The Truth Shall Make You Free
Randy M. Bourgeois
Born on the Bayou
What a blessing to be born and raised in the heart of Cajun country on Bayou Lafourche in south Louisiana USA. On the bayou, there is ample opportunity to grow and learn in one of the richest cultures of our blessed United States of America. Here in Cajun country, you will find some of the tastiest foods along with a culture of fun loving, warm, and caring people of French heritage. People will drive miles to tour the Cajun country of south Louisiana, learn its culture, and enjoy the fine foods.
As one travels across the vast expanse of our great country, each stop along the way presents a learning experience from the history and heritage of that area. In each location, one can learn about the people who first settled each community, along with the legacies of outstanding citizens and traditions they handed down. For the most part, the present residents of each community still carry traditions of language, work, recreational interest, styles of living, and religious beliefs and practices, which were handed down from previous generations. While the “Bible Belt” along with various religions are found throughout the USA, the predominate religion of south Louisiana is Roman Catholicism.
Born on the Bayou in 1955, I was raised in the traditions of the Cajun people of Louisiana. I grew up hunting the swamplands and fishing the wetlands with my family and relatives.
Along with the other traditions of my heritage, I also was raised in the tradition of the Catholic Church. From here my testimonial from childhood to the present will paint the picture of how I was transformed from a devoted Catholic boy to a Christ-centered, Christ-serving Christian.
Born in Roman Catholicism
Traditionally, my parents were Catholic, and naturally christened me Catholic soon following my birth. Being good Catholic parents, they were very adamant in following the traditions of the known religion of our heritage. Roman Catholicism teaches that it is at one’s christening that “infused grace” is received from God. The Catholic Catechism states: “Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.”[1]
If you were to ever question teachers of the Catholic Catechism about the term “born again,” spoken by Jesus in John 3:3, you would probably be told that this happened at your christening. At infant christening, Catholics believe that “original sin” is washed away and you are born anew to enter God’s heaven. This gives some understanding as to why throughout their entire lives Catholics believe they are secure for heaven.
However, while studying the Bible, I have never found any instructions on christening infants, or that they need to have “original sin” washed away. The apostle Paul wrote that we are born with the sin nature of Adam, but not Adam’s sin. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”[2]
Interestingly, we find christening to have its beginning with the Roman Emperor Constantine (A.D. 272 – A.D. 337); who decreed, in A.D. 313, full tolerance to all religions in the empire, especially with regard to Christians. Constantine, desiring to keep national peace, declared that Rome have one state religion. Therefore, he decreed that all Rome be Christian; thus had all citizens christened. Subsequently, each new citizen born into Roman citizenship was christened Christian upon birth. The practice of christening was performed by sprinkling water. By Constantine’s decree, everyone touched by the water was therefore christened Christian. The Roman Catholic Church adopted this practice calling it a baptism. The Catholic Catechism states: “The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on…”[3]
Amazingly, different religions have taken on various practices or modes of baptism, each proclaiming that theirs is correct. The three most common modes are sprinkling, pouring, and immersing. However, the English word baptism is translated from the Greek word baptisma (baptisma), which can only be defined as immersing.
I began my education in public schools and made my First Communion at the age of seven. After attending public school for three years, my parents felt that I would perform better academically and socially if I were transferred to the Catholic school. The following year I resumed my elementary education in the local Catholic school. While in Catholic school, I experienced a whole new regiment of disciplinarians. Most of my teachers were Catholic nuns from Spain. They were very adamant about each student learning Spanish as a second language. I mention this to say that the obvious goal was not to teach us about God, but the language of Spain.
