How I came to Christ
I grew up in a Christian home. In fact, my earthly father is a pastor so attending church was the norm for me growing up. My story is similar to many I've talked to around my age; as we got older and moved from our parents' houses, we tended to stray from the faith. I, for example, stopped going to church altogether as soon as I left for college, unless I was visiting home.
I still believed in Jesus and all the teachings I learned as a child, but I lived my life however I wanted to live at the time. I would tell myself, "God will forgive me for my sins if I just ask him," then continued doing whatever I wanted to do. There were many nights, months even, that I would go without praying. I was lost and didn't even know it.
Fast forward to Summer 2016. It had been over a decade of living how I wanted. I constantly drank and smoked, went to strip clubs, engaged in relations without being married, cursed, spoke negatively about people, the works. This is where my call back to Christ began to take shape. I'm a man of science, so a close friend and I would occasionally chop it up about current and interesting scientific projects taking place in the world. One day, as I looked up YouTube videos about project CERN (something my friend and I had recently discussed), a video in the "related" section caught my eye. It was titled, "23 Minutes in Hell."
I usually avoided these types of videos but for some reason, on this day, I decided to click it. What I watched over the next hour scared me so much that I decided, right then and there, that I wanted to make sure not to end up in that place. In that moment, I honestly assessed my life and realized that if I died then and there, I would go to Hell. I knew I needed a change. I believed the man in the video's testimony, and that his experience was real. After all, why would someone lie about something like this? On top of that, I believed in God, Jesus, and Heaven - so I had to believe in Hell. I just never knew the horrific details of what Hell would be like. All my life Hell seemed to be watered down - by society and sometimes, unfortunately, the church.
Over the next few weeks, all I could think about was that testimony so, as a science guy, I knew I needed to collect more data and hear other people's testimonies about their experiences (near death, out of body, etc.) visiting Hell. I watched about 20 more videos and found a lot of commonalities in each person's experiences, and overlap in the details of what they saw and felt. Their faces, their eyes, the tears they shed - these people were so affected by their experiences that, in my heart, I knew they were telling the truth. I later discovered that many of the details they shared were consistent with what's written in the Bible.
So in September, I made a decision.
I decided to examine every detail of my life and start removing known sins. I decided to study the Bible to find out what other sins I was knowingly or unknowingly committing, so as to not play ignorant, and to ask God to help me with not sinning in that way anymore. I decided that there was nothing on this Earth that was worth risking my eternity being away from God, and in Hell. I decided to stop making excuses, stop making my own "intelligent" assumptions about who God is and what is right and wrong in His eyes; I decided to humble myself instead, and allow Him to show me His character through His Word. I decided to build a real relationship with God. Since that time, He has super-naturally changed me. He has revealed things to me through His Word that cannot be explained from a worldly, natural state. It's amazing to see how much He loves me, that He truly loves everyone, and that He doesn't want a single soul to end up in Hell.
I'm still learning everyday, and growing in this way can be a challenge. But I'm at least assured that I know what will happen the day I see God face to face, and that his Spirit has set me free.
If you haven't made that decision, I urge you - please consider your relationship with our Lord Jesus. Consider how short this earthly life is, compared to how long FOREVER is. Do you know where you will end up when you pass on from this life? If you are curious, ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you. Ask Jesus into your heart, to show you His ways; if you ask genuinely, He will do so.
Jesus died for all our sins, so we have the opportunity to enter into Heaven without blemish. He suffered for you and me. His gift of salvation is a FREE gift; you cannot earn it through good deeds, good works, or just by being a "good person." Only Jesus' blood removes sin, and His Holy Spirit is an amazing gift that is indescribable, and real, and is for you. All you have to do is ask. I pray you do.