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When I was six months old, I was baptized in the Lutheran church. My biological parents were not believers. They just did what they thought they were supposed to do. In our early years, my sister and I suffered much neglect and lack of a stable home life. We were eventually taken away from our parents when I was six years old and became wards of the state.
At three years of age, I began attending the state school for the deaf. In many ways it took the place of parents and gave me what my foster parents didn’t, the stability and security that I desperately needed. The only time I wasn’t there were holidays and the summer, when I was placed in foster care wherever my sister was at the time. This went continued for two years. We went back and forth between several different foster homes. With these different families, we went to a few different churches as well, including the Church of Christ and Assembly of God without any interpreters. When I was in school, I went to an Assembly of God and United Methodist Church with direct communication in American Sign Language. While I was in school during those years, unbeknownst to me, a deaf teacher and a hearing sign language instructor, who was also an interpreter and a United Methodist minister, were “watching over” me. I had seen them in the hallways and auditorium on special occasions. They finally adopted me at the age of nine. My sister continued to stay in foster care until she turned eighteen years old, whereas I went to live with my adoptive parents until I went to college. Since my dad was a United Methodist minister, I went to church regularly. As soon as I was adopted, I was, once again, baptized in the church after professing faith in Christ under parental pressure. I learned more about God through various means growing up. I also closely observed my parents and in many ways was greatly influenced by them. I went to church faithfully and got involved in MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) on Sunday evenings which allowed me to participate in activities with peers from the same church. I attended all summer vacation Bible schools and learned a great deal about the history of the Bible. When I became a teenager, I began to dread going to church because there was nothing new or exciting and I had to go because I was the preacher’s son and had to set a good example. When I did something wrong, as punishment I was forced to copy chapters from the Bible and to show them to my mother. Not only that, but I had to do my best to tell her what it meant. It was a tough time because I did not really understand why I was a sinner and that what I really needed was Jesus Christ in my life. I could not wait to get out on my own and be independent. When I went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., I did not darken the door of a church even once. When I would go home for winter breaks, out of courtesy and respect to my parents I went to church with them. During summer breaks, I did not go home but instead gained experience working jobs with my college friends and exploring what the world had to offer. When I graduated from college with a degree in Management, my goal was to gain some experience in food service to aid me in later establishing my own restaurant. I was offered a full-time job as food service manager-in-training on the campus where I graduated. I was promoted to assistant manager one year later. Also, I had a girlfriend who was not believer, and we were engaged for quite awhile. I was pretty happy. I worked where there was accessible communication and I was engaged and in process of making plans to get married. During this time, I was exposed to many different religions in my workplace. Students from all over America and some from other countries as well had come to eat in the cafeteria at University Plaza. All the students had many different religious backgrounds which came up in discussions amongst themselves while they ate. I observed their interactions with much interest and provoked into contemplating things I had learned growing up. I had one employee who happened to be a Jehovah’s Witness. She shared her beliefs with me and I found them to be very strange and I knew they were not Biblical. At the same time, one of my co-managers was a Muslim. He had told me from time to time about the teaching of Islam, which I found to be shallow. He gave me a fairly long pamphlet entitled something like “What errors are in the Bible?” I was shocked to find that the Bible I had known growing up seemed to have so many mistakes when comparing verses with other verses as the pamphlet pointed out. I was still ignorant at the time, but I had observed his behavior closely. One day, as we were talking, a young college girl happened to pass us by and suddenly he stopped our conversation to crane his neck and gawk at her. I told him that it was wrong for him to be doing this. I told him that his Muslim faith did not allow it because it was not a holy thought, etc. He acted very nonchalant about it and just chuckled and said there was no harm in it. This bothered me a great deal because I knew this was not an acceptable thing by any religious standards. Plus it was just the way I was raised. This incident provoked me into a more in depth search for the truth. The following summer, I went to Utah to attend the wedding of one of my childhood friends, who was also not a believer. He was engaged to a Mormon. I went to the church to witness the ceremony. The bride’s dad was a bishop. I stayed with her dad for a few days before flying back home, so in my search for the truth, I took this opportunity to talk with him. We had only conversed briefly when we had to stop because I was asking too much questions and some were too in depth. He kept telling me that he couldn’t tell me more because I was not a member of the Mormon church. He suggested that I go to the Mormon museum in Salt Lake City, which I proceeded to do the next morning. I saw a huge temple next to the museum. It was gated with guards and when I tried to get in they wouldn’t let me because I was not a member. That was very unwelcoming, and not as it should’ve been, I felt. I went on to the museum and took my time. It was based on the chronological history of the Mormon church. The history itself was interesting, however, one big question lingered unanswered for me. Where were the golden plates that God (or angels) had written and revealed to Joseph Smith in New York? Just before I exited the museum, I asked the curator where they were. She said she couldn’t tell me. I got the impression that this church was being very secretive of everything. I remember at summer vacation Bible school, I learned about scrolls that existed in museums and even scrolls that were discovered in 1947 known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These weren’t hidden from the world like the golden plates. Along with the exposure of many different religions during my brief stint as a food service manager, I had everything that I could’ve wanted: my career was off to a good start, I was engaged, and living in an area highly populated by other deaf people. Despite this, I couldn’t shake this empty feeling in my heart. Deep down, I knew the Bible held the answers, and I felt a sense of urgency to fill this void, but how? At work, I had heard a lot about a man named Mark Wood, whose brother was my roommate for several years, and of his reputation for zealously preaching the word of God. After arriving back from Utah, I decided to invite him over my place to discuss the matters weighing on my mind. We had a good long talk about God and the truth. He showed me numerous verses in Scripture. While I was listening to him, I became convinced that the Holy Bible was the one and only truth. This confirmed what I had learned from my parents teaching and preaching while I was a teenager. I was overwhelmed with the facts presented to me and felt shame and guilt over my sin that I had committed all of my life. In addition, he used the “Roman road to salvation” verses in Romans. Before he left my place, he pointed out the verse, 2 Corinthians 6:2, “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME, I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION, I HELPED YOU”; behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION.” When I read that I was stunned and I told myself why wait until I am ready? So I excused myself for a minute and went to bathroom to have some time to think about it and prayed for the first time in a long time. I fully surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and fully repented of my sins. Then I came out and shared that with Mark and we prayed together. When he left, I immediately collected all the worldly things I had accumulated that now no longer befitted my new life as a Christian and threw all of it into the dumpster. As I sat down to reflect what had happened that day, it dawned on me that it was my birthday. I realized that I got the best birthday gift that I had ever had in my life; the gift of salvation from the Lord. Nothing in the world could beat this! As a new Christian I began attending the church where Mark went, but only on Wednesday nights. I wanted to take things slow and be cautious because it was so different than my upbringing. Six months later I finally attended all services, whenever the church was open. Also, I knew I was His child and He had chosen me out of darkness and I must obey His commandment by being baptized. I was baptized for the third time but this time because I understood what it was all about and felt I needed to do it to show people that I had committed and dedicated my life to Him. In summary, the Lord used many people, even though many of them were not Christians, to expose me to many different perspectives and religions as well as the Bible. My journey in seeking the truth guided me back to the Bible. It supplied me more than just the answers I was looking for. It provided all I needed; reliability, reproof, corrections, discipline, love, etc. Also, it helped me to understand why the Lord put me in this world, for me to have true joy to share the ultimate glory and truth with Him. This is a great and priceless gift for all of mankind. If you have not yet received this, I urge you to seek and pursue the truth as I did. |
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"If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
John 8:31-32
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