My Salvation Testimony
John S.
Oliver
Begun on
My life before accepting
Christ:
I was seeking satisfaction in
all the wrong places including:
Pornography
Promiscuity
Getting drunk
Getting high on pot
Taking trips on acid (LSD)
Lifeless church services
Eastern religions
Yoga
Meditation
Tarot
Various other New Age practices
Each of these promised much but
delivered very little. None of these provided real peace, love, joy,
contentment, serenity, comfort or meaning.
I wasted my time, money, energy
and hope going down these dead end paths. There were always plenty of other
people doing the same activity. Most of us were seeking
for:
Illusive happiness
Comfort to the discomfort of their daily
life
An
escape from boredom, drudgery, disappointment
A
way to connect with spiritual truth
A
substance, activity, relationship that would medicate the deep soul
wounds
These unbiblical alternatives
never worked. So we just tried harder, ingested more, tried the newest stuff,
did things in different combinations, got more busy making money, read yet
another book, blamed someone, etc.
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THE NARRATIVE OF MY LIFE BEFORE
CHRIST
As a small child my family had
attended church regularly. Before 7 years old I learned some Bible stories about
some major Bible characters.
My family attended less often
until it was zero. During junior high and high schoolI asked my playmates and
classmates who attended church, to prove God to me. All they had was weak
platitudes. They did not
have
a personal testimony of their rebirth
have
evidence of a changed life
have
a testimony of answered prayers
know
any apologetics (the order and design in creation demands a
Creator)
know
what books to recommend
I graduated from high school in
1971 and then attended Georgia Tech. I sought but did not find God at three
large campus ministries. I never heard the gospel message in my dozens of
visits.
I joined and became a leader in
a Greek Fraternity. I got drunk often. Promiscuity like pornography promised
much, but after a short while left the same emptiness.
From my middle teens to my
early twenties, I was an agnostic. I was not sure if God existed but I did not
think so. The dominant question in my soul was – “Does God exist?” If He does
not exist then 1) the coffin is the end of the road, 2) indulging my flesh is
just as good a purpose as any and 3) church is just a meaningless religious
club.
However, if God does exist,
then who is God and what does He have to say about how I am to live my life? I
intuitively felt that idolizing pleasure was not the noblest way to honor God.
While at home during my junior
summer I met a man that was a multimillionaire. He was rumored to be playboy
with girlfriends all over the place.
He invited college students to come clean up his yacht during the
afternoon. Then he would pay us by providing all the beer and burgers we could
consume that night. When I met him I was impressed with his misery. He was using
heavy drinking to escape the pain of life. That behavior was just like me. God
used this encounter to destroy my deep-seated motivation to become a rich
playboy myself. After all, why invest the next decades of my life to climb that
mountain of material success -- if in the end, all it offers is to use more
expensive booze to escape the same emptiness of a purposeless
life?
During those same months I grew
very close to my grandmother. She was weak from the cancer treatments. She moved
in with my family. I tended to her needs for many weeks. At the end of the
summer she slipped into a coma and suddenly died. Her death confronted me with
my mortality. This shock led me to consider eternal and spiritual matters much
more carefully.
When I returned to school that
fall I got big news from my girl friend. We had planned to marry after
graduation. (This was the first of three engagements. However I have never been
married; and I do not have any children.) She had decided to become a surgeon
that summer. She no longer had time for me. (She had worked that summer as the
receptionist at the office of her aunt, who was a surgeon.)
That fall was very painful for
me. For the first time I skipped classes. I lacked motivation or support to
study. My grades were horrible that term. The next term I choose to not return
in order to get some direction for my life. Into this vacuum came a cult named
Arica.
I took the training to become a
teacher in the cult. I was qualified to teach the basics of meditation, yoga and
their eclectic brand of eastern philosophy.
Many of the members of the cult
were habitual drug users. I got hooked on pot. I dropped acid several times. I
had a near-death experience when my body was full of illegal chemicals. Later
while high on drugs, I called my mother. My speech was slurred. She was concerned and asked if I was
using drugs. I admitted that I was. She asked all her friends to ask all their
friends to pray for me.
After several months there were
people all over the country praying for me. God supernaturally removed the
desire for drugs. Then God dried up the relationships with the cult members. I
returned to my hometown to rest and seek new direction.
I got a dead end job. My life
was stuck in a rut. I cried out to God. He led me to attend charismatic worship
services. As the people worshiped God with all their hearts the Holy Spirit
moved mightily among the people. God dwells in the praises of His people. At
long last, it was the Holy Spirit of God that convinced me that God exists.
God gradually drew me to join
that community. I moved into one of the many households. In the context of
loving relationships, the Holy Spirit performed my drug rehabilitation. My mind
had been scrambled on drugs. Gradually He gave me back my right
mind.
The circumstances surrounding inviting Christ into my
life:
After going through drug rehab
in a loving Christian community (18 months), I moved into an apartment. I missed
the Christian music. So I tuned in my clock radio to get the music. And then as
a bonus I heard the true gospel message for the first time.
