The Hurting Home — Keith Daniel

Because the verses I'm going to read to you, you all know. And I'm going to read from a few passages in the Bible. But instead of you going back and forward, perhaps you should just listen, because I know you know these verses.

Only I'd like you to listen to them from your hearts, and ask God as we listen, what is it that God would say to us as his people through these words, that are staggering words, but that we're all conscious are in the Bible, and perhaps seldom ever preached about, for I've certainly never heard a man preach in the 33 years that I've been saved on these verses.

But I'd like you to ask your heart, and ask God to speak to your hearts through them. Will you listen carefully to the word of God? The verses in Micah in the Old Testament, Micah chapter 7 from verse 5, where God says, Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide.

Division in the Home Through Faithfulness to Christ

Keep the doors of thy mouth, keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. What is God saying here? For the son dishonoureth the father, the son dishonoureth the father.

The daughter rises up, rises up against her mother. The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. What is God saying here?

You'll find if you turn to the New Testament that these verses are spoken by Christ, referred to back to Micah again and again. Christ refers to these verses, but he adds somehow more meaning to them, though we know he's referring to them.

And I'd like you to listen to what Christ now takes of what Micah was speaking of with the New Testament dispensation in mind, with the effect of the gospel in the home. What would happen in home? Now Christ elaborates, and he says in Matthew 10, from verse 32,.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him also will I deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. I am not come to send peace but a sword. What is God saying here? I am not come to send peace but a sword. I am come to set a man at variance against his father.

And the daughter against her mother. The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes, a man's foes shall be they of his own household. But he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

For he that receive it, you receive it me. He that receive it, you receive it me. What is God saying to us here? These words are strong and hard for us to follow. Then Jesus says again, quoted by Luke.

Luke, now in chapter 12, he says in verse 49 of what Christ said, I am come to send fire on the earth. What will I if it already be kindled but I have a baptism to be baptized with? And how am I straightened or kept from it till it be accomplished?

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on the earth. I tell you no, but rather division. For wherefrom henceforth there shall be five in one house divided. Three against two, two against three. The father shall be divided against the son.

The son against the father. The mother against her daughter. The daughter-in-law against the mother. The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law. Oh, now one more verse, one more verse. And this is the hardest to hear from Christ's lips concerning these things.

In Luke 14, verse 26, Jesus says, If any man, if any man come to me and hate not his father. Did Jesus say that? Why? Why? If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters.

Yea, yea, and his own life also. He cannot, he cannot be my disciple. For whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Cannot be my disciple. Many, many families like mine.

Many families like mine when one member is converted. They all open their hearts. They all open their hearts to God and they follow. Till eventually, like my family, they all are saved. They all find Christ and they become united in Christ.

Our family was divided. Our family was destroyed. Our family was so crushed and ruined. We were divided through sin. But Christ united us. When one member came until all followed and became united. We found each other.

We found oneness when Christ saved us. But, but what of the many homes? The families where the husbands or the wives or the children refuse to follow those who love Christ. They refuse to seek God to save them and to follow God.

What of the many homes that are tragically divided and split apart to those who will not follow God? Who will not follow God? I think if a person is kept back from seeking God to save their souls. I think if a person is kept back by their families from seeking God's salvation.

It is wrong. It is wrong to allow your families. If your family would stop you from going through with God. Then even if it means. Even if it means that they eventually will look upon you as their enemy.

Even if they would treat you eventually as their enemy. As you go with God and they go with the devil. Even if it means that eventually they would treat you as their enemy. You must be willing to bear that cross.

No matter how hard it is to bear that cross. No matter how painful it is. Perhaps till the day you die. But don't let them keep you from seeking God while he may be found. Before it is too late. Eternity will never end.

Eternity will never cease. Don't allow your family even if you love them more than life. Don't allow them to keep you from eternal life. Don't allow them to keep you back from going through with God. Even if they turn on you and you lose their love.

And they treat you like an enemy till the day you die. Don't, don't allow them to keep you from seeking God while he may be found. Before it is too late. Before it is too late. When I, when I was a young boy.

