1. From Tradition to Truth, Richard Peter Bennett.


Born in Ireland to a family of eight children, I had a fulfilled and happy youth. My father was a Colonel in the Irish Army; I was almost nine when he retired. As a family, we really enjoyed playing, singing and acting, all within the framework of the military camp in Dublin. We were a Catholic familytypical Irish. My father sometimes knelt solemnly at the end of his bed. My mother spoke to Jesus while sewing, washing the dishes, or even smoking her cigarette. Almost every evening we knelt in the living room to say the rosary together. We would never have thought of missing Mass, even in the event of serious illness. So, as soon as I was five or six years old, Jesus Christ became quite real to me, like Mary and all the saints. I therefore understand all those who come from traditionally Catholic European countries, Latin America, or the Philippines, and who put Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the other saints in the same bag.


I was taught catechism at the Jesuit school in Belvédère, where I followed all my primary and secondary schooling. Like any boy brought up among the Jesuits, I was able from the age of ten to recite the five reasons that make God exist and that the Pope is the head of the only true Church. Bringing souls out of purgatory was also serious business. We memorized the following words: "It is to have a holy and healthy mind to pray for the dead, so that they may be delivered from their sins", even though we did not understand the meaning of these words. We were told that the Pope, as head of the Church, is the most important man in the world: his words have the force of law and the Jesuits constitute his right arm. Even though mass was said in Latin, I did my best to go there every day, I was so drawn to the mysterious atmosphere that surrounded it. We were also told that attending Mass was the surest way to please God.

We were encouraged to pray to the saints; there were patron saints for every circumstance imaginable. I hardly invoked them, with the exception of Saint Anthony, patron of lost objects, because I had a tendency to lose everything.


When I was fourteen I felt called to be a missionary. This call didn't change anything, however, to my lifestyle at that time. From sixteen to eighteen, I had an extremely pleasant time of development, achieving as much success academically as on the sports fields. At that time, I often had to drive my mother to the hospital, where she was undergoing treatment. One day while waiting for him I came across the following verses of Mark 10, 29-30: "Jesus answered: Verily I say to you, there is no one who has left, because of me and the Gospel, house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or lands, and who does not receive a hundredfold, now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers,


My attempts to earn my salvation.


I left family and friends in 1956 to join the Order of St Dominic. I then spent eight years learning to be a monk and studying the traditions of the Church, the philosophy, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and some biblical notions from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church. My personal faith was, in a way, institutionalized and ritualized because of the Dominican religious system. Sanctification, I was told, was obtained by obeying the laws of the Church and of the Dominican order. Many times I have spoken with Ambrose Duffy, Director of Students, about the law as a means of sanctification. I didn't just want to become "holy"; I also wanted to be assured of my eternal salvation. I memorized part of the teaching of Pope Pius XII who says: "The salvation of many depends on the prayers and sacrifices offered by the mystical body of Christ for this intention." The idea of ​​"winning salvation" through suffering and prayer is also the fundamental message of Fatima and Lourdes; I therefore sought my own salvation and that of others in suffering and in prayer.


In our Dominican monastery of Tallaght in Dublin, I therefore engaged in painful exploits in order to win souls: I took cold showers in the middle of winter and flogged my back with a steel chain. The student director knew what I was doing; his austere life was as inspiring to me as the Pope's words. With rigor and determination, I studied, I prayed, I did penance, and I tried to keep the Ten Commandments as well as a host of Dominican rules and traditions.


Auspicious outside, and empty inside.


In 1963, at the age of twenty-five, after having been ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, I completed a course of studies on Thomas Aquinas at the Angelicum University in Rome. There, I began to experience difficulties: it was the splendor outside, and the emptiness within. For years, I had made myself, through books and images, a representation of the Holy See and the Holy City. Was it the same city? I was also shocked to see some who came to Angelicum University in the mornings while appearing to be completely disinterested in theology. They read "Time" and "Newsweek" during class. Those interested in teaching only did so to obtain a degree or a position in the


One day I went to the Colosseum, to stand on the very spot where so many Christians had shed their blood. When I got to the Forum, I headed for the arena. I tried to imagine these men and women who knew Christ so well that rather than deny Him, they gladly consented to be burned alive or devoured by beasts; but the joy of that experience was tarnished by young thugs who, as I came back for the bus, called me "dung" and "junk". I sensed they were doing it not because I had taken a stand for Christ like the early Christians., but because they saw in me the Roman Catholic system. I quickly shook those thoughts away, but the teachings I had received about the present glory of Rome now seemed to me futile and illusory.


