I have made a commitment to dedicate my life to teaching others about God and more specifically, Christ Jesus.
I can hear the immediate response of some who may dive into arguments on religiosity. But what I have learnt over the almost twenty years of being in Christ, is that true Christianity is not about religion per se. It is a way of life! It is a life that one has chosen to live, based on the principles and teachings of Christ, as outlined in His Word, the Holy Bible. This goes way beyond the transgenerational traditions and dogmas that characterise religion.
Personally, I grew up as a Catholic, in that my mother and most of my maternal relatives were Roman Catholics. My father, on the other hand, was a Muslim; my paternal relatives were mainly Jehovah’s Witnesses and my stepfather was a Spiritual (Shouter) Baptist. Additionally, I grew up in a predominantly Hindu community. Religion therefore had been a significant part of my life. But coming to Christ broke the bonds that fastened me to the ideologies that I espoused and diverted my attention from those that I began to explore.
Ok, well I did not make a jail and I was not involved in drugs or crime. I was not a womaniser and I was not struck with some incurable disease. No, these weren’t my story. Though mine was not a dramatic deliverance from the pangs of death, it was meaningful enough to produce significant transformation in my life. God is good!
At around 16 years old, I began to explore spiritual things further. I started to read the Bible. It was my first attempt at a cover-to-cover journey through the Scriptures. I received the truth that God’s commandments included not having any graven images. We are instructed not make them, nor serve them. This brought deep conviction to me, as the Catholic Church is replete with effigies of their saints. In preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation I was taught that these were not idols and that we don’t pray to the Saints. The mental recall of this information was insufficient to quiet the nagging protest I felt internally. I eventually stopped going to church, and vowed to continue to read my Bible and pray at home.
During this period of absence from the Catholic Church I spent time considering other faiths. My main interests were with Islam, the religion of my father and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as I consistently received information from them. In fact, my grandmother and aunt were very happy, that I showed interest by asking for material rather than just waiting for same to be presented. Despite these interests, however, I still was not deeply moved to say, “join” either of them. So I continued to sleep in my bed every Sunday morning and worshipped on my own terms.
Eventually, my mother got fed-up of my religious lethargy. She insisted that I am not to continue to sleep in her house on Sunday mornings and strongly admonished that if I insist on not going back to the Catholic Church that I find another to attend. With that, now 17 years old, I got ready and headed out to find one of the churches as she suggested.
Interestingly though, I ended up at a church that I did not intend to be at. It was Miracle Ministries; the Pastor was Rev. Winston Cuffie; the day was September 12, 1993. Some suggest that this was accidental, but I have concluded that it was providential. It is at this church that I began my quest toward a new life. I was exposed to the Full Gospel of Jesus Christ. I accepted Christ into my life and committed to live for Him. Baptism in Christ, by immersion, soon followed. I immediately enrolled in the Miracle Ministries Institute of Ministry for an intense two-year training programme in Church Leadership and Ministerial Studies, which was already in progress. I graduated successfully and began preaching the Gospel at age 18.
During my life as a Christian I have not only received the grace that brought my eternal salvation, but God has also blessed me in so many different ways. I have learnt to walk in faith and God has proved Himself extremely faithful to me. Times when I haven’t even deserved, He extended his favour and blessings toward me. He has kept me these 19 ½ years in Him, and for this I am eternally grateful. I can stand now say truly God is good! He has been Good to me. And I would continue to share His Goodness and his grace with others.
I have found life in Christ and my earnest desire now is to see other lives transformed for the honour and glory of God. Christ was not sent into the world to bring condemnation, but rather, He has come that through Him the world might be saved (John 3:17). So His purpose is not to whip us over our heads for all the wrong we have done. But rather, to let us know that, in spite of our wrongs, he loves us and wants us to come unto Him. He loves us just as we are. But He loves us too much to leave us as we are. This is why the Apostle Paul was able to say that any man in Christ is a new creation, old things have passed away and behold, all things are now new (2Corinthians 5:17).
God truly is good. But in Romans 2:4 the Bibles tells us that the goodness of God leads us to repentance… We are therefore admonished to accept the goodness of God by turning away from our sinful lives (repent), believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptised (by immersion) for the remission of our sins.