Conversion from Roman Catholicism to Biblical Christianity

I grew up in a loving family who attended the Catholic Church regularly. Not just my immediate family, mind you(!) - but my entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.) was Catholic! I was a regular participant and played the organ at church and also was a leader in the "folk choir" for most of my teenage years. In short - I was as "Catholic" as they come!

I never doubted my faith because I was told to just believe everything the Church taught me without question. The Pope was supreme in his authority, and the priests and nuns were to be treated as "holy" and "special" servants of God who would never teach anything not true. I remember several times, non-Catholic friends of mine would ask me if I was "saved" - I had no idea what that term really meant, but I assumed it was akin to the "Sacrament of Confirmation" in my Church, so I would always say that yes, I was saved. Many friends dropped it at that - never realizing I didn't know what they were talking about! If you have tried witnessing to a Catholic friend who says they're saved, please be sure they understand it completely, or you may be losing the chance to bring someone into the kingdom.

I also remember many non-Catholic friends asking me about some of the doctrines, such as purgatory, confession, the Pope, Mary, etc. I always would tell them, "Oh - that's in the Bible!" - but I had no idea where because we were never taught to read the Bible for ourselves, but rather to simply believe what we were told. I had no idea these teachings were not in the Bible at all - but were actually man-made beliefs that the Catholic Church had made up throughout the years. Many of the teachings they always said came straight from Christ were actually made up as late as the 1950's! But I defended my Church - I loved my Church and trusted it completely. One time a friend really pressed me about where in the Bible were the teachings about purgatory. I asked the priest about this, and was given the verse where it says something about being thrown into prison and not getting out till you've paid the last penny. I remember thinking - "THAT is where you get the whole doctrine of purgatory from??!!" I started having some doubts about that time, but just pushed it to the back of my mind.

When I was 21 years old, I had a special friend (Creg) who was a non-Catholic. He asked me about my salvation, and again I convinced him I was saved. However, the Lord wasn't going to let me get away that easily this time! I had been reading a magazine from the "Last Days Ministries", led by Keith and Melody Green, and came across some pamphlets they were offering called "The Catholic Chronicle Series". I remember thinking, "Oh, great! Finally something about MY church!" I ordered them and was thrilled when they arrived. I thought this would be great to prove my church was okay to my non-Catholic friends.

I remember that evening so well... My best friend, Wanda (also Catholic), and I sat on my bed and started reading the pamphlets excitedly. After a few minutes, we both realized the pamphlets were not "for" the Catholic Church, but rather were explaining the differences between the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Bible. Our initial reaction was, "Oh - they don't know what they're talking about!" However, we got out our "Catholic Catechism" book (which contains the teachings of the Catholic Church to educate people interested in becoming Catholic) and my Bible and started to compare them. We took each of the Keith Green pamphlets and looked up every single Bible verse he quoted and then looked the doctrine up in the Catholic Catechism book. I started to feel my heart sink. Could this be true?? Wanda got so nervous and upset that she decided to leave.

So all by myself, I spent the next several hours - until 1 or 2 in the morning - studying, reading, praying, crying, and being very confused. The next day I had planned to go with Creg to an out-of-town meeting about 2 hours away. During the trip, I had the time to tell him what was going on. I started reading the pamphlets to him, and he was amazed. "Catholics really believe THAT?" he'd ask about different doctrines mentioned in the pamphlets. I'd say, "Well - I didn't realize that's exactly what they believed, but yes - I guess they do." You see, I'd been taking the doctrines that didn't make sense to me and explaining them away by changing what they really meant. For example, the doctrine of Mary and the "Immaculate Conception" - I always assumed this meant Mary conceived JESUS "immaculately" - through the Holy Spirit. In reality, what that teaching says is that MARY herself was born "without sin". The Bible plainly states that ALL have sinned except for Jesus! Another example is when people would ask me about why we pray to Mary - I'd explain that as being the same as if I were asking a friend to pray for me - that I was just asking Mary to pray for me. However, the doctrine really states that Catholics DO pray to Mary and even that we are to go through Mary in order to "get to Jesus"!! This is totally un-Biblical. The Bible says that there is only one "mediator" between man and God - and that's Jesus Christ, not Mary, not the "Saints", not a Pope - no one else.

