Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Spiritual Awakening of Richmond King

Richmond, King, evangelist
I would like to share with you the testimony of a twenty-nine year old man from Liberia, named Richmond King.

Richmond's Testimony
I got saved at the age of fifteen and was trying my best to serve the Lord. Unfortunately, I backslid at the age of sixteen, and fell back into sin and lustful desires. After approximately ten years, I started cohabiting with a girl without fear of any punishment from the Lord. During this ten years period, I heard some salvation messages, but my heart was still filled with the lust of the world.

In March 2013, my girlfriend and I decided to visit her mother. When we arrived at the house, her mother told us that there was a testimony of a girl whom Jesus took to heaven and hell (Testimony of Linda from Sierra Leone). After witnessing the video, my girl friend and I wept bitterly for our sins that night and decided to rededicate our lives to Christ. After that, we started making plans to get married, and we got married December 27, 2014. We did not get married with rings, because of my research on jewelry from the Bible. Our families persecuted us, yet we stood strong and for the truth.

There were two encounters that I had with the Lord. One was the next day after we rededicated our lives to  Christ and the other was few months later. These experiences brought a tremendous change in my life. The first one happened the next day after we rededicated our lives to Christ. I decided to take a fast that day and while going through the fast, I decided to take a little rest. But before taking my rest, I made a statement and I said Lord what will you want me to do in the future. And after making this statement, I when to sleep. It happen between sleep and wake, I hear a voice speaking to me but I did not see anybody. The Bible I was reading before going to sleep was right over my head. In the vision, a small book was attached to the Bible and the voice told me to eat the book and I ate the book and swallowed it. After that, I awoke from sleep.

From that time until now, Scriptures can just be coming to my mind any time I am teaching the Bible. And when people ask questions, I can answer them directly from the Scriptures.

The second experience was between sleep and wake. During this encounter, I heard my name announced on a huge stage, and the people were speaking about healing happening to them, but I did not see anything. However, I heard the noise of the crowd. In this encounter, I was announced as an evangelist.  After this experience, I knew my calling in the five-fold ministry.

Thank God I did not die in my stubbornness against God and perish in hell. By the grace of God, I will stand for Jesus in this generation.

-- Richmond King

[END OF RICHMOND'S TESTIMONY]

Richmond's Wake Up Call
Praise the Lord for making Richmond to be a testimony of the saving power of Jesus Christ!  He could have died in his stubbornness against God and perished in hell like so many others do every day. But instead, when the Lord awakened him to his true spiritual condition, he repented with all his heart. He and his girl friend wept bitterly for their sins and rededicated their lives to Christ.

Look at what God can do! He can do the same for you or someone you love. But when they determined with God's help to live godly lives, then their families began to persecute them. "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Tim 3:12).  The devil was satisfied, as long as they remained asleep spiritually. But as soon as they woke up and began to follow the Lord according to the Bible, then the persecution came. As soon as they determined to embrace the Scriptural requirement of inward and outward holiness, then they were persecuted by their own loved ones. But they stood firm in the truth.

Let me encourage you that if you desire to live a godly life in Christ, you will be persecuted. Count on it! But stand firm, and rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer. Endure to the end. Those who endure to the end will be saved.

And not only did the Lord rescue Richmond from a life of sin that was taking him down to hell, but He called him to preach. That call was on his life since before he was born. The Scripture says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Eph 2:10). Now we can see why the devil deceived him away from the Lord after he got saved and wanted to keep him from serving the Lord. The devil knew that any preacher who fulfills his God-given calling is going to do serious damage to the kingdom of darkness by the power of God.

The experience Richmond had when the Lord called him to preach was not unlike what happened to the prophet Ezekiel, who wrote:

"Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. Then He said to me, 'Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.' So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.' Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth." (Eze 2:9-10 - 3:1-3)

Richmond asked, "Lord, what will you want me to do in the future," and God directly answered him. That was nothing less than a supernatural encounter with the living God. Praise the Lord!

My Personal Invitation to You
In closing, please let me say that if you are backslidden -- you were once saved, but are now away from Jesus Christ,  He is calling to you today to return to Him.  He leaves the ninety-nine other sheep in the flock to pursue you -- that one lost sheep. Wake up from your spiritual slumber! Return to Him with repentance and weeping.  "Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.'" (Hos 14:2). He will forgive you, and heal you. If God could do it for Richmond, who was away from God for ten years, He can do it for you.

There is nobody on earth more miserable than a backslidden Christian.  It's a terrible place to be. You might fool yourself into believing that your having fun, but the truth is that deep down inside your soul is aching. You have no peace.  The only answer is to cry out to the Lord for mercy and turn your back on sin. Stop sinning. Don't ever go back that way again! Separate yourself from the world and consecrate yourself to the Lord once again. Pour out your heart to God in a covenant prayer something like this one.

And when you return to Him, find out what the Lord wants you to do for Him. Then serve Him with wholehearted devotion. "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." (2Ch 16:9). Work hard for the Lord and you will have a great reward in heaven. Live your life in holiness, righteousness, and truth, and strive to enter the kingdom of God through the narrow gate.

Attribution notice: Scripture quotation taken from the NASB.

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read Ezekiel Moses Testimony of Heaven and Hell, Why Not Live Together Rather Than Marry?, Holy Living in a Perverted World, Drifting Away, The Lord Healed My Backsliding, Striving to Enter the Kingdom of God, Rock, Rap, and Reggae Music -- Five Divine Revelations, Tattoos and Body Piercing, Alcohol and Cigarettes -- Ten Divine Revelations, The Evil Spirit of Alcohol, The Truth Set Me Free, The Forgotten Sin of Worldliness, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, The Straight and Narrow Path, Ask for the Ancient Paths, James Agboola Revelation of Heaven and Hell, and Aim for Perfection. You are also invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.