THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
KEITH MALCOLM HUNT
In 1983 our Sabbath observing church in Oshawa became independent; we were on our own. We rent a an older building close to the apartment building where my wife and I lived.
Our little congregation played for a weekly “religious message” in the Oshawa paper. It was anywhere from 3 to 4 inches wide and 4 to 7 inches in length. It was not an ad but a Biblical message. We covered various Bible topics; they were often very up-front, pulling no punches as they say. Some were very plain, about what is sin, real repentance, abortion on demand is wrong, the true Sabbath, messages on the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles. Messages on Christ’s return, the age to come, and sometimes prophecy. We had messages about what happens at death, do we have an immortal soul, about water baptism——and many other message fitting for events happening in the world, or for the seasons of the year, like observing Easter and Christmas are not taught in the Bible.
I remember this one guy phoning me, after we put a massage about Sabbath observing; he said, “Do you believe in the gifts of the Spirit?” I answered that I did. He then went on to say, “Well I have the gift from the Spirit of speaking in tongues, and I do not observe keeping the sabbath day.”
Now to him this was his proof to me that observing the weekly sabbath does not matter, that’s it “done away with.”
This kind of reasoning is impossible to reason with, because he just simply could not see or reason that Satan the Devil can perform miracles; he could not see that the spirit he had could be from the Devil and not from God.
We got some notoriety by the “religious” people in Oshawa, to the point that one fellow said I should have a public debate with the Christ of Christ pastor; he was quite willing for a debate. I said okay, so am I, let’s do it.
It was to be a pro type of debate, a man from the Oshawa “Toastmasters Club” would be moderator. Both of us pastors would get 20 minutes each in turn and the debate would last for 2 hours; it would also be a debate of 2 night; Friday night and Saturday night.
There was a pretty good turn out on Friday night; even better on Saturday night because we had some Seventh Day Adventists turn up to hear the debate.
The Church of Christ pastor on Friday night was trying to move me off the topic of God’s law and grace. One of our young men from our congregation, said to me, “Pastor, he’s trying to derail you; stick to the topic no matter what he says.” He was correct when I thought about it. So the next night I just went straight down the line on the law and grace of God. Showing grace can only be because of law, that all have broken; without law that is no sin, and hence no sin then no grace needs to be offered. It was great to show how grace and law go together to make salvation.
I have said that our religious messages in the paper often pulled no punches. A few years later after my wife and I moved to a village north of Oshawa, there was a knock on the door one night about 9 pm. I opened the door and this young lady maybe in her early 30s told me her car had broken down, and could she use out phone to get some help. I said well of course you can, and is there any other way to help you. She used the phone and we talked for a few minutes afterwards. She asked my name. I said “Keith Hunt is my name.”
“O not the Keith Hunt that writes those religious massages in the paper are you.”
“Yes I am the same Keith Hunt.” I replied.
“You are so kind and friendly, just would not have known you were the same Keith Hunt.”
“Well for some religious messages I have to be pretty straight up and lay it on the line. Jesus at time also did.”
We exchanged a few more pleasantries and she was on her way.
During those years of the 1980s we have a few “odd” fellows walk into our Sabbath service. One of them came a few times within one month. Finally, after the third visit he said to me after services, “I do not accept the writings of Paul; actually I only accept the Gospels as the New Testament.”
We never saw him again.
Then there was the man, I would say in his 30s, who walked in one Sabbath, sat down, just before we were to have our Bible study before the main Sabbath service. He raised his hand, “Can I ask a question” he said.
“Sure you can” I replied.
“Do you believe the writings of Paul are inspired?”
“Yes we do” was my answer.
He closes his Bible gets up and walks out; never to be seen again.
One of the big events, well it happened twice over two years, a year in-between each. Big events because of what happened some few years later that all of North America [maybe other parts of the world also took note] was very aware of, on the news all the time.
Oshawa was the head town for Canada’s Seventh Day Adventists. I always went to see Dr. Samuele Bacciocchi when he came to town to speak. He has probably written more on Sabbath Question than any one else in the world; thousand were converted to obeying the 7th day Sabbath through his work on that commandment. He took on debating with any one who would debate him on the weekly Sabbath question—— no one ever won debating with him. He was a one man recking crew for Sunday debaters. He was the first man EVER to be allowed to obtain his PhD by attending the Gregorian Theological School in Rome. They tried to persuade not to do it, for 3 or 4 others had done that subject; but Samuele had discovered old documents in the back dusty rows of the Vatican Library; hence was given the green light for his study.
The living Pope at the time presented Samuele with a gold neck-piece for his outstanding work in obtaining his PhD; they even printed his first 500 book hard-cover called “FROM SABBATH TO SUNDAY.”
Samuele did not live a long life he died at age 73. But his 4 books on the Sabbath are classic gems. I have them all.
I had heard over the years that small groups would break away from the main body of the SDA organization, here there over north America; and yes there was another that did so in Austrlia.
One Sabbath, at the start of our main 11am service, a middle age lady walks in; her name Lois Roden; there was a young man with her in his late 20s; and there was a mother and taught; mother middle age, daughter early 20s.
