by Randy Willis

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” —The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare 

✯ ✯ ✯✯✯

Backstory

He was born and raised on the banks of Barber Creek near Longleaf, Louisiana, at the family homestead. It was built in 1865 by his grandfather, Daniel Hubbard Willis Jr. It became known over time as the Ole Willis Home Place.

His grandfather, Daniel Hubbard Willis Jr., fought for the Confederate States of America in the Civil War.

His 3rd great-grandfather, Joseph Willis, who became a pioneer preacher in 1798 in the Louisiana Territory, fought in the American Revolutionary War as a patriot under the command of Francis Marion, the famed “Swamp Fox.”

There was little future for him at the nearby Crowell & Spencer Lumber Company in Longleaf. The Great Depression had devastated his chances of getting a job that paid a decent wage.

✯✯✯✯✯

He joined the US Army Air Corps at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, on October 14, 1941, with a dream of becoming a pilot. 

In only 54 days, his training progressed to an accelerated fast track when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. 

Now the stakes were much higher, and he was filled with rage, for his first cousin Robert Kenneth “Bobby” Willis Jr. had been killed on the USS Arizona. It was Bobby who had encouraged him to “make something of himself” and join the military.

He would carry this newspaper clipping of Bobby’s death when he climbed Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in 1945. He would keep it until his death in 1995.

✯✯✯✯✯

During basic training, he became friends with James, a “person of color” with swarthy skin. The kind of person cowboy actors killed in the movies.

American Indians were frequently misclassified as “Negro,” “Colored,” or “Mulatto,” in the Jim Crow South. For a white teenager from Longleaf, Louisiana, to befriend any person of color was certain to cause the loss of friends. Perhaps even cost his life, although the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was in decline in Louisiana.

But the young man could not have cared less, for, you see, he, too, had Native American blood in his veins: Cherokee.

His 3rd great-grandfather, Joseph Willis, who swam the mighty Mississippi in 1798, riding a mule to preach Jesus in a foreign country known as the Louisiana Territory, experienced racism. Joseph Willis’s mother was Cherokee. His father was English. He, too, was ostracized, and several attempts were made on his life.

But that was far from being the only reason the young man hated bigotry. It is what he witnessed as a boy that made him travel to the “beat of a different drummer,” from many of his friends. This is that story.

✯ ✯ ✯✯✯

This is the true story that melted one man’s heart—my father, Julian “Jake” Willis. And harden the hearts of many others.

My Great-grandfather, Daniel Hubbard Willis Jr., and Great-grandmother Julia Ann Graham Willis. (circa 1898) with their Family Bible. Why one event will melt one man’s heart and harden another, I do not know. But a far greater mystery to my limited intellectual capacities is how anyone dares use the Holy Bible to justify hate. They never seem to acknowledge that Jesus was a “person of color” with swarthy skin.

And now Hell is Empty & all the Devils are Here.

Hell is Empty & all the Devils are Here

Fire and brimstone rained down on my grandpa’s neighbor at the bottom of the hill. His neighbor lived on Willis-Gunter Road near our beloved Ole Willis Home Place.

The family “below” deserved what they got, some said; they had committed the unpardonable sin of being born Black. That was the cry heard throughout the woods by more than a few.

It was a day reminiscent of when Shakespeare wrote: “Hell is empty, and all the devils are here,” in The Tempest. It was considered a comedy by many, but there was no comedy this day on a fiery stage set in the Deep South, where our family had lived since the end of the Civil War.

The Times They Are a Changin‘ —Bob Dylan

On Sunday, May 13, 1928, John Ford’s silent film Hangman’s House was released. And Daddy’s rodeo hero, Jim Shoulders, was born.

On the same day in May, on the Lord’s Day to boot, gunfire echoed through the surrounding tall longleaf pine trees.

As my Grandpa sat in his rocking chair in the front yard of the Ole Willis Home Place, the woods were ablaze with gunfire. Grandpa stood and told his eldest son, Howard, “That’s too many shots for hunters. It’s coming from the holler below.”