A Testimony of Family Salvation and the Pain of Rejection

My father built us a home overlooking a very wide valley. And our neighbor, our neighbor who lived below our house down in the valley. We all just saw his roof top of his home. This man, his name was Roy.

Roy Whip, Uncle Roy Whip we called him. He was a strange man. He was a British type of man. Very dignified, upright. He looked like he was marching in an army when he walked, you know. He really was something different, a unique character.

Very different to my father. We had very little to do with him. Because my father wasn't like that. So we didn't know much of our neighbor. But we knew enough as the years went by. We had enough dealing.

And eventually when I was 13 years old, my father left our home. Left our hometown where I was born. And he took us to the big city in South Africa where the gold was. Where there was the money and he wanted to get money.

And he wanted to prosper. And he thought happiness lay in prosperity. In having wealth. So he left home, the smallest city, for this large city where there was just a rat race after money. And we lost contact with his neighbor, Roy Whip.

We never heard of him again, never heard from him again or about him. But in Johannesburg where all the wealth was, our lives were just falling apart as a family. We just were devoured by sin and the world.

Oh, we just lay in ruins until one day God stepped in and saved my home. He saved us and united us and brought us all true to God and healed us as a whole. And soon my brother and I, we went out to preach for Christ.

We sold the businesses. We had one thing in our hearts to tell the world of Jesus. Once God laid his hands upon us to preach. And I was a young preacher going around in a suitcase soon. Town after town, all I wanted was that suitcase.

That was my home. That was my wardrobe. That was my complete home. I didn't want anything more. I just went from town and when I finished in that town, all I wanted to do was get to the next town to just preach.

I had nothing of being settled. And so as I was traveling around as a young preacher, living out of the suitcases, longing to get to the next town to preach the gospel of Christ, I was preaching in one town when after the meeting suddenly a man walked up to me through all the crowds.

And as I saw this man, you can't miss him. This was Uncle Roy Whipp, the neighbor. You can't miss the way he walked. Oh, he had aged years had passed since he saw me when I was a little boy. And he came and the tears started coming down his face as he stood looking at me.

And I left the people I was speaking to and just made my way through the people to get to him. And I said, Uncle Roy Whipp. And he looked at me with the tears coming down his face and he said,. They told me that I must come and hear this young fellow preaching called Keith Daniel.

And he said, Keith Daniel? That name I know. Could that be that naughty child that used to throw rocks onto my roof? And I nearly died every time we just heard these thuds on the roof. And I'd say, That's that Keith Daniel.

And I was scared of his father. His father didn't like me, so I couldn't go and report you to your father. And he said, Lo and behold, it is you. And he said, You're saved and you're preaching. Praise God, he said.

And he had these tears just pouring down his face. And he put his arms around me. And I said, After a while, Uncle Roy, isn't it wonderful that you're saved? That you love God? That since we all parted and came up, I was saved.

My whole family came to God. My father, my mother. And now to find that you're saved. And your families, your families, your wife saved, Uncle Roy. And suddenly his head went down. And the smile went off his face.

And then he took me by the arm and just led me and sat me down. And he began to weep. And after a while, when he composed himself, he said, Keith, I'm so ashamed about my wife. He said, You will remember she was a lady.

She was a lady who demanded respect. She was such a lady from such a good home. But when you people left, it was shortly after that she began to get depressed. And these fits of heavy depression and self-destruction just fell upon her.

I couldn't help her. We tried to get help. Eventually, she took to alcohol, to drinking. And she became an alcoholic. And we found her lying drunk with all the sorrows, this depressiveness that just seemed to come upon her like waves.

She just had sorrow in life and emptiness. And I was blaming myself. And we, as a home, just went into darkness of sorrow when we saw her lying drunk. We forbade drink in our home. We forbade people to let drink near her.

But somehow we would still find her lying drunk. She somehow got people passing drinks through the window and she'd pay them. We couldn't keep her. She just lay drunk. And my heart just broke, Keith. Our lives just went into despair.

We put her into homes to try and help her to get off the alcohol. We put her under all sorts of treatment, but nothing helped. She just was worse. Days after, she came back. But then one day, Keith, she turned to me and she said staggering words.

