Opening the Gates of Heaven Perry Stone

person who has no redemptive covenant or relationship with God. That person has no righteousness or spiritual right standing in his or her life and is living under an eternal death penalty, which was initiated at the fall of Adam (Rom. 5:12). A S HARP T WO -E DGED S WORD In North America the redemption process often begins with an invitation for a sinner to hear a minister speak in a local church. As an example, a sixty-year-old man who has never received Christ is invited to attend a church to hear a guest speaker preach a message on biblical prophecy. Sixty other people are sitting in the congregation. This unsaved man walks into a church where he has never been, sits among people he has never met, and listens to a speaker he does not know preach a sixty-minute message he has never heard from a Bible he has never read. When the message is concluded, a salvation invitation is given for those who desire a saving relationship through Jesus Christ. The man is moved with conviction, something he has never felt before, and walks to an altar where he has never stood. He allows the minister to lead him in a prayer he has never prayed before. Within sixty seconds the man’s simple faith, prayer, and confession transform him for the rest of his life and for eternity. He can sense a heavy burden has been lifted from his heart. Tears stream down his face, and he hugs the man who invited him to the service. When he returns home, his wife says, “You look different.