Eight Men, Four Women and a Baby

December 1972. Walking in the rain, long hair hanging wet as I saunter along the Strand, heading towards Charing Cross Station dressed in a thick overcoat, covering an open neck shirt and without a tie, I had just presented myself for admission into the Lyceum Ballroom, close to the intersection of the Strand, Waterloo Bridge and Aldwych. Two smartly dressed doormen, one slim with a snooty look about him, the other burly and having every resemblance of a wrestler, stood at the entrance.  The slim one stretched his leg across the open narrow doorway whilst the other told me straight to go, take a hike.

...I sauntered along the Strand... Stock photo

Those two had actually done me a favour. A very big favour. Having been dumped by a girlfriend some eight months previously, any attempt to find another female for a relationship had since then drawn a blank. But as I sauntered along, feeling humiliated, ashamed and defeated, it didn't take much of a resistance to accompany two young strangers who stopped me in the street, each about my age, into a nearby pub after inviting them to dry off in a much warmer, cosier atmosphere characteristic of any tavern.

As they got me to read from a Bible one of them had produced, I suddenly realised that the refusal of those two doormen at the Lyceum to admit me was the work of God, to allow me to encounter these two much friendlier guys and to receive the Gospel. By believing that this whole West End scenario was a work of God resulted in an inner change which would have a massive impact on the rest of my life!

From that fateful night, what have I gotten myself into? This - my heart-belief that this Jesus of Nazareth was presented by the Jews to Pontus Pilate, endured a sham trial, was crucified, buried, and three days later, rose physically from the dead, and has ascended to His Father in Heaven, and eternal life is given freely to everyone who believes. And salvation being a free gift, it can never be taken away - ever. Why not? Because I have received a new birth, a regeneration into a new creation to be forever adopted as a son of God. Moreover, to be "in Christ" means exactly that: To have God the Father see me in exactly the same way as He sees His own Son, and to add to that, to have the whole Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit making their home within me, according to John 14:23.

Through faith, God has put me into a new society, the church. Since 1974, after a time in the "wilderness", I attended three different churches, one after the other. The first was St Jude's in Brixton, South London. Sadly, this Anglican church had long gone out of existence and its traditional building with a spire was demolished. That, to me, is sad. Because, looking back, St Jude's Anglican was looked upon as a "nursery church" - a place where I began to grasp the fundamentals of the faith, to be fed with the milk of the Word. But even back then, the milk must have been very good. By then I found myself contending with a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses, attempting to prove to them that the phrase "Son of God" means that Jesus himself is God, one of the "persons" of the Trinity. Just like with physical exercise, to stress out my faith strengthens rather than breaks it. It was also at that phase in life when I testified at work that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Because each visit to St Jude's involves a train and tube journey, an agreement was eventually made for me to attend a church closer to home. I was recommended Bracknell Baptist Church, and so in the Spring of 1975, I paid my first visit there. I have found the Rev Ben Davies' authoritarian method of ministry quite different from the gentle ministry of the vicar of St Jude's. I personally refer to Bracknell Baptist Church (as it was called then) as the "university church". I remained there until 1989, and I drifted a little before joining Ascot Baptist in 1990, and I have always felt fully at home in this "adult church" right up to the present. Today, it's Ascot Life Church, taken from John 10:10.

Throughout these years I got to know many people of all ages. This included eight men who all passed their 50th birthday without ever marrying, let alone raising a family.

Neil, my former school classmate, was taller than me, slim and quite handsome. His phlegmatic temperament made him one of the easiest chaps to get on with, but such personality also had a downside. He had no sense of adventure, instead, he spent all his life within his comfort zone at his parent's home. Remaining unmarried, he died at the age of just sixty whilst caring for his elderly parents.

The other seven guys are all Christians. One of them, a graduate, has Asperger's and has the IQ of any Mensa member. Another had never attended a university. The rest are all singletons who hold a degree. Of all seven, three have admitted from time to time of their sadness and sense of loss from not having a wife and family. The remainder seems to be content with their non-marital status and take each day as it comes.

Present-day Ascot Life Church, member since 1990.

These eight chaps have all passed their 50th birthday without ever putting a ring on the bride's finger. But throughout my Christian life, I also got to know four unmarried women, all of them older than me. Two attended Ascot Baptist whilst the other two attended Bracknell Baptist. Two of them are already with the Lord whilst the remaining two are still with us. The two who died included Barbara, of Ascot, who has spent her whole life as an active missionary before being admitted into a care home with dementia. The other, Rosemary, died, I believe, of a broken heart sometime during the 1980s. Then there was the youngest of the four, who also attended Bracknell, is only a few months older than me.

But it's Rosemary who gets my attention here. Poor Rosemary! Every week, during the midweek prayer meeting, we sat in a large circle in the back room. Then, as expected, Rosemary would spill out her sorrows aloud in prayer, begging God to give her a man who would pour out his love for her. Often these weekly, regular prayers led her to tears, as she sobs her pleading to the Lord within earshot of the rest of us.

Rosemary was short in height, plump with a round face topped with curly brown hair, and wore glasses. As one guy who was engaged to be married to a pretty young fiancee, once said to me,

Ugh! Who would want to marry her? She's so ugly!

And that Sunday evening in the late 1970s. This same chap stood up at the front, and behind the pulpit, delivered his testimony and finished with the crowning glory of his engagement and forthcoming marriage. Immediately, Rosemary stood up and quickly left the building in distress, midway through the service.

Rosemary may have stormed out of the church building in tears and distress, but if only she knew! I actually attended this chap's wedding, but afterwards, his friendship with me cooled, and with him married and with me remaining single, he distanced himself. But it was some years later when talk began to spread. Apparently, one of his daughters became ill enough to develop a disability, and later, his wife met another man at a house party and eventually divorced her husband to pair off with him. Indeed, amidst such events, Rosemary is now far happier in Heaven.

As for myself, having faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour has made a massive difference to my life. For example, watching my own beloved wife slowly deteriorate in health, changing from a beautiful slim woman with long cascading hair into someone a little plumper with hair loss due to chemotherapy, really, having faith in God does make a difference. All those horrific pains she experiences, the calls for an ambulance, those long waits in Accident & Emergency, the abundance of medicine taken by both of us, then watching her cry over the loss of our daughters, yet secure in my love for her as well as feeling secure in her love for me, our devotion for each other, that sacrificial love which meets her needs before my own comforts - all this from having faith in God.

Thus, I'm happy to say that arguments and disagreements are just as rare as a desert oasis, as we both strive to keep our marriage sweet and robust. Her own faith in God is inspiring and is the source of encouragement whenever I feel down and faithless. As such, as a couple who believes in Divine Creation as recorded in Genesis to be historical and not mythical, we see each other as one created in God's image, after His likeness.

