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The Testimony of Emory Rowland
July 25th, 2004
Why did Harold Rice care so much about people?
Something was wrong. I was seventeen. I had enjoyed a wonderful upbringing in a loving family, attended church, worked a part-time job, made decent grades in school, planned to attend college, played lead guitar in a successful rock band, and was very unhappy. Despite the shiny future ahead of me, I felt a deep sense of hopelessness within me. If life held any meaning for me or anyone, I wasn’t sure what it was. I didn’t want to die and I didn’t want to live. What was I to do? I began to pray. Perhaps I did want to live but just didn’t know what life was.
I had read the Bible as a boy and while I accepted it as credible, I had always imagined that those who were serious about implementing its principles were relegated to a life of asceticism. They were the ones who wore funny clothes, went on “retreats, held rummage sales, worked only on certain days, and confined themselves to their homes on weekend nights. Incapable of emulating this demanding lifestyle, I felt uncomfortable around religious people.
However, a local minister had made an impression on me once when I visited his church. There was something very different about Reverend Harold Rice that caught my attention. He was the kind of guy who would just tell you outright that he loved you, not that there was any doubt. Just the fact that he would actually say it echoed his actions, which included helping the sick, poor, troubled or anyone with a need. He would minister to his congregation, residents at the local nursing home, and people of other races with whom it was not acceptable to mingle in our small southern town.
I have met only a few people who immediately give me the feeling that they are full of love for their fellow man, an indiscriminant love that transcends the natural boundaries of what is typically understood as love. Why did Harold Rice care so much about people? I guessed that his unusually robust love originated either in something he knew that others didn’t or from a supernatural source.
Word had it that Harold Rice worked on cars as a hobby. Supposedly, he had developed some type of gas-saving device that when installed on a vehicle, could increase the miles-per-gallon with little or no performance loss. As my state of mind grew increasingly dispirited, I decided to stop by his home one afternoon under the pretense that I needed his advice regarding a mechanical problem my truck was experiencing. The problem was real, but a minor one, something like a loose battery cable which I seem to remember him fixing with a penny. He soon realized that the real reason I had visited was to find out the secret to the love and happiness that he possessed.
He sat down with me and enthusiastically answered my questions about God. He didn’t preach at me or try to scare me with hellfire, but explained things in a clear manner via the scriptures that he so passionately believed and the experiences of his own life. He showed me that through an act of love, God sent Jesus to lift man out of the depressed state that he was in, the state that I found myself in. I felt fortunate to receive an interactive message very different from that of the pulpits to which I was accustomed. I came away with a sincere belief that Jesus Christ was not just some great religious teacher, but a person who was actually alive today due to the supernatural power of God. I asked the Savior into my life and discovered that He would literally enter me and live in me, my body being a temple for his Spirit.
The more I learned, the more amazed I became. The scriptures were coming alive for me. I hadn’t realized that there was such a deep and intelligent divine plan outlined in the pages of the book that I had read as a young boy. If anyone had ever explained God’s purpose for me, I had missed it. The fact that I believed the words of Jesus and put them into practice made all the difference imaginable. I admit that I did not fully understand all that was happening to me as my life transformed. I knew that what was happening to me was having a positive effect on my life and those around me. I felt better. The weight of depression lifted as I began seeing life differently. My life took on purpose and depth as I experienced the Savior through faith. Many years of discovery followed. I witnessed powerful miracles as well as painful trials as a Christian. I remain convinced that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is still alive today.
–Emory Rowland
September 24th, 2004 at 7:19 pm
Thank you for your testimony to the love and grace of the Saviour Jesus Christ. May God bless you in all you do.
April 3rd, 2005 at 3:50 am
The Rapture is when those who love Jesus go with Jesus Christ to heaven in a Twinkling of an eye,and those left behind will be forced to think weird explanations, like the millions who disappeared went into a ufo etc.
After the Rapture, the world will be in chaos immediately. Some people will be raptured while driving in their cars, causing the cars to crash. Some people will disappear while working the most important jobs in the country, and once they disappear, cities will be destroyed. Planes will crash, electricity will go out, and phone lines will be jammed for days. If you think THIS sounds bad, the Judgements are much worse. Dont Be Left Behind!
February 17th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
Praise God for your testimony.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:01 am
SITUATIONS IS HERE, DIFFICULTIES IS HERE, ALL KIND PROBLEMS IS HERE, BUT ONE THING BROTHERS AND SISTERS. DON’T TURN OUT FROM JESUS CHRIST, YOU WILL FALL FOR ETERNITY. BE CLOSE TO HIM, HE WILL ANSWER YOU BECAUSE HE IS THE WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE. LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SPIRIT. THOSE WHO IS READING THIS MSG, GIVE YOUR HEART TO JESUS RIGHT NOW, ACCEPT HIM. HE IS THE WAY.DON’T DISCOURAGE, HE IS YOUR COURAGE.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:51 am
I want to thank the Lord for His grace and mercy and forgiveness.
