So this means you're no longer a Christian, right?

Allen, it took a lot of guts to write this. Not because of the Erik's of the world, but because there are a lot of evangelical Christians that will not look at this favorably. Just continue to tell the truth and let the chips fall & you'll be fine!! Maybe you can help fix one of the major problems of the Catholic church. Aging priests. Yep.

Maybe you can help fix one of the major problems of the Catholic church. Aging priests.

The Catholic church has many "major" problems, but this isn't one of them.
Besides aren't aging priests ultimately better for the church, since they are easier for the kids to outrun?

Welcome. I am one of those who you discussed over the weekend. I am a Catholic who does not go to the bricks and mortar, however I do find myself rather faithful and religious. 13 years of Catholic education put a large base under me. I wanted to call into your show, but I was at work. I posed this question at Catholic school. Jesus did not have a church, so why do we have to go to Church? I still have not received a satisfactory answer. I was not looking to get out of church. Church just seemed like a very sterile environment, where the stories in the Bible seemed so alive. My feelings on faith are different from yours and others, however we believe in the same message. The percentages you brought up in the show were interesting. I am one of those who does not like going to "church", however if I found one I enjoyed, I would attend more. I have tried dozens of different denominations and have not found a comfortable home. People and the messages of a lot of churhes are fake and some are all about money. This is what turns people off. I enjoy your show and will continue to seek out a home for my faith. Welcome to the Catholic Church, anyone is welcome.

Welcome to the Catholic church. I am looking forward to listening to your radio program. I just recently heard about it. Have you thought of telling your faith journey on " Journey Home" on EWTN( 370 on Dirct TV on Monday evenings @ 8 pm) ? God Bless you in your work. Trish Turner

Allen, Welcome Home. I just heard about your conversion this morning. Rather than tearing each other down, let's pray that all Christians will work together with great apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls.

let's pray that all Christians will work together with great apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls.

EXAC-TLY!!! That is what is important.

Allen, it's not April Fool's yet.

Congradulations and welcome home!

Dear Allen,
As Christians, current members of Mt. Pisgah Methodist (your former church) and supportive TAHS listeners,this news is, to say the least, surprising. Can you share anything that may enlighten us about why you are switching from Protestant to Catholic? It seems, upon first hearing, a rather unusual thing for you to do. We'd love to learn more.

Allen, like John and Marcia, I also would appreciate enlightenment about what precipitated the change. Outside of your comment that God has called you to a new mission field, what about the Catholic faith has pulled you in that direction. From praying to God and Jesus only for all of these years, how will you pray to or through Mary? Or I am I very confused about this subject?

I appreciate very much the interest and concern. Again, this is simply a very deep, personal decision where I feel God has led me.

I have always worshipped at Catholic churches when I was on vacation because I felt at home there for a number of reasons. After leaving Mount Pisgah and my role as senior pastor, I really needed a place to worship where I could just be me. The Catholic Church is a place of solace and peace for me.

Although my family will not be making this transition with me, they are supportive and understand my need to be in a place I can actually be calm and worship.

My family and I will continue to support Mount Pisgah school and church in every way including our giving. However, my role is now different. Because our life is very public, we made a decision to be as honest and open as possible.

this is simply a very deep, personal decision where I feel God has led me.

But it's not really personal, is it? Allen's public life and career have been based on a devotion to certain religious ideals and principles. Now he announces suddenly he is associating himself with a set of very different religious doctrines. Some people would feel like that deserves an explanation. Are the rest of us supposed to become Catholic too? Does it matter what people believe or to whom they pray?

Consider: if Mitt Romney or Hillary Clinton decided tomorrow to switch political parties I don't think they could get away with saying it was a "personal decision" and nobody else's business.

Allen:

The Catholic Church of Atlanta welcomes you and is praying for you during this wonderful and I am sure difficult transition for you and your family. The reading of the Early Church Fathers and a unbiased reading of Christian history continues to lead so many to "cross the Tiber" to Rome. I can't wait to meet you and hear your testimony. Christ is awaiting you at the altar of sacrifice where he will feed you the graces of his very own body, blood, soul and divinity! May Christ be with as you join His church!

