On Friday evening, Samuel Jacobson shared his testimony before an audience of fifty. Half of them Adventist. Samuel grew up in Sweden. He moved to Hollywood for seventeen and a half years, and became a real estate agent. He hung out with Hollywood's elite, and became wealthy. Yet, through it all, something was missing. He felt that God could not bless his life as a homosexual. He came back to Sweden and His niece was instrumental in leading him back to. He gave his life to Jesus, five years ago, and lives happily today, driving a bus in Stockholm, and sharing Jesus whenever the opportunity arises.
The Swedish audience was grateful and very receptive of his testimony.
Many stayed afterward to speak with Him. On YouTube, his testimony has been viewed over 900 times in just a couple of days. The entire conference can be viewed here.
Samuel's testimony is only in Swedish. All the other presentations and Q&A, are in English with Swedish translation.
On Sabbath, the audience increased to 82. Once again, half of the audience was non Adventist. On this day, I had three presentations, and a Q&A. The audience was very interested with the topics. A Christian news reporter from one of Sweden's national Christian papers, "Varlden Idag," was there for the entire event, taking notes for an article. Many came up to me and told me they were so glad that they came to these presentations. They said it was long overdue that we have these conversations.
As I made reference to quotes from the Desire of Ages, and The Great Controversy. Many of those books were taken from the table the organizers had arranged in the back of the conference hall.
During my last presentation, two lesbians entered the building and took seats close to the front. I was just a few minutes into my presentation. I had shared my testimony earlier in the day. In the two previous presentations, I did not talk about Conversion Therapy.
The girls listened, as I shared about "sexual orientation" not being in the bible. At this time, one of the girls planted an audible kiss on her partner. I then made mention that perhaps the kiss was made in a rebellious response to what I was sharing. They agreed. I took that opportunity to express that, without Jesus, a person can do as he or she pleases. However, in my presentations, I am sharing about how someone who is trusting in Jesus, might seek to live in agreement with Him. One of the girls tended to nod in agreement with me as I spoke. However, after about another thirty minutes, I began to talk Conversion Therapy, being banned in fourteen countries around the world, the girls got up to leave, and I said, You don't want to leave yet. But they continued to head out. I thanked them for coming. The girl who had administered the kiss, yelled out "Murder!" in Swedish, twice, and then slammed the door.
The emcee for the event went out and had a long conversation with them. They were angry that he came out to talk to them. They said we had no business telling parents to this kind of information. They were quite unhappy, and had a third girl in the car who was not lesbian, but identified as a Muslim. I was told that she was more angry than the two girls who had come in.
The audience was nonplussed, and acted as though they would expect something of this nature. We continued on without interruption. When I learned that the emcee had gone out to speak with them, I offered a prayer for them with the attendees.
My third presentation led into the Q&A. Many questions poured in. They were appropriate and well thought out. And as always, I share that I don't have all the answers. However, I will always point you to the One who does. There were people who had driven great distances, and they all shared how happy they were that they came. Some, identifying as Adventist, were unaware of the warning which came from the Swedish Union, and were disappointed in their Union's directive.
At the end, the Christian politician who attended over the weekend, approached Anna Mellin, who was instrumental in organizing the event, and asked that they pray over me. He said that he was very happy that he came. I talked to him later about the difficulties of being in a position such as his. He said that he cannot sit back and do nothing. He sees what is happening in this world, and says that he must take a stand for what the Bible teaches.
A pastor from another denomination, had not registered for the event, and he came. He read in the local paper about the event. He asked how many Adventist members were here from the Granna Seventh-day Adventist church. He was surprised that so many were at the event. After the Adventist Union article came out, the local Adventist church from Granna and Jonkoping wrote their own views about this event to the local newspaper. From reading that, he sensed that these pastors were pro LGBT+. So when he arrived, he was shocked to see people from Granna at the event, thinking those local churches were pro LGBT+.
The Lord blessed!
Stay tuned.
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