A man who found God after he improbably survived a suicide attempt five years ago fulfilled a divine compulsion yesterday when he presented four ‘crucifixion nails’ to Angus Buchan moments before the evangelist addressed the Karoo Mighty Men Conference at Middelburg.
Michel Stone said that in December 2007 his troubled past caught up with him “in absolutely every way”. After two months of living in constant fear he decided to kill himself. He locked himself in a room in his Piketburg home and took a lethal dose of cardiac glycoside, a drug that paralyses the heart muscle.
“I took enough poison to kill about eight people,” he said.
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But he woke up about five or six hours after swallowing the poison.
“I first thought I was dead. Then I realised I was still in the real world. After a lot of cursing I heard a still voice to the right of me saying ‘Whether you live or die is not your choice’.
“I just broke down. I did not know much about God but I just started confessing from when I could remember; from about 5 years old.”
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Stone says that about two weeks later he got a Bible from a dominee because he felt he needed to read about God in order to try and understand what had happened to him. From that time on he began to get a lot of support from Christian people.
“Just before Easter [in 2008] I woke up one morning with an incredible urge to make nails for Angus Buchan. I thought, well it’s my own idea and I ignored it. But this [urge to make nails for Buchan] literally has been going on for the last five years.
“Eventually, about two months ago, just before Easter, I got up one morning and walked into my blacksmith shop and started forging nails. And by lunchtime I had made 20 nails. My wife asked me: ‘What are you doing?’ – And I said: ‘I am making nails’. She asked: ‘Why?’ I said:’I don’t know but I’m just doing it.”
Stone said a friend of his sent a photograph of one of the nails to bagpiper Piperjames who subsequently ordered 50 to present as gifts to people at the 2013 Karoo Mighty Men Conference where he was scheduled to pipe Buchan onto the stage on April 28. Stone grabbed the opportunity to ask Piperjames if he would give four extra nails to Buchan on his behalf so that he could be obedient to what he believed God wanted him to do. But Piperjames’ wife Ina said he should rather go to the KMMC and present the nails to Buchan himself.
“I tried weaseling my way out of it but she wouldn’t let up,” he said.
Stone said he had been nervous about attending a camp together with thousands of men.
“It was a bit too much for me. But I am glad I came. It is amazing. It’s like being home. I cannot believe it is so peaceful. There are about 20 000 men here. But I have not heard any cursing or aggression. It [attending the KMMC] is probably the beginning of a lot more [MMC outings],” he said.
Buchan listened intently to Stone and said a few words of encouragment to him, as he accepted the nails which symbolise the high price that Jesus Christ paid to save people from eternal suffering.
“It was a great honour, to present the nails to Buchan,” said Stone, who learnt the blacksmithing trade as a youth at reform school. He said he got bitten by the bug of working with hot metal then but due to lack of demand for blacksmithing today, he only does it as a hobby now. However he turned his hot metal skills to making jewelry and today he earns his living as a goldsmith.
He said he had been an aggressive person and a drunkard in the past. He sobered up about six or seven years before his suicide attempt. During this time he was tormented by the realisation of the bad things he had done in his life “because I could no longer hide from myself through alcohol.”
Eventually he was driven to the point of trying to take his life, which led to his encounter with God.
Stone said his wife Tracy is deeply impacted by his transformation.
“She has not committed her life [to Jesus] yet, but she has an absolute passion for me to be with God. And amazingly enough, she will often come to me and say: ‘You know we haven’t prayed yet.’ .”
This is a wonderful story. Mike there is to be a Mighty Men Tartan / Gateway News ‘Ten Minute Testimony Evening’ in Cape Town in June 2013. I would like to ask that you share (within the ten minutes allotted time) with others. Please make contact with me on 082 575 8862. More details about the event to follow. Well done and keep marching onwards. Love from Piperjames and Ina
Praise the Lord!
His Love endures forever!
For whom the Lord has set free
is free indeed!
Mr. Buchan and Mr. Stone,
you are both a inspiration to me, ~thank you.
“He’s got the whole world in his hands;
He’s got the whole wide world in his hands;
He’s got you and me, brother, in his hands;
He’s got you and me, sister, in his hands;
He’s got the whole world in his hands
The Editor, The Witness
NCF, ANGUS BUCHAN AND THE MIGHTY BUSINESS OF CHURCH
Your article on 24 May 2013, on NCF hosting Angus Buchan refers.
