Welcome, BGKimBr!!! You have a wonderful testimony, in that Jesus saves us from our wretched past, present, and future mistakes!! There was a thread a while back where someone mentioned the good that may have come from Harold Camping's date setting. You are definitely "the good" out of all of that! Heaven rejoiced loudly when you turned your heart and hope on Jesus!! The incredible peace and calmness you described is undoubtedly Jesus' Spirit entering your heart at that moment of time. I've felt this presence before over me, and I agree with you, this feeling takes away all doubt of our God's existence! You shared many Spirit-led words of wisdom for us, and I'm so glad you're in the Lord's royal family of believers (And our RITAN family, too!)! Looking forward to more postings with you!!

Welcome to RitaN, bgkimbr!   What a great testimony! Thank you for sharing it with us.

A giant hug and warm welcome to you!  Amazing that you are just a young christian and how Jesus has transformed you this past year.  It really does seem so amazing and jaw dropping to me. :O  It reminds me that there is still hope for my family and friends who are unsaved and that it is never to late.  Hope still stands!  You're post was a blessing. : )

So glad you found Jesus! : )

Welcome Bgkimbr!  So glad you joined us here.  Your testimony is so beautiful.  I love hearing the testimonies of young Christians and how God reaches them and changes them.  It is so refreshing and causes us to remember the time that we felt that first freedom in Christ, feeling forgiven and redeemed and the feeling the pure love of the Precious Savior!  It is like nothing else!  Welcome, brother!

I joined a couple months ago. I feel this ritan is a treat place to get real truth and a common place for people with eyes to see and ears to hear join together! so many people here wil tell you that they are shut out by warning people of Jesus return. your at home brother and can't wait to meet you one day in the air!

Welcome BgKimbr - so wonderful to have you in our family. I have lots of thoughts and lots of love and so much thankfulness for being saved but I am still growing and there is so much to learn. So I often don't have much to comment on with the indepth postings put on here but I am learning a TON! Glad you joined us bro! Cindy xox

Brother BGKimBr! An awesome testimony of our awesome God. You had me welling up in tears there. (by the way... it's okay for guys to cry here on RitaN!)

Sounds like you have grown in the Lord greatly in your short few months of being a son! Much love to you and welcome to the Family! Looking forward to hearing more from you when you can.

Dave

Welcome!! Seems like you took a crash course, you sound like a "seasoned" Christian!!

Wanted to say, don't be embarrassed by Harold Camping. I am one who never beleived him, didn't follow him, but never scoffed him. I figured, who am I to say who or what situation God will use. Even though I figured he's be wrong, that doesn't mean God can't use him.... look what happened to you! That was exactly what I was thinking- if someone knew absolutely nothing about the rapture, they probably do now!

Hi BGKimbr!  I also want to welcome you to the RITAN family.  Your testimony was from the bottom of your heart and I can see how genuine you are about your faith.  You are saved!  Isn't it a wonderful feeling to know that you are forever covered by the blood of Jesus?  I hope you get as much joy out of the RITAN family as I do.  It's amazing how so many people can come together with such an awesome common goal of WATCHING for our Lord and Savior!  I am so happy you decided to be a new member because you will get so much more out of this experience than ever before.  God bless you new friend!  I hope we can fellowship up in the clouds very soon.   



Welcome, Bgkimbr!  I am relatively new to Ritan as well.  Thank you so much for sharing the story of how you came to Christ...I was so moved when you described the peace and calm you felt when you did so.  As others have stated, you sound quite "seasoned" already - I loved your analogy of being in a foreign land!  I am so very happy for you that you gave your life to Christ.  Don't ever be embarrassed about how it came to be - Harold Camping is just human...he makes monumental mistakes, just like the rest of us.  Thank God for all of us, that God still finds ways to work all things together for good for those who love Him (and I choose to believe that HC really does love God). 

Again, welcome!  I'm looking forward to seeing your posts around here!

bgkimbr, you never need to be embarassed about coming to Christ.  Smartest thing you ever did regardless of the final motivation.  LOTS of people heard Harold's prediction.  You answered God's wooing of your heart.  Well done and welcome to the family.

