My Personal Faith Journey

Historical Background

My parents originated from Goa, a Portuguese enclave on the west coast of India. They migrated to the British Colony of Kenya, East Africa, in 1913. My father worked in Nairobi (capital of Kenya) as an accountant for the British Government. It was here that I was born in 1932. Four years later my parents moved to Mombasa, the main port of Kenya and the second largest city of the country.

This is where I grew up and, being devout, my parents raised me as a staunch Roman Catholic. I served as an altar boy in my younger years. My elementary and high school education was completed in Catholic schools.

In the early 1950s, the Mau Mau uprising by one of the largest tribes, the Kikuyu, took place in Kenya. At that time, the British Government introduced national service and I moved to Nairobi to do my two years' service. Having finished my national service, I remained in Nairobi working as an architect.

Across from the home where I was living was a Seventh-day Adventist missionary, Robert Wieland and his family. He was the president of the Central Kenya Field. One of my hobbies at that time was racing motorcycles. It was this that led Elder Wieland to come to me for help in supporting the African pastors with reliable transportation. We became good friends, but not once did he bring up the subject of religion.

However, in 1957, the Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nairobi planned an evangelistic effort. Elder Wieland came to me with the request that I take my landlady to attend. He knew that, as a staunch Roman Catholic, I would not attend on my own.

As a result, I sat at the back of the church and listened to Elder Dale Ringering, the evangelist, for some three weeks. It was the first time in my life I was exposed to the prophecies and truths of the Bible. As a Catholic, I had not even seen a Bible, let alone read one. The Holy Spirit convicted me, and, as a result, I decided to join the Adventist church.

The missionary who gave me these baptismal studies was the late Elder Joe Hunt. Twice a week I rode two miles to his home on my motorcycle. On the day Elder Wieland was baptizing his son Bob, Elder Joe Hunt requested him to baptize me at the same time, since my baptism studies were completed and Elder Wieland was already in the baptistry.

Many years later I learned why Elder Wieland was unable to study with me directly. His manuscript on "1888 Re-examined," co-authored by Elder Don Short, was rejected by the GC Committee and, as a result, Wieland was black-listed by the missionaries of the East African Union. So the accusation often made that my theology was influenced by Wieland on the 1888 message is entirely false, even though we both came to the same conclusion regarding the 1888 message independently.

Not long after I became a Seventh-day Adventist, I discovered that I had moved from one form of legalism, the Roman Catholic Church, to another form of legalism in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Both churches had given me no assurance of salvation. This is a common problem, even today, among our members.

Six months after my conversion, I rode my motorcycle from Nairobi to London. Just before I left, the youth director of the East African Union, Elder Bob Osmunson, handed me a Youth Instructor magazine and encouraged me to attend Newbold College. After serving as a literature evangelist for a year, I attended Newbold College for four years and graduated with a B.A. degree in theology — but with no peace or assurance of salvation.

After graduation I married my wife, Jean, and we came to the U.S. where I studied for my M.A. degree in theology. I hoped that Andrews University would give me the assurance of salvation for which I was desperately looking. I graduated in 1965 with an M.A. degree in Systematic Theology but still no peace or assurance in my heart.

In 1969, the British Parliament cancelled all British Passports issued in the colonies. Since this is what I had, it meant I became stateless. As a result, the Uganda Government under Milton Obote cancelled my work permit. The Afro-Mideast Division decided to send me back to Andrews University to study for another degree, while setting the wheels in motion towards obtaining my U.S. citizenship.

During my mission service in Uganda, I heard, for the first time, about the 1888 Message on Righteousness by Faith. I decided to research the 1888 message while at Andrews University studying for my M.Div. I did an in-depth study of what E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones taught, along with what Ellen G. White had to say about the 1888 message. At last my eyes were opened to the fact that what God was requiring from me for salvation was actually accomplished for me in Christ over two thousand years ago. That was indeed exceedingly good news.

Not long after I returned to Uganda, the country experienced a coup under Idi Amin, and in 1972 he deported all the Asians from Uganda. My family and I were among the eighty thousand deportees. We landed in Beirut, the headquarters of the Afro-Mideast Division. Waiting for a work permit to Ethiopia gave me time to do an exegetical study on the two main books Waggoner and Jones used to proclaim the 1888 message — Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

I discovered that these two men were absolutely correct on the whole in their presentations on Christ our Righteousness and the doctrine of Righteousness by Faith. This is what sealed my convictions on the 1888 message and completely transformed my ministry.

Ever since then (1973), my total ministry changed and I have been mainly presenting this incredible good news of salvation in Christ to our Seventh-day Adventists members, many of whom have no assurance of salvation. This has continued even after my official retirement in 2001.