Hello all....the testimony I am going to relate here is from our "Family Sabbath School Time" we have at our church from 9:00 to about 10:40. It was given by Liz. I was so blessed by today's program I just had to try and get Liz to write the story down for me so I could put it here. Well praise God she did better than that, she gave me her notes. I am not going to write it all out...just the main points to get the story down. Here it is:

quote:

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A Careless Word - A Lost Soul

How often in our daily life do we say something impulsively...carelessly and it effects people's lives...possibly their eternal life?

Matthew 12:36
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.[/b]

James 3:5
[i]Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

James 3:6
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

About a year ago Pastor Art offered a class on "How to give a Bible Study, which I took. Last September he called me and asked me to give a Bible study to someone. The man was in a convalescent home. When Pastor Art and I met Donald, my heart went out to him. He was a 86 year old man who obviously loved the Lord and was in a great deal of pain, because he was convinced that he had grieved the Holy Spirit and there was no hope for him.

Twenty-five years ago someone in the church told Donald that he didn't deserve to be a Christian. for 25 years he daily suffered the agony of separation from Christ and the fear that he would go to hell. He believed that because he had grieved the Holy Spirit, that he would never be forgiven for his sins and his life was hopeless.

For most of the nine months when I went for my weekly visit with Donald I would find him crying over the fact that he would never be with Jesus. He wanted to be baptized, but he felt that his sins were too great to be forgiven and he smoked cigarettes.

He was 86 years old and had smoked since he was 12 years old. He has been an alcoholic and had given that up two years ago, but he couldn't overcome the smoking. I asked the Doctor to prescribe some medication that would cut down on the desire for nicotine. It only made him nauseous; we tried the Nicolette gum, it stuck to his dentures. Over the next few weeks he would stop for a few days and then he would become upset at someone or a situation at the convalescent home and he would start all over again. He went through deep valleys of depression. He just could not stop the cigarettes.

One day someone told me about something that they had developed at Loma Linda to stop the nicotine addiction. When I told Donald that I would get it for him, He said, "No, I'm going to stop the way that you did, by giving it to the Lord and asking Him to take it."

He had to totally surrender his addiction to the Lord and rely completely on Him. I found a picture of Peter sinking into the water, because he took his eyes off the Lord. I put it up on his wall. I said, "Every time you want a cigarette just look at the picture and say, 'Lord, save me." And remember that you are only that far away from being baptized." The length of a cigarette stands between you and God.

It wasn't just getting rid of the cigarettes. Donald prepared for his baptism by not only reading the Word, but also searching his heart. He tried to think of every person that he needed to call or write to. Anyone that he had had a problem with or felt that he had done something that he needed to ask him or her for forgiveness.

His niece Theresa had been the one who had called Pastor Art requesting someone to give Donald Bible Studies. She called me and we worked out the baptism. Between the two of us we contacted his family and friends to come to his baptism. He had a cousin who was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. They had gone to a Seventh-day Adventist academy together. For over 70 years he had prayed for Donald to be baptized and now he was going to be the one to baptize him.

There was people all over California and Nevada that had prayed for him and wanted to come to his baptism, but we were a bit limited in space. You see, Donald is in a wheel chair and can't stand up. We had to solve the problem of immersing him in the water. Determined to not allow a small thing like that deter us, we finally decided to baptism him in the hot tub at the convalescent home. It resulted in a blessing for many of the members of the staff in the convalescent home, because they joined in and became part of the celebration. One of the men that helped has requested I give him Bible Studies.

If an 86 year old man can give his heart to the Lord and be baptized, there is hope for everyone. The Lord hears every prayer and wants every one of his children to be in the Kingdom with Him. Continue with your prayers, it took 70 years for Donald. It shouldn't take that long for you. Keep the faith.

Liz D.

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I hope you receive a blessing from this. We also got to see the baptism. Since the space was limited someone taped it and she showed it to us this am. It was such a blessing to see the joy in this mans face and the joy in Donald's cousin's face as he baptized him. Praise God. Prayer does work. I was not always a Christian...I gave my life to Christ in 1980...I found out later that my wonderful Grandmother and a study group of people had been praying for me for years. I believe this actually saved me from being murdered. God is so good. Amen

In The Blessed Hope

Avalee

[ June 01, 2002, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Avalee ]

Avalee,

Thank you for posting that here.

It actually brought a tear of joy to my eyes.

Wow. 70 years of praying. What joy must have filled that man's heart, as he watched the baptism.

Thankyou for sharing this testimony Avalee.

Since you have posted this publically, I am presuming we can print it, and use it in our Sabbath School Class, here in Calgary?

I am sure that any Sabbath School Class would be very blessed and inspired to hear this.

Thank you David....when this story was being told Sabbath morning I knew I had to get all the details written down in order to tell all of you. I knew you would receive a blessing. I do not see any problems with it being used. I did not use any last names in the story so that should be ok. And who knows maybe the story will end up in one of our monthly publications someday. I think it should as it is a story with hope for all those who have been praying for years for friends and loved ones.

When there is still life, there is still hope.
Our Lord has told us to "pray without ceasing", this is a good testimony to the effect of 'fervent prayer', and they prayed for a long time.

How many times has a tender spirit been destroyed by a careless or thoughtless word or look?
Sorry I have been away for so long.
Sometimes the day by day activities tie me up so much, I meet myself coming as I'm going.
In less than 2 months Hope For the Homeland will begin, pray that tender spirits will not be damaged, and that they will grow strong in Bible study and fellowship.