SONSHIP SERIES-- INTRODUCTION

THE SONSHIP SERIES


ORIENTATION TO THE SONSHIP SERIES

On April 1, 1938, in a little Church in Parma, Idaho I received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in the Unknown tongue.

I was 19 years old at the time, and just "getting out on my own", as the vernacular was then.

In just a few days, I found work on a farm near Notus, Idaho-- out on the edge of the sage brush. My wage was $40.00 per month plus board and room. My "room" was a tent house out in the barn lot, alongside of the farm equipment.

Almost immediately after my encounter with the Holy Spirit of God, I discovered that I was terribly thirsty for more of that Spirit, and exceedingly hungry for the Word of God.

Almost ALL of my off-duty hours were spent in that "room" with my Bible, and in prayer to the God I had come to love so very much. I would go to sleep, propped up on one elbow, with my Bible on the bunk beside me.

I could seldom get to Church-- I didn't have a car-- and the family I was with had ceased to attend regularly. A Basque family in the area would take me to Caldwell when they could, but most of my Sundays were spent with my Bible and "The Spirit".

Together, the Word and the Spirit, taught me many unforgetable things. Gradually, a system of study developed, though I had only the center references to guide me in my searching threads through the Bible. Later I got a Crudens complete concordance, and eventually a Robert Young's Analytical Concordance. Before it was completely worn out, my children gave me a second hand computer and a Godspeed program with Strong's Exhaustive Concordance in it. I still go back to the Young's at times, as I have found it to be very trustworthy.

My studies soon led me to the knowledge that our present Bible Curriculum is badly flawed with error, and greatly lacking in neglected or undetected Truth.

Eventually, someone put a "Name" to what I had been learning from the Spirit, and I found that there were others who had been hearing the same "distant drummer" that I had been hearing for so many years. What they had "heard" was, essentially, the same as that which I had been listening to.

But, it was an unpopular message, for the most part. It is so much harder to UNLEARN error than it is to learn Truth, and we bog down at the thought of uncertainty. There is an EMOTIONAL strength in NUMBERS, if no other strength to be derived from shying away from something different.

I was, for many years, reluctant to introduce my beliefs among my peers, for it had already cost me precious fellowship among the Ministry I had "grown up" with.
But, now that I am 81 years of age, and have been asked to explain my beliefs a bit, I "throw caution to the wind" and present to you this different approach to the Gospel and the understanding of what we can expect from God in the future. I probably will not live to see it come to pass, but I am quite confident that some of you are young enough that you will see them unfold before your wondering eyes.

I can not do the subject justice, for I am only a man. The SPIRIT alone can give a full understanding. And I still do not have a full understanding, but gladly share with you what I am able to put into print.

God Bless!

Marion Fretwell November 10, 1999