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Testimonies
Wilf Payne
Parson’s Pond, NF, Canada
Born: March 10/63
Born Again: May 18/81
My Story
I was born and raised in an unsaved home, in the Gospel privileged town of Parson’s Pond, NF. By the time I was saved, the Gospel had been preached in our town for close to thirty years and a local assembly testimony had been there for about the same number of years.
I am the oldest of three boys, born in what was suppose to be an Anglican home, though I can never remember my parents taking us to church, my mom gave me an "Anglican Bible" when I was about nine years old. My dad was a very heavy drinker, and spent many long nights in the club, drinking. Even though I did not know God as a young boy, I remember asking God many times to bring my dad home safe, and promising God that I would live a better life if he did.
My mother started to take us to Sunday School when I was about ten years old. The Sunday School was in the Gospel Hall in Parson’s Pond. A short time after we started going to Sunday School, my mom professed to be saved and from that time on my brother and I did everything possible to stop her from going to the Gospel Hall. About a year later we succeeded, but I believe that God had already sown the seed in my soul.
When I was fourteen, my youngest brother was born and I had started to get out in the world, I had started drinking and taking drugs whenever I could get them. I though I was so cool, but the thought of God was never very far from my mind. Then one day when I was about sixteen, my uncle tracked me down and told me that my baby brother was in the hospital and was in very serious condition. I remember walking or " running" home that day and praying to God to save my baby brother. I made yet another promise to God, that if he would let my baby brother live then I would get saved, but it wasn’t long and my brother was ok and I was back at the same things again.
When I was eighteen, I went to St. John’s to go to school. There was a friend of mine there who was saved and he invited me to go to a Gospel meeting with him, I refused his offer but promised him when we got back home that I would go to a Gospel meeting and I did. Then there was a Gospel Conference in Gander Bay, NF and he asked me to go.
I went to the Gospel Conference in Gander Bay and I took along my "Anglican Bible" with me. Up to this time I thought that "SAVED" was a Gospel Hall word and that it was not in the "Anglican Bible" after all I never heard of being saved in our church. In the Gospel meeting at that conference, the preacher read in Acts: 16:31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be Saved. I could not find Acts in my "Anglican Bible" so a man next to me took the Bible out of my hand, opened it to acts, and passed it back to me. I had never seen that man before. When I looked down and saw "SAVED" in my "Anglican Bible" I could not believe my eyes. I said what those preachers have been saying all along is TRUE. I NEED TO BE SAVED!
The preacher said if a man, woman, boy or girl is to be saved they have to want to be saved more than anything in the world. I said to myself I want to be saved more than anything in the world, but pride kept me from asking anyone how to be saved. So I left the conference to go home, all alone and longing to be saved. I was driving along the highway between Gander and Deer Lake, NF when the Verse in John chapter 3:16 Started to come to my mind, I had not heard this verse since I was about eleven years that I could recall, but I could remember every word. For God so Loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Driving along the highway I accepted God at his word, Whosoever believeth in him, I said that means me, I believe in him and God said I have "Everlasting Life" God said it I believe it and that’s all I have for eternity.
I met a beautiful young lady the very next day, who had gotten saved a year earlier and she latter became my wife. We spent 15 wonderful years together and had a beautiful little Girl. It wasn’t until June 13th ,1998 when I saw that same beautiful woman pass from time into eternity with full confidence that when she closed her eyes for the last time here, she would awake in the loving arms of Our Lord Jesus Christ, That I realized what a blessing God had bestowed upon us. Eternity is real, Hell is real and knowing that you will be in a real Heaven for all eternity is the greatest blessing you could ever have in this life. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" Acts 16:31
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