And so there is the church, a beautiful church whose members are each created in the image of God, and each one to be seen in exactly the Father sees His own Son, as each one of us is in Christ. Indeed, as God sees none of us with any form of preference, whether ethnic, racial, Jew or non-Jew, working class, middle or aristocratic class, of which nationality or even man or woman, for we are all one in Christ Jesus! Therefore, let him who holds a doctorate embrace one who is uneducated and pushes a broom for a living, let him who lives in a palace hold no issues against the homeless lying there in the street, and even offer accommodation, as both are made in the image of God.

Therefore I sigh - and sigh deeply - when a particular video poster appears on Facebook. Just to get one thing straight - there is nothing wrong with the poster. It was very professionally done, demonstrating a skill most of us don't have, and with certainty, I don't have! It consists of a video of a couple, only that it's divided into 24 squares, each containing an alternating moving image of his wife and himself. And the climax of the video? An announcement that they are going to have a baby.

Good for them! I congratulate on God's kindness to them.

According to the latest, the video has collected a massive 475 "likes", including love hearts, and 238 comments, just about all sending their congratulations and best wishes. Both are astronomical! And it's here that I may be risking taking on the role of a sour gooseberry. The video itself is good and is worth congratulating. But the video and all the feedback, 713 altogether could well upset another Rosemary somewhere out there, as the video is set to Public.

And here I take an issue by asking: If the chap was uneducated and actually spent time in prison, or to put it another way, holds a felony record, and she a former striptease dancer, would he get so much feedback? Especially from other Christians? Or if he's a road sweeper and she a superstore shelf-stacker, would they still receive 475 "likes" in just a few days from fellow church members?

Therefore I get that horrible gut feeling that there is a connection between the average English Christian and this couple, especially him, who is middle-class and holds an honourable bachelor degree in theology and Bible studies as well as another bachelor degree in business management. And he's now in a role of church leadership. Therefore are they worthy of far greater honour than the less educated?

The issue lies not so much with the poster but more so with their followers who, despite the recognition that we are all one in Christ, instead, as typical Englishness goes, most Christians can't help but cling on to our national culture where class favouritism is ingrained in the genome.

Poor Rosemary. Even if she was alive now, she would still be unable to find a man at the Lyceum, and her weeping due to endless loneliness will continue.

That is because the former ballroom is now a theatre.

What a Contrast!

A homeless man stands in the street of Cambridge, one of the two world-famous University Cities, the other city being Oxford. It was a cold and dark February night. Presently, a passing student, having one drink over the top yet still dressed in a smart suit and bow-tie, approaches the homeless beggar and offered him some change. As the would-be recipient held out his hand in grateful anticipation, the student pulls out a £20 note and sets it on fire in front of him, either with matches or a cigarette lighter, with the words to the effect:

There you are, a change from £20 to a flame!

The student was Ronald Coyne, who was a member of the Cambridge Union Conservative Association, who also held Right Wing political views, and a supporter for Scottish independence. An ex-Public Schoolboy, he was also noted for his remarkable intellect. Upon publicity of such unbecoming, arrogant, and childish behaviour, his mother, who is living in Edinburgh, vigorously defended his son's personality, saying how lucky she has always been to have such a calm, charitable offspring for a son, and that particular incident was "so totally out of his character."

Cambridge student Ronald Coyne.

Echoes of the Bullington Club in Oxford?

The ultra-posh, aristocratic social club at the University, where membership is restricted to the very cream of English society, and initiation into membership involving the burning of a £50 note in the street in front of a cold, hungry homeless beggar. One former member of the Bullington, George Osborne, was until recently Chancellor of the Exchequer, the second most important politician in Government after the Prime Minister, and who was also responsible for ushering austerity, including cutting back on life-sustaining benefits for the struggling poor, even among those who manage to hold down a low-paid job, and forcing the crippled and infirm to seek work. Why not admit it? There is something unique about British culture!  

Perhaps I can go on. Just supposing that in the extreme unlikely odds that these two were close friends, and our charitable student invites the homeless beggar to accompany him to a church where neither has ever visited. Let's say it was a Baptist church set in a smaller town some distance out of Cambridge. Or it might be a Anglican church, or a Methodist church. Really, it does not matter which label the church names itself, nor its variations of theological teachings. The contrasting reactions by members of the congregation and its leaders between the two newcomers will be all but universal. And so would their reaction of the Gospel if presented to them.

Everyone in the church would be fully attentive to the student, not only as a potential member to add a degree of prestige, but a hopeful candidate for future leadership. If the student asked if he could give a talk, the minister would not hesitate to find a timeslot for him. The beggar, on the other hand, would be ignored, and woe to him if his days spent on the street resulted in body odour percolating through his untidy clothing. A large unoccupied area would grow around him. As for response to the Gospel, of course Ronald calls himself a Christian, and he plainly says so. And so a timeslot is assigned to him for the following weekend, and with his high intellect, he preaches rather eloquently, impressing everyone. He is held dear to all - until a couple of weeks later when he is pictured in the national newspaper about an incident where he was seen cruelly mocking another homeless tramp and setting fire to a £20 note right in front of his eyes. All in the church who read the report would be shocked and disappointed. And the student would never return, let alone preach. Because no matter how eloquent and deeply academic his preach might have been, he knows that he will never regain the respect of the congregation ever again. His faith has died, and it will remain dead in their sight forever, with no potential hope of resurrection.

As for the beggar, who was formerly an interested enquirer of the faith, he returns to his favourite spot in the Cambridge street feeling very disillusioned. What a hollow, hypocritical sham this "Christian" stuff is all about! His heart hardens, and takes the road to atheism. Was the student's dead faith able to save the beggar? (James 2:14). His anger towards his former friend's childish and arrogant behaviour will not only set his heart rock-hard against organised religion or even anything spiritual, but it's the start of his health gradually deteriorating. The time will come when he will by lying on the bed of a hospital ward, even if still a good few years away.

Miracles do happen. Big miracles. Because despite the beggar's hardened attitude against posh churchgoers, some time later, another passer-by arrives and stops to where the beggar is sitting. He too takes out some pound coins and hands them over to him. No fire this time. The benefactor, unlike the student, is dressed casually with denim torn at the knees as if deliberately, and with a plain tee-shirt. When the beggar thanks him for the gift, the giver, instead of merely walking away, decides to sit next to him for a chat and to find out how the beggar had gotten into this state after all.

The two had chatted for maybe up to an hour before they agree to visit a coffee shop nearby, where the beggar is treated further. Then the moment arrives when the beggar asked what the motive was behind the donor's generosity. He explains that God loves him so much that he has put into his heart to show generosity and compassion, especially to those worse off than himself, after realising that God sent his Son Jesus of Nazareth to die a cruel death to atone for all his shortcomings, was buried, and three days later rose physically from the dead, leaving behind his clothing lying undisturbed in an empty tomb, proving that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God.

Suddenly the beggar believed, also realising that it was God who brought this kind donor to take an interest, to talk and to spend time together. It was the living faith of this rather scruffy benefactor which saved him, and not the dead faith of the immaculately dressed Cambridge student.