Almost daily, upon arriving at school, we were led in a march to the church to participate in a Mass of the day. At each daily Mass, each student was expected to take the Eucharist. If any student did not, he or she was questioned in private as to what disobedience caused them to abstain from the sacred Host. We were taught that upon receiving the Eucharist, Jesus would help us to behave well in school that day, and that He would help us with our schoolwork. Of course, this was when we were taught that we took the literal Jesus into our being to live in us. I remember never being able to comprehend why we needed to return each day for the Eucharist. I used to wonder if Jesus left at some time, or did He fade away? This was long before I ever heard the word “Transubstantiation” (the belief that the bread and the wine are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, yet with no noticeable change in form.) Nevertheless, just as transubstantiation describes, we were taught that the bread and wine literally became the body and blood of Jesus. As a boy, I never could understand how this could take place, except that God was all-powerful.
Now, having an understanding of the Word of God, I know there is not any teaching in Scripture about transubstantiation. At the last supper, Jesus did not teach transubstantiation, but that we should observe the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him. The apostle Paul stated, “And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.”[4]
During my first year in Catholic school, I had an interest in becoming an altar boy. Soon after applying, I was called in to speak with the priest. Following many questions about my devotion to the task, I assume I answered correctly, because I was added to the roster of altar boys. As an altar boy, I learned the routines and rituals of service, yet I never really understood what I was performing or why I was performing such tasks—but only that I was doing a noble, religious thing that made the adults very proud of me.
By tradition, I made my Confirmation when entering into sixth grade. I believe most young people in that group had no idea what Confirmation was all about. We simply did what was expected of us—no questions asked.
Understanding Confirmation now, it is truly staggering to know what this practice teaches about God’s grace. Roman Catholic Confirmation is the believed practice that there is an extra boost of infused grace following Catholic baptism, which is given to those Catholics who are moving from childhood to adolescence. This extra amount of grace is believed to give the young person the grace to deal with adult temptations while going through drastic change in growth. It is believed to also give the young Catholic the Holy Spirit who enables one the ability to devote one’s life more closely to the church and her teachings. The Catholic Catechism states, “Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiations, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds.”[5] However, the Bible teaches that God issues grace at His will to those in need at anytime regardless of age. Again, there is no teaching in the Bible about adolescent children needing a boost of infused grace.
The Desire for the Priesthood
While in the fifth grade, a couple of other boys, including myself, began to meet together during recess time and talk about our interest in growing up and becoming priests. Although I had a deep and sincere desire to become a priest, I never made my parents aware of those desires, nor did I discuss them with anyone outside my group of friends on the school playground. I believe these feelings were genuine feelings of just wanting to get close to God and serve Him. As time went by, my desire to be a priest slowly diminished from my everyday thinking, while my attention turned toward recreation.
Priesthood itself is another practice of Catholicism that should be questioned. With the exception of a few Old Testament Priests being around during the time of the New Testament church—following the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus—there are no teachings by Paul, or any of the other apostles, concerning the continuation of the priestly order found in the Old Testament. To the contrary, the New Testament speaks of every “born again believer” being a priest.
The word “priest” means “bridge builder.” In New Testament theology, a priest is one having access to God. The apostle Peter wrote of all believers, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”[6] Peter also wrote, “…ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”[7] The priesthood taught in Scriptures is often referred to as the “priesthood of believers.” Moreover, the leaders in local church congregations are scripturally called pastors, elders, or bishops. Nowhere in New Testament Scripture do you find church leaders called priests.
The Rituals of Home Life
Though I cannot say that my parents were the strictest of Catholics, I can say that they followed closely to the traditions of the Catholic Church when it came to the practice of certain rituals. Catholics are taught to traditionally perform certain rituals with the hope of certain results.
Prior to my birth, my mother gave birth to her second son who was named Tommy. Sadly, Tommy died only a few days after arriving home. His death occurred from “an enlarged heart.” Eight years following the death of Tommy, my parents built a new house, which had much more needed space than our previous house. We were now five children under the watch care of our parents.
Still having Tommy ever upon their hearts and minds, my parents had a special altar built into the new house’s wall at the end of the hall. It was simply an indentation in the wall where statues of Jesus and Mary were placed in fixed positions, and a candle burned perpetually for Tommy’s soul.
