John the Baptist said of Jesus, this is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.   No one is born without this inner light.  No man is born an atheist.  A man becomes an atheist by suppressing what he knows within himself.  Although I had no religious background of any kind, I was aware of the inner light.   When it came to moral issues it was always yes or no for me.  Once while we were taking tests on German history, the answers to the questions were smuggled under our desk tops from person to person. I was the last one to receive the answers since I sat next to Siegfried in the back corner.   When Siegfried handed me the answers, the inner voice within me said, "No."  Oh, it was a strong, "NO!"  I shoved the paper back into Siegfried's hand. 

     We must know that every time we override this voice, our conscience becomes harder.  Our inner moral compass loses in sensitivity until we become unable to discern its message altogether anymore (1 Tim. 4:2).  When Martin Luther said at that famous assembly of the nobility and the religious authorities of the Holy Roman Empire at the Diet of Worms, "to go against one’s conscience is neither safe nor wise," he sounded the trumpet for God.

     At the end of this presentation on evolution, my professor asked: "Is there anyone here who would like to dispute the Darwinian theory?"  This was an all boys’ high school.   I was the shyest boy in the class.   I had not said a word in four years, but upon the professor's question, without my planning it, I went up like a rocket.   The words, "I must speak against this tomorrow," burst out of me.   Christianity is supernatural.  You take the supernatural out of Christianity and you have no Christianity left.  The professor said, "You have the whole science hour tomorrow."  I was petrified, but the class was electrified.

     After school, I made my way up the cobble stone road to the top of the hill where we lived.   I said to my mother, "Do you have a Bible?"   She produced a little old Luther Bible in the old German script with a rubber band holding it together.   I instinctively turned to the last book of the Bible, the Revelation, since I was studying to be a scientist.  I was sure the latest information would be in the most recent publication of this book.  In a matter of minutes, I realized I had gotten myself into something that was bigger than I was.   I decided that God or whatever had gotten me into this would have to get me through it.  I gave up getting help from the Bible, and so I just planned to stand before the class, be embarrassed, and get on with my life the next day.

     There I stood before the class that memorable morning, completely empty in my head.   The students looked at me and I looked at them.  You could have heard a pin drop as it seemed minutes rolled by.   Suddenly these words came out of me with force: "It cannot be, it cannot be, there must be a God."  No further message came to me.  Embarrassed, I headed for my seat in the back corner and immediately I entered into an entirely different world in which I had never been before.   As I was sliding onto my bench the glory of God enveloped me entirely.  Yes, I did not have the word "glory" in my vocabulary, but that is what it was, indescribable, wonderful, out of this world.   I have no recollection of what happened in the classroom, I only know what happened to me.   READ MORE >  

#361"My Damascus Road Experience (Part 2")

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