MY TESTIMONY
CONTACT INFO;
E-MAIL:
bandcepp@msn.com
all comments, questions, encouragements,
critiques are more than welcome or how this website can be better and more helpful.
Input is greatly valued.
E-MAIL:
bandcepp@msn.com
all comments, questions, encouragements,
critiques are more than welcome or how this website can be better and more helpful.
Input is greatly valued.
But when God was pleased he having separated
me from my mothers womb, and having called me
through his GRACE. Galatians 1:15
me from my mothers womb, and having called me
through his GRACE. Galatians 1:15
I am a pilgrim, fleeing the city of destruction and on my way to a new city, a heavenly one. Are you also a pilgrim?
Welcome, we can have christian fellowship and encourage and help each other, for the journey is a dangerous and a long one and our enemies and obstacles are many....But our destination is amazing, for there we will see our Lord and Savior.
Let me begin by telling how I came to be on this on this journey. I was a young, confused lad in this world, Switzerland was my country of origin.I was full of dreams, desiring great things for myself and wanting to be somebody famous, I set out to the Land of opportunity with my friend. I left my family behind, we traveled to America to chase our dreams. But very fast our dreams turned to nightmares. Money was running out, lodging became difficult. Soon we seemed to be at our wits end....then we met some Christians along the way, who told us about a good Shepherd and asked us if we were one of his sheep. they invited us to some "art-show"....All that seemed like blabbering to us. But they had lodging, so we sort of forced ourselves on them....taking up with them, but only for room and board, and all that Savior talk continued. At first we were not inclined to hear it, but eventually it started to rub off on us and we tagged along with the rest of those pilgrims...After a short while and with our journey not being as pleasant as we hoped it would be, we began planning our return to the city of destruction. But while planning our return trip, I started to have second thoughts; asking myself; what do I really want?? After reasoning things out with myself, I concluded that I did want to reach the heavenly city, that new Jerusalem, where the savior resided. That I did hope to see Him face to face....and spent eternity with him. So I said to myself, the best way to reach that goal will be to stay on pilgrimage with those fellow pilgrims, because I know otherwise I will forget all about the Savior and Lord. Therefore I informed my friend of my decision, hoping that he would join me in continuing our journey.
But to my surprise, not only did he disagree, but called me all kinds of names, fool and the like.....so we parted ways that day.(To let the readers know, he regretted that decision the rest of his life. Though he became a wealthy man in the city of destruction, they called him Doctor there, but it did not bring him happiness or peace and he had a miserable end, which made me very sad. He did try to get back on pilgrimage, but never really got going again, even though for a while he was an ardent student of the Bible...)
So to continue with my story, I was free and happy to be on the path toward the heavenly Jerusalem, although sad for a while, because my friend had left me. This journey was full of exciting new things and I got to know my Savior and the Lord of the path better. I met up with all kinds of young pilgrims and after being on the journey for a while, we came upon a city by the hill, a very nice looking city, I think Legality was its name. There is a big castle in that town and the people there seemed very religious. So us young pilgrims decided to enter that city and stay there, we were supposed to be there for "Christian training" but it turned out to be a trap...The pastor of that town, his name is Traill ( to get you thinking that he is leading you on the right trail) said many good sounding things, had many right sounding precepts, but really he controlled the townsfolk all the way. They were not allowed to question him, he was above reproach. He had the citizen of that town working almost all day long. The castle, it's name being doubting castle (or 515, or retard program, or trip apartment, it has different names at different times), was used to hold pilgrims that would not go along with Traill's program. And I believe some actually died there and many got to be in awful condition. I spend some time there and to this day I don't know how I got out, only by the Grace of God! Things got so awful in that town, that many pilgrims turned back, they were later seen dejectedly wandering around, not knowing where to turn or what to do... Although some were able to escape and continue on their pilgrimage, again only by the Grace of God. And there are some who continue to this day in