Stories: Brother Glessie's lesson
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| This story doesn't have the typical "missionary" happy ending, but it influenced my life tremndously.
I was inactive for a while before the mission. As a matter of fact, I denounced the church. I got caught into the "New Age" stuff floating around, where people talk about following the energy and becoming one with nature and junk like that. Well, I saw a lot of truth in that and I had some pretty spiritual experiences.
Even before my mission, I had doubts about the church. I mean, I believed it and it felt right, but I had a hard time believing that it was the ONLY true church out there. I mean, there is truth in many things, right? And those of other faiths have spiritual experiences like us, right? Some witness and perform miracles and so forth....
Well, good old Brother Glessie opened my eyes to the falsehoods of mysticisms and the unnatural.
This is a guy from Borongan. He was a referral given to us (me and Elder Collado) from the District President. He was a leader of a prayer circle for the catholic faith. I guess that is the best way to describe him. He preached as well, but he was not a liscenced clergy; however, he had a congregation that he ministered to on Sundays. He also had the prayer circles going on.
I still remember the first day I met him. We walked into his place and I felt so good around his garden area, which is just outside his house. There are all kinds of exotic plants and trees out there and the energy was good.
Well, that energy quickly changed as we went into his patio. I felt the presence of evil. I dont really know how to describe it, but I felt this thick gooey feeling all over me which seemed to bind my soul like black tar or something. I looked around and I saw the idols. He had the good old crucifix on one side, with Christs face in agony, blood coming from his head, wrists, and feet. He also had a life size manequin encased in glass of Christs dead body, wrapped in the burial blankets, as if he was in the tomb.
Oh I cant describe how horrible the feeling was that I got.
Then out came Glessie. Or Brother Glessie, as he insisted we called him. He was a very stubborn individual, very learned and thought he knew it all. He had seen mysterious things, things that would blow us away, and he was exactly right as I later found out.
He worked in San Francisco for a time and he shared his stories of America. I loved to hear them, I mean anything about good old home is nice. He got his Psychology degree there and came on back to the Philippines because he felt that God was calling him here.
Well, our visits continued and it turned out that he had many experiences from the spiritual realm. Jesus Christ visited him one day. Yeah. Jesus came to see him once. Jesus came into his room once, wearing blue jeans and got into bed with him. He then put his arms around him.
He visited him on regular occasions giving him guidance on what he was to do with his life. Oh man, when he told this story, I had the worst feeling ever. I wanted to tell him that it was not Christ he saw, but something evil. Anyways time went on and we found out that all sorts of spirits were visiting him. One of his dead old pastor buddies came and saw him once. He told him that Heaven is a great place.
He believed the book of mormon was true. He believed Joseph Smiths story was true. Why not? I mean Jesus was visiting him, was he not?
We tried hard to open his eyes and realize that he could not say the Book of Mormon was true and still follow the Catholic ways. No use. We made it as simple as we could. We talked about infant babtism. He said its true. We then shared Mormon 8:8-9, where it says it is solemn mockery to babtize infants. He still didnt get it. He racked it up to the mysterys of God. Well after all, he believed he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. That right there makes absolutely no sense. He kept on trying somehow to make the connection that somehow, the catholic ways and the book of mormon are both true. That was the biggest problem he faced. He couldnt understand that truth is simple and does not contradict itself.
Brother Glessie, however, was a walking contradiction, as the Green Day song goes. He would say one thing, and a few minutes later would state the complete opposite of what he said. He was so confused. Example: He stated that all churches and all people are good as long as the teach of Christ. A few minutes later he said that Elle Soriano of the Dating Daan (those who dont know, he is a big time evangelist from manila who started his own church of christ and claims it is true) is going to hell for his atrocities and lies he is spreading.
Now, Im not trying to bash on Glessie, but Im sharing this to prove my point at what this experience gave me.
Throughout all this, I realized.... no. I KNOW that the simplicity of the gospel is all I need in my life. I also know that miracles and visits of the unknown do not constitute the truthfulness of a church. The church is true... and no other.
-aharon |
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