While living in Adana, Turkey working for the Church of…

While living in Adana, Turkey working for the Church of God servicemen’s department I was close enough to drive to Antakya, Turkey. It bordered on Syria and was the ancient city of Antioch where the early church was first called Christians. It was an amazing city and was another short drive to Aleppo, Syria and then on down to Damascus. Up the coast line was Iskenderium where Paul and Barnabas would set sail for Cyprus on their first missionary journey. Back to Adana to the West was Tarsus where Paul was born and on the way to the Appian Way that led through the Tarsus mountain range to Western Anatolia and the west coast of Turkey where the seven churches were located. It was a Bible land without the Tourist trappings of the Holy Land.

I studied my Bible relentlessly to find the relevance to this wonderful land. Acts and Romans came alive and the fact that from Antioch the Holy Spirit led the church, “go here go there” “do this do that”

Standing on the banks of the river that divides the old city from the new you can sense the same Holy Spirit present there and the wind that carried the gospel message westward from that continental bend to the west toward Rome.

It was so refreshing and renewing to stand there. I stood with tears flowing down my cheeks.

I shared this excitement with Edwin King, the European Servicemen’s Representative, with whom his family and mine went down to Antioch. I told him of my thoughts about the Church and the Holy Spirit and how that same Spirit moves today guiding the church.

He burst my bubble that day! I don’t know if he thought me too zealous or too rebellious. He said, “well Charles the church is too big today to be led like that” (my words since my memory is short). Dollas Messer had come down to preach a weeks revival and later Bro King came for a visit. In our discussions Bro King let me know that Dollas and myself were not team players. That was a compliment for me!

Is the Church of God too big for the Holy Spirit? What did Edwin King mean?