First of all, Anyone who does not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So that I may let them know about what Jesus has been in my life and what he can do for them.Second, we would like to meet and encourage those that are in the body of Christ especially his ministers who Pastor and lead the church. Gods Shepherds have a great calling on their lives and they need our prayers. Whether they are Senior, Youth, Children, Worship, or any other type of Pastor they deserve the greatest respect for ministering to the body of Christ and to the lost. I speak from experience, Pastors need your prayers, encouragement, love and respect.
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Here is my testimony,I was saved on December 2nd of 1990 in a most unusual way, but I need to tell you about what happened before that. It all started for me on March 19th. 1971. No that is not my birthday, that is when my wife. Ann was born. My wife's grandparents, Lawrence and Wilma Umber, who were spirit filled Christians, began praying for this little baby's future husband. They prayed she would marry a man of God.
Two years and 11 months after Ann was born I came into the world beat up and not breathing on February 4th 1974. There were quite a few complications during the time that my mother, Anneline Olson, was pregnant with me. Her husband, Gary, my father was a Lutheran Pastor and the people at the church knew about the complications. My mother's doctor said that the baby would probably be disabled and retarded. This was back in 1973 when I was in my mothers womb. Her Doctor said a new procedure had just been legalized this year and we can take care of this little problem so you'll not have to bring a disabled, retarded child into the world. The new procedure he was speaking of was abortion. My mom said, "No way". Even people in her church, where she was a Pastor's wife, told her that abortion would be a good idea. She would not listen to them either; because as she was laying in bed sick one day the Lord's gentle voice spoke to her heart and told her, "Ann, the baby is going to be OK, and it's going to be a boy". Along with this came a great peace. So even before I was born the devil was trying to take me out. I thank the Lord for my mom's faith and my wife's grandparents prayers. Because I did come into the world beat up and not breathing, the doctors got me going and I started to cry and to breath on my own.I was baptized by my father as a baby a few days after my birth, I do not believe that baptism itself will save you. I look back at that as a dedication to the Lord but not as my salvation. I am not saying that Lutherans are not Christians. There are many wonderful Lutheran people that love the Lord with all of their heart. But they are not saved because of their infant baptism, they are saved because they made a confession of their sin to Christ, and have asked Him to forgive them of their sins and to become the Lord of their life. Sometimes this happens on Sunday school and sometimes during their confirmation lessons, but my confirmation didn't mean anything to me because at the time I hated God and wanted nothing to do with Him.
Growing up I had a pretty normal childhood. I certainly was not the coolest kid at Miles Avenue Elementary in Billings MT, but I wasn't the biggest loser either. I did get in trouble a few times at school for being a class clown, (imagine that) and at home, but for the most part I was a good kid. My life began to turn upside down in 1984 when my dad's vision started to deteriorate and the doctors realized he had brain tumor. My dad had what we thought was a successful surgery and we moved down to Fairfax, VA so he could pastor the Lord of Life Lutheran Church. There things went downhill. One night his brain just snapped and he could not remember who I was or any of my family. His short-term memory seem to have been erased. We took him to the doctor in Washington D.C. The same neurologist that Jim Brady had after the President Ronald Reagan shooting. The doctor in Billings had messed up the surgery and a cyst had formed where the brain tumor had been and because of that my father had eight consecutive surgeries . He also suffered two heart attacks, had his gallbladder removed and broke his toe on the hospital bed. He went through a lot and could not continue the ministry; so in the end of 1985 we moved to Fargo. North Dakota to be closer to family.It was there that they thought because of everything that was happening with my father we should also see psychiatrists. That means, I even got to see psychiatrists. Now I respect psychiatrists but the one I went to was scary. There are people who are double chinned but this lady was quadrupled chinned. She was about the size of Jabba the Hut and had a deep scary voice. I think she was more terrifying than the fact that my dad was sick. She diagnosed me with ADD and put me on some medication that seem to mellow out my personality. During this time my family also got me involved in karate. They thought it would be a good way to release some pent-up stress and the anger that I had. I did have a lot of anger. I was angry at my father for getting sick. I was angry at the kids at Aggazzi Junior High School in Fargo, North Dakota for being so mean to me (junior high was not the best time of my life). Most of all, angry at God for taking my normal life and completely messing it up by making my dad sick. I did not have a correct perception of God. The karate helped in some things and I was very good at it.When I first started school back in Fargo there was a big kid who started coming a few weeks after I started. His name was Ben Larson. Ben and I soon became best friends, and I still consider him one of my best friends today. Ben has a great family, and they had something in common with me, they enjoyed food. I always got fed very well over at their house. But there was something different about Ben's family. They went to a "weird church". Or at least I thought it was weird at the time. They went to the Fargo First Assembly of God, and they were quite different from us Lutherans. They took me to the church when I would sleep over on a Saturday night.
