Testimonies

I received the Lord at the age of fourteen. My older brothers’ dynamic salvation was a real testimony to our whole family. Within a few years all six children and my parents had given ourselves to the Lord! Praise the Lord for household salvation!

Having grown up in a strict French Catholic family and attending eight years of parochial school was some-what of a preservation to my humanity. However, after receiving the Lord my family began to be restless in the place they were meeting and seeking for something more. We began meeting with a charismatic group within catholicism. Eventually the Lord led my parents to leave and seek fellowship among various Christian denominations. Around this time two of my brothers began reading some of Watchman Nee’s writings and were led by the Lord to leave the denomination they were meeting in to begin meeting as the church in Torrington, CT. One summer I worked in my brother bicycle shop and lived with his family during the week. I observed their love for the Lord, family life, and church life. It was very attracting! I remember an occasion when Ron introduced me to the biblical practice of calling on the Lord. It seemed awkward at the time but they seemed to be touching something very real. I regularly attended denomination meetings with my parents through high-school. I even attended a Christian school my sophomore year and had my sister Lorraine as one of my teachers.

By the time I graduated I felt malnourished in my Christian life. Outwardly I was a “good Christian” anddidn’t get into trouble, however, within, the Lord didn’t have the first place and He was relegated to Sundays. I left for college in Maine on August 1980 at the age of eighteen. For the first time I was not under my parents’ eyes. I tried to throw off all restraint and enjoy the “world” much like the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. The more I indulged in the “temporary” enjoyment of sin the more empty and vain I felt. The Lord never left me and at my darkest moments he seemed to shine on me the brightest. The Lord gave me a wakeup call one afternoon in northern Ontario as I was returning, with my team, from a woodsman’s competition in Thunder Bay. We lost control of the school van on a snowy road and went off the road at approximately 65 mph. After flipping end over end and revolving 180 degrees we landed in the ditch on our wheels facing the direction we were traveling. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured. In the midst of that accident the Lord showed me my life and I had a deep sense of impending judgment if I were to die. Afterwards, I realized I could die at any time the Lord chose to take me. This began my turn back to the Lord.

During that summer break I took a construction job working at a condominium complex called “Rivers Edge”. I was given a job no one else wanted to do-I had to clean-up after everyone. One hot afternoon I was scraping drywall compound off the plywood floors to get ready for the carpet layers. I felt so empty and miserable. At that moment the Lord reminded me of that “awkward” practice of calling on His name. I dropped my tools and began to call for the first time! I was flooded with God’s life! Spontaneously I began to repent of all my sins and weep for all the wasted time. I don’t know how much time elapsed but I felt full, invigorated, new, and happy. I felt like I came home. I jumped into “the river of water of life”! (Revelation 22:1) I realized that if I was going to live the Christian life I needed to be with believers like my brothers. I called them and asked, ”Are there any Christians like you up here?” They gave me the number of a believer in Hartford, CT and I began meeting with the church in Hartford. Its now been 16 years that I’ve enjoyed the fellowship with the local church here (and many other cities) and I can testify that I don’t regret a minute!! Through the ministry of Witness Lee I have been led to treasure and appreciate my wonderful Lord Jesus and His organic body, the church!!!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Like David, I too must declare that the Lord’s goodness and lovingkindness has filled my life, and for the rest of my days I will remain here in the local church, enjoying the riches of my Father’s house. In 1977, without planning it, much less deserving it, I was extremely blessed to be born into a family that dearly loves the Lord Jesus and that has made the Lord’s interest its sole aim. Growing up in such a moral and spiritually healthy environment, I believe the Lord has preserved me from much of the influence of this “crooked and perverted generation” (Philippians 2:15). Yet, even more importantly, my parents pursuit of Christ, their living Christ day by day, and their faithful serving in the church has attracted me beyond words, caused me to pray to receive the Lord, and imparted into me a longing to give my life to Him.

