How the Gospel Changed My Life

My acceptance and belief of the gospel changed my life in so many ways that I never could have even imagined. How I accepted and understood the gospel is what I consider a remarkable gift from God. I did not receive and accept the gospel in any church, even though I had been attending church services for all my life, and at that time was fifty-six (56) years old.

It may sound unbelievable, but I truly had never heard the “gospel truth” preached to me. I had heard the preaching of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, but not the gospel. In the gospels of Matthew Mark, Luke, and John we read of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In John 10:15-18 Jesus Christ speaks of laying down His life for the sheep and that He has the power to lay down His life and the power to take it up again. Christ says that no man takes His life from Him, but that He lays it down. I do not remember ever hearing these verses mentioned in a sermon. No, I only heard sermons on the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection – that the Jews and Romans took the life of Christ – not sermons that Christ that laid down His life.

Never once had I ever heard a sermon preached on the gospel (good news) of the death, burial and resurrection recorded in I Corinthians 15:1-4. Let me say this as clearly as I can – I never ever heard one sermon preached on these four (4) most important verses, which state that we are saved when we BELIEVE that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose on the third day according to the scriptures.

Instead, my previous denomination instructed me to follow the same guidance that Peter gave to the Jews who participated in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Peter told the Jews to be water baptized for the remission of their sins so that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. My former denomination also told me to be water baptized for the remission of my sins, just as Peter had instructed the Jews to do. This type of preaching totally overlooks Jesus Christ’s willing sacrifice.

It was after a deep and dark period in my life that I understood the “gospel truth.” I had just gone through three (3) months of depression and was starting to recover. My depression originated when I had concentrated (fixated) on my life and especially certain parts of my life. At that time, I had concentrated not on what I had done, but what others had done to me.

It was only after I had decided to put that past behind me that my understanding of the “gospel truth” started to become a part of my consciousness. It was at this time that I concentrated on what I had done to others during my life. Over a period of approximately three (3) months I concentrated on my sins on a daily and even an hourly basis. It was this concentration on my sins that led me to then concentrate on the fact that Jesus Christ had died for all my sins.

It was at this time, that I fully understood and accepted the “gospel truth,” that Jesus Christ willingly laid down His sinless and perfect life, for my sinful and imperfect life. This was not just a mental acceptance on my part, but it became acceptance from my heart. I now no longer feared God, but I loved God for what Jesus Christ had accomplished on the cross for me.

When I understood the “gospel truth,” I understood that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all my sins, and to be a true follow of Jesus Christ required me to forgive all those who had wronged me in any way. This was a truly liberating experience for me. My acceptance and knowledge of the “gospel truth” and my forgiveness of others who had wronged me, was the beginning of my new life here on this earth.

At that point, I prayed for wisdom and guidance from God. Then I took the ultimate step, and I asked God to take over my life and do with my life as He pleased. For me, asking God to take over my life and use my life as He wills was an easy choice for me to make. My life had been a mess, and I knew that only God could give me the new life that I wanted and needed. It was in 2013 that my new life slowly started to take form.

The years between 2013 and 2019 were formative years. Those six years were the bridge between my old incomplete life and my new complete life in Christ. Those years were years of reading and studying the Bible. In 2019 my life changed dramatically. It was in 2019 I came to understand how to “rightly divide the word of truth, “the gospel of our salvation,” from “the gospel not of our salvation.”

My knowledge of how to “rightly divide the word of truth” came from a true and loving child of God, named Les Feldick. I discovered Les Feldick on YouTube, where he has two channels dedicated to teaching Bible knowledge and specifically explaining salvation. It was through Les Feldick’s teaching that I was able to have total and complete confidence in my eternal salvation.

In 2019, I authored a paper outlining twenty differences between the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the grace of God, as well as discussing the mysteries that Jesus Christ revealed to our Apostle Paul. I then created “The Heaven Test, which explains salvation through four (4) simple questions and answers. The website went live in 2023.

I am thankful to God for the knowledge of His word that He has given to me, so that through this website others may benefit from the “gospel truth,” know how to “rightly divide the word of truth,” and thereby have total and complete confidence in their own salvation.