Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
With the words of this Bible verse ringing in my ears, I was saved on January 23, 1995. I found pardon for my sins by faith in the work at Calvary. But how did I arrive at this point in my story?
I was born in Puerto Cabello, in Northern Venezuela. I was not privileged to be born into a Christian home. At that time, my father did not want to have anything to do with God or the gospel. My mother had been raised as a Roman Catholic. So I was taught traditions and penitence in the early years of my family life.
Unfortunately, when I was four years old, tragedy struck our home. My brother, who was 18 years old, was killed in a motorcycle accident on December 31. This tragedy darkened our family happiness. It caused trauma that was difficult to overcome in the years that followed. Year after year a mass was held for the eternal rest of his soul. This began to awake in me a desire to know the “God” that was mentioned at the mass. After communion and then confirmation, I wanted to become an altar boy and join the church choir. I thought that by being well-behaved, doing good works and keeping the 10 commandments I would be assured of Heaven.
When I was 11 years old, a man came to the house to repair our refrigerator. He saw me sitting on the porch reading a Bible. He invited me to a series of gospel meetings that were to begin the next day in a mountainous area of Puerto Cabello. I attended night after night. Hearing the gospel, I was convicted of my sin – in spite of my young age and lack of experience. I had thought myself to be a good person, but the gospel helped me to understand my responsibility before God.
From then and for about two years longer began a time of struggle in my soul! I wanted to be saved but at the same time I found myself with the struggles that a young boy often faces as he reaches his teenage years. As I mentioned at the beginning, on January 23, 1995, as I listened to a gospel message about sin and how it is an illness of the soul, I understood and believed the truth that Christ died for me! He is the perfect substitute. He carried all the wrath of God for my sins so that I could receive a pardon. Resting in this glorious truth is how I received the salvation of my soul and everlasting life.
On July 30, 2022, Anderson, a preacher of the gospel, lost his life in an automobile accident in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:11)
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