Dennis Reid - Schriever, LA

Researching Catholic Teachings and Scripture Brought New Life

After being raised from infancy as a Catholic, I did not question salvation or anything else the Church taught. I knew in my heart that I loved Jesus. From about the time I was about 12 years old, I kept thinking that something was wrong with the whole Mary thing and why they weren't they talking about Jesus more. I had read and heard through many television preachers that salvation was by grace through faith in Jesus, a gift from God and not of works, but they never spoke about Mary except for the Christmas story of Jesus' birth. I went to high school at Vandebilt Catholic in Houma where we had a religion class each day.

When my mother and sister quit going to the Catholic Church. I didn't ask why and they didn't offer any explanation, I just thought then that they didn't have a strong enough faith and they kept going from church to church trying to find answers. Then I met my wife and a year later we were married at the Catholic church. Our daughters were infant baptized and were alter servers. I got involved in the church more and more serving in different capacities. During this time, my neighbor Chris DeGeorge would visit me in my shop where usually I was doing many woodworking projects for this church. He would bring up different things about Christian living and we had many great, spirit filled conversations. I always enjoyed and looked forward to speaking with him. Chris invited me to attend different functions at Coteau and University Baptist. I would go with him and saw real fellowship for the first time.

I continued to attend the Catholic Church faithfully but there was something missing in my life and I started listening to Christian radio and reading the Bible. I listened and asked God for discernment to weed out the untruths. Then one day, a preacher was talking about false doctrines and gave examples of the Mary thing in the book "The Catechism of the Catholic Church". I started feeling defensive toward many of the things he was saying. He quoted page numbers and canon numbers saying that according to the Catholic faith, Mary is the mediator, Mother of God. Then he said the RCC is anti-Christ and gave examples. I remember feeling hostile and thinking I'd read what he was talking about, research it and send him a fiery rebuttal by letter or email. To my surprise, and let down, I found backup for what he was saying in the Bible and in historical documents. I then started my own research comparing these "canons" to the Bible. Most of these I found were very strange ideas of Bishops and Popes, and not at all Biblical. The RCC says we need the church for salvation but we are never assured of our salvation. I emailed a former priest of my old church who I respected, admired and loved like a brother and questioned him about these things I had found. This was 3 years ago and I'm still waiting on a response from him. We attended a function together where he avoided and hid from me the entire time.

I really felt lost, used, lied to and led astray by the one thing I thought I could count on, my church. I now made up my mind to pray for guidance and attend different churches to find the right one. Little did I know at that time that this was all a blessing from God, He was drawing me to Him and when we are at our weakest, He is at His strongest. After one unsuccessful visit to a Lutheran church, I decided to research doctrinal statements on the internet to speed up this process since I no longer trusted religions. Through all of this, I found that my faith was really never in any church but in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I started attending UBC regularly with my wife, Sunday school and a Bible study group. By reading and hearing the Word of God, my prayers for guidance were answered. I learned that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. That by the finished work of Jesus on the cross at Calvary, I have remission for sins and boldness to enter into the holy of holies through the shed blood of Jesus. One Sunday during the invitation, I walked to the front and told the pastor that I reject the doctrines of the Catholic Church and trust Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I now pray throughout the day and read my Bible daily to find out for myself, God's Word.