Dear Dan & Diane

Let me give you my deep and sincere gratitude for the being an instrument that God has used to help me in my faith. Your website is one that I visit as a matter of necessity, since the mid 90s. By God's grace I came across it just after I believed the Gospel. I was then (1996) attending a Pentecostal church. It is easy to see that for this reason, two of the first Miles Stanford papers to appear ("The New Birth Explained" and "The Line Drawn") had such a strong, positive impact on me. Since then "None But the Hungry Hearts" has helped me a lot. Since the beginning, I have followed closely additions to the site. I have printed most of the articles. I also ordered The Complete Green Letters which is a vital read. I came to know about Newell's Romans Verse-by-Verse, Murray's Abide in Christ and Nee's The Normal Christian Walk through your website and ordered copies for myself. Oh, these are good and such a blessing. It is not possible for me to catalogue all the benefits that I have enjoyed.

May the Lord continue to bless you and to use you in His service. I really appreciate beyond words the teaching I have received through your labor. I have come to know Him better--the One in whom I've believed and this has given me rest and peace regarding my position in Him and a hungry longing to grow into His likeness.

Just to give you a glimpse of my spiritual journey, I am a Kenya citizen who was born into a Roman Catholic family and belonged to that church until 1986 when I was expelled from a university in Kenya as a result of student politics. This was just one year before I would have graduated. I was very close at the time to a Catholic priest who was our chaplain and also doubled as a lecturer. The student politics at that time became violent and in an ensuing riot, the university chapel was damaged--windows broken. We shared this chapel with "Protestants"; we finished "Mass" at around 10:00 am and they started their "service" at about 11:00 am. I realized that some animosity existed between the two groups during this time. I was a prominent student leader-in-waiting and participated in the student politics. At the time, some students went to throw stones at the chapel allegedly because those "Protestants" praying there were betraying our activities, I struggled to stop them and was myself threatened with stoning.

The college was then closed and all of us sent home. Before I left campus, I went to bid the priest good-bye whereupon he gave me an unforgettable tongue-lashing. Apparently, some of the "Protestants" went at night to his house and gave him a piece of their mind. In short, they told him, in my recollection, that some of his "Catholic" people, referring to among others myself, had participated in destroying "God's" house and this proved that we were agents of Satan. Anyway, it was the priest's words that shattered me. In essence, he believed them and prayed that I come to suffer God's punishment as a result. From 1986 to 1996 (ten years), I avoided the "church". During this time I went to Norway and did both bachelor's and master's degrees and came to South Africa for a PhD, and then found a university position. Sometime in 1996 my secretary invited me to visit their church and I went together with my wife. We were later baptized by immersion there.

Immediately after that I faced a number of challenges. A close friend, who had before invited me to believe in Christ, on learning about my faith came and asked me how I was baptized. He is a member of the group that follows the teaching of William Marrion Brahman [Pentecostal 1909-1965]. You can picture what I went through as he came and spoke about their faith, bringing books, tapes and inviting me to their meetings. Then one day we had a discussion with some of my church members about the security of the believer and this gave me some sleepless nights as most insisted that one can loose one's salvation. Then the "laughing and slaying by the Spirit" visited my church. We were so disturbed by what transpired that I and my wife left the church for a Baptist one. In the process a close friend of ours confronted us with Seventh Day Adventist beliefs and literature over a long period of time. I leave out so many details about my spiritual journey but confess that God chose to use the readings on your website, especially Stanford's work, to ground me scripturally in the faith. I am still learning.

May the lord richly bless and reward you amd your family.

Your brother in Christ

[signed]