I want to thank you for taking the time to spend a few minutes with me. I deeply hope that my personal testimony will offer some encouragement to you, on your great adventure through life. There have been 3 distinct periods in my life. Growing up, wandering without God, and my spiritual journey to the place I am now.
     Born a Jehovah's Witness.  Yes you read that correctly. This modern day Christian Philosopher was born into a Witness  family. Although I am no longer a part of that organization, I do have family that are still respected members and I will not bash them as others do. Also I feel that it serves no useful purpose to cause further strain between Christians and Witnesses. I was born on a farm in rural southern Georgia in 1964 to a devout family of witnesses. My father was raised Southern Baptist and my mother Episcopalian. He following along with his parents and my mother in the tradition of her New York upbringing. In time my mother began searching for answers to life and when 2 traveling pioneers(American style missionaries) also known as a circuit overseers ,knocked on our door she began down the road that would eventually lead my entire family to the Watchtower Society. At first my father strongly opposed my mothers new religion but in time came around and became a fervent supporter.
     The Society became a central part of my parents lives. My father became the congregation overseer
and my mother pioneered. (spent large amounts of time going door to door to find converts) As he progressed he was asked to speak in other congregations and give speeches at large conventions.
When I was born I was brought along and began going door to door and giving "talks" in the congregation as young as 6. I never celebrated a birthday, Christmas, or Easter or any other holidays or any patriotic activities such as saluting the flag. As you can imagine I was quite the odd young person in school. In time my father volunteered to go to South America to help spread his religion. However the Society in New York decided that he could start new congregations here in America. So through travel and moving, my parents set out to start new works or help fledgling ones get on their feet. In the 1970's my father was struck with Cancer and later died. I believe that I get some of my stubbornness from him. Whatever he did, he did it all the way.
From serving in the Navy during World War 2, prior to becoming a Witness, to farming ,chief hospital technician or bold Witness he went all out.
     My mother and I lived on, having moved nearest my oldest brother just before my fathers death. My eldest of 3 brothers was also an elder in his local congregation and as stubborn as myself or my father. I asked my eldest brother one time while we were together and the subject of religion came up, why he was a Jehovah's Witness? He told me that he likes to be right. This is not a statement that I have heard from him alone. I have heard it from many Witnesses, and in fact, it is a common statement made by people who are involved in religion, and not a relationship with the Holy Spirit, you don't have to be in a heretical cult to make it, I have found. At least to his credit, he was up front about it.
He tried to help my mother, but I began to rebel without my father around. From even an early age of 6 or 7,
I had dreams that I could not understand, how could fit into a Witness lifestyle. These dreams at that early age showed a ministry that could not be carried out within the JW's, these dreams have basically turned out to be my present ministry. As a result of my upbringing, and lack of understanding of my destiny, I ran from these dreams for most of my life. In time I moved to Atlanta Ga. to live with my 2nd eldest brother, a ministerial servant, and later elder in his congregation. But he was no match for my teenage ways either.
I was asked if I knew if my brother-in-law was smoking cigarettes, I covered for him, and admittedly lied to do so, and after later meetings with the Elders committee I was disfellowshiped for lying and improper conduct. I was dating a non-Witness whom I had become too friendly with and it was decided that I just wasn't Witness material. After nearly losing my life in a house fire I moved back home with my mother. A few months later I went off to college and became totally discouraged about life and decided to go home again and become a member of the Witnesses again.
 

