The Lord's Boot Camp

Preparation Time

rickyd2 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:36:07 +0000

During the past 14 years I had 11 surgeries, yes that is right 11 surgeries. Talk about being in the Lord’s Boot Camp I was there, but I feel that the 11 surgeries prepared me for what was to come in 2006 which was being diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. It is truly amazing to look back at how I was able to make it through all those surgeries. I know that the only way I made it was through was with the Lord Jesus help. The Scripture verse from the Bible that kept me strong me is:” I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians Chapter 4 verse 13. It never started out as 11 surgeries, it started with one surgery and ended with eleven. Here is the list: 5 foot reconstruction surgeries, 3 knee replacements, 1 right shoulder joint replacement, 1 right hip replacement and 1 back surgery which was done in February of 2009.

This is the Lord’s boot camp there was no other way for me to face my health problems but straight on, my back was against the wall and there were no other options.The pain was too great, and the quality of life was diminishing. I knew from reading my Bible in the Book of Daniel where the the 3 Jewish boys Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to bow down and worship the image of the king. The three Jewish boys knew that their God was able to deliver them even if they had to go into the furnace and God would deliver them and He did. For there was one walking with them in the furnace who looked lke the Son of God who was Jesus and they didn’t get burned(Daniel Chapter 3). In my case I knew the Lord Jesus would get me through this trial and everything was going to be all right , it took 14 years. But those 14 years were used for preparation time for the next physical problem to come which was stage 4 prostate cancer.

During those 14 years I became a physical therapy expert, rehabbing and reading my Bible daily brought me closer to God. I remember having a cast on my foot and thinking what it would be like to workout again. The waiting time helped me to appreciate the things that we always take for granted like walking, moving your shoulder with no pain or riding a stationary bike. The toughest part of rehab was going through it after knee replacement, in order to get full range of motion the knee must constantly be worked, bent and put through a whole assortment of movements which were killers, but I had to endure the torture in order to walk right again. All through it the Lord Jesus was helping me to endure and giving me patience to get through this physical thing that I was going through. It’s hard for people to imagine but as soon as one body part was repaired or replaced another part needed attention.

As of today I am back in the gym working out 4 to 5 days a week with stage 4 prostate cancer. And sharing my testimony to all who would listen of the love and mercy that Jesus has provided for everyone through His death on the Cross and His Resurrection that He would grant eternal life to all who repent and receive Him as Lord and Savior. Through all of this I know that God is Soverign that until I fulfill His plan for my life I am here until He calls me home.

During those 14 years I became a physical therapy expert, rehabbing, and reading my Bible daily brought me closer to God. I remember having a cast on my foot and thinking what it would be like to workout again. The waiting time helped me to appreciate the things that we always take for granted like walking, moving your shoulder with no pain or riding a stationary bike. The toughest part of rehab was going through it after knee replacement, in order to get full range of motion the knee must constantly be worked, bent and put through a whole assortment of movements which were killers, but I had to endure the torture in order to walk right again. All through it the Lord Jesus was helping me to endure and giving me patience to get through this physical thing that I was going through. It’s hard for people to imagine but as soon as one body part was repaired or replaced another part needed attention.

http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/07/07/preparation-time/http://www.brucesudano.com/

A NEW BIBLE STUDY

rickyd2 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Last night I attended a new Bible study at the First Baptist Church which I attend here in Naples FL. Most of the my previous studies have been in small groups. This one was different, this is huge about 350 people which broke up into small groups about 6 to a table.

The topic for study was knowing and doing the will of God. It was my first study with the new Church. The people were friendly,the fellowship great and the time of discussion at the table was thought provoking.

I found out that most of the people in my discussion group had similar experiences in life and all had wanted to control the circumstances of life. When you make Jesus Lord of your life, you make Him Lord over every aspect of your life, which includes goals,hopes, direction, career, even down to the minutest detail.

For most of my life I have learned lessons in life the hard way, now I want to learn about life through the Lord’s way. The study began with finding out the differences between Self Centered decision making and God Centered decision making. I know about making the wrong decisions in life for the results followed me around for many years.

The main point in the Bible study in short was in order to find out God’s Will for your life, you must know His Word. In other words study the Scripture as II Timothy 2 vs 15 says :
“Study to show yourself approved before God, a workmen who needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth”.

