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TO FATHER MIKE,

WHEREVER YOU ARE


Dear Father Mike,

I was very sorry to hear of your death this past week. I realize that
you probably won't be reading this where you are right now, but
thinking of you has brought back so many memories from when I
was a member of the Roman Catholic Church that you pastored that
I thought I would write.

You were a good man, Father Mike. You always had a smile for
everyone you met, and you were there to lend a helping hand
whenever the need arose. When I asked for a discount on my kids'
Catholic education, you agreed to it in a heartbeat. Several years
later, after first communions and confirmations for the kids, as well
as a conversion to Catholicism by my then-husband, you agreed to
see me on short notice when I came to your office and told you that I
had placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, based on what I
had read in the Letter to the Romans, and that I could no longer
remain a member of a church that did not preach the simple gospel
of salvation as a free gift for simply believing that Christ died for the
world's sins, was buried, and rose again. I was hoping that you
would see this great truth as well, and the light would dawn in your
eyes; and you would follow me in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for
your salvation, and stop trusting the teachings of your church. But it
was not to be.

As a brand new believer, I was no match for the sophistry of a priest


who had been thoroughly schooled in the works of Augustine,
Aquinas, and Ignatius of Loyola; and you had me weeping with
frustration in no time. You, of course, went back to the gospel of
Matthew, chapter 16, and reminded me that Jesus said, “thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:18-19). “Which of the
thousands of Protestant denominations was this church,” you asked
me, “if not the Roman Catholic Church founded nearly two thousand
years ago?” She may make some mistakes but she's the only church
with the successors of Peter, and see how she has endured the test of
time?

I had no good answers for you that day, Father Mike. I gathered up
my King James Bible and my other books and papers and thanked
you for your time; but despite my feeling that I'd been bested by the
best, I never again set foot in your church to worship, but only to
attend a funeral or two. Your advice that I should perhaps consult a
psychiatrist to help me deal with my “obsession” still stings after all
these years.

Seventeen years and much study of God's word later, I've come to
realize that the words of Christ in the four gospels are addressed
exclusively to the nation of Israel, as the Lord himself proclaimed, “I
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt.
15:24). Our own apostle to the Body of Christ, Paul, wrote, “Jesus
Christ was a minister of the circumcision [Israel] for the truth of
God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” (Rom. 15:8).
The church that Christ founded upon the rock of Peter's confession
that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah sent to save
Israel was set aside following that chosen nation's rejection of him
and his kingdom. (Acts 7). The Roman Catholic religion, based on
these interrupted promises and doctrines, was on a mistaken path
from its inception, leading countless souls from the truth of the no-
strings-attached gospel given to Paul. The Body of Christ is a “new
creature,” that no longer follows after the fleshly Jesus, but after the
message of the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ from heaven
given exclusively to Paul for us today found in his epistles, Romans
through Philemon.

Father Mike, wherever you find yourself this day, do you remember,
either with thanks or with regret, that tearful housewife armed with
the simple gospel of faith for salvation? I came to see you that day,
not just to tell you that I quit your church and all its man-made
traditions and commands, but to give you the key to escape from it
yourself. Only God knows your heart, Michael; but the fact that you
said the Sacrifice of the Mass and administered the Catholic
sacraments to the “faithful” every day since that time speaks
volumes about whether you ever used that key. Like the rich man in
Hades, do you now long to send a message to those who wrongly
trusted in the doctrines you taught? Abraham's declaration still holds
true today, that if men don't heed the scriptures, "neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Jesus Christ told Israel,
“the truth shall make you free,” and that's a truth for all ages, but
only for those who are alive when they hear it, and not for those
whose fate is now sealed.

Farewell, Father Mike, wherever you are.

Here's the whole story of my conversion.


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