She said to me, I need God. And I looked at her. She said, I need God. I cannot help myself. No one can help me. But God can help me. I need God's help. And she said, these neighbors are Baptist people.

They go to a church called the Baptist Church. And I want you to take me to their church. Because they have something that other people don't have. I've watched them. Everyone calls themselves Christians here.

But these people have something we don't have. And I want what they've got. I need their God. I need God. And I want you to take me to their church. They've spoken to me. They've invited me to come to the church.

And I want you to arrange. I want you to take me to the Baptist Church, these people's church. I need their God. I need God. And I looked at her. Uncle Roy said. And I said, no. Over my dead body will you become religious.

I won't let you follow these people and become religious fanatics like they are. I don't want that. I don't want that in my home. I couldn't bear that. I said, I won't take you to that church. I don't want you to become like these people.

And my wife looked at me for a while. Then she walked away from me. She took a gun. Put it to her head. She lay dead. And Keith, when she died, I died. I couldn't believe that that is what she would do.

She had no more hope. And I stopped her from finding God. And then, Keith, I bolted the doors. And I just wanted to die. I had nothing to live for. And I had one thing in my mind. I'm going to die. I didn't eat.

I locked the doors. I wouldn't let anyone in. Weeks. Weeks later, Keith, they smashed the doors down. They smashed through the door. There I was on the ground, unable to stand, unable to crawl. I was dying.

They rushed me to hospital. They put tubes in me. Somehow they revived me. You know who bashed the door down, Keith? The Baptists. The neighbors. They sat there and told me that I need Jesus Christ to save my soul.

And I said, my wife wanted your God. My wife saw that you were different and she wanted what you got. She wanted me to take her to your church. And I stopped her. I told her, no. Over my dead body will you become like these people.

And look what happened to her. Look what I've done to her. I kept her from God. And these people looked at me weeping at what I said. And they said to me, God will forgive you. You need to seek His salvation.

He will forgive you. And you will need to forgive yourself. You need to forgive yourself for what you've done. Keith, I listened to their explanation of how to be saved for eternity and forgiven that your soul is for eternity saved.

And I embraced it with all my heart to be forgiven by God and to find forgiveness. And God saved me, Keith. Oh, I have no doubt as I cried out in brokenness for mercy for my life and my sins that God saved me.

But Keith, I can't forgive myself. I can't forgive myself for what I did to my wife. You see, Keith, she wanted God. And where is she now? I kept her from God. I found God now. But where is she? Where will she be for eternity?

There is not a day that I do not weep, Keith. No, I'm saved for what I did to my wife's soul for eternity. I was preaching in a city where in the front row was a woman and her son, little boy, probably about 13 years old.

But why I noticed her face and her son was, as I preached every night, night after night, there they were sitting in the same seat. And as I preached, they were drinking, drinking, like hanging on to every word.

They just wanted what God could say to their heart, their mother and their son. And I noticed the joy, the tears, hanging on to anything God could say to them. But one night, one night, I stopped preaching when I looked down at them because her face was battered and bruised.

Her eyes were swollen and closed and tears were coming down her face as she looked down, not looking up at me while I preached. And I looked at her son and his face was hurt. His eyes were swollen and he was weeping and not looking up at me while I preached.

And I could hardly preach at the end of that sermon. I pushed past the others who wanted to see me and I got to this lady and I said, Who did this to you? Who did this to you? And she said, My husband.

I said, Why? And she began to weep and she said, Because we've been coming to hear you preach, sir. He did this to me and my son. He hates God. He hates God. And he beat this boy. Well, I tried to stop him beating the boy when we got home last night.

And as he beat the boy, he cried out, I'll beat God out of you. I'll beat God out of you! And he hit him. I'll beat God out of you! You won't be like your mother. You won't become religious. You won't follow the God of your mother.

I'll beat him out of you. And he beat him, sir. What happened to that boy wasn't long. That boy was in jail. Stealing cars. Stealing with drugs. And then worse things. Back in jail. Back in jail. And that family was shamed.

