Claudine Michel was born to parents who did not believe in God.
Still, they sent her to a kindergarten school run by two nuns who gave her a love for Jesus. In fact, their kindness impressed her so much that, for a time, she even wanted to become a nun.
However, as she progressed through elementary school and beyond, Claudine became disenchanted with the religious and begged her parents to let her go to a secular school. Although she still believed in Jesus and faithfully prayed to Mary, something just wasn’t clicking for her anymore.
Then in college, Claudine met a Christian man who later became her husband. She was stunned by the things he said about the Bible. She could not deny the truths as they began falling into place like a puzzle near completion. She yearned to learn more and became more convinced as she studied. “This has to be the truth!”
Claudine started going to church and felt as if she had finally found where she belonged. She was eventually baptized and became active in her church. She felt very close to the Lord.
But then something went wrong. She says, “I started seeing the straw in other people’s eyes and forgot to take the log out of mine; Satan used that to discourage me.” She became less aware of the godly people in the church and became fixated on the hypocrisy she saw. “I started listening to Satan telling me that God could not possibly dwell in such a place. It was the beginning of a downfall.”
Not long after, she began to backslide. “I stopped growing in the Lord and, before I knew it, I found myself very far from the truth I had once craved.” She started reading more murder-mystery books and fewer religious ones, including her Bible.
As her marriage shattered around her and other tragedies struck home, Claudine eventually shunned religion altogether. “I saw the church as an invention of men, an excuse for persecution, slavery, war, and all sorts of evil.” Even further, she began to doubt the Bible, the theory of evolution become more appealing, and she started dabbling in tarot cards. “By this time I was not backsliding anymore; I was in freefall, held tight in Satan’s claws. I became severely depressed, lost complete track of where I came from and where I was going. I was totally lost.”
Hope By Mail
Then one day, Claudine received a DVD in the mail from a church friend she hadn’t seen in 15 years. It was Amazing Facts’ Final Events of Bible Prophecy. Even though she was interested, it took her a while to watch it, but when she finally did, she loved it. She says, “Satan does not let go easily. Nonetheless, I kept having an itch to check the DVD case. I thought, ‘Could this be, finally, the religion that had both the truth and love of God?’ It didn’t name a denomination, but it gave a website: www.AmazingFacts.org. I had to check it out.”
She was thrilled to learn Amazing Facts was a Sabbath ministry. She marveled at the Lord’s love, patience, and mercy. “I felt He had picked me up in His hands with sweet care and deposited me softly at the door to His light.” She was His prodigal daughter who had finally come home.
Claudine soon checked all the websites connected with Amazing Facts, like BibleUniverse.com. She saw that before she fell away, she had not built on the right foundation. “I never saw anything wrong with reading worldly who-done-it books, even when I started using my Bible study time to read them instead. I devoured them; they were my best friends. I had taken it too far.”
Claudine realized that she needed to start all over again—back to the ABCs of faith. “I started by watching Pastor Doug’s Revelation seminars and taking the lessons. I felt an unquenchable thirst for knowledge; I couldn’t learn fast enough. When I finished those lessons, I took the Storacles lessons and watched the seminars that incorporated them.” Even though it all seemed familiar to her, she was amazed at what she hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about her faith. “I am so thankful for those lessons; they are as useful for those who have been in the church for years as they are for those seeing these truths for the first time.”
By God’s grace, her first love was returning. She bought a new Bible and started reading and studying again. But she wanted more. She believes it was the Lord who pointed her to Everlasting Gospel and Central Study Hour to fill that desire. “What a wealth of knowledge! I am still devouring them, taking notes, and learning every day. These programs revealed my wrong ways, and my eyes were opened.” As a result, she’s made some big changes in her life. When she heard Pastor Doug teach that Christians should not permit themselves to indulge in profane movies, books, or music, she threw them all away. “I had just bought some new music too! Can you imagine?”
Now she watches the live webcast of Pastor Doug’s church every Sabbath. “It is my inspiration, my well for water, and the place where I get my daily bread! I even took the firm decision to trust God and tithe, and in return He has opened wide the windows of heaven, blessing me with a renewed love for Him, a new heart, a stronger faith, and hope everlasting.”
“I had gone my own way, but God, in His love, brought me back through Amazing Facts. He will do so for whoever hungers and thirsts for Him.”
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