Dialogue With A Friend ~ Keep Sharing!

A few days ago I had a Facebook Message chat with a long time Friend whom I am not sure has made a decision to follow Christ yet.  Her husband is an atheist.  He and I began a dialogue and she voiced concern that we do not become hostile toward one another. 

This is my response to her: 

My Friend, it is an honor to be able to dialogue with your husband.  I am sure we can have meaningful discussions without any animosity. 

And, like you, I have always been one to question - and I suppose that is why I was not a Christian believer until I was fifty years old.  Dory was a Christian when we married, and many times I have told her that the biggest mistake she ever made was to marry me, a non-believer.   Yet, I was a believer in a sense - and not a believer.  All my life I have believed that God and Jesus Christ are real.  But, I always kept them at a distance, never really allowing them into my life.

Because I did believed that God was real, in my younger years I visited a lot of churches ~ Baptist, Methodist, Nazarene, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, etc., you name it, I tried it ~ searching for one which would tell me that hell is not real. 

Why?  Because I wanted my worldly secular fun - and God, too.  But having to choose, at that time I chose the world.  Lo and behold, I did find a Chaplain in the Air Force from a large Protestant denomination (later found that it was a liberal denomination which has now accepted and performs same-sex marriages) who told me that hell is not real, only a myth.  

Wow!  Praise God!  Now I could party all week and go to church on Sundays (well, at least some Sundays, when not hung over) - and not have to worry about going to hell.  Sounds great!  But, the problem is - that Chaplain was very wrong.

And, I believe Dory was wrong for marrying me.  But, praise God, He took this old sow's ear and made a silk purse!  He made a Christian out of me.  It took Dory ten years of praying for me - but eventually God led us to a pastor, Sam Lacanienta, and to a church, Fil-Am Church of Irvine (CA), which was so full of love that I wanted to attend.  After attending their worship services, Sunday School classes, and Bible studies for six month - I became a believer.

I guess I was like the person Pastor Greg Laurie (Harvest Crusades) was thinking of when he said, "I would rather a person come into our church, sit in the back, listen to and think about the messages from the Bible for six months ~ and then come forward to receive Jesus Christ - rather than hearing the message once and coming forward on emotion instead of true understanding."

He was alluding to the fact that he and Billy Graham do not call a person who comes forward at a Crusade a believer, a convert.  Instead they call that person an "inquirer."   And, at the Crusades they counsel each Inquirer and try to connect him/her with a local church fellowship. Too often, folks come forward on emotion only - and the next week, they are back in sync with the world and the secular society.

When that person who comes forward has been connected with and involved in a local church fellowship for a year or so, and come to truly understand why he/she came forward at the altar call - then that person can be called a convert, a Christian believer.  That works for me, for that is basically what I did.  I attended church, Sunday School, and Bible study for six months - and then realized that I truly did believe and wanted to be a Christ Follower.

My Friend, please forgive me for getting carried away and rambling on and on.  But, my faith is my passion - and it truly is important to me that you understand.  For, one day I want to meet and fellowship with YOU and your husband in heaven. 

 
Nothing is more important than sharing God's Word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with those who do not yet believe.  Imagine one day when you are in heaven and another saint approaches you and tells you, "Thank you for telling me about Jesus Christ."  Can there be a greater blessing than that?

I will close with a story I read some years ago.   A pastor was visiting patients in a hospital when a lady approached him and said, "Thank you for leading me to the Lord." 

The pastor was embarrassed and told the lady, "I am sorry, but I do not remember you."

She smiled and said, "We never met.  But several years ago you were visiting your mother in the hospital and I was a patient on the other side of the privacy curtain.  As you read the Bible, shared with your mom, and prayed with her - I could hear you.  That day, as you prayed, I prayed to ask Jesus Christ to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior.  That may never have happened if I had not been in that patient bed, behind the privacy curtain, and heard your words and your prayers that day.  Thank you."

We never know which word, action, prayer we share will be the one which brings another soul to Jesus Christ.  So, keep sharing!

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill