317 Sermon Illustrations on Conversion

One of my friends in Cincinnati had just closed his special service

in his church, when the door opened and a young man slipped into the

last pew. The minister felt impelled to make one more appeal, and as a

result the newcomer lifted his hand for prayer. Before the night was

ended he had accepted Christ as a Saviour, and now said the minister,

"Tell me your story," to which the young man replied, "I am a prodigal

son. My home is in New York City, where I have the best father and

mother in the world, but I have sinned against them and so left home

vowing never to return until I could go back a Christian, or was taken

home dead." By the advice of the minister that night he sent away the

good news to his mother that he had accepted Christ. No answer came to

his letter for eight days, and when it did come it was in an envelope

bordered with black. He broke the seal with trembling fingers and read

this letter, which afterward he carried to the minister.

Dear Son: -- You can't imagine what filled my heart when I received

the news that you are a Christian. It was only quickened by the

sadness which was there at the same time. For the same day you say you

became a Christian, and as nearly as I can estimate the same time,

your poor father was going out into the eternity. Over and over

through the hours of the day we heard him praying for you, "O, God,

save my boy, and when night came he died praying that God would save

you. My boy you are a Christian tonight because your old father would

not let you go." O for a faith like that!

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

You may remember the allegory of the council of the devils in hell,

at a time when Satan heard that a revival had commenced in a certain

community. According to the story, he called his counselors together

and asked them for advice as to how this spiritual atmosphere might be

changed. One said, "I could break up this revival. I would go and

laugh at the people, and tell them they were a pack of fools; that

there was no God, no devil, no heaven, and no hell. And I would say,

'Eat, drink, for tomorrow you die.'" Satan said, "You need not go. You

would not find anyone that would believe you." Another, shrewder than

the first, said, "Let me go. I would go to them and tell them that a

portion of the Bible is true; that there is a God and a heaven, but no

devil and no hell, and that no matter how they might live here they

would go to heaven when they died." And Satan said, "You need not go.

You might find some people that would try to believe you, but not

many, especially at this time of spiritual awakening ." "Let me go,"

said a third, the shrewdest and meanest of them all. "I will go and

tell them that the Bible is all true; that there is a God and a

heaven, a devil and a hell, and that the people are making their

choice in this life as to where they will spend the future ages. And

then I will say, 'But you have plenty of time. Put this off. Wait

until tomorrow.' " And Satan said to him, "Go!" This is only a

parable, but I think that it is true tonight. I believe that this

emissary of Satan's has come into this audience and has been going

down these aisles and into these seats, and saying to this man and

this woman, and that young man and yonder maiden, "Put it off. Wait

till tomorrow.'' You will heed this voice at your peril. -- B. F. M.

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

My name is Liz Macleod. I am married to Doonie and have three boys, Craig, Stuart and Brian. I work as a Play Group Leader in Stornoway on the Island of Lewis.

I publicly confessed my faith in Christ in February 1996 at the same time as my husband Doonie. The Lord was striving with both of us, but in different ways, and by His grace brought us both to a saving knowledge of Him together. This is my testimony as I told it at a Youth Fellowship Meeting which was held in the village of Bragar on the West Side of the Island. It is in question and answer form.

When were you aware of the existence of God?

I think from a very early age. My parents were not Christians at that time, however we were brought up to go to church and Sunday School. My grandparents stayed across the road and they were both Christians. My grandfather was the church officer in the Free Church in Stornoway, and I remember he used to say grace before and after meals. I also remember being in their house and having worship - when it came to the prayer we all had to kneel down in front of our chair.

I also remember us watching television on Sunday afternoons. Often my granny would pay us an unexpected visit and my dad would jump up quickly to switch off the television when he would see her coming!

I can say I knew what was right from wrong from an early age and I was aware that God did exist.

Who were major influences in your life as a teenager from a Christian perspective?

Our family moved from Stornoway to Aberdeen when I was just over 8 years old. We went to church and Sunday school in Aberdeen. I remember quite clearly my Sunday school days and I think that is important. You might be wondering just now, what is the point of memorising verses etc.? Looking back, I am often amazed when I am able to see what an influence my upbringing had. I remember many of the Psalms I had learned in Sunday school and my catechisms. I also remember writing an essay on Ruth. A couple of weeks ago our minister preached a sermon on Ruth and I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that I could still remember a verse that I had learned as I was writing that essay. It was when Naomi was telling her two daughters-in-law to go back to their own people, but Ruth clung to her and said, “Intreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from following after you, for whither thou goest I will go, whither thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.”

My mum was converted under the preaching of the late Rev. Prof. J. Douglas Macmillan. She sometimes took us along with her to the Prayer Meeting; afterwards we would enjoy an ice cream at a local café. My dad became interested in the gospel, although he wasn’t converted until many years later. We became friendly with one man in particular in the congregation, Ron Masson. At this time there were many students in the congregation (some from Stornoway) and they used to gather in houses on a Sunday night after church. I really enjoyed this time. It was like being a part of one big happy family. They would come into the kitchen and help mum make a pile of sandwiches. Then we would have worship and lots of singing - quite often they brought their guitars. It was a wonderful time and it had a big influence on me - in fact so much so that I remember one time one of them asking me if I was a Christian. I said ‘yes!’ I knew as soon as I said it, that I was not! I think I just longed to be one. Our neighbours were Roman Catholics and one day they told us they turned down the television one Sunday so they could listen to the singing!

We moved back to Stornoway when I was 15 and I remember attending the Bayhead Youth Group which was held in the Retirement Centre and was lead by Ralph Briggs and Ruairidh Martin. I also went to some Faith Mission meetings. These were the main influences as a teenager.

How old were you when you became a Christian?

I was 36 years old and I am now 43.

You had a tragedy in your family with the loss of your brother. Were you angry with God?

Yes! I lost my brother nearly 8 years ago. Some of you who are present knew him quite well. John became very ill. We did not realize the seriousness of it at first, however it became quite apparent when we were told he needed a heart transplant! I prayed for him every night and yes, I have to admit I was angry with God. He had let him die! I did come to see that this same God was a loving God this encouraged me when I saw the strength that my parents received at that time, though their grief was immense. The Lord gives help in time of need and He will not burden us with more than we are able to bear. We must remember that our lives are all mapped out by God. God knows the time of our birth and the time of our death, and it is good that we do not know these things. We would not be able to cope! This is why there is such an urgency for the gospel. We do not know the appointed time of our death, but we must all make sure that are ready when that time comes. We can only do that by asking the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts. We need not have to wait for anything dramatic to happen! Jesus wants us to ask, and He will freely give.

When did you decide to give your life over to Christ?

It was on the 21st June 1995. I remember that date because it was our 16th wedding anniversary!

The Lord had spoken to me clearly in October 1993 at the death of our close friend Ron in Aberdeen. I travelled to Aberdeen with my parents and younger brother for the funeral. I was really upset and crying throughout. Others about me seemed to be fine. They knew Ron had gone to a better place. I clearly remember the minister saying “we don’t know the purpose for Ron’s death” and at that moment I felt the Lord was saying “this is for you, Liz”. I could not speak to my family being so upset. When I came home I told Doonie - he knew there was something working in my life. I received the tape of the funeral service and listened to it again. I just knew I wanted the Lord in my life. Doonie urged me to go to the Prayer Meeting, but I just would not take that step!

I returned to my old ways and tried to put what was happening in my life behind me. 11 months later my brother died! I was distraught and afraid. You hear of these things happening to other people. Now it was us that had to face it! It occurred to me that I had turned God away after Ron’s death and now here was another death! This time though it was my own brother! I remember asking myself, “how many more people have to die before I commit my life to the Lord?” Again I felt drawn. Once again I was afraid to make that commitment and I tried to push my feelings aside.

About the same time the Lord had been working in Doonie’s life. He was having difficulty coping on his own and felt he needed the Lord in his life. One morning in particular he was quite upset going to work. He told me that, ‘he needed the Lord in his life and that he had to do something.’ I sympathized with him, and at the same time I was saying, ‘He’ll get over it, he will be alright – it will pass!’ That day however was different! Doonie’s words played on my mind continually. They would not go away! The Lord was surely speaking to me. I was ironing in the kitchen - and crying - then I would run upstairs to pray! I prayed that the Lord would come into my heart and life and that He would forgive me for all the wrong I had done and I pleaded with Him to help me. Then I would come back downstairs and continue my ironing! My mind could not find any peace!

I was expecting my mum to telephone me, as this was our anniversary. I thought about going to the Prayer Meeting and went upstairs again to ask for strength. Sure enough my mum phoned and asked if we were going anywhere and would we need a babysitter? My heart was pounding as I said ‘yes!’ ‘We are going to the Prayer Meeting!’ She was absolutely delighted! She did not say too much, as she knew I was very emotional. I felt a huge burden lift from me there and then!

How has your life changed? Are there now more restrictions on you as to what you can do?

My life has changed for the better. I am far more content. I have a peace that comes from knowing God. I am thankful to the Lord for the way He brought both Doonie and I together into His fold. Although I had a lot of friends before, I now have a wider circle of friends, who I know are truly caring people, and the love between God’s people is very real. I also know that God is in control of my life. He is never more that a prayer away!

