From Convent to Pentecost

My Escape From The Cloistered Convent

by

Charlotte Keckler

(“Eckler” in this text)

as dictated to Nilah (Eunilah) Rutledge (married name Mean)

Rose of Sharon Books Halifax NS

{Information on back-cover of paperback edition, 2nd printing 1999:

Charlotte already fled twice from the dark grip of cloistered convent life when she walked into one of my evangelistic meetings. She gave her heart to Jesus. The Lord led us to travel together, and we ministered for fourteen years across North America. I preached the Gospel and she gave her Testimony. But some of her story was never told. It was the summer of ’57 {1957} that we traveled from New Brunswick, Canada, to California via the southern route, driving through Texas, Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. It was on that trip that Charlotte dictated to me her complete life story. I wrote it down, then typed it and placed it in a brown paper envelope. She said, “I don’t want this published until I am dead and gone.” Forty-one years have passed by. My close friends have encouraged me to publish it. I have written it just like it was told to me, neither adding to nor deleting from, except in instances of some names and places. Her story needs to be heard. Sister Nilah.}

Acknowledgments

To my husband, John, who has been my companion these 41 years. He has stood by me, encouraged me in every endeavour, and has been so patient and so kind, seems to never tire nor be discouraged.

To Michael Blume, my Assistant Pastor, who so ably preaches the Word of God, counsels the youth and the old, and in preparing this book for publication, he has edited, typeset this manuscript and did all the artwork.

Sister Nilah

Statement

The names of many people and many places in this story have been purposely changed to protect the innocent. The names of specific religious movements have been deleted, also, for we do not wish to demean a particular group of people. This volume is not intended to speak against the sincerity of the common religious adherents of certain religious movements, although leadership in such movements has been commented upon by Charlotte due to her experiences with them. It is intended to relate the true and personal story of a woman who was delivered from darkness and experienced the wonderful saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

{In this OCR-ed text, the names have been left as in the original. Please note, however, Charlotte’s actual surname was Keckler, not Eckler. The latter is the altered form employed in the original for the reasons stated above.}

The only other changes made regarded the mention of Communism in comparing her ordeal with the tortures inflicted by the communist regimes. In such instances, since Communism has all but vanished today, we have altered the text to refer to it in its present context as a bygone issue, whereas in her day she wrote of it as a present reality.

Her story has been printed before by others in minor formats, without her personal involvement. In many such cases there was a deletion of all references to her Pentecostal experience of receiving God’s Spirit while speaking in tongues, and her water Baptism in Jesus’ name, of which she often spoke while giving her testimony. This volume includes that wonderful account.

Charlotte did not tell part of what happened to her as she gave her public Testimony. This is the first release of Charlotte’s own writings, printed with her explicit instructions, and has the complete story of her conversion. We pray that all souls who have not experienced the wonderful plan of salvation, as related in Acts 2:38, come to that truth, as Charlotte found it after her deliverance from cloistered convent life. May this book work to that end.

Foreword

As a very young man, due to intrigue and curiosity concerning the experiences of Sister Charlotte, almost on a lark, I made my initial visit to a Pentecostal Church. Her story was so fascinating to me that I went back to that meeting several nights. The preaching of Sister Nilah gripped my heart and I found the Lord as a result.

The book, From Convent to Pentecost, is insightful, shocking, and unearths some error that some may have forgotten. I thank Sister Charlotte for jolting our memory and for re-reminding us of the fallacy of apostate religion. “The memory of the just is blessed.” I believe that many will rise up at the judgment seat of Christ and call her blessed. Thank God for the ministry of Sister Charlotte and her comrade, Sister Nilah.

I commend the reading of this book to all. Some may find it difficult to digest. But, I knew Sister Charlotte as a woman of highest integrity. I believe the true report! I am eternally in debt to her and Sister Nilah.

T. F. Tenney Superintendent Louisiana District, UPCI

Preface

In the year 1948 we began the church in Napa, California. Sis. Nilah and the ex-cloistered nun were known throughout our district as the ideal evangelistic team, Sis. Nilah, playing the piano, singing and preaching, would bring the congregation back from the story of the ex-nun to face the salvation message of today. Sis. Charlotte detailed her life as a nun and held our attention each night. Many could not believe these heartbreaking events could happen in a so-called church. Sis Charlotte saved several girls from becoming cloistered nuns.

As you read the transcript of her testimony, you will feel her determination to expose a false religion. The priests and “the Knights” would come to our meetings, and as she spoke she challenged them to prove her wrong. She told of her conversion to Jesus Christ; that there was only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

Sis. Charlotte lived in Napa, California, and attended New Life Tabernacle during the last years of her life. She was a blessing to be with and to talk to about the Lord. Our church loved her and cared for her in her old age. As she passed on to be with Jesus, one of our sisters was holding her hand and singing to her.

This testimony will make you appreciate the truth of salvation that brings peace and joy and adds no sorrow for wasted time in life, Jesus is the reason! So each of us, through our own testimonies, will tell the true story of Jesus and His love.

Rev. Paul Price Superintendent Western District, UPCI

From Convent to Pentecost