Creg and I talked about this the whole trip and that evening when we got back to his house, he got his family together to help me understand "true" salvation doctrines. They got out their Bibles and went through everything with me - explaining how Christ's death at Calvary paid the price for my sins and that because of that, anyone who accepts Him as their Savior is immediately brought into the Christian family and can be assured they'll go to heaven. I was totally amazed! The Catholic Church taught me that we can never be sure we're going to heaven - that it was a guessing game, depending on how good or bad we were, and whether we died "with sin on our souls" (meaning without having been to confession since sinning). They explained to me that when Christ died, He took ALL my sins away - past, present, and future - and that God wouldn't hold them against me any more. There was no way I'd die "with sin on my soul" - because Christ took them away! I was in shock, and quite upset about my Church's apparent errors, but I was also pretty excited and hopeful.

While we were looking up the Scriptures, we came across one in my Catholic Bible that said, "Unless you do penance, you shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven." They all were quite shocked and said, "That's not what that verse says at all! It says, 'Unless you REPENT, you shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven'!!" "Penance" is a Catholic term, meaning going to confession and then doing what the priest tells you to do to "make up for" your sins. "Repent", on the other hand, is an internal change that happens when we turn away from our sins and turn back to God. A totally different meaning! Creg was so upset that my Bible had such untruths that he gave me his own personal Bible and told me to read it! And I did!

That whole weekend, I kept my nose in that Bible and read pretty much the whole New Testament. It was like a light-bulb had come on in my head. Words I'd heard many times before now made perfect sense - in this new light of salvation through grace. I felt light and happy and joyous - like I'd found the truth at last - something "real"! I called Creg a few days later and said, "Creg, this is amazing! I feel like a brand-new Christian!" He said, "Jacki, you are a brand-new Christian!" I realized then that while I was following the doctrines of the Catholic Church, I had never really been a "Christian" in the true sense of the word - believing totally in Christ's sacrifice at Calvary to save me from my sins. I mean - I'd always heard from the Catholic Church that "Christ died for our sins". But it really had no meaning, if you think about it. If Christ died for our sins - then why were we forced to go to confession, do penance, attend church, follow the other sacraments, etc., etc. - in order to HOPE we were going to make it to heaven? And if Christ paid for our sins, why on earth would we still have to go to purgatory when we die to keep trying to make up for them?? Where did Christ fit into that picture? In reality, His death did me no good according to the Catholic Church - I still had to try to earn my way. But the truth was that His death did everything! There was nothing I could do to add to it. He paid the price in full. I could be assured of my salvation! The Bible even says, "I write these things unto you so that you may know you have eternal life." You can't get more plain than that! Something about this made me feel so FREE - and made me want to serve God with all my heart because of what He'd done for me.

Being a musician/composer, that day I wrote a song that expressed what I was feeling. Here are the lyrics:

The next several days were so exciting for me. I learned about the rapture and how we Christians who are still alive will be taken up to heaven to be with Jesus! I learned what heaven is going to be like through reading the book of Revelation. I never knew any of this was in the Bible! The Catholic Church actually taught that heaven was not a real "place" but rather a "state of mind"! I have to admit, I felt cheated - like the Catholic Church had kept all these marvels from me. I was so happy to have finally found the truth that I started sharing about this with my friends and family. My younger sisters and brother all were anxious to receive God's "gift of salvation" and all accepted Christ into their hearts as their Savior. That was a precious moment for me.

However, my friend Wanda was another story. She got so angry that I was saying these things about the Catholic Church that she turned her back on me. She said I was "dead" as far as she was concerned. My mother also had major problems with this - she had a very hard time believing that the Church she'd loved for more than 50 years could ever teach anything in error. I was very sad that this came between us, but I knew I had to choose between the Bible and the Church. I chose the Bible.

I was just a week away from moving to Florida to attend college, so I attended the Catholic Church before leaving. I heard words in a totally new light now, though. Words of the "Mass" that I'd heard a thousand times before and had just taken for granted - not even giving a thought to their meaning - now were so obviously anti-Biblical that I knew I couldn't continue to participate in the Catholic Church once I moved to Florida. I found a wonderful little Bible-believing church that helped me grow spiritually as a Christian. I have never looked back - never once regretted leaving the Catholic Church - never doubted that I did the right thing. I know now that every single belief I have comes straight from the Bible - I'll never again have to "defend" my beliefs with half-truths and made-up stories.

