by: Eld. Tim Hirou
(Playing: Burdens Are Lifted At Calvary)
I am thankful for the opportunity to tell about the
salvation which the Lord Jesus provided for me. I know from the Bible, history,
and my personal experience that all who are saved, are saved the exact same way;
Repentance toward God the Father (turning away from our sinful nature) then
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation because of the price He (Jesus)
paid for all when He died on the cross of Calvary. It is at the point of this
Godly granted sorrow which is called Repentance (2Timothy 2:25), God gives us a
Salvation experience so we KNOW in whom we believe. The faith which God gives us
saved sinners at the point of salvation as a gift (Galatians 5:22) is fact
(Hebrews 11:1-2) and this faith (separate from our trust) is the faith of Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior (Galatians 2:16 ).
Although, all who are saved are ultimately saved spiritually the same
exact way, the events and circumstances leading up to this common salvation are
unique and individual to the glory of God! I believe all of us have a unique
personality. I believe this is ultimately for the purpose of glorifying God in a
unique way He has and/or will provide for us. We who are saved, are saved
according to His time frame, for His glory, His honor, and His way (individual
circumstances down to His detailed leadership of us by the Holy Spirit). It is
correctly stated, we are accepted of Him, not
that we can accept Him (Ephesians
1:6). It truly is a privilege we must strive to better understand through prayer
and diligent seeking of God and His will whether we are saved sinners or lost
sinners.
God saved me the way He did for a number of reasons that He
has made me aware of so far, but the main reason for others hearing about my
salvation experience is that they learn God is due all glory and honor. God
desires to bestow His blessings upon us (mankind) beyond the common graces
benefiting all of mankind. The common graces many of us tend to take for granted
are things like the sun shinning, having air to breath etc… The salvation
grace begins by Him (the Holy Spirit) first teaching our heart we need him and
then drawing our hearts to Him. The Lord first came to me during my lost
condition while I was sitting on the beach at Newport Beach, California as a 13
year old boy. I thought I was cool. I thought I knew what I was doing. I was
accepted in the “cool” crowd. A person handed me a paper ( a bible tract).
The Holy Spirit used this tract to teach me that I needed to have a spiritual
birth; to be born again (more correctly translated, born
from above, John 3:1-8). At this point satan (the father of all lies, John
8:44-45) gave me the thoughts according to the following: “Your young, you
have time” “Besides you have not even had fun yet” “Your friends will
think you are weird” “Your friends will laugh at you”. Looking back, I
realize that satan was telling me whatever he could to keep me from getting the
help from God I so desperately needed. I realize now that what satan calls
“fun” is sin. I also realize now that sin is shameful, painful, and full of
problems leading to death (James 1:15).
At the very least, I wish I would become saved earlier in life so I would have
avoided needless suffering at my own hands. I now know that what God thinks of
me is far more important then what anybody else thinks about me. Finally,
I realize that I could have died and went to hell by my choice because I
did not start diligently and earnestly seeking for God’s forgiveness the very
day when He first came to me and witnessed to me my lost condition there at
Newport Beach, CA.
Shortly after I turned 15 I woke up to take some Tylenol in
the middle of the night hoping to
relieve a headache I was suffering from. As I took the two Tylenol capsules
(without water) I felt the urge to sneeze. I tried to swallow the capsules
before having to sneeze only to fail and end up breathing them into my wind pipe
during my body’s impulse to intake air preparing for the sneeze. All at once
my life hanged in the balance as I tried to grasp for air unsuccessfully because
of the capsules being lodged in my wind pipe. I remember running back to my
mother and father’s room hoping to get help only to see them panic. I remember
helplessly sitting down on the
toilet seat realizing I was dying and hoping the paramedics could get there in
time to help me. It was then that I
decided to try one last time to get air. At that moment I
breathed the capsules into my lungs. I could breath!. The paramedics
arrived and told me I had to go to the hospital for surgery, but I could a least
get enough air to live. Obviously, I
survived this near death experience. The point I want to make is that I could
have died that night and went to hell and it would have been all my fault not
God’s because I had not followed His leadership and diligently sought Him
after He witnessed to me where I stood with Him.
