CLE Forum

General Category => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: CharlesKeys on June 13, 2019, 08:32:55 PM

Title: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: CharlesKeys on June 13, 2019, 08:32:55 PM
Hi, my name is Charles and my wife is Sandy.  We have not been attending a modern church in approx. 2 years now. The holy Spirit led us out of that religious system and we haven't looked back since, with no regrets!

A little background, I was ordained a minister into a denominational church many years ago and after just a few years of all the fleshly and worldly experiences, I left the church and as many, lived a life of flesh and fleshly pleasure. After 25 years, my wife convinced me to go to attend church with her. Neither of us were attending but she was being convicted by the Holy Spirit.

We began to attend a Church of God and after both of us had repented of our sins and accepting the truth of who Jesus is we began our new found life in Jesus as born again followers of His.

So, fast forward, 3 years later and much reading of the scriptures, the Lord convicted and convinces us to get out of that system.  He helped us to see the hypocrisy in the religious system.  There was a lot of truth mixed with tradition preached but not much truth lived by the congregation.

We found another worldly church and it lasted less than a year.  We though, surely there is somewhere we can go, so we visited another one.  Less than 2 months and we were home studying and worshiping the Father here.  We have been here since.

The Holy Spirit led me to study the book of Hebrews when we first left the religious establishments and He has been our teacher since. I read and studied it slowly at least 4 times before I could move on to other scriptures and letters of the New Testament. He really needed to establish in us the Lordship and greatness of Jesus! It was the best and most important thing we have done for our relationship with the Father.

We almost fell into the lie of how bad we needed the modern church family in order to function correctly.  Thank God, he led us out of all that false teaching.
 
Thank you for allowing us to join this forum where we can read, study and share the truth of our wonderful Father and savior with others of like mind.

Charles & Sandy Keys.
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: Jeanne on June 13, 2019, 11:08:45 PM
Hi Charles, nice to meet you! Just out of curiosity, how did you come across CLE?

I'm glad you managed to get out of the church system, especially after being an ordained pastor yourself! Very few get out of that.
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: TheChickenWhisperer on June 14, 2019, 10:44:46 AM
Welcome! 

It is so rare to see someone come out of that system when they had been "ordained" in it.

Interested in hearing more of your testimony.
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: Dee Babbitt on June 14, 2019, 01:12:05 PM
Welcome to the Forum, Charles and Sandy :-)

Yes, it is heart-breaking, most of the churches out there are worldly and do not teach the truth, and many will perish because the "wolves in sheep's clothing" are teaching false doctrines. 

Praise be to God, He showed you the Truth about these church buildings, and you and your wife were able to see them for how they really are.  I am thankful to God, He has opened all of our eyes to the Truth.



Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: CharlesKeys on June 14, 2019, 10:11:18 PM
Thanks everyone.  After my wife and I repented in sorrow and began following Jesus, we were seeking truth. In our search for this we found ourselves getting further and further from the modern church and it's teachings. The Holy Spirit was dealing with us and convincing us of the false teaching, performances and hypocrisy in the assemblies.

Thankfully, we listened to Him!  He has taught us since.

I came from a ministry background in the Baptist church and was away from the church entirely for about 25 years before I would go back.  Much had changed in appearance but not much in teaching and traditions.   It was all still man made!! The Spirit of God our Father was not a leader in any of the assemblies we attended.

I think being away from all that religious stuff for so long was more of a benefit than anything. It gave me time to forget a lot of stuff.  We received some truth in the Church of God but there was still lots of error and the Holy Spirit, over the corse of a couple of years really opened our eyes to a lot of stuff. I was feeling a terrible need to minister again but He, the Holy spirit prevented me at every turn to get established in that place! For that I am very thankful. He is so good to us!

The Lord in all this wanted me to realize that I needed to start from scratch and that this thing was not about me ministering but about speaking His truth in love! He is so good to us! He has taught us so much in these last two years of study in our home.  He is such a wonderful teacher giving us fresh knowledge of him and reveling his word to us as never before! He is so good to us!!! Oh, what a wonderful Lord we serve!!

Blessings to you, our newly found brothers and sisters in that most wonderful of all names, Jesus!

Charles & Sandy.
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: strangersmind on June 16, 2019, 08:52:48 PM
Welcome

I am glad you found us and pray you stay for many years to come
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: CharlesKeys on June 17, 2019, 07:34:42 AM
Welcome

I am glad you found us and pray you stay for many years to come

Thank you, we appreciate your kind words and welcome.

Charles.
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: stevesams on June 17, 2019, 11:42:04 PM
Hello Charles,

Similar experience as you. I was in the IFB church for many years. The Lord had been convicting me for some time to leave the church.  It was very hard to depart from my friends who I loved very much.  However, God showed me the false teaching that was going on and eventually I did leave.  Anyway, welcome to the forum.



Steve
Title: Re: Introducing ourselves!
Post by: CharlesKeys on June 22, 2019, 08:13:47 PM
Hello Charles,

Similar experience as you. I was in the IFB church for many years. The Lord had been convicting me for some time to leave the church.  It was very hard to depart from my friends who I loved very much.  However, God showed me the false teaching that was going on and eventually I did leave.  Anyway, welcome to the forum.



Steve

Thank you Steve, I appreciate it very much and look forward to learning more about our Father together.