Soon after, I spent two hours in prayer overnight in front of the high altar of the Church of San Clemente. I thought about the call I received in my youth to become a missionary, as well as the promise of the "hundredfold" harvest of Mark 10: 29-30. I decided not to take my theology degree, which had been my ambition since I started studying Thomas Aquinas. I made this important decision after praying for a long time, and I was sure it was the right one. The priest who was to supervise my thesis did not want to hear anything, and to make things easier for me, he offered to pass off as mine a thesis written by someone else a few years before. It would be as if I wrote it myself, as long as I support it in front of a jury. This proposal made me nauseous. I stuck to my decision, finishing my studies at the University at the ordinary level, without the diploma. Shortly after, I was ordered to go to La Trinité Island, in the West Indies, as a missionary.


Pride, fall, and a new hunger.


I arrived in La Trinité on October 1, 1964. For seven years I tasted success as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, fulfilling all my duties and attracting many people to Mass. As early as 1972, I got involved in the Catholic charismatic movement. At a prayer meeting in March that year, I thanked the Lord for making me such a good priest and asked Him, if it was His will, to make me more humble. That same evening, in an unbelievable accident, I had a fractured back of my skull and several injuries to my spinal cord. It was only later that I understood it: if I had not come close to death, I would never have come out of this state of self-satisfaction in which I took pleasure in before the accident. The prayers ready made and learned by heart turned out perfectly hollow, as in my pain I cried out to God.


In this suffering that gripped me for weeks after the accident, I began to find some comfort in personal prayer. I have stopped saying the breviary, the official source of the prayers of the Roman Catholic clergy, as well as the rosary. I began to use Bible passages to pray. It took me a long time: I couldn't find my bearings in the Bible; the teaching I had received year after year made me wary her rather than trust her. My training in philosophy and scholastic theology did not help me any more, so entering the Bible to find the Lord there was a bit like entering a huge dark forest without having a map.


When I was appointed to a new parish later that same year, I reunited with a Dominican priest who had long been a brother to me. For nearly two years, we worked side by side, seeking God as best we could, in this parish of Pointe-à-Pierre. We read, study, pray, and apply what we learned from the teachings of the Church. We have established communities in several villages. In the sense that we understand it in Roman Catholicism, we were very successful: many people came to mass and catechism was taught in many schools, including state schools. I myself continued to study the Bible, but it had little impact on our work: it just showed me how little I knew about the Lord and His Word. The charismatic Catholic movement was growing, and we introduced it to almost all of our villages. 

Because of this movement, some Canadian Christians have come to La Trinité to share their faith with us. Their messages have given me a lot, especially in the area of ​​prayer for healing. Their teaching was mostly experiential-oriented, but it blessed me as it prompted me to place a deep trust in the Bible as a source of authority. I began to relate the Bible passages to each other, and even to quote chapters and verses! and we have introduced it to almost all of our villages. Because of this movement, some Canadian Christians have come to La Trinité to share their faith with us. Their messages have given me a lot, especially in the area of ​​prayer for healing. Their teaching was mostly experiential, but it has blessed me as it has prompted me to place a deep trust in the Bible as a source of authority. 

I started to relate the Bible passages to each other, and even to quote chapters and verses! and we have introduced it to almost all of our villages. Because of this movement, some Canadian Christians have come to La Trinité to share their faith with us. Their messages have given me a lot, especially in the area of ​​prayer for healing. Their teaching was mostly experiential, but it has blessed me as it has prompted me to place a deep trust in the Bible as a source of authority. I started to relate the Bible passages to each other, and even to quote chapters and verses! especially in the area of ​​prayer for healing. Their teaching was mostly experiential-oriented, but it blessed me as it prompted me to place a deep trust in the Bible as a source of authority. I began to relate the Bible passages to each other, and even to quote chapters and verses! especially in the area of ​​prayer for healing. Their teaching was mostly experiential, but it has blessed me as it has prompted me to place a deep trust in the Bible as a source of authority. I started to relate the Bible passages to each other, and even to quote chapters and verses!


