Then there were the endless recitations of the same prayers in grade school when in India, and throughout the Gymsanium curriculum in Brazil!
NEVER throughout my life as a Roman Catholic did I EVER as much as see a Bible! Granted, I knew that that is what the priest would read when saying Mass at the altar, that big book I never got to see up close! NO! Our readings "of the holy book" were done in bits and pieces, a verse here and there that perfectly fit the Mass of the day in the printed monthly "manuals!"
This the behavior of the everyday Roman Catholic, who never even thinks to get a Bible, so many be the other publications that are directed their way! TRADITION to have everything to do with the life of a Roman Catholic, a tradition that is not expected to be broken!
Yes, I say that this had hold of those around me because, for reasons I knew not at the time, I never felt "at home" during these recitations and beliefs.
Oh! I did look forward to communion when it was that I was to "ingest" my Lord! But Mary... she always posed a problem for me! If she was born "sinless," just what was the big deal that she was good? That was my rationalizing it at a very young age! Neither did I care for all the lighting of candles to dead people whose statues were all around! It really looked pagan to me!
Perhaps because, when in India, I saw statues in my Indian neighbor's house, to goddesses, and candles lit everywhere!
When I had occasion to go to Medjugorje, I who had always felt so out of place when these matters were discussed, keeping my skepticism to myself, begged God to please allow that I be a believer, to please show me a sign! Nothing! Nothing!
No one has ever left Medjugorje more disappointed than me!
Then, a simple sentence uttered during my viewing of a documentary on the life of Martin Luther on the Discovery Channel got my attention! I couldn't quite believe what I had heard! I searched the schedule to learn that it was going to be shown again, in the middle of the night!
I went to bed, but not before setting my alarm: I had to hear that statement again!
I did, when I viewed the documentary again: something to the effect that Luther, having been ordered by the Pope to teach theology at some institution thought he had better read the Bible to prepare himself!
WHAT??!! ONLY THEN DID HE THINK IT PROPER TO READ THE BIBLE??!! My goodness!! I really had to digest that! The more I thought about it, the more all began to make sense in the subsequent months!
Today, almost 11 years later, I KNOW no priest or pope has ever bothered to read the Scriptures, to really utilize them in their lives, they to be just a prop on their "altar to God!"
Now I understood why just a verse here and there was read, invariably taken totally out of context to fit their idolatrous tradition!
Then, a pastor Gilbert to whose church I had begun to go, the NFBC (Niagara Frontier Bible Church) that has become famous on this blog, voiced from the pulpit that just a 15-minute reading of the Bible per day would get one through the whole Bible in a year!
Had Pastor Gilbert come down from the pulpit and slapped my face I would not have been more stupefied!! My God! 15 minutes from my day! My day in which viewing the news was a never-ending chore!! What a wake-up call!
It was then that I read first the New Testament! No, I did not follow the 15-minute per day reading at the time. My curiosity was perked to read the New Testament first, which I did, for longer than 15-minute segments!
At first it was just an elemental reading, but, soon, very soon, I began to feel a rage growing within me, the more I read!! I had to re-read the New Testament, again, just to assimilate it, and the verdict was in: I HAD BEEN FOOLED! I HAD BEEN THOROUGHLY FOOLED BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH!
I cannot begin to address the rage I felt! I deemed myself to be a very intelligent person: how could I have been so fooled about the very basic beliefs in my life?! Beliefs I related to my son, whom I raised in this CULT, whom I would not have been sad to have seen become a priest! I even joked with him that he looked so good in his altar-boy garb! I had an urge to confront the pope, himself, with this!!
Then reason prevailed and I decided that there had been nothing to prevent me from reading that Bible someone had given me back in 1975, I think, which had sat as new as ever all these years! The same bible that I wore out and bought a new one, just before finding out about the corrupted versions propagated by the Roman Catholic Church, this just this year, thanks to a dear friend I came to know through YouTube, Dave, from http://www.youtube.com/user/BereanBeacon
If there be just one Roman Catholic who will decide for himself or herself to read the true word of God... This the aim of my life! You need no "interpreters," nothing! God directed His word to the ordinary man! The apostles were just this!
One need but request with a pure heart, one need but have an open heart, to allow that the Holy Spirit do His work in it!
John 8:30-35 (King James Bible)
The truth made me free! I am under no yoke!
This, my dears, was told by Christ, Himself!!
Do not let ANYONE ELSE tell you differently!!
Christ, Himself, thought you to be sufficiently intelligent to learn His word!!
Do not profess to be a follower of Christ when it is that you discount His word!! Then it is that you are a liar!!
A Lamp in The Dark Trailer
The History of the Holy Bible (Part 20/20) Documentary
A Lamp In The Dark Review
Now, isn't that funny!!
I am pretty sure that Pinto has only recently come around on the KJV issue. I have one of his earlier movies called, "Megiddo" and he quoted the "Good News Bible".
I prayed for him to open his eyes on this and now it appears the he is receiving the truth from the Lord on this matter. Praise the Lord!
- I was actually contacted by the executive producer of this film, and he told me that the sequel to "Lamp In The Dark" will be focusing on attacking and exposing the new versions. Praise the Lord!
I had seen the "Megiddo" film too, and bought the above video thinking it was going to be an unfair attack on the KJV.
But it turned out to be a very strong defense of the KJV! It really is a good video, and is going to make some waves among the new version crowd!
Well, I know I look forward to viewing this sequel!
I had just ordered "A Lamp in the Dark" this afternoon!
...
It is also interesting to note that no Protestant has ever seen the original Vaticanus manuscript. The new version "scholars" are only given copies of it, from the Roman Catholic church!
It seems funny to me that the modern "new" versions are said to be better than the KJV, and yet they all come from Roman Catholic manuscripts!