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ooooooh, a Baptist being asked give his testimony! Isn't that the same thing as the gospel? *I'm sorry. Baptist joke*
I was raised in an Italian Roman Catholic home in Kearny, NJ. My mother was remarried and going through a lot of struggles with my step-father. I was a teenager going through my own struggles. During my mother's struggles she was going to tea and tarot card readers. Then one evening she came home with a bible. Someone had invited her to church. Over the next few months she started attending church regularly and claimed to have been "saved." This was during the "I found it" campaign of the late 1970's. In addition there were the "Jesus" rallies at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. My mother was part of all of that.
Although my mothers theology was strictly Arminian, she constantly invited me to church. I wanted no part of it. I thought she was off her rocker. But she never ceased to invite me. Finally, in order to shut her up, I went to an Assembly of God church in the neighboring town of Harrison. On that particular evening the preacher was sharing some scriptures from Romans. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord...that God commended His own love toward us, in that while were yet sinners, Christ died for us...that if you shall confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." I left that evening in a state of panic. I was afraid to go to sleep. I thought that if I died I would go to hell. I remember the closing remarks of the preacher. He said the men of the church would be having an all night prayer meeting. It didn't mean much to me at the time, but now at 1:00 AM in the morning and afraid of going to hell, it meant a whole lot. I walked about four miles to that church and got there about 2:30 am. I stood at the base of the steps and debated on whether I would go in. I wasn't the bravest 17 year old kid you had ever met. But I knew that I was at a pivotal moment in my life. I walked up the steps and down the center aisle of the church where I met one of the pastoral staff. Everyone called him brother Dan. I just went up to him and told him I wanted to get saved. I remember the smile on his face. He put an arm around me and we prayed right there at the altar. I stayed there at the church until 7:00 am, praying with the rest of the men.
That is the story of how my Mom was used of God to bring me to Christ.
Now I know, how Arminian! Assembly of God...good ole' fire and brimstone Romans preaching...the dramatic walking down the aisle in the middle of the night...praying the sinners prayer at the foot of the altar. Yep. Not exactly Matt McMahon expounding the scriptures in good Reformed style. But that is how the Lord dealt with me. Over the years He moved me to other churches where my theology was morphed and then to other churches where it was morphed some more. Eventually I embraced Calvinism and many aspects of the Reformed faith.
Richard, this may be more than you bargained for, but I pray my story is an blessing to others.
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