“Do not peddle God’s word for a profit.”
NCF, our city’s largest and possibly wealthiest megachurch, has hosted throngs of Angus Buchan enthusiasts, at Harry Gwala stadium for a paltry R15 per head. Of course, with a full house of over 20 000 people that amounts to roughly R300 000. Not bad for an afternoon’s preaching, even if you take expenses into account. If they wanted to limit crowds, was there no other means of doing so, instead of charging them? The question that I have for Mr Buchan and NCF is – Since when is it acceptable to charge to preach God’s word? Did our Lord Jesus do that, did any of his disciples do that? NCF has hosted a wide range of Christian celebrities and events over the years, and inevitably, exceptions may be noted, charges people to attend. This is an age old symptom of churches that peddle God’s word for a profit.
Mr Buchan has a thriving commercial ministry, with his books, dvd’s, movies, conferences, TBN programmes, etc. I was once quite amused when a Christian book store at the mall had a life size, stand up card board picture of him, for the promotion of one of his books in the afterglow of the Mighty Men’s conference’s. Of course, many will come to his defence saying that they want to see and hear him, and don’t mind parting with their hard earned money to do so. Fair enough, but does the Word which he claims to live by, actually permit him to do so. Is godliness a means to financial gain for him? Is he possibly stealing glory from our Lord Jesus? Is it okay for us, as Christians, to place a man on a pedestal, in the landscape of commercial Christianity? Important questions to ask in examining ourselves and testing our faith. Let us keep ourselves free from idols.
NCF, and other mega churches in our city, form part of a world-wide phenomenon of bigger, better church buildings and facilities and, undoubtedly, faith by numbers. Numbers are a big factor as it allows megachurches to prosper. Without mega money, mega churches would not be able to market themselves through the various media outlets, maintain mega staff salaries and church activities and overheads, and a mega brand like NCF. So why do people give their hard earned money to a religious machine that is never satisfied and constantly cries out for more. NCF teaches them to believe in Tithes and Offerings, an old testament principle in accordance with the law of Moses, not a new testament principle by the blood of our Lord Jesus. Ironically, NCF stands for New Covenant Ministries, but adheres to old testament principles such as temple worship(church buildings), Levitical priesthood(their pastors/elders) and the cornerstone of institutional churches – tithes and offerings.
In a time of economic struggles in our city, do these churches make sense, especially in areas like Northdale, Edendale, Ixopo, Eastwood, Bisley etc. where the poor are duped by their pastors/elders to finance church buildings, state of the art audio visual equipment, cars, houses and international preaching circuits, which are really just glorified holidays, and generally very comfy lifestyles for their leaders, while the average member of their congregation is living in poverty.
Incidentally, NCF subscribes to NCMI, a very successful franchise model of church, which has over 30 000 churches in over 100 countries. They all contribute to a ministry fund – a global bank account of sorts, the exact operation of which is in the hands of a few enlightened individuals. It was founded by Dudley Daniels in this city, some 30 years ago, and is currently run by his son Tyrone. Mr Daniels snr., a certified pastorpreneur, left our country when the white ruling party lost power. Whites had a God given right to rule this country, according to him, until God changed His mind, of course. He emigrated to safer and greener pastures in Australia, to run his global corporation, of the church planting business. This was confirmed through some of Dudley’s old acquaintances at NCF. Well, Mr Daniels, we as Christians are proudly South African, whether we are black or white, irrespective of our jaded past. We put the past behind us and press on towards the goal. We were not born in SA by Chance, it was by the will of the living God. Hope you’re enjoying your stay Down Under, and please watch out for the boomerang. Please convey same to your sons, from which ever part of the world, they may be ruling from.
For those who are serious about God, please do not buy into their popular Christian rhetoric, about how you rob God if you do not tithe. Or about how important it is to have a big fancy church, or how important it is to obey and honour your pastor/institutional church financially. In fact church is merely a fellowship of believers, and can occur anywhere, anyhow and anytime, without need for a building called a church, religious systems or money. Read God’s word for yourselves and Follow Him, be a noble Berean, come out of Babylon, and be set free in Christ. It was for freedom that Christ set us free, stand firm then, and do not allow yourselves to be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.
Sameer, it costs hundreds of thousands of rands to hire top stadiums. It sounds to me more like a break-even event.