An old soldier from that same war smiled at me as he shared of his participation in the battle at El Alamein and said, “God only took the good ones, so that left no room for me.”  Another one briefly shared of his horrific experiences as a prisoner of war to the Japanese.  Subjected to the cruelest from them, he said, “How I survived that I have no idea.  It was a miracle.”  So I asked these men the same question as the other two mentioned here and they gave the same answer.  I praise God that I was spared from judging these four men though, because there was a time when I thought or said similar things to events much less dramatic in my own life, but I too left it at that.

One day I was driving in an agitated state of mind in busy city traffic.  Paying more attention to my problem than my driving I reacted far too late to avoid hitting a vehicle turning directly in front of me.  Neither of us were breaking speed limits but as I hit the brakes I simply knew in that brief moment of time that there was just no way I was not going to hit that car.  I was wrong.  I did not hit it.  The experience is hard to describe, but as I could hear the tyres screeching before impact, it was as though superman came out of the sky and stepped between me and the other car, bringing mine to a stand-still as we see him do it in the movies.

At the time I was not a believer or follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, but as I continued on swearing and cursing the other driver, I distinctly remember thinking that it was divine intervention that I experienced that day – perhaps a powerful angel of some kind.  That thought remained with me for a long time.  It was always great to share the experience of the event with others when talking about near hits and misses on the road, but like the men before me here, it did not make me curious to seek out if there really was a God who was willing to come to the aid of people in such a practical way.

My family and I drove to the country for the weekend.  Along the way we stopped to view the picturesque scene of a dam. Cars were parked on the roadside which was also the dam wall and although the traffic was travelling reasonably slow past us all, it was fast enough to do serious harm if anyone were to step out.  Our eldest daughter was about six years old at the time and for some reason she decided to go to the opposite side of the road.  We looked up in a split-second to see a car coming towards her.  There was nothing to do but panic and yell her name. 

For all appearances it looked as though she was going to get hit.  The car was too close for her not to,  but she did not.  There was no adjustment to the speed of that vehicle, but as it kept coming she seemed to stop in a freeze condition.  Although that happened some months after my first experience I was left with exactly the same thought afterwards - that God or an angel came down and stopped her in her tracks.  Later that night I was to look up at the moon and the stars and contemplate them as creations of God, but in my spiritual darkness I was not able to take my thoughts beyond that.

I drank far too much alcohol for far too many years.  One afternoon I was attending a barbecue on a farm with some friends whose alcoholic state by late afternoon was the same as mine – all except for my wife and another friend, that is.  In my stupor I made a move to cross the road without looking, only to be pulled back by our quick-thinking, sober friend who looked up at the last moment to see a car coming.  That car went speeding by me with only centimeters to spare.  Even in that drunken state I had thoughts that this again was the intervention of God or an angel, this time using a friend to save me.

As a professional musician, I was driving to a function one late afternoon in a very narrow residential street in an older part of my city.  With vehicles being legally parked on both sides I was travelling too fast for those conditions.  Besides, I had consumed some alcohol with a fellow musician before leaving home and my mind was not on the job of driving.  I saw the young child dart out from one of those parked cars but it was far too late.  My reflexes were affected by those few drinks and that child was going to get hit by me for sure.  But he didn’t.  It was though an invisible arm reached out with lightening speed and dragged him to the other side.

My wife was not a believer at the time either, but one day she attempted to cross a very busy street to visit a friend at work.  Looking, but not seeing an oncoming car, she stepped out from two parked cars and onto the road, only to feel what she describes as a great wind pushing her back off the road moments before that car went past her.  A little later she gave more thought to the incident and reckoned the experience to be more than just the wind pushing her.  She too could not get away from the thought that perhaps the intervening force was God or an angel.  She didn’t dismiss the thoughts, but didn’t follow through on them either.      

When tragedy happens, the most common question people ask is, “Why does God allow these things to happen?’  Since I have become a biblical believer and follower of Jesus Christ my question has sometimes been, “God, You have spared us from serious injury, road trauma and death.  You have spared the lives of others whom I could have killed or destroyed as a result of my irresponsible and drunken behavior.  You have spared me from going to jail – not to speak of the heartache and shame that could have been suffered by my wife and family.  And even greater Lord, You have spared my life from eternal damnation, hell!  Why did You not let those things happen?”

Without sounding simplistic, “things happen” because we are living in a fallen, selfish, self-willed world.  It is a world of our own making and we cannot blame God, for we push Him out of our lives.  And what is not of our own personal making can make us victims of someone else’s selfishness and self-will - hence “the innocent suffer”.  God declares to us that lots of tragedy can be averted if we will turn back to Him, but most of us don’t want to do that – myself included, for too many years.  Any serious study of the Bible gives us a perfect picture of the selfish human nature, but also of the most merciful, loving and forgiving nature of God Almighty.  

God will do whatever it takes to grab our attention so that we will turn back to Him.  We see that in the Scriptures time and again.  He’s done it all through history.  He did it for the crash survivor, the airmen, the soldiers, myself and my wife in this story.  Sadly, most people do not respond.  They never have and they never will.  We do not deserve God’s mercy, we never have and we never will.  But I thank and praise God for having received it, as does my dear wife.  “Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord.”  Psalm 107:43.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

I found out that one who is a regular church-goer, born into the “faith,” baptised, and can recite their prayers and creeds by rote, is more likely to be religious than Christian, in the true sense of that word.  I made that decision based not on their knowledge of the Bible or how well they lived up to it’s revelations and declarations, but rather, on their expressed attitude towards the Bible.  It is the Bible alone that describes to us what a Christian is and it is our response to the Bible alone that tells us if we are one or not.  Right here, I hear the mantra from someone, “you mustn’t be judgemental.”  I’m not.  By their expressed attitude they judged themselves.

Only within the pages of the Bible alone do we find accurate revelation about the existence, personality, nature and grace of God, plus the deity, humanity, Virgin birth, death, resurrection, ascension and the second coming of Jesus Christ.  No other book, “holy” or otherwise, gives such systematic, detailed information.  Only within the pages of that same book do we find the will and plans of God for people as they were in times past, as they are in times present and as they are in times future.  To be ignorant of this information is not what disqualifies us as a Christian, but to reject it (either some or all), does.

