Secure and Sure Testimonials

The following are testimonies from men and women from around the United States who have been tremendously impacted by the certain knowledge of their eternal life. These were all included in Secure and Sure: Grasping the Promises of God by Bob Wilkin.

| Jay Bockisch | Lauren Bockisch | Diane Boring | Paul Carpenter | Leslie Jensen | Troy Jensen | Letitia Lii | 
| Mike Lii | Marialis Lopez | René Lopez | Stan Nelson | Brian Stone | Yami Valdés | 

Jay Bockisch 
Engineer

I was born in the American Jewish “Promised Land,” Brooklyn New York. As a child, I attended Yeshiva (Jewish day school) with my sister and brother.  Our parents sent us there for cultural, not religious, reasons. Although I remember learning Bible stories and Hebrew, my strongest memories from this time are of the emptiness and worldliness of the Yeshiva.  Even at that age I was seeking more than traditional Judaism could provide.

At age 13, in accordance with Jewish tradition, I had my Bar Mitzvah. After all the years of Yeshiva, Hebrew school, Bar Mitzvah lessons, and holiday celebrations, to me this day meant nothing about God and His commandments. 

After graduating from college with an engineering degree, I moved to the Washington DC area. Over the next five years I dedicated myself to my career and the yuppie lifestyle. God was the furthest thing from my mind. The most important thing was success. Despite the fact that my career was moving ahead quite well, I was not satisfied. I sensed there had to be more to life. In an attempt to find fulfillment through change, I moved to Seattle, Washington.

In Seattle I met two Christians who had tremendous hearts for Jewish people. They became friends and they challenged me with the Gospel. As time went on I could not stop thinking about Jesus. I began to study the Old and New Testaments and other books. After reading several books on Messianic Prophecy, I accepted Jesus as the Messiah and Savior. 

Lauren Bockisch 
Homemaker

I grew up in a suburb of Baltimore , Maryland where I was raised in a Conservadox Jewish home (between Conservative and Orthodox).  My parents both came from Orthodox backgrounds.  However, to me, religion was empty, unrewarding, and devoid of the reality of God’s presence.

By the time I entered college, I was a self-proclaimed atheist.  Shortly after graduation, I had a promising career at Borden Incorporated. Yet I felt that something was missing.  During this time, I decided to pursue wholesome hobbies including learning to play the piano and read music. 

Inspired by the Jeopardy television game show, I decided to make reading the Bible one of my new hobbies. I figured it would help me be well-rounded. Originally number 22 on the list, reading the Bible soon became number one!  

Not owning a Bible, I asked a co-worker named Betsy, a Gentile believer who had been praying for me, if I could borrow one.  She loaned me a Parallel Bible.   At this point, I prayed and asked God-if He existed-to reveal Himself to me.  The One I didn’t believe existed began to draw me through His Word.

For six months, I pored over three different versions of the Book of Genesis. In the midst of that time, I was presented with a book titled, Jesus in Genesis. I was surprised that I couldn’t quickly disprove the book’s contention. So I prayed and asked God—if He existed—to reveal Himself to me. 

My reading and that prayer were soon followed by my attending a Messianic Jewish Congregation, where Jews and Gentiles worship Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah together.  I wrestled with the question, “Is Jesus indeed the promised Messiah of Israel?” 

Several months later during Hanukkah of 1990, I placed my faith in Jesus as my personal Messiah and Redeemer. My new-found faith grew as I continued to read the Word and attend services. 

  Over a period of years, I began to grasp that I was eternally secure.  After intensive study on the subject of assurance, I was overjoyed to know for certain that I have everlasting life.  Jesus said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47 ).  I learned that the reason He could fulfill such a wonderful promise is because when He died on the cross, “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).  When I believed in Him for eternal life, I entered into an incredibly beautiful and eternal relationship with the Lord.  Since that time I have continued to be sure I am an eternally secure child of God. 

Diane Boring 
Homemaker

My parents always made sure I went to Sunday School even though they didn’t attend church themselves.  They always instilled in me a respect for the Bible.  During those years I learned and believed that Jesus was the Son of God, died on the cross, rose from the grave.  But I wasn’t yet saved because I hadn’t yet believed in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16 ). 