Canadians often quoted Isaiah 53: 5, "by His stripes we have healing." As I studied Isaiah 53, I discovered that the biblical remedy for sin is substitutional death: Christ died in my place. So it was wrong to try to atone for my own faults, or to add some payment for my sins myself. "If it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace is no longer grace." (Romans 11: 6) "We all went astray like sheep, each one walked his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the fault of all of us" (Isaiah 53: 6).


I often sinned by getting angry with other people; I sometimes even got angry. I asked, of course, forgiveness for my sins, but I had not yet realized that I had a sinful nature, that nature that we all inherit from Adam. The truth according to the Scriptures is this: "There is not one righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10) And again: "For all have sinned, and do not reach for glory of God. ”(Romans 3:23). The Catholic Church had taught me that the depravity of human nature had been removed by the baptism received at my birth. Intellectually I still believed it, but deep in my heart I knew my depraved nature had not yet been overcome by Christ. This is when this verse from Philippians 3: 10 became the cry of my heart: "My purpose is to know Him, and the power of His resurrection." I understood that it is only by His power that one can live as a Christian. I stuck on the dashboard of my car and in other places this verse which expressed my purpose. In His fidelity, the Lord responded to this cry.


The supreme question.


I first discovered that the Bible, the Word of God, has absolute value and is free from all errors. I had been taught that the Word had only relative value, and that in many areas its veracity was questionable. Using Strong's Concordance, I began to study what the Bible says about itself. It made me understand that she is, on the contrary, perfectly reliable, that she comes from God and that she teaches absolutes. The historical facts which it reports are true; all of God's promises are true, as are the prophecies, and biblical commandments to live righteously. "All Scripture is inspiredof God and is useful for teaching, for convincing, for redressing, for educating in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adapted and prepared for every good work. "(2 Tim. 3.16-17). I made this discovery during a visit to Vancouver and Seattle.

 It was the first time that I grasped this truth and felt free to speak about it. nearly four hundred people in a large parish in Vancouver, I proclaimed, Bible in hand, that the Bible, the Word of God, is the source of supreme and absolute authority in all matters concerning the faith and conduct of the Church. Three days later, the Archbishop of Vancouver, James Carney, summoned me to his office and forbade me to preach in his bishopric. also said that my punishment could have been much harsher had it not been tempered by a letter of recommendation from my own Archbishop. I returned to La Trinité shortly after.

The conflict between the Church and the Bible.


When I was still a parish priest in Pointe-à-Pierre, Ambrose Duffy (the man who had given me such severe training when he was director of students) was asked to assist me. It was a turnaround. After some initial difficulties, we ended up becoming good friends. I shared with him what I discovered. He listened and commented with great interest, wanting to know what motivated me. I saw in him a channel of communication with my Dominican brothers and even with the staff of my archdiocese.


He died suddenly of a heart attack, which was a great grief to me. I saw in Ambrose the man who could have explained to me and my Dominican brethren the contradiction between the Church and the Bible, as well as the truths with which I struggled so hard. I preached at his funeral, but my despair remained deep.


I continued to pray on Philippians 3:10: "... to know Him and the power of His resurrection." But to know Him better, I had to understand my sinful state first. I saw in the Bible (1 Tim: 2: 5) that if my priestly role of intermediary corresponded well to the Roman Catholic doctrine, it was perfectly contrary to the biblical doctrine. I really liked to be respected, almost idolized. I justified my sin by saying to myself, "After all, if this is what the greatest church in the world teaches, who am I to question it?" However, my inner conflict escalated. I was beginning to see that it was a sin to worship the Virgin Mary, saints and priests.



The years of internal conflict.


Mary, the saints and the priesthood were only a small part of the immense struggle I faced. Who then was Lord of my life: Jesus Christ and his Word, or the Church of Rome? This last question, especially, has raged in me during my last six years as a parish priest in Sangre Grande (1979-85). The idea that the Roman Catholic Church is the supreme authority in matters of morals and faith was instilled in me from my earliest childhood. Apparently no one could change that. Not only was Rome the supreme authority, but it was also always necessary to call it: "our Blessed Mother". How could I rise up against her, while dispensing her sacraments, I who had to be the guarantor of the fidelity of an entire people?


