There is no doubt that many of the people who abandoned Catholicism did so without having a real knowledge of the Word of God and of what a true Catholic is. Many who were declared enemies of the Church, upon coming to know the truth, return to the Church founded by Christ. There are even people who, although they were born in another Church or in some religious sect, join our faith: amazed by the Truth, grounded in Sacred Scripture and in History.
On this page you will find testimonies of former Protestants, born-again believers, who have returned to the path that Our Lord Jesus Christ left us: the Catholic Church. Brothers and sisters who were formerly Jehovah’s Witnesses, Adventists, Mormons, Evangelicals, Anglicans, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Luz del Mundo, Universal Church, etc. Brothers and sisters who had had a true encounter with Jesus and had given their lives completely to Him, and who now enjoy the complete Gospel.. You will come to know wonderful testimonies, from the simplest to the most striking, which will strengthen you in the faith. Do not fail to meditate on them, and recommend this page (Defiendetufe.org) to your friends.
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FROM PENTECOSTAL EVANGELICAL TO CATHOLIC SEMINARIAN
With hatred in my heart.
My name is Erich Francisco Picado, I am from Costa Rica, I am 38 years old and a journalist by profession.
When I was 16, an aunt of mine took me to her sect, called Cathedral of the Gospel and after a few months I became fully involved in Protestant activity. I began to read the Bible according to the pastor’s precepts; I was rapidly indoctrinated into the idea that the pope is the antichrist; that the Catholic Church is the great harlot described in Revelation; that the saints and the Virgin were demons who served Satan in order to usurp the throne of God; that priests and religious were wicked people who deceived others and had to be fought against.
Everything was bad, the world was bad, everything was sin, even my family, including my parents and my siblings. Catholics were enemies of Christ because they were still stuck in Catholicism.
I came to hate my father and I distanced myself from my family, and I preached in the streets to CONVERT sinners (that is, everyone who did not gather in our sect). I would repeat to them the attacks I had learned: that the pope was a diabolical figure; that they were idolaters because they worshipped images; that the Catholic Church was sunk in error and subject to the devil; along with an enormous range of nonsense that the religious leaders of the sect kept putting into my head.
I began to “open my eyes”.
Then I went to university and began to know another reality, another world. Inevitably, the culture I was taking in gradually opened my eyes, and I began to question within the sect why there was, for example, no solidarity with the poorest, why there was no struggle for social justice, etc. The answers were vague: we do not belong to this world; their poverty is the fruit of their sin and their idolatry.
I later realized that the pastors and their children received large sums of money, because I saw checks made out in their names.
After many years, I left the sect. I was left up in the air as far as religious structure was concerned. I believed in Christ, in God, but in no Church.
Then came the first “blow of the Holy Spirit”.
One day, while watching television, I saw a report about Mother Teresa. As I watched it, I was stunned. I said to myself: A woman like this, even if she is a nun, cannot do this for the poorest of the poor unless she is filled with God.
I decided to write to her all the way in Calcutta to greet her. The Missionaries of Charity in my country told me: Do not get your hopes up too much, because she does not answer letters since she does not have much time….
IT TOOK ONLY 4 months and I received the reply. THE LIVING SAINT HAD WRITTEN TO ME, a wretch who hated her Church. She gave me words of comfort, she encouraged me to love until it hurt, she told me that my life was worth something, that I should pray every night with her like this: Mary, mother of Jesus, give me your heart, so full of love and mercy, so full of sweetness and peace, that I may find your Son in the Bread of Life, hidden among the poorest of the poor….
meeeee, praaaaaaaaaaaaaaaying to Mary:…..Just imagine.
Then would come the “second blow of the Holy Spirit”.
I was invited to apply for a scholarship. A 7-month course. I handed my papers to a university professor who took them and…those things that only God can do happen. I was granted one of the places; when they gave me the paperwork and I saw that it was FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, it was a course in pastoral communication of DECOS, CELAM, in Puebla, Mexico.
I arrived in that country and began to live through an experience that was terrifying for me. Masses every day, the study of the reality of communication within the Catholic Church…
Incredible: I became friends with Fathers (priests). Little by little I began to ask them questions: Why do you worship idols? Why do you follow the Pope, who is the Antichrist? Why do you worship the Virgin? Where does the Bible speak about the Mass? Where does the Bible speak about the Catholic Church?
