Religious Background and Denominations Testimony

Short Summary: I grew up in the Protestant traditions. I had a short time with Messianic Judaism and with offshoots of the Worldwide Church of God. I have been in various Home Fellowships and visited other denominations while traveling. Currently, I would fall into the category of non-denominational, trying to follow Scripture, and finding fellowship wherever it appears across the broad spectrum of groups listed above.

United Church of Christ

Raised In Liberal Church

The first twenty-five years of my life included somewhat regularly attending a congregation within a liberal Protestant denomination. My presumption throughout that time was that this was a typical Christian church and that variations between denominations were minimal. I had been baptized as an infant there and then as a young teenager gone through confirmation. Looking back, the confirmation training was not so much about being a believer as it was deciding to be a member of that denomination. As usual, it was not until I was nearly out of university that I began to truly question things and look at what was happening around me ... this was no different for this group.

Limited Services

The group had a common set up for it's service with a few hymns, a couple passages of scripture to read, and a short sermon. I particularly enjoyed the music as we had not just a pipe organ for music, but both a singing choir and a bell choir. What I did not know at the time was how little of the Bible was being taught. It focused on the four gospels. The Old Testament was not heavily used, the Sinai Covenant was ignored, and the creation account was almost nonexistent. The epistles were used some, but Revelation was avoided. As I did not grow up reading the Bible, my knowledge came from those sermon messages.

Working Behind the Scenes

I actually enjoyed my time at that church. I was still the introvert, but I was able to be somewhat involved in many activities behind the scenes. I helped prepare the communion elements. At times I even helped on the Altar committee where the duty was to make sure the correct color pulpit stoll and other decorations were in place for that time of year. I knew all the storage spots and could retrieve Christmas decorations from up in a loft where few wanted to go due to small stairs and tight spaces. Even in the public area I had a solo job as for awhile I was the favored person to be the acolyte because I walked so slowly and reverently as I lit or snuffed the candles. Ironically, I initially moved so slowly because I did not want the flame on the acolyte staff to blow out and nothing more than that. I later figured out that there was a lot of 'pomp and circumstance and ceremony' to all these activities from which people could take pride in fulfilling.

Singing the Blues

Sadly, though, the congregation was a much more secular place than it ought to be. It was the pastor of my teen years that introduced me to rock and roll music - a plague that got into my life for about 12 years. Unbeknownst to me at the younger ages, there was a homosexual with some lay rank within the group as well as a somewhat 'creepy' occasional guest who I later learned had some sort of criminal record involving inappropriate contact with minors. Looking back, I truly wonder what other things I was exposed to in that congregation without realizing it. I was also aware of behind-the-scenes grudges and arguments. Even the attempted monthly healing ministry seemed odd because I never heard of anyone actually being healed ... the same people would go up month after month. This group did not lift me up ... but perhaps I felt a little relief or comfort because I realized there were so many people that had problems worse than mine.

Cut Rose Illustration

I forget the exact timing, maybe late high school or early university, but the church had an interim pastor for over a year while it struggled to find a new permanent pastor. This interim pastor was not technically of the denomination and had been a missionary overseas in Asia. He was different. He had some passion for evangelism. He did not interact with me much except one time he pulled me aside and gave me a short lecture about the 'cut rose'. He basically described how on the outside the rose flower looks very beautiful, but because it had been cut and had no stem or roots it could not last and would wither away. At the time, I balked at this. I was angry. I did not want to accept such a statement. Well ... his approach to me was poor, but looking back I now think he was the only one in the group who had it correct. I did not have a personal relationship with the Eternal and the fact that I later pursued science and philosophy is strong evidence of that. Although I did not recognize it at the time, I was a 'Sunday morning christian' who would find God for a couple hours each week and then return home and live a normal secular life the remainder of the week.

Annual Budget

In my twenties, I became disillusioned with the congregation. I probably could not put the problem into words at the time. However, it just did not match up with what I thought a church should look like. I had a general impression that believers should be blessed [ have peace in their lives ], but I did not see this. Overall, it did little with the community like helping the poor. It was like it's own little club or clique. It was not bringing in new people ... in fact, at that time the congregation was shrinking. Something would be the proverbial last straw that made me decide to go elsewhere. It turned out to be the annual budget. I paid attention to where all the offerings went. Only 10% of what was donated made it back out of the church and a chunk of that went to the larger denominational collective. The remainder was spent on salaries, on paved parking lots, building expansions, and such as that. In fact, one thousand dollars a year had been budgeted just to have fresh flowers next to the altar each week. The attention to the physical and the lack of attention to helping people was enough. It was time to seek elsewhere.

