This Pastor Discovered He Was a False Convert!

From Ray Comfort’s book, World Religions in a Nutshell.

After praying a “sinner’s prayer,” Al was convinced he was a Christian and even became an ordained minister. Then, everything changed when he heard Ray Comfort’s message, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.” Here, Al shares his testimony as well as some advice and admonitions for believers everywhere.

I “accepted Jesus” in 1977 after praying a “sinner’s prayer” from a Christian book in my office. I visited many churches but everywhere I visited I found a very lukewarm church. I ended up believing the faith message. I went to a local Bible college and became a licensed and ordained minister of the gospel “WOF [Word of Faith] style.” Soon afterwards I became the administrator of a WOF church with about a thousand members.

After that I pastored a small church for about two years. I started watching Way of the Master in 2005 on TBN and thought it was great, but did not fully grasp the underlying message. In March 2006 I went to a faith church website to watch one of my favorite faith teachers. To my surprise I noticed that Ray Comfort had taught at their conference. I decided to watch the two messages that Ray taught. The first was “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.” This message raised my eyebrow and my curiosity. I knew it was scripturally correct and wondered why I had never heard this kind of message before. The next night I watched “True and False Conversion.” As I listened to Ray describe, plainly and scripturally, what a Christian was and was not, I fell under conviction for my sin. I was under a powerful conviction for three days crying out to God in repentance and begging for God to save me. I trembled before Him, realizing that I believed I was saved, but after examining myself scripturally, I knew I was LOST! How could I be deceived for 27 years? I had read the Bible many, many times, studied it, meditated on it, loved it and preached it. I was horrified!

“Please continue to be kind, patient, and understanding to those who do not understand the gospel—people like me.”

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Today, because of the faithful preaching of the Word of God and by God’s grace, I am truly changed. My life has been radically different. I am very sensitive to sin and now the fruit of God’s Spirit is growing in me. I have taught The Way of the Master class at my church and regularly share my faith. I am also of the reformed faith now. My family has been dramatically changed with many coming to true faith in Christ. I am very thankful to Ray for being obedient to God and thankful to God for redeeming me out of my deception.

Please continue to be kind, patient, and understanding to those who do not understand the gospel—people like me. A. W. Tozer and Leonard Ravenhill both were bemoaning the fact that the church in America was almost lost in the ’60s. When I came to church in the late ’70s I wanted to know God and all I found was falsehood. When I was a teenager I went to a Baptist church and was asked to leave by the other youth because I didn’t fit in their “clique.” I left; no one cared. When I “accepted Jesus” in 1977, I went to Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostal churches and finally stayed at a Baptist church. I again was unwelcome and found no one serious about reading and living the Scriptures. I heard the faith message on the radio and thought, at last someone who loves the Bible and is willing to believe it. I had no understanding to properly interpret the Bible and after a while trusted these teachers. There are many people in all these doctrinally wrong churches—in “Word of Faith” churches—who sincerely want to know God and unknowingly went into a place called church and were led astray. Please continue what you do and continue to reach out to help all who are false converts.

— Al H.

This testimony can be found in the book World Religions in a Nutshell.