GOOD NEWS REGARDING GILLY'S STEPFATHER, LESLIE WARD.

DEAR FRIENDS,

FOLKS READING MY BLOG WILL KNOW THAT GILLY'S STEP DAD, LESLIE, DIED IN HOSPITAL SOMEWHAT SUDDENLY, ALTHOUGH AGED 93, AROUND 10pm LAST WEDNESDAY. ABOUT 4 OR SO WEEKS AGO I HAD AN EXCELLENT AND EXTENDED CONVERSATION WITH LESLIE ON SPIRITUAL MATTERS, IN PARTICULAR, THE SUBJECT OF SALVATION BY FAITH AND NOT WORKS, DEATH, HEAVEN AND HELL. I COULD SEE THAT HE WAS GIVING ME SERIOUS AND UNDIVIDED ATTENTION AND I LEFT HIM WITH THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO DEAL DIRECTLY WITH GOD. HE DID NOT MENTION THE CONVERSATION WITH ME AGAIN AND WHEN I TRIED TO BE " SPIRITUAL" HE SEEMED TO DEFLECT THE CONVERSATION.

WHEN WE WERE CALLED TO HIS BEDSIDE ON WEDNESDAY PAST AND FOUND HIM IN A SEMI-COMOTOSE STATE, KNOWING THAT HEARING IS THE LAST FACULTY TO CLOSE DOWN, I READ THE SCRIPTURES AND PRAYED IN PARTICULAR I LED A PRAYER FOR LESLIE TO SILENTLY REPEAT AS HE WAS UNABLE TO SPEAK. IT WAS NOT ONLY A PRAYER OF COMMITMENT BUT A PRAYER OF COMMITMENT TO GOD AT THE TIME OF DEATH [INTERESTINGLY THE ELDERLY MAN IN THE NEXT BED BEHIND THE SCREENS SAID "AMEN" TO THE PRAYER!]

WHEN WE VISITED AGAIN IN THE EVENING GILLY SPOKE INTO HIS EAR ABOUT HIS MOTHER WHO WAS A BELIEVER, AND INSTRUCTED HIM AGAIN ON HOW TO GAIN ENTRY TO HEAVEN AND THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS. THINKING THAT HE WOULD PROBABLY PASS AWAY IN THE "WEE SMALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT" WE WENT HOME FEELING THAT WE HAD DONE ALL THAT WE COULD. LESLIE DIED LESS THAT 2 HOURS LATER. ON RECEIVING NEWS OF LESLIE'S DEATH WE WERE SADDENED AND, IN ALL HONESTY, UNCERTAIN AS TO HIS ETERNAL FUTURE AND DESTINATION.

OVER 20 YEARS AGO WE HAD BEEN IN A SIMILAR POSITION AFTER THE DEATH OF GILLY'S UNCLE JOHN. A FRIEND, WHO IS A LOCAL PASTOR, HAD BEEN VISITING JOHN IN THE HOSPICE AND TOLD GILLY AND I THAT " HE CERTAINLY BELIEVED IN JESUS". HE WAS A KIND BUT RATHER ROUGH OLD DIAMOND AND GILLY KNEW HIM WELL SO WE WERE LEFT SOMEWHAT BEWILDERED ABOUT HIS ETERNAL DESTINY.

 

WE SOUGHT THE LORD: "IF UNCLE JOHN IS TRULY SAVED, LORD PLEASE WILL YOU SPEAK DIRECTLY TO US BY BRINGING THE JOHN 3:16 "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD...." PASSAGE TO OUR ATTENTION IN SOME WAY BEFORE THE FUNERAL. LATER THAT SAME DAY,LESS THAN AN HOUR OR SO, I PULLED OUT A DAILY READINGS BOOK AND TURNED UP THE READING ALLOCATED TO THAT DAY!!!!!!!!! YOU'VE GUESSED! YES, IT WAS JOHN 3:16-17. WE PRAISED THE LORD THAT THOSE WHO CALL ON HIS NAME WILL BE SAVED.

