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“You shall have no other gods before ‘Me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image-
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
Under the earth…”
[Exodus 20:3-4 New King James Version]
Ron Espanto: I remember watching the The Ten Commandments. They talked about the Laws of God, the Ten Commandments. And one of them, you shall not worship any other God or not make any idols. That always stood out-the worship of idols. That’s what made me feel that something’s not right with what we’re doing. I was already asking that in my head, “What is the truth? There must be something true out there.”
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STORIES of FAITH
I’m Ron Espanto, I’m 49 years old. And I’m currently living in Waipahu, Hawaii. I grew up in a neighborhood in Kalihi [Hawai’i]. It’s basically for low-income people. Growing up there, back in the 1970s, and 1980s, it was pretty rough. There was a lot of drug use in that place, a lot of illegal activities that people were doing back in those days. Both of my parents are Filipino. My dad came here, maybe late 1950s, early 1960s. My parents, they always taught us to do the right things. We came from a dominant Catholic family.
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Ron Espanto
Former Catholic
I was born Catholic. They also made it important that we always recognize God, you know, to serve God. Although my parents were devout Catholics, you know, we didn’t go to church on a regular basis. Probably just on important dates, like for instance, Christmas or Good Friday. Actually in our home, we had a statue of the so-called Virgin Mary. It was about 15 inches tall. My mom would light candles at night or on a certain occasion.
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“Something’s Not Right”
While we were growing up, the thing that always got to me was the worship of idols. That’s what made me feel that, you know, something’s not right with what we’re doing. I remember watching The Ten Commandments. They talked about the Laws of God, the Ten Commandments. And one of them, you shall not worship any other God or not make any idols. That always stood out, growing up as Catholic. Because, when we did go to church, we would literally see the statues. When I would ask my mom why is she praying to this so-called Virgin Mary or the so-called image of the Lord Jesus Christ, she would always tell me that that’s what she was taught. She would always just say, “Oh, you know, this is our belief.” We would go to the Catholic [chapel]. There’s so many things that they would do. Rituals, if I may say, that I just felt that it was not necessary.
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“I Know Deep Down…It Was Wrong”
I have relatives that are members of the Church Of Christ. They would always invite us to attend their worship services, to the Church gatherings. Again, I wasn’t looking for that. After high school, I decided to just go to work. So I started off as a dishwasher. Worked my way up, prep cook, all the way to lead cook. I was 19, I think, when I was already running the kitchen, and it was busy. I felt pretty good. Every two weeks. you get your paycheck. Then you go out, you hang out with your friends, have fun. We would go out drinking. I was introduced to, like, all different types of vices.
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Ron Espanto
Former Catholic
Everybody was doing some type of drug, whether it’s they were snorting coke, they’re smoking crystal meth, smoking weed. And I got caught into that. I know, deep down in my heart, that was just wrong. You’d feel good for a little while. But then, it got to a point where it just started to…get out of hand.
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Tragedy Hits Home
In 1991, my mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It spread throughout her body. When she was diagnosed with the cancer, she told me to take her to this house of this so-called “healer.” I noticed all [these] little statues, like Virgin Mary, so-called Lord Jesus Christ statue. So, I asked my mom, you know, “What are we doing here?” And she said, “He’s gonna pray for me.” “This is where I can get healed.” Out of respect for my mom and because I love her, I told her, “Okay, well, just do what you need to do.” Still, her condition never improved, you know, she’s getting worse by the day. There was that one time she was praying, she was praying to the Virgin Mary statue that we had in our house. That’s when I told her, “Why are you doing that? Why are you praying to one statue?” “The one that you’re supposed to be praying to is to God. Not to these idols, not to these statues.” And that’s when she got really upset, she was really mad. My mom was 56 when she passed. I was devastated.
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“What Is The Truth?”
I was mad at God, and I asked God why He did this. I also asked, from God, “What is the truth, then?” Just before October of 1992, that’s when my cousin invited me to attend one of the Bible Expositions of the Church Of Christ. And that’s what I told him, I said, “You know, I believe in God, you know. I don’t, I don’t have to…go to any church to serve God. I could just serve God, you know, how I want.” I already was denouncing the Catholic faith, even before my mom passed away. I was already asking that in my head, “What is the truth? There must be something true out there.” And when I decided to undergo the Bible studies inside the Church Of Christ, the minister told me, “If you don’t believe what I’m saying, bring your Bible. I will use the Bible that you bring to teach you then.” So I did, I had, I think a King James Version. And throughout my Bible study, aside from the other versions that [were] there, he used my Bible. He even highlighted the verses. They would first tell you what the Bible is about, because that’s our basis right there-why we believe in God. And then from there, everything just clicks into place: Why do we believe in the Messenger of God? Why do we believe that Jesus Christ is not God, but He is a man? Why [should we not] worship idols? All my beliefs that I had in the past [were] being torn down already, [were] being ripped apart. And what was being built up…were the true words of God, in my heart.
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Things I Had To Let Go Of
While I was still undergoing Bible studies, attending the worship services inside the Church Of Christ, I’m not yet baptized, there are things that…I had to let go of, and it was kind of difficult, at first. Even the vices that I did [weren’t] easy to let go…because the transition is not automatic. There were times when I wouldn’t attend the worship services. Or I missed a worship service on purpose, I felt bad about it. I remember one of the head deacons telling me, [he] said, “Oh, you know, Brother, you’re about to get baptized, but you’re missing worship services.” That’s when I said to myself, “I’m not going to miss worship service again. I want to complete what I started. I want to become a member of the Church Of Christ.”
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“God’s Mercy”
Now that I’m in the Church Of Christ for so many years now, with God’s mercy, I don’t have [any] regret. Not even one ounce of regret.
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Ron Espanto
Joined the Church Of Christ in 1993
To me, the church is my life. I’ve been married for almost 23 years now, with God’s mercy. I have a loving wife, loving family, loving children-God fearing. The way I look at it now, I could’ve gone a different route, but knowing that…God called us, God called me to be inside the Church, really, this is a true blessing coming from God.
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“I Want To Serve God”
I would always say to myself, “I want to be a member because I want to be saved,” I never said before, “I want to be a member because I want to serve God.” But now that I’m in the Church for these many years, that is my mentality-that I’m a member of the Church Of Christ to serve God. When I look back at my life, and look at all the things that I’ve experienced, I always thank God because He allowed me to have that knowledge, that wisdom, that enlightenment. The enlightening moment is when you get to know the true God. I’m just glad that I was able to come to that knowledge of truth that I received inside the Church Of Christ.
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STORIES of FAITH
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