About Anna

I was attending a Non-denominational church when I came to understand that I was a sinner and, therefore, that I desperately needed Jesus as my Savior when I was 10 years old. I was soon after baptized as my testimony to the world that I am a born again Child of God. I now belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I attend Lighthouse Baptist Church and have been a member since 1998.

I believe in the trinity “Father-God, Son of God, and Holy Spirit”. Jesus is God’s son whom He sent as “the lamb without blemish” to die for my sins so that I will not have to. Jesus is the only way to salvation, Heaven, and eternity.

I believe that the Bible is God’s Inspired Word given as a guide for living according to His will and plan, as well as to show His great love, forgiveness, mercy and grace. We are all a work in progress to becoming more like Jesus. None of us are perfect, we keep striving to do the best we can while holding God’s hand.

It is my desire to let this site be a witness to others of our wonderful, loving God. I also believe that Christians have a duty to take a stand for truth, especially God’s truths. I cannot sit idly by and ignore tolerance of evil and injustice.

It is my prayer that I will be lead by the Holy Spirit in Divine Guidance to accomplish God’s will for His glory and honor and His kingdom to come.

“Saved Through the Light”

Ten-year-old Anna finished her breakfast of oatmeal and raisins as fast as humanly possible. She yelled for her five other siblings to hurry up, “Grandpa and Grandma will be here any minute to take us to church.” Anna was eager to learn more about the miracles Jesus did when he was on earth. Mrs. Sample, her Sunday School teacher, was really nice and made the lessons lots of fun, and gave them cookies when they finished.

Honk! Honk! “Hurry everyone. They’re here.” Anna helped the younger ones get their shoes and jackets on, and rushed them out the door. “Stop yelling about who sits by the door, Lil and Jody!” she shouted. “Just get in and scoot over.” She hopped in and slammed the door in her excitement. That brought a stern look from Grandma in the front seat. Anna apologized, “Sorry, Grandma. I will be more careful next time.”

The children tried to contain themselves as they followed their grandparents up the steps and into the church. There was old Mr. Wilson at the door to greet them with sweet treats. They found the nearest empty pews and sat down. Everyone prayed and sang songs and then went to their separate Sunday school classes.

“Today we will learn about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins.” Mrs. Sample announced. “Because we are all sinners and we all have a sinful, human nature, Jesus had to pay the price for us so we do not have to. It is important to understand that when Jesus took all of our sins upon himself, He was separated from His Heavenly Father for the first time ever. He could not see Him or feel His presence. He was all alone.”

“Matthew 27:45 and 46 tells us, ‘Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.’ That means from noon until three o’clock in the afternoon it was very dark.”

As Mrs. Sample was reading about the darkness, Anna felt like the lights seemed to be getting dimmer. She glanced over at the little window in the upper left corner of the room, and the sun’s light was no longer shining through it. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest as the teacher continued. “Then about three o’clock, Jesus cried out, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ That means My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Soon after, Jesus died.

Anna felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks as the teacher went on, “They laid Jesus in the tomb and He rose to life again three days later. If we ask forgiveness of our sins and ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, when we die we will go to Heaven to be with Him. If we refuse to believe that Jesus is God’s Son who died for our sins and we reject Him as our Savior, we will be cast into the fiery pit of Hell. We will be eternally sorry that we refused God’s gift of His Son and His forgiveness, but it will be too late. Our torment will be to forever watch those who accepted Jesus in Heaven, knowing we can never be there.”

“Mrs. Sample,” Anna said insistently. “I want Jesus in my heart. How do I do that?”

Mrs. Sample busied the other children with reading their lesson, while she led Anna to a chair in the back of the room. She closed her eyes, folded her hands and repeated after her teacher: “God, I believe that Jesus is your Son who you sent to die to take away my sins.” Through her closed eyes, Anna felt the light gradually coming back into the room.

“I ask you to forgive me of my sins right now, and I ask Jesus to come into my heart and be Lord of my life. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.” She felt so peaceful and calm, she thought Jesus was giving her a big hug. She opened her eyes and the room was all lit up again with the sun shining brightly through the little window. For a brief moment, she wondered if it really did get dark before.

Anna could hardly wait to share her good news with everyone. “And, gee whiz, maybe if mommy and daddy come to church and say the prayer they will feel this happy too!”