Living with Stage IV Prostate Cancer

rickyd2 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:33:00 +0000

The year is 2006 it is a hot and humid day in July. It was a few days after visit to the Doctor, the news was not good about my latest PSA test and the level was 80.5. A normal PSA level is between 0-4, an appointment was made immediately with a Urologist. He took another PSA test within a week and it came back at 90.5, which is a 10 point jump. A biopsy was scheduled and the results came back positive 11 at of the 12 specimens showed I had advanced stage metastatic prostate cancer which is incurable. I remember when I heard the devastating news saying to my wife they must be wrong, they must be wrong, I don’t feel sick.

I remember crying out to the Lord and just plain crying why did this happen to me. I was an exercise fanatic, I ran in the NYC marathon and I am a strong Christian. In the beginning I was mad at God for allowing this disease to come into my life, but as treatment started the Lord showed me in the Bible where His Grace is sufficient for me. This one event became a life changer . First, knowing you have cancer humbles a person and I was humbled believe me. Secondly, my whole world was turned around and my view of life is now from a totally different perspective.

I would have taken the news about cancer a lot differently if I was still involved with Word of Faith. The first thing you are taught in the faith movement is to reject any sickness and create your own reality through denial. I remember one time that I kept repeating I will not receive any sickness thinking I could believe my way to good health . Which is the essence of the faith movement believe and receive. Its all about my faith and me and not about God and His will for your life. Forget about going to a doctor, or you will be viewed as some kind of weakling. Looking back now I understand the flaws of the faith movement which founded on a mixture of New Age, Christian Science, and Christianity.

The treatment started immediately in July of 2006 which consisted of an injection of Lupron which lasted 3 months and Casodex pills. The drug lupron is an anti-androgen which stops the production of testosterone and arrests the spread of cancer and stops the growth of the tumors in the prostate gland. The side effects of lupron are numerous one of which is very intense hot flashes and impotency. Within the first 9 months of treatment and a lot of prayer my PSA level dropped from 90.5 to 0.4. I was so elated that the Lord looked down from Heaven and had mercy on me. It is now approaching 3 years and my PSA level is still low 0.35 and the bone scans show that no new metastases and I know that God has me here for a purpose and that is to share the Gospel of Jesus with a lost and dying world.

From the very the beginning my medical care has been outstanding and all my doctors which include my urologist, oncologist, and surgeons have been very gracious toward my concerns and treatment.

In 2 weeks I will have another PSA test to see if the cancer is on the move, or if I need to add Casodex back into the treatment. Dealing with prostate cancer in 3 month intervals is like riding a roller coaster. Every 3 months I get tested and receive a lupron shot, there is always that possibility that things can go wrong which makes for a time of raw emotion. Whatever the situation, I know that the Lord Jesus is my Strength, He is my Rock, He is my High Tower and that I will continue to Worship and serve the Lord Jesus all the rest of the days of my life.

The 2 weeks have past and my PSA level has dropped down to 0.21 which is great news and I praise the Lord Jesus for it. My life can return to some normalcy now but only for a few weeks because I will be tested again on August 14. The cycle of testing and treatment will go on for an indefinite time so it is back to the fitness center, Bible study, Church and family for life goes on and so will I with the help from the Lord Jesus.

Salvation through Jesus

rickyd2 — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:01:00 +0000

The Lord Jesus spared my life from self destruction at the young age of 19, like so many of wiseguys that grew up in the Bronx. I was on a one way path to hell until the Lord reached down and rescued me. I wanted to be that cool guy with all the girls hanging out at the corner candy store. Little did I know that Jesus had a different plan for my life and I am glad He did.

Back to my walk with the Lord. Salvation came to me in 1969 at the house of a Full Gospel Businessmen named Mike in Coos Bay Oregon. Yes, that is right from the Bronx NY to Coos Bay Oregon. The journey began with a stay in my Aunt’s house in Salt Lake City Utah, then on to San Francisco, and then to Oregon. Mike worked for a logging company and opened his house to troubled teens of whom I was one. My good friend Tommy from the Bronx was there as well other people from the Northeast, about 10 in number.

This one event changed my life forever and led me on a pathway of reading the Bible, learning about God and walking with Him every day. The Lord Jesus has been merciful to me all of my life and I give Him the Praise and Glory. My stay in Oregon was a short one,maybe a few months in which I learned about about prayer and the Savior’s love for me through the four Gospels.

