In other words, anything that didn’t cost, they were more than willing to take.  I was grateful for such insight into human nature before I went out on the streets ministering to people.  It helped me not to get too caught up in the “save the city” or “save the world” mentality that many Christian people seem to embrace when sharing Christ’s gospel.  I went out expecting “to win some” as the apostle Paul put it, but not win all.  Having said that, I knew also that I was not the one to determine who would and who would not accept the Lord’s message. 

That’s why I spoke to every person who gave me their ears.  Mrs Gill gave me her ears, as well as an invitation inside her home for a cup of tea.  Her husband had died and was buried just a few days before my call.  Naturally she was upset as she told me what had happened.  He had been sitting at the table doing a crossword puzzle as he watched an International cricket match on television when all of a sudden he fell to the floor.  She came to his assistance, but it was too late, he was dead. 

She attended her local church around the corner from her home and it seemed she was getting the help needed for such a sad time.  Four months later when I visited her again, Mrs Gill told me that she was mostly at peace, but found herself crying when first awake in the mornings.  I explained that her grief may continue for some time in the future, but Jesus, being the Prince of Peace would always be her comfort if she sought Him.  She nodded in agreement, but then went on to say that she’d been doing Tai Chi for two years, and “that gives me lots of peace too.”

Mrs Gill was the product of a compromising, man-centered, watered-down gospel – a gospel at no cost.  But it seemed to suit her.  My encouragement was for her to look only to Jesus as her source for her every need.  She let me pray for her but I don’t know if she gave up that practice.  Tai Chi has it’s roots in Taoism.  Taoism and Jesus Christ are totally incompatible.  I was later to find out that Mrs Gill’s church had been compromising the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible for quite a few years.  There’s only one outcome to be expected from such a choice.  Eventually it will dry up spiritually and close down.  That’s what happened.

The first time I met Mrs Wood at her door she told me that her brother was in hospital with severe brain damage.  She let me pray for her and in the middle of it she burst into tears.  I went back about a month later and this time Mrs Wood invited me inside.  She had a few questions to ask about the Bible and Christ and because she had some Christian background she did not dispute His claims of deity, nor that He was the one and only Saviour and Lord for the world.  We spoke about peace.  Again, I mentioned Christ as the Prince of Peace.  Like Mrs Gill she nodded and then went on to talk about Tai Chi.

Mrs Wood told me she’d been practicing this for eighteen months and that it gave her, “great peace of mind.”  My encouragement once again was to point her in the direction of the Lord, saying that it was peace in our spirit that was on God’s heart, and that if she had that, then peace of mind would be a natural by-product.  She appeared reluctant to accept the truth that if one is at peace with God, then one will always experience the peace of God.  It was as though this lady was well aware of what was being said, but like multitudes of others, she was going to seek fulfilment elsewhere anyway.  

Nine months later I called again.  Nothing had changed accept Mrs Wood told me that her brain-damaged brother was getting better with each day.  I lifted up Jesus, she lifted up Tai Chi.  She shared how she’d not long been home from a five weeks holiday in China.  Then she went on to tell me how deeply religious and humble the Chinese people were who practiced Tai Chi.  I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the people she was speaking about, but I did have reason to doubt the sincerity of Mrs Wood.  I discerned that she was using this practice as a smokescreen to avoid facing up to the cost of Christ’s call upon her life.

James phoned the church asking for advice about demonic oppression.  He’d heard that we were a church that operated in the deliverance ministry so he asked for an appointment.  I was part of the ministry team and was asked to sit with him and find out where he was at.  James, in his early twenties, made it very clear that he wanted “to be free from these demons.”  He was not a believer, so I  informed him that it is usually a waste of time seeking deliverance without first surrendering one’s life to Jesus Christ and the Scriptures.  So he said he would do so and asked for prayer.

He was also quite ignorant of the purpose of why Jesus Christ came to earth.  He didn’t really see himself as one who needed redemption from sin.  Like multitudes of people James thought that if he simply “confessed his sin” then all would be ok, the devil would go.  In other words, he thought his lips would do what God has told us only a contrite, humble heart will do.  I heard the words from James’ lips but I discerned that his heart was far from believing them.  Basically, James saw himself as a victim, which was true to a point but he was reluctant to acknowledge the part he played in adding to his problems.