My near death experience had taken place during a time
where my family life was less than stable. My father was drinking heavily. My
mother and father were having serious problems. We did not have much money. I
was told by my mother that we were “cash poor”. We lived in a nice part of
Fullerton, California. This city is a suburb of Southern California just north
of Disneyland. I remember how scared and unsettled I felt during this time
because, although we lived in a nice house, we had my mother’s friends
dropping off food at our house to help us out. Everyone else around us in this
upper middle class neighborhood seemed to be financially well to do. In
addition, my mother and father would get into really horrible fights after my
father would come home late at night from the bar. He would go there after work
almost every night. My older bother Brad would beat me up a lot. Looking back, I
think Brad was so frustrated and in pain due to our family situation that he was
displacing a lot of his frustration
upon me in the form of the physical assaults. Interestingly though, it was at
this time my older brother Brad had been going to religious services which talk
about being born again. A lot of young people I knew were excited about these
services. I began to seriously seek for God. At this point in my life, I
believed He was the only one who could help me out of my very painful seemingly
hopeless situation. I felt I could not go to my parents or any one else for help
because they had enough of their own problems to deal with. The Holy Spirit was
drawing me. During this time He taught my heart that when I was born of the
Spirit I would know about it. He (God in the form of the Holy Spirit) also
taught me that I would be able to feel it when He saved me and made me born of
the Spirit (born again). (1Corinthians 2:10,13-15 & Luke 12:10-12)
On New Year’s Eve 1981 my friend David Guttierrez and I
went to a “Christian” function at a person’s house. I say “Christian”
because that is what they professed to be, God knoweth, but looking back I
realize (by the grace of God) that they were doing many things very wrong
(according the scriptures being rightly divided). They had “Christian” rock
band playing there by the name of Lifesavers. At one point in the night a man
got up in front of all of us there and began to talk about Jesus and about being
born from above (born again). It was at this moment God Himself began to witness
to me things and lay heavily upon my heart. The man asked for the ones who felt
like they were lost to raise their hand. It was at his moment, with the Holy
Spirit laying heavily my heart (witnessing to me I was lost and separated from
Him) that I rose my hand despite the attacks of satan who did not want me to do
so. I remember feeling the condemnation of God. I knew that I was on my way to
hell. The Holy Spirit was witnessing to me my sinful nature. It was here that
God granted me the privilege of being able to compare my sinful nature to His
righteousness. His comparison was enough to make me realize that I had no
excuses for my actions before Him and that by my own sinful nature I justly
deserved to go to hell. This is the blessing of conviction. Conviction is God
letting us know what He thinks about us, not what we think about ourselves or
how we compare ourselves to other people in order justify our sinful nature.
God’s view of us is the comparison mark we must judge ourselves against. God
can use many things (preachers, people, the bible, bible tracts, history, and
even nature to name a few) in getting His message of salvation and the
conviction of our sins to our attention. The
Lord had impressed my whole being to raise my hand. I remember having negative
thoughts which were; “If you raise your hand they will think your weird”
“You will not fit in the cool crowd, they will think you are a Jesus freak” “You will embarrass yourself in front of all
these people”. I realize now that these thoughts were not my own, but they
were actually demonic attacks, maybe even satan himself trying to fight me from
gaining help from God Himself. As I mentioned before, I remember no longer
caring about any of these issues the negative thoughts brought up (even though I
had back on the beach 2 years prior when the Lord had witnessed to me my need
for a spiritual birth experience the first time). No, the attacks would not work
this time, at this point I cared more about what God thought of me then what my
friends, or the people around me that night thought. That night,
I chose to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit and His impression
upon me to raise my hand. I raised my hand. Shortly after this, the man in the
front of the room said, “Let us now all bow our head and pray” I do not
remember the exact words of this man’s prayer, but it was along the lines of
what is known as the “Roman Road” prayer. The idea of this false
teaching called the “Roman Road” approach to salvation is the following: If
you acknowledge your a lost sinner and that you are worthy of damnation and
trust that Jesus died for your sins and you accept him as your personal savior
