"the bibliciist"
Tell me about your back ground
Born a sinner, loved sin, never sought God or salvation but God sought me and convicted me of my sin and saved me in spite of myself. Changed my heart and changed my life, my desires and gave me a thirst for God's Word at the ripe young age of 13.
I had sat at the furtherest pew in the back by the door for quickest escape as a kid. My father had to pay me a quarter to get me to memorize a verse of scripture. When I was a kid, a quarter would buy a 16 oz RC cola, the largest candy bar (three muskateer or big hunk) and twinkies - all for a quarter - so you can see my motive for memorizing scripture. I memorized chapters until my dad had to reduce it from a quarter a verse to a dime a verse but I became rich as a kid.
However, due to that manipulation I knew more scripture than the teenage kids in Sunday school and everyone wanted me on their team when we had sword drills or bible knowledge games. I was placed in the upper grade class because of my efficiency with scriptures but still sat at the back door in order to get out of church as fast as possible as a kid.
One Sunday morning I was sitting in my normal pew by the back door minding my own business ready to escape to play when something began to happen on the inside of me that I had no control over whatsoever. I did not like it because for the first time in my life I began to see myself not as 13 year old but as a great sinner before God. I was like a bowl of jello inside, squimish and shuttering over my lost condition and sure condemnation in hell and yet all that was going on during the church service known to no one but myself and it was a terrible feeling. Sin had become a heavy cumberson burden weighing my heart down that I could not bear the weight upon my conscience and heart and I could find no escape but coming to Christ in faith to relieve me of my burden. Later that Sunday night I confessed to my father what had occurred inside me that Sunday morning and he started asking me questions and when I responded there was a liberty and freeness I had never felt before and a joy that overwhelmed me. I knew I was a sinner condemned justly and I had been fully convicted over my sinfulness as a being (who I was by nature) and I knew that faith in Christ had freed me from that horrible experience and turned the jello bowl of uncomfort within me to peace and joy unspeakable and full of glory.
From that point forward, no one had to pay me dimes to memorize scripture and I never sat in the back pew waiting for church to get over. I thirsted for the scriptures with a thirst that has never been quenched from that day to this day and the Word of God has been my only source of truth.
However, it was not until some years later at the age of 21 that God taught me how to study the Bible. I was working at a plywood plant on the green chain and I had 15 minute breaks every two hours. I packed a small New Testament in my pocket and on those breaks I read from Matthew to Revelation over and over again. However, when I got home, I would attempt to recall the major subject of each chapter in a book and then the major subject of each book and write it down. When I went back through a book again, I would then subdivide each chapter into its natural divisions by developmental sequence and change of topics. When I went back again I would break down each section into its developmental transition points and subjects. After doing this several times I literally knew where every single verse fit within its immediate and overall context. That is how God taught me the Scriptures and that is why I chose the term "The Biblicist" as my handle.
