"I was hell on wheels."
Another snatched from Romanism
The testimony of Bro. Mike
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
I was born and raised Roman Catholic. I attended 12 years of parochial schooling and was a member of the Catholic Church for nearly 20 years. I came from what I would consider a "religious" family. What I define as religious is: going to church every Sunday, completing the required sacraments according to the church, and trying to live as a good person.
I believed that since I was a Catholic I would surely go to heaven. I was taught through my religion classes that I could "earn" my way into heaven if my "good deeds" outweighed the bad. I was also taught that the rest of my family could pray my soul out of purgatory and be able purify me before I entered heaven.
These teachings did not come from the Bible. They came from religion classes where we were not encouraged to read from Scripture. We were taught from selected readings found within approved Catholic religion books. We were told that the Bible was a "good book" and it provided "good examples" to live by. We were taught that only the Catholic Church knows the way to salvation.
I held tight to these teachings throughout high school. Never once did I question my Catholic faith. During this period of time I gave into filthy language, sexual immoralities, pornography, and drunkenness. To put it bluntly, I was hell on wheels and I only cared about myself. I was living a very sinful life with no thought of the consequences. At age 16, I added murder to my list of broken commandments when I helped pay for my girlfriend's abortion. I rationalized that since I had become a murderer, I would have no chance of salvation. Shortly after this, I turned my back on God and started my walk with the devil by practicing Satanism. Ironically enough, I would worship the devil while remaining a "practicing" Catholic. At that time I began to see the truth of the "Catholic Church". I realized that many of the people in service were just like me. Good on the outside, but evil on the inside. All were brain washed into believing that they were fulfilling their "Sunday" obligation without making a true commitment to God. Looking back I now realize I enjoyed the Catholic services more during my most active times of Satanism. I had evil in my heart and never once was did I feel the presence of God in those buildings. Hypocritically, I sponsored a nephew and a niece as a "God father".
Fortunately for me, the Spirit of God freed me from the devil's grip when I called on Jesus' name while attempting to commit suicide. Something finally clicked inside of me that told me that my direction was leading to self-destruction or cold-blooded murder. After my bout with Satanism, I continued to ignore the call of God on my heart. I graduated high school with honors and decided to attend college. Shortly after starting college I drastically limited my attendance of Catholic mass to about once every other month.
After falling completely away from the Catholic church, I went through the rest of my college life with minimal struggles. What still remained was the gap in my heart that needed to be filled. Even though I had cleaned up my sexual life and my drinking had become moderate. I still had that emptiness inside. At age 24 I purchased my first Bible and immediately felt God leading me to His Word. It is very evident how He was working on me at this point in my life. Soon I learned that the Catholic doctrines that I was raised with were completely contradicting God's Word. My doubts were confirmed when I began a diligent, 6-month study between Protestant Christianity and Catholicism. At this point in my life, I began to attend different non-denominational services. Many of the sermons were on salvation, repentance of sins, and being obedient to God.
Over the next year I put together an elaborate front. On the outside, I had friends and some family believing that I turned from my sinful nature and was living for God. I attended Bible studies, discipleship classes, and even gave my testimony in front of others. On the inside it was a much different story. I continued to struggle with sins of the flesh. You see, even though I had studied the Word, and heard the sermons, I was too stubborn to give my heart to Jesus. Eventually I gave into my passionate nature and willingly committed adultery. I had now broken all of God's commandments. Even though I continued to keep up my strong outward appearance, I was swimming in even deeper sin. This was by far the lowest point in my life. I had been studying the Word of God diligently for over a year. I knew very well of my actions and the consequences. The sad part was that I could have prevented the pain in my life if I would have let Jesus in and allowed Him to take control. Unfortunately, in my heart, I did not believe. And only God knew of the hypocrite that I had become.
So there I was, confronted with reality. Was I going to continue to put on this false Christian act or was I going to give up my life for Jesus. On one faithful Sunday during a business trip, I listened to a sermon on the forgiveness of sins. I knew this was God speaking through a preacher right into my heart. It was a feeling like none other that I had experienced before. I felt the presence of God and I could hear Him inside of me telling me that it was time to make the decision. Either I accept His Son as Lord and Savior, or I turn my back for good. I finally made the right decision and accepted Jesus into my heart. I must have wept for at least an hour. I eventually composed myself enough to make a mental covenant with God. Complete repentance from immoral sex and pornography, absolutely no more alcohol, elimination of all filthy language, and to view other people through the eyes of Jesus. Everyone in the world needs a Savior and the only true Messiah is Jesus Christ.
It has been a hard road to haul these past few years after accepting Jesus into my heart. But they have been by far the best ones. Sure the devil stops by and slaps me from time to time to see if my convictions are still true. He wants to see if I will fall back to my old ways. Being human, I do stumble nows and again. But I know how to rebuke the devil and live for Jesus. That is what keeps me going every day. Sure I have a loving wife, a beautiful child, and a roof over my head, but Jesus is the glue that holds it all together, every minute of every day. When that slips for even a second, and I try to pull the load by myself, things get ugly.
God is real and He will free everyone from the bondage of sin and false religion. All you have to do is accept the truth…Jesus is the ONLY WAY to Heaven. He saved a sinner like me who broke all the rules from God. And know He is using this willing servant to help spread the Kingdom of God. Don't be fooled by men who teach that tradition is final authority. Find the truth in Jesus, read your Bible, and discover the blueprint to salvation that God spells out for all of us.
I owe everything I have to Jesus. He is my Savior, Lord, King, and Prince of Peace. I will give of my entire being to Jesus. Nothing else on this earth matters except living as a servant to the one true God. Because in the end, it doesn't matter what color you are and how much money you have, all that matters is that Jesus is your personal Savior. It took me 26 long years to figure this out. And those were 26 years of pain. Why put yourself through the same? Get right with God now! Die to the things of this world, and live for Jesus!
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3
| Eternal Life |
Hell is Real | The Gospel According to John
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| My Testimony |Why
I Read the Authorized KJV Bible|
| The Hymnal | Messianic
Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus Christ |
| Epistle Dedicatory to the Authorized King
James of 1611 |