ABOUT 5 OR 6 YEARS LATER I WAS MINISTERING TO AN OLD CHAP OF 90+ WHO WAS IN A LOCAL NURSING HOME. HE HAD BEEN A GOOD ANGLICAN ALL HIS LIFE, ATTENDING A WORSHIP SERVICE EVERY SUNDAY, LIVING A GOOD LIFE AND SOMETIMES COMING TO THE CHRISTIAN MEETINGS WHICH TOOK PLACE IN OUR RESTAURANT AT THAT TIME. BUT HE DID NOT HAVE ASSURANCE. A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE HE DIED I LED HIM IN THE "SINNERS PRAYER" ON HIS DEATHBED BUT AFTER HIS DEATH I FEARED THAT HE HAD ONLY PRAYED TO PLEASE ME AND THAT IT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN GENUINE.

SO WE PRAYED AGAIN AND ASKED THE LORD TO DO THE SAME THING WITH JOHN 3:16. BEFORE THE FUNERAL. AND THIS HE DID!! THIS TIME FROM AN OLD LARGE SEPIA PHOTOGRAPH OF THE CHURCH ARMY PREACHING AT PENRITH MARKET. ON THE SIDE OF THE HORSE-DRAWN CARAVAN WAS THE GOSPEL VERSE!  THERE WAS AN ADDITIONAL BLESSING TOO, BECAUSE WE RECEIVED THIS FROM THE LORD AS WE WERE LITERALLY "EN ROUTE" TO THE FUNERAL WHERE A MISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT WHO "Mr GEMMELL" WAS RESULTED IN MY NOT BEING TOLD THAT I WAS THE PREACHER UNTIL I ARRIVED AT THE CREMATORIUM DOOR WITH 5 MINUTES TO SPARE. BUT I HAD A STRONG TESTIMONY OF WONDERFUL NEWS WHICH PROFOUNDLY TOUCHED A RETIRED CHURCH MINISTER.

NOW THE CURRENT SITUATION. BEFORE DEPARTING FOR A WEEKEND CONFERENCE AT BROCKLEY HALL, SALTBURN BY THE SEA, GILLY AND I, AS PART OF OUR PERSONAL QUIET TIME ON FRIDAY, ASKED THE LORD IF HE WOULD GRACIOUSLY GIVE US THE SAME VERSE BY SOME "ALTERNATIVE" MEANS BEFORE LESLIE'S FUNERAL. I SHARED THIS WITH THE FIRST MEETING AT BROCKLEY ON FRIDAY NIGHT ALTHOUGH I DID NOT SPECIFY THAT WE HAD REQUESTED A PARTICULAR VERSE FROM THE LORD.

AFTER WE RETURNED TO OUR ROOM THAT EVENING GILLY OPENED CHRISTMAS CARDS WHICH WE HAD BEEN GIVEN, AND THE ONE FROM THE GREETHAM FAMILY, MADE BY STEPHEN GREETHAM, HAD THAT FAMOUS VERSE BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTED IN A CIRCLE AROUND THE INSIDE OF THE CARD. SO OVERJOYED, GILLY DID NOT NOTICE THAT IN ANOTHER CARD, QUITE INDEPENDENTLY, THE VERSE ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE CARD READ "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE".

THIS SHE DISCOVERED ON THE NEXT MORNING AND REALISED THAT WE HAD A DOUBLE WITNESS...... "IN THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES IS A THING ESTABLISHED" Matthew 18:16. SO WE REJOICE IN THE CONFIDENT HOPE THAT LESLIE, BY GRACE ALONE, HAS BEEN RECEIVED INTO THE GLORIOUS ETERNAL PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THAT HE WILL BE AMONGST THOSE OF WHOM PAUL WRITES, "THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST", AT THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR US. WE ARE COMFORTED AND ENCOURAGED. THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR WILL GIVE US A DATE FOR THE FUNERAL IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS AND WE HAVE JUST COMPLETED OUR ARRANGEMENTS WITH HIM ( HIS GREAT GRANDMOTHER WAS JEWISH, HE HAS WORKED ON A KIBBUTZ AND RECOGNISED THE MENORAH ON OUR MANTLEPIECE!). EVERYTHING WENT AS SMOOTHLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS WE WOULD HAVE WANTED; JUST AS SOME OF YOU PRAYED TODAY!!!!! I WILL CONDUCT THE FUNERAL SERVICE WITH REAL JOY AND CONVICTION ESPECIALLY DEVELOPING THE MESSAGE  FOR ANY UNBELIEVERS WHO MAY BE THERE. YOUR PRAYERS WILL BE APPRECIATED.

LOVE AND BLESSINGS IN HIM,

BRIAN AND GILLY.