As a youth, I knew Christ by name but didn’t have personal relationship with Him. It took me 40 years before I actually heard the word “Salvation” as it was not introduced to me by the Roman Catholic Church. I didn’t even read the Bible until I was saved. The old religion has always taught me that believing in Christ as God, and obeying the Sacraments were good enough for me to go to Heaven when I die. It was absolutely wrong. The Bible says in John 3:3, that “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
I used to go to Catholic Church on Sundays, but living worldly as soon as I got out especially when I became adult. I looked Holy inside the church on Sundays, but living carnally as a drunk, adulterous, and materialistic man with a filthy mouth. I thought I was a Christian—just because I was baptized as an infant—but the truth of the matter was that I was not. I was far from being a Christian. Infant baptism was not even in the Bible. Roman Catholicism taught me more on ritualistic and tradition-oriented religion, not relationship. The word “Salvation” and the phrase “born again” were both never heard. The Bible was never taught in our Catechism class. I’m glad I met someone who introduced me to Christ and His free gift of Salvation, but it was only after I sentenced myself of self-inflicted death. I attempted to kill myself (using my old Colt King Cobra – a Magnum .357 revolver) in July, 1996. Praise God! Jesus loves a sinner like me as He loves all sinners. God used a Christian friend not only to save me from killing myself, but also introduced me to Christ. That friend prayed that I may live, and that I may be saved. Lo and behold, I was saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ on August 25, 1996 as I confessed my sin by mouth and followed the Doctrine of Romans 10:9, which says “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.“. I was also baptized in water and Spirit on October, 2002, which nullified and voided my Catholic baptism as an infant.
I am proud to be born again, and to be a true Christian. I could have died and gone to Hell without knowing that I could be saved. Now I have personal relationship with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and a personal access to His WORD, the Holy Bible. Now, I am not ashamed to reach out to the world and spread the Gospel of Christ—to help others see what I didn’t see for the first 40 years of my life. Now I’m certain that I am going to Heaven when I die. No doubt in my mind whatsoever.
If Christ could save a wretch like me, He could save you too if you would only call upon His name. The Bible says in Roman 10:13 that, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Sometimes we think that the end of our rope should be the end of our life too, but what we don’t realize is that Christ is always here not to condemn but to save us. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
You can be saved, right now, if you will pray sincerely in your heart something like the Simple Prayer of Surrender (from previous posting). After praying and accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you can consider yourself as a Saved/Born-Again Christian. Remember the date you get saved, and start attending a healthy Bible-based Church…I recommend an Independent Baptist Church.
If my short testimony could be a blessing to you, I would ask that you please email me at mmoe@ec.rr.com and let me know, so I can pray for you.
God bless you.
Bro. Manny