Poor men…I machine-gunned them for three months.
Their loving act of friendship, their sincerity, but above all their real and practical commitment to the poor They finished tearing me down.
One day, while reading a book on THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, one of them said to me: Where were you Protestants in the second or third or fourth or fifth century….? Do you not realize that to call oneself a Christian in the world for more than 1000 years meant calling oneself Catholic, since there was no other Church? Do you not know that for 1500 years before the appearance of Luther, to be a Christian one had to be Catholic or Orthodox.
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD WOULD SEND HIS BELOVED SON ONLY TO KEEP LEAVING HUMANITY IN DARKNESS FOR 1500 years until Luther appeared? Use your head, he told me.
That shook me to the very foundations.
Without any explanation, I later began to attend a tiny chapel that was at the university…
a friend of mine had told me that in the tabernacle, that is, the little box that is next to the lit candle, there was the Lord Jesus.
Without either believing or ceasing to believe, alone and in secret I began to slip away every day to the little chapel, I would close the door and stay there for an hour and I would say to the Lord: The truth is I do not know whether You are there or not, but if You are there, help me, tell me which path to choose: He answered me.
Back Home
I still did not go to Mass. It was on November 3rd that I said to one of my priest friends: I want to return to the church. I do not know whether I have a chance. To my surprise he said to me: Look, if you are going to become Catholic because of us, your friends, you had better stay as you are. If it is out of clear conviction, think about it for a month and then we will talk.
The month passed and I told him: I am ready now. I want to go to confession after 18 years of not doing so; I want to belong to the church founded by Jesus upon the Apostle Peter.
Back in Mexico City, I visited the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe: What an intense emotion I felt as I prayed the prayer that Mother Teresa had sent me in front of the holy image of the Mother of God at Tepeyac.
I cried like a child as I prayed; I told all the brothers present about my return to the church, as excited as a child.
I returned to Costa Rica. At home, everyone was surprised to see me laden with rosaries and images of the Virgin. I asked my father and my family for forgiveness for the years lost in the faith, living in hatred and in which I left love out.
Seminarian For the Glory of God.
To bring this to a close, I will tell you that I left my professional job and I have now been a seminarian for 4 years. I want to be a priest of the Lord Jesus Christ, to proclaim the virtue of the love of the One who called me from error to the light,
God is great, He is wonderful. What a more beautiful place the Catholic Church is, a place where the Word of God dwells, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and where there is a struggle for justice, for love, for life.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, I AM SO HAPPY BEING CATHOLIC, MAY GOD BLESS YOU
Erich Picado, Costa Rica
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NOW I KNOW THE TRUTH
My name is Francisco Javier Ixcol, a native of Santa Lucia Utatlan. I want to share with you my life testimony: I am a married man, I have 3 children, and I am going to tell what Jesus Christ did with me and with my whole family.
For 8 years I took part in Protestantism; I criticized the Catholic Church, the one that Jesus founded, and the sacraments that Jesus instituted. I had many mistaken ideas about images, about the saints and the Virgin Mary, etc. I thought that Catholics worshipped them, as many Protestants today think that way, and I realized that there is a great difference between adoring and venerating.
My wife and I always had these problems because she is Catholic and I am Protestant, since we could not share the word of God. My wife prayed for me; she asked the Lord that I might recognize the true church that Jesus founded, and asked the Virgin Mary to intercede for me; in time I recognized the error I was in; then I began to go to the Church, and I remember that I arrived at the parish of the Holy Family, in the capital, Guatemala. From then on I did not go back to the Protestants, because they taught me biblically and historically that the Catholic Church was founded personally by Jesus, as we find in the Gospel of Saint Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 28:20 .
Today I say to my Protestant brothers and sisters that they should recognize the error they are in. Thanks to the missionaries, I gained this knowledge about the authentic faith. To my Catholic brothers and sisters, I invite you to join a pastoral group in your parish. Today I belong to the defenders of the faith, making known the Church that Jesus Christ founded.
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AFTER EIGHTEEN YEARS I RETURNED TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I, Gisela Navarrete Rámirez, belonged to the Anglican Church for 18 years, where the priest Leonel Montes presided at the church of Santa Cruz. During a visit that the defenders of the faith made to my home, they invited me to take part in a course on Protestantism, which Mr. Luis Piedra Hernández taught for 2 weeks.
