Everyone has heard of Charles Spurgeon, John Gill, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, John Bunyan and Arthur Pink. Their sermons and books are still in print, and the Lord has used them to bless His people for generations. But for every well-known servant of God there are many others whose names never made it into the history books: men and women who were saved by the same sovereign grace, who loved the same Saviour, and who spent their lives quietly serving Him. Most of them are known only to a small circle of friends and to the Lord Himself.
This page begins a series on some of these great non-famous Christians. The first is a man I knew personally many years ago: Robert A. Champagne, a former Roman Catholic priest whom the Lord brought out of darkness into His marvellous light, and who used his testimony to reach people all over the world.
A Priest of Rome
Robert Champagne wanted to be a priest from the time he was a small boy. He spent twelve years in seminary, six of them in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and six at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. On May 17, 1969, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest for the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, and his first parish was Blessed Sacrament in Manchester, his hometown.
He was a devout and sincere priest. He said the Mass, heard confessions, and taught the people what Rome had taught him. But he did not know the gospel. Like millions of other Roman Catholics, he had been taught from childhood that he had been made a child of God at his baptism, and that salvation came through the Church and her sacraments.
In 1970 his bishop sent him to Odyssey House to learn how to minister to drug addicts. That experience led him out of the priesthood and into the world of psychology, a road he later called “another dead-end road.” In 1974 Rome reduced him to the status of a layman. For seven years he worked as a mental health therapist, and then went searching through the occult and Eastern religions. None of it gave him peace.
Out of Darkness
After years of disappointment and deep discouragement, Robert heard about being born again. In the sovereign mercy of God, the Good Shepherd went after this lost sheep and found him. He learned that a sinner is justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and not by sacraments, priests or works. He saw that Christ is the only High Priest, that His one sacrifice on the cross is finished and needs no repeating in the Mass, and that the doctrines of Rome he had once taught, from the papacy and confession to a priest to prayers to the saints and for the dead, were not found in the Word of God.
Robert never took any credit for his conversion. He gave all the glory to God, who had called him by His grace when he was dead in trespasses and sins and deserved nothing but hell. He wrote the story down under the title Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light, and that little testimony would go further than he ever imagined.
A Testimony That Went Around the World
The Lord took the testimony of one former priest and carried it to the ends of the earth. By the spring of 1992, Chapel Library had printed it in English and Dutch. A pastor in India had it translated into Malayalam and printed 10,000 copies to give to Roman Catholics, including priests and bishops. A minister in Poland was translating it into Polish and Russian, and a Spanish edition was hoped for. Years later it was included as the twenty-sixth testimony in Far from Rome, Near to God: The Testimonies of Fifty Former Catholic Priests, compiled by Richard Bennett, a former Dominican priest. It is still read on the internet today.
Only the Lord knows how many souls in India, Europe, Africa and the Americas read the words of this one man and were pointed to Christ.
DOREA Ministries
Robert settled with his wife Lois and their children in the small village of Bishopton, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Lois had served the Lord in Africa as a missionary nurse, and Robert spoke of her as a faithful help meet who lifted him up when he was discouraged. From a house at 16 Chemin Grenier, they ran DOREA Ministries. Dorea is the Greek word the New Testament uses for God’s gift, as in “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). It was a fitting name for a ministry that existed to tell Roman Catholics about the free gift of salvation in Christ. Robert later called his paper The Free Gift.
Through DOREA, Robert published a small magazine, wrote articles and tracts, sent out tapes and literature, and mailed prayer letters to friends around the world. I was one of the people on his mailing list in the early 1990s, and I still have some of the papers he sent. In 1992 he was preaching in French and English, translating sermons for visiting pastors, working to get sound Reformed literature into French for Quebec, and meeting with the Trinitarian Bible Society about an accurate French Bible. He also helped to start a small church in Bishopton.
It was hard work in hard soil. Quebec was, and still is, one of the most Roman Catholic places in North America, and Robert often felt discouraged by how few responded to the gospel. But he was content to sow the seed and leave the harvest to God, even if he never saw it in this life. In his May 1992 prayer letter he wrote:
From the May 1992 Prayer Letter
The following excerpts are taken from Robert’s Dorea Ministries Prayer Letter of May 1992. Some personal family details and the names of private individuals have been left out.
“Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can shew forth all his praise?” (Psalm 106:1,2)
Oh, that I had a thousand tongues to give praise and thanks to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our ever faithful Shepherd. Like Jacob, I can say: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.” (Genesis 32:10)
The response to our Dorea magazine, literature and tapes has been quite encouraging. These are a few excerpts from letters we have received:
1). “Hope you have received my previous letter. Herewith I enclose a few copies of your testimony (‘Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light’) translated into Malayalam. We have printed 10,000 copies and hope to send to several Catholic friends including priests and bishops....I am sure that the Lord will use it for His glory. Hope you will enjoy this distribution of your testimony in India. Pray that our Lord will make it effective to several hearts. We are praying for you and your ministries.” (A pastor in India)
(Ed.: Presently, Chapel Library has printed an English and a Dutch version of my testimony. A minister from Poland is translating it into Polish and Russian. We also hope to see it in Spanish soon. We thank the Lord for these open doors.)
2). “I have read your article on Evangelical Catholics in Winter, 1992, Vol. 4 of Dorea. This is desperately needed at this time, Robert, and I want to see it distributed as widely as possible. We are just planning a Reformed literature project to cover the whole of Ireland and I want most of this to include your piece....” (A brother in Ireland)
3). “I am greatly interested in your work and cannot fail to see the hand of the Lord in your publication which is in His divine providence so completely in accordance with His Word. I would like to very much encourage you in the work which I can see will be very difficult.... But do not fear for the Lord has said ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee’, and how much He cares for His people is evident throughout Scripture.” (A pastor in New Zealand)
There have been several other letters, many with questions, many unanswered as yet. To God be all the glory for His work through such an earthen vessel as I. Many trials and afflictions have broken “holes” in me, the earthen vessel, but it is, as a dear brother said, all the better for the light of Christ to shine through. He must increase and I must decrease.
[Robert attended the Banner of Truth Ministers’ Conference in Leicester, England:] There were 300 ministers from different parts of the globe—Africa, India, Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Holland etc.... But all had the same Christ, the same doctrine of Sovereign Free Grace.... One thing at the conference I found difficult is that not all the speakers used the Authorized Version of the Bible. (However, the Banner of Truth representatives did). I was happy to distribute some informative booklets on the subject.
[Full-time ministry:] As of May 1, 1992, we have a good part of the support needed coming in, so, by the grace of God, we are taking the step of faith and working full time in the ministry.... We trust the Lord will continue to provide. Keep praying.
[French literature:] We are finding more and more excellent Reformed articles published in French. Soon we will have Whitefield’s “Method of Grace” in French as well as a sermon by John Newton. If it is possible, we would like to have a large quantity of the Heidelberg Catechism in French as well as the Canons of Dordrecht so that we can distribute them throughout Quebec. Please pray that the Lord will allow this.
[French Bible:] While in Leicester, England for a ministers’ conference, I was able to meet with two representatives of the Trinitarian Bible Society.... They are working very diligently on the question of the French Bible translation. As a result of a better understanding of their work, I myself have dropped the idea of adopting a redone Darby translation. Instead, I was quite happy to offer my services in any way that I can be of help in the present work of the T.B.S.... Please continue to pray fervently that the Lord will bless the work being done so that eventually we might have an accurate French Bible.
“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. 15:57-58).
Your brother by His mercy and grace,
Robert
His Struggle Over Baptism
No servant of God is perfect, and it would not honour Robert to pretend that he was. After his conversion he wrestled for a long time with the question of baptism. In his May 1992 letter he explained that he had tried to prove the Baptist position, but in the end was drawn to the Reformed view of infant baptism through covenant theology. He joined the Springford Reformed Church in Ontario, which belonged to the Reformed Church in America (RCA), had his children baptized there, and was sent out by that church as a missionary to Quebec.
