Flash: ON   July 4, 2009 
Search:     
"God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption  -- that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the LORD'."
 
1 Corinthians 1:27-31

Welcome to PastorThroop.com

This website exists to help spread the Gospel to the whole world for the glory of God and to proclaim the truth of God's Word. It is my desire that through this website many will come to know Christ better and be enabled to better make Him known.

How the Lord Jesus Saved Me

The Lord graciously saved me when I was twenty years old and serving in the U.S. Navy. Although I had been going to church most of my life and wanted to know the Lord Jesus as my Savior, I believed that salvation was based upon my own efforts to live righteously and thus to prove my faith to God. This false belief was easy for me to accept, especially given several factors in my childhood. For example, I came from a broken home and experienced much isolation and loneliness. I just could not bring myself to believe that anyone could love me just as I was. This led me to frequent bouts with deep depression throughout my childhood and into my adult years.

However, through the witness of believers in my life, and through His Holy Word, the Lord opened my eyes to the truth that He loved me even though I did not and never could deserve it. He showed me that I could never earn His love and forgiveness, and that I didn't have to try. I praise God for His saving grace, by which He enabled me to trust in Him alone for salvation! Through his work in my heart, I came to understand that the Lord Jesus has done all that needs to be done for my salvation through His sinless life, atoning death, and resurrection from the dead.

If you do not already know Christ as your Savior, I pray that you will come to know Him too!

Ephesians 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Not long after having received Christ, I met my future wife, Kim, in Haifa, Israel, and we were married in 1986. We have three children, Joshua, Sarah, and Anna.

I received my B.A. in Biblical Studies from Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) in Columbia, South Carolina. And I received my M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

I am currently serving as the primary teaching elder of Immanuel Baptist Church in Bloomington, Illinois. My fellow-elders are George Drye and Dennis Luhn, both of whom also reside in Bloomington, Illinois.

Do you know Christ as Savior and Lord?

The Bible teaches that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 3:23;6:23). When it speaks of the "wages of sin," it is speaking of what we deserve for having done wrong in the sight of God, but it also teaches us about the "gift" of eternal life which we do not deserve. Thus God offers us freely through Jesus that which we cannot earn. He offers to do for us in Christ that which we cannot do for ourselves.

Will you put your faith in Jesus to save you from the punishment your sins deserve? He is willing to forgive you and give you eternal life if you ask Him. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9-10).

Copyright 2009 Keith Throop. All Rights Reserved.