Little did I know I would be a Catholic. Born a protestant and groomed in the protestant tradition, life was interesting. It all started with Sunday schools where I was taught the word of God and the different stories in the bible. Learn to sing so many Christian songs, memorized so many verses of the bible as a result of our Sunday school classes, get to memorize the books of the bible from Genesis to Revelation (it is worth saying that if not for the Sunday school classes, I wouldn’t have known the books of the bible offhand). As I continue to grow, I was introduced to the circle of the big boys in church where I got the chance to listen to the word of God from the pastor, the chance to join in the worship of God by singing worship songs (no kidding, this is one of the few things I miss as a Pentecostal), the chance to witness the ministration of the Spirit where one or two or three speaks in tongue and somewhere from the congregation a person stands up to interpret what has been spoken in tongues. Although this doesn’t happen every Sunday nonetheless, it happens often. It was the Church’s special way of hearing from God. All these are not to say I wasn’t an average bad guy then but the presence of God was always so strong within me. Matter of fact, in one of the praise and worship section of the service, I was so carried away in the Spirit that I freed myself totally to worship God. Others who saw me that day were amazed. (It is strange that this memory has stayed with me till this day). Others who were Spiritual giants began to draw me close. Some were hinting that I would be a pastor and matter of fact when I am asked what I want to be in future; I smile with all boldness and say I want to be a pastor. My peers would laugh as if I have gone crazy. They couldn’t imagine how when others want to be Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Pilots etc, I am thinking of becoming a pastor. An average pastor then doesn’t live like kings unlike the pastors of this day where everybody wants to be a pastor as if they are politicians fighting for a political position. Unfortunately, we need to grow up. I passed my common entrance examination with ease and I went to a boarding school for my secondary education. Dunno how to say this but people are of the opinion that boarding schools is one of the ways to straighten out kids who perhaps are stubborn or dull, others believe it makes a child confident and independent. While I was averagely bright and a good kid, nonetheless, my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to go to a boarding school. Maybe they want me to be strong and brave and independent or perhaps they thought it will be one mouth less to feed in the family. I had no choice but to leave the comfort of the family and the strict discipline of my church. It is not as if the church never had their own share of scandal but I was too young to know the details and moreover I go to church to worship God not man. And so changing location I changed church. It must be said that the Christian community in the boarding school cannot be compared to the strict spiritual discipline I found in my local church. With the location changed, we also changed church. Getting bigger now I discovered I can actually go to a church of my choice or perhaps that strict parental control wasn’t there anymore compared to when I was way too young. There was this popular church known all over the world close to our new house. I decided to give it a shot. First Sunday at the church was great. All sorts of beautiful girls were there to attend to you. Hey brother, you are welcome. Please come sit here. Along the way another beautiful girl flashes a million dollar smile that gets your imagination doing overtime. Whereas in my former church, wearing of trousers and what you may call an advanced mini skirt was almost as bad as a taboo, the new church didn’t frown at it. Not that such clothes were actually encouraged but it wasn’t discouraged by the pastors and lo, it was fun for me. Every Sunday was always a day anticipated. It was good to see fresh spotless laps, milky breast and so many other fleshly goodies. Of course I was growing up and I was looking forward to having a girlfriend, I thought the church was the perfect place to get a girlfriend. At first, the message from the pastor sharing the word of God never sank in because I was too distracted with my evil intention but as time goes on I discovered the theme of the pastor’s message was WEALTH WEALTH WEALTH every Sunday. Of cos, we all want to be rich and wealthy but anybody who knows the principles can be wealthy as well. Be it a Muslim, Hindus, Buddhist, Jew, Hare Krishna, Eckankan etc. I wanted something more and something deep. Later on I discovered a different teaching from what I knew from when I was a kid in my former church. I was told that Christ has already paid the prize and we ain’t got nothing to worry about, that we can’t go to hell whether we commit the worst crimes or not. It didn’t wash well with me. I began to doubt the church and her teachings. I decided to be patient. As I continued attending Sunday services, a Sunday came whereby it was announced that those who don’t know how to speak in tongues should come out. Well, I came out wondering what was cooking. I thought I was in for a wonderful experience, as it turned out, we were told to start speaking whatever comes out of our hearts but not English