Kathleen’s Story
[By Kathleen Chatot]

Everybody has a story on how, why, and where they were converted. My story is no different. I was raised in a loving catholic home, where my parents took their religion seriously. We went to mass weekly, observed all the rules of fasting and abstinence during the required times of the year, and always prayed as a family. I was a good student of the laws and truths of the catholic church. We were a truly dedicated catholic family. From the 1st grade thru 12th grade I went to a catholic school where the doctrine of Catholicism was taught every day. With that said, I followed on my own all the doctrines like a good catholic girl, even entertained becoming a nun for the Lord. When I left home in 1969 to be on my own, it was then when I saw many so-called religious Catholic people’s inconsistencies in the new world around me. I guess my life was a sheltered one, but still remained true to my religious upbringing. In 1971 Phil and I married in the church, and I promised the priest who married us that I would teach our children about God, but I am not promising to bring them up in the church because I was starting to question the beliefs of Catholicism. Why? While reading my bible, going to religious prayer mtg. where they spoke in tongues, laid hands on the sick (James 5:14) people were being slain in the Holy Spirit, because it never happened to me, I  questioned whether this was true. I was shown in the bible, in 1 Cor. 14:2,4,6, where they spoke in tongues, v5 if prophesying, the need of an interpreter, but the interpreters never said the same message, I never spoke in tongues. In fact, all of 1 Cor. 14 opened my eyes to many inconsistencies with this group hoping they had answers, even though they were Catholic. Still I dove into the bible more to find out what the deal was, searching and praying to God to lead me to the truth. In 1978, we lived in Milton with two children and by this time I was asked to teach the catholic doctrine in the public school after school hours. The curriculum was the sacraments of the catholic church. I thought, “this should be an easy breezy section.” What transpired over the next several weeks is what changed my life.

As said, my job as a teacher for the catholic church was to impart the doctrine of the sacraments to the students. While reading the doctrine needed to be taught, my bible was open. I gradually saw several things that did not connect with what I was to teach, so I improvised, by teaching the truth versus teaching which was not biblical. For example, the “sacrament of penance” I had to prepare the students to use the confessional at the church building. Explaining to them what to expect.  The confessional is a booth where the priest sits in an enclosed setting, the one who wants to confess their sins go inside, a little screened window slides open, and one confesses their sins to the priest. The priest in turn would forgive your sins, and hand out your penance. It would usually be saying three “hail Mary” prayers or something similar. The bible says confess your sins one to another (James 5:16). So, Billy, if you did something wrong to Sally, you need to make that right with her, confess your sins. Only God forgives sins, not the priest, is what I was teaching.  The students were delighted, for they did not want to go through the confessional experience. The fall out with the parents of my students, the priest and clergy with the church in Milton and my home town of Barre, was more than I thought would transpire. A mtg. was scheduled in our home with parents of the students I was teaching to have a discussion. After my explanation of the bible verse catholic doctrine, half of the parents were receptive others were not. Then I got a surprise visit from one of the nuns from Marion High School where I went to school and who inspired me as a young lady. She begged me not to turn my back on the teachings of the catholic church. To make a long story short, after several visits from church members, the priest of the Milton catholic church came to my door wanting to discuss why I was teaching bible instead of Catholicism? The discussion went from me wanting to teach just the bible, showing him the several things that did not add up to truth, to his determination to reinforce that catholic traditions trumps the Bible. After a lengthy talk, rebuttals, and evidence I was sharing with him, he said, “Well Kathleen, if you do not teach catholic doctrine and the traditions of the church, you will not teach at all!” I politely showed him the door. A few days later I got word that was going around the community not to discuss the bible with Kathleen. 😣😣 This particular priest was my parents’ best friend’s brother!  This time in my life was truly hard. Most of my friends in the church were not making any contact as before.  A few came to my rescue and understood what I was going through, but did not take a stand or question anything. My only way out of the mess I found myself in was to keep reading what the Spirit of God was saying versus what man was saying.

