ETERNAL LIFE: Is the Good News Really True?

You are reading the true story of a man who was once an enemy to all religion.

I remember, even from my early years, having difficulty in both understanding and believing the Bible’s messages. By the time I had reached my late teens, I accepted that we “evolved”, as many do, that there was no God and the Bible messages from creation onwards were extremely suspect. No one could prove to me that the Bible was true. I needed a lot of convincing to persuade me to change my mind and heart. I was a stubborn individual, anyway!

I graduated in the biological sciences and passed a master’s degree in a faculty of medicine, although I am not a doctor. Again, it was accepted by many in those departments that evolution was true, although a few disagreed, thereby reinforcing my own belief system.

Strangely enough, I attended church and received a lot of teaching about the LORD Jesus Christ in the New Testament. I heard the Gospel, also known as the Good News of Jesus Christ. This teaches us about how to obtain life after death in paradise. It was taught that this was achieved by placing sole faith and trust in the risen Christ, who died for our sins. That would free the sinner from the wrath of God and tragic reality of hell after death. Of course, I found this all hard to accept because of my suspicions.

I needed proof that the Gospel is true and one day I got it!

To cut a long story short, I met with a group of Christian friends in a home in the South East of England in April 1987. One of them said things about which only I knew. The next thing that happened was the room was filled with a powerful wind. It surrounded me, went straight through my eardrums, without doing any damage, and penetrated every single part of my body. It was like a scene out of Pentecost: “Suddenly, there came from heaven the blowing of a mighty wind which came down from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” (Acts Chapter 2 Verse 2 in the Bible). There was no draught inside, no wind outside, the doors and windows were closed. To me, there was no explanation other than a supernatural one.

Pentecost was an event that took place in an upper room of a house in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago, shortly after the death and rising from the dead of the Lord Jesus. This “repeat” convinced me that everything Jesus said and did was true. That he lived a sinless life, taught about the Kingdom of God, performed miracles, died on the Cross and rose again from the dead. I made a personal commitment to love and serve the risen Jesus Christ a few weeks afterwards, in June 1987, when I had recovered from the shock!

Since then, I have changed as a person. I am less arrogant and selfish, more open to opinion. These are changes that I do not think I could have brought about in myself.Every story about how a person comes to accepting the truth of the Gospel differs. What matters is obedience to the message. In this we are commanded by the LORD to do the following:

REPENT: Turn away from what is wrong in our lives. The Bible calls this sin. We are all guilty of it and guilty people cannot have life after death with God because of it, unless we can obtain forgiveness on his terms.

“ ..all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”       ( Romans Chapter 3 verse 23 in the Bible )

BELIEVE: that Jesus came as God and Man and died on the cross for you personally so that your sins could be forgiven on those terms. He rose again from the dead. Invite him into your life as your LORD and Saviour (one who saves). Give your life to Jesus, trusting in his finished work alone. This will save you from Eternal punishment in hell and give you Eternal Life instead. You, as a human being do not have the power to do this, but God does if you are willing.

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” ( Romans Chapter 10 verse 9) Saved from Hell!

Ideally, tell someone what you have done and why, but do not worry if you cannot do this for a while. Try to find a church where the Bible is taught and honoured. The key thing is the response to the message.

Suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for all the wrong things that I have said, thought and done in my life. I turn from these and ask your forgiveness for these. I accept your forgiveness now. I thank you that you died on the cross for me personally so that I could have this and with it the wonderful gift of Eternal Life, which I accept with gratitude. I acknowledge you as my LORD and SAVIOUR. I ask your Holy Spirit to come and be with me now and forever. Thank you. Amen.

Suggested Scriptures:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John Chapter 3 verse 16).

“But God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans Chapter 5 verse 8)

“Behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of Salvation.” (Second Letter of Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 2)

ANON (No copyright).