Saying Goodbye

After physically leaving, I did not remove my membership for a few years. These were people I grew up with and my transition was slow. But as I found other groups, as I got married, and, especially when I moved away, I found myself growing distant and finally asked to be removed from the roster ... something I would later recognize had spiritual implications as well because who you partner with or have allowed to be an authority in your life does have impact. In my journey to find Scripture, I had to let go of Christian tradition.

Ideas

the spiritual was stuck in liturgy : strangely, despite all the problems there, that UCC congregation was a lot better than nothing because it did keep a basic connection with the bible going

Sabbath Observance

In the United Church of Christ, at our denomination, I grew up helping behind the scenes. My father had been both a deacon and an elder in the church and had served on numerous committees. In particular, I can remember a time when my family was on the altar committee and so became our duty through the year to set up the various things that went with the altar. This would include having the correct color of stool on top of the pulpit and having were preparing for the bread in line for communion. During many of these years I was also acting as an acolyte and had a row that I would wear when I would light or snuff out the candles on the altar. There was a lot of pomp and circumstance and ceremony and all of these activities which at the time I probably took great pride in helping to do and fulfill.

It wasn't until I was about 27 years old when I was finally a really looking at the denomination and listen critically. I critically I mean not just excepting what they had taught me all those years but instead seeing if what they were doing matched up with what I thought Scripture said. There were many cases where it did not match up. And in general, where it seemed like believers ought to be blessed, going to church often seemed more like a listening to blues music: meaning that it was not there so much to cheer you up as it was to make you realize that everyone has problems and said he feel little relief that you're not alone. This was a sad situation.

The proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back of was one year when I looked at the annual budget for our church. Within the denomination, our individual congregation was known for many years as one of the largest per capita givers. For a small church, and it had a good-sized budget meaning a lot of donations. What were however, when I looked at where the money was spent, very little of that money made it out of the church building to help either the surrounding community or worldwide missions. Most of the money, it seemed, was spent on making the building looked good, I'm choir robes, on Dell's, on staff salaries, insurance, building additions, and so forth. In fact, it seemed that our church, our congregation it made very little outreach to the community around us.

It was finally time to look for a new congregation.

Since I was starting to realize that what a denomination taught and what Scripture said could be different from one another and since I had finally made the decision to search for a new denomination, the doors were flung wide open to really investigate many doctor. So wide release doors, that even the issue of the Sabbath was able to be added to the table. I had had a friend for several years who was a seven stay Sabbath keeper and we'd had numerous discussions on many topics about Scripture including the Sabbath. The question was finally be forming. He seemed quite knowledgeable on many topics including this issue and therefore are the seven stay Sabbath was finally a topic before me.

I began a study into Scripture and history looking at what the Scripture said about the Sabbath and what church history said about the Sabbath this study took about two years now, this study took about one year it included many concepts including how the old and New Testament relate to the Almighty's people today, the process of salvation versus legalism, and simply excepting the Almighty's word for what it says. After year study, it was quite evident that a plain reading of Scripture says to keep a seven stay Sabbath at our heavenly father separated that day for special use. It was also equally clear that it was church tradition through Catholicism, that man decided to keep a day of rest on the first day of the week instead of the seventh.

The seven stay Sabbath was the focal point of a year-long study, but it was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of a large number of topics that followed suit. Would I follow what Scripture said or what I follow what the traditions of men said? I chose Scripture and that has become one of the defining moments in my life

Worldwide Church of God Offshoots

Bible Study

Having read the Bible and seeing that the Sabbath was a proper observation, it should be no surprise that I ended up attending with a Sabbath keeping group. However, as I did not yet know of the various options, it was a local offshoot of a much split up denomination. That denomination, as a whole, seemed to attract intellectuals ... people who were always studying the Bible. They were not legalistic (trying to earn salvation by keeping the law), but observing the law was always a topic on their lips and arguments were frequent on what this meant [which is on reason there were so many splits within the larger denomination]. They also had a tendency to not apply Scripture to their lives until they thought they understood it ... so years could pass before any changes occur.

Lack of Relationship

This was a bittersweet time. I was getting a crash course in Old Testament / Covenant theology which I much needed since that was lacking in my earlier learning. However, this group was not teaching me about a personal relationship with the Eternal. Even worse, this group had an internal power struggle going on and so I moved on to another local offshoot of the same larger denomination. The second group was more fun and more relaxed, but theologically more diverse. It forced me into reading more of the Bible for myself and to become better at studying. Ultimately, though, the lack of love and relationship left me dry and I so the search was on for something better.

Understanding Doctrinal Division

Perhaps what was most important to learn at these groups was that what actually separated the many denominations was a lot of man-made doctrines that were not genuinely from Scripture. I could not verbalize it yet, but what brought believers together was Scripture and what separated them was man-made doctrines.

