Inside Story for Friday 9th of February 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Seventeen-year-old Sekule wanted to know truth as a high school student in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so, he started to visit various houses of worship. But he didn’t find satisfactory answers to his questions about why a God of love would burn someone in hell for eternity. So, Sekule resolved to find the truth on his own by reading the New Testament.

When he returned to his home village in Montenegro that summer, he read one Bible book a day. On the first day, he read the 28 chapters of Matthew. The next day, he read Mark. Then he read Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. He read only one book a day, even when he came to such smaller epistles as Titus and Philemon.

Some answers to his questions about God emerged in his reading of the New Testament. But he longed for more information. He visited several more houses of worship. But he didn’t visit a Seventh-day Adventist church. He had heard that Adventists celebrated “Sweet Sabbaths” every week, a time when they engaged in sexual relations with each other. He thought, They’re crazy. They cannot have the truth.

Failing to find answers in the many houses of worship that he visited, he decided that God probably did not exist. He stopped reading the Bible.

Then a high school teacher saw Sekule’s Bible. She was an Adventist, and she saw the Bible as faculty members conducted random searches of dormitory rooms to see whether boys were hiding alcohol or drugs.

“You have a Bible!” she said.

“Yes,” Sekule said.

“What have you learned?”

“Many things.”

She quizzed him about Daniel, and Sekule, who had a good memory, provided clear answers.

“You actually understand!” she exclaimed. “You’re the first person whom I’ve met who understands. You must come to the Seventh-day Adventist church.”

Sekule didn’t dare refuse. She was his teacher. He feared that she would lower his grade if he didn’t go.

“OK, I’ll go,” he said.

But he lied. He had no plans to go to church.

Sekule Sekuli´c is an affluent entrepreneur and faithful Seventh-day Adventist in Montenegro. Read more of his story next week. Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the good news of Jesus’ soon coming in Montenegro and around the world.