One of the most tragic events in Louisiana’s illustrious history was unfolding. It was within walking distance of our family home, The Ole Willis Home Place.

The events shocked the nation, according to The New York Times.

It was the middle of prohibition, which banned the manufacture, storage, transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

✯ ✯ ✯✯✯

The mayor of Atlanta asked Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long about his plans for enforcing the 18^th Amendment. “Not a damn thing,” Long said.

But in Rapides Parish, where my family had lived since 1828, there was no New Orleans, dubbed the “liquor capital of America.”

It could be dangerous if you were a bootlegger or owned a Moonshine Still in Rapides Parish. Only one thing was more hazardous than operating one. That was operating one and not being “lily-white.” The “Lily-White” movement within the Louisiana Republican Party attempted to make the party all-white.

Louisiana Law in the early 1900s established that “one drop” of Black ancestry defined a person as “Negro.” The law was not repealed until 1983.

The Great Depression was a few months away. There was plenty of money for an illegal visit to the “corner liquor store.” They were hidden in the tall pines along narrow red-dirt hog and cow trails. Known as Moonshine Stills, they were not overlooked in Rapides Parish, as they were in the Crescent City of New Orleans, 200 miles to the South.

Rapides Parish’s tall, thick Longleaf Pines were “rumored” to have several Moonshine Stills, although no one was able to remember where.

Our homestead, the Ole Willis Home Place, was high up on a hill overlooking Barber Creek. A Moonshine Still was in the valley below, and the sounds of commerce would filter upwards through the fragrant piney woods.

My namesake and Grandpa Randall Lee “Rand” Willis had no issue with moonshine being bottled down below. It was at the end of a well-beaten path he often trod.

But my Grandma Lillie Hnaks Willis did have a problem. She thought Grandpa had created that “broad is the way that leads to destruction” red dirt trail.

Grandpa was rumored to have forged the red dirt trail more than once. The evidence surfaced when Grandma found him on the banks of Barber Creek. He was higher than a Louisiana Pine with an empty mason jar by his side.

✯✯✯✯✯

Grandpa Randall Lee “Rand” Willis and my Uncle Howard Willis. In the front yard of the Ole Willis Home Place. circa 1930

I have no clue why Grandma thought Grandpa’s drinking had gotten out of hand. Grandpa said he only drank a mason jar of high-proof hooch daily. After all, no one could prove the rumor that it was 120 proof. And those jars were known to vary in size.

The “embalming fluid” was known as white lightning, homebrew, firewater, or moonshine. Take your pick; they’re all the same in the eyes of the local law enforcement and my Grandma Lillie Hanks Willis. Neither cared about the proof nor the jar size. More than hating liquor, Grandma hated what it was doing to Grandpa.

The fine folks at nearby Longleaf Baptist Church did not care either what the proof was. My family attended there until I was four. Then we moved to Texas in 1954. There, Daddy and Mama joined Temple Baptist Church in Clute, Texas. Daddy had gotten a job at Dow Chemical in nearby Freeport.

Nearby, Amiable Baptist Church had an issue with the moonshine, too. My 4th Great-Grandfather, Joseph Willis, founded it precisely 100 years earlier, in 1828. Both churches strongly disapproved of you even considering drinking a drop of the Devil’s Elixir. They would kick you to the red dirt curb with little pomp and circumstance.

Grandpa Joseph Willis planted the seeds of the Gospel in those necks of the woods. This was two decades before Southern Baptists were forced to separate from those uppity Yankee Baptists. The cause of the separation was an issue that the North called slavery. The South called it “states rights.”

Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long decreed what was considered a sin in South Louisiana. This was especially true in Roman Catholic New Orleans.

In central Louisiana, Southern Baptist churches and other evangelical churches dictated morality, thanks to Grandpa a century before.