Before I was a believer and filled with the Holy Spirit my life was a mess full of misery etc.
I want to praise the Lord for healing and restoration in my life and the life of my children.
I also praise the Lord that my children have the Lord in their lives today. I never had that privilege when I was young.
I want to praise the Lord for now; He has blessed us so much in our lives. I am so glad that He has given me joy and peace that I never had before. My pasts is my past and praise Him for taking out a heart of stone and giving me a heart of flesh and giving me the oil of joy.
I came out of a catholic background, was the youngest of five, there was ten years between my sister and I. My Father was ill so he had no time for me; my mother had to look after him then.
When you are a child you think your parents will protect you from everything. My parents use to visit my aunty and uncle house for weekends, I was 7 and they had me watching pornographic movies.
I was molested by my brothers friends saw things that children should not be subjected to.
I was very rebellious child full of anger and hatred to everyone. When I was 12 I was interested in the occult.
My school years were out of control, I felt like I never belonged anywhere. I was 16 years fell pregnant, my family doctor wanted me to have an abortion and so did my parents. I put my child up for adoption. Then my life just went down the sewer. God is the God of restoration my daughter found me in 2000 I have 2 grandchildren Blake and little Shay. We have had interesting journey.
By this time I was such an angry hateful rebellious person. That when I started drinking hard living an ungodly life. I found witchcraft and occult to help me. I hated myself so much when I did astral travel it was such a comfort to me because I was not in my body, which I hated so much. Meditation was another way of escape and was this re-birthing. No matter what I did there was no peace, no love no joy, such an emptiness in my life.
I use to come home so drunk from the disco and try and watch TV round 5 in the morning there were Christian programs on then, I would stumble the channels they would talk about Jesus.
I have had little bits of Christian talk about Jesus now and again.
I was married in 1988 which was a big mistake. Divorced 1997 have 2 wonderful children from that marriage.
Well my marriage was a disaster and I do take 50% of the blame, but I had enough abuse I left my husband went to a refuge where there my life changed gradually.
It was January 1996 I was in this refuge, where a lady named Lyn Wilson (who prayed for someone to listen to the gospel as no one there wanted to no Jesus).Lyn was leaving the refuge when I moved there. I was at the end of my rope, I did have a pocket bible and read psalms sometimes, in the gospel where Jesus said my God my God why have you forsaken me. Well that’s how I felt.
Lyn asked me to go to a church in Wynnum on the Sunday. I went to church people there were so happy I could not understand why they were so happy. Even though they did speak in tongues there. I repented of my sins, was later that year baptised, but did not receive the Holy Spirit till 1997. That church fell apart. Since 1997 we have been to 22 churches.
I was married in 2003 for only three months, (to a so called Christian) I learnt a hard lesson you can’t be married to a non Spirit filled person. Praise the Lord He is the only one in my life.
In 2006 we went to Toowoomba for a holiday ended up staying there for 6 months. I was going to the AOG church, not having a car was very hard to get to church, and the church had a bus but only picked up uni students. It was around Christmas time the church had this Christmas drive through rubbish, decorations in the church. I was in church there and said to the Lord there has to be a place where they have the truth and love one another. Sitting in the church I opened the and there was Jeremiah 10: 3-10. There was my answer.
I did this course and met Regina, who asked us to a bbq at Pasta Steve’s place; people there were just as the bible said. Regina asked us to a meeting that week. I was in the Toowoomba library met Jenny we chatted and Jenny ask me to meeting, well tuned out to be the same meeting that Regina ask me to.
Well I praise the Lord that this fellowship was where we were meant to be. My children and I have never looked back since the day we went to the fellowship. Even though our journey took a giant detour in our life we finally have ended up in a true believing bible church. I have moved back to Maryborough now. I believe my Christian walk has started a fresh; I thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit. I have so much to be grateful for. I love the Lord with all my heart and all my soul, God is great. I am so happy with the joy of the Lord because He does turn your morning into dancing and your sorrow into joy. Halleluyah Praise the Lord.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Yes only Jesus Christ can save as what the Bible says in John 14:6, “i am the way,the truth,and the life no comes to Father but by me”. only Jesus is the way to heaven!! and also eternal life is within Jesus. when you receive Jesus you became the son of God(John 1:12). and salvation is forever..believe in the promised of God..Revelation 3:20..our only authority that Jesus is now in our life after you received Him is His Promised!!!!