Witnessing – Waiting for the Blossoms
Dear Wake Up Friends,
The Wake Up staff is so pleased when we can talk to people who are contacting us for the first time. This may be a result of your share-share-sharing or perhaps being discovered on the internet. We are always interested in how people found us and learn how their interest in Bible prophecy was ignited. One such person is Harvey W. Here is a portion of an email we received from him.
“I knew Larry was slowly going downhill because of his aggressive form of ALS. We are still praying for a miracle for him and Shirley. Like Larry, I got drafted for the Vietnam war, but God spared me because I did not meet their physical standards and was sent back home. My wife and I had been married about two years when I got drafted. She was pregnant and her pregnancy did not go well. She lost so much weight she almost had to have an abortion to save her life. She was hospitalized, fed by tube, and kept in a coma for a month to keep her from continuously vomiting. After therapy and weight stabilization, she got better and the birth went fine. Had I been kept by the Army, I would have missed this problem and could have lost my wife or daughter or both. God was very gracious.
“I had studied my way out of twelve other denominations before becoming a Seventh-day Adventist because they did not teach Biblical truth. However, due to changes at the SDA church we attended, my wife and I quit going to church every Sabbath. We studied at home instead and continued to keep the seventh day Sabbath. Soon, we found ourselves doing long Bible studies, sometimes extending until 11 PM. The more you study, the more you learn, and the more you get those “aha” moments when the Holy Spirit shows you something new even though you have read it 100 times before.
“I have always searched for new truth as it is in Jesus and did much online Bible research, but always found religion trying to be made out of a few verses while ignoring the rest of the Bible. I had learned that Bible study was “precept upon precept, and line upon line.” I also would take a Bible topic and then use my concordance to see what the Bible had to say. That allowed me to tie subjects together. I learned Bible teachings are like a woven tapestry rug, and fitting the puzzle pieces together was making the picture bigger, clearer, and dearer. I had always used 1 Corinthians 4:9, which basically states Jesus was using Earth as a theater displaying the sin drama to the on-looking universe.
“Anyway, in my online Bible searches, your website came up and the charts intrigued me so I printed them for study. They did not provide enough on their own and I needed more background information, so I started buying Larry’s books until I had them all. After I received a copy of Warning: Revelation is about to be fulfilled!, I started buying cases of books when they were on sale in the chronological order Larry wrote them. Chronological order is the order I prefer to give Larry’s books out because it shows his thinking process. I personally understand things and history better when reading it in chronological order. Studying the Bible is like reading history in the round. Like Larry says, you need rules and the Bible’s own interpretation to understand God’s Word. You need diligent study and to do it often to learn God’s ways and prophecies.
“People today are totally caught up in themselves and too busy to see what is really going on in the world. Cellphones are a blessing and curse and have become people’s new gods, albeit, man made. Everything today is me, me, me, or see me, see me, see me. Scripture pegged these times perfectly. I am almost 80, still working hard and finishing a home in Montana. I am glad I can. I keep trying to plant seeds in people so when the time comes, a blossom shows up as a reminder.”
What a beautiful closing comment and perspective on witnessing. We have often considered the ministry of Wake Up to be seed-sowing. (Matthew 13:1–23; Mark 4:1–20) The joy we share with Harvey is to see the blossoms that sprout from the seeds we have sown. So, share-share-share the materials and you too can join the joyful experience of watching the seeds you have planted blossom with a bountiful harvest for the kingdom.
May God’s blessings flow richly upon you,
Marty
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