A Tragic Set of Events

William Blackman owned the Moonshine Still below our Ole Willis Home Place. Grandpa was one of his best customers. Mr. Blackman’s patch of woods was known as “Blackman Settlement.” Mr. Blackman was called by many [a racial slur].”

But Grandpa did not have a racist bone in his body, at least when it came to purchasing liquor. Grandpa called him Mr. Blackman.

When I was growing up, my Uncle Howard Willis was our family’s master storyteller. He lived a few miles from Longleaf, Louisiana, up the road in a rural area known as Elwood near the village of Forest Hill.

Uncle Howard was the first to tell me of the tragic day, Sunday, May 13, 1928.

That faithful sunny morning in May 1928, Grandma Lillie Hanks Willis walked to Longleaf Baptist Church with her three sons. Julian Willis, my father, was nine years old. His older brothers, Howard, was 13, and Hermann was 10. Grandma was never late to anything, especially church.

✯✯✯✯✯

The message that morning was Hellfire and Brimstone. No, not at Longleaf Baptist, but at the Blackman Settlement.

Rapides Parish Deputy Sheriff John Franklin “Frank” Phillips and his posse approached William Blackman’s cabin. They intended to arrest and charge him for violating the prohibition laws against bootlegging.

Deputy Frank Phillips knocked on the front door as the posse surrounded the cabin. He announced the reason for their official visit. A shotgun blast from inside hit Frank Phillips. Newspaper accounts said Deputy Phillips returned fire, killing William Blackman before he died.

✯✯✯✯✯

One account said, “A community furor ensued over the much-beloved deputy’s death. A mob burned down the houses in the Blackman Settlement.” They burned everything that would burn to ashes.

The senseless murder of the 38-year-old deputy enraged the entire community. He left behind a wife and three children. The tragedy also enraged the people of Rapides Parish and the citizens of the great state of Louisiana. Among that group was my family, including Grandpa. Some of my family who were alive then claimed Grandpa was one of those who burned the Blackman Settlement.

William Blackman’s older brothers, “for their safety,” were arrested, although they were not near the tragedy that day. Later, a Blackman family member said the “probable cause” was that they were brothers to William Blackman.

The Blackman brothers were not booked in Rapides Parish but “for their safety” in the nearby Vernon Parish Jail. As the anger intensified, the Vernon Parish sheriff no longer wanted to be responsible for protecting them.

The Rapides Parish Sheriff sent three deputies to the Vernon Parish Jail in Leesville. Their task was to take custody of the Blackman brothers and transport them to Shreveport.

The deputies did not escort the brothers north from Leesville to Shreveport. Instead, they chose a longer route back through Rapides Parish.

“Somehow,” a mob found out about this unusual route. As the deputies approached a horde of people on a back road in Rapides Parish, it was blocked by vehicles. The deputies were told to “Move on.” They did, but not until the mob removed the Blackman Brothers from the three deputies’ transport.

There, on the side of the road where all could later view, the mob lynched the brothers from a tree and riddled their bodies with bullets.

No photographs were taken that night, as the one above was to teach children how to hate.

As the news spread like wildfire, much of America was outraged. “Probable cause” was that they were brothers to William Blackman, who lived in the adjoining Parish.

Two years later, on August 7, 1930, Lawrence Beitler took what would become the most iconic photograph of lynching in America. Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were lynched in the town center of Marion, Indiana, for allegedly murdering a white factory worker, Claude Deeter, and raping his companion, Mary Ball. But the case was never solved. This scene was over a thousand miles North of Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

“Southern white federal officeholders repeatedly blocked anti-lynching legislation over the decades of the early 20^th century. They asserted that a federal role in thwarting lynching would violate ‘state’s rights.”’

A little over a decade after the lynching, Grandpa died of alcoholism at age 54. The moonshine had eaten a hole in his stomach. The official cause of death was “stomach cancer.” His footstone from his grave was given to me by a cousin. It is now near my home, with my family’s brand, Bar D-K, dating back to 1865.

As a nine-year-old boy, Daddy would hear this story told repeatedly. It was embellished with arrogance, hate, and pride.