words. This didn’t wash well with me too. I couldn’t bring myself to it. For fear of blasphemy I didn’t utter a word. I was big enough to understand you don’t get the gift of the Holy Spirit this way. I went back to my seat disappointed. At this point I began to feel a hollow space in my heart. I was yearning for a spiritual communion with God. I just wasn’t satisfied with the word of God preached on Sundays in the church. After a while it became obvious that the theme of every Sunday message centers on money. They made it sound like if you don’t have money you are not a child of God. I didn’t think that teaching was right and of course it was a teaching from hell. It wasn’t difficult for me, before long I found myself drifting to another church. I also wasn’t satisfied and I went to another church. After attending various churches I got tired of the various teachings of each sect. At this point I was beginning to lose all hope of getting this spiritual intimacy with God. I was beginning to think of how to cross carpet to even pseudo religious groups such as Ekankan, Grail Message, Latter day saint and the like. I had a feeling I might get what I am thirsty for in these groups but unfortunately something happened in my family that forced my dad to leave a certain church my mum dragged him to, where he thought the pastor sees vision and all that bullshit. Because he thought so he wanted every member of the family to come along with him and my mum. We the kids never liked it but what can we do, my dad was like a boss. What he says goes. And so to cut the unpleasant story short, something ugly happened in this so called visionary church that he got so mad that he decided to take us back to his root, the Catholic Church. That was the first time I knew my dad is a catholic. It wasn’t funny for us either; we’ve heard so many unpleasant stories about the Catholic Church. At the time, he wasn’t exactly what you might call a steadfast Christian or for lack of a better word a spiritual man. He forced us to go there again as he did with the previous. Back then I was not exactly a bad guy but I loved or perhaps (to be honest) still love weed. I was into weed (marijuana) and so whenever he takes us to church, I will just leave the church premises after a while and go to this unfenced secondary school close to the church to smoke weed. After all I want to be in the spirit. I just smoke a rap or two and go back to the church before closing time. My dad never knew because he never stays for Mass. He drops us and goes back to whatever he wants to do for the day. After some few Sundays like this I decided to see how the Mass is celebrated. (I have always been the curious type). Of course my hatred for the church was so strong I didn’t think staying in the church would help me in any way. But as it turned out that very day, I was impressed by the homily (preaching) of the priest who celebrated the Mass. I just couldn’t get mad at him because to some extent he seemed to be preaching the truth. It impressed me because something about the homily was different from the other preaching from the other churches I have attended. Something stirred in me. I wanted to know more about the Catholic faith. I had hated the church for too long to think that the church can be worth any good. I had no doubt then that the Catholic was the anti-Christ. As a traditional protestant, I felt everything about the Catholic Church was dead wrong. The issue of Mary above all their teachings was my greatest problem. Who the heck is Mary and why should she be honoured and prayed to? Praying to the saints was also alien to me. How can I pray to the saints when I can speak directly to God? Purgatory, as far as I was concerned was a pseudo religious belief which is not in the bible and not from Christ and so a false teaching. Where the hell did they get this idea that Mary never had other children when it was clearly stated in the bible that Jesus had brothers and sisters. I couldn’t help but have this conviction that they are all going to hell since the bible said that broader is the way to hell and narrow is the way to heaven. I had this feeling because they were always so many compared to other churches around. If the truth was preached in the Catholic Church, they wouldn’t be so many. I felt the devil planted these people to lead others astray. But I was still curious to find out the truth about them. My first problem with them was the issue of Mary. I can’t say exactly why but most of us who grew up in the protestant tradition had this kind of quiet hatred of Mary being honoured. One finds in no distant time that Mary has a special role in the lives of Catholics. My first question was why do Catholics pray the Rosary and other Christians don’t? Is praying the Rosary in the Bible? I was surprised when told that the Rosary is in the Bible. I smiled and asked where. I was made to know that the Rosary is composed of certain prayers and while praying these prayers, certain aspects or perhaps all aspects of the life of Jesus Christ are meditated upon. I was made to know that the Rosary is composed of the following prayers; the our Father, which was composed by God the son, the Hail Mary, which was composed by God the father through arch angel Gabriel and found in Luke 1:28, and the second part of the hail Mary (…blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus) which was composed by God the Holy Spirit I Luke 1:41-42.