In 1981, during a spiritual renewal session in a parish in New Orleans, I went so far as to renew my consecration to the service of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet when I returned to The Trinity and found myself facing the real problems of existence, I returned to the authority of the Word of God. The tension was growing inside me, so that sometimes it was the Roman Church that was the absolute authority for me, and sometimes it was the Bible. My stomach gave me a lot of pain during those years; my emotions were a reflection of this conflict. I should have known that one cannot serve two masters at the same time, and that I was bound, as a Catholic priest, to place the absolute authority of the Word of God lower than the


This contradiction is found in what I did with the four statues of the Sangre Grande church. I removed and destroyed the statues of St. Francis and St. Martin, because the second commandment of God's law states in Exodus 20.4: "You shall not make a statue". But when some people refused to give up the statues of the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary, I left them there because of the superior authority of the Roman Catholic Church, including the law, in Canon 1188, states, "The practice of displaying sacred images in the church for the worship of the faithful must continue." I did not see that this was an attempt to subject the Word of God to that of men.


Christians from across the ocean attended mass; they saw our holy chrism, the holy water, our medals, our statues, our priestly clothes, our rituals, and found that everything was going very well! There was something fascinating about the captivating style of the Catholic Church , its symbols, its music, its aesthetic sense. The scent of incense does not stop at enchanting our sense of smell: it immerses thought in a deep feeling of mystery.

Turning.


One day, a woman called to me. She is the only person to have challenged me during my 22 years of priesthood. “You Roman Catholics have the outward form of godliness, but you don't have the power,” she told me. These lyrics troubled me for quite a long time, because I loved candles, banners, folk music, guitars and percussion. No priest in La Trinité had liturgical vestments or banners more shining than mine. It was very obvious: I was not putting into practice the verses I had in front of me.


In October 1985, the grace of God prevailed over the lie I was trying to live out. I went to Barbados to pray about the compromise I was trying to stay in, and where I did feel trapped. The Word of God is truly absolute. It was to her alone that I owed obedience; yet it was to the same God that I had promised to obey the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church. In Barbados, I read a book explaining the meaning of the Church according to the Bible: she is "the community of believers". In the New Testament, there is not the slightest trace of a hierarchy, nor is there any "clergy" above the "laity". Rather, as the Lord himself says: "One is your Master,


I finally understood that by biblical criteria, the bishops I knew in the Roman Catholic Church were not believers. They were, for the most part, pious men, loyal to Rome and filled with devotion to the Virgin Mary and the Rosary; but none of them understood that the work of salvation was finished, that the work of Christ is perfect, and that no one can add anything to the perfect personal salvation that Christ offers. They all preached confession of sins and repentance, human suffering, religious acts, "the human solution" rather than the gospel of grace. By the grace of God, I saw that it was not by the Church of Rome or by any kind of merit that we were saved. It is " by the grace that you are saved, by means of faith. And it doesn't come from you, it's the gift of God. It is not by works, so that no one can boast. "(Eph. 2: 8-9).



New birth at forty-eight.


I left the Roman Catholic Church when I saw how impossible it is to live in Jesus Christ while remaining faithful to Roman Catholic doctrine. When I left La Trinité in November 1985, I only had enough to go to Barbados, a neighboring island. There, I was lodged with an elderly couple; I prayed to receive a costume and the money to go to Canada, since I had, in all and everything, a hundred dollars and clothes for the tropical climate. These two prayers were answered without my having to make my needs known to anyone except the Lord.


Coming from tropical temperatures in the thirties, I landed in snow and ice in Canada. A month after my arrival in Vancouver, I arrived in the United States. I trusted the Lord to take care of all my needs, since I was starting over in life, at forty-eight, with no money, no residence permit, no driver's license, no one to recommend me , apart from the Lord and His Word.


I spent six months with a Christian couple on a farm in Washington State. I explained to my hosts that I had just left the Catholic ChurchRoman, that I had accepted Jesus and His Word in the Bible as being entirely sufficient; and all this in an "absolute, final, definitive, and resolute" way. However, without being in the least impressed by my four adjectives, they wanted to know if there was any hurt or bitterness left in me. Through prayer, and with immense compassion, they took care of me, knowing, for having taken the same step, how easy it is to let in bitterness. Four days after I arrived there, by the grace of God, I began to experience repentance and see the fruit of salvation manifested. I not only had to ask the Lord for forgiveness for my many years of compromise, but also to accept His healing in areas where I had been so deeply hurt. In short, at the age of forty-eight, on the authority of the Word of God alone, by grace alone, I accepted the death of Christ who became our substitute by giving Himself in our place on the cross. . To Him alone is all the glory. After I was physically and spiritually refurbished by these two Christians and their families, the Lord gave me a bride, Lynn, too "born again "by faith with a wonderful disposition and a beautiful intelligence. We went to Atlanta, Georgia where we both found work.


