The Church That Vanished

THE CHURCH THAT VANISHED

When Reverend Neil Matson was just a boy he and two of his friends decided to skip school and run away from home. They ‘hopped’ a train and rode down to the hills in southern Ohio. They rode the train for a couple of hours, and when it slowed down enough that it was safe to jump off, they jumped and decided to explore the countryside. As they were walking up and down the hills and valleys they heard a bell ringing in the distance. This made them curious and the three boys wondered what a bell was doing ringing out in the middle of nowhere.

They began walking following the sound of the bell and they walked up out of a valley onto the top of a hill. From the top of the hill they looked into the distance and saw a little white church at the bottom of the hill on a flat spot of ground surrounded by trees. They saw cars parked all around the church and people were walking and entering the church.

The sound of the bell ringing sounded like their school bell back home and the three runaway boys began to feel guilty. They had skipped school and ran away from home without even telling their parents goodbye. They knew when they didn’t come home from school that afternoon their parents would worry themselves sick wondering where they were. They decided then and there to go back home.

The years passed and the incident was all but forgotten. After the three boys had grown up, Reverend Neil Matson was called of God to preach the gospel. He preached many revivals and during his ministry he was called upon to hold a revival meeting down in southern Ohio near where he and his two friends had seen the little white church so many long years ago.

During his message one evening he told the story of how he and two of his friends had run away from home when they were boys still in school. He told about seeing the little white church and how its bell ringing caused them to feel guilty and go back home. He described where the church was located and that he had plans of visiting it while he was down in this part of the country. He noticed that everyone had a puzzled look on their face.

When the service ended several of the local people came to him and asked him where exactly he had seen the church. He described where it was located and one man spoke up and said, “There is no church where you have described and there never has been a church there!” Several of the people nodded their heads in agreement to what the man had said.

Reverend Matson said, “Tomorrow, I will take you there. I know for certain a little white church is there. We three boys saw cars parked all around it and we saw people walking into the church. It sits at the bottom of a hill not far from here”

The next day Reverend Matson and several people drove to the spot he had described. When they got there, there was no church there! There never had been!

KJV Romans 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.