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You Are Not Alone part two
- By Apostle Anthony Berry
- Published 08/24/2010
- Christian Living
- Unrated
Apostle Anthony Berry
I have been saved for 27 years, and have experienced a number of situations where the only way I was able to be delivered is through God's merciful graces. It is my obligation to share the agape of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to a loveless civilization.
View all articles by Apostle Anthony Berry
You are not alone
Part two
By Elder Anthony Berry
This is the second part to my sermon, “You are not alone.” This part will be more of a testimony of my life; how I came to accept Christ as my personal savior, and the events that led me to be in the wilderness. Now most of the hurt has been put behind me, and with the help of the Lord Jesus (Y’shua) I will be able to let the rest of the hurt go. If I had a thought it would be “Many are called, but few are chosen; Mat 20:1-16. No matter what you go through in life you have to know that the Lord and Savior is walking with you, because he is in you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. This is why you are the church individually. Not everyone in church is called into the church. Some come to church to have a feeling of belonging to something. Others are coming looking for a mate, hoping to get a Church man or woman. The last type is people under the control of Satan, and their job is to exploit whatever situation they can and set the few that are chosen against the people that go to church for whatever reason. The later are not in the church. They have taken on Christ by mouth only.
My call began when I was four years old; I was in the bed when my adult cousin came in and told me if I wasn’t good the boogie man was going to get me. When I asked him where the boogie man was, he told me that it was in the light fixture on the ceiling. This terrified me; I had nightmares for a long time after that. A few days later I asked my mother who the boogie man was, and she told me that he was the devil. She didn’t know that my cousin told me about the boogie man, and when she found out she started snorting steam, and layed into him. But the damage had already been done. This led to me being attacked by the adversary from an early age.
My sister (who is now my pastor), was taking me with her to run some errands. I heard a voice as clear as day say, “Tony I am the devil, I am going to get you.” Many years later she told me that this was probably my step-brother playing a trick on me. I loved him, and looked up to him, but he was mean to me, and always tried to hurt me. Well, even if this was a trick, then why didn’t she hear it, and if she did hear it this opened me up to be spiritually assaulted from an early age. I was afraid to sleep by myself up to the time that I turned six. I used to read comic books, as you will see in one of my other sermons, one of my favorites was, Mad Magazine. In this magazine they had cartoons in the side bars, and one of the sidebars read “Repent, for the end is near.” I was only nine years old at the time, and I said to myself “One day I am going to repent”, I didn’t even know what repentance was, but just knew that I was going to repent.
I was always a lonely child, and never really had any friends. I would spend my time reading, and watching television. As far as my family was concerned I had 4 sisters and was the only boy. I was only three years older than my oldest niece and nephew, and the nephews were the only males that I knew. I was the oldest out of the bunch, and all of the younger children had to listen to me. I was at the top of the pecking order, as far as the children of the family are concerned. Even at the time when I started meeting peers that would look out for me and accepted me as one of them, I was always a loner. Even in a crowd; it I didn’t do anything until I wanted the experience. I picked the time; so they could try to coax me until they were blue in the face, but I would not budge. Well enough about that.
As you can see I was alone for the majority of my childhood, and even when I had others that would stand by me, I chose to be my own person. This was how I lived my life until I came into a situation where I emotionally at the end of my rope. Before this as a teenager, there was a lady that had prayer meetings in her house. People would be slayed by the power of God in those prayer meetings. She lived on the fourth floor and all we could see would be the shadows that were projected on the ceiling. This was around the time of the Exorcist (the movie), maybe about 4 or 5 years after. We would make fun of the lady and the people that went to these meetings. It was a surprise not only to me, but also to her that I would ask her what I had to do to be saved. She thought I was being a wise guy, and I told her that I really wanted to be saved, and that I was at the end of my rope. Well, we said the sinner’s prayer together, and she had me tarry for the Holy Ghost. The only thing was that I didn’t have to tarry (wait) as soon as I knelt down to pray I started to speak with tongues as the spirit gave utterance. Thus began my Christian experience.
I started off going to a church, where by laws dictated that a person was not saved until they received the Holy Ghost. Because of bad teaching, and people that were just playing church, when the young people found out that I had the Holy Ghost before I got to that particular church they became very jealous. Most of this was due to the fact that they had the GIFT of the Holy Ghost confused with working for the Holy Ghost. When you are on your knees saying Jeduh, Jeduh (they are not saying Jesus), and your mouth is foaming, and you are sweating; this is working, not tarrying. Brother Doug Barker put up an excellent article concerning tongues, you should read it. Twenty years ago I would not have agreed, but knowing what I know now it is to the point.