Upon my return home to the Bronx being a new Christian was really a challenging adventure. I was on fire for the Lord with zeal for lost and unsaved spreading the Word of God to all my friends and family, telling all who listen about Jesus. At that time there were not a lot of Bible believing Churches in the area and fellowship with believers was non existent. I hungered to gain knowledge of the Bible and fellowship with good Christian people. With that purpose in mind I set out to find a Bible believing Church.

Then a friend told me of a Church group, the Way International and Victor Paul Weirwille who was the leader of the organization. Little did I know of what I was about to get into. What a way to start out, I became involved in a cult, all the while thinking that it was a Christian Church, wow was I deceived.

I went to some meetings because of the hunger to gain knowledge in the Word of God. At each meeting more and more pressure was placed by the twig leader on those who attended to take the class. The indoctrination of the cult became very apparent and didn’t sit well with me.

Talk about shepherding, you could not make a move without approval of your twig leader. Then there was the insistence of taking their mind control course disguised as a Bible study class; in which those in attendance would become the next twig leader to get more converts to join the cult.

So that’s how it worked more converts to the cult equaled more money for headquarters to keep this false cult rolling. Through all of this the Lord protected my mind and gave me the strength to leave this cult and truly follow Him. Praise the Lord forever!!!!!!!!!

So what is happening in the Charismatic World? The year is 1984 my daughter was born and at that time I felt the Lord tugging at my heart. It was time to get serious in studying the Bible and re-commit my life back to Jesus. A 10 year period had elapsed since backsliding and running from the Lord Jesus had begun, but He knew where I was and how to get my attention. Which He did very easily, a broken foot in a cast, some time off from work, and a Bible was all the Lord Jesus needed to get my undivided attention.

As the broken foot healed my wife would always put a Bible by the chair that I would sit in, one day I opened it up and started to read. The Lord’s mercy is so gracious. His love and forgiveness jumped out from the pages of the Bible and I knew the Holy Spirit was calling me back.

I found out many of my wife’s family were born-again Christians and so my entrance into the Charismatic World began. First there were my two terrific brother-in-laws in the Lord Gary and Rich who loved the Lord Jesus and started a home Bible study that developed into a large prayer group, and eventually into a public access TV show called Decisions. They were both very instrumental in pointing the way back to walking with the Lord .

Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship was thriving at that time in Connecticut and I was invited to a dinner. For the first time I was able to see men sharing their testimony about how Jesus changed their life and prospered their business. There were many outstanding Christians that I met through Full Gospel and love very dearly, people that love Jesus and have a servants heart. I will never forget all the people that helped during my family’s time of financial struggles. When a poor business decision on my part almost wiped us out financially.

The problem within Full Gospel became evident all too soon, that sound Biblical doctrine was not the cornerstone of the ministry, but spiritual experience was. When given the chance to share a popcorn testimony at a dinner. I was told not to sound too preachy at the podium because we wouldn’t want to give the first time attendees the wrong impression.

Wrong impression wait a minute, what the heck is going on here, the object of the dinner was to win the lost to Christ. How do you tell someone who is lost in sin that Jesus saved your life from destruction and hell without sounding too preachy. Give me a break please!!!!!!!!. After that episode let it be said that my assignment as speaker on the FGBFMI circuit was hastily curtailed. That was alright because I would rather obey God rather than man.

Once again questions began to surface in my mind about where did Jesus fit into all of this. The dinners were set up to win the lost to Christ but what it turned into was a platform for the next hot shot speaker to sell his tapes, books, or outlandish testimony of out of body experiences, of someone going either to hell or heaven.

Full Gospel in Connecticut had some of the wildest false prophets that came through town, on the other hand there were numerous authentic brothers in Christ who gave up their time to speak at the dinners and share their testimony of how Jesus changed their life.

I remember one dinner where I was sitting next to Paul Cain and not very impressed at all with this so called prophet. Little did I know that in the near future he would wreck havoc on the Body of Christ through the Kansas City Vineyards movement.

There were many more false prophets such as Cash Money, and John L who had the anointing of John the Baptist and Elijah. Another speaker on the circuit was Tommy Hawk who after finished his testimony of how Jesus saved his life went to the back of the dinner hall and began selling his latest product a protein drink.

