My Brother’s Keeper

A Bible worker rejoices over his brother’s journey to Christ.

 “Why don’t you eat pork?” my brother Dodong asked. “Pork is very delicious.”

“Because I want to please God and go to heaven,” I replied.

Dodong smiled. “Are you not envious of the rest of us? You are only eating vegetables.”

I wanted to cry. I felt very alone at the tender age of eleven. No one seemed to understand my beliefs. 

I lived in a large family with my father and stepmother. While most of my siblings were devoted to Roman Catholicism, I could not forget the faith of my biological mother. As she visited me and her other children on holidays, she reminded us about God’s diet, the true day of worship and God’s commandments.

“Our mother is getting crazy about the Seventh-day Adventist beliefs,” one sister murmured. 

“Yanyan is the only one among the seven of us to follow the crazy beliefs of Mother,” my eldest sister said of me.

I felt hurt. I prayed that someday, they would realize that our mother told us the truth.

While the girls argued, Dodong remained silent. I knew by his actions that he did not believe God’s messages. He refused to believe. While I never saw him go to the Catholic church on Sunday, he considered himself Roman Catholic. He believed that if a person died, the prayers of other living people would help them to pass from purgatory to heaven. 

“There is no purgatory according to the Bible,” I tried to reason with him. “That doctrine cannot be found there.”

In my second year of high school, I found a pamphlet titled “Behold, He is Coming.” I saw that it was about Bible prophecy and Roman Catholic doctrine. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as I read. “I must tell my brother about this, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ,” I decided. But when I told him, he turned away. I could see that he was unwilling to listen to the Word of God.

I continued to pray and stay in touch with my brother. As the years passed, although Dodong moved to a different city, he kept in contact with me. Every time he called, I reminded him of God’s goodness and the Holy Word. 

Almost a decade passed. Dodong finally attended a meeting by my friend Temtem. It was about the “old man” of sin, and the new life we can have in Christ. Dodong accepted Jesus. He turned away from his sins, and refused to eat unclean food. On the day of his baptism, I could not have been happier. “Finally, my brother understands the truth and accepts Jesus as his Savior,” I praised God.

Today, he is active in his church every Sabbath. I pray that someday all of my siblings will become like Dodong, who finally accepted truth for his life.

Location
Philippines

Author
Sister Yanyan Piedraverde is a Bible worker in South Cotabato on Mindanao Island in the Philippines.

Pray that one day all of Yanyan’s siblings will accept Jesus. Pray that Dodong will continue to grow in his faith and be a witness to their other siblings.

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