Well, while I could find these passages in the Bible, I didn’t see any reason to repeat them over and over again because Matthew 6:7 sort of condemned repetitious prayers. But then again I was shown several passages in the Bible where prayers was repeated. Even Jesus repeated prayers in Matthew 26:39-44 when he said to God that His will be done if the cup of suffering cannot be taken away from him. In Revelation 4:8 we read again, ‘day and night the angels never stop singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was, who is and who is to come.’ Now I was convinced that it is okay to pray the Rosary even if the prayers are repeated, that it is Biblical. Still, despite this, something didn’t sit well with me; something was still eating at me. The third part of the ‘Hail Mary’ which says Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and the hour of our death. It was something too bitter for me to swallow, I mean, how can I bring myself to say these words. Never! Why should I pray to Mary when God can easily hear me when I pray? And funny in a way, while I find it easier with other saints, Mary was a different ball game. The pride (for lack of the right word) in me will not allow me to succumb so low as to pray through her to God. John 14:6 clearly states that Christ is the only way to the Father. Even 1 Timothy 2:5 still stated it again. The passage says, “There’s one God and there’s one who brings God and man together and that person is Jesus Christ.” To me it was complete heresy to go to God through any other means (angels, saints or Mary) other than Jesus Christ. When I became too disturbed about this I asked again why pray through Mary or the angels or saints? Again I was asked to open the book of Revelation chapter 8 verses 3 and 4, there I saw that angels of God received prayers from God’s people on earth and offered them to God in a golden incense container on a golden alter that stands before the throne of God. Again in Revelation 5:8, I read how four living creatures and 24 Jewish elders fell down before the Lamb. Each had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense which are the prayers of God’s people on earth. I was taken to the book of Hebrews 13:18-19 where Paul asked the congregation to pray for him. Putting two and two together I reasoned if people can pray for one another here on earth, then it is very possible to ask the saints who are in heaven to pray for us. I was shown various other scriptures where at the mention of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by Moses, God’s anger was tempered against the people of Israel (Exodus 23:20-22). Somewhere again, I was shown how God even approved angels for our own good. Seeing all these I had no doubt about asking the saints to pray for us. But that wasn’t to say I was satisfied. Somewhere along the line, Mary still didn’t jell well with me. I asked again, but why the so much devotion and honour to Mary. The Bible was opened again, (it seemed the Bible wasn’t what I have been reading all the while) Luke 1:28 was opened again which read; …hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you…….” I couldn’t understand why the passage was opened again but soon it was explained. I was made to understand that those words were not of angel Gabriel but of God who sent him. And of course it is a well known fact that angels are messengers of God. And so it was fitting to conclude that angel Gabriel can’t just come down on his own to say those words. It made sense to believe that those words were of God. Again, in Luke 1:41-42, the Holy Spirit through Elizabeth said, “…blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.” I still couldn’t understand why this passage was read again but it was explained quickly again, or rather I was asked the question, why did the Holy Spirit bless Mary first before blessing Jesus, I was dumb founded again. I was made to understand that the Catholics aren’t doing anything out of turn but only emulating what God the Father and the Holy Spirit did and the question was put to me, or do you think you know better than the Holy Spirit? I became humbled again. Although it made some good sense but at the same time it still didn’t make sense to me. I wasn’t happy and I couldn’t tell why. Although I have read these passages a couple of times, I didn’t read it in this light. It came as a shock to me when I got a new understanding out of it. This time a thought began to form in me that there is a lot about Mary that the Bible didn’t shed light on. I thought I could nail my Catholic friend with one last argument so I told him again, God doesn’t have a mother but why do Catholics say mother of God, pray for us? He smiled and opened the Bible again, (this time I felt like punching him in the face) he opened several passages but what impressed me most was what was in Luke 1:43, the scripture read, “Why should this great thing happen to me that my LORD’S MOTHER come to visit me?” this was from Elizabeth again who was greatly filled with the Holy Spirit before she uttered these words. In other words, the Holy Spirit was speaking through her. Again the question was put to me, do you think you know better than the Holy Spirit who addressed her as such? Maybe perhaps because of my expression he added, of course, Mary can never be greater than God you should know that. It is just an honour God favoured her with. A part of me felt like crying. The million dollar question became, if God can honour Mary why can’t we.

