My Testimony

Randy Koonce

Sometimes it is hard to put into words the feelings that you go through trying to explain the great pain and agony of a bad experience. Well, when your background is out of a cult, then immediately you are the subject of conversation. People that you explain it to have an opinion that you were stupid and obviously under-educated. The fact of the matter is that I never had a desire to find out if what I was in was wrong or right. I just took the word of a prophet of God (or so I thought). The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) just happened to be that cult.

When I became a Christian in 1986, it even amazed me how much of the propaganda I actually believed. I have never been a literary genius and I have to ask my wife how to spell certain words every now and then, but there is one thing I believe without a shadow of a doubt - I am saved and am a Christian.

I was told a lot of different things about religion, the biggest of them was that they could not see God destroying the people in Africa when you knew their opportunity to hear the gospel was very limited. I felt that there was a just God and He would not dream of doing something like that! What I didn't understand was God's Superior Power over the earth and his scripture in Jeremiah 31:31, that says he will put his Law in our minds and on our hearts, even to the least of them. Every person has a knowledge that there is a God, or for some, a higher intelligence. I always knew that there was a God, I just did not know how he operated.

Growing up in the RLDS faith always gave us a sense of pride, knowing that I was in the only church who had the fulness of the Gospel. We believed that Joseph Smith did have divine knowledge and was, therefore, a prophet of God. The only reason that I began to look at what I was in started with being unhappy with my current position with the church. The people in charge did not agree with the way I felt like it should go, so the next thing I did was just quit going, bringing me to the conclusion that I did not need a church. My father read a book called The Maze of Mormonism by Walter Martin, and told me he thought I should read it also. It was very amazing how much Martin knew about Joseph Smith without being a Mormon or a member of the RLDS. I came to the conclusion that I needed to study more because by this time they were talking about Mormons not me.

After some intense studying of the Bible and other literature, I knew that I was in the wrong. Any foundation of Joseph Smith's church being the one true church was taken away. I gave my life to Jesus Christ when I prayed the sinner's prayer and asked Jesus into my heart. I did not expect much to happen, but in the next few weeks my wife had noticed a change in my attitude and personality. The one thing I want people to know is that the reason I am helping Watchman Fellowship is to give some of the people in the cults the opportunity to come to Jesus. For He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ my personal Lord and Savior.

May God bless all who read this testimony.