THE COURSE WHICH FILLED IN THE BLANKS

Do many customs of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, seem incomprehensible to you? Do things like sacrificing animals and sprinkling their blood on the people of Israel seem cruel and illogical? Thanks to a TV show, I found a correspondence course that explained all of these strange customs.

The 100 Huntley Street TV show first aired across Canada in February of 1980. I made a point of watching it each weekday morning when I came home from my security guard job. After interviewing various people about the miracles Christ did in their lives, Pastor David Maines told the viewers about a one-year Bible study published each month in the show's New Directions magazine.

Being an avid attendee of a house church's Bible study, the offer of a free Bible course appealed to me. I subscribed to the magazine as soon as I could.

From the first lesson onward, I learned the fascinating background to events in Exodus. After each assigned Bible passage, descriptions of what happened and why were printed in the magazine by the Huntley Street staff. I began to realize that the blood sacrifices God required of the Israelites was a foretelling of Christ's blameless life, crucifixion, and resurrection. Even incidents such as God asking Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac was a forecast of how God gave Jesus Christ to be sacrificed in payment of our sins. The blood on the door posts at the time of the Passover demonstrated how the Lamb of God would atone for whosoever believed in him.

Though I filtered everything through the theological glasses of the house church leader, I still remember much of what I studied during the breaks on my security guard rounds.

I understand now that God used that course to expand my understanding of himself and his purposes. Since those days, I've ditched the nonsense I was taught at that aberrant house church and doing so has made me feel much better.

Instead of being a capricious deity who sent his son to a brutal death, I now know God as my heavenly Father. Whatever happens to me is for my own long-term good and for his glory. Even my poor vision serves his eternal plan. The cult's leader taught that we could get what we wanted if we had enough faith. Now I know that God is sovereign and our puny faith can't thwart his purposes. Knowing this has given me a great deal of freedom and personal satisfaction.

In How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity, I proclaim the greatness of the heavenly Father in rescuing me from error. You can read more about this awesome act of his grace at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.