My Journey of Faith Part 1
My Entrance into God's Kingdom was not Through Empty Religion
I was born in 1953 and raised in a Roman Catholic home; my parents were the first generation of Italian American Immigrants. My mom was almost four years old when she lost her mom due to the Spanish flu. I've been told she went around the house for a year looking for her mom. I also have a tear-stained letter my father wrote to my mom before he shipped off to join the American forces in World War II.
My Entrance into God's Kingdom began by having Doubts about God
The idea of evolution started gaining traction in the 1950s, but by the 1960s, the theory had moved to fact without authentic evidence. In the summer of 1967, I began to doubt God's existence. Lying in bed one evening and accustomed to praying for the men in Vietnam, I thought: I don't know if there is a God. Also, if there is a God, I don't know that I would go to heaven. With this thought on my mind, I said, at that point, I was not praying, "If there is a God, please make me go to sleep because I don't want to think about this anymore." My entrance into God's kingdom began with doubts but God's grace provided me with saving faith.
My Entrance into God's Kingdom occurred through the Human Instrument Billy Graham.
Some weeks later, I was asked to watch Billy Graham on television one evening, but I thought going out with my friends was more important. The next evening, however, I watched Billy on television alone in our den. During that sermon, I went from having doubts about the existence of God to being certain beyond any doubt that I was a sinner going to hell. My fear propelled me to my bedroom, where I looked up at the ceiling and said, God help me because I did not even know how to pray any more than that. Billy was the instrument through whom I heard the Gospel, but the Holy Spirit was present in my heart, and it was He who drew men, convicted me of sin, and caused me to repent of my sins and believe in Jesus Christ to save my wretched soul.
My Entrance into God's Kingdom was by powerful preaching by the Holy Spirit, but it continued without personal discipleship.
Six years passed without me ever knowing another authentic Christian; therefore, I finished the late 1960s and began the early 1970s without discipleship of any kind. As I started to get into sin, my conscience began to bother me so much that I had suicidal thoughts. Coming home from work, I stopped at a telephone booth where I called the Billy Graham organization and asked for help. I was sent to a church in Manhattan where I found counseling, guidance, and Biblical teaching. Eventually, we relocated to a church in Brooklyn until 1977.
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