Over the next month, my mother saw how close we were becoming, and she was getting concerned. I was always with Karen, and I stopped going to church altogether. I knew that she thought Karen was causing me to stray farther away from God. She would invite me to go to church every Sunday, but I always had something planned with Karen.
One day she reminded me about the conversation we had by saying, "I thought you wanted to become a good testimony for Karen by going to church more often, but you haven't been to church since you and Karen started dating".
I apologized to my mom. I told her I didn’t want to pressure Karen, so it was going to take some time.
"It's almost been three months," she replied. "How much time do you need?"
"You're right, but I think it would be better if you asked her, instead of me," I said.
She replied, "I would be more than happy too."
The next day was a Saturday, and I brought Karen to our house so my mother could ask her if she would like to go to church with us tomorrow. She asked and Karen told her she would go. We made plans for me to pick her up for the 11 a.m. service at Truthville Baptist Church.
When I went to pick her up the following day, I met her family as they were getting ready to go to their church. Karen was standing by my side when Kelly, her older sister, said, “Karen told me it was your mother who invited her to go to your church.” I told her she was correct. Kelly got a little defensive and said, "Well then you should come with us to our church next Sunday.”
I told her that sounded fair and then we all went our separate ways. On our way to church, I was really excited because I knew I needed to get back to going to church. I was hoping and praying that our Pastor would say something from God's Word that would captivate Karen and make her want to learn more about God. Then we could go as a couple.
When church began, we sang a few hymns and had a word of prayer. Then the Pastor announced we had a guest speaker. He was going to talk to us about the Gideon's ministry. I looked at my mother with disappointment. I was hoping for a good message and I wasn't sure if there was going to be a message at all.
The guest speaker told the congregation that the sole purpose of their ministry was to travel around the world and distribute Bibles to everyone they meet. He thanked the congregation for their support and contributions over the years, but then he went on and on about how much more money they needed to reachtheir goal for the year. He talked about what the money was going to be used for. I know Bible’s cost money and I knew that our church gave money to the Gideon's and other missionaries around the world. I knew the money we gave was used to fund these ministries, but Karen didn't know that. She expected to hear a message, not some guy that she didn't know asking her for her money.
After the church service was over, my mother walked right up to Karen and apologized for what took place. Karen told her not to worry about it, but it didn't sound sincere. I told my mother I would explain it to Karen better, after we were gone. When Karen and I got to the car, I told her I was really disappointed.
Then I said, " I've never heard anyone use the whole time provided for the service to ask the congregation for more money, and I'm sorry you had to hear that. It's not what our church is about."
She told me it was ok, but the tone of her voice was telling me it wasn't. So I replied, "No it's not ok." Then I asked her to tell me what she was really thinking.
She said, "When my mother was looking for a church to become a member of, she visited many churches of different religions. All of them made her feel like all they wanted was her money, except the church of the Jehovah witness. The members of that church made her feel excepted, whether she gave to the church or not. That's one of the reasons she became a Jehovah Witness." I tried to make her understand the best I could without being a hypocrite, but it was hopeless.
Deuteronomy 14; 23 says, " The purpose of tithing {giving} is to teach you to put God in first place in your life." But there seemed to be no place for Him in my life, so what could I say. Leviticus 27; 30 says, " A tenth of all your produce is the Lord's and it is holy." But yet I never tithed, and there were times when I had a steady income coming in, but it never crossed my mind to give any of it to God. Matthew 23:23 “Yes, you should tithe, and you shouldn't leave the more important things undone either." The truth was that I didn't want to give to God. Proverbs 10; 9 says, " The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out."
I realized where God stood in my life. I didn't follow the teachings that I had been taught by going to Sunday school and church throughout my life, but I was comfortable with where I stood. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was arguing with Karen about the statement she made concerning her mother's decision, because I was being found out. I hated feeling guilty for the way I was living, so I decided to end the conversation.
The next day, I told my mother about what Karen said. I told her I felt like I couldn't respond to what Karen said without feeling like a hypocrite. I told my mother that I finally understood the importance of remaining faithful to God, yet I contemplated whether or not I was going to do anything about it. Again, it became easier to ignore the way that I felt than to surrender my life to God, but He wasn't done.
The following Sunday, I kept my word to Kelly and went to their church with Karen and her family. I brought my Bible, because my mother told me that the Bible, they used to study from was completely different from the King James Version. This was the most common version that most religions studied from to learn about God's word. She told me to follow along with my Bible, so that I wouldn't get confused.
During the service I noticed a lot of similarities between the two Bibles, but it became too hard to compare them. I decided to use just one of the Bibles because I trusted my mother. After the service was over Kelly, walked us to my car and asked me what I thought about the service.
I said, “It was ok, but your Bible seems to be so much different from mine.” She replied, "It really isn't that different. It was written, so that people could understand it better.”
