kimber1 said:
cristoiglesia, i just wanted to say God bless you
it was my own delving into the history that eventually had me considering Catholicism
i'd love to hear your conversion story someday
God bless you also,
Thank you so much for being interested in my conversion to Catholicism. Please bear with me, my journey was a long one and sometimes circuitous. I was born and reared in a city that was all one religion. I was reared in Winston-Salem, NC and was baptized as an infant in the Moravian Church. Being that there was only one religion in the community, I did not grow up with a lot of religious prejudice. My father was born of Jewish ancestry and my mother is of German ancestry. My paternal grandfather had converted to Christianity as a young man. My father enrolled me in Hebrew school when I was about nine years old and I continued as a teenager. This was the genesis of my passion for Biblical languages,the Torah and Church history. I went off the college and received a degree in music and in biology and received a scholarship to medical school. Unfortunately , the Vietnam war was during this time and my lottery draft number was 20 out of 365. I was drafted 5 days after graduating college and also had the double misfortune of being drafted into the Marine Corps. I served in Vietnam as a combat "grunt" in a place called Khe Sahn. To me, Vietnam was a very spiritual experience and I was sustained by my faith. That is where I first realized that I was a sojourner in this world and not part of the world. That feeling and reality persists to this day and changed my life. Shortly after returning home I was called to the ministry in a very supernatural experience where the call was undeniable. Shortly afterwards I entered a Baptist University and studied theology. I really could not agree with Baptist theology although I tried. I managed to graduate by faking my agreement and soon enrolled in a Methodist University studying religion. This was more comfortable and made much more sense and I really excelled there in a better environment. Wesleyan theology, he having been a Moravian, was more reasonable and did not have the same Humanist undergirding as does Calvinist theology. My emphasis throughout graduate school was in early Church history and Biblical languages.
While in graduate school I went on my first mission to Nicaragua when the Sandinista's were in control of the country. The Moravian church had missions among the Misquito indians and the Sandinistas were committing genocide against them because of their Christianity. I volunteered along with other Vietnam vets to go there and work with the Contras to get them relocated from the coast to the mountains to save their lives. We were successful in their relocation and they survived in a more defensible location.
I graduated from Grad School and despite offers to teach and to pastor, I decided to become a missionary. I went to work smuggling Bibles for Gideon into the Soviet Union. I was subsequently caught, tried and imprisoned for subversive activities. I was there with an open ended sentence and I really felt that I would be there for the rest of my life. While there I came to believe that God had abandoned me. A Orthodox priest came to visit and I asked for a Bible in English, Latin, Hebrew or Greek. He said that he could not get me a Bible into the prison but would find what he could that would boost my spirit. On his next visit he brought me a copy of the complete works of St. John of the Cross written in Latin. I came across "Dark Night of the Soul" and related perfectly to his experiences, a fellow prisoner who also felt abandoned by God. I learned from St. John how to reach deeper into the Spiritual side of my faith and communicate with God through prayer as never before. I had my first personal experience of the sign gifts of the Spirit while imprisoned there. A whole new Spirituality was opened to me. Subsequently the priest through his bishop was able to secure my release and have me deported. I spent a year there.
I was then sent to the Middle East and I worked in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria and was now working for Wycliffe Bible Translators. I came in contact with a lot of the priests of the Eastern Catholic Church and was impressed with their faith and ability to endure under intense persecution, facing death every day. I often thought, how many Americans would be Christian under this kind of persecution. Very few I am afraid. After several years working there I went to Southern Africa briefly and served as a chaplain for a military unit and then went to the Philippines. I felt called to the Philippines and I already had a home there. I had met and married a Philippina while working in Saudi Arabia.
Upon arriving in the Philippines I immediately began to pray and fast calling on God to show me the mission He had for me. Each day I went to the Cathedral in Imus, Cavite, Philippines to pray. I had done this each day for about a week when I was taking a break from my prayers and was out in the courtyard of the Church and sitting on a bench watching the park across the street. A tricycle (a small motorcycle with a sidecar used as a taxi) driver parked and came over to where I was sitting. After a short pause he asked me if I was a priest. I told him no but that I was a Protestant minister and offered to help. He went on to tell me that he was Catholic and that he had been approached by members of the Iglesia ni Cristo to convert to their faith. I knew their cult reputation and offered to discuss it with him in more detail the next day at the park across the street. He came the next day and had several others with him. The group continued to grow and soon I was teaching the Scriptures to forty people in the park each day and answering the charges of the cult against the Catholic Church. This went on for about six weeks before I decided to have a revival service.
