I Believe!

My new life began on April 11, 1976, when the Lord gloriously saved my soul from the grip of Satan. My story begins some seven years earlier. I grew up in one of the larger churches in our area and I even went to Sunday School and church every Sunday. My Mom was a Sunday School teacher and my Dad was a wonderful Christian father, but when I was eleven years old I was beguiled by the devil. You see, one day in my church we had a visiting evangelist who could really preach, and as usual I was sitting with my two friends. We did everything together, much like the three Musketeers. This Sunday was no different, as we sat in the pews with our Archie comic books hid in the songbooks, we settled in until the service was over. Something was different this day, for the first time that I can remember my two friends were actually listening to the preaching. I was amazed that these two friends of mine were actually listening. Then came the invitation hymn and what do you know, my two friends got up and walked to the front. Upon seeing this I thought to myself, “Hey, we do everything together”, so I got up and went down to the front where I was also met by my pastor who knew me very well. He asked me a question, “Son, are you lost?” I replied, “Yes sir”. Now I knew I was lost. I had been raised in church; I knew what it meant to be saved. The preacher said, “Would you like to pray?” I answered “Yes sir”.  Together we knelt down and I listened to my pastor pray one of the sweetest prayers I believe I had ever heard. When he finished praying he asked me, “How do you feel?” I replied, “I feel alright.” “Would you like to be baptized?" my pastor asked. I said, “Yes sir.” He said, "Would you like to join the church," I said, “Yes sir.” I was baptized and joined the church the next Sunday, and then my life got worse. Not all of a sudden, but little by little.

Looking back I thought everything was alright, but in retrospect I know different now. You see, not many months after my religious experience I starting experimenting with drugs and alcohol, all the time thinking I was saved and on my way to heaven. I do not fault my pastor, my mother or my father for what happened back then, you see I blame Satan, the deceiver. He beguiled me into thinking that because I had went down to the front of the church and was baptized and even joined the church that I was saved. The key element that had eluded me that morning was the fact that I never asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins, I had not said a word to God, I never prayed that morning. I had just listened to the pastor when he prayed.  From that morning on, the devil convinced me that everything was alright in my life. That I could do anything I wanted to do because I was a “Christian” and Christians go to heaven.

Life went on like this for several years until a little red-headed girl moved across the street from me. She was the prettiest girl I believe I had ever seen, so what does every teenage boy do when he likes a girl? He asks her out on a date. I finally got up the courage, and walked across the street to ask her out and she told me that I would have to ask her Dad for permission. I really did not have that much courage, so instead she said that I could go to church with her. Her family had recently moved into the neighborhood, because her Dad was the pastor of a small church just down the street from where we lived. I had no problem going to church with her because I was going to church every Sunday and still doing all the bad stuff in my life. Here is where the fun begins. The little red-headed girl’s church was nothing like mine, and her dad was one of those “wild” Baptist preachers, who gets loud, and shouts and runs all over the place when he preaches. It was very different from my church, but I kept going and the little red-headed girl kept talking to me. I soon realized that she didn’t want to date me, she wanted to see me get saved and she told me. I told her real quick about my religious experience. This usually stopped other people from inquiring anymore about the subject, but not the little red-headed girl. She knew my life and what I had been doing, and looked me right in the eyes and told me, “You can’t do those things and be right with God! If you were right with God He would chastise you for being disobedient, and if he is not chastising you then you are not one of His!” Let me tell you, this really got my attention. I went home that night and wrestled with that for weeks. I could not shake it, the devil kept saying, “You’re alright, just keep going the way you been going". Another voice was prodding me, something deeper inside. I couldn’t quench it. I finally gave in to the voice of God and on April 11, 1976 between 8:30 and 9:00 o’clock on a Sunday night I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. I said "I Believe!" when I asked Jesus into my heart and He became my Lord and Saviour. I was instantly freed from drugs and alcohol, and for the first time in my life I really knew that I was a Christian, and on my way to heaven.