Fundamentalist!!  That was/is a favourite label spewed out on me and others like me - not by the unbelievers, but by the religious.  I don’t bow to labels, but perhaps they are right, because to me, God is in His word, the Bible.  That biblical written word is the representative of God.  My attitude towards that biblical word is my attitude towards God.  I do not obey God more than I obey His word.  I do not believe God more than I believe His word.  I do not have more room for God in my life than I do for His word.  The way I relate to His word is the way I relate to God.  That alone, plus nothing else, qualifies or disqualifies me as a Christian.

Compromiser!!  He or she perhaps, will not bow to labels either, but how else does one describe a church-goer who says the Bible is not the objective word of God, but an errant source of truth to pick and chose from?  How else does one describe a church-goer who says that God’s character is one of benevolence without standards and that sin does not separate us from Him and that he will not judge sinners?  How else does one describe a church-goer who calls God a liar by saying that all people are not fallen creatures, but rather, good at heart?  How else does one describe a church-goer who says the Bible is antiquated and outdated?

Qualified as religious, yes.  But disqualified as Christian, is everyone who won’t take their stand for the God who reveals Himself in His Son Jesus Christ from the opening verses in Genesis to the closing verses in Revelation - sixty-six books, one-thousand, one-hundred and eighty-nine chapters, twenty-three thousand, two-hundred and fourteen verses and seven-hundred and seventy-three thousand, six-hundred and ninety-two words (Authorised KJV).  I marvel at religious church-goers who elevate the martyrs of old to saint-hood.  Most of them, blind to the fact that it was the martyrs’ stand for the Bible alone, that cost them their lives.  Killed by the very same kind of compromising people Luke 11:47-48.

In the Old Testament we read of God telling his people that they were destroyed because of a lack of knowledge.  He was speaking about the lack of truth operating in their lives – their ignorance as to the word and will of God.  So ignorant were they of such that they were led into captivity.  But for many, it was ignorance by choice.  Their leaders had rejected truth and substituted it for whatever came into their heads and the people were happy to have it so, because it cost them nothing.  Rather than operate their lives out of facts which built true faith and empowerment for living, they opted for religious error, lies, opinions and fantasies. 

There was only one outcome from such a choice and that is, their lives failed to work.  Instead of  being victors in life, they became victims – victims to their feelings, resulting in confusion and fear.  The true Christian’s faith is always only ever in proportion to what is truth.  In other words, the greater God is to you, the greater will be your faith – the smaller God is to you, the smaller your faith.  People of little faith know little of God.  It is the principle of proportion.  On the streets I encountered lots of church-goers who operated their lives on what God’s word does not say.  This made them feelings-based people, not faith-based people.

As an example, they were quick to tell me, “I think the Bible is….” or “I think God or Jesus is….” but they they were unable or unwilling to tell me, “I know the Bible is….” or “I know God or Jesus is….”  Satan the devil is never threatened by the one who says, “I think….”  But he most certainly is threatened by the one who says, “I know….”  How did I learn that?  I learned it by way of the very people he was operating through – religious, Bible-compromising church-goers.  I learned it, as stated earlier, by the venom that came spewing out of their mouths.    

What one thinks he knows and what one does know about God and the Bible can be two vastly different things and often was the time when I experienced someone wanting to drag me down into their, “I think” realm.  As a new Christian, I quickly learned that if I did not undertake to devote my life to the on-going study of the Bible, then sooner or later I ran the risk of looking silly in my biblical proclamations as a messenger.  I was not too concerned about myself looking that way, but I was not going to play any part in making God look silly.  Too many people despise God today, because of the foolishness of religious people.

Churches today that are boring, stagnant and declining, are not an expression of the living Lord Jesus Christ, they are an expression of the leadership and its people.  The same applies to the churches caught up in ritual, ceremony and tradition.  If the church truly belongs to Jesus it will always express His vitality and life and people’s lives will dramatically change.  Sicknesses will heal, marriages and relationships will be restored, people will speak up for Christ, giving witness to His reality.  Most do not express or give witness to any such thing, so the church-goer only has him or herself to blame – although I’ve never heard of one who has ever acknowledged that.

Why are the “religious” so venomous in their attacks on the Bible and those who take their stand upon it?  Well, it confronts them with who they are and what they are, plus the requirement to change.  They know it.  They know it because God has set that knowledge deep within their innermost being.  Not one of us is exempt from this.  You could say that the Scriptures are a letter from God telling us what He wants us to do.  Religious man doesn’t like that because he wants to be in control – always.  That’s the picture we see from the first religious man, Cain. 

Cain didn’t want to humble himself to meet God’s requirement’s, he was a proud man who set up his own religious system and standard.  And so envious and  jealous was he of his brother Abel, who did offer God the sacrifice He required, he killed him for it.  Nothing has changed in history.  “Religious” Cain is still doing his uttermost to destroy non-compromising, biblical, born again Abel, and will continue to do so right up until Christ comes back to rule upon the earth.  Church-goers enjoy the process of trying to achieve goodness, perfection and acceptance with God by their own efforts Acts 7:41. 

Born again, Holy Spirit-led, Christ-centered, Bible-based believers on the other hand, enjoy the process of allowing God take the initiative in their lives as He brings about real change – being conformed to the image of His Son.  On the Day of Christ, each one of us will be judged by God as to how much we have conformed to the Lord’s image.  We will not be judged on how much we have conformed to the demands of leaders, denominations, religious traditions, rules, laws and practices.  “……For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person Psalm 31:23.  “……But on this one will I look: on him who is poor (humble) and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles (reveres) at My word.”  Isaiah 66:2.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

He told me that the term, “born again” was familiar to him, but once again, “what does that mean for me personally?”  Knowing he would have read the Adam & Eve history in Genesis, I explained to him that before they went against God’s command in the garden, our first parents in fact had daily fellowship with Him, but they lost that fellowship the moment they disobyed Him.  I then explained that the Bible calls that act of disobedience, ”sin.” 

