My Profession of Faith in Christ

This is the story of my conversion from Mormonism to Biblical Christianity. More importantly it is a story of my salvation and how God was able to use many converging witnesses to draw me into the abundant life He has for me–Some of these witness were (and are still present in my life) my love for reading and studying the Bible, my love for my wife and the dramatic change that came over her after she was born-again, but mostly my love for and active search for the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Part 1.
The Old Life
I was born into a home guided by my loving parents. Together we lived an active life centered on the teachings and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the Mormon Church. My life was filled with the love and devotion I had for my family and for the church. My love was reflected back by them. My life predictably progressed through the Mormon faith for seventeen years-blessed as a baby, baptized at 8, ordained a deacon at 12. At age seventeen, my family encountered devastating events brought about by sin. Exposure of these events and their consequences shattered my faith and my health. I lost my connection to reality. I spent a month in a mental hospital with the broken pieces of my life. Occasionally, I would see dark shadowy figures surrounding me and felt their eyes and presence upon me. These Evil ones were directly causing me pain and anguish. It took over a year for me to recover and regain a sense of reality and for these demons to leave me alone. It was only through reading in the bible that my demons would go away.

I recommitted myself to my Mormon faith and began rebuilding my faith starting in the beginning with reading the Old Testament; besides my seminary class was going to be studying it. During my final year of high school, I fell in love with one of my closest friends and future wife. I challenged her to listen to the restored gospel. During our first year of college, she converted and was baptized by me into the Mormon Church.

We had discussed going to the temple and getting sealed, but church rules forbade it. We wanted to get married, but had not set a date and then tragedy struck. Her father died. She was alone in her new faith, and was surrounded by questions. I tried to help her find answers. We set a date and were married. My answers to my wife’s questions did not satisfy her. The combined toll of life changing events became too much for her. She became frustrated with her inability to accept some of the truths taught by the Mormon Church and left the church before the birth of our first child.

I arrogantly reasoned that my faithfulness to the Mormon faith would win her back based on the promise found in 1 Corinthians 7. We had many months of open war. Although it was a physical struggle of words and emotions, its roots were spiritual. Our marriage was severely strained and was in trouble. I continued attending the Mormon Church with our new baby for several months. I even blessed and named our baby into the church. I prayed God would reward my faithfulness to the church by restoring my wife. I waited for a miracle. It came. It was not what I expected though.

Part 2.
My Damascus Road
Then one day my wife proclaimed that she had been saved. She had been arguing on the internet with some Christians for weeks. Now she told me that she was a Christian and had made a confession of faith to follow Jesus. The next few days puzzled me. No more fighting. The change in her was visible to me. It was like a beam of light testifying of the peace she had found. She was invited to attend an Assembly of God church to meet a relative of the women who lead her to Christ. I agreed to go with her to the church out of my arrogance to show her the folly of other Christians and out of her promise to go to the Mormon Church with me.

At the beginning of the meeting, I stood mumbling the words to unfamiliar songs and listened to the praise by energetic worshipers that surrounded me. After singing and a few announcements an elderly gentleman spoke in tongues. Moments later another voice gave an interpretation which sounded like a prayer praising God. Never had anything struck me so powerfully. It was like a bright beam of direct divine light. It was God’s Holy Spirit convicting me and witnessing to me. I was in awe and dazed.

My wife, our baby, and I continued to attend that church for several months; the most memorable impression was that of a Sunday school teacher that taught a new believer’s class. It reshaped my view of God and exposed my need for Jesus. I was not saved, but the soil around my heart was being tilled and seeds were planted. During my attendance with the congregation at the Assembly of God church, I continued to have home teachers from the Mormon Church come to my home. Now I was having questions about my faith. Questions, I could not find the answers to.

A co-worker, Brad, had begun breaking the soil of my heart, also. He was able to give a reasoned defense of the hope he had. His hope was anchored in the God of the Bible. He invited my wife, children, and I to visit his church. He apologized that his church did not have a senior pastor, he said the congregation was in transition looking for a new pastor, but that there would be a preacher to share the good news with me. He was right about the preacher. The only parts of the sermons I could remember told me that my eternal soul according to the bible was in jeopardy. I had to decide to either trust the bible or not.

