Newsletters

LAYMEN UNITED FOR TRUTH

PO BOX 1159

TROY, MONTANA 59935

(406) 295-1505/ FAX (406) 295-9403

WEBSITE: LAYMENUNITED.ORG

Newsletter 175 –June/July 2010

Dear Believers in the Resurrection of the Saints,

As you proceed through life have you experienced those moments which bring you to the realization and shock of just how fragile life can be? Do you go through your daily routine and then come face to face with an event that reminds you that we are all mortal?

This story begins twenty five years ago when I was just coming to the knowledge of the Three Angels Messages in Carson City, Nevada. I was invited to, and attended, a prophecy seminar and was thrilled to learn the wonderful truths of God’s Commandments, the truth of the Sabbath, the true Biblical explanation of the soul and state of the dead, and the other foundational pillars of the faith once delivered unto the saints.

In my baptismal class was a young man by the name of Mike Lombardo III and we became fast friends as we learned the truth together. In fact, our relationship over the years has been very much like that recorded of King David and Jonathan as given in the Old Testament. We have always been more like brothers than just friends. Truly the Lord knit our hearts together in Christ.

As I go to visit the prisons in Nevada month after month Mike and I often get together and I can truthfully say I have spent many wonderful hours at Mike’s home and also at his gracious mother’s home as well. In fact, Mike’s mother worked for years at First Interstate Bank in Nevada and she knew me and my family long before I ever met her son Mike.

Mike and I were baptized the same day in November 1985. Mike has always had a true love for the Lord and we always have wonderfully spiritual discussions.

Mike married and was blessed with two wonderful boys, Michael A. Lombardo IV (aka “Mikey”) and Jake. I have been involved in their lives from infancy as they graduated from diapers, to growing young boys playing their games, to riding their bikes, to learning to drive, to graduating from high school, and finally into grown men.

Both boys have been a joy to know. They are polite, intelligent, and have always been very respectful to me and others.

So, you can imagine it has been with a great deal of joy the times we had together to tell them about their Savior and the plan of salvation. Both boys believe in Jesus and they have been instructed in Bible truth.

I was in Nevada for the monthly prison ministry and had a really good day with the inmates at Lovelock Correctional Center on Sabbath, June the 5^th.

When I left the prison about 5pm I had a voicemail from Mike and I knew it was serious. I have never heard such pain in Mike’s voice and I was informed that “Mikey” was riding in a vehicle with two of his friends and there had been an accident and his exact words were that “Mikey didn’t make it!”

Dear friends, have you ever had one of those moments when it seems that the world just stops? Mikey was 24 years old. His entire life ahead of him and just that quick he was gone.

Of course the question that is always asked is simply “why?”

I cannot answer that question. If we are faithful to the end, we will learn the details during the thousand years when we are with Jesus in Heaven. But, what a shock and a reality as to just how quickly a life can be over. At times like these we are all confronted with our mortality.

Honestly, I could be writing this story about any one of us.

I, of course, made my way quickly to Mike’s home to console my brother who was in such pain. As life deals us unexpected events, I am now leaving for Nevada to speak at the funeral of a youngster who I held in a blanket as a child.

Friends, if there is somebody you need to tell that you love them, don’t wait, do it today. If there is something you need to make right with another person, do it now. If you are falling short in your walk with the Lord, get it fixed while you still have time. Go and read Ecclesiastes 3, once again.

Oh, Mikey died in the faith of the resurrection. You see, I had just talked to him about these things one month ago when I was blessed to share a home-cooked Italian meal with him and his family in Nevada. I know Mikey went to sleep believing in the resurrection power in His Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

By the way, at the funeral we had over 450 people show up! Can you imagine the impact Mikey had on an entire community for this outpouring of love and sympathy? And, yes, the young people in attendance heard the wonderful story of salvation only in Jesus.

We will meet again. In the meantime, rest in peace, brother Mikey.

Even with this unexpected turn of events, we must continue to fight the good fight of faith. This month was no exception as we were blessed to be able to attend Brother Danny Vierra’s health expo in Lodi, then off to Coos Bay, Oregon, for their wonderful campmeeting, finally our church’s annual campmeeting in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

Praise God for the fellowship of like-minded believers at these meetings and the spiritual reinforcement in the truths we hold so dear in the great Second Advent movement. We heard such powerful sermons from all of the speakers at the meetings preparing a people for the soon coming of Jesus. It is evident to me that time is almost gone and the final events are breaking upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. Please make sure you “lamps are trimmed and burning.” It would do all of us well to review and think about the wonderful parable as given of the ten virgins in Matthew 25.

It was so good to have Brother Evan Sadler come from New Zealand and bless the meetings. It was good to fellowship with Brother Gordon Simkin and his wife, Fran, at Bonners Ferry. If you would like to order the DVD’s of these timely meetings, you can contact him at 1-800-HIS-LOVE. Additionally, if you purchased Evan's videos and they don't work in your DVD player it is because they were encoded in the format for New Zealand, not the United States. Gordon has graciously offered that if you will send the disk and box to him that he will convert them. Please enclosed a return postage envelope and he will send them back to you ready to view.

We need to be making our “calling and election sure.” “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I hope you make the same choice.

Dennis and Mary Crystal

Upcoming present truth meetings:

July 9-10, 2010 – Vancouver Historic Campmeeting, Yacolt, Washington. Contact Brother Dutch Savage (360) 686-3085.

Dennis and Mary Crystal

Laymen United for Truth