I met some friends in high school who invited me to Youth For Christ meetings.  During that period of time the light went on for me, and I realized why He died.  He died to pay the penalty for all my sins personally so that I would not have to spend an eternity in hell.  A counselor at a YFC rally had me read verses, and the truth of John 3:16 became real to me.  I found myself believing in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life, apart from any works.  I went away from that rally certain that I had eternal life. 

I have never stopped believing that promise and no matter what trials have come into my life, I’ve always known I’m saved for eternity based upon the sure promise of God recorded in His Word—that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  That assurance has brought me peace for more than 40 years now.  It’s the only way to live!

Paul Carpenter 
Pastor

I almost didn’t make it to the pastorate. I withdrew from Miami Christian College while failing in my senior year, the spring of 1975. I was failing because I was in a state of total devastation and defeat over not having assurance of my own salvation. I feared that I must be going to hell because of my inability to rise to the level of holy living that I thought was necessary to prove my own salvation was real. I searched in vain to find a single person who held the key to my release and freedom. I cannot put into words the dreadful thoughts and agonies of those days. I fell beneath the load of uncertainties.

The only way I could continue to live and retain my sanity was by clinging tenaciously to certain promises. I took some comfort in these words of Jesus in John 6:37, “the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Maybe that meant I was born again after all.

However, I remained confused because I had been taught my whole life that “a saved life was a changed life.” If there was no major change evident, there was no salvation. I could never be convinced that my life had changed enough to prove anything, even though I was in Bible College preparing for ministry. Obviously, I was a poor candidate for the pastorate in that condition.

Nevertheless, God was at work. I somehow returned to Miami Christian College nine months later and finally graduated in the spring of 1977. With great trepidation I entered the ministry hoping somehow to eventually shore up my flagging assurance. It did not work. There were still times of horrible doubt and fear as I hung on to continue my “ministry.”

One day at the Moody Pastors’ Conference at MBI in Chicago I was telling my friend, Kirk Muller, all about my miseries. I mentioned that we all know that a saved life is a changed life, by which I meant to imply assurance by works. He interrupted me to tell me about Zane Hodges and his view on these things. It was perhaps the most important moment of my Christian life. I got Zane’s books and read them. I thought, “If what this man is saying is true, I’m free at last!”

Gradually, I became convinced with ever increasing freedom. My final state of liberation came when I got and read R.T. Kendall’s book, Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649. Only then did I realize what had happened historically.

Today, I serve in liberty from the tyranny of fear that I knew for so many years. As for me, I am adamantly opposed to the doctrine of assurance by works. Only by beginning with assurance based solely on the promise of God is the believer free to go on to maturity. Looking at our imperfect works will never lead to assurance. An inward focus for assurance makes spiritual maturity utterly impossible.

Leslie Jensen 
Accountant Turned Homemaker

I had always grown up believing that if I was just good enough I would go to heaven. And I felt that I was succeeding.  I had grown up in an unstable family environment and I had learned to feel secure by doing everything I could do not to make any mistakes, thereby opening the door for disaster.  I soon found out that my good behavior not only allowed me to “stay under the radar” at home but it also earned approval from my teachers. As I grew up, those coping patterns led to a strong perfectionist personality that spilled into every aspect of my life.  I graduated from high school with the seventh highest GPA in a graduating class of 750 and I went onto college, earning a 4.0 in my major (accounting) while working almost full-time. I was so competitive that if I didn’t receive the highest grade in the class on a test, I was disappointed.  It wasn’t that I was smarter than all the other students; I just worked so much harder.  My life was out of balance and relationships took a back seat to achievement. I went on to land a job at a prestigious accounting firm where I poured myself into my work, racking up lots of overtime to make sure I would progress in my career.

Despite all the successes, I knew that real security eluded me.  It was still difficult to cope with difficult circumstances or events outside of my control.  That is when I met Troy , and the first thing I noticed was the fact that he seemed so secure.  Circumstances didn’t buffet him about the same way they did me and that intrigued me.  As he began taking me to church and explaining the good news of the gospel, I remember being offended by the fact that my good deeds were not going to get me to heaven.  They had become a source of pride for me.  However, the Holy Spirit continued to work on my heart and at the age of 30, I trusted in Christ alone for my salvation.  What a joy, and frankly a relief it was, to know that my eternal destiny did not depend on me.

