The Caldwells Get BLESSED!

Editor's Note: Taylor and Carrie Caldwell are a young couple who contacted us through the Internet a little over a year ago. They began attending John Clark's meetings in North Carolina, while earnestly seeking the holy Ghost baptism. Here is what happened to them at a recent meeting as related to us from Pastor Clark: "Last night we had our Saturday night Bible study. It was obvious the meeting was not over even though our study was completed. After the meeting Taylor came up prayer. He and his wife had been seeking the holy Ghost since they saw us on the Internet... but had not received. After the meeting was over Taylor came up for prayer - really desiring a breakthrough. Earl and I told him to "turn up the volume" (Taylor is very soft spoken). When he started lifting up his voice to God, the holy Ghost came upon him in a BIG way, and he received the baptism. He was so overjoyed, and filled with the Spirit that he was jumping all around, about 3 feet off the ground and shouting in tongues, happy as we have ever seen him. We thought Taylor's wife Carrie got the holy Ghost earlier but would not really tell anyone - she just wasn't sure. Later we found out that she had prayed through again at home, making certain that SHE was satisfied... that's the way to do it! The praying and rejoicing went on from 8:30pm till 11:30pm, and the church was so happy to receive another baby "outside" the gates of Christianity. Taylor and Carrie have a BIG advantage, starting off in the truth from day one! People in the meeting were just weeping for joy, and falling out under the power of God. Waiting for the testimony of the Spirit is still the only way for things to ever be right in the Church."

Here are their testimonies:

From Carrie:
A little over a year ago, my husband, Taylor, and I came across the Isaiah 58 website. Everything that was on that website was exactly what our hearts were wanting to hear- there wasn't a trinity (that was always confusing to me), we are not saved until the end (I never knew what to tell people when they would ask me when I got saved) and on and on. We found out that there is a group of people that gets together for holiness meetings only thirty minutes from our house and the pastor of that group is the one that writes the tracts on the website. It is still amazing to me how God has lined everything up perfectly in my life so that I am at the exact place where I am right now.

When I would go to the meetings it would feel so good - to be around the church, to learn about the real living God and to feel the power of God. I never felt the power of God until I came to these meetings. It was exciting to know that God is "alive," He can speak to people, and that the Holy Ghost can move and can cause people to speak in tongues. That was so new to me, but at the same time, it seemed completely natural. I knew that I needed the baptism of the Holy Ghost so that I would be accepted by God and then I would be able to live a clean life by obeying God and following His Spirit. I knew too that this was the only way that I would be a good wife and one day a good mother being able to help raise our children in the way that is acceptable to God. Taylor and I had been going to these meetings for about a year and I had felt the power of God, but I didn't think that I had received the Spirit because I had not heard myself speak in tongues. Then I found out from Pastor John that he and several other people had heard me speak in tongues during the meetings- I didn't even know! I believed what Pastor John said because I trust him, but I wanted to know for myself, so I continued to seek God and it just kept getting better and better. Words can't describe the feelings that God gives!

Finally after a weekend of wonderful meetings (the same weekend that Taylor got free in the Holy Ghost), I was crying out to God at home- I wanted to hear myself speak in tongues! I wanted to know if I had received the baptism! I went into the other room and hugged Taylor and as I did, I heard myself speaking in tongues...it was such a relief to know! We sat on our living room floor and prayed in tongues- what an incredible experience. God was showing me how faithful He is- not only was He listening to my prayer, but He answered my prayer minutes after I asked Him! God does bless those that seek Him!

People keep telling me that it keeps getting better and better - I feel so new and happy, I'm not sure what I will do if it keeps getting better and better! It feels so good to know that I am in touch with the real God and on the right track for the first time. I am also thankful that God has given the Holy Ghost to me and my husband at such a young age, so that if we continue in God's will for us, we will have a marriage that is acceptable to God. I thank God for giving me the Holy Ghost; I just wish that I could adequately thank Him for all that He has done for me.

From Taylor:
I can remember, almost three years ago, sitting in my bed thinking about wanting to know whoever it was that really knew God. Whoever it was that knew how to get close to God, I wanted to meet him, and I wanted him to teach me what I had to do to get closer to God, how to live a right life, and so on. In my head, I was thinking that it was some preacher out there, I just had to find him and learn from him. I started reading my Bible more, writing what I had been thinking about in a journal, going to church, etc. doing whatever I thought would help me get closer to God. I guess for a good while I kind of went from place to place, looking for whatever it was, or whoever it was that I thought was just the thing for me, that thing or that person that was "the ticket" to show me the way. I would occasionally find a place that I'd kind of get excited about. I might get some "food for thought" or something that would seem to make me feel convicted for a while, but I never really found a "home". In short, I just really remember praying, or thinking, that I just wanted to know whoever it was that really knew God, and I wanted him to teach me. That was during the summer of 1996.

