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Testimonies
Featuring:
Manjit
Emma

MANJIT & EMMA'S TESTIMONIES

MANJIT

Do you understand what you believe in? Do you understand why you do certain things? These questions were posed to me sometime ago. In fact it was my brother who asked me. At first I ignored him, then I did ask myself the question and was horrified with the answers. I feel convicted to tell you my story just how it happened.

I am from a Sikh background, my parents brought me up to believe in God and to trust him, and to be good, but I was never able to be a strict practising Sikh. I would pray to God often and ask him for his help but I was never prepared to do anything for him in return.

In 1988 while studying at university I went home one weekend to visit my family. I was very close with my family especially with my brother. To my horror he had changed in just a short period of time from when I last met him. He started preaching about God to the family. My brother had completely changed, and I thought he had gone mad. Although I believed in God I thought it was to severe to be completely religious in the 1980's, I thought God would understand. However I have always had convictions to come close to God but I always thought I was never good enough to become holy, or that it would not be practical in a society such as ours, besides I thought I was good enough to enter heaven.

Apparently a couple of weeks earlier on a training course he was put next to a christian who was putting together some bible studies during lunch times on his computer, about the end of the world. This subject has always fascinated me and my brother, and so his curiosity got the better of him. He started asking him questions and then they became friends. Now when he told me that, I thought he had gone mad because he was speaking a lot about Jesus to me. I thought this christian guy had hypnotised my brother.

Then he challenged the family. He asked us "Do you really understand what you believe in?" and "How do you know you are going to be saved?" I thought it was a silly question, my father just laughed at the question and my mother told him to shut up. However I listened because I knew in the past that my brother wasn't stupid but a sensible intelligent and logical person, so I eventually gave him the benefit of the doubt. I did't really want to answer him, so he asked me one other question, "How do you know that Sikhism can save you? When all the other religions claim the same thing but all contradict Sikhism?". We then talked for a long time on religion.

When I went back to university my thoughts began to trouble me, but I eventually ignored them. When I went home a week later I had another discussion with my brother. Basically we came to the following conclusion, either all religions were false or there was 1 true path. Let me explain, if there is 1 God in heaven or even 1 king God, then why would he give humans all these different religions which contradict each other:

  GOD

  SIKHISM       ISLAM           CHRISTIANITY            HINDUISM      BUDDHISM   etc.

To believe that Sikhism was from God ie. that Guru Nanak was a messenger of God then I had to believe that Islam and Hinduism couldn't be religions which had the truth, this is because Guru Nanak contradicted both followers of Hinduism and Islam in what they were doing and teaching, some of which was man made, and the rest from their scriptures. Guru Nanak openly preached that there was neither Muslim or Hindu but are all brothers under God. For instance, he preached that no man should pray to idols and statues like the Hindus did and preached that the Muslim should not be so bloody and persecute people, as this was not the way of God. The scriptures of the Sikhs (called the Guru Granth Sahib) has many references to both the Quran and the Hindu scriptures, of which there is many, such as the Vedas, Upanishads & Geeta. Guru Nanak himself was a Hindu by birth, and Sikhism became established as both Hindus and Muslims began to accept his teachings. He claimed that he was a messenger of God to reveal the truth and to reveal to man his errors, he came to show all the people in India at that time all the errors of their ways.

Islam however teaches that all religions outside it are false, claiming that they were once true ie. Islamic. But that man has now changed and misinterpreted the scriptures. Islam contradicts Christianity in many ways. Examples include the scriptures themselves, Islam teaches that the Bible has been made corrupt by man and that the Quran is the true message regiven. Islam teaches that Christ never died on the cross, the Bible teaches that Christ died and then was resurrected, the Bible also teaches that Christ had to die for our sins, it also teaches that Christ was God himself ie. the trinity. Islam teaches that Christ was only a prophet. A famous Islamic teacher, Ahmed Deedat, has written many books which details the differences and what he says are the falsities of the Bible, but he is wrong. Any devout muslim would agree with me that there can only be one way which leads to God.

Is it possible that God has left this world without giving us his word, or allowed his words to be changed? The Quran declares " None can change the decrees of Allah" Surah 6, Al-Anum verse 34. The Bible makes many similar declarations " The grass   withereth, the flower fadeth:but the word of our God shall stand forever." Isaiah 40:8. "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail" Luke 16:17. If both sets of scriptures are saying the same thing then it proves one has to be lying or that God is confused?