Are there more restrictions? No! There is a freedom in Christ. He frees us from the bondage of sin and this world. My desires changed! I used to live for sport, particularly netball. I still play it from time to time, however it is not now a priority. God comes first! I would much rather attend a meeting in the church than play netball. I also used to watch Television often, especially Soaps. Meals times would revolve around my favourite Soaps. I no longer have this desire. The Lord has taken the desire away.

Is your marriage different now since you became a Christian?

Doonie and I were married quite young. I was going out with him at 15, engaged at 18 and married at 20. We have 3 boys. I know for a fact that our marriage bond has been strengthened since we both became Christians. There is such a sense of security in knowing the Lord as our Saviour. No matter what life brings, He is always there, with us. The Bible says, ‘cast your burdens upon the Lord and He will sustain you.’ It also says ‘He will never leave you nor forsake you.’ It is comforting to know and believe these precious promises. We now have more love towards each another and to our boys. We have to thank the Lord for all that He has given us. We have more unity being of the same mind in Christ. I believe our boys have respect for our faith and we both pray that they would come to know the Lord, while they are young. We pray the same for you also.

Doonie and I now love serving the Lord together. We enjoy our work with the young in ‘Campaigners.’ We discuss sermons together, talk of the Lord and pray together. We would never have done this before. We never really discussed church or becoming Christians although we always attended church. There are times when we find it so amazing to be attending the Prayer Meeting on a Wednesday night with the Lord’s people.

Do you think it is easy today to be a Christian in your teens?

There are far more opportunities now for young people to gather together at youth fellowships, youth groups, church activities, camps, open air meetings etc. Only one other in my class went to church when I was in school in Aberdeen! There are plenty of opportunities to hear the word of God and many willing leaders who freely give up their time and energy to help bring young people to the Lord. Always remember that people are praying for you constantly and you do not have to wait until you are older or a better person. The Lord wants you just as you are. Ask Him into your heart now. Do not leave it as long as I did. His Spirit will not strive with you forever! The day I was saved, was I believe, my final opportunity. God had been calling me many times over the years and if I had refused Him that day that He may no longer have continued to strive with me. What a thought!!

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #2577]

In one of my missions a young fellow came to me, a fine

character who had been put in a most prominent place in that

mission. He it was who was delegated to take the hand of every

inquirer and say the last word of advice and counsel. He stood

it from Monday to Saturday, and on Saturday evening he said to

me: "Mr. Smith, I want to see you. You don't go out on Sunday

morning do you?" I said, "No, I rest unless I go to church; but

I usually stay in to get a little quiet. What do you want to see

me about?" I thought he wanted to see me about some special

case. He said, "About my own soul." "Why," I said, "what is the

trouble?" He said "I am not converted; I have never been born

again." "My brother," I said, "what does it mean?" He said, "My

parents supposed I was a Christian and urged me to join the

church, and I did so. My pastor supposed I was a Christian and I

was made a Sunday School teacher and an officer in the church.

Because they supposed and kept on supposing, nobody has ever

looked me in the eye and said: "Harry, are you right with

God?" --Gypsy Smith

At an open-air meeting in England, the leader appealed for

testimonies. While this part of the meeting was in progress,

there passed by a skeptic. He would have gone right on but at

that moment the testimony of a saved drunkard reached him. He

paused and listened. The converted man was telling how Jesus had

wrought the miracle. The skeptic, disgusted with what he had

heard, approached. He was unable to withhold a few open remarks

which were audible to all those standing around. "Spasmodic

flights of imagination," he called it. He found much to his

disgust that his remarks were not at all appreciated by the

meeting or the lookers-on. No one had interfered with the man

until now. God had his own special way of dealing with him.

Among the listeners was a little girl about ten or eleven years

old. She approached the man timidly. "If you please," she said,

"if it is only a dream don't wake him. that is my father!" --S.

S. Illustrator

During the war of 1914-18, the Chaplain General to the Forces,

Bishop Taylor Smith, had been visiting a military hospital. On his way

out he passed a party of convalescents who were seated around a table

on which his quick eyes spied a bowl turned upside down. He said to

the men, "Do you know the two things inside that bowl? No? Darkness

and uselessness." Then he turned it the right way up. "Now," he said,

"it is full of light, and ready to hold porridge, or soup, or anything

you like to use it for. It is a converted bowl. Which are you men

like? The inverted, dark, useless bowl? or the converted, lighted,

useful bowl, because you have turned from darkness to light, from

Satan to God?"

There was in a certain village, a very mean man who sold wood

to his neighbors, and who always took advantage of them by

cutting his logs a few inches under the required four feet. One

day the report was circulated that the woodchopper had been

converted. Nobody believed the report, for they all declared

that he was beyond being reached. One man, however, slipped

quietly out of the grocery store where the "conversion" was

being discussed and soon came running back in excitement and

shouted: "It's so! He has been!" They all asked: "How do you

know?" "Why, I have been over and measured the wood that he cut

yesterday. It is a good four feet long!" --Rufus M. Jones

Soon after Augustine's conversion, he was walking down the street in Milan, Italy. There he accosted a prostitute whom he had known most intimately. She called but he would not answer. He kept right on walking. “Augustine,” she called again. “It is I!” Without slowing down, but with assurance of Christ in his heart, he testified, “Yes, but it is no longer I.” [*]

Although young in the faith, he knew something of a solicitation to do evil and the way of victory over temptation. His reply, “It is no longer I,” expresses a realization that he had a new power available to combat the forces of sin and evil which would seek to dominate his life. He was a changed man. This is the essence of verses 13-20. In the words of the Master, “Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

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[*] Holwick: this story has been popular with preachers since at least the time of Spurgeon but it is apparently apocryphal. See Spencer Gear's analysis at https://spencer.gear.dyndns.org/2014/11/17/did-st-augustine-say-this-to-a-prostitute/. The Church Father Ambrose calls it a fable and makes the protagonist an anonymous man instead of Augustine.

One of the most notoriously bad characters that ever lived in

New York was Orville Gardner. He was the trainer of prize

fighters and companion of all sorts of hard characters. His

reputation was so thoroughly bad that he was called "Awful

Gardner." He had a little boy, whom he dearly loved, and this

boy died. A short time after his boy's death, he was standing in

the bar of a New York saloon, surrounded by a number of his boon

companions. The night was sweltering, and he stepped outside the

saloon to get a little fresh air. As he stood out there and

looked up between the high buildings at the sky above his head,

a star was shining down upon him, and as he was looking at it,

he said to himself, "I wonder where my little boy is tonight?"

Then the thought came to him quick as a flash, "Wherever he is,

you will never see him again unless you change your life."

Touched by the Spirit of God, he hurried from the saloon to the

room where his godly mother was. He went in and asked his mother to

pray for him. They spent the whole night in prayer and toward morning

"Awful Gardner" had found peace and gained the victory. He was the

victim of an overwhelming appetite for drink, and had in his house a

jug of whiskey at the time. He did not dare to keep it and did not

know what to do with it. Finally, he took it down to the river, got

into a boat and rowed over to an island.

He set the liquor on a rock and knelt down, and as he afterward

said, "Fought that jug of whiskey for a long time," and God gave him

perfect deliverance. He did not dare to break it, lest the fumes set

him wild. He did not dare to leave it, lest some one else get it.

Finally he dug a hole and buried it.

He left the island a free man. "Awful Gardner" became a mighty

preacher of the Gospel. He visited Sing Sing prison, and it was

through listening to him preach that the young Irish convict, Jerry

McAuley was set to thinking and praying, and resulted in his

conversion, and eventually the founding of the Jerry McAuley Mission.

--Illustrator

Then I cried out in desperation to God, “Lord, save me or I perish,” Right there something happened. The glory of the Lord broke over me suddenly, and the full reality of salvation came into my soul, My first thought was of my mother, who had been praying for my salvation for a long time. I thought she might be praying for me at that moment. I got out of bed and ran to the bedroom. “Mother,” I said, “it's all settled now. You don't need to pray for me any more, I am saved and on my way to heaven.”

How glad I am that we have a know-so salvation, and that we don't have to wish we are saved or wonder if we are saved, But we can say with Paul: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Before I was saved I was churched and Bibleized, but I had never experienced salvation. Since that night I have never doubted that my sins were washed away.

When temptation gets hold of you, young folks, you just feel that it is impossible to resist. That's the power of sin. But the power of God is bigger than the power of sin. When you feel yourself slipping, say, “Lord help me! God help me!” And something will happen. There will be a victory right then and there. He can change our hearts, He can change our lives; He can change our dispositions; He can change our desires. That's the power of the Gospel. That's what we mean when we say, “Ye must be born again.”

I had an experience that shows how simple it is. We were building a dam in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was up in a very remote region which was hard to get to. We had three tractors, which had to be driven up under their own power from the railroad siding up a steep and tortuous mountain road to the dam site. Two of these tractors started out and almost made it, scraping and tearing and pulling. But the third didn't seem to have the power.

We started the motor and listened. I heard something in that motor. I stopped it. I pulled a pair of pliers out of my pocket and set the magneto ahead one turn of the nut. We started the motor again, got into gear, and up the road we went. When we got up to where the other two tractors were, we found they couldn't get any further, while our tractor made it.

