Personal testimony: Dionisio Chief Cook
The Bible, in the Book of John, Chapter 1 and verse 12, says -
‘ … to all who received Him (Jesus Christ), to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God.’
First of all, I thank and praise our Lord for loving me and choosing me as His child. This is the most wonderful blessing I have ever received from God the Father.
Secondly I am also thankful to God for those Christian brothers He used to draw me to Christ.
So it is my pleasure to share my testimony of how God has worked in my life in the hope it will encourage others to become Christians.
Although I was baptized in a Roman Catholic Church, I never considered myself to be a devoted member of that Church. I believed in God but I never thought of myself as a person who needed to be rescued from the danger of spending eternity in Hell. I also had absolutely no idea that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty I deserved because of my sins.
By my own assessment I always used to think of myself as a person who tried to avoid doing bad things and instead always tried to do good things. I used to think that if I did this I would be saved and would go to Heaven. I never thought of myself as a sinner who needed to repent. I believed in God but I didn’t believe that God is a Trinity – three persons in one and one in three.
In 1983 I started attending the Iglesia ni Cristo (InC) Church that claims to be the only true church and the only way to Heaven. My aunt was also a member of the InC and she encouraged me to be baptized. So three months after first attending, I was baptized and became a regular member of InC.
That same year I became a self-supporting student, studying at college for a Bachelor of Science (Marine Transportation) Degree. I hoped to eventually become a ship’s officer.
Because my college studies conflicted with my attendance at the Thursday and Sunday services of the InC Church, some of the church leaders suggested I delay my course and instead focus on their religion. However, instead of following their suggestion, I continued with my studies.
In 1984, about one year after I started attending the Iglesia ni Cristo Church, I realized nothing in my life had changed, and so I stopped attending.
In 1986 I graduated from college but I was unable to get work as a seafarer at that time.
One year later, in 1987, I married Gilda. Our first son Arron was born at the end of that year and our second son Marven was born two years later in 1989.
Life was financially difficult for us and so I started working as a tricycle driver to earn some money and provide for my family.
Despite the difficulties of our circumstances, and because Gilda was a very committed and devout Roman Catholic, we attended the Catholic Church regularly, together with our two children.
From the time I graduated from college in 1986 until 1992, I had no stable employment. Because of this I decided to again pursue a career as a seafarer.
It was difficult to get work as a seafarer without any experience behind me but eventually one shipping company offered me employment if I would be willing to train as a Cook. I agreed.
In December 1992, I joined my first ship, as Chief Cook.
In 2004 I was working onboard a ship on which one of the crewmembers was a Jehovah’s Witness. He was a soft-spoken person who invited me to study the Bible with him. I admired him for his teaching, especially his explanation of the gospel.
Through him, I discovered that Jehovah’s Witnesses have very similar views about Christ as the INC. Jehovah’s Witnesses also do not believe in the Trinity. This strengthened my own belief that Jesus Christ is not God, that the Holy Spirit is not God and that God is not three persons in one.
When my contract was finished and I returned home, I invited some Filipino Jehovah’s Witnesses to conduct a Bible Study in my house with my two sons and me. As a consequence of this, Arron and Marven attended the Jehovah’s Witness Church for a while but Gilda and I continued to attend at the Roman Catholic Church.
In the year 2010 I began a new 9-month contract onboard a ship called CMA CGM Vivaldi, trading across the North Pacific Ocean between SE Asia and the West Coast of North America.
I had no idea that onboard this ship my whole life was about to be turned upside down!
Two Christians onboard this ship – Edmund, the Deck Fitter and Cesar, the Second Mate - invited me to join them as they studied the Bible. The first course we studied was a short one, called ‘Key Biblical Teachings.’ The second course was longer and was called, ‘What The Bible Teaches.’
As we studied these two courses, and as Edmund and Cesar encouraged me to read the Bible, slowly but surely Jesus revealed Himself to me.
I learnt many new things I never knew before – that God is holy and just and must punish sin; that man is sinful from birth and unable to obey God’s laws; that the punishment for sin is death; that God loved me so much He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die in my place to take the punishment I deserved.
I came to realize that many of the teachings, traditions and practices of the Roman Catholic Church do not agree with the teachings of the Bible and, most important, that the way of salvation taught by the Catholic Church is not correct.
The Bible tells us we are saved if we repent of our sins and and place all our trust in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and in nothing else.
Each time we reached port I used to telephone my wife Gilda and tell her about the things I was learning. I also encouraged her to begin reading the Bible.
My eyes had been opened and I knew I needed to turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and that I needed to ask God to forgive my sins. Acts 26:12.
In July 2010, while I was still onboard CMA CGM Vivaldi, I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour John 1:12.
Through the grace of God and with love and support from the Seamen’s Christian Friend Society in Australia, my family all became Christians.
We believe God chose us before the foundation of the world and predestined us to be adopted as His sons though Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. See Ephesians 1:3-5
Now I understand Jeremiah 29:13, ‘You will seek Me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’
In the beginning, when we were new believers in Christ, we encountered many temptations and lots of criticism from the people around us, especially when Sis Gilda demolished the statue of the Virgin Mary in our home. Nonetheless, by the grace of God we were able to resist them and show they were wrong.
In different ways my family is serving the Lord. As for me, by the grace of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I have a ministry of sharing the gospel with my fellow seafarers onboard my ships and pointing them to Christ.