The testimony you will read in the following lines is of a man who sought God in the New Age. Thinking himself very advanced in spirituality, God opened his eyes and it was then that he realized that he was rather a slave to Satan, after 15 6 years of intense research in the occult sciences. He tells in the following lines how he encountered the truth and how he received forgiveness from God.
We wish you happy reading and pray that you will derive the maximum benefit from this testimony and know how to use it to lead others to understand the grace of God in Jesus Christ and help them to leave darkness for the light. of Jesus Christ. God bless you.
Like any Jewish child, I faithfully observed the Sabbath every Friday as well as religious holidays until I was 16. Our family like all the others has always gathered for the celebration of major religious holidays. I attended the Hebrew School twice a week where I learned the language and was Bar Mitzavahed at 13, confirmed at 16. During class, I asked a lot of questions about God that the Rebbe couldn't answer. Although I continued each year, mainly to please my parents, I became less interested in my parents' traditional religion and felt stuck in my spiritual development.
So I got involved in my personal process of free spirituality after the license. I threw myself into my research through the readings, participation in teachings, meetings and soothsayers adhering to the New Age Movement. I became a vegetarian for 15 years during which I practiced yoga and mediation. For a while, I even used psychedelic drugs (LSD, mescaline, etc.) which were part of my religious observances. Smoking 'pakalolo' had become part of my normal lifestyle. During this same period, I also touched several religions and some occult sciences.
For me, I understood that each of these practices was part of the truth of the one 'true' religion, much like the Rosicrucian teaches that all religions are the petals of the same flower. I studied the biographies of the Ancient Masters of the East, I learned about Buddhism and Zen from which I selected practices. I had many experiences that I believed at the time to come from God and which led me to a greater knowledge of myself and of Him. I discovered MastersSuperiors and believed that they were leading me our world on a great evolutionary path.
I also practiced UFO and channeled messages. I was sure I was on the right spiritual path as everything seemed cohesive and harmonious around me. At the same time, I also read the Bible (and even the New Testament), not forgetting my Jewish roots. I have taken to reading over 50 books a year, having an insatiable spiritual appetite. During this time, God was working for my deliverance from spiritual slavery.
I had also started surfing before my spiritual pilgrimage. I fell in love with this sport and started traveling, surfing, participating in competitions. Surfing became my occupation as soon as I learned to do it for a living. I became champion of New York for several years and even champion of the Middle East for two years. Hawaii established itself as an irresistible attraction because of its fantastic surfing. I moved to Hawaii with my girlfriend Kathy in the mid 70's.
This gave me even more freedom to pursue my two passions: surfing and my free spiritual quest. We thought we were becoming more enlightened. We read texts on the works of the Higher Masters and 'learned' about the history of the earth, about the Lemurs and Atlantis. We wanted to become servants of the New Age,
After nine years, my research came to a head when Kathy and I began to pursue our spiritual hunger more seriously and became involved in the 'I Am Movement' (The Saint Germaine de Ballard Society). Through the invocation of angels and powers that were unknown to us, and by 'decree' and use of the Consuming Violet Flame to eradicate past life karma, we learned to become active in the New Age.
At that time, Kathy was practicing affirmations, mantras, studying herbology, polarity therapy, kinesiology and was learning the supposed spiritual energies of the body. She was also the manager of a health products store on the island of Oahu. At this time the Lord began to act, with his plan of deliverance; during one week,Christians . One was a surfer from New York.
We had talked about the end of time for hours. I was familiar with the subject, having had to read the Bible for years, being particularly fascinated by the end times. (This is when we thought Christians were narrow-minded in their biblical views of God and the world. Kathy and I laughed at them about their ignorance of the impending New Age. and how they would miss the advent of this movement and end up on the sidelines).
Later that week, my friends invited us to a New Age seminar that was going to be speakers like Dave Hunt, Johanna Michaelson and Hal Lindsey. You talk about coincidences! It was during this same week that I heard an audible voice say to me: "I am the Lord your God, you must not part with it". I recognized that this was from Psalm 23, according to my Jewish education. I had never experienced anything like it before.
Inside of me, I knew that this God was the one I was looking for but that I had not yet known. It was much later that I understood why this voice had only come from outside and not from my heart. I participated that week in the Christian conference on Bible Prophecy and the New Age Movement while Kathy had remained practicing her New Age affirmations. That day, she was not feeling well and without knowing it, had gone through spiritual battles for the whole week. At the conference, I was shocked to hear the other side of the story. What I heard was incredible.
The speakers knew all about the techniques Kathy and I were following and practicing. They knew the basics of the New Age program. I spoke to Dave Hunt briefly during the break and he answered a number of important questions. One of them was 'Why did you abandon me?' Although I had read the Bible during these years, I could not grasp the gospel message in this verse.