There I realized that Christ founded a single Church and promised to be with her all days until the end of the world. Faced with this, I began to reflect and I returned to the Catholic Church, and since then I keep preparing myself so that I can help my daughter, who is a Jehovah’s Witness, and my parents, who belong to another religious sect.
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FROM ADVENTIST TO INDIFFERENT AND NOW A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH
For some time I was receiving instruction from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Then the pastor visited me and I began to frequent his church with my daughters.
Until my husband returned and strictly forbade me to keep going to the Adventist church. For a year I was left without any religion, finding myself completely confused.
Finally the brothers Encarnación Calderón and José Trinidad began to visit me, and that was when I began to clear up all the doubts I had and to find the light.
Now I give thanks to God, together with my husband and my daughters, for having recovered the faith and the unity of the family. Truly, we feel very united and happy. Every Sunday we go to Mass and receive Communion with great devotion.
What I now want to do is this: to prepare myself better in order to join a ministry for the defense of the faith, and thus be able to help other brothers and sisters to defend their faith against the attacks of the sects, which are very subtle and manage to confuse many people.
I ask God to keep blessing all those who are striving to make Christ’s great dream a reality: “that they may all be one, just as you and I, O Father, are one” (Jn 17:21).
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I WAS A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS
By Antonio Carrera
My dear readers: I ask God that you may never have to suffer the disillusionment that I experienced upon discovering the falsehood of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I give thanks to God for His goodness and mercy, since He saved me from sinking into atheism, as usually happens to almost all those who leave the sect of “The Watchtower”.
My disillusionment as a Jehovah’s Witness
I, who lived in the Catholic Church for 28 years, and afterward became her bitter enemy, have returned to her bosom. I am Catholic, and I wish somehow to repair the harm I did by writing to lead the sheep away from the fold of Christ, against the false prophets called Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I remained 13 years chained to the sect and held high positions in it as a leader. Among others, I was a member of the Congregation Committee, field overseer, school servant, lecturer in Bilbao, Durango, Munguía, Guernica, Barcelona, Eibar, San Sebastián, Irún, Pamplona, Burgos, Santander… Organizer of assemblies and speaker at them.
Because of my enthusiastic character and my propagandistic zeal on behalf of the Witnesses, I have visited thousands of homes preaching the false teachings of the sect and making proselytes. I have practically dedicated my entire life, during the 13 years with them, for in preaching alone I spent 3,542 hours, sold them 570 books, 580 booklets and 3,700 magazines. And how many people have I won over to the sect? I could add more, but there is not enough space.
How they make one a “witness”
My case is similar to that of thousands of others who became Witnesses. I was living my normal existence as a Catholic, with my wife and our first son —today we have three, Agustín, Noé and Andrés. This happened in 1961, when I was 28 years old, the age of religious restlessness. From that time on, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were a novelty and a piece of news in Spain, and like anything new, they attracted curiosity, especially of simple people lacking religious and intellectual formation.
Three kinds of people “bite” on the hook of “The Watchtower”: the very ignorant, who are the majority. Others who, not being so ignorant, are people inclined to the spiritual, curious —like me— and this leads them to try out what is new. Those in the third group, I call them “the bellies”; these are the ones who enter the Organization hoping to obtain some benefit.
The first contact with the “Witnesses” is usually dazzling. They offer you entry into a group in which —according to them— all the people are excellent, kind and loving to the highest degree. The first visits to their meetings stun you with so much greeting and kindness; but this lasts a short time: afterward no one cares about you, except to keep watch on you if you miss the meetings, or if you do not often go out to visit homes to sell them their literature. They offer you salvation by God and to live eternally on this earth, made into a paradise after the end of the world, which will come from one day to the next, even though they have been announcing it for 100 years. Then the earth will enjoy peace, without sickness or cemeteries, for no one will die. But, of course, no one will be able to be saved… except those who become Jehovah’s Witnesses.
From the very beginning they will fill your house with books, booklets and magazines —charging you for them, naturally— with the ideas of the sect. A member of it will instruct you weekly, and then they will not let go of you. The brainwashing they do to you will make you accept the most absurd things, like letting a family member die rather than giving him a blood transfusion. They instill in you hatred against all religion and government, and this brings them endless problems. They also break off friendships and family ties, and this makes them cling more to the group and become fanatical.