Strange how one event will harden one man’s heart and melt another

But there was yet another tragedy that would soon be written on the tablets of Daddy’s heart as a teenager.

As a child and teenager growing up in the Deep South, Daddy often encountered racial prejudice.  Bigotry was a way of life for many. But the lynching after the Blackman Settlement incident and a chance encounter would forever change Daddy’s heart and mind concerning inequality.

✯✯✯✯✯

One day, Daddy and his father, Randall Lee “Rand” Willis, drove to Bob Johnson’s Grocery Store to buy gas. This store was at Shady Nook, near Longleaf.

A group of men my grandfather knew were laughing and motioned for Daddy and Grandpa to join them. Daddy was barely in his teens. As he stood mesmerized, the men spoke of an event the day before.

A black man had been arrested for inappropriate behavior towards a white woman. Some claimed much more, although there was no evidence, just rumors.

The exact details were not precise to Daddy. The black man was arrested. According to the men talking, the black man tried to escape on the 20-plus-mile trip to Alexandria’s jail. The black man was shot repeatedly and died.

As the men laughed, using racial slurs, it was clear even to a young boy what happened. This is what happens when a black man dares to cross their bigoted code of behavior. This code includes a black man looking at a white woman inappropriately.

Daddy never forgot it. He vowed that when he grew up, if he had his way, this would never happen again. One might think he was admired for this. On the contrary, he was despised. He began to speak against racial injustice. He advocated not just for people of color but for veterans of color and the underprivileged.

He also supported equal pay for women, which was unheard of at the time, and dozens of other social causes until his death in 1995.

✯✯✯✯✯

In a strange twist of fate, I met a woman in Baton Rouge in 1972. She asked me how I liked Louisiana during my stay since I was from Texas. In closing, I said, “I lived in Louisiana as a boy. I lived in a tiny village called Longleaf.”

She teared up and said, “My father was killed there. He was a Deputy serving a warrant in the woods.” Her father was Deputy John Franklin “Frank” Phillips.

His headstone in Glenmora, Louisiana, near Longleaf, reads, “He gave his life that others may live.”

✯✯✯✯✯

After World War II, Daddy championed civil rights, which cost him the respect of many.

A generation later, after moving to Texas, our family returned for one of our many visits back to our old homeplace near Longleaf. I was a boy when I first experienced racial prejudice cloaked in tradition.

We drove from our old homeplace in Longleaf to nearby Glenmora to visit a friend of Daddy’s from high school, whom he had not seen in several years.

By then, Daddy’s views on civil rights and segregation in Texas had made their way back to Louisiana. Daddy’s “old friend” Doc (not his real name) did not invite us inside.

As we stood in “Doc’s” front yard, he shared what he described as an event he had witnessed the week before that made him sick to his stomach. “Julian, I saw a white man shake hands with a n______,” Doc said, waiting for Daddy’s response. “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Daddy did not respond, and we quickly left. As we drove back to our old homestead, Daddy looked at me and said, “Son, doing the right thing will sometimes cost you.” Nothing else was said. Nothing else needed to be said.

        My Grandpa Randall Lee “Rand” Willis Spring Creek Academy Schoolhouse Longleaf, Louisiana (later moved and renamed Spring Hill Academy).

My Grandpa Randall Lee “Rand” Willis Spring Creek Academy Schoolhouse Longleaf, Louisiana (later moved and renamed Spring Hill Academy).

My Grandmother, Lillie Hanks Willis, married when she was only 16.

Grandma Lillie Hanks Willis with her three sons. Howard was born in 1915. Julian, my Dad, in front was born in 1919. Herman, on the right, was born in 1918.

Grandma Lillie Willis, 1942, during WW II, in front of The Ole Willis Home Place.

✯ ✯ ✯✯ ✯

How did I come to know Christ?