Doctrine:

The Way

If I asked you, “If you were to die tomorrow, do you know for certain, without a doubt, that you would go to Heaven?” would you know the answer without hesitation?

As Christians, we must be sure that Heaven is our final destination. The following is the simple way to be absolutely confident. (All scripture is taken from the NKJV.)

We are all sinners: Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” There is a high price for sin: Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death,…” God looks at our sin as ‘rebellion’, but He loves us in spite of it:

Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We must turn to God and repent to have our sins completely taken away: Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” By God’s grace (generosity), we receive His free gift (eternal life) through faith which is also from God: Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,”

We must confess Jesus and believe that He was raised from the dead by God: Romans 10: 9-10, v.9: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” v.10: “For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”

Finally, we must call on (pray to) the Lord and be saved: Romans10:13: “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” This simply means that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your life, He will.”

If you hesitated or could not answer the question at the top of the page, you can be sure right now and Jesus will save you and live in you, RIGHT NOW.

PRAY: “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I know that you died on the cross for me. I now turn from my sins and ask you to forgive me. I invite you into my heart and my life. I now trust you as my Savior, and I follow you as my Lord. Thank you for saving me. Amen.”

Be sure to read your Bible each and obey what you read. God loves you and will not forsake you. John 14:21: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Baptism

Does the Act of Baptism Save Us?

The word baptism comes from the Greek word “Baptizo”. It means to dip or immerse, put completely under the water and raise up again. It illustrates the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we are baptized, we are saying, “I believe Jesus died and paid for my sins. He was raised up on the third day showing He was without sin, that He arose in His glorified body and ascended back to Heaven.”

When we go down into the water, we are showing that we are crucified with Him, and we are burying the old man and the old life — we are rising to walk in the newness of life, to live and serve Jesus as a Christian. (See Romans 6:4-6)

Baptism is also the public declaration that we are Christians. It pictures that we are going to follow Him. For instance, when a young man joins the military, he raises his hand and pledges his allegiance to his country and he becomes a soldier. He is in the military, but he declares which branch of the military he is in when he puts on his uniform, OR, a young woman says, “I do,” and she is married. The wedding ring declares that she is married.

So, when we accept Jesus as our Saviour, Baptism is the public declaration — the uniform, the wedding ring — the obedient act declaring that we are Christians. It is the outward testimony of our inner faith.

Jesus established the order of spiritual growth when he said in Matthew 28:19-20(NKJV): v.19-”Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations (make disciples or get them saved), baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” v.20-”teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Note the Order: SALVATION, BAPTISM, TEACH THEM TO OBSERVE…

It is not the act of baptism that saves us from our sins. Jesus is the only way, truth, and life.

Gift of Tongues

Some years ago, my parents moved to Arkansas, where my father’s family was from. My mother was looking for a church home and decided to try the church my grandmother attended. Mom was raised a Baptist in Colorado, so this was a totally new type of church for her. She was told she was not considered a saved person until she spoke in tongues. She did find a small Baptist church nearby and was more at home there.

Following is just some of what 1 Corinthians tells us about speaking in tongues. Nowhere does it say it is the way to salvation. Jesus is the only way. Speaking in tongues is a beautiful gift and a sign of salvation. It can also be very euphoric, but it is more for the edification of the church.

1 Corinthians, chapter 12 includes ‘tongues and interpretation of tongues’ as a spiritual gift. Not everyone is blessed with the same gift. Some were given the ability to speak and interpret languages that were unknown to the speaker or the interpreter. These gifts were necessary before the Word of God was written.

1 Corinthians 12:11 says, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” Therefore it is not up to the individual if they have one of the spiritual gifts, it is God’s for the giving.

1 Corinthians 14:4-7: “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played?”

Verse 13: “Therefore, let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.” If some are willy-nilly speaking in tongues, with no interpreter, and a stranger/unbeliever comes in the door without understanding, will he not turn and leave?

Verses 27-28: “If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.”

So, only two or three should speak in tongues in a service; never at the same time, but in turn; and not at all if no interpreter is present.

NOTHING THERE ABOUT SPEAKING IN TONGUES AS A WAY TO OR A STIPULATION OF SALVATION.