Religion change to Apostolic

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valdezdinuba70

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Good afternoon,
My name is Lupe, I have been married 28 years. I consider myself Catholic, my whole family is Catholic. I am so confused right now because my husband has had a change in his whole personality because he says a Miracle has happened to him. He used to have bipolar depression and from one moment to another he said GOD has cured him. He has now changed religion and is attending an Apostolic church. He will be baptized in his new church after studying with his pastor a few times. I am having a difficult time with this because he spends many hours many times a week with his new “Family”. I am happy that he is happier now but he is away so much and is convinced that he is doing what GOD wants him to do and I cannot change his mind. I wish he would have found what he needs from the Catholic church instead but his whole family, brothers father have changed to Apostolic church now. He was pressuring me to change every which way he could. I have sought help from a Marriage Counselor and my husband does not like that I am going. He refuses to go with me.

I am feeling really confused right now with this whole change. I guess I need words of encouragement, I am unsure of what tomorrow will bring but I know that I have to have faith that it will work out how GOD wants it to.
 
valdezdinuba70 said:
Good afternoon,
My name is Lupe, I have been married 28 years. I consider myself Catholic, my whole family is Catholic. I am so confused right now because my husband has had a change in his whole personality because he says a Miracle has happened to him. He used to have bipolar depression and from one moment to another he said GOD has cured him. He has now changed religion and is attending an Apostolic church. He will be baptized in his new church after studying with his pastor a few times. I am having a difficult time with this because he spends many hours many times a week with his new “Family”. I am happy that he is happier now but he is away so much and is convinced that he is doing what GOD wants him to do and I cannot change his mind. I wish he would have found what he needs from the Catholic church instead but his whole family, brothers father have changed to Apostolic church now. He was pressuring me to change every which way he could. I have sought help from a Marriage Counselor and my husband does not like that I am going. He refuses to go with me.

I am feeling really confused right now with this whole change. I guess I need words of encouragement, I am unsure of what tomorrow will bring but I know that I have to have faith that it will work out how GOD wants it to.
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Hi valdezdinuba70, and welcome to CAF!

I have experienced deep religious conflicts within my own family and we’ve seen it regularly mentioned here in CAF.

My advice is, unfortunately, not optimistic. I would say that you are now in a position of having to defend your own faith and marriage against your husband’s new “family” and religion. It is likely that he will be more argumentative and confident than you and could wear you down over time, and you will be tempted to compromise for the sake of your marriage. So, put your own faith first, and bid your time - for as long as it takes.

You are doing well to see a marriage counsellor, and reach out here in CAF. 👍

To know where you stand I suggest you discover what his “Apostolic” church says about Catholicism and about marriage. They may be positive about Catholics as fellow Christians. In the worst case they may be very intolerant and put pressure on him to “save” you, and/or escape your influence (ie. “Do not be shackled with an unbeliever” [2Cor:6-14]).

This matter of spending many hours a week with the new “family” is a very bad sign. Sorry. 😦 It sounds like a cult.

I hope that some CAFers will be able to give some more hopeful advice.

I’ll be keeping you and your husband in my prayers.
 
Miracles are not a good reason to change your faith. Mormons and Muslims have miracles too. And I don’t think your husband would think they are from God.

It looks like you are going to be in a unequally yoked home now.

My recommendation is to get stronger in your own faith and pray for him.

He may very likely start arguing doctrine with you using the scriptures. The way to counter that is to know the proper rebuttals for the objections before they even come.

Here is a free library of Catholic apologetics from a scriptural point of view:

biblechristiansociety.com/download

Expect a battle here as these sort of reformed churches are often very anti-Catholic. But if you know your stuff you have nothing to worry about. And if you demonstrate that then your husband may revert back to the faith.

Pax
 
Lenten_ashes said:
Miracles are not a good reason to change your faith. Mormons and Muslims have miracles too. And I don’t think your husband would think they are from God.

It looks like you are going to be in a unequally yoked home now.

My recommendation is to get stronger in your own faith and pray for him.

He may very likely start arguing doctrine with you using the scriptures. The way to counter that is to know the proper rebuttals for the objections before they even come.

Here is a free library of Catholic apologetics from a scriptural point of view:

biblechristiansociety.com/download

Expect a battle here as these sort of reformed churches are often very anti-Catholic. But if you know your stuff you have nothing to worry about. And if you demonstrate that then your husband may revert back to the faith.

Pax
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Excellent! To defend her own faith the OP will do well to have the scriptural answers to the predictable arguments.

My advice would be to keep these more as a sword for self-defence, rather than taking up a theological battle with her husband. It seems to me that his attraction to this sect is not rational, and reason alone won’t bring him out of it.
 
The husband claims to have been cured by God from bi-polar depression.