In the five hours of weekly meetings, apart from what you study at home, they will urge you to preach more and more, and to sell their books, since the end of the world is near, and only those who do much work on behalf of the sect will be saved. And so that you come to believe all this, they use as “bait” the Word of God, their Bible, falsified and misinterpreted.
This, which to you, dear reader, will seem childish and unreasonable, has a real effect on simple minds. I was for 13 years chained and enslaved to this diabolical organization, with no will to see or understand anything other than what emanates from them, “ the Witnesses”.
Unmasking the Jehovah’s Witnesses as false prophets
Jesus, our Lord and Savior, already warned us with these words: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. (Mt 7, 15 and 24). Who could these false and deceiving prophets be? I will prove that the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses are precisely that.
They boast of being just that, prophets (see La Atalaya 1962/212/ 15). And that they are false, we can verify by reading, in their very own books from years back, in which they announced, in the name of God, events that have NOT come to pass. But they reach the height of presumption when they assert that they, the leaders of the sect, are enlightened by God, and see the truth in exact harmony, that God allows them to understand the truth (Profecía, pp. 199-225) and that the pages of their magazine La Atalaya are revealed by God. (Los Testigos de Jehová en el propósito de Dios, p. 22). And the greatest outrage spoken by the Witness leaders is that one cannot understand the Bible unless one first reads the books of the “Tower” (See La Atalaya, Sept. 15 de 1910).
Before going on to analyze their many changes, errors and failures to fulfill their prophecies, it must be noted that the Witnesses do try to justify themselves. Of course, they never say we were wrong, or what we announced is false because it did not come to pass. No, because having affirmed that it was God who revealed it, they would have to admit that it is God who was mistaken. That is why they usually say that God is giving them more light and understanding every day, and that revelation comes to them progressively. But if we reason, we will understand that progressive revelation is one thing and contradictory revelation is something very different. An increase of light is one thing, and having the very lamp changed on us is another. Moreover, no prophet used by God ever had to make corrections for having been wrong, nor did he receive the light in installments.
The second coming of Christ
First they believed that Christ had returned in 1874, but in an invisible manner. Then they announced that by 1914 he would come in person, BODILY. Notice how they said it in 1899: The Divine Plan of the Ages, p. 88, Study VI, under the title: The Return of Our Lord, its object, the Restoration of All Things. The first subtitle of the chapter reads thus: The PERSONAL and Pre-millennial Second Advent of Our Lord. The word PERSONAL appears in capital letters in the original. As we know, Christ did not come in 1914. But today, in their literature, they teach that he did return, but spiritually, in an invisible manner. What do you think of that? You are at the airport waiting for a relative and, after confirming that he did not arrive, someone tries to make you believe that yes, he has arrived, but spiritually, and that you can no longer see him. A lie is always sought to be covered up with another lie.
El fin del mundo ¿cuándo?
When Christ was on earth he said that we should remain watchful, precisely because no one can know when He will come, and when the end of the world will be. This event, known only to God, the Witnesses have prophesied for various dates and, naturally, they have failed in all of them. They have given 1799, 1874, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1925, 1975.
The fall of the Papacy will occur in 1914
In Studies in the Scriptures, of 1889, second series, page 356, they prophesied: the total extinction of this false hierarchy —the Papacy— near the ending of the Day of Wrath… which will end… with the year 1914. As we can see, the Papacy is still standing, and the prophets of La Atalaya have failed.
The Patriarchs will be resurrected in 1925
This is one more of the colossal errors of these false prophets. In La Atalaya of 1954, p. 251/33, they say thus: We of the remnant used to think that beforehand, or at Armageddon, it would be necessary for Jehovah-God to raise from among the dead the great cloud of witnesses of ancient times, the princes (reckoning that they would be only 70 in all) in order to strengthen those of the remnant.
Also in the book Millions Now Living Will Never Die, pp. 88-89 and 90-97, they said: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the faithful will be resurrected… we may confidently assume that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of the faithful prophets of old.
So strongly did they believe this that they built a beautiful mansion to house the resurrected patriarchs, not in Palestine, where they died, but in California (USA). The cost was approximately 50,000,000 present-day pesetas. I deal with this subject in my book El fraude del fin del mundo.
