Missionary:
Timothy Parrow
Date of Report:
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Dear Pastor and Brethren:
Struggles Between Opinions
In the spiritual battle for truth, which is conducted primarily by the use of words, how can one’s verbal witness of the grace of God in salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ be elevated above a mere opinion?
For that matter, how can any true preacher’s sermon be elevated in the secular mind above anything more than just an opinion? A Mexican man, Juan, called me from Ponca City, a town 45 minutes north of Stillwater, and asked me to make him a doctor’s appointment and accompany him as his translator to visit the doctor. In the waiting room, I began to talk to him about the Lord. He gave me the usual “I’m a Catholic,” speech and I countered with his need to have a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. After sharing the gospel with him, he said, “That’s just your opinion.” Well, it is not just my opinion, it is the Holy Word of God. However, Roman Catholics do not consider the Bible to be the final authority on spiritual matters, and thus it has no weight of persuasion with them. However, the Word of God is quick and powerful and will do that which Almighty God so desires that it should do according to His will. I translated for Juan and gave him literature to read. May God’s Word be a powerful influence upon him by the power of the Holy Spirit, not just another opinion.
Lots of Sickness
We have had a lot of sickness this month but in spite of an extended bout with laryngitis the Lord enabled me to preach every Sunday in our services and in the jail except on the 16th. The Chester family with four children were sick for three weeks. They bring it home from school and then their parents get it. You know the cycle. However, they all came the last two Sundays of the month, and Roxanne started a Bible class for the children giving me opportunity to preach without so much distraction from the little ones. They distract their parents far more that they distract me, and the parents don’t follow the train of thought and miss the points I’m making. Since starting the class we have noticed quite a difference. The last Sunday of the month, I preached on the Deity of Christ from John 1:1-3. Mrs. Chester had some confusion on this doctrine that I did not know about, thinking that each of the Persons of the Holy Trinity were separate gods instead of being one God and three personal subsistences within the one Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the three Persons in the Holy Trinity and are all of the same essence. Both Mr. & Mrs. Chester have had some influence from the false doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses so I was happy to preach on the Deity of Christ under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to clear up their confusion.
By His grace and in gratitude,
Tim & Roxanne Parrow
II Tim. 1:7