By coincidence, last night I was reading about Benny Hinn’s healing “ministry”. Investigators have found that his assistants prevent people with visible illnesses, such as paraplegia, disturbing mental illness, muscular distrophy,…, from appearing on stage. The “cures” those on stage claim are just subjective and have never been verified.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Hinn

The OP probably suspects that the claimed “cure” is not real, and the husband probably won’t want a medical diagnosis.
 
Good morning,
My husband was suffering from headaches when he would make an effort to read, he never wanted to seek treatment for his depression because he said he could control it. He states that he was watching a Christian channel on TV, he lifted his arms and asked the Lord to help him with all his ailments. He states that at that very moment something came over him and he was cured, he said he asked God to put in his path the people that will help him to do what he (God) wants Juan to do with his life. He did not tell me what had happened to him until a week or so later. He began asking for forgiveness for his anger toward me and he had never done that in the 28 years we have been married. I asked what was happening and he told me the story. I told him I was concerned because that is not normal for his headaches and depression to be gone over night, I told him I was afraid and wanted to make sure he didn’t have a tumor in his brain somewhere. He agreed and the Dr did a CT Scan, the results were negative, the dr said he had nothing wrong with him. The dr asked my husband why he never sought treatment for his depression and the dr also told him that the depression can come back at any time. My husband says he thinks the Dr and I think he is crazy. He says I don’t believe in God because I am not convinced it is a miracle. His whole demeanor has changed that is for sure, but is it possible that it is a miracle? He is always very deep in thoughts and I feel he is still sometimes depressed. He told me once that God will bring back his headaches and depression because he can’t do his job of convincing me to follow him to his new church. They do not believe that the Catholic religion is teaching the correct things.
 
valdezdinuba70 said:
. He told me once that God will bring back his headaches and depression because he can’t do his job of convincing me to follow him to his new church. They do not believe that the Catholic religion is teaching the correct things.
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Sounds like a mild form of extortion to me.

You could go to his church with the understanding that he must also come to Mass with you.

Tell him if he doesn’t come to Mass, you will get headaches. Of course I’m being facetious but you get the point. If you get him going to Mass maybe you can ask your parish priest to have a talk with him.

I know this is not what people want to hear in these situations, but the thing to do is to get stronger in your own faith.
 
Hi there, sorry to hear that you are going through this. There are certainly no easy answers or solutions to a house divided.

Are they a Pentecostal church? I think they might be…the apostolic Pentecostal Church, is a church that teaches heresy. I am not a theologian but we as Catholics do know the fundamentals of the historic Christian faith when we recite the creed. The apostolics deny the trinity. They also believe that speaking in tongues in necessary for salvation, (at least in my conversations with them, this was expressed), They also deny the pre-existence of Jesus. I have good friends who are of this variety of Pentecostals and although they themselves are tolerant and open minded, most apostolics tend to set themselves apart from others.

I would strongly recommend that you immerse yourself in your faith. Read books by Keating, or Tim Staples. Tim was a former Pentecostal, he was a Trinitarian Pentecostal. Also when you and your husband exchange ideas, you do it with love, not trying to convince him but rather just to express the solid foundations of our faith. . I was a former protestant and I can tell you that without a doubt, the Catholic church teachings are deep as the ocean, compared to Pentecostal/evangelical theology which is superficial and based on emotions.

Just learn your faith my friend. And immerse yourself in the Church
 
Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

Yes, this is the apostolic Pentecostal church made up of about 30 members.

I agreed to join my husband for the first time and the first sermon I heard from the pastor totally turned me away from this church. The pastor made comments about coming to church dressed and smelling clean and how we were not to come to church smelling like the Arabic because he said they smell ugly, everyone present that day except for me laughed and one member said laughingly that he worked with a smelly Arabic once before then he also said that God thinks we are all beautiful and then he went on to say the Pope that everyone calls PAPA is not HIS PAPA and he didn’t know why people called him that if he is so ugly.

He made the worst comments I have ever heard and this, coming from a man that is supposed to teach people the way of the GOD.

I spoke to my husband about the pastors comments and how I could not go to a church with a leader like that and my husband made an excuse and said he is only human and make errors just like anyone. My husband said he is going to that church because that is what God wants and he doesn’t listen to the bad things the pastor says he just listens to the word from the bible. And yet my husband quotes lots of stuff that they say to him.

It has been very difficult for me to handle this change, I am trying to learn about the way the Catholic teaches so I can be able to defend myself.
 
Question for the OP. How did your husband get hooked up with this Apostolic Church? You mentioned he was watching a Christian TV station when he was “cured”. But how did that lead him to this particular fringe Christian Church?
 
My husband says God put them in his path. My husband is an owner of a small bicycle repair shop and the pastor’s right hand man was at the shop trying to sell a diet drink Called vita Sur, and that is when and how he met them and he is convinced it was God’s will. That is why it s very hard for me to convince him otherwise.
 