The man told me he didn’t see himself as a sinner, because he had never stolen, raped or bashed anyone.  That’s most people’s belief about themselves of course, they always think of sin in terms of morality and if they don’t see themselves as immoral then they don’t see themselves as sinners. 

So rather than limit our discussion to morality, I focused on the word “rebellion.”  I told him that a Biblical study of the word “sin” will show us that one of its meanings is ”rebellion” – so, we can define sin as basically rebellion against God.  Rebellion arises from within us as a result of us inheriting Adam & Eve’s nature. 

The man then said to me that he didn’t think we should be, “penalised by God for inheriting something we didn’t create.”  That’s another argument that I found to be common among people.  So I replied by explaining that God does not judge us for inheritance of their nature, He judges us on the fact that we’ve added lots of rebellion (sin) of our own towards Him.  His response to that was, “That’s not fair.”  I didn’t argue with him I simply asked, “But is it a fact? Yes or no?”  He grinned and said, “Yes.” 

Next I explained that the Bible tells us that God is a Spirit and when He created Adam & Eve they were made up of a spirit, soul and body – tri-part beings, complete people.  But the day they were sent from the garden was the day that communication with God was cut off.  Their spirits became dormant.  In effect, they became bi-part beings, limited now to soul (mind, will, emotion) and body - incomplete people, lost. 

Not only is that our inheritance, but I told the man that the Scriptures show us that’s our problem – we too are incomplete people, lost.  We are in fact dead in our spirit and God tells us that is why the things of Himself, Christ and the Bible are foolishness to us, making no sense or relevance.  But even though this is true in our experience, each of us continues to live with this sense of loss – a void.  And we try to fill this void every waking moment with all sorts of thoughts and activities – “spiritual,” mental and material – none of which bring true fulfillment however. 

I told him the word “gospel’ means “good news.”  Here’s why it is.  In the Bible we see that God has given a thorough diagnosis of the human problem - a diagnosis of a disease which He calls sin.  And this disease, without treatment, cuts us off from God.  That’s the bad news.  But the good news is, in the same Bible we see that God has also provided a thorough Solution to the human problem – the disease of sin, and the  thorough Solution is the Healer, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who brings reconciliation between us and God.  He then said to me, “That’s for Christians.  What about people from non-Christian religions?” 

In the midst of the pouring rain, still standing at his doorstep but not wanting to become side-tracked, I said to him, “You’ve read the Bible, let’s lay aside labels like “Christian” and “non-Christian,” how many Saviours did you read of, that God sent into the world to die on a cross in our place for our sins?”  He didn’t answer.  He wanted my thoughts on Jesus.  I told him they were exactly those of the Scriptures – He was very human and one with us, He was tempted to rebel as we do, He had his battles like we do, He was tempted to shrink from suffering like we do, but unlike us, He didn’t cave in to those things.  Jesus had no sin.

Continuing to give him my thoughts, I then said that Jesus was also fully divine and as the Son of God (God in the flesh) He came into our world to redeem us, to reconcile each one of us to Himself, to set us free from ourselves – no longer lost, but found – our spirits now becoming alive, putting us back on a pathway to completeness.  To further reinforce his thinking, I told him Jesus is both God and Man, who came to show us that God the Father is caring and approachable, but we can only experience this truth through Christ and that if we will humble ourselves and believe this, we would know by personal experience that there is no limit to God’s love.  I said, “You will know it because you will be born again.” 

It was now time to challenge this young man.  I said to him, “There is no other way for you to be saved from sin/rebellion and hell.  If there were, God would have found it.”  And because earlier he said he hadn’t see himself as a sinner, I explained that if his living a “good” moral life was going to save his soul, then Jesus would not have come and died on his behalf. 

But that’s not all.  I finished by reminding him of the fact that all the other founders of religion are now dead.  Yes, Jesus died too.  But a dead Jesus is no good to anybody.  If He were still dead, then all each of us are left with are the words and tales of a “good” man who went about doing “good” – just like some of those other religious founders.  Besides, a dead Jesus makes a liar of the Living God.

By now I was becoming very wet, given that our chat lasted over forty minutes.  The umbrella had long reached its limitations.  As I shook his hand to leave, he said to me, “I didn’t invite you inside, I was testing your faith.  I was wondering how long you would stand there before you gave in to the rain.  I’m impressed.”  Whatever this young man’s agenda, I knew God had a higher one.  “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see (perceive, understand) the kingdom of God.”  John 3:3.   

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

He then asked what kind of work that would be.  I said, “If you’re Jesus, then you can tell me.”  With that he laughed, and then went got a little red Gideons New Testament and started to read from John’s gospel Chapter 7.  Was there any significance in what he was reading?  None that appeared obvious.  Then he produced an Old King James version of the Bible and proceeded to read something from that.  

It’s fair to say that this man was not of a sound mind that day and given the culture of many in his generation I suspect he was on drugs.  Regardless, he let me share the gospel of Christ with him and then pray for him.  My ministry was to his spirit, not his mind.  He was thankful as he shook my hand and parted.  I saw the visit as God at work again.

I met Irene, a lady in her twenties who was a music teacher.  She told me her church background was Greek Orthodox but she had not been back since she’d left home some years earlier.  Then she said that she was studying philosophy and, “I much prefer that to religion.”  She was surprised when I told her that had been my exact experience also.  I explained to her, that it was as a result of my informal studies of philosophy, that I found a pathway to truth that I had never found in practicing religion.

She wanted to know more.  I said to Irene that in my personal search for truth I found the writings of the philosophers to be extremely enlightening.  In fact so enlightening, that over time I was driven to find out, “where this truth came from.”  I then told Irene that my search led me to the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I discovered to be the Ultimate Truth and Ultimate Reality, just as He said He was.

From there I shared the story from the book of Genesis of our first parents, who originally experienced ultimate truth and reality every day as they walked with God, but when they decided to listen to the Ultimate Liar and embrace the Ultimate Lie, they fell into unreality, and as a result, they lost their paradise.  Irene didn’t like what I had to say next however, because in my sharing, I used the word “sin.”

