Divine Testimonies

Just before I wrote this section, I had a short dream. In this dream, it was Sunday morning, and my mother and I were heading to church. A few minutes into the journey, as my mother headed around a bend, I looked over out of the passenger window and saw that an earthquake or tremor had struck the very grounds of where the church stood! 

I shouted to my mother, “You see! You see, I told you! I told you this would happen, I warned them this was going to happen, but no one listened to me!” My mother said to me, “Maybe this happened because of what you went through while attending church over the years.”

As we approached the church, the ground was split wide open. The walls surrounding the church were all broken away, and debris was laying everywhere. The church was badly damaged, and I saw that the church spire had collapsed through the church roof. 

There were many people all bloody with cuts and bruises; they were shocked and shaken up by what had happened. The dream ended, and I am still not entirely sure what message the dream held regarding the earthquake that struck my parish church. From what I know from over the years of being

in the church choir and attending Sunday service, is that there were some who behaved in a very unchristian-like manner. You could sense that the Holy Spirit was not present every time you entered the building. 

This was something my pastor also felt. The earthquake that struck the church in my dream was a warning to its people that his church needed to get right with God. Some would say that there were a few hypocrites who attended our church. 

To this day, this is a common problem among some churchgoers. Several years ago, our past minister would never acknowledge many of the church members in town when they greeted him. After one Sunday Morning Mass, I saw two of our ministers splashing each other with the Holy Water from the baptismal font. I was saying to myself, “This kind of behaviour should not be happening in a holy place. It is not how Jesus would want His Church to behave, especially those who wear the cloth.” 

Some long-time members of the congregation gradually left due to the church's behaviour. The problems extended from the ministers down to the churchwardens who acted as if the church belonged to them. It is only today that their new minister has had a positive impact and changed many things, including asking its members to engage and help others outside its walls. 

We need to preach the Gospel and speak God’s Truth— to bring the love of Christ from within the walls where we worship, to those out in the streets, in the shops, to the places of work or at home. We have to help those who are poor in spirit and those who are suffering. It is our duty to show those who are lost that salvation awaits those who call upon the Lord.

By

Richard Kansley