And that father was broken and crushed in shame of that boy's life. And I sent a message to that father. I sent a message to him through Uncle Roy, who knew him. And I said to him, What did you want when you said, I'll beat God out of you?

What did you want from his life when you said, I'll beat God out of you, but you won't follow the God of your mother? What did you expect? You got what you wanted. A child that turned his back on God.

You got what you wanted, sir. He would never see me, that man. When he lay dying, a short while after that, I sent another message to that man. Again through Uncle Roy. And that man was dying. And almost his last words were these words.

I won't tell you what the message was that I sent to him. I didn't rebuke him. But I sent a message to him because he wouldn't see me. And as he lay dying, he said these words, after hearing what I said.

He said, Oh God, what have I done? What have I done? I have destroyed everything in life. I have destroyed everything in life. You will die with those words if you keep your children from seeking God.

Maybe not with your lips, but your heart, I guarantee you, will cry out those words so loud. When I was saved, young Christian, we went to prayer meetings, Bible studies, and there was a missionary woman in Africa who came back off the field.

She still was serving God. But she was a broken woman. And she was always weeping. And I, when I was saved, suddenly found a compassion. I didn't have it before I was saved, but if somebody was hurting, I began hurting with them.

And right away I looked at her always. Somehow the tears were coming down when she sat alone. And I walked up to her one day and said, Lady, why, why do you always weep? Why? Can you tell me? Why do you always weep?

She looked at me strangely and she said, Oh, my boy, I have much to grieve over, though I'm saved. She said, When I was unsaved, I lived in a very wealthy home. Amongst the wealthiest of this land, we were wealthy, wealthy people.

But when I heard the gospel and I heard the demands of Christ on my life, I didn't hesitate. I just chose Christ and embraced His gospel and Himself to save me with all my heart, not knowing, not knowing what it would cost me to do that.

Counting the Cost of Following Christ

She said, But my husband, when I gave my life to Christ, my husband became angry when he saw the change in my life, in my convictions, in the things I valued and treasured. Suddenly that I'd never treasured before and the things I treasured before suddenly lost all their value and my husband looked in anger and he said, I don't want you to be religious.

I don't want you to be a Christian. I want you to stop this now. And I said, I can't. And my husband said to me, You will choose Christ or me and you will make the decision right now, this moment. Choose Christ or choose me.

And I looked at him and I couldn't believe what he was saying, but I said, I have to choose Christ. I have to choose Christ then. And my husband took me and pushed me out of the door and slapped me. And he cried out, he cried out later to me, You will never come back in this home again till the day you die.

I will divorce you. I will keep the children from seeing you. I don't want you influencing them with this fanaticism. I will get a divorce. And I said to my husband, No, you won't. You can throw me out, but I will never consent to divorce.

I will never ever allow you to divorce me. No matter what you do, I will never give you a divorce because I want to win you. I'm going to pray for God to win you to Christ and the children and you're going to take me back and we're going to serve God together, but I will never give you a divorce.

I will never divorce you. Do you know what he did, my boy? My husband got a lawyer soon, a good lawyer. And do you know in that court case what that lawyer said to the judge? My husband called me insane.

I had become insane. That religion had made me insane. And this lawyer quoted things I had said to my husband, to others that heard of what God had done in my heart and why I was changed and what God required of me.

And do you know that the judge listened to these things and the judge agreed I had become insane. And he divorced us. He gave my husband his divorce because I'm insane for becoming a Christian. Even the judge agreed.

Do you know what Isaiah says concerning the gospel dispensation, concerning the effect of the gospel of those who would turn from sin and change and become new creatures in Christ and turn away from a life of evil because of Christ's demand on the heart?

Do you know what Isaiah says concerning the effect of the gospel on those who turn from evil to Christ in repentance? Listen carefully. He says in Isaiah 59, 15, He that departures from evil as a result of the gospel maketh himself a prey.

But if you look in the margin of any good King James Bible, you'll find the Hebrew literally means will be accounted as mad. He would be looked upon as mad for coming to God through Christ. But it's a tragedy when it starts in the home.