Although I have fictionalised a true incident recorded in a newspaper article, the story isn't far from real experience. Before I go any further, I have to confess that I do have some reserve towards the "homeless" in our streets, because some of these people do have a place to stay, so I read. I have even heard that some of these beggars, especially in London, actually having day jobs. But the worst experience took place in Israel 1993. In Jerusalem I took pity on someone who looked to have a serious leg injury. So I gave him some money - and not just a few coins either. It wasn't until some time afterwards that I became aware that I have been taken for a ride. Since then, if I want to give, I always make sure my donations passes through a recognisable charity, especially a Christian one. 

Nevertheless, the above story does reflect my conversion way back in December 1972. Having been dumped by my girlfriend earlier of that year, indeed I felt like a beggar myself, in want of something - a loving wife and a family of children growing up. Like any other young man in his right mind, I suppose. Like in the story, I too was approached by not just one but two benefactors. Or at least that how I saw them. And like in the story, I too was atheist. The only difference was that it was I who had invited them to a nearby bar - to get out of the rain - and bought them drinks. But in the warmth of the saloon bar table, they did open a Bible and showed me the appropriate Gospel verses, mainly in the Gospel of John and perhaps oddly enough, in the book of Revelation too (3:20). Then I knew that it was God who brought this two young guys to me. It was from this moment of believing in divine providence that I was acquitted, justified (imputed with the righteousness of God) and became a newborn babe in Jesus Christ.

That the conversion in that bar off the Strand in Central London was genuine was confirmed, I believe, some seven years later in 1978, when I had some free time in Downtown Los Angeles, strolling through Pershing Square with its central fountain whilst preparing for the overnight Greyhound Bus trip to San Francisco. It was near here that I was approached by two pretty young females who eventually encouraged me to visit a Christian church which was holding a meeting at a certain address which was nearby. We entered the building through the door facing the street, and climbed a flight of steps which led into a fair sized upper room full of young people. Presently, a thin, spindly man sporting a moustache and goatee began to deliver his lecture. However, there was nothing edifying about his preach, something which raised my concerns. So I confronted him and looking directly at him, I asked what he thought about Jesus Christ. Did he come in the flesh? That means: Was he crucified, buried, and on the third day rose physically from the dead? The lecturer could not answer. Instead, he summoned another guy to escort me out of the room, down the stairs, and out onto the street. It was a lucky escape.

In 1978 I was on guard. A contrast to Ronald Coyne, upper.

A very lucky escape. For this particular group was not a Christian church at all. It was the cult of the Moonies, better known as the Unification Church of God, founded by the late far Eastern entrepreneur Sun Myung Moon, who arrived into the States from his birthplace in North Korea a few years earlier in 1972, and who was also a firm supporter of President Richard Nixon, especially during the Watergate scandal which caused the President to resign before his term was through. You can read my other blog on this experience which gives greater detail by clicking here - Signs of the Times. (But do finish this one before clicking on the link!)

Supposing that I was in the same spiritual situation as that beggar in Cambridge, assuming that he was an open-minded enquirer of the Christian faith? And was approached by the same two women in the same way I was approached in 1978? Instead of being on guard to test the spirits, instead I would have been sucked in to undergo a strict recruiting process at some remote location. From Los Angeles, this would have been at a mansion miles away in remote mountainous country somewhere in California, making any attempt to escape very difficult if not downright impossible.

But it was God himself who rescued me from this cult through faith in Jesus Christ. It's the power of the Holy Spirit within me to enable me to "test the spirits to see whether he is of God or not" (1 John 4:1), and when I found him wanting, it was through the grace of God that had me escorted out of the building. This is the very same kind of faith that this beggar is in dire need of, and not the arrogant, childish behaviour of a snooty, over-educated ex-Public schoolboy, who has never experienced hardship, let alone poverty, and has a very dim view of the valuable things in life - smart dress not withstanding.

Increasing Your I.Q.

According to what I have seen around in the churches and reading books, as well as my own experience, if there is a book that has the power to raise intelligence, it must be the Bible. This seems to be a rather outrageous claim to make, particularly in the face of science, historical geology, evolution, modern studies of biology, chemistry, medicine, and perhaps sociology, much of which has its foundation in the theory of evolution and of natural selection. But as I open up to reveal some aspects of my youth, I hope to demonstrate the power that is within Holy Scripture, especially when read with faith. Sure enough, there were, and are, very clever people who would have dismissed the Bible as a book of ancient myths, or fairy tales, but the likes of these, such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchins, who each wrote popular books dismissing the Bible as contrary fables - where any truth found therein having shrivelled like an Autumn leaf blown away by the wind. Yet they have demonstrated their knowledge of Scripture, even if for the purpose of pounding it with the mallet of science and, according to them, common sense.

Richard Dawkins.
 

For example, how would the academic atheist make out the six days of Creation, and the Noachian Deluge. Then not to mention the Exodus of the children of Israel through the Red Sea, following a series of plagues which inflicted the whole of Egypt except the district of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Those bits about the staff in Moses' hand turning into a live snake, then turning back to a stick of wood again. Who in this day and age had seen such a thing, let alone believe it? Then all those plagues which failed to convince a stubborn Pharaoh to release the Hebrews for a sacrifice to be made to their God. I can't help seeing the deception put to the Egyptian king by Moses and Aaron, insisting that the whole of Israel had need to go out on an errand, like popping out for a few minutes to a nearby corner shop, and then making a quick return. Rather, the intention Moses and his brother had was to escape from Egypt permanently, liberating his people and resettling into the land of Canaan, across the finger of sea from Egypt. With God himself backing such deception, little wonder Pharaoh saw through their ruse, and with such stories, Dawkins had no time to worry about whether God exists or not. 

 

Where mathematics is concerned, Sam Harris threw his weight against the dimensions of the circular bath which King Solomon had cast and placed near the entrance of the Temple. In 1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2, both verses gives a measurement of ten cubits across from rim to rim, and thirty cubits in circumference, making the ratio of just 1:3. Harris then argues that this is the worst approximation of PI one can imagine, falling short of the calculation made by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians hundreds, if not thousands, of years earlier, when the ratio of 1:3.14 would have been familiar among their priests and the learned. Little wonder that in the present day, someone like myself who believes the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God would, at best, looked on with pity, at worst, be totally ignored.

 

But as for myself, reading and understanding Holy Scripture has done wonders, believe me! When I was a young boy, I was diagnosed with learning disabilities, (whether rightly or wrongly) and I had to attend a special school. That was in itself very good. I learnt to read and write and calculate basic arithmetic. I was even assigned a task by the teacher to help my classmates to read. However, I must admit that we lived next door to another family whose two boys were excelling at their mainstream school, which made both Mum and Dad disappointed with my academic performance. I was aware of this, and I found that the only way I can make my parents happy was to excel. That was why my days at secondary school were a disaster. What I had learnt at my special primary school was hashed and re-hashed over and over again, in a class of slow-learners who were deemed no-hopers in further education, and were to be consigned to a life of unskilled labour. And so indeed I entered a life of unskilled labour, which I still do, more than 46 years later, even if I have now been running my own business for the last 34 years.

