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[ Testimony ] Departed Catholicism For Protestantism

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Hello;

As a youngster, I had no say in my choice of religion. My mother imposed her own belief system on me and my siblings as kids. Subsequently, we were baptized as infants into the Roman Catholic Church; forced to attend catechism, and went on to complete First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

I was loyal to Rome and its teachings up until I was a little over 24 years old; and then in 1968 under the tutelage of a Baptist minister; the Holy Bible opened my eyes to some reality checks; and one of those checks is that Rome and its version of Christ does not always agree with the Holy Bible and its version of Christ.

I was faced with a grave decision : do I stifle my own better judgment, marginalize the Bible and its version of Christ and continue following Rome and its version of Christ; or do I yield to my own better judgment and marginalize Rome in favor of the Bible. I chose to marginalize Rome. That was over 43 years ago and in all that time I have not had one single pang of conscience nor feelings of regret for my decision. In point of fact, the more I studied the Bible and its version of Christ; the more disillusioned I became with Rome and its version.

So then, where do I now stand relative to the afterlife? Answer : I am no longer in the slightest danger whatsoever of the wrath of God because of my full and complete reliance upon the Lord's crucifixion— just as Yhvh's people escaped inevitable death by snakebite when they fully and completely relied upon the serpentary effigy that Moses constructed at Num 21:4-9.

†. John 3:14-17 . . As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to rescue it.

In point of fact, I am already in full and complete possession of eternal life right now— no delay and no waiting period. Note the grammatical tense of the Lord's "have" verb in his statement below because "have" is in the present tense; not future.

†. John 5:24 . . I assure you those who listen to my message, and believe in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

Not only do I currently possess eternal life; but I'm also currently a fully naturalized citizen of the Lord's kingdom.

†. Col 1:13-14 . . He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son whom He loves, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Note : If perchance someone out there reading this is a Roman Catholic; I sincerely hope you don't take any of the above personally because I assure you my statement wasn't intended to attack, denigrate, and/or belittle either you, the Vatican, or your belief system. Having been a die-hard Catholic myself for almost a quarter century, I know how easy it is to see red and to regard any and all negative comments about Catholicism as an expression of hatred for Catholics. But that's just not the case at all. If I were to hate any Catholics it would be on an individual basis rather than the result of a malicious prejudice against the entire Church.

I also know just how difficult it is for life-long Catholics to believe it's possible that somebody would actually disown Rome for reasons of conscience. It's typically a knee-jerk reflex to assume that every apostate turns against Catholicism because of some petty grievance. That wasn't so in my case. The decision I made to relinquish my native religion was not provoked. It was simply the result of balancing things out and making an informed choice rather than an emotional choice.

Studies have been done to determine what motivates voters. Not surprisingly, voters select a candidate based upon how they feel about him/her; and then use their intellects to defend their choice. So, in the voting booth, on average, one's feelings are primary, and their intelligence is only secondary. Well, I did not choose to part company with Rome like so many fickle voters chose to elect Mr. Obama solely on the basis of the color of his skin. No, it was a very grave, life-changing decision; and I went into it with both eyes open.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Hello;

There are actually people out there in the Christian world who refuse to believe that one's personal decision has anything to do with the plan of salvation. I have actually had people attempt to invalidate my testimony solely on that basis. Well, I have a couple of "decision" rebuttals for those people.

Back in the 1970's there was a brief, 15 minute program on radio in San Diego sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association titled : The Hour Of Decision. I've always felt that was an appropriate title for a program devoted to evangelism because "decision" is what it's all about.

An excellent biblical example of "decision" takes place in the book of Genesis. After an anonymous servant tells Becky's family all about God blessing Abraham with wealth and with a heir in his old age, and about the purpose of his visit to secure a bride for Isaac, and how the Lord led him right to Becky, and after distributing samples of the riches that Isaac will inherit; the crucial moment comes when Becky herself is asked if she will go with the man.

†. Gen 24:55-58 . . And her brother and her mother said : Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them : Hinder me not, seeing The Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said : We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth.

. . . And they called Rebekah, and said unto her : Wilt thou go with this man?

. . . And she said : I will go.

That is such a beautiful story. Every time I read it I get all mushy inside.

<O:tongue</O:tongueThere's a parable in the New Testament where a certain king arranged a wedding party for his son and sent out all the invitations by special courier. One after another people begged off with a variety of silly excuses. Well, that was their decision, and I respect it; but deep down I despise them for choosing poorly. They should have accepted the invitation.

†. John 4:10 . . If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee "Give me to drink" thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

†. John 4:13-14 . .Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

†. Rev 22:17 . .The Spirit and the bride say : Come! And let him who hears say : Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come— and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

My second rebuttal for those offended by the role that one's personal decision plays in the process of salvation is a precedent instituted way back in the Old Testament before the Lord was even born.

†. John 3:14-15 . . As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Okay, the effigy depicted at Num 21:4-9 was up on its stick and everyone instructed to look at it. But what if some stiff-necked, stubborn , overly-pious Jew said to himself : That is such hocus pocus! What am I supposed to do? Believe in voodoo now?