By the time I was eleven, however, I began to see that the Lord had blessed me with much more than just my parents; He had blessed me with but with the church. I can never forget that day on November 6, 1988 before getting baptized how I wept before the Lord Whose presence was overwhelmingly real to me, and prayed to give myself to the Lord. When I came up out of the water, I was filled with indescribable joy as I stared into the shining faces of the dear believers in the local church in Newington, CT. From that point on, I began to realize that these believers genuinely cared for me, desiring that I would grow up to love and serve the Lord. From young people’s meetings to Summer Schools of the Truth to the daily church meetings these older believers in Christ led me to touch the Lord through praying and singing with my spirit and deposited into me the rich, living Word of God.

As if this was not enough, the Lord further blessed me when our family moved to Taiwan for six months and then to Moscow, Russia for two of my high school years. I view these moves as the Lord’s mercy to preserve me during critical and formative years of my life and to open my eyes to the building up of the Body of Christ. Having grown up in the local church in the small town of Newington, CT, it would have been easy to remain in my own small world with little or no consideration of God’s move on this earth to gain a corporate expression of Himself. (Ephesians 1:22-23) Though in a different culture, I saw how in the Spirit all the believers really are one. Whether in Newington or Moscow what the Lord wants is the same—a group of redeemed, regenerated, and transformed believers built up as the living Body of Christ. (Ephesians 2:22) Now, wherever I go, I truly feel at home in the church.

Finally, during my four years in college, the Lord brought me through many experiences both on mountain tops and in valleys (Psalm 23), to draw me closer to Him so that He could make His home deeper in my heart. (Ephesians 3:17) In hard times when I felt like giving up, the Lord’s love constrained me. I felt just as Peter did when he said in John 6:68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” After tasting the goodness of the Lord and seeing His heart’s desire, I do not want to go elsewhere. The church, as His Body, is my rest forever, here will I dwell.

The years have proven to me that God is faithful! My life has not been extraordinary, but in all the hours, days and years when I was not faithful, God remained the same—faithful. I’m a native of California and was raised in a fundamental Christian home believing in God, the Bible, and Christ’s work on the cross. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior when I was young.

As a teenager, through my college years, I came to enjoy the Lord in a full way in the local church and to enjoy the riches of God’s Word through the ministry of Witness Lee. I was very dedicated to the church life. I wanted to be given to the Lord fully. However, as different things happened to me over the years, inwardly my love for the Lord and my experience in the church life began to fade. This confused me. Eventually, I was so disappointed about my own faults and lack as a Christian I didn’t want to practice the Christian life anymore. I still very much believed in the practice of the church life and the ministry of Brother Lee, however, for my own reasons, I decided to stop being active as a Christian and left the church life.

Over a period of about 6 or 7 years I traveled, went to the movies, hung out, watched TV, and worked at having a career. I honestly had great times and had to have great friends. All of that time, no one knew I was a Christian. I never spoke of it. However, I knew God to be real. Inwardly the sadness and disappointment of a “failed” Christian life persisted.

Then the Lord began to move in my life. My father unexpectedly passed away due to stroke. Afterwards I began to think differently about being a Christian. I wanted to honor my father, who was a seeking Christian who loved the Lord, and to remember my roots as part of a Christian family. Just as there had been a gradual moving away from an active Christian life, the Lord arranged things to gradually lead me back to Him. I began to read through the Recovery Version of the New Testament each morning. I was touched by God to put Him first with my finances and I began to regularly tithe. During this time, I attended a denominational church near where I lived. Although the pastor was very good, over the 4 years I was there I missed the rich experience of Christ I had experienced through the ministry of Witness Lee and in the local church. I knew where I needed to be.

One Sunday morning I returned to the meetings of the church. It had been 11 years. During this meeting a hymn was called: God’s Christ, who is my righteousness,My beauty is, my glorious dress; Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head. (Hymn 295)

Through the verses of this hymn, all the years of sadness melted away. What joy! To me, it was impossible that I would be back in the church life. By the Lord’s love and mercy, He became the love for Him within me. Now, everything in the Word, the hymns and the fellowship has twice the meaning as before. Praise Him for His faithfulness!