The Jews would never again be a nation in Palestine
From 1879 until 1912 they taught as God’s truth that the Jews would indeed return to Palestine, and that this would be one more of the proofs of the end of the world. From 1932 on, and always using God as the revealer of these “truths” or “prophecies,” they teach that no, that the Jews would not be a nation in Palestine. The prophecy has turned out to be false, since the Jews are indeed in Palestine, and they are indeed a nation, and a very powerful one.
End of the world by 1975
Setting dates seems to constitute a disease among the Witnesses. That is why, from 1967 on, they began to put forward yet another new date for the end of the world or, as they now say, the end of the system of things.
They asserted that in the decade 1970-1980, without fail, the new world would come, and God would destroy all the wicked of this earth. Even more, they expected this event by the mid-1970s, precisely by 1975. Let us see how they say it in their book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, page 29: According to this trustworthy biblical chronology (that of the Witnesses), 6,000 years from the creation of man will end in 1975, and the seventh period of one thousand years of human history will begin in the autumn of 1975 C.E..
Here we have that, if the millennium was to begin in 1975, the end had to have come before then. So it reads in their book: Make Sure…. p. 443: Thousand-year reign of Christ, preceded by the destruction of all the Wicked of the earth. And in the magazine Despertad, of April 22, 1972, p. 26, they say:… in the mid-1970s there is a stirring hope of a magnificent relief. Precisely 1975.
What has been said, and more, qualifies the Jehovah’s Witnesses as false prophets.
How I discovered the falsehood and left the sect
Divine Providence has ways that we humans cannot know. And I will always thank God for having discovered the deception and for having freed myself from such bondage. After being 13 years in possession of what I, in my blindness, believed to be a valuable diamond —the “truth” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses— I gave it a hammer blow, and bang!… false! What a disappointment! and how painful this experience was.! I was left spiritually empty, and I was sick for 4 months. Among those who saw the deception and left the sect with me are my wife and children, my brother Abel, with his family, and others.
It happened like this: I had a friendly chat with a Witness of many years in the sect, and he criticized its teachings. He told me that if I could read old books of the Organization, which they no longer publish, I would be able to verify a multitude of changes and errors in their teachings, which, according to them, are inspired by God. This put me in serious doubt, doubts that were confirmed when I examined for myself seven old books, from the year 1918, that by chance fell into my hands.
Already resolved to break with the Witnesses, I wanted to communicate my discovery and the reasons for leaving them, but they did not let me speak. And without granting me a chance to retract, they expelled me, falsely accusing me of sectarianism. They have forbidden all members to speak to me, under the threat of also being expelled. In fact, they have already excommunicated two people for the mere act of speaking to me.
Now I am Catholic and I thank God for knowing and living in the truth.
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FROM A BROKEN CHRIST TO A COMPLETE CHRIST
I am from Bethania, Tuxtepec, Oax. At first I came to know a broken Christ, and that is the one I accepted; afterward things changed.
Mark of the Beast
My friends at school would lend me their cassettes of Protestant songs and preaching.
Every Sunday I would continually go to the Sunday school of the Pentecostal church, and in the afternoons to the worship service. I really liked their way of singing, their films, but the frequent preaching frightened me — that everyone who was not a Christian was going to be sealed with the mark of the beast. Well then, the fear of being sealed made me stay within it.
My mother still kept her Catholic faith, and, seeing my devotion to the Pentecostal religion, she no longer gave me permission to keep attending. I went some time without practicing any religion, until my other friend, who was a Jehovah’s Witness, began to visit me.
Earthly Paradise
Each time she came, she would bring me very beautiful books and magazines, illustrated in color.
I remember that the first book was “You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth,” adding that they never died.
At that time they were still few in my town, and in reality none of them had died; so I believed even more and I agreed to study with them.
As time passed, in my opinion, I had already discovered the truth, and I was convinced that it was the true religion. So I began to urge my sister-in-law to study together, and I succeeded. We bought the literature and studied it together.
The Only Church of Christ
But one day a young missionary came to my town. By that time there was already a Catholic chapel in my town, and I went out of pure curiosity to hear what he was saying.
He gave me a book, and I set about comparing the teachings of my books with that book. I found it very interesting, and I continued attending to listen to the topics he gave us over three days. Many things began to change.