The young people at this church hated my guts. Not only did I not have to tarry for the Holy Ghost; I was not sleeping around, as I found out later many of them did. I tried to live a Godly life as much as the Lord gave me strength. I was the butt of jokes; two other people were subjected also subjected to the cruelty. This church consisted of mainly one family, and if you weren’t in the family you were not accepted. To be continued
Part two
By Elder Anthony Berry
This is the second part to my sermon, “You are not alone.” This part will be more of a testimony of my life; how I came to accept Christ as my personal savior, and the events that led me to be in the wilderness. Now most of the hurt has been put behind me, and with the help of the Lord Jesus (Y’shua) I will be able to let the rest of the hurt go. If I had a thought it would be “Many are called, but few are chosen; Mat 20:1-16. No matter what you go through in life you have to know that the Lord and Savior is walking with you, because he is in you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. This is why you are the church individually. Not everyone in church is called into the church. Some come to church to have a feeling of belonging to something. Others are coming looking for a mate, hoping to get a Church man or woman. The last type is people under the control of Satan, and their job is to exploit whatever situation they can and set the few that are chosen against the people that go to church for whatever reason. The later are not in the church. They have taken on Christ by mouth only.
My call began when I was four years old; I was in the bed when my adult cousin came in and told me if I wasn’t good the boogie man was going to get me. When I asked him where the boogie man was, he told me that it was in the light fixture on the ceiling. This terrified me; I had nightmares for a long time after that. A few days later I asked my mother who the boogie man was, and she told me that he was the devil. She didn’t know that my cousin told me about the boogie man, and when she found out she started snorting steam, and layed into him. But the damage had already been done. This led to me being attacked by the adversary from an early age.
My sister (who is now my pastor), was taking me with her to run some errands. I heard a voice as clear as day say, “Tony I am the devil, I am going to get you.” Many years later she told me that this was probably my step-brother playing a trick on me. I loved him, and looked up to him, but he was mean to me, and always tried to hurt me. Well, even if this was a trick, then why didn’t she hear it, and if she did hear it this opened me up to be spiritually assaulted from an early age. I was afraid to sleep by myself up to the time that I turned six. I used to read comic books, as you will see in one of my other sermons, one of my favorites was, Mad Magazine. In this magazine they had cartoons in the side bars, and one of the sidebars read “Repent, for the end is near.” I was only nine years old at the time, and I said to myself “One day I am going to repent”, I didn’t even know what repentance was, but just knew that I was going to repent.
I was always a lonely child, and never really had any friends. I would spend my time reading, and watching television. As far as my family was concerned I had 4 sisters and was the only boy. I was only three years older than my oldest niece and nephew, and the nephews were the only males that I knew. I was the oldest out of the bunch, and all of the younger children had to listen to me. I was at the top of the pecking order, as far as the children of the family are concerned. Even at the time when I started meeting peers that would look out for me and accepted me as one of them, I was always a loner. Even in a crowd; it I didn’t do anything until I wanted the experience. I picked the time; so they could try to coax me until they were blue in the face, but I would not budge. Well enough about that.
As you can see I was alone for the majority of my childhood, and even when I had others that would stand by me, I chose to be my own person. This was how I lived my life until I came into a situation where I emotionally at the end of my rope. Before this as a teenager, there was a lady that had prayer meetings in her house. People would be slayed by the power of God in those prayer meetings. She lived on the fourth floor and all we could see would be the shadows that were projected on the ceiling. This was around the time of the Exorcist (the movie), maybe about 4 or 5 years after. We would make fun of the lady and the people that went to these meetings. It was a surprise not only to me, but also to her that I would ask her what I had to do to be saved. She thought I was being a wise guy, and I told her that I really wanted to be saved, and that I was at the end of my rope. Well, we said the sinner’s prayer together, and she had me tarry for the Holy Ghost. The only thing was that I didn’t have to tarry (wait) as soon as I knelt down to pray I started to speak with tongues as the spirit gave utterance. Thus began my Christian experience.
I started off going to a church, where by laws dictated that a person was not saved until they received the Holy Ghost. Because of bad teaching, and people that were just playing church, when the young people found out that I had the Holy Ghost before I got to that particular church they became very jealous. Most of this was due to the fact that they had the GIFT of the Holy Ghost confused with working for the Holy Ghost. When you are on your knees saying Jeduh, Jeduh (they are not saying Jesus), and your mouth is foaming, and you are sweating; this is working, not tarrying. Brother Doug Barker put up an excellent article concerning tongues, you should read it. Twenty years ago I would not have agreed, but knowing what I know now it is to the point.
The young people at this church hated my guts. Not only did I not have to tarry for the Holy Ghost; I was not sleeping around, as I found out later many of them did. I tried to live a Godly life as much as the Lord gave me strength. I was the butt of jokes; two other people were subjected also subjected to the cruelty. This church consisted of mainly one family, and if you weren’t in the family you were not accepted. To be continued