How Ron Harrod Became a Christian

Have you ever noticed how people these days go to great lengths to convince themselves and others that they're not responsible for what they do? It's society's fault, Mother's or Dad's. I was too young, too drunk, temporarily insane, or (a la OJ) I didn't do it at all. And we've all heard the excuse, "The devil made me do it." The trouble is, these excuses don't measure up to the ultimate Truth.

Even as a little boy, I knew right from wrong. I knew I should always tell the truth. Yet one day, at the age of four, I disobeyed and tried to cover it up. While playing in a friend's yard, we found some knives, and I ended up cutting myself. Desperate for a way out of the dilemma of telling Mom I said, "I cut myself on some grass." I didn't know then that that was even possible, but the lie worked! Still I knew that I had not only disobeyed but then I lied to cover it up. My young conscience strongly convicted me even as I got away with it.

We lived about three hours from my grandparents and would travel every month to visit them. On the way, I would see a giant billboard that read, "Prepare to meet your God." That scared me because I didn't know how to prepare. At the little church where we attended, I would go downstairs for Sunday School and Junior Church. Every Sunday on the way down, right in front of me was a sign that read, "The wages of sin is death, ...." This too frightened me. I had heard about heaven and hell and I certainly did not want to go to hell. Then at the age of six, in a Junior Church service, the preacher's wife explained that Jesus took the penalty for my sin and that if I would accept His free gift, I could go to heaven and be with Him when I died. I still remember the deep conviction I felt, raising my hand, and asking Jesus to save me from my sin.

While I had raised my hand that day, everyone's eyes were closed, so what I did really wasn't very public. At the age of about ten, I went to a Youth for Christ meeting. There they gave an invitation to go forward. Because they emphasized the importance of making my decision to accept Jesus' gift public, I went forward. As a result, I was sent a workbook and my parents gave me a Bible. The trouble was, it was too advanced for me, and my King James Bible was hard to understand. I remember being pretty frustrated by it all.

Somehow I knew that some of the teaching I was receiving at church was wrong. They said that if I sinned after I accepted God's gift of salvation I could still go to hell. For my thirteenth birthday I received a two transistor radio. This one just had just an ear piece, but back then, it was a pretty big deal for me. I had a bed time of 8:30. That was too early for me, so I would tune in the radio and listen to "The Hour of Decision" and "The Gospel Hour." The Lord used the teaching of these programs to feed me the truth of the Word of God. From one broadcast I ordered What the Bible is all About, and from the other my first Scofield Bible. By the age of seventeen, I had determined that I would learn the truth for myself and read through my new Bible. I was happy to learn that Jesus death on the cross has cleansed me from all sin (I John 1:7-9) and that God has given me His Spirit to enable me to walk in a manner pleasing to Him (Galatians 5:16-18).

God's Word has ministered to me over the years and His power in my life has sustained me through extremely difficult personal challenges. I recall being challenged by various cults about the truth of the Bible. That spurred me on to consider and disprove their points and verify that the Bible itself is what it claims to be. At work, an agnostic questioned the God of the Bible, saying "Why can't God make a rock so big that he can't pick it up?" (The answer is that God cannot do anything that is logically self-contradictory.) Then, the biggest challenge of my life was dealing with a divorce of my Christian wife. It is in those dark hours of deepest sorrow and need that God's presence and strength shine the brightest. He has blessed me with health, strength, and prosperity. I am very thankful for His goodness and grace.

Do you remember those bill boards? These days we can all have them. A few years ago I decided to put up a personal web site http://www.ronharrod.com to share with others things that I have found useful and uplifting. Over the years I've learned that God's Word is true (Psalm 19:7-9). As part of each major web page appears a nugget of truth that has some application to the topic of the page. Atop the Christian web page is my favorite. It crystallizes what moves me in my relationship with our loving God. It answers the questions (1) what motivates me to serve God, (2) what is the purpose of this life, and (3) why did Christ die. I trust as you meditate on these words you will find the inspiration that they bring to me:

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (II Corinthians 5:14-15)