As I hitchhiked home on that clear autumn afternoon, my heart ached inside. I was all alone on a winding country road having just left my high school dream for the last time.

Since my freshman year I had wanted to get to know her. Then at last, in our senior year, we shared the same chemistry class. We dated on and off throughout that year but on this clear autumn day, we said goodbye for the last time. As tears streamed down my face, I looked to the heavens and cried, “Oh God, I need peace.”

It was probably two or three months before God would eventually answer that cry. To allay the anguish in my heart, I turned to yoga and meditation. Each week, with new fervor, I attended classes from a Hindu neighbor. Although I experienced a measure of peace within, my deep longing was still not satisfied. I poured over the stacks of books recently purchased from an occult bookstore, seeking to find the truth and meaning of my life.

One morning, while hitchhiking to work, the answer came. I was picked up by a Christian. Her name was Sue. We began to have a conversation which eventually led to spiritual matters. She asked me if I had ever met Jesus and I told her that I was involved in yoga and meditation. When we arrived at work, she introduced me to a Christian brother. We quickly became friends and shared our lunch on many occasions. He often talked about Jesus and I discussed the Bhagavad-Gita. Eventually, he invited me to dinner and asked me if I wanted to receive the Lord Jesus into my heart. I nodded and we both prayed. That was in October 1975.

The next ten months of my life were filled with joy and rejoicing. I had found what my heart was searching for all those years. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. A real, living, loving person. Now, for the first time, I knew why I was alive and what my life was all about. I surely found the God of peace.

In July of 1976, I received a book from a Christian brother in my hometown of Winsted, Connecticut. He owned a bookstore which I visited quite regularly. The book was entitled The Orthodoxy of the Church by Watchman Nee. I first read A Spiritual Sacrifice also by Watchman Nee when I was baptized eight months or so earlier so I was aware of the richness of his ministry. I remember, as I left the bookstore on that day, that something was different about this book that I had just received. This book was a spiritual exposition of the seven churches in the book of Revelation. And as I came to Watchman Nee’s explanation that the church in Philadelphia represented the church of brotherly love, the proper church-life, the recovered local church, something deep within me said, “If that is God’s choice and God’s heart, that is my choice and my heart.”

Shortly thereafter, I began to meet with the brother from the bookstore, his wife and son, and another dear couple in the Lord as the church in Torrington, Connecticut. Those were very glorious days indeed. That was almost twenty-three years ago. I have been meeting in the local churches, loving the Lord and growing in the Lord through the rich and enlightening ministry of both Witness Lee and Watchman Nee. What a wonderful mercy of the Lord!

As a 10 year old, I had no real guidance from my parents, so I was always getting into fights at school and doing bad things. I was an untrained, unguided, undisciplined brat; but I didn’t get into real trouble until I was talked into breaking into some summer peoples’ homes and smashing them. We got caught later, and even though my companions talked me into it when I didn’t want to do it in the first place, I got blamed for everything. Because my Dad had to pay $2000 in damages and the dad of the other two kids $4000, no one would talk to me. Everyone hated me and wouldn’t let any of their kids play with me. My family wouldn’t have anything to do with me. It was as if I didn’t exist.

I remember going into my room and opening the storm window and looking up into heaven and saying “OH GOD! Nobody loves me anymore; everyone hates me and nobody will be my friend. You know that I would like to be like You, having Your power, but I don’t want to be above You, for only You deserve to be God, but I want to be just like You and if You will be my friend and play with me, I will let You do with me whatever You want for the rest of my life.” Then, I went to sleep.

Two weeks later my sister, Dot, came to visit us. She asked me, Charlie, if you died right now where would you go? I didn’t answer her because I knew I would go to hell. She told me, “Charlie, if you call on the Lord Jesus and ask Him to come into your heart, he will come into your heart and grow like a seed.” So I called on the name of the Lord and asked Jesus to come into my heart, and He did.