Like others before him that I’d ministered to, he came from a home where there was violence, alcohol and divorce.  As a result of such an environment James found it most convenient to blame others.  Rejection and unforgiveness were the controlling demons.  He thought otherwise, believing it to be drugs and alcohol.  I explained that these were the fruit of his problems, but not the root.  Abusive, negative words had been constantly spoken over his life from a young age by both parents and so deeply ingrained within him were those words now, that he believed every one of them.  

When I mentioned that the demons of rejection and unforgiveness would go only on the basis of him receiving and living for the Lord Jesus Christ, plus confessing true forgiveness towards his parents, he really struggled with the thought of it.  James wanted what God offered but only at no cost to himself.  We spent more than two hours with this young man in prayer and ministry but in the end we had to bring our time to a close.  It was not that God was limited in His power to release James, it was that James limited God, by his unwillingness to let go of his so-called right to be right.   

Biblically, “salvation” means: ‘deliverance from the guilt and penalties of sin, to enjoy instead, the unchanging favours of God forever.’  It is a gift from God freely offered to every person.  But there is a condition to receiving this gift and that is, one must repent of their sin and by faith alone, believe and receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord alone.  All through church history there have been multitudes who have acknowledged Christ as Saviour, but not as Lord.  To acknowledge Him as Lord does come at a cost.  It costs you your life.  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  Matthew 7:21. 

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Ben knew more than me about dying alone.  He said that during the war his mates were being blown away all around him, “and I would look up and give thanks to God.”  I then explained that the message I had for him was much better than having to “look up” and give thanks, but that, “Jesus Christ is in this room with you now, why don’t you thank Him here and invite Him to come into your life?”  He asked me why I was so sure of what I said and he laughed when I told him that there was no way I would have been invited inside to talk about God if it were not for the Lord.

Ben’s concepts of God were not biblically accurate.  He believed himself to be a Christian because his family were once church affiliated and he was a “Sunday school kid.”  He allowed me to share Christ’s gospel message of redemption with him and he also gave permission for me to pray for the Lord to make Himself real to him.  A few months later I saw Ben being carried out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.  His sickness was an incurable cancer and it was not expected that he would be coming home.  God showed me yet again just how faithful He is to people who are willing to humble themselves before Him, regardless of age.

Roy was also an ex-digger from the second world war and he too fought in New Guinea.  He told me that he and his mates got very close to God in the foxholes, “but when peacetime came we moved away from Him.”  Like so many others before him, Roy told me he believed in God and he knew that one day he would have to stand before Him to give an account of his life.  Then he went on to say he hoped that God would look upon him favourably on that day, because he had tried to live his life as a good responsible citizen.  Upon hearing those latter words, I knew that Roy’s concepts of God were not biblically accurate either. 

He gave me the time to explain the true gospel of Christ, also saying that I was welcome back any time I was in the area.  Roy was one of many elderly people to give that invitation.  Old Mr Hall was another man who gave me time to share the gospel with him.  As a child his parents had sent him to Sunday school, but he said he’d, “never gone to church much.”  By making that statement, Mr Hall was implying that God looks more favourably upon church attenders than He does on non-church attenders.  He was simply another one among millions who had such faulty thinking when it came to expressing the heart of God.

So I asked him if he would consider turning to Christ if he found out that God’s gift of salvation was offered to him regardless of whether he ever went to church or not in his lifetime and he said, “I suppose so.”  I then asked if he agreed with God’s word which tells us we have all offended God and that we need Jesus Christ the Saviour, if we want to enter heaven.  Again he replied, “I suppose so.”  Mr Hall had great breathing problems, so I suggested that if he would allow me to pray, all he had to do was choose to believe the words and God would honour the prayer.  He agreed.  It was mid-October when I called on this old man.  He died on Christmas day of that year.

John was full of questions about God on the day he invited me into his home.  He was a twenty-seven year old Italian man searching for God’s reality.  I asked him to share his thoughts with me as to who and what he thought God was.  In replying, it was apparent that John had been studying the writings of seminarians, mystics, cultists and new age-rs.  His theology was grossly unsound and biblically inaccurate, so I told him so, giving Jesus’ example of the price one pays who builds his house on sand Matthew 7:26-27. 