What I want you to understand from this story is that all it takes to put power in our lives is one touch of God. It isn't a matter of education. The moment you and I say, “Lord, here am I; put that power in my life,” that moment God will do that very thing for us. -- R. G. Letourneau

On a stormy, January day in 1850, an English lad, fifteen years of

age, started down the street to go to his regular place of worship. A

storm came up, and he turned into the Primitive Methodist Chapel on

Artillery Street. The regular preacher did not appear, and a man, to

this day unknown, stepped into the pulpit and took his place. What

happened is best told by the lad himself: "Six years ago today, as

near as possible at this very hour of the day, I was in the gall of

bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity, but had yet by divine grace

been led to feel the bitterness of that bondage and to cry out by

reason of the soreness of its slavery.

Seeking rest and finding none, I stepped within the house of God,

and sat there afraid to look upward lest I should be utterly cut off,

and lest his fierce wrath should consume me. The minister rose in his

pulpit, and, as I have done this morning, read this text, 'Look unto

me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and

there is none else.' I looked that moment."

Here is one of the many stories from the Pacific Garden Mission of

the marvels of God's saving grace:

"Sunshine Harris," was steeped in sin for seventy-one years and

most of that time an infidel. Leaving home because he was such a

disgrace to his family, he wandered around in the country. He never

went to church except for a funeral, unless to ridicule what took

place. For fifty long years he smoked and drank, then became such a

slave of tobacco that he picked up stubs in the street to satisfy the

craving. Filthy with sin, he wandered often into the Pacific Garden

Mission, usually drunk, each time resisting the pleadings of Colonel

and Mrs. Clarke with scorn and mockery, and determining never to

return.

On August 4, 1899, he bought a New Testament, hardly knowing why.

When his eyes fell upon the frank words, "Thou fool, this night thy

soul is required of thee," he became furious and closed the book.

Later he wanted to reread the passage but he was not able to find the

verse. That made him more furious.

In vexation, he began with Matthew's genealogy and kept reading

until the words were located. A few nights later he said, "God,

tonight I am going to the mission. If you help me, I'll raise my hand

for prayer." It was a "never to be forgotten" night for "Sunshine

Harris."

The old saying "the sooner the better" is certainly true when

applied to reaching people for Christ. The earlier in life they hear

the gospel, the more likely they are to trust Jesus as their Savior.

Nineteenth-century Scottish preacher Horatius Bonar asked 253

Christian friends at what ages they were converted. Here's what he

discovered.

Under 20 years of age 138

Between 20 and 30 85

Between 30 and 40 22

Between 40 and 50 4

Between 50 and 60 3

Between 60 and 70 1

Over 70 0

How important, therefore, that we present Christ to our young

people--and the sooner the better!

Charles G. Finney, a young lawyer, was sitting in a village law

office in the state of New York. Finney had just come into the old

squire's office. It was very early in the day, and he was all alone

when the Lord began to deal with him. "Finney, what are you going to

do when you finish your course?" "Put out a shingle and practice law."

"Then what?" "Get rich," "Then what?" "Retire." "Then what?" "Die."

"Then what?" And the words came tremblingly, "The judgment." He ran

for the woods a half mile away. All day he prayed, and vowed that he

would never leave until he had made his peace with God. He saw himself

at the judgment bar of God. For four years he had studied law, and now

the vanity of a selfish life, lived for the enjoyment of the things of

this world, was made clear to him. Finney came out of the woods that

evening, after a long struggle, with the high purpose of living

henceforth to the glory of God and of enjoying Him forever. From that

moment blessings untold filled his life, and God used him in a mighty

way, not as a lawyer but as a preacher, to bring thousands to

conversion over a useful period of fifty years. --The Church Herald

He went to Oxford Seminary for five years in England and then became a minister of the Church of England where he served for about ten years. Toward the end of this time he became a missionary from England to Georgia, in approximately 1735. All of his life he had been quite a failure in his ministry though he was, as we would count men, very pious. He got up at 4 o'clock in the morning and prayed for two hours. He would then read the Bible for an hour before going to the jails, prison, and hospitals to minister to all manner of people. He would teach, and pray for, and help others until late at night. He did this for years. In fact, the Methodist Church gets its name from the methodical life of piety that Wesley and his friends lived.

On the way back from America there was a great storm at sea. The little ship upon which they were sailing was about to sink. Huge waves broke over the ship and the wind roared in the sails. Wesley feared he was going to die that night and he was terrified. He had no assurance of what would happen to him when he died. Despite all of his efforts to be good, death now for him was just a big black question mark. On one side of the ship was a group of men who were singing hymns. He asked them, “How can you sing when this very night you are going to die?” They replied, “If this ship goes down we will go up to be with the Lord forever.” Wesley went away shaking his head, thinking to himself, “How can they know that? What have they done that I have not done?” Then he added, “I came to convert the heathen, but who shall convert me?”

In the providence of God, the ship made it back to England. Wesley went to London and found his way to Aldersgate Street and a small chapel. There he heard a man reading a sermon which had been written two centuries before by Martin Luther, entitled “Luther's Preface to the Book of Romans.” This sermon described what real faith was. It is trusting Jesus Christ only for salvation -- and not in our own good works. Wesley suddenly realized that he had been on the wrong road all his life. That night he wrote these words in his journal: “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

The story of Christie [Borthwick]'s dad vividly illustrates the need to persevere. With the exception of the “Billy Graham Crusade,” he seldom expressed spiritual interest. In fact, for years he aggressively resisted, citing the hypocrisies of the church and the hard-to-believe content of the Bible.

On one occasion, we talked through the “bad news” aspect of the good news — that people without Christ go to hell. He resisted this message so strongly that he retorted, “If there is a God who allows people to go to hell, then I don't want to go to heaven to live with him. I choose hell.”

A few years later, after the sudden death of Christie's 47-year-old brother, her dad was again belligerent. When we asked if he would like to receive God's gift of eternal life, he snapped, “Eternal life is a myth; there's no heaven or hell. Just put me in the grave. The grave is all there is.”

Christie kept praying — tenaciously. We called friends and asked them to join us in prayer, and we marshaled the prayers of more than 500 friends and associates using e-mail.

Two weeks later, her dad's heart softened. He indicated an interest in a relationship with God. We invited him to pray a simple prayer — “Jesus, have mercy” — and he responded. For the first time in our lives we heard him pray, “Jesus, have mercy on my soul.” His countenance changed. His striving was over. God had finally answered Christie's prayers of 29 years!

Her dad died two weeks later.

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Source: Christie and Paul Borthwick, “Don't Give Up on Your Family,” Discipleship Journal (Issue 126)

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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #85]

Alice Cooper a Christian? Throughout the 1970s, Cooper (Vincent

Furnier) tended an image as the most decadent of decadent rock stars

and, though the son of a preacher, he claimed to be a reincarnated

17th-century witch.

But Cooper has shed his fiendish image and, if the lyrics on his

newest release are to be believed, his Old Man for a New Man:

What about truth What about life What about glory What about

Christ What about peace What about love What about faith in God

above. . . it's over, you have no power You're lost And I'm found

And I'm heaven-bound.

The reborn Cooper, who plays golf with R. C. Sproul and Glen

Campbell, was baptized.

Galatians sermon series Galatians 6:14-18

START FRESH

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I. The ultimate.

II. The cross stands before us.

A. Rather grim symbol.

B. The cross is all or nothing.

III. The power of starting fresh.

A. Real religion is not rituals.

B. People can be re-made. Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 7:19

IV. Has a real change of heart accompanied your faith?

V. Many believe, but fewer change.

[Holwick - a Church of Christ interpretation of "alien prayer"]

For millennia, men have discussed the issue of whether or not God hears - to respond to - the prayer of an alien sinner. Certainly there is no question that God "hears" all prayers. God is omniscient, and therefore hears and sees everything that transpires on Earth. The Scriptures affirm this repeatedly. The Proverbs writer observed: "For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord, and he examines all their paths" (5:21, NRSV). Jeremiah wrote in the book that bears his name: "'Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him?' saith Jehovah. 'Do not I fill heaven and earth?’" (23:24). The writer of the book of Hebrews commented: "And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (4:13).

There should be no doubt that God hears every prayer - in the sense that He is aware of the petitioner and his or her prayer. The crucial question then becomes: Does God respond to every prayer? Specifically, does God "act" based upon requests made by someone who is not a Christian? While responses to this question often are fueled by a great amount of passion and emotion, we must turn to the Scriptures for answers - for only after opinions and emotions have been laid aside can we open God’s Word and seek out the Truth. It is our hope that the following examination of this topic not only will clear up any confusion over this issue, but also will firmly establish a scriptural answer that may be used for teaching others.

The Old Testament is replete with examples of men who, with confidence and fear, lifted up their eyes toward heaven and approached God’s majestic throne in prayer. From these we learn that prayer is a special form of communication between man and our Almighty Creator. Through prayer, men can offer words of thanks, make petitions, and praise their Creator. As early as Genesis 4:26 we read: "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." Prayers to God become commonplace throughout the remaining books - all the way through the book of Revelation. Today we observe prayers offered around dinner tables, before sporting events, and in the assemblies of religious organizations. However, not all of those prayers are consistent with the will of God. In contemplating God’s response to these prayers, we find that accountable individuals fall into one of three different categories.