May I add a few words?  Whatever or whomever brought you to Christ is a blessing that you will never forget.  What happened in the case of Harold Camping, I think, is that scoffing increased dramatically by his "ironclad" insistence on setting a date.  But it did accomplish bringing you to the Lord!  Further, back in 1988, a prior "Camping" named Edgar Whisenant, a brilliant nuclear scientist working for NASA wrote a book entitled "88 Reason why the Rapture will be in 1988".  He distributed millions upon millions of copies worldwide at $2 per copy, and not keeping one cent for himself, used the proceeds to keep on printing books.  He believed it with all his heart that the date would be Sept 12/13, 1988.  I was one who really thought he had found "it".  That was 23 years ago last Sep 12.  But, multitudes got right with God because of it, just as you did because of Camping.  Please, Christians, don't be too hard on these folks...God used it for His glory in bringing many sons into the kingdom.

Because of him, I began a 23 year journey in studying the prophetic scriptures "outside the box" so to speak.  In other words, I started over, paying attention to what many had to say, and comparing it to what I read in the scriptures and what I already knew.  (I have studied the end times for 58 years now).  THE BIBLE IS SO DEEP THAT WHEN WE THINK WE HAVE ARRIVED, GOD SEES TO IT THAT WE START OVER.  But, progressive revelation has caused us to rethink many of the old positions that we held.  And that is a good thing.

I am so thrilled at your salvation and your immediate understanding that my spirit rejoices.  Welcome to the body of Christ, the Bride.  Live for him, reject the world today, and you will go with all of us in the rapture of the Bride of Christ.

Maranatha

Gerry Almond

Since it has been one year since I got saved, I thought I would bump this. Maybe it will help someone out.

With Love,
YBIC

awesome! thanks for the bump, bro! i was glad to read this, and thanks for sharing!

even though it's been a year, let me still say WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! =D

much love in Christ! the best is yet to come! =D

Dear Bgkimbr,

You said you were embarrassed for having been saved by the misleading date set by Mr. Harold Camping last year. I can assure you that you have no good reason to feel embarrassed at all for listening to Harold or putting your trust in his date for the end of the world. I listened to him out f curiosity back then and was impressed with his knowledge of Scripture and apparent sincere motivations for his missionary work.

His mathematical manipulations were contrived and hard to take seriously. But, in spite of the flaws in his argument for the date he selected, many followed him and mounted a massive billboard and advertising van campaign that caught the attention of the media and many individuals who had no knowledge at all about Scriptural prophecy. You were one such person. I am sure many such persons were led to Christ and eternal salvation thereby. For those persons we are all thankful for Camping's campaign.

However, there were any others whose unbelief was strengthened by the scoffing when the dates he selected came and passed without anything happening as he had predicted. The selection of watch dates on websites like this one are usually couched in probability terms, so that no one will e led astray or disappointed by a non-event on the selected date. We have learned to live with such happenings.

Your salvation experience appears to have been motivated by the terror of being left behind and going to h*** instead of to heaven. That is ok and may be more common than any other motivation. Since then you have learned to draw nigh to the Lord and to be ready to serve however you can to help others in ignorance of the plan of salvation to find their way to the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

I want to welcome you to this website and know that you will find the support and fellowship you need as a new believer saved by Accepting Jesus' offer of salvation. The people here are incredibly kind, compassionate and loving. In the first three chapters of Revelation you will find a description that fits most persons here in the picture presented of the Philadelphia church. Unfortunately, many denominational churchs in the world today are more similar to these described as Laodicean, or lukewarm about many Christian beliefs.

Now that you are on board, please review the Scriptures regarding the Bride of Christ and how you should proceed to become a part of that entity. The place to start is with the Judgment Seat of Christ, the crowns or rewards and why they are important. Spend time every day reading the Word of God and realize the importance of doing so. The teachings of God for His children is presented here as nowhere else.

I am also relatively new here and have found to be a valuable source of Christian teaching, support and friendship. I would not like to think of not having this website available. It is a treasure that can really impact lives for good if used daily. Keep posting your thoughts, prayers and suggestions as you read the many messages posted here from around the world. Some of our members are in desperate need for your prayers and counsel. Do not lt them down. Join in and let the Holy Spirit direct your thoughts and words to them.

The bottom line is that it does not matter how you landed here, the important thing is that you are here now and can be a valuable instrument for good to yourself and to others by asking to be used in such a capacity of the Holy Spirit.

We thank You Lord Jesus, Father and Holy Spirit for guiding Bgkimbr to this site and pray You will make him a powerful instrument for good, and for God, as the days pass by and we approach the catching away when he and any here will join Jesus in heaven.

All praises, glory and honor to You our loving and compassionate Creator and Father!

With love,

Robert