It's a tragedy when in a home they look upon you as mad. That's a cross to bear. That's a cross many, many multitudes of people have to bear. There's a verse in the Bible that I love, you know, Galatians 6, 14, where Paul said these staggering words, that God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God forbid that I should glory. There's nothing I can glory in but the cross of Christ. There's nothing I can come to your country and commend myself and impress you with qualifications or degrees that go out the door like many of your preachers can.

There's nothing I can impress you with, sir, apart from the cross of Christ. I have nothing to show of any value in man's esteem, but I don't want anything but the cross of Christ to glory in. I don't want anything that could impress anyone apart from that I've embraced the cross and its effect on my life.

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Have you ever thought of those words? By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, the cross of Christ, if it has had any effect of you in truth.

The world is crucified unto you, and you are crucified unto the world. Suddenly, the things that once held you in grip, you have lost their grip. Suddenly, they have no hold on you. The things you treasured for entertainment, the places you couldn't miss, the programs on a television you wouldn't miss.

Suddenly, their defilement. When the work of the cross, the world becomes crucified. It's like a, it dies. Its effect, its hold on you. The things you treasure, you treasure no more. That it held the world out, the world holds to you.

But then don't stop there. Because of the effect of the cross, the world becomes crucified unto you. You become crucified unto the world. And it starts in the home, the world in the home. Suddenly, you, because suddenly you don't want the things they want.

You don't sit there gripped at the same evil, moral, decadent things on the television. You don't want to go to frequent the places your family who hasn't followed Christ still want to frequent. And they know you're agonizing, you're grieving.

You cannot sit with them. You're on your knees weeping. And they become crucified unto you. They feel uncomfortable. They feel condemned. And they don't want to be with you. They don't want your repentance.

You die as it were to them. Your opinion dies. It is a staggering thing. When you in your own home, they crucify you. You become dead as it were. It dies. They die. They're longing to be with you because they feel condemned by you.

Oh, it's a terrifying thing when it starts in the home. And it starts in the home, not out there. Not out there. The world in the home that doesn't come to Christ, you become as dead to them. And you know one day, I had a knocking on my door.

The Cost of Conversion in a Muslim Family

And outside of the door stood two poorly men. I mean poorly men. Poorly dressed, humble men from a poorly area in our city. Poorly men. And I looked at these two men. They said, Sir, we have heard you preaching.

We heard you preaching the last week in this church. And we found out your address. Because this brother and I, we felt led of God to bring you this. And they held out to me an envelope. And in the envelope, there was some money from these poor men.

They both said, God, God really impressed us upon our hearts that we bring you this money, that we give you this money, sir. And I thanked them profusely for their kindness. And then they wanted to go.

And I said, Don't go. Come in my home. Come in my home. I want to fellowship with you. I want you to tell me about your love for Christ. I want to get to know you. I don't want you to travel from the other side of the city, which is hours away where they stay.

And then just go away. Come. Come in my home. And they were reluctant. So I said, Please, give me the privilege of having you in my home. Don't go. I want you to come and sit and have a cup of tea with me.

I want to share, and I want you to share with me in fellowship. So they came in my home. They sat in my lounge. They looked at my furniture. We haven't bought a thing, my wife and I. Everything we inherited or were given.

Missionaries don't buy things in Africa. But they looked at all that had been given to me. And I saw them looking around at the furniture and the little gifts that people had given me from all over. And after a while I said to them, Tell me about your life.

Tell me how you came to God. I want to know. And this man looked at me for a while and he said, We're both Muslim, from Islam. We were born in Muslim families, raised Muslim. And when I came to Jesus Christ and gave my life to Christ, they had a burial service for me.

They had a coffin made. And in our religious house, with a Muslim gathered, all my family gathered, my children, my wife, my father, my mother, my friends. I was thrown out. I was told by the priest, You won't see your wife again.

You won't be allowed to see your children again. You won't influence them with this Christianity. Because I was so through with God. And you don't argue with these people, sir. You don't argue with these people.

I knew I wasn't going to see my wife or children again. I was thrown out into the streets. I lost my work, everything. No one wanted to speak to me again while I lived. I had died to them. And I stood outside.

