In 1970, when I was seventeen, I had an experience that changed my life forever. I experienced a high I will never forget. Earlier that year, I was arrested and put in jail. I repented and dedicated my life to God one more time, but this time, something was different. God sent me a friend, Leon Stump, who was radically saved around that same time. He had just returned from California to West Columbia, Texas, to serve in my dad's church. He was cool, played the guitar, and was really turned on to God. Every Friday night, Leon would get some of us guys together at the church. We would study the Bible and sing songs about being in Christ. I will never forget the night we began meditating on Ephesians 2:4-6. I didn't just read it, but I meditated on it. I breathed in those lifegiving words, and for the first time they registered in my heart. Wow! Those words hit my head. It reminds me of the first time I ate sushi. Someone showed me how to take that green stuff called wasabi and mix it in soy sauce. They warned me that it was hot. I told them I was from Texas, and we eat jalapeños, so I wasn’t afraid of wasabi! I dipped my sushi in a double portion of wasabi and within a couple seconds that wasabi hit my head. I had never experienced anything like that before! That's how I felt when I meditated on the Ephesians 2:4-6 (AMPC): But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the same new Life with which He quickened Him]...And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)." Wow! Wasabi! I experienced revelation knowledge for the first time! The Holy Spirit communicated the truth that set me free. This was not a religious experience but an encounter with the living God. All religions give lessons, but only Jesus Christ gives life, eternal Life or the God-kind of life. Many religions have good teachings, morals, and practices, but there is something that sets Christianity apart from those religions. It is the divine substance called eternal life. It is the "controlled substance" that's in God and can only be found in Him. McLeod Campbell said, "Ordinary religion is so much a struggle to secure an unknown future happiness, instead of being the meditation on and welcoming of the present gift of eternal life." Eternal life is life as God has it. It is out flowing from the love of God: "For God so loved ... See Mark Hankins - page 16 3 GLAD TIDINGS OCTOBER 2025 Glad Tidings “Glad Tidings” was founded by Quinnelle McRae Ministries in August 1987, after graduating from Rhema Bible College in the spring of 1981 and 1986. In the spring of 1992 we began publishing a quarterly newsletter, being mailed free of charge to a list of families, reaching across the United States, including the Navajo reservation and into the countries of Mexico, Africa and France. In the year 1998 the Glad Tidings Newspaper began its publication, replacing the Newsletter. The paper is distributed throughout South Georgia, as well as several prisons and correctional institutions in the local area. The publication has no news stand price and is supported through our advertisers and you! Subscriptions are mailed throughout the United States, France, Africa, Mexico. and other countries. The subscription price for the printed paper is $12.00 per year, which provides for the shipping and handling only. We are also introducing the Newspaper on our website, www.GladTidings.news, free of charge. Glad Tidings is an evangelistic ministry whose heart and mission is to reach as many people as possible with the good news of Jesus Christ, before His return. Quinnelle McRae Ministries. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Glad Tidings, Glad Tidings Newsletter, Glad Tidings Newspaper, GladTidings.news website and logo on front cover are registered trademarks of Quinnelle McRae Ministries. © “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isaiah 52:7 (KJV) Farm Insurance Coverage for Your Business Life Insurance Personal Other Insurance Health Insurance Home & Auto Ins Personal & Commercial Insurance Throughout Georgia since 1981 Douglas Location 201 E Ashley Street, Douglas, Ga. 31533 Main office: 912-384-7171 TRINA AND MARK HANKINS ETERNAL LIFE
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