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Changed
for Good
Once as Dr. Harry
Ironside was speaking before an assembly, he noticed a man in the crowd
writing on a card, which he presently handed to the speaker. The man was
Arthur Lewis, an agnostic lecturer, and he proposed a challenge to Dr.
Ironside to debate the subject "Agnosticism vs. Christianity," and
offered to pay all the expenses involved in the debate.
Dr. Ironside read the
card aloud to the audience and then said, "I accept your challenge on
these conditions:
"First... that
you promise to bring with you on the platform one man who was once
an outcast, a slave to sinful habits, but who heard you or some other
infidel lecture on agnosticism and was helped by it and cast away his sins
and became a new man and is today a respected member of society, ALL
because of your unbelief!
"Second...
that you agree to bring with you one woman who was once lost to all
purity purity and goodness, but who can now testify that agnosticism came
to her rescue while deep in sin and implanted in
her poor heart a hatred of impurity and a love of holiness, causing
her to become chaste and upright, ALL through a disbelief in the bible!
"Now sir," he continued,
"if you will agree, I promise to be there with one hundred such men and
woman, once just such lost souls, who heard the Gospel of the grace of
God, believe it and have found new life and joy in Jesus Christ our
Savior. Will you accept my terms?"
Lewis walked away in
silence....
"Do YOU not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
homosexuals, nor sodomites, {10} nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. {11} And
such WERE some of YOU!! But you were washed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians
6:9-11).
One of the evidences of
the inspiration of the Scriptures is the "change for good"
that occurs in the lives of those who believe in and practice its
teachings. The power of the
Gospel has changed persecutors into preachers, swindlers into saints,
victims into victors!
This change is
experienced by those whose:
HEARTS - are
changed by faith
in God and Christ (Hebrews 11:6; Acts 16:31),
WILLS - are changed by turning from sin in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31),
ALLEGIANCE - is changed in confessing
Christ as the Son of God (Romans 10:9-10), STATE - is changed
through baptism
(immersion) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
God will CONTINUE to
recreate into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18) those
who CONTINUE to submit their lives in obedience to His will (1 John 1:7).
Will YOU
not submit your life to Him, so that you can be changed for good?
God bless you,
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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