(confessing all this with your mouth); this act of doing so (the act itself) at
any time, results in salvation. I had repeated all the words the man leading the
prayer had said, but God had my whole
being focused on the coming salvation experience. ( Again, the Holy
Spirit prior to that night had taught
me I would be able to feel the pending experience). After the prayer two men
took me off into one of the bedrooms and handed me a bible and said, “Now you
are saved”. God protected me from this! Although, I remember this happening it
had no impact on me because as I stated my whole being was focused by God onto
the pending experience. Looking back, I
realize how God Himself protected me from the false doctrine of an intellectual
act (accepting Jesus Christ) and/or even doing a outward expression (repeating a
pre-formatted prayer mentioning the elements of salvation) bringing about salvation. He also protected me
from listening to other people tell me I was saved. The Bible teaches that only
God Himself can let you know saved (through the witness of the Holy Spirit in a
heart felt salvation experience). Salvation is strictly between you and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
(1 Timothy 2:3-5). I
did, however, feel that I had done all that was required of me by God that
night. My friend David and I left the get together and he dropped me off at
home. My brother Brad was away that weekend so I took the opportunity to sleep alone in his bedroom. (My
younger brother Michael and I shared a bedroom together). I woke up the next
morning and the Holy Spirit of God laid heavily upon me again. Again, He was
allowing myself to be compared to His view of me. I remember how sinful I felt.
I rolled out of bed and got face down flat on the floor beside my bed. It felt
it only natural at this point to be a low as I could physically get to match the
view I had of myself before Him. I remember begging God for His forgiveness with
the words. “LORD BE MERCIFUL TO ME, PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND COME INTO MY
HEART!” I pleaded on the mercies of God, knowing full well that I truly
deserved to go to hell. The reason I had prayed for God to come into my heart is
because He had used the Bible tract I received on the beach to witness this
truth to me and I trusted He could do it. It was at this moment that God was
allowing me to make my alter to Him. I began to beg Him with all my heart. This
was the place God wanted for me to be saved. I had the fear of the unknown
holding me back. It felt like I was afraid to pass through a final barrier. Then
He gave me an analogy that morning during this experience after I had been
praying for a while. I felt like I
was at the top of a cliff and Jesus was standing at the bottom requesting me to
jump, assuring me He would catch me and prevent me from being hurt if I did
trust Him and jump. The moment I jumped off this proverbial cliff is the exact
moment I felt God take away the heavy burden and the pain which was in my heart
and replace it with peace and joy. I felt so relieved. At that moment I knew
that if I died right then I would go to heaven and that He have forgiven me! It
was here that God granted me His Gift of salvation! I remember getting up off
the floor and feeling great! Everything seemed brighter. At this point I only
wanted to do was what He wanted me to do! He
gave me a feeling that He was going to take care of everything. Everything was
clear, I knew all I had to do was trust Him and He would direct my paths. I went
to take a shower and still feeling God strongly,
I looked up at the water coming down out of the shower nozzle,
I understood (through the witness of the Holy Spirit) God was everywhere
and that He was even in the water hitting my face.
God had taken the worst part of my life and made it the
very best! I remember shortly thereafter going to turn on the radio because I
longed to hear the name Jesus being spoken. Not too long after this salvation
experience which God had granted me, the Holy Spirit witnessing to me that there
was a battle ranging between good (God) and evil (satan and the fallen angles we
call demons) and that I would be fought now that I was on His (God’s) side,
but He would always help me.
Again, we get saved His way [true repentance toward God the
Father for our sins and total trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (the only
intercessor appointed for mankind to gain access to God the Father’s eternal
blessings)], on His time frame, for His Glory and His honor.
I pray that this letter will help those of you saved
sinners receive yet another blessing from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If
your a lost sinner, I pray that you realize how real Jesus Christ, the Son of
God the Father, is through the teaching of the Holy Spirit and that you seek Him
until He (The Holy Spirit) witnesses to your heart personally that you are saved
and will go to heaven when you die, an experience you can feel and a reality you
can know.
A servant of Jesus Christ,
Timothy Hirou
Fullerton, CA
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