Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Raleigh Hooper and I have gone to Grace Community Church since I was seven years old. Since this blog will be focused mostly on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I thought it would be quite appropriate to start off my blog with my personal testimony on how I came to know Him.
I was raised in a Christian household and always went to Sunday school. I never totally understood the gospel being taught in class. I always thought Jesus was a good guy who died for his beliefs and if you believe in God and be like Jesus, you’ll end up in heaven when you die. I made a profession of faith when I was younger, but I didn’t quite understand what the gospel really meant. As I grew a little bit older, I always leaned on that moment of my childhood thinking, “Well, I don’t cuss, I don’t kill people, I don’t steal; I’m a pretty nice guy. Surely God will accept me into heaven”, when in reality, my heart was full of filth and hypocrisy. I had a bad attitude towards my parents and those in authority and my thought life was garbage; it was all about me and having my own way and not about serving God. Any time I would do wrong, I had no desire whatsoever to confess that sin to God and ask for forgiveness. I thought, “Well, God will forgive me. If he loves me, he’ll forgive me.” Every time I heard messages about hell, that absolutely terrified me; so I would try to do some good work like read a random Bible verse, do a brief chore, or hold the door open for old people to try to ease my conscious.
One night, my mom grew quite tired of my rebellious attitude. She quoted a verse from 1 Samuel 15:23 stating: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft...” I knew that God abhorred witchcraft and that it was worthy of severe punishment and automatic death. That night, I begged for forgiveness and mercy and to allow Christ to take hold my heart and my life. That evening, I was saved. “Assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:21-24)
Because of the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s love and mercy, I am thankful for the authority from my parents and the teaching of this church that God has placed in my life. I also want my thoughts to be honoring to the Lord and not sinful, and whenever I sin, the Holy Spirit works in my heart to where I want to get right whatever I did wrong as soon as possible. Because I am a fallen sinful person who will never be even remotely close to being perfect. I am thankful for the fact that God has sent his only son to be a perfect sacrifice to cover all of my past, present, and future sins that I could not pay. “For God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him shall have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) The best part of all is that no matter what happens, I will never loose my salvation because I know that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure, For you will not abandon my soul to sheol, or let your holy one seek corruption.” (Psalm 16: 9 & 11.)
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