When it ended, he invited me to another course in San Andrés Tuxtla, Ver., which I went to and stayed at. Now I am rendering my services to the Catholic Church for two years full time. From a broken Christ I went on to have a complete Christ.
Although it was very difficult for me to believe again in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, with a little good will I am achieving it, because I am truly convinced that Christ left only one church, the Catholic one, in which I must remain forever.
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From Error to Praise
I am Margarita Selli Reyes, from the community of Apixita, Municipality of San Andrés Tuxtla, Ver., I belong to the Diaconate of Tilapa. I was a Jehovah’s Witness for two years and I was able to discover that these brothers are very selfish.
Whenever something about my family seemed wrong to them, they would stop speaking to me. I was only an agent, but they were already training me to go out and preach. Therefore, I only cooperated with my truck, to take people to other towns. Every eight days I had to buy two copies of La Atalaya.
My whole family belonged to that sect. I wish that the brothers who belong to this sect would get out, that they would no longer keep deceiving themselves, and I advise them to prepare themselves well, and not to keep deceiving others.
How gladly I wish that someone better prepared than I would go to speak with my parents, so that they might understand that they are in error.
Now I am striving to form a choir in the Catholic Church, and I gladly give my service in praise.
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I WAS BORN IN THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH
I was born in the Pentecostal Evangelical Church. Now my life has changed completely and I Belong To The Movement “Defense Of The Faith”.
It was the so-called Independent Pentecostal Evangelical Church in which I grew up. At the age of forty I realized that I was in error, and therefore that the sect to which I belonged was founded by Valente Aponte González in 1930; that is why I returned to the Catholic Church with my whole family, and now we have already received the sacraments.
I gave myself to the defense of the faith movement, and every day I feel proud and convinced of being in the only Church founded by Christ 2000 years ago. I hope that my testimony may serve so that many separated brothers may return to the Catholic Church. Thank you for the work you are carrying out on behalf of Catholics
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A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS FOR 20 YEARS
I am very happy to have returned and to have come to know the true Church of Christ. My name is Maria Isabel González Blancas, from the Diocese of Atlacomulco, State of Mexico. For 20 years I was a Jehovah’s Witness. And now I am Catholic. Through sister Guadalupe Martínez Alcantara I came to know the Defenders of the Faith Movement; she gave several training courses around where I lived.
It was then that I heard about one single Church founded by Jesus Christ, the topics that were being taught interested me greatly; I began to investigate on my own; in the course of the year I became convinced that the Catholic Church is the only one founded by Christ, and that is why I returned to her and received all the sacraments on June 11, 1994. Now I am very happy in the Church and to have renounced the false doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
For this reason, I will help my sincere brothers born as Jehovah’s Witnesses, and also those who were not, but who still live in ignorance, on account of which the sects easily deceive them and teach them to hate Catholics especially.
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From Mormonism to Christianity
A Mormon without knowing why.-
I was born divided between two beliefs: on my father’s family side they are Catholic, and on my mother’s side, Mormons. For many years they were not married in the Church, since my maternal grandmother had ordered them that they had to marry only in the Mormon sect for her to be able to give her consent, which they did not accept, and their union was only a civil one. When we were born, first me and then my younger sister, we never received baptism.
Mainly I (who had always been very curious) would go one Sunday to the parish with my paternal grandmother and another Sunday to the Mormon sect, and as a girl I observed great differences as to the celebration, its length, what they did, how they dressed and behaved… in short. At the age of 8, some Mormon missionaries came to my house (although I did not even know who they were) and asked me if I wanted to be baptized; very happily I accepted, thinking that I was going to go through the ritual of the holy Catholic Church, but I was mistaken, and they began to give me my preparation about who founded the “true church” according to them, until the time of my baptism arrived.
Making Mormonism grow.-
It must be said that my maternal grandmother was more than glad and happy, since I was the first of her grandchildren to find the “truth.” I can tell you that the occasions on which I attended the celebrations every Sunday with my family were very few, because it seemed unfair to me that a girl should miss her favorite program, besides the fact that I did not understand anything of what they told me. The years passed, and it was from the ages of 14 to 16 that I went through a very intense period within the sect, since I took upon myself the task of confusing Christians by making them doubt their faith; although in reality I did not believe much in my own, but it was a great satisfaction to feel that I had the power of persuasion to convert them to Mormonism, since that was what they instilled in me, and I thought and believed that that was how it had to be.