Shortly after I moved to Florida, my mother pressed me about talking to a priest to try to "straighten myself out"! I told her I would. I made an appointment with a local priest and went with my Bible in hand. He thought he was going to counsel me on the teachings of the Catholic Church. For about 5 minutes, I asked him questions like, "What does the Church teach about Mary?" and "What does the Church teach about Purgatory?" Then I asked the biggie(!) - "Does the Church teach we can know we're going to heaven?" I'll never forget what happened next! He just said, "Well...I wouldn't say we can know we're going to heaven - we can only hope that we won't die with sin on our souls." I knew then that God had opened the door for me to witness to this priest!

It was wonderful after that! I counseled HIM for about 20 minutes - going through the Bible, showing him where it says we can know we have eternal life, showing him the many verses that say our salvation is a free gift from God and that Christ's death paid the price in full for our sins so that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God again...

He was amazed! He got very excited and said, "Maybe I'll include this in my sermon next Sunday!" (He was a young priest, by the way - maybe an older one wouldn't have received these teachings in this way.) He asked if I'd come see him again and talk more about this. I said I'd love to!

However, over the next several weeks, I tried many times to contact him and was always told he either wasn't there or was busy, etc. I realized I was being "put off" and gave up. I don't know if he went to his senior priests and told them about this and they tried to quiet him down or what happened. But I do know that I at least shared the truth of God's word with him and that maybe it had an impact on him.

I truly believe that salvation is so "simple" that we humans try to make it way too complicated! The conversation between the priest and me above explains all someone needs to know to be saved. I hope that my story has touched your heart and that you will study God's word for yourself to see that what I've said is true. I hope that if you're a Catholic now, you'll take the time to learn that what your Church really teaches is not in the Bible as you've probably always assumed, and that you'll have the courage to seek out the truth. I hope that this message will cause someone else to say, "You know - I'd never thought of it that way before!"

To lose your salvation (the parable of the seeds) one must lose faith in Jesus’ forgiveness and His love that is the greatest love, laying down His life for His friends. If one never loses that faith in Him, there is no loss of salvation.

That faith will keep us coming to Him to wash our feet and falling ever more so in love. Like the mutts who are adopted from the ASPCA who have smelled death all around, we know that it is only His grace that has saved us.

Excellent response and depiction.

Unbelief is the culprit as you point out. And the parable of the soils is right on.

Ultimately one will either love the world and the finite things that satisfy for a season; or embrace Christ's Grace and then gladly take up their cross and follow Him.

We do have a common enemy I will agree, but we’re not the same as far as the term Christian goes.

There’s a large difference, as this article points out in simple terms.

I know Catholics though that don’t believe in the church, and just call themselves that because it’s a familiar term.

Hm. I don’t suppose you asked Dr. Scott Hahn, Steven Ray, Al Kresta, Jeff Cavins, et al., for their input into the idea?

I always find the fence hopping stories unproductive as everyone has someone to "show." This seems to be what the Mormons did a lot in the 70s and 80s.

When I find a good atheist to Christian testimony I usually post it here. Seeing someone totally lost in the world convicted by the Holy Spirit and brought to repentance and faith in Christ for their salvation is a powerful testimony.

Scott has figured out how to milk Rome for a "comfortable " living ...He is group leader on pilgrimages for 206 travel agency. He has his own page Dr. Scott pilgrimages $$$$$$$ from Catholics

“Scott Hahn who, by his own testimony, experienced a ‘miracle’ shortly after he began praying the rosary is now experiencing questions about his resume. Hahn testifies he joined the Catholic Church because of his experience with the rosary. He claims to have been a pastor of the Trinity Presbyterian Church before converting to Catholicism. We now find out from the Office of the Stated Clerk, headquarters for Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), that he was never an ordained pastor and that Trinity Presbyterian Church never existed. This was uncovered by Bob Bowrosen who directs a counter-cult ministry in New York called Mars Hill Ministries. A copy of this letter on PCA letterhead is available from PTG (Proclaiming the Gospel) to anyone sending a stamped self-addressed envelope.”

Proclaiming the Gospel also has an excellent website where you can also contact them: http://www.pro-gospel.org/

http://www.oocities.org/fcfc.geo/news98.htm

So your unbiblical “assurance” is just a myth.

FAIL.

The Bible provides us our assurance... not some man in a dress wearing a pointy hat. And red shoes.

"For by grace ARE YOU SAVED through FAITH..." Not will be. Are.

Instead of claiming something is "unbiblical", maybe you should actually READ the Bible.

Hoss

I live in CNY and don’t see any of that. We have some excellent Catholic schools as well. And you do realize Catholics are Christians, correct? Your comment makes me think of my sisters one time boyfriend who wanted to know how we could attend a church that sacrifices animals on the alter. Where do people get such ideas? I do know some people that have left that Catholic Church. And although this may offend some people when I asked why they left for a certain denomination it was “because they expect less from us”.

