Two years ago, I was born again, again!
At a revival service, I encountered God in a very
powerful way at the altar. That encounter drove me to my knees to repent for years of living a "religious" lifestyle. After I repented of sin and recommitted my heart and life to Jesus Christ, the FIRE of God
came and it got quite hot for a few hours. After resolving to clean things up in my life, God sent His cool river which brought healing and a soothing to my spirit. That day changed my life forever. God has now given me an insatiable, ON FIRE, hunger for Him.

Who here has such hunger in their hearts? Care to share it?

At that same time, He revived a passion in me towards developing computer games... for the Kingdom of God. So, we'll see what Jesus has in store.

It's great to be a part of a network of Christian coders. I look forward
to meeting you all. May my Father God bless you all indeed!

--Edward Jr.

Please share your exuberance. I have been a Christian for almost 20 years, so could benefit greatly from it.

May the Lord bless your efforts
Tim

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Demo of first game is available at Jarod Journey's Web site. Second game is in storyboard stage.

I received Jesus as my Savior in 1982. Received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1983. It was then I realized I needed Jesus to be my LORD along with being my Savior. Once He was Lord, then my Christian walk really was aggressive. That lasted for 5 years until I entered the Army Reserves and College in parallel.
During this time, church was... just church. Not many things were happening, and it was more and more difficult to maintain my relationship with God. The problem was sin. There was unconfessed sin in my life (that I saw others living it out as if it was no problem), but it was a problem to me because I knew it was sin because the Bible said it was sin. Yet I didn't feel any compulsion to repent. I was involved at church, but my heart was to serve out of duty, not out of necessity, nor for the sake of the lost souls... and that emptiness got greater and greater.
After graduation from grad school and an honorable discharge, I came back home ready to do more for God, but those around me didn't want that, so that weighed me down. Finally in 1999, in the church I was at, the leadership stumbled and fell hard into sin and was disqualified. That rocked the church, and it rocked me because I did not see any evidence of God in that place. And this is where I felt the emptiness the most. I was desperate for something because this "Christianity" is NOT working out. so I cried out to God saying, "GOD!!! IF YOU'RE REAL, SHOW YOURSELF TO ME, ELSE I'M GOING BACK IN THE WORLD AND LETTING GO OF JESUS!"
Shortly afterwards, an old lady told me about a revival service that was going on in the area. Reluctantly, I went and checked it out. When I got there, I could tell that it was different. It wasn't "church as usual". The people were excited about serving Jesus, and it showed in their countenance, their lives, and in their worship of God... The passion and zeal to win souls for Jesus. And the presence of Jesus was there too! It was what I was waiting for for years (but never thought to ask for it...)
With every revival, there must be the preaching of the hard-word of God... preaching of sin and the need to repent of it. As a result, all those little "respectable Christian sins" became sin in my eyes because it was sin in God's eyes. If I died at this point, I believe I would have ended up in Hell for disobeying Jesus all this time by not repenting. Finally, at the altar, Jesus spoke to me and said, "Unless you get those sins out of your life, you cannot go any further in me. Get those sins out, and I'll take you higher and deeper in Me." I knew what I had to do. So, I repented of all known sin I was involved in and resolved to never return to it again. After that, the Holy Ghost touched me, FIRE came down upon me in my heart, and I went down onto the ground and stayed there for 2.5 hours as God was pointing things out one at a time in my life that I had to specifically repent of or renounce (by speaking). After that heart-wrenching time, God's river flowed over me and the heat that was there was replaced with a coolness that brought healing and refreshing. When I got up from that altar, I was a new man. Born again, again!

From that time, I started to pursue the Presence of God. Where I hear He's broken out, I made an effort to go. That led to the Awake America! Conferences, which led to 2 weeks at the Brownsville Revival, which led to 2 weeks at the Toronto Renewal Services. Awesome moves of God! and God has MORE!

Well, I'm after that MORE that He has, because if Brownsville and Toronto is it as the pinnacle move of God, then we're in serious trouble. No, the best of God is yet to come! And that's what I'm pursuing. GOD!

I hope this stirs something within you to want the same thing. Only God can satisfy this hunger!

--Edward

You mentioned that you have a passion to develope computer games. What type of games are thinking of developing? What are your skills?

Don't let go of the passion God has given you!

Revelator!

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www.revelatorgames.com

God's been doing some pretty cool stuff at the high school Youth Center of our church within the past couple years. He's given us personal prophesies for our church and the people in the church. He's completly set a lot of us (the youth) on fire. I've seen many slain in the Spirit, it's pretty weird to watch at first, but after you get used to it it's very cool. People are getting prophetic art (God gives them a picture, they draw it). God has given us songs, I mean given them to us. The words and music to the song just, come. Straight from God. We're making a CD of the songs and should be releasing them this year.

But that's just extra stuff, the coolest stuff is the things God has done in all our lives! I myself haven't had any "big" things that needed healing (eg premarital sex, murder, being raped, none of that). It was more of the "little" daily sins that we go through that God is helping me correct day by day. It can be a slow process for some because you sometimes don't know when you are sinning. In my article "Here's life" (it's on this site), I talk about how God called me to give up video games. Be sure to check it out.

A friend of mine, Jeremy, had been sexually molested by his sister at age five. It's a long story, but eventually Jeremy ended up living with his grandparents. He was unimaginably depressed. Every time there was an alter call at the church, he would go up there. I didn't get it at the time because I didn't know this story. No one did. For years though he'd do this. Now he's completely healed! It took a long time though. He gave his testimony at school. Heh heh heh. Good stuff.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Thanks for your testimony Edward.

