I was flying from Phoenix, AZ to Chicago, Il, at the end of a week-long business trip. I sat in the aisle seat. The lady next to me in the middle seat, Connie, was the wife of a pastor of a Bible believing church in the Phoenix area. The guy next to her in the window seat, Gary, was a leader what we would consider to be a cult. Connie and Gary started to talk about the differences in what they believed. I could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation as Connie faced away from me as she talked, and Gary was facing me when he replied. It did not take long to figure out that Gary was not a Bible believing Christian. I was praying for Connie as they started to discuss the differences in their beliefs. I was content just pray, and refrain from joining the conversation until Gary got to the point where he discounted the importance of Christ's atoning death on the cross and the resurrection. At that point I felt compelled to join what ended up being a three-hour conversation.
I believe that Connie and I did a credible job of loving sharing the truth of God’s Word and the centrality of Christ’s atoning death, His burial, and His resurrection to the Christian faith. And of the need to personally accept Christ as Savior. It was evident that Gary has heard these truths before but has chosen to believe a lie over the truth (Romans 1:25) and that Satan has blinded Gary to the truth (II Corinthians 4:4). We ended agreeing to disagree.
It is amazing that God put two Bible believing Christians next to Gary to witness to him concerning the truth of God’s Word. Who knows what impact down the road this may have on him. But I am also wondering if God arrange it not so much as a witness to Gary, but perhaps as a witness to someone in the seats in front of us or behind us that may have heard our conversation. It might have served as an encouragement to their faith in Christ or planted a seed that may one day result in that person coming to faith in Christ. Only God knows now, but we may find out in eternity.
Through this experience, I keenly felt the importance of the admonition in 1 Peter 3:15 of always being ready to give an account for the hope that is in you.
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Jim Pratt