I stood outside of this building while they had this burial service for me as my children sat there and buried their father. I died. So I was standing outside of the building. They buried me as a family.

And I said, Did you ever see your children again? Did you ever see them again? He said, Oh yes. Every day I would go early and stand at the block on my way to work. I'd stand at the corner and look up at the house.

And through the years, after years, after years, I watched my children grow as they went to school and get in the cars. They walked from their door to the car. I watched them leaving school. When they were grown up and going to the workplace, I saw my family from the corner.

I said, You never spoke to them again? No. I've never ever said one word again to my children, though they were small and now they're men and women. Did they know you were standing there, I said? Yes, he said.

I know they knew I was there every day. But they never looked at me again. Apart from my son, once. In all the years, only one of my children looked at me once. He turned and he looked. And then he got in the car.

He never looked again. Otherwise, they'd never looked at me or acknowledged that I'm alive again since I came to Christ. And I said, And you were willing? You were willing to pay that price to follow Jesus?

You were willing that your children and your wife never ever looked at you again? You were willing to pay that price to follow Christ? I sat there listening to him, thinking to myself, God, what price, what did it cost me ever to be saved when I look at what it cost this man, God?

I said, You were willing? You were willing for that cost, to pay that price to follow Jesus? He looked at me amazed for a moment, tears coming down his face. And he said, Oh, sir, when you look at what Jesus did for me on the cross, when you look at the sacrifice Jesus made for my soul and paid for my sin, that I could be saved for eternity, nothing I do could be regarded as a sacrifice.

And you cannot say no to God's salvation. Eternity never ends, sir, even if you have to lose everyone in your home to be able to be saved for eternity. You dare not turn your back on God's salvation, no matter what happens.

You cannot say no to God offering you eternal life. How can you embrace your home and go to hell for eternity? He turned and he looked at this other man sitting there, his brother. He said, This man has gone through the same thing.

They've never once acknowledged he's alive again since he came to Jesus. I believe it's a terrible, terrible cross to bear. When the world is crucified unto you and you unto the world, when the world and your home, you're dead.

You're as good as dead. When you come to Christ, you died. If they don't want to follow God, you died. But don't think that the Muslims and the Jews, many of them who also throw their children out or their wives out if they come to Jesus Christ and have nothing to do with them or won't allow them to influence, don't think they're the only ones who die, who have burials.

Many, many of the Western homes, believe me, when a man or woman or child comes to Christ, they die. Maybe they're not given a coffin and maybe they don't go to the extremes the Muslims go to if someone comes to Christ, but the man pays the same price in a way, if you think of it, sir.

I wonder what's more cruel, to be living in your home with a family that hates you, that treats you as enemy, sir. You don't know what an enemy is until your father beats you like no other man would ever beat you on earth and beat your mother, like no other man in his evilness would ever have anger enough.

You don't know what an enemy is until your father becomes your enemy, until your wife becomes your enemy. You don't know what an enemy is because no one can hurt you as much as the enemies that stay in your home.

Though you live there and will not acknowledge or want your, your regard or your opinion and despise your words and despise you and your standards and anything you try to impress on them, they hate. Oh, it's a cross to bear whether you're buried by Muslims or buried in your home in the hearts of those who want the devil.

Biblical Examples of Enemies Within the Family

Do you remember Eli? He was a godly man, but his sons were wicked. It wasn't because Eli was wicked that his sons were wicked. Maybe he didn't discipline them as he ought to, but Eli was a godly, holy man.

Don't doubt it. And in spite of being godly and holy, his sons were wicked. They weren't just a little bit wicked. It doesn't mean because you're godly that your whole family will follow God. David was a man after God's own heart.

No other man on earth did God ever say that about. But even if you're a man after God's own heart, there's such a thing as the darling of your home. Absalom was the darling of them. He was the Joseph of, of David's home, the spoiled one.

Do you know that darling Absalom, the darling of David's heart, hated his father so much that he was so wicked? He hated his father so much that all he lived for was to destroy his father's integrity, destroy his father's, the trust in people, everything, any affection he showed David was like Judas, betraying Christ with a kiss.