Some are of the opinion that Jesus never acknowledges Mary as His mother but was always calling her woman, but Jesus could never honour her more than coming to the world through her. I decided to see if I can digest all I heard. I decided to leave. But before I would leave, he said again, even Mary prophesied that all generations will call her blessed in Luke 1:48. There was no reason to argue with him anymore. While all explained wasn’t to my satisfaction, I felt somewhat relieved and at peace with the issue of Mary. I couldn’t say how but finally she found her way into my heart. I couldn’t help but invite her into my home. I finally fell in love with her. I started seeing the Catholic Church in a new perspective, somehow, I began to feel alive, something dead in me began to come back to life again, I saw myself getting excited again, God became interesting again, I wanted to know more about him from the Catholic perspective. I was at a crossroad now and about to take a step further but still I was cautious. I felt anything spiritual must be tested first before accepting it. One thing was still remaining; the issue of Catholics not accepting Mary had other children despite it was outrightly spelt out in the Bible that Jesus had brothers and sisters. I needed to clear this doubt before taking any further step. In the bible, Luke 2:7, the passage read, “...and Mary gave birth to her first-born son….” From all understanding of this scripture, it implies that Mary had other children. I want to believe that if Jesus was her only son, the bible would have said, and she gave birth to her only son or child for that matter. But it wasn’t so. Somehow I was happy that the Catholics can’t beat themselves out of this rap. After all, the Bible emphasized that she gave birth to her first son which means there were other sons too. Other passages mentioned the brothers of Jesus. When I went to my new Catholic friend, I opened different scriptures to back up the issue of Mary having other children. He asked me to open my Bible again; I was wondering what tricks he had up his sleeve this time. There is no beating this rap, I told myself. He made me open Genesis 3:15 and it read, “I will put enmities between thee and the WOMAN and thy SEED and hers: she shall crush your head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” I waited for him, he looked at me waiting for me to grasp it but I waited all the more. “Don’t you get it?” He asked, “nah nah, I don’t get nothing.” Was what I said wordlessly. “You gotta understand that the scripture said seed and not seeds. This is a prophesy which was fulfilled in Mary giving birth to Jesus. Only a seed came from her and not otherwise.” But I was stubborn and would not condescend to that belief easily. Another scripture was opened again, Ezekiel 44:2-3, it read, “and the Lord said to me: this gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered by it and it shall be shut.” Now, while this didn’t satisfy my curiosity I couldn’t help but wonder if there is any such temple in Israel where no one is allowed to go through it because the Lord God of Israel hath entered by it. The Bible is such a book that it can’t be literally explained most of the time. And for all I know this passage could well have meant something else and not necessarily the seed of Mary as the catholic brother implied. The impression was that only Jesus came through her and after that she didn’t have any other child again. By virtue of the gate shut eternally after God hath entered by it gave birth to another belief of the Catholics. But little did I know that I was in for another shock, it came as a thunderbolt when he told me that the Blessed Virgin Mary remained a virgin even after the birth of Christ. Now, some shits are easy to swallow while others are very difficult. By now I was already in love with the Catholic Church especially in the way they have held