"Everyone who hears my voice ... has passed from death to life" (John 5:24).
At the age of nineteen, I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. I had been searching for God, and I thought, that I had found a true religion in Catholicism. My new faith was of great strength to me, but within a few years I began to experience spiritual problems. I wanted the assurance of salvation, but peace left me.
Me, I wasn't even sure about purgatory! Meanwhile, I was hopeful that through my "good works" God would give me credit for my "spiritual record", ridding me of the above completely. The thought of purgatory terrified me.
Fear and Uncertainty
One morning after mass, while I was near the "purgatorial altar," in my mind I could hear prayers from those who had died - saved, but condemned to suffer. Des the caves of death, they seemed to call. This bothered me; for the church to teach that God would not help them; But because of my prayers and going to Masses I could achieve it, this was very strange for me. While money had to be donated at Masses, I just prayed. This seemed out of balance. I left the church that day uncomfortable and perplexed.
Every confession was a traumatic experience, but the church taught that it was a sacrament of God to forgive. Without this sins could not be forgiven. Salvation certainly seemed like an adventure, and God was unable to please; consequently, I went to Mary and the saints for intercessory prayer, hoping that they would put me through the keyhole if God closed the door.
After five years of this fear and uncertainty, I began to be extremely scrupulous. Being scrupulous is a plague of the "spiritual nerves" that only scrupulous Catholics understand. It takes the advice of the priests, much prayer and about two years to heal me. By this time I was emotionally and spiritually affected.
Starting to be a Nun
Because of all these things, I seriously considered becoming a nun to save my life and serve the God of whom I was thirsty and yearned to please despite the discomfort in His company. I thought that by becoming a nun, God would consider me more in judgment. The nuns are called "the spiritual brides" of Christ. This sounded really good to me. "
On December 8, 1966, I entered the Benedictine convent. At first I was excited about my new life. I desperately wanted to stay, but from the beginning, the fear that I couldn't stay baffled me. God? over me like a mocking spirit, he took me out of the convent shortly before Christmas. God used my sleepless nights to deal with wanting to stay.
One night, I had a nagging thought that kept repeating itself, "trust me, trust me." I understood from that message that a great spiritual darkness was in front of me; Christ would be with me, but I had to carry on by faith. Later, I was moved to believe that I had a calling to be a missionary. This was so confusing and terrifying that the next day I asked the novice lady for permission to go to confession. After I described my experience to the priest, he told me that a long spiritual darkness was ahead and that I had to leave only by faith.
Empty Ritual
A few days later, I asked to leave him to go; hopeless and confused, planning to enter the (“MaryKnoll Missionary Order”) in August. However, God had other plans. After having argued with the priest about my decision to leave the convent, I was perplexed when he told me that I had no religious vocation. It was at this time that doubts about the validity of the Roman Catholic Church began to be learned from my thinking. When I told that same priest that I was losing my Catholic faith, he told me, "You don't have to do it, if you don't want to!" Then what?
As time passed, I began to feel very unhappy, mass, prayers, and the whole repertoire was so empty and meaningless that I stopped going to the services, convinced at the same time that I would not go to hell if I did not go to Mass on purpose. I came to the conclusion that Catholicism was not what I believed, the Pope was not infallible, and the Catholic Church did not have the complete truth, despite its claims. I knew I had a spiritual problem, but I also knew that no priest could help me.
As a result of all this, I excommunicated myself from Romanism and placed my spiritual dilemma in the hands of God, hoping that He would show me the way.
A "Spiritual Prodigal
For almost two years, I was a "spiritual prodigal." During this time I married a Catholic who shared my confusion. When our first child was born, I was worried about baptism. Although I was a renounced Catholic and had left the church, vestiges of her influence remained in my mind. So, scared, I went to confession, attended Mass, and received the sacraments. Then I baptized my son. Freely, I tried to fix my "quilt full of religious scraps." Despite obedience to church procedures after that time, I had no peace of mind and nothing helped. I fervently prayed for understanding and being filled with the Holy Spirit. In a short time, God answered my prayers.
One day 4 years later, while praying for spiritual truth, I was directed to read the Bible. Soon enough, a Christian friend invited me to a Bible class. It was in this class that the Holy Spirit began to put the raminths in the nest. He was building in my heart, to prepare His abode. After numerous Bible classes and guidance from the preacher who taught these classes, I began to see painful contradictions between the Word of God and the Roman Catholic Church. When I read Matthew 1615-18, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that Christ, not Peter, was the "Rock" on which the church had been founded. Being Christ the true foundation; Was Peter ever Pope? In Mark 7: 9 Jesus says: "He also said to them: You well invalidate the commandment of God to keep your tradition." I already knew that the "papacy" was a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, so when the truth of these Scriptures pierced my heart, the Pope literally fell from his throne. Still, I have no answer for my own salvation to take the place of the Roman Catholic church.
