What about you?

This story is about the hand of the only true and living God in the life of one father and his son. The name the Bible gives Him is, YAHWEH or JEHOVAH. This means; I AM WHO I AM. God is! He is without beginning or end. He alone is truth. He alone is our Creator. He alone is the judge of sin. Neither of us knew God until He made Himself known to us. Each of us had trusted in the religious ideas we had inherited. We could have been Muslims, Hindus, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews or atheists, it was an accident of birth that we were Roman Catholics. Thankfully, God was prepared to bring the truth to us. I thank God for each person He used in that chain of events He carefully linked together to bring my dad and myself into His Kingdom. I thank Him for those people who were ready to be mocked or ignored or mistrusted but were determined to get the truth out there regardless. I thank God for those who prayed for us both. I thank God for those who were patient with me, especially, as I fought and argued and doubted. I thank God that He never stopped loving me, even when I had treated His love and compassion disdainfully.

I can’t save you. The Dundalk Baptist Church can’t save you. No Church can save you. Only God can. He won’t force anybody into Heaven. He invites and He commands, ‘Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.’ Acts 17:30. He offers the gift of eternal life. It’s free. It’s offered to everybody. There are no conditions. You don’t deserve it. You can’t earn it. You’ll NEVER be good enough! God Almighty offers to sinners the forgiveness of all their sins and a place in the Family of God!

I knew the facts about this Gospel of Peace for years. I thought I could accept it on my own terms. God will not be mocked! He who made us and gave us life has provided just one way of salvation. It is in His Son, Jesus Christ, and no other. God commands us to repent of our sins and to trust in Jesus. That means we have to have a real change of mind and heart. We have to admit that God is right and we are not. We have to admit that we need His forgiveness. We have to trust ourselves completely on Jesus Christ for this forgiveness. No one else died for sinners. No one else lived a sinless life on our behalf. No one else can save you.

I could go on and on trying to make you sit up and take notice but I learned my lesson with my father many years ago. I can’t persuade you to believe the Gospel of Christ. I can’t presume to do the work of God. He says, ‘faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ Romans 10:17. I’ve told you our story, father and son. All that I’ve written I believe to be true. If I’ve misrepresented anybody or if I’ve introduced some inaccuracies, it’s been unintentional.

Like my dad, I hope you realise that we don’t have the guarantee of another tomorrow. Satan would love to keep you from discovering the truth until it’s too late. There’s no reason for that to happen. Here and now you can know the truth and, as Jesus Himself says, ‘the truth shall set you free’! May the Lord bless you with His wisdom. May He open your eyes as He did for my dad. May you pray in the same childlike simplicity that God would show you the truth.

My name is Niall MacCárthaigh. Thank you for taking the time to read this story.