Fictional Stories, but could be true...

[jeremiah7]

1. The Pastor's Son

Steve was in a dilemna. He knew for sure that he had not yet repented of his sins truly from his heart to take water baptism, but the pressure on him from family and church was tremendous. He was 18 now and was in this Bible believing Church since he was a child. His father was the pastor of the Church where the congregation averaged 200 every Sunday.His father was a dynamic preacher and committed to Christ and his kingdom. His mother was devout too and he had heard from her many times how she fasted and prayed that he may take water baptism. He disliked hearing that and would evade her questions saying that there was still time.
He had given many excuses and postponed the event, but his father was adamant now that he be baptized before the new year began, which was only a couple of months away. His father's ire was more so because the associate pastor's children who were younger than his son had already been baptized. It was like an insult to him, that being the pastor, his 18 year old son had not yet been baptized.
The year inched away to it's end and so did Steve's father's patience. He was unduly quiet lately and Steve knew that it was not a good sign. The turmoil in his heart increased each day. His Bible reading was erratic, his prayers minimal and worship was limited to his work on the key board each Sunday and a couple of songs at family prayer each night. He did not feel guilty inside him and seeing movies on TV with the ever available dish channels was his passion. No one knew of this part of his life though because he was discreet and did it in the privacy of his room using head phones so that no sound leaked out.
Finally the last week of the year arrived. A baptism ceremony had been scheduled for a few converts who were passionate about Jesus. His father's ever increasing silent, stern glances pierced his heart mercilessly and he decided to put an end to the matter. He informed his mother about his decision of taking the baptism. She was overjoyed and his father heaved a sigh of relief when she broke the news to him. The baptism was scheduled at 8.30 am, last Sunday of the year. There would be the 1st communion for the newly baptized.
Steve had witnessed many baptisms. All he had to do was nod and answer in the affirmative when the pastor asked the questions and he had memorized a couple of sentences as testimony. Nothing to worry about. The fasting prayers in the church commenced. Steve was there allright, but his thoughts were on the block-buster movie to be aired that night on Channel X.
The night prior to the baptism, Steve sat late into the night watching his favourite action movies, with his headphones in place. The baptism went on as scheduled. Steve had fooled everyone, except one ......God Almighty, his Creator.

 

[jeremiah7]

2. Melissa

Melissa's mother had been sick for quite a while. She had been working for a textile firm for around 16 years. What started as a mild anxiety finally was labelled as Schizophrenia and she was put on appropriate drugs. It was 8 years since the medicines were first prescribed. Without the medicines, she would be hyperactive, anxious and suspicious. Melissa was the only one in the family to have accepted Jesus as her personal Savior. Melissa, her elder brother and parents attended an episcopal church in the heart of the city.
Seeing that the Church priest rarely bothered to visit their home or pray for her mother, Melissa contacted an evangelist from her own church to come and pray for her mother. She had heard from friends that her mother's condition could be demon possession rather than a mental disorder. The evangelist did pray but confessed that he did not have power to pray and bring about a deliverance for her mother. He suggested the name of a pastor who could probably help in this matter, for he had the gifts of prophecy and healing. Melissa's hopes got a boost by hearing this. She immediately made arrangements for a prayer meeting to be held at her home and invited the pastor of whom the evangelist had mentioned.
The prayer meeting was wonderful; different from the dull and dreary worship in her church. The pastor prayed and told Melissa that her mother was suffering from demonic affliction because of witch-craft done by her own relatives. 'So what was to be done next', was Melissa's immediate question. First of all, said he, the family had to worship God in Spirit and in Truth and then God would bring deliverance. 'Since your father and brother do not have an inclination to do so, you are the one who must do it. Join our church, worship in Spirit and in Truth, remove all your ornaments, take water baptism, fast and pray and God will heal her.'
Melissa believed everything that the pastor said because she was desperate to see her mother set free. In a week's time, she was in a new church, had taken baptism and removed all her ornaments. Several prayer meetings were held in her home later on, there were many more prophesies, but no actual deliverance for her mother. Someone said that she should have more faith. She tried hard, cried her heart out, obeyed more regulations that the pastors adviced. Nothing seemed to change.
Melissa's enthusiasm regarding her mother's deliverance which had reached the zenith after her changing the church and obeying regulations tapered off as time passed. 14 years on, Melissa's mother still had no deliverance from her condition. As the years passed by, the mother grew frail because of continual medication; she ate very little, had poor memory and was finally bedridden. The pastors no more prophesied deliverance and Melissa no more prayed for her mother's healing. She finally started praying that God would put an end to her mother's misery. Nothing seemed to work. Despite all this, Melissa was steadfast in her faith and devotion to Jesus. She did not understand many things, yet she believed that Jesus loved and cared for her. There was no looking back for her.