She also told me that Jesus is a real, living person and that I could talk to Him and He would talk to me. My salvation had a real impact on my life. I not only stopped fighting and stealing, I didn’t even have a desire to do so anymore. Not long after this, my mom brought me and my sister to some religious place, but I didn’t like the Sunday school classes and used to sneak into the big people’s meeting because I liked singing the hymns.

However, the people that went there weren’t very nice at all when they served coffee and danishes. I went to get one, but the woman who gave them out said, “No, you can’t have any.” But when a girl that was a friend of her daughter came up, she let her have five and she sent me away empty-handed. As I walked away, I had the sense from the Lord there was a lack of love and oneness here and I needed to seek a place where I could find real love and genuine oneness.

During the next nine years I wanted to know why I was alive, what was the purpose of human life. This desire grew in me until I was screaming this question into my pillow as a teenager. Why am I alive? What’s the purpose of my human life? Is it just to graduate from high school, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, work until I retire, live a little while, and die? Is that all there is to human life?

I joined the Navy after graduating and went to San Diego, CA. There as I was walking on the Navy base, two guys in a car stopped me and invited me to a free breakfast. I’d already eaten, but I went with them anyway. When they got to the place, they dropped me off and said to just go inside. I looked and said, “Oh, it’s a church. Well, it can’t kill me for one day.” But to my surprise, when I looked into their meeting hall I saw genuine love and the real oneness that I had been searching for. I said, “Charles, you’ve tried a lot of things in your young life. You have got to check this out.”

As soon as I stepped into the room I was home. I was at peace. They offered me food, but I wasn’t hungry. Everyone was singing or praying, sitting at card tables, playing guitars. I sat with 3 other guys and they pushed a song book in front of me and we all began to sing the song,

“Do you know what your were made for? Do you every wonder why? What’s the purpose for your being? What’s the reason you’re alive? Do you know God wants to be your life? He wants to be your life. He wants to be your life…”

I was so happy I was crying. I couldn’t see the words to sing them. Then all four of us stood up and began calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. Soon after this I was baptized. The Lord had really proved that He was my dearest friend. He brought me to the church in San Diego, into His recovery. Here was real love and genuine oneness. Here he answered all my questions concerning the meaning of my human life that for so many years I had cried out to Him. These Christians took good care of me. They taught me to call on the precious name of the Lord Jesus, to pray-read the Bible, to sing hymns and to preach the gospel. With them I visited the local churches in Tempe, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento; I saw and experienced the practical oneness and the genuine love of Christ expressed in the Body. Because of this, I saw something of the Body of Christ and from 1973 to 1999 I have been meeting with the local churches. I can never repay the Lord or adequately express my gratitude to Him for all His kindness, mercy and grace toward me through the care and shepherding of all the faithful Christians in the Lord’s recovery. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and forever. Amen.

The Lord Jesus is my life and light. I received the sweetness of His divine life in Russia in 1993. In the same year, I read the brochure written by Watchman Nee called “The Precious Blood of Christ.” My eyes were opened by the brochure; I realized the value of God’s blood, which He has shed for me when He came to the earth to become a lowly man—Jesus Christ.

This valuable fact was my need at that time, and it is still considerably important to me in the present time. This blood contains God’s power—the cleansing power of God! It not only forgives, but cleanses me from every sin, dirty thought, and concept. Moreover, it assures me the boldness to be able to come forward to the Holy God. Through this unshakable foundation, which is the Lord’s redemption, I experience God’s life in my daily living. God is Spirit, and we have a human spirit, which is where the Triune God dwells. He is eager to saturate me totally with His divine life by spreading it from my spirit to my soul (mind, will, and emotion). The Lord shows me that I need to take in His word first, and then shows me His sovereignty in all circumstances; and all the sufferings in my life are healed by His compassion as well.

