Pastor

A Christian’s Example

My name is Jim Van Voltenberg. I was raised in the Catholic religion, and learned many things about Jesus Christ, Mary and many other of the “so-called” saints. One thing that is real prevalent now is that I learned a lot about a relationship to please the church, but it had no truth. During my senior year of high school, God placed a young girl in my path that had a wonderful joy in her life. She was always happy, and even though going through three deaths in her family that year, she still had a smile. It finally got to me and I had to know why she was so happy (this is the importance of your own personal testimony).

Question By Question

She was really patient with me and took the time to show me from the Bible about Adam and Eve, and how they affected all of mankind. She then also explained the life of Christ and how all this came together. I had a lot of questions and she took the time to answer them. When we finished school, she signed my yearbook with the verse of scripture in Matthew 16:25, “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” So here I was about to go forward with my entire life ahead of me, and a thought lingered in my heart that if I gained the whole world and lost my soul; what value would it be to me?

The United States Army

I joined the army right after high school. In basic training I was away from my family and friends. I did not know anyone, but I still had that verse of scripture. I concentrated on my training to try to forget it. God then moved me to the next part of my training away from my new friends. Yet I still had that verse. I started making friends and getting deeper involved in sin, and I thought everything was going pretty good. Knowing exactly what I needed, God then moved me to Germany. I now found myself away from family, friends and in a foreign country, but I still had that verse of scripture. I begun to do the same things again and went deeper into sin. I was trying my best to find some joy and happiness for my life, but as the Bible says, “the way of the transgressor is hard.” Everything became worse and worse.

God Saves An Army Man

A friend of mine then was saved. On the same day he was baptized he came and invited me to come to church. After an hour and a half, all I could remember him saying was, “would you come to church?” After he left my room, God (as I now know) placed the thought in my heart that things were better when I went to church. I decided then that I was going to find out all about God and I went to as many church services as I could. One of these services was a Baptist missionary work. The preacher told me that if I really wanted to know God, then come to church for three weeks: Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. He said if God did not do anything for me then I didn’t have to come back and he wouldn’t bother me anymore. I took the challenge, and after two weeks I was listening to a man preach on the subject of Hell. God dealt with my heart and I went forward and asked God to save me. Everything started to change in my life! 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” This is my now life’s verse.

Now What Will You Do With Jesus Christ ?

You may feel that God cannot save you. I can tell you that God can save you if you’ll call on Him with a sincere heart of repentance and receive Him. John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 1 Corinthians 6:2 “ …behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”