Greg Martin was born and raised into one of the smaller sects of Mormonism (RLDS). His family ties go back to the very founding of Mormonism. He became a member of the RLDS faith at the age of eight and never questioned the things taught to him while growing up. He called himself a Christian, and said that he believed, but he had no understanding of genuine Christianity. This is his testimony.
How God Saved Me
I was born and raised into one of the smaller sects of Mormonism (RLDS). My family ties go back to the very founding of Mormonism. I became a member of the RLDS faith at the age of eight and never questioned the things taught to me while growing up. I called myself a Christian, and said that I believed, but I had no understanding of genuine Christianity.
I my teenage years and young adult life, I lived in sin and it did not bother me. I had issues with my anger. I was also caught up in the things of this world with all of its fleshly desires. I can even remember a time in my life when I actually counted the cost of what it meant to be a true follower, but I was unwilling to give up my sin. As a teenager I once attended a Baptist service with my girlfriend that I would later marry, and someone asked me, “Are you Saved?” I really had no idea what that meant, but I thought to myself “Of course I am saved; I am a member of the one and only true church.”
The Bible speaks of two gates in Matthew chapter 7, the narrow and the wide. The wide gate points this way to heaven but it leads to destruction in hell. Only the narrow gate (Jesus Christ) leads to eternal life. Jesus Christ warned that not everyone who calls him Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This was me; I was a false convert for 30 years of my life. I was only paying lip service to God while mocking him by he life I was living.
The RLDS church I was raised in went through many power struggles, splits, and divisions. One question I could never wrap my mind around was this; “With so much split and division, how can this be the one and only true church?” As I pondered this question I started to pray to the Lord to show me the truth. About three years ago, around the age of 30, the Lord answered my prayer. He opened my eyes and gave me a new heart with a desire to search him out.
Ezekiel 36:26 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
I desperately needed to know the answer to the question; “What must I do to be saved?” I began to study and for the first time was able to really understand the gospel. God is holy, righteous, and just and must punish sin. The bible says, that “… the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). God was not first in my life. I was an idolater because I had created a God in my mind that did not care about sin. I became undone, the Holy Spirit had convicted me of the sin in my life and I knew that I deserved the justice and wrath of God.
As I continued to study I realized that I never understood that Jesus Christ is God himself in the flesh. M eyes were opened to understand the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The only way God can forgive sin is through Jesus Christ. His perfect sinless sacrifice paid the penalty for sinners, when the wrath of God was poured out on Him in our place.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
As I continued to study the gospel God revealed to me that my life was lacking repentance. I had never been willing to turn away from my sin and surrender to Christ as Lord. Since that day my life has been completely changed through God’s saving Grace. The sinful things I once loved to do now have no power over my life. I now love and desire the things of God.
Coming out of Mormonism was a process that did not happen over night. I was finally able to fully let it go after coming out in stages. Christ has transformed my marriage and family. After saving me he also saved my son Derek. We were baptized together on September 23rd 2007, as a public testimony of his saving Grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift – not from works, so that no one can boast.”