†Caleb†

The games I ultimately would like to develop would be along the lines of a missionary simulation with spirit-filled experiences based on current missionaries out in the field (for starters). However, still a newbie in this game development field, I'm open to try my hand in various genres: arcade, strategy-war, 1st person strategy...

I had built a missile-command clone game in the early 90's with a team of 3, so building an arcade game is no problem.

As far as skills, right now, I have a good grasp of game development through Lamothe's book and Rollings & Morris books on game development. Under my belt is software engineering.

--Edward

Missionary simulation game sounds good. I suppose the goal would be to convert the natives without being killed. That would be fun!

Revelator!

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www.revelatorgames.com

It's good to hear that you're keeping the flame burning!
Yeah, the blasting explosion was only for a season. Now, it's a steady strong flame. Again, the key seems to be seeking God's manifested presence.

It sounds like the high school Youth Center is a happening place!
I can relate to the "prophetic art" as it relates to computer games...
(BTW, computer games is declared to be an art form; according to IGDA
they're working on getting it to be recognized as such).
The Lord has been giving me some ideas about what games to develop, and I'm just about starting to execute the design phase of them. What is not clear is which game to start on first...

Yes, I agree that the coolest stuff is what God does in our lives. Changing our hearts and wills is the greatest miracle! I can identify with the "little" daily sins... that's what brought me under in the first place... along with the occasional critical and judgmental spirit... But God's word is very clear about this, so I obey.

King David prayed a neat prayer about those times where we don't know we're sinning:

Psalms 19:12-14
12. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
13. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Good stuff, eh?

Ah! I wonder if your experiences of God calling you to give up video games is similar to God calling me to give up the Movies...? We'll see. I've got to read your article.

I'm glad that Jeremy was saved, delivered, and healed! Thank you Jesus! That's the power and compassion of God that I've come to understand. If only more people (in the Body) that are hurting did what Jeremy did! Has Jeremy shared what happened to his sister... did she ever repent of that and get born again?

Thanks for sharing Caleb! How did your steady flame for God begin?
Please share. :-)

--Edward

Well, this is where it gets interesting because it's now an issue of priority.

Just recently, God laid it on my heart to apply for a pastor's college in Phoenix, AZ. I just submitted my app today to attempt to get in in the Fall of this year. While waiting, I need $ so I'm praying for and applying for jobs in computer game development/programming in my local
area (to get experience and $ to pay for college not to mention the other bills that has been racked up). And whatever time is left, it goes towards the "missionary simulator" or another "Spirit-filled" game project where I can cut my teeth in game development. In the meanwhile,
I'm active in ministry at my local church... there's never a dull moment here and souls need Jesus...

So, it is clearly an insane time where God has to show Himself strong and guide my path, else I'll fall flat on my face.... What would really be a blessing is to work for a Christian game company to kill 2 birds with one stone: game development of the spirit-filled game and get $ while learning hands-on game development... but I don't know of any Christian game companies in the New Hampshire, USA area.

Which reminds me... does anyone know of any Christian computer game development companies in New Hampshire/Massachussets area? If not, any
such companies that welcome telecommuted employment?

Thanks in advance!

--Edward

No, Jeremey's sister is still unsaved. But Jeremey forgave her for what she did about two weeks ago. I don't know if he forgave her to her face though, but anyway, that's off the subject.

How did the steady flame begin? That's a hard one. I guess I've been learning and growing in God all my life. It's difficult to pinpiont a specific time. I'd have to look back through all the notes and stuff I've scribbled down in the high points of my growth. And I don't have time to do that right now.

God is good.
†Caleb†

A time will come where he'll be able to forgive her to her face...
Holy Ghost, continue your work in him we ask, In Jesus Name we ask.

Whenever you can pinpoint the "beginning" of the steady flame, that would be great!

Yes indeed! God IS good all the time!
And Oh, how He gives good gifts to those who ask Him!
Keep asking! :-)

--Edward

If your looking for a project to play with, that won't take much of ur time, I'm making a non-violent, Christian, RPG. if ur interested pop me a line at:
johnstim@yahoo.com

well, gotta run, Peace be with you all,
-Veritech (John Stimson)

quote:

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Originally posted by Revelator:
That's great Edward, sounds like you're ready to fire up some good stuff.

Missionary simulation game sounds good. I suppose the goal would be to convert the natives without being killed. That would be fun!

Revelator!

---

Revelator!
Ah, that would be the goal, yes... but the fun part is HOW to convert the natives, and of course, the discipleship (AI) the convert will use to go and convert others to follow Jesus. With the Holy Spirit on our side, we shouldn't expect anything less than salvation, deliverance, and healings. It's time for a game that allows God to show His stuff (even though it's limited)...

--Edward

quote:

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Originally posted by esb:
Revelator!
Ah, that would be the goal, yes... but the fun part is HOW to convert the natives, and of course, the discipleship (AI) the convert will use to go and convert others to follow Jesus. With the Holy Spirit on our side, we shouldn't expect anything less than salvation, deliverance, and healings. It's time for a game that allows God to show His stuff (even though it's limited)...

--Edward

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FYI, Wycliffe or World Vision had a couple of smaller, adventure type games along these lines. I apologize that I don't have the URLs, I lost them when my hard drive crashed. I remember one of them being fairly decent, the other so so.

I had proposed to Wycliffe a "sim mission" - along the lines of Sim City. That was when they pointed out these other games. I didn't get too far on Sim Mission, just some ideas written on paper.

Tim

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Demo of first game is available at Jarod Journey's Web site. Second game is in storyboard stage.