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"As many asHello my friend! First of all thank you for being curious enough to read this page and if you are I suggest you would read it all, too. The reason I wanted to write this on my website is because I thought that it would be better for the ones that visit (yes, that includes you too :) ) to know some things about the spiritual side of me too. So all this is "just" about my concepts about life, my faith and my beliefs. I should begin by telling you some general things first. My name is Mihai, I was born on the 10th September 1983 in Braila, Romania and I lived here almost all my life. I am the only child my parents have (at least I think so...no, just kidding :) ) and I like the way I have been raised, receiving a good education from my parents for which I am thankful. I think I lived a pretty moral life in my childhood years and I did not get in too many big troubles, at least I never got arrested ... so far:). Though my parents and the whole family taught me to live a moral life that still did not have anything to do with God. I never knew too many things about God when I was little except once a year or so I was going to the Christian (orthodox) church near my home without really paying attention to what was going on there. To me things related to the church, like church activities seemed not so interesting. Even though, I was trying to do my best in living a good life I should have not been ashamed of. Sometimes I even prayed to God especially when I needed some help in school tests or maybe problems with my family and deep inside me I realized there is a God. Many of the people around me agreed there was a God, though they did not know too much of who is He. I just believe everybody was very afraid to admit there is no God and so they all agreed God exists and nothing more than that. I know this because that was my way of thinking too. When a friend of mine sustained he is an atheist I kind of thought that he's brave to say this and I asked myself what do I really believe in but still I always wanted to be one of the "good guys" so I continue to "believe" in God, of course, my own way I think not the way I was supposed to. Generally speaking I believed there is a heaven and a hell too and I wanted to get to heaven and sometimes I was considering myself as qualified to heaven because I was always saying that I am not as bad as the criminals and most of the times I listen to my parents and I am not much of a liar either. I believed that God has somehow a balance and that my good works would overcome the bad things I've done. I continued searching for God with my own powers and sometimes I saw God responding to my prayers and these were some special moments for me which used to make me believe more that God really exists. But deep inside me I never knew, and I mean this, I never knew what would have happened to me if I died and what is after this life and I always asked myself if I was saved and what does God want from me and how can I please Him and be sure of His will. I was not sure at all of any of these things. In the summer of 1999 when I finished my first year of highschool being somehow proud of what I did until then in school, etc. I found myself on the big holiday without any plans just hanging out with friends but very sad that I didn't have too much chances to leave in vacations anywhere. This is the time when my aunt asked me if I wanted to go with her in a Christian youth camp organized by the Christian Baptist church she attended to. I knew my aunt and her husband were new Christians and were going to this church and always found that nice but I seemed a little weird to me like it looked to everybody else in the family. I did not agree with other religion than the one I already had and I think I considered myself as good as them not caring too much about the differences in their lives though they were pretty visible. On the other hand I knew some of the young men from the church some of them my age because I used go with my aunt's husband and play soccer with them and I think I always enjoyed doing this since they were never arguing too much with me like all the other mates I played with the rest of the time. I considered themselves as not too close but good friends of mine. So...I decided to go in that camp and we all agreed. The one thing I didn't know was that the camp I was going to was going to make a great impact in my life. While staying there I discovered new ways of looking at my life and I realized how important is true friendship for a person and through the Christian teenagers over there I managed to see God better that I had before. We had bible studies and all kind of things I didn't hear of since then. This is where I understood really good for the first time that my sins were stopping me from being a real Christian and also from going to heaven when I die. I realized I was a sinner, which was a very important thing. Then one night after understanding how God wanted to save me too and how Jesus Christ, His son, died and paid for all my sins so I could be a child of God, a Christian...I asked God to come and take my life and do whatever He wants with it because I was not good to do this since then and I accepted Him to be my personal Lord and Savior. I believe that what I have done then was the best thing I have ever done in this life so far and I also believe I would never regret what I have done then. Then I got back home and a wonderful inner peace surrounded me as I was telling my parents this was the best camp I ever went in. I started going to this church so I could meet my new very good friends and spend more time wanting to know God. Since then I felt deep inside my life began to change and I loved it. For the first time in my life I was sure of what I believe and I knew for the first time who God really was. After almost one year I got baptized after understanding what baptism really is and now I am a member of this "Holy Trinity" Baptist Church in Braila and I attend to it too and I enjoy this. But this is not even half as important than that now I am a member of the Church of Christ and I am part of His family which He adopted me in. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."