Sinners Saved: The Simplified Truth of Salvation

Copyright © 2013 Andrea DeGroote & Lorene Walvatne.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-8639-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8640-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903632

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/23/2013

Table of Contents

1. The Purpose

2. In The Beginning

3. Sin and the Sinner

4. Jesus a Gift from God

5. Jesus the Man

6. Jesus The Good Shepherd

7. Jesus Prays for His Beloved

8. Jesus Betrayed and Mocked

9. Jesus Crucified

10. Jesus is Buried

11. Jesus Resurrected

12. Testimonies of the Power and Love of Jesus Christ

1. Andrea DeGroote

2. Lorene Walvatne

3. Alyson Robertson

4. Barbara Y.

5. Becky Kew

6. Bill Lavery

7. Becca Y.

8. Bob Finley

9. Carrie Kaulback

10. Bruce Novak

11. Chester Y.

12. Virginia Vaughn

13. Elizabeth S.

14. Daniel Walvatne

15. David Netti

16. Dennis DeGroote

17. D. Ferguson

18. Edwin Yoder

19. Gerda Winkels

20. Heather A.

21. Heidi DeGroote

22. Jonathan Walvatne

23. Jessica Yoder

24. Jean Brandt

25. Joanna Walvatne

26. Hillary Aspenson

27. Hank Winkels

28. Kathy Walvatne

29. Katie Y.

30. Luke Finley

31. S. Faviere

32. Mark Walvatne

33. Mary DeGroote

34. Marilyn Y.

35. Luke Winkels

36. Sarah Fry

37. Mrs. David Novak

38. Linda Lavery

39. Sarah Camarra

40. Marcia Finley

41. Sheila Uhlenhake

42. Shelley Reeves McKenna

43. Rob Woodford

44. Shad Finley

45. Shelly Wahls

46. Thomas B.

47. Steve Walvatne

48. Stu Thompson

49. Ada Woodford

50. Sharon Gongora

51. Ruth Cairns

52. C. Faviere

53. William Skates

54. Corina Winkels-Yoder

55. Suzy Fitch

56. Shad Sluiter

57. Sarah Novak

13 One Final Plea

Have you considered where you’ll be

Throughout the long eternity?

Oh my friend, will your anchor hold,

And will you walk the streets of gold?

If we could live and pass the test

By doing what we thought the best:

Of what worth would the Bible be?

Of what virtue was Mount Calvary?

There is no difference saith my God

In those who on this earth have trod.

There is none righteous - - no not one

Don’t be deceived by deeds you’ve done.

He does not want your wicked heart.

For your salvation you have no part.

No work, no cost - - He says to thee:

Incline your ear. Come unto Me.

Salvation is God’s only Son.

Salvation is the work all done,

By Him who paid sin’s penalty.

Tis Jesus that can set you free.

I know the day I met the Son.

I know the hour my soul He won.

Search your life - - make sure that you

Have met my blessed Savior too.

Betty P. Williamson - April 8, 1946

The Purpose

Before we get too involved I should clear up the title of this chapter, which is The Purpose . The purpose of this book is to put together a compilation of stories gathered from friends and strangers. It is dedicated to helping Born Again Christians share their account of how they came to know, trust, and enjoy a life in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God’s love is blind to age, sex, ethnicity, religion, etc. Thus, you will be introduced to people from all walks of life with no discrimination. If one soul is brought out of the darkness and accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by the knowledge shared in this book, then the purpose has been fulfilled.

There are 66 books in the Bible written as a testament to the Word of God; all of which are written by authors which were personally selected and guided by God’s loving hand. Whether it was a life of strife or prosperity, the authors fulfilled God’s glorious plan by putting ink to cloth, keeping a careful record of His living Word. These books are filled with knowledge and wisdom, and tell of a great spectrum of love and faith, both resilient and feeble. The Bible outlines the commandments of God and sets boundaries for us through doctrine and law. Within the Bible you will find amazing demonstrations of the unfathomable love that God has for all mankind. It is the greatest of all love stories.

