Religious
But Lost!

My Name is
Jay Anderson.
This is My
Story . . .

AS I STOOD LOOKING AT THE
MANGLED WRECK OF A CAR
from which I had just escaped completely uninjured,
I finally realized that what the T.V. preacher had been
saying was true-that our lives here on earth are so
short and fragile; that they could end at any time
without any warning.   I knew now that he was
talking about me.

It wasn't that I didn't know I was going to die
someday.   I guess I just didn't think it would happen
when I was young.   However, my life nearly ended
that night.   I could so easily have been killed in that
car accident, and yet I was spared.

Verses from the Bible that the preacher had quoted
came flooding back to mind: "Boast not thyself of
to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may
bring forth.   Whereas ye know not what shall be on
the morrow.   For what is your life?   It is even a
vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away."   (Prov. 27:1; James 4:14)

It began to hit home!

Although I had heard these verses before, I never
really saw them as talking about me-that is, until the
night of the accident.   It seemed as if everything
came into perspective then.   I have always heard that
when someone is near death, his life usually flashes
before his eyes.   IT'S REALLY TRUE!!

It seemed as if various stages of my childhood and
teenage years somehow merged together into one
conglomerate memory that passed through my mind
in a split second.

At that point I finally understood exactly how
delicate my life was.   I could have died in an instant.
Furthermore, if what the preacher said from the
Bible was true, I wasn't ready to meet God when I
died.   According to the Bible, I needed to be born
again.
   Even though I didn't know exactly what that
meant, I knew it hadn't happened to me.   I knew it
had something to do with being saved, because the
preacher was always using that word.   But, as I said,
I didn't really understand what these terms meant, or

rather what the consequences of accepting them
meant, but I just knew they were talking about me.

Those verses applied to me . . .

I knew that what I had heard the preacher say about
Jesus Christ and the salvation He offered was for me.
I knew Christ was the answer to all the doubts, fears,
and confusion that had been plaguing me.   You see,
for months before the accident, I had been asking
myself many questions: Why am I here on this
earth?   Where am I going when I die?   Is God real?
Can I know Him?

Now, don't get me wrong.   It wasn't that I had never
heard anything about God.   I grew up in church.   I
knew all about God.   I knew all about Christ (or so I
thought).   I knew religion.   I knew the creeds.   I
knew the liturgies.   I knew the songs.   I knew the
repetitious phrases.   I could quote them from
memory.

However, even though I knew all these things, I was
still empty inside.   I still didn't know what life was
all about, nor my purpose for existing.   Then I found
out that Christ was the answer to all my questions.
You see, the problem was not that I didn't know
anything about Jesus.   Religion had taught me about
Him.

Being religious didn't help.

The problem was that I didn't KNOW Him.   I knew
ABOUT Him, but I didn't KNOW Him.
Furthermore, it wasn't until I heard this preacher on
T.V., who opened the Bible and showed me these
things from the Scriptures, that I realized I even
needed to know Him.   I needed to COME INTO a
relationship with Him.

I already knew He was the Son of God.   I already
knew He was born in a manger in Bethlehem.   I
already knew He preached many sermons and healed
many people.   I already knew He died on a cross,
was buried, and then arose from the grave on the
third day and then ascended into Heaven.   I already
knew many facts ABOUT Him.   The only problem
was, I didn't KNOW Him-personally.   I had never
entered into a relationship with Him.   I had never
met Him as my Saviour.

Well, for months before the accident, I listened
intently to the T.V. preacher talk salvation, or being
saved, but I didn't do anything about it.   I guess I just
put it off and procrastinated.   That is, until the night
of the accident.   I knew then that I couldn't put God
on hold any longer.   He had let me get into a car
accident that nearly ended my life in order to show
me how frail I really was.   I realized then that my life
was completely in His hands and that the things I
had been hearing on T.V. were true.   I knew that I
needed to be saved.   So, laying in my bed one night
not long thereafter, I called on the name of the Lord
and asked Him to save me (Romans 10:13).   At that
instant, I met Christ as my Saviour and was born
again, as the Bible says (John 3:3).

That was in December of 1992 in Bismarck.   Since
then, the Lord has brought me to a church in Fargo
that preaches the truth in love and the way of
salvation plain.   I am also currently a student here at
the Bible Institute that the church has started.   At
this point I am unsure what the Lord would have me
to do with my degree when I graduate.   I am
confident, however, that He will show me in His
time.

Dear reader . . .

I have written this as a testimony to what God has
done in my life.   I give all the glory to Him.   He is
the One who drew me to Himself when I was lost in
sin (Luke 19:10).   He is the One who saved me by
His grace (Eph. 2:8), without the aid of any of my
good works (Eph. 2:9).   He is the One who washed
all my sins away in His own blood (Rev. 1:5) and
promises a home in Heaven for me (John 14:2).   He
is the One who has done it all and deserves all the
praise.   I only regret that I was not bolder to share
my faith in Christ with my family and friends when I
was first saved.   Since then, however, I have grown
in the Lord and I now want everyone to know the
Saviour I know.

Dear reader, do you know this Wonderful God?
Have you ever met Him?   He IS real!!   He wants you
to be saved.   He wants you to go to Heaven when you
die.   In I Timothy 2:3,4 the Bible says, "For this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto
the knowledge of the truth."

Please take time to carefully read God's plan of
salvation from the Bible that I have included
here.   If you have any questions, please use the
information on the back [below] page to contact me.
Thank you and God bless you.

IF you were to die today, are you 100% SURE
you would go to Heaven?   The Bible says
YOU CAN BE SURE (1 John 5:13)

BUT FIRST, you must realize that what keeps you
from going to Heaven are your sins, because: "...your
iniquities [sins] have separated between you
and your God," Isaiah 59:2.

In fact, in God's eyes YOU ARE A SINNER: "For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory
of God;" Romans 3:23.

SECONDLY, you must realize that there is
NOTHNG you can do to save yourself and earn
Heaven: "For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast."   Eph. 2:8-9
   Baptism, good deeds, church membership, self-
righteousness are all exarnples of good works that
cannot save you, because: "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he [Christ]
saved us," Titus 3:5.

THE ONLY WAY you can get saved is through
Jesus Christ.   He said: "I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me."   John 14:6

THAT'S WHY: "...while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us."   Rom. 5:8-9

THEREFORE: You must REPENT (change your
mind); admit that you are a hell-deserving sinner and
can't save yourself.   Call upon Christ, and Him alone,
to save you.   "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus [REPENT], and shalt believe in
thine heart [TRUST] that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved."   Romans
10:9

Jay Anderson

3303 23rd Ave. SW.
Fargo, ND 58103

Phone: aaa.293.9526

Email: lve4him@juno.com

SEND THE LIGHT
P.O. Box 815   Fargo, ND 58107

[ Fargo Baptist Church (ND) ] [ Christian Home Bible Course ]