After that summer, I got very involved with a Christian group on my college campus in North Carolina. I had one-on-one Bible studies with a Korean missionary named Samuel, and I feel like God really used my time there in many good ways. I remember when we studied Genesis chapter 1 during my second Bible study with him. We usually prayed after each Bible study, and I remember praying that I felt like I had been hit with a bolt of lightening, on the inside, during our Bible study. Though God may have planted a seed at an earlier time, I definitely felt like God did something that was very real during that Bible study. My time with Samuel was the best thing I had ever experienced, "religiously", I guess. I just felt like it was when God really started dealing with me.

During that year, I feel like God worked many things out that led both Carrie and I to where we are right now. I remember having a dream one night that I started speaking in tongues, and it was so good! I also felt like God showed me that I was never going to get out of sin without the holy Ghost. The strength I'd need to overcome sin is only through the holy Ghost. These were the kinds of experiences, mostly during the Spring of 1997, that got both of us searching for whatever it was that we were feeling that God was trying to say to us.

One night I was on the Internet and I started doing searches on speaking in tongues and the holy Ghost. After my second search, the first page among a list of very many was a page called "Isaiah 58 Broadcast & Tracts". I clicked on it and one of the first things on the page read, "If you have received the baptism of the holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, or if you are seeking this blessed experience, then this page is for YOU!!!". I thought that was a pretty strong statement at first but something in me believed it when I read it. I began reading some of the materials that were on the webpage and I couldn't believe what I was reading. What I read was that I was not saved, no one was until the end, after they've obeyed God and followed the Spirit for their whole life. I read that I didn't have the Spirit of God in me until I heard the Spirit testify in tongues. I read that I had to live a clean life if I wanted to make it in the end. God had prepared my heart to receive what they were writing about. It was so good to hear that there was really only one church, that the power of God really did move on people, that I was not right with God with the kind of life I was living, and so on. I wanted to live clean and for the first time someone told me that it was possible with the holy Ghost. I sent off for some materials from the webmaster of the page, Gary Savelli, and it wasn't long before the tracts and tapes came in the mail. I LOVED those tracts and tapes. I listened to those tapes so many times, loving every last bit of what I was hearing. I remember getting quite a few of the tracts when I received my first shipment, and sitting in the chair thinking, "Well I shouldn't read them all at once," and then thinking, "Why not? You're enjoying them so much!" I just loved them and my soul felt like it was going to explode on the inside. I was so happy about what I was hearing.

Not long after that, Carrie and I were invited to go to a home prayer meeting at John Clark's (the author of many of the materials on the web page and pastor of the church in Burlington) house and we started going to the meetings regularly. I remember thinking the meetings were "perfect". The people at the meeting talked about what God had been doing for them, there were lots of testimonies, if someone felt like singing a song, they'd pick up their guitar and sing one. I heard many speaking in tongues. The pastor prayed for certain people in the church, and laid hands on them. I saw the power of God move on people. We went to the meetings for about a year, just doing whatever we felt like we had to do to fully repent, and receive the holy Ghost. I felt like I had felt the power of God but I wasn't sure if I had really heard the spirit testify, saying that God had cleansed my heart. Then, on September 19th of 1998, after one of our weekend meetings, the power of God started falling on people who were standing around with one another. I felt a "pull" from the Spirit on the inside of me and I kind of remembering just giving up or surrendering to the Spirit and before I knew it I was jumping for joy and I began speaking in tongues. I can't explain what I was feeling that night! It was wonderful. Before that night, I was having a hard time feeling like I was acceptable to God and then I KNEW then that I was acceptable to Him at that point and it felt so good. It was an experience "out of this world", if I may say it like that. I still can't believe sometimes how good God has been to me.

To end my testimony for now, I want to wrap up with what I started saying in the beginning of my testimony. We were in a meeting last weekend and we were all praying. The thought came into my mind, something like this, "Remember what you prayed for a while back, how you wanted to know who it was that knows God and can show you the way, well look where you are now." After we were praying, I looked around the room and saw myself surrounded by people who knew the real God, and were showing me the right way. I felt so blessed and even now, I can't hold back the tears when I think of how much God has blessed me.

Questions? E-mail us at GSAVELLI@aol.com

If this message has challenged and blessed you, we invite you to order our FREE "Gospel Tract Sampler Packet". This set of tracts and a cassette tape is completely FREE of charge, and in it you will find a multitude of scriptural references, Biblical messages, and helpful information on some of the things in this article. If you are hungry, you will be blessed. To order yours click "Order My FREE "Sampler Materials" Packet" NOW! We will rush these items to you. God bless you as you seek the truth!