Discovering Jesus Christ and the true faith
But God had a surprise prepared for me and sent me a very powerful message through the woman who is today my baptismal godmother; comparing our Bibles, I saw a great difference in passages and a lack of canonical books, and my favorite weapon was the Book of Mormon, but as she said: I am not an educated person, neither in the faith nor in school, but what I do know is that that book you carry is not true. From then on there arose in me the desire to ask the hierarchy of the sect why they told me that I was wrong; there was a brief time in which they succeeded, but it awoke again, and I began to inform myself, to read, to search and, above all, to observe.
The fact that they told me that when I reached marriageable age I would have to marry a former missionary made me think that they were directing my life, which I do not and will never allow. One fine day my godmother invited me to a women’s prayer meeting, and it was the season of the Resurrection, of which I did not have the slightest idea what it was about, since I had always thought that Jesus was dead; the women very kindly explained to me what it was and said a prayer for me… Never until that moment had I felt so much peace in my life. From that day I felt stronger to be able to speak face to face with my seminary leader and tell him that I would never go with them again, which caused him a great deal of sadness. My parents gladly accepted my decision and respected me at all times.
I feel happy serving God in the Church that He founded.
In vain the Mormons tried to make me change my mind, since they came to my house on several occasions with the intention of making me return, something they never achieved. To finish, I tell you that the following year I was baptized and made my First Communion by the work and grace of God on the day of Saint Maria Goretti in the little chapel that bears her name, and the following year in January I received my confirmation; a few years later my younger sister was baptized in the same little chapel, and a year ago my parents finally received the sacred sacrament of matrimony on their 25th wedding anniversary. I share this experience of my life with you very gladly, for it makes me feel happy because even in these days, and at 25 years of age, I serve God in a parish group to help in the building of His Kingdom here on earth.
May God keep you and the Most Holy Virgin protect you, your sister in Christ and Mary:
Rut N. González
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Iraqi soldier embraces the monastic life
«The Lord said to me: “Come and follow me”»
NINEVEH, October 19, 2003 (ZENIT).- «The Lord has done great things in me: He has been my consoler and my refuge», acknowledges a former Iraqi soldier from Nineveh who, after abandoning a life dedicated to war, entered a Chaldean monastery.
Because of its interest, we reproduce below the testimony offered by the religious –who has asked to remain anonymous–, published last Monday by the Agency of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Fides).
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I come from a Christian family. In 1984 I was a soldier in the Iraqi army. I fought in the war against Iran, serving for almost four years in the army. I also fought against the Kurds and, among other adversities, I was taken prisoner: a group of Kurdish guerrillas captured me, and I remained three months in the mountains suffering cruel tortures. They freed me because my family paid 10,000 dinars as ransom.
Military life in Saddam’s army wore me out and I fled, so I became a deserter. The police captured me, and a military court sentenced me to prison for desertion.
During that period I discovered prayer as true spiritual nourishment. I lived through this crisis with much pain and suffering in body and soul. But the Lord was always with me and never left me, because whoever has faith in the Lord should never be afraid and finds peace and joy despite situations of anguish.
The psalm says: «I have been young, and now am old; yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread» (Ps 37:25).
I began to question myself about the true meaning of life and about true values, asking myself where and when I could find the proper path of my existence in the world. What path must I follow to reach true happiness?
To the questions about myself were added other questions: why are there wars, injustices and hatred in the world? Why cannot humanity live in peace? In that moment of anguish, I heard a strong voice within me calling me: «Come and follow me, you will find the true meaning of your life». «I am the Way, the Truth and the Life» (Jn 14:6).
In 1988 the war ended and I took a course of studies at the University in my city, Nineveh. I continued to frequent the Church and to ask God to confirm my vocation.
In 1991 the Gulf War began, and the situation of most people worsened day by day. Many families were emigrating from Iraq. I too would have liked to join the diaspora.
In 1993 I enrolled in a course of Theology and I felt in the depths of my heart how sweet and good the Word of God is. The awareness of the vocation grew stronger, and then I responded to the Lord’s call. It is the Lord who calls, and it is He who takes the first step toward man.
After an intense period of prayer, in 1995 I left my family and my city to follow the Lord, and I entered the convent of the Chaldean Monks that is located in Baghdad.
Source: Defiendetufe.org