that town, and I believe that false prophet, Traill, is still alive and up to the same tricks, holding a very tight control over his followers. As for me, things got so hard, I could never quite please Traill, that I gave up and started back to the city of destruction. But as I was on my way in the wrong direction, it seemed to me as though some one was tapping me on the back, but when I turned I did not see anyone, but something like a voice came to me, which said; WHEREVER YOU GO, I WILL BETHERE WITH YOU, FOR I WILL NEVER FAIL YOU OR FORSAKE YOU." And that voice was medicine to my soul. I realized that that was my beloved Savior and Lord and as I was looking over my shoulder I thought I saw a cross at a distance and it sunk in, (although I had heard it many times before); JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR MY SINS, HE DIED FOR ME, ME... and it became so real to me and by His Grace He started to turn me around and slowly I was back on the right path and back on pilgrimage. I could not stop marveling how great my Savior was and that He really loved me and His Grace really is sufficient and it spurred me on in my pilgrimage. I really became aware that my Savior shed His blood for me, washed me, that I was now clean, that He justified me, gave me new clothes and that I was covered by His righteousness. That made me so thankful, I think I was skipping and jumping for joy and I became very determined to never leave the presence of my Lord and Savior again, nor to ever take any detours, no matter how sweet the tempter would make it. I determined to accept only things that the Lord of the path Himself showed me and that the scriptures confirmed. I passed that town of legality, or should I call it town of abuse, or graceless town, with my heart pounding, passing by I stayed at a save distance and motioned for its inhabitants to come join me on pilgrimage and flee the abuse. But they were very busy digging in the dirt, not even looking up. Others called me"phony" for leaving that town and that I was very bad, cause I tried to tell them that their pastor was not who he said he was...... To this day I continue to send them letters, urging them to escape to our gracious Lord and to flee from the wrath to come, for surely the Lord will not be quiet forever, but will bring that "pastor" and town into judgement. So now on the journey with Grace keeping me and me keeping grace close to my heart. Once in a while I meet others and we encourage each other to steadfastly continue till we reach our Lord and Saviors city, that His Grace is sufficient and the heavenly city so great, and the promise of seeing the Christ so amazing, that we can endure any and all hardships we might find on the way....Also we call to remembrance all his promises and all the times he has delivered us already.....
In my journey I also met up with some who were with me in that same town of legality and had also escaped and we fellow-shipped in how our recovery is coming along and that the Grace of our Lord is the only medicine powerful enough to heal ones such as ourselves and how thankful we are for this Grace. Only God's abundant Grace can bring us back to sanity and restore us to a healthy christian pilgrimage.Way to many of that town are now aimlessly wandering around, blaming themselves, believing it's their own fault, or that they can never succeed at being a christian, believing all kinds of lies that the father of lies spreads these days.....
Recently I took a trip to the city of brotherly love to see my fellow pilgrim, Paul the steadfast and his wife V. ( you know I think the V stands for Victory in Christ, but I'm not sure) and we fellow-shipped with one another and encouraged each other and studied the Grace of God together, oh, what a blessing that was. We prayed together and committed our ways to the Lord.
And the Lord of the way did another gracious thing for me, the poor pilgrim that I am, since I have to work while on pilgrimage, he put another pilgrim who had also escaped the town of legality, and that just recently to work very close to me, so now we have assembly together on Saturdays and Sundays during our breaks. And that is a great blessing to me. Come Thursday, I start looking forward to our time together on the weekends. Two are better than one, the scripture says.
Out of my hearts desire, I also have started to look around, to find any other wandering pilgrims from my youth, to encourage them to join us on pilgrimage, that it's not to hard, that His grace is sufficient for us!
This pilgrim out of his thankfulness to his Lord has started to confess his Savior to his family and friends and co workers. Now his family prays, his children say "Grace" before meals and he is even doing some evangelists work, confessing his belief, looking for other pilgrims or converts at the port authority on his way to or from work.....