My family has a large arsenal of religious teaching books to help aid in our search for raising better children, becoming better parents, better spouses, and all around better Christians. I must admit that I love to go to the book store, look at all the spectacular covers, read the critics comments, and purchase the books with the intention of reading them cover to cover. A second confession I must make, is that I do begin to read these books, but by the second and third chapters they are no longer able to keep my interest. I am left to wonder if others struggle the same as I do. Do other readers find their good intentions become squashed when discouraged or overwhelmed by reading? I find myself drowning in a sea of knowledge, biblical truths, historical facts, geographical locations, and repetition, when all I really long for is the simplified truth of the Lord and His works. Simply put, there are authors with vocabulary and knowledge so vast that it is hard for my little mind to understand what they are truly trying to convey. I am going to attempt to keep this as elementary as possible and hopefully with little insult to you as you read on.

There is so much that I have yet to discover about the Bible and its teachings that I have discouraged myself from writing this book several times. How can someone with such minimal knowledge and understanding of the Bible write a book about biblical truths? The answer is simple, I know with the surety of my soul, the most vital part. I’ve taken the time to weigh and measure the pros and cons of beginning and finishing this book. It is obvious who won the weigh-in since you are holding a book that is finished and published; and you are reading it. Now my task is just to keep you reading, and more importantly, interested.

I have invited several other Christians along on this journey since I believe that everyone connects differently to different people. As you turn the pages you will be introduced to new individuals and their life stories, some short and others long. You never know when or who the Lord is going to use to aid you in your search for knowledge and truth. Just by picking up this book you may have already started down a path with God at your side. You may be exactly where He wants you to be in your life or He may be using this book to direct you elsewhere. God knows your wants and needs, your deepest fears, and your greatest weaknesses. God knows that thru His love, His grace, His sacrifice, and His promises that He has all of the truths you long for, and in Him alone will you find satisfaction.

The stories and testimonies throughout this book will use references from the King James Version Bible (KJV), and all scripture references and verses are written in a bold font to make them stand out for easy reference; while the Word’s of Christ are in italics as well as in bold font. I have found the King James Study Bible published and distributed by Thomas Nelson Publishers to be extremely helpful and reliable. I would strongly recommend this Bible to anyone who struggles to understand and comprehend the Word of God as it is written. It has an easy to use guide, introductions to each of the books of the Bible, footnotes, a glossary, quick finds, etc. This Bible is a blessing in itself.

I pray, as does everyone involved with this small publication, that it will be used to honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and prove to glorify God our Father. I pray that God has placed His guiding hand on my shoulder and that He will lead me thru the obstacles of questions and answers that will rise before me. I pray for the strength and confidence to continue on so that one lost soul may find the answers they so desperately need. I am praying for you personally, as are countless others, that through the reading of this book you may find truth through these testimonies, and receive peace in your soul due to the knowledge of sins forgiven.

In The Beginning

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1

The account of how God formed the earth is believed to be narrated by Moses in the book of Genesis. The first chapter of Genesis is a daily account of the wonders of God as His creations unfold. The formation of heaven and earth, night and day, land, sea, and vegetation, the sun, moon, and stars, beasts of the earth, and finally man. When He was finished He blessed His creations and instructed them to be fruitful and multiply. All of these amazing miracles were completed in as little as six days. With all the complexities of the universe, it’s nothing short of astonishing.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Genesis 2:2

Creation has to be a favorite story amongst Sunday school teachers regardless of denomination. The story of creation is the foundation of earth and all life on earth. No matter how miraculous you may find these miracles, they do not begin to demonstrate the magnitude of God’s powers.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

Adam, the first human that God created, was formed from the dust of the earth. He placed Adam in a beautiful garden, the Garden of Eden, where he was to live. The Garden of Eden had a beautiful river, was rich in gold, and had trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food. God appointed Adam to rule over the animals of land, sea, and sky; and over the fruit and seed bearing plants of earth. Also in this Garden was the tree ‘of the knowledge of good and evil’. God gave strict warning in regards to this specific tree.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:16-17

God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone so He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. God then removed a rib from Adam and from that rib He formed a woman to be a help meet for him and thus was the creation of the first woman, Eve.