First, there is the category composed of alien sinners. What exactly is an "alien sinner"? Who fits in this category? Is it just the tribesman on the other side of the world who never has heard of Jesus? No. Although those who never have heard the Gospel are alien sinners (see Estabrook and Thompson, 2001), they are not the only ones separated from the love of God. The phrase "alien sinners" describes those who are outside the body of Christ and who never have obeyed the will of God. The inspired writers of the New Testament placed great emphasis upon the necessity of being "in Christ." In the American Standard Version of the Bible, the phrase "in Christ" appears 89 times in 88 verses. The new law that we currently are under makes it crystal clear that it is only when a person is "in Christ" that he has "forgiveness" (Colossians 1:14), "redemption" (Romans 3:24), "salvation" (2 Timothy 2:10), "every spiritual blessing" (Ephesians 1:3), and "eternal life" (Romans 6:23). If a person is not "in Christ," then he or she is "out of Christ" and thus in a lost state. Anyone who has reached the age of accountability, and who has not responded to God’s grace through faith by being baptized into Christ (which is the only way the Bible ever tells us we get into Christ and have our sins forgiven - Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-4; Acts 2:38; 22:16), remains "outside of Christ" and is an alien sinner. In Ephesians 2:11-12, the apostle Paul spoke of people in this particular category when he referred to those who "were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world." These were the people who were alien sinners in the truest sense of the phrase. They were disobedient to the system of Patriarchal Law that they could have heeded, but did not; they were not amenable to (and thus could not obey) the Law of Moses (without becoming Jewish proselytes); and at the time in their lives of which Paul spoke, they had not had the Gospel message made available to them. They literally were without "hope and without God in the world."

Whether a person never has heard of Jesus Christ, or whether he simply has heard of Him (possibly sitting Sunday after Sunday in a church building somewhere) but not obeyed Him, that person still is outside of Christ. According to the apostle Paul, any person who fits into either category is in a lost condition and will remain in such until he or she obeys the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Therefore, when we use the words "alien sinner," we are referring to one who never has been added to the Lord’s body (i.e., the church - Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18), either because he never has heard of it or because he never has obeyed the message that he has heard.

Second, there are those people who once obeyed the Gospel, but who since have "fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4) and become erring children of God. The writer of Hebrews spoke of such individuals:

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge

of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a

certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire

which shall devour the adversaries. A man that hath set at

nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two or

three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he

be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and

hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was

sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit

of grace? (10:26-29).

These are those to whom the apostle Peter referred when he spoke of individuals who had "escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," yet had become "entangled therein [in the world] and overcome" (2 Peter 2:20).

Third, there is the category composed of those who are faithful children of God - i.e., Christians. They have "purified their souls in obedience to the truth" (1 Peter 1:22-23), have been "born again" (John 3:3), and continue to "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7). This last category consists of the faithful saved - those who are living in a right relationship with their heavenly Father. They have done exactly what God commanded them to do to be saved, in exactly the way God commanded that it be done (see Thompson, 1999, pp. 259-278), and thus they are "in Christ" (Romans 3:24). As Paul told Timothy: "Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2:10, cf. also Romans 6:23 where Paul spoke of "the free gift of God [which] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"). As a result of their relationship with God and His Son, those in this group have access to all spiritual blessings - blessings found only "in Christ," as Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." [NOTE: A fourth group of people would include those who are in a "safe" condition due to their mental inability to knowingly commit sin or hear, believe, and obey the Gospel (e.g., small children - Matthew 19:14). This group, however, is not germane to the current discussion.]

What do these three groups - representing people who find themselves in three different relationships to God - have to do with God responding to someone’s prayer? Or, to put it another way, of those individuals in the three groups mentioned above, to which one(s) has God said that He will respond as they pray?

The fact is, the Scriptures teach that people in two of these three groups not only possess the privilege of approaching the throne of God in prayer, but also have His personal guarantee that He will answer their prayer - if it is offered under the proper conditions and for the proper purpose. As we consider biblical examples of prayer to ascertain whether God will respond to a person’s prayer, it is crucial that we understand exactly what relationship the individuals in each of these groups share with God so that we, recognizing our own present relationship with Him, can know if He will respond to the petitions we bring before Him.

Certainly there can be no question whatever that God hears and answers the prayers of those who, as Christians, are His faithful, righteous children. James observed: "The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working" (5:16). Paul commanded the first-century Christians in Thessalonica: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). It is indeed the "will of God" that the righteous "pray without ceasing." Obviously, the apostle never would have commanded Christians to pray continuously if God did not hear (to respond to) their prayers.

The same principle - that God does indeed respond to the prayer of the righteous - can be found in the pages of the Old and New Testaments, both of which provide examples of righteous men and women who had their prayers answered (cf. Numbers 11:2; Judges 13:8-9; 1 Samuel 1; 1 Chronicles 4:10; Acts 4:24-31; James 5:17-18; et al.). The writer of Proverbs elucidated the principle involved when he stated: "Jehovah ... heareth the prayer of the righteous" (15:29). The psalmist asserted practically the same thing in Psalm 34:15: "The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry."

But what about those in the second group discussed above who, for whatever reason, have "fallen from grace"? Do they lose the privilege of having their prayers answered by God? Before answering this question, we must draw a legitimate distinction between those who have fallen away and diligently are striving once again to become servants of God, and those who have fallen away, gone back into the world, and are making no effort to return to God. Will God respond to a sinner who has fallen away and refuses to be obedient toward Him? No, He will not (cf. Isaiah 59:1-2). But what about those who have fallen away, yet desire to return by calling upon His name? This is where the phrase we used earlier - "under the proper conditions, and for the proper purpose" - becomes so important. In the statement that directly preceded James’ comment about the effect of the prayer of the righteous, he wrote: "Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed" (5:16). Our gracious God has provided a means by which a person who has fallen away may ask for forgiveness - i.e., the avenue of prayer offered on the part of the penitent.

One notable example in the Mosaic Age was King David, whom the Bible calls a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). David committed the grievous double sin of fornication and murder, but when Nathan the prophet exposed those sins, David fell to his knees in repentance, praying to God for forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:1-15). His beautiful, heart-rending prayer is recorded in Psalm 51. We read of a similar incident in Acts 8, shortly after the beginning of the Christian dispensation. Philip the evangelist had proclaimed the Gospel throughout the region of Samaria. A man named Simon (a sorcerer by trade) heard the good news proclaimed, was pricked in his heart, and was baptized, thereby becoming a Christian. Being a new convert and thus not yet well grounded in the Truth, Simon fell back into his worldly way of thinking. When his avarice (our English word "simony" refers back to his first-century greed) caused him to attempt to purchase the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit from the apostles, Peter rebuked him sternly, saying, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray the Lord, if perhaps the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee" (Acts 8:22). It thus becomes apparent from this divinely approved New Testament example that repentance/prayer is the prescribed manner by which an erring child of God is to deal with personal sin. God does hear and answer the prayer of a person who has gone astray and who wants to return to Him because the prayer is offered in accordance with His divine will.

Praying according to God’s will is a critically important point that bears close examination in this particular context. In 1 John 5:14-15, the inspired apostle wrote: "And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, IF WE ASK ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, HE HEARETH US: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him" (emphasis added). There are certain things that God allows us to ask of Him that fall under the purview of His will. In addressing this point, the late Guy N. Woods wrote:

We can be assured that our prayers come within the area of his

will when (1) we ask for those things which he has specifically

stated he will give us, i.e., food, clothing, shelter, comfort in

trial, wisdom to direct our steps, deliverance from the evil one

and all the many other rich blessings his inspired word promises.

Spiritual blessings he bestows by means of his Word; temporal

blessings he gives us through the operation of his natural laws.

He expects us to live within the sphere of his will, and we have

no right nor reason to suppose that he will circumvent either....

(2) He also gives us the things which he sees are best for us,

and we should always make our wills subservient to his in our

petitions. Because of our weaknesses, our ignorance, oftentimes

our stupidity, we are exceedingly poor judges of what is best for

us; frequently, we ask for things which would not be conducive to

our well-being to grant; and we should always be willing to

acquiesce to his judgment in such matters. We should not desire

to ask for things he does not want to grant. Many people,

instead of petitioning God, order him to grant specific requests;

and, when such requests are not immediately forthcoming, their

faith in prayer fails them. Prayer, properly engaged in, is a

humble request to God for blessings which we desire him to bestow

if such bestowal is in harmony with his will. WE OUGHT NOT TO

WANT HIM TO GIVE SOMETHING WHICH IS NOT WITHIN THE SPHERE OF HIS

WILL; AND HE WILL NOT ANYWAY. (1976, p. 150, emphasis in orig.)

Whenever we ask "under the proper conditions and for the proper purpose" - i.e., within the confines of God’s will - we have His pledge that our prayers will indeed be answered. Since He does not lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18), we know that He will do what He has promised to do. As often is said (correctly), sometimes the answer is "yes," sometimes it is "no," and sometimes it is "wait a while." But God has promised to hear and respond to the prayer of the righteous (and the wayward Christian, if the prayer is offered according to His will).

