Listen to those exhilarating, uplifting words ringing in my heart! The time is yester-Sunday, we have just traveled 100 miles (one-way) to a meeting at Reseda Ecclesia Hall. We were resoundingly focused on the coming Kingdom by our exhorting brother who used the timely theme of ‘distress of nations’ — signs in the stars, using the climatic and financial distress of the powers that are, taken from Luke 21:25. And then, as though this were not enough to hold the brethren and sisters fast until the next meeting, the Recording Brother, John McConville, came to our row after services, greeting us and saying to me personally, “Your son is studying for baptism.”
Brethren and sisters, how many of you stand alone — a sole representative of your family for the standards of Truth ? I write to you now. Eleven years ago God called me (John 6:44) one of our family of three to the greater family of God, the Cbristadelphians worldwide. My mother and sister-in-law were baptized a year later, and it has been our combined prayers that my husband and son would become obedient to God’s calling.
For all of these eleven years our son has been away from home, establishing his own life. A house divided is not always easy to present Truth to ‘unlistening ears’ on family visits. But at every opportunity we must extend the full messages of hope and Truth, leaving behind in our tracks any and all printed literature that we have which spell out the gospel facts — the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.
That is what we did. All our lives have crisis periods. At each one of these crests it is as though the heavenly Father extends the opportunity to better ‘preach’ (share our literature) from His guiding instruction, extolling always His great love and concern for those who will become obedient. And the beautiful climax of this report is that it worked! Up until 6 days ago my son had never had contact with any outside member of our household (Christadelphia) — never had gone to a meeting. Then one call from a visiting brother put it altogether . . . all those periods of our brief discussions, the many pamphlets he had read, blended together in his single request for intense study.
Now those are the advantages, and those are the opportunities. If you are a latecomer out of Christendom and are in a divided household as I have been, let us take heart. One is a beginning, and our Scriptures ring forth with four prime examples of faith and action where one member brought salvation (saving) to their household . . . Joshua 6 records the inspiring story of Rahab, where ‘by faith she hid the spies’ and (v. 25) “Joshua saved Rahab . . . and all that she had.” The Acts of the Apostles records three: Cornelius, a devout man that feared God (chapters 10, 11) “He and all his house shall be saved.” Acts 16:15 tells of Lydia who “worshiped God and was baptized, and her household.” Then in verses 25-31 of Acts 16 we have the record of the keeper of the prison. Paul and Silas are imprisoned . . . it is midnight, and there is an earthquake. The prison keeper (afraid that his prisoners had escaped) is just about to kill himself when he cried out, “What shall I do to be saved ?” — Paul spoke forth “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved and thy house — and they spake to him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house . . . that same hour of the night was baptized, he and all his . . .”
Yes, we (like the above examples) may stand singularly for a time in our home, but we are not really alone. We have the greatest power in the universe with us and it is not His will that any should perish. Pray continually for the lost members of your family, then may it also become your great joy to hear, “Your son (or daughter) is studying for baptism.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One