You And Your House Will Be Saved

Nothing is impossible to God!

My mom's dad was a violent alcoholic. He was known to be involved in many bar fights and ended up in jail from time to time. He also threatened his own child at gun point. My mom's mom died when she was twelve. So, mom did not have a loving, nurturing environment. She was a very angry young woman when I was born. Both mom and dad drank quite a bit. It was a very very dysfunctional environment.

My mom took a lot of her anger out on her children. She was very heavy handed in her discipline. My sister would cope by counting the spanks leveled against her when she misbehaved. She told me she would count to about 30 and then mom's rage would subside. I tried that technique to cope a couple of times counting past 30 strikes but that method of coping did not work for me. It seemed to make the many many session even longer. I'd say at least 4 of her 7 children were treated this way. She certainly broke hearts and damaged lives this way. The number of times she acted this way toward me seems countless. Her way of discipline lasted years of my life, perhaps into my eighth or ninth year. So, the violence she experienced from her father was sown into the next generation. Only Jesus & becoming Born Again can break that kind of generational curse.

When I found Jesus at 22 years old I felt inspired to sow His Love back into my mom. I would say: "I love you mom" and even hug her from time to time. This kind of holy and genuine love was an unusual interactions between us. I'm sure she saw that my life had changed because of my new found faith in Jesus Christ. My sister {a different one from mentioned above} found Jesus as well and she did a lot to evangelize both my mom and my dad.

I don't think my mom or my dad ever really understood the love God had for them or the life they could have had had they surrendered completely to Him and quit drinking. Too many people never surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and depend on other things to get them through this life. It is rare in the church for Jesus to be both a person's savior And Lord. We love the "Savior" part but we do not like to also surrender our will. I'm sure this grieves the Holy Spirit.

My mom developed some form of dementia in about her 80th year. I think her alcohol consumption began to decrease at around this time but the damage was already done. I was honestly and sincerely concerned about her Eternal Salvation as I never really saw convincing evidence that she belonged to Jesus Christ. Yes, she was known to to some good deeds but who isn't? Doing good deeds and actually being Born Again into the Kingdom of God are two entirely different things. So, I was very concerned about whether she would go to heaven or hell.

My mom went into the hospital almost a week before she died. I was praying in tongues for her for hours during that time. I was praying and praying as one day led into the next as she went into hospice care. I would say to the Lord Jesus: "Lord, please forgive my mom and grant her entrance into your eternal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. I'm the one she hurt, Lord, and I forgive her. She hurt me, Lord, and I forgive her so You have to forgive her too!" I'm sure I said this to Him several times. Then, finally, Jesus said to me: "Eddie, you opened up the kingdom of God to your mother." Astonished, I said, "How can this be, that I opened up the Kingdom of God to my mother?" And, a Scripture flashed through my mind: "Whatever you loose on Earth is loosed in Heaven and whatever you bind on Earth is bound in Heaven." {Matthew 16:19}. It is also written: "Whomever sins you forgive they are forgiven." {John 20:23} Alleluia! God's promises are true: "Believe on the Lord Jesus and You and Your House will be saved {Acts 16:31}.

We also understand household salvation from Noah's life as well. {Genesis 6:9}

After praying this way, the Lord Jesus told me that He would send Michael to her. I honestly think Jesus was astonished by how much I loved my mom and my level of forgiveness. I don't know how that conversation went but Michael cast those demons right out of my mom to honor God's Holy Word. I knew one of the nurses that was tending to my mom and so I looked for her during my mom's funeral. I asked her: "Was there any point just before my mother died that she went into a coughing fit or threw up or anything like that?" I asked because if you know anything about casting out demons they will often leave with a scream or a shout or coughing and/or puking. The whole body often convulses when the devil is cast out.