Do you want to know Christ?  Let us introduce you.                    Are you burdened and heavy laden?  Let us pray with you.          Are you overjoyed at the LORD’S work and want to share it?   Let us celebrate with you!

Are you seeking His direction for your life?   Let us search with you.

Get to know each of the soldiers for Christ (below) and then send your prayer requests or prayer praises to Carolyn (Yankees.) Just click on her e-mail address.  She will receive your message and distribute each request to all of our team so that we can all pray for/with you.

Testimonies of His Faithful Servants on Bitterman’s Banners

Yankees (yankeesces@aol.com):   I accepted my wonderful Lord Jesus as Savior during an invitational prayer, while watching a prophecy tape with a group of friends some ten years ago. Very quickly my newfound faith was tested and challenged by illness and just as quickly I failed, and quite miserably. Instead of accepting my sickness and pain and turning to God, I questioned Him and I lashed out at Him. Pretty stupid, huh? Especially for a babe in Christ. But He would be the Victor in the end because He eventually brought me to my unworthy knees. It took me a very long, very painful journey to do so and a frustrating string of neurologists and hospital visits over the years. I was so busy running around screaming "why" at the Lord that I forgot to ask "why not?"

While trying to get a definitive diagnosis for MS from my neurologist, I had two small strokes. That was my "wake-up call" from the Lord. It was like He was telling me that He was in control after all and that at any time He could do what He wanted in my life whether I liked it or not. I had never accepted that before, even after I was saved.

That was a turning point for me. I began truly living for Him like I never had before-- giving more and more of myself to Him and to others and concentrating less on my sickness. It was like I finally accepted who I was physically, weakness and all. The real test came when I had my last major stroke a year ago that left me partially paralyzed and unable to speak.

Now it's as if I have been almost totally emptied of all worldly excess, any unnecessary and unwanted baggage so to speak.  I am more available to become more of what the Lord wants me to be for Him. By not being able to speak to the world, He can more clearly speak through me.

He has enabled me to speak through Bitterman’s Banners and I praise Him and thank you, Fibromom, for the opportunity to do so.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes...." Roman 1:16

FaithAlways: (just write to fibromom@bittermansbanners.com and it will get to me)

   My earliest memory of being in a church is when I was about 2+ years old. I know this because when I told my mom what dress I recall wearing she could place the age! The memory itself is of my Grammy holding my hand as she walked me to the nursery in the basement of St. Andrews Episcopal Church where she was a member. It is clear that my beloved Grammy is the person who introduced me to God. Because of her I knew Him when He came to me.

I was abused as a child in the most horrific ways. My father made me his sexual object at a very very young age and my mother treated me as the “other woman” most of the time. I was often the object of her rages. In the trauma at the hands of my parents, something happened that put me into an unusually depressed state of mind.

I was only about 7 or 8 years old and I can remember I was crying uncontrollable sobs in my bedroom... the kind that make your chest heave and you can't hardly catch your breath. All I wanted was to be gone. To be dead if nobody could love me. I didn't know why I wasn't lovable. What it was about me that made it impossible for people to love me when that’s all I really wanted? I tried so hard to please everyone and it wasn't enough. That’s what I was feeling. I cried out to God to just let me die if this is how my life was going to be. “Please let me die!" I cried out to Him-- and then I heard His voice.

It was a whisper and I knew it was Him. He said, "I am here. I love you. I have always loved you." I wept with relief and I felt His love. I felt comforted and He has been my Comforter ever since. He is my Strong Tower and my Shelter. I have strayed from His path in my lifetime and He was always welcomed me back with open arms. Because He is all loving, He sent to me a Godly woman who led me to Him. He has always loved me. He knew I was going to need Him and He has always been there.

Thank You Jesus!

The K-9 Guy (fs3230@yahoo.com)

I have accepted Jesus as my Savior and I understand the meaning of that phrase quite well. I’ve been baptized and all that goes with “church membership.” I have taught, preached and supported the church. I pray, I worship and I praise God. I believe my life is a light to others. I believe God deals with me to correct me at times and I believe He blesses me as well.

I was exposed to church when I was about 12. My mother thought it was important that I learn about ‘God’ and I attended a Presbyterian church for a few years. When I was 16 years of age, I began living on my own.  I stopped attending church and married very young: age 18. My wife and I did not attend any church until 6 years into our marriage when we began attending an American Indian Baptist Church. Thirty to forty members attended with twenty or more of those being Native American. I studied the Bible, began teaching Sunday school [high school kids] and started attending a Bible College. I attended for 4 years. During that time, I went to the Bible College Church and also attended the Baptist Church.

