Personal Testimony Glenn Grifiin

Mr. Glenn A. Griffin

FOR I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST: FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH; TO THE JEW FIRST AND ALSO TO THE GREEK. (ROMANS 1:16);STRIVE(GIVE DILIGENCE) TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT (NARROW) GATE: FOR MANY, I SAY UNTO YOU, WILL SEEK TO ENTER IN, AND SHALL NOT BE ABLE. (LUKE 13:24)

We grew up on a farm primarily orchard with a large garden so we learned how to work. We also had a few cows to milk, chickens to feed & horses to ride. My parents were Christians so we were brought up with a reverence for God. We attended The Remembrance Mtgs, Gospel Mtgs, Children's Mtgs, Sunday School & Bible Studies on a regular basis at the Highway Gospel Hall in Westbank from a child. I learned from my father that sin must and will be punished. Rebellion and disobedience to my parents and thus to God brought immediate punishment. My parents loved us and gave us the best that love could give The Word of God and a knowledge of God. We did not have extras of this world's goods but we always had enough food to eat and clothes to wear. Each night after supper the bible was read and we knelt down to pray and dad prayed for the salvation of each one of his children and thanked God for each one that was saved. Two occasions stand out in my mind of when I was concerned about my salvation and wanted to be saved. The first was during a gospel meeting at the Highway Gospel Hall when Mr Don Moffat was preaching salvation through Jesus Christ. I stayed after the meeting in tears wanting to be saved. Mr Moffat read the scriptures with me but I went home without salvation and was soon not concerned. One summer when I was about 10 or 11 years old Mr Harold Paisley an evangelist had set up a gospel tent in the Glenmore district of Kelowna and every night we all loaded into the station wagon and dad took us to the meetings for a solid month even though there was endless work to be done on the farm. We learned the priority of eternal life over the things of this life. God was speaking to me and I was concerned about my salvation but I put it off and was not saved at that time. Grade 7 & 8 were difficult years for me as I began more and more to rebel against my parents and against God. I had a girl friend that was top priority and the work I was supposed to do did not get done and the rope from my bedroom window provided exit and access when I should have been sleeping. Needless to say the punishment was forthcoming when I was discovered as the scripture says "Be sure your sin will find you out. It was all for nought and my heart was broken when she said good bye. There were three of us in the family that caused our parents grief for those years, Rhoda, Robert and myself. God in His grace and mercy saved us each within a week of each other in the spring of 1970. Rhoda was first when she attended a bible conference in Vancouver and was saved there. A week after I was saved at home and then a week later Robert was saved in a gospel meeting. Where there had been turmoil in the home there was now peace. In our rebellion some of my brothers and I purchased and installed a television out in the garage against our parent's wishes. The Sunday afternoon of April 25, 1970 I was out in the garage watching television by myself. On the show I was watching there was a lady singing a song where the words were "If you pray to God He'll do wonders for you" God used that little phrase to speak to me about my salvation. I knew I was a sinner before God and needed to be saved. I shut the television off and walked to the door. Wanting to be right with God and to know my sins forgiven I knelt down right then and there in my father's garage and acknowledged my sin to God. It was at that moment that God revealed to me the purpose why the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God had died on the cross. It was to pay for my sins personally. I received Him for my own and personal Saviour. There was no vision, no voice, no lights, just a peace upon believing giving God credit for what He says. "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I got up and went into the house thinking I won't tell anyone now I'll wait until after the Gospel Mtg. I want to be sure. After the Gospel Mtg I told my family. I was baptised in Okanagan Lake the following year in August. I did not live out my baptism in reality that I was dead to the world and walking in newness of life with Jesus Christ as Lord. After a time I quit reading my bible and was less and less was interested to attend the different mtgs. My friends were becoming more important to me than God. The peer pressure from my so called friends was winning. I got a job working at a gas station after school and soon had a car and some spending money. I stopped attending all mtgs, and focused on sports, parties and riotous living with no time for God. I am very thankful that God did not leave me to wallow in the mire of sin. Karen and I were married August 4th, 1979. Already in June we had quit drinking and smoking as we began to see the pitfalls and the snares. In October my father went to Vancouver for a triple heart by-pass. He died a few hours after he came to of another massive heart attack. God spoke to me very loudly by the nearness and reality of death. When mom returned home from Vancouver I went home to see her. She met me in the porch and wept in my arms. She said "Dad is gone!" When all the family came home we went for a viewing of Dad's body in the funeral home. Sin had hardened me and I would not weep as I saw the rest of my family there weeping. But God was graciously speaking to me and the truth of scripture became real in my life.Ecc 7:2 "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart" Ecc 7:4 "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." On the way home in the car my hard heart was broken and I began to weep. The reality of death was being laid upon my heart by my gracious Father in heaven. The funeral service was held in the old hall where the parking lot now is. Mr Alex Stewart and Mr John Abernethy conducted the funeral service. I was sitting in the front row on the right side at the centre aisle. During the service as God was again speaking to me I said within my heart, "I will serve God". For days after I wept much and was not able to go to work. I never told anyone of my commitment to serve God. Two days later was the funeral service of my Uncle Fred. Mr Dave Jones of Chile was one of the speakers and he spoke on "Ye shall know them by their fruits" in relation to Uncle Fred. At the tea downstairs after the service I was standing with my brother Victor and Mr Jones came over to speak with Victor and said to me in his direct way, "What about you Glenn?" I never replied but God again used that to bring me to the place of restoration. What fruit for God was in my life? None! Karen and I lived in a house on Peters Rd below Westbank and when Sunday morning came although I had told my family that we would go to the Remembrance Mtg. I was having second thoughts about attending. Karen reminded me that we had said we would go so reluctantly in the end I agreed to go. It was sitting back to observe in that first Lord's Supper after being away from all meetings for about six years that full restoration took place. During that meeting and the week of Gospel meetings that followed with Mr Alex Wilson and Mr John Abernethy the reality of my salvation was confirmed to me by God through His Word and the preaching of the Gospel by these men. Karen was saved during the bible reading the following Sunday convicted by Romans 8:9 "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Realising that though she had searched for God through religion in her younger years she was not saved. She received the peace of God that she had been searching for upon believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. I look back on those meetings and give thanks to God for saving Karen and for speaking to me so personally, powerfully and plainly. I look back and remember that commitment I made at that funeral service "I will serve God" as the truth of Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." I have been in fellowship in this assembly for very nearly 27 years now and ye know my manner of life. The Lord's Supper and the Gospel continue to be precious and most meaningful to me. In times of trial and hard decisions in my life I look back and have often been refreshed and encouraged by the Lord in continuing steadfastly in all the meetings and functions of the local assembly. I recommend this for your spiritual well-being! Looking back over this past year the things that stand out as most precious and of lasting value are the times spent with my family even if just a common meal and a time of devotion and the fellowship of saints sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus at the Lord's Supper and all the gatherings of the assembly."He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.&quot John 3:36"Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man (one) cometh unto the Father but by Me." John 14:6

