“I was totally disappointed. I thought, ‘It’s impossible that he’s right!’” You can almost feel what he was feeling that day, some 20 years ago, when his pastor destroyed all his hopes of overcoming sin.
“But my life totally changed when I finally met people who preached the life of Christ – and lived it.” He tells the story of his path to Brunstad Christian Church, where after years of searching he finally heard a gospel about coming to the life Jesus lived.
Sick of so-called Christianity
“I was looking for something. I was raised a Catholic, and in college I became an active Christian. I read my Bible on my own as well as together with a Bible study group on campus. We were all different. There were some who were Christians from childhood, and there were people like me, Catholics or others who were seeking for something we couldn’t find in other churches.
“But after a time, I was so sick of Christianity. ‘Everything is OK! God is so good!’ ‘Jesus did everything for us!’ No matter what question was asked, the answer always came back to that. This Christianity confused me. The life of these Christians was more ‘ungodly’ than the others at college. I couldn’t understand it.
“It would take many years before God answered my questions about Christianity.
A need to read my Bible
“I spent the first seven years after college looking for answers. I visited churches. I couldn’t find any true life there. I gave up going to church altogether, but I felt I had to read my Bible. There was something there, even though I didn’t know what it was.
“One day I opened my Bible and it was like heaven opened. My heart changed when I read what I read there. I had this deep sense that God was real. I started to believe God’s Word just as it was written and I got faith for many things.
“I read about overcoming sin. But nobody else talked about it or preached it, and I began to doubt myself. ‘Is it really possible? It says you are called to an overcoming life, but I can’t find anyone living this life, or who even believes in it!’ Everywhere I looked it was the same: forgiveness for sins and not much more than that – nothing about the life in God’s Word.
“My pastor asked me to speak at a men’s weekend, and I spoke about overcoming sin and about Joshua and Caleb taking the ‘land’. I described the ‘land’ as the stuff inside of me, my sinful desires, my wanting to be admired, and how we could overcome those things just like Joshua and Caleb took the land.
“The pastor stood up and said, ‘But Jesus did everything. It would be great if we could live that life, but we really can’t.’ I felt totally disappointed. I thought, ‘It’s impossible that he’s right!’ I was so sure about what I believed. ‘It can’t be right, it just can’t be right!’ Everything was written so clearly in the Bible.
“Little did I know that my life would soon change completely. My questions would be answered.
I heard their preaching, saw their lives
“In 1993 I came into contact with Brunstad Christian Church. I heard their preaching and I saw their lives, and I became very, very excited!
“I met many people; some were in their 20s, I was 35. Even though they were younger than me, their lives spoke to me; the purity, the goodness. Everything they preached was according to God’s Word. They preached the life that was written about in the Bible, they believed it, and there were results – fantastic results!
“Jesus said you will know a tree by its fruit, and I said to myself, ‘OK, the fruit here is far better than anything I have ever seen, so I am staying in this church until I find a tree with better fruit, if there is such a tree.’ I haven’t found anything that even comes close!”
He laughs and his eyes are shining. He has become a very happy man. After 20 years in Brunstad Christian Church, he can say:
“The most important message they preach is that everyone can come to the life that Jesus lived, the life that is written about in the Bible. They don’t just talk about it; they live it. The promises in the Bible – they are all true. Overcoming sin is the way to that life, and that life is for you!”