One day, a bulletin came in the mail with a title of, “The Spirit of God versus the spirit of man”!!! I thought it was interesting because that was my question to the priest who came to my door. This bulletin came from The Lord’s church here in Milton. I did not respond to the article right away, in fact it was not until several months later when I called the phone number and soon a man came to our door, Keith Clayton, Lynn’s husband.    We studied for a while, the Jules Miller films, and the plan of salvation. It was not long for me to understand that I was in a wrong relationship with God. No matter what I did as a good catholic, I was not right with our God, needed to be baptized into Christ with water baptism. So, the simple thing to do was obey the gospel, yes? WRONG!!! In my head were so many different schools of thought with what is the true church? Where is it? And what about all these other religions we were attending only to find out they also followed a man-made creed. All these people who spoke in tongues, miracles for today, which church was “The Lord’s church.” I attended bible retreats, prayer mtgs., seeking, searching, and joined the TV show “PTL” club, {“Praise the Lord”} to cover all bases out there. By this time, it was the fall of 1978 and Phil and I were searching for a new home, so our bible class with Keith ended. He kept coming around for visits. Phil and Keith became friends because of the same interests of hunting and fishing. After we moved up to Georgia in December of “78”, Keith wanted to resume the bible studies and that was agreeable to us because we knew he would keep asking. The study was in the book of Acts with Lynn accompanying Keith. During these studies, we were noticing miracles first, then the gospel was preached, people responding by being baptized into Christ and being added to the church. The church? What church? My questions were going willy nilly all over the place, mainly because my religious background was so seared into my brain that I had a hard time understanding what church Christ died for. I did not want to again be neck strangled into being a member of the wrong church and the commitment involved. After several more studies, I was convinced that Jesus died for His church, not the catholic church, but which one, who shall I worship with?   Then Lynn said something profound, “Well who do you think you should worship with, the saints in heaven? For they are now with Jesus.” That resonated with me, but Phil was the one who responded saying he needed to be baptized, while I questioned Him with what? That was Wednesday, February 14, 1979. This was the first time we ever entered the mtg. house. We continued to study for several weeks and more and more I realized I had to obey, but the commitment factor was still holding me back. March 4, 1979, Gene Dumas was preaching a sermon on commitment. The more he spoke the more I was convinced to give God all I have and in my head I was saying to myself, “I can do this. You are strong. Let Him lead my life. How?  By looking to Him Daily. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). His sermon brought me to tears, and I said to myself what my mom used to say, “Wake up Kathleen and Die right!” So, when the last song of the worship was sung, I walked down to the front, and was baptized in the same baptistery that held very cold water in our building.  Little did I know that there was a conspiracy with some of the saints to have me hear a sermon on commitment. Remember, I knew I was in a wrong relationship with God from the early start of bible studies with Keith, but because I had to test everything I was being taught, it took a good while for me to submit. I used to call it, “A literal act of God!” When I finally did commit. Now the monkey was off my back, I felt free from being hogged tied into a doctrine that required regulations, rules, to be a good catholic and this I needed to tell all my family. This should be a breeze, for after all my parents taught me to persevere, hold fast, rely and put your trust in God. I set out on the agenda to teach my family all about what the bible has to say. My mom was convinced the catholic church was wrong and she stopped attending. Only for a while, for it bothered dad that she was questioning about the church also. So, I started talking to her. Bottom line, I talked with all my family about the joy of being saved, having my sins forgiven by being baptized into Christ by the immersion into water (Acts 8:35-39), according to God’s word instead of following the doctrines of men (Acts 2:38). My life changed and so did my family’s response to me.  The only one I convinced was My sister Eileen. The commitment to the Lord took me in areas of my life where I never thought possible. Though over the years my family thought I was doomed to a cult, and shied away from me, the family of God grew bigger and bigger. We continued to study with Keith and Lynn for several months, and Gene took over for several months after. They imparted much good grounding for us babes and we are forever Praising God for His deliverance from our sins. The transition was not easy because we were heathens, but we chipped away putting on the new man as we took off the old man (Eph. 4:22-24).

So, here is my story. I searched and prayed for the truth to be found and the Lord answered my prayers, even though it took this stubborn mind so long to submit my entire life, not just in part but the whole.