The New Testament tells Christians that God uses us, to make clear what it means to know the Lord Jesus Christ. It is like a fragrance that fills the air. To most people we are a deadly fragrance – a stench, a bad smell unto death, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance – a sweet smell that leads to eternal life. A messenger of the gospel can positively or negatively confirm that truth within moments, when he or she begins to open their mouth for Christ.
I met a man who told me he was an atheist. But then he said, “I only believe in the Ten Commandments!” I didn’t ask him how an atheist copes with the first four commandments because I did not believe his statement anyway. I told him how the Lord changed my life as a result of having a dramatic healing encounter with Him and he said his friend had a “dramatic experience with Christ also and is now praying for the saving of my soul.” So I asked him if he would let me pray for his soul also. He said, “By all means.” What appeared to be a case of deadly fragrance was in fact just the opposite.
Another man, a migrant from Russia gave the impression that I was a deadly fragrance when I spoke about Christ, but once again I ignored those impressions. He told me he was a prisoner of war under the Germans during World War Two. So I asked him if he had ever encountered the reality of Lord Jesus during that time. He looked at me rather expressionless as he said, “Yes. I received Him into my life when I was starving and being beaten.” As he spoke, it appeared to me that he was reliving that time. He smiled as I told Him the Lord would never leave him nor forsake him. In Christ, I was a life-giving fragrance to that man.
A young mother was quite definite when I asked her if she had any questions about how to find Christ’s reality. She said, “No!” I smiled, then she said, “Yes.” She expressed worry and concern about her three year old child not being baptized. Then she told me she had a great fear of being with people. Next she told me of her five year old son. He had the same fear, “and he worries frequently, to the point where he gets aches and cramps in his stomach, particularly as he thinks about starting school this year.” The little boy was playing some distance away appearing to be very restless.
I thought yet again, how sad it is that people will all too readily drink the deadly poisonous doctrines of religious institutions, but not bother to find out what the Bible says about them – or doesn’t say about them. I told the lady to put her mind at ease about her three year old child because God does not require children to get baptized. There’s no mention of it in the Bible. I explained that it has much to say about a believer’s baptism, but nothing about children under the age of accountability. She was not a church attender but lived in fear of the child dying and going to hell – which is why most people get their children baptised in the first place.
With that, I asked the lady to give me some paper so I could write out a short prayer for her to pray over herself and her children until she developed confidence to pray to God using her own words. She was in tears as I encouraged her to thank God in Jesus’ name every time fear and worry came upon her. Thanksgiving is a mighty weapon at any time.
I also made arrangements for her to receive a New Testament with appropriate Scriptures underlined, so she could continually recite them and come against these two weapons of the devil. I visited this family a few times later. Each time the lady opened the door widely with a welcoming smile and invited me inside. The changes in her and the five year old child were positively remarkable. To some, we are a life-giving fragrance.
Across the road from that lady I spoke with ninety-two years old Mrs Heron. We spoke of her long life, whereby she told me she had lived a “good life.” When some people tell me that, I can discern that I am a bad smell unto death in their nostrils, but not to this dear old lady. When I spoke about Christ she told me she believed in His death and resurrection and the purpose for such, but she didn’t know if she had His gift of eternal life.
Mrs Heron said, “I’d like to be forgiven, I know I’m a sinner.” She had no problems seeking the Lord’s forgiveness and asking Him to come into her life. At the finish of our prayer her eyes were radiant. I told her she was born again by the Spirit of God at that moment, and she nodded and smiled. To her, in Christ, I was a life-giving fragrance. It was the same on each occasion for the next two years.
The day I met with Jack, he invited me inside telling me he was getting ready to go to his brother’s funeral. He pointed to a picture of a World War Two digger on the wall. It was his brother, Frank. Then Jack cried as he told me about Frank. He said, ” We’ve been the best of mates. We’ve been through everything together, I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.” They were not twins, but as he spoke about his brother Frank, it was clear that they had, “been through everything together,” the same school classrooms and teachers, similar jobs, football teams, they followed the same Aussie Rules football club and when the war broke out they signed up for service on the same day.
During army training they were in the same platoon, they were shipped out and fought the Germans together in the Middle East. They came home together and were then sent to New Guinea together where they fought the Japanese on the Kokoda Trail and other places – together. Jack said to me that after the war their life continued much in the same pattern, with marriage, children, work, home purchases, clubs, retirement etc. Now a part of him was missing, he said.
No human words were suffice for Jack so I told him that Jesus Christ was with him, “here now” and that He would be with him during the funeral service and, if he chose it, he could experience the truth of the Lord’s reality and promise never to leave him nor forsake him. I said to Jack that unlike myself, he had experienced the tragedies of death many times, in his long years but, “there is One who died who is now alive and that there is no death for anyone who will chose to trust Him. Do you believe that Jack?” He nodded his head. He let me pray for him at that moment.
I shook his hand, thanked him for sharing his story about himself and Frank and I told him that I would be praying for him during the funeral service. Some months later I was walking past Jack’s home. He was talking with a neighbour. But when he saw me he gave a big smile and a wave. There had been a life-giving fragrance in his nostrils – twice. The next time I called, Jack’s wife informed me he had his own funeral four days earlier. “For we are to God a fragrance of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16.
Thank you Roger for what you’ve written here. I can identify with you.