One Sunday morning soon after, our pastor taught that there were people in the Bible that professed a belief in the Lord that was false. He said that you could tell their profession was false because they did not have the good works to prove it.  That was pretty much all I needed to hear to pick up where I left off and start depending on my works, this time for assurance that I did indeed have eternal life.  I started working overtime again, this time at my church and in community Bible studies on a volunteer basis. By this time, I had married Troy and we had two young sons. Many times I chose works over my relationship with them.  My competitive nature returned as I compared my “progress” to other believers that I knew. 

It wasn’t until our family started attending a church in Southern California that I learned that my own works do not impact God’s promise of eternal life to me whether they happen before or after I believe in His Son.  I am fully and finally secure on the basis of God’s promise alone.  As I began to understand that, I came to realize just how much God loved me and how gracious He truly was.  Verses like Lamentations 3:23, which says that God’s mercies are new every morning, showed me that I needn’t fear failure as much as I did.  My newfound sense of security gave me courage to seek help and counsel for those sins that seemed to have a stronghold in my life.   

I still have a tendency to want to hang on to works, but I am constantly reminded through Scripture that I don’t need to do that to be secure. I can depend on Him.  It is hard for me to understand the depth of that kind of love, but I am so grateful that He has chosen to lavish that kind of love on someone like me and on all who simply believe.          

Troy Jensen
Director of Asset Management

I grew up in a secure, Christian home and became a believer at the age of 10. Looking back, Christian maturity wasn’t really an issue for me, but I was grateful to God for sending His Son to die for me and wanted to live for him. Generally speaking, I considered myself a pretty good kid knowing I really hadn’t caused my parents much grief.

I attended church for the social aspect and some occasional Bible learning. My family said prayers at meals and would sometimes be on a family devotion roll. Other than that, in-depth individual Bible study just didn’t happen. In spite of this, the promises I had read in God’s Word and the knowledge I had eternal life made me certain I was going to heaven. The verses that always came to mind were John 10:28-29. 

It was a whole new world going off to Christian College where I met Christians who drank beer and went to dance clubs. Some had already slept with their girlfriends and had all kinds of stories to tell. Needless to say, I was getting indoctrinated in some new territory that I never went near in high school. I avoided some of the behavior of some of my friends, but I did discover that there is a passing pleasure to sin.

I basically stopped attending church, rationalizing that the churches didn’t compare to the one back home. I really wasn’t committed to pleasing God during this time. My rationale was that I was having a blast and was going to heaven.

A few years after graduating from college, I came across verses on rewards in Matthew and elsewhere. At the time, I was attending church but not really studying the Bible for myself.  I called a Christian radio station and asked the gentlemen taking questions about the doctrine of rewards. He simply said that we should not worry about rewards and be motivated to live for Jesus based upon what He has done for us.

Frankly, I already knew that when I became a believer.  I was looking for another motivator when I read about rewards in the Bible.  He obviously didn’t answer my question and his non-answer became my basis for believing rewards were a non-issue over the next few years. I was grateful for what Christ did and I tried to live for Him.  However, the world was attractive and if I messed up, I still knew I was “in” based upon the assurance I had at a young age. 

Fortunately, by the grace of God, Leslie and I found a great church in Southern California back in 1997 The Pastor set me straight in his most gracious way on the concept of rewards.  The light bulb finally came on and my life hasn’t been the same since. Oh, I still struggle, but now I know why living for Christ (godliness) is profitable in this life and the life to come. Not only am I aware of godly discipline but I long to hear “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Letitia Lii 
Doctor of Optometry

I was raised in a religious home.  From the time I was born, my parents would consistently bring my sisters and me to a Presbyterian church every Sunday. 

In Sunday school I would hear tidbits about Jesus.  At home when our parents would read to us Bible stories before bed, I would hear more tidbits about Jesus and His works on Earth. 