I explained the meaning of “sin” as “rebellion against God” and that this was the problem with each one of us in the world today.  It is a problem because we are their offspring and not only have we inherited their rebellion against God, but we’ve contributed with lots of our own as well. 

Irene did not like it when I said the only solution to the rebellion problem was to turn to Jesus Christ, the one who died on a cross as our substitute, making it now possible for each of us to turn back to God, to again live in ultimate truth and reality.

She said to me, “You’re making me feel guilty.”  My response was to inform her that she was, at that moment, under the conviction of God the Holy Spirit who was confirming to her the ultimate truth of what I was saying.  She was lost for words however when I told her Jesus Christ hates “religion” as much we both do and that if she responded to the Lord she would experience the truth of my message.  Irene was not over-joyed with what she heard, but she genuinely thanked me for talking with her.  I saw the visit as God at work again. 

No sooner had I mentioned the word “church” to a young mother and she turned red and fumed with anger.  She told me to, “!*!xx!*!” in no uncertain terms and slammed the door so hard the door frame shook.  She opened it again, ran outside and picked up a young child playing next to me.  I had nothing to lose, so I said to her that she was not angry with me and suggested she stop running from God.

The same lady phoned the church later in the day to complain about the “rude man who was questioning my baby.”  She didn’t know it was me who answered the phone so I went on to say, “Jesus said……”  She slammed the phone down hard.  I saw these events as God at work again. 

A mother, in her fifties said she couldn’t give me, “any more than a few seconds” but she actually gave me three quarters of an hour.  She stood in her doorway asking questions and was fascinated by the responses given.  Then her twenty-one year old academic son, who had been listening inside came out to tell me he was, “only interested in proof of God through science.”  His mother told me he was not at all interested in Jesus.

I took advantage of his “no interest” to talk a little about my former life as a foul-mouthed music sales rep and musician who was (basically) drunk three nights a week and smashed the other four.  Both mother and son refused to believe it.  They told me they just could not imagine that to be true.  So I told them if they wanted verification I could get it for them in less than an hour.

I explained that I was no longer that person, but I then asked the young man if he thought the change was brought about by science or by Jesus Christ – given that Jesus promises such deliverances, but science does not.  He remained silent, but his eyes were open and so were his ears.  I was given time to speak about the power of God, in Jesus’ name, being available for anyone who genuinely wanted to experience it, but that God has always had trouble trying to get through to people who want proof before they will believe Him. 

The young man needed to hear that his stumbling block to “proof” was in fact unbelief in disguise.  I then suggested to him that his unbelief was a choice - a choice which only he alone could change – and that if he chose to believe, he would prove for himself the truth and reality of God.  His mother said she owned a Bible and that Jesus was her Lord and Saviour, “in my own way.” 

Christ touched both mother and son mightily that day.  Words do not do this testimony justice.  Most certainly, I saw the visit as God at work again.  “Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.”  John 7:17.    

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

He took me into his study and then asked his wife to make us all a cup of tea.  As she was doing so, he enthusiastically proceeded to ask me my thoughts about the accuracy and the validity of the Bible.  I responded by saying that in my personal experience, it was everything it claimed to be – the word of God, who has revealed Himself to all mankind in Jesus Christ and that if we embrace its revelations by faith, it will transform our lives.

This was not the answer Errol wanted to hear.  It cut across his opinions and beliefs.  So much did it, that he told me, “You are just like all the rest of them, you haven’t a clue what you are talking about.”  His wife was so embarrassed, she said, “Oh Errol.”  He dismissed her protest.  

Then he proudly pointed to his shelf which contained six different Bible translations, an Expository Dictionary of New Testament words, a Bible Concordance and books on church history.  However, as far as he was concerned, those six translations “were all wrong too.”  Errol had very little respect for the English language.  He sincerely believed that religious organizations had bastardized the Bible, therefore, it was his intention to rewrite it in Esperanto language.  He was already practising his rewrite of the New Testament, telling me he did not believe in the doctrines of original sin, the wrath of God and hell – so he changed the wording, or he simply deleted them.  He said, “Babies can’t be born sinful.”      

Errol was not ignorant of Scripture references from the Bible, he quoted many of them.  But sadly, like lots of other people I was meeting out there, he too was dominated by a religious spirit - but a spirit of smugness and pride, rather than anger.  His head was full of Bible knowledge, but his heart was empty of the same.   I refused to become sidetracked, so I asked him where he stood with reference to the Bible’s promised gift of salvation, on offer to all who humbled themselves to Jesus Christ. 

He replied by saying, ” I don’t believe Jesus Christ is God, or that He ever said He was.”  Errol was also trapped by semantics.  For example, he got annoyed every time I would use phrases such as, “Jesus said” – “the Bible says” – “God has told us.”  He would endeavour to correct me each time, even when I told him that’s exactly how God communicates His, “living and powerful word” to us individually and corporately.  He gave no response to my challenge from 1 Corinthians, “the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.”

In meetings such as this, one has to discern if the Errol’s of this world are looking for answers or arguments.  It was my belief that day that it was the latter, based on his proud, unreasonable, unteachable manner.  So with that in mind I brought our time together to a close.

Eleven months later I was walking by his driveway and I heard Errol’s voice, “I want to see you,” he said.  Once inside, he started on me again.  This time he wanted my explanations for the contradictions that he believed he saw between the Old and the New Testaments.  On reading the passages in question in their correct context, I explained to him that there were no contradictions, but rather, one passage was under God’s old covenant and the other one was under the new covenant - which means for us that the new supersedes the old. 

Once again, not wanting to become side-tracked, I asked Errol, “What does this have to do with your repentance and the saving of your soul?”  He then asked me what repentance was, “and how do I do it?”  I explained to him that one must believe the word of God, Who tells us we have a sin problem and that His Son Jesus Christ is God’s One and only solution to that problem - but only if we recognise the truth of this and humble ourselves to Christ making Him Saviour and Lord of our life. 

After nearly two hours of explaining the gospel to Errol, I discerned no sorrow or humility before God in either his manner or his speech, but he told me he wanted to repent of his sin so as to ensure eternal salvation.  Therefore, he asked me to pray for and with him to God.  I did so.  No sooner had we finished this and he had more questions, plus more disputes.  It was time for me to leave.   