Sikhism along with Hinduism & Buddhism teaches reincarnation, whereas Christianity and Islam teaches no such thing. Hinduism teaches that there are more than one god, whereas Sikhism, Christianity and Islam teach only one god. Hinduism teaches the practice of idol worship, i.e praying to statues of Krishna, Ganesh, Rama, whereas Sikhism ,Christianity and Islam teach prayer in thought and mouth direct to God not through any physical, man made statues. How can all these religions be so different yet at the same time be all from God?   

I then asked my self " What do I believe in? Why am I sikh?". I was a Sikh because I was brought up as one, I would say Sikhism was the true religion because I was brought up as one, just as a muslim is brought up to believe in Allah. Now I thought really hard and long and realised I was in trouble. Let us look at the situation logically. I concluded that only 1 religion can lead to God or that they were all wrong! I also concluded then that I was a Sikh because I was brought up as one, and didn't really know any better. Therefore to my horror I concluded that there was a slim chance that Sikhism couldn't save me.

I then realised that my life was empty and cold and seemed meaningless, so I gave my heart to God. I told God in prayer that I wanted to walk in his ways and have him no.1 in my life, and then I had a problem, which way should I follow him, I truly believed it was Sikhism, I knew a lot about Sikhism and studied about it, it instructed to be a good person and believe and have faith in God. It also instructed followers of God to live their lives holy every day, and represent God in everything we do. However it didn't explain much about life, about good and evil, what happens after death, what heaven is, why there is suffering in the world. However the scriptures contained a lot of wisdom , and all I really cared about was God's will and if he wanted me to follow Sikhism .Also at this time I wasn't completely sure that I believed in reincarnation which Sikhism teaches.

On the other hand I realised that if the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh bible), was the word of God then I had to believe in all of it in faith or none of it, as I couldn't say I can believe in one part but not another. You have to believe in a religion 100% or else you have no faith. We must always allow the holy scriptures to lead us not our thoughts or feelings. So I asked God for guidance to lead me to the true religion if there was one? You will find a lot of people who claim they are Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and Hindus etc. yet they will not follow their religion completely or openly claim they do not believe in some parts. Eg. Sikhism teaches the abstinence of harmful products like smoking, drugs and alcohol, yet many Sikhs will do these things, as well as Muslims and Christian. I know many Muslims who will die before they eat meat which isn't Halal (prepared in a certain way and been blessed, like kosher meat), but will completely have disregard for the rest of the scripture in the Quran, and you will also find many Christians who are very hypocritical, the Bible describes people like these as "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" 2TIMOTHY 3:5. If we love God then we must obey him, also the only record we have of God is through nature itself and most importantly through the scriptures as well as direct revelation. If the words of the scriptures are God's then he will expect us to follow all, and believe all.

I spent hours in study and research into the religions. Then one day I picked up a Bible and started to read it, I prayed as I always prayed before reading or studying, I asked God this " Please God will you help me to know your will. If this Bible is your book on Earth then please let it mean something to me." And when I started to read it I couldn't believe it, it was so good and my heart burned for more of it. At this time my brother had just finished a book called "The Great Controversy". It was about the battle between Jesus Christ and Satan. He gave it to me to read, and when I read this book I could not believe my heart's convictions. I was so impressed by Christianity that at one stage I believed in both Christianity and Sikhism. Through a lot of prayer, study and with great pain and anguish I gave up Sikhism. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal saviour and asked him to wash me of my sins. However I kept my new found faith a secret. I then pondered upon the question about to whom I was praying to when I was a Sikh. Certainly I believed God was hearing me but I know now that I was not doing the things which he wanted me to do. Every thing we say, do or think is being recorded but unless we are following Gods requirements then I don't think we are all praying to the same god. In Romans 6:16 in the Bible says "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or to obedience unto righteousness", Proverbs 28:9 "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination" 15: 8 of the same book " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight". I believe God hears everybody but doesn't listen to everybody, as soon as you are willing to allow God to be no. 1 in your life then God can listen and hear your prayer. Some religions claim their's is the true one from God, but they all cannot be. If people are not listening to Gods commandments then when they pray how can God accept your prayer and worship, how can we all be worshipping the same God in different ways "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints" 1COR 14:33. (See Appendix 1)

My parents by this stage were not ignorant of what was going on and they were very upset with us. When we started going to church they were angry, my mother threatened that if we ever became Christians that she would leave or kick us out. We were then very scared to fully confess to them that we had entirely forsaked Sikhism and became Christians.