(John 1:12,13). I have lots of good friends this moment and I can say with all my heart that I found true life in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior my main purpose now is to serve Him for all my life. Now, for those of you which read this so far I appreciate it a lot and if sometime during this you asked yourself "What does he mean by that?" or things like this, I would like to make things a little more clear about the things I believe and the saving faith in God. If you are not too sure either about what you believe in or what would happen to you if you died right now or things like that, I really think what I am writing now is to be read by you. All you are reading here is taken from the Bible, which I believe is the word of God, and even the Bible says this, and I wouldn't believe this if it wasn't in the Bible. I will also try to give verses from the Bible and where are they from so you could even know the real truth of God. I will first say this: God created you and me and whatever you see around you and He is the One who controls this whole universe right now and He will always do it no matter what will happen in this world. Now this is your time to know that there is no man which came from monkey species or no other thing like that, and the Word of God is very clear here: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1), "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27). So as you see God "designed" man to be perfect in order to have perfect fellowship with Him, but with the falling in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the forbidden fruit, they also chose not to listen to God and to fall apart from Him. This is how man became separated from God. All the ways of the people since then had more or less sin in then and the Bible says: "So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." (Genesis 6:12), "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That really does say that everybody on this earth is a sinner including you and me. We all have sinned and it really doesn't matter how moral was your life until now because right now we are not worthy of the Kingdom of God meaning we are not qualified to enter heaven because our sins separate us from God. Not only that but also the Bible says that "the wages of sin is death" and you and everyone else deserves to die for what you have done. This may look dramatic in some way but it is just the plain and simple truth of God. And if you are maybe thinking you are not a sinner then maybe you should think about all the lies you have said or all the bad things you have said. How many times do you have to lie to be called a liar? I'll tell you the answer even if I know you knew too: once. One other thing that you need to know is that God will not allow one lie to come into Heaven. So you are a sinner. Do you know how I know this? About all your "secret" thoughts, all your lies all your other sins you have done (no matter how many I assure you they are enough) ...? I know because the Bible says so: "...all have sinned...". Do you know how else do I know it? Because it is also true about me ... and anyone else on the face of the earth. But what does that mean...so what if I am a sinner? Well, you should know that the punishment for sin is death and eternal separation from God and burning in the flames of hell. "For the wages of sin is death" like it is written in the Bible. The Bible says that we have to pay for our sins and the payment is dead...there is no other price. And by "death" I mean what I said earlier...hell. But this verse continues with the following words: "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." So there is a Heaven too meaning there is an eternal life with God. And this is the place where all the righteous people will be. And by our works we will never be there, because of our sin. If you ever heard "God is love" then now is the time to really understand what it means. Our price for redemption had to be paid with death and this is why God sent His Son on the earth. His Son was born from the virgin Mary, He lived a perfect life on this earth, did His work He had to do, and then died on the cross and raised from the dead the third day. You should know this: Jesus is not a story, a religious leader or just some good man that lived on this earth and was a personality...He is the one that died on the cross for you and carried all your sins on that cross just that you could be forgiven for all the mistakes you have done until now and you will do from now on. Yes, your and my sins he carried on the cross so that you and me can be saved. God came on earth and men killed Him. He never wanted to get off that cross and tear everything apart then, though He had the power to...just because God loved you so much that He sacrificed His Son for you. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) This is considered to be the golden verse from the Scripture...but I also believe that the whole Bible is just made up by golden verses, verses through which God tells you who He really is and what should you do to be His child and live the life He wants you to live. As God paid for our sins, now you can be forgiven and you can have eternal life just by trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior too. Maybe you read some of the things here and say "I agree" but what God wants from you is not just to agree with Him but to put your trust in Jesus and believe in Him with all your heart. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8) You only have to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved and maybe you heard that a thousand times maybe you never heard it but if you haven't done it so far and you did not allow Him to come into your life, then your life is as good as anyone else's who never heard about it. In this moment if you are not His child then God commands you to repent of your sin and live with Him in order to be called a "christian" meaning a person who dedicated his or her life to Christ. I am not telling you to trust in a church or a religion, not even in your priest or pastor not in anyone or anything else in order to be saved...I am telling you what the Bible tells you: to trust in Jesus Christ alone: "...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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9,10). This is what the Bible has to say about you. And if you are thinking that you could do that sometime later you should also think that you do not know how "late" will you be on this earth. I may not know what problems are you dealing with right now but I know this: if you do not have a personal relation with God this is the biggest problem you have. But also you know what you have to say to God and if there is anyone on this universe who can choose what to do with your life you should know that this person is you. God created you with the power to choose and you can choose whether you will be saved or you will go your own way separated from God. This is where you have to make your decision and believe and there is nothing more of what I can do for you but to ask you to turn back from your sins and run to God as fast as you can without looking back to the things you will lose anyway but desiring your new life with Jesus. "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). But if you do trust, then open up your Bible and read this 1 John 5:13. It is for you so now you know the answer to one of your biggest questions. To finish I will say this: the personal relation with God is that thing which if you do not have, you still could have the whole world, but you will be the poorest person alive; and the personal relation with God also is that thing which if you do have, you could lose the whole world and all the things you owned...and still be the richest person alive. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26). So my prayer is that we would all meet someday in heaven, my friend, and praise God for everything. God bless. In His Name, Mihai Click HERE to return to the edited story Click HERE to create a banner that links to this story! Your e-mail address will be kept private!
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