Inside Story for Friday 30th of August 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Anush had prayed for years for Father to come to God. After Father allowed her and Mother to return to church on Sabbaths, she began to pray even more earnestly, pleading with God to reveal Himself to Father.

“I don’t want to be the center of this story. Ignore me,” she prayed. “Speak to Father through dreams, visions, or friends. I just want his salvation.”

She surrendered the matter to God. “It’s about You and him,” she said.

Then Father had a dream. In it, he saw fire raining down on a city located near their town in Armenia. He saw some people running and screaming and others who were peaceful and singing. Father was astonished. He told Anush and Mother about the dream.

About the same time, Anush watched an online sermon about the Holy Spirit, and she told Father about it. “The preacher said the fire of the Holy Spirit protects us from the fire of hell,” she said. “When you get the fire of the Holy Spirit, you won’t be scared of the fire at the end of the world.”

Something clicked. Father understood that the frightened people in his dream didn’t have the Holy Spirit and were afraid of hellfire, while the peaceful people were not afraid because they had received the fire of the Holy Spirt. He remembered reading that the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended on Jesus at His baptism (Matthew 3:16).

“I need to get baptized,” Father said.

But the words sounded strange to him even as they came out of his mouth. Armenia prides itself as the first country to adopt Christianity, in 301 A.D., and many Armenians consider it their duty to be Christian. They were baptized as infants, not as adults. Now, Father wasn’t sure what to do.

“You have the Bible,” Anush said. “Read it. Let the Bible answer your questions. Let the Bible lead you to the right church.”

Father read the Bible even more earnestly. One day, a friend asked him why he was reading the Bible so intently. “Is it something to boast about?” the friend asked. “If Jesus came tomorrow, would you say, ‘I have read the Bible?’ Would that be enough?”

The questions shocked Father. His whole body trembled. A short time later, when he had left the friend’s house and was alone in his car, he poured out his heart to God. “If Jesus came tomorrow, what would I say to Him?” he prayed. “If Jesus really came, what would I say to Him?”

He went home and told Mother, “I’ll go to church with you next Sabbath.”

But Father didn’t want to go to the town’s house church, which was comprised of seven women. “Let’s go to the church in the next town,” he said.

From that Sabbath, Father began to worship every week in church.

Part of last quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering went to open a center of influence for families like Anush’s in Yerevan, Armenia. Thank you for helping spread the gospel with your offerings. Next week: Father is baptized.

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