This is a tribute from my family and I to a wonderful man of God.
It is my privilege to be able to give this tribute to Pst. Stephen Francis. It was late 2014, I was so hungry, desperate, emotional and confused spiritually, it was one of the toughest time for me and yet a glorious time of my life having later realised. I was overtaken by the open book and struggling to find consensus with others and more importantly myself as to what I was seeing and experiencing spiritually “The coming of the Lord”. It was at this time of my life, 7 years ago that I met my precious brother and elder.
I have two memorable moments that I had with Pst Stephen that will stay with me. I will share one of those moments with you. One day in this tumultuous time of my life, I was invited by Pst. Paul our precious brother to hear Pst. Stephen speak. He began by greeting and then he opened up the scripture from Revelation 10: verses 1-7, my belly began to turn with such great excitement, I asked myself? Is he going to speak about “That Topic”, “calmed down” a little voice spoke inside of me. Then he gave his title “The Descending Angel”, he then typed that out with a few similar events in the scriptures and eventually ended with the Cloud on Sunset Mountain, 28th February 1963. I was on edge all the way through as revelation was coming in, doubts began to disappear or at least some of them. At the end of the sermon it was cemented in my heart that whatever was leading me to believe the open book had to be about that “Descending Angel”.
I don’t know what you will make of this but somehow after that day, I knew that this man had something to do with me. I went home and a few days later, I dreamed that Bro Allister and I were chasing away dark shadowy figures out of a house and Pst. Stephen jammed the door and held the door. For me the interpretation was clear and to this day it has held true as I interpreted it. I knew what I had to do so; I visited him in Newcastle a few years later. The opened book was the reason I met him. So there was a very close connection regarding that, therefore I feel I must pay tribute to my precious brother.
He didn’t know me, neither did I know him, but since I had been grappling with this topic and nobody at that time was sharing this with me or could plainly explain this. The good Lord used him to support the belief in the open book and the connection to Revelation 10. I knew this wasn’t a doctrine of a man because I had never even heard about the opened book or the bride age in my 20 years of believing the message. God was working with me, how this man could preach about something I was pondering on! So I knew it was that Descending Angel that was revealing himself to me that day when I heard this message preached. I was taken away!
Every time I heard of about him coming to speak, I did everything to be there and not to miss it. Being a minister myself, I saw a special gift in him, the way he brought the open book message, it was in a very different way of which my family and I enjoyed. I later met him with the Merebank brothers again, as we came together to fellowship. Merebank needed someone like him at that time. We enjoyed the messages that was coming through every time he visited us. We even had some nice fellowship together which strengthened my understanding and secured the path that the Good Lord was leading me. He respected the boldness I had in just speaking of the coming of the Lord openly. He showed confidence in us as younger generation preachers. We didn’t spend a lot of time together however certain occurrences does stand out, one such as I have mentioned above.
I am grateful to have served with a great man of God who has done a wonderful job in delivering the message appropriate for the day and age. I am grateful for his firm stand, ongoing encouragement and the influence and role he played in the economy of God. What really stands out for my family, yet with all of this, he remained simple and not boastful. His impact speaks through the character of his children. It will always be remembered in my heart of how the impact of his sermons affected my family, the church and I. So parting, I bid farewell to him for now in the flesh! But not for long, we will meet him again maybe even sooner than we think. I encourage his wife, his children and extended families, the church in Newcastle, his colleagues, fellow believers around the world to continue in the same footsteps and be strong and faithful. I would like you to read the psalm of life by Henry Longfellow for encouragement but I would like to close with this last three verses:
Lives of great men (Pst Stephen Francis) all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother (Br.Shadrach),
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait (all of us).
God Bless
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