SS 13 “Modern Day John the Baptists”

In this Salvation Story, the Lord actually told me HOW this salvation would happen (long before it happened). He said it would happen through my oldest brother’s only daughter, Roberta. This is why I also began to believe that God would do something similar with my third brother’s two daughters, which He actually did! I hope you’ve read Teen Suicide Prevented and how God is using my brother's daughters.

Like four of us in my family (myself included), my brother Robert had three boys before getting his girl. Not only did he get his girl after three sons—Roberta was born on Robert’s birthday, whom they named Roberta. When I heard she was getting married, I wasn’t surprised that the young man my brother approved of was a close friend of Roberta's brothers, and who I found out later, looked up to my brother as the father he never had.

When they visited us in Pensacola, Florida, I could instantly see Frank was friendly and warm-hearted. However, I didn’t know he was also a strong and dedicated Christian. To be honest, I'm not sure if he was a believer when we met, but soon after Frank and Roberta’s first son was born, we got an exciting Christmas newsletter. In it, they told how their lives had changed when they went to a family summer camp held by a local church, and during their “awesome time that week” together, they accepted the Lord as the head of their new family!

Honestly, this news came out of nowhere, and I had the hardest time fathoming that the Lord had already begun to work in this “wicked” family. Let me explain how I could say anything so horrid as "wicked" because, I promise you, the word was well chosen.

While my nephews were in their late teens and early twenties, they were a hugely successful rock band in Hollywood, and part of their band's name was “wicked.” Can I say I was more than a bit shocked, even before I saw footage of them performing in many nightclubs all over Hollywood and sold-out concerts?!?

So when I heard one of its band members married my niece, and together they had both been transformed, turning over their family to the Lord, it was more than just a little awesome 🙂

Soon after, I heard about Frank’s new venture selling used cars, primarily because he said he wanted an easy way to meet new people with whom he could share the Lord! Yes, you read that correctly. So stop for a minute and think of the most unlikely family members who become Christians, and you hear, looked for, and found a job for the primary purpose of sharing the Good News. Now, you can understand the magnitude of this transformation. Are you ready for me to kick it up a notch?

The lead singer of this notorious band was my second oldest nephew, who had hair down to the middle of his back and who, may I say now, was probably the “wickedest” of the group. Intelligent, to the point of being on the upper level of geniuses, which has been the downfall of a great majority of my own family. It takes faith, not logic, to know the Lord. "Faith like a child," if you remember, brings us into the Kingdom. This nephew is beyond brilliant; in fact, he’s written so many computer programs from his home that he has purchased scads of homes, dozens of properties, and numerous cars to the extent that I’ve lost count.

Let me explain that the only reason I am saying this is that each of you knows or has heard of someone like that: a friend, boss, or family member who you’re sure would never, ever come to know the Lord because of their intellect or success in life.

May I say doubt stems entirely from not knowing or forgetting what God is capable of? What He is planning to do if you move your lack of faith out of the way and trust Him for the impossible will change everything! Hopefully, this testimony and the others you've read in this book will change that mindset. Mine, too, would have been blocking the salvation of my family had it not been for me seeing and acknowledging the verse RMI was founded on, “Nothing is impossible with God” Luke 1:37.

Though I’d love to tell you all the details of how my formerly "wicked" nephews became on-fire believers, I can't because I heard it happened from the men in my family—men who skip all the details we women love to hear. God created men to be satisfied to share and hear just the headlines. Yet I can tell all of you that my two nephews, Keith and Kelly, who were both part of the "wicked" band, were one day saved—and adding that they were “radically” saved is an understatement.

When it happened, Keith and Kelly's primary home was close to a casino (as I mentioned, they each own several homes). Like clockwork, I heard that Keith and Kelly began going to the casinos to explain the end of the world and to preach the Good News—just like John the Baptist did. Their delivery was the same, "call out if you want to be saved," and funny enough, they looked a bit like John the Baptist. Never convicted to cut their hair after their band days, they kept it so long—way down their backs—that it got loads of attention. In addition, the Lord began using their intelligence to be able to answer any question thrown at them by the many men who stop to listen. And listen, they did.

Keith said that at first, the regulars and workers did their best to ignore them, even getting security to make them leave, but then something happened. Now, everyone stops to listen, ask questions, and are completely fascinated by what they're saying. Soon, Keith and Kelly gathered converts to share the Good News with them in and around the casinos.

The verse my entire ministry began with, “Nothing is impossible with God,” is being lived out every day when I think of the impossibility of my nephews coming to know the Lord and in a way, starting their own ministry on the grounds of the local casino! Never could I have imagined that God would lead Roberta to marry the man she did, who led her two oldest brothers, then a third brother, and his wife, who accepted the Lord. At this point, the only two in the family who I believe may remain on God's Salvation List are their dad, my oldest brother, and my SIL, who I am sure will be soon because every time I text her about anything, she'll reply by preaching truth to me!! Don't you love it?

Remember, God said in His Word, “Believe on the Lord, and you will be saved, and your entire household” Acts 16:31, so by now, you should be well on your way to trusting that He is faithful beyond what we could ever imagine!!

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, ever imagine, dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” Ephesians 3:20