My Introduction

[Emmanuel Okpanachi]

I said I would write a more detailed introduction than the brief one that was given at the last Sabbath meeting. Here it is:


I was born and raised in a 'Christian' household. As a child growing up it was a necessity to put on one's best formal attire and go to church on a Sunday. Going to church was made to seem as imperative and important as going to school. If I didn't go to school how would I receive an education? Likewise, if I didn't go to church how would I receive Salvation?
With my family I've been from church to church: from Methodist to Baptist to Anglican to ICOC (International Church of Christ) and then back to Anglican, where I was baptised in water at the age of 17. Ever since my baptism I considered myself to be a bonafide, legitimate Christian. How wrong I was!

After starting Uni at the age of 19 I began to drift into bad habits: smoking (cigars mostly) and engaging in frivolous spending (a habit I still struggle with). My behaviour got even worse after University. I remember a particularly hedonistic, wild, reckless period from the age of 22 - 24. In this period there was a great deal of lust (pornography, fornication with escorts) and substance use (cigarettes, alchohol, marijuana). A vivid memory I have of this period is when I was beaten up with bloody blows to the face, and threatened with a large, sharp knife. Oh that knife! That glistening blade! If not for the grace of God that may have been my very last moment on this earth. But even that situation didn't humble me. I still carried on with a lawless lifestyle. I had become addicted to the thrill and pleasure of it all. And that thrill and pleasure could have killed me. Surely it would have if I had continued in that direction. Somehow I eventually stopped seeing escorts, and stopped smoking drugs. By the time I turned 25 I was no longer doing all these things.

I had turned 25 in the latter part of that year (2013). It was around this time that I started to dive into the bible, like I had never done before. Prior to this point my bible was just gathering dust on the bedside table. I began by reading a few chapters/verses everyday or so. I also researched various biblical topics online and printed them out to read. Thus began my quest to discover more about God's Word.

Within a few months I began a study with the Jehovah Witnesses. But I was wary and apprehensive about them because I felt that they were a cult (I now know they are). Nevertheless, despite my concerns and apprehensions I made the decision to begin studying with them. I don't really know why I did so. I guess I was just hungry (perhap even starving) for biblical knowledge. I guess when one is hungry one will take just about anything to eat, no matter the source. So I began to sit down to 'eat' with the Jehovah Witnesses. I 'dined' with them every week, and went to some of their meetings and conferences. The JWs and I 'ate' together for nearly nine months, and in the entirety of this time they were just some things on their 'table' that I couldn't bring myself to digest. I just knew, somehow, that some of their doctrinal dishes were scripturally wrong. I couldn't 'eat' them.

While I was studying with them I carried on researching. I eventually found out about RCG - Restored Church of God. I began feasting upon the material they offered. I aligned myself moreso with them than with the JWs. With both of these organisations I kept on 'eating' and 'eating', but I did not realise that I was severely malnourished - for lack of proper, truthful, spiritual food.

From the Jehovah Witnesses I'd often hear the phrase 'into the truth'. For example, I'd hear them say something like this: 'Brother Michaels was a Pentecostal before he came into the truth'. The truth? How could they say they had the truth? I was certain that no church had complete truth. I eventually found out that I was both right and wrong. In one sense I was right, because in actuality no man-made church has the complete truth. In another sense I was completely wrong; for there is a Church that does have 100% truth. That Church is God's Church - the one which the 'gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matthew 16:18).

In September of last year, around the time that I turned 26, I came across that true Church for the very first time. This was through a Google search. I think I had typed in something like 'Statement of Beliefs'. T.P.O.T came up. Initially I didn't take the site seriously. It looked weird to me, and I certainly judged by appearance. But despite my distaste of the site's aesthetics I couldn't the deny the truth that was being delivered through it. Since finding the site - or rather, it being shown to me -I've been learning and learning and learning! Learning what pleases God and finding out what He finds detestable. Truly, Truth has found me. For months now I've been eating pure, unfiltered, wholesome, organic TRUTH. The site is an overwhelming buffet of truth! From what I can perceive, the Lord has been disspelling the darkness within me, shedding more and more of Himself upon me, and helping me overcome my addictions. I now hope for the gift of Repentance.

[End]

[Victor Hafichuk]

Praise the Lord, Manny! Don't look back or to the left or the right. Endure to the end.

Let it be known by all that He is there for those who are there for Him. He will never fail you.

[Lynda Christopher Webb]

Greetings in His Name~That was very brave of you. I hope I'll tell my whole story, as it was, in truth, myself. Maybe I can take courage from you! lynda sue

[Edwin Romero]

Hi Emmanuel,

[Edwin Romero]

I appreciate your story, Emmanuel. It's clear you have been drawn by the Lord. The one element that shows His work is precisely the fact He (the Truth) has found us, after we thought to be seeking Him yet finding mostly error and failure.

As it is written, "I am sought by those who asked not for Me; I am found by those who did not seek Me. I said, Behold Me, behold Me, to a nation not calling on My Name." (Isaiah 65:1 MKJV)

This Scripture kept me wondering while I was in my search, considering the possibility of being wrong about the "truth" I had found on my own, willingly so. I think truth-seekers are more blessed when not finding the truth we expect to find, when discovering we were not after the truth after all, but He was after us. It is His grace that leads us to Himself, directing our steps when we least expect it.

Once He has reached for us, we cannot escape, although we might want to do just that at different points of the journey, naturally.

God bless you in your journey!