New Birth in Christ
One day in my home while I was meditating on John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you: He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; and it will not come to condemnation, but it has passed from death to life ”. The final bond with Catholicism was dismantled and the chains with Rome fell. The Holy Spirit brought me out of the jungle of Catholicism and into the rich grasslands of the life-giving Word, Jesus Christ. This is not the work of men but the gift of Sios by grace through faith. “For by grace are you saved through faith; and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ”(Ephesians 2: 8).
Instead of my desire to be the spiritual bride of Christ as a nun, I was receiving the gift of the new birth and covered, not with the garments of man, but with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, making me a daughter of God. “Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, the one who had risen from the dead. Then Mary took a pound of perfume of pure tuberose, of much price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped them with her hair; and the house was filled with the smell of perfume ”(John 1: 12,13). "Jesus answered and said to him: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever is not born again cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3: 3).
As a born again believer, I did not wear sanctified clothes when I received Christ as the Savior of my life. Rather, He clothed me in His grace and presented me to the Father as a saved and heir to heaven at that time.
Salvation In Christ Alone
I was in great spiritual peace after I found salvation in Christ by faith alone. Once He returned by His grace, I never went to another Mass, I never prayed the Rosary again or confessed to the priest. I knew that I was secure in Christ as the Scriptures say. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life, and so that you may believe in the name of the Son of God."
Other scriptures that confirmed to me the truth that salvation is in Christ Jesus only was in Acts 4:12: “And in no other is there salvation; because there is no other name under heaven, given to men, in which we can be saved. YI Timothy 2: 5: "For there is only one God, and only one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ." Mary also needed a Savior; in the magnificent, she prayed, "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47).
God also taught me in Hebrews 10: 10-14 that the Mass was clearly not commanded by Him because, “In that will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And certainly every priest is day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices many times, which can never take away sins; but Christ, having once for all offered one sacrifice for sins, has sat down at the right hand of God, henceforth waiting until his enemies are made his footstool; for with a single offering he made the sanctified perfect forever.
There are no works that can save me or anyone else. “He saved us, not by works of righteousness that we had done, but by his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renewal in the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3: 5). "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
Proclaiming the Truth
After being born again, I wrote to every Catholic priest and friends I knew, as well as the novice professor, and told them about the Gospel of Christ. With every Catholic I met at that time, I tried to share the good news. For a year and a half I worked in the convent in the care home and continued to keep those beloved sisters in my heart and prayers. For a few years I had worked in a hospital, nursing home and private care as a first aid nurse. I also started classes to become a practical nurse, but this did not work well for me. At present I am working in the "Caring Presence Home Health Care Agency" giving all kinds of care and service to elderly people in their homes.
Another way I hope to bring glory to the Lord is by writing Christian accounts and children's articles. At present, five have been selected for publication.
One of my first attempts to spread the gospel was to write my testimony and publish it as a tract. I didn't know what to do with the first thousand copies, but the Lord found a place for all of them. Since then, I have had my story published in Spanish and three Indian languages, Hivi, Telegu, and Tamil-Nadu. It has been used extensively in the United States, India, Ghana, Africa, Uganda, and other English-speaking countries. From the comments I have heard, my dear Lord have you used? I tell of His grace, love and mercy to help many others. It has been published in four magazines and two message letters. Completely, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.
I am currently a member of Otis Baptist Church in Carlshad, New Mexico, where my husband and I have been living since April 17, 1996. I have been trained in a Children's Evangelism course and taught in the Good News clubs, in summer school and other groups. I have studied and read the Bible thoroughly, participated in many Bible studies, and read and continue to read many Christian books and magazines.
I have a son, James, and a very dear daughter-in-law, Dana, who live in Boise, Idaho. My son and his wife were born again and have been blessed with two children, a girl, Kaela, aged six, and Michael, aged four. As a grandmother, I take great pleasure in sharing Christian books, videos, and other materials to help you grow in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace and joy have increased as I have drawn closer to Christ and His Word. I thank you with all my heart, soul and spirit for your gift of eternal life. Cooperating with His grace, I want to speak for Him as He guides me. I pray that every Catholic can respond to the truth of God's Word, that they can know the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth will set them free.
[Source: https://bereanbeacon.org/es/su-bandera-sobre-mi-es-amor/]
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