and strayed way off the track. Phil had his own similar moment with the Lord. The beautiful part of this testimony is that each of us came to the same place at the same time using the same Bible. God, in his grace, had snatched us out of the fire. We now had a decision to make. We then drafted a letter of resignation to the organization and walked away.

We were done. We had each other, we had God’s Word. We had already walked away from Word of Faith in Tulsa, and now we walked away from everything Charismatic. The circle was complete. We went into Babylon but God brought us out. We found a Biblical church where women are in their place. I have never looked back.

If you are reading this, I plead with you to think Bible, read your Bible, stop listening to Charismatic/Word of faith/Emergent church and women preachers. We tossed books, tapes, cd’s, Bibles. Our library was quite large. Yes, we tossed our huge library in the trash.

Today we stand on God’s Word. I don’t need to preach to be fulfilled. God has given me a national platform in a dental organization. I influence women all over the country and as God gives opportunity, I share his grace. I found my place in Christ, in my marriage, and in my church. I am 100% fulfilled being the person God has called me to be.

Today I stand heart- broken as I look across Christianity and see the deception. With tears, I am humbled and grateful for God’s grace, His forgiveness, His love, and the Truth of His Word.

We have come full circle – back to the Bible and the roots we were raised with. I pray that you too will find the Truth. Seek and Ye shall find. Here is a clue . . . Truth is in God’s Word!

Ladies, God is still at work in the hearts and lives of His people, including yours! Would you like to share a testimony of how God saved you, how He has blessed you, convicted you, taught you something from His Word, brought you out from under false doctrine, placed you in a good church or done something otherwise awesome in your life? Private/direct message me on social media, e-mail me (MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com), or comment below. Your testimony can be as brief as a few sentences or as long as 1500 words. Let’s encourage one another with God’s work in our lives!

Share Your Testimony

Testimony Tuesday: Bekki’s Story

Michelle Lesley

Bekki’s Story

Part One – MY LIFE IN ADAM.

I was born, raised and educated in a religion. I attended church weekly and then some. I married my husband, Jeremy, in 1996 and when we decided to start a family, we discovered I had health issues. Naturally, without knowing God, I took control of the situation and was determined to resolve my own problems. I turned to self-help books, spiritual gurus and all sorts of herbs, teas and magic tonics. Despite my miserable efforts, God graciously gave us our son, Ace in 2002. You would think I would have seen God’s hand in all of this and given Him the glory, but sadly, “blind men don’t see nothing”! So I continued my downward spiral. In 2012, my dad passed away suddenly. Foolishly, I thought my “advice” was helping my dad. Not so.

Later that same year, I had an appointment with one of these self-help gurus. Oddly enough, this appointment was very different from the rest – instead of my physical health being the issue, he began asking me questions about my spiritual health: who I thought God was, who Jesus Christ was, who I prayed to and the like. I was speechless! (a special moment for my husband, no doubt). :o)

No one had ever contested nor questioned me on my faith up to this point in my life. Each time I stumbled through with an answer to his question, he then responded with a Scriptural text and added, “But, don’t believe me, read this!” all the while patting his hand on a Bible laying nearby. Something was changing. I left there that day and actually began to ponder over the questions he asked me about God. For the very first time in my life, even though apprehensive, I actually wanted to see and to know what was in the Bible (remember, this is after 12 years of religious education).

I asked Jeremy if he would read the Bible with me. He said “Sure – but can you find me a really dumbed-down version”? Being the loving wife I am, I replied, “Absolutely” while I searched for a Bible loaded with colorful pictures!

Seriously! You can’t make up something like this! A paraphrased version and a picture Bible most third graders would be envious of!

Part Two – MY LIFE IN CHRIST

On January 1, 2013 we opened our Bibles for the very first time as husband and wife and began reading. We read daily, finishing on June 5, 2013. How could we have prepared ourselves for the authority, the power, the vitality coming forth from the pages of the written Word? I remember growing up being told that I could never understand the Bible. Yet, here we sat, day after day, in our living room, reading the Bible and beginning to understand. It was so real. In retrospect, we now know, the Word was coming alive and active to our darkened souls. It was like God, through His Word, was unfolding and explaining our lives – to us.

There I stood convicted, in awe of a Holy, Holy, Holy God I had never known. I saw myself truthfully, as He did. The pedestal I had been standing on for nearly 40 years was knocked out from under me. I knew I needed to be saved! I repented and trusted in Jesus Christ and His finished work. No longer did I see Christ as dead, hanging on a crucifix (as I had all those years in the church I grew up in) but He was now alive – in reality and in my own heart!

Seeing Jesus Christ in His full majesty through the gospel has been nothing short of a miracle in our lives!

Who could have imagined?

