On my 7th birthday, my parents gave me a Bible. The best thing they ever did for me. I loved the book ever since. I've studied quite a lot since then, mostly on my own.

I have attended Bible classes once in a while. When I was small, I was taken to the Church of the Brethren. I was not comfortable. When I could make my own decisions, I stopped "going to church."

In 1965, my parents separated, and I went to live with father's sister and her family. She is one of the meanest women I have ever known. I was so happy when my parents got back together and I could get out of there. But, while there, the school I attended had release time. We went to a nearby church for class. That was the only report card I got all A's on.

In 1974, I went to Youth For Christ. It was in my senior year in High School. There was a movie one Saturday night. It really rattled me, to the point that when I went home, I fell on my knees in my bedroom and cried out to God for His forgiveness.

I looked for a church. Went to several. Eventually, I visited a local Church of Christ. I was baptized on December 29th of that year [1974]. They put me in the teenagers class. I was so much more advanced than the rest that the teacher took me aside and told me to let other people be part of the discussion.

Upon graduation from High School, I was in the adult class. My knowledge of the Bible was even more advanced than some of them.

I went to college in January 1976. Big mistake. I lasted a month and a half. Spring break came and I was gone. The Lebanon Church of Christ thought I would be their golden boy. Never happened. I asked too many questions. I started accumulating books to help me study, among them, Strong's Concordance.

One of the questions was, "Why no musical instruments?" They gave me Ephesians 5.19 as part of their answer. With Strong's Concordance, I looked up the words, "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs." Everyone of the the Greek words included musical instruments. I took that information to the preacher. He asked where I got the information. From Strong's Concordance, I told him. He said, "Oh, he's a Baptist. You can't trust him." Then I replied, "Then why do you trust him when it comes to the meaning of baptism." I was eventually considered a troublemaker for asking too many questions and disagreeing with church doctrine.

We had various disagreements till I finally left in 1983. I then became a member of Bible Presbyterian Church. While there, there was a split. We of the split formed Bible Reformed Church. That didn't last long. Those were the only churches I was ever a member of.

That was in the mid 80s. By then I began learning about preterism, and the fact that Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays. I continued to believe one thing I learned from the Church of Christ. There is only one church.

The result is, I'm an anti-denominational preterist that doesn't celebrate Christmas nor Easter. That sets me apart from 99.9% of the population of the United States, and probably the world. So, here I am, alone. Don't seem to fit in anywhere.