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I am
sixty-something, a retired journalist. I was raised in a Baptist
home, and remained active in that church for thirty years.
During my teens I began asking basic questions: How do we
know Christians go to heaven when they die? What happened to all the
people who died before Jesus was born? Why would a loving God send
anyone to eternal torment in hell?
Not content with being told, "You've just got to have
faith," I wanted answers from the bible. My Baptist minister
couldn't give them to me. Neither could the other clergy in our
community.
In my early 30s I started receiving the answers I was
seeking, and they were astonishing. As a result my wife, Betty, and
I left the Baptist church to keep the Sabbath, the holy days, and
the dietary laws catalogued in the old testament.
After twenty-six years in the Worldwide Church of God, and
the Church of God International, God decided our talents would be
better used in, to quote Jesus' words, a "little flock."
We now belong to a small, autonomous congregation, the Christian
Family Church of God, Burlington, Ontario, and continue to observe
God's holy days, the Sabbath, and the dietary laws.
God started using my talents as a Christian writer several
years ago. Despite retirement I continue to write Life Lines, and he
has entrusted me to send them worldwide to more than fifteen hundred
dedicated readers like you. Some have been translated into other
languages, some go to missionaries, and some are apparently being
forwarded to prisons.
I sometimes function as an on-line counselor. When people
write expressing the blessings they receive from God's help through
me, they don't realize I receive the greater blessing knowing I'm
able to help them.
Life Lines is popular with my readers. Some agree, some
disagree, but few ignore what I have to say. Each column is a
message about life, and generally includes a moral or a mini-sermon.
Many have a touch of humor in them, and some open the way to
controversy.
I don't always write to the party faithful. That would be
easy: just tell them what they want to hear (Isaiah
30:9-10). Instead, I take the view of John Homer Miller,
who said, "What is a sermon for but to do two things: It should
comfort the afflicted, and it should afflict the comfortable."
You may use Life Lines for sermons, for church bulletins, or
whatever. Many on-line readers send them to their friends. My only
request is, if you publish them in any form, please include a credit
line. Thank you.
God's blessings and peace be upon you
Bro. Les Turvey - Serving the only true and living God
You may
contact the Life Lines author at laturvey@becon.org.
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