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Bob Perkins Independence, Missouri I was baptized into the RLDS church when I was eight years old in a small church in Turlock, California. My family moved back to Independence in 1982, and after the church split in 1984 I began to go to different restoration branches. I met my wife in 1989 after she ‘gathered to Zion’ and we were married in 1991. We settled in at a restoration branch and began planning for the future. Little did I know that within three years our religious foundations would be shaken. As we studied the scriptures, we began finding contradictions within the doctrine of the church. We asked different priesthood members about these contradictions but none had any answers for our questions. Some even told us that since it wasn’t a salvation issue, it didn’t matter. I was always taught that what ever was written in the "three books" was gospel. Now this "true gospel" was beginning not to make sense. We stopped going to church around the fall of 1995. My wife felt led to start looking for a church home in the spring of 1996. We tried different restoration branches but to no avail so we started staying home again. At this point I didn’t care about going to church at all. The Lord on the other hand, had a different idea. I couldn’t go to a church outside the restoration because being raised RLDS we believed that we belonged to the "One True Church." So if I went to another denomination then it wouldn’t be Christ’s church. Boy, was I wrong. We began attending Woods Chapel Baptist Church in the fall of 1996. At this time I still wasn’t really excited to be going to church, but I went because of my wife and my child. During the next three years I watched my wife grow in her love of the Lord, yet I still lagged behind. I finally opened my heart to God on September 24, 1999, when I went to Promise Keepers with some friends from church. The first sermon started at 7:00 p.m. The preacher’s words hit me like a hammer. He asked questions like, "if you were to die tonight, would you know where you were going?" and also "are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?" At this point I felt the Holy Ghost convict me. I had told my wife for the last several years that I didn’t like the person I was. I was filled with hate and anger. Let me tell you something, on September 24th I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart and was saved. Since that moment all the hate and anger has left me. I now realize that a personal relationship with Jesus comes first, not a relationship with a church. Our salvation is in Jesus and what he did on the cross. You can not earn your way to heaven by being a member of the RLDS church and by doing good works…that is a man-made salvation. The criminal on the cross said "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom," and Jesus replied, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." The criminal believed in Jesus and he was saved. Ask yourself, are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? If you are, my prayer is that you will come to know Jesus and the peace and freedom that He can bring into your life. |