Who, What, Where, When, and Why

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.” (John 3:11).

The website http://www.comm.gatech.edu/resources/writers/5ws instructs,

One of the best practices for writers is to follow “The 5Ws” guideline, by investigating the Who, What, Where, When and Why of a story. 

If you can’t identify what makes your story unique and interesting, chances are nobody else will either.

Who is driving the story? Who is it about? Who is affected? Who benefits? Who loses?

What has happened? What are the consequences? What does this mean for the reader?

Where is this taking place (building, neighborhood, city, country)? Where should readers go to learn more?

When did it happen (time of day, day, month, year)? When was the last update? When can you expect to learn more? When will the effects be felt?

Why did this event take place? Why is this important in the big picture? Why should readers care?

Three things that I keep hearing from the YouTube testimonies are their compelling experience of trouble, Christ’s deliverance, and their fleeing to His Bible. Their stories always have clear details of the 5 W’s. They have joined the Hebrews 11 hall of faith, which ends with “…they without us should not be made perfect.” (Heb. 11:40). The 5 W’s make each narrative interesting, gravitating, magnetic, drawing, and evincing faith in all who will listen to them.

These children of God give an account so seriously that their witness is as valid as a court testimony, their hands not only on the Bible, but they are clutching it to their heart, loving it with all that is within them. All the while they tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPbrXv2GW64 is another example of this. Spoken in perfect candor, burdened yet carrying her burden with joy, battle-scarred yet full of hope, responsible with the emotions that go with Christ’s salvation yet happily filled with His life, this mature, intelligent, and talented woman tells of what she knows happened to her.

“One ray of the glory of God, one gleam of the purity of Christ, penetrating the soul, makes every spot of defilement painfully distinct, and lays bare the deformity and defects of the human character. It makes apparent the unhallowed desires, the infidelity of the heart, the impurity of the lips. The sinner’s acts of disloyalty in making void the law of God, are exposed to his sight, and his spirit is stricken and afflicted under the searching influence of the Spirit of God. He loathes himself as he views the pure, spotless character of Christ.” Steps to Christ, p. 29.

  

This woman  knows that Jesus saved her from Satan. She experienced that deliverance. To ignore it is to ignore the truth, to treat reality dishonestly, and to send her back into the same punishing dungeon she was in nbefore. Jesus saved her and sent her in the direction that she is convinced is right and best. He would keep her safe from a dark world that is so dim without hope and happiness. It is a world that is mean and hostile like the Roman world that the Son of God came to so that He could finish His battle with the ancient adversary of men.

“Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven. It was demonstrated before the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted. A new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who made the world.” Desire of Ages, p. 37.

   

Yet, even if we can’t tell of a dramatic salvation, or every one of the 5 W’s, we still will have the love of Jesus and desire others to have it too. We have the What of the 5 W’s. As strange as it may sound, we may not even have the Who of our salvation. We may not know that the Son of God and His Father are our new, trusted Saviours.

A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God,--a patient, protracted process.  

     While the wind is itself invisible, it produces effects that are seen and felt. So the work of the Spirit upon the soul will reveal itself in every act of him who has felt its saving power. When the Spirit of God takes possession of the heart, it transforms the life. Sinful thoughts are put away, evil deeds are renounced; love, humility, and peace take the place of anger, envy, and strife. Joy takes the place of sadness, and the countenance reflects the light of heaven. No one sees the hand that lifts the burden, or beholds the light descend from the courts above. The blessing comes when by faith the soul surrenders itself to God. Then that power which no human eye can see creates a new being in the image of God.  

     It is impossible for finite minds to comprehend the work of redemption. Its mystery exceeds human knowledge; yet he who passes from death to life realizes that it is a divine reality. The beginning of redemption we may know here through a personal experience. Its results reach through the eternal ages.” Desire of Ages, p. 172, 173.