their grounds despite criticism from all angles. He asked me again, “where were the other children of Mary when Jesus handed over Mary His beloved mother to John His beloved disciple?” In John 19:26-27 the scripture read, “when Jesus saw therefore His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, he said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son. Then He said to His disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ and from that hour the disciple took her to his own household.” Of course I couldn’t answer such a question. After all I wasn’t there when Jesus was nailed on the cross. “The brothers and sisters mentioned in the Bible are people like you and me who keep the commandments of God. Now there are also relatives of Jesus but who weren’t the children of Mary. Some were very close in resemblance that they were called brothers of Jesus. Mind you, the bible was not written in English. There are some languages that don’t have a particular word for a cousin or close relatives and among the Jews it is a tradition to repeat names in the family. We have about three Marys in the Bible that are also related and most now confuse the children other Marys with the Mary who gave birth to Jesus.” He said. As far as I was concerned, this was all bullshit. Prove that to me from the Bible. ‘What the hell is wrong with the Pope, perhaps he had smoked one dope too many before dishing out this bullshit for all Christians to belief.’ I thought to myself. My Catholic friend tried to show me different scriptures to prove this dogma but as it turned out none of the scriptures opened for me was valid enough to believe that. All the scriptures opened referred to her virgin state before she gave birth to Christ and not afterwards. The others so far I could go along with it but not this. Somehow I became happy that he couldn’t prove this from the Bible.

Later on, as I continue to come to church every Sunday and days of obligation, I began to hear of her Immaculate Heart and her Immaculate Conception. Curious with this I asked, what does this exactly mean, and I was told she is conceived immaculate and not born with original sin like the rest of us. This bothered me again. And if truth be told, I don’t think the Catholics should be called Christians. This teaching was against what St. Paul said in the book of Romans where he said all have sinned and fallen short of the grace of God. Where is this in the Bible I asked my favourite question again. As usual, the Bible was opened, in Jeremiah 31:22, the scripture read, “how long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? For the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A ‘WOMAN’ SHALL COMPASS A MAN.” I waited wondering what the hell it meant. And he said, “You see, when God said this he was talking about the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. And of course, for the work of salvation to be perfect, a new man and woman were necessary. You can call it the new Adam and Eve. But Adam and Eve without sin. At first, this passage didn’t make any sense to me but when I tried to grasp the meaning I discovered in ancient Israel, it is unthought-of that a woman will protect a man as other versions read, “I will create a new thing as different as a woman protecting a man.” I thought again, but how can this mean the creation of a woman without sin? It seemed like a riddle to me; how does that translate to Mary being conceived without sin? Some passages in the Bible are just too deep for the understanding of the common Christians I concluded. “And how did Mary protect Jesus?” I asked. You remember when King Herod wanted to have Jesus killed by ordering the death of all children less than two years of age?” Of course, all Christians should know that I thought to myself and nodded. “Mary had to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus from being killed by King Herod.”

