I was born in Ireland to a Catholic family of eight children. I had a happy and complete childhood. My father was a colonel in the Irish Army until the day he retired, when I was nine years old. As a family, we liked to play, sing and act. Our home was in a military camp in Dublin.
We were a typical Roman Catholic Irish family. Sometimes my father would kneel by his bedside to pray in a solemn way. My mother "spoke" to Jesus while cooking, or washing dishes, or even when she smoked a cigarette. Almost every night we knelt in the living room of our house to pray the Rosary together. We never missed mass, unless we were seriously ill. About the age of five or six, Jesus Christ was a very real person to me, as were the Virgin Mary and the other saints. I can easily identify with other people from the traditional Catholic nations of Europe and with Latin Americans and Filipinos, who put Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and all the other saints mixed in the same cauldron of faith.
At the Jesuit School in Belvedere I was taught the catechism. It was also in that school that I studied for my primary and secondary education. Like any child raised by the Jesuits, before the age of ten he could recite the five reasons why God exists, and why the Pope was the head of the only true church. Rescuing souls from purgatory was a very serious matter. The frequently quoted phrase, "It is a good and holy thought to pray for the dead to be freed from their sins," we learned by heart even though we did not understand the meaning of those words. They told us that the Pope, being the head of the church, was the most important person in the world. What he said was law, and that the Jesuits were his right hand. Although the mass was said in Latin, I tried to attend daily because I was intrigued by the deep sense of mystery that surrounded her. They told us that this was the most important way to please God. They encouraged us to pray to the saints, and we had patron saints for almost every aspect of life. I was not sure of it in my life, with the exception of San Antonio, the patron of lost property, since I had a bad habit of losing a lot of things.
When I was fourteen, I felt a call to be a missionary. However, this calling did not affect the way I was conducting my life. The most enjoyable and satisfying years of my youth were between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. During those years I did very well academically and as an athlete.
I often had to take my mother to the hospital for medical treatments. On a certain occasion, while I was waiting to be attended to, I found a book where they quoted the following verses from Mark 10:29 to 30: "Jesus answered and said: Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left home, or brothers, or sisters , or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for the sake of me and the gospel, may I not receive a hundred times more now in this time ... and in the age to come eternal life. " Without knowing the true message of salvation, I was convinced for the remission of sins. "(Matthew 26:28) I did not make it a common practice that I had actually received the call to be a missionary.
TRYING TO EARN SALVATION
In 1956 I left my family and friends to join the Dominican Order. I spent eight years studying to be a monk, which included studying church traditions, philosophy, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and a bit of the Bible from a Catholic point of view. Whatever faith he had, it was institutionalized and ritualized in the Dominican religious system. Obedience to the laws, both of the church and of the Dominicans, was set before me as the means of achieving sanctification. He often spoke with the student director, Ambrose Duffy, about the law as the means to holiness. Besides wanting to be "holy," I also wanted to assure myself of eternal salvation. I memorized the part of Pope Pius XII's teaching in which he says, "...
OUTER PUMP — INNER VACUUM
In 1963, at the age of twenty-five, I was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, after which I went on to finish my Thomas Aquinas course at the Angelicum University in Rome. But that's where I had two difficulties: the outer pomp as well as the inner emptiness. Over the years, through photographs and books, I had formed an idea of what the Holy See and the Holy City would be. Could this be the same city? At Angelicum University I was also very offended to see the hundreds of students who attended our morning classes showing a staggering lack of interest in theology. I also found that during class they read a number of magazines like Time and Newsweek. Those who were interested in what was taught, they only seemed to be trying to get titles or positions within the Catholic Church in their own countries. One day I went for a walk in the Colosseum so that my feet could step on the ground where the blood of many Christian martyrs was shed. I walked in the arena of the forum. I tried to imagine in my mind those men and women who knew Christ in such a positive way that afterwards they were joyfully willing to die burned at the stake or be eaten alive by wild beasts because of such overwhelming love. However, the joy I felt from that experience was clouded by the insults of mocking young men who yelled words that meant "scum" or "garbage" at me when I was returning on the bus. I thought that the motivation for these insults was not because I represented Christ, as the first Christians did, but because in me they saw the Roman Catholic system. I immediately tried to erase that contrasting thought from my mind. However, the things I had been taught of the current glories of Rome now seemed empty and meaningless to me.
