FROM RELIGION TO REALITY

You can live life with Christ, or you can try to live it by Christian 
standards; you can have freedom and joy, or you can have bondage and drudgery. 

The sad thing is that so many people settle for religion when they could have 
reality. Belgian couple Luc and Lieve de Coster-Cools describe how they 
discovered the difference ...

"We were invited to a business meeting last June at which an American preacher 
spoke," Luc told us. "At the end of the meeting, my wife felt she wanted to 
make a commitment, and I felt that I should go with her."

                                 Demanding

"From then on, we did our best to live up to what we thought Christians ought 
to be. But we soon discovered that trying to live by a set of rules was 
extremely difficult and demanding."

Two months of drudgery came to an end when Luc and Lieve chanced to hear that 
Peniel's Pastor Michael Reid was speaking at a miracle service in Antwerp.

"It was something new," Luc explained, "and we were curious, so we went along. 
The preaching was very straight and down-to-earth, which we weren't used to, 
and we enjoyed it very much - so much, in fact, that we took the opportunity 
to visit Peniel in October. We were very impressed by what we saw there."

                                 Practical

In December, Pastor Reid started to hold meetings in Antwerp more frequently, 
and the couple have become regulars in the congregation. "It's an hour and 
three quarters drive," Luc admitted, "but we don't begrudge it. Pastor Reid's 
preaching makes so much sense. It's very practical and easy to understand."

                                 New light

This new light upon Christianity has brought a major change to the family's 
circumstances. "One thing which struck us was the idea that God should come 
before house and job," said Luc. "Once, I'd have found it very difficult to 
put that into practice, but now it seems the most sensible thing in the 
world." 

"We've put our house on the market, and are looking to move to Antwerp so we 
can be closer to the meetings. I've also changed my job. There's an awful lot 
of corruption in Belgium, and working in the 'black economy' is very common. 
But Pastor Reid was very outspoken on the subject and I knew he was right - 
so I got a new job and haven't regretted it for a moment.

                                  Change

"We've changed, and our children have changed too. The Catholic religion is 
very dominant in Belgium, and so there are a lot of prejudices to overcome, 
but the change is so marked that our friends have to admit they've noticed 
it."

"We're very grateful for Pastor Reid's preaching. It's been like a breath of 
fresh air, and now it's easy to put God first when we have to make decisions. 
We're free to live a Christian life rather than living by Christian standards 
- free to enjoy life, in fact - and it makes such a difference!"