I was headed to Temple Baptist Church with Grandma, and my owner’s manual: the Bible. It was Grandma Lillie Hanks Willis who first poured Jesus into me; sometimes, she even used words. That’s my dog Pedro wanting to follow me.

We attended Temple Baptist Church in Clute, Texas, every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. It seemed that everyone attended church in those days.

On a Wednesday night, my mother could not attend church. I walked to church from our home at 519 Coleman Street. My twelve-year-old sister Marjorie accompanied me. I was only eight.

I had no intention of that night being any different from any other. I cannot recall a word Pastor Bill Campbell said in his sermon. But I remember vividly another voice that spoke to my mind—my heart—my spirit.   

It was not an audible voice.  It was a still, gentle voice, tender but ever so clear, telling me to go forward and accept Christ as my Savior.

I recall my response to the Holy Spirit as if it were five minutes ago: “Lord, I am too shy. I would if my mother were here to go with me.”

I felt someone touch my left shoulder. My sister Marjorie was sitting in the back row with her friends.   She could not see my face, for I was seated near the front.

She said, “I’ll go with you if you want me to.” I immediately stood, walked with her to the front of the church, and made my decision public.

I know you do not have to have an experience like that to be born again. Nevertheless, I am grateful for that experience; it has never left my mind or my heart.

I was eight when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.

More Photos of Aaron Willis

Josh, Adam & Aaron Willis skiing a few years after the auto accident.

Aaron, Randy, Josh, and Adam Willis.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Aaron Willis Hyde Park Baptist Church Austin 1991

Aaron and Alana’s daughter, Presley Willis Wimberley, First Baptist

Aaron and Alana’s daughter, Baylee Willis Wimberley, First Baptist.

Alana, Baylee, Presley, and Aaron Willis, Maui, Hawaii

My Family

Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father. —Proverbs 17:6

L to R: Presley Willis, Baylee Willis holding Baby Violet Willis, Corbin Willis, and Olivia Willis holding Juliette Willis

Our family at Port Aransas, Texas

Our Family Costa Rica

Our Family Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

Our family is in my “backyard” in the Texas Hill Country. I took this photo.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

I found this charred letter from my pastor, Dr. Ralph Smith, after my home burned in the Texas Hill Country. It was the encouragement I needed.

This most extraordinary destiny ever offered to mankind.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. —Habakkuk 1:13

The Lord God in Heaven cannot look upon sin, for He is Holy. Yet He loves us, sinful man, and has provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. To spend eternity with Him.

This is the story of this most extraordinary destiny ever offered to mankind.

Let’s begin with the last invitation in the Word of God, which is in Revelation 22:17.

“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” —Revelation 22:17

Are you thirsty? Then come. Let him who hears come. And whosoever will, can come.

The invitation is to you—to me—to “whosoever will”—to everyone!

Bring your disappointments, failures, fears, and heartaches. The Holy Spirit says, Come to Jesus, our Savior.

God loves you. He wants to save you. He will save you. Come to Jesus, and drink the water of life freely.

Christ suffered, He bled, He died because He loves you and me. Listen to the still voice of the Holy Spirit, bidding you come to Jesus.

Don’t wait—come today! The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2 today is the day of salvation.

The Ends of the Earth

Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. —Isaiah 45:22

All you ends of the earth” includes the Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert.

All you ends of the earth” are those in darkest Africa.

All you ends of the earth” are the isolated tribes in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

All you ends of the earth” are presidents, world leaders, and kings.

All you ends of the earth” is the polished lawyer, the gifted doctor, and the brilliant college professor.

All you ends of the earth” is the prostitute. It is the drug dealer. It is the rapist. It is the thief. It is the murderer.

All the ends of the earth is me—and you. Come today!

Why a Bronze Serpent

“So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was if a serpent had bitten anyone when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. —Numbers 21:19

Bronze represents judgment. The serpent is destructive, deceptive, and the most dangerous creature you will ever encounter. He is our adversary and the father of all lies. His name is Satan.

