The Lord saved me and I am so thankful!

Here’s what happened (5 minutes):

This last Sunday, I was asked to share my personal testimony. You can watch the recording at this link:

https://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopupvideo.asp?SID=1017211718352880

Those who have visited our home may have noticed two of Dr. Sproul’s letters to me framed and displayed on a wall in my home, both of which were very encouraging endorsements concerning the two books I have written. I was very privileged to have a number of meaningful interactions with R.C., one of these was in 2003 at a Ligonier Conference in Colorado Springs. Wishing to let Dr. Sproul know just how God had used him in my life, and knowing that it might be impossible to have enough time alone with him at the Conference with hundreds of people around, I determined ahead of time to write out what I wished him to know in a letter and include it in a card for him, along with the gift of a hundred dollar bill. In the card I wrote, “I thank God for you, sir. Please use this gift towards having an evening meal at a nice restaurant with Vesta.” I signed the card simply as “John Samson” without providing an address.

Before one of the sessions was about to start, I quickly walked over to where Dr. Sproul was seated (on the front row) and handed him the card and with a tear in my eye said, “Dr. Sproul, God has used you greatly in my life and I just wanted to let you know how.” The meeting was about to start so all he could do was smile and thank me, and I then walked back to my seat.

A couple of weeks later, I was more than surprised to receive a letter from Dr. Sproul, thanking me both for sharing the story of his impact on my life and ministry and informing me that he had in fact had used the gift to have a wonderful meal with Vesta at a French restaurant and that they thanked God for using him as He did in my life.

Dr. Sproul had taken the time to track me down by finding my address somehow, and wrote a personal note.

On R.C.’s gravestone the following words can be found, “He was a kind man redeemed by a kinder Savior.” How true that is!

Because Dr. R. C. Sproul has impacted my life so greatly, this interview at the recent Ligonier Conference was especially meaningful to me. Vesta, Buck Parsons and Stephen Nichols reminisce about the man and his message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHp1GVtny0

Dave Hanson, a member of King’s Church, wrote the following email to me this week (August 12, 2020):

Hey Pastor,

While in the hospital and now that I am home, I’ve had time to reflect on the last 10 days. I want you to know that Suzanne and I are so thankful that we found you and the brothers and sisters at Kings Church. I actually found your blog about a year and a half and followed that before I first saw you on the dividing line (Dr. James White’s podcast).

I remember the program you had a mask of the Queen of England on your face. I can’t remember why but your sense of humor and your practical teaching won me over. When I found out you had started a church in Phoenix I prayed about checking it out for a few months, because we didn’t think we were being fed properly at the church we were at. This was the best move we have made!

We have grown so much in the last I guess it’s been almost five years at Kings Church, it’s hard to believe it’s been that long – time sure flies. Any way I say all of that to say this, because of all that I have  learned over the last five years I was better prepared for this time when God in his providence put me through this health trial. I went in knowing that God is sovereign and in his power, wisdom and love, He would ultimately be glorified and it would be for my good. So I was determined to glorify God in this trial no matter what the outcome whether death or recovery! It was almost death.

On Friday, Suzanne and I were saying our goodbyes as we didn’t think I was going to make it, and I wanted to die at home and not by myself in the hospital. Suzanne started calling people from the church and people started praying and almost immediately my health started to improve. My body was still shutting down and there was damage to my liver but the doctors were able to stop the rejection and I started to heal remarkably fast. While the rest of the patients in my wing suffering from the same thing were miserable and could not get out their beds they were suffering so much, I had no pain, just yellow eyes and skin. I ended up being able to read and pray for our church, listen to sermons, it was just like I do every day at home. My labs kept getting better every day and I got out of the hospital early, and I owe it all to you and the Kings Church family for yours and their prayers, which God in His providence answered, and all the words of encouragement I received.

It’s nice to know we don’t have to go through these tests alone – not when we have a sovereign  holy God dwelling in us and with us and the local
body of Christ standing with us. I am so blessed to be part of this fellowship.

Thanks again.

Dave H

(original source here)

(She was bigger than the Beatles, found the Messiah after her music career peaked – article here)

She read the Bible and knew Jesus is the Jewish Messiah

I was raised in a warm, musical, traditional Jewish family in the heart of a large Jewish community in Hackney, in the East End of London. Our extended family, although not a very orthodox group, was nevertheless totally Jewish in identity and heritage.