Some six months later I visited Errol again.  He told me his wife had died after a short illness and was buried only three days earlier.  As sad as that was for him, he now began a discussion telling me Jesus was not God.  I replied that if this was true, then Jesus was a liar and his (Errol’s) salvation was useless.  The religious pride displayed in and upon him was sad to observe.

Then he asked me what the significance was of a dead dove that he, that very day, found in his backyard.  I told him that it was God Almighty Himself showing him that through his unbelief and pride, he was quenching the Holy Spirit from his life.  Errol acknowledged the possibility of this and said, “I will keep an eye on that.” 

On another visit five months after that, Errol told me he was now doing transcendental meditation.  I told him that if that’s so, then he’s continuing to quench any work that God the Holy Spirit is wanting to do within him and as a result, soon he would lose the peace of God within.  The following week, he agreed to sit with me and do a Biblical video study on the demonic world of the occult and the dangers of their spiritual, mental and physical entrapment in human beings.               

A week after that time together, I saw Errol at the local shopping strip.  Again he wanted to dispute with me that Jesus Christ is God, plus other Biblical factors.

Then one day I got a knock on my front door at home.  It was Errol.  In his hands he had the Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words and the Bible Concordance.  He wanted me to have them because he had now gone out and bought these, plus other study materials in computer software form.  He told me that these new purchases would be more efficient for him when he rewrites the Bible.

I thanked Errol and blessed him for his kindness.  That was the last time I saw him.  ”And whoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Matthew 23:12.            

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

So my local church decided it would be a good idea to involve ourselves with the festival.  We did so by hiring an empty shop for the day, using it as a base for people to come, sit and talk or to eat their food or ours.  Outside the shop we had a stage set up for our street preachers, singers, dancers, and professional puppet show etc, and the gospel messages presented in each event caught the attention of people of all ages as they wandered by.

Some people stopped to ask questions about Christianity, others wanted to know what our church could offer their children and youth, and some simply wanted another person to talk to so they could share their problems and concerns.  Looking into the eyes of many people that day told me that loneliness is one of the greatest experiences individuals try to cope with day in and day out, in spite of what they may do, think and say to the contrary. 

Mrs Stone was not one to deny her loneliness however.  She was an elderly, sickly lady who told me she lived alone in one of the council flats, “just behind these shops.”  She said that apart from the odd person residing in those flats she had not had a visitor in years.  I offered to become a visitor, so she gave me her address and said, “Can you come next week?”  It was the voice of Mrs Stone speaking, but I knew it was also the voice of God.  So we chose a day and a time to meet.

I have long believed that everyone has a story to share, but in the case of this dear lady – what a story!    

Mrs Stone told me her mother died when she was six years old.  Her father remarried but it was not a happy marriage and consequently it was not a happy childhood for her either.  Her stepmother was not interested in the slightest at any fears or concerns she had as she was growing up and the same applied with regards her schooling achievements and interests etc.  Her father always seemed to be at a loss in knowing or understanding as well, so she felt she was on her own from a very young age.

She left school and got a job and some time later she joined a church.  Not long after joining the church she made a decision to “seriously undertake” some Bible studies.  One day her boss overheard her talking to a colleague about her studies and at the end of the day he called her into his office and he sacked her.  Mrs Stone said to me that his decision to do that puzzled her then and it, ”still does so now that I’m talking to you.”  Up until that event he had often told her that he liked her work ethic and that she was an asset to him.

Mrs Stone told me she stayed with the church for a while but had to abandon continuous Bible studies.  Early in the second world war she got married.  Less then a year later she developed tuberculosis and the doctors told her she had six months to live.  When her husband found out about that, he said to her, “Well you’re no use to me anymore.”  He left her and immediately took up with another woman.

Soon after that time Mrs Stone said she experienced her first lengthy stay in hospital.  It was while she was in there that the doctors informed her she was pregnant.  As the weeks rolled by she said she tried to get in touch with her father, who by this time was living in the country.  When finally she found out where he lived she caught the train to visit him.  Her step-mother was the only one at home when she called, who made her a cup of tea but told her to go as soon as she had finished it. 

One evening while she was preparing a meal Mrs Stone got a phone call from a friend who rang to inform her that the step-mother had also contracted tuberculosis and was given six months to live.  It turned out that the step-mother’s diagnosis was given just a few months after Mrs Stone was given hers.  Her step-mother died at the end of the six month period she said, “but I was still going strong.”  Then she started to cry as she told me her baby boy died four days after it was born.

In the late 1940′s she had a lung removed.  She had also remarried and had another son.  Sadly, by the time he was eighteen months old she was unable to look after him and so had to put him into a home.  According to Mrs Stone, her second husband had numerous adulterous affairs, he was not around to support her or the baby, so putting him into the home was the only wise choice.  The child got sick and even though the home was many miles away from her she told me she heard him crying out.

Mrs Stone also told me that one night as she was going off to sleep she saw her mother appear at the foot of her bed – “I was an inch away from touching her.”  As a biblical Christian who knew something of the deceptions and counterfeits of the devil I personally didn’t/don’t believe that it truly was her mother, but I let it go by for the moment. 

Although still a very sick lady at this time, circumstances gradually changed for her.  She was later reunited with her son whom she said was a loving, caring child who understood his mother’s sickness and the reason for their dire poverty and so did his best to contribute to the financial income by doing odd jobs after school and at weekends.  She spoke of the time when between them they had saved enough money to buy him a new suit.  How proud he was of his suit and how proud she was of her son.

One day he got up on the roof of their house.  He fell off that roof, broke his neck and later died at sixteen years of age.

She cried a couple of times in the two to three hours I was with her and she cried again when I told her that although I had no idea why she had to endure so much suffering in her life, God always had His hand upon her and her children.  I then explained the reason for our meeting at that festival – it was that Jesus Christ was now going to reveal Himself to her and all she needed to do was believe that by faith, as we prayed.  I said to Mrs Stone that she once had honoured God by her intentions to study His word, but now, regardless of her intentions, He was going to honour her with the gift of eternal life. 

