BECAUSE SOMEONE GAVE ME A CHRISTIAN TRACT

(By: Les)

I still remember that mid-summers day when my friends and I were sitting on the sidewalk in front of the local shoe store in Small Town USA. A guy who we later later labeled a 'Jesus Freak' came walking by handing out religious pamphlets. Everyone else refused to take one, but I took mine. It held no real significance for me at the time, since I really wasn't searching for anything in my life. I wasn't unhappy or poor or sick, or abused or in a hopeless state of mind. I was just a teenage kid enjoying the summer with his friends. I almost threw it away when I got home, but I reasoned that it wasn't taking up very much space in my wallet, so I decided to leave it there.

A few months later, I was up in the country, walking home from the local store. I decided to take a short-cut by hiking through the woods on an old set of railroad tracks. About half way there I got tired, so I sat down on one of the rails to take a short breather. I had nothing else to do, so I decided to clean out my wallet.

The very first thing that fell out was that little pamphlet! I still remember the cover. It had a little 'stick figure' man on it that had one foot in the shadow and the other in the light. The title was simply that: 'Stepping Into The Light'.

As I began to thumb through it, I could see that it was your basic plan of salvation. But somehow it was more compelling than the other Christian literature that I'd read. It pointed out using the scriptures that all of man's best works were as filthy rags before a righteous, perfect God. And that even one sin would be enough to keep me out of Heaven. But that God, in His great love for mankind, had sacrificed His only son Jesus to pay for my debt instead. It went on to quote Jesus in Revelation 3:20:

'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and fellowship with him, and he with me.'

Then it said - and I'll never forget this ' 'Do you feel that tug at your heart?' And I did. I felt a small, still pull in the deepest part of my heart.

It continued ''That's Jesus knocking. Just open the door and let Him in.' I don't know exactly how it happened. I just remember turning around in my heart and taking hold of that handle and opening the door. And that's when Jesus came flooding in. In that millisecond, the very first thing I realized was that I had actually met a living person. And that it was all true. Everything that I had ever been taught about the God of the Bible. That Jesus was indeed alive, and He really had ascended into Heaven just like the Bible said, and would never die again. I had always believed in God. But now I had more than a belief' I had a knowledge. I had met a living person on the railroad tracks that day. His soul breezed through mine like a living wind. In that moment, all my sins were washed away. I could feel sins that I had totally forgotten about falling off me like old cloths. And I was made into a new person. In that instant I also received a brief glimpse of the afterlife. A taste of living water. And the promise of a spiritual body that I would one day receive that would never get sick or grow old or die.

I was never to fear death again after that day. The uncertainty of that inevitable experience had simply left me. Jesus said "Behold, I make all things new". And He did in me that day.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I wish the Lord would send us many other testimonies like this to publish -- people who came to salvation from a simple gospel tract. They are a HUGE encouragement - faith builder - for Christians who distribute tracts and other Gospel seeds of Truth. Distributing tracts is one of the most thankless - unappreciated ministries a person can "self enroll" in ... but I'm convinced that God and His ministering angels are so thrilled that believers would do this type of evangelism on His behalf. I'm also convinced that the eternal rewards for "tract-ers" will be nothing short of STAGGERING! Keep up the awesome work for Jesus, "tract-ers"! None of know the eternal value to God of one lost soul saved. Or saying it another way: What can God do in the life of redeemed lost soul throughout ETERNITY? It CAN'T be measured nor ascertained, can it? - (Norm Rasmussen, Director, Precious Testimonies)

Other encouraging writings on this topic:

http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Exhortations/k-o/KeepPuttingOutThoseChristianTracts.htm

http://www.precious-testimonies.com/MEncouragerArchives/OneSeedPlantedCanTakeOverAField.htm