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ROMANS 8:28 – HURTFUL PLATITUDE OR HOPEFUL COMFORT?

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  You’ve just received some devastating news, unlike any you’ve ever received before. It feels as if you’ve been struck a massive blow, and you’re reeling with pain and confusion. Life, as you’ve known it, will never be the same again. While you are in the depths of your anguish, a well-meaning acquaintance sends a text, seeking to comfort you in whatever way he or she can. They quote the following verse – We know that all things work together for good to them that love God… (Romans 8:28) As you read the words, what is your reaction? Are they like a soothing balm to a wound? Or do they sting worse than salt? This verse is deemed by many as one of the worst you could quote to people who are suffering. In fact, I even came across an online article which instructs the readers not to use this verse in these situations. If you conducted a survey and asked which verse people liked having quoted to them in times of difficulty, I have a feeling that this one might be at the bottom of the list.
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TESTIMONY MONDAY – RIO GRANDE DO SUL, BRAZIL

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Each Monday, for a number of weeks, someone from around the world has shared the story of how they heard the gospel and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Our final contributor is a lady from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.  I was born in 1927 in a rural area of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. All my family and relatives were devout, practising Roman Catholics. I got married when I was 17 years old and had 12 children. When I was 45 my husband died. It was only when I was 54, in 1981, that I first came into contact with the gospel.  One of my sons, Roberto, was saved that year, by the grace of God, and soon started telling me about God’s salvation.  Through his influence I began attending meetings in the Gospel Hall in Porto Alegre and stopped practising my religion. However, it was only 28 years later that I really thought much about the eternal destiny of my soul. At the end of 2009, one of my sons-in-law died and I went to stay for a while with my widowed daughter. At that time a se
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TESTIMONY MONDAY – TIM DONAHUE, USA

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Each Monday, for a number of weeks, someone from around the world shares the story of how they heard the gospel and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. This week’s contributor is Tim Donahue, who was born in Chicago and now lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife, Anna. They have three grown sons and eight grandchildren. Tim is retired, but is very active at Northwest Gospel Hall, where he is in fellowship. I’m here to testify that, like Nicodemus of old, it is entirely possible to have all kinds of religion without having God’s salvation.  I was born on a cold January night in 1956 on the South side of Chicago. My parents were very religious and made sure that all nine of us kids attended church services and were educated in private religious schools. This formed a rock-solid foundation for believing in a triune God and the Bible as the source of truth.  Unfortunately, this religious system also led me to believe that because of my religious activities I would eventual
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TESTIMONY MONDAY – NOEL KERSLAKE, AUSTRALIA

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Each Monday, for a number of weeks, someone from around the world shares the story of how they heard the gospel and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. This week’s contributor is Noel Kerslake, who lives with his wife, Jenny, in Gosford, Australia. They have a deep interest in the salvation of souls and regularly go to rural shows and markets with free Bibles and Scripture wall plaques, and have supplied many thousands of these pictures for distribution in Australia for over 20 years, and now more recently through a friend in the UK. I was raised in a Christian home with both of my parents being saved when I was four years old. My father was brought up in a Christian home and my mother was raised in a home where she and her parents were practising Jehovah’s Witnesses. My father was saved first and then my mother approximately three weeks later. My parents were baptised and belonged to a local assembly, and I was bought up under the sound of the gospel, for which I am very than
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TESTIMONY MONDAY – MARJORIE BOYD, SCOTLAND

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  Each Monday, for a number of weeks, someone from around the world shares the story of how they heard the gospel and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. This week’s contributor is Marjorie Boyd, who was born and lived most of her life in Scotland. She is currently residing in Northern Ireland. I had not the great privilege of a Christian home or saved parents: Oh yes, we were brought up to attend Sunday School and Church, where, sad to say, we never once heard the Gospel Message preached. As was customary, I left school and then pleased myself. While I was at Secondary School, around the early age of 12, I was greatly honoured with a sweet, Christian lady as a teacher. How thankful I am for her Christ-like manner before me then. She left indelible prints on at least one scholar. She made me want to be good, my young mind thinking that’s what made a Christian. I was sadly mistaken; I have since discovered that it is not being good that makes one a Christian, but being a Christ
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TESTIMONY MONDAY – BRAZIL (2)

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Each Monday, for a number of weeks, someone from around the world shares the story of how they heard the gospel and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. This week’s testimony was written by a gentleman from Brazil, who is now in heaven.  When I was a boy, I often accompanied my father to the cemetery where he worked and helped him to prepare the graves. There were always so many graves to dig. We dug them for the old and for the young, for the rich and for the poor. On occasions, we even had to prepare them for our friends. I remember the day I turned twelve (1975), there was an accident and I dug three graves that day. I knew that one day I too would have to face the awful reality of death. At the entrance to the cemetery, there was an inscription in German, ‘Save your Soul’. I remember asking my father what that meant. He could not tell me! He knew nothing other than the doctrines of the only religion that mattered, Catholicism! That was our religion, of course. In it, we wer
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TESTIMONY MONDAY – KIM HOCK FONG, MALAYSIA

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Each Monday, for a number of weeks, someone from around the world shares the story of how they heard the gospel and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. This week’s contributor is Kim Hock Fong, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  World War 2 in Malaysia I was born in 1941 in a small town called Bentong in the state of Pahang, which is known for its mountainous terrain, dense forest and sandy beaches on its east coast. Today, Bentong is a well-known stop for tourists seeking out Malaysia’s king of fruits, the durian, and hill resorts such as Frasers’ Hill and Cameron Highlands. The war came to our country with the Japanese invasion in December 1941 and the fall of Singapore in January 1942. The war ended in 1945 with the surrender of Japan. Family My father’s name was Fong Kon Seong and my mother’s name was Poh Ah Kim. Theirs was an arranged marriage. By the time I was born, they were already a family with two boys and four girls, my older siblings. Over the years there were added to
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