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worthy but God was like an abusive
father who ruled by whim for a vast
array of unknowable reasons. I asked my
priest several times how come we were
always begging for mercy. It seems in a
loving home that kids don’t fall to their
knees and ask for mercy every time
their daddy comes in the door. It wasn’t
until my Baptism on July 5th that I
made a little head way in loving and
trusting God. It was through saying ‘yes’
to Jesus that a new possibility of love
and trust began. I have no idea why- it
just made sense now.
For years I have read religious theolo-
gies and philosophy. A month or so back
I started reading about the Adventist
Movements in the mid 19th century. I had
covered the Millerites and Second Adventists
when the word Christadelphians was
mentioned. I had never heard the word before
nor of the movement so I began my research.
I wasn’t interested in finding anything to
believe in, I just love history and the social
history of the mid 19th century in the U.S was
a time ripe with new ideas, prophecies, and
Biblical interpretations. New religions and
sects were springing up across America and
The Christadelphians was one I had never
heard of before. The more I read the more
intrigued I became. The non-Trinitarianism,
the idea of a finite soul, the concept of Jesus
as the human Son of God, all were ideas I had
pondered in both my Presbyterian and
Orthodox studies.
I can tell you exactly when everything begin
to change. On June 18th I found a YouTube
video by Duncan Heaster on The Christadel-
phian movement and its history. It was really
interesting and I continued watching other
videos. I wrote and asked for a NEV Bible and
a copy of Bible Basics. I had watched several
videos by Duncan and I just couldn’t get inter-
ested in anything else, I wanted to know
more. So I started watching Bible Basics. It
took three days but I watched all of them. I
was so excited by seeing Christ through
different eyes, newly, freshly and with a more
open heart, I didn’t know what to do. I
couldn’t find my Bible so I just prayed. As my
heart began to open God seemed to slip in
with His Son. I had felt Christ’s calling before
but this time it wasn’t filtered through a
Church or a whole body of expectations from
priests, bishops or parishioners. This time
Christ and I decided no one else needed to be
involved. It was a very private and personal
matter (one of the reasons a testimonial is
difficult for me). The lectures and way
Duncan Heaster presented the Bible made
something in me reawaken to Christ’s promise
in a new and personal way. I knew that I
wanted to be Baptized into Christ, not into
‘the Church body’ but into the Body of Christ.
I had never thought much about The End
Times and Last Judgement but began to
consider them seriously.
I felt an urgency about the Baptism and
shocked my wife when I told her I was going
to Baptize myself on my 70th birthday not
many days away. Duncan and I corresponded
and arranged for a phone on July 5th, and
through the Grace of God, talked both before
and after my Baptism. What happened in the
swimming pool is just between me and God. I
couldn’t really express the terrible wonder of
death and resurrection anyway. How still the
heart becomes, the beating stopped in a
moment of love. The gasp for life when
emerging into Christ- the subtle knowing ‘It’s
going to be ok from here on, Christ has your
back’. So here I am shimmering in Grace
waiting for The Last Days, praying I don’t
screw up, and so happy my toes are curling.”
Bro Miles meeting for a breaking of bread
with Bro Norm and Sis Sylvia Duke