 

But my desire to read and write was never left behind at my primary school. During the lunch break, I often went into the school library to browse and borrow science books to take home and read. And that was out of genuine interest rather than to please my parents. It was not until December 1972 that a miracle occurred, which was to have a dramatic impact on my life, and I sincerely believe, have an influence on I.Q. levels. I began to be familiar with Holy Scripture. For full details of my conversion, read my two blogs:
1973 And All That...posted 19th May, 2013
Signs of the Times?...posted 26th May, 2013, both on this site, under "Archives."
These two blogs gives full details on how I met Jesus Christ as Saviour and the first five years of Christian experience.

One of the side effects in reading the Bible is my perception of history. At secondary school I found this subject crushingly boring, with the teacher not only droning away about one particular person's life which was irrelevant to me, but having to copy a mass of notes from the blackboard into my history book, without learning anything significant. But as a result of reading the Bible and mixing it with faith, history became alive. Theology debates between Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jacob Arminius, along with Georges Cuvior, Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Lyell, John Pye Smith, as well as Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Fred Hoyle and Bertrand Russell, to name a few.

Along with history was my development in science, particularly cell biology. My understanding of the Genome, including the role of the Chromosome, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Ribonucleic Acid (RNA), the Double Helix, with its fourfold nucleotides: the Adenine, Thymine, Guamine and Cytosine. Also the Ribosome, the Protein chain including the Enzymes, all within the nucleus of the cell. Now all this would have been foreign language in the days I wore the school tie, and for many years afterwards. I have gotten this knowledge from reading Holy Scripture. How come? Because I believed the narration of the six literal-day Creation, and I wanted to prove my faith in the Bible against Darwinism, which was advocated even by fellow Christians fresh out of University. To say in a nutshell, it would have been utterly impossible for the vast complexity of the cell to have evolved by chance as originally proposed by Darwin and his followers. This was proved by Fred Hoyle's mathematical demonstration in the use of certain factors just for the possibility of the enzymes in the protein chain to have evolved by chance - and came up with the probability of one chance out of one followed by 40,000 zeroes! Yet despite all this, our nation as a whole, even though calling itself a Christian country, accepts Darwinism as scientific fact, even among Christians themselves, and anyone who believes in divine Creationism is considered to be a nutter.

Also for a long time it has puzzled me was why, in the first chapter of Genesis, does the writer chronicle each day of creation as evening and morning as the first day, second day, third day, etc instead of morning and evening, as we would expect and understand it? This had to remain unanswered while I began to notice that much of the latter part of the Old Testament was about one particular city, Jerusalem, and something about a temple on the summit of Mount Moriah, just north of the original Jebusite city before King David took it over. While at school, I had an almost incomprehensible series of Religious Education lessons, but I do recall having to draw a diagram of a Temple on the summit of a mountain. I came up with something resembling Mont Blanc, or even Mt. Everest with a tiny, crude square perched on top. There was no comment about it from the male teacher. But the constant reading of Holy Scripture inspired me to visit Israel for the first time in 1976, as a sole backpacker. Looking at Temple Mount from the top of the Mount of Olives was not only an eye-opener, but had not an iota of resemblance to how I perceived it at school.

Visiting Israel in 1976 really made the Bible come alive, as I adored the sites which would have been familiar to Jesus Christ. Such as observing how ordinary residential homes of Silwan were founded on solid rock, which had brought to mind about the wise and foolish builders. But mixing freely with Jews had thrown a light on the apparent peculiarity of the Creation narrative. In the Middle East, the new day always starts at sundown, for example, allowing all trade to cease at sunset on a Friday which ushers in the Sabbath. It is the Sabbath throughout the entire night and the following day. At sunset of Saturday, the Sabbath is over and trading commences. I have watched shops open after sundown Saturday, even if just for a few hours. All this seems to indicate that the evening and morning of each creation day were to be taken literally, as the Jews would understand it, and not as indefinite periods of years as proposed by many Christians I have met.

During the days as a believer, I was praying to God for the big picture as opposed to isolated verses to prove or disprove a point, as seemed with the current trend of our day. As discussed in my last blog, the lives of Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David were shadows of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as their rejection by Israel, their exile and their return to minister and rule all reflected that of the Lord, as at present, "in exile" as he awaits the command from his Father to return to sit at David's throne in Jerusalem. Also, as it is worth noting here, the answer to Samson's riddle, that from the strong lion, sweetness of honey is gotten, was a prophecy about the sweetness of the Gospel coming from the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is Jesus himself (Judges 14).

I once watched a series of films on the television, about a very possible threat of human extinction by an airborne virus which was fatal to everyone who caught it. The rest of the story was about the few remaining people who were immune to the virus and survived. It was somewhat parallel to the eight survivors of Noah's family during the global Flood, except that all man-made structures, from small toys to huge buildings, as well as deserted highways, remained intact, as with all the trees and vegetation. Corpses rotted everywhere and groceries remaining in shops and homes went off very quickly. As such the few survivors struggled to live, finding and preparing food being the chief problem. At the time of writing, the Ebola virus over West Africa looks potentially threatening. Memories of the Great Plague or the Black Death, which killed multiple thousands, spring to mind. Whenever an infected person arrives from that part of the world, panic would ensue had it not been for the efficient quarantine system already in place.

But reading Holy Scripture allays such fears of mass extinction. According to Jeremiah chapters 30, 31, 33, and particularly 33:19:26,  the existence of our very planet, its rotation on its axis, and its orbit around the sun, as well as all life on it, human and non-human, are all guaranteed by God's Abrahamic covenant with Israel! Therefore reading Holy Scripture puts up a guard against the fear of global threats, natural or otherwise. For example, astronomers had spoken of the potential extinction of the human species by a collision of a large asteroid with our planet, a theory which now explains the extinction of the Dinosaurs (but oddly enough, not the small, shrew-like mammals living alongside), or as in the movie described above, a viral pandemic which rages out of control, or a dramatic turn of global climate, causing the whole planet to be covered in ice, as depicted in a blockbusting movie The Day After Tomorrow. Or man-made catastrophes such as a nuclear holocaust, as one TV programme had put it, a contest between Russia and the United States wipes out the whole of mankind. This was not far from reality back in 1962, when the USSR drew very close to coming to blows after the Communist takeover of Cuba by Fidel Castro, just ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Fortunately, a last minute truce between the two nations had only just saved the day, or else World War III would have been inevitable. And at ten years old, I would have been alive to see it.