Baptisms

While growing up in the Church, I followed the usual pattern of receiving an infant baptism followed by a teenage confirmation. Although I grew up in the church and would have called myself a Christian while growing up, what I had was much more of a mental understanding of things which do not apply deep down inside in the heart level. It was a much more physical thing in my life than it was a spiritual thing. I knew what was expected of me within the church congregation, but I really didn't know how these concepts related to the outside world while at home or at school or at work or anywhere else.

One when I finally learned that Scripture gives an accurate depiction of life and I started to pursue a personal relationship with the Almighty, I felt a desire to do something to mark that event. Whether it was necessary or not, I decided to have an adult baptism. This baptism marked that it was a conscious choice that I was making and not just something expected of me from a church group or congregation. This event meant much more to me in the prior events meant and it was attended by a few close friends, the lady who would soon be my wife, and a few others from the congregation we were at that time attending. My closest friend at that time, J., is going to be the one assisting me in the actual event of the baptism.

I decided to have this baptism in an actual river. And I had intended when I went under the water to stay there for some length of time. I wanted it to be an intense moment of reflection including many themes of life and death, sin in salvation, and whatever else came to me at the moment. My sense of time in the water seems distorted but I think that it was a very short moment instead of a long moment. As I started to think, my body wanted to breeze in the moment I realized I could not breathe my body seemed to panic or my mind seemed to panic, despite the fact that I was somewhat accustomed to swimming or holding my breath while doing photography work were doing other activities and water. In theory, I should have been able to just stand up in my head would be above water but for some reason it seem difficult. Therefore, I reached my hand up out of the water for help and my friend Jay told me up. With

This event seems a somewhat symbolic to mean for the salvation process. Although it is definitely our choice to go to the river and to go for salvation with the Messiah, once we are there we cannot do it ourselves we need our Savior's help to get us out of sin and death. This is a dramatic moment in the physical forming that spiritually speaking on an internal level it is also very dramatic moment for we must reach for our Savior to have him pull us out.

Messianic Jewish Movement

In an effort to get away from the man-made doctrines of Christianity, and perhaps also a search for something that felt more like community, I ended up exploring the Messianic Jewish, Hebrew Roots, and Two House Movements.

Covenant Relationship

At first, this was very refreshing. Here were groups that actually worshiped with music, dance, and community. It was teaching a relationship with the Eternal through the covenants. That emphasis on covenant relationship rather than covenant law was so much needed. They seemed to have a better balance of actively applying both Old and New Testament Scripture to their lives.

Rabbinic Tradition

However, all of this fellowship also came at a cost. It was entirely surrounded by Rabbinic tradition very obviously from the Talmud and more subtly from Kabbalah and the Zohar. It did not take long to recognize that this is the same Pharisaic traditions that the Messiah spoke so strongly against. These were traditions made up by a people who denied the Savior. Many of the rituals that were made to try and reach salvation through one's own efforts were given a veneer of Messianic meaning and made to sound like it was worship commanded by the Eternal rather than from the Rabbis. In short, these were again the traditions of man ... and they were separating individuals, groups, and denominations.

Charismatic House Fellowships

At this time, we started attending with a few different house fellowships. This was a time of great learning. Each group had its own strengths such as study, praise and worship, and gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit was something new and took some time to get used to. We have seen the fake and the false in this area, but when one sees the real thing it is incredible. The Almighty still works through people today and that was becoming a seed in my heart.

Throughout all of these different denominations and fellowships, one thing I also learned is that everywhere there were people with a sincere desire to have the best possible relationship with the One Most High. Although the Christian, Messianic, and Worldwide groups of believers all have their own traditions that distinguish them one from another, each and every person is a believer in the Messiah as savior and therefore a companion in the book of life. Whatever the thoughts about the religious systems that exist, one must not forget that these are people to love, individuals with which to fellowship, and groups with which to worship the Almighty.

Shield of Truth

Before leaving Ohio, there was another learning experience to go through which only lasted a few long months. A small group of men approached me asking if I would join them in starting a new congregation in a poorer section of a nearby city. In prayer, I was both getting a yes to do this and later getting warnings not to be too involved. This group had a Messianic slant to it and these men obviously made great emphasis on the more ritualistic aspects and wanted to teach the 'deep' understandings they knew. I was being led to help the newcomers and help with the basics of different issues and they were quite content to let me handle that. As it turned out, going through all of this was a lesson about humility and basics. A person needs a good grounding in the basics, or they can get carried away by strange doctrine. Over time, one of them became Jewish. Another went off after Kabbalistic ideas and somehow decided he needed to get divorced and encouraged others to get divorced as well. Overall, it was a rough experience, but the lessons learned were important.

This page is under construction. My apologies for any misspellings, repeated text, missing references, etc. Please visit again later for a more complete treatment of this topic.