My Testimony

Dear Reader,

I have never attempted to make a blog before, but recently this humble servant has become inspired by people like Doug Batchelor, Ivor Myers, Walter Veith, and Grace Egboh who have shared the truth of Jesus on the internet. The Lord has impressed to me that perhaps this will be beneficial to someone. I pray Reader that this will in-fact either help someone to come to the Lord or help someone walking with Him to draw nearer.

Because I have no experience with blogs I decided that for my first blog I would give my testimony, as complete as I can give it via the internet and as accurate to my memory as I can produce it...

My story begins in 1994 when I was born. (Don't worry I will skip some parts.) I was born to Robert and RuthAnn Hughes in that October in Chicago Il. When I was a small child my parents moved from Chicago to Vancouver Washington. My uncle lived in Oregon at the time so we moved, the last thing I remember from living in Chicago is that as we were leaving I looked out of the car window and saw a Coca Cola billboard. We took the train from Chicago to Vancouver, there is a video my uncle took when we stopped in Vancouver and I'm playing with a stuffed Kermit the frog.

From here much of my childhood was spent back and fourth between Vancouver and Chicago; for school my parents were very diligent and worked very hard to pay for me to attend a catholic school. The education there was very good and I am grateful for everything my parents sacrificed to get me through school there. The religion classes there presented a problem however, because we would learn about how the Bible tells us to worship God and Him alone, yet here we were once a week or so spending a couple of hours praying to Mary... The arguments for this were that Mary would be our intercessor, but Jesus said to pray to Him directly. So I saw no reason why there needed to be an intercessor. This lead me to doubt the Catholic faith, Catholicism being the only church I had ever really known (and believing protestants to be no more than a breakaway sect of moma roma) I began to study Judaism. I guess that I figured I would go to the source. Here I found a faith in many ways similar to what I knew, lots of traditions and rights. However since most of these seemed like they at least could be traced back to something in the Bible I decided that these traditions must be right, "These are God's people after all, are they not?" So I became a Zionist.

For about two or three years I was little more than a baptized Pharisee, I called myself "Messianic," but that was less because I truly believed in Jesus' first Advent and more because I did not want to fully depart from Christianity. I knew that Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me." John 14:6

So I didn't want to risk that Jesus might be all He claimed. I was on Jesus' side more for hope of reward and fear of punishment than anything else. I began to study the traditions of Judaism, I would supplement that by reading the Bible, which did give me some background for which I am grateful. The Rabbi there would talk to me if I approached him but he never seemed to take a personal interest in me. To him your humble servant was just another sheep feeding on the grass about him. At this time I had plans to join the Marine Corps, that is actually a separate story but I think that going back and explaining it will help with the part where I find Jesus.

When I was in middle school I was a pretty depressed kid, I don't know why, I had everything the world could give. I have parents who love me, I had people who supported me, I went to a good school that gave kids an in for college, everyone thought I was smart, and I even had some friends. The problem was that all these things don't make up for the gap in your life when you don't know Jesus. I became fascinated with astronauts and wanted to be the first man on Mars. I also wanted to be like Donald Trump, I don't know why; I guess I wanted a building with my name and a job where I could wear suits all day. Anyway I found out that there is a special medal astronauts get when they are in the military, and the USMC one caught my eye. I decided to look into the Marine Corps. It seemed like everything I was missing, I already felt pretty broken down so all that was left was to be built up, and when they did that they would turn me into the meanest, leanest war machine. That was their promise anyway. I just knew that if I could become one of them I would make myself something.

Your humble servant wasn't so humble then, in-fact I had to be the cockiest person on the block. I thought I was hott stuff, yeah a hot mess maybe. I didn't think anything could ever hold me back, I listened to music about sex and violence, watched every USMC video I could find, watched television, and played violent games. I told myself I was going to be all trained up for the Marines before I even got there. I had a very dark secret though, there were other videos that I had discovered. In middle school I had learned that even though I wasn't old enough to go to a strip club, if I typed something in to the search bar I could get anything I wanted. I watched vile videos, it started with girls stripping, but it just kept getting worse and worse. I thought it made me a man, I thought it made me more like a Marine. I knew how to woo girls and they seemed to like me, but I couldn't make a relationship work. I either found someone "better" or they got tired of every conversation being the USMC. Also half the time we would be having a normal conversation and then I would say something totally inappropriate, it was a cry for help but they couldn't know that. One girl after another I would kindle a fire and then just as quickly put it out. I spent a lot of time learning USMC trivia, learning USMC slogans, I called myself Jewish, but I worshiped the Marine Corps.

