Born in a Methodist family. I am the
last of five children. I attended Methodist church since childhood. In 2006, at
School Dean and I would always argue about The Sabbath during our spare time.
In our arguments I would say "The Sabbath falls on a Sunday" and he
would always point to the true Sabbath and backed that up with biblical facts.
I didn't have facts to back my arguments, but all I could say was “If everyone
else goes to worship on a Sunday surely that’s the Sabbath, we can’t all be
wrong or misguided”. I vividly remember denying all the facts he presented. In
his logical explanations he also referred to historical events including the
great persecution of Christians for their obedience to Christ in keeping His
Statutes (I guess he was drawing this part of his facts from the book The
Great Controversy by E.G White – I heard about this book around 2016, read
it in 2021). He tried to explain how most people ended up observing Sunday as
their sabbath. After a while, our arguments came to an end, and I stayed in the
dark with what I believed thus rejecting the truth.
In 2009 with my two other friends, we
attended a crusade hosted by Adventists. I guess we were just whiling up time
as we were still trying to map our careers after High School. After the message
had been delivered at one sermon during the crusade week, a call was made for
those who wanted to give their lives to Christ, to turn to the Truth. One of my
friends heeded the call and was converted. As we began to differ in our beliefs
and lifestyles because of the conversion, our friendship bond became weaker and
weaker with time.
After some months another chance to
turn to the Truth was presented, another crusade was held and again the Truth
was preached. This time the message struck me, particularly the parts
about a relationship with Christ, the essence of the true biblical baptism and
the importance of keeping God’s commandments, including the Sabbath. At this
stage I was able to see how my life was in contrary with what had been preached
(all was biblical) So, I decided to turn to the Truth. I went upfront for the
prayer when the call was made. You will not believe what happened here, pride
got to me while I was up there, and the fear of other people’s perceptions
concerning the decision came to mind. So, I thought to myself “how will I tell
them about this”, I somehow thought that this would be unacceptable to almost
all people in my circles. It also involved switching from Methodism to
Adventism. Soon after the sermon my friend said (the one who had been converted
earlier), “I saw that you went upfront, you did a good thing”, I said to him
“no I just needed a prayer for issues that were bothering me, I am not joining
others in their decision”. These were my words as I plainly rejected the Truth.
At this moment Christ was plainly rejected. That was the beginning of the
rejection of Christ.
One thing I like about the Gospel is
that you can't undo truthful messages that you've heard, especially the ones
that leave you convinced. You just decide either to tag along or go the
opposite way. So I decided, I remained a Methodist. One carrying a burdensome
message that was not heeded (It was burdensome because it was not heeded, all
this is explained in the next few lines). I could not erase the Truth that I
had heard. The message kept on convicting me every now and again. Pride never
gave me a chance to turn to the truth and thus I found it more and more
difficult to switch to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The Truth stayed in my
mind and the convictions kept on coming randomly, sometimes I would not sleep.
To deal with this, I postponed the move to go to Seventh Day Adventist Church.
I pushed it six years into the future so that I could live ‘peacefully’ without
any convictions. It is during this time that I made it hard for myself to make
the move. As I was growing up, I started taking up leadership positions in
church, a catalyst in the sinking process. It then became very difficult to
make the move, but thanks to the power that Christ gives (as shall be described
in the closing paragraphs). After six years it turned out that postponing was
not good enough, so I had to find a permanent solution to deal with the
convictions, I settled for self-justification.
I was carrying a burden. There was no
peace in my heart. If ever you wanted to silence me or cause a bad day, all you
needed was to mention any of these words in our conversations: Baptism,
Sabbath, Born again, Sanctification, Rest. I was part of a Bible Study group, I
struggled for most parts of the Book of Acts as there are many parts
that talk about baptism. Hebrews 4:1-11 was the most unsettling during
our studies.
Around 2017/2018 another week-long
crusade was held by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, this time very close to
our residential area, less than 40 meters from our house. I knew that attending
this crusade would result in hearing the Truth, so I wasn't going to attend at
all. We were so close to the venue that even from inside the house, echoes of
the preacher’s sermon could be heard. From the beginning of the week, I was
determined and wasn't going to attend. Midweek I just could not resist further
and so I then decided to attend, and it was a Wednesday. The same message as
before was preached and a call was made, I remained seated, heart pounding as
never before, deep down the message had struck again. I rejected Christ, again.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a
difficult period for most if not all. To most, this period somehow gave or has
given a reasonable amount of time to introspect. In 2020 between August and
October all the pieces started coming together. One Saturday morning I bumped
into a sermon on YouTube by Pastor Makuvire and it reminded me again of Christ,
His Commandments and about the true Baptism. I realized that Christ had not
been pursuing me to condemn me but to help me make things right. That is when I
made the decision to receive Him. At first, I feared telling people about the
decision I had made, but Christ strengthened me and helped me to overcome this
stage. To know more about the Truth, I continued watching the online sermons
and listening to the wonderful hymns on YouTube (see links at the end). At this
time, we were not able to move around or gather or even attend church because
of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. When the lockdown restrictions due to
Covid-19 were eased, Christ gave me the strength to go to church, to The
Seventh Day Adventist Church. We started our lessons in the baptismal
class. The flow of lessons was affected as at times were forced not to attend
church because of lockdown restrictions. We were eventually baptized on the 6rh
of November 2021, Oh what a happy day.
I hope I have not provoked anyone by
telling this story. I was just narrating events that took place in my life so
that perhaps someone out there who might be trapped can find hope. I hope I did
not condemn anyone too. I was just trying to bring out the point that Christ is
the one who dictates how He would want to be worshiped and that's all there in
the Bible. However, Man (mere mortals) and fallen beings have thought
themselves to be wise and thus have tried to twist the message causing many to
believe the opposite knowingly or unknowingly. But the saying is true that God
is immutable and so are His Statutes (Matthew 5:17-18). I hope that the
story is pointing to Christ.
My advice to many: When the Truth comes
to you, Christ is speaking to you, do not hesitate to open your heart. Do not
be rebellious, do not take a destructive path like the one I had taken.
I thank Jesus Christ for pursuing me. May The Everlasting Gospel reach everyone that many may turn to Christ.
YouTube links
Bluffhill SDA Church YouTube Channel
https://youtube.com/channel/UCErsU06EwXPI9uNFHlPYduA
Mandara SDA Church YouTube
Channel
https://youtube.com/c/MandarasdaChurchDigitalEvangelism
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