Now in a Lutheran service I was used to standing up and sitting down, standing up and sitting down, standing up and sitting down. Because during the service you stand for this, and you sit for that. But at that Assembly of God church you would stand for the whole time you were singing. They did not sing hymns out of a green book. They sang repetitive songs about the Lord off of an overhead projector. And they sang for a very long time, then after the singing you pretty much got to sit down for the rest of the service. The sermons were not the normal 10 to 15 minute Lutheran sermons I was used to my dad preaching either. They would be at least half an hour long. So there were some definite differences in service style, as well as baptismal practices, and operations of the gifts of the spirit. But they still praised the same God the Lutherans did, Jesus Christ. Which like I said at the time I did not want to have much to do with him. I was mad at God. But I still thought I was going to heaven because my dad was a Lutheran Pastor.I would argue with my Christian friends about this. Especially Ben and his family, but they kept loving me through all this. I did not realize it at the time but God was on my case. I remember going to a Stryper concert, and hearing the gospel preached, some of my friends were telling me to go up and receive the Lord, but I was still too bitter inside. The Lord would put me in a class of 30 students and 20 of them went to the Assembly of God youth group, and they all had one mission, tell Peter Olson about Jesus during class.During all this time I continued to advance in the martial arts. Within several years I had received my first black belt in karate. Then our school changed karate styles and I advanced through this new style quite rapidly and received my second black belt within a month. It was a new style called Juko-Ki, the grandmaster taught us that we all have this great power called Ki power. It was a mystical, electrical force that flowed through our body that we could harness and use. They taught us that we were indestructible and because of this a person could be kicked between the legs and not hurt, punched in the throat and be OK and pretty much walk through anything that came against us. I was fully trained in this and had the knowledge up to third-degree black belt, but I could only obtain the third-degree because I could not afford to pay for the test. As I got more into this Ki power I developed the ability to feel my way around a dark room without touching anything. I could sense when someone was punching at me and block it with my eyes closed. I could rub someone's back from two feet away and they could feel fingers on them. I studied many other styles of the martial arts as well and began to see myself as a God. Because that is what I was taught from different sources. I was into Buddhism, and the New Age movement. I never got into fights at school because no one ever wanted to beat me up. But even with all this great power I was still suicidal and extremely depressed. There was a whole in my soul that could not be filled by anything I tried to put in it.In the spring of 1990, I was meditating and out of my mouth came the word, "Ariskin". But It did not come out in my voice, it came out in a deep growly voice that I never heard before. I kept this to myself for quite a while. During this time this time I was going through Lutheran confirmation. My mom told me I had to complete my confirmation and then I could go to any church I wanted to. So I got through confirmation which didn't mean a thing to me and started attending the Assembly of God youth group where I would hear Pastor Brad Lewis talk about how Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life. Several times at youth group I would talk to him, and argue with him about the fact that you don't need Jesus to go to heaven. What about all the other good people in the world? They're going to go to heaven because of their good works. But he explained that we are all sinners in need of a savior. And Jesus Christ is that savior! The Larson's would pick me up and take me to church on Sunday and when Pastor Dan Rothwell would give an altar call part of me wanted to get up and run to the altar and give my life to Jesus Christ but the other part fought back in pride and I would grab the pew in front of me and hold down during those altar calls.During this time the Larson family kept reaching out to me. I spent a lot of time at their house. They would not shove the gospel down my throat but they would show the gospel through their love for me. They were the genuine article, real Christians. There are a lot of religious people in the world, in every denomination, but how many real Christians are there? Daryl and Pat Larson are real Christians.
On December 1st of 1990 I decided to tell my friend Ben about my experience when I said the word, "ariskin" earlier that year. He took me to his mom and had me tell her. She proceeded to tell me that "that sounds like the name of a demon and that I needed to get saved". She also told me about the power in the name of Jesus and to tell me about Philippians 2:5-11 where the Bible says,
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."She told me if I ever see a demon that I should rebuke it in the name of Jesus. But I did not do anything that day until later that night when I started meditating. You see I had been taught a new way of meditating from a private instructor who was not a part of my school who taught Ninjitsu. He taught me to envision a window of light when I meditate. So that is what I would normally do. I would walk into the window of light with my spiritual body and once in that place I would feel powerful. I would feel this tingly type sensation all over my physical body. I been doing this practice of meditation for several months before this, but this time it was different. I walked into the window of light and there were these creatures flying around. One large one came across the sky and came down in front of me. It probably was three times my height and it bat like wings, big lizard like legs, smoke pouring out of its ugly nostrils, it was holding a crooked double-edged sword and said to me in that same voice, "I am ariskin and if you do not follow me you're going to die." At that point I remembered what Pat Larson said about the power in the name of Jesus and I spoke to this thing and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you". At that point the demon lifted up its head and screamed for a whole minute then the ground opened up beneath the demon and it fell down into the pit. Then I can out of my meditation and sat up on my bed, I checked the radio stations on my digital radio.
