Excerpt from book:
Open Letter to His Majesty and Excellency Christ-Jesus
Process of Salvation – Part 4 (Continuation from Part 3) (Open Letter pages 39-41).
The most painful step on the narrow road I had to take in that church was to step right out of there – and never come back! To leave behind me quite a number of people whom I dearly loved and who, in effect, became my only family, for I had no family in the whole world except back in my small homeland in the heart of Europe.
In those days of 1977, about one year after I had to step down from the Board of Deacons, we were still believing that Your Word in 1Cor.14:34 did not apply to us, which Word says: “Let your women keep silence in the churches…” We had a brilliant doctrine which said that it only applied to the poor Jewish women screaming at their husbands across synagogues in Paul’s day. Our women would not scream across our churches, would they?
So, we had a woman to preach to us one Sunday. After her speaking, she uttered a brief message in tongues. A man in the first row interpreted and seemingly added another prophetic word containing such statements as “stop your rituals” and “repent”. It stunned the leadership of the church to the degree that at a special meeting the man was asked by both pastors to retract the message and admit that it was his own zeal rather than a word from the Lord. It was also clearly proclaimed by the pastors that “We have nothing to repent of”! So much for our humility, Lord. And, as if that were not enough, the next few sermons were devoted to attacking that message and to warn the congregation against the dangers of such false prophets!!!
O Lord, how far have we all gone away from You? I thought I saw the hearts of men, I thought I saw the depth of pride and self-righteousness and other miseries in our hearts – but it seemed that I saw only the shallow banks and that the real depth was even beyond my reach and comprehension.
What a depth of self-righteousness, what a blindness, what a vicious attack on something which was not even tested! You, Lord, were not asked even once by anyone in the church if, perchance, it was Your word. Later on, You did reveal to me that it, indeed, WAS Your word, in addition to the interpretation. And to this day, that word has not changed either for that congregation or for many other congregations!
The last “sermon” by the pastor was a red-hot arrow that struck my heart … and that Wednesday evening You caused me to take that last most painful step. I stood up and said to my wife: “This has been my last service in this church as a member of this congregation.” She quietly nodded with the same painful understanding. We left into the dark night.
Well, what else should I say, dear Lord? I cannot say I had no more contacts with that church, I had quite a few opportunities with several deacons, and the pastor as well, but they only confirmed the bitter truth of reality which stood tall and solid as a monument carved from granite. No amount of discussions, no amount of lunches and coffees and teas could change anything on that monument of truth that stood tall and solid.
(To be continued next week in part 5)
brother Hanola
…