Erik, you fail to understand that we all are part of the Body of Christ as Christian believers, Catholic and Protestant alike.

Allen's public life and career have been based on a devotion to certain religious ideals and principles. Now he announces suddenly he is associating himself with a set of very different religious doctrines.

I think that is where we would disagree. I don't see the Catholic ideals and principles all that different. Sure our styles of worship are different. We have a slightly different understanding of communion. There are some minor theological differences and approaches to worship. But we all agree on who Jesus Christ was/is and that we worship Him and Him alone.

I don't see why this is viewed as any more "betraying" than, take for example my case, where I worshiped at Mount Pisgah, now I worship at a church called Stonecreek. Stonecreek is a church I identify with right now, and I find, helps intimately draw me into the presence of God. What's the controversy in that?

Are the rest of us supposed to become Catholic too?

No, but I would think you would know that Allen would hope that the rest of "you" (are you saying your considering it Erik) would become Christian. Which denomination you align yourself with at a certain stage of life is somewhat irrelevant and frankly a personal decision between you and God.

Erik, you fail to understand that we all are part of the Body of Christ as Christian believers, Catholic and Protestant alike.

Many Protestants would disagree vehemently.
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp

Sorry about that April Fools comment, you seem to be serious. Anyways then, I wish you lots of fun studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Oh and Andy, could you please enable direct linking here? I'd be much obliged.

Allen, would you mind explaining more about the differences between Protestant and Catholic denominations? Andy stated that there are "minor" theological differences, but subjects like Mary, the saints, holy communion, and "you must be Catholic to get to Heaven" can seem extreme. Admittedly we are not theological scholars - just followers of Jesus Christ trying to gain more understanding of fellow Christians.

Erik, you fail to understand that we all are part of the Body of Christ as Christian believers, Catholic and Protestant alike.

And after becoming a Republican Hillary will say, "It doesn't matter since we are all Americans."

I guess I'm JUST CRAZY ENOUGH to think that Catholics and Protestants
have important theological differences.

Also LC- loved the Chick tract. That
was priceless.

Allen,

The show you did on Catholicism was very revealing. It revealed your thorough knowledge of Catholicism and the incredible ignorance, even hatred, of so many callers, especially supposedly "ex-Catholics".

Rather than relying on nonsense from the likes of Jack Chick, you obviously studied and read the Church fathers and history of the Christian faith, not just the fathers of the reformation. It is a treasure indeed!

I think anyone who listens to your podcast of the show on Catholicism would discover many of the reasons for your conversion.

It is a sacrifice to leave a congregation, not to mention a good paying job. May God continue to bless and guide you.

Welcome home!

Allen,
Somehow, I am not very surprised at this transition. I am a member at Mt. Pisgah and was aware of the benefit you received from going on retreats at the monastery for contemplation and renewal. I hope the Catholic church is a good fit for you. Catholic and Methodist, we are all worshipping the same God and the same Jesus. I wish you well.

We appreciate all the interest and response. At this time, we are going to close the comment section.

Like you, I felt immediately at home when I visited the Catholic Church. The feeling stayed with me, and I became a member 42 years ago. I haven't regretted it for a minute. It is welcoming, loving, and steadfast. I'm so glad for you.

Erik is quite correct about one thing; Catholics and Protestants do have important theological differences.

Both theologies stem from the same intent; however, they take into account different sets of data, and make a couple of different logical judgment-calls in the process of interpreting the data. As a result, they wind up with different conclusions...not different enough to be called different religions, but certainly different enough to be called radically different denominations.