In Catholicism, it is believed that candles can be burned for the release of a loved one’s soul from the place of purgatory, or, in Tommy’s case, because he was an infant at death, candles were burned so that his soul would be released from the holding place called “limbo.” Undisputedly, the words and terms “purgatory” and “limbo” do not exist anywhere in the Bible. In fact, the Bible states; “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”[8] It is astounding that religions teach their people certain rituals and practices that are not found in the Bible. Jesus said to the religious, “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men…”[9] The apostle Paul warned, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”[10]
In the new house were also places that contained holy water. You would dip the tip of your fingers in the water and make the sign of the cross. As a child, I never knew the significance of this. But, somehow, it made you feel good, or holy.
Growing up in a traditional Catholic home, my parents also brought us to the church for “confession time.” I remember wondering why I should tell all my bad behaviors to the priest. My mom told me that once I confessed my sins to the priest, they would all be forgiven and I would have a new beginning. In other words, the slate would be wiped clean. However, the Bible teaches that only in Christ does one have a new beginning. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”[11]
Catholicism teaches the Catholic priest absolves your sins. This means that the priest has the power from God to forgive sins. Of course, this is an error in the interpretation of, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”[12] God said through the prophet Isaiah, “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions…”[13] The Bible speaks nowhere about God giving man the power to absolve sins.
During the years I served as an altar boy, I feared confessing my sins to the same priest I would serve on the altar. I hoped that he would not recognize my voice behind the stained glass as I pronounced my sins before him. I feared that he would not allow me to serve as an altar boy any longer. Nevertheless, he either never recognized my voice, or if he did, he never brought any attention to my confessed behaviors that may have been out of line with being an altar boy.
Growing Up
At the ages of eleven and twelve, I spent all my school holiday time and most of my summer vacations on my uncle and aunt’s farm. On that farm I really began to have an awareness of God’s presence. As a child reaching adolescence, I cherished times alone while feeding the animals or picking crops from the field. This was a good time in my life. I enjoyed raising animals and being in the outdoors. That farm was a sanctuary where I could think, dream, and imagine all sorts of things. I remember getting alone out in the corncrib or back in the woods to just talk with God.
Near my home, about a half-mile walk through the sugarcane field, was a bayou with a large hackberry tree leaning toward the water. At times when I was troubled, I would walk to that hackberry tree and just cry out to God. I can truly testify of the many times God answered those prayers. When I became a true, born-again Christian many years ago at the age of thirty-one, and having become knowledgeable of the Scriptures, I began to wonder why God would answer the prayers of a lost adolescent boy. It occurred to me that during the times on my uncle and aunt’s farm, the warmth I felt in knowing God’s presence, and the answered prayers I prayed while under that old hackberry tree, was God’s way of revealing to me the reality of His existence. It would be later in my life that I would hear the truth of God’s Word and respond by faith alone to God’s saving grace through the blood of Jesus.
At the age of thirteen, I began to follow the peers of my youth. My parents were not taking us to church much anymore, and my life in Catholic school had ended, since the sixth grade was the school’s highest grade level. It was at that time in my life that my attention turned to teen dances, hot-rod cars, and dating. Throughout my teens, I drifted deep into the world with hardly a thought about God. Oh, I would think about God from time to time—like on Easter or Christmas. However, I mostly had a one-track mind with self-desire in the center.
My teen years were godless years of self-indulgence and rebellion. During my junior year in high school however, I met the girl of my dreams. She was kind, sweet, and very pretty. After a couple of years of dating, and after both graduating, we entered into matrimony. In 1974, we were married in the Catholic Church where I grew up. However, neither of us knew the Lord, nor did we want God in our lives.
Lost, and Did Not Know It
Being raised in the Catholic Church, I was never told that I was lost and that I needed salvation. These things are never spoken of among Catholics. As a Catholic, I believed that I was automatically going to heaven because I was Catholic. Catholics are given the understanding while growing up that they are of the “One True Church,” that all other denominations and churches are teaching false teachings, and that everyone that is not Catholic is going to hell.
