Doubting Thomas

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Richard Masoner had occasion to say :
:)
:)R.J. Brown wrote:
:)
:)> The significant thing about that experience was that although I had
:)> been baptized in February, and seeking at the altar since then, I had
:)> also been an athiest for 14 years before that, and still had serious
:)> doubts about the existence of God, even though I was devoting
:)> considerable time to the study of his Word and attendence at services.
:)> My prayers always went something like "Oh God (if there is a God)...",
:)> which is not the way to receive the Holy Ghost, but I couldn't help
:)> it.  How could I pray in honesty to a being that I was not sure even
:)> existed?  Well, after He spoke to me, in an audible voice, I deleted
:)> the parenthetical expression from the prelude to my prayers, and
:)> received the Holy Ghost a few short days later!
:)
:)I was also essentially atheist before I became convinced of the truth of
:)who Jesus is.  Even then, I didn't know any Christians and was working
:)on a crazy theory that the real church was raptured up sometime before
:)400 A.D.  But then I visited Life Tabernacle UPC in Wichita Falls Texas.
:)
:)It was several months before I actually submitted to baptism and
:)receiving the Spirit of God, that visit would eventually change my life!
:)
:)Richard
:)
	I too, as it echoes across the list...  I am sure that many of
	us were in these same type situations; usually due to the 
	tradition that we are brought up in or because of the strong
	tradition that we are fleeing.

	I saw baptism immediately and fulfilled it, but believing on
	Him was another matter.  I missed the full importance of John
	where Jesus discussed that you MUST believe that I am...  I was
	searching for the Holy Ghost.  After a period of two months of 
	myself and the church laboring  with me for the Holy Ghost, I was
 	in a terrible accident that should have taken my life and that
	of my passenger which had been raised in church BUT was still
	STUPID enough to not wear a safety belt.  We ended up swirving off
	the road in the snow and doing a triple summersalt (sp?) in
	our car.  The miracle is that my little Ford Escort had had 18
	cases of bottled pop in the back seat and trunk (hatchback).  
	Only 8 cases survived as the rest lay on and around us.  But we
	both escaped without scratches.  Glory only be to God...

	Needless to say I was dong some serious thinking about the whole
	incident the next few days and God dropped the thought in my
	mind that 1) Nothing is impossible through him, and 2) that 
	It is just like God...  Well need I continue, anyhow - I received
	the Holy Ghost in song service a couple of days later.

	No this doesn't mean that you have to be near death to receive
	the Holy Ghost but the importance of believing is sometimes 
	overlooked and not stressed enough in young saints that are `
	seeking...

My 0.02 worth and 
   some glory to God as well,

		Brother Tom.	


    - Thomas J. Griffin III <----------------------------------------------
   |    "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the            |
   |        life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."               |
   |    			John 14:6				   |
    -----------------> griffin@mtu.edu  &  http://www.me.mtu.edu/~griffin -