Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I would like to share with you all about "repentance". First, about myself, deaf since birth, I have been saved almost 21 years ago in a small living room, led by a deaf Christian gentleman at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Before that, I have been drinking a lot of beer, swearing bad words, using drugs, etc. I have no thought about living for God, let alone repent. But, seven years prior to my being born again, I found a small tract called "That Was Your Life". I remember this as if it were like yesterday, that I was attracted to the simple truth of the gospel. I was very scared, not because of what it said in the tract, but I was very afraid to die in sin without Jesus as my Savior and Lord and cast in the lake of fire and burn forever. I ran to see my mother in tears. But my mother took the tract away before I could ever finish explain. She said, "It will make you sick and crazy", and she ripped it into pieces and threw it in trash bin. That was the end of it. I forgot all about it and went on sinning.

But the wonderful Lord has not finished with me yet, in 1979, I gave my life to Jesus. From that day forward, I gave up my sinful ways, drinking, swearing, smoking drugs, etc. On that fateful day after I got saved, I opened the door to my refrigerator and saw my six pack of beer sitting on a rack. Now, no one told me it is okay or not to drink beer but something within me stirred, prompted me to reach out my hand and grabbed six pack, not to drink but TO DRAIN all of it into kitchen sink. That was the Holy Spirit stirring in me- He was warning me about the evils of doing bad things. Today my heart breaks because I see some so-called deaf "Christians" doing the very same thing that non-Christians are doing, like sex, booze, bad words, etc. Many deaf Christians do not understand what "repentance" means. In Webster's dictionary, it says "repent 1 : to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life 2 a : to feel regret or contrition.

In other words, when we are born again we must repent of our bad actions, i.e. sins. Like stop doing things that we know that are wrong. Evangelist David W.Cloud said, "A careful study of the Bible reveals that repentance has two basic meanings: to turn and to change one's mind. Bible repentance is a change of mind toward God that RESULTS IN A CHANGE OF LIFE.

Bible repentance is TO TURN TO GOD FROM SIN, IDOLATRY, AND ERROR." A true, born-again Christian will HATE sin and flee from it. But, how many of them are doing it? Not very, I'm afraid.

You may have read the true story of Prodigal Son in the Bible (Luke 15:11-32). It talks about a son who spent all his money in sinful living and when he was broke, poor and very hungry, he was forced to work in a filthy pigpen to feed pigs. He gave up all and went back to see his father, planning to tell him that he was not worthy to be his son but a hired servant.. What happened next was that he was surprised to see his father run and meet him FIRST, not the other way around.

That's a touching story- Let me tell you something: repentance is something like that, even a Prodigal Son has to give up his sinning and turn back to his loving Father. Nowhere it does say that the son would still be sinning and call up his father at the same time to save him. You can't. It's like getting drunk and calling his dad on phone to wire him some more money so he can keep sinning. Problem is, God would not allow sin to enter Kingdom of Heaven. You have to repent and stop sinning and live for God. Mat 7:21-23 says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." It's the problem- Iniquity or gross sins WILL NOT ALLOW them to enter Heaven.

How do you expect if we are playing games with God in sinning and being able to go to Heaven? Please turn 180 degrees around from what you are doing and live for HIM.

Rev 3:3 "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."

Blessing in the Lord,
Marc Phillips