One night, after that experience, I prayed for two hours in front of the altar of the Church of San Clemente. Recalling my earlier missionary calling I received as a youth, and the wonderful one hundredfold promise in Mark 10: 29-30, I decided that I would not try to get a theology degree, which had previously been my ambition since I started. to study the Theology of Thomas Aquinas. That was an important decision, but after much prayer, he was sure he had decided what was right.
The priest in charge of directing my thesis did not want to accept my decision. In order to facilitate the process of obtaining my degree, he offered me a thesis that had been written several years before. He told me that I could use it as my own as long as I made the verbal defense of the dissertation. This made me sick to my stomach. It was similar to what he had seen a few weeks earlier in the city park: elegant prostitutes showing off in their black leather boots. What he was offering me was equally sinful. But I stood firm in my decision and finished my studies at the university up to the ordinary academic level without receiving any degree.
Upon returning from Rome, I received an official notice assigning me to take a three-year course at the University of Cork. I prayed diligently about my calling to be a missionary. To my surprise, in late August 1964 I received orders to go as a missionary to Trinidad in the Netherlands Antilles.
MY PRIDE, THE FALL, AND A NEW HUNGER
On October 1, 1964, I arrived in Trinidad and, for seven years, I had a very successful priesthood, in Roman Catholic terms, because I fulfilled all my tasks and got many people to attend mass. By 1972, he was heavily involved in the charismatic Catholic movement. Later, on March 16 of that same year, in a prayer meeting, I thanked God because he was a good priest and asked him, if it was his will, to humble me even more so that I could be better. Later that night, I had an unusual accident in which I fractured the back of my skull and sustained several injuries to my spine. I think that if I had not been so close to death I doubt, much that would have escaped my personal vanity. My routine prayers turned out empty when I cried out to God in my pain.
In the suffering I experienced during the weeks after the accident, I began to find some comfort in direct, personal prayers. I stopped praying the Breviary (the official prayer of a priest of the Roman Catholic Church) and the Rosary, and began to pray using portions of the Bible itself. This was a very slow process. He did not know how to handle the Bible, and the little he had learned over the years caused him to adopt an attitude of distrust, rather than trust, in the Word of God. My training in philosophy and the theology of Thomas Aquinas rendered me powerless, so turning to the Bible now would be like walking into a huge dark forest without a map.
When I was assigned to a new parish later that year, I discovered that I would be working alongside a Dominican priest who over the years had been like a brother to me. For more than two years we had to work together at Pointe-a-Pierre Church, seeking God with all our hearts according to our knowledge and understanding. We read, studied, and prayed together putting into practice what the Church had taught us. We established congregations in Gasparrillo, Bahía Claxton and Marabella, just to name the main towns. In the sense of the Catholic religion we feel very prosperous. Many people attended mass. We teach catechism in many schools, including public schools. I continued to search the Bible but this never affected the work we did. Rather, it showed me how little I knew about the Lord and his Word.
During that time, the Catholic Charismatic Movement was on the rise, and we featured it in most of our communities. Due to this movement, some Canadian Christians came to Trinidad to share their ministerial experiences with us. I learned a lot from his messages, especially how to pray for physical healing. The full impact of what they were saying was very experience-oriented, but it was a real blessing under the circumstances, since it led me to the Bible as a source of authority. I began to compare one portion of Scripture to another and even mention the chapter and verse quotes. One of the texts that Canadians used was Isaiah 53: 5, "... and by his stripes we are healed." But in my study of Isaiah 53, I discovered that the Bible deals with the problem of sin through substitution. Christ died in my place. It was wrong for me to try to activate or cooperate in paying the price for my sin. Romans 11: 6 says, "And if by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace is no longer grace." And in Isaiah 53: 6, we read, "We have all gone astray like sheep, each one turned to his own way; but the Lord laid on him [Christ] the sin of us all."