The Cuba crisis may have spawned the social revolution, the rise of the hippie movement, the aversion of the work ethic and machine society, changes in music and the arts with the rise of the rock bands, and so on, but I am convinced that what nipped this potential threat of mass extinction in the bud was the promise God had made to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah. The Bible is absolutely clear on God's eternal covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The covenant of grace, which is eternal. Watching the present nation of Israel surviving against all odds in the midst of hostile Arab nations is in itself the grace of God, undeserved mercy. Despite Yassir Arafat's many attempts to wipe Israel off the map throughout the sixties, Israel lives on, as God promised through Jeremiah and other prophets. If the grace of God can be so secure for Israel, which at present, exist in unbelief, how much more secure is God's covenant with all who has faith in Jesus?

Fancy having higher intelligence? Then get stuck in with reading the Holy Bible. But don't read it with intended scepticism, but with believing faith. Ask God to reveal the bigger picture to you, which is redemption of mankind into a Kingdom of God with Jerusalem as the world capital, and Israel as the chief nation. Redemption of the whole Creation is promised, going right back to the dawn of history, to be fulfilled in God's own time.

Now there is a tonic for global anxiety.

Judging People?

In last week's blog post, I wrote about an incident which took place during our holiday in Malta. I testified about the meeting of two guys at the pub across our hotel who, after confessing our church allegiance and our faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, admitted to us with some hesitation that they were Freemasons. I then wrote of my reluctance to judge their group or their attachment to them, with the preference to bring their concentration on to Jesus himself. In other words, to leave the judging to the Holy Spirit.

One reader who read my article wrote to me on Facebook that I should have judged their behaviour and their allegiance to Freemasonry.  His precise words were:
We are not called to judge people however we are commanded to judge their behaviour and to confront them with their sin.

I was somewhat stunned by that statement, but in another way I shouldn't have been. I have seen this sort of thing before. It was the central belief among the elders of a church in Sacramento, California - the Calvary Community Church. The only difference was that the elders in California embraced Eternal Security of the Believer. The guy who replied on Facebook has an Arminian view that one must remain faithful to stay saved. So I need to ask myself: Did I perform my duties rightly? Did I let these two in the Maltese bar slide towards Hell by my negligence to judge? Furthermore, should I bear the guilt? Here we need to go to the Bible to get some answers.

There seem to be a case of a strong conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit found in the second chapter of Acts. Here we have the apostle Peter preaching what could be called the first Christian sermon. His sermon was centred on Jesus being the Christ as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. After quoting the writings of Joel and the Psalms of David, the narrator tells us that the listeners were "cut to the heart" and asked what needed to be done. Along with "many other words" Peter exhorted them to repent and be baptised. We are not told what these "many other words" were, but most likely they were explaining how the Crucifixion of Christ had fulfilled and made obsolete every Temple ordinance. So what did these Jews do? Examine how they had failed to obey the ten commandments? Rather, was the sin that had cut into their hearts the realisation that they were responsible for the death of their Messiah by crucifying him? As a result, they were to believe that the Jesus they had crucified is the risen Christ.

This seem to fall in line with the rest of the Bible. Jesus himself on many occasions, mostly in the Gospel of John, declared to the crowds that unless they believe that he is who he says he is, they shall perish. This is the essence of repentance. To believe in Jesus as the risen Christ. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, wrote that all who believe in his heart that Jesus has risen from the dead and confess him as Lord, he will be saved. And Paul seem to indicate that this is the universal appeal to all mankind - to believe in Jesus as the risen Messiah to be saved.

But what about the conviction of sin our friend on Facebook had brought up, backed by the elders of the Calvary Community Church? Is it necessary to be convicted of sin to bring true repentance? Could be this being the reason why the Gospel of Matthew contains the Sermon on the Mount? And this sermon specifically to bring out the full meaning of the Law and to show the true depth of sin? And then demonstrate himself as the solution to the problem as narrated in John's Gospel. Certainly, these ideas all seem to fit together.

Alongside this, the church in California brings out the notion of true and false conversion, as defined in Matthew 13:1-23. In one of my blogs, 300 Young People Saved - Yippee, Er, Really? published August 29th, 2011, I brought up the Parable of the Sower, and wrote that in the case of the pathway, where the seeds just lay there until eaten by the birds - depicts the unbeliever who forgets the Word of God, represented by the seed. By contrast, the good soil is the believer who receives the Word and in due time produces a crop of fruit. But the two in between - the rocky ground and the growth of weeds depict "false conversion" when the hearer believes for a while then falls away without producing lasting fruit.

At the time I wrote my blog, I actually felt that the elders at Calvary Community Church were right and the two "in between" depict false conversion. But after reading many blogs here on this site, as well as more Bible study, I now accept that among the rocky ground and those producing weeds, there is a chance that true converts exist among them. The reason why I feel this way is to compare Scripture with Scripture. In the parable of the Sower, only those representing the pathway remained lost in their sins. Of both the rocky ground and those producing weeds, these people believed the word, and accepting it with joy. Jesus himself said that whoever believes in him, receives eternal life and he passes from death into life. And those who remain condemned remain in that way because he has not believed in the Son of God. As with the pathway, the word was rejected and forgotten.

Here again, the aforementioned church, along with our Facebook friend, could argue that without the conviction of sin, the resulting conversion could not be true. They would argue that in many altar calls, one would "receive Christ" in a high state of emotion without realising the seriousness of their sin which would call for the need of a Saviour. Unfortunately, they see many such calls responded to without a rebirth, maybe a means to satisfy the desire of a parent or friend, or for a deep feeling of sentimentality brought on by a moving song or testimony. However, the book of Acts records a number of conversions, and it may help to look at these.

In Acts 2 we have already seen that the three thousand Jews were "cut to the heart" after realising that they killed their promised Messiah. We also read of Saul renamed Paul who "kicked against the goads" before his encounter with the Lord on the Damascus Road. This could be the result of a conviction of sin due to hearing Steven's discourse recorded in Acts 7. In the eighth chapter, we have Philip in Samaria who proclaimed Jesus as the Christ. Whether any conviction of sin occurred, we are not told, but many believed and were healed by means of miracles performed there. And this is why ALL miracles were performed throughout the New Testament - to prove that Jesus is the Christ and by believing one can receive eternal life.

The case of Peter and the Sorcerer: the charge against him was about offering money for his share in ministering of the Holy Spirit, not in his sorcery itself. No doubt, the ability to perform miracles would heighten his reputation and would have given a massive boost to his business. The request was denied due to wrong motives. Yet earlier in verse 13 we are told that the sorcerer believed and was baptised by Philip. If his belief was genuine (there is no reason it wasn't) then Peter, in his rebuke, threatened physical death rather than eternal death, so no bad reputation would spread before unbelievers. The same applying to Ananias and Sapphira, whose bodies were destroyed so the church would not suffer a blow to its reputation before men. These two, by believing that Jesus is the Christ, also went to Heaven.

