Christian Witness Stand

HIT-MAN CHANGES SIDES
Soon after the Christian Church began, fierce opposition sprang up. Many Jewish people, who had rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, reacted violently against this new and growing religion. One of the most vehement opponents of the early Christians was Saul of Tarsus. One day he was on his way to Damascus (now the capital of Syria) to seek out and arrest Christians, and bring them back to Jerusalem to stand trial. But on the road something dramatic happened. Here, in Saul's own words, is what happened:
"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persucute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ (from the New Testament book of Acts, chapter 22, verses 6–10).
Saul's life completely changed—he even changed his name to Paul—and he became one of the greatest defenders of the Christian faith, and probably the greatest missionary of all time. He was even prepared do die for his faith. But it all began when he had an encounter with Jesus Christ.

"If anyone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand-new person inside".
From "The Living Bible",
2 Corinthians ch 5, v. 17

SLAVE TRADER BECAME PREACHER
John Newton had had some early religious instruction from his mother, who died when he was a child, but by the time he was grown up he had long since given up any religious convictions. He followed his father's trade as a seaman, and eventually became captain of a slave ship. He was rough and foul-mouthed.
However, on a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his "great deliverance." He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, "Lord, have mercy upon us." Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had spoken to him through the storm. He committed His life to Jesus Christ.
For the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of that day, May 10th 1748 as the day of his conversion, when he subjected his will to a higher power. After a while he gave up his life at sea and became a Christian minister. He wrote a number of hymns, including "Glorious things of thee are spoken" and "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds."
His most famous hymn is probably the one which reflected his own experience of conversion:
"Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see."

FORMER ATHEIST NOW DEFENDS THE BIBLE
Dr A. J. Monty White (PhD. and BSc. (hons)) works for an organisation called Answers in Genesis. He believes that the whole Bible is the word of God, and totally reliable, and he defends the Genesis creation account against the theory of evolution. But it was not always so. Monty was brought up by an atheist father and an agnostic mother. He was told that there was no God, that Jesus Christ was not God's Son, and that the Bible was just a collection of fairy stories. He grew up to embrace atheism for himself.
In 1963 Monty began a degree course in chemistry at the University College of Wales. In order to make friends he attended the Christian Union. He discovered that these people not only believed in God, but actually knew Him. He began to talk with them, and tell them why he rejected the Bible and belief in God. However, he soon discovered that there was evidence to support the Bible. He also discovered that God answered people's prayers, even in a miraculous way. After a few months at University, all Monty's objections evaporated. In February 1964 he committed his life to Jesus Christ.
Soon after his own conversion, his mother also became a Christian, and in 1997, at the age of 78 his father also turned to Jesus Christ. In a recent book* Dr Monty White writes: "There is a God, the Bible can be trusted as God's revealed word to humankind. God does answer prayer and does reveal himself to men and women today. I know — I am one of them!"
*"On the Seventh Day: 40 scientists and academics explain why they believe in God"
Former atheist Dr Monty White is now a Christian and defends the truth of the Bible from Genesis onwards
Master Books, 2002

BURGLER MET JESUS CHRIST IN PRISON!
Fred Lemon was an habitual burgler, having started his "career" while still a teenager. Although he was involved in many robberies and was a top police suspect, they never seemed to have the proof they needed to convict Fred. So he became rather complacent. Eventually, after being caught in possession of stolen goods, he was arrested and appeared at the Old Bailey. Although he thought he would be able to talk himself out of it, Fred was shocked when the judge sentenced him to two years in prison. At last the law had caught up with him.
Fred began his time in Wormwood Scrubs, but was later moved to Dartmoor Prison. For something to do, he began to attend services at the prison chapel. Fred began to listen to what was said in the services, and the Methodist chaplain talked to him personally. Fred began to read the Bible. much to the scorn of his fellow-prisoners. Yet his old ways still held him in their grip. He lost his temper, and was rude and insolent to the prison officers. This resulted in him being put into solitary confinement, where he concluded that Christianity was not for him. He told himself, "The only thing that paid off in this world was being tough and holding your own against people in authority." He decided to attempt an escape. He stole a knife from the prison workshop and hid it in his cell. He would stab one of the prison officers, then make his escape.
That night, 10th August 1950, Fred woke up to find three men standing in his cell. He jumped up and sat on the bed. In his book, Breakout, he described what happened next: "The man on the right spoke my name. Then, ‘This is Jesus’ he said. The middle figure, at whom he pointed, began to talk to me. Gently, clearly, he traced my whole life up to this desparate day. I felt.... a warm certainty that through this Jesus, God was offering me forgiveness — had already, in fact, forgiven all my sin." Fred went on to recall that Jesus said to him, "If you want to become a Christian you must drive all hatred from your heart."
This was the turning-point of Fred's life. Later, after his release from prison, he became a Christian preacher and evangelist, speaking at many churches, and youth events, and visiting prisons to testify how Jesus Christ has met with him and changed his life.

FITNESS CELEBRITY'S RE-BIRTH
Thousands of people have benefited from Rosemary Conley's health and fitness programmes, and are enjoying better health because of it. But in 1986 Rosemary herself was lying in a hospital bed, feeling very ill and utterly depressed. She saw an advertisement in a women's magazine for a book entitled Power for Living. It had the recommendation of tennis commentator Gerald Williams, former House of Commons Speaker Viscount Tonypandy and singer Cliff Richard, so she thought it worth sending for a copy. The book arrived the day she was due to go to the hospital for more tests, and in the waiting room she began to read the book. She felt the book "had been written for me. The book spoke to me in everyday language and for the first time in my life I realised that, when Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross at Calvary. he died so that my sins could be forgiven and that if I asked Jesus into my life I could, I effect, start my life again and be re-born."
That night Rosemary Conley committed her life to Jesus Christ. She says "When I awoke the next morning I knew that my sins had been forgiven and I was re-born." Rosemary's book The Complete Hip & Thigh Diet became an international best-seller in 1988, as have subsequent books and videos. The Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs meet regularly throughout Britain. She gets great pleasure from knowing that so many people are fitter and healthier through following her programmes. "We should look after the bodies God has given us ," she said.
(Taken by permission from the "Good News" paper, July 2003)

MURDERER FINDS FREEDOM FROM OCCULT BONDAGE
Convicted five years ago for an occult-related murder of a homeless person, Maurice Smith wasn't exactly a prime suspect for conversion to the Christian faith — but that was what happened to him in prison, where he is serving a 30-year sentence. Maurice, 31, is anxious not to focus on his involvement with the occult and Satanism, though it was very real and disturbing. Instead, he is keen to emphasise how he has been set free from the terrifying bonds of his previous life. At the time of the murder, in 1997, Maurice was involved in forming a satanic coven, of which he was to be the High Priest. This followed involvement with ouija boards, tarot cards and astrology from the age of 15. After about 15 months "inside" he says, God was convincing him that he needed to change. Through reading the Bible, he realised that Jesus had died on the cross so that he could be forgiven and that no-one was too bad to come to him. Maurice renounced all his occult and Satanist involvement. "I surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, along with all its dirty laundry," he declares. I was set free, and have grown to love the Lord more each day. "I do thank him for his grace and forgiveness. "I am now the Lord's for I was bought with a price."
(Taken by permission from the "Good News" paper, May 2003)