     Searching for God  During my college years I became very depressed. I had rejected and wandered away
from all the spiritual teachings that I had been raised with. After burning out at college I returned home to
live with  my mother and perhaps become a witness again. I spent over a year and a half going to the kingdom
hall while not a soul spoke to me. Life for a person who is trying to be reinstated to the Witnesses is like living like a leper. You are not allowed any contact with the outside world except for work and nobody in your
congregation or others will even acknowledge your presence. After a year of silence I applied for reinstatement. I was turned down, I was told it just hadn't been long enough even though I had done everything asked of me. 6 months later I reapplied and was accepted. But during this waiting period I had time to think and observe. I prayed a great deal and went over my life in detail. I began to notice that sometimes scriptures were read from the platform (pulpit) that didn't seem to match my understanding of what the Bible was
trying to say. Of course I couldn't talk to anyone so I began to study on my own, praying for God to show me the 'truth' as I went. And then one day it happened. It changed my life forever. During a Sunday service a passage of Scripture was read from Acts
15;28,"For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you , except these necessary things."(NWT) quoted from the Witness bible as I had no other at the time. Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that the HOLY SPIRIT is an actual person like Christ and God. But here was a passage that clearly pointed out that the Holy Spirit had an opinion. In my mind only a personal and living being can have an opinion as opposed to some force of God. This I found out has always been the understanding of the church, and time I learned, there these types of heresies have always been around, and that the church has always had to deal with them. So I continued to study using only Witness materials; it was all I had at the time. I then read Jesus own statements in John 14;26 "But the helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things I told you"(NWT)notice they do not capitalize the Holy Spirit and again it's obvious in Ephesians 4;30 "Also, do not be grieving God's holy spirit, with which you have been sealed for a day of releasing". I could not figure out how you grieve a electrical force of God, it seemed that only a live being could be grieved. Thus I began questioning everything I was being taught. If something as important as the deity of the Holy Spirit were distorted then "what else?".
All other Scriptures will be from the RSV version of the Bible. So in time I left the organization and married a woman from a nearby town and settled down. Did things get better? NO!
 

Depression before salvation Well I was free, so I should have been happy right? Wrong! Being raised a witness you are taught that you are the chosen people of God and that you have all the right answers and you know exactly how the world works. Then bam, you find out you don't have all the answers and confusion sets in and you lose your way. My understanding is that a great many ex-witnesses suffer depression and even commit suicide, I don't have any real numbers so I won't exaggerate ,but I remember it being discussed
by many witnesses at the time and have noticed countless reports on the subject and I can personally relate to those feelings.
Being in a restrictive organization gives one borders and boundaries, you don't have to think for yourself, as long as you go along everything is fine. In the years following many witnesses came up to me and my wife and made comments such as we would not get away with it, whatever it was, and that God would punish us.
A great strain evolved between me and my family. My mother was dying of cancer and my brothers didn't really want anything to do with me. I give my eldest brother a little credit, he does seem to try in his own way and doesn't want to place himself in jeopardy with his congregation by being too friendly with me, and he always tries to make a comment that will lead back to the witnesses. My other living brother will have no contact with me at all. The 3rd brother, who never seemed to come to any sort of peace, with himself, his place in life, or his religion, died mysteriously in a trucking accident. But basically I have been disowned. People I used to call friends no longer even
say hello when I meet them, but one must be willing to give up all for Christ. I don't mention my brothers names or where they live because they are very active in the Witness organization and well known, and I wish them no harm.
 

Gods saving grace While searching for God I became very depressed. I didn't seem to fit in anywhere. If everything I had been taught as a child was wrong, then maybe being a Christian was wrong, or maybe there was no God at all. So the search began. I started all over again, from the beginning, is there a God? Strangely, those dreams that I had as a young child never left me, but since I still couldn't figure them out, I dismissed them. I read about all religions and spoke to heaven in a not too polite way. I even stood in the middle of thunderstorms and shouted at heaven asking God to strike me down. To me, answering these questions were as important
as life itself. So in time I began to get answers, after insulting not a few friends, who tried to answer my questions. By the way God spared me in the thunderstorms, a testimony to His patience, love and mercy. In time my wife and children found our
way to a growing Southern Baptist church in a nearby town, Dudley Baptist Church, pastor Bill Weeks. And one Sunday the choir opened the service with the song 'Victory' and the sound hit me like a tidal wave, I sat down and began to cry, I had told everyone that nothing mattered except that God showed up, and show up He did. That night my wife and I walked the isle and gave our lives to Christ, as best we knew how and we were baptized the next Sunday night in time for my birthday. Bill (Rev. Weeks) took me under his wing and gave me time to have questions answered and allowed me to disagree. In time I preached my first sermon and he arranged my first sermon in a
small church across town and later recommended me for my first pastorate in a nearby town. I owe him much, and thank him publicly for his allowing of the Holy Spirit to show him that the confused young man in His office, was annointed by God for a kingdom task. Rev. Weeks has since passed away. How I miss him, he would no doubt disagree with some of what I am doing now, he was a faithful Southern Baptist, but I think that he would still be pleased that one of his, was working hard in the Kingdom of God.
 

