My Testimony: How I Became a Christian

Before Christ

For most of my life I believed in God and thought I was a Christian, but until about 1982 I wasn’t. The time that I was probably closest to God before becoming a Christian was as a young child. I did pray and believe God watched over us, as my mother taught me, and at times I sensed his protection and care. I always thought that basically I was a nice guy, even though I’d heard in church that we’re all sinners, i.e., we all do things disobedient to God’s commands revealed in the Bible and therefore displease Him. But I thought I was pretty “good”: I didn’t blatantly break the Ten Commandments (murder, stealing, adultery, etc.), didn’t get drunk (much), do drugs (much), and, relative to most people (e.g., my siblings), was a “goody goody”—obeyed my parents, wasn’t rebellious, didn’t get into trouble, etc. Hey, I was ambitious, hardworking (very focused on getting established in my career), and otherwise minded my own business. In fact, although I got along well with everybody, I was fiercely independent of other people. I was also spiritually indifferent to God, all of which made me lonely at times. I had few friends and interests outside of school and career.

In retrospect, however, I wasn’t so good. I was very selfish, never volunteering my time to help others (except students and service at college, for which I expected to get credit) and rarely made charitable donations; my philosophy was, “Look out for #1.” I was dishonest at times and enjoyed stealing little things at grad school (survival, ‘ya know) and later even at work, pocketing extra change sales clerks gave me, etc. I was a nervous person who lacked peace in my life, took myself way too seriously, was machinelike about getting things done, easily flew off the handle, and I had a fairly foul mouth (a bad habit learned in a frat house in college)

Although I was brought up in a mainline Protestant (Lutheran) church and went to Sunday school and church during high school, including confirmation classes and youth group events, it was because my parents expected it. When I went off to college in 1970, spiritually, I went AWOL—that was the end of all that; I became a “C and E’er” (I went to church only on Christmas and at Easter). I went through ten years of college and grad school without church and God in my life.

In 1980 I got my first full-time job, teaching at Eastern Michigan University. At this time I got somewhat involved with the campus Lutheran group, although only for social (and perhaps nostalgic?) reasons, and never darkened the church’s door on Sunday. Perhaps I even became a bit of an agnostic, doubting at times whether there really is a God. Although I occasionally prayed when in trouble (i.e., I was a “foxhole Christian), otherwise I wanted to run my life independently of God, which is the greatest sin one can commit! Because I was “good” and had been brought up in the “right” religion, I thought I’d make it to heaven when I die. Wrong! I wasn’t a true Christian at all!

Conversion

Unlike many people, I can’t pinpoint an exact time or date when I became a Christian. Instead, it was a gradual process over time. The process began shortly after I moved from Michigan to Massachussetts in 1981 to get closer to my family back east. My younger brother Gregg and his roommate Gene lived in Boston. Gene had, according to my brother, changed into a “born again” Christian a few years ago in college and had been talking to Gregg about the “end times” and Armageddon, as discussed in the Bible. During a Boston Bruins hockey game, Gregg shared a Christian tract he got copies of from Gene called “Like Wow!” It discussed the end-times prophecies in the Bible (predictions about how the world will end) and how the state of the world at that time seemed to be fulfilling these end-times prophecies (e.g., the rebirth of Israel as a nation, increased immorality, a general turning away from belief in the truth and accuracy of the Bible, etc.). The book suggested Christ’s second coming could be soon and that we should be ready for it. I remember nothing about that hockey game (who played, who won, etc.), only my discussion of the tract with Gregg.

Gregg recommended that I read a book by Christian author Hal Lindsay, The Late Great Planet Earth, which was the best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970s. It carefully documented the “signs of the times” with scriptural references. I read that book, plus all of Lindsay’s other books, which discussed topics such as the influence of Satan on the world and how to become a Christian—a follower of Christ. This all convinced me not only that we’re living close to Christ’s return but, more important, also that I hadn’t been a Christian and wasn’t going to make it to heaven because I was a sinner displeasing God by myself-centered life.

Through reading the Lindsay books I realized what I needed to do to get right with God and be “saved” from my sins. This meant I had to: 1. Confess to God that I was a sinner who had shut Him out of my life, 2. Ask to be forgiven on the basis of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for me (i.e., saved from hell on the basis of Christ’s grace/mercy, not my own works or being relatively good), 3. Be willing to try to turn away from sin and toward God with His help (i.e., repent), and 4. Realize that I need God’s direction in my life, i.e., to make Him Lord (ruler) as well as Savior. Somewhere along the way (in fact, many times, needlessly) I invited Him into my life to have a personal relationship with me and to be the most important element in my life.

After Conversion

These steps—being “born again” spiritually—gradually transformed my life. I began to undergo a progressive transformation process that won’t end until I die. I developed my personal, intimate relationship with God the way you develop a relationship with anyone—through communication. My communication with God consisted of (1) regularly reading the Bible (it amazed me that all these pearls of wisdom for right living and truth about the nature of life had been collecting dust on my bookshelf all these years), (2) prayer (talking to God and asking Him for guidance in making decisions), and (3) fellowship—deep, caring relationships with other Christians. (At first I was going to continue to sleep in on Sundays but the Holy Spirit, who is that person in the Trinity ho lives within true Christians, convicted me to find a Bible-believing church where I met and became friends with other Christians. They cared about me even though they hardly knew me.)

Although, even today, I still have deficient areas in my life not pleasing to God that I’m working on (God’s not through with me yet!), I found myself changing as a person over my first year of being a Christian. I began to rely on God to guide my life, to hang out with new Christian friends, and to go to a Christian coffeehouse and Christian events and singles groups meetings. I found myself being less selfish (e.g., letting others go first at traffic lights) and felt more love and concern for others, including my students. I was no longer dishonest; was calmer, peaceful, patient, and self-confident knowing Christ is in control; and got more involved outside of my own little world of work, such as joining the church choir and becoming involved in the church’s teen ministry. Through a church singles group I met my future wife. Since then, my “spare time” activities have mostly centered on God-centered things. Today my focus is on raising our four kids correctly as Christians; bringing Christ into my classrooms and the Stonehill College campus, where I try to be an active witness for Him; and growing as a Christian through involvement in church activities and serving there.

Best is knowing I’ll go to heaven someday to be with my family and Christian friends. So, God has worked on and is still working on my character. I still have a long way to go and won’t be like Christ until I die and go directly into His presence. I am still selfish and occasionally do things I’d frankly be embarrassed to tell you about. Fortunately, though, freedom from sin isn’t a requirement for getting in to heaven