Although no one at home or at church ever presented the saving gospel concisely and clearly to me, I did come to believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life on one Easter Sunday.  I was probably around eight years old, but I remember sitting alone in my room after coming back from church. I was contemplating the significance of Easter and started thanking the Lord for sending His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for me. Although I felt so undeserving of Christ’s sacrifice to pay for the penalty of my sins, I was just so thrilled to have eternal life. Several years elapsed until I started attending a church which was clear on the Free Grace message of eternal salvation. It was at this church that I was followed up and discipled.

Mike Lii 
Entrepreneur

My mother or various friends of my parents would occasionally take me to church as I was growing up. At one of these churches, I was even baptized when I was about 12. I was told to go up to the front of the church when the Minister called and had some water sprinkled on me. During these years I learned a few Bible stories and even memorized the order of books in the New Testament, but in terms of the essentials questions of Christianity I was entirely clueless.  However, these years did at least leave me with the impression that the Bible was a special book.

It could be said that during my years in high school I was beginning to head down the wrong path in life.  My language had turned increasingly foul and I enjoyed visiting the horse track consistently to have a friend’s parent place bets for me.  My grades in high school slowly declined from my junior high and elementary school days.  In my junior year, I was not able to take a Physical Education class due to scheduling conflicts.  In place of P.E., I had to take soccer conditioning with the soccer team and was quite unhappy since none of my close friends were in this class.  However in the class, there were a few acquaintances I had been friends with in junior high school but had lost touch during high school.  During the years, they had started going to a local church. Not really knowing anyone else in this soccer conditioning class, we renewed our friendship and they invited me out to their church’s Friday night fellowship.

I usually went to the horse track on Friday nights and at that time had lost quite a bit of money.  I figured maybe it would be it nice to visit this fellowship and save some money by not going to the horse track. I started attending the church fellowship for a few weeks and generally had a good time.  The people were nice and I enjoyed playing volleyball after the meeting.

At one of the earlier meetings I attended, a question one of the speakers asked caught my attention.  During the closing prayer he had asked the group “If we were to die today, would those who knew that they were going to heaven please raise their hand.” Although we were supposed to have our eyes closed, I took a peek.  I was surprised at how most of the people in the room raised their hands in response.  I knew that I wasn’t sure that I was going to heaven if I died.

A few weeks later after fellowship, one of the counselor’s asked me to come with him to the kitchen.  I remember thinking “Oh no, had I done something wrong and was about to get in trouble?” The counselor brought me into the kitchen with some of my friends and a few visitors to the fellowship.  He asked me in front of this small group that what if hypothetically he was giving me a ride home and unfortunately he got into a car accident and I died, would I know that I was going to heaven?  I told him that I hoped so and he asked me the reason for my hope.  I told that I tried to be a nice person and do the right things.  The counselor then responded that he would show me from the Bible how one gets to heaven.

He proceeded to show me verses from Romans how all men were sinners and that the punishment for that was hell, but that was good news.  He then showed me John 3:16 and told me that God loved us show much and that he sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us and he paid the full price for all of our sins. We could go to heaven and have eternal life as a free gift by simply believing in Jesus for it.  He further clarified that it was a gift and could not be obtained by attending church or being baptized or living a good life.  To have eternal life, one simply believed in Jesus for it with no other works needed.  I remember thinking “This is great and very important news!  Why had no one else told me this before?”  That night I believed in Jesus Christ for the free gift of eternal life.

In the following months, my behavior slowly changed as my language started to clean up and I stopped going to the horse track. I wanted to do these things not because I knew I needed to stop doing them to get to heaven, but because I knew I was going there because of Jesus Christ and I was grateful for what he had already done for me and wanted to show my appreciation.

Marialis Lopez 
Financial Analyst

I was raised Roman Catholic. As a teenager, I went to church only on Easter Sunday. However, one of my Christian friends constantly invited me to church, but I would always reject. Since I was a Roman Catholic, I felt no need to go to another church.

Her persistence paid off as five years later I accepted. Subsequently, the singles pastor invited my friend and me to his house. At this time, my friend and the youth pastor shared how Jesus had died for me and all I had to do was believe in Him. This was a shock for me, because although I believed in Christ, I always thought I had to be a good person in order to go to heaven.

At that time, I put my faith in Christ alone for eternal life. The best part of understanding God’s message of grace is that I have assurance of my salvation. I have a different view of life now. I’m 100% sure that I will go to heaven when I die—not because of anything I’ve done, but all because of what Jesus did. Thank God for His grace and assurance!

