Alberta's Corner
Autobiographical sketch of Albert L. Ecker
My life began in Rapid City, South Dakota. I am the youngest of five children; both my parents were part Native American so my brothers and my sister and I were educated on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, at a Catholic boarding school named Holy Rosary Mission. I stopped being a Catholic the day I graduated from the boarding school in 1960. Although that was not a conscious decision, my Christian life just worked out that way. I was married and had children right out of High School. I was able to attend college in South Dakota starting in 1974. I attended a Business College for two years, and then transferred to the State University for the next three years. My first husband was in the Air Force; we were married for over 14 years. Our marriage began well. We both wanted to build a better life for ourselves and for our children and we happily succeeded for many years. We worked together to put my husband through college as we had children along the way, we had five children. He became an officer in the Air Force shortly after our youngest child was born. Over these busy years I suffered from a loneliness of heart that did not seem to be satisfied by happy goals and successes. I knew I wanted my children to have some sense of God in their lives as I did. But I could not bear the thought of exposing them to the abuses I had suffered from being under the dominance of Priests and Nuns at the boarding school. The only Bible we had in the house was an old Gideon Bible that my husband had from his childhood. In 1967, I began reading the Bible when I would get home from work. We were living in Mesa, AZ at the time and I worked for the Motorola Company on the second shift. After getting used to working till 10:00 PM I would come home and read the Bible by lamplight in the living room as my husband and children slept. I began reading the Bible starting with the Book of John, and then I would go right on into the Book of Acts. It amazed me to think of how Jesus established his one true church. As a Catholic I was taught that the one true church was the Catholic Church. As I read the Bible I just could not believe that what I experienced as a Catholic could possibly be the same church I was reading about in the Book of John and in the Book of Acts. Finally one night as I finished reading Peter's first sermon on the Day of Pentecost, which by this time I had read more than a couple of times, I said in a passionate but quiet voice, "God, where is this church? Where is the church that I see here in the Book of Acts? It cannot have disappeared through these 1900 years? It has to be somewhere?" I did not have a good understanding of the whole Bible, but that was what I wanted. I wanted to find the church that was teaching their members the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. A dear friend of mine, who has now passed away, introduced me to the Worldwide Church of God. At the time the Worldwide Church of God was considered to be a cult by the greater Body of Christ, and it was in many ways, but those ways were destined to be changed by a reformational intervention by God. I was a single parent in the church for many years. My first husband had passed away after our divorce in '75. I went on to rear my five children in the Worldwide Church of God and ended up living in California in 1988. My five children are all doing well. Every one of them has a full time job, none of them have ever been on drugs and none have a drinking problem. They have blessed my present husband and me with 7 grandchildren, who are all doing well. The reformation of the church was in full swing by the time I met my present husband. Rumors about "Changes to come." had been circulating throughout the church since the early 90's. My husband had been separated from his wife while living in Canada and he had moved to California. We met after his divorce was final. My husband grew up in California and he also grew up with the Worldwide Church of God in his home. His mother had been interested in the church before he was born. My husband, Tom, and I met at a prayer meeting at our then headquarters church in Pasadena. Tom had been a Minister in the Worldwide Church of God for over 20 years by the time we met. We liked each other very much from the start. He thought I was a faithful woman and I thought he was a faithful, intelligent, practical man, who was not afraid to change his understanding about the scriptures. Tom and I were married in 1996 and we went through the reformation of the church together. We believed that God was leading the way in our church's reformation. We were given many well thought out lectures and classes and books to read that helped us know and teach the changes better. We certainly had reams of articles written to help us understand why we should change based on the Scriptures. We wholeheartedly embraced the changes and the "new" doctrines, which were in reality "old" Christian doctrines established within the first few years and first centuries of the New Testament church. We were not afraid to read all of the new literature and books and not afraid to teach the same. When I first became a member of the Worldwide Church of God, the church was striving to be the church that was established in the Book of Acts. Those first Christians were established and grounded in Old Covenant obedience to the Law of Moses. Peter could not imagine eating anything unclean, he could not imagine going anywhere else except to the Temple to worship on the Sabbath (our modern Saturday). The Worldwide Church of God was striving to do the same things that Peter understood. Then along came the Gentiles and Paul and the destruction of the Temple. The world that Peter and Paul were born into was turned upside down. Jesus had told the Apostles that he would send another Comforter, one just like him, who would lead them into all truth. Jesus told them that the Father was seeking those who would worship him in spirit and in truth. This is the understanding we have today. The greater Body of Christ moved on and grew in spirit and in truth for 1900 years. Now we, Grace Communion International (formerly known as Worldwide Church of God), are no longer stuck in trying to be a first century church. We are a 21st century church, thank God.
This page was last modified on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 07:46:19 AM