My parents were married in March of 1959, my father was a widowed German Catholic with two daughters, and my mother a divorced Dutch Protestant with a daughter and son. I was born the next year in July of 1960. My parents were not able to attend either of their own churches since they married outside of their faith, so instead became members of the local Lutheran church in order that I might be baptized as they believed I should be as an infant. Soon after my parents stopped going to church. There was very little spiritual time spent in our home. We would pray before meals, and there was the occasional conversation on what happens to children who don't obey, usually about mortal sin and the fires of hell, and what would happen to me if I did not do as I was told. Needless to say I had no understanding of God or his Word in my early childhood years. At the age of 12 I was invited by friends to attend a night at Awana's at the local First Baptist church. Awana's is an organized meeting for children, where time is dived between games and bible study. After a short while of attending Awana's I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. However, as I began attending the Baptist church services I started to question some of the doctrines they were teaching, especially concerning sin and eternity in hell. I finally stopped attending the Baptist church when as a young teenager I was told that I would go to eternal hell for watching what was considered an unapproved movie.
No longer attending church my attention quickly changed to worldly interests, and I became involved with the martial arts, and began researching and studying Eastern Philosophy and religion, mostly Buddhism, and Confucianism. I was maturing, dating more, and drifting farther away from Yahuwah God. The further I separated myself from Yahuwah God the more difficult my life became, I had started down a dark path. I spent the next 5 years of my life experimenting with drugs, drinking and chasing women. I had become a truly wicked person, a full 180 degrees from the person I was when I was seeking Yahuwah. Then, at the age of 20, while on a blind date, I met the soon to be mother of my children. We started to see each other frequently, until she got pregnant. She was only 17 at the time, but we were in love, or so I thought, and wanting to do the right thing, I asked her to marry me. I got approval from her parents and we were married. A short seven months later she gave birth to my son. Eventually we had a second child, a girl. Knowing I now had a family that depended on me, my drinking and drugs had to stop, and so I did. However, as our marriage was not founded in Yahuwah God's principles it was doomed to fail from the start, and we divorced after 4 1/2 years of marriage. The lack of drinking drove my wife to seek out the company of another man, one who was willing to do all the things I no longer would do. Over the next 14 years, I raised my two children by myself. During this time I returned to searching for the love I once had for Yahuwah God. I was trying to find my way back to the place I was when I was young and innocent, and I had a love for Yahuwah God and Yahushua above all other things. This was to become my life long journey.
While raising my children, I attended services and joined bible studies with many different churches. I spent time looking further into my parents religions of Dutch Reform Protestant and Catholicism, as well as, the Church of God, the Mormon Church, Pentecostal, and others. I also looked outside the local churches to study the New Testament Apocrypha [books not in the bible canon], and Gnosticism. Next I spent several years attending services and studies with the Seventh Day Adventists, where I learned of keeping the Sabbath, and Ellen White and the truths she had taught. Later I spent several more years attending services with the Jehovah Witnesses, where I learned the name of the Father was removed from the bible, and the falsehood of the doctrine of the Trinity. However, the Jehovah Witness, like the other churches taught doctrines I could not find truly supported in the bible. Then, during a time while away from home, I visited a Church of Yahweh, which taught the name of the heavenly Father was actually Yahweh and not Jehovah, and that Yeshua the name of the Son was changed to Jesus. After much prayer I accepted these teachings to be true.
Through the years I learned that the one thing all of these organizations had in common, was that they all claim to be the one true church of God, and that in order to find eternal life you must belong to their church only. It seemed like the more I studied with different organizations, the more complicated it got. I found some Light and Truth within each, however, none had all of the Truth Yahuwah had revealed to me. I had not yet found the church I was ready to commit too, and to be baptized at, but I was not about to give up and continued to pray and to search knowing Yahuwah would lead me. Yahuwah then blessed me with a companion. While I was not dating or looking for a wife, Yahuwah knew I was still alone and in need of companionship, and a good mother for my children. Yahuwah lead me to my current wife in 1997. Marcy was raised Catholic but had her doubts concerning their teachings all of her life as well. She also searched for the true teachings of our heavenly father and we now continue to do so together.
After many years of study, I now had what I believed to be a collection of Truth concerning our heavenly father Yahuwah and His word, but I had not yet found the organization which taught all of these precepts I held to be true. As I said in the beginning, I was baptized as an infant in the Lutheran church, and have known for many years now that it was not a proper baptism. However, I have held off from being baptized and joining a church because I truly believe this to be one of the single most important decisions we make in our lives. Who we worship and to what church we belong determines our spiritual allegiance, and is literally a life or death decision. Baptism is our public display of our intention to follow Yahushua. In baptism, we make our promise not only in front of the people attending, but before our loving heavenly Father Yahuwah, His son our Savior Yahushua, and all the watching angels, that from that point forward, we will conform to Yahuwah’s will.
This finally brings us to 2013, when I was led by Yahuwah's Spirit to the website of World's Last Chance. As I reviewed the website I was amazed at the number of teachings I immediately agreed with, and with the abundant information available on each. I learned that the Creator's Name, in the Hebrew (יהוה), is actually pronounced Yahuwah, and that the name of the divine Son of the Eternal Father is Yahushua, whose meaning is Savior. I learned that the calendar by which the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, as well as, the yearly feasts are to be calculated with is the luni-solar calendar, and that no other calendar, contains the seal of Yahuwah. That this true calendar utilizes the dual-action of the sun and the moon as described in God's Word. Through prayer to Yahuwah, these teachings were quickly revealed to be true. Next I eagerly studied and completed all of the E-Courses offered on the site, and confirmed I was in agreement with everyone of the 25 Beliefs listed on the World's Last Chance website. I have spent many enthusiastic hours pouring over the videos, articles and other information the WLC site contains, all of which have strengthened my knowledge and love for our heavenly Father Yahuwah. As well, the Free books and information have been a true blessing to me and have cemented my faith in Yahushua and our heavenly Father Yahuwah.
Yahuwah answered my prayers and led me to the World’s Last Chance website back in March of 2013. I am finally 100% percent positive I have found Yahuwah God’s true ecclesia, and I am eager and ready to be baptized in Yahushua’s name. I am keeping His Sabbaths and Feasts according to the luni-solar calendar, and I am currently sharing all this with my wife with the hope that she, too, will soon see Yahuwah's wonderful light. I have plans to begin a home ecclesia once baptized so I may spread Yahuwah's word here in the mountains of Tennessee. Praise Yahuwah!
Craig Timmreck
Tracy City, Tennessee
USA