Why am I so interested in revisiting the story of creation? My reason for revisiting a story that many have heard a thousand times is that this is clearly when and where man’s first sin was committed. The book of Genesis doesn’t just tell how we came to be, but how we came to be who we are. The answer can be traced directly back to Adam and Eve.

While in the Garden of Eden, Eve was approached by a serpent, a sly serpent. The serpent subtly coaxed Eve, despite God’s warning of death, to eat the fruit growing from the tree ‘of the knowledge of good and evil’. After Eve ate the fruit from the tree, she then convinced her husband Adam to partake of the fruit also, thus their eyes were opened. This is the first record of sin documented against our Creator, the Lord God. It was literally the fall of humanity.

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:13

Even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit, God showed great forgiveness and compassion toward them. They would no longer spend their lives free of ailments, strife, and full of beauty and innocence. Instead they would be forbidden to ever return to the Garden of Eden. Their punishment, oddly enough, was to live with trials that we consider to be normal in today’s modern world. Adam and Eve were forced to work for their food and shelter, face sickness and disease, pain, sadness, and eventually death. The world isn’t just about sadness and strife, we all know that, but when God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden they needed to understand the depths of what they had done. They had defiled the innocence of every generation to come, they had become sinners.

There is much more to the story of Adam and Eve and the rest can be read about in the book of Genesis. I wanted to touch on the topic of creation so we could bring about how sin came to be. Sin has been present since the days of creation and will be present until the return of the Lord.

Sin and the Sinner

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5

In the previous verse we read that we are born into or conceived in sin. Now this statement must be true since we are all descendants of Adam and Eve; and because we are the offspring of sinners we ourselves are fated to be sinners by nature. Despite our best efforts, it is impossible for us to avoid sinning.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23 makes it very clear that ALL have sinned and that ALL have fallen short of God’s glory. Before you find this offensive, let me say this, I look at this verse differently. One evening long ago, a preacher had me say this verse aloud, but with a slight change. I repeated it as he instructed, "For I have sinned, and (I have) come short of the glory of God. When I put myself into that verse it meant something more to me, God was speaking to me. God wasn’t limiting all to just the people from that era but to all, meaning all future generations of mankind. God was calling me a sinner. There is no escaping it, we are all" sinners.

Different dictionaries give different definitions of sin. The definition I personally believe to be true is simply stated, sin is an act against God. We must look to the Bible to find out what the word sin truly means, to uncover how God feels about sin, and how God deals with sin. The Bible is filled with acts against God, human immoralities, and their outcomes (consequences).

Sin is such a huge topic to discuss since it affects nearly every aspect of our lives. I am going to just touch on what are referred to as the seven deadly sins; pride, greed, wrath, sloth, lust, envy, and gluttony. Are you beginning to see what I mean?

Let us start with what is considered to be the root and most serious of the seven deadly sins, pride. Individuals who seek to be more appealing, who believe they are more important than others, and refuse to acknowledge others and their work are considered prideful. They are driven to despise their family, their friends, neighbors, etc., because others fail to acknowledge how wonderfully important they are. This to me is a very sad sin to suffer from. I’ve observed people filled with pride and have seen the devastation it causes in their family, their friendships, and their daily lives. Their security with themselves is as real as their friendships with the people they belittle. Pride is a very ugly characteristic; it often leads to a lonely, unfulfilled life. God can see pride for what it is and will address it in His time, often with humility.

Disloyalty, betrayal, violence, manipulation, pilfering, etc. are all motivated by greed. Greed can be described as deliberate acts against others for personal gain. When someone has an excessive appetite for wealth and power, to better their status, they are considered to be greedy. This need to have more than others often leads people to be deceitful and conniving. Some turn to robbery and fraudulence to acquire what it is they long for. Sometimes this greed leads to horrifically tragic acts of violence. When one suffers from greed they are constantly trying to tip the scales in their favor, but always seem to fall short; thus they are never satisfied. The Bible gives examples of how God deals with greed in many different accounts. Often the excess of one’s wealth and property are stripped away and they are left with less than what they started with.