Then at a table set up for all his tapes books and whatever else he could peddle, the question that kept coming to my mind was, where was Jesus in all this self promotion? Talk about making merchandise of God’s people this guy was a pro, it was like a feeding frenzy at a shark tank.

The FGBFMI organization had many flaw’s, one of which was when once a person got saved at a dinner. The new convert was not encouraged to attend a specific Bible believing local Church or join a Bible study . In other words if you were a Catholic and received Christ as your Savior, it was alright to go back into the Catholic Church to attend services. Now how could that be good for the spiritual growth for the new convert ? It was not conducive for spiritual growth at all

The reason for this is that the FGBFMI was more concerned with the big tent idea of unity, where all denominations would fit in, thus leaving most doctrinal differences outside the door and never discussed. I didn’t realize it at the time but, the foundation was being laid for the Ecumenical and Charismatic Catholic movement to go through Full Gospel Businessmen’s Organization with the false vision of unity as its vehicle.

What is happening in the Charismatic World? Part1

rickyd2 — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:59:00 +0000

After much soul searching, researching, and prayer I have left the Charismatic movement, after being part of it for 24 years. I am now a member of First Baptist Church, in Naples Florida and love it. My search for answers on what was happening in the Charismatic world started last year as the Lakeland Revival began and Todd Bentley came on the scene.

I couldn’t believe how many Christians were being deceived by this false prophet and his false miracles. The more I read about Todd Bentley and the people surrounding him like C. Peter Wagner, Paul Cain, Rick Joyner, Bob Jones and the rest of the Vineyards fellowship. The more I understood this was another false revival like Brownsville and the Toronto Blessing.

So I started with Todd Bentley and worked backwards it became project of connect the dots in reverse. My research lead to an article by Let us Reason Ministries about Todd Bentley called ” Meet the new thing same as the old thing”. In it I found out about a conversation Bentley had with Bob Jones who said he had the same visitation of an angel that the latter rain false healer William Branham of the 1940′s. Another piece of the puzzle came together when I came across a website so4j.com. In which a video clip by Justin Peters was presented about the Word of Faith ”A Call for Discernment”. This video clip spurred me on to continue with my research because I was just beginning to scratch the surface of the problem of what is happening in the Charismatic World.

The connection deepened as Rodney Howard Brown, laughing revival, Kenneth Hagins Word of Faith, Kenneth Copeland, Joels Army, Later rain, Manifest Sons of God, Apostles/ Prophets movement, the Charismatic and Emergent Church started to intersect and had much in common. The light bulb finally went off in my mind and the Holy Spirit confirmed what I was thinking all along. That what these groups had in common was not Biblicial Christianity, but Apostasy which the Apostle Paul writes about in II Timothy 3 vs 1-7.

About a year and half ago a good friend and brother in the Lord was telling me about the next move of God and there were going to be great signs and wonders coming from this new anointing. He told me about the Elijah list and about the how God is going to use the Apostle’s and Prophets in these last days. For many years most of the teaching in Charismatic circles has been that there will be an end time revival before the Lord Jesus returns. So I looked in my Bible and read what it said which was the opposite there would be a great falling away not revival.

The year was 1987 and my introduction into the Charismatic Church world began. A Non Denominational Church called Bright Clouds Ministries was the place. This Church just so happened to be pastored by a new minister who just graduated from Rhema. My brother-in-law led the Praise and Worship music, and my indoctrination into the Word of Faith began. The strange thing about this Church was that the services were held in a old movie theater which used to show porno movies. The Pastor used to proclaim this fact as proof of victory that the church was reclaiming the territory back for God. This was before adultery and divorce swept through the church eventually causing the Pastor to step down after being caught in an adulterous web.

In the beginning the Word of Faith teachings were exciting, learning how to tap into the so-called secrets of faith, prosperity, and healing. I bought every book and booklet that the word of faith bookstore was selling by the most popular faith teachers such as Kenneth Hagin, EW Kenyon, Kenneth Copeland and TL Osborn. I felt with this knowledge I was on my way to a new life and experience with God .I bought into this false teaching hook, line, and sinker. Yes I was on my way to being deceived and didn’t know that trouble was right around the corner.