I continued going to the Grace Baptist Church to hear the bible preached for several weeks. One week, nothing seemed any different from past weeks, but aided by the voice of an interim pastor and with my eyes closed, head bowed and heart pounding-God’s divine light came and He called me. I answered by raising my hand as a sign of the commitment I had made in that moment in my mind and heart to follow Jesus. Later an elder of the church would guide me down the Romans road to confirm in my heart and mind my authentic salvation. I was on a spiritual hill top for several days.

Part 3.
A New Life
Around the same time my wife had given me a New King James translation of bible. I began reading it. I asked the home teachers from the Mormon Church to stop coming to my home. We would continue going to different Christian churches until we left Twin Falls and moved to Logan. During those early months Bob, another member of Grace Baptist Church would come to our home regularly and taught from the Gospel of John. He was sharing the power of Jesus through the stories of the woman at the well and the Blind man being healed. Finally, I had decided to formerly request to severe my ties to the Mormon faith. It was around the same time, I decided to move to Logan to earn my college degree.

I addressed a letter to my bishop and several days later receive a letter from him and another from my stake president annulling my affiliation with the Church and rescinding all my future blessings from God. The next month, I moved to Logan, Utah with my wife and two young children to start a new life outside the Mormon faith.

Both my wife and I knew we needed to find a home church. The first week of our move, we found the oasis book store. From behind the counter, Brad talked to us about our spiritual history and about the local churches. We decided to go to Maranatha Baptist Church because it was one of the larger bodies and had a program for our kids, as well. We were warmly welcomed and even accepted an invitation to lunch on our first visit. We continued going to Maranatha on and off for several years always enjoying the great bible teaching given by Pastor Don. One Sunday, prompted by Pastor Don I again heard the voice of God calling me to baptism. God wanted me to be counted as part of His church family. I was baptized in December of 2002.

I am thankful for an elder in the church and the effort he took in mentoring my early walk with Jesus and through demonstrating and teaching me what being in Christ meant. I wanted to have more connection to other believers and my new church family, so with my young family we began going to small groups. They have been a blessing to me in sharing my life with others and connecting to the body of Christ. As my family grew, we have become our own small group now.

In the summer of 2004, the Lord directed me to try my hand at teaching an adult Sunday school class. I discovered God’s gift for teaching within me, and I continued using my gift to strengthen the body for the next five years. Using my spiritual gift to edify the church has strengthened and matured my walk with Jesus. My hunger and thirst for God remains. It is quenched through my worship of God through praying, reading, and meditating on the Bible regularly. I am also greatly blessed by fellowship with others by meeting and worshiping with them often. I enjoy my morning bible study group and our common thread and love for Jesus. I journey forward as the head of my family in guiding (shepherding) them under the direction of the Good Shepherd. Most of my energy and strength is devoted to my family, and seeking how to be the husband and father God intends me to be.

Part 4.
Perseverance in my faith.
The summer of 2009 was a whirlwind. A trial of my faith. My life changed from its course. The details of the transition are quietly being washed away by sweat, tears, and blood. It is not the sweat from my labor, nor the tears from my sorrow. It is not even the blood from my life. They belong to my Redeemer. Yet at the end of the shadow that darkened my path for several steps, I am still walking on the same narrow trail I began a decade ago. It was by the lamplight of God’s Word and the voice of the Shepherd that I still knew the way onward toward Jesus.

It is by God’s mercy and grace that I am able to persevere in my faith and trust in my Creator. God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is continuing to transform me by the renewing of my mind. God has not stopped the marvelous work He has started in me nor is He complete. Much more work is necessary. I shall let the Carpenter from Nazareth continue His work within me. As the long shadow from the whirlwind breaks, I am eager to prove what that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is. It is Kingdom Living.

I stand near the threshold of the return of my Lord, My Redeemer, and My King. Maranatha, come quickly Lord; but while I am waiting, I also stand on the threshold of each day that the Lord gives me seeking His face. I have found Him in loving and serving others.