With Holy Spirit-led sensitivity, I explained to John that his concepts of God were “religious” but they were not real and that if it truly was reality he was seeking, then he would have to accept Jesus’ declarations on the matter, which were nowhere to be found other than the Bible.  Many times prior to this meeting I had made similar statements with people who claimed to be seekers of God and His reality, and it would not be long before the conversation ceased, with me being labelled a religious zealot, intolerant, fundamentalist, bigoted or whatever. 

But John did not respond that way, he listened intently as I shared the biblical Jesus.  In our nearly two-hour conversation he shared a little of his life.  As a small child he said he found himself doing favours and good works for others, a practice which he was still doing, because he’d always thought that God would be very pleased with him if he did so.  Again, like so many misguided people, John believed that when he did someone a favour, he was doing God a favour.  

He and his friend were in a car crash.  The friend, who was the driver, was killed but John, “was not even injured.”  He said he’d been asking, “Why?” ever since, but believing too, that as a result of the outcome, there was more for him in life and that it was important for him to seek that out.

Like the older men written about in this post, I explained to this young man that God extends His hand of reconciliation to us, not on the basis of how we see or don’t see ourselves, or how much we do or don’t do in the way of good works, or how much we pray and go to church or don’t pray and go to church – but rather, it is on the basis of His love and mercy towards all, regardless of who we are.  John learned that God has no favourites. 

I briefly shared with him a little of my past and when I finished, he agreed with me when I said, “if God had favourites, then I most certainly would not be among them.”  When he believed the Bible’s declaration as to why Christ came to earth and died and rose again, he also believed that he, like me, was the reason He did so.  It was then that he bowed before God, repented of (turned away from) his sin and invited Christ into his life to become his Saviour and Lord.

Each one of these men had been duped to various degrees by the influences of man-made religious systems – all of which demand goodness, obedience and perfection etc, but none of them being able to provide the power necessary to achieve those goals.  No greater enemy to Christ’s gospel of liberty did/do I encounter than men and women who believe in the processes of working to achieve such demands and acceptance with God, by their own efforts.  

To such people and their leaders, if they have them, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the great enemy of all their religious systems and practices because there are no rules attached to it, other than the rule of simple faith, trust and love in the Living Lord Jesus Christ – all of which we receive by the Holy Spirit of God as we yield to His leadings and promptings. 

Biblical Christianity does have a call to obedience for all to know and obey God.  Biblical Christianity declares God’s requirements and expectations upon each one of us.  But whatever the calling, requirement and expectation from God, it is He, in the name of Jesus Christ, through the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit who grants the empowerment and the enabling for us to achieve them.  In other words, God is my Law-Giver, but when Christ comes into my being, He is my Law-Keeper.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9.  “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”  Romans 10:4.  

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Another reason for not knowing Salvatore very well was that not only did he have a front entrance to his  home, but also a back entrance.  It was the back entrance he and his wife used the most, being able to drive in from the street which they were not able to do at the front.  So the only communication between us was the odd wave of the hand and a “hello.”  One day I saw him out the front of his home trimming a grapevine.  He told me he had now retired  from work and that he and his wife had recently come home from a holiday in Italy.

I was glad for this time to talk, endeavouring to build a relationship because in our former home, we had the pleasure of living beside an Italian family for ten years and they taught us such a lot through their culture.  One day some months later, Salvatore told me that he had developed cancer of the stomach, but after a swift operation he was given the all-clear by his doctors.  On other occasions when we met, he said his life and health were very good, expressing an air of optimism for his future. 

The next time I saw Salvatore, all had dramatically changed.  He had lost much weight.  The cancer had come back.  Both of us knew that this meant death for him, so I spoke to him about the realities and promises of Jesus Christ and the fact that He said there is no death (separation from Christ) for all who will entrust themselves to Him.  Salvatore nodded.  He was a Roman Catholic, so I knew that what I was saying was not foreign to his ears, but I was far from confident that the same was not foreign to his understanding.

In Christian denominationalism, everybody uses the same terminologies.  Those terminologies are taken from the Bible.  As a Bible-only follower of Christ, I had learned the dangers of accepting such terminologies at face value.  As a result, I was/am never concerned with what one hears, but I’m deeply concerned to establish if one understands what one hears.  Roman Catholics and Protestants are miles apart in their terminological understanding.  Especially is this so when it comes to life after death.