A true missionary, with a true message. In September 1988, we left Atlanta to be missionaries in Asia. It has been a rich and abundant year in the Lord as I never thought possible. Men and women came to know the authority of the Bible and the power of Christ's death and resurrection. I was amazed at how effectively the grace of the Lord can work, when the Bible alone is used to present the Lord Jesus Christ. What a contrast to the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, which like spider webs had darkened my mind for nearly twenty-one years! Missionary as I was, in La Trinité, I had no true message.


In order to explain the abundant life that Jesus spoke of and which I enjoy now, there are no words more expressive than those in Romans 8: 1-2: "So there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. "I am not only freed from the Roman Catholic system: I have become a new creature in Christ. It is by the grace of God, and only by his grace, that I have passed from dead works to new life.



Today.


My job, the one the Lord has prepared for me, is to be an evangelist in the Pacific region of the Northwestern United States. What Paul said about his fellow Jews, I can say about my dear Roman Catholic brethren: my heart's desire and prayer is that they be saved. I am a witness that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is based on the tradition of their church rather than on the Word of God. If you understand the devotion and the terrible suffering that some of our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and South America experience in their religion, you can understand the cry of my heart: "Lord, give us this love that will understand. the pain and torment of these brothers and sisters who seek to please You. " Understanding the pain of the Roman Catholic heart,


My testimony shows how difficult it was for me, as a Roman Catholic, to abandon the ecclesial tradition. But when the Lord asks in His Word, we have to surrender. The "outward form of piety" manifested by the Roman Catholic Church makes it difficult to pinpoint the problem. Everyone must come to a personal conviction as to the authority which gives us to know the truth. Rome declares that it is only under her authority that the truth can be known. By his own words (Canon 212, Section 1), "The faithful and responsive Christian is bound, through Christian obedience, to follow what the sacred pastors, as representatives of Christ, declare as teachers of faith, or decide as leaders of the


You can contact Richard Bennett by e-mail at the following address: <verneliz@juno.com> His website is at: http://www.bereanbeacon.org



2. The truth set me free, Toon Vanhuysse


It was in Twevegem in Belgium that I was born on October 13, 1940, at the start of World War II, to very pious Catholic parents. My father was a very strict man, but also very kind. He had many family problems, ten dependent children and his own job; yet he found the time to work a lot for the parish. He also imparted to me a deep sense of justice. It is with joy, too, that he contributed financially to the development of poor countries. My dear mother, who passed away a few years ago, was full of kindness. She was gentle and discreet. Isn't that the most beautiful adornment a woman can have? (1 Peter 3: 3-4). Very competent, she took care of her family with zeal, and managed her whole house despite a slight physical handicap from which she suffered a lot, in silence. She always put others above herself, and accepted her suffering and difficulties without complaint. His way of being has been beneficial to us. My mother did not attach much importance to the outward behavior of a believer, but she secretly maintained an upright relationship with God.



The power of Tradition.


For my parents, the Bible had always been a forbidden book. However, God, in His omnipotence, can overcome any fortress built by Roman Catholicism in the heart and mind of man. I know my mother feared the Lord; I was brought up with great respect for God, in fear of divine wrath against sin.


Many times, I remember, I went to the confessional after having accumulated the faults and sins against God, having suffered without respite from remorse which deprived me of all peace until I had been absolved by the priest. in the confessional. Absolution brought me liberation and relief. We were ignorant of the Gospel of grace, of the wonderful message of faith in the reconciling work of Jesus, through whom we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Such is the power of Tradition in the Roman Catholic system. Consider, for example, confession. The Bible says, "All the prophets bear record of him that whoever believes in him receives forgiveness of sins by name." (Acts 10:43). Yet Rome excommunicates all witnesses of the Bible, as the Council of Trent declares bluntly. Generally speaking, Tradition rules out the Scriptures. As the Word of God asks us, we must be careful: indeed, we are inclined to accept what Tradition dictates more than what the Bible says. Tradition creates real problems.