In this present time, now in my seventeenth year serving as a full-time pastor, I reflect back to things I was taught while in the Catholic school. As children, we were taught that we should never set foot in any church that was not Catholic. One day, the teacher illustrated by pointing out a certain church in the community that was not Catholic. She said, “Never go into other churches that are not Catholic Churches. The Pope forbids this. For instance, that red brick Baptist church on the Houma road is the kind of church you are forbidden to go into, or you will go to hell.” Well, as it turned out—that red brick Baptist Church on the Houma road is the church that I pastor today.
I am reminded that many religious teachings outside the authority of the Bible may profess things to be of God, and at the same time, be blindly neglecting God’s truths. Scripture teaches of the time Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said, “…Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him; Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”[14] Here was a very religious man, even noted by Jesus as, “…a master [teacher) of Israel…’”[15] Then Jesus asked, “…and knowest not these things?”[16] Nicodemus was the teacher of Israel, yet could not understand that he must be “born again.” Has anything really changed in the day in which we live? We still find highly educated religious teachers not realizing that one is lost until he or she is saved by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ; or that the Bible must be the true source of authority, by which we should measure all teachings about God.
Even though I certainly was not a religious leader of my day, I was nevertheless “lost.” Early in my marriage, my wife, being Southern Baptist, had a King James Bible she displayed on the coffee table of our home. At times, I would be rained out at work; I would come home and attempt to read her Bible, which I referred to as a “Baptist Bible.” As Catholics, we were told that we “should not read the Bible or it would make us crazy.” While in Catholic school, I was taught by the nuns and priests that the priests were the only people that God gave the ability to truly understand the Bible. Upon attempting to read my wife’s King James Bible at the age of twenty, the belief that was taught to me many years before was being reinforced by my lack of understanding what the Bible meant. I spent most of my time in the book of Matthew because I knew that the red letters were the words of Jesus, and I wanted to know what Jesus was saying. However, I would get very frustrated after reading and reading and still not understanding.
He Sought Me
Throughout my teen years, and into my adult years, I cannot recall anyone witnessing to me from God’s Word, or giving a testimony of salvation. Oh, I remember one time I was in the hospital, and someone I went to Catholic school with, came into my hospital room telling me I needed the Holy Ghost. However, his preaching had no credibility since he was a member of a church in the next community that was practicing some very strange things—like keeping a dead infant baby in an ice chest of ice believing it would rise from the dead in forty days. Well, law officials found them out and that church died.
For the next ten years, life went on with hardly any thought of God. There was a time however, at the age of twenty-three, that I felt once again I needed God in my life. My wife and I were having marriage difficulties and I was very unsettled about what I wanted in life. As a result, I went to the shopping mall one day and bought a rather large gold crucifix on a chain. Being raised in the Catholic teachings that statues will provide power and guidance for life, the crucifix was my choice. Moreover, I determined not to be a hypocrite and hung it on the outside of my shirt. As the people I worked with saw the crucifix, they would exclaim, “You getting religious on us, Randy?” My answer was usually, “I am just trying to live better, that’s all.”
The religious revival did not last more than a month, and I resumed my same unchanged lifestyle. Looking back, I now realize it was God who was drawing me to Himself. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…”[17] My problem at this time of drawing was that I did not have the truth in which to respond. Perhaps God would have led me to truth if I had given Him a chance.
Throughout my twenties, I had some outstanding jobs in the oilfield, which gave me good opportunities to increase my knowledge in several fields of work. The companies I worked for gave me all sorts of personal benefits and the liberty to do my work as I saw fit.
