Seattle Convention Echoes: Miracles Amidst The Lord's Arrangements

SEATTLE CONVENTION ECHOES

Dear Friends,

Peace to you in the name of our Redeemer.

I just spent the last several days with bro. Jon Hanning of Ohio, who came to my home to stay for the duration of the Seattle convention.  I've known Jon for years from the internet and through telephone conversations, and from all of his flowering words of Scriptural advice over the years, I just imagined that his wife of 30 years was so blessed to have him.  Now, after living with him for about five days, I can say that he is truly very lucky to have her.  [rim shot! ;=P]

IN ALL SERIOUSNESS,  after several years now of being isolated, and after several years prior to that of associating with the Associated Bible Students (those on the side of the High Calling being open), now I've finally experienced what the Epiphany Bible Students have to offer. I can begin to see some of what had been missing.  Now I respect my brethren of the ABS side of the ledger.  They are devout and sincere and they are blessed by the Lord.  They have a measure of the Lord's spirit and offer the Truth on many subjects, and are all in my thoughts and prayers.  The Epiphany Bible Students, whose conventions are arranged through the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement, have even more.  And at the risk of sounding like an Evangelical preacher...

I saw miracles.

Now you don't need to have a parting of the Red Sea for a miracle.   I had just finished some chores around the house, hoping I might pass bro. Jon's "white glove test" when he drove down the driveway.  Well met indeed, here he was, bigger than life, and than I expected - 6 foot 2 and then some...  We talked for some time.  I had an appointment I was waiting for, but as the day went on I discovered that Jon had not eaten all day, so I canceled the appointment at the last minute and finally after nearly 3 hours we headed toward a restaurant in downtown Gig Harbor.

Now Jon has some dogs at home, which he showed me pictures of, that are a very rare Japanese breed called a "Sheba Inu" ( forgive me if I've misspelled it.)  This particular breed was nearly wiped out after the war when they became a food source on the island, and it was rescued and brought back recently in America.  I have studied dogs, and spent time in dog 4-H as a kid, where I trained them and showed them, and I have never heard of the breed "Sheba Inu", nor have I ever seen one.

We got downtown, I was just ready to turn left onto the road our restaurant was on but I had to stop and wait for a person in the crosswalk - he was walking a Sheba Inu - right across our front bumper.

I wasn't necessarily stunned, as I've seen such things on rare occasions, which I might call "synchronicities" or "link ups" where you just know that everything is in the Lord's hands, and that He is telling you that you are in the right place at the right time.  Still, I was somewhat amazed.  That was merely the least of many miracles I would see as the days progressed. 

The next day I told Jon that I had some teaching appointments I just couldn't skip.  I had tried to re-arrange the times, but this turned out to be the only time I could see them.  However when the day came, some called and asked for a later time, which would co-incide with another student's meeting, and so there were two coming at one time - plus a third, while Jon was visiting me.  They arrived and met Jon.  Now I won't share the details of the personal conversation between Jon and my client, except that almost right away she said that she believed that God had arranged for him to be there just at that exact time to speak with her, and she had an emotional conversation with him for the entire length of the music lesson I held with her daughter in the next room. 

Meanwhile a previous student of mine happened to be there, who had contacted me out of the blue after nearly 6 years away.  He played drums during the session and then we had a long conversation in which I could tell that he needed help and advice.  I felt Jon and I were there for that purpose.  He stayed long enough to where we invited him to join us for dinner at my mom's place, where the discussion quickly turned to the Bible and Bible study.  He sat very attentively and asked several very good questions and appreciated everything that was said.  He has asked me to study the Bible with him.  Of course I will, in hopes he will receive the Truth.  Knowing his character that seems very likely, but we'll leave that up to the Lord.  It was a sanctified evening.

Not bad for the first 24 hours!  We talked into the night and each conversation was itself a miracle as we discussed the Lord's Plan and purposes.  The next day was convention.  There were brethren from all over the world, from Poland, Russia, Germany, India, and all over the U.S. which in itself is another miracle.  The spirit of love and warm fellowship abounded.  The Seattle brethren were near flawless in their efforts to accommodate everyone, and everything ran perfectly smoothly as though they must put on conventions all the time - yet it was their very first convention that they had ever done. 

The talks were deeply insightful.  The Lord's spirit was palpable.  The Lord's arrangements were on display as bro. Ralph Herzig attended, who is the executive Trustee of the LHMM.  He was a delightful person to experience.  His question and answer session was most impressive, as he answered each question with a certainty and conviction that was authoritative and yet humble.  He reminded me of what the brethren must have been like in Pastor Russell's day, the way he spoke with seriousness and a sense of humor at the same time.  Later he joined us for a trip to the top of the Space Needle, which I'll never forget.

