THE INDISPUTABLE TRUTH, Donald H. Impink

I was raised in a German denomination due to the determination of my German mother. It was “Go to church with me Sunday morning or you're grounded for the rest of the day.” I loved to play outside so I didn't complain much about going with my mother and my sisters on Sunday mornings. I can't say that my childhood church-going experience made any sense to me; there were just some Bible stories, some rituals that we did because the rest of the congregation did them, and the guilty feeling I got from listening to `fire and brimstone' sermons.

When I was 18 years old, my dad passed away. In the wake of his death I figured it was a good time to stop going to church. Jesus wasn't making any sense to me; He seemed distant and vengeful. This made me feel both confused and bad about myself, so I stopped any pursuit of Jesus and pursued worldly pleasures for the next 18 years.

Looking back on that second 18-year period, I can see that I knew that there was a God and I knew that man was supposed to worship Him, but I didn't know who He was. I didn't want to hear about Jesus; I was raised hearing about Jesus and He made no sense to me. I avoided anyone who even started to talk about Jesus to me. I dabbled in philosophy and eastern religion; it only made me feel more desolate and alone. This couldn't be God.

Fifteen years ago, I was working a maintenance type job that sometimes put me in remote settings with another worker. The guy I was working with happened to be a Christian, but he wasn't like any I had run into before. I knew a few of the Bible stories, but to me they were just stories about this wise man, Jesus. The man I was working with began to make sense of Jesus to me. It was as though a whole new door was opened to me and through my friend's explanation, some of these basic things about Jesus began to come together. The Bible stories I had heard had a meaning, a much deeper meaning than what I was taught. I wanted to hear more, so I began to meet with the Christians he met with. This ministry, this truth, seemed to be flowing out of a little Chinese man, Witness Lee. The more I read of Witness Lee's ministry, the more I listened to him expound on the Bible, the more I realized in my spirit that this was it - I had found Witness Lee was proving the Bible with the Bible. This made so much sense to me: no contradictions; no funny interjected thoughts, just the Bible being interpreted according to the Bible, Old and New Testament. The Christians I now meet with worship the Triune God according to what is revealed in the Bible. Witness Lee's ministry doesn't keep the Lord Jesus objective and distant, but subjective and personal. I learned that God was incarnated to: 1) live the perfect human life in order to be put to death as the only worthy sacrifice to redeem man, and 2) to resurrect as the life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45b); to indwell those who received His redemption that He may become their constitution, their life and their living (Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 3:4; Galatians 2:20).

I thank the Lord that He revealed Himself to me through some members of His Body. As I have related in this account, I didn't feel as though I was looking for Him, but the Lord knows our heart better than we do. Now, every day I try to consciously seek the Lord in the Word and as I read ministry, and I must say He continues to reveal Himself to me through the members of His Body.