My Testimony

L. Ginkhomang

The Author, Pu L. Ginkhomang was born in 1952 at Tuaitengphai Village, Churachandpur, Manipur. He presently work as the Under Secretary, CSS, Govt. of India, Delhi. He is happily married and have three beautiful daughters and a son. He is one of the former Chairman of the Zomi Christian Fellowship, Delhi.

I am grateful to the Editorial Board of Delhi Zomi Christian Fellowship Silver Jubilee Souvenir for inviting me as an ex-Chairman of the Fellowship to contribute an article of my choice to be included in the Silver Jubilee Souvenir. My article may be quite different from what is expected. Perhaps some readers may even consider it irrelevant for a Magazine. After all, I have been given the freedom to choose my topic and it is my choice. It is my own story and it is about how and why I do say that I am born again.

If you ask any born-again Christian, when and where? He or she was born again. He or she will say on that date, that month and that year and at that place. It is good and reasonable to remember that greatest day of salvation – the day you have been saved from eternal punishment that awaited you! However, it is not so with me. If you ask me whether I have been born again or not. My answer is “Yes”. If you further ask me what was the date, month and year of your rebirth? My answer is “I do not know, even the year, I do not know.” It sounds unreasonable and unbelievable!

Then how and why can I say that I am born again and I have been saved? My answer is as follows: I have conviction that the Bible is the word of God, the scripture is given by inspiration of God, writers of the Bible wrote with the enlightenment of Holy Spirit, the Bible is true, infallible, powerful, giving life and joy, etc. etc. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Man, being separated from God, is doomed to be cast into eternal fire. Man cannot save himself. I know I am a sinner. I inherit sin from Adam. That original sin, inherited from Adam, caused me to commit sins further. As a Christian, I try to live right as far as I can. Nevertheless, the Bible tells me that my righteousness is like filthy rags before God. After all, the Bible says Lord Jesus Christ is the son of God, whom God sent to the world to die in our place and carry away our sin. Accordingly, Lord Jesus died on the cross at Calvary Mountain and through His death, we have life. His sufferings (agony) are on our behalf. His blood has cleansed us of our sin. He has paid the price of the sin of the world. The Bible also says that all those who believe in Lord Jesus Christ, to them He gave the right to become children of God. He has justified those who believe in Him. Lord Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one can go to heaven except through Him. Salvation is by the grace of God through faith. Salvation is the gift of God, not of works. I believe that what the entire Bible says is true. I believe that Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God who saved me too and He is my savior. I believe that He will take me to heaven when I die. That is why I say I am born again, according to what the Bible says. As I heard sermons of the God’s men and also read the Bible by myself, my knowledge and understanding about the salvation of God, the love of God, and the forgiveness of God increased bit by bit and now I am quite clear about the salvation of God. The Bible says that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. It further says that you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. From this word of God, I understand that I am a child of God because I know (have experienced) that the spirit of God is in me.

When I was a child, I learnt about stories of God’s people at Sunday school but no one has talked about salvation of God through His son. My belief and understanding about salvation was that in order to go to heaven one should be very good, righteous, blameless, truthful, and kind to others. I was never told that Jesus suffered and died for me. I did not know that the only way to heaven is to believe in Lord Jesus Christ and rely on Him for taking me to heaven. As years passed on, of course a number of times I attended crusades and prayed to God that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior as taught by the counselors. All these took place when I was not yet physically and mentally mature and I even did not remember the years. However, I firmly believe in the Bible, believe in Lord Jesus Christ, and accept Him as my savior. I know that I will go to heaven when I die only because I rely on Jesus Christ to take me to heaven. In other words, through God’s grace my faith is accounted for my righteousness. To have salvation, I have faith in Jesus Christ. As the object of my faith, (the object is Jesus Christ) Jesus will take me to heaven as faith depends on its object: It is the object of the faith that determines the result. I know that without the grace of God to support my faith, my faith alone cannot bring me to heaven. I know that I will go to heaven not because I work for God, attend Church services regularly, and give tithes/offerings regularly. But I also know that those who accept Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and savior must do the will of God.

Some people clearly know (remember) the date of their rebirth and depend on the date of their rebirth. They indulge in sin, doing whatever they want, instead of doing the will of God because of the fact that God’s salvation is eternal and cannot be lost. Instead of being such a person, it may be still better not to know the year of your rebirth in Christ but to know today that you are saved according to the scripture. It is, therefore, my conclusion that even though I do not know the date, month or year of my re-birth (the day God wrote my name in the book of life), it is not a problem for God because He knows it. Therefore, even if men say that Mr. L. Ginkhomang is not a born-again man, it does not trouble me because I believe what the Bible says and not what men say.