I thought I would share my personal testimony with those of you who may be new to my blog, podcasts and videos.
My name is Adrienne Jason and I am a wife to Shawn Jason and a mother to our daughter Serena. I was saved as a little girl but wasn't brought up with a clear understanding of scripture. I attended church camp once, Wednesday night Bible study on occasion with friends and went to a few "vacation Bible schools" too with my siblings. Our whole family attended church a few times together and we did have a Bible study together at home for a few weeks once. I did also attempt to read the Bible on my own as a little girl but didn't understand much. I did know that God (Jesus) created everything and he had lived on the earth and healed people during his earthly ministry, and that He died for our sins, was buried and rose again (I didn't know anything about rightly dividing). **I had BELEIVED the gospel!** I also knew a little bit about the rapture and end times (I didn't totally understand it) and one of my favorite movies was The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston.
After I believed the Gospel I was taught the false doctrine of having to do things in order to keep and maintain my salvation, so I spent my childhood praying every night for God to forgive me for my sins and I had "asked Jesus into my heart many times!" I would also pray "the Lord's prayer" and the "guardian angel prayer" (believers are not to pray to anyone but God!) every night (I don't remember who taught me these prayers so I must have memorized them at a very young age). I was not taught anything about Paul's Epistles, except being given the gospel (1 Cor 15:1-4). If I was shown or read anything from his epistles, I don't remember that.
As a teenager I began to live more worldly and eventually I began to study and practice different religions too - Wicca, Hinduism and Buddhism, while trying to mix it with my Christian faith. I learned about them from TV and the internet. I was always curious about the topics of religion, mysticism, the supernatural, etc. I believe that because I wasn't edified in sound grace doctrine, I walked away from the Bible entirely over time. I didn't like some of the legalistic teachings and hypocrisy that I was seeing from some Christians as well, so I began to search for something different or just trying to "add to" my Christian beliefs.
Then, I went through a serious depression in my late teens and I felt suicidal. I discovered New Age teachings and after practicing meditation and yoga, my depression started to go away (at least for awhile). I believed that I had "found the answers" to everything I wanted in New Age teachings and would become so steeped in it over time that it became my lifestyle and even my career. Newage often uses Christian terminology but it is not Christian at all!
I would then spend my 20s and early 30s as a New Age teacher - I had a "simi-popular" YouTube channel with almost 10,000 subscribers and my Facebook page had over fifty thousand followers (by the way, when I left newage it dropped immediately and significantly - I eventually left Facebook entirely and after several years I started a whole new channel on YouTube for rightly divided Bible studies). I self published a few books and created an online store of mostly downloadable products (pdf books, mp3s, etc) like "healing meditations" and I created a new-age magazine too and a podcast network with various other new-age teachers and "healers". I even had a live call-in radio show on blogtalk radio. I also had distance "healing events" that people paid and signed up for, and I did tarot and oracle card readings for clients. I was completely operating according to Satan’s lie program - I was totally brainwashed and immersed in newage thinking, philosophy and practices.
I wasn't rich like some newage authors were, but it did pay my bills (it took me many years to get to the point where my newage business became my primary source of income; before that I had taken various other part time jobs). I believed at the time that I was being more "moral" than some other newage healers and teachers because I had refused to charge extreme prices for my products and services and gave most things away for free.
I also had many newage friends (by the way, I only have a few close friends now as a Grace believer but I'm grateful for the few fellow believing friends that I do have! Being a "rightly dividing grace believer" will NOT make you "popular"!) and met my husband because of a mutual interest in UFOS (He's a Christian now too). When I started out with new age teachings I still had my Christian beliefs and tried to combine them with new-age, but after many years I had completely abandoned any kind of Christian beliefs, even believing that Jesus was just an "ascended master" instead of the fact that He is God. I was steeped in angel worship; witchcraft and the "law of attraction"; astrology; crystal healing; Reiki; yoga; faeries, mermaids, unicorns, goddesses, ascended masters and ETs; various forms of newage and eastern meditation; dowsing; "positive affirmations"; channeled writing; a course in miracles; some Buddhist and Taoist teachings and basically every new-age teaching. I was also living carnally and worldly in other ways too.