I visited this lady four more times over the following few months and she continued to share parts of her life with me.  In that time I continued to be used of God to draw her closer to Him.  The last time I called however, I found her door open with the television on, but she was not around.  I waited twenty minutes, left a note and the phone number of our church for her to contact us if needed.  

Mrs Stone did ring some time later to say the local council were relocating her to another place in the next suburb.  On visiting her new address I failed to find her at home.  I never saw her again.  “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38-39.               

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Mrs Bell shared that her son got hurt in a church as a young person and, “today he is totally anti-church and anti-christian.”  This was not the first time a parent had told me of such a sad reality – and it was not to be the last.  Countless people had already told me they had, “no problem with Jesus, but I have a lot of problems with the church.”  I was fast learning that as Christians it’s not what we say we are – but who we are in Christ and who He is in us.  Non-believers can spot the difference, we who believe otherwise are fooling ourselves.

The next time I called on Mrs Bell, tears came into her eyes again.  Why?  It was three years to the day since her husband died.  I did not orchestrate that, God Almighty did.  I had not a clue.  Neither of us needed to say, “God has sent you.”  This time she invited me inside and over a cup of coffee Mrs Bell asked me if I believed what the book of Revelation said about hell and Jesus coming back to earth.  I said I did believe this because it’s God who says so.

She agreed, telling me she liked to talk about these things.  Then she questioned me on what my views of Jesus were.  I responded by saying I didn’t have any that were contrary to the Bible.  I asked Mrs Bell if she knew why Jesus came into the world and she said she did.  I asked her if Jesus was her Lord and Saviour and she said He was.   We then got talking about His forgiveness for sin and she said, “I’ve got lots of bitterness and unforgiveness.”  So I asked if she wanted to talk about it and she replied, “Yes I do.” 

Here’s her story.  When Mrs Bell was twelve years old her mother died.  Later her father remarried a “nasty” woman who turned out to be a “nasty and wicked step-mother.”  She was one of four children, all of whom got separated.  Living in country Victoria, at the age of thirteen she was put on a train and sent to another town miles away, but not far from Melbourne.  She said she had never forgotten that event, telling me she cried the whole two to three hour journey, alone and scared, not knowing who she was going to – “I cried for days afterwards too.” 

When she got married Mrs Bell said she was not often allowed to visit her father - and never with her husband.  He used to drive the two to three hour journey, drop her off at the gate and wait while she walked up the long driveway to the farmhouse.  At the time of my visit with Mrs Bell, her step-mother was still alive at eighty-five years of age but her father died two years earlier.  Two of her brothers got the proceeds of their father’s will, she and another brother got nothing.  Consequently, there was no relationship or contact with one another in those two years.

Then she said, “I wake up early in the morning thinking of all these things and I get angry and bitter.  I don’t want to, but I do and I can’t get rid of it.”  Her marriage had been a happy one, but now that her husband was dead, “I dwell on these things all the time.”  It was now appropriate for me to explain to this dear lady the effects of such emotions and how they cut us off from God.  I told her such emotions are the works of the devil and, “his never-ending function is to keep you from Jesus, the only One who can deliver you from them and set you free.”

She understood perfectly, but told me she didn’t go to church very often now.  I said she could be released from these things in the bathroom if she wanted to, not a church.  As a child in her adopted home, the family were 7th Day Adventists.  Mrs Bell told me she had to attend sometimes up to as many as five different church meetings on a Saturday.  She was never allowed to go out to the theatre, movies or dances.  Again, ”I was never allowed to play with friends.  If I was not at a church meeting I had to sit at home in my pretty dress and read my Bible.”

Hearing her speak this cut deep into my spirit.  I said, ”Mrs Bell, Jesus is not like that - that is not what He wanted you to do, ever!”  I told her that such practice is not Christianity, it is religious legalism.  She readily new the truth of that, but was glad when I verbalised it anyway.  I then did a little drawing for her to illustrate how God communicates with us in prayer and Bible reading, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who fellow-ships with our spirit.  Next I illustrated for her how Satan the devil constantly seeks to play God with our mind, filling us with guilt as he misquotes the Scriptures and uses them out of context. 

After these illustrations she wanted me to help her pray a prayer of confession to the Lord, seeking His forgiveness for holding on to those emotions, “all these years.”  So I did so.  Next we prayed for God’s love, faith and power to enable her to forgive her father, step-mother, brothers, the family she lived with and the legalistic church leaders.  I explained to Mrs Bell that the Scriptures encourage us to confess with our mouth – to choose to forgive, doing so by faith in Christ who hears and responds, regardless of how we feel when praying.  It was important for her to hear that the Christian life is one of faith in Christ alone – not our feelings which are continually changing.  

I then gave her some appropriate Scriptures which would enable her to feed her spirit, saying that if she continued this practice it would only be a “matter of time” when she would experience the reality of Christ’s ministry of deliverance to her.  Further saying that it was God’s will that she be blessed continuously, both in her sleeping and waking hours.  I continued to visit Mrs Bell from time to time, and it was always a blessing to observe the changes Christ was bringing to her, but like so many people God sent me to, the visits only lasted a season.  “ If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”  John 8:36.

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Churches were/are not preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  The foundations of biblical theology were/are being denied from the highest pulpits in the land as well as in the theological seminaries.  But the fact remains that people were/are still looking for some sort of spiritual reality and the J W’s do their extreme best to fill that void.  They are utterly fearless in their witnessing and don’t care what anybody says or thinks of them.  

Countless times I found myself either a few days ahead or a few days behind J W representatives.  So much so that in my conversations with people, they would often question the discrepancies in our belief systems.  Puzzled, confused and often angry they would ask, “What is the difference between you both?”

Young married mother, Annette, used to look forward to my visits.  It was an opportunity for her to share her everyday problems and confusions - often they were about her husband’s in-laws.  I would listen and always endeavour to respond as led by the Holy Spirit.  She would say, “I like what you say.  That seems to make a lot of sense.  You are so different than the Jehovah Witnesses.  They make me feel so fearful and guilty.”

