Do you suppose the devil was glad to see thousands of people listening to God’s Word every day? I can tell you he was not. Very soon wicked men began to make trouble for John. They not only thought that preaching outside of a “church” building was evil, but they also thought the message he gave of knowing your sins to be forgiven now was very foolish. How sad when men follow their own thoughts about God instead of believing what God has told us plainly in His Word. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:14.
Some of John’s own friends heard what he was doing and told him that he should stop his “strange way”. Even his own dear mother said she was unhappy about John’s strange, new way of thinking. John felt, however, that this was the work God had given him to do and he should obey God rather than man.
John kept on preaching and soon something happened that gave him great joy. He visited his mother again and found she had changed her mind! She now thanked God for the work John was doing and prayed for him! What made this great change was that she also had believed the wonderful news that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.
John’s mother was not the only one in his family who put her faith in Christ. John’s brother Charles was saved also and it was not long before Charles also went from town to town preaching God’s good news.