Pastor John,
I will soon finish translating the Broadcaster titled “Martin Luther: The Midwife”, (https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1852381046345490599) and this sentence towards the end really hit me:
“It is the distinctive family trait of Christianity to lure men (…) to join the church.”
It has brought to my remembrance something that happened to me 24 years ago. I had a powerful experience, a dream that basically turned me from an atheist into a believer overnight. When I woke up from that glorious dream, first of all I knew it was more than just a dream. I knew something very real had just happened to me. Secondly, from that moment on I knew in my heart that God was real. So what I did is I wrote a letter to a Christian lady (American) who, a couple of years earlier, was my English teacher in high school, and whom I trusted more than anyone else I knew at the time. I let her know what had happened to me, and she wrote back to me, encouraging me, telling me about Jesus, etc. She also told another former English teacher (also from the U.S.) about my experience, and this other former English teacher had friends in a church in Budapest that she used to attend. She wrote to someone at that church, and a few weeks later I got an e-mail from this person, who invited me to one of their meetings.
What came to my mind, while reading and translating this Broadcaster, is what my initial reaction was to her invitation. I remember I wrote something along the lines of “I want to seek God for myself. I don’t necessarily want to go to any church.”. The point being, I had just had a real touch from the real God, I wasn’t yet influenced by any religious traditions or doctrines, and it seems that in my innocence I probably felt that something was off about the idea of “going to church”. I also remember that one of the arguments I was told (perhaps by this lady, too, but surely by others later, as I was being introduced to Christianity) why it was important for me to belong to a church, is that if I stay by myself, my “fire” will eventually die out and I won’t have any protection from the evil influences of this world and, I guess, Satan. What I just now realized is that these well-meaning people were instilling fear into my heart, teaching me that NOT going to church is one of the most dangerous things that could happen to me as a new believer. I was being lured, by fear (and other things for sure), to join the church.
It is fascinating that as you learn the truth and keep walking in it, you start to see even your past experiences in a new light, for what they really were. Thank God for allowing me to see the things I now see, and for giving me the chance to walk in the light.
May I be a wise virgin and take advantage of this unmatched opportunity. Praise Jesus!
Zoli
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