Then one day I began researching the topic of giants (I had an interest in almost all topics regarding the supernatural) and kept coming across stories from the Bible about giants. I saw a connection between giants and stories from various cultures, as well as of course in the Bible, about a worldwide flood. I realized (again, because I had believed in it as a child) that Noah's flood was true! I was coming back to biblical beliefs very slowly.
One thing led to another and I was starting to read parts of the Bible, and then I began listening to some Bible teachers on YouTube (talking about giants and "end times" events; by the way I no longer listen to the "end times prophecy" teachers on YouTube! They don't rightly divide the scriptures!) and then I woke up one morning and realized that the Bible IS the word of God! I began to walk away from newage teachings very slowly. I read Deuteronomy regarding witchcraft being an abomination and I realized that I had spent YEARS teaching false religion!
Deuteronomy 18:9-11
9 When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
There are many other verses throughout the Bible that also talk about newage and witchcraft being an abomination!
I threw away ALL of my newage books, oracle and tarot card decks, crystals, statues, newage decor, etc that I had bought and spent a fortune on (some I had even created myself!) and I stopped teaching any kind of newage. I realize now that in our culture today new-ageism is everywhere and it can be very subtle too - its even in many Christian churches! It's very easy to get caught up in it!
So, I had begun the process of being un-brainwashed from New Age but sadly at the same time I had begun to learn false teachings from Christendom! I was completely overwhelmed by religion and denominationalism. The good thing though at that time was that I had begun to read the Bible for myself (I was reading the NLT at the time because I wasn't yet KJB only). And I did also start watching a program on TV called "Through the Bible with Les Feldick". He was my favorite to watch because it was a verse by verse study. However, I just wouldn't believe it when he would say that we are saved by grace through faith alone PLUS NOTHING. I used to think, "No way, we have to do SOMETHING to earn our salvation!" I was stubborn to believe this partially because I had believed the Gospel as a little girl but had walked away from any kind of biblical teachings for years - I thought to myself that I couldn't have been saved this whole time! I (my flesh!) wanted to believe that I had to do something to earn my salvation! That and most of Christendom today doesn't believe in nor teach a clear gospel message or eternal security, so I was getting bad doctrine from the other Bible teachers that I was listening to at that time! This false doctrine of having to either earn our salvation or do works to try and keep our salvation is Satan's lie program, to keep people blinded to the gospel truth!
I would then spend a whole year caught up in all kinds of denominational teachings- Catholicism, prosperity gospel, Lordship salvation, Hebrew roots, calvinism, reformed teachings (NONE of these denominations are rightly divided Bible believers; they ALL follow after man-made traditions over God's word rightly divided)... all in one year! My husband, daughter and I attended different churches in-person as well. I had culture shock after attending a mega-church and came home with a headache; and I almost fell out of my seat at a Catholic mass when the Priest told everyone not to take the whole Bible literally! But, I kept reading through the whole Bible and I still kept watching Les Feldick too.
Then one day I began to read the book of Romans. That is when everything changed. I KNEW that Romans was different right from reading the first chapter! When I read these verses my eyes were beginning to open, Romans 1: 16-17 Kjb "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."
I had heard these verses before from other teachers but they had MIXED it with verses from other parts of scripture (mixing law and grace). But for the first time I was reading it and seeing something very different. I couldn't understand or grasp WHY it was different. Why was Paul talking about being saved by grace through faith alone, but other parts of the Bible talked about requiring water baptism etc for salvation?
So, I decided to see what Les Feldick had to say about that book (I was just starting Acts in his video series but decided to skip it and go straight to Romans!). And MY EYES WERE OPENED.