This is from The Berean Call:

The Bible is filled with verses to the effect that the Good Shepherd will keep His sheep, that those to whom He gives eternal life shall never perish, that He who has begun a good work in us will perform it, and that even if all our works are burned up, yet the one who is in Christ is saved though as by fire. Never does the Bible say that the One who purchased my salvation has now turned it over to me to lose it if I please. That would be the utmost folly, and it is the force of the argument in Hebrews 6: that if one could be lost, it would be impossible to be saved without Christ being crucified again, in which case Christ would be made a fool of before the world for having procured salvation at such a cost and then turning it over to sinners who could never earn it and who surely can’t keep it.

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour….”

—Jude 24–25

~~Most~~ All of Catholicism is unbiblical, and ~~some~~ of Protestantism is~~n’t~~. “Sola scripture” is ~~not~~ biblical, as ~~nor~~ is salvation by faith alone. You can make a good case that the doctrine of the Trinity is also unbiblical. And Jesus prohibits divorce and remarriage, which is not allowed by every Protestant denomination that I’m aware of. And Jesus often prayed that his flock be one, ~~not split into innumerable sects as happened after the reformation~~.

There. Fixed all of the incorrect language.

You're welcome.

Hoss

Hm. I don’t suppose you asked Dr. Scott Hahn, Steven Ray, Al Kresta, Jeff Cavins, et al., for their input into the idea?

You understand that when you make that argument, you are actually reinforcing an evangelical/protestant perspective:

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (29) That no flesh should glory in his presence. (30) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

So if you are confounded by us foolish ones, hey, we're just doing our job! See, we expect to have people defecting from the faith. There are plenty of prophecies to that effect, which I leave as an exercise to the reader. Moreover, we expect to be the ones who in this life are looked down upon as foolish, undereducated, unsophisticated, etc. It is the World System run by Satan that is our antagonist in this story, and that has always been his meme. What did he tell our first parents, Adam and Eve? That following the serpent would be the way of wisdom, enlightenment, etc. It is far too simplistic to simply accept what God has said as the final authority. No, we must mix and dilute that authority with the well-spun tales of would-be human overlords. So it's perfectly within that meme for Satan to smear those faithful to Christ as foolish commoners.

But for my part, I am happy to be thought of as one of the dunderheads who lacks this world's wisdom. According to what Paul told the Corinthians above, it puts me in pretty good company, and in the end it isn't what you know, but who you know that matters. Jesus, that is. ;)

Peace,

SR

Cardinal Wolsey tried to warn the Pope at the time that Henry Tudor was a true whore-hound and England could very well could be lost to the Church, but did he listen?
Yeah, but to Katherine’s nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor ... duh.

So now we’ve got skeptics seeing dozens (hundreds?) of Protestant denominations all calling one another mistaken, and agreeing with one another only on the point that the Catholic church is ... the Whore of Babylon.

The Holy Roman Catholic Mother Church abhors Luther’s offspring as Hell-bound heretics.

And all from Henry VIII’s supercharged libido.
Oh well.
Maybe you’re all wrong?

Not that I see. I live in a small village that has a vibrant Catholic community. A neighboring town in the past 10 years has had to build two new Catholic Churches to accommodate more Catholics, converts as well as those that have moved into the many new housing developments in the area. We have had some schools closed over the years but I think some of that is because many families could not afford reasonable Catholic school tuition plus their enormous local school tax bill. We thought of sending our children to Catholic schoolâ€” but we chose to live where we do because of the small, mostly traditional public school here. I wish I would have sent my
girls to the local Catholic elementary/jr high school. They are turning out wonderfully intelligent, polite, helpful Catholic teenagers. And they are not all liberals like I know someone will say.

Thanks for the post. I grew up Protestant, met and married a Catholic guy, converted for the sake of family unity. Big mistake. It was so far removed from my upbringing and caused me to struggle with the teachings I had known, learned, read, and studied up until that point. The guy and I got divorced (I can’t condone mental and physical abuse as reasons to stay in a relationship) and left the Catholic church. I could never get past intercessory prayer to dead saints when I have direct communication with Jesus.

Good small town living.

Are you in NY state?

My sister protested the closings of multiple Catholic schools her sons went to. It was the school she went to!

But that was in the more populous lower part of NYS outside of the City.

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