For the first time in our lives, we actually care about the things that God cares about. The things we used to think were so important, we have lost track of. We now genuinely care what people know about God. And His Son. Who would have thought that we would one day walk away from the religion, the traditions, we had both been brought up in for 40 years? Who could have known we would one day sit in a church where the Word of God is expounded verse by verse? Who would have ever imagined that we would now be sharing the gospel – even to a young Muslim man helping us load our TV – in Walmart’s parking lot! Who could have known that the power of the gospel would lead us to joining our first Bible study ever? And, that we LOVED it? And that study would lead to the next…and the next…and the next! How could we ever imagined that reading God’s Word – the double edged sword – would expose and convict us of our sins? How could we have known the Little Missouri River, along which Jeremy was raised, would one day be our place of baptism? As believers! How could we have ever taught our son about the Lord Jesus Christ…had we not first been taught?

Who could have ever imagined?

But God!

If it were not for the gospel…the very power of God through His Living Word – we would have never known LIFE from DEATH!

As a side note, in case you are wondering: Jeremy and I have moved on to Big People’s Bibles now! :o)

May I leave you with this: I know Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet” but I love his passion/depth in his words and I think he says best what my heart, my new life in Christ, the LIVING WORD says: “But if I say, I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name, HIS WORD is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Ladies, God is still at work in the hearts and lives of His people, including yours! Would you like to share a testimony of how God saved you, how He has blessed you, convicted you, taught you something from His Word, brought you out from under false doctrine, placed you in a good church or done something otherwise awesome in your life? Private/direct message me on social media, e-mail me (MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com), or comment below. Try to be brief (3-4 paragraphs or less) if possible. I’ll select a few to share on the blog another time. Let’s encourage one another with God’s work in our lives!

Share Your Testimony

Testimony Tuesday: Berna Deene’s Story II

Michelle Lesley

Berna Deene’s Testimony II

(You may remember Berna Deene’s previous Testimony Tuesday story. Here, she  graciously shares with us another instance of God working in her life.)

Background….Brand new born again babe in Christ Jesus. In August 2011 I walked into a church with very few members. Only about twelve. I made thirteen. Only four men counting the pastor. The rest all women. I didn’t know much of anything but I was hungry and on fire for our Lord. I read my Bible daily and studied hermeneutics in depth.

One year later, I was asked to be Sunday School Superintendent. When asked, I said, “No, definitely not!”. “Why?” they asked. I told them it is not biblical.

A few weeks later during elections at church I was nominated for the position, and like a split personality I said yes (the devil and/or our flesh gets in when we least expect it!). I felt obliged because there was no one else.

I did it for three weeks. I loved it! I really loved it! I would open with a reading from Charles Spurgeon, Sunday School business, and a prayer. Then I was asked one simple question by my biological brother who happens to be a pastor and my mentor. He simply asked me, “So you’ve changed your mind about women’s place in the church….hmmmmmm?” My answer was a resounding NO. I know what it says in the Bible. So what was I doing?!!! On the third Sunday of my being Sunday School Superintendent , instead of Spurgeon and the rest, this is what I opened (and closed) with 1 Timothy 2:8-15:

I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

It is not me
It is Thee,
It is not we,
It is Thee.

I can not pray in earnest for something, then act as though God won’t answer. I surrendered all to God not quite a year ago. I pray to be an uncompromising follower. I pray for His church.

I pray for the men in my [church] family. I pray for their repentance, salvation, hunger and love of our Lord. I pray for their unerring obedience in God and that they step up and be the spiritual leaders of our family that He designed them to be.

How can I pray for the patriarchs to lead if I then accept the position strictly for them? As long as there is a Godly man in my household, in my church, I am commanded by God that they are to lead.

Christ is the head. Man is next, and then the woman. I spent my entire life railing against this fact. When our gracious, loving, almighty, forgiving God saved me, when I got up off my face and knees, He laid His truths before me. He opened my eyes to this undeniable hierarchy. He gave me a totally new heart and flipped my perspective 180 degrees to His Way, His Truth and His Life.

I surrendered. I am grateful. I have to obey Him. His word says I must not hold an office or teach or preach to Godly men in His church. Godly men are called to be our leaders. While I joyfully may continue to be the custodian of His church, the bell ringer, and an avid student who comes to praise, pray and seek Him, I can not, nay I am not allowed to hold the office of Superintendent as long as there are Godly men to do so. And I fervently pray that we always have Godly men in this church.

So as much as I love each and every one of you here, and want you to love me in return, as much as I want this church to succeed in all it does, I must not want it at the expense of Scripture. I am stepping down and I pray that one of you men step
into this position rather than leave it empty. If not, I am sure we can study without a superintendent.

And I want to thank The Most Holy Father, the Blessed Son, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, my comforter.

And with that, I resigned. And don’t you know one of the men stepped up and stepped into that spot.

Fast forward 3 years…I had already left this little church for other reasons, but lo and behold, they have had a women in the pulpit for over 5 years now. I was thankful to not have been there when she stepped behind the pulpit.

Ladies, God is still at work in the hearts and lives of His people, including yours! Would you like to share a testimony of how God saved you, how He has blessed you, convicted you, taught you something from His Word, brought you out from under false doctrine, placed you in a good church or done something otherwise awesome in your life? Private/direct message me on social media, e-mail me (MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com), or comment below. Try to be brief (3-4 paragraphs or less) if possible. I’ll select a few to share on the blog another time. Let’s encourage one another with God’s work in our lives!

