I was raised in a very traditional SDA household. The Bible was never read during family worship-only Ellen. My mother immersed herself in EGW, especially her early writings. She died because she refused heart surgery from a "Catholic doctor". She thought she could be healed the "natural way".
My elderly Dad thinks he won't make it to heaven because I have left the fold.
I do feel special that Jesus Christ called me out. Because of my strict childhood, I remember reading the Bible to try to refute Ellen White. I remember, as a young teen, reading the Gospel of John and really questioning what we believed.
Never the less, I was afraid to go to any other church because I thought they had the mark of the beast and that terrified me. After college I met my non-adventist husband and we moved away from all family to a different state. I blocked out all things SDA and we practiced no religion. When we had our children, I decided to take them to Sabbath School. This was in Orlando, Fl and the SDA church in that area iis quite liberal. I had no problem with that, and my boys enjoyed it.
After moving back to Michigan to be closer to our families, I started taking the boys to the Battle Creek Tabernacle. It was so much different than the Orlando churches. My oldest son hated it. One week I decided to stay for the church service. The principal of Battle Creek Academy was preaching out of EGW's book "Education". He was trying to drum up business for the Academy and told the congregation that if you have your children in a public school, God will not protect them! I walked out with my children and never returned. Shortly after this experience I begged God to show me the Truth. I soon discovered Mark Martin's website and the rest is history, THANK GOD!!!
It is so nice to communicate with you. It's hard for my friends to understand the whole background. Someday I will write my story, because there's a lot more.
Congratulations on the success of your book. God is leading you and I know he will use you to save more people for His Kingdom.
Love in Christ,
Teresa Cope