I saw that Paul preached the gospel of the uncircumcision and Peter preached the gospel of the circumcision. I understood that there's more than one gospel in the Bible! And only one gospel is in operation today (the gospel of the grace of God) and that we are in the dispensation of the grace of God! The book of acts is a transitional book from the gospel of the kingdom also known as the prophetic program, to the gospel of the grace of God, also known as the mystery program.
[Israel's program is on hold until this dispensation ends - the rapture ends this dispensation.
1 Corinthians 9:17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
Romans 11:11 says, "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall [Israel] salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy."
This mystery program or dispensation of grace is what is in operation today until the rapture of the church the Body of Christ.
Col 1: 25-27 KJB "Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:"
The apostle Paul was sent to preach the Gospel of the grace of God. God's good news for us today is that Christ Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again for our justification and that by simple faith in that gospel we can be saved! The good news is that individual Jews and Gentiles can be saved today by believing the gospel, as the middle wall of partition has been removed. Ephesians 2: 14-18 KJB says, "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."]
I saw that we really are saved by grace through faith ALONE plus nothing!
Galatians 2:7 “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;”
I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders-- that weight was me trying to keep the law! Before this I had been crying myself to sleep every night begging God to forgive me and fearing that I was going to end up in hell! But now I understood that JESUS PAID IT ALL and it is by grace that I am saved through simple faith in Christ's death, burial and resurrection. THIS WAS GOOD NEWS! The gospel WORKED to save me and its Christ's faithfulness that KEEPS me saved! All I had to do was BELEIVE it and faith is not a work! I saw the light!
I then spent as much of my time as possible learning about "rightly divided bible study" and after one year I also became King James Bible only. I remember being SO EXCITED that I could finally really understand God's word. Rightly Dividing is the KEY to understanding God's word and God's will for us today!
Then a year or so after that, I started to also really learn about living out the grace life. I would spend more time meditating upon Bible verses and learning how to allow Christ to live in and through me as a believer.
I did also make several changes in my lifestyle - I became a full time homemaker and homeschooled my daughter (until I became too ill recently) and started teaching her the gospel and the Bible rightly divided. Then, I started doing a weekly Bible study over the phone with my friend (and womens Bible study teacher) Deborah Johnson studying the book of Romans and being more established in sound grace doctrine. Unfortunately, I don't have a Mid-Acts grace church in my area but I do watch Grace preachers and teachers on YouTube and I have a few friends who are grace believers as well.
It's not always easy being a grace believer. Satan is hard at work against the grace gospel and God's word rightly divided. It's real spiritual warfare!
I've also recently been struggling with some major health issues but God's grace is sufficient for me! Basically, I have ulcerative colitis that led to other health issues too. Through my sufferings (including spiritual suffering as I still have some family who are not saved and I have some believing family who are not interested in Bible study or godly living; plus all of the suffering that every believer goes through living in this present evil world) I've been learning patience, and I have hope and I look forward to the rapture! Even if the rapture doesn't happen in my lifetime, I still look forward to THAT day because it will be THE day that the LORD Jesus Christ will gather up ALL of the believers in the Body of Christ unto Himself and take us up to our home in the Heavenly places forever!
I'm also so thankful to God for my salvation, my new identity in Christ and for having all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus and being a citizen of heaven who is only temporarily here on earth as an ambassador for Christ!
I am grateful I was saved from false doctrine- including new-age, denominationalism and all religion! Christ has set me free and I am so grateful for His amazing grace and that I can now choose to allow Him to live through me as a Believer!
So that is my testimony of my being saved by Gods amazing grace and then coming to understand God's word rightly divided and living out the grace life. Now I just want to spend my time ministering to my family (to the best of my ability with my current illness), reading and studying God's word rightly divided, sharing the Gospel of the grace of God with others and helping fellow grace believers (primarily my studies are directed towards women) to be edified and established in sound grace doctrine.
Praise the Lord! All glory to God!
See the video version as well below