We then performed a Bible study on baptism and our convictions led us to be baptised by water immersion. It was then that we finally plucked up the courage  to tell our parents, but only 3 days before our baptism. They never attended, but still we all lived at home for many years and our parents still love us. My brother however had greater problems. Before he became convicted to become a Christian he got married to a Sikh girl.

It was only after their marriage that he decided to be baptised and so it is very difficult for him and his wife.It was a tough time when they had to tell my brother’s inlaws. This is very painful and hurting for all of us, but a person must always live up to his conscience as it is better to have all enemies in the world and peace with your conscience rather than the whole world your friend and enemy with your conscience. I was so convicted that Jesus could save me that it meant more to me than hurting my parents.

At least now if somebody ever asked me "Do you understand what you believe in?" I can say with all confidence and conviction yes. Can you? At least I  can say to my conscience I searched for God and proved to my heart that what I am doing today is what God would want me to do. I pray  that one day you also will study what God would want you to do. Get closer to  God now and ask God to show you if what you are doing is what he would want you to do. Ask the question to yourselves and if you cannot say “yes” with certainty then you are in trouble. "You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:13. Amen.

APPENDIX 1

Let us assume that all religions lead you to God . If this is the case how would you respond to the following references from the Bible in your life.

" What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils?" 1 COR 10:19-20

" Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God" EXODUS 20:4-5

What about when Hindus pray, or when the Sikhs bow down to the Guru Granth Sahib? Can they still say Christianity is from God.

" Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" ACTS 4:12

This is talking about Jesus. Can a Hindu or a Sikh accept that while still following their own religion?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house." ACTS 16:31

Jesus said " I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father but by me" John 14:6

If you still believe all religions lead to God then you must accept this statement. So when you pray you are going through Christ the long way round, you might as well follow Christ his way since you can only reach God through him whoever you are.

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" 1 TIM 2:5

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." EPH 2:8-9

God will not save you by the amount of good things you do but by your faith in God.

Do you still think all religions are from God, because if you do it means the above texts are from God, then you should believe it.

Also especially for Muslims who accept Jesus was a prophet according to the Bible they are in error:

"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed: For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds."  2 JOHN 7:9-11.

(Any persons who would like to discuss this further can contact me by writing to MANJIT SINGH BIANT, AT Publications, PO BOX 537, Hampton Hargate, Peterborough PE7 8LB  ).

For a copy of the book The Great Controversy, then please send a cheque for £5.95 (P&P inc).

EMMA

A NEW AGE OR ......?  by Emma and Vicky Keogh

             The Story of two Ordinary English Sisters.

"Come and hear about the New Age Movement, channelling, Shirley MacLaine, Babylon, Rome and the New World Order." The notice invited us as my sister and I scanned the window for employment. Maybe our "spirit guides" had led us to this obscure outback Australian town just for these meetings? Was it possible that our lives were being directed along the lines of Karmic destiny which we had only recently recognised and we were less in control than we thought? Vicky and I were brought up in England, by a Catholic father and agnostic mother. I left Catholic school with a fear of a tyrannical God, of an eternally burning hell and with little knowledge of Jesus who was an unreachable God somewhere in the sky. We both went on to study at different universities and during one of our vacations, we spent three weeks inter-railing in Europe. It was the splendour of Rome, the wealth and gold of the Vatican, with its money-spinning trinket stands and beggars in the streets outside which increased our dissatisfaction with the religious system we had been brought up in. We became hardened against all forms of Christianity as we knew it.

After graduating during the economic blitz, the time was right to skip the dole queue and take some time out to travel the world. After a brief stop in the USA and Hawaii, we reached the idyllic shores of Australia. Whilst living and working on the Gold Coast a friend introduced us to Shirley MacLaine's autobiographies. These describe the spiritual journey into her "inner self' through meditation which leads to contact with her "spirit guides". We immersed ourselves in books by such psychics as Edgar Cayce and Alice Bailey and researched different aspects of the paranormal: UFO's, channelling and other elements of what is commonly called the "NEW AGE" movement. Closely linked to the New Age Movement is the prevailing social emphasis on self love, psychics and tarot card reading, we turned to meditation and regularly worked through the `chakras' seeking a higher enlightenment. Despite being warned by the Christian mother of a friend of mine, about the dangers of delving into the spirit world, we continued to pursue our studies with defiant enthusiasm.  After 4 months of engrossed interest, we began inching away from the soft-core New-Ageism, towards the hard-core `occultism'. We attended a seminar where we were audience to a channeller who claimed to have lent her body to aliens from the planet Pleaides. For three long hours we observed, along with 200 others, the strange contorted facial expressions of this lady, who predicted things that did not come to pass.

