The day I knocked on Errol’s door, immediately he said, “Come in. I’ve been waiting for you. If you want to know anything about the Bible, talk to me. I can tell you all about the Bible.” 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 practicing 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 endeavor 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 4:20 “For 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 recognize the truth of this and humble ourselves to Christ making Him Savior 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.