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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Biltmore Testimony"

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Yesterday was mine and Ruth's 8th wedding anniversary, so we decided to take a trip up to Biltmore Estates since we had never been there and we had heard so much about it. Well, to tell you the truth, I nor Ruth were very impressed. True, it was a very large and expensive house. They had what were probably the finest of furnishings that money could buy at that time. They had rooms that were almost as big as our house. They had doors as thick as our walls. They had records of having at the time 85 servants to do all that was to be done to make their lives carefree. The servants had bedrooms in the house, but they were very small and plain. They had pantries (plural) that were much bigger than the servants bedrooms. They had a library that it would be impossible for the whole family put together to read all the books in a lifetime. I could go on and on about what they had. There is one thing that I kept looking for all through the house that they didn't have. They didn't have one Bible in the whole house. There was not one shred of evidence that the Lord had ever been to that place. I know that He has been there now because He was there with Ruth and I yesterday. He showed us a lot while we were there and that alone made the trip worth the time and money we spent. You could say that we went to Biltmore House twice yesterday. We went our first time and our last time. It wasn't just the lack of a bible nor the fact that they had so many expensive things, but also that they had tapestries and paintings and statues of naked men and women all over the house (in just about every room) . All these things led me to do a lot of thinking and I am convinced that unless those people by some miracle repented at the last minute, that place was the only Heaven they got to see.

Everything of this world is temporal and will pass away. I kept seeing signs everywhere about the preservation that has gone on since the Vanderbilt's deaths and they have done a good job of keeping the place going, but it has taken a staff of more than the 85 original servants constantly working to stay ahead of the decay. If you know anything about canning, you know that if you put food up in jars and you seal 1/2 the jars real good and the other 1/2 you only partially tighten, before long you start to start to notice these funny looking things growing in the jars that were not sealed tight. Even the jars that were sealed tight won't last forever because they are sealed with an earthly material which is also temporal. Only the soul of the believer is sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption. All those things those people left behind will pass away, but they left something else behind that most people don't even notice when they pay their $22.95 to visit. They left behind their testimony. I used to think of a testimony as something you showed or said about what God was doing in your life, but after visiting that place, I looked it up in the dictionary. Websters dictionary defines it as "evidence based on observation or knowledge; or an outward sign." I observed that evidence at Biltmore House and based on the knowledge the word of God has given me, these people were not children of God. We all when we leave this world, no matter if we have nothing, will leave behind our testimony. That testimony whether it be a good one or a bad one, has the potential to influence others. Jesus used to have a retreat He would go to to relax where He could feel comfortable. It was called Bethany. He could never have felt comfortable in a place like Biltmore. I want my home to be like Bethany where the Lord feels comfortable. You know, when we leave this old world, they probably won't charge great numbers of people $22.95 to tour our house, but they won't just bulldoze it down either. There will most likely be people who will come inside and see it just as it was when we were in it. What will our testimony be? Will they see a Bethany or will they see a Biltmore?  Think about it! The Lord sees inside our house right now. Would He be or is He comfortable in there?