One of my personal sins was pride. I was easily irritated with people and sometimes even angry. Although I asked forgiveness for my sins, I still hadn't realized that I was a sinner by nature that we all inherited from Adam. The truth of Scripture is: "As it is written: There is none righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10) and, "because all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church had taught me that the depravity of man, which they call "original sin," had been washed away when I was baptized in my childhood. I still held this belief in my mind, but in my heart I knew that my depraved nature had not yet been conquered by Christ. The verse "In order to know him,
THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION
First, I discovered that the Word of God, that is, the Bible, is absolute and without error. I have been taught that the Word is relative and that, in many respects, its truthfulness can be questioned. But now he was beginning to understand that the Bible could really be trusted. With the help of a Strong's Concordance, I began to study the Bible to see what it said about itself. I discovered that the Bible clearly teaches that it comes from God and is absolute in what it says. That it is true in its history, in the promises that God has made, in its prophecies, in the moral commandments it imparts, and in how to live the Christian life, declaring that "All scripture is inspired by God, and useful for teaching, to convict, to correct, to instruct in righteousness, so that the man of God may be perfect,
I made this discovery while visiting Vancouver, Canada, and when I was in Seattle, Washington state. When I was asked to give a lecture to a prayer group at St. Stephen's Catholic Church, I took as my topic the absolute authority of God's Word. It was the first time he had understood this truth or spoke about it. I returned to Vancouver again and preached the same message to about 400 people in a large parish church. With the Bible in hand, I proclaimed that "the Bible, God's own Word, is the final and absolute authority on all matters of faith and morals."
After the preaching, I prayed for a lady who from her youth had suffered from a certain discomfort in her eyes. The Lord healed her. I accepted this as a confirmation from the Lord as to the truth that I had just understood regarding the absolute nature of his Word. I developed a close friendship with the healed woman and her husband. Said healing has remained until the present day. Today I understand that this discovery regarding the absolute nature of the Word of God changed my life from that moment on. However, I would like to say that I do not accept miracles as a source of authority, because there is only one source: the Word of God. Rather, I mention the account of the miracle because that is how it happened. God is sovereign.
Three days later, the Archbishop of Vancouver, James Carney, called me into his office. It was there that he officially silenced me and prohibited me from preaching in his archdiocese. He told me that my punishment would have been more severe if not for the letter of recommendation that I had received from my own archbishop, Anthony Pantin. Shortly after, I returned to Trinidad.
THE DILEMMA BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE BIBLE
While I was still the parish priest of Pointe-a-Pierre, Ambrose Duffy was asked to help me. This was the man who had taught me so strictly while I was Director of Students. But now things had changed. After some initial difficulties we became good friends. I shared with him what I was discovering. He listened carefully to me and expressed great interest and desire to know what motivated me. I saw in him a channel through which I could reach my Dominican brothers and even those who were in the archbishop's house. But my friend died suddenly of a heart attack. I felt a deep sorrow for his passing. In my mind I had entertained the idea that Ambrose Duffy would be the person who could decipher the correct meaning of the dilemma between the Church and the Bible with which I was struggling so much. I hoped that he could explain to me and to my Dominican brothers the truths that I was struggling with. I preached at his funeral, and I was seized with a sense of deep despair.
I continued praying Philippians 3:10, "... in order to know him, and the power of his resurrection ..." But before I knew more about the Lord, I first had to acknowledge myself as a sinner. In the Bible, I discovered that his role as mediating priest, as taught by the Roman Catholic Church, is contrary to the Word of God (1 Timothy 2: 5). I really liked that people recognized me and, in a sense, idolized me for who I was. I rationally explained my sin by saying that, after all, if the greatest church in the world teaches such a thing, who was I to question it. Still, I struggled with my inner conflict. I began to realize that the worship of Mary, the saints and the priests was really a sin. But even though he was willing to renounce Mary and the saints as mediators,
YEARS OF HUNT
The Virgin Mary, the saints, and the priesthood were only a small part of the great battle I faced. Who was the Lord of my life: Jesus Christ as revealed in his Word, or the Roman Catholic Church? This fundamental question burned within me, especially during the last six years as parish priest of Sangre Grande, between 1979 and 1985. The idea that the Roman Catholic Church was supreme in all aspects of faith and morals had been engraved in my mind. mind since childhood. It seemed impossible to me to change. Rome was not only supreme, but was always called "Holy Mother Church". How could I rebel against "Holy Mother Church", especially when I was fulfilling an official part in dispensing her sacraments and keeping the parishioners faithful to her?
