Several years ago I applied for a job at Church of the Rock in Little Rock, AR. It was a nice job with good pay and benefits. In addition, many of the employees were “Christians” and would be more pleasant to work around.
One of the documents that was given to me to sign before being hired was a Faith Statement. Overall, the one page document was straight-forward and I didn’t see any reason not to sign it even though I would never be attending their church. As I got near the end of the page one of the last few statements stated something to the effect that I agreed that the Trinity was real and that the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost were separate entities. I mulled this statement over in my mind for sometime trying to determine if I could sign this document without comprising my teaching. Finally, I decided to ask my pastor’s wife what she thought and if we could somehow interpret the statement so I could sign it.
After a few days, I spoke with my pastor’s wife again and we talked about how the statement was worded. She did not see anyway I could sign it without comprising my own position. In order to complete my application, I scratched out the trinity line and wrote in that I believed in the oneness of the Godhead. I did not receive that job nor did I get a 3rd interview.
My family started attending a “Jesus Name” church when I was 12 and I had received the gift of the holy ghost by age 14. I knew from teachings of the church that “these three are one.” Although I believed this with all my heart and I could see it in the bible, I had never had a revelation of my own that this was true.
A few weeks after applying for this job we were singing an old song in the choir on Hobson street. He’s My Rock. As we were singing this song that we had sang any number of times, I felt God reveal the oneness to me, personally. Every time we sang “and Jesus is his name,” I felt as if I had touched an open electrical outlet. I began shouting and praising the Lord as I felt him revealing his oneness and deity to me personally. Oddly enough, this was not a “shouting” service and the entire house didn’t come down. God specifically showed me that I was his child and had taken his name.
To God be the glory!
I enjoyed your entries. I also grew up in DeQueen. I’m only in my mid-twenties, but i enjoy meeting people who lived there before me and know some of the history.