I was blinded by the influence of the New Age. Besides, I had been challenged by Dave about the occult practices I was doing. He was familiar with the practices of 'I Am Societies'. He asked me a question: 'If you are God, did you create the universe?' I had never thought of this question before.
If I strive to become god through all the techniques of the New Age, will I be successful, as long as God has always been Omniscient and Almighty (according to the scriptures and according to what I heard that night). One of them was 'Why did you abandon me?' Although I had read the Bible during these years, I could not grasp the gospel message in this verse.
I was blinded by the influence of the New Age. Besides, I had been challenged by Dave about the occult practices I was doing. He was familiar with the practices of 'I Am Societies'. He asked me a question: 'If you are God, did you create the universe?' I had never thought of this question before.
It was through this question and a series of events that I realized that the Lord was teaching the truth to my heart and my mind. At the end of the conference, Johanna spoke, I found myself in her experiences , especially those related to the Master Superior 'Jesus'. She then spoke of another Jesus - the real Jesus of the Bible, which struck me as a violent shock. I never thought there could be a fake Jesus hanging around the real one.
They were only Jesus in name, but not the One who is God and who came in the flesh. It all made sense. When she prayed, my heart was pierced. I knew I heard the truth, but the question was: 'what should I do with it?'
On the way back, I struggled with the observation of 15 years wasted believing and doing wrong things. (Before this I thought Christians were narrow-minded but now I had to see that my mind had been too open to lying). I asked the friends who had driven me to the conference several questions that haunted my mind. Being newly converted, they had few answers. They just kept saying, 'We know the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the truth.' Kathy was awake and waiting for me at the house.
It was late and she feared that I had converted during the meeting! As soon as I entered, peace invaded the house and her too, after that I sat her down and shared with her the Christian views on the last days and how they have nothing in common with the New Age.
It was then that the Holy Spirit revealed himself to Kathy that not only are we following the false Jesus (2Corinthians 11: 4), but that we are serving Satan who is a real being. It was then that the fear of God took hold of us and for the first time we knelt down and prayed to the true living God to forgive us for the occult beliefs which had seduced us and which we were practicing.
The Lord had the last word, the pleasant word 'victory'. It was then that the fear of God took hold of us and for the first time we knelt down and prayed to the true living God to forgive us for the occult beliefs which had seduced us and which we were practicing.
The next morning we both went to a Christian church and the pastor stood at the pulpit and said he had been told to change sermons. He spoke about sin, Satan, and Jesus Christ. We had thought that maybe our friends had breathed a word to them, but it was the Lord.
We have listened to the gospel and dedicated our lives to the Lord, repenting and asking the Lord to forgive our sins. I thank the Lord because He has answered us. We were saved in 1986. It was later that same week that I realized that the date God had spoken to me through Psalm 23 was the 20th anniversary of my confirmation.
The last thing I had read in front of the congregation in the temple 20 years earlier was Proverbs 4: 1-2: “Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father, and be attentive, to know wisdom; Because I give you good advice: Do not reject my teaching. ” Sadly, I gave up his teachings for 20 years - but God brought me and my next-to-be wife back.
Five weeks after our spiritual birth, Kathy and I got married and today we have a 15 year old child who teaches us and who is very interested in the debates on Creation and Evolutionism among others. Immediately, I began to study the Bible and learned apologetics in order to provide answers to those who ask why we believe in Christ and why Jesus is God manifested in the flesh.
Since 1988, I continue to teach on sects and false doctrines such as the denial of grace and the promotion of works as a means of salvation. Which teachings are preached among Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and in the occult (New Age doctrines). and that one finds even in the church.By the grace of God, I had the privilege of teaching in the Chapels of Hope, the Chapels of Calvary, the Church of Christ, the Youth in Mission, the 'United Methodist Church, Brethren of Grace, Assemblies of God, and many other congregations in Hawaii. I also had the opportunity to share in small study groups across Iceland and participated in several debates.
The Lord has now given us the opportunity to host a TV program and we have a direct call show 'Let Us Reason' on a local Christian station and participate in several other radio shows in Hawaii. I am currently a missionary for Witness Inc., the largest ministry in the world working to reach Jehovah's Witnesses.
In 1994, the 'Let Us Reason' ministry was founded as an 'up to date' resource center to instill confidence and a desire to lead others to Christ. This is to help believers by equipping them with biblical and logical answers to their faith. I have learned many things that I would like to pass on to others in order to encourage and equip them in their testimony. I hope that this ministry will be able to inspire Christians to personally meet and evangelize those who are in sects and false religions and that it will help to discern and expose false doctrines within the Church.
Mike Oppenheimer.
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