Mrs. Valdez

Here is a podcast about Catholic Christianity.

Are Catholics Christians? Why do non Catholics not consider us Christian? Is this health and wealth gospel your husband seems to have fallen into actually true?

How did we get to this point in Christianity between the two sides?

All this and more is touched on in this 38 min podcast

theonetruefaith.tv/podcast/s3e1.mp3

I pray for peace in your household and that your husband respects your decision to remain faithful to Jesus in the Church He established.
 
Perhaps his physical ailments have improved, but unhealthy thought processes seem to persist. I would not classify this as a miracle. A miracle of God results in peace and joy, not manipulation.

I agree that you may need to increase knowledge of your faith while being patient with your husband. God does not want separations, as long as you are in safety.

You might be able to plant seeds at carefully chosen moments, but it does not sound like logic and reasoning will prevail.

I hope God strengthens you and grants you patience to endure.

Look at Saint Monica’s life and how she prayed for the conversion of her son, Augustine.

I also recommend you go on YouTube and listen to Called to Communion with David Anders.

Also, to defend Catholicism in your mind, look into the question of how Jesus granted authority and communicated his teachings- the bible or the apostles? It is the latter, which also came first. There is not a non-Catholic Church that has apostolic succession.
 
valdezdinuba70 said:
Good afternoon,
My name is Lupe, I have been married 28 years. I consider myself Catholic, my whole family is Catholic. I am so confused right now because my husband has had a change in his whole personality because he says a Miracle has happened to him. He used to have bipolar depression and from one moment to another he said GOD has cured him. He has now changed religion and is attending an Apostolic church. He will be baptized in his new church after studying with his pastor a few times. I am having a difficult time with this because he spends many hours many times a week with his new “Family”. I am happy that he is happier now but he is away so much and is convinced that he is doing what GOD wants him to do and I cannot change his mind. I wish he would have found what he needs from the Catholic church instead but his whole family, brothers father have changed to Apostolic church now. He was pressuring me to change every which way he could. I have sought help from a Marriage Counselor and my husband does not like that I am going. He refuses to go with me.

I am feeling really confused right now with this whole change. I guess I need words of encouragement, I am unsure of what tomorrow will bring but I know that I have to have faith that it will work out how GOD wants it to.
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If he is a Catholic he is already a member of the Apostolic Church.

Tell him to recite the Creed, in particular “And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”
 
thistle said:
If he is a Catholic he is already a member of the Apostolic Church.

Tell him to recite the Creed, in particular “And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”
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How true! The Catholic Church is the original Apostolic Church coming down through history from the time of the Apostles. These other churches use names like apostolic to try to give credit to their group. The Catholic Church received the name from the Greek words meaning of the whole, the fullness of doctrine as given by Jesus to the Apostles.
 
My husband was baptized today. My son and I joined him to be supporting. His whole family went and his older brother that used to be heavily involved with the Catholic Church stood up to give his sermon. He started by saying the sermon was for me and my son and the we should not interfere with his new life and journey to follow God . Then he went in to say that the catholic religion was the worst religion and the catholic priests teach you to pray to skeletons and he was being so hateful because my family is catholic and I was surrounded by his apostolic followers. I could not believe the hatred that he was releasing towards me and my son.
 
valdezdinuba70 said:
My husband was baptized today. My son and I joined him to be supporting. His whole family went and his older brother that used to be heavily involved with the Catholic Church stood up to give his sermon. He started by saying the sermon was for me and my son and the we should not interfere with his new life and journey to follow God . Then he went in to say that the catholic religion was the worst religion and the catholic priests teach you to pray to skeletons and he was being so hateful because my family is catholic and I was surrounded by his apostolic followers. I could not believe the hatred that he was releasing towards me and my son.
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He is just repeating what he is hearing. He isn’t the first to be taken in like this.

I know it is difficult to not get upset. I am sorry for your circumstances.

I would start reading the letters of the apostolic fathers- Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, Irenaeus of Lyon. Many people convert after finding out what the early church was really like through these documents.

There are Catholic books that can help you understand this information, but the letters can be found online for free.

I hope you find the patience to wait for the right time to plant seeds.

I also hope you have a good priest who can offer advice.
 
Thank you, I will look for these letters. Please pray for my family. I hope my husband can see the error in the ways of those that are supposed to be teaching him. I do not accept attacks to people of any race religions of any type. I should hope my husband would respect everyone’s wishes and decisions.
 
mattp0625 said:
I would start reading the letters of the apostolic fathers- Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, Irenaeus of Lyon. Many people convert after finding out what the early church was really like through these documents.
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Yup, if you are honest with yourself… you either convert or become Orthodox or maybe Anglican, but rarely do you stay in the anti-Catholic circles after seeing how the early church actually was.
 
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