 

[jeremiah7]

3. Whom shall we impress?

There was frantic activity in the Pearson's home. Their pastor had just called saying that the guest pastor who was to speak the next morning for Sunday Worship would be dining at their home. Could they make arrangements? Of course, Mr. Pearson had said without giving it a second thought and their pastor had hung up the phone saying they would be there by 7pm. "How could you agree? retorted Mrs. Pearson as soon as her husband gave her the news. Just look around, this house is in a mess. Truly, the house was in a mess. There were a pile of things lying scattered, the carpet was not vaccumed, there were spider cobwebs hanging from the side walls, the shelves were in disarray. The children were busy squatting on the ground eating chips and peanuts. Just 3 hours for the guests to arrive. This was an emergency. They decided to buy dinner for the guests so that they had enough time to tidy up the house to impress the guest speaker. The front room, dining room and the bathroom should be made spick and span, because that would be the only places that the guest would actually be seeing. After all, said Mama, "First impression is the best impression". Dad agreed.

Dad & Mom got to work; sweeping, scrubbing, vaccumming, arranging... Mark, the teenager rushed out to buy dinner and fresh flowers from the nearby mall, after putting the younger children in his room upstairs. A couple of hours later, they were still sweating it out. The bathroom was the final thing to be taken care of and Dad gave it a vigorous scrub. Mom put in the final touches; new eye catching table cloth, fresh blooms in the vase. "They look gorgeous," she said to herself. The children were bathed, everyone dressed their best and were ready by 7.
7.10, the door bell rang. Mr. Pearson rushed to the door and opened. "Mr. Pearson, how good to see you", said the pastor. Looking over his shoulder, he waved to Mrs. Pearson and the kids. And this is Pastor Benson, he said, holding the guest speaker's hand and guiding him into the Pearson's home. "Oh, I forgot to tell you when I called", said their pastor, "Pastor Benson is an amazing man, great speaker, was born blind, he can't see anything at all."

Copyrights 2010 Dr. Johnson Cherian

 

[jeremiah7]

4. Color

Albert had been a believer for 15 years. He had won over every bad habit or trait of his; almost all, so as to say. Smoking, drinking, cursing were no longer a part of him. Tall, fair and handsome. An ideal husband and father was he. Secretary of Mission Chennai Full Gospel Church and Bible class teacher. Respected by most. Yet one thing he couldn't or didn't want to part with. He preferred the company of the elite at work and even in church. He couldn't stand the sight of the lower caste and poor. Secretly and sometimes overtly he chided them and showed his displeasure when they sought his company or asked for favors. His wife had known this all along and often had talked to him about being Christ minded and being impartial. But he just ignored her advice saying that it was because of their sins or shortcomings that they were of lower caste and poverty was a curse of their forefathers.

Some time later, one day Albert came back early from office; he was feverish and had severe low back pain. Painkillers didn't seem to bring much relief and he consulted his doctor the next day. Already very weak and a bit dizzy, the doctor advised him to get admitted for a few blood tests. The next day of admission, he had bleeding from his gums and nose. The blood reports showed a very low platelet count and the doctor diagnosed the sickness to be Dengue fever. Albert needed blood transfusions because the bleeding had increased and he had been vomiting blood. His friends at work and the church members rallied together to donate blood. Albert was semi-comatose and his platelet count was not showing any improvement. The doctor advised 10 platelet transfusions and many of the church members willingly donated. There was round the clock prayer going on for Albert.

2 weeks later, Albert gained consciousness and began taking fluids orally. Another week passed before he was discharged and went home. As he gained strength, he wanted to know who all had been kind enough to give their blood to save his life. His wife told him about all who had been merciful. When Albert heard the names, he wept. 8 of the blood donors were those of the lower caste; men and women he belittled. He wept his heart out. His tears were not those of regret, but of repentance. God had cleansed him through this episode. He had a testimony to give in church and it was a new one; one without guile.

 

[jeremiah7]

5. Mohandas

When Mohandas started attending the worship services at Mahanaim Gospel Centre, a few believers frowned because the young man had a bad history of relationships with several women. The pastor was of the opinion that he should be given a chance to reform himself and become a child of God. The fact was that he now lived with his wife and 2 year old child, but was also maintaining relationship with his divorced wife whom he was supporting financially and there was another woman involved about whom not many knew about.

From the time he attended the services at Mahanaim Gospel Centre, Mohandas was regular at the Wednesday Bible Study and the Sunday Worship. He seemed fervent in his approach to his spiritual life. When asked by the pastor regarding whether he had accepted Christ as Savior, he said he had done so a couple of years back. 2 months after joining the present church, he asked that the Pastor baptize him. The Pastor told him that he needed to clean up his life regarding his relationships and then it could be arranged. Though the Pastor did not publicly admonish him, over the next several months, through the Word and also privately, he told him of how a New Testament believer's life should be.

Mohandas always nodded in agreement, but did not take any steps to change his ways. Over the next several months, Mohandas often hinted the Pastor regarding the baptism, but the Pastor always said, "Wait". It was almost a year now since he first came to church, and many of the believers were unhappy that the Pastor was still keeping him in spite of all the bad name he was bringing to the Church. The Pastor, being a humble man of God, waited upon the Lord in prayer regarding the matter. Finally, after giving him warnings and also asking the elders to speak to him, the Pastor told Mohandas to stop attending the services. He showed no grief and did not come back.

A couple of weeks later, the Pastor met Mohandas while shopping. He was all smiles and had news for the Pastor. He had joined a church just close by and had been baptized last week. “But don’t they know about your relationships?” the Pastor asked. “Oh! That’s not a problem with the new Pastor”, he said, and added a “Praise the Lord” as they parted.