Take the word ‘salvation’ for example.  Both groups understand what the word means - “deliverance from the guilt and penalties of sin” – but the differences are many as to how one receives their salvation.  Protestants who stand on the Bible alone, using it as their final authority; proclaim that salvation is a gift from God.  Upon ‘repentance’ (turning away from sin or self-will, treating God as irrelevant for one’s life, and turning to God) the gift of salvation is immediately given when received by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and His finished work upon the cross.

In other words, a biblical Protestant is assured of his or her gift of eternal life here and now in this world if they are trusting in Jesus Christ’s death as a once-and-for-all-time sacrifice for their sin.  Roman Catholicism does not agree.  She tells her people that they can have no such assurance of their salvation in this world.  Roman Catholicism teaches that qualifying for heaven/eternal life, is a life-long process.  A process that begins with the sacrament of baptism, through which they become born again or justified and through which they first receive sanctifying grace.

Protestants understand the word ‘grace’  to mean “the unmerited or undeserved love of God to people, revealed in Christ.”  Roman Catholicism, on the other hand, teaches that sanctifying grace is necessary in order to be eligible to earn salvation.  They teach that receiving the sacraments of penance, holy communion and confirmation are crucial to staying and growing in this state of sanctifying grace.  In addition, contributing to their salvation process are a host of extra-biblical teachings and practices.

Some of these teachings and practices include liturgies, indulgences, good works, sufferings, penances, rituals, prayers, mass, holy days of obligation – all of which are said to bolster one in grace in readiness for heaven.  Roman Catholicism also teaches that if one dies without sanctifying grace, he or she is condemned to hell for eternity.  For Roman Catholics who die in sanctifying grace, each one enters purgatory – a place or a condition of temporal punishment which purges them from venial (not very serious) sins, or who have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.

Jesus has told us that if we know the truth, it will set us free (unrestrained, to go at pleasure, not a slave, exempt from obligation or liability to man’s religious rules).  If Salvatore had any understanding of my sharing Christ’s realities and promises, I believed it to be according to his church’s teachings rather than biblical teaching.  Without pulling down his beliefs or his church, I proceeded, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, to explain the biblical meaning of salvation, repentance and grace and how to receive them, just as I have explained it here in this post.

Salvatore saw the truth of the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, whereby He awakens our dormant spirit.  (For further insight, see also my post: I was testing your faith, where I explain “born again” and the need for such).  He nodded and said, “Spirit to spirit.  The Holy Spirit awakens my spirit.”  I affirmed the revelation he received, telling him, “The Holy Spirit showed you that, it was not me.”  Again he nodded and it was a blessing for me to observe him thinking it through.  When it was time to go I thanked Salvatore for his time and he thanked me for mine.

Salvatore died less than three weeks after that meeting.  Countless times as a public minister, I was/am challenged by Roman Catholic practitioners, “Who do you think you are!?”  What right have you to be attacking my faith!?”  Most of them do not want a truthful response to such questions, but rather, they want to go on to label me as one who, “has no love” or “fundamentalist” or “bigoted” or “judgemental” or ”intolerant.”  The gospel of Jesus Christ has always been the enemy of religion and always will be.  Why?  Because truth exposes error and because truth is always liberating - no rules!

If that answer is untrue, then I would not have observed those among the fifteen to twenty of Salvatore’s family and friends sitting in his loungeroom, crying and wailing, expressing a spirit of helplessness and hopelessness.  But that’s exactly what I did observe.  It was much more than grief, which is natural.  What went on in that home was not natural if one claims to love and have total faith in Jesus Christ as living Lord and Saviour - which most of those same people did claim. 

I’m used to being labelled for my stand upon God’s written word and on the true Son of God revealed within.  I do not bow to labels, I bow to the Trinity of  God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – once again as revealed from the Scriptures.  The Bible is my final authority on any matter I’m called upon to address.  I do not ask anybody else to take that stand or to believe what is written within it’s pages, but I am called by God to proclaim and share what is written within.  Then it is up to both God and the hearer as to where it’s taken from there.

Salvatore believed that which God revealed to him.  He received it deep in his heart by faith, not just in his head and not by striving to earn it through religious practice.  The moment his soul left his body in death (separation) he awoke into the presence of Jesus Christ and today, he is more alive than he’s ever been.  That is why the gospel is called the good news.  “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He (Christ) also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”  Hebrews 2:14-15.

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.