"I write this not to condemn those who remain in the Catholic tradition — many of whom I love deeply and some of whom know Christ genuinely within that context. I write it because truth sets people free (John 8:32) and because the questions I asked in 1990 are questions many sincere Catholics are asking quietly today. This is simply what God showed me when I came to His word with an open heart." ✝️

I was not a nominal Catholic. I want to be clear about that before I say anything else. I attended early morning mass every single day. I prayed for thirty minutes before the Blessed Sacrament. I prayed the rosary, the novena and prayers from the Pieta prayer book. I read the Bible alongside all of these. I was as devout as a Catholic could be — and I genuinely loved God through all of it. But reading the Bible while surrounded by other prayers, I could not understand a word of Scripture. Not one word came alive. I believed it was holy. I simply could not understand it.

Then on 15th August 1990 a very dear family friend died. He was three years younger than me. He drowned. He and his family were more devout Catholics than I was — they prayed the rosary daily without fail. His death stopped me completely. And in that stillness, I asked myself the most honest question I had ever asked: if I had died in his place — where would I be? Heaven, hell or purgatory?

The Catholic answer I had always been given was this: every Catholic lands in purgatory after death, where they are purged by fire for hundreds of years until sufficient prayers offered by the living finally release them to heaven. Catholics, I was told, do not go to hell — no matter how serious their sins — because of the sacraments and Mary's intercession. That answer, which had always brought comfort before, suddenly brought no comfort at all. I wanted to know — really know — where I would go if I died tonight.

That question drove me to search for the truth. I began attending Catholic Charismatic meetings — and there, for the first time, I got a real taste of God's word in the Holy Bible. The Charismatic renewal was my bridge — God using what was available to me to draw me toward Scripture. I am grateful for it. But the journey was far from over.

The Holy Spirit began asking me questions. I know some people will find that phrase strange or even presumptuous. One person challenged me directly: "Who do you think you are? How can you say the Holy Spirit spoke to you? It might have been the evil one." My answer then is my answer now: the Holy Spirit always points to Scripture. The evil one always points away from it. When an inward prompting leads you directly to God's word and the word confirms it — that is the Holy Spirit's method. John 16:13 — He guides into all truth. John 16:14 — He glorifies Christ. That is His signature. ✝️

It was not an audible voice. It was a thought in my heart — the kind that does not feel like your own thinking. One day as I made the sign of the cross while passing a Catholic church building, that inward voice asked: why do you do that? I answered: because You are there. Then: where does the Bible say God dwells? Two scriptures came immediately — Matthew 18:20, where two or three gather in My name I am there, and 1 Corinthians 6:19, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Then Acts 7:48 — Stephen's declaration before his martyrdom: the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. And Acts 17:24 — Paul in Athens saying the same. God does not live in buildings. He lives in His people. The sign of the cross before a building was answered by Scripture — not by condemnation but by truth. ✝️

Then I did something simple. I was becoming bored of the rosary, novena and Pieta prayers — not rebelliously, just honestly. I asked the Lord to excuse me for putting them aside for a while, and I came to the Bible alone. That is when my eyes opened. For the first time Scripture was alive and understandable. The same Bible I had read for years alongside all those prayers — now suddenly luminous. And the first passage the Holy Spirit opened to me was Mark 3:31-35.

Mary and Jesus's brothers were standing outside while He taught the crowd inside. Someone told Him: your mother and brothers are outside looking for you. Jesus looked at those seated around Him and said: who are my mother and my brothers? Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother. Mary did not lead her sons inside to sit at Jesus's feet when He was physically present and teaching. She stood outside. If she did not do it then — when He was right there — there is no scriptural basis for saying she does it now. This was not something I was taught. It was what the Holy Spirit showed me directly from the text. ✝️

On Mary and the Cana miracle — which Catholics often cite to support her ongoing intercession. At Cana Mary said to Jesus: they have no wine. Jesus replied: Woman — not Mother, but Woman — what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. He did not take direction from her. Then Mary said to the servants: do whatever He tells you. Those are the last recorded instructional words Mary speaks in the Gospels. Do whatever HE tells you. Not come through me. Not pray to me. Go to Him directly. Even at Cana — the very miracle used to justify praying to Mary — she herself points entirely away from herself and entirely toward Christ. ✝️

About eight to ten years into this journey my mother and I sat in a Sunday mass. The priest spoke about irrelevant earthly matters — not God's word, not the gospel. We thought it was just that priest. The following Sunday we went to another branch of the same parish. The same thing. That day — my mother, my son who was eight or nine years old and I — we left in the middle of the service, walked into a believers' church and have never looked back since. Three generations walking out together and walking in together. God's doing, not ours. ✝️

I have never been afraid to share my faith. I have paid a real price for it. I lost close Catholic friends. Relatives turned hostile. My own father hated me and blamed me for taking my mother and eventually my elder sister out of the Catholic Church. He was a man who said — and meant it — "I was born a Catholic, raised a Catholic and I will die a Catholic." For years that seemed to be exactly what would happen.

But the blood of Jesus that reconciled me to God when I was a sinner reconciled me to my father just one and a half years before his passing — and gave me the opportunity to lead him to Christ. The man who had said he would die a Catholic died a believer in Jesus Christ. Acts 16:31 — believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. God is faithful to His word. He always is. ✝️