In 1981, I seriously rededicated myself to the service of the Roman Catholic Church while attending a parish renewal seminar held in New Orleans. However, when I returned to Trinidad to deal with the real problems of life, I again came back to the authority of God's Word. Finally, the tension turned to a tug of war inside of me. Sometimes he considered the Roman Catholic Church to be the absolute authority, and other times he considered the Bible to be the fundamental foundation. During those years I suffered many stomach problems due to emotional stresses. I should have realized the simple truth that one cannot serve two masters. In the position he held, he was to place the absolute authority of the Word of God under the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
That contradiction was symbolized in what I did with the four statues that were in the Iglesia de Sangre Grande. I took out and broke the images of Saint Francis and Saint Martin because the second commandment of the Law of God declares, in Exodus 20: 4, "You shall not make yourself an image, nor any similarity of what is above in the sky, nor below in the earth, nor in the waters below the earth ".. But when some parishioners opposed my decision to remove the images of the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary, I left them in their place by the higher authority, that is, the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, which in its Canon Law 1188 says: "The practice of presenting sacred images in churches for the veneration of the faithful must remain". I did not realize, then,
My own fault
Although he had previously discovered that the word of God is absolute, he was still experiencing the agony of holding that the Roman Catholic Church was the recipient of more authority than the Word of God, even in respects where the Church of Rome spoke against what it was. says the Bible. How could this be? In the first place, it was my own fault. Had I accepted the authority of the Bible as supreme, the Word of God would have convinced me to renounce my priestly office as mediator; but this was too precious to me. Second, no one ever questioned my actions as a priest. Overseas visitors came to mass, they saw our sacred oils, holy water, medals, images, clothes, rituals, but they never said a word. This wonderful style, the symbolism, the music, and the artistic taste of the Catholic Church is very captivating. Frankincense not only has a strong aroma, but it also instills mystery in the mind.
THE TURNING POINT
One day, a lady challenged me with these words: "You Roman Catholics have a semblance of piety, but deny its power." This was the only Christian who confronted me in all my 22 years of priesthood. Those words bothered me for a while because the lights, the flags, the music of the people, the guitars and the drums I really liked. Probably no other priest on the island of Trinidad had cassocks, vestments, and ornaments as colorful as I did. It was evident that I did not wish to give up this "appearance of pity." So for those reasons I didn't want to put into effect what my eyes were revealing to me.
In October 1985, God's grace overcame the lie that I was trying to live. I went to the island of Barbados to prayerfully face the duplicity in which he had forced me to live. I really felt trapped. The Word of God, indeed, is absolute. I just have to obey her. However, to that very God he had sworn obedience to the supreme authority of the Catholic Church. In Barbados I was able to read a book where the biblical meaning of "Church" as "the brotherhood of believers" was explained. He had comments on the well-known text found in Matthew 16:18, where the Lord Jesus Christ declares "... I will build my church ..." In Jesus' own language, the word church is edah, which means "brotherhood ". I had always understood that the word " Most were pious men devoted to devotion to the Virgin Mary, the Rosary, and were loyal to Rome. But none had any idea of the complete work of salvation that Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary; that salvation is personal and complete. They all preached penance for sin, human suffering, religious works, "the way of man" instead of the gospel of grace. But by the mercy of God, I saw that it is not by the Catholic Church or by any kind of works that one is saved. Scripture says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2: 8, 9). But none had any idea of the complete work of salvation that Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary; that salvation is personal and complete. They all preached penance for sin, human suffering, religious works, "the way of man" instead of the gospel of grace. But by the mercy of God, I saw that it is not by the Catholic Church or by any kind of works that one is saved. Scripture says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2: 8, 9). But none had any idea of the complete work of salvation that Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary; that salvation is personal and complete. They all preached penance for sin, human suffering, religious works, "the way of man" instead of the gospel of grace. But by the mercy of God, I saw that it is not by the Catholic Church or by any kind of works that one is saved. Scripture says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2: 8, 9). I saw that it is not by the Catholic Church or by any kind of works that one is saved. Scripture says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2: 8, 9). I saw that it is not by the Catholic Church or by any kind of works that one is saved. Scripture says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2: 8, 9).