As Baptists, we believe the Scriptures teach the baptism of believers only, by immersion, after a profession of faith (see Paedobaptism Examined: The Reformation’s Unfinished Business). Robert was a young believer who had come out of the deepest darkness of Rome, and it is not surprising that he struggled on this point. He was in good company. Godly men such as George Whitefield, John Owen and Jonathan Edwards also held to infant baptism, and the Lord used them mightily.
What is striking is how quickly Robert saw where the RCA’s teaching on baptism actually led. Within a short time he discovered that the denomination taught that a baptized child is already a child of God, which was the very lie he had been taught as a Roman Catholic boy. He would not stay. At great cost to himself and his family, he left the RCA and lost the financial support that came with it, trusting the Lord to provide. The letter below, written to the friends of DOREA Ministries, explains why.
The Letter: “Come Out of Her, My People”
Here is Robert’s letter on leaving the Reformed Church in America, in full, as he wrote it, with only a few obvious typing slips corrected. It is undated, but it was written not long after he left the RCA, probably in late 1992 or 1993. His words are strong, as were the words of the Reformers, and they show his zeal for the purity of the gospel.
AND I HEARD ANOTHER VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, THAT YE BE NOT PARTAKERS OF HER SINS, AND THAT YE RECEIVE NOT OF HER PLAGUES. FOR HER SINS HAVE REACHED UNTO HEAVEN, AND GOD HATH REMEMBERED HER INIQUITIES. (REVELATION CHAPTER 18, VERSES 4 AND 5)
Dear friends,
In obedience to God, and only by His strength and grace, I recently came out of the RCA “Protestant” Denomination which I had joined without enough investigation. Not all of you have received the lengthy article on this subject entitled I CAN DO NO OTHER. The cost of printing and mailing such a lengthy article made it difficult to mail to everyone. However, if you have not received it but really want it, write me and, as the Lord provides, I will do my best to send you one. So far no one has been lukewarm about this one!
Why I left can be easily understood just by the following quote taken from a booklet entitled CHRISTIAN BAPTISM which is distributed by the RCA:
“This letter, addressed to parents seeking baptism for their child, describes what the sacrament of baptism has come to mean for the members and congregations of the Reformed Church in America........ As you bring your child for baptism, your pastor will prepare you for the words you will say and the promises you will make. Beyond the words is the mystery of the moment. Again, just like in the life of Jesus, water will be poured, God’s Spirit will descend, and God will whisper ‘This child is mine, this one I will love forever.’ God bless you as you share your love with this child of God who lives with you.”
In these damnable lies, I smell the stench of the whore’s deceptions! When I was a child, I, like millions of other Roman Catholic children, was duped into believing that I had been made a child of God at baptism. This Roman Catholic Affiliate (RCA) also blasphemes and overthrows the foundational doctrine of justification by faith. Only it goes one step beyond baptismal regeneration. Listen again to the voice of the harlot’s daughter in this same booklet: “At the time of baptism, each of us is recognized as a child of God. The sacrament does not make us royalty, but rather it publicly acknowledges who we already are. At her coronation, a queen’s royalty is not created, but acknowledged. So it is with our children at the time of their baptism. A royal relationship is confirmed; or, in the words of the service, baptism is a ‘sign and seal’ of God’s love and of our entrance into God’s servant community, the church.”
Is it not written in the Holy Word of God: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” There is no need of being born again if you are born of blood in a covenant reformed family! This abominable lie will make people twofold children of hell who do not need Christ as dirty hell-deserving sinners. It produces scorn for Christ and they will echo the Jews’ awful words when they are urged to flee from the wrath to come: “They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?”
These are not minor theological differences. These are lies from the pit of hell. The teachers and believers of such lies, unless they repent, WILL BE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE WHERE THEY WILL BURN FOREVER AND EVER!
How can those who reject the false teaching remain within, in view of such clear violation to the biblical command to come out? It is written: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
An analogy may be made with a drunkard that refuses to give up the bottle of booze which is killing him. “They have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” and there is a certain drunken spiritual stupor. When I was a Roman Catholic, I was taught by the priests: “You cannot and should not leave your Church. She is the Mother and you never leave your mother even if she is a whore. After all, she is the oldest Church.” The same reasoning is found in “Protestant” false prophets. Foundationally, there is an unbiblical understanding of what the Church really is. Believers do not have their head-quarters in an earthly city like New York or Rome. Their headquarters are in heaven.