Throughout these years, I have come to understand that my flesh and natural being need to be terminated, yet not by my own strength but by His Life within me. I believe that my whole being will be possessed with His precious life to express and glorify Jesus who is in me, which is His greatest desire. In all the local churches around the world, I see the unity and operation of the believers in the Body of Christ; I gain what the Lord wants me to gain through His Body. Furthermore, the realization that only the Lord Jesus is the Head becomes clearer. The more I experience the Body operating by the Head, the more I have the assurance that Jesus is my Lord and that He will be glorious and honorable forever and ever.

Hello. I was born in 1957. When I was 5 years old, my parents divorced and both remarried. There were five of us children; then, each step parent brought one child from their previous marriage and each new marriage produced one new child for a total of nine children. Growing up I felt, at times, like a human ping-pong ball. Most weekends I traveled to whichever parent I was not living with during the week.

I began doing drugs in 4th grade, and in 10th grade I overdosed on LSD and wound up in the hospital. At that time, I turned all my attention to sports which I always enjoyed. By the time I reached 19 and entered college, I really had no idea about the purpose of my human life.

I remember in astronomy class, my freshman year in college, being overwhelmed with the incredible vastness of the universe. I occasionally thought a little about God. Growing up I was exposed to the Congregational church, the Catholic Church and Christian Science. Basically, I blended it all together and came up with my own philosophy that said, “If you just do more good than bad, when you die, you go to heaven.”

During my senior year in high school, one of my best friends, Steve, asked Jesus to come into his life and be his personal Savior. When he told me, my reaction was: after all we had been through together, he had now become a “Jesus Freak”. But every time I saw him, he seemed happier than I had ever seen him before. Occasionally, he shared bits of the Bible with me. The funny thing was even though I had gone to one church or the other my whole life, I had never heard the verses he shared with me. I began to wonder what to really believe and why. Steve shared with me that the moment I asked Jesus to come into my life all my sins would be forgiven by God. That sounded too good to be true.

Then one night in January 1977, I was up late watching TV and the movie “O What a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart came on. The point of the movie was that Jimmy Stewart had a chance to see what the world would be like if he never lived. He found out that he had a profound, positive, impact on hundreds, if not thousands of lives. For me, at the end of the movie, I began to think about my life. Through my drug days I had lied, stolen, and done a lot of things I wished I had never done. All of a sudden, all the words from my friend Steve came back to me and with tears I prayed a very confused prayer, “God, Lord, Jesus, if You are really there, I want to be forgiven of my sins and I want to live the life that I was meant to live.” In that moment, something happened. For the first time, I felt something of the presence of God and I felt something of His love and forgiveness. I went to bed laughing and giggling, “Steve was right! I can’t believe it. He was actually right. God really does love me and He has forgiven me!!!”

During the next couple of months, I had a lot of strange experiences. I felt like God was following me wherever I went. I began to read the Bible, and the words of the Bible, which once were confusing and kind of boring, came alive, and I began to understand what I was reading. Eventually I came to realize that the Bible is two things. First, it is a love letter from God to us. Second, it is a divine refrigerator. Whenever I would read it and pray, I felt inwardly supplied and strengthened. I also experienced more joy, rest and peace.

Eventually, in April of 1977, I met some Christians who were visiting my college campus. They introduced me to the wonderful ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Through these two

brothers’ writings I was introduced to: God’s eternal purpose (Ephesians 1:1-14), how to enjoy Christ in my daily life (Romans 10:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Peter 2:2-3), and how to have a wonderful, supplying, daily church life (Acts 2:42-47). I also read several spiritual biographies (Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, and Watchman Nee) that really inspired me.

It has now been 22 years since that wonderful first prayer. I can surely testify to God’s awesome love, care, faithfulness, mercy, and grace. I never dreamed that my own life could have so much meaning. The Lord Jesus has blessed me in so many ways, both spiritually and humanly. In August, my precious wife, and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage; and our two children, are a constant joy and labor of love. My only desire is to faithfully serve my wonderful Savior, Jesus, and to hasten His return by being built up with other believers in Christ in the practical, daily, church life. To Him be the glory forever and ever!