The preachers, teachers and
singers mentioned having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is a
one-on-one matter. It was not acceptance with God due to church attendance or
moral lifestyle. It took months for the simple gospel message to penetrate my
soul. I needed to unlearn much religious thinking. Like Nicodemus, I did not
quickly understand what it meant to be born again.
I knew the historical facts
about Easter. What I had not understood was that when Jesus Christ hung on the
Cross, He bore ALL the sins of ALL humanity in His Body. There the just
judgement for the sins were poured out on the Lamb of God. The sacrifice was
perfect. The forgiveness was complete.
I felt that something was
missing in my spiritual life. The invitations to receive Christ as my Savior
over the radio and at some of the churches I was visiting, did not reach
me.
I attended a church that the
radio station advertised. At the first service (during the worship and before
the preaching) there was an open altar call. People could come forward to pray
with the altar workers for any need. I was starting a new job the next day. I
came forward to ask for prayer for the new job.
The altar worker asked if I had
ever publicly confessed Christ as my Savior. I indicated that I had not and he
led me in a sinner’s prayer. Immediately after that prayer and for the next
three days I felt like a brand new person on the inside. I became a new creature
in Christ on January 16,1977.
How my life has changed as a result of becoming a new
creature in Christ:
Minutes after I was born again,
the pastor invited those who had not been water baptized to do so at the next
opportunity, which was in two weeks. I called the church office to learn more.
At 23 years old and having been around all kinds of liberal churches -- I had
never heard of adult baptism. I had been sprinkled as an
infant.
God used a Sunday school
teacher to guide me to the appropriate verses. He answered my questions and
prayed with me over the phone. Thankfully when I went down into the waters it
was very meaningful to me. I identified with the death, burial and resurrection
of my Lord Jesus Christ. I left my allegiance to the old man in that watery
grave. I was fully committed to live unto God for the rest of my
days.
God gave me a massive hunger
for the Word of God. The Bible came alive for me. It had been a book of boring
biographies and a confusing tangle of tales. After the Holy Spirit came to dwell
in me, then gospel stories came alive. Many verses spoke directly to my heart. I
was eager to read and reread the New Testament. As I did this the Person of
Jesus Christ became very real and personal to me.
I wanted to know and do the
will of God. I gained an obsession to seek God’s will for my life. The Holy
Spirit and the words of Scripture made me aware that I was one that had been
forgiven much; so I loved God much. Like the prodigal son I had made a mess of
my life. But my loving Heavenly Father accepted me just as I was. The way to
respond to His great love was to keep His commandments. As Christ said, I have
come to do your will o God.
Before my rebirth it was very
difficult to relate with people. It took great effort to engage in meaningful
conversations. I had to work up the willingness to care about someone beyond my
family and closest friends. After Jesus came to live His life in me -- love for
others has been much more spontaneous. His commandment to love one another
guides me to stretch my Comfort Zones. Over the years God has used me to express
His loving kindness to all sorts of people. It has gotten easier to care and
show concern in words and deeds.
During the last 25 years I have
witnessed hundreds of answers to my prayers and the prayers of others. God is
alive and real to me. I have oriented my life to the fact that someday I will
give an account to Him for the stewardship of my time, talents and treasures.
My life has meaning and
purpose. I am glad to abide in the Vine and as a branch bear His fruit for His
glory. Repeatedly that fruit is in the form of encouragement and exhortation. I
seek to serve the saints. I enjoy equipping those who are involved in ministry.
I am passionate about clearly and boldly presenting the pure gospel message. I
want new believers to understand the basics of the faith.
There have been many bumps
along this pilgrim path. There have been many disappointments and frustrations.
I have learned to look to Jesus and the precious promises of His Word. The grace
and mercy of God are real to me. I know the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I can
comfort others as I have been comforted.
I have assurance that if I was
to die today, I would go to Heaven. I have an abiding hope that Jesus has
prepared a home for me. Surely I shall live with God forever. I have a
resurrection body waiting for me. This eternal security is based on what Christ
accomplished on my behalf while on the Cross. His shed blood is the perfect
payment for all my sins past, present and future. My salvation is based on what
He has DONE and never on what I can DO.
When I was born again (1/16/77)
ALL my unrighteousness was imputed to Him and ALL His righteous was imputed to
me. I was sealed by the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ. The divinely inspired
and holy Word of God promises me that:
NOTHING can separate me from the love of
God
NOTHING can take me out of the Hand of God
NOTHING that the Bible says will fail to be fulfilled
in due season
NOTHING can prevent God from keeping His new covenant
with me
NOTHING is greater than God and His Word
The gift of eternal life was
freely offered. Even the tiny faith needed to appropriate His grace came from
God. The truth is that it was the Holy Spirit drawing me to God over those many
years before I accepted His gracious gift of eternal life. Therefore ALL the
glory goes to God for such a great
salvation!