Throwback Thursday: Leaving Catholicism for Christ “down under”

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on December 28, 2015 and has been revised.

Stepping Out in Faith: Former Catholics Tell Their Stories
Edited by Mark Gilbert
Matthias Media, 2012, 124 pp.

This is a short, very readable collection of testimonies from eleven people who left Roman Catholicism and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith alone.

There’s not a lot of heavy-duty theology here. Most of the folks have a similar, short testimony of growing up within legalistic, cultural Catholicism, being invited to a Bible study, and noticing the differences between God’s Word and their works religion, and responding to the Gospel.

All of the contributors note that Catholicism teaches salvation by sacramental grace and merit, which left them exasperated. Through God’s Word and the work of the Holy Spirit, they came to understand the GOOD NEWS! of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone and repented of their sin and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith alone.

Gilbert and the ten other writers are Australians so there’s an interesting “down under” twist to the stories. Also, most of the writers heard the Gospel for the first time in Bible studies sponsored by the Anglican church in Australia. Gilbert is an Anglican minister. I had assumed the Anglican/Episcopal church was completely spiritually dead, but evidently there are pockets within Anglicanism, like down under in Australia, where the genuine Gospel is still preached. Surprise!

Below are a couple of other books from Matthias Media dealing with Roman Catholicism:

• The Road Once Travelled: Fresh Thoughts on Catholicism (2010) by Mark Gilbert
• Nothing In My Hand I Bring: Understanding the differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant beliefs (2007) by Ray Gallea

See Matthias Media’s online catalog here.