I always believed in God
I suppose I believed in God from my earliest days. I took His existence for granted. The State school I attended taught the Bible and I loved the Bible stories very much. However, because my school had a Jewish Headmaster and a large Jewish contingency among the pupils, we Jewish kids had separate R.E. (religious education) classes and assemblies. As a consequence, I never heard of a New Testament or a Jesus until I was around six years of age. One day, a non-Jewish girl came up to me in the playground in quite some distress and blurted out, “You killed Jesus Christ!” I was devastated and confused by this accusation. I had never killed anyone in my life and who was this person with the strange name, Jesus Christ?

My first hit record
At 14, while still at school, I had my first hit record. That led me to go into show business, travelling the world, singing at many famous venues and having more hit songs, including ‘Walking Back to Happiness’. I was carried along by all the fame, meeting celebrities and royalty and didn’t give much thought to spiritual things until the late sixties. At that time, it seemed that everyone was searching for the ‘meaning of life’. I began to visit mediums, clairvoyants and other such folk, on occasion. I also started to read books and magazines about spiritism, Buddhism and all kinds of psychic phenomena. I developed a system of beliefs, over the years, which incorporated a little bit of this, a little bit of that – a smorgasbord of ‘isms’ which, these days, would be called ‘New Age’. To my own way of thinking, I was not remotely involved in anything evil or sinister. I associated everything I believed in with God.

Emptiness
For quite a number of years, I was comforted by what I had discovered. It seemed to fill a void in my life – until I turned 40. A few months after this milestone birthday, I woke up one morning and, to my own great surprise, I found I no longer believed in any of my ‘New Age’ ideas. It’s hard to explain, but my belief in the supernatural had vanished overnight. Try as I might, I could not believe in any of my ‘isms’ any more. This presented a dilemma for me as I had always equated all my beliefs with God. Did this mean that there was no God? I found the whole thing very depressing. For the first time in my life, I had nothing to believe in. My Jazz and Pop career was going well. I was in a relationship with the man who is now my husband. I was successful, but inside I was empty. Looking back, I can see that this was God’s hand.

I met a Christian man
In those days, my musical director was a man called Bob Cranham. He was a Christian and more than once he had spoken of what his ‘Lord’ had done in his life. These were wonderful things, but I couldn’t consider them for myself because I am Jewish. This was the Gentile God blessing His people. In the midst of my turmoil, I called in at his house one day, to pick up some music. Now, neither Bob nor his wife knew anything of my inner struggle. Nobody did. Bob dropped a bombshell that day. He said, “I’m thinking of giving up the music business.” I asked him why. He said, “Because I believe God wants me to be a preacher.” I thought to myself, “Oh dear. He thinks he’s hearing from God.” Here was a professional, sane and sensible top-quality musician, composer, songwriter, producer – and he’s talking about giving up everything. Nothing I could say would sway him. He seemed so calm and sure and so willing to take this drastic step, if, as he believed, God wanted it. I found myself becoming more and more impressed by how real and sincere his faith must be if he could surrender all that for his ‘Lord’. I went home and told my boyfriend John how much I envied Bob. I had many opinions, but Bob had real convictions. I wanted what he had! I guess I was ‘provoked to jealousy.’

Starting to think about Jesus
I started to think about this Jesus constantly. I couldn’t get Him out of my mind. Finally, I lay awake one night and felt that I had nothing to lose. I whispered, “Jesus…?” I didn’t know if I was going to be struck by lightning. “Are you really there? Are you really the Messiah? If you are, I want to know. Please show me.” Nothing seemed to happen in my room that night, but in the weeks that followed, it seemed that everywhere I went, I was bumping into things and people connected with this Jesus. While all this was going on, my band and I came back from doing a concert in Germany. When we arrived at the airport and were saying our farewells until the next gig, Bob, my musical director, handed me a book. I was surprised to see that the cover was a picture of a Menorah (a seven-branched lampstand). The title of the book was ‘Betrayed’, written by Stan Telchin. The sub-title, in effect said, ‘How would you feel as a successful 50-year-old, Jewish businessman if your daughter one day told you she believed in Jesus!’ “How did Bob know I was searching?!” I thought to myself. Of course, he didn’t know. Nobody knew. Continue reading →