Catholic Conversion Stories

Here is a letter written to Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron, and his response.

Mr. Arnzen, Why are there so many Protestant ministers, one after another, from all denominations continuously converting to the Catholic faith? Just tune into EWTN's, "The Journey Home" program (just one source) and you can hear one conversion story after another. What gets me is that these men and women are not just your run of the mill, Sunday going church folk, who you could argue were just misinformed, or duped into buying into the grandeur and allure of the RCC. No, these folks are more often than not degreed ministers, some with doctorates degrees and theologians as well? Why?

Thanks for your interest in my "Iron Sharpens Iron" program, and taking the time to write. As for your question, I could have just as easily asked you why did so many brilliant Roman Catholic priests and theologians, in addition to common laymen, risk their lives and at times endure torture and death (and that of their families) in converting to Protestantism during the Reformation (sacrifices no guest on "The Journey Home" ever faced)? I can also add that the many testimonies of conversion to Catholicism I have seen on "The Journey Home" have never even come remotely close to impressing me or to cause me in any way to rethink my conversion from Roman Catholicism to Biblical Christianity 22 years ago.

I could also ask, specifically in relation to your question, why Catholics convert to Evangelical Protestantism even today in numbers hundreds if not thousands of times greater than the numbers of Evangelicals converting to Catholicism? Why is there an abundance of Evangelical ministers and a shortage and rapidly shrinking number of Catholic priests? Let's face it, the intelligence of those converting and the numbers of those converting in either direction proves nothing. There are Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Occultists and Atheists who are geniuses. Conversion is a matter of the Holy Word and the Holy Spirit, and a simple, uneducated man will often see and embrace Truth while scholars in their ivory towers often embrace a lie. As a Catholic you can certainly appreciate the phrase "Athanasius contra mundum," or, "Athanasius against the world." This giant of the Faith upheld as a hero by Catholics and Protestants alike stood nearly all alone against the entire leadership of the Church in his day defending the deity of Jesus Christ, so joining a "Journey Home" bandwagon of conversion to Rome is not the slightest temptation to me.

All I can tell you, as a former Roman Catholic who converted to what I now believe to be the Biblical Gospel of Christ, the more years that go by and the more evidence I continue to see from history and from Holy Scripture, the more I am convinced that Rome does NOT possess the true Gospel. That should not be taken as mockery by me of your faith, since, as you know, centuries before I was born, Rome dogmatically declared at Trent that the Gospel I now embrace is false, and that subsequently I am accursed, and Trent still stands today as an infallible council of Rome despite the infinitely more liberal public relations efforts of Vatican II.

Thanks again for your interest in my "Iron Sharpens Iron" program, and I hope you call in with a question sometime, especially when our topic is related to Roman Catholicism. I pray that you prayerfully and humbly continue to search the Scriptures until you discover true grace and peace from the true Gospel of Christ.

In His grip,

Chris Arnzen
"Iron Sharpens Iron", host