When I was a young Christian, an evangelist, Rev. Robert Morgan, told me Jesus was going to lead me down a path I wouldn’t choose for myself. And so He has. I speak the truth, yet I am regarded as false; I speak from love and I am rewarded with contempt. Someone once spray painted my car with obscenities; I have seen some who dislike me urinating on my wife’s garden after dark; blatant lies have been told about me. I have been accused many times of things I haven’t done. At least one preacher has warned his flock about me, accusing me of saying things I didn’t say. This gentleman, of the Christ Fellowship circle, intentionally lied in order to turn others away from me.
But through all this I remain faithful to the Lord Jesus and offer myself, a living sacrifice, that the truth of His gospel may abound, and that false doctrines and speculations and every lofty thing might be destroyed.
I don’t have the luxury of telling people what they want to hear; I have been commissioned by the Lord to speak the truth. I wasn’t allowed to follow this man and that man, or this doctrine and that doctrine; I was led to follow Jesus. And this I have done, and for this I am regarded by many as an outcast, unfit to be accepted.
Am I feeling sorry for myself, or hoping for pity from others? Absolutely not; I consider it an honor to follow the path the Lord has prepared for me. It is a great honor to be treated as Jesus and the prophets were treated. And, as it was with them, most of my ill-treatment has come from the religious of the day.
Still, knowing the times of the restoration of all things is at hand, I press forward, endeavoring to snatch from the fire those who have been deceived to lift themselves up to God’s level, those who claim to be equal to Christ in their authority, those who hold fast to doctrines of men, and even those who have unjustly mistreated me.
I am a servant of the Son of God, separated by Him, ordained by Him, and commissioned by Him. I will not betray Him. I will continue speaking the truth, regardless of what might befall me.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
P.S. Please weigh everything I say on the scales of the Word of God.
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