Over the heads of the crowd the confident cry rang out: "There is no answer to prayer; it's all imagination. Don't be carried away by sentiment or superstition. Use your own common sense. There is no hereafter! When we are dead, we are done for.”
The speaker was standing at the foot of a monolith erected in an open space in a busy city. He had an excellent gift of speech and a winning manner. A crowd of men and women stood round listening. In a wonderfully ingratiating way and a persuasive voice, he sought to prove the non-existence of God and the inefficacy of prayer, concluding with a professed readiness to debate the question with any person in the audience.
At this juncture a man was seen making his way from the edge of the crowd toward the speaker, saying at the same time, "I accept the challenge.”
The people eagerly made way for this champion of God and prayer, and in a few moments he was standing on the step of the monolith facing the crowd. He was tall and well dressed, but he was no orator. He had no set phrases to tickle the ear. He had not the winning, catchy demeanor of his opponent. For a moment or two he stood looking at the sea of faces before him, faces waiting with eager expectancy for him to open the debate. A flush of color came over his face, and the sweat stood in beads on his brow.
"Friends, I am not a public speaker," he said. "I did not come to this meeting with the intention of disputing anything our friend might say; but when he denied that there was any efficacy in prayer, and challenged anyone to prove the contrary, I felt bound to come forward.”
The crowd cheered the frank yet modest statement. He went on again: "You see standing before you a man who was once as big a scoundrel as it was possible to find in this city. I was a drunkard, a gambler, a wife-beater. Yes! I was everything the word 'brute' implies. My wife and child dreaded the sound of my footsteps. Yet, bad as I was, unknown to me, my wife had for years been praying for the salvation of my soul; and she had taught our child to pray.”
He paused a moment, as if overcome with sadness at the memory, and then continued: "One night I went home unexpectedly, rather earlier than usual, and, by accident, sober. When I opened the door, my wife had just gone upstairs to put the little one to bed and their voices drifted down. I stood listening at the foot of the stairs. My child was praying; she was praying for me. 'Dear Lord Jesus, save my dear Daddy! Save my dear Daddy, Lord! Dear Lord Jesus, save my Daddy!' And as she prayed in her simple childlike way I heard my wife saying, with a sob in her voice, 'Lord Jesus, for Thy name's sake answer this prayer.'
"They did not know I was listening, so I crept softly out of the house into the street. Strange feelings were coming over me. Ringing in my ears was my child's prayer: 'Dear Lord Jesus, save my dear Daddy!'
"Was I indeed dear to that child? In what way? She had never known a father's love. I question whether she had ever known a father's kiss. And as I thought of it, a great lump came into my throat. Tears filled my eyes, and I cried aloud, 'Lord, help me; Lord, answer my child's prayer.' AND HE DID.
"Years have passed away since then. Today I am a respected member of society. The past is under the blood. I live in the present, a new creation in Christ Jesus, a living testimony to direct answer to prayer.”
Again he paused, and then he said earnestly: "Friends, don't you think I would have been a coward if I had kept silent today? Can I do other than believe there is a God, and that He not only hears, but answers prayer?”
The skeptic made no reply. This man's story had moved the crowd to tears; and when he finished speaking the people went silently and reverently away.
Friend, do you believe God? Surely you would not be classed as the unbelieving FOOL who rejects God; but have you really come to Him for salvation? That same Word of promise says: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be, saved." Rom. 10:1313For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13).