The intent, of course, is to follow Christ through practicing the faith taught "once for all" to the apostles. The different sets of data are:

For Catholics:

• The Bible including the full Old Testament from the Septuagint


• The full history of Christian theology and piety, with special emphasis on the Church Fathers, who are especially used to understand the context of the New Testament


• The scripture interpretations made by the historical church councils are treated as authoritative, and interpretations by later persons (including Luther, Calvin, etc.) are judged incorrect if they disagree with an earlier council decision

For Protestants/Evangelicals:

• The Bible as used by the Apostles, excluding certain books/fragments from the Old Testament which were the latest-written of the Jewish Scriptures and weren't originally written in Hebrew, but Aramaic.


• Only recent Christian history, starting from about the year 1,500, with a bare smattering of references to earlier events or writers, and then only to the most prominent events (like the Council of Nicea) or persons (like Augustine of Hippo)


• When a Protestant interpretation of scripture differs from an earlier church council's interpretation, the Protestant interpretation is preferred, and no interpretation is considered entirely authoritative.

Because Protestants and Catholics (and together with Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox) use these different data sets, they come to widely different conclusions about the nature of the Church, the interrelation of grace and works, and whether Christians in heaven continually play an active role in God's kingdom on earth. (Catholic and Orthodox Christians say they do play an ongoing role, whereas Protestant Christians either have never encountered the notion, or think it sounds like a fishy holdover from paganism; this results from their different emphases on the history of Christianity from AD 100 to 1500.)

But they all believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus, the Christ, His only begotten son, and in the Holy Spirit, in the resurrection of the body, and in salvation to everlasting life by grace through (living) faith (not works performed in our own power, "lest any man should boast") in Christ.

So while Erik's (presumably either jocular or flamebaiting) first statement about Allen no longer being a "Christian" is hugely mistaken, his later statement that Catholics and Protestants do differ theologically in ways is true as far as it goes.

I'm one of those fundamentalist who tend to think that there are substantial differences between the Roman Church and most Protestant denominations.

Take a close look the following quotes and then tell me if you notice any similarities:
Genesis Ch. 3:4-5 And the serpent said to the woman,
Ye shall not surely die. For God doeth
know that in the day that ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and
YE SHALL BE AS GODS, knowing
good and evil.

*** Notice the serpent promises GODHOOD. This is a SATANIC TEACHING. If you investigate, you will also discover this was also the teaching of the pagan mystery religions and the Gnostics as well.... not to mention most modern cults. ***

Now, compare the words of the serpent to these quotes:

" For the Son of God became man so that we become God. The only begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers of his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods. " Catechism of the Catholic Church p. 128-9

" Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Chirstians, but Christ himself... we have become Christ... one and the same mystical person. " ibid p. 228-9

"... He makes us other Chirsts. " ibid p. 732-3

These quotes are not taken out of context. Christianity teaches that we can become Christ-like... not gods. Satan teaches that mankind's rightfull place is godhood. Be honest, which teaching is Biblical and which is satanic ?

If you can explain, logically, a different point of view regarding this Catholic doctrine, I welcome any non-emotional response.

Allen,

I love your show and have found myself in the same mixed-Church situation. I tried ignoring the Holy Spirit's gentle guidance toward the 2000-year-old Church and found myself face-down on the cold tile floor crying when He promised to "Jonah" me if I delayed any further.

I've had to unlearn 37 years of misinformed judgementalism toward our Mother, the Church. I've had to learn to quote ALL of the Bible, not just the part that backs my views. I've learned that the Catholic Catechism is rooted in the Bible and is informed by the earlies Christians, rather than those separated by 1500+ years from Her foundation.

I also welcome you in out of the chaos of doctrinal democracy. As the BIBLE says in 1 Timothy 3:15, "The CHURCH is..the pillar and ground of the truth". It is great evil that the Church has been broken into tens of thousands of shards, but it is much greater evil to fail to "love your neighbor as yourself". We have failed God in his command for unity (John 17:11), pray we do not fail Him in the command of fraternal charity (John 15:12).

Your Brother in Christ,
Neil

Allen,

It would now be almost 2 years since your convertion. Do the spiritual emotion then still the same up to now?

