Personal Testimony — Zac Poonen

Assurance of Salvation Through Faith

First question I want to ask you is how did you become a Christian?

Well, my father was a believer before I was born. So even though Technically we belong to what is known as the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church in which I was baptized as a little baby. My dad never sent us to that church.

He sent us to a Brethren Assembly Sunday school. So from a very young age, I I grew up in Delhi the capital city of India from a very young age. I heard the gospel I knew. About Christ dying for my sins.

We used to have preachers visiting our home. And I can't remember when the first time I asked Jesus to come into my heart probably when I was 12 or 13 years old. But I was never sure whether he had come.

Because I never had a spectacular experience. I never heard a voice or saw a light or any such thing. There was nothing radical to be changed in my life. I mean I brought up in this protected Christian atmosphere.

So I was never sure. So over the period of the next five six years. I would have probably asked Jesus to come in my heart 500 times or more and Never sure one of the things I discovered was that when you're never sure of your salvation you gradually backslide.

Then you lose interest. And then I joined the Navy and I Month I became a naval officer. July 1959 I was one day reading the Bible and I read John 6 37. But Jesus says him that cometh to me, I'll never cast out.

And I Can't say what happened. I said Lord. I've come to you many times. He said I never got shot. And I somehow believed it. I believe faith is a gift of God because I I probably read that verse many times, but that day I believed it.

It was like an anchor. That I dropped in my life that day. It's held for 50 years. That's how I became a Christian. I don't know when I was really saved. But I know that's when I got assurance of myself.

And what quote do you remember the date of that? I don't remember the date either. Okay, you were in the Navy. I was in the Navy around July 59. That's all I can say. I don't even remember the date. Date wasn't important to me at that time because I wasn't thinking of giving a testimony.

Yeah, I was just so happy that I was. What.

Seeking the Holy Spirit's Power and the Way of the Cross

Is the most important thing God did in you after your conversion.

Well, I can't say one single thing I'm very happy that I As soon as I was converted I went to an assembly of believers it was a brethren assembly in near the naval base I worked in and They had a strong emphasis in the study of the scriptures.

So, I'm very thankful that from the beginning I was baptized about a year and a half after I was converted and I started studying the scriptures and I really got into the word and Spent hours and hours and hours studying the scriptures.

So that was one thing but I Found a lack of power in my life To overcome sin, you know, I'm studying the scriptures. And I read the testimony of people like deal Moody and Charles Finney how they received what is called a baptism in the Holy Spirit and I Said there was something here that I lacked which the brethren assembly was not teaching.

Yeah so I studied the scriptures and I read these testimonies and I began to seek it and Then people told me that You must go to a Pentecostal church to hear that so I Didn't know anything about what is Pentecostal church.

I was a new believer. So another person Who knew a Pentecostal church took me there? Okay but quite frankly, I Was disappointed in what I saw Because a lot of noise and emotionalism and didn't seem to meet my need.

I just went a few times and I came back to my room in the naval base and I said Lord, I Don't want that. What I want is The power that Peter James and John got at the day of Pentecost, that's what I want However long it takes me to get it.

I want it and again, I never had a spectacular experience but I Felt a liberty and anointing a boldness to preach the Word of God. And at that time the Lord also showed me one other thing. And that was the way of the cross way back right there in the beginning.

Thank God the Lord linked that with the part of the Holy Spirit in my life by the example of Jesus. That Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit when he went into the waters of Babylon. And that the Lord showed me symbolized Jesus accepting the way of death to self and Way back there in 1963.

The Lord said to me as long as you Choose the way of the cross in your life You'll have my power upon you. If you go away from it any day, you lose my power. But you know that wasn't enough years later I became more famous more gifted more accepted and I was lonely without fellowship.

I backslid my inner life began to Not at all correspond with my own life. I really came to a point in 74 Where I thought of giving up the ministry, but I said I'm like hypocrite I began to seek God again.

And the Lord met with me again. That time he gave me the gift of tongues as well. But and it was from then onwards that my life really began.

Ongoing Sanctification and Spiritual Progress

Do you have any sin in your life now or anything that you do not like about yourself that you cannot fix or you can't overcome.

I want to be absolutely frank before God. And I can say by the grace of God That I don't know, you know, Paul says 1 Corinthians 4 verse 4 I'm conscious of nothing against myself. Yet, I'm not acquitted.

But he who judges me is the Lord. So I can say the same thing today by the grace of God. I'm not conscious of Any habit I have right now, which I'd like to give up. I keep feeling I'm not wholehearted enough.

I want to have a greater passion to be devoted to Jesus and Keep thinking Lord. I'm I'm not disciplined enough. I'm not. I don't want to be so lazy. I want to be more wholehearted. Those desires are there, but I think The Christian life to me is like a sort of a dissatisfied satisfaction.

I'm satisfied with what the Lord has done in me at the same time I'm longing to know him more to know the power of his resurrection more. I believe that I See only 10 of my life. There's a whole lot Unconscious areas of my life that are not Christ-like as God shows me Little by little as I walk with him.

I cleanse myself from that in progress to me. This is spiritual progress. Becoming like Christ is like climbing a mountain.

A Non-Denominational Church Focused on Discipleship

Those who call themselves Christians are divided into many different factions and denominations. What denomination or group do you consider yourself in and why?

You know, well I've been through denominations like brethren charismatic Pentecost and all that and We decided when we started our church in Bangalore 34 years ago That we would be non-denominational and interdenominational and we just called ourselves Christian Fellowship Church.

Welcome all who are part of the body of Christ. But we would have our convictions. We preach salvation by faith. We proclaim water baptism in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. We preach the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We pray for healing of the sick. We. But we would use means doctors medicines as well and but our primary emphasis is Making disciples people who want to follow Jesus.

We preach the overcoming life. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Amen, if you're under grace. And That we are to be built together. We're not to live individual holy lives. We're to be built together with others pursuing the same Faith as one body.

So these are our primary emphasis.