Now consider the alien sinner’s prayer. What do the Scriptures teach us about God’s response to the alien sinner? The Scriptures are explicit in their testimony that God does not hear (to respond to) the prayer of alien sinners. A litany of passages in the Old Testament confirms the idea that God does respond to the prayers of the righteous, but does not respond to the prayers of the wicked. Proverbs 15:29 declares: "Jehovah is far from the wicked; but he heareth the prayer of the righteous." Psalm 66:18 further explains: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear." The Proverbs writer also taught: "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Jehovah; but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination to Jehovah; but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness" (15:8-9). David wrote: "The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth" (Psalm 34:15-16). And Isaiah concluded: "Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear" (59:1-2).

Consider in this context the story found in John 9. During His travels, Jesus encountered a man who had been blind since birth. Having compassion on the poor fellow, Jesus healed him. After the former blind man left the presence of Jesus and His followers, he was brought before the Pharisees and interrogated. They reasoned that because Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath, He must have been a sinner. The blind man came to Jesus’ defense, however, and before this brood of vipers he presented a remarkable defense of the deity of Christ when he stated emphatically: "WE KNOW THAT GOD HEARETH NOT SINNERS: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth" (John 9:31, emphasis added). Simply put, his argument was as follows: (1) Only God could have worked such a remarkable miracle as giving sight to the blind; (2) God does not hear the petitions of sinners; (3) therefore, Jesus could not be a sinner, because He restored the man’s sight by the power of God. He thus concluded (correctly): "If this man were not from God, he could do nothing" (John 9:33).

This is a vitally important passage in the matter of whether God hears the prayers of alien sinners. There have been those, however, who, in an attempt to teach that the passage need not be taken at face value, have suggested that because the blind man was uninspired, this passage cannot be used to establish that God will not hear the prayer of an alien sinner. In an effort to negate the obvious thrust of the verse’s instruction, they point out that quite frequently throughout the pages of Holy Writ the statements of uninspired men are recorded, but are untrue (e.g., Satan’s lie to Eve in Genesis 3:4 - "Ye shall not surely die" - as he tempted her to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Jack P. Lewis once wrote in defense of this position: " 'We know that God does not listen to sinners’ (John 9:31), are the words of an uninspired man. Though in a sense true, as we shall see, they should not be elevated into an infallible and universal principle in which a special definition is given to 'sinner’ solely to mean 'one out of Christ'" (1992, 134[4]:54).

It is true, of course, that the Bible occasionally contains statements - even grossly erroneous statements - that are recorded by inspiration but not spoken by inspiration. Job’s rebellious complaint against God (23:2) and his preoccupation with what he viewed as the apparent injustice of God’s providential workings, both in his life (chapter 23) and in man’s world in general (chapter 24) are good examples. While recorded by inspiration, they were not spoken by inspiration.

But this argument does not apply to the statements made by the blind man. As one writer noted: "Though the blind man who uttered the statement of John 9:31 was not an inspired person, and thus, his affirmation ALONE would establish nothing about the matter, nonetheless, he did express a truth that is repeatedly taught elsewhere in the Bible" (Jackson, 1981, 17:31, emphasis in orig.). Indeed, the blind man did, in fact, express a truth "repeatedly taught elsewhere in the Bible." Notice specifically how he prefaced his words by saying, "We know...." Of interest is the fact that there was not a one among all those religious leaders who attempted to correct, or who contradicted, his statement. Why is this the case? The simple fact is that to the Pharisees, who were well trained in the Law, the blind man’s affirmation was a well-established fact. The Old Testament passages mentioned earlier (e.g., Psalm 34:15; Proverbs 15:29, et al.) confirmed the truthfulness of his declaration. Plus, the Pharisees were not unfamiliar with statements such as those found in Job 27:7-10: "Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and let him that riseth up against me be as the unrighteous. For what is the hope of the godless, though he get him gain, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry, when trouble cometh upon him?" The fact of the matter is that the blind man, although admittedly uninspired, echoed a spiritual truth that the Pharisees were unable to refute - an eternal truth that he ultimately used in his able defense of Christ’s deity (much to the chagrin of the Pharisees, who could not deter the man from his course or successfully counter his sound argumentation).

It is clear that God will not respond to the requests of the wicked. But does the same principle still apply today? Yes, it does, as Peter confirmed when he wrote: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12, NRSV ). Will God respond to the prayers of alien sinners for forgiveness of sins or other spiritual blessings? Guy N. Woods asked and answered a similar question.

Will God hear and answer an alien sinner’s prayer for what?

Forgiveness? Sonship? Eternal life? No. These blessings, and

all others needed by an alien sinner (one who has never obeyed

the gospel), are promised on conditions other than prayer (Mark

16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4; 10:9-10). Forgiveness is

available only in Christ (Eph. 1:7; II Tim. 2:10; II Cor. 5:17;

Gal. 3:26-27). To be "in Christ," one must have believed the

gospel, have repented, have confessed faith in Christ, and have

been baptized. Prayer does not put one into Christ. One becomes

a member of the family of God by being "born again" (John 3:3-5).

The "new birth" is the equivalent of being saved; and is obtained

by being born of water and the Spirit. Since things equal to the

same thing are equal to each other, it follows that to be born of

water and the Spirit is to obey the gospel (James 4:3; Prov.

28:9). Every blessing needed by an alien sinner is obtained on

specified conditions, not including prayer. In no instance, in

the Scriptures, is an alien sinner promised salvation on the

condition of prayer (1976, p. 312).

Jackson continued this line of thought when he wrote: "Nowhere in the NT is the alien sinner authorized to pray for forgiveness of his sins; nowhere is he promised that God will answer his petition requesting the remission of his sins" (1981, 17:31).

Again, we ask, for what should an alien sinner pray?

1. That God would give him faith? No, faith comes via hearing the

Word of God (Romans 10:17).

2. For enlightenment? No, God does that through His Word (Psalm 119:130).

3. For wisdom? No, it is the Scriptures that make us wise (2 Timothy

3:14ff.).

4. To ask God to beget him life? No, life comes from the Word of God

(1 Peter 1:23).

5. To be converted? No, the law of Jehovah accomplishes this (Psalm 19:7).

6. To be sanctified? No, the Truth does that through the Word of God

(John 17:17).

7. That his eyes be opened? No, the commands of the Lord perform that

task (Psalm 19:8).

8. For understanding? No, understanding comes from the Word of God

(Psalm 119:130).

9. For salvation? No, the Word offers knowledge of what one must do to

be saved (James 1:21).

10. For purification? No, the Word purifies (1 Peter 1:22).

11. For cleansing? No, the words of Christ accomplish that (John 15:3).

For what, then, should the alien sinner pray? Unfortunately, today those who never have obeyed the Gospel often are taught simply to "pray and ask Jesus to come into their hearts" so they might be saved from their sins. This teaching, although quite widespread, is completely at odds with the Bible’s specific instructions regarding what one must do to be saved (see Thompson, 1999, pp. 33-51). In fact, in numerous sermons, books, and tracts within the religious world at large, it is not uncommon to hear or read what commonly is referred to as the "sinner’s prayer." Those who believe in it frequently suggest something like this.

Accept Christ into your heart through prayer and he’ll receive

you. It doesn’t matter what church you belong to or if you ever

do good works. You’ll be born again at the moment you receive

Christ. He’s at the door knocking.... Just trust Christ as

Savior. God loves you and forgives you unconditionally. Anyone

out there can be saved if they accept Christ, now! Let’s pray

for Christ to now come into your heart (see Staten, 2001).

And the prayer the alien sinner is urged to pray frequently goes something like this:

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my

sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior

and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal

life. Take control of my life. Make me the kind of person You

want me to be (see McDowell, 1999, p. 759).

Where, exactly, in the Scriptures does it teach that, in order to be saved, one should "pray to ask Jesus to come into his heart"? Through the years, we have asked many within various religious groups this important question. But we have yet to find anyone who could provide a single biblical reference to substantiate such a claim. The salvation that Jesus freely gives is not conditioned on prayer; rather, it is conditioned on the "obedience of faith" (Romans 1:5; 16:26). Truth be told, the alien sinner can pray for salvation as long and hard as he wants, but that prayer will not result in such. God has stated - in plain, easy-to-understand language - exactly what the alien sinner must do to be forgiven. And that cannot be accomplished through prayer. It is fruitless for the alien sinner to pray to God to "send Jesus into his heart." God will not respond to such a request, and, additionally, salvation is not accomplished via prayer.

Some in the religious world today appeal (erroneously) to Luke 18:9-14 - commonly known as the parable of the Pharisee and the publican - to support their idea that God hears the prayer of the alien sinner. In this situation, the Lord contrasted the attitudes of two men - one a self-righteous religious leader (a Pharisee), and the other a humble tax collector (a publican). The Pharisee stood up in a prominent area of the temple sanctuary and loudly thanked God that he was not like other men, announcing his "righteous" deeds and attributes. Conversely, the publican, standing afar off, humbly asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner. As Christ finished the parable, He explained to the disciples that it was the lowly publican who went away justified, not the Pharisee. Those who advocate the "sinner’s prayer" or the "mourner’s bench" as the way to heaven sometimes use this text to suggest that God will hear and forgive an alien sinner. But when they do so, they overlook the publican’s relationship to God. Obviously this man was a Jew - one of God’s chosen people (the story takes place in an area, the temple sanctuary, where Gentiles were not allowed). As a Jewish man under the Old Covenant, this man was considered a child of God. He was a child in sin, but one of God’s own nonetheless. Additionally, this humble publican did not pray to God for salvation; rather, he, like King David before him, prayed for forgiveness - something that, as a Jew, he had every right to do, just as David had done many years earlier (and just as those today who have fallen away but seek to return have the right to do). This parable cannot be used to justify the so-called "sinner’s prayer."