Then there is the case of Philip and the Ethiopian. We meet this eunuch in his cart, reading a portion of Isaiah, the bit about being cut off (slain) and pondering on whether the prophet was referring to himself or someone else. Philip boarded the chariot and explained that Isaiah was foretelling of Jesus being the Messiah, and yes, he was cut off - he was crucified. There was nothing told about the eunuch's conviction of his sin. He simply asked what was stopping him being baptised, and Philip agreed to his willingness to be submerged in water.

The conversion of Cornelius and his household is another case where little, if any, conviction of sin came before conversion. Peter's message was about Jesus, having been crucified, proved his status as the Christ by rising from the dead. Apparently, the Holy Spirit fell on them all the moment they believed.

Acts 13:13 onward is a narration of the history of Israel given by Paul and Barnabas, climaxing in Jesus Christ crucified, and then risen again, proving to be the Messiah. Going through the whole of Acts of the Apostles, the theme is Jesus crucified, then risen again to prove that he is the Christ. And the theme is always believing this and receiving eternal life. The Philippian jailer was another example. Here Paul and Silas were singing praises to God. Then an earthquake occurred which caused all the prison cell doors to fly open. The jailer, believing that all the inmates had escaped, drew his sword in the belief that the Authorities were going to execute him anyway. So he decided on suicide instead. Paul then cried out not to harm himself. Instead he asked what to do to be saved. The jailer was, most likely asking how he could be spared from the Authorities. Paul had deeper, more eternal things in mind. If he believed on Jesus as the Christ, he would receive eternal life. There is, apparently, no narration about his conviction of his sins.

And so it goes on. I have pondered, in preparation of this blog, if England being a Christian country, are most people here are saved, just because having been born here, we have a much greater chance of eternal life than the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or any other non-Christian countries or religions. We celebrate Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter every year. In other words, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, having a miraculous birth, death and resurrection. Really?

Actually, there seem to be a difference between true belief and nominally. The vast majority of the English do not have a new birth. There seems to be a difference between growing up with a background knowledge of Christianity and taking it for granted - from that of a trusting faith that Jesus is the Christ which brings a re-birth of the spirit and adoption as children of God. In fact, in my last blog, I emphasised that higher education and academic achievement has turned much more of the population away from the faith in God than towards it.

So the conviction of sin prior to conversion may be a good thing. But to whom this conviction may be suitable depends on the individual concerned. What I disagree with our Facebook friend and with the Calvary Community Church is about the "one size fits all" concept that no true conversion can take place without the conviction of sin beforehand. Perhaps here in England, a conviction of sin may indeed be far more of a necessity than in the ancient Middle East. But with the two guys at the Maltese pub, I left it for the Holy Spirit to convict their sin of Freemasonry. All I had the privilege was to tell them that Jesus is indeed the Christ, and not to judge them.

300 Young People Saved - Yippee! - er..Really?

Recently the younger members of our church at Ascot attended Newday, a Christian festival held in the Midlands area of the United Kingdom. Many hundreds of young people attend annually from all over the nation, where they set up camp to listen to speakers deliver God's word to a large young audience inside a large marquee.

Newday 2010

Although not having attended this event myself, what I know of it, Newday to me is a reminiscence of former Christian festivals I attended in the past, Spring Harvest in Minehead, Somerset and Stoneleigh, near the city of Coventry. Both of these festivals involve deliverance of God's word in sermons designed to equip us in our own churches and in particularly as lights to shine in a sinning world.

One of the church's elders and also a personal friend of mine, Dave Rogers, announced from the front that at this year's Newday, up to 300 young people were saved, that is to say, repented and trusted in Jesus Christ to redeem them, as a result of regeneration of the inner man, to be adopted into God's family through faith.

With news like this, I should have shot up from my seat and shout with joy, "Yippee!" 300 more souls redeemed and destined for Heaven is fantastic news! There is a lot to praise and glorify God for. But instead I remained in my seat and quietly absorbed the news. Not because I am British, and as one is aware, emotions are things we British don't share. No. Rather I accepted the news with a dose of caution. And not because I have a pessimistic tendency, but rather I'm aware of the four kinds of hearts the seed of the Word of God can fall on.

It is found in Matthew 13:1-23. Here we read that Jesus Christ himself gave an illustration of four kinds of hearers who receive a divine message. The first group are those whose hearts are so hard that they are likened to a footpath, on which the surface had been compressed solid my the weight of many feet which trod upon it. Any seed which falls on the path tend to remain on the surface and becomes as vulnerable bird food. I doubt very much that any of the 300 saved at Newday were of this category.

But there was a high possibility of the three other categories who were there and believed the message. Of these one group represented the rocky ground. They are the ones that has a thin layer of soil. When the seeds fall, they remain until they germinate, but did not grow beyond the next day of hot sunshine when the heat scorched the young saplings to non-existence.

Then there is another group who also heard the word and believed. But they were attached to the world, not only in wealth and possessions but love for the culture too. They are represented by plants which choke out the space for the divine seedlings to grow.

I have heard sermons, either on tape or over the Internet, about these two groups. All agree that the first group, the footpath, were those who resisted then forgotten the message, therefore they cannot be saved. Also all agreed that the fourth group, the field of good soil on to where the seed was sown, produced the right sort of crops, represented truly saved people.

But disagreement arose about the other two, the rocky soil and the worldly soil. On the Internet I listened to a sermon delivered at the Calvary Community Church in California, insisting that these two groups - the rocky soil and the worldly soil were not truly saved people. Their sermon can be heard if one log in to the Living Waters website. On the other hand, some years ago I also listened to a taped message dealing with the reasons why these intermittent two groups were saved after all.

According to the taped message, they were saved because they believed the word of God. They based the assumption to what Jesus Christ himself said on occasion, that who ever hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has passed from death into life (John 5:24). And not forgetting the more famed John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who ever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

These and other similar verses of Scripture were the basis of the message on why the rocky ground and the worldly ground were still saved. They were saved according to the promise made by Jesus himself, that is we are saved by hearing and believing.

But others, such as the speaker at the Calvary Community Church, disagree. He insisted that these two groups were not true believers. How come? They believed the word, didn't they? Yes they did. But their belief were only intellectual. "Jesus Christ? Yes, he was a great teacher, and taught some great things which all makes sense, just as it makes sense to say that a cloudless sky is blue." Full stop.

And it's here that I tend to agree with the Calvary Community Church. There is a difference between intellectual belief and trusting. Like believing that a chair is made for sitting on and actually sitting on the chair. I think here lies the heart of the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism on the subject of eternal security of the believer. This debate goes on on why the Scriptures seem to say at some points that a saved person cannot be lost while at other places it seems to say a person who has believed can still be lost.

Before I go any further, here I must stress that it is not up to me to say whether a believer is a true one or not. That only God can decide. But sooner or later the false convert will eventually reveal his true nature.

False convert? This phrase was used during the 19th Century Awakening, particularly in America. It is used at the Calvary Church today. It means that one's professed faith in Christ is not genuine. And sooner or later this will show. There are several types of false converts. One kind of emphasised by Charles G. Finney, the 19th Century New York evangelist.