A NEW BIRTH AT THE AGE OF 48 YEARS
I left the Roman Catholic Church when I realized that I could not live the Christian life as long as I remained faithful to Catholic doctrine. When I left Trinidad in November 1985, I only got to Barbados. While I was in the home of an elderly couple, I asked the Lord for a suit and the money needed to get to Canada, since I only had clothes for the tropical climate and very little personal money. With no one except God knowing about my situation, the Lord met both needs.
From a tropical country with a temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, I came to the snow and ice of Canada. After a month in Vancouver, I went to the United States. At last I could trust that the Lord could provide for my many needs, since I was starting a new life at the age of 48, practically penniless, without a green card, without a license to drive a car, without any recommendation, and having only the Lord and his Word.
I spent six months with a Christian couple on their ranch in Washington state. I explained to my hosts that I had separated from the Catholic Church, and that I had accepted Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of his Word, as it is written in the Bible. In sharing this, I used the words "absolutely", "finally", "definitely" and "resolutely". But far from being impressed by these words, my new friends wanted to know if I still harbored any personal bitterness or pain within me. They ministered to me through prayer and great compassion, since they too had made the same transition and knew how easily one can become bitter in such circumstances. Four days after arriving at their home, by the grace of God, I began to notice the fruit of salvation in repentance. This meant not only apologizing for the many years I spent discrediting his message, but at the same time accepting healing where I was deeply hurt. Finally, at the age of 48, based solely on the authority of God's word, and by his grace alone, I personally accepted Christ's substitutionary death on the cross. To him alone be the glory!
Once I recovered physically and spiritually through relationship with this Christian couple and their family, the Lord provided me with a wife, Lynn, who was reborn in faith, kind in her way, and intelligent in mind. Together, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where we both got jobs.
A TRUE MISSIONARY WITH A TRUTH MESSAGE
In September 1988, we left Atlanta to serve as missionaries in Asia. This resulted in an extraordinarily fruitful year in the Lord where we experienced the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit in ways we could never have imagined possible. Men and women came to know the authority of the Bible and the power of Christ's death and resurrection. I was amazed at how easily God's grace is made effective when Christ is presented solely through the Bible. This was in stark contrast to the cobwebs of Catholic Church tradition that for 21 years had clouded my missionary position in Trinidad; 21 years without the real message.
To explain the abundant life that Jesus spoke of, and which I now enjoy, I cannot find better words than those of Romans 8: 1, 2: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death. " It is not only that I had freed myself from the Roman Catholic Church system, but that I had become a new creature in Christ. It is by God's grace, and nothing but his grace, that I have passed from dead works to new life.
A TESTIMONY TO THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
Years ago, in 1972, some Christians had taught me about the divine healing of our bodies. But how much more helpful would it have been if they had explained to me the authority with which my sins could be forgiven, and how my sinful nature could be reconciled to God. The Bible clearly indicates that Jesus was our substitute on the cross of Calvary. No one can put it better than Isaiah 53: 5, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our sins; the punishment of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." This means that Jesus took upon himself what I had to suffer for my sin. Before the Father, I placed my trust in Jesus as my substitute.
The verse quoted was written 750 years before the crucifixion of our Lord. Shortly after the sacrifice on the cross, the Bible declares, "who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, might live to righteousness, and by whose wound you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). (Lord Jesus, I declare that you carried my sins in your body. In this, only, I trust).
Since we inherited our sinful nature from Adam, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. How could we stand before a holy God — unless it is in Christ — and accept that he died in our place when we should have died? God is the one who gives us faith to be born again, making it possible for us to accept Christ as our substitute. It was Christ who paid the price for our sins. He who had no sin was nevertheless crucified. Is faith in this fact enough to save us? Effectively. The faith that the new birth produces is enough. That faith, born of God, will result in good works, including repentance: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
By repenting, we cast off, through the power of God, our old lifestyle and past sins. This does not mean that we will never sin again, but it does mean that our position before God has changed. We are called children of God, because in truth we are now. If we sin today, this creates a problem in our relationship with the Father, and it can be fixed. But it does not mean that we have lost our relationship as children of God in Christ, since this position is irrevocable. In Hebrews 10:10, the Bible puts it marvelously, "... we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." The work of Christ on the cross is sufficient and complete. When you rely solely on this consummated sacrifice, a new life, born of the Spirit,
MY CURRENT SITUATION
Today, in 1991, the Lord has prepared me for evangelistic ministry, and has placed me in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. What the Apostle Paul said to his fellow Jews, I say to my Catholic brothers: the desire of my heart and my prayer to God is that Catholics also be saved. I can bear personal testimony that they are jealous about God, but zeal is not based on the Word of God but on the tradition of the Church. If you understood the devotion and agony that some of our brothers and sisters in the Philippine Islands and South America have put into their religion, then you would understand the cry of my heart. "Lord, give us compassion to understand the pain and torment our brothers and sisters experience in their quest to please You.
