I Overcame by the Blood of the Lamb

By Pastor Christine Peebles

The Ministry of Reconciliation is something God gave unto me before I entered into the ministry. In my getting alone with God, fasting and praying, and shutting in at Sister Linnie Gunn’s beauty shop between 1979 and 1980, I heard the Lord say: I have given unto you the Ministry of Reconciliation. I entered into the ministry in August 1981. I evangelized from 1981 until 1998, when God called me into pastoring. The Ministry of Reconciliation, along with the prophetic ministry, has greatly been in operation in my life and through me. Glory be to God. I have seen the hearts of so many reconciled back unto God, and the harvest is about to become greater than ever before. Almost thirty-five years have been added on to my life since the beginning of my ministry, but I’m about to enter into the harvest that has been sown. I overcame by the blood of the Lamb.

Christine was married to Melvin Peebles. Together, they have two sons, Kelvin and Titus, who Christine loves more than she can express. They have blessed her with four grandchildren - Christopher, Kelisha, Kaniya, and Kortney.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098097974

Book preview

Chapter 1

Having the Gifts and Callings of God in My Life without Repentance

God has a purpose in life for us all. It is up to us to seek the Lord to find out what that purpose is. Sometimes we might not understand when we are put in places and in people’s lives or when people are put in our lives that this is God’s divine will or plan for our life.

I was raised in the house of my grandparents, Rev. Allen James and Rossie James. My grandfather—Pa, as I called him—was a Baptist preacher. As you read through this book, you’ll see that God has given me an exceptional memory. I can remember and tell things that happened when I was five years old, which was almost sixty years ago. My father (deceased) and mother are Horace and Inez Poole. We lived in Midville, Georgia, when I was five years old. One day, my grandparents came to visit us. I asked my mother if I could go home with Pa and Ma, and she told me no. I begged and cried, but she still said no. When Pa drove off, I was crying and running behind the car. He turned around and came back to the house.

He said, Inez, please let that child go and spend a few nights with us.

I’ve always called my mother Inell, never Mother or Ma, and I remember that day as if it were yesterday.

Inell told me, Get your clothes, go with them, and don’t ever come back.

Well, that didn’t hurt my feelings because I knew that Pa and Ma really loved me. They lived in Swainsboro, Georgia, where I yet live. I stayed around my grandpa a lot. He would sit in a chair by the window, and I would sit on the floor beside him. There were certain songs he would sing like, Children, you better get oil in your vessels and your lamp trimming, burning to be ready when the bridegroom comes.

At the time, I did not know that, according to the Bible, Jesus is the bridegroom, and the oil in my vessel is my soul being filled with the Holy Ghost. Another song I loved to hear him sing was, Won’t it be grand? Won’t it be grand? I’m going home to live with Jesus. Won’t it be grand when I get through toiling down here, out in the sunshine, out in the rain? I’m going home to live with Jesus.

My grandparents raised other grandchildren, but Pa would always tell Ma, When I’m gone, make sure you take good care of Christine because she is the one that is going to stick with you and take care of you.

On March 12, 1966, I came home from school, and Ma told me, Your granddaddy is in the hospital. He told me to tell you to bring these clothes to him.

I walked to the hospital and went into his room. He was talking and saying things that I did not understand. I heard him say, I’m going to cross the river. I’m going to the other side. He began to speak a language I did not understand, and I got scared. There was a man working at the hospital whose name was Mr. Hubert Tillman. Pa was his patient.

He said, You are afraid of your granddaddy, aren’t you?

He told me, Go on over there to his bed. Don’t be afraid. Your granddaddy is in the hands of God.

That night, at about eleven, someone called from the hospital and said the police were coming to get my grandmother to take her to the hospital. They didn’t tell her why. I got on the phone and began to call my uncles, aunts, and other relatives to tell them that Pa was dead.

Ma came back home, and she said, Christine, Allen is dead.

I said, I know. I’ve already made calls to the family and told them that Pa was dead.

That was the gift without repentance being manifested through me. I thank God for putting me in Pa’s home and him in my life. I did not know that one day, I would be preaching the gospel as he did.

On March 10, 1973, I got married to Melvin Peebles, my high school sweetheart. Melvin was in the army. I remembered what Pa had said. I was the one to take care of Ma. I chose not to live with my husband in the military because I believed I was supposed to take care of Ma. Melvin was a lover of women, so it was to his advantage for me to not be with him. I’m part of the reason our marriage didn’t last. Talking about the gifts and calling of God without repentance: in my teenage years, I had a way of knowing and seeing things that were happening or before they happened. It was hard for people to lie to me because I could see right through them. So I thought, Maybe when I graduate, I need to go to law school.

Later on in life, I learned that this was the gift of God without repentance. This was when I was twenty-three years old, and my life was being turned upside down, inside out, and was just spinning out of control. My husband reenlisted in the army. In December of 1974, he came home on leave. He gave me $800 to hold for him. I guess I was kind of like Leah in the Bible. All she wanted was for her husband, Jacob, to love her. And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction: now therefore my husband will love me, (Genesis 29:32).

