A troubled man attended one of our crusades in Latin America. From his youth, he hated protestant Christians. His pleasure was to steal from them or to destroy their crops or business or property. He and his friends would ambush them in the countryside, take their belongings and often beat them.
He delighted in the persecuting them and he told us that even helped to kill some of them.
Jesus Christ had become real to his wife soon after they were married. Quite often their relations had been strained because of religious conflict. For nineteen years she had prayed that her husband would have a personal encounter with the Lord.
The man attended our crusade the night I talked about the way Christ suffered in or place and how He was crucified to pay the penalty for our sins.
For the first time in his life, that man realized that God created human persons to walk and talk with Him in the garden of His presence; that we are made in God’s own image and since God is love, it is his big love-plan that we share his love; that hatred, evil and murder are from Satan who caused humanity to sin against God in the beginning.
He had not realized that sin was the barrier between him and God, nor that God longed for fellowship with each person so much that he gave His only Son to restore them to Himself.
The death of Christ suddenly became a reality to the man.
You Are Already Forgiven
He told us, “As I began to think about my hatred and the brutal things I had done against innocent people, I realized that every evil deed I had committed helped nail Jesus to the cross. I visualized Him hanging there between two thieves, enduring the punishment of my sins so that I would not held guilty before God.
“As you taught, you made me realize that I was the one who should have been crucified, because I was the one who had committed evil. Jesus was innocent. He was perfect.
“I found myself weeping. I wanted to cry out, ‘Why You Lord? Why are you being crucified? What evil did You ever do? I was the one they should have crucified! I am the guilty one!’”
That dear man rushed to the front of the big arena as soon as I invited people to express their faith in Christ. His devoted wife stood beside him as this persecutor of Christians fell to his keens and accepted forgiveness for all of his sins.
He had felt deep guild and remorse. Now it was all gone and he realized that God held none of his sins against him.
Excerpt from the book: "God's Love Plan" get it here
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