The other day I found myself in a rather remarkable situation. One that ate a good deal of my day. I sat down to write a post for this blog only to get sidetracked from my original topic and write on something else. That's not the first time that has happened so I let the Lord lead me in my writing and wrote what I had not intended to write. Then I began to write what I had set out to write in the first place.
That didn't work out too well because I was interrupted by a phone call. It was my sister asking me to address whether or not something she posted on social media was satanic. I looked to see what she had put up and discovered nothing more satanic than a bible verse.
From there I found myself quickly drawn into a conversation with someone that claimed all sorts of heretical things. I feel very sorry for this person because it was tragedy that brought on their beliefs, or at least deepened them, but that does not make what they believe true.
I had no intention of engaging in conversation with this person and certainly had no intention of debating with them but almost as soon as I answered my sisters question the other person addressed a question to me. And that began a long drawn out conversation which I must admit led nowhere unless it might have planted a seed in someone, be it the person I spoke with via social media or someone that reads it.
I won't give you the convoluted details of what this person believes because quite honestly, I couldn't if I wanted to. It was confusing and seemed to have little to no theme holding them together. Suffice it to say this person claims to believe in 'Jesus', says he visits them in dreams and tells them all sorts of things that are not in the Bible. This person does not believe the Bible to be God's word, at least they don't believe it has not been adulterated by men to the point that it cannot be believed. From there...things just got weird fast.
That conversation had me involved much more than I wanted to be. I tried to extract myself from it but this person just continued to question and push. I shared the gospel. I told this person what I believe. I tried to extricate myself from the conversation only to have this person question or push again.
We moved from talking on a public forum to talking privately through that forum. It was not of my doing. I thought we had ended our conversation only to have them send me a private message. Having already come to the conclusion that to continue the conversation would be to cast my pearls before swine, I tried to keep my side of things shallow and vague.
And I was doing that. I told this person repeatedly that I do not share their belief and continued to give the briefest of summaries on what it is that I believe. But then...this person shared something that tugged at my heart. They shared some of their childhood with me and some of the things they experienced as an adult. The story made me hurt for them but more than that it caused me to stop and think.
For an all too brief time I found myself sharing a bit in this person's life, someone I will most likely never meet in person, someone that for some reason the Lord saw fit to bring into my life.
At the same time all this was happening my husband was telling me I was wasting my time talking to them, that they are lost and I was just casting my pearls before swine. My sister was also gaining attention on her social media site, getting comments and even requests for friendship from new people, because of the comments between me and this other person. One man told my sister that its a waste of time to keep trying with people like that...and he's right. He told her to share the gospel and give up if they aren't open to it.
I also had a situation on a reformed group where someone was talking with a former Mormon turned Atheist. I did not get involved in that conversation but read some of the conversation. The first bit of advice given to the person asking the original question was, 'lost. Keep your pearls.'
That reply could have been said to me at that very moment. My pearls were being tossed in the pig pen and trampled every which way. I thought of Christ telling the disciples to give the gospel but to 'shake the sand from your sandals' if they aren't receptive. I thought of my husband's encouragement to end the conversation. And I did try to bow out of it. I just wanted to do it in such a way that I did not leave this other person upset or angry. My need to gently disengage from the conversation was keeping me in it much longer than I wanted to be there.
But it was that persons painful past that made me mentally stop and wonder. I can't say I understand how this person came by all the, dare I say, crazy ideas they had about Christ and eternity but something in their past had caused them to grab onto a false gospel and they were hanging on with a stranglehold. In the end this person got the idea that they had taught me something, all I said was they had given me much to think on, and they went their merry way happily.
But this person and their mixed up heresy still lingers in my mind. The Lord crossed our paths for a reason. Was it for me to share the gospel with them? Or to put it out there for some of the many others that read that conversation on my sisters social media.
Or...was it to teach me something?
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