   

Many testimonies that YouTube featuers tell of a soul’s need for help and hope and joy that leads to Him who is all the fullness of heaven. Until they find Jesus, He is drawing them, even though they don’t know it. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” (John 15:16). Before a baby is born it doesn’t personally know its mother, although it recognizes her voice and enjoys her warmth. In short order the soon-to-be newborn meets its mother and she meets her baby. After months of hearing her sounds Baby personally knows Mommy. It’s a great reunion, and a life-long union.

In Protestant countries, the newly born-again have a special advantage for coming to Jesus and His Bible. It’s like what Paul wrote of the people of the Lord in his day. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” (Rom. 3:1,2). Protestantism was founded upon the oracles of God, His written word. Many, many non-professing Americans and Europeans and other Protestant nations know about the Bible, even if they have never read it. Therefore, their familiarity with it will allow them to more directly and quickly come to the fuller knowledge of Jesus and His righteousness. Conversely, the many Muslims who are being led to Jesus are surrounded by Islam and hemmed in by the many chains of Allah weighing heavily upon their hearts and minds. But, by dreams and visions He is comforting them, convicting them, and choosing them. And eventually He leads them to His word. The same can be said of Buddhists and Hindus, Catholics and Orthodox. They all turn to their Maker and then to His written word. Even indigenous peoples out in the jungles and wildernesses of the world heed His call. They are all human. They are made in His image, their hearts susceptible to harmonizing with His character and nature. Many feel the need to flee the devils and they follow up on the Voice that speaks to their hearts of righteousness and love. They heed that Voice and receive His Spirit. They know the What of every Christian testimony, even though it is not until later that they know the Who of Christianity.

Eventually they all can remember the Where and When that their conversion happened. But, the Why. The why. Why would He save them—horrendous sinners, after all the evil that they have done? Why should He involve Himself with a world of sin?

 1 I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship,
should set His love upon the sons of men,
or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wanderers,
to bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary
when Bethl’em’s manger was His only home,
and that He lived at Nazareth and laboured,
and so the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is come.

2 I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
as with His peace He graced this place of tears,
or how His heart upon the cross was broken,
the crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the broken-hearted
and stays our sin and calms our lurking fear
and lifts the burden from the heavy laden;
for still the Saviour, Saviour of the world is here.

3 I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
how He will claim His earthly heritage,
how satisfy the needs and aspirations
of east and west, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
and He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
and some glad day His sun will shine in splendour
when He the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is known.

4 I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
when at His bidding every storm is stilled,
or who can say how great the jubilation
when every heart with love and joy is filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
and myriad myriad human voices sing,
and earth to heav’n, and heav’n to earth, will answer,
‘at last the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is King!’

William Young Fullerton ( 8 March 1857 -17 August 1932)

While the Why is being learned, the last of the mysteries enters their thoughts—the How. They can recount life’s events that were part of their change of heart and mind. But, how does the Spirit of Jesus do His work inside of them? This will be a mystery that never gets solved. Only our Creator knows that How. All we can know is that He used trouble and catastrophe, sorrow and grief, depression and death, in order for us to come back from serving Satan to serving our original Master. The difficulties of this world of sin open us for Him to write His Law in our circumcised hearts.

“Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

My bowels, My bowels! I am pained at My very heart; My heart maketh a noise in Me; I cannot hold My peace, because thou hast heard, O My soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are My tents spoiled, and My curtains in a moment.

How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?” (Jer. 4:18-21).

“Hab 1:6  For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

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“For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” (Jer. 30:5-7).

“Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.

For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.

For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel.

Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.

They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.” (Jer. 31:2-9).

“And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.

In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:28-34).

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Eze. 36:26).

“For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” (Jer. 31:25).

“Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.

There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside Thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up.” (1Sam. 2:1-7).

With patience they can face the wrath of the evil one because they have already been there and have seen the salvation of the Lord. Even in death they retain their hope.

“For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:25-27).

They look back on their former troubles, and daydream of more, and say with Jeremiah, “Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.” (Jer. 31:26).