Beside the Cathedral there is a fairly large pavilion where there are all sorts of community activities. It was owned by the Church so I went to the priest and asked if I could use the pavilion. He smiled and said that he would ask the Bishop. I went back the next day and was surprised to learn that they knew of my activities as an apologist in the park and not only offered me the pavilion free of charge but also let me use a sound system. I put out flyers in the market to advertise the revival. I arrived at the revival about 45 minutes early and found the pavilion almost full. I had expected only about a hundred people but there was already close to a thousand people. The people continued to come and filled not only the pavilion but the street, the courtyard of the Cathedral and spilled over to the park across the street. The Police had to block off the street. I was humbled and overcome by what the Spirit had done. I delivered the Gospel message and at the end asked if there was anyone who needed prayers and healing to come forward and I would pray for them. It seemed like the whole crowd surged forward. I panicked and said a quick prayer under my breath. At this moment I heard a voice behind me and looked to find the priest and a group of deacons and seminary students with me. We went among the people prayed and layed hands on them. I was holding the foot of a young man of about 14 who had been crippled since birth with a deformed foot and praying for him when I felt the bones move into place and he was healed. I knew that God had done this not only to heal the young man but to impress me with my mission.
I continued my efforts after this against Philippine cults teaching the Scriptures. I also started teaching lay ministers for the Catholic Church in Scripture. During this time there was an opening at the seminary in Manila for a Latin professor and the Bishop recommended me for the position. Looking back this seems amazing, a Protestant offered a position in a Roman Catholic seminary. I accepted the position and soon I was teaching OT studies, OT prophecy and early Church history as well. I continued my ministry and teaching efforts and learned that my denomination was falling into what I believed was great error. They were investigating the possibility of ordaining practicing homosexuel ministers. My lifelong friend was on the committee and when I talked with him he said it was a done deal and that they were just waiting to see what the impact was going to be in the Episcopal Church and adjust accordingly. I decided at this time that I could no longer continue as a Protestant. I was hit between the eyes with the realization that the Protestant experiment was a failure. That the fundamentals of the movement had left the Protestant movement as a breeding ground for false teaching and constantly changing doctrines. Many of the Churches had adopted a theology of God serving man instead of God being served by man. Among many groups it had become a kind of create your own God , create your own Church. All of this fueled by Protestant fundamental freedoms and the triumph of Humanism within the Protestant movement. I realize this is a gross generalization and I apologize if I have offended anyone.
What I wanted was stability without the influence of Humanist precepts. I wanted to return to the faith of the apostolic Church which I had always embraced. I talked with my colleagues at the seminary and they suggested the Orthodox Church, the Eastern Catholics or the Old Catholics. At the time becoming a RCC priest was not possible in the Philippines which was probably also divine providence because I have some fundamental differences with the RCC. After much investigation I decided on the PNCC and was ordained shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, I was forced to leave my position as a professor because, ironically, it was not acceptable that I teach as a schismatic Catholic but it was OK as a Protestant minister.
I feel that I was always a Catholic, that somehow God had written that on my heart. Becoming a Catholic was a very freeing experience. I no longer had to compromise my teaching to match Protestant doctrines but could preach the uncompromised Word of God. I no longer suffered from the shackles of Sola Scriptura which interfered with the receiving of the entire Word of God and understanding the structure of the Church that Christ created. Even though I continued to look through a glass darkly, things were clearer and descernable as never before. I felt like the prodigal son who had come home into welcoming arms.
God brought me to the Church in steps and challenges. I almost retired from the ministry instead of becoming a priest. I was 50 years old and I thought I was too old to start over in ministry. I was reading a biography about St. Augustine and I found that he did not become a priest until late in life and he accomplished so much in the Church. It was reading about his life that helped me to make the decision to become a priest. He inspired me as well as the sacrifices of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp. I realized that it was not my choice to retire but it was God's when he decides that my mission is done and brings me home.
In Christ
