The first was Ernest from Jamaica. He had it in his head that asking for forgiveness means that all his hell punishment would magically disappear. I had to reiterate that the justice system didn’t work like that. When I explained it, he said it made perfect sense. And when I told him how Christ offered to take His hell punishment for him, he placed his faith in Him straight away!
I asked Ben if he is not a good person, where should God send him after he dies. He said he should send him to hell. Then something broke inside Ben, and he started to cry uncontrollably. I asked him if he was OK. Through his tears he said “I never knew how bad the things I did looked to God, and what that meant for me. I don’t think anyone should go to heaven”. It was a vulnerable moment. It would have been easy to destroy him with more truth about how bad he was, so I had to tread carefully.
If someone throws you in prison, and you have no recollection of what you had done wrong, and no one advises you of your crime, then how is that justice? How can you feel remorse? This is why reincarnation is so evil; many people trying to better themselves, with no clue about what moral code they have broken or have to live up to in order to put things right. What a depressing, endless circle.
I asked him when would be the best time to place his faith in Christ, and he answered "Right now!". That was music to my ears, but that could have just been the angels in heaven rejoicing.
"So on a scale of 1 to 100, how sure are you that you will go to heaven when you die?" "100%", he replied. I asked why. He said "Because I choose to place my trust in Jesus". That was music to an evangelists ears!
I asked him that if he had died before this conversation, where would he have gone? “I would have gone to hell”. Why? “I thought I was a good person, when I’m not”. And now where would he go? “Heaven.” Why? “Because I don’t deserve it, but Jesus has taken all my sins on the cross. It’s nothing to do with me.” We went over some more checking questions. and it turned out he had indeed had a false conversion.
Jericho – I had to labour a bit with Jericho regarding the concept of universe = universe maker. Once he conceded, we were off and running. He thought he was a good person, but had an uh-oh moment when he realised that he wouldn’t make it to heaven.
Out came a string of abuse and threats. He said if I called the cops they would take five minutes to get here, and he could kill me in just one. At that point I threw my hands up and backed off. He said very colourfully that if I didn't get the Jesus stuff out of his face he would make sure I wasn't able to tell anyone anything ever again.
LDS missionaries – as I approached these two young Samoan guys, I could overhear them mocking the ladies for believing that Jesus was God. That mad me a bit angry, and it took all my effort not to yell at them. One looked at me and asked me if I believed that too. I said I believed it because Jesus said He was (John 10:30).
Our faith has an object, and that object is Christ Himself. Our faith in Him for the forgiveness of our sins has appeased the Father’s anger towards us, clothing us with His righteousness. When He now looks upon us, He is pleased, and we can enter His presence without fear.