The Tail Does Not Wag the Dog! — — My Personal Testimony: Roger

I’ve Written for Medium Awhile. Three Folks Requested a Testimony but Until I Received Five Recently from Social Media I Haven’t Done One.

Images of Bing free to use and share IA dog with tail — Search Images

I will probably break this up some because I don’t write articles too long.

Some things have troubled me in Christianity since being ‘The Gospel Life Coach.’ First, being a lawyer when I became a Christian, I thought the only way to relate to God was by his law. Lawyers cut their teeth on laws, rules, procedures, etc., and so I assumed God did too because he wrote it.

God Used a Book I Wrote to Make Me Start Thinking

As a young man about 1980, I wrote a book: Counselor, State Your Case!

It published by a conservative publisher and sent it to lots of places in the world. I liked having so many well-known people praising the book, saying how easy it was to understand and how biblically accurate it was. It was a book on Bible doctrine seen by a lawyer. Words from a very visible well-known celebrity said, “Roger presents a lot of good GOSPEL TRUTH in easy to understand legal situations and parables.”

Now See What God Said About It!

It took God awhile to show me something different about it. I was in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado hiking. God said something softly but startling to me: “Now, about that book you are so proud of:

It doesn’t have a word of GOSPEL TRUTH in it.”

I argued with God, which I know now isn’t real smart. I reminded him a conservative publisher had published it and how many copies they’d sold world-wide. And quite a few well-known Christians recommended it as a reliable, accurate book. I also mentioned a large number of letters I’d gotten from several people (this was before email).

I really thought I was going places and was ‘On top of the world!’

But. . .

I was left with this, and God became silent. I spent the next five years studying the Bible, trying to figure out what it was God meant. The question constantly on my mind was this:

“How can a book that is biblically accurate, have no GOSPEL TRUTH in it?”

The next 20 years I found lots of popular Christian books have no gospel truth in them. So I later found out what God meant.

God Also Used a Sermon to Get Me Thinking

As I worked through all of this for quite awhile, I heard a sermon (repeated by other preachers even):

“How to Get Anything You Want from God.”

This was in ‘the word of faith movement,’ which I’d been born into, and was in for 10 years after being born again. Something about this sermon just made my skin crawl.

After what God said about my book, this put nails in the coffin I was soon to bury. I was to discover that what is called ‘faith,’ can be as legalistic as anything else.

We often only use faith to try to get what we want from God.

Jesus asks, “When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith in the earth?” He didn’t mean humanistic, legalistic faith that I was now beginning to see. He meant we were to be ‘the just who live by faith — IN HIM.

Our Daughters Lisa and Shawn Influenced Me

After high school, both girls went to be in YWAM: Youth With a Mission. Sadly, recently Shawn took a trip to heaven after battling cancer four years.

She was a gem. Everyone loved Shawn. She had a hunger and heart for God, and for other people that was amazing. Even though saddened beyond words to lose her, we’re glad her pain has ended and that she is with Jesus.

Lisa went to Kalispell, Montana to be on a big base in the cold. Shawn went to Hawaii where she studied in a hammock on the beach. She always joked she got the best of the deal. They both went through DTS, the introductory stage, but then they both also went to SBS: School of Biblical Studies.

This school is intense. In a year, they had to read the Bible three times, listen to inductive lectures, attend discussion groups, and outline each book in their own words with no commentaries or the opinions of others. Then they had to talk deeper and explain why they wrote what they did.

I’d been a Christian a few years at this time and thought I had a good handle on things. I hadn’t been to Bible School, but I’d been in correspondence courses with Kenneth Hagen and Malcolm Smith Ministries, and later even got licensed with NCCA: National Christian Counselors Association.

I was pastor of The Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Evergreen, Colorado for three years, and attended their training. I hoped to set the world on fire with my knowledge, wisdom and preaching.

But I discovered being pastor was not my calling. I have a pastor’s heart, but not the stability, endurance, fortitude and tough skin of a pastor.

Soon, Lisa and Shawn would teach me a lot.

During discussions, they showed me I was performance oriented in what I did and said, that I really didn’t know the love and grace of God — what they had talked about many times in YWAM. They were gracious in what they said, but stated their mind and heart so I heard it.

I was offended. I’d taught on God’s love and grace at times. How could I not know about this? But God soon showed me what they said was true. It’s hard to learn from your kids. Water flows downstream, not upstream.

I didn’t think of it as me being teachable, even humble but God showed me in time that’s what it was, and what he was doing in me — and for me. Christianity was about ME more than GOD. I was doing GOOD — missing GOD. Psychology called me narcissistic and egotistical. Self righteousness comes from living under law (Philppians 3:9). It keeps us ignorant of knowing God’s free gift of his righteousness (Romans 5:17, 10:2).

Backtracking For a Little Rabbit Trail

In college, I formed The Satan Trio.

Nothing spiritual was meant by the name. It was just close to ‘The Kingston Trio,’ a popular group at the time. We did not know Satan, or Jesus either.

This was when I lived in Texas, and after the trio, I was a soloist in various Texas nightclubs — mostly lounges that specialized in folk and country.

I had the privilege of sharing the stage with John Denver in his BC days: before he was a celebrity. He’d do one set of songs and I’d do the next, all night for six to eight weeks. Then we’d sit up later, drink beer and talk. John was a very serious guy who wanted to talk about things to make the world better. He even thought his music and songs would make a difference in the world. He succeeded! His songs are known by millions!

He impacted me in a very big way. I began to model his music.

After moving to Denver, Colorado, I continued to sing in nightclubs at night while building my law practice. I passed out business cards at the breaks and people liked what I did. One bartender said he’d never seen people smile, pay attention and clap the way they did tonight.

The Rocky Mountain News did a nice article on me: “The Court Jester.” The Denver Post then followed them: “The Singing Attorney.” I got a lot of free exposure. I guess they must have thought a lawyer singing in bars was newsworthy. But this really gave a boost to my law business.

Next time: THEN A TRAGEDY HAPPENED THAT AFFECED ME A LOT!