He does not appear with horns, a red cape, and an ugly face. Instead, he appears as an angel of light and says, what harm can what I offer do? No one will know. No one will be hurt.

It’s your body. You are in control. You can be your own god. You can be like god. No one can tell you what you can and can’t do. He is Satan, and he comes to destroy God’s most cherished and loved creation: You.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. —John 10:10

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. “Take a little cocaine,” Satan whispers. “It will make you feel good. No one will know. You’re not hurting anyone.”

The Greek term pharmakeia, in the Bible, is the root of the word “pharmacy,” in English.  Pharmakeia is used in the New Testament (Galatians 5:20; Revelation 9:21; 18:23) to describe sorcery, witchcraft, and drug-related magic.

Jesus says, He has come that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Choose an abundant life in Jesus today.

You don’t need hangouts, hangups, or hangovers. You need a personal relationship with the Lord of Creation, who created the Universe and you. Jesus is His name.

In that relationship lies your future, your blessed Hope, your salvation, and your joy. And your Christ blood bought destiny. Choose your destiny today. It has already been paid for with Jesus’s blood on the cross of Calvary. But you must accept God’s free gift of eternal life. That is done through faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. —2 Corinthians 11:14

You and I have been bitten by sin, like the Israelite’s who followed Moses out of Egyptian bondage.

The Israelites had to choose whether to put their faith in God. It was a simple act of faith, but a life-or-death decision. We too face such a choice.

Those who looked lived.
Those who looked were healed.
Those who looked were made whole.
Those who looked were saved.
They didn’t wait until they were better people.
They didn’t have to touch it.
They just looked.

Jesus tells us in John 3:14-15 that this is a picture of Him being lifted up on the Cross of Calvary.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. —John 3:14-15

The bronze serpent represented the people’s sin. According to the Scriptures, Christ was made sin for us.

Will you look to Jesus?—will you put your trust in Him?—the One who died for your sins.

Will you put your faith in Jesus?—the One who shed His lifeblood for you—and me.

My son Aaron Willis’s Automobile Accident

Some years ago, my eldest son, Aaron, was in an automobile accident. His back was broken so severely that the doctors said he might not ever walk again.

Several vertebrae in his lower back were fused. After that, he was able to begin the long task of healing from the spinal fusion surgery. He was encased in a rigid plastic back brace from his neck to his waist.

Later, his doctor agreed to let him briefly remove the brace and shower as long as someone was with him.

I was driving to pick Aaron and his brothers up for the weekend. Unbeknownst to me, his brother Josh helped him remove the brace as instructed by the doctor. Aaron could take a hot shower in his shorts. Josh was with him, but was much smaller than Aaron at that time. Aaron’s doctor approved all of this.

I began to exit to stop at the Austin post office on St. Johns, off Interstate 35, when a small but clear voice said, “You need to go now.”

I passed the post office exit. I drove as fast as possible to Wimberley, an hour away. I wondered what that warning was about.

There were no cell phones then. As I entered their mother’s home, I asked his mother where Aaron was. She said in the shower.

I ran to it, and the moment I entered the bathroom, Aaron said, “Dad, I’m dizzy.”

I stepped into the shower and placed my arms under his arms from his back. He immediately passed out.

I told Josh to help me move him to a bed while their mother called 911. His dead weight was more than I could have imagined.

We got him onto his bed without re-injuring his back. I knew if he had fallen, he probably would have been paralyzed.

I prayed as I followed the ambulance to the emergency room at Austin’s Seton Medical Center. I noticed the symbol on the back of the ambulance.

It was the American Medical Association’s (AMA) logo of a serpent wrapped around a staff.

The sign of healing medicine reminded me of the bronze serpent on the staff lifted up by Moses. Christians believe that’s where the symbol originated.

But, more importantly, it reminded me of Jesus being lifted up on a cross for my son. God’s son suffered in place of my son.

To this day, I cannot see that symbol without giving thanks to the Lord for that warning. I remember the shed blood of Christ lifted high upon a cross. It was for my sins, your sins, and the entire world’s sins.

