1 Corinthians 1:17-18 “For Christ sent me…to preach the gospel:
not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God”
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of
the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints”
Have you been visited by Jehovah Witnesses? or have you seen them
standing at the corner ready to talk about their religion and hand out
tracts? Three years ago an older husband and wife who are Jehovah
Witnesses moved in next door to us. They were very nice people, they
kept their property in beautiful order, making many improvements. We
employed their son-in-law to paint the interior of our home and then to
build us a new fence each for which he was well paid as would have been
any other contractor we hired.
However, on the “religious” front things were not so smooth as indeed
they should not have been because my husband and I are Christians,
saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are
Jehovah Witnesses whose beliefs are very different from ours. But I do
believe that as Jude 1:3 says, we are to earnestly contend for the
faith, and so one day it fell upon my husband (as it should) to do
exactly that.
One day shortly after they moved in, the lady was getting into her
car while my husband was in the front yard and so he asked her if she
was going to work and she replied that for years she had been leading a
bible study at the Kingdom Hall, and that is how we learned that they
were Jehovah Witnesses. After that my husband took it upon himself to
talk with her about what the bible says concerning the deity of Christ
and after that he wrote down some bible verses and gave them to her.
She responded with a note saying that we were neighbours and they would
have to agree to disagree. So 3 years went by, with a few pleasantries
exchanged, but no other inter-action. The only time she came to our
door was to ask if we planned on moving because they knew someone who
wanted to move into the area and they thought it would be nice if they
could be close.. But no, we were not planning on moving.
As it turned out, they are the ones who moved yesterday. They gave a
reason but after all the improvements they made on the house and the
yard, I have to wonder what the real reason for their moving is.. One
thing I do know is that soon after they moved in, this lady asked
permission to go door to door in our community as Jehovah Witnesses do,
and she was told that this would not be allowed. They have moved into
a new housing development where she will be free to go door to door so I
wonder if this is part of the reason.
In any case, I do know that from my husband she heard the true
gospel, and she is accountable for the fact that she turned her back on
it.. but who knows whether or not by the grace of God, he might not
send another person to witness to her. The Lord’s will be done.
I do hope and pray that our new neighbour is a Christian.. the only
thing we know about her is that she is a recent widow. We have a
Christian widow living behind us who goes to the same church as we do
and it would be lovely to have another one next door. We will soon see
what God has in mind for us.
vcg/September 2015
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