Being a mechanic by trade, I resigned from the oilfield companies and opened my own business. My business consisted of auto repair, diesel engine repair, generator and pump repair, and working back in the oilfield pipe yards on pipe testing units. This also was one of my specialties since I had designed and built pipe-testing units while working for other companies. At the time, I believed I was doing well, having others working for me and the prospect of getting wealthy just over the horizon. However, in the mid 1980s, the oilfield in south Louisiana went bankrupt. One at a time, I had to layoff employees. The oil companies I had such a good working relationship with were going bankrupt, and owed me a lot of money.
It was at that time I felt my world was crumbling around me. My wife and I had a nine-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son. Like many, I began to wonder what I did wrong. One night, I began to have conviction for never taking my children to church. For a while, I thought this was the problem, since I remembered that as a child my parents took me to church each Sunday. One day, I shared my feelings with my wife. I told her I was thinking that one of the problems was that we were not taking our children to church. She said she agreed that we should be taking our children to church. The problem however, was which church would we attend? She being raised Baptist, and I being raised Catholic, placed us in a dilemma.
The next morning, I arrived at my place of business very early—before anyone came in. In the quietness, I cried out to God. I remember saying, “God, I believe you exist; I just don’t know who you are. God, I am sick of religions and all their rules. Is not there anywhere that is teaching the truth about who you are? Just show me, and I promise I will take my children to church—whatever church!”
For the next few days, I was really thinking about what I said to God. I just was not sure about what church we should attend. One evening, my wife asked me what church would we attend. I said that perhaps, since I was Catholic, and she was Baptist, that we would attend one of them one week and the other the next week, and then we would decide where we would continue to attend.
The next day, I drove to the Baptist church to find out what were the times of their church services. They had a little sign out front with the times posted. The following Sunday, we attended the Baptist church. That Sunday, quite interestingly, I began to hear things about God and Jesus that I had never heard before.
Instead of attending the Catholic Church the following week, I decided that I wanted to hear more of what was being spoken at the Baptist church. I asked my wife what was it that the preacher was reading from. She told me it was the Bible. I had never heard someone read the Bible and articulate its truth like that before.
The third Sunday, we returned to the same church. Following the service, the pastor stood before the people and asked if anyone wanted to receive Jesus. My wife immediately walked forward. However, I was a little apprehensive. I had never been confronted with a need to make such a personal choice before. I felt, I too wanted a relationship with God. However, still having my Catholic upbringing wrestling in my mind, I felt I needed to somehow straighten up my own life and then God would accept me. As a Catholic, I was taught my works would merit me a place with God. I thought, “I haven’t kept God’s Ten Commandments,” and I felt dirty. All my thoughts were—“Once I clean my own life—get rid of some bad habits, etc., then Jesus will come into my life.” My thoughts were, “Why would Jesus come into someone that is polluted?”
Looking back, I can see now what was happening. The Holy Spirit of God was drawing me once again. It is worth stating again that Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…”[18] The apostle Paul wrote, “…and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.”[19] Nevertheless, I still was under the impression that I first needed to clean up my own life before asking Jesus in. The next Sunday, returning to the same church, I was very discouraged—wrestling with the fact that I was dirty in sin and that God would not want a relationship with me that way. As the pastor began to preach God’s Word, God knew just what I needed to hear. The pastor said, “If you believe that you must somehow keep all God’s commandments, or first fulfill sacraments before Jesus will come into your life, He will never come in, because you can never make yourself righteous. You must come just as you are. God will take you—dirty baggage and all. Let it all be washed under the blood of Jesus. Trust Him alone for your salvation.”
Again, looking back, I can see how we as Catholics were no different from the Jews of the apostle Paul’s day. We were taught we must keep the Commandments or be rejected by God. We also were taught that we must fulfill our own righteousness. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.”[20] As Catholics, we were taught we must fulfill the sacraments of the church or be rejected by God. However, the Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”[21] The apostle wrote to Titus, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us…”[22] As Catholics, we are taught that salvation is by works. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.”[23]
That very day, I returned home with my family, went into my bedroom, shut the door, and cried out to God to save me. I took my ring of keys out of my pocket and lifted them up and said, “God my life is like my holding all the keys of control myself. I no longer take control of my life. Lord Jesus, I place the keys of my life in your hands. They are the keys to my adventures and life pursuits—but they are also the keys to my dirty baggage—my sin. Please come into my life and save me. I submit my total life to you. You are God—I have no desire to play games with you anymore. I give you my life and will never try to take it back. Amen.”