Wrath, or anger, can be defined as an unwarranted or uncontrolled fit of anger or hatred. Do you ever get upset on your commute to work when someone cuts you off? How about when someone mistreats your family? There are so many events and triggers that can happen to someone just in the course of the day that could send their blood boiling. When you reach a point when you are full of anger, rage, fury, or whatever you’d like to call it, it is considered wrath. No way around it, when you are angry, you are sinning. Can you prevent yourself from getting angry? Hatred and anger can cause a self-destructiveness that provokes impatience, vengeance, and manifestations of the mind. God promises to one day return and His wrath will be poured out.

Sloth, though a sin, is not considered to be as severe as the other seven sins. When you fail to use the gifts that God has blessed you with, when you choose to be lazy, or unconcerned, it is obviously sloth. Sloth is not easily recognized. It is simply a willingness to be content with the failure to apply one’s talents, or to fall short with appreciation for God and His work. Sloth has been defined several different ways through the centuries, but through reading I have found that many have concluded that sloth is the failure to fully love God with all one’s heart, mind, and soul. Do we give God all that we have? Do we appreciate all we have been blessed with? Where do we place God on our list of priorities?

When an individual faces excess thoughts or desires of a sexual nature they are dealing with a form of lust. Some find lust to be a difficult thing to debate since it is looked at so perversely. Lust is a sin that can lead to heart-rending situations of rape, sexual abuse, and molestation. It is often considered a sickness in cases of severity. Lust is not a widely discussed sin, but it is the base for many books and movies where the story-line benefits from natural or unnatural sexual tendencies. Lust is not just restricted to inappropriate sexual desire, but can take place in the form of an extreme desire for power, knowledge etc. Lust is a sin that is more comfortable kept hidden. However, who can hide from God? God knows our hearts and what it is that we lust after.

Envy is a sin similar to that of greed. The underlying difference is that while both greed and envy are fueled by a desire to have what they are lacking, envy is accompanied by the longing to have another person deprived of it. Someone stricken with envy suffers from finding satisfaction in others’ distress. They find pleasure when others are brought low. Envy causes people to enjoy the suffrage of others because they feel resentment towards those who they believe to have received more blessing. God willingly gives each of us what we need in a time when we most need it. Have you ever found personal gratification in someone’s failure? I have asked myself the same question. Would this be something God would want us to feel toward one another?

Lastly we should address gluttony. Gluttony is a sin that most do not even consider. It is defined as an over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything. When you consume too much of something so that it becomes wasteful or unnecessary it is labeled as gluttony. Gluttony also represents someone’s self-control and their ability to resist temptations. While others suffer from hunger many are throwing out leftovers or outdated food. Are you feeling guilty? God has blessed us with plenty and I believe He wants us to exercise self-control, and to show empathy for those who are less fortunate.

The world we live in is infested with sin, and at this point there seems to be no hope for it to improve. Or is there hope? What will God do? As I sit here I think of the Lord’s coming and how God will deal with the earth.

People continually sin throughout the Bible. Think back to your childhood, do you remember the story of Noah and the Ark? This is just one instance of God’s frustration and dealings with sin. God came to Noah and told him to build an Ark, and in that Ark he was to take his family and two of every living animal. Why? Noah and his family found favor with God, so He was going to be merciful upon them as He brought forth a Great Flood to cleanse the earth of sin. Drastic you say? The world, in Noah’s time, had become so sinful that it repulsed God to the point that He destroyed it. What about the city of Sodom and Gomorrah? They were so corrupt with thievery, sexual immoralities, drunkenness, and other consuming sins that God rained down fire and brimstone and demolished them. Only Lot and his family were spared; however, Lot’s wife disobeyed God and looked back at the crumbling city. God had warned against looking back, and with her disobedience God turned her into a pillar salt. These examples only go to show you, that you can rely on God to deal with