Testimonies of Saints

Testimony of (Mrs. G.C. Stutters)

I was born and raised in Westbank. In our home the Bible was read to us twice each day; then we all knelt down while Father prayed. I always wanted to be saved, because we knew the consequences of dying without salvation. O winter evenings Mother would read either the book of Proverbs, Pilgrim’s Progress or one of our “missionary books”, one chapter each evening. And we sang hymns. However, in 1939 Mr. Greer and Mr. Horne came to Westbank to hold Gospel meetings. Mr. Horne could not stay long because of his poor health. Mr. Greer obtained the names of all the children of the Christians and began to visit homes and people. His aim was to pray in every home in Westbank, and I believe he did. Between visitation and attending the meeting each night the solemnity of one’s spiritual state was causing serious thoughts in many of us. Besides , one would hear of others in the district trusting Christ — perhaps we would be left behind.
On the Friday evening, June 16, Mr. Greer spoke of Cain and Abel: how Abel offered a slain lamb to God and it was accepted. That night, alone in my room, I took the Lord Jesus and offered Him for my sacrifice. The Scripture “Him that cometh to Me (Jesus) I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37) was in my mind and “I will trust and not be afraid (Isaiah 12:2). Peace came into my heart that night. There are rough spots in all journeys, but I can truthfully tell you there is always the underlying “peace of God which passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) so that with the Lord, one carries on. Mr. Greer told me he never drove away in a vehicle without first praying for journeying mercies. It is the best assurance on can have, so, young folk, make it a practice.