Others attempt to defend the position that forgiveness can be given through prayer by turning to the conversion stories in the Bible such as Cornelius in Acts 10 or Saul in Acts 9. Are these stories proof that God does, in fact, respond to the prayer of an alien sinner? As we look closely at these examples, we will see that not only are they not proof of such a position, but actually establish just the opposite.

Let us begin this investigation with a look at the conversion of Cornelius. And as we do, let us state plainly that God did hear Cornelius’ prayer. As the angel said to him on the Lord’s behalf: "Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God" (Acts 10:3-4). Did God hear the centurion’s prayer? Yes, he did. But was Cornelius an alien sinner when God heard his prayer? No, he was not. Consider the following.

First, note specifically the words Luke used to describe Cornelius. "Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a DEVOUT man, and one that feared God with all his house" (Acts 10:1-2, emphasis added). How could Cornelius be described as devout if he were an alien sinner? Note further that when the three servants Cornelius had sent to Peter arrived,

Peter went down to the men, and said, "Behold, I am he whom ye

seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?" And they said,

"Cornelius a centurion, a RIGHTEOUS man and one that feareth God,

and well reported of by all the nation of the Jews, was warned of

God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear

words from thee" (Acts 10:21-22, emphasis added).

This is the picture of a sincere, godly, devout, righteous man. The Scriptures never refer to an alien sinner as "devout" or "righteous." And therein lies the solution to the problem of Cornelius’ answered prayers. Woods explained the solution to this seeming conundrum when he wrote:

It is interesting and important, in this connection, to inquire

as to the nature and identification of the law under which

Cornelius, the Centurion, was worshipping God. (1) It was not

Christianity; for he had not thus far obeyed the gospel. (2) It

was not Judaism, because he was neither a Jew nor a proselyte to

the Jewish religion, being an uncircumcised Gentile. There has

been but one other law, through the ages, under which God

accepted worship: Patriarchy. (3) It follows, therefore, that

Cornelius was worshipping God under a system which had continued

since Eden - the patriarchal arrangement. We should recall that

the Law of Moses was given only to the descendants of Jacob -

Israel - and to those Gentiles who suffered themselves to be

proselyted - by circumcision - to it (Deut. 5:2; Acts 2:10; 13:43).

Inasmuch as Cornelius was neither a Jew nor a proselyte, it

follows that he was worshipping God under the patriarchal system

obtaining from the beginning. It had, indeed, been in the divine

purpose to make of the two - Jew and Gentile - "one new man" (Eph.

2:14-18), but the attitude of Jews toward Gentiles had thwarted

that plan, until the events of Acts 10 (1976, p. 63).

Michael Hatcher added:

The application of what Jesus did was not seen for the Gentile

until Cornelius (Acts 10). During that time (between Christ’s

death and Cornelius), if a person was faithful to the Law of God

given through the fathers (Patriarchal Law), then he would have

been in a right relation with God and thus have the right to

pray. This is the condition [in which] we find Cornelius. He

was in a right relation with God, having the right to pray,

because he remained faithful to the Patriarchal Law. Now the Law

of Christ was coming into effect for the Gentile, and he needed

to hear the Word of Christ and obey it to be saved....

[Cornelius] was not a Christian, but he was in a right relation

to God (a child of God) by being faithful to the law to which he

was subject: the Patriarchal Law, until the Law of Christ became

applicable to him. He then had to obey the gospel and become a

Christian (2000, pp. 317,318, parenthetical items in orig.).

Second, note that in this situation we see a man who had been living [notice the past tense] in a right relationship with God and who was seeking to do His will in everything. Yet during Cornelius’ lifetime came the dawn of a new era - a time when men would have to call on the Lord Jesus (Acts 22:16) in obedience to be saved. Cornelius’ prayer, therefore, was not the prayer of an alien sinner, but of one living righteously under Patriarchal Law. If Cornelius had not been worshipping under patriarchy, then one of the following conditions must apply: (1) Gentiles were members of and could participate in the Jewish covenant; or (2) there was no salvation of any kind for the untold multitudes of people who died outside of Judaism and before the events of Acts 10 - regardless of how much of God’s moral law was written on their hearts and exhibited in their lives. We know from both sacred and profane history that non-proselytized Gentiles were unable to participate in the Jewish covenant. We also know that God would not (and did not!) abandon millions of people to a life without hope of salvation just because they were outside the Law of Moses, since that would make Him a respecter of persons - something Peter stated very plainly He is not (Acts 10:34).

When Paul spoke in Ephesians 2:12 of certain Gentiles who in the past had no hope and were "without God in the world," he did not imply that they were in that position simply because they were Gentiles, but because they were Gentiles who had not been obedient to the particular law they had been given. We know that Gentiles were, in fact, amenable to a law system that was not the Law of Moses, as Paul made clear in Romans 2:12-16 when he wrote:

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without

the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged

by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God,

but the doers of the law shall be justified: (for when Gentiles

that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these,

not having the law, are the law unto themselves; in that they

show the work of the law written in their hearts, their

conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with

another accusing or else excusing them).

Cornelius was not an alien sinner but a "devout" and "righteous" follower of God who had been worshipping God acceptably under the only law system available to him at the time - Patriarchal Law. The case of Cornelius cannot be used to establish that God hears the prayer of an alien sinner. [Note carefully in this context that no one today falls into the category in which Cornelius found himself, since everyone now is amenable to the Gospel - Acts 17:30.]

Still others believe that events surrounding the conversion of Saul prove that God hears and answers the prayers of alien sinners. Saul saw a light from heaven while traveling on the road to Damascus. The resurrected Lord, Whom he had been persecuting, spoke to him and told him to go into the city where he would find assistance. Struck with blindness, Saul waited in darkness for three days until Ananias came to teach him "the Way" more perfectly. During that waiting period, Saul prayed (Acts 9:11). It was perfectly natural for Saul - a Jew both by nationality and by faith - to pray in times of distress. The old ways of Judaism were over, of course (having been nailed to the Cross - Colossians 2:14), and the Gospel age had arrived. But Saul - at that point in his life - was still worshipping as a Jew. Thus, he prayed - which he had every right to do as a child of God living under the Law of Moses. Did God hear Saul’s prayer and know he was praying? Yes! Did He respond to it? There is no proof that He did. In fact, as we pointed out earlier, when Ananias, a Gospel preacher, contacted Saul, he immediately instructed him regarding what he should do: "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). The case of Saul certainly does not prove that God hears an alien sinner’s prayer.

The Gentiles had Patriarchal Law, through which they could send prayers before their heavenly Father. And the Jews had the Law of Moses, by which they could offer up prayers to the throne of Heaven. But with the advent of the new law that came through Christ, both laws were abolished and the new mandate for prayer was that it come through Christ. This makes perfect sense, in light of other considerations involved in this study. Christ taught quite explicitly: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one cometh to the Father but by me" (John 14:6). As Woods noted:

Our Lord does not intercede with the Father at the throne of God

for alien sinners. "Wherefore also he is able to save to the

uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he

ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). To

draw near to God is to come to him in humble and unquestioning

obedience to his commands (1976, p. 312).

Christ is the only way to the Father. The alien sinner is restricted from approaching God on his own, and, as an alien sinner, has no advocate to do so on his behalf. Yet if God responded to the prayers of alien sinners for forgiveness of their sins, then Christ would be placed in the position of making intercession for them as well. When He stated that "no man cometh to the Father but by me," He eliminated any possibility of an alien sinner having his prayer for remission of sins answered by God.

That privilege of approaching the throne of Almighty God is one of the greatest benefits afforded the faithful Christian (or the wayward Christian who is desirous of returning to his first love), for it is through prayer that we gain access to God. Without a mediator, our prayers will go unanswered. Matthew 7:11 informs us that God is indeed the hearer and answerer of prayer; however, we still are in need of someone to present our petitions to Him on our behalf. Paul, in writing to Timothy, left no doubt as to Who that Mediator is when he wrote: "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:3-5). Jesus, while He walked this Earth, instructed men: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full" (John 16:23-24). Therefore, it is only through the name of Jesus that we make our requests known. In whose name would alien sinners offer up their petitions since they are not "in Christ?"

Does this then mean that someone who is searching diligently for God and calls on His name will not find Him? Can the alien sinner find and obey the Truth, independently of prayer? Yes, he certainly can. In addressing this point, Wayne Jackson wrote:

[I]f an alien sinner was sincerely seeking to know and to do the

will of God, and was praying that somehow he might come in

contact with the truth so that he could ascertain the Lord’s will

relative to being saved, it is surely possible that God,

consistent with His PROVIDENTIAL MEANS, could work matters out

where that individual would be exposed to the preaching of the

gospel (1981, 17:31-32, emphasis in orig.).