My New Life in Christ
During the first month following my complete trust on Christ, I began to notice some dramatic changes in several areas of my life. Old habits began to fall away. Many words in my usual vocabulary were no longer used. I even felt deep hurt inside every time I heard some of these same foul words being used by someone else. Jesus Himself was certainly shaping my life.
Church became a natural part of my life. There was never any question to whether or not I would be in church on Sunday. The fellowship and growing relationships with other Christians was something to which I always looked forward. Now, instead of going to church on Sunday in fear of committing a “mortal sin” for neglecting to attend, I go because Jesus lives in me, and I am a living, vital part of the “Body of Christ,” the church. My life in the church is not a mere obligation, but of desire, because Jesus is my Lord, worthy of worship. The writer of Hebrews put it plainly when he wrote, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” [24]
It was not long before my involvement in church was more than attending. About six months following my salvation, I began to lead a young boys’ group called “Royal Ambassadors.” What joy even today to see some of these young boys, now young men, serving the Lord!
Within the first year of God’s salvation coming to me, I felt an undeniable call in my life I could not quite identify at the time. Through much prayer and counseling with my pastor, I had no further doubt that the call from God was to preach His Word. What a privilege to receive such a high calling from God.
In my second year of salvation, I was called to training in seminary. Following my first year in seminary, I was called to pastor my first church while continuing my seminary education.
As a pastor, however, my heart is continually burdened for my friends and family still trying to follow the endless struggles of earning righteousness through the Catholic Church. In a similar way, I am reminded of the apostle Paul’s heartfelt burden for the Jewish people when he wrote, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”[25] In the next chapter Paul wrote, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.”[26]
Through the years, this burden has led me to study Roman Catholicism as never before. Through countless seminars, workshops, reading books, studying the Catholic “Code of Canon Law,” and the depth of Roman Catholicism’s Catechism, I am now certified as an instructor to teach seminars called “Understanding the Doctrines of Roman Catholicism.” The goal of this endeavor is to help Christian’s know how to witness God’s truth to the dearly loved Catholic people.
Therefore, as a born Roman Catholic, yet saved many years ago by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and serving as a full time pastor now in my seventeenth year, I give thanks to the God of my salvation. He alone was merciful and gracious to the sinner I was many years ago. He alone went to the Cross as the propitiation for the sin penalty I could never pay. In His love, He drew me to Himself, saved me, and called me into the joy of serving Him. Thus, I will continue to live the remainder of my life in the joy of His salvation, preaching His unadulterated Word, and leading others who have not yet come to know Him; in the Truth that can make them free.
Randy Bourgeois
You can contact me at:
cajun_pastor@yahoo.com
[1] Catholic Catechism, paragraph 1250
[2] Romans 5:12
[3] Catholic Catechism, paragraph 1252
[4] 1 Corinthians 11:24
[5] Catholic Catechism, paragraph 1316
[6] 1 Peter 2:5
[7] 1 Peter 2:9
[8] Hebrews 9:27
[9] Mark 7:8
[10] Colossians 2:8
[11] 2 Corinthians 5:17
[12] John 20:23
[13] Isaiah 43:25
[14] John 3:2-3
[15] John 3:10
[16] John 3:10
[17] John 6:44
[18] John 6:44
[19] 1 Corinthians 12:3
[20] Romans 10:2-4
[21] Ephesians 2:8, 9
[22] Titus 3:5
[23] Romans 11:6
[24] Hebrews 10:24, 25
[25] Romans 9:1-3
[26] Romans 10:1-4