It was at this time, June '92, that we both secured jobs in a small family-run roadhouse two hundred miles from the nearest town, right in the heart of the Northern Territory. During our-brief stay at Timber Creek we had persevered with meditation in pursuit of our goal, which was perfect peace of mind. However, our attempts seemed futile: there was no peace, we were caught up in a cycle of drinking and smoking that it was beyond our power to break. After 6 weeks of heavy toil, in the blazing outback heat, we were unexpectedly sacked for socialising, drinking and partying with the local Aborigines. Having intended to stay there for 3 months, we suddenly found ourselves homeless, jobless and virtually penniless. Battling with the heat and overweight, depression set in as we hitched a ride on a road train and headed West to the next small town without much hope of finding work. It was in the baker's window on that first night in Western Australia that we saw the notice  inviting us: "Come and hear about the New Age movement"...........

The very next morning we happened to be alone in the Youth Hostel when a man appeared and asked if we needed work for one day, folding the local paper. Relieved at the chance to make some money, we accepted the offer without hesitation. Not long after we began the long day's work, I mentioned the meeting, which was to be held that night and this began a discussion with the three men we were working with. It soon became evident that the meeting was not in support of the New Age movement, but in fact was quite the opposite. One of our fellow workers that day was involved in organising the meeting which was the first in a series of five, beginning that night. He was a Christian and he began to explain that the idea of reincarnation, which we believed, was inconsistent with the resurrection of Jesus. When we realised that he was going to the meetings we were disappointed. Our anti-Christian prejudice was rekindled and we reconsidered attending, but the free vegetarian meal provided afterwards was sufficient to attract us to go along anyway! We had stopped eating meat some months before having adopted the New Age teaching that, in order to reach a higher state of enlightenment, you need to have a clear mind. (Based on the truth that meat eating, along with other harmful foods, causes the blood to be polluted which in turn clouds the brain and badly affects spiritual understanding.) So along we went armed with scepticism and prejudice, but strangely curious.

A small gathering of people listened as the speaker opened up the prophecies from Daniel that night. It was clearly shown how the Bible is an historical and prophetic book, and how it interprets itself, line upon line, precept upon precept and "that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." 2 Peter 1:20.  We saw from the Bible the prediction of the rise and fall of the kingdoms of Europe, proving the historical accuracy of God's Word (see Daniel 2). No one had ever shown this to us before, it was a completely new revelation. We had arranged to meet a friend in the local bar after the meeting, but on walking past, we somehow knew that we could not go in. Instead we walked into the  square and sat on a bench, looking up at the southern stars on this beautiful clear night, convinced that we had found the purpose of our travels.

From that moment on God gave us the power to stop drinking and  smoking. For the first time in our lives it was easy to say "No" to drink. We no longer had the desire to live the way we had been living, there was a power in our lives we had never known before. At last we had found the peace that meditation could not provide. There were five meetings altogether. We attended every one and spent the week studying the Bible with two lovely Christian families who opened their homes to us. It was the third meeting which addressed the New Age movement, as the poster had advertised. We listened dumb-struck as the presenter showed us from the Bible that meditation, hypnosis, channelling, astrology and fortune-telling are Satan's tools to ensnare the mind and block out the voice of God.

The whole New Age movement we began to realise stems from Hinduism and eastern philosophy, which are both derived from the ideas and practises of the ancient Babylonians. The basic premise in each case is the same: there are many ways to find the "God within you", and there is no such thing as good and evil. This denial of good and evil had posed a difficulty for Vicky whilst investigating the New Age, because it left her with no reasonable explanation for all the terrible suffering in the world. Suddenly, as though a veil had been removed from before my eyes, I saw for he first time that the warfare between good and evil in this world is real. The beautiful Saviour of the world was uplifted before me and I gradually began to understand the fullness of His love for me. It was in living a life of perfect obedience to His Father's will and in dying on the cross to pay the price for sin that Jesus provided the way for all men to have eternal life. It is His shed blood which makes forgiveness for my sins possible, and which reconciles me to my Creator. The Bible as the living word of God was shown to be historically accurate by the details of prophecy which have been fulfilled up to the present day. We soon realised that we were living in the most exciting time of earth's history because of the soon expected return of Christ. Having established the inspiration of the Bible, the presenter then revealed the Mark of the Beast and the Antichrist "666".

