GREEEEEEEEEEETINGS EARTHLINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAN, GOD IS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD and today is proof of that!!!!!!!! 25 years ago I was drunk and high for the last time!!!!!!!!!! Think of that, In Christianese, thats FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What happened? Why would I want to stop? Well if you follow my blog you know what I'm about to say. Get ready, it's coming and its not an it, or a religion, or rules or regulations. What happened is the KING of the universe showed up in my life, rather He shined GLORY into a darkened heart and I saw LIGHT and GLOOOOOOOOOOOORY, MAN I SAW GLORY with new eyes. I had been seeing glory when I looked up into the night sky and all around me. We all see that glory, but this was the first time I saw glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Up to that time He was a joke and a religious figure, but on July 7th, 1984, He became GLORIOUS, real and intimate. Chains fell off, My heart was free, I arose and followed Him. To read the full story read on or click on the link to hear the testimony at my dear friend Tony Reinke's great site
spurgeon.wordpress.com Look to the right of his blog and click on interview w/ Thomas Fluharty. Or here
richardsibbes.com/TSS.PODCAST The podcast tracks how I became an artist and believer all into one. Gotta run we all must stand before the Throne one day and give account. You Ready? It's not a fairy tale boys. I pray He shines glory into your heart. What a GRACIOUS Savior He is. Clothed and in my right mind, sitting at the feet of JESUS~T
I did not grow up in a christian home, I actually made fun of christians. I remember asking my mother, "Mom what are we"? she'd say, "we are methodists". It really meant nothing, it had no effect on my life or hers, its like saying, I wear red conver hi-tops, big deal. So around the 8th grade I started using drugs. by the time I was 16 my life had become incredibly dark. I had a "bad trip" on the hallucinogenic known as acid and basically lost myself for a year until I was 17 and was accepted into a vocational art school for the 11th and 12th grade. Drugs became less in my life but drinking was a steady habit. Upon graduation I got accepted into the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Art school was cool and I partied pretty regularly, but it seemed to be under control. I focused every job assignment toward illustration and graduated and moved to New York for a job offer to draw comps and storyboards with a major studio. After moving to NYC my life became very dark. I gave myself to the party scene and struggled greatly with lust and pornography. GOD was nowhere in my thinking and I thought Christians were weird, enter Barb Howard (not weird, well sorta, HA!). She was a friend I knew from growing up in Ohio. She and her husband and I were best friends and would party together and play racquetball. One Christmas we got together in Ohio to party but something was different about her this time, she started telling about how Jesus had changed her life. I said, " yeah I believe in Jesus, but I am really into being cool right now, I just moved to NY and am really into fashion." Being a Christian really was strange idea to me because coming from Ohio my idea of a Christian was an amish dude with a beard and straw hat wearing a leisure suit. So thats the last thing I wanted to do. Shortly after that upon my return to NY I started getting heavier into drugs. I started using cocaine and getting high and drinking alot and became completely enslaved to pornography. So as depression started to enclose my life I started reading the Bible asking God to show me if what Barb was saying was true. Are you really there God? So after a time of reading and seeking honestly if God was real I started asking JESUS to be born again. He said we must be born again if we are to know God. We must be born of God.(HIS words. John3:3) It happened one night, I was drunk and high in Washington Square Park, in New York City. I was miserable and hopeless and went to get another beer. As I approached the street corner someone from Jews for Jesus, were handing out tracts.( little booklets about Jesus) She happened to be talking to another believer about this Jesus. I stopped, folded my arms and proceeded to ask a ton of questions. I really wanted to know this Jesus, not religion. If Jesus was real I wanted to know Him. So after my questions were answered the guy asked me if I wanted to pray and ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins and I said yes. He said "raise your hands and I'll pray for you." I thought, "What are all these people walking by going to think?"( it was 11:30 at night, middle of the summer, the streets of Greenwhich Village are packed with people) I said, " I don't care LORD, if you are really there change my life, DONT MAKE ME RELIGIOUS! After praying I opend my eyes and there were about 7 christians standing around me. One guy gave me his bible and said He was born again 3 months ago and his friends all think hes crazy. I asked them what I should read, they said the book of Matthew. I went home, interesting thing is that I never went to get that beer. I NEVER WENT TO GET THAT BEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never went back to the park that night. I went home and went to bed. When I awoke something was different. I had this incredible peace I had NEVER had before, I was at rest. I was incredibly happy, the Bible started making incredible sense to me. It was the only book that was explaining to me what had just happened. It was speaking to me in incredible ways, heres an amazing verse, it says - If anyone is in Christ he will become a new creation, the old has passed away and behold all things become new. (2 Corinthians5:21). This was bizarre to me, the things I sought for peace and joy and pleasure in were now becoming lame and a great sense of conviction started overcoming me when I would indulge in lust specifically. Drugs dropped out of my life all my desires were changing and I was becoming incredibly free. My thoughts were becoming unbelievably pure. Where darkness and polluted thoughts reigned, light and purity were happening inspite of myself. At this point something else really amazing happened. I was delivered from cursing. Before I was a believer I had the filthiest mouth of any one I knew. Here's how I was delivered from cursing. My girlfriend at the time said something to me that really angered me. I was so mad I raised my middle finger and out of my mouth started to proceed the "F" word. So here I am face to face with her, my finger is raised and the F word is on my tongue. Something amazing happens at this precise moment, the word does not come out, my mouth is stopped and peace floods my body. I'm like woah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe what was happening. I was delivered from cursing in the middle of cursing. AAAMMMMMMMmazing. GOD was overcoming all my ugliness and granting me a friendship with HIMSELF thru HIS Son JESUS. Very soon I started attending Neighborhood Church in Greenwich Village, pastored by my great friend Pastor Kirk Vanderswaagh. 5 years later I met the love of my life Kristi, and we now have 5 beautiful daughters. So thats why July 7th is the greatest day of my life. My desire in sharing my testimony is not to encourage you to " join Christianity" or "join a church" so that you would have a great life free from cursing or dominating sins, but rather to come to the only GOD who has paid for all your sins and rebellion by punishing HIS Son in the place of us all. We all will stand before HIM absolutely, only in Christ can we stand forgiven. Today the picture posted is a picture of the very street corner where I was made alive, 8th st and 5th ave NYC. The picture was taken in 2004 on my 20th anniversary. GOD is good and very real. HE is infinite reality. Seek HIM while he may be found. Have a great day!!!!!!!! Fully alive~T