I felt like she could tell that I was still skeptical by the way I looked at her after her response, so she asked if I wanted to come to her house sometime to compare Bibles. That way, she could show me that they weren't that different.
"I would love too," I said. "But I need some time to go over some scripture to be more prepared."
I figured she knew her Bible better than I did mine.
11 Timothy 3:16-17 (LB) says " The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is wrong in our lives; it is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point..."
When Karen and I were driving to her house, I tried to talk to her about her church and what happened last Sunday at mine. She interrupted me by saying," I heard enough when you were talking to Kelly and I don't want to talk to you about your religion or mine anymore. If you want to get together with Kelly and compare Bible’s, then fine but leave me out of it."
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It seems like all we do is talk about religion ever since I went to your church. I'm scared that it's going to come between us. I just want things to be the way they used to be," she confessed.
I apologized and told her I would never let anything come between us.
Karen, I was worried that you got the wrong impression about my religion. I was hoping that we could start going to my church as a couple. But, if you feel that religion is coming between us, then it can wait until you’re ready," I explained.
She touched my leg and said, "Darin just because I don't go to church, doesn't mean I don't believe in God. I just don't feel the need to go to church, and I hope that you can respect my decision." Since Karen felt secure, I figured I would let it go, because it wasn't worth arguing about. Besides she told me that she believed in God, and that was good enough for me.
Psalms 26:12 ––In the congregation I will bless the Lord.
Some believers say, “I don’t need to go to church; Jesus and I get along just fine on our own.” But the Bible never endorses such a spirit. It always pictures believers coming together for worship and mutual encouragement. Daily Bible Pg 229
That night I told my mother about the conversation that Karen and I had, and asked her, to pray for Karen like she did for me. I also told Karen that her sister, Kelly wanted me to come over to her house, to compare Bibles, but that I needed time to go over some scripture.
She expressed her concerns, and I eased her mind by telling her that I would never convert over to her religion. I did tell her, that when I was following along in my Bible, I noticed a lot of similarities, and that it confused me.
She told me that the Bible was very hard to understand, and there are many people from all religions, including our own, who take scripture out of context.
As our conversation proceeded, I asked a lot of questions. However, I got frustrated with her because she didn't know all the answers to my questions, and she wasn't able to use the Bible as a reference with what she was telling me. I was always taught, when you talk to someone about God, you should be able to use His word to prove to them what you are saying is true, or else it’s just words, and there's no truth behind it.
After I explained my frustration to my mother, she said, “Maybe I'm not the best person to help prepare you for your visit with Kelly, because I don't spend time with Him on a regular basis, and I don't know the Bible as well as I should.” Then she put her head down, I could tell she was getting ready to cry, so I put my arms around her and asked her why she was crying.
She answered, “Because I didn't set a very good example for my children to follow, which stands to reason why all three of my children have strayed away from the Lord.“
I released her from my arms and said with a stern voice, “Mom don't even think of blaming yourself for our choices. You and Dad brought us up in a good Christian home. You took us to church every Sunday morning and evening. You even took us to church on Thursdays. You and Dad paid our tuition to go to a Christian school. You have given each of your children all the love and support a child could ask for. So, don't ever let me hear you blame yourself for the way that we are living again.”
After that she asked, “Then why is it that you strayed so far from the Lord?” I stood up from my chair and said with a loud voice, “I don't know, but it’s not your fault.” Then she asked where I was going? I told her I didn't know, but I needed to get away, because I didn't like where our conversation was going.
There was a letter from my mother lying on the kitchen table when I returned home and this is what it said....
After I got done reading the letter a second time, I walked upstairs to my mother's bedroom and kissed her on the cheek. She opened her eyes and I said, "Thank you so much for the letter."
She said, "You're welcome."
"Mom, don't ever think that you failed any of your children with how you raised us," I said. You're the best mother a son could ask for, and I love you very much."
She reached out, gave me a hug, and thanked me. Then she asked, "Are you going to wait for me to help prepare you for your visit with Kelly?"
I told her yes and that I was looking forward to it. After that, a tear ran down her face. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "Nothing, I'm just so happy, because I can see God working in your life.”
I replied, "It’s a good feeling."
Then she thanked God for answered prayers, and kissed me good night.
It didn't take long for my mother to show me some verses that pertained to what she had told me about the Bible, but she wasn't done. Over the next few weeks, she put together a lesson for me that I could easily use to teach people about God's word. It began the only way that it could.
CLICK the image of the World to read the lesson my mother wrote - Side Note - The reason I hyper linked my mother's letter is because it's not the original. Unfortunately I misplaced it and as a result, I had to rewrite it. I have no idea if what I wrote is anything like the original. I just wanted to make sure that it explained salvation and how to have a better relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the beginning God created the Heaven's and the Earth. Genesis 1:1
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:37
Click the image for the full story
This right here, proves that Satan's time is short, so he isn't going to be subtle any longer.
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