Some of the brothers from India handled the electronic sound and video expertly.  Meanwhile the sisters from India wore their native dress, and looked as colorful as butterflies. I thought they seemed like angels among us.  They added a wonderful dimension to the meetings.  And where in the past I may have been chided for my style of dress, here everyone was only welcoming and accepting of me, which was important for me to see.  None were more so than Jon.  "You is what you is" he smiled and said as I put on my funky jacket and rasta hat over my dreadlocks...

What I will take away from the convention is the overall thought that what had been missing with the other groups was what is known as "The Lord's Arrangements".  This was the brought out during at least two of the talks, which were very thorough, Scriptural and helpful in understanding the necessity for having respect for what the Lord intended when he gave us the "meat in due season" through That Servant, Pastor Russell.  It was not merely Pastor Russell's own ideas of successorship which were preserved in his last will and testament.  It was none other than the Lord Himself, through Pastor Russell, giving us the Lord's arrangements for His people to carry on in the Pastor's absence.  The Bible gives us the proper method by which we should assemble ourselves and conduct business.  After his death, there were schisms and splits that occurred precisely because the Pastor's will was not adhered to - except in one group - the LHMM.  The evidence of that was on display at the convention.  I now have a strong conviction that this is what is missing from other meetings and conventions I have attended, and this is the reason why so many errors and conflicting personal views prevail among the various groups outside the LHMM. 

If it was right to do away with these arrangements, as the Jehovah's Witnesses did through Rutherford, and as the P.B.I. and the Dawn did through their own leaders, then what else from the pen of That Servant is also dispensable?  Sadly for them, most everything is on the table for cutting and discarding.  For the LHMM, the words of our Pastor are, well, the words of our Pastor, and will remain such.  They are not to be discarded nor forgotten, as they are important to this very day, containing gems that still gleam in the eyes of those who are not ashamed to behold them! 

I am reminded of when a "High Calling" Bible Student on this forum ridiculed me and the Pastor, saying how he once wrote in the Tower that doves put into the rooms of sick patients helped take on their infirmities.  Meanwhile Just today I saw another news story about therapy dogs, therapy horses, and even therapy monkeys, one belonging to a woman who is now off of her medication because the monkey relieves her symptoms.  I told this Bible Student then and I am telling you all now, that our Pastor was prescient - meaning that while he was not a prophet, he could see down the stream of time and knew in general what was coming before it happened.  What a pity for the Bible Student or the Jehovah's Witness who has deluded him or herself into thinking that Pastor Russell is old news with nothing to offer us today, or that his teachings are mere dispensable opinions!

Each person I met at the convention was a miracle.  Just a few days earlier my mom had been talking to her neighbor about how they just couldn't use their DVD players or program their VCR's because they were just too old, and waited for the kids to do things like that for them.  Then at the convention I met Carlla Olsen, a lady who was somewhat older than those ladies, and it was her job was to record the talks in DSS format, then convert them to a wave file and then create MP3 files from that, after which she would burn them onto a CD-R.  She also converted reel to reel and cassette tapes to CD's.  When I brought my mom out to the convention on Sunday, she was stunned when I told her all this.  

There were too many people and too many miracles to recount, but I will save the best for last, which was the immersion.  Two young girls were candidates, and all gathered along the side of the hotel swimming pool.  The father of one of the girls did the dipping.  I won't describe the details, but afterward we were all invited to shake the hands of our new sisters in Christ and say something to them if we would.  I told them that in my lifetime, I had been to Disneyland and other amusement parks and had been on all the thrill rides.  I had seen all the most dramatic motion pictures.  THIS MOMENT, their immersion, was the most wonderful and emotional thing I had ever seen in my life.  It was beautiful.

My days following the convention have also been blessed in their circumstances, and so have my studies.  I have been invited to the Columbus Ohio convention.  Just tonight, arrangements have been completed for me to travel there in July.  Thus concludes what I believe has been the most wonderful week of my entire life.  Better than Disneyland.  It sure beat my honeymoon.  My best moments on stage don't compare, though almost . 

I don't think things will be back to normal for some time, in fact I hope they never will be, and I ask an interest in your prayers that this convention, the blessing and privilege of meeting with the Lord's people, will continue to energize me.  It is my hope that I will continue in the spirit of this event, with a renewing of my studies and my consecration, with the hope of being more of a help to my brethren in any capacity I might serve, as they have certainly helped me beyond words.

As for Jon's visit as my house guest, I'll say this:  I have the ability to turn my entire little house upside down in a single morning's activities.  When he arrived, I turned my house over to Jon and told him it was all his, and I slept in my camper.  After five days, the only evidence that he was even there was a small stack of neatly folded towels.  Besides keeping house, he has taught me a great deal this week.  And what an amazing miracle that is in itself!  That the Lord can use such a country bumpkin who looks through two big coke bottles for glasses as such an effective conduit for the Truth?  What a great God we serve!  Truly and sincerely, I am in deep, deep debt of gratitude to brother Jon Hanning, without whom this blessing would not likely have been afforded me.  There are no words.  He is my dear brother in Christ.  God bless him and all of you.

Yours in Truth,

Regan