Great Vision

The year was 1990. I had been saved for several months, but I was struggling. I had no one to fellowship with and no one to guide me. One thing I knew for sure—God had saved me, and I would never let go of that. One of my questions and problems was, “Where would I attend church?”

I visited some denominational churches that believed in being born again, but never felt comfortable. I thought, “How could a man or woman start their own church and be confident that what they taught was absolute and correct above all others?” I thought this was very presumptuous and dangerous.

During this time, I remember writing down some thoughts in my religion class in college. “If there is one God, why are there so many churches? If there is one God, why are there so many people believing so many different things?” And just when I felt like I was at the end of my rope, the individuals who had witnessed to me about Christ came back into the area for a visit. I drove approximately an hour to attend a church service with them, and the pastor’s wife gave me a book, The Body of Christ. I distinctly remember the night I laid in my bed reading this book. I will never forget a statement that was made in the introduction, “In order to arrive at the truth of the matter it is necessary for us all to discard at once the opinions we might have—even if they are subsequently proven true—and begin, as it were, with a clean slate to inquire into the nature of the Church as it is outlined by the Scripture.”

I purposed to do that very thing. As I read The Body of Christ that night, the Spirit of God used the scriptures cited, the commentary by the writer, and moved in my heart to do something wonderful in me! I received a divine, scriptural revelation of The Church of God! My agony and searching was over! This was not a man-made church, but the Church that Christ organized so many years ago. It was still functioning, and always would, because the Scripture tells us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

It did not have a man–made doctrine, but it was and is the pillar and ground of the one, absolute truth! God had once again come to this young man’s rescue, giving me life-saving direction, and filling an empty place in my heart. I made my decision without hesitation—it was here, in The Church of God, that I would be safe, I would learn the truth, and that I would live, and I would die. I testified that receiving a vision of The Church of God was as sweet as my experience of salvation; for I am certain that I would be spiritually dead today if God did not reveal His Church to me. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). One day God will bring many other people like you, and like me, to The Church of God. They will be Christian people who have come, by God’s grace, through many dangers, toils and snares to this beautiful city. They will be pilgrims and strangers on this earth, but welcome forever by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They will be received in love as fellow citizens with a right hand and a right heart—by people who have a vision of God’s great last days work and a vision of The Church of God that reaches out into all eternity. “What a beautiful thought I am thinking…”

By Bishop Robert J. Hawkins Jr.

World Mission Coordinator