Ben programed the Christian stations into my radio, but it was off station and only FM static then I checked the other radio stations and along with the static came demonic voices out of my speakers, and then the voices surrounded my room and I ran over and turned on the light, because I was laying in the dark, and the voices stopped.
The next day, on December 2nd, 1990 I went to school at Fargo South High. I saw Ben in one of my early classes and he was showing me some Christian music. It was a CD of a heavy metal Christian band called Deliverance. On the cover was an angel holding the neck of a demon and the demon looked exactly like what I saw the night before. I told Ben about what happened, and he proceeded to tell me that I needed to get saved "Now!". But I told him I didn't need his Jesus like I'd told him so many times before. I did not feel like eating lunch that day so I went into the gymnasium and behind the bleachers on each side of the gym were these loft areas. I went to the side where the Gymnastic mats were. I laid down on one and instantly I was in the meditative trance. I saw the window of light and proceeded to walk into it again. (I was not the smartest teenager). I did not see anything at first but then a tornado or cyclone of pitch black darkness came up around me and started sucking me down into it. Something grabbed onto my leg and put its claws through it and I could feel physical pain. Beneath me I heard the sound of how the Bible describes Hell, weeping and nashing of teeth. I heard screams beneath me, as I was being pulled down and the light was almost completely gone.But someone was praying for me at that point. I do not know who, I will probably find out when I get to heaven. A long white arm reached down and grabbed hold of mine and pulled me out of the tornado of darkness. Whatever was holding onto my leg let go and the tornado dissipated. Suddenly I felt a tingly sensation but this time there was a great peace, power, and hope with it. I was standing in the presence of the Holy Spirit, I had truly felt the peace of God flowing through me. I looked up and I saw a great man who stood at least ten feet tall and had large muscles and long golden hair. Not blond hair but golden hair. He had two large white feather wings and was holding a double-edged sword. He said to me in this deep yet peaceful voice, "I am your guardian angel, Timothy, and you need to get your life right with Jesus".At that point I came out of my meditative trance sat up and prayed and Jesus Christ came into my life and forgive me of my sins. Now - I got saved in an unusual way. I did I get saved in church, I got saved at school during the lunch hour. I used to be very bitter angry person and the Lord sent many people across my path to tell me about Jesus, but he loves me so much, that he sent an angel to confront me because of the prayers of his Saints.There's nothing God won't do to bring someone to Him. I was witnessed to by the Larson family from the fifth grade until I was the sophomore in high school when I got saved. They never gave up on me. So I encourage you never give up on that person that is far from God. Keep praying, keep loving, and keep telling them about Jesus. Nothing is impossible for God. I am proof of that. After I got saved, the Lord completely changed my life around. He change the music I listened to; he changed my speech (I no longer sware or cuss). I have dedicated my life to telling others about Jesus. Because some people loved me enough to tell me at about Jesus. I have been a Youth Pastor, a Senior Pastor and now I am an Evangelist. I used to think I was the uglyest person in the world, but the Lord brought the most beautiful woman alive into my life and I married her.Jesus has blessed me beyond measure. If I had not gotten saved I would either be dead now, from suicide or be in jail because of my addiction to getting the 5 finger discount (Stealing). I am not the same person I used to be before Jesus. He has truly changed me, and is continuing to change me into His willing vessel. I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart.I have told this testimony to thousands of people since 1990 and have seen how God has used it to bring many to Christ and touch and encourage a lot of lives. Ann and I are now stepping into the next part of God's will that He has for our lives. We are now the Pastor at the Dustin Assembly of God in Dustin Oklahoma We just want to tell as many people as we can about what Jesus has done for us and what he can do for them. We want to encourage Pastors and the body of Christ. We also want to see many come to Christ through the preaching of His word and through our testimonies. This was only the beginning of my testimony, because my testimony continues everyday just as you who know Jesus Christ as your Savior does. Everyone that is saved, has a testimony. Mine might be a little different than others, but that does not make any better or worse than anyone else's. Each person's testimony is unique and special. Your testimony can reach out to people that I may never speak to. Each of you are very special and valuable in Christ. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this testimony, I hope it encouraged you today.