The sad Lithuanian family stood around the deathbed of their mother. There was Frank, the oldest son, Ursula, the only daughter, and little William John who was only five years old. The mother had one last thing to tell her family.
“I’m dying and I know it,” she said. “I’m going to hell and I’ll meet you all there.” This was the last thing that William John ever heard his mother say.
Fear gripped young William John - a fear that was going to be with him most of his life.
Times were rough, and William John in just a few years began to work for his father to help the family out. His father owned a restaurant where alcohol was served. It became William John’s job after school to clear and wash the tables. One day out of curiosity William John began to sample the drinks left in the bottom of the glasses and soon began to like alcohol.
The years passed on in William John’s life. He grew and became a man. One day he met a young lady in his town and took an interest in her. Before long they were married. William John and his wife had two small children when the news came that World War II had begun. Seeking excitement and a change from his alcoholic lifestyle, William John joined the army and went to fight in the war.
Fear that he could feel followed William John onto the battlefields. He fought in battles only yards away from death. Time after time he watched his buddies die. Over and over he recalled his mother’s last words. Life was very fragile on the battlefields of France.
Back at home his wife wasn’t happy with the life she was living. She knew that something was missing in her life. Then one day she learned that it was Someone who was missing in her life.
As one of her next-door neighbors was chatting with her one morning, she asked, “Do you know Jesus?”
Although William John’s wife had been brought up in a religious home, she had never heard the name Jesus. She had never heard that Jesus, God’s Son, came to this earth to die for her sins, had risen from the dead and had returned to heaven. She realized that she desperately needed this man Jesus in her unhappy life. After a short time she got on her knees, admitted that she was a sinner, believed that Jesus had died for her sins, and then told her neighbor that she was now born again. She had new life in Jesus.
Time passed. William John returned from the war to discover that his wife was now a Christian. He began to attend church services with his wife, but fear kept him from coming to the Saviour. Now he feared that his family would reject him.
To fill his empty life, William John turned to alcohol and was unkind to his family. His wife tried to read the Bible at home, but William John wouldn’t permit it.
At this time, a third child was born into the family. His wife struggled to feed and dress everyone, but all this time she never stopped praying that her husband would see his need of Christ and come without fear to the Saviour.
One day his wife brought a well-known evangelist to their home to speak to him about accepting Christ as his Saviour. But William John refused to listen. He did not want to admit that he was a sinner.
Smoking and drinking finally caught up with William John, and it was discovered that he had cancer of the tongue. There was not much choice but to have an operation to remove his tongue. Now William John could not speak. But that wasn’t all. The doctors had not discovered the cancer soon enough to be able to remove it all, and the cancer spread. William John was dying. Fear had kept him from confessing Christ with his mouth and now he could not speak. Fear of death now gripped him.
One weekend William John’s wife took two of their sons and went to a Bible conference. When she returned home, she made a wonderful discovery. In his silent existence, William John had a habit of listening to the radio. He had been listening to a Christian station where he again heard the story of how Jesus had come to die for his sins and take away all the fear in his life. For the first time William John listened with an open heart, admitted that he was a sinner and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Now William John was born again, but he never had the privilege of confessing with his mouth that Jesus Christ was his Saviour. Although he couldn’t talk, he could still write and say that he knew that his sins were gone - that he had new life in Jesus. A short time later he died.
You don’t need to take as long as William John to admit that you are a sinner and that you need Jesus to take your sins away. If you have done this, be sure that you confess with your mouth -tell someone - that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Saviour.
ML-09/26/1999