Despite my mocho Marine attitude I was a coward. I couldn't break my habit of looking at porn that I had earned for myself all through middle-school. I would go a couple weeks, a month or two was the longest, then I would slip right back. I was trying to break free from sin by my own strength, and that is impossible, it takes divine grace to do that. I was at a loss and couldn't manage my life. By my junior year in High School I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. But I couldn't see that my life was out of control. I was losing ground fast and if you ask me today, this humble servant would say that sin was about to kill me. the only thing keeping me from drugs and alcohol was the fear of disappointing my parents by being foolish. But when it came to things that I thought I could hide from them, or that I thought they didn't care about, I would just do it. At the age of seventeen I was thrill seeking and had no real prospect of coming to Jesus. There was one thing I knew though. The USMC was not a good fit for me, I had become really arrogant I became afraid that I couldn't back up my big talk. So I decided that I would go to college.

I had taken college classes at 16, and knew that I could do it. I worked hard that summer, football practice then school, then practice then school. The only day I got off was Saturday, it made sense to me to take the Sabbath off and give that day to God, after all every other day was clearly spent living for self. Junior year at 17 years of age I met a girl and we started dating. This turned into a three year relationship, which proved that there was a commitment bone somewhere in this vile beast. She didn't understand why I gave the Sabbath to the Lord, but since this seemed to be the only requirement I had she didn't care too much. I didn't want to join the USMC really anymore but she thought uniforms were cute so I decided I would do the Army instead. I would be an officer too, that had to workout well because I knew I liked college. So I'd do it. My senior year I took night classed at Portland State University, I wanted to get ahead. Unfortunately the girl I was with didn't like that because it cut down on the options for when we could hang out. So I stopped school.

Since I was now just going to high school, (and didn't have to take a full schedule) I had all afternoon to workout, I ran into my old football trainer who was now planning to go into personal training for himself. Starting a new company called Smart Fitness Pros. He asked me some questions and we ended up studying the Bible together. From this I soon had a job as a trainer and was starting to humble myself and realize that I was not the authority, there is a God and His name is Jesus. The Holy Spirit was convicting my heart. Truths were being revealed like never before. Soon I truly knew Jesus as a personal savior, soon Jesus was working sin out of my life. Sin by sin, thought by thought, the Lord was beginning to change His servant. I was dying to self and living for Him.

Two years into being a personal trainer I ran into some people from a company called Amway. They promised me a lot of money, at this point my new found desire to follow Jesus had caused major separation between my then girlfriend and I. She wanted nothing to do with Jesus, and I wanted nothing to do with the world. I thought that if I had money I could keep her, so I joined Amway. My job as a trainer didn't make enough to "support" my "business" so I had to get a part time job at Best Buy. Because of that scheduling became harder and most of my clients left when I took a break from training. When I tried to come back I had to start over and it didn't work out, I had to feel the sting of being "let go" by one of my best brothers in the world. I didn't hold it against him though, the Lord had other plans for me. I ended up going back to school, but that is after the good part of the story.

A little before losing my job as a trainer, I had gotten to a point where I really felt like I was being lead by the Holy Spirit. I asked to be baptized. My pastor began to study with me, by God's grace truths were revealed deeper, and more powerfully than before. My pastor knew just how to reach me it seemed. Pastor Mike Bauler had began to lead me to new truths, but my conviction lead me to realize that the relationship I was in was very sinful. about six months into the study I told her (who I have decided not to name for her own privacy) that it was time for our dating to become a real courtship. She would have none of it, she wasn't about marriage, she just wanted to have fun. Our relationship stopped being fun anymore though. I was all about serving the Lord and she was about serving herself. I ended up leaving her and it broke both of our hearts. I used to have to call my friend Chris late at night crying (which I'm not proud of.) God gave me the divine grace to push through the situation. I didn't understand then just where that trail was leading. I took the leap, and by God's grace I freed myself from the last tie I had left to the world. I first left the girlfriend and was able to have the strength to also give up porn. Then I gave up Amway. I began to hear the Still Small Voice more clearly. I had given up the people I loved for the one who truly loves me! Jesus, it turned out, was all I ever needed.

I realized that Jesus is my personal Savior, Jesus died for me on the cross of Calvary. Jesus knows what is best and I submit my life fully to Him, and to His word. My baptism is set for this Sabbath, and I already have started a few Bible studies of my own. My life's purpose is to share the three angel's message. I want nothing more than to allow the Lord to live through me! Jesus is all the world to me.

Thank you dear Reader, I pray that you're blessed.

Kevin Hughes

My Testimony

Sunday, March 23, 2014

I have been baptized into new life in Jesus Christ

Monday, March 17, 2014