The teachings of the UMC are far more biblical compare to those of the other Christian groups. It just happens that, some people were not able to feel, are not feeling or are now starting not to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in this church because of the fact that it is composed of imperfect individuals that creates disunity, misunderstanding and hatred among the congregation, like any other church in this world.

The UMC is facing a steady decline in membership. It will be all right if those who left just transferred to other evangelical churches because of discomfort with their local congregation. That will not be a lost. They will definitely be still belong to Christ... But, what if they converted to sects with unbiblical beliefs or to some fly-by-night-groups headed by money loving leaders/pastors or turned their back to the gospel at all?

The UMC will surely need you back... for its revival...upon your reawakening.... will that be soon Pastor?

Rich said in comment # 4...Jesus did not have a church, so why do we have to go to Church? I still have not received a satisfactory answer.

How's this for an answer Rich? "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church..." (Mt 16:18) It was Jesus who started the Church and he built it upon Peter, whom He strengthened for the ministry. (Lk 22:31-32) This is one of the reasons why we consider Peter to be the first Pope.

Peter as the first Pope is really a gross anachronism and pious fiction. For one, even if Peter became Bishop of Rome, for which we only have late legendary attestation, the See of Rome became preeminent only long after the time of Peter. Really it took centuries for the See in Rome to assert the kind of power enjoyed by later Popes and that lust for power precipitated the Great Schism of the 11th century because the Easter Church did not want to submit itself to the Roman yoke.
The first leader of the Christian movement, according to Acts and Pauline epistles (especially Galatians) was James the brother (not cousin Allen!) of Jesus, called Just. Other extrabiblical sources also attest to primacy of James, not Peter, in the early Church. See James the Brother of Jesus by the Biblical scholar Robert Eisenman.

A Prophetic fulfilled New Year to all!

I have just listened to your conversion story to the CC. One thing resonated..."Catholics need Evangelicals, and Evangelicals need Catholics!" IMHO, we are on the same journey to get Home to be with Jesus! A lot of Catholics (NOT ALL CATHOLICS) need to be born-again and be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that the rich treasure chest of the Catholic Church that you so astutely speak of can come alive for them and truly make them holy. This is where I believe that Evangelicals can help Catholics; to come to know the gospel in an active way, rather than a passive, "check the box", receive the ritual magical sacrament, and I am saved mentality...but rather with a personal relationship with Jesus the Sacraments come alive (which I tend to think that you take for granted that all Catholic already have, they don't.) And I am a Catholic saying this.

On the other hand, many things which you speak of that were thrown out by the Reformation, is where the Catholic Church can help the Evangelicals. The apostolic succession and the Authority of the Pope, and the REAL Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist were the two biggies for me, and you explain them well This whole ecumenical process is unfolding and I think will take time...but what do I know, the Holy Spirit could do it in laser light minute...but it will take human pride being burnt to a crisp by that Holy Laser...you felt the laser and was burnt up..."the fire that comes down from heaven only falls on the wood that is prepared for burning!" paraphrase of 1 Kings 18:38.... My point is, you were dry, kindling wood for whatever reason, probably your many medical problems...you caught fire fast and so have others like you (Hahn, Beckwith, Jones etcetera...), but there are evangelical pastors out there who are hard grand old oak trees...they will only catch fire when the kindling wood jumps up and bites them in a dry place, if you get my drift wood :)

So at the end, when you speak of the greatest need in the Catholic Church is to reach out to the lost, implying those lost souls "outside" the CC, I beg you to look around you in the parish you attend, and use your evangelical background to speak about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the born-again experience, then help lead these poor souls within the CC to a real relationship with Jesus. He is alive! And don't forget, your job is NOT over then...young disciples will need discipleship which is lacking in some of our CC's. Some of them are still into the law, and have not risen to the Love of Christ....the Gospel, the Good News!

Fortes in Unitate! Strength (Only) in Unity! and only then will John 17:21 come ALIVE, and FIRE will fall on the Church like it has never seen since the "Golden Age of the Church".

PAX be with you,
Greg