It was February 16, 1977. I was 17.5, sitting at the lunch table at Robert E. Peary High School trying to get the attention of Donna Poulsen, when I overheard Larry Eubanks discussing scripture with my close friend and sidekick Delair Ali. I had always believed in God, and believed myself to be a good and moral person. What I didn't realize that God will not afford us salvation based 'goodness' but rather on Grace. That is, we are not given eternal life because of what WE do, but what HE (God) did in giving us Christ His Son.
I was intellectually fighting-off this argument valiantly, until the following scripture was quoted from Romans 10:9-10. It plunged through my heart like a broadsword; cutting me all the way to the bone. I asked Larry what had to be done. After making me wait 10 minutes (for lunch to end), Larry told me in the hallway that I pray a prayer that went something like this:
Lord Jesus, I need you. I believe in my heart that you died on the cross for my sins. I confess you now as the Lord and Savior of my life. I Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. I turn control of my life over to You, and ask make me the kind of Person you intended me to be.
These were not the exact words. They don't have to be ... it is the INTENT of what was prayed that day that matters. Moreover, I was still Dean Peters after praying what has become known as the "sinner's prayer". No lightening struck me blind. I didn't see any angles or hear any bells. Nor did I become some washed-out freak who 'floated around' whapping people upside the head with an 18 pound Bible.
No at all. Instead, God knowing that I am an analytical and axiomatic man, has revealed Himself to me through legal historic evidences. The most compelling, being that of Christ's Crucificition and Resurrection. Below are some WWW pages that detail these facts and evidences better than I. Read them, then send me e-mail.
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