My testimony shows how difficult it was for me as a Catholic to abandon the tradition of the Church; But when the Lord demands this in His Word, we have to obey Him. The "pious appearance" that distinguishes the Roman Catholic Church has made it exceedingly difficult for the Catholic to see where the real problem lies. Each of us must determine by what authority we are to know the truth. The Roman Catholic Church claims that only by its authority can the truth be known. In his own words, in section 1 of code 212, he says: "The faithful, aware of their own responsibility, are obliged to follow, by Christian obedience, everything that the sacred shepherds, as representatives of Christ, declare as teachers of faith or establish as rectors of the church "(Vatican Council II, Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II, 1983). However, according to the Holy Bible, only the Word of God is the authority by which truth can come to be known. It was man-made traditions that caused the Reformers to demand "Scripture only, through faith alone, through grace alone."
THE REASON WHY I SHARE MY TESTIMONY
I suffered for 14 years because no one had the courage to tell me the truth. I share these truths with you now so that you can know the way of salvation that God has given us. Our fundamental failure as Catholics is to believe that we can somehow respond on our own to the help that God gives us to be well in his presence. This presupposition that many of us have held for many years is adequately defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) # 2021: "Grace is the help that God gives us to respond to our vocation to become his adopted children ..."
My prayer is that God the Father grants him the grace to be able to accept that Christ died on the cross in his place, and that he know that his sacrifice is enough to make him a new creature in himself. "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).
With such an attitude, we were unknowingly respecting a teaching that the Bible continually condemns. That definition of grace is a subtle invention of man, because the Bible consistently declares that the believer's correct position with God is "without works" (Romans 4: 6), "without the works of the law" (Romans 3:28). ), "not by works" (Ephesians 2: 9), "for it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2: 8). Trying to make the believer's response part of his salvation and to consider that grace is "a help" is to categorically deny the truth of the Bible, which states: "And if by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace is no longer grace ... "(Romans 11: 6).
The simple message of the Bible is that "the gift of righteousness" in Christ Jesus is a gift, and rests on the all-sufficient sacrifice that he consummated on the cross, "For if through the transgression of one only death reigned, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one, Jesus Christ "(Romans 5:17).
Therefore, it is as Jesus Christ said in person, he died in the believer's place, "to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Just as when he declared, "... this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many ..." Peter proclaimed the same, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God ... "(1 Peter 3:18).
Paul's preaching is summarized at the end of 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He who knew no sin, he made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This fact, dear reader, is clearly presented in the Bible. God now commands us to accept it, "... repent, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15)
The most difficult repentance for us diehard Catholics is to change our mindset from "deserving," "earning," "being good enough" to simply accepting empty-handed the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus. Refusing to accept what God commands is the same sin that religious Jews incurred in Paul's day: "For ignoring the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10: 3).
My pilgrimage of faith has led me to depend solely on Jesus Christ and his Word. If he's just your pastor, you won't need anything else. He will forgive your sins and make you a new creature. Ask God to give you the grace and faith to accept his Word. If you ask him with all your heart, he will put in you the will and the purpose to trust him. He will draw him closer to him through his grace, and will make him understand that he has been born again, that he has a new life and a new purpose, because "what is born of the flesh is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. "(Saint John 3: 6). Glory to the Lord!
Richard P. Bennett
If you want to contact me, write to:
Richard P. Bennett
PO Box 55353
Portland, OR 97238-5353
USA
Richard Bennett of Berean Beacon The ministry's Internet web page is: http://www.bereanbeacon.org/
To contact him, e-mail him at rbennett@stic.net or write to him c / o Berean Beacon, PO Box 55353, Portland, OR 97238.USA
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