After fighting a good fight, another veteran has fallen.
Canadian Air Force bomber-pilot Harold Nettleton never flinched in the face of battle.
As a young man, Pilot Nettleton courageously fought a good fight against Hitler and his evil cronies, securing the freedom we so widely enjoy to this day.
Then, as an older man, Pastor Nettleton fought “the good fight of faith,” securing the spiritual freedom of all who chose to love and follow Jesus Christ [1 Timothy 6:12].
In 1967, Reverend Harry Nettleton moved his family from Peace River, Alb., to Ladysmith to serve as Senior Pastor of Bethel Tabernacle.
After 27 years of faithful service to Bethel and the surrounding community, Nettleton retired. He then served with distinction as Bethel’s Visitation Pastor until March 2012.
For many years, Nettleton fought the formidable foe of cancer. Always the good soldier, Nettleton defied cancer more than once. Valiantly, he fought long and hard against it, in order that more souls might find spiritual freedom through Jesus Christ.
The 87-year-old veteran pilot and veteran pastor, Harold Nettleton, may have lost the battle to cancer on Sat., May 5, but he won the highest award available to mankind: eternal life with Jesus Christ in Heaven.
The words spoken during the final days of another veteran of the Christian faith, the Apostle Paul, could easily have been Pastor Nettleton’s: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” [2 Timothy 4:7-8].
Indeed you have, Pastor Nettleton, and for that reason, we salute you!
— Submitted by Pastor Rob Bedard of Bethel Tabernacle