They listen attentively; after service I greeted them, and they were all respectful and polite. Yet as time visiting moved on, it was clear they were here to debate certain things. They were Sabbath observers and Feast of God observers as we were. So started out fine, then they tries to persuade us the “new room” day was also a Sabbath day. Now they got me into a debate on that question, I tried to prove the new month in the Hebrew calendar was NOT a Sabbath day, but should be noted and have some in home studies on that date, which we in our church had instituted, if people could and were able to attend.
They had a name and it was “Branch Dividian” and they had a compound near Waco, Texas.
Are some bells for some of you bringing to ring?
The following year in the summer they did the same, came to our services, and visited afterward to….. yes talk about the Bible and their growing number of followers, and their out-in-the-country kinda monastery, near Waco, Texas.
The mother and daughter from Oshawa, I found out by talking to them, were going to go to this monastery in a few weeks.
Some years went by and threw the grape-vine somehow, I heard the lady that was their “founder” had died—— and now there was this charismatic, photo-graphic memory man, around 30ish in charge, by the name of David Koresh. Maybe red lights are flashing in your head.
By now there was a large following in this group, with children, housed in their monastery, near Waco, Texas.
All that happened there can be found in Wikipedia just type into your browser David Koresh.
The local mother and daughter that came with Lois Roden to lour services, twice, did manage to save their lives in that horrible Waco tragedy.
At the time of this disaster at Waco, My wife and I were living in Florida; I would often say to her, the FBI and all those involved in trying to have the Koresh group come out, had no clue what they were dealing with; which was fanatical planet Pluto leadership and brain-washed individuals, and children. Following it all each day, I noted that some inside the compound were allowed to leave. One was the local mother in Oshawa that had attended our service with Lois Roden. And her daughter jumped out of a window when the fire started. They both survived the horror of it all.
The story of Jim Jones [look him up on the Internet] was a leader of a religious group that started out well enough, served and helped people, but over time, he also became convinced he was God’s “special agent” and went off the into fanatical teachings and brainwashed those with him, unto the death of them all and their children
I have a book called “Churches that Abuse” while not mentioning David Koresh or Jim Jones; the book is full of groups that are very similar to Koresh and Jones, and I could add similar to the Radio Church of God that eventually went the same way—— into a cult mind-set!
Back to 1984 my parents had decide to immigrate to Canada, my Dad was given early retirement at age 63. They had visited the Kelowna in the Okanagan
Valley of B.C. a year earlier. They had returned home and had sold their house, and got things going with the immigration department. It was pretty simple for them. All I had to do was sign that they would not be on welfare for 10 years. That was no problem as my parents had money and by Dad a nice pension from the Mackintosh company he worked at, for 36 years.
By 1984 my parents were landed immigrants in Canada, and went to live in the beautiful Okanagan Valley in B.C.
By 1987 I knew my parents would never be living in the Oshawa area of Ontario. If I was to be near them I would have to move where they were, [I was an only child] so we made the decision to do just that. My right hand man would carry on where I left off in God’s work.
We took a quick visit to Kelowna, saw the house market, and work situation, it was a buyers market. We sold up and packed up and moved out to Kelowna B.C. We looked after 3 somewhat mild young men with physical and mental troubles, for the first 1 and 1/2 years. All going very well.
There was a pastor and his wife we had known form way back; they were pastoring a small congregation church in Penticton, about 45 minutes south of Kelowna; Des and Jean were their names. Knowing we were living now in Kelowna, he was happy to let me be his second pastor of the congregation. All was going smoothy in every way. Spiritually and physically.
Then the Social Service Department decided, because we had done such a great job looking after the 3 men they gave us, they would put them out on their own. They came to us to ask what we thought. I told them there was no way these men could live on their own. But they had already made their decision, guess they had to do something to qualify for their pay-check.
So they did what they had decided to do. It all turned out to be a disaster within a month. One example I’ll give. One of the lads loved “geto-blasters” as they were called back then. He would each week take the one he had and trade it in for another at the “second-hand store” down town. He had now been put on his own; given money to pay his rent and buy food. There was a knock on the door one Friday late afternoon. There he was——
“Hi Keith can I come and stay with you over the week-end?”
“Well….. I guess, okay.”
The next words from him were, “O look at my great machine.”
He had taken the $500 given to him from the Social Department for rent and food, and he had immediately gone out and bought a brand new geto-blaster!
Monday morning I entered the Social Department office with him and his geto-blaster, and said to them, “Now you created this problem, now you fix it.”
I learnt a week or so later he was living with another couple. Sometimes Social Service Departments are think in the head, and you wonder how they got their degree.
Fortunately for me I was able to pick up a job as a Shoe Repair man in a new store just opening, and they needed a qualified man in that skill. I was also teaching guitar for a local music school.
I was still publishing my 20 to 40 page magazine called “The Truth of the Matter” to our mailing list we had back in the Oshawa years; I had my own copying machine. I had about 100 people on the mailing list, most in North America but some in other countries.
Must tell you this happening in the Penticton church.
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To be continued
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