Sermons on False Conversions
“I prayed the prayer. I made my commitment.” (13 min)
Stephen Moffitt grew up going to church 3 times a week, but knew nothing about salvation. At college he met fellow students who invited him to gospel meetings. Moving over to the USA he finally came to understand he did not have eternal life, but that Christ had finished the work of salvation on the cross. Readings: John 5:24, 19:28-30. (Testimony given in Blue River, Wisconsin, USA, in 2005).
“I looked like a pretty good Christian kid” (7 min)
Austin Joyce grew up hearing the gospel. Feeling the peer pressure of being surrounded by saved people, he made a profession of faith as a child, but it took him until his late teens before he discovered that he did not have a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus. He could trick himself and others, but not God. Listen to hear how Austin found peace and rest in Christ. (Testimony given 15th Jan 2023 in Stark Road Gospel Hall, Livonia,…
“My experience had nothing to do with the work of Christ” (6 min)
Thinking he was “OK for heaven”, Joel Frazier attended a gospel meeting in Blue River, Wisconsin, USA, on a Sunday evening in March 1988, only to discover that the “salvation” he hitherto thought he possessed was no more than “a light little experience that had nothing to do with the work of Christ on the cross but was just feelings within myself”. Listen to find out how the Lord delivered Joel from this common deception and put him on a…
“I believe NOW! But nothing happened.” (39 min)
Jim Beattie was born in Belfast in 1943, but moved to Canada as a boy of 10. While very young he made up a story of conversion, including a date, just so he had something to tell people when they asked him if he was saved, rather than be embarrassed. But the time came when Jim finally faced the fact that he was lost. Only then did he come into the blessing of salvation. Readings: John 9:10-11a, Acts 16:25-31. (Testimony…
“Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re saved. You get it for yourself.” (11 min)
David Yoder grew up in the home of parents who had been saved from an Amish background, but his wholesome upbringing wasn’t enough to save him. Noticing the attention that was paid to people who profess to be saved, David too made a profession – but it wasn’t real. Listen to find out how he discovered his need and trusted in Christ. Readings: Psa 37:4, Isa 53:5-6 (Testimony given in Blue River, Wisconsin, 2021) (Photo: Farm in Wisconsin)
“People thought I was saved, but I knew I wasn’t” (19 min)
Desmond Gilpin (1943-2021) grew up in Bangor, Co Down, with a knowledge of the Bible and the gospel: but until he was 35 years old, that was all he had. He says people thought he was saved, though he had never been born again. On 5th March 1979 he came to a crisis point, where he could no longer continue pretending. Desmond finally found peace at 4.00am through faith in Christ and His finished work (Photo above: Bangor harbour).
“I never thought I’d be an adult and not saved” (24 min)
Seth McKinley, from Vancouver, Canada, grew up in a Christian family, knowing the gospel and memorizing Scripture. He was soft towards the gospel as a child, and at one point thought he was saved, but as the teenage years came he rebelled against the gospel and decided he would just “do his own thing”. University took him further away, but the prayers of his parents followed him and the Holy Spirit began to work in his heart. Listen to the…
“I was a good Church-going person…but I didn’t realise I was lost” (9 min)
David Spurl, grew up going to church (in Iowa, USA). He was a “good guy”. No drugs, no crime…nothing like that. He even asked Jesus into his heart once upon a time. Then, years later, he met a young lady who struck him as “different”. There was something about her. She invited him to come to a gospel meeting. David started going regularly and began to understand what he had never understood before; that he was a helpless sinner who…
“Are you saved or are you not?” (11 min)
When you are a 15 year old teenager with serious thoughts about eternity, there’s only one question you need to get settled – “Are you saved or are you not?”. That was Darrel Raynor’s concern until matters finally came to a head on 19th August 1988 while attending gospel meetings with Peter Orasuk and Albert Ramsay, on Prince Edward Island, in Canada (Island view above). Darrel told his story of salvation at Cedar Falls Conference, Iowa, in 2018.
“I just knew I hadn’t got what others had” (13 min)
At one point, as a young child, Thomas Proctor thought he had been saved, after he knelt and “asked God to save him”. However, he remained without real peace and there was no change in his life, a common experience for children brought up in Christian families. But Thomas continued to listen to regular gospel preaching and some years later discovered what was missing. Are you missing the same thing? (Testimony given in Bicester 18th Sept 2016) (Photo: Ballymoney Gospel…
“A successful lifestyle, but no peace” (53 min)
Darius Graham had two great passions – business and hunting with horses. By age 43 he had a lifestyle many would envy, but he was living a double life. His drinking and partying belied a respectable public image that included going to church meetings and mixing with friends and family who were committed Christians. However, events in his life providentially conspired to give him a wake-up call and a moment of clarity. It was time to face reality and seek…
Andrew Swan’s Testimony of Salvation (45 min)
Andrew Swan tells how God saved him as a 24 year old young man in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in the Spring of 2,000. Initially thinking he was saved at the age of 13, then being in serious soul trouble aged 18 but missing salvation, Andrew was finally brought to Christ on the last night of a month of gospel meetings with evangelist Robert McIlwaine through resting by faith on the Lord Jesus, the One who “died for me!” (Testimony…
“Deep down I knew I didn’t have reality” (21 min)
Thomas West recounts his struggle to break free from a false conversion, to find true rest in Christ and His finished work. It’s not easy to come out and say you’re not saved when you’ve already been baptised and others view you as a Christian. But when you’re not resting on Christ, you daren’t rest easy: no point putting a sticking plaster on a crumbling foundation. An instructive testimony that God has blessed to many. (Testimony given Sept 9th 2007)…
“It’s not an easy thing to admit ‘I’m not saved’.” (38 min)
David Castles tells how, while at Oxford University, he realised he was not truly saved, though he had thought he was for a good number of years. His self-deception was slowly but surely uncovered and he was eventually delivered through the preaching of the gospel and the Holy Spirit’s application of the word of God to his soul (Testimony given in 2002)