What brought me to the church was softball. I belonged to 2 teams: the men’s Indian League Team and the Church League team. My wife belonged to a city league team as well. The players on my team witnessed to me and I accepted the Lord because of them. They never pushed or prodded-- just witnessed in their lives and through their actions. I became a coach for the Indian team and for my wife’s city league team. My wife and I also sponsored a women’s Indian League team. I coached for 11 years. We used this opportunity to witness to the team members and to other teams. I believe we led many to Jesus. I did not keep score. We planted the seeds, others watered and others made the harvest. God knows.

While I was preaching and was the Dean of a Bible College, I began to see the politics of man taking over. What I did or said or preached or taught was monitored by various committees. I eventually completely quit going to church. My marriage fell apart and I drifted on in my life. I’ve seen much pain in my life here on earth, but Jesus is still my Savior; God still my Heavenly Father. I feel if you need to attend church then you should. If you feel you don’t need to because of the Lord’s guidance then remember that Christ is the fulfillment of all the Law, do what HE tells you.

As a sideline, an interesting thought just came to me. Since I believe Jesus is always with me, always right here beside me, I TALK to Him like I talk to friends or my family. I don’t start with ‘Dear Heavenly Father’ or something like that; I just address Him directly as I know He is right there and I don’t have to call Him. I also know when I do something He would not approve of He is right there helping me to the right thing. Conversely, when He talks to me, He doesn’t have to start with my name;

He just speaks.

Tentmakers (tentmakers@dirt-cheap-dirt.com) [Fibromom’s husband]:Having been raised in “church” and taught all the correct “churcheze” in regard to words and works, I had assumed salvation.  I don’t argue whether or not I was saved; my heart was genuine at several individual points in my past. However, the following is a description of what God brought me through in January, 2006, almost one year ago at this writing, to show me He wanted ALL of me. I had written these notes so that I will never forget His work on that day:

• I finally came to the realization that I am totally corrupted and unable to please God.  Romans 7:18 says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” I have lived under a watered down form of the law, striving to change the outward actions but my heart has remained defiled, corrupted, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.”  I have no power or possibility to change my heart. I will never ever be acceptable of myself. My heart is beyond hope.  My actions can never change what is inside me.  As I realized this fact, it brought me to total helplessness and hopelessness.  I began to weep and cry out for help.
• I understood the result of not being acceptable is sheer terror. Matthew 25:41= “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Then in Hebrews 10:31= “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And in 1 Peter 1:17= “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” This Greek word for “fear” is where we get our word, phobia – terror, dread. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both the soul and body in hell.” At this, I began to sob uncontrollably out of total fear and helplessness. I was totally undone.  I had no answers, no where to turn. All my past was made up of deception, hypocrisy, double mindedness. I could not even trust myself to decipher truth.  How could I go forward when I can’t even know truth about myself? I was hopelessly and literally on the edge of hell.  I cried out for help, “OH LORD, SAVE ME!!!  I AM FINISHED!  I HAVE NO HOPE! PLEASE SAVE ME, OH GOD!!!” I sobbed uncontrollably until, out of total exhaustion, I fell asleep on the living room floor.
• I slept only a short time, maybe 10-15 minutes.  When I awoke, I felt strangely strengthened.  I didn’t understand the reason why I felt refreshed but I grabbed up the Word of God again and continued reading in 1 Peter 1:21-23: “Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently; being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”  Here was the answer! My soul is purified in OBEYING the truth THROUGH the Spirit!  If I was called to have an unfeigned (real, not hypocritical, not faked) love of the brethren, then He must change my heart.  That is the only way it is possible.  It is NOT in me!  He is calling me to step out in obedience to the truth. As I obey, He changes the heart!!! I OBEY, HE CHANGES THE HEART!!! The sanctifying grace of Jesus Christ!!!  All I was taught or understood before was the saving grace of God. He very graciously saved me through His Son on the cross. Now I see that it is also by His grace that He grows us and empowers us to be what we are called to be. And that grace, that sanctifying grace, hinges on our obedience to His Word.
• There is a hope! I can be acceptable to God.  I can offer acceptable sacrifices to Him! I no longer face hell! I no longer have to dish out hurt and pain and damage to all those around me. I can actually offer healing and help, forgiveness and love.

I look at the picture of what happened as described above. What I see is that I died.  I came to the end of myself and died before the Lord. Passing out with exhaustion was the picture of my death. Then, without my power or strength, God raised me up from the dead with a new strength I did not recognize. I felt strange when I awoke, like I was renewed where moments ago I was absolutely exhausted.  Rebirth, new life and hope were raised up where death, hopelessness and despair existed only moments before.

This doesn’t sound like recommitment.  This sounds like rebirth!

“I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.  Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.  The Lord preserveth the simple:  I was brought low, and He helped me.  Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.  For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”  Psalm 116:1-9

Salvation has come to this house!

