Finding the Right Words

By Andrew McChesney

Alexei Arushanian, a 33-year-old Ukrainian national living in Poland, noticed a Bible and many other religious books in the apartment of the woman whose windows he was installing.

Alexei belonged to a group of church members who distributed Ellen White’s The Great Controversy. It was a difficult task with few receptive people, and he prayed for an opportunity to share a book in this home.

Image © Pacific Press

Then the woman, who was about 40 and lived alone, offered him a cup of tea. Alexei sat and sipped the tea as the woman went about her activities. She sang as she worked. Alexei prayed about what to do. Finally, he spoke.

“I see that you love to read books,” he said.

“Yes, I really love to read,” she said. “You might have noticed that I don’t have a TV. I read all the time.”

The woman resumed working and singing.

Alexei had an idea. “Are you a Christian?” he asked.

“Yes, I sing in a choir at church,” she said.

“I also go to church, at Foksal 8,” Alexei said, giving the address of the only Seventh-day Adventist church in Poland’s capital, Warsaw. “I’m a Protestant. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist.”

Seeing that the woman was listening intently, Alexei grew bolder.

“I’d like to give you a gift, a book about the history of Christianity,” he said. “It’s really interesting.”

The woman agreed to look at the book.

As Alexei took his tools out to the car, he worried that she wouldn’t open the door when he returned with the book. But she welcomed him back in. She was visibly impressed with the handsomely bound volume, and she immediately began to leaf through it. From the expression on her face, Alexei could see that she didn’t agree with everything that she saw.

“It’s up to you to accept or reject what’s in the book,” he said.

The woman accepted the book, saying, “Thank you very much.”

The pair spoke a little longer, and Alexei was filled with joy when he left. He was so happy that he had found a way to give her the book.

“I could have stayed silent,” he says. “But she had the right to decide whether to accept the book or not. My duty only was to offer it to her.”

This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will go to the Trans-European Division, which includes Poland. Thank you for planning a generous offering.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

 “Our work is an aggressive one, and as faithful soldiers of Jesus, we must bear the blood-stained banner into the very strongholds of the enemy. ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ If we will consent to lay down our arms, to lower the blood-stained banner, to become the captives and servants of Satan, we may be released from the conflict and the suffering.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

But this peace will be gained only at the loss of Christ and heaven. We cannot accept peace on such conditions. Let it be war, war, to the end of earth’s history, rather than peace through apostasy and sin.” — Ellen G. White, The Review and Herald, May 8, 1888.

How does Ephesians 6:10-20 relate to the book of Revelation? The passage exhibits the same basic view of last-day events, or eschatology, as the battle motif in the book of Revelation (see Revelation 12:1-17, Revelation 16:12-16, Revelation 19:17-21, Revelation 20:7-10). In both, the people of God are under attack by the enemy who is “in heavenly places” and “is active and powerful in the present aeon” (or age). In both, the people of God are encouraged by “the picture of the future aeon.” Further, “both scenarios explicitly point to the final battle when the enemy will be conquered completely after which the new aeon will be established forever,” a new age in which “the final glorious state of the people of God” and “the eternal doom of the enemy” will be evident. (See Yordan Kalev Zhekov, Eschatology of Ephesians (Osijek, Croatia: Evangelical Theological Seminary, 2005), Pages 217, 233-235.)

Discussion Questions:

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