TO BE CONTINUED...............
Welcome, we can have christian fellowship and encourage and help each other, for the journey is a dangerous and a long one and our enemies and obstacles are many....But our destination is amazing, for there we will see our Lord and Savior.
Let me begin by telling how I came to be on this on this journey. I was a young, confused lad in this world, Switzerland was my country of origin.I was full of dreams, desiring great things for myself and wanting to be somebody famous, I set out to the Land of opportunity with my friend. I left my family behind, we traveled to America to chase our dreams. But very fast our dreams turned to nightmares. Money was running out, lodging became difficult. Soon we seemed to be at our wits end....then we met some Christians along the way, who told us about a good Shepherd and asked us if we were one of his sheep. they invited us to some "art-show"....All that seemed like blabbering to us. But they had lodging, so we sort of forced ourselves on them....taking up with them, but only for room and board, and all that Savior talk continued. At first we were not inclined to hear it, but eventually it started to rub off on us and we tagged along with the rest of those pilgrims...After a short while and with our journey not being as pleasant as we hoped it would be, we began planning our return to the city of destruction. But while planning our return trip, I started to have second thoughts; asking myself; what do I really want?? After reasoning things out with myself, I concluded that I did want to reach the heavenly city, that new Jerusalem, where the savior resided. That I did hope to see Him face to face....and spent eternity with him. So I said to myself, the best way to reach that goal will be to stay on pilgrimage with those fellow pilgrims, because I know otherwise I will forget all about the Savior and Lord. Therefore I informed my friend of my decision, hoping that he would join me in continuing our journey.
But to my surprise, not only did he disagree, but called me all kinds of names, fool and the like.....so we parted ways that day.(To let the readers know, he regretted that decision the rest of his life. Though he became a wealthy man in the city of destruction, they called him Doctor there, but it did not bring him happiness or peace and he had a miserable end, which made me very sad. He did try to get back on pilgrimage, but never really got going again, even though for a while he was an ardent student of the Bible...)
So to continue with my story, I was free and happy to be on the path toward the heavenly Jerusalem, although sad for a while, because my friend had left me. This journey was full of exciting new things and I got to know my Savior and the Lord of the path better. I met up with all kinds of young pilgrims and after being on the journey for a while, we came upon a city by the hill, a very nice looking city, I think Legality was its name. There is a big castle in that town and the people there seemed very religious. So us young pilgrims decided to enter that city and stay there, we were supposed to be there for "Christian training" but it turned out to be a trap...The pastor of that town, his name is Traill ( to get you thinking that he is leading you on the right trail) said many good sounding things, had many right sounding precepts, but really he controlled the townsfolk all the way. They were not allowed to question him, he was above reproach. He had the citizen of that town working almost all day long. The castle, it's name being doubting castle (or 515, or retard program, or trip apartment, it has different names at different times), was used to hold pilgrims that would not go along with Traill's program. And I believe some actually died there and many got to be in awful condition. I spend some time there and to this day I don't know how I got out, only by the Grace of God! Things got so awful in that town, that many pilgrims turned back, they were later seen dejectedly wandering around, not knowing where to turn or what to do... Although some were able to escape and continue on their pilgrimage, again only by the Grace of God. And there are some who continue to this day in that town, and I believe that false prophet, Traill, is still alive and up to the same tricks, holding a very tight control over his followers. As for me, things got so hard, I could never quite please Traill, that I gave up and started back to the city of destruction. But as I was on my way in the wrong direction, it seemed to me as though some one was tapping me on the back, but when I turned I did not see anyone, but something like a voice came to me, which said; WHEREVER YOU GO, I WILL BETHERE WITH YOU, FOR I WILL NEVER FAIL YOU OR FORSAKE YOU." And that voice was medicine to my soul. I realized that that was my beloved Savior and Lord and as I was looking over my shoulder I thought I saw a cross at a distance