Although I don't agree with Finney's Pelagian view of theology (the theory that the sinner can be saved by changing his own heart), he did produce some fine definitions of one kind of false convert. According to Finney, such a person does all the right things, such as attending church, prayer meetings, Bible study, serving others - out of fear of Hell and his attempt to prop up his hope for Heaven. Finney then quotes an example written by someone who debated against infidelity, "because (ignoring it) may ruin all my hopes for eternity." Finney then describes a test, to determine the genuineness of one's faith. The true Christian will always rejoice at the news of another person getting saved, even if he had no part in that person's conversion. The phony, on the other hand, will feel resentful if he had no part in it, and even more if the new Christian joins a church of another denomination or that of a rival minister.

Charles G. Finney

But it is the false convert described by the speaker (not named on the Internet) who is of greater interest here. This kind of person may not be motivated by fear at all, but more by apathy. He may, for a while, show an enthusiasm for Christ, perhaps to impress fellow Christians in the church or to ensure that he is accepted and makes friends. Or maybe to satisfy his Christian parents. But after a time, whether it will be for a few months or several years, he will disappear from the church. This is not because of a new job compelling him to move location. In that case he would join another church in his new location. Rather, the reason he leaves was because his professed faith had shrivelled up, and may even show hostility towards all spiritual things. And believe me, when I was a member of both Bracknell and Ascot Baptist Churches, I have seen young converts come and go, that is to say, left the faith altogether, often with hostility, or consumed in the pleasures of this world.

The key Scripture is found in 1 John 2:19 which reads:
They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

In other words, lack of perseverance is proof of false conversion.

And this is, I believe lies at the heart of all "Arminian" Scriptures. Consider Hebrews 3:12:
See to it, brothers, that none of you (in the church fellowship) has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

Because in many ways it is difficult to tell the difference between the true and the false, those whose faith persevere in troubled times are most likely to have a true faith, as the Bible indicates, perseverance is in itself a gift from God. It comes in the same package as one's salvation, forgiveness of sins, a love for God and for each other and eternal life.

Let's look at the genuine believer now. Jesus refers to him as a field of good soil. He produces crops of beneficial value, up to a hundredfold. But there is more. A good test whether a believer is genuine is that he -
(a) does not sin continually and (1 John 3:6)
(b) he loves his Christian brothers. (1 John 3:10)
And both of these are found in the first letter of John.

The apostle also wrote that to say that we are sinless makes God a liar, for God says that we are sinful. (1 John 1:8) So what does John mean that the Christian does not sin? I think this means deliberate or planned sin. A Christian does not secretly steal nor is he dishonest with his money, neither does he tell a lie, nor throw insult to someone else simply out of dislike. But we are still subject to spontaneous sins, which we can call for forgiveness afterwards. A few days ago a door salesman was persuasive towards my wife who had already declined his offer. I came out and told him brusquely to beat a retreat. Afterward I realised that a more gentle approach would have been a better witness for Christ. I prayed for God's forgiveness and I believed that I received it.

A true believer will love his fellow brothers, and be ready to forgive if anyone, inside the church and out, asks for forgiveness if having offended. A true believer should not hold grudges, especially with someone who disagrees with him on certain issues. This is because the Spirit of Christ dwells in his heart, and God will always be there for him when he feels weak and needs strengthening.

And also the Holy Spirit in him will fill his heart with thankfulness, and that in particular can be true if I wake up in the morning knowing the uncertainty of the day ahead. At times of trouble he can remember that the Lord is his refuge and strength, a strong tower within the righteous run and within finds shelter. (Psalm 9:9, 46.)

The saving of the 300 people at Newday is tremendous news! I just hope this will be 300 more acres for crops to grow by a hundredfold. This would give us 30,000 acres of goodness which would glorify God and be a benefit to the churches and society as a whole. Not to mention Heavenly citizenship.

Revelation 3:20 - A Sinner's Prayer?

It was a warm August day in 1993, while backpacking Israel, I walked from the Church of the Nativity to a smaller, less well known chapel known as The Grotto of the Milk, at the small town of Bethlehem, at the West Bank district of the Holy Land. According to tradition, this was the site where Joseph, Mary with their baby Jesus were about to flee the town after being warned by an angel in a dream, of Herod's forces out to slay all children under the age of two. Apparently, as they began their journey to Egypt, Mary felt it was time for her child to have his feed. During the feed, a drop of breast milk fell to the ground beneath her, turning the bedrock white. It was a fascinating but purposeless miracle passed as historic by the Roman Catholic Church to which the chapel belongs.

Grotto of the Milk, Bethlehem

I was alone as I entered the chapel, down a flight of stairs to what is really an underground basement. The bedrock was indeed white. Above the altar there was a beautiful statue of Mary breastfeeding her Son. Nearby, fixed on the wall, as if to anticipate skepticism of the miracle, was a plague on which the words were inscribed:

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. (1 Peter 2:2).

There was also a tradition that powder scraped from the wall and added to drinking water enhanced fertility in women, as well as adding special benefits to women already pregnant. Therefore, to many Protestant Christians, where I was standing really amounted to a pagan shrine, bestowing divine, miraculous powers to a Jewish woman who happened to give birth to the Messiah.

Yet as I stood alone and looked around, the soft instrumental version of the well known Italian Catholic song, Ave Maria floated through the air, I felt a wonderful presence Of God. I could imagine myself kneeling at one of the pews facing the Altar and pouring out my heart to God, maybe with some tears shed. The serenity of the place, separate from the hubbub of life above, created such a perfect environment for prayer and Bible meditation.

Presence of God? In a pagan shrine?

Dave Hunt, in one of his books, gives the story of a Protestant Christian missionary successfully converting the Taliabo, inhabitants of a remote island in Indonesia, to faith in Jesus Christ. From then on, Christian worship services where conducted right within the idol temples of their former deity. God was certainly present there, the presence of demonic images certainly did not deter the presence of Jesus Christ himself!

And this is backed by the New testament itself. In the book of Acts, we read of Paul the Apostle, entering into the Acropolis in Athens, and among pagan altars, preached the Gospel of Christ right in their midst. We read that some believed, indicating that the Holy Spirit wasn't put off his ministry by the presence of pagan altars and temples. The same can be said of (now the Turkish) city of Ephesus, where a Temple to Diana was built to commemorate the significant shaped meteorite which fell from the sky, believed to be a sign from Diana herself. (And I find it amazing the degree of parallelism between the Temple of Diana to that of the Grotto of the Milk). Yet not only Paul preached the Gospel there, but some believed and a church was founded, to which we can read Paul's letter addressed to that church.

But what all this to do with the title of this article? The title being:
Revelation 3:20 - A Sinner's Prayer?