The missionary vocation.


I started my secondary studies at the College of Waregem, studying Greek and Latin. At that time, discipline was still rigorous. We obeyed, we learned. It was a difficult time for me: boarders only returned home two or three weeks a year. The service of the poor attracted me. During my studies, I had time to read the accounts of great missionaries, and the thought occurred to me to imitate them. In 1959, therefore, I entered the Order of Missionary Oblate Fathers of Mary in Korbecklo near Louvain: there was the novitiate of the Order. It was another trying year, very difficult for me. We were tested, we were trained for monastic life.



Spiritual exercises without value.


Every day, very early in the morning, we had a prayer meeting with reading of the breviary, meditation, mass, and devotions to the Virgin. During the day we also had spiritual readings, the rosary, and Bible reading time. In the afternoon, we engaged in manual labor in silence. Sometimes on Friday afternoon we had to flog ourselves. Each novice had his whip and had to flog his back, a bit like atoning for his sins for the week.


This is how we were trained for monastic life for a whole year. We did not realize that in reality all of these spiritual exercises, all of these efforts to serve God were worthless and only served to satisfy the flesh, as Paul teaches us in the Letter to the Colossians. All of these supposedly holy methods only obscure Jesus' role as Mediator: "Now those who are in the grip of the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8: 8). What grace, this rest that the finished saving work of Jesus brings! I want to communicate this message to all priests and to all those who live in the monasteries: "Repent and believe in the Gospel!"


It saddens me so much to see that Roman Catholics cannot tell the difference between the truth and the lies contained in the spiritual doctrines of Rome: the latter run deep in the minds and minds of people. I see how difficult it is to make a lie disappear when I evangelize door-to-door with an assembly of "born again" Christians in Münsterbilzen. In each of us there is a deep aversion to the truth. The truth of the Word brings to light our state of sinners, our perdition; but instead we want to listen to suggestions from our own hearts, which the Bible calls "crooked" and "incurable." In Jeremiah 17: 9 we read: "The heart is above all crooked, it is incurable:



Priest of the Church of Rome.


After this year of training in monastic life, we went to the Study Center in Gijzegem, a village located between Aalst and Dendermonde. After two years of studying philosophy and four years of theology, I was ordained a priest on February 20, 1966. This was the most significant event of my life, of course, the crowning of my studies and my education. .


To be a priest of the Church of Rome! There was nothing higher. We had been chosen to perpetuate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the present life, to be the bearers of the grace of God. I was fully convinced of it. We pretended to be somehow "blessing makers." How far I was from the Scriptures! It is shameful to belittle the perfect and fully sufficient sacrifice of Jesus by adding to it the Offertory of Mass, while choosing to ignore the depth and power of His sacrifice which provides us with eternal salvation. The Letter to the Hebrews is perfectly clear on this point.


I followed an additional year of preparation for the Minor Seminary of the Fathers of Waregem, an intermediate school where one can opt for monastic life. Subsequently, I was asked to go to Antwerp and engage in parish work with a team of priests. My task was to work with young people. After a year of work, I left Antwerp-Kiel, having been called by my order to do comparable work, this time in a newly established parish in Houthalen-Est. Three other Fathers and I started working as a team. I kept asking myself questions about their convictions, their idealism. It was all about human power; it was a human construction built not on rock but on sand. Our life was not based on the Word of God; it was therefore a very unstable building, susceptible to collapse overnight, as the Bible says. How important it is to base our life on the Word of God!


After ten years of priesthood, my spiritual life was practically extinct. Especially when I was in the presence of basic human needs, I was forced to regard my official ministry as a Roman Catholic priest as a failure. To the seriously ill, I couldn't bring the comfort of the Word of God. To those who were burdened with guilt because of their faults, I could not present the forgiveness and reconciliation that is in Jesus Christ: I myself needed to know God and receive His forgiveness for my own sins. That's why my own spiritual life was like a garbage heap. The main cause of my failure was that I did not know the Lord Jesus or the Scriptures. Stunned, people sometimes ask how a priest can not know the Gospel and Christ as it should be. It is indeed deeply humiliating to have to admit this. For us Roman Catholics, Jesus is our great model, He offers an example of moral righteousness, social and economic justice. This is why I was so deeply involved in social works, to try, in a way, to be like Jesus and to achieve, if possible, salvation.



