Major Geoff Freind…well done thy good and faithful servant….
“Perth Salvation Army Major Geoff Freind has died after being attacked during a preaching tour in Africa. Mr Freind, 60, was a long-serving Salvation Army Major based in the Perth suburb of Morley. He was on leave and taking a five-week solo-preaching tour in Malawi in eastern Africa when he was attacked while walking from his hotel to nearby shops.”
The death of Major Geoff Freind is a sober reminder that the preaching of the Gospel of Christ is a serious matter. I am reminded of Christ’s letter to the church of Laodicea found in the Book of Revelation chapter 3:14-22. Jesus admonished this church because it considered itself to be wealthy, lacking nothing when instead in Christ’s eyes it was wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
Christianity is not just another religion. Jesus said He was the only way, the truth and the life and no man could come to the Father but by Him…. It is the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ to a fallen world that is lost and in need of salvation. Again the church in Australia should recalibrate its compass bearing, its direction, to check if it has drifted from fulfilling the “Great Commission” given to us by Jesus Christ – Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, or if it is now blindly floundering in its own importance.
It is said that our brother Major Geoff Freind had given his life completely to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To him this was the most serious of matters. The most important of issues!
His death should prompt everyone who names the name of Jesus to pause, reflect and examine just how seriously our own walk with Christ is.
May we all heed Christ’s words He gave to the church at Laodicea and ensure that church is never a stage production, or just another show, but that it is the holy gathering of forgiven sinners who have been saved by God’s precious grace through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ and that everything that we do will bring glory to His name.
Heaven is much closer today, much closer to the Major’s family. May it be also for each one of us!
We pray for the Major’s family. We pray that the God of all comfort will indeed be a comfort for them at this most difficult of times…in Jesus Name – Amen.