“So is this why you say Mary is born Immaculate?” he nodded and I just stood there and looked at him like a zombie. This realization shocked me some. It is a teaching not common in the Pentecostal tradition. Other passages like Isaiah 66:7-11 was opened but it really didn’t wash with me. It shocked me because to some extent there is credibility to the belief especially as it was backed up by the Bible. I left and pondered all I have learnt so far. As I pondered, only two options were left to me; should I become a Catholic or not become a Catholic. So far I was at peace with all I have learnt. I was even surprised that a Catholic can bring out such passages from the Bible. In my opinion, the Catholics don’t know the Bible. As time went on, I began to see so many mysterious teachings the Catholic believe. It was later I came to understand that the Catholic Church is a living church. A living Church in the sense that their teachings and beliefs are not entirely dependent on the Bible but more often than not these teachings still have their roots in the Bible if not explicitly then it is implied. I came to find a living tradition among them; a tradition that served as another rule of Faith for them. Unlike the traditional Pentecostal, anything outside the Bible was deemed not binding on them but the Catholics on the other hand had this living tradition that Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels and saints still appear to them to deliver messages and warnings about the seasons. It was during these times I realized that if you should know everything about God, you no longer have faith in Him but see yourself as co-equal with Him. While a Catholic might not understand everything the Church teaches, he still believes because the Church said so. But among the teachings of the Catholic Church, none so impressed me as the teaching on the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist was what finally decided me on the path I should toe. As a Pentecostal, the belief about the Lord’s Supper was that it was a symbol of Christ suffering and death; something to remind us of the passion of Christ. But the Catholic Church made me believe it is the true Body and Blood of Christ meant for our salvation, in other words, it is Christ himself. In the Pentecostal church, anybody was welcome to eat of the symbol of Christ suffering and death but in the Catholic Church on the other hand, one is expected to be baptized and not just that but must be in a state of grace before one is eligible to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ. Further again, the reason for this isn’t farfetched; and we find out this in the book of 1st Corinthians 11:23-29 where Paul warned about the dangers of eating and drinking unworthily. And so it even became more logical to get baptized first before we can receive the holy Body and Blood of Christ because it is the general belief of Christians that we are all born with original sin. In such a state it is not advisable to partake in such holy feast as the Body and Blood of Christ and Christ even said in John 3:5 that, except that we are born of water and the Spirit we cannot enter into of God. Baptism now seemed the only gateway to the kingdom of God. Since emphasized the ‘EXCEPT’. It is so because it is the only act that can cleanse us from original sin to be worthy to enter the kingdom of God and even partake of His Body and Blood. I doubted this teaching at first but as usual the Bible was opened again and lo it was clear as daylight that Christ never intended for this teaching to be misunderstood. Although while some Protestants see this as a symbol, some others believe to some extent that Christ is present somehow. But still, it can’t be compared to the Catholic belief as regard this important teaching that is the centre of their worship. It came as a shock to me to realize that despite the different mysteries of their Faith, they do not worship God blindly; that they know the God whom they worship. It is like they can see the God they worship. It is a beautiful feeling when one is able to comprehend God in a new light. Knowing this truth, I quickly resolved to enroll myself in a catechism class to be baptized as a Catholic. Jesus Christ couldn’t be more explicit when He gave this teaching to His disciples. Nowhere is the teaching more explicit than in the gospel of John; verses 48-68 of chapter 6 reads: “He said, ‘I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert but they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such that whoever eats it will not die. I’m the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread you will live forever. The bread I will give you is my flesh which I give so that the world may live.’ 53: Jesus said to them, ‘I am telling you the truth; if you do not eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His blood, you will not have life in yourselves…….those who eat this bread will live forever.’ The teaching was too much for the disciples who followed Him that all His followers deserted him. Verses 66 read; because of this, many of Jesus’ followers turned their back and would not follow Him anymore. So He asked His twelve apostles, ‘and you, would you also like to leave?”Although, as a Pentecostal, I have read this passage a couple of times I never felt the impact of Jesus’ words until I saw it from the Catholic perspective. I even saw more because while a protestant, I was of the opinion that the last supper was only a remembrance of Christ death but this time around I saw a different teaching; While the Lord's supper wasn't only the true Body and Blood of Christ, the Catholic teaching went further to say that there is no difference between what happened at Calvary and what is happening every time the Mass is celebrated. In other words, each time the Mass is celebrated the death of Jesus is not only proclaimed but in effect it is happening all over again. It shocked me again because while the scriptures said Christ died once and for all for all humanity, the Catholics are saying that Christ is dying over and over again. At that point I wondered if the Catholics are over doing it because from one perspective it didn't make sense but if the true Body and Blood of Christ has a role to play in it then there is some sense in the teaching. And indeed who can counter His words. It is through Him all things were made. If he says this is my Body, this is my Blood, who are we to doubt that? Something even scared me more, ‘if you do not eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His blood you have no life in you.’ It scared me because even while I am physically alive, it still remains a fact that I am more dead than alive. A certain impatience began to grow in me to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. And lo, it was with great relish when I finally was able to receive the Body and Blood of Christ on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (Easter Sunday). It was a night I can never forget, the night I became alive, the day I resurrected from the dead with Christ, the day life became meaningful. It is indeed a feeling that cannot be compared to any other thing on earth. As time went on, I began to understand the Catholic Church more and more. Indeed, there is a sharp contrast between the Catholic Faith and others. While others believe that the Bible as interpreted by the individual believer is the only source of religious authority and is the sole rule of faith for Christian believer, by this they disagree that there is no other source of Divine revelation to mankind. The Catholic on the other hand, firmly holds that the rule of Faith of the Christian believer is the teaching of the church. The Church in turn gets her teaching from Divine Revelation. Which are both the written word called sacred scriptures and the oral or unwritten word called Tradition. At first, I was skeptical about this until the Bible was opened again. In Thessalonians 2:14, we find Paul admonishing the Christian community, the passage reads, “Therefore brethren, stand fast and hold the TRADITIONS which you have learned whether by word or by our epistles.” Seeing this humbled me again. I now saw how it is possible to believe in purgatory and some other teachings of the church. I couldn’t help but be happy. In time I came to realize that the Catholic Church had a firm foundation that was lacking in the other Pentecostal churches I have been attending. Again, Christ said to His disciples in Luke 10:16, “he that hears you, hears me and he that despises you despises me and he that despises me despises Him that sent me.” With this and some other scriptures, it seemed plausible to conclude that it wasn’t the intention of Christ to make His followers dependent on the written word alone (it is well to note that as at this time, the new testament wasn’t in existence) but even on the church He founded which He promised He will be with till the end of age and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church. With this promise I find it difficult to believe the Church can err in her teachings. There is also nowhere in the Bible that says the authority of the apostles as the then Church ceases to exist the moment the Bible is in print. So very well, these two philosophies were clearly different from each other and only one of them can be true. I had a problem with the Protestants stand that the Bible and only the Bible is the sole rule of faith for the Christian believer. When I look at it closely, I find that this philosophy was originated by the 16th century German monk, Martin Luther. After that time, every Christian believer under the canopy of Protestantism wanted to be his or her own authority. The end result of this is very visible in our world today. But it all started as a problem in the Catholic Church. Some abuses had occurred in the church and Luther was justified in reacting. But as the confrontation between Luther and hierarchy of the Church ensued, it became centered on whether the teaching of the church is a legitimate rule of faith for the Christian believer. After a series of confrontation, Luther accused the Catholic Church of distorting Biblical truth. In the end, he rejected the teaching authority of the Catholic Church with the pope at its head as well as tradition to form his church. He even went further to rewrite the Bible and in the process deleted seven books of the Bible he claimed favoured the Catholic doctrines especially in the case of purgatory. In Maccabees for instance, we find the Israelites offering burnt offerings for the salvation of their dead ones. But the one million dollar question that begs to be asked is this, by whose authority did Martin Luther remove seven books from the Bible that has been accepted by Christians from the 4th century on? (The canon of the Bible was not settled until the 4th century). If the Bible says do not add or remove, by whose authority did Luther remove seven books from the Bible? And if this is the case, it is logical to assume that the protestants foundation is a weak one and very dangerous since millions of Christians depend on it for salvation.

It was for these reasons and more I became so confident of the Catholic Faith that I had no reason to doubt the teaching of the church but simply submit myself to the teaching authority of the Church because I know she cannot err in her teachings because Jesus, before He left, gave the apostles the power to proclaim any theological teaching true or false. That same power has always been transferred to the successors of the Church. But the most important of it all is that I found peace.