Amen!

My parents were saved before I was born. They lived in Puerto Rico at the time, and eventually they became actively involved with the Christian Missionary Alliance there. When I was one year old, my parents were led by the Lord to go to the Dominican Republic as missionaries, where we lived for four years. I was therefore hearing about God from a very young age.

My mother would always speak to us and sing to us about God, and my father would read the Bible with us every night. Because of the missionary work my parents were carrying out, our home would often be a place of meeting and caring for new Christians. I, of course, didn’t realize what was going on, but the heavenly atmosphere was molding me from that early age.

In 1981, we were back in Puerto Rico where my father became a pastor at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Levittown, PR. One afternoon we were talking about salvation in the car. I do not remember were we were going or the specifics of the conversation, but I remember telling my mother that I wanted to receive Jesus into my heart. And so as a five-year-old boy, in the back of our family car I closed my eyes and prayed to receive the Lord.

In 1986, when I was 9 years old, my parents began to meet with the local church in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Only six months after that, we moved to Connecticut, where we have lived since. My experiences of the Lord are spread out throughout my childhood, but more significantly during my years in high school. There were times when people I knew offered me drugs. Close friends of mine became members of gangs. There were always plenty of parties to attend where drugs and alcohol, among other things, were the main entertainment. But mercifully, every time I was faced with such situations, God spoke loudly in my conscience to refuse the world. Because I had many times consecrated my life to the Lord, He was able to work in me and save me at such critical times.

One conversation that really stuck with me was a conversation with a born-again Christian out in Wyoming. He told me that if you have never tasted a peanut butter milkshake, you have no idea how good it is. This was a comparison to the sweetness of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Even though I was a scoffer and a skeptic at the time, God was gaining me little by little. Unbeknownst to me, the nourishing of that seed kept taking place as I kept satisfying my curiosity with spiritual conversations.

After about four years of seeking God and seeing our human frailties, I was ripe and ready to receive the truth about our human existence. I was now about 23 years old. A friend from high school was driving by me on the street. He stopped, got out of his car, and started sharing more with me about Christ. Previously he had shared some with me, and I had attended a few non-denominational services with him. But this time, on the street, he asked me to pray with him to receive the Lord Jesus. I prayed a sinner’s prayer with him, and at that point Jesus made His home in my heart. I couldn’t believe it, after being such a scoffer, I was now one of them, a born-again believer. I do remember saying to the Lord Jesus that if you are better than the pleasures I get from the world, then you can have me, but if not, then don’t bother me. He not only showed me how much better He is, but He showed me the big fat lie that the world is blinded by. He showed me the treasure of eternal life, and exposed the rust-filled glitter of the dying riches of this world. What a discovery this was for a curious thrill-seeker such as myself. He took my childhood fear of death and its slavery and liberated me completely, (Hebrews 2: 14-15). Hallelujah! Now I look forward to eternity with Him! His love has conquered me!

In December of 1995, I was waiting tables and met a brother reading the Word at one of the tables. I went over to say hello. Later, after a few nights of fellowship, he baptized me. He poured into my spirit the very meaning of human life, and my heart leaped for joy. Even though I was saved, I had no idea my human spirit was made to contain God, and that this Christ I had received not only died for me, but is transforming me and countless others into His bride for the eternal marriage. These kinds of words not only fully satisfied my longing to know the truth, but I felt that I no longer needed to seek out religion and the spirituality of building up myself. I saw the need and privilege to be able to bless God by enjoying this blessed One living inside of me, and living in the Bible. I found out that this brother had been studying and enjoying the ministries of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee for the last 22 years. At that point I began to meet with the church in Newington, and three years later by the Lord’s mercy and bounty, I am still growing here. One verse that still blesses me abundantly is John 6:45, which states “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” This simply says to me that even though I enjoyed the ways of the world for a time, God was teaching me all along that I needed to receive and believe into His Son. Now I worship Him in spirit and truthfulness.

Praise the Lord!