ANOTHER GOSPEL

II Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety (very skillful in deceit), so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, who you have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.” And II Corinthians
!3-15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

I write with tears in my eyes for myself and for you who are not grounded in the simplicity of the gospel
of Christ. This is my testimony of how I got involved in false teachings and believed every Jesus, every spirit and every gospel. And it was so easy! For the first 30 years of my life I was a strict Catholic. I was brainwashed into believing everything I was told. Wherever you are now, you are what you are because of your
early upbringing whether you were taught right or wrong. You were still brainwashed.

I was raised by fear not love. I didn’t dare question anything I heard. I didn’t dare question the authority of the Pope; he was infallible and could not err. I couldn’t question the priest and what he was telling me. I couldn’t read the Bible; the interpretation of it could only be given by those in authority, never laymen.
Being a curious child and wanting to learn new things, I would sneak the Big family Bible (for show only) out and read it. I didn’t understand much. All I got out of it was that in the old testament, as long as the Israelites obeyed God, everything went well for them. When they didn’t obey they had big problems.

Yet without knowing the truth, when I would play with neighbor girls, they would try to push their Jehovah Witness gospel on me. I defended my faith, though it was wrong , too. I sent the girls home crying because I got the best of them. The gospels were read every Sunday. I especially enjoyed Luke’s version of the birth of Jesus. In spite of catechism, I never really understood just what the Catholics stood for except for the fact they were the only ones who would get to heaven. I walked with my nose up in the air.

No, they say, they don’t worship Mary. What do you call it when especially the whole month of May, you make an altar and place a statue of Mary on it? It was in my bedroom. A candle was placed and lit on both sides of it. Flowers surrounded it. Then I had to kneel down and pray to her. I gave my requests to her. Because of her motherly influence, she begged Jesus to talk God into answering my prayers. I don’t recall whether any of my prayers got answered by God or not. I was never good enough. I Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Why was it necessary for Mary to be a mediator also? Wasn’t Jesus powerful enough by himself?

I was made to go to confession every Saturday so I could go to communion on Sunday. I didn’t think I was really bad enough that I had to go to confession. Out of fear of my mother if I didn’t go, I went but I made up a few minor sins just for something to say. (I thought I could hide my lies away from God. How wrong I was) “Say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s”. I was O.K. until the next Saturday. If I died and didn’t commit any “mortal” sins like murder and such, I still didn’t have to worry. I would go to Purgatory for a while until I paid the price for my sins (Jesus wasn’t involved in paying the price just my own works) or someone bought “indulgences” for me to get me out sooner. It wasn’t so hard being a Catholic, now was it?

You get the idea of what I believed. Only one thing I was taught and is still with me today is the catechism question “Why did God make me?” The answer: “To know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this life and forever in the next.” That was just rote. It didn’t mean much but it stuck with me because it is the truth. I didn’t know God; only a punishing God, never a loving Father.

When I was 22, I got married. My husband was in the service and I followed him to his base. I found a Catholic Church. Two ushers stood at the doorway and almost dared you to go in without putting money in the collection. It seemed like I had to pay my way in to a “house of God”. I didn’t have much money and I got kind of dirty looks for my small offering. And also because I wasn’t dressed as well as others were.

Appearances were important. Something I never did before in my life, I quit going to church still afraid of going to hell. We went back to our home town. When I was 30, I took instructions in a Lutheran church. My mother just about disowned me. Our 4th child was baptized in that church. I sent the older 3 children to Sunday school but I didn’t attend myself. We had two more children after that, also baptized Lutheran.
Forty years later my husband and I got divorced, a mutual agreement.

Circumstances beyond my control, the kids stayed with their Father. I almost had a nervous breakdown.
I got a rebellious streak and did some things I would have never done if I were in my right mind. I met a man
through a pen pal club from the south. I barely knew him but I took off in

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