I'm
a Hoosier, born in
Indianapolis
.
My mother died of a ruptured appendix while I was still a baby.
Adopted, raised and spoiled by my grandparents, anything I wanted, I
got.
Eventually
I decided to become a lawyer. After graduating from
Indiana
University
and
Columbia
Law
School
,
World War II occurred and I joined the Army and went into the Medical Corps.
We
won and following the war, I came back to
Indianapolis
and
joined the largest and the oldest law firm in the state, specializing in
corporate and business law. A
few years later, after starting my own firm, I was appointed by President
Eisenhower as United States Attorney for what is known as the Southern
District of Indiana which encompasses two-thirds of the state, 60 of the 92
counties.
As
the third youngest of 90 U.S. Attorneys in the
U.S.
and
Territories, and the Federal Government’s head lawyer, we exercised great
power. A Republican, politically,
we controlled the State with a Republican Governor, Legislature, Mayors,
Prosecutors, etc. A few phone
calls could solve serious problems.
During
all this time I had no need for the Bible; no need for Jesus Christ; and
wasn't the least bit interested in spiritual matters.
Shortly
into my second four-year term as U.S. Attorney, I resigned to return to
private practice in partnership with former United States Senator William E. Jenner.
Disenchanted because the Justice Department would not let me go forward
with the trial of Emmanuel Blum, who organized the Communist Party in
Indiana
and
surrounding states. I was
required by the Attorney General of the
United
States
to
dismiss the indictment, over my vehement protests.
I
was self-sufficient and saw no need to get involved with God.
A
Time To Think:
However,
He wanted to be involved with me, so He issued a wake-up call in the form of a
head-on automobile collision. Pushing
the steering wheel through the front glass with your face,
is inclined to get one’s attention.
As
I lay in that bed slowly recovering, I realized for the first time that it
really didn't matter what I surrounded myself with, I was going to leave this
world the same way I came in, naked and alone. So I began to ask
questions to find out just what this life, and the next, was all about.
There's nothing like a close call to cause you to want to get the pegs in the
right holes, so I started asking questions, including one to a wealthy client
-- a businessman with a large annual income and estate:
"Bob, if you die, what are you depending on
to be sure to end up in the right place?" His
answer? "Why Jack, it doesn't matter what you believe as
long as you're sincere."
This
kind of foolishness from a successful businessman was representative of
responses of many I asked.
Others
said: "Why, Jack, if the good you do in your life outweighs the
bad, you're going to be okay."
Well,
as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and as a
United
States
attorney, I sent literally thousands of men to the State Prison and to the
Federal penitentiary. I've talked to lots of them, including multiple
murderers, and I have yet to talk to one of them that didn't think the good
he'd done in his life outweighed the bad.... at least by just a smidgen.
Not
knowing the difference between Religion and a personal relationship with God,
I talked to others who were members of churches, pretty religious fellows.
Those I asked were not sure, because they did not have a personal
relationship with Christ. But it
didn't make sense to me that something as important as your immortal soul
should be a "think so" or a "hope so" proposition.
I had a faculty for going to the wrong places and asking the wrong
people. However, I figured
anything as important as this had to have a definite, positive answer.
But nobody seemed to be sure.
An
Invitation To Lunch:
Finally
one day, 16 months and 16 days after that head-on collision, my phone rang.
It was a fellow attorney who had been one of my Assistants when I was United
States Attorney. He knew of my
questions and concerns. He had
with him a business friend who also happened to be a member of the Christian
Business Men's Committee of Indianapolis.
"Jack,
I've got a fellow here in the office who has all
the answers -- all the answers!"
Since,
in the 25 years I'd been practicing law, that was the first and only time that
statement had been made to me, I quickly accepted his invitation. to
lunch at a place in the suburbs.
They
picked me up and there in the restaurant, across the luncheon table, for the
first time to my recollection, I heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This
businessman knew the Bible. That impressed me for by this time I was fed
up with people's opinions. He showed me, out of the Bible, Romans
3:23
and
had me read it: "For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God," i.e., Brown, you’re a
sinner!
I
said: "You've made your point. What's your next one?"
He
then took me to John 3:18: "He
that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten son of God.
Only
The Sentencing Remains:
When
I read that I was condemned already, it really got through to me that I was in
serious trouble.
Because,
you know, when a person is condemned already, the jury has returned the
verdict and there's only one thing left: the sentencing by the judge!
But
then he took me to John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."
He
said: "How about it, Jack? Will you believe in (trust) Jesus
Christ as your personal Savior?"
"Hold
it! You make this all too simple," I retorted.
You
know what he said? "It's a funny thing, Jack. The Lord didn't
make salvation just for lawyers; it is simple. It's so simple, we miss
it." He explained to me that salvation was a gift because it cost
God so much. He willingly sent His Son to die on the cross, to pay the
penalty His justice demanded for my sin(s), and yours.
Then
he took me to Romans 10:9: "If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved."
He
challenged me again and I ducked him again.
The bodily resurrection of Christ was hard to swallow, but he showed me
where Jesus Christ appeared after His resurrection, to more than 500 persons at
one time (I Cor. 15:6)!
In our business we're lucky to have one eyewitness!
I
said: "Yes, sir. It is clear, isn't it?" and he asked,
"Have you ever invited Jesus Christ to come into your life?"
"Heavens
no; didn't even know I was supposed to."
He
said: "Why don't you?" and I ducked him yet again.
A
Friendly Persistence:
But
he was a persistent fellow and he kept showing me what the Bible says, like
"Now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of Salvation" (2 Cor.
6:2).
We
were back in the automobile by this time. All the way back downtown he
kept showing me what the Bible says. Finally, we drove up on the
Monument
Circle
in
the very center of
Indianapolis
.
I
started to get out of the car, and he asked me again, "Jack, won't you
just let loose, and invite Christ to come into your heart?"
I
got out of the car and closed the door. But the window was open and I
put my head back in the window and said, "Yes, I will." And as
best I could, I prayed a brief, stumbling prayer and received Christ into my
heart as my personal Savior and Lord..
I
meant business with God, and God meant business with me!! That was May
25, 1960.
I
didn't see any visions that day and I didn't hear any thunder:
I only did one thing. I acted in simple faith upon the Word of
God. And I found out for myself that there is one thing that God cannot
do -- He cannot lie!
When
I did what He asked me to do; what He asks us all to do: He did precisely what
He said He would do. He came into my heart. And I was, as the
Scripture says, born again of His Spirit.
It
was the beginning of a whole new wonderful life.
And
it can be for you, too, if you'll take the same step.
Jack
C. Brown
[bio]
So let me
ask you....
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