************************* A SALVATION TESTIMONY ************************* Dear Brother Faust: Hope you don't mind some comments about your latest Kingdom Update from 4/8/2000, regarding roman catholicism, which prompts me to write to you, in particular the letter describing a church in Spain where you can kneel in front of a "mary" statue to pray. That description brought back some memories. Brother, you sure don't have to take a trip to Spain, you can come to my town (Dayton, Ohio) and probably every town in the USA with an "old-fashioned" catholic church. And that town does not have to be composed primarily of "Latin" stock (Spanish or Italian), here in my neck of the woods, there's a lot of catholics of German and Irish heritage who revere "our lady" with plenty of those lawn statues and the big old churches full of statues with kneelers and candles in front of them, and you'd better believe there's plenty of opportunity and encouragement in their church bulletins for these like-minded folks to get together to recite a rosary or two. I know, I grew up with this stuff, and it's very much alive and well and always has been more popular than anything having to do with the Jesus of the bible. Hard for somebody not raised catholic to grasp this, probably, but this stuff is deeply engrained, custom and myth and tradition, that is, and very hard for the average catholic to cut loose from, it's all too comforting and appealing. I could tell you many more stories, but I'll spare you! The grade school I attended has recently decided to add some lighting to their big "grove" out back, which consists of a huge "mary" statue flanked by saints and angels, very impressive, and I well remember our May processions where we would crown this statue and pray to it. That was in the late 1960's and no doubt still goes on. Obviously, I was raised roman catholic but praise Jesus was mercifully saved out of that system 16 years ago into a King James bible and a little Independent Baptist church. By simply reading and believing the words of my King James at the age of 28, I was able to see immediately that God very clearly condemns the roman catholic practices I grew up with. However, most of my family is still caught up in catholicism. My otherwise bright and good-hearted sister-in-law (age 45, like me), has recently added two statues to her home (in her dining room, believe it or not) - one is supposed to be Jesus showing his "sacred heart" and the other is, of course, "our lady." When waiting to pick this sister-in-law of mine up from her church not long ago, I was standing in the foyer in back and witnessed an older woman kneeling in front of one such statue with arms outstretched, a rosary in one hand and a little devotional book in the other, obviously in la-la land. (I took the opportunity to place a few of my tracts geared to roman catholics where hopefully maybe one lost soul could be touched but rest assured have never felt a pull back to that hell hole of superstition and darkness, praise God for the truth and beauty of his word)...I appreciate your website and your articles, Brother Faust, and am glad you so strongly defend the true word of God. People sure do need to hear more of it! In His Name, -Cindy Murphy