#testimony

I was very timid, and bound as with chains in a man-fearing spirit. When I arose to testify I trembled like a leaf, and began to make excuses - O God, send someone else! Then the Lord in a vision caused me to see the bottomless pit open in all its horror and woe. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. It was surrounded by a great multitude of people who seemed unconscious of their danger, and without a moments warning they would tumble into this awful place. I was above the people on a narrow plank-walk, which wound up toward heaven; and I was exhorting and pleading with the people to come upon the plank and escape that awful place. Several started. There was a beautiful bright light above me, and I was encouraging them to follow that light and they would go straight to heaven. "In all these trials God was preparing me and opening the way for the great battle against the enemy of souls and now the great desire of my heart was to work for Jesus. I longed to win a star for the Savior's crown. ↗

— Maria Woodworth-Etter

#testimony #timid #beauty

When the late Pope John Paul II decided to place the woman so strangely known as “Mother” Teresa on the fast track for beatification, and thus to qualify her for eventual sainthood, the Vatican felt obliged to solicit my testimony and I thus spent several hours in a closed hearing room with a priest, a deacon, and a monsignor, no doubt making their day as I told off, as from a rosary, the frightful faults and crimes of the departed fanatic. In the course of this, I discovered that the pope during his tenure had surreptitiously abolished the famous office of “Devil’s Advocate,” in order to fast‐track still more of his many candidates for canonization. I can thus claim to be the only living person to have represented the Devil pro bono. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#beatification #canonisation #deacons #devil #devil-s-advocate

I have been used for a purpose, and there will be a certain tragic occurrence happening if you don't take my testimony and somehow vindicate me so my people don't suffer because of what I have done. ↗

— Jack Ruby

#been #certain #done #happening #i

Courage is being the only only one who knows how terrified you are. ↗

— Tom Clancy

#testimony #transparency #courage

You know your testimony is strong when your roots are so deep that other people’s storms will never knock you over. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#faith #negativity #never-give-up #strong-women #testimony

Don’t water your testimony with your righteous expectations of church members. Their imperfection will disappoint you every time and cause you to leave every church you try to join. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#beliefs #expectations #judgement #religion #selfrighteousness

To think because you have been “saved” that you are now sane is insanity. God doesn’t fix the mind. He only gives you opportunities to have moments of clarity. It is your job to climb the mountain and see above the clouds for yourself, not to believe the congregation's interpretation of the view. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#brainwashed #personal-truth #religion #seeking-god #testimony

Testimony demands to be interpreted because of the dialectic of meaning and event that traverses it. ↗

— Paul Ricoeur

#demands #dialectic #event #interpreted #meaning

Testimony gives something to be interpreted. ↗

— Paul Ricoeur

#interpreted #something #testimony

If it gets to the Supreme Court, I'll have the directors of every museum in the country as expert testimony that my work is legitimate art. ↗

— Jock Sturges

#country #court #directors #every #expert