In our next edition of THE FREE GIFT, I hope to consider whether there is a biblical foundation for the existence of denominations. In other words, can we find three churches in the New Testament: the universal Church, the local church, and the denomination which people also call a church? For a sneak preview, read volume 15 of John Owen’s works, i.e., CHURCH PURITY & UNITY.
As it were, I have tried to throw a glass of cold water (the water of God’s word) on sleeping Christians in this time of the greatest apostasy of all time. Their blood is not on my hands. Reader, what will you do? Stay in the ecumenical movement to avoid the persecution that is to come? Is your desire in line with most professing Protestants? The lust of the RCA and most Protestants is reflected in the words of prominent RCA minister, Robert Schuller: “It is time for Protestants to go to the Shepherd (THE POPE) and say, What do we have to do to come home?” (Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Sept. 19, 1987). Reader, before it is too late, heed God’s warning: “FLEE OUT OF THE MIDST OF BABYLON, AND DELIVER EVERY MAN HIS SOUL: BE NOT CUT OFF IN HER INIQUITY; FOR THIS IS THE TIME OF THE LORD’S VENGEANCE; HE WILL RENDER UNTO HER A RECOMPENCE” (Jeremiah 51:6).
Leaving the RCA has been the fiercest fiery trial for me so far. But there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and He is with me in this continuing fire, I am not bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. I have no hurt, for the Son of God is with me saying: “Fear not for I am with you.”
In great mercy, the Lord has been faithful to His promise in 2 Cor. 6:17,18. “WHEREFORE COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE YE SEPARATE, SAITH THE LORD, AND TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING; AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU, AND BE A FATHER UNTO YOU, AND YE SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAITH THE LORD ALMIGHTY.” We saw this promise again fulfilled last Wed. There were pressing needs in the family and the ministry (like the mailing of this letter). At breakfast, I prayed that our God would send in some money. At noon I announced to the family that God had so graciously answered all our requests. The sparkle in my children’s eyes and the delight on their faces showed they understood: THERE IS A GOD IN ISRAEL! This ministry will soon be in its third month without the official support it once had. It continues through the sovereign and providential care of God who hears and answers prayers! All praise and honor and glory to him!
Yours by the everlasting mercy of Christ,
Robert A. Champagne
Faithful to the End
Robert continued to serve the Lord for the rest of his life, and in 2012 the Lord took him home to be with Him. Richard Bennett, who had also been saved out of the Roman priesthood, wrote a letter of comfort to Lois and the family. The two men had written to each other for years about the grace of God, and Bennett said of his friend that he had always seen in him “a great zeal to promote the greatness of the grace and sovereignty of God.” He closed with a verse that summed up Robert’s life: “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth” (Psalm 71:20).
The world never knew Robert Champagne’s name. He did not pastor a famous church, write a long shelf of books, or draw great crowds. But he was a sinner saved by sovereign grace, a man who gave up everything Rome had given him to follow Christ, and who was willing to suffer loss again rather than stay where the gospel was being corrupted. Through a small ministry in a village of a few hundred people, his testimony went out in many languages to Roman Catholics around the world. Only eternity will show how much fruit came from it.
That is what makes him a great non-famous Christian. His greatness was not his own. It was the greatness of the God who saved him.
Sources
- Robert Champagne, Dorea Ministries Prayer Letter, May 1992, and DOREA Ministries letter on leaving the RCA (undated), from the Webmaster’s personal copies.
- Robert Champagne, “Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light,” reprinted at The Truth About Catholicism.
- Richard Bennett, ed., Far from Rome, Near to God: The Testimonies of Fifty Former Catholic Priests (testimony 26).
- “Words from the Late Robert A. Champagne, Former Catholic Priest on Catholicism,” Fundamental Baptist Christian, December 8, 2012 (includes Richard Bennett’s letter to the family).