My Christian Walk   I pastored the small church for awhile, and helped it double the Sunday service before I left. But powerful deacons who took my tolerance to mean weakness were surprised when I began calling wrongdoing on the carpet, and I was replaced by somebody a bit more placid. But it was a good start. I continued preaching around the circuit and was invited to film a Church of God campmeeting, I worked at a small television station as my full time job, at which I later became the news director, small station no big deal. Well I found the Holy Spirit big time in a supernatural experience at that competing. Well Baptists don't take too kindly
to Pentecostal ideas and so  I began looking into Charismatic and Pentecostal theology and preaching as the opportunity arose. I badly didn't want to be a pentecostal, didn't like their style, many of their practices, but if that was what God wanted, then I would become a Pentecostal. I followed the life as told and got ready to accept ordination in a Pentecostal organization and begin pastoring. But being a straightforward person, when asked about certain ideas about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and some others, I openly told of my disagreement, from Scripture, practical practice and church history. I was told, that many felt as I did, that I should just answer the questions the way they were asked, I would be allowed in, and then I could believe whatever I wanted. I had given up a lot in my life, and there was no way that I was going to compromise now. Again, I was forced to move on. I went on the usual Charismatic "Spirit Run". My wife and I would get up early on Sunday mornings, even leave on Saturday night, drive hundreds of miles, looking for that person who could show me the christianity that I saw in the Bible. My goodness, how much craziness we ran into out there. Every whim of theology was practiced, the seminary schools that I attended allowed professors to deny the virgin birth, the flood, the miracles and even the resurrection. Surely, God was not in all of this confusion. I was distraught again. I began to wonder, that as a child and later in evangelical circles, we had been taught that the Roman Catholic Church was the home of the anti-christ, but perhaps not everything that Catholics and sacramental churches like them did was wrong. And then I heard about a new movement that combined Evangelical, Charismatic and Sacramental styles into one way of worship. I joined a group which I will not name, and learned a great deal about the
catholic or Sacramental heritage that we all shared before the Reformation came about. But as I was getting ready to move into a commitment in ministry, disturbing things began popping up. I had even accepted the assignment of helping to plant a church, and led many into that group. I could not agree that the Bishops words were equal to Gods or that a Priest had the right to retain a persons sins without oversight. That a word of prophecy is only valid if the priest says it is, or that if the priest gives a word and it doesn't come true it is the fault of the congregation. That the congregation is compiled of stupid sheep that only can find water and drink if there is a priest present, because they are so stupid, that they must depend on a priest to make even the simplest decisions. That the 3rd move of God is government within the church. The group did as many have done, even those who go into orthodoxy, they become enamored with the new 'toy' of sacramentalism. This group became more catholic than the Pope, and others I have seen do the same thing, in their zeal, they forget balance, they forget the Holy Spirit that brought them to the dance.
Yes it is possible for any organization to become a cult, you don't have to belong to a group like UFO worshipers or Koresh lovers to suffer from power hungry cult leaders, I've seen them in all types of religions. But that doesn't mean, that there aren't' great Christian leaders or that charismatics or Catholics should be grouped in with the bad.
 

Christian Ministry Today

Today, things are great. My family left the 'convergence' group. Feeling very depressed, but the Holy Spirit picked us up, and said that the journey was not over. We did, as many others have done before us, after a long and sometimes painful journey, we realized that the road to true christianity, forked either west towards Rome, or eastward towards orthodoxy.

I began studying early church history, and church history in general, not from a Protestant, Reformation perspective, but I opened my eyes to the reality that the Holy Spirit has never left us or forsaken us. After my initial study, those dreams began to return once again. This time I decided to listen to them. My studies of eastern and western theology led me to the conclusion that orthodox theology in general was what every evangelical christian should embrace. I decided to go east. There were many like me across the USA and other parts of the world that I knew had been disappointed by the convergence movements lack of supplying the true church, that they were looking for. All aspects of Orthodox theology caused me to pant for more. It was time to visit these people, and see if their lives and practice today matched what the church fathers had written.

