Home » Angels, Demons, Miracles and the like... » Testimonies You Have Gained and How You Gained Them » How I came into the LDS church
| How I came into the LDS church [message #1008] |
Sun, 26 August 2012 20:50  |
zephyr
Messages: 129
Registered: May 2012
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Senior Member |
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I grew up in a home with an alcoholic father and a mother too weak to withstand him. He was brutal to all of us, and my older brothers were cruel to me, very cruel. My first experience with telling time was when my father would get home from work at 6:30, and that is when I would hide. I started to become violent, cruel, and dangerous myself.
Catholic Charities recommended that I be removed from home when I was 11 years old, and put into a children's home run by nuns. This was a big mistake. I became more violent, and the rage grew within me. I deeply hated nuns and priests as a result of their cruelty.
I got in many fights and developed an interest in the occult. After two years, the nuns had had enough. I was sent to another Catholic run home, this one for juvenile delinquent boys. There were some really scary people there, but the men who ran the place were good, very good. They cared about everyone. I skipped a grade of school there. The downside was that I began to drink and smoke pot.
When I was about 14, I was sent home. Immediately, I became an active member of the local street gang and got more into drugs and drinking. I got into fights with rival gang members at school, and I even carried a gun for a while. I was suspend several times and skipped school so often that I owed the school 45 excuses for 10th grade.
After about two years of gang life, I was arrested for carrying a knife, and spent nine hours in jail. After that I began to calm down, some. But the rage and anger was still inside me, and I had developed such a hatred for God that one day, publicly, I looked up into the sky and screamed obscenities to God, knowing that He could hear me.
Not long after my arrest, I left the street gang. On Christmas day of that year, I quit smoking to keep a deal with my mother. On the following New Years I quit drinking after having a massive hangover (my first) from drinking three fourths of a quart of whiskey, along with beer and mixed drinks, the night before.
About three years before my hangover, my mother, sister, and younger brother, joined the LDS church. My mother kept trying to get me and my cousin to go to church, but when we did we looked for things to steal. It wasn't working.
A short time after I had quit drinking, I was at home sitting on the couch in the living room. It was about 1:00 AM and everyone else was asleep. While I was thinking, a thought popped into my head: "I should be a priest". This thought was accompanied by something I had never felt before. It was a strange, but beautiful feeling.
The first thing I did was get up and find the Bible. I started reading in Genesis, but I couldn't understand it because of the language (King James Version). At that moment, I remembered what my mother had told me about the Book of Mormon, that it was full of wars (appealing to my street gang nature). There happened to be one on the coffee table in front of me. I picked it up and started to read.
As I read, it felt like I was transported to another world. Light seemed to jump off the pages as the book glowed with the Spirit. By them time I got to 1 Nephi 11:32-33 I had another unique experience. As I read what the people were going to do to Christ, I spoke aloud, with deep emotion and sadness: "No, they can't". My hatred had been turned to love. Love for my Redeemer, my Saviour, my King.
While I read the Book of Mormon the first time, my heart was completely changed. I had no more desire to do evil, but to do good continually. And after my baptism, I had many wonderful experiences with God.
I finished the book in a week and a half, reading in secrecy all the time because I didn't want anyone to know. But when I was done, I knew it was true and I knew I needed to be baptized. So I asked my mother to arrange it. She just about had a heart attack.
The elders were sent to teach me. Every time they taught it was a powerful spiritual experience. It seemed like I was going to explode.
When I joined the church I had to walk away from all of my friends and my lifestyle. This was a very sweet time for me. One and a half years later I was on a mission.
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