Another lady, quite angrily asked, “What is your church doing door knocking?  I thought only Jehovah’s Witnesses did that.”  I gave her a message from the gospel and a smile came upon her face.  Her son was standing with her visiting from the country, so she asked if I could send her two New Testament Bibles, one for her son and another one for his family because, “he had to think about them too!”  Then she asked, “What is the difference between you and the Jehovah Witnesses?”

A young lady in her thirties informed me that she was a Jehovah Witness.  Having said that, it was apparent she had little knowledge of their teachings.  She had numerous Bible translations on the shelf but gave no mention of the J W ‘New World Translation’ Bible as being, “the correct translation.”  She claimed Jesus Christ to be God, that He was her Lord and Saviour and that her sins were washed away by His blood.  Then she spoke about the peace she had and the purpose the Lord has given her in life.  Her question was, “Can you tell me the difference between us?”

An old man, originally from Finland told me he had severe arthritis in his neck.  During our time of nearly an hour together he politely listened as I talked of the purpose of Jesus Christ coming to earth, but he would say, “That’s not what the Jehovah Witnesses say.”  I mentioned that if he’d allow me to pray for healing in his neck, “Jesus might say something to you in the form of a healing.”  Again, “The Jehovah Witnesses said……”  I mentioned that Jesus is in heaven today, but that He continues to heal through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Quickly he replied, “The Jehovah Witnesses say there is no such thing as the Trinity.  They say the Holy Spirit is not God.  Why are you all so different?”

Another practising J W lady with a welcoming, smiling face invited me inside saying, “I believe the Spirit of God is all around me.”  Then she spoke of the guilt she had, “because I have not been praying much lately.”  She said she was new to the J W’s but wanted to know the difference between our beliefs.  She asked lots of questions in the hour and twenty minutes I was with her.  As I was walking down her hallway to leave, there was a ring on her doorbell.  She opened her door to two women from her Kingdom Hall.  She introduced me to them and told me I was from the local church.  Upon hearing this, a religious spirit of anger presented itself within both of them - in their demeanour and in their speech.

I was once in a Christian book shop.  A man in his late thirties asked the lady behind the counter some questions on Jesus and the Bible and with each answer she gave, he said, “That’s not what the Jehovah Witnesses say.”  Every endeavour on her part brought a similar response from him and this went on for a few minutes.  The lady looked at me with an appeal in her eye to take over, so I did.

Instead of answering questions, I decided to ask him some.  I said, “What do the Jehovah Witnesses say about……?”  When he told me, I would say, “That’s not what the Bible teaches.”  Again, “Do the Jehovah Witnesses teach…….?”  Regardless of his reply, I was able to tell him what the Bible declares about each matter.  At one point he asked me, “What makes you think you people are better than the Jehovah Witnesses and their teachings?”  I said, “We don’t think we’re better.  But Jesus Christ is.”  He then said, “Well tell me the difference between you both.”

I had the pleasure of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with that man, right there.  He was seeking God’s reality and power that day and he readily saw his need of Christ to forgive him his sin if he wanted to enter eternity and live with Him forever.  He asked me to pray with him and I asked the lady to join us.

A few weeks later I walked back into that shop.  I spoke with the lady of our last meeting.  She said, “Oh – you’re the one!  I was hoping you would come back.”  I was surprised at the remark.  She told me that the man had an asthma attack and died just a few days after our prayer together.  

What is the difference between us both?

• The J W’s deny Jesus Christ as Almighty God Jehovah.  We do not. 
• They deny the One God Who exists in 3 Persons – Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  We do not.
• They deny the existence of the Holy Spirit as a Person.  We do not.
• They reject the doctrine of the Trinity.  We do not.
• They reject the doctrine of hell.  We do not.
• They interpret the Bible in the light of their doctrines and books.  We do not.  
• They interpret the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament.  We do the opposite.
• The J W’s claim to be the true prophets of God.  They are false prophets.  

As a result of these denials, rejections and claims by the Jehovah Witnesses, it matters very little as to what else is different between us - and there are many such differences.  But they are all secondary issues.  The eight dot-points above are primary issues.  Therefore, if we say we are a Christian, each one of us must be sound in our theology on each point.  If not, we have nothing to offer anyone who says, “Tell me the difference between you both.”  “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end (uttermost part) of the earth.”  Acts 1:8.        

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Helen was a quiet, gentle lady who said she had been reading her Bible for a long time but didn’t know if the Lord Jesus was “in my heart or not.”  She knew the gospel of Christ, saying she believed it was true that God became a Man, that He came into our world and died for our sins and that three days later He rose again from death.  She said she also believed that He lives today. 

Once again however, like so many people I meet doing this work, that was the extent of Helen’s knowledge.  As the discussion continued it was clear to me that Helen had not made a personal committment to the Lord.  I discerned that she knew about Jesus Christ, but she did not know Jesus Christ.  So I asked her if she would like to ask the Lord to come and live within her, just like the Scriptures promise He will, upon invitation.  She said she would “like that very much.”  

Our prayer together was long and meaningful, with Helen telling the Lord that even though she’d lived life so far as a good citizen, she knew she was a sinner and asked His forgiveness.  No sooner had she finished the prayer when she told us, “I’m having the most beautiful experience from head to foot – a warm and cool peace, all at the same time.”  It was evident to us that she was experiencing the reality and power of Jesus Christ, a peaceful glow came into her eyes and upon her face.

This new experience for Helen enabled her to talk of the tragedy that took place quite a few years earlier.  She said that her husband suffered much guilt in his daily life, because he was driving the family car when there was a crash and their young daughter was killed.  And although he has no memory of the crash, Helen said her husband  “has never forgiven himself.”  As if that wasn’t enough for a family to bare, Helen then told me that they have another daughter, now married, but dying of cancer.

Some time later I visited Helen’s home and her husband came to the door.  He knew of my meeting with his wife, but said too much had gone wrong in his life for him to believe in a merciful God.  I told him I did not pretend to understand his pain, thoughts and feelings but I did say that Jesus Christ knew exactly where he was at and would be willing to come to his aid upon his invitation.

He said he thought he was beyond changing, “but I hope I’m wrong.”  He then said his wife had told him of her experience with Jesus so, “perhaps one day……”  He thanked me for the visit, telling me it was nice to talk with someone about his problems.