I found no room at the inn. The services were long, often times in another language than what I used, and they left me confused. Now to be fair, much of my fuzzy headedness was my own fault. But their seemed no effort on their parts to teach me, I wasn't middle eastern, greek, russian or some other ethnic group, just plain old vanilla American. And where were the blacks? How could the true church be so ethnically divided? On the occasions when somebody would talk to me, the conversation of charismatic practice came up. It was made perfectly clear, and this still holds true today, that the mainline orthodox want nothing to do with those who involve themselves in charismatic practice. I was told there was no future for me in the Orthodox Church with charismatic practice. I was distressed, didn't they read the lives of the saints? How could there be no room for charismatic practice? I was told that they were 'the church' and that I should change, that they were not wrong about anything. I read and studied even more. I see the orthodox bishops in joint prayer services with Muslims, Hindus, animist shamans, etc… clearly in violation of Scripture and church canons, what am I to think? I observed closely the ethnic 'parties' that they advertised to the public. Come all you greeks, or russians or middle easterners etc…. the church is having a 'ethnic' gathering, we will be selling alcohol, providing gambling, and have a real good time together. I looked at the canons, and Scripture, and found these ethnic debaucheries totally against the very rules that they tout as canonical. But I am told that I am in the wrong, where was the Holy Spirit, where was the commitment to holiness, to Spirit led living? Where is the church that I see in the early church fathers, in Scripture and in the lives of the saints?

There were many others looking with me, but how could we in good conscience join in these ethnic debaucheries, and give up a life full of the Holy Spirit? The decision became clear. A new jurisdiction would have to be formed. So I searched for somebody to form it. But none wanted the job. In time it became clear, that if I didn't accept the job, that none other would. Some of you are familiar with other groups who have done the same thing, taken this long searching journey. Especially in the 1980's there were those who had taken a similar route. However their lack of centralized leadership, and the need for acceptance by others, caused a shipwreck. The cause that was started, was lost, the ship torn in two and the pieces lay all over the christian landscape today. Some of these men I call friends. I pray that they all find a way to focus the destiny of their calling again.

So the formation process began. How did we do at first? Terrible. Just plain terrible. We were constantly being corrected about our theology, practice etc… and to be frank, often times they were right, and we were wrong. But these things take time. You may not like our protestant terms that we use on our website, but these terms are used on purpose. We desire to reach our protestant friends with terms that they can relate to, St Paul is our example, becoming all things to all men, so that by all possible means he might win some. We do not change our theology, we only want to give them time to adjust, you feed a man a steak one bite at a time, and not all at one time. Our theology is clearly and markedly orthodox and eastern. Much of what is out there today, even in orthodoxy, has lost its eastern roots, and has been influenced by western and Augustine teaching. Much of what we are saying, is simply what the saints have said all along. Christ told us that the great falling away would come before the end, and we truly see that occuring today. Our jurisdiction is spreading around the world. We do not update our website very often, we are too busy with His work. We feed the poor, we love the unloved, we pray for the sick for healing, we prophecy, we build community in our congregations, we take a stand for sound doctrine and we prepare for war against our enemy satan.

We are not anti-Roman. We do not have Roma-phobia. Yes, we too have some serious problems with some of Rome's practices. But, the Pope is still the bishop of Rome, he is still chosen by God. What is our position towards Rome, we pray for her, we love her, we look for the day when we can all join together. Do not worry, the world religion of the end times will be a religion of all faith backgrounds. This is why we worry when we see orthodox and Romans and protestants standing on platforms together, praying alongside Druids, Buddhists, Taoist, Jews, Mystics etc…, all praying together to the same god. Trivial you say, then read the church fathers, they didn't think so! Roman Catholics have been our biggest fans, they have loved us when no one else would. May the day come, when east and west find a way to love together again. God indeed has mercy. We cannot forget the protestants. There are many protestants who are doing the best that they know how. Arrogance will not win them over. True, many of their leaders have seen the truth, but have decided to look the other way, for them, it is better that a millstone was tied around their neck and they were thrown into the sea, but this really applies to all of us doesn't it?

I am just a simple man, that has decided to take God at His word. God chooses Whom He decides. Each of us has a destiny to accomplish. Do not be fooled, God will not be mocked, and the righteous shall scarcely make it in. Mine is a story of Gods faithfulness and mercy. Where will the COC be in 10 years? I have an idea. Will we merge as others have done into a traditional jurisdiction, only the Holy Spirit knows. Will we seek communion with eastern catholics? Only the Holy Spirit knows. We have a task to accomplish, this is our goal and focus. We are growing around the world as you read this, we are a great movement, to discount us, would be a great mistake.

My prayer is that you would search out the Holy Spirit, ask Him to reveal your destiny that was chosen for you before the founding of the world, and then surrender to His will and say yes to Him. May God grant you peace, power and boldness. Peace be with you.
 
 

His servant,

Bishop Symeon John

The sworn enemy of satan!

The Charismatic Orthodox Church

Aka

(Mark D. Kersey,) just a guy who said yes to God.