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A Testimony
Before I start telling you my story of my salvation, I want to thank
my beloved wife, Joy, for allowing me to develop the website for our local church
and especially, for continuing to expand the website. Her love and her appreciation to
offset the pressures of our busy life.
I also want thank my pastor, Terry Buchholz and his wife, Mary for expanding my understanding and ability to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. I would also like to thank our church members for their continued love and inspired support. Thanks to Marc Langerman for taking over the responsibility as HVBDC Web Servant. So I can redirect my energy in other ministries as our church grows. Now to my story, I was raised as a Catholic, I attended both Sunday school and church for a few years as a young child. I had some bizarre ideas about Virgin Mary, Joseph and Jesus and my relationship with them. I was confirmed as a teenager and never bothered to learn about the teachings of Catholicism nor did I have the desire to learn them. I did that for the sakes of traditions of men. Peer pressure was involved because if you don’t do what everybody were doing, you were deviating from the social norm and it was frowned upon. After high school, I decided to be a lay person and help the church. I served meals for the homeless, did many chores and was involved in many projects. I started building my faith in Catholicism while in actuality I didn't know where I stood. So I started asking some questions about Heaven, the wafer cookie, worship to Virgin Mary, the Saints, and the Pope and all the answers I got from people is "You have no faith ". They will get upset if you begin to question Catholicism's teachings and begin to continuously asking for the verses to support their doctrine. Because their doctrine aren’t based on the Bible’s teachings but based on the man’s idea. I thought about going to the seminary to become a priest, I asked my priest for help but my priest laughed in my face and said, "You want to be a priest like me?" Then he ignored me and walked away. Discouraged, I decided to read the Bible because no one was helping me in my quest for Truth. I noticed the corruption in my church, which was much worse and deeper than what was reported to the mainstream media which was in 1985, a couple decades before the sexual scandal hit the press. My priest and nun shared everything like a married couple would do. They shared a hotel room, went out to the bars, restaurants, and parties. . I was surprised how they threw the money around like they were a rich couple. One Sunday morning, my priest from his pulpit, asked the members to donate more money because the church's gas bill were rising in thousands of dollars over the winter season. I was so disgusted because he lied thru his shiny white teeth. What's more, many members were oblivious of what’s were happening inside the church; as they only saw them on Sundays. Their testimonies shattered my faith in the Catholic Church and I decided to leave the church and faith completely. My community college sign language interpreter, a Jehovah's Witness, was constantly "selling" her religion. She withheld the false doctrine and gave me a false sense of how great the Jehovah's Witness religion were. She failed to mention that they don't believe that Jesus is God. I knew that her religion wasn't for me because she said that they don't celebrate Christmas, any Christian holidays, and not even birthdays. I did not know where to turn to next, in fear of being brain-washed by many false religion or doctrines. I went down on my knees and prayed with all my might to express toward God and asked Him to help me find the Truth and to guide my life according to His will. I got No answer! I browsed around different churches and religions, I noticed how peaceful the Hindu people were. I announced to my parents that I decided to try Hinduism. But where could I go? Frustrated, I decided to call myself a Christian. No church! No religion talk! Just believe in the Bible because many religions were abusing the Bible. No one could tell me what's wrong or what's right. Sounds easy, isn't it? I went to Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., I obtained the position as a Resident Advisor there. One of my floor residents asked me this question, "Are you a Christian?" I answered back, "Yes, I am" He left confused due to my bad testimony which contradicted the Bible’s teachings; however, he came back to me in a few days and asked me the same question again. I said, "yes" Unsure, so he asked me this specific question, "Are you born again?,". That question puzzled me and made me ask him what he meant by that. So he shared the Truth from the Bible and I realized that I have been missing all along -- salvation through Jesus Christ's blood and believing He died for your sins and saved you from Hell. All you have to do is to believe in Jesus that He died for your sins and He saved you from Hell, ask Him into your heart. Believe Jesus alone wasn't enough, you HAD to ask Him to forgive you and save you from Hell. James Campbell lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, Joy and their children, Luke and Laura. He is currently an Associate Deaf Pastor. If you would like to hear more about how the Savior affected our lives, you are welcome to attend the Hampshire View Baptist Deaf Church.
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