Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt (Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland 
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org

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I went in and for the first time in my life I heard the Gospel preached.
In all my years in the Roman Catholic church I had not heard this message before.
There was nothing extra in the service other than the preaching of the gospel and the singing of scriptural hymns and I drank it in.

My name is Donal O' Donovan. I was born on May 22nd 1961. I was born into a Roman Catholic family and my mother in particular was a very devout member of that church and saw to it that I had all the rites and ordinances that the church had to offer. The custom in those days was speedy baptism as the doctrine of Limbo was held to very much in the event of unbaptised babies dying. So two days after my birth I was baptised into the Roman Catholic church.

I was sent to a Roman Catholic school run by the Presentation Brothers and at about 7 years of age I made my first confession and shortly after, my communion. Later on at about 10 or 11 years of age I made my confirmation where it was taught that the Bishop imparted the Holy Ghost to the child being confirmed. All these events were very big steps for a child growing up in the Roman Catholic church and I must say I enjoyed them. As I grew older and entered secondary school, I still enjoyed the activities of the Church and would have been a regular mass goer and would have been to confession, communion, parish retreats and so on and enjoyed them very much. The church certainly had an influence on my life and that of my family.

As time went on, some of the attraction of the Church left me. I remember clearly in my 20's being disturbed by the behaviour of one of the local priests who drank a bit too much and whose language wasn't great and the idea of confessing my sins to someone whose behaviour was no better than anyone else seemed strange. But I still held to the belief that the Roman Catholic church was the only true church and that anyone outside that church was in error and that the behaviour of one of its priests was no reflection on the church overall. However, I eventually slipped more and more away from the church. I got married in the Roman Catholic church in 1985 and after that I soon stopped attending the church altogether. I became content with the notion that I had never done any harm to anybody, or stole, or killed and so on. I firmly believed in the existence of God but felt that God could surely find no fault in me.

I continued in this state for a number of years not realising that I was abiding under the wrath of God. But then, as I look back I can see that God began to deal with me in my life. One Saturday our door was knocked by two Mormon missionaries who asked if I would help them with a questionnaire on religious attitudes and behaviour. I agreed. I answered their questions and the answers I gave seemed to suit them and it seemed we were in agreement on lots of things. I couldn't see it at the time but the questions were very cleverly crafted and the only possible answers were the ones the missionaries wanted. They asked if they could return to talk with me some more and we arranged to meet the following Saturday. They also gave me a Book of Mormon to read and told me that the Book of Mormon complimented the Bible.

Things then took a nasty turn. Within three visits the Mormon missionaries had pencilled in a date for my baptism into the Mormon church and I have no idea how it happened. I certainly didn't see it coming and it appeared to be entirely gone out of my control. I remember being quite frightened and intimidated by all this. I didn't know if the Mormon teaching could possibly be true. It certainly seemed plausible at the time based on the answers I had given to all the questions. But I didn't feel good. I got the idea to buy a Bible. I felt that I could find answers there to my questions. So at almost shop closing time on Saturday afternoon, I went down town with my wife and bought my first Bible. I took it home and for the first time began to read it. I was fascinated by what I read. I knew nothing of the doctrines of the bible at this stage. All I wanted was an answer to the question "was the Book of Mormon" from God? I continued to read and eventually I read in Revelation 22:18

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book."

This I believed was an answer to my question. No addition to God's word. I now believed that the Bible was God's word and that it could have no other books with it. I would have to break my links with the Mormons and quickly find a church where the Bible was preached.

The following Saturday two different Mormon missionaries arrived to give me some more classes at home. Straight away and with much nervousness, I told them of what I had read in the Bible and that I didn't believe that the Book of Mormon could possibly be of God. How things changed! I was initially told that the Bible and the Book of Mormon complimented each other. Now, however the Mormon missionaries began to criticise the Bible as being full of contradictions and unreliable in comparison to the Book of Mormon. Things got quite unpleasant and the missionaries wouldn't leave and it took the threat of calling the police before they would leave.

I continued to read the Bible every day. Some short time after this on a Sunday morning, I was going to the local shop when I saw a notice board with a scripture text on it inviting me to  "Come...and hear the words of the Lord thy God" (Joshua 3:9)

I went in and for the first time in my life I heard the Gospel preached. In all my years in the Roman Catholic church I had not heard this message before. There was nothing extra in the service other than the preaching of the gospel and the singing of scriptural hymns and I drank it in. I longed to go and hear the message again. I continued to attend the gospel meetings and soon became very concerned about what I heard. For the first time in my life I was shown from God's word that in spite of my supposed harmless life I was actually a sinner needing to be saved. I was shown how my good works could not save me. Indeed all my righteousness's were "as filthy rags" in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6)
I was shown from God's word that I needed to be born again of the Spirit of God. I began to become very troubled in my mind but still anxious to hear the message again and again. Some of what I heard confused me. It was a different message to anything I had heard before. I found it difficult to shake off the idea that my good works had no merit for salvation.

However, I was given a book by the preacher called "Christ is the Answer". It was very helpful and easily read and understood. Everything was backed up with scripture. One part of this book I believe was used of God to speak to me. It said, "It is not what you can do for Christ, but what Christ has done for you".

This made everything clear at once. I could never merit my own salvation but Christ had done all that was necessary on the cross of Calvary when He shed His blood and died and all I had to do was receive Him in faith and forsake my sins and I would be accepted with God because of what Christ had done. So that night I asked the Lord to save me and He did and has kept me since. I still had much to learn but that moment I trusted Christ I was saved. It was not my good works or church membership or anything else but faith in Christ alone that secured my salvation. The Bible tells us in Acts 4:12, speaking of Christ;

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved".

Donal O'Donovan

Then the bombshell hit our home.
Donal got saved and the Devil had great fun with us. Was this just a phase?
After a while it became apparent to me that there was a fundamental change in my husband which all came from being saved.

My name is Fiona O'Donovan. Like my husband Donal, I was brought up in a Roman Catholic home but I would not have been as devout. I regarded the Church as more of an organisation that regulated our lives rather than a way to God. I believed in the existence of God, but felt that if I didn't hurt anyone then I could talk myself out of trouble when the time came. When our elder children arrived they were baptised as Catholics "just in case", to keep the conventions. Not really the best reasons for doing something I'm sure you would agree!

Then the bombshell hit our home. Donal got saved and the Devil had great fun with us. Was this just a phase? After a while it became apparent to me that there was a fundamental change in my husband which all came from being saved. To be fair to him I decided to find out about it . I started asking Donal about what he was doing in this church that he went to for Bible study so he shared with me what it meant to him.

The next logical step was to start reading for myself. I couldn't believe that it was so simple that JESUS came to Earth to live and die on the cross at Calvary for MY sins. The more I read, the clearer it became that this really was the case. It says in Philippians chapter 2 verses 4 to 13:
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

This was the decision time for me but really it wasn't hard.
How could I not accept the free gift of salvation?
Ten years ago, I asked the Lord to come into my life and save me and He did.
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." John 10 verse 14.

Fiona O'Donovan (Cork Ireland)

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