Tonight I was reminded yet again of how some people are *completely* blind to some simple truths\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell done Adam: you<\/span> turned your life around,\u00a0you<\/span> beat drugs,\u00a0you<\/span> parented well\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n NOOOOO!!! Twice within an hour I found myself nearly arguing with the people who said things similar to this. \u00a0<\/p>\n Being in my extended family: But tonight they were both insistent, coming at it from a number of angles, determined to give me some credit for my changed life. But I can\u2019t take it\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite being: I was *completely* powerless to change. I would state body \u201cI am not drinking tonight, so I will drive\u201d. I was sincere, however within an hour or two I would be more drunk than everyone else (still insisting to be the designated driver).\u00a0 But the instant Jesus revealed Himself, the very second He opened my eyes, *major* changes occurred. Suddenly I *knew* I was evil, selfish and worthy of judgment. At the same instant, I realised God loved me and Jesus had paid the debt I owed for my sin.<\/p>\n My desires in that moment changed – I loved people, cared for them and now didn\u2019t have the same compulsion to drink or do drugs. I was free! Not from me trying, I was changed somehow from within.\u00a0<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t try, I didn\u2019t complete some secret steps, I didn\u2019t repeat affirmations or phrases or do *any* of the things that people work at to be abstinent.\u00a0<\/p>\n The desire *and* the need to use drug or alcohol was gone. NO effort on my part. The credit I should get? NONE!\u00a0<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t do anything. Jesus changed me.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n One of the conversations really blew me away. This person, a professor, staunch (and at times aggressive) atheist, well educated, experienced and bold in his assertions, was arguing his point passionately.\u00a0<\/p>\n He had come to me to congratulate me on how we had raised such amazing children. He listed all the different attributes they had that are in stark contrast to everyone else he had met (especially the students he teaches).\u00a0 This conversation then transitioned in to how well I and Sharmini had parented and finally to how I had managed to change my life\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cbut I didn\u2019t – it was Jesus\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n My assertion got an instant reaction\u2026 \u201cno it was you – you still had to do the work Adam\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cno Geoff (name changed), I wanted to change, I tried to change, but I couldn\u2019t. But when Jesus showed up I was changed instantly\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n [baffled look] – \u201cyes Adam but you had to surrender\u2026\u201d \u00a0(I nodded in agreement).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cwhat happened to you was\u2026.[long pause]\u2026 miraculous\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n I really could not believe what I was hearing! Yes OF COURSE it was miraculous. Have I now met an atheist that believes in miracles?<\/p>\n \u201cAdam you were transformed..\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGeoff you have hit the ail on the head. Do you know that is exactly how the Bible describes what happened to me – nearly word for word?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cwell the Bible has thousands of years of wisdom in it\u2026\u201d I am not making this up – this is what this atheist said! What was happening here? He then continued\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cthe 10 commandments form the basis of our morality and legal structure – we are stupid to ignore them & throw them out. No wonder our culture is struggling – we should not ignore them\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At this point I am playing catch up – I mean WHAT?? Why is this man arguing for the Bible? The conversation went on for quite a while, eventually coming back to the way we had parented and \u2018how amazing\u2019 the children were.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cbut Geoff, in the Bible, this is normal. We simply tried to parent the way the Bible said. This is the result\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, our culture is doomed and it is only men & women like them that have any chance of changing things\u201d<\/p>\n !!!!!! ? !!!!!! \u00a0<\/p>\n He also said something like: \u201cI don\u2019t want to be blamed for what has happened and is happening to our culture and the new generation\u201d. His point was that parents now say everything their children do is amazing when they actually needed truth, to be told that their work or effort or result actually wasn\u2019t that good.\u00a0<\/p>\n It only dawned on me later that I missed an opportunity here: Geoff had wanted God thrown out. The result of throwing God out of a culture, out of education, out of the family, is exactly what he was describing. He was and is partly to blame. We all are.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Geoff said, love tells the truth – he tried to tell me I needed to cane while in the drug scene, told me I was an idiot (apparently – I don\u2019t recall!), I need to return the favour now & let Him know, He needs Jesus!\u00a0<\/p>\n After tonight, he *may* just be more receptive!\u00a0<\/p>\n I write the above to encourage you. Share the Gospel boldly, follow Jesus in all areas of your life (spouse & family first!), serve, bless and love others and allow God to bring about the changes in others. People will eventually see the fruit\u00a0<\/p>\n Lord, please help us to be bold in sharing Your Truth with others. Thankyou for working on \u2018Geoff\u2019, please open His eyes to Your Gospel Truth & love. Help us to be willing and capable to be part of proclaiming Your name in tai culture and others\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tonight I was reminded yet again of how some people are *completely* blind to some simple truths\u2026\u00a0 \u201cWell done Adam: you turned your life around,\u00a0you beat drugs,\u00a0you parented well\u201d\u00a0 NOOOOO!!! Twice within an hour I found myself nearly arguing with the people who said things similar to this. \u00a0 Being in my extended family:– they both know how bad a person I was– they both know of the massive life changing experience I had– they both know I give credit to Jesus, not myself.\u00a0 But tonight they were both insistent, coming at it from a number of angles, determined to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fishing","category-for-thought"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Brainwashing-by-universities.jpg?fit=770%2C880&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pasDCW-zm","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2193,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions\/2193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
– they both know how bad a person I was
– they both know of the massive life changing experience I had
– they both know I give credit to Jesus, not myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
– determined to change my life, quit drugs, stop drinking, not abuse or rip people off
– diligent in my pursuit of abstinence \/ freedom \/ happiness
– adamant there was no \u2018god\u2019\u00a0
– convinced I was a morally \u2018good’ person<\/p>\n
I repeatedly tried to quit & be a better person, though it was futile. I was doomed to addiction, depression, anger, abuse and worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
He explained how much of the universities are teaching nonsense and how people had now lost the ability to reason or think logically. He was amazed at my children\u2019s morals, abilities, relational depth, unique abilities \/ personalties and especially their teamwork in building our home \/ serving and doing life.<\/p>\n\n