God, through His divine providence, has provided a means for the alien sinner to be assured of understanding what that will is. God’s pledge throughout all time has been, and remains: "I love them that love me; and those that seek me diligently shall find me" (Proverbs 8:17). God, through His marvelous providence, can (and does) lead the open and searching heart to someone who is able to teach them the Gospel (cf. Acts 8:26-40 and 16:6-10). Jesus Himself stated: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). But this does not imply that He hears (to respond to) the prayer of the one lost in sin. He already has set in motion - through that providence - the means by which a diligent, probing soul can find the Truth. Those who are earnest in their desire to do God’s bidding will be successful in their endeavor to locate God and to learn what His will and way is for their lives. That was/is Heaven’s promise. But it is important to recognize that nowhere in Scripture is the alien sinner’s success in finding/obeying God predicated on prayer. Therefore we should strive diligently to establish a correct relationship with God by being obedient to His will so that our prayers not only will be heard, but also will be answered.

As the old song says, "What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!" With such a marvelous opportunity at our disposal, we should seek to do everything in our power to remain in a proper relationship with God so that we can sustain our communion with the heavenly Father and "pray without ceasing."

____________________________

REFERENCES

Estabrook, Jim and Bert Thompson (2001), "Will Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel be Lost?," Reason & Revelation, 21:41-46, June.

Hatcher, Michael (2000), "God Heareth not Sinners - John 9:31," Sad Statements of the Bible, ed. Michel Hatcher (Pensacola, FL: Bellview Church of Christ), pp. 303-318.

Jackson, Wayne (1981), "A Question from a Reader," Christian Courier, 17:31-32, December.

Lewis, Jack p. (1992), "God and the Prayers of Sinners," Gospel Advocate, 134[4]:54-55, April.

McDowell, Josh (1999), The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Nashville, TN: Nelson).

Staten, Steven F. (2001), "The Sinner’s Prayer," [On-line], URL: http://www.chicagochurch.org/spirituallibrary/thesinnersprayer.htm.

Thompson, Bert (1999), My Sovereign, My Sin, My Salvation (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

Woods, Guy N. (1976), Questions and Answers (Henderson, TN: Freed-Hardeman College).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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*

SALVATION

(IMPORTANT DECISION)

According to writers Kent McDill and Melissa Isaacson, Don Calhoun worked for five dollars an hour at an office supply store in Bloomington, Illinois. He had attended two Chicago Bulls basketball games in his life, and now he was going to his third. When he strolled into Chicago Stadium, a woman who worked for the Bulls organization walked up to him and told him they were selecting him to take part in a promotional event during the game called the Million Dollar Shot.

The Shot came after a time-out in the third quarter. If Calhoun could shoot a basket standing seventy-nine feet away that means he had to stand behind the free throw line on the opposite end of the court and throw the ball three quarters of the length of the court-he would win one million dollars.

Calhoun played basketball at the Bloomington YMCA but he had never tried a shot like this before. He took the basketball in his hands and looked over at Michael Jordan and the rest of the Bulls. He could see they were pulling for him.

Calhoun stepped to the line and let fly. As soon as the basketball left his hand, coach Phil Jackson said, "It's good." Indeed, the ball went through the basket in a swish. The stadium crowd went wild. Calhoun rushed into the arms of Michael Jordan, and the Bulls players crowded around slapping him on the back.

When Don Calhoun went home that night, he had only two dollars in his wallet, but he would receive fifty thousand dollars a year for the next twenty years of his life.

Sometimes one action, one decision, one moment can change everything for you. So it is when you choose to receive Christ into your life.

Born again, Conversion, Gospel, Repentance, Salvation

John 1:12; 2 Cor. 5:17

Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers, & Writers

Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 199.

Ergun Caner spent the first half of his life devoted to Islam. Raised as the son of Acar Mehmet Caner, he practiced the Kalima, Islam's creed; the Salat, praying to Mecca five times a day; the Zakat, contributing a specified portion of his income to the faith; the Sawn, fasting during Ramadan; and awaited the opportunity to participate in the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Seventeen years later, Muslims would call him a "kafir" of the worst type, he told an overflow crowd at First Baptist Church in Dallas, using the term for an infidel declared to be as good as dead. Several hundred Kurdish Muslims were among those invited to hear Caner describe how his life changed in 1982 when he converted to Christianity.

Citing the Koran's words in Hadith in 9:57, Caner said, "Mohammed says anyone who changes his Islamic religion, 'Kill him.' But I also know, my Kurdish friends, that you have given me this hour the greatest gift that I have ever had in my ministry -- your presence here."

Caner told the Christians in the audience, "For 17 years of my life, I assumed you hated me." Similarly, Muslims living in America have similar expectations, he said, in light of the recent attacks justified by members of the Islamic Jihad. "There are those that expect retribution. They expect revenge. But, believers in Jesus Christ, do you know what they do not expect?" Caner asked. "They do not expect you to love them in spite of themselves. And why would you do so? Because that's exactly how he [Jesus] loved you."

Such an outward expression of love won Caner over when he accepted a friend's invitation to Steltzer Road Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. "I didn't walk in there and see them spit upon me. They didn't smack me down or call me a sand nigger. Instead they loved me. And when I asked them why they loved me, they said it was because Christ first loved us."

Refusing to back away from a gospel message in the presence of diverse religious groups in his Sept. 16 message, Caner said, "The one thing good Muslims and good Christians agree upon is that we are confounded by the media that keeps insisting that we all offer up prayers to the same God." He added, "I did not switch religions nor did I trade teams. I was saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and thus I am born again. What has happened to me was done to me, not through anything I have done. And it is that gospel, that hope in that name that I preach tonight."

All of the television network affiliates sent camera crews to the church service in downtown Dallas. A local Muslim prince offered words of condolence to Americans during the service. Caner, who serves as assistant professor of theology and church history at Criswell College, has spoken in mosques and debated Muslim scholars. [...]

While practicing the pillars of Islam, Caner said he began to realize that the terror he felt was "the terror of religion" as he sought to earn God's favor. "And before you think that's only a Muslim thing, oh, no, no," he reminded. "There are those of us in this room who think, 'God, if I just lose weight, if I read my Bible a little more, if I pray a little bit more, if I'm a nicer person,'" such works can earn salvation.

"The wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," Caner said, quoting Romans 6:23. "There are no works that could save me. There is nothing to equal out those scales. And while I may have followed the five pillars and said my rak'ahs and followed my imam, I was desperate."

Caner said he tired of a fear that Allah would not accept him. "When I heard about mercy and grace, I felt a release of love and liberation that I cannot explain." In subsequent years, his brother, Emir, accepted Christ and now teaches Anabaptist history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina. Another brother, Erdum, also professed Christ and now lives in Indianapolis.

"In 1991, my mother got saved and I got to baptize my mamma in the water," he said to an applauding crowd. "But it gets better. In 1995, at almost the age of 100, my grandmother, speaking no English, with a Bible that Emir duplicated and enlarged, came forward on a walker and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior." [...]

To the Muslim visitors, Caner reminded, "Jesus will do for you what you cannot do for yourself and liberate you from the bondage of works and give you grace and salvation the moment you repent and turn to him."

While Caner's first copy of the Koran was given to him at age 13, his second copy was presented to him by his father in 1989 who urged in an inscription to "read each and every word for you and for me." As a muazzein in the local mosque, Caner's father took a role of helper and aid, comparable to a servant deacon in the practice of Christianity.

"The day that I surrendered to the gospel ministry was the last time that I saw my father until three days before his death. My father was a good Muslim, but according to his testimony, he went to a devil's hell." Acknowledging the horror of such a statement, Caner added, "Good Baptists also go to hell. God doesn't care whether you're a good Baptist, Methodist, Catholic or anything else. God cares what you did with his Son, Jesus Christ."

Adding that his father died in the shadow of three churches, Caner said, "Not a one of them ever came to his door in the 15 years that he lived there. Who lives in the shadow of this church and has not heard the precious gospel of Christ?" Caner asked. "Who lives next door to you on their way to a devil's hell and you haven't told them?"

*

Excerpts from "Muslim American Leaders: A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11" © Middle East Media & Research Institute

Muslim American reports in the Arab press indicate that Muslim proselytizing efforts have been unusually successful since the September 11 attacks. 'Alaa Bayumi, Director of Arab Affairs at the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat that "non-Muslim Americans are now interested in getting to know Islam. There are a number of signs...: Libraries have run out of books on Islam and the Middle East... English translations of the Koran head the American best-seller list... The Americans are showing increasing willingness to convert to Islam since September 11... Thousands of non-Muslim Americans have responded to invitations to visit mosques, resembling the waves of the sea [crashing on the shore] one after another... All this is happening in a political atmosphere that, at least verbally, encourages non-Muslim Americans' openness towards Muslims in America and in the Islamic world, as the American president has said many times in his speeches..."(1)

CAIR chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper 'Ukaz that "34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of September 11, and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S. since Islam arrived there."(2)

According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston has recently become a center of Islamic proselytizing aimed at Christians. On September 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi sent a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, in which he described the unfolding of events since September 11: "...From the first day, the media began to insinuate that Muslim Arab hands were behind this incident [Holwick - yep, and they were right]. At noon, the directors and administration of the Islamic Center of Boston held an emergency meeting, and I stayed on the line with them from my clinic. We decided to hold a blood drive, and we set up a committee to contact the Red Cross and organize it for us. We invited the media to cover the event..."

