"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

Yesterday, I was working on a property, getting it ready to rent. I was making the house ready for the scheduled arrival of some prospective tenants.  Arriving early allowed me plenty of time to take care of a few details that I had overlooked, like cleaning the windows and turning on all the lights. As I was addressing my checklist I heard a faint tap on the front door. I looked at my watch and noticed that it I still had an hour before my scheduled appointments.  I answered the door. I was pleasantly surprised to see a gentleman dressed in a suit with a lady that I presumed to be his wife. We exchanged pleasantries. I thought them to be potential tenants.

The gentleman then said that he was in the neighborhood and that he wanted to stop by and talk to me about the Bible. I am fluent in the language of heresy. That translates to: "I want you to pay tithes as a member of my congregation." After several years of trying various methods with such folks I have found a method that tends to shut down even the most zealous recruiters. I tell them that I belong to the Lord's Church and am an ordained Elder with no intentions of departing to even visit their congregation. Of course they must say something to rationalize their activities and I expected a response. This gentleman said, "We are just doing what the Bible says and of course you believe what the Bible says don't you?   I said I do believe what the Bible says.

I told the couple that I had a Bible question for them if they would like to answer it.  They were already going down the walkway away from my house. He said, "Perhaps some day he could come back because he intended to blitz the neighborhood." I didn't want to hinder his attack against the neighborhood; I let him go since he was in a big hurry. I only wanted to know how long it had taken him to get to my house.  Since he believes the Bible he must have started over there in Jerusalem and then passed through Judaea and then Samaria and Pontiac, Michigan is a long way from the Middle East. But for some strange reason he had no time for me. But then I realized that I had a bottle of ammonia in my hand. I wonder if he high-tailed it out of there reckoning I was going to ask him to drink that deadly thing (see Mark 16:18).  That thought never crossed my mind, but ammonia is a very useful solution. 10/24/2006 Elder M. Hoogasian