René Lopez 
Pastor/Doctoral Student

I began visiting a conservative Protestant church at age 22. Not long after that I professed faith in Christ and was baptized on the same day. Though I attended many services and went through a doctrinal course before professing faith in Christ and being baptized, I never clearly understood assurance.

The reason I lacked assurance is because the church I attended believes faith in Christ plus ongoing obedience to God’s commandments is the only way to have eternal life. I was taught that committing big sins or departing from this particular denomination would cause me to lose salvation. How could I ever have assurance in such a system since obedience to their rules was my only avenue to “assurance”?

Since I found no assurance in that church, I left. But when I did, I felt lost once again. This was especially true since my fear of hell wasn’t producing godliness, but greater sinfulness! I thought since I am lost anyway why not continue to sin. Thus I began to seek how to get saved again. While visiting other religious groups, I remember walking the aisle on a weekly basis in order to get saved continuously. However, I kept thinking, How could Jesus have paid for my sins on the cross, and yet lose eternal life upon committing big sins? Of course, this was not only confusing to me but also contradictory.

Until I realized that 100% certainty came at the very moment I believed in Christ, I was not saved and had no peace. If only someone had told me long ago that I could obtain assurance by having faith alone in Christ alone, perhaps I would not have made numerous mistakes. Learning the true gospel according John 6:47 at age 27 brought me complete assurance. “He who believes in Me has everlasting life.” How simple, yet profound.

As a result I was highly motivated to live for God. My life changed from a lack of assurance that lead me to sin to having assurance that leads me out of it. Hence I will always be involved in telling others of God’s free grace that is based on and results in assurance (Rom 3:24 ).

Stan Nelson 
Retired John Deere Factory Worker

I became a believer in Christ as a teen through a Bible study. The teacher, George Boyajian, taught that salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing. It sounded too good to be true. But, to my everlasting joy, he showed from the Bible that it really is true.  He also taught something I'd never heard of before; eternal security, the wonderful truth that once we believe in Jesus we are secure forever.

That’s been over forty years ago now. As the years have gone by, the assurance given by this wonderful gospel doctrine has been inestimably encouraging and stabilizing. 

Because salvation is received as a gift through faith, it makes no sense for me to try to gain assurance by looking at my life. The sin penalty has been paid. And since I’ve believed in the penalty Payer, I’m saved forever. Wow! What a relief! 

Understanding that salvation is “by grace through faith plus nothing” has removed any reason for despair or pride. All honor and glory go to Christ the Savior for doing the saving and the keeping.     

Because I’ve trusted in Christ for eternal salvation and because He’s sufficient to save and keep me, I have both salvation and assurance.  And anyone can, too. For the Lord Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Brian Stone 
College Pastor

I was 19 years old, angry and violent, strung out on marijuana, acid, cocaine and crack, lost without hope, without a home, without love.

I dropped out of high school in 10th grade to sell drugs and run the streets. I had an apartment and a car, lots of friends, and lots of girls. I was having lots of fun. 

It wasn’t until I almost died after a 36-hour cocaine binge, without food or sleep, that I realized my life was out of control and totally useless.

I decided that day not to kill myself with drugs. Over a few months, I broke those habits that characterized my life.

Seeking help, I decided to check out one of the local churches where I lived.  I was amazed!  The love that God has for sinners was like nothing I had every imagined. Could I be forgiven? Could I, one of the worst of sinners, truly be in a relationship with God simply by believing that He grants eternal life to anyone who would trust in Christ for it?

I became persuaded that God does grant eternal life to all those who believe in Christ. I did not question this because I understood it was a promised gift from God, a promise straight from Scripture. Obviously, God can be trusted to always keep His promises.  I live joyfully and confidently today, secure of my eternal relationship with God because of His promise.

I was a person who was easy to hate and one a person no one expected anything from. But the promises of God are so trustworthy that even I can have confidence in Christ.

I went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Texas State University at San Marcos and two master’s degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary.  I plan to go into full time Christian ministry and help others know they can be sure that God keeps His promises.

Yami Valdés 
Med Tech/Personal Trainer