A new spiritual birth.


By the grace of God, I was brought to a spiritual rebirth in Christ by the divine scriptures. Of course, this was not done without pain. In the light of the Gospel, I discovered who I was: a being delivered over to sin, incapable of doing good, and prone to evil. In me, nothing good! This is the testimony of the Bible! The scriptures themselves assert that I was absolutely incapable of saving myself, and inevitably destined for perdition., as Paul explains to the Ephesians. In my own nature, God finds nothing pleasant, nothing good. Who would have believed it, after ten years of zealous service as a Roman Catholic priest? In one word, Paul describes all this diligence: "garbage" (Phil. 3: 8). And I who believed that all these good works were used to attract the favor of God! I discovered that on the contrary, they only contributed to harm me: "because I know it: what is good does not live in me, that is to say in my flesh. For I am able to wanting, but not doing good, "cries Paul (Rom. 7:18). Apart from Jesus Christ, salvation is impossible. We all need to be led to the grace of God: there is no other way to be saved.


The Bible does not compromisenot on that point. There is no middle ground between truth and falsity. What is not truth is a lie! There is a great temptation to take the pious people who attend church as righteous, but God has shattered in me this deep and pernicious belief in self-redemption. I believe there is absolutely no one who wants to make a living from grace alone. We still cling to a secret hope of finding "good ground" in ourselves, and our pride holds us back from acknowledging that it is not. From the Bible an atmosphere of sovereign grace emerges: it is therefore by grace alone, by means of faith, that the sinner is justified. The collaboration of pardoned is totally excluded. I rejoice that God has revealed this truth to me. He says in effect: "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32).



3. Transformed by Christ, Benigno Zuniga.


Although I was a priest for many years, I spent more than fifty years in spiritual darkness, for my knowledge of Jesus Christ was very limited and distorted. In fact, the true Christ of the Bible remained hidden from my eyes, obscured by multiple layers of complicated religious teachings. I believed that outside of the Catholicism of the Church of Rome, no one could be saved, and that the Pope, representing Christ on earth, was infallible. I was so attached to him that I would have given my life to defend him.



The teaching of the Church.


At the age of sixteen, after having received all my education from the Jesuit fathers, I decided to become a monk. I studied in Peru, Ecuador, Spain and Belgium, and I was ordained a priest. For many years, I taught in Catholic schools, then in a seminary; then I served as Vice-Chancellor in the ecclesiastical tribunal of my diocese. I was a chaplain in the army, and a priest in two of the most important parishes in my country.As a parish priest, I made a point of fighting the Protestants. I considered them to be heretics and I taught my followers that all Protestants were devoid of morals. Since some of them constantly referred to the authority of the Bible, I decided to



The teaching of God.


I carefully studied the Bible, chapter after chapter, for three years. I was terribly shocked to discover that it was I who was wrong. Unable to refute these heretics, I myself was refuted by my own Catholic Bible. I saw how far my Catholic beliefs had taken me from my Bible. Often times I was moved to tears to see that I had so obediently adhered to human thoughts instead of clinging to God's teaching.


This chapter-by-chapter reading of the Bible also had the effect of gradually raising my awareness. I saw how far I was from God. As a priest, I projected an image of holiness, but in reality I gave in to all kinds of sins, and my life was not heavenly. My black cassocks were a reflection of the darkness in my heart. Nothing gave me this peace to which I yearned so much: neither the sacraments, nor the prayers to the saints, nor penance, nor holy water, nor the confession of my sins to a human confessor.



Transformed by Christ.


Priest more than fifty years old, one day I finally gave my heart to God. I knelt before Christ; although invisible, He has finally become someone alive and real to me. Realizing that I was less than nothing, heartbroken, I repented of offending Him with my life of sin. In spirit, I saw the cross where His precious Blood flowed to deliver me from the punishment I deserved. As a result of this prayer, Christ transformed my life. He called me out of the tomb of my spiritual darkness; led me to a living experience, and gave me to know Him personally, as He is. The secret of spiritual authenticity is to meet Christ through sincere and fervent faith. Where Christ reigns supreme in a heart,