Christian women

You’re Not Awesome…and You Know It

Michelle Lesley

I am absolutely weary of some of the memes aimed at Christian women these days. You know the ones I mean, ladies- the ones with lovely pictures of flowers or an ocean or a meadow with a superimposed flowing script practically BEGGING us to believe how much worth we have to God, how awesome we are, how we need to discover the greatness within, how God gives us limitless potential and a superfantastic divine purpose, blah, blah, blah.

You know why they have to take that begging tone to try to get us to believe those things? Because they’re not true. You know it, and I know it.

You’re not awesome or great or imbued with some radical purpose or potential that will magically make your life phenomenal and give you oodles of self esteem once you discover it.

You’re a dirty, stinking, rotten, rebellious sinner. You yell at your kids. You don’t submit to your husband. You act out of selfishness. You lie. You gossip. You covet. You bow down to your idols instead of to Christ. You sin against a holy and righteous God in a thousand ways every day in thought, word, and deed. Just like I do. Let’s put on our big girl panties and just admit it. (1 John 1:8,10)

That’s why these memes and false teachers have to try so hard to convince us of how terrific we are- deep down we know we’re not. It’s a lie. And putting all our eggs in the basket of that lie of greatness sets us up for disappointment and self-loathing every time we sin.

Ladies, stop listening to this hearts and flowers, cotton candy, pump up your ego so you’ll feel better about yourself dreck, and put your faith and hope in the One who will never let you down. The One who looked at all your nasty thoughts and evil deeds and said, “I’m going to the cross for her anyway.” The One who sees all your daily faults and failures and is still willing to forgive when you repent. The One who’s faithful to you even when you’re not faithful to Him.

Stop focusing on how great you are – because you’re not – and put your focus on Christ and how great, and awesome, and superfantastic, and terrific He is. Because if you’re feeling bad about yourself, it’s not because you don’t have a high enough self esteem. It’s because you don’t have a high enough Christ esteem.

We’re not worthy. He is. Let’s get over ourselves and give Him the glory, and honor, and attention, and focus, and praise He so richly deserves.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24

Encouragement, Share Your Testimony

Testimony Tuesday: Stories from Several Sisters

Michelle Lesley

On today’s Testimony Tuesday,
several sisters in Christ share their stories.

From Facebook:

Cheryl’s Story
Words are powerful, and when they are well intended, but off-base, they can cause massive damage.

About 25 years ago we lost two of our three babies to a genetic disease. When the second of the two was still with us, (they died 4 years apart), a well-intentioned person came to encourage us, and told us, “If you have enough faith, your baby will live”.

Those words were a hook that dragged me through years and years of torment. “If I have enough faith, then…” My baby died, so it became MY FAULT because I didn’t have sufficient faith. It also made God someone who couldn’t be pleased. How much faith DOES one need to get a miracle, and how do you get it?? It was a huge can of worms.

Two decades later, I broke down into a major depression that nearly ended my life, but God led me to safe counsel, and I was truly, finally healed from carrying that horrible guilt and grief all those years.

Words are powerful. Use wisdom because sometimes Satan uses well-intentioned words as bait that have lies wrapped in them.

Anonymous
I was going to a charismatic church and the pastor started promoting and giving Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Life out to all the new Christians. I was very concerned since I don’t agree with Warren’s teaching so I made an appointment to meet with the pastor and his wife (who is a co-pastor). They didn’t agree with my concerns at all and even mentioned during the conversation that they like Joel Osteen! I knew then that it was time for me to leave that church. I started attending a Baptist church and have left the Word of Faith doctrine completely. Feeling very blessed to be where I am now!

Comments from blog articles:

From The Mailbag: I “feel led” in a different direction from my husband:

Deby’s Story
Submission has gotten a bad rap in our society. It is not being a doormat or being mentally or a physically abused submission. It is submitting as if to Christ. My husband was not a believer and now he is. It was hard for me not to nag him about things, I had to trust God and put my husband in God’s hands and his will. Sure I made some mistakes along the way but eventually in God’s timing not mine, he called my husband to the faith.

Catherine’s Story
When I was first married, I was the unsaved and my dearest husband was the Believer. You have no idea what that man of mine had to put up with in the first 2 years of our marriage before the Lord got a hold of my heart and I was made to look at my own depravity, sinful desires, and all-around foolishness. I am a fortunate woman that my husband stuck around for that conversion, and I know that too was part of a Sovereign Lord’s plan and one that I cannot thank Him enough for. After 32 years of marriage, I have not “arrived”. I look back on those first couple years and I’m humbled by what the study of God’s Word and the sanctification that the Spirit works in a person’s life has done to change me so completely.

Ladies, God is still at work in the hearts and lives of His people, including yours! Would you like to share a testimony of how God saved you, how He has blessed you, convicted you, taught you something from His word, brought you out from under false doctrine, placed you in a good church or done something otherwise awesome in your life? Private/direct message me on social media, e-mail me (MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com), or comment below. Try to be brief (3-4 paragraphs or less) if possible. I’ll select a few to share on the blog another time. Let’s encourage one another with God’s work in our lives!