First let us read the Scripture, then I hope to present the idea that God, being Sovereign, can and does do what he likes. If God wishes to use a verse of passage of Scripture which may seem "unorthodox" to speak to someone, why shouldn't he, just as in asking why shouldn't the Lord make Himself present in a pagan shrine or temple in order to reveal His mercy and grace.

Revelation 3: 20 reads: Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Christians are divided on the issue whether this verse should be used by the sinner asking the Lord Jesus to "come into his heart" which is of course, the inner man, not the muscle blood pump. The reason for the controversy was that here Jesus was addressing a church of believers who had lost their initial zeal for God due to the rise of materialism and their growing trust in medicine instead of dependence on God. It wasn't addressed to unbelievers.

Yet there were many evangelical leaders who promoted this verse as an act of conversion. The late Bill Bright, who was Head of Campus Crusade for Christ, advocated it in his tract, The Four Spiritual Laws, which was later followed by Knowing God Personally. Also promoting the idea was Jack Chick, with his famous cartoon tract, This Was Your Life and in all his cartoon tracts.

Jack Chick's most famous cartoon tract

According to Chick, asking Jesus Christ into your heart was the most important turning point in one's salvation. Another author who advocated this idea was Salem Kirban, who wrote books on the Rapture, the Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ. Authors Hal Lindsey and I believe, Tim LaHaye favoured the idea, along with the late John Stott, in his book, Basic Christianity. In his book, Stott points to a painting by Holmon Hunt, now found at St Pauls Cathedral in London. it features Jesus Christ holding a Lantern and knocking on a closed door, partially obscured by shrubbery, indicating that it had never been opened. According to Stott, Hunt based his work on Revelation 3:20.

Along with these leaders and authors, I read testimonies of changed lives as a result of asking Jesus Christ into their hearts. There were quite a number of these testimonies. One wrote,
"One night, just before bed, I asked God to enter my heart. When I woke the next morning, I felt totally different."

Then there were those against the idea that Revelation 3:20 should be used for conversion. It does not seem to go down well with the Baptists, as both my former minister as well as my present one, insists that this verse is addressed to believers and should not be used in evangelism. One of my friends in the church said the same thing. Authors who did not use the verse for evangelism include Clive Calver, former president of Evangelical Alliance who, in one of his books, Sold Out gives a story about while preaching in one church, denounced the "Asking Jesus into one's heart" form of conversion. One in the congregation stood up and asked, "What about Revelation 3:20?"
Calver than shot back,
"Tell me, what is the last word of Revelation 3:19?"
The person could not answer. In fact, it is the word Repent.
And this is the point of this article. Repent and Repentance are words directly linked to conversion, acknowledged by all Bible scholars, teachers and evangelists. Clive Calver also rebuked Stott's association of Holmon Hunt's painting with Revelation 3:20, and instead says that it was based on John 8:12, where Jesus says that he is the Light of the world.

Holmon Hunt's painting at St Pauls Cathedral, London

So besides Revelation 3:20, are there any other verses in the Bible which talks about Jesus being in the inner man?

In John 14:20 Jesus actually said,
At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you...If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come into him, and make our abode with him. (verse 23)
Abide in me, and I in you... John 15:4.
He that abide in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. v.5
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith..Ephesians 3:17.

It should be noted that all these verses apply only to believers, as with Revelation 3:20, not to unbelievers. But I believe that God can and does honour the "sinner's prayer" for simply to pray such a request, he would have already believed in the first place. And that despite that the "sinner's Prayer" has only been around within the last hundred years or so, probably less. The truth is that we are saved by believing, which is to say, by trusting. The sinner hears the word of God and quite likely he would be convicted of his sins. For some, if not many, this may be necessary for knowing why he is in need of a Saviour. A person may think that he is good enough to go to Heaven after death and not realise that he has sins in his life which would bring him to judgement.

One speaker at the Calvary Community Church in California, who has a website, Living Waters gave this demonstration of one's shortcomings and the need of a Saviour:

"I was sitting in the aeroplane and I began to talk to this person next to me. Soon I was witnessing to him why he needs a Saviour." I then asked,
"Do you believe that you're a good person?"
"Well, yes. Of course I do." was the other's reply.
"Have you ever lied to someone?"
(After a moment's thinking) "Yes,I have."
"Have you ever avoided paying tax?"
"Oh dear, yes, I did."
"Have you ever hated someone?"
"Er, yes."
"Have you ever lusted after a woman?"
"Er, yes, many times."
"Have you ever swore?"
"Yes, many times."
"So you are a murderer, a thief, a liar, an adulterer and a blasphemer. So much of a 'good' man! You are ripe for judgement."

By now the sinner is convicted of his sins and aware that he will be judged for them. Then comes the good news that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for his sins on his behalf. He immediately believes the good news. Two things have happened here. first he turns from his sins, which we call repenting. Then he believes or trusts in the Saviour. Both are heart matters and actually, repenting and believing is one and the same act. He turns from his sins, to Christ, one single act of faith. Then, according to the belief of the evangelist, he then asks Jesus Christ to come into his heart as Lord and Saviour. But he prays this as a believer, not as an unbeliever turning into a believer. And that conversion took place in a metal capsule 39,000 feet up in the air. It would have been just as effective in a pagan temple. To God, it makes no difference in location. And it makes no difference whether the prayer was said or not, but I think it is a good idea for confirmation of one's faith.

Is that person now saved? Yes, he is saved according to Scriptures. But I am aware that some on this website teaches that Baptism is necessary for salvation. Unfortunately, there is no opportunity for this person being immersed in water while in an aeroplane nearly 40,000 feet up in the air! Now just supposing that the new convert suddenly dies of a heart attack. Would he go to Hell because he wasn't baptised? Surely to ask such a question is enough to answer it. Yet Baptismal Regeneration is taught by some, such as the Church of Christ, and it proves to be very popular here.

For an answer to this, a detailed account of a Gentile's conversion is given in Acts 10. This is an account of Peter entering and then lodging in the home of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. While Peter was preaching to all those assembled there, suddenly the Holy Spirit descended and filled them all in the house, and they began to praise God in their own languages. Peter was astonished that non-Jews too can be saved and receive the Holy Spirit, putting an end to the apostle's idea that conversion was for Jews only. Then they were all baptised in water, another case when God "broke" the average Christian tradition of first Faith, then Baptism, then Holy Spirit filling. Furthermore, none of them said the "sinner's prayer" as Revelation wasn't written yet at that time. But they were equally saved just the same. Yes, God can do what he likes when dealing with sinners, because he is Sovereign.

If a person feels it is necessary to pray to ask Jesus Christ to enter his heart, God will honour that, providing that he prays as a believer. If he doesn't pray the prayer but like Cornelius, believes anyway, he is still saved.

Likewise, the presence of God can be felt in a church building, in an aeroplane, in a tavern, at a pagan temple or shrine, or in a big open-air Christian meeting, at work, or all alone adrift at sea.

It's because God in his sovereignty and omnipresence is not "boxed in" by human thinking and tradition.