"All of us tried to grab onto every scrap of information that would indicate that Muslim Arab hands were not involved in the loathsome crime. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we tried to prove our humanity on the day we found ourselves attacked from all sides. Our hearts bled and our spokesman said that proselytizing in the name of Allah had been set back 50 years in the U.S. and in the entire world..."

"On Saturday, September 15, I went with my wife and children to the biggest church in Boston, [Trinity Church in] Copley Square, by official invitation of the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent Islam by special invitation of the senators of Boston. Present were the mayor of Boston, his wife, and the heads of the universities. There were more than 1,000 people there, with media coverage by one of Boston's main television stations. We were received like ambassadors. I sat with my wife and children in the front row, next to the mayor's wife. In his sermon, the priest defended Islam as a monotheistic religion, telling the audience that I represented the Islamic Society of Boston."

"After the sermon was over, he stood at my side as I read an official statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning the incident [i.e. the attacks]. The statement explained Islam's stance and principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koran verses translated into English... These were moments that I will never forget, because the entire church burst into tears upon hearing the passages of the words of Allah!!"

"Emotion swept over us. One said to me: 'I do not understand the Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you said are the words of Allah.' As she left the church weeping, a woman put a piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was written: 'Forgive us for our past and for our present. Keep proselytizing to us.' Another man stood at the entrance of the church, his eyes teary, and said, 'You are just like us; no, you are better than us.'" (3)

"On Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society of Boston issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge, located between Harvard and MIT. We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam. All expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to understand its precepts."

"Of all the questions, not a single one attacked me; on the contrary, we saw [the people's] eyes filling with tears when they heard about Islam and its sublime principles. Many of them had never heard about Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam only through the biased media. That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting in the church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a delegation of 300 students and lecturers from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic Society of Boston, accompanied by the American Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts of Islam, and defended it from any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I again read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their] eyes filled with tears. The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center..."

"On Friday, September 21, the Muslims participated in a closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts. In the meeting, a discussion was held on introducing Islam into the school curriculum, to inform the [American] people and to fight racism against Muslims arising from the American people's ignorance regarding the religion. With the governor's support, measures to examine implementation of this goal were agreed upon..."

"These are only some of the examples of what happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and in many other American cities, during these days. Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write to you today with the absolute confidence that over the next few years, Islam will spread in America and in the entire world, Allah willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the past, because the entire world is asking, 'What is Islam!'(4)

Fatihi's reports of American Christians' crying upon hearing Koranic verses have an historical context. This type of narrative is about part of the ethos of Islamic proselytizing. It comes from the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad's invitation to the Christian community of Najran, located in what is today North Yemen, to visit the mosque. When the Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses of the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears and converted to Islam.

Fatihi also published an article in the London daily Al-Hayat:

"...There are initial signs that the intensive campaign of education about Islam has begun to bear fruit. For example, the rate of converts to Islam since September 11 has doubled... There is solidarity with the Muslims on the part of many non-Muslims in American universities. For example, dozens of non-Muslim American women students at Wayne [State] University... have put on veils as a symbol of identification with the Muslim women students at the university and at the other universities of America."

"One of the most important topics [in an NPR broadcast] was an interview with several young women at American universities who recently converted to Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston. They hold advanced degrees from universities in Boston, such as Harvard, and they spoke of the power and the greatness of Islam, of the elevated status of women in Islam, and of why they converted to Islam. The program was broadcast several times across the entire U.S..." (5)

Notes and references:

(1) Al-Hayat (London), November 11, 2001

(2) Al-Ayyam (London), November 12, 2001

(3) The phenomenon of sincere Christians shedding tears as they recognize the truth and beauty of Islam is mentioned in the Qur'an:

And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who

believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is

because there are among them priests and monks, and because they

are not proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed

unto the messengers, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears

because of their recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord,

we believe. Inscribe us as among the witnesses. [Qur'an 5:82-83]

(4) Al-Ahram Al-Arabi (Egypt), October 20, 2001

(5) Al-Hayat (London), November 11, 2001

*

Staring out her bedroom window, 49-year-old Michiko didn’t have much to live for in the spring of 2005. Ravaged by a critical illness and depression, Michiko’s only source for answers -– her 10-year membership in Shinnyo-en, a Buddhist-derived cult -– even threatened to punish her if she quit the group over her disillusionment.

In vain hope, she began attending a fitness club to lift her spirits. Finding friendship with a Japanese believer, Michiko heard the Holy Spirit’s call on her life. During a house church meeting, singing the Korean worship song, “You’re Born to be Loved,” Michiko’s heart opened to God.

“As I heard that song, I could not stop my tears,” she remembers. “The first thing the pastor said is, ‘The reason you’re born is that you’re loved by God.’ I realized the reason I’m here is because God made me and loved me.”

Today, not only Michiko but also her husband Naoyuki believe in Jesus Christ. It’s fruit from seeds planted more than 40 years ago while she attended a missions school. Like the manmade island known as “Rokko” where Michiko lives, God has taken the life she felt was wasted and turned it into something beautiful, even as He rebuilds her marriage on the foundation of Christ.

Outwardly, Japan has adopted a Western lifestyle and accumulated wealth and technology. Yet Japanese are a traditional people who have everything they need except the one thing they fear or resist accepting: a relationship with Jesus Christ. As ijime, or peer pressure, of family and society expectations drives Japanese, they turn to materialism, humanism and cults to provide answers for their lives.

Japan is a nation of contradictions from ancient Shinto shrines to futuristic cities; powerful sumo wrestlers to gothic teenagers; and ceremonial tea houses to Starbucks. More than 127 million people live in this island nation about the size of California. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries on earth, with approximately 800 inhabitants per square mile.

The Japanese, with their hospitable nature and quiet smiles, live by cultural rules handed down through the generations. A Japanese proverb sums up expectations: “The nail that sticks its head up is the one that gets hit.” The codes of conformity, as well as adherence to traditional animistic religions, are two important barriers to the Gospel.

Japan is called the “land of 8 million gods,” although many Japanese have apathy rather than adherence to faith. Most claim belief in combined Shinto-Buddhist religions. Native Shinto religion emphasizes ancestor worship and fear of gods and involves various prayers and superstitious practices. Buddhism, introduced in the sixth century, eventually became mixed with Shinto.

Missionary Buddy Brents, formerly of Odessa, Texas, explains: “There are so many spiritual strongholds.... [Japanese people] are so locked up in fear of what other people will think about them if they become a Christian.”

Less than one-half of 1 percent of the Japanese profess faith in Jesus Christ. With so few entering a traditional church, missionaries seek lost people through relational evangelism. The approach involves joining existing groups -– including sports clubs, quilting and cooking classes and business groups -– to build relationships and share the Gospel.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4899]

A conversion is incomplete if it does not leave Jesus Christ in the central place in one's life. The shortest possible description of a Christian -- a description with which the New Testament would fully agree -- is that a Christian is a person who can say: "For me, Jesus Christ is Lord."

Herbert Butterfield's words about facing the future are good: "Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted." Any alleged conversion which does not leave one totally committed solely to Jesus Christ is incomplete and imperfect.

-- William Barclay, In the Hands of God

The day that changed Charles’ life didn’t begin the way he had planned.

For some time he had been bothered by his sins. Many times he had asked God to forgive him. But still he had the dreadful feeling that he was lost.

Then he heard that a famous preacher was coming to speak in a large church some distance from his home.

“Perhaps,” he thought, “this man can help me. I will go to hear him.”

But when he woke up on the morning of the big day, snow was falling fast. It would be impossible to reach that large church in time. It was a great disappointment, and I’m sure Charles was tempted to think God didn’t care very much for him, or surely He would have kept the storm away that morning.

But Charles was determined to attend services somewhere. He trudged out through the storm to the little church near home where he usually worshiped.

As he stood in the vestry shaking the snow from his clothes, he noticed that there was only a handful of people present. He went up and sat in the balcony.

“What will the pastor talk about today?” he wondered.

“Then came another disappointment. When the men came onto the platform, the pastor was not with them.

There were hymns and prayers, and then the deacon stepped into the pulpit.

Charles groaned silently. “Not the deacon! What can the deacon say that’s worth listening to?”

The deacon read from Isaiah 45:22. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” He spoke for about ten minutes, and then apparently ran out of anything more to say. He repeated the text, seemed to get another thought, said it, then repeated the text again. He said a few more words — and had to repeat the text again!

Charles was doing his best to get something helpful from the sermon, when suddenly he saw the deacon look up and point his finger right at him. “Young man,” the deacon said, “you’re in trouble, aren’t you? Look to Jesus. Look! Look! Look!”

The deacon was so much in earnest that Charles thought, “I will look to Jesus.” Somehow that morning he caught a vision of Christ. He realized that Jesus loved him. He went home a changed boy.

And from that time on he never took his eyes off Christ. He grew up to be one of the most successful evangelists of all time — Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He preached in London, England, and it is said that for prayer meeting the people would line up for a quarter of a mile to get in, for there were only three thousand seats in his tabernacle, and that wasn’t nearly enough.

People liked to be near him because he lived so close to Christ that when they were near him they were close to Jesus too.

[see also #36293]