That’s what I wanted from my husband, so I wouldn’t give him his money back. But to my surprise, he had written me a letter and told me I could have the $800, he didn’t want me anymore, and the next time I saw him, he would have a real woman. I loved that man so much, and I felt as if I was going to lose my mind. In February 1975, he was deployed to Germany. I didn’t know he was gone until he had been deployed about three months. At the time, we had one child, Kelvin. I was receiving an allotment check of $145 a month for Kelvin. My husband’s anger toward me made him have the military stop sending me the check. I was now at my breaking point. I felt that I was going to lose my mind. To me, life was not worth living without him in it. But today, my discovery has been that life is not worth living without Jesus in it.

In July 1975, I began to go into the bathroom and get down on my knees in front of the commode. I cried, I prayed, I cried, and I prayed, Lord, please don’t let me lose my mind. During my prayers, I would look back over my life as far as my childhood days, confess my sins unto the Lord, and ask for his forgiveness. I started to pray, Lord, fill me with the Holy Ghost.

In August 1975, I heard the Lord say, Go back to that little white wooden country church, Oak Grove Baptist, that you joined and got baptized in when you were nine years old.

The church was in revival. I went, and there was a preacher there from Savannah, Georgia, Reverend Fields.

When he opened the doors of the church, I told them, I joined this church when I was nine years old. I’ve been out of fellowship and want to reunite with the church.

The next month, on September 24–26, we had a church anniversary revival. There was a preacher preaching by the name of Elder Johnny Ray Jones. On Thursday night, which was the twenty-fifth, he was preaching about letting your light shine. Everything around me began to light up, and it was not the lights that hung from the ceiling but the light Isaiah talked about in Isaiah 60:1, ARISE, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

That night, I was baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Jesus’s quickening spirit came in me. I couldn’t be still or hold my peace. My yoke was made easy; my burdens were light.

Another one of Isaiah’s prophecies were being fulfilled. To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3).

I was working at a shirt factory, and I had an hour-long lunch break. The following week after getting saved, I started a noonday prayer. Instead of eating lunch, I came home and prayed. Immediately, God began to talk to me. The first thing I heard the Lord say was, I’m giving unto you the gift of prophecy. Within three weeks, God began to prophesy through me and give me open visions and dreams. Things began to happen or come to pass that God had showed me or spoken unto me. I guess I was like Samuel. I didn’t know the voice of the Lord, and therefore, I wouldn’t say anything. When things would happen or come to pass that he had shown me, I told people that God had spoken or showed me that.

God told me, Stop doing that. Speak the things I reveal unto you before it happens so that the people might know that I am in you and speaking through you.

I have seen the hand of God move mightily and prophetically down through the years. No longer are the gifts and callings of God without repentance.

I overcame by the blood of the Lamb.

Chapter 2

The Gifts and Callings of God after Repentance

Many times I would hear people, mostly preachers, say, Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. No one told me that God was not going to hear me as I continued on in sin. Oh, but I heard the Bible say in John 9:31, Now know God heareth sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Then I understood. I had to hearken unto the word of God as it is written in Matthew 11:28–30, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

As I began to learn about Jesus, I found that when it comes down to sin, I’m not the only one who has sinned, as it is written in Romans 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Now that I have a godly sorrow and not a worldly sorrow, my godly sorrow is leading me to salvation, For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Now I have the greatest gift, the Holy Ghost. As I heard it being said, God gave his Son, and they called him Jesus, and the Son gave his life. The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost—the three are one, and the one lives in me. Because he lives in me, I can face whatever tomorrow brings. Of the gifts and callings of God, he first called me to live holy, For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy (Leviticus 11:44).

The call to be holy is the only way that I am going to see the Lord. He said in Hebrews 12:14, Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

After I came back into fellowship with my childhood church and was saved, I told myself, I’m not going to let any of those sanctified folk try to pull me into their church. I got saved at Oak Grove Baptist Church, and that’s where I’m going to stay, not realizing my salvation began in the bathroom when I was on my knees in front of the commode.

I was anxious to learn about the Lord and to be among the people of God, so every time I heard that church doors were opened somewhere, I was there. I guess I was like Shirley Caesar when she sang about shouting John; I just had to praise my God. I could not hold my peace. I’m not sick in my body, and I’m not about to lose my mind anymore. I am free.

I remember one night in church when I was slayed out under the anointing for the first time. Those deacons dragged me out of the sanctuary into the social hall. I was out under the anointing, but I hadn’t lost consciousness of what was happening around me. This was in 1975, and I still remember my apparel. I was wearing a black two-piece suit with white stripes and a white sleeveless top. They laid me on a table and took off my jacket.

I heard one man say, Get the smelling salts.

There was a sister there who had been saved for a long time, Ella Mae Mincey.

She came back there, and I heard her yell, Everybody get out from around her!

When I came out from being slayed, God began to prophesy through me right there in that social hall.

It seemed as if people were watching for me to come in the churches so they could bind me. One night, when I went to a revival, a male usher came and sat beside me. Every time I raised an arm or hand to praise God, he would grab my arm and pull it down. Sometimes they dragged me out of the church, and nothing touched the floor but the heel of my shoe. There came a time when I got tired of being dragged and hindered from praising God, knowing I had so much to give thanks for and so much to praise him for bringing me through. This was God’s way of moving me on in him.

I came in contact with some praying people, and I knew this was where I needed to be. I went back to my church, where I was the youth secretary and president over the mission God had led me to establish in 1976. I took the books back and informed them that I was leaving, that God was moving me elsewhere. They told me the same God was in both places. I thought, Maybe so, but the anointing to destroy the yoke is not.

I moved on and became a part of another church, even though I’d said I had no need of sanctified folk trying