Well, I guarantee that skeptical Jew would have died because the venom of those vipers was 100% fatal, no exceptions. In the parlance of that Knight Templar in the secret cave of Indiana Jones The Last Crusade : "He chose poorly"

I hear a lot about so-called "free will" but very little about the freedom to decide. Maybe we're focused in the wrong direction or perhaps folk don't see the difference. You see, if I was at liberty to exercise a truly "free" will, I would abolish Hell. But since I do not have truly free will, I have to settle for second best; viz : the liberty to decide for myself whether to go there or not.

I really think a line spoken by Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's movie Apollo 13 is appropriate here because it goes something like this : ”From now on we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. It's not a miracle; we just decided to go."

NASA's default was to stay earthbound, while its option was to go. Well, hell is a default too. If people want heaven, they have to decide to go.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Hi C.L.I.F.F.

In response to your first post, I am just the opposite. I was raised in a mainline Christian faith, and I converted to Catholicicsm. My reason for staying Catholic is no "knee-jerk" reaction. Rather, I'm a Catholic because I believe the teaching of the Catholic Church is the truth. If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't stay a Catholic.

In response to your second post, yes being Christian is a decision, but not just a one-time decision, but a decision we make every day by the way we live our lives.
 
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darrel, hello;

In response to your second post, yes being Christian is a decision, but not just a one-time decision, but a decision we make every day by the way we live our lives.
I wasn't talking about deciding to be a Christian in post #2. I was talking about deciding to go to heaven.

According to the Lord's testimony as an expert witness in all matters pertaining to the afterlife; not everyone wearing the Christian label will make it to safety when they depart this life. In the passage below, he testified that "many" professing Christ are in for a big surprise. Note he said "many" not few,

†. Mtt 7:22-23 . . Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Master, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them : I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity.

That passage doesn't target Atheists, nor Hindus, nor Muslims. No, it targets people professing to prophesy in your name, and to exorcise demons in your name, and do many wonderful works in your name; in other words; it targets people professing Christ; and not just your average rank and file pew warmers; but rather : outstanding performers.

Can I ask you a personal question? I won't press for an answer because. after all; it's personal.

Do you have eternal life right this moment even as we speak?

The reason I ask is because according to God's testimony as an expert witness in all matters pertaining to His own son; people wearing the Christian label, while not possessing eternal life, do not have His son; in other words; in spite of their Christian label; they are quite christless.

†. 1John 5:9-10 . .We accept human testimony; but God's testimony carries more weight because it's the testimony of God, which He has given about His son. And this is what God has testified : He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. So whoever has God's son has the life; whoever does not have the life, does not have His son.

It gets worse. According to the Lord's testimony as an expert witness in all matters pertaining to Life and Death, people wearing the Christian label, while not possessing eternal life; not only abide in death; but also in grave danger of the wrath of God. Note the grammatical tense of his "have" verb. It's in the present tense; not future, indicating that people who listen to his message, and believe in his God, have eternal life right now— no delay, and no waiting period.

†. John 5:24 . . I assure you, those who listen to my message, and believe in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from Death into Life.

The present-tense possession of eternal life is the acid test of whether people wearing the Christian label are actually believers; because if they don't have it; then they are, by default, unbelievers.

†. John 3:36 . .He who believes in the Son has eternal life

†. John 6:47 . .Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

†. 1John 5:13 . .I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The interesting thing about eternal life is that it is totally free of charge with no strings attached to anyone with the moxie to request it.

†. John 4:10 . . If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee "Give me to drink" thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

†. John 4:13-14 . .Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

†. Rev 22:17 . .The Spirit and the bride say : Come! And let him who hears say : Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come— and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

C.L.I.F.F.
<O:tongue</O:tongue|
 
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Can I ask you a personal question? I won't press for an answer because. after all; it's personal.

Do you have eternal life right this moment even as we speak?

Yes i do and thanks for sharing your testimony,

Blessings,

AK
 
Catholic or Protestant?

I'm neither.

I'm a King James Bible Believer and non-denominational.

This decision came after years of lukewarmness (worldliness, temporary blindness and laodiceanism)

For me, it's not about religion but a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Religion is in a very bad state in America. Or i should say False Religion is. God's judgment will come shortly and already has been (just see all the natural disasters that have plagued America over the years).

I'm thankful to God that He brought me into the light so that i could see things properly, it's kind of scary to remember how ignorant i was in years past. Not that i have reached perfection, but i'm definitely going on the narrow path to Heaven at the moment.

Blessings,

AK
 
I'm neither.

I'm a King James Bible Believer and non-denominational.

This decision came after years of lukewarmness (worldliness, temporary blindness and laodiceanism)

For me, it's not about religion but a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Religion is in a very bad state in America. Or i should say False Religion is. God's judgment will come shortly and already has been (just see all the natural disasters that have plagued America over the years).

I'm thankful to God that He brought me into the light so that i could see things properly, it's kind of scary to remember how ignorant i was in years past. Not that i have reached perfection, but i'm definitely going on the narrow path to Heaven at the moment.

Blessings,

AK

Amen AKJVReader!:thumbsup
 
If people want heaven, they have to decide to go.

Oh how true! God doesn't send anyone to heaven against their will!

Christ is the door, He is the Way, the Truth, the Life... by His redeeming work on the cross and the resurrection he has the power to offer us salvation! I so look forward to heaven!
 
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