When we arrived at the hospital’s emergency room, the doctors gave him intravenous (IV) fluids. They also gave him two bottles of Gatorade for dehydration.

The hot shower, combined with pain medication and dehydration, caused his blood to rush to his feet. This resulted in him fainting.

Look

Will you look to the One lifted up on a cross for you and me? Will you look to the Great Physician—Jesus—to heal you of all your pain, emptiness, and disappointments?

Will you look to Jesus? He took your place on the cross and died for your sins. Through Him alone, you can be made new, whole, and born again.

Choose

Jesus hung between two thieves (criminals) on a cross. One rejected Him, but the other put his faith in Him.

“Will You remember me when You enter Your kingdom?” one thief asks.

Jesus replied, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Both of those men were guilty of crimes serious enough to warrant the Roman death penalty. One put his trust in Jesus, and the other chose not to.

The question is, which thief on the cross are you? The one who said yes or the one who said no?

Now, there was the third cross that day. It was for another criminal named Barabbas, and he represents us.

Jesus was crucified on a cross meant for Barabbas—it was your cross—it was my cross, too.

Come

Come just as you are.

Will you say yes to Jesus—today?

There’s a Scripture that I love, and it explains things so clearly even I can understand.

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. —Romans 10:9-10

You can settle this question in heaven and on earth today. Say yes to Jesus. Accept His pardon, just as that one thief did on the cross. There are no prescriptive or mandated words. Praying is just talking to the Lord.

Open

Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” — Revelation 3:20

Ask

Self-improvement will not qualify you for salvation, for God’s Word says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10)

Comparing yourself to others will not work either: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

We seek to commend ourselves to God. However, God says our good works are like filthy rags in His sight [Isaiah 64:6]. If we are ever accepted in the eyes of Holy God, it must be through Christ our Lord.

There is no other way for says in Habakkuk 1:13, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.”

If you could be good enough to pay for your sins, think about this. Why did Jesus have to die for you?

Jesus bore your cross and my cross. He took our place on the cross. He shed His blood for our sins on that cross high on a hill for all the world to see.

The Just for the unjust. The Righteous for the unrighteous. The Godly for the ungodly The sinless Lamb of God for the sinner.

According to the Bible, we all have feet of clay and fall short of God’s glory. Our righteousness is described in the Bible as filthy rags. God’s grace (his undeserved favor) is available to us all. However, we must accept His gift of forgiveness. This gift was bought and paid for on the cross with Jesus Christ’s lifeblood. You can say yes to Jesus’s free gift right now.

Our greatest need is forgiveness. Christ came to forgive us, but we must accept that free gift. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. —Revelation 3:20

Jesus knocks, but you must open the door to your heart, to your life, to your future.

It’s not a prescribed list of words. In Luke 23:42, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus pleads, “Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom. His heartfelt cry of faith from the cross saves him.

Jesus answers in the next verse with a promise. He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” The first person to accompany Christ to Heaven was this lowly thief on the cross.

Isn’t it time to decide which “thief” on the cross you are? Are you the one who put his faith in Jesus Christ? Or are you the one who rejected our Savior who gave His lifeblood for us?

The most famous 25 words ever written.

For God so loved the world. He gave His only begotten Son. Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. —John 3:16

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

If these words are how you feel in your heart, then pray:

Heavenly Father,

I pray to You, asking for the forgiveness of my sins.

I confess with my mouth. I believe with my heart that Jesus is Your Son. He died on the cross at Calvary so that I might be forgiven.

Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I ask Jesus to come into my life as my personal Lord and Savior.

I turn from my sins and will surrender to your will throughout my life.

Your word is truth. I confess with my mouth that I am born again. I am cleansed by the blood of Jesus!

In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen!

Reach out and touch Him today!

For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well. —Matthew 9:21

“Many today have just enough religion to inoculate them from knowing Christ.” —Randy Willis

Vaya con Dios for He has Risen, and Jesus is coming again!