'Get Tom! Get Tom!' The dying man was screaming, but it was too late. And how about you, dear reader? by Pat Franklin

A man named Tom was concerned about his neighbour.  Tom was a Christian and knew Jesus Christ as his Savior.  He knew he would go to Heaven when he died.  His neighbour, on the other hand, did not know Jesus.

One day Tom tried to share the gospel with his neighbour.  He met with a hostile reception and was told in no uncertain terms to go away and take his Bible with him.

You cannot force anyone to believe and put their trust in Jesus.  Tom knew his neighbour’s greatest need  (and indeed everyone's greatest need) was for the Savior of the world to forgive his sins, all the things God hates – especially pride (thinking we are already good enough and have no need of Jesus).

Some time later he learned that his neighbour was in the hospital with a serious condition.  He again took up his Bible and went to visit.

Even lying in a hospital bed, the neighbour was hostile and yelled at Tom to get away from him.

Sadly, Tom went home.

A few days later he decided to try one last time, and went to the hospital.  The receptionist asked:  “Are you one of the family?”

“No, just a neighbour,” he said.  What is your name, the lady asked.  “Tom …”

“Tom?  You’re Tom?  Oh dear!   All night he was screaming:  ‘Tom!  Tom!  Get Tom!  Get Tom!’  I’m afraid he passed away.”

Tom was devastated, and decided to  keep trying for the rest of his life to tell anyone who would listen about Jesus and how He died so that their sins could be washed away.

I heard this true story in Israel this week, and then was sent a link to the testimony of the real life Tom, who turned out to be Tom Cantor, a successful Jewish scientist and businessman in Califormia.  Here is the link:  http://www.israelrestoration.org/video.html  Like our Israeli son-in-law, Tom had accepted Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.

And what of you, dear reader?  Do you know Jesus as your Saviour?  Or are you like the neighbour who never admitted he was a sinner and, as far as we know, never asked Jesus to forgive him and save him from Hell?

We only get so many chances in this life and then it is all over.  There is no second chance in Hell.  All our chances are now. 

Our very breath is in the hand of God, and yet we use that breath to curse Him and reject His Son!  Why should He give us another breath?  One day we breathe our last breath and then the time is up.

 

Why did Tom take a Bible with him?  Because it is God’s book and it contains the truth.  He could have shown thhis neighbour passages which say that we are all sinners deserving of judgement, but that there is one way, only one, by which we can be forgiven of all our sins and cleansed of all unrighteousness. 

 

That way is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, when the Lamb of God was slain for the sins of the world.

 

Jesus Himself had said:  ‘If you believe in Me, you HAVE eternal life.’ (John 6:47)

 

He also said:  ‘Unless a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.’ (John 3:3)

 

Later the apostle John wrote that if we live in the light of faith, ‘the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.’  (1 John 1:7)

Here is a good prayer:

‘Dear God, I know You exist.  The smart alecs on television and in universities have lied!  You are there and the evidence is all around us!  The Bible says You sent Your only begotten Son, Jesus, to take the penalty of all the sins for all who put their faith in Him.

‘It says that He died and rose again on the third day and was seen by hundreds of witnesses then, and that He is now back in Heaven, seated at Your right hand, waiting to return and reclaim the earth that He made.

‘I accept all this, dear God.  Please give me the faith to believe all that You have put in Your book!  I beg for forgiveness for all my sins and plead for Your mercy on me, a sinner. 

‘I ask you, Lord Jesus, to be my Savior and make me one of Your people.  Please forgive my sins and help me live for You!’

And do you know what, dear friends?  If you pray like that and mean it,  a supernatural thing will happen.  You will be born again!   The Holy Spirit will come to dwell in you and seal you, and you will be one of God’s people, a new creation! 

You will not be perfect, but you will now be on the narrow way that Jesus said leads to eternal life.  You will have left the broad way that leads to Hell.

When I first read the New Testament and realized that it was all true and that I was a Hell-bound sinner, I went to my room, shut the door, got on my knees and prayed a prayer like the one above.

I was begging.  I had no faith that Jesus would accept me or forgive me.  I thought I was too bad and could never be one of His people.  I thought He would want only good people. 

I did not realize then that although there are degrees of sin, no one is good enough.  We all are tainted, unfit for God’s Heaven.

I also did not really understand that Jesus died for sinners!  Sinners like me! 

I knew that something had happened.  Inside I was different.  And I desperately wanted to know Jesus better – not just know things about Him, but really know Him, be closer to Him, to be as near to Him as I could get, to understand Him and everything about Him. 

I was in love with Him!  Not physical love, but affectionate, worshipful, grateful love.

I decided to follow Him always, even if He rejected me, because there was nothing, no one, better than Him.

Then a lady who knew a whole lot more than I did met with me one day and showed me many passages in the Bible which assured me that Jesus would never reject anyone who came to Him.

In fact He said:  “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“Whoever”!  That means you and that means me. 

Won’t you put your faith in Jesus today and ask Him to forgive your sins?

Or will you go on and on rejecting Jesus?  Will you scream out on your last night when there is no one around who knows what to say or do to help you?

Is there a ‘Tom’ in your life who you despise? 

This, even this article, may be your final call, that final time Jesus will hold out His loving hand to you.

Won’t you accept Him now, dear friend?

*You may copy, print or send this article to people as long as it is printed as is and no money is charged. 

 


26/03/2018

 
 
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Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. (Idol - anything or anyone who is prayed to or given the reverence due to God alone. Idolatry - giving excessive honor to a person or thing and ascribing them with godlike power.)
Acts of the Apostles 17:16

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