I was an atheist for about 3.5 decades of my adult life, and only came to true faith a few months prior to my turning 50 years old.
I was confirmed in the (U.S.) Episcopal Church — part of the worldwide Anglican communion — as a 12-year-old boy, but turned away from any faith shortly thereafter, and have always been — and still remain — highly critical of the mainline “churches” which pretend to be the very epitome of the Christian church. But, in truth, they’re false churches, teaching — just as the Pharisees and Sadducees did in Jesus’ day — the traditions of men, which are contrary to God’s ways, as shown throughout both the Old and the New Testaments.
Praise be to God, the Lord opened my eyes, ears and heart to the truth of His eternal word in the Summer of 2012, during Katharine’s and my first couple of months of leaving the UK to travel. We were staying at a campsite in central France at the time. I read the gospel according to Matthew, poolside on my old iPhone 4, having downloaded a text version of the King James Bible.
But while I knew I’d been changed by that first reading of Matthew (and reread it again that autumn, while then living in Spain), it was another three whole years before I actually heard a true biblical telling of the gospel. It was only then that I, and then Katharine, were truly saved, though God — in His infinite love, grace and mercy — had been doing absolutely miraculous things in our lives throughout those intervening three years. And we can now both see so very clearly that He was, in fact, doing such things throughout the course of both of our lives, even as lost souls, because God — existing outside of time — knew that we would both, eventually, come to Him in faith and in truth through His pouring His love, grace and mercy into us.
In Jesus Christ’s almighty name, we praise Him mightily, for He is good, indeed, and His mercy endures forever! 🙏🔥❤️