We were utterly stunned and shocked as we saw each verse of the Bible, line upon line, interpret the meaning of these symbols and phrases. I saw that for 23 years I had been fighting for the answers and no answers came: now as I welcomed Jesus into my heart, all the answers unfolded before me. As the light of  Truth illuminated my mind, I saw clearly for the first time. Happiness, joy and peace that I had never known before entered my heart and I knew that the words Jesus spoke of Himself were true: "I am the way, the truth and the life."(John I4:6) At the end of this week, we kept the Sabbath for the very first time in our lives. The day was spent in fellowship with our new friends. They gave us several addresses of Christian families who we contacted along the way to Perth. Each day brought fresh insight and new revelations from the Word of God which had just become a fountain of life to us. The more we learnt, the more we realised that we knew nothing. We were "educated" in the world's eyes, but here was something we had never before come across. As the Spirit of God moved our hearts we renounced our former life. The jewellery and make-up came off; the rock music tapes were discarded and the meditation tapes and new age books were abandoned in a dustbin. Having cast aside our previous lifestyle, we realised that this was just the beginning. There was still much to unlearn and even more to learn  afresh.

Next stop was New Zealand. As we travelled round this beautiful country, God opened the way for us to tell others everything we had learnt. Whilst on a train we met a girl listening to Heavy Rock music on her personal stereo. We happened to have a leaflet about the roots of rock and roll music, so we gave it to her. Within a short time she had switched off the music and was asking us all sorts of questions. The rest of the two hour journey we spent in deep conversation about prophecy, God and the peace and joy He brings to your life which replaced the need for escapism into music and drugs. On another train journey we had many leaflets which we wanted to distribute. We prayed to God asking for guidance. Almost immediately the train stopped, it was delayed due to trouble down the line, and everyone got off What an opportunity! We walked down the length of the train putting leaflets on all the seats-it was wonderful to see people pick them up and read them when they reboarded. God is real. He does answer prayer - even in the smallest things.

After travelling and studying with many different people in New Zealand and the USA, we returned home in June 1993, after 2 years away. God had taken us half way round the world to find Him and had transformed our lives. We had been trapped by the world, turning to drink, food and smoking for comfort and our intellect for answers, but still our souls were not satisfied and we had yearned for peace. God has given us that peace. Christ is coming soon - sooner than we think, and with Him we ask "Will He find faith on earth?" God calls each one of us. "Come let us reason together"(Isa 1:18) the Bible says. We have a choice whom we will serve. There are only two paths. We can follow the god of this world, if we want a restless life of slavery to our own bad habits, that ends in depression and death. Or there is an infinitely better option, someone risked His own eternal destiny that you and I might have the chance to live eternally in a world free from suffering and pain. He loved us so much that He lived a life of toil and sacrifice ending in a cruel and painful death, because He did not want us to suffer eternal destruction. He not only wants to give us the peace that passes all understanding in this life, but He is building a mansion in Heaven for us because He wants us to live with Him, that's how much He cares. Not much of a choice, is it? Today He invites you to decide. `Taste and see that the Lord is good:'(Psalm 34:8)June 1994

Audios

Babylon Is Fallen: Jim Arrabito £I2 (8 Audio Tapes - A powerful series of presentations focusing on the Loud Cry of Rev l8:2-4.)

l. Babylonian Connection: Identifies the Beast power of Rev l3 and it's connection with the religion of ancient Babylon.

2. On Eagles Wings: A view of the Christian Church God raised at the time of the apostles and what became of her through the centuries.

3. Satan's Bride: The merging of the ancient system of sun worship, Gnosticism and the cult mysteries with the medieval Roman Church.

4. The Bottomless Pit: A delineation of the methods used by the Papacy and the Jesuit order against Biblical Truth.

5. The Jesuit Web: Startling facts of history reveal the work and influence of the Jesuit order and their interference in the affairs of nations.

6. The Return of the Dragon Part 1&2: Study of the secret societies, Illuminati, Luciferian conspiracy, and New Age Movement.

Videos

What’s behind the New World Order?

5 video presentations by John Bishop for £60

The Religion of 666    by John Bishop  £12

The New Age Masterpiece   by John Bishop  £12

The Woman and the Whore   by John Bishop  £12

No More Bananas (his personal testimony)  by John Bishop  £12

Books:

The New World Order - Russell Burrill  £3.50

Prophetic Insights - James Rafferty £2.50

The Great Controversy - E G White  £4.95   A thrilling account of history and prophecy, detailing what is happening in the world right now. If you are interested in your future and the future of planet earth, you need this book!