Here are the first few paragraphs of "Returning to God:"
43 minutes is all this will take. (If you read fast, maybe less. No matter.) The important thing is, in the time it takes to watch an episode of CSI or NCIS (without the commercials) you can catch some solid principles that could help you greatly. And even if you end up thinking it’s a bunch of bunk, it’s only 43 minutes. You can catch up with Gibbs and Grissom tomorrow.
This booklet is especially for those who once went down the aisle at a Billy Graham Crusade (or church service, revival meeting, summer camp, etc.) and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. But that was a long time ago and the intervening years have not turned out as expected. The problems of life (drugs, alcohol, marital and family problems, divorce, finances, bankruptcy, adultery, sexual immorality, poor health, death of a loved one, etc.), have dealt successive blows which have knocked you off your feet and away from God.
I myself am 55 years old. I walked forward during a church revival service and gave my heart to Christ over 32 years ago. Yet the last few years have been the worst of my life. When I came to Christ, I thought by now I would be on God’s plateau, reaping the rich rewards of having served Him so long. And indeed, I did serve Him, in the way expected in the Baptist churches I attended. I learned the Bible, prayed and attended church, taught a Sunday School class, spread the gospel, worked hard at my job, and tried to be a great husband and father.
But life did not turn out as expected. For instance, a few years ago, I watched my mother die a long, horrible death from Parkinson’s disease. Granted, she was no saint, but even the worst person on earth should not be subjected to such an agonizing death. Then, last year, I came perilously close to bankruptcy and divorce. Suicide is never an option, but I wished numerous times to be dead, or better yet, never born.
It just wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When you served Christ, life was supposed to get better and better. Your worst years were supposed to be behind you, when you were a sinner, before you came to Christ. After salvation you look forward to steadily increasing godliness, holiness, happiness and joy. You were not supposed to reach the bottom of the barrel 30 or 40 years after coming to Christ.
Yet, strangely, the worse things got, the stronger my belief in the Bible and the God of the Bible became.