Fibromom (fibromom@bittermansbanners.com) [Tentmaker’s wife]: I’ve mentioned a bit about my childhood on the About Us page. I was raised by an unsure, lonely Catholic mother whom, I don’t think, really understood grace.  My alcoholic father was drowning in his own selfishness, immaturity and pain and thrashed about violently in his anger, so I didn’t get to know Jesus through him. In fact, I got to know Whom Jesus WASN’T through him (what the devil means for evil, God means for good!) My older siblings lived in what must have seemed to be endless tortures; they are 10 and 17 years my senior -- I can barely remember them living at home. Our relationships are odd and distanced. To my knowledge, they have never given their lives to the world’s Savior. I grieve for them.

For me, though, my heart doth rejoice! God was always with me... I can’t think of a time when He wasn’t present in my life, even at the Latin masses and during the ugly hostilities under my father’s roof.  My God, although not my LORD until I was much older, was ALWAYS my Power and Strength, even as a tiny child.

Because our home was so often a place of unrest, I used to play in the linen closet.  It was a cozy, secret, safe place.  I had all I needed there:  a lot of blankets for my stuffed bear, my baby doll Sammy, a little lamp (complete with extension cord) and lunch ((I think Mom brought me lunch there many a time!) Mostly, I had the calm presence of mind to pray. I would talk to Jesus often, but one day, my heart called out to Him to be my Father. I needed Someone way bigger and wiser and kinder than the earthly father I had.  And that was that.  The simple faith of a child... No Bible. No discipleship. No “training up a child” other than verbiage about respecting God. I did, however, have a remarkable grasp of the Trinity... 3 in 1.  Wasn’t a confusing thing to me at all at the ripe old age of 7.

My mom sent me to Catholic catechism but the Holy Spirit in me was disturbed. I would argue with the cruel nuns-- I couldn’t see Jesus in them-- I didn’t “fit in.” Later, Mom sent me to Catholic schools, which, too, made me very uncomfortable. In all of those 6 years of Catholic school (and, oddly enough, Catholic college many moons later!),I can recall only two leaders in the Catholic church who seemed to love Jesus. It was a very “dark age” but an excellent training ground where I learned to QUESTION RELIGIOUS LEADERS. I wanted the facts... I wanted Scripture.  I didn’t care about their opinions, philosophies, traditions, rituals. I wanted Jesus!

After I was orphaned at the age of 15, my sister/brother-in-law took custody to finish raising me (in a home that did not serve Jesus.) We would visit my brother-in-law’s parents infrequently and I became fond of his Christian dad who SHOWED ME THE BIBLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! “RReeeaaalllyyy?” I can still hear my teenage self saying that to this loving man. I couldn’t believe that GOD HIMSELF actually wrote a book about Himself for me!!! These Words I held in my hand were GOD’S WORDS. Wow. But, the seeds didn’t fall on fertile soil at that time... I felt compelled to try to “fit in” at home. I desired a deep, loving, accepting relationship with my sister and I knew that following the Bible wouldn’t be welcomed.

Many years and many mistakes went by:  sex outside of marriage (which grieved the Holy Spirit with screams audible to me!), then marriage to this same unsaved boy, then divorce, then major backsliding.

Ahhh, but doesn’t our LORD love His Own? (In Luke 22:31-32 [Amplified Bible], my LORD was speaking directly to me, though I didn’t know it:)

“Daria, Daria, listen! Satan has asked excessively that you be given up to him that he might sift you like grain.  But I have prayed especially for you, that your faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.”

 God disciplines those He loves; He knew just how to get the attention of a bullheaded, wayward child:  put her into crisis mode with her PLANNED out-of-marriage pregnancy.  My son, at 2 months in utero, lived with the dangers of a contracting, bleeding uterus, this continuing through the entire pregnancy.  I had a 20% placental abruption (the placenta, the baby’s lifeline, was pulling away from the uterus) and a fibroid tumor the same size as my son. Into bed I went and stayed there (or on the couch) for seven lllooonnnggg months. I had two strong Christian women and a few unsaved friends along with one very sweet ATHEIST neighbor (a man to boot!) who helped carry my physical burdens of everyday life with 2 small, school-aged girls.  I had abandoned the sinful lifestyle I was living and the baby’s father abandoned us. As I lay on the couch day and night, I cried out to my LORD.  I repented and, in my grief for having turned away from Him, He heard me, comforted me, protected me, provided for me, saved my baby, and called me into ministry and a permanent, faithful walk with Him.

Serving Him doesn’t mean we won’t have tribulation.  I’ve had my share, but I am in love with my Savior.  I long for His smile, His touch, His voice.  I live for His presence in my life and I count on Him to carry me when I don’t have any strength left.

I agree with Paul, the LORD’s apostle:

“To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Amen and Amen. Praise You, Jesus! 

[Home] [Service Animals] [About Us] [God's Word for You Today] [Prayer Closet] [PRAYER REQUESTS] [Prayers of Praise!] [Chronic Disabling Diseases] [Urgent Care Center] [Signs and Such] [POLITICAL PAGE] [Contact Us]