Two months after that visit I called again.  They informed me that their daughter was deteriorating quickly.  I said that I was praying for them, that they would all experience the reality of God’s comfort and peace in this tragic time.  Helen’s husband responded in a resigned manner by saying, “Well pray that she dies quickly.”  We spoke for some minutes and once again they were grateful for the time we had together.

Twelve months went by before I saw this couple again.  I had visited twice in that period but they were not home.  They informed me their daughter did die a few days after my last visit.  By now however, Helen said she was coming through the worst of her grief and gave testimony to the Lord Jesus as being very real to her since her first encounter with Him and especially so, during this recent sadness. 

She spoke about looking forward to the return of Christ, then she spoke of the wonders of our being made up of a body, soul and spirit and that even though our present body dies, one day it will be ressurrected anew to rejoin our soul and spirit and we’ll live forever. 

Her husband said he “was not convinced of any of this.”  And even though that appeared to be the case, he was opening up and sharing his thoughts and opinions - to which I give Christ all the glory.

Later in the conversation he shared that he was responsible for the road death of his young daughter, saying that he still had no memory of the event, but the guilt he experienced all these years was going.  As he told me this, I prayed that this was due to the reality of Christ touching his life, so I used the opportunity to remind him that Jesus spoke about forgiveness, healing and love and that these could all be his – all he needed to do was believe for them and ask for them. 

The invitation was left open for both these dear people to get in touch with me and/or my church for any help or assistance they might need in the future, but the offer was never taken up.  Like so many occasions in the past however, I once again considered it to be a great priviledge to be used of God for His ministry to them.  “……Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  1 Corinthians 15:54-55.

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

It was no time before she was telling me what seemed her life’s story – from Sunday school as a child, to her three grown children, her dead husband, her dislike of Catholics “and all others who say they are the one true church.”  Then she spoke about her fear of strangers, plus all her sicknesses – anxiety, arthritis, angina, thrombosis and blood clots.  She didn’t seem to be aware of her anger and bitterness in all this but it was showing up in her speech, which made me wonder if those emotions were among the root causes of her sicknesses. 

On listening to her story, I asked Dorothy if she knew anything about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  She said could remember “little bits and pieces from Sunday school as a child.”  I offered to pray for her at that point and as such, she was pleased to invite me inside.  I did pray for her, taking authority over every demonic spirit I could sense and then asked the Lord to reveal Himself to her from this day forward in both practical and spiritual matters.  She thanked me warmly for such a prayer.

I was in her home talking for about forty minutes, then it was time to leave.  On the way out she told me a Jehovah’s Witness lady visits her once a month, but “only for a coffee, not their beliefs.”  The fact that they too teach that they are the one true church didn’t seem to register with her, but I kept those thoughts to myself.  Dorothy invited me back whenever I would be next in her street.

Two months later I was walking towards her home and she was at the front fence tending her shrubs when she saw me from quite a distance.  She stood and waved and invited me inside again.  This time we spoke for over an hour about the reality and power of Jesus Christ, with Dorothy asking lots of questions.  At one point she paused and then asked me if I happened to be  ”just walking in my street or did you intend visiting me?”  I told her it was my intention to visit, to which she said, “You were sent by God today.”  I agreed.

She told me that a few nights previously she went to bed feeling agitated and worried.  But while she was lying there she had a quick vision of either a “very peaceful Jesus or an angel – just a flash.”  Immediately after that, she said she too became very peaceful, so she rolled over and went straight off to sleep.  Dorothy said her usual practice was to lie awake for hours in bed trying to get to sleep.  I took the opportunity here to encourage her to continue to build up her faith, by reading the New Testament daily and allowing Jesus Christ to minister to her through it and also to continue daily in prayer with Him.

Dorothy accepted the truth that if she wanted to stay in tune with the Lord, then she needed to know what He has revealed to her through the Scriptures.  She asked me what the difference was between what we believed, in comparison to her Jehovah’s Witness friend.  In reality there are vast differences, but keeping it simple, I explained that basically it comes down to two things – they deny Jesus Christ as God Jehovah and they deny the existence of the Trinity of God.

Because Dorothy believed it was Jesus she saw in her vision, resulting in her experiencing immediate peace,  she said she had no problems in accepting Jesus for Who He says He is in the gospels.  And although like most of us who have difficulty in understanding and explaining the Trinity of God, she accepted the reality of such by faith, because Jesus revealed this in His teaching also.  I did visit this lady a couple of more times, but like so many people I met in this work, she came into my life for a season and then I saw her no more.

A week later I met a forty-eight year old man with an amazing story to tell.  He told me he once fell from a height of two hundred and fifty feet into timber and lots of mud.  The only damage was “a broken wrist and a sore leg.”  A few years later, he said he fell from forty feet into sand and broke his spine.  As a result of that fall he cannot now work.

Then he said he was commpensated with a lot of money which his wife “blew.”  According to him she simply spent and spent, but forgot all about the household bills, not the least of these being the house payments.  He told me the money ruined his marriage.

This man knew the reason for my visit so he asked a few questions about God, at the same time telling me he was ”not religious.”  I asked him if he’d ever given God a thought in all of these events, to which he replied that he had, “from time to time given Him a lot of thought.”  He told me that once he was supposed to go on a long car trip with his mates, but he slept in.  On that trip one of his mates was killed, the other one was badly injured.  So that was the major reason God came into his thoughts – why? why? – “why them and not me?”  I responded by saying that we will never know the answer to that question, but that perhaps it was God Himself who placed those thoughts within him. 

I further responded by telling him that he could know and experience the reality and power of Jesus Christ in his life today and, from this day forward he could experience a new beginning.  He allowed me to share the gospel of Christ with him and explain what this meant for him personally.   At the end of my sharing he asked me to pray for this reality of the Lord in his life.  So with the laying on of my hands to his head I prayed a prayer, also asking  him to pray to the Lord as well.  He did.  

I made arrangements to have a New Testament Bible and some appropriate Scripture helps sent to him, he thanked me very much, we shook hands and I never saw him again.  “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him.”  Nahum 1:7

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.