and it sunk in, (although I had heard it many times before); JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR MY SINS, HE DIED FOR ME, ME... and it became so real to me and by His Grace He started to turn me around and slowly I was back on the right path and back on pilgrimage. I could not stop marveling how great my Savior was and that He really loved me and His Grace really is sufficient and it spurred me on in my pilgrimage. I really became aware that my Savior shed His blood for me, washed me, that I was now clean, that He justified me, gave me new clothes and that I was covered by His righteousness. That made me so thankful, I think I was skipping and jumping for joy and I became very determined to never leave the presence of my Lord and Savior again, nor to ever take any detours, no matter how sweet the tempter would make it. I determined to accept only things that the Lord of the path Himself showed me and that the scriptures confirmed. I passed that town of legality, or should I call it town of abuse, or graceless town, with my heart pounding, passing by I stayed at a save distance and motioned for its inhabitants to come join me on pilgrimage and flee the abuse. But they were very busy digging in the dirt, not even looking up. Others called me"phony" for leaving that town and that I was very bad, cause I tried to tell them that their pastor was not who he said he was...... To this day I continue to send them letters, urging them to escape to our gracious Lord and to flee from the wrath to come, for surely the Lord will not be quiet forever, but will bring that "pastor" and town into judgement. So now on the journey with Grace keeping me and me keeping grace close to my heart. Once in a while I meet others and we encourage each other to steadfastly continue till we reach our Lord and Saviors city, that His Grace is sufficient and the heavenly city so great, and the promise of seeing the Christ so amazing, that we can endure any and all hardships we might find on the way....Also we call to remembrance all his promises and all the times he has delivered us already.....
In my journey I also met up with some who were with me in that same town of legality and had also escaped and we fellow-shipped in how our recovery is coming along and that the Grace of our Lord is the only medicine powerful enough to heal ones such as ourselves and how thankful we are for this Grace. Only God's abundant Grace can bring us back to sanity and restore us to a healthy christian pilgrimage.Way to many of that town are now aimlessly wandering around, blaming themselves, believing it's their own fault, or that they can never succeed at being a christian, believing all kinds of lies that the father of lies spreads these days.....
Recently I took a trip to the city of brotherly love to see my fellow pilgrim, Paul the steadfast and his wife V. ( you know I think the V stands for Victory in Christ, but I'm not sure) and we fellow-shipped with one another and encouraged each other and studied the Grace of God together, oh, what a blessing that was. We prayed together and committed our ways to the Lord.
And the Lord of the way did another gracious thing for me, the poor pilgrim that I am, since I have to work while on pilgrimage, he put another pilgrim who had also escaped the town of legality, and that just recently to work very close to me, so now we have assembly together on Saturdays and Sundays during our breaks. And that is a great blessing to me. Come Thursday, I start looking forward to our time together on the weekends. Two are better than one, the scripture says.
Out of my hearts desire, I also have started to look around, to find any other wandering pilgrims from my youth, to encourage them to join us on pilgrimage, that it's not to hard, that His grace is sufficient for us!
This pilgrim out of his thankfulness to his Lord has started to confess his Savior to his family and friends and co workers. Now his family prays, his children say "Grace" before meals and he is even doing some evangelists work, confessing his belief, looking for other pilgrims or converts at the port authority on his way to or from work.....
TO BE CONTINUED...............
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope!
Jeremiah 29:11
I will not leave you or forsake you, says the Lord
Hebrews 13:5
Joshua 1:5
For the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM!
2 Corinthians 3:17
For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the GRACE of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose!
Galatians 2:20+21
Jeremiah 29:11
I will not leave you or forsake you, says the Lord
Hebrews 13:5
Joshua 1:5
For the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM!
2 Corinthians 3:17
For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the GRACE of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose!
Galatians 2:20+21
As told in the style of "PILGRIMS PROGRESS" by John Bunyan