My Testimony - From Rome to Christ

I was raised in a Roman Catholic family. It has been for generations that we were practicing Roman Catholics. We were trained to never question the priest, to always attend religious rituals, to go to church on Sundays. We were never allowed to question why. I remembered I wasn't even allowed to read the Bible on my own. I was told the Bible wasn't meant to be read by just anyone.

I blindly followed Roman Catholicism for many years. However, things started to change when my family and relatives showed how godless they can be. Many were religious but lost. I soon suffered from a faith crisis when my parents legally separated. It wasn't easy to be born into a dysfunctional family. I lost all hope especially when my faith in "Mother Mary" began to sink. I so often asked her for help. I practically lost fall faith when I prayed and prayed and nothing happened. I got so mad at "Mary" for not helping me. How could that ceramic doll help me when it is just a piece of stone? The real Mary is in Heaven but unable to hear our prayers!

I nearly thought of converting to either atheism, Buddhism, or Islam because I just grew mad at my former faith. I remembered trying to inject Catholicism into the Bible classes while I was already hating the religion. I never knew that having been enrolled in a Baptist school was going to change me. How often is it that many attended that Baptist school but never came to the saving knowledge of Christ. At least 70% or higher of the population were Roman Catholics and still are. I was told I made a mistake when I left. But I did especially when I was told about sin and salvation. 

At first, I hated the Bible classes because of one thing. I hated the Bible because it knows all about my sin! I was told that I was trained to pray to idols whenever I talked about the image of Mary. I never thought the school that I was enrolled in was a Baptist school. Soon, the pastor was too bold to condemn Roman Catholicism to a class that's more than 70% Roman Catholics. It was offensive to be told Catholics aren't Christians. I never knew that the pastor was a former Catholic turned Christian. I even lied to him that my priest (who was non-existent) told me I didn't have to pray the Rosary. He asked, "Did he tell you it was wrong? It's wrong!" and I dropped my charade. I found out that he was a former Roman Catholic himself. 

I never heard the message of sin and salvation. As a Catholic, we always had the mentality that Mary was above Jesus. No, Mary isn't above Jesus. Jesus is God. He's the eternal Son of God. When God the Father said, "Let Us create man in Our image." - He wasn't talking to the angels. He was talking to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Reading that Jesus was before Abraham proved praying to Mary was wrong. Jesus is God and He must have created His earthly mother. How can I say Mary is above Jesus when Jesus is the eternal Son of God? 

I thought I could still make it on my own until I heard a message from a Baptist pastor. I didn't believe the message immediately because it felt too good to be true. I still remembered how at one time I saw the salvation message at Trinity Broadcasting Network before I dumped it. There was this message called, "How can bad people enter Heaven?" He said that the only way a person escapes from bad to good is by receiving Christ as Savior. I eventually heard an Anabaptist pastor preach on TV the same message of salvation. Eventually, I knew I had to get saved because I was as bad as I could be and I was even more fed up with sin than ever. I was fed up with sin and wanted to follow right. I realized I was going to Hell with all my sins. My repentance wasn't perfect and it's still perfected. I simply received Jesus as my Lord and Savior that night after I was told that I never received Him in "holy communion". Rather, I must put my trust in Him. I did but I still had a lot to learn especially old habits die hard. Fortunately, when God saves a person - He changes them. People's only hope from their sins is in receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Sin will always be a problem but Christ is the cure!

Some people wonder why I never returned to Rome. I spent much of my college days at a Roman Catholic university. It was like Lot entering Sodom. My family hoped I would be re-converted but they found me listening too much to Baptist sermons on the radio. I couldn't help but still adhere to the truth which I know, accept, and embrace. I once thought salvation can be lost by simply quitting the faith. But can I quit on the faith? I thought I could until I realized that somebody who was supposedly Baptist turned Roman Catholic came from a wanton family. The family showed no real signs of true conversion. I couldn't be re-converted to Rome if I already applied the basic truth of the Scripture. If anything, the conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Right now, I think I couldn't have gotten out of Rome if He didn't call me out first (Revelation 18:4).