Sermon Central
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Conversion Of A Communist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Sep 25, 2016 (message contributor)
Leonard Ravenhill tells the story of preaching an 8-day crusade in a large church in Glasgow, Scotland starting the first day of World War II. That shattered his meetings and no more than 50 people showed, so they started to meet in a side room instead. Despite this, he preached his heart out every night. One night as he gave the invitation, 3 people came forward and they prayed with them. Then he looked back and saw a rosy-cheeked boy who was calling Leonard. He went to him and said, "hello." He said, "My name is...Donald Wilson. Mr. Ravenhill, I am not a Christian. I believe I’m a very good boy but oh, I need Christ." So I said, "Well that’s great. If you know that, it’s a wonderful thing. Do you come from a Christian family?" He said, "No. My father is a communist, and he’s a very, very vicious alcoholic." "What about your mother?" "No, she was a Christian, but she’s backsliden.” Then the boy asked about salvation and Leonard Ravenhill led him to faith in Jesus Christ, He then told him to go home and say to his Dad, “I’ve become a Christian tonight.” The next night’s meetings didn’t grow in attendance due to the threat of bombing but two nights later a big, burly man showed and when Leonard gave the invitation, this man came forward. He said he was a communist and that his son had given his life to Christ. And he knocked me for a loop. “Since that time, I didn’t want to drink, and I thought, ‘If my son needed saving, I sure need it.’" This man, who looked like he could have thrown Leonard right through the building, just bawled like a child and said, "I am a sinner, I need a Savior” and he gave his life to Christ.
After the war was over, Leonard Ravenhill returned to that church and as he sat with the pastor, the pastor leaned over and said to him, "Brother Ravenhill, you see that well dressed man over there on the left, the one with the white Scotch collar?" "Yes," he said. "That’s Wilson." It did not ring a bell. “You remember the communist that got saved because his son came to faith? Well, that’s him. And you know, he is about the strongest Christian in this church. Man, you can rely on him, he’s as sure as the dawn. And as a matter of fact, he wants you to go to their home for a meal." After services, Leonard Ravenhill went to Wilson’s house for dinner and discovered the whole family had gotten saved: their teenage daughters, and even his mother. “Leonard looked at the house, it was beautifully painted, beautifully done. Wilson said, "You know, Mr. Ravenhill, I was the kind of guy who wanted to get the world right, and I wasn’t right myself. I’ll tell you how much change it makes: Jesus Christ has not only changed my life, He’s changed the whole home. I wasn’t content even to live in the slum I was in. I thought, ’No this is not the place we should be. The Gospel did this: it met me personally, it met me domestically, it met me socially. I’ve been able to go back in the factory and tell the men there of the miracle of the Gospel. It took out the habit of cursing other people and of drinking, all types of the other things. Since I came to faith in Christ came, He completely changed and revolutionized my life." And Leonard Ravenhill writes, “That’s the Gospel and the power of the resurrection (which is available) to everyone that believes.”
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