My Conversion and Call (76)

by Brian Currie (Belfast)    

I was born on 23rd December 1946 into a home where both my parents were saved. In fact my father was saved on 17th March earlier in that same year. From my earliest days I was prayed for and prayed with and taught "the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus," 2Tim.3.15. My presence at Sunday School, children’s meetings and gospel meetings was not optional, it was obligatory. It was a common thing on a Lord’s day afternoon for my mother to play the piano and she would join with my father in the singing of hymns. Often they would sing "Will the circle be unbroken;" "Are you washed in blood of the Lamb?"; and many other good gospel based hymns. On these occasions I sometimes longed to know their Saviour as my own.

When in my boyhood, there were many times I desired salvation. This was often when brethren preached on the Lord’s coming to the air for His own and rapture them to glory. I knew I would be left for the judgment of God and that eventually the lake of fire would be my abode.

However time passed and I left school and went to University. I became captivated by the theories of men, both those of Darwin and Marx. If any reader is dabbling with such theories please remember they are just that — THEORIES. They have no real scientific proof. It is not an exaggeration to say they have their origins in hell.

My greatest love in life was the game of rugby. I was considered good at it and by the age of 19 years was winning representative honours. Thus by that age I could have been described as a sports loving, pleasure seeking, young man of atheistic tendencies.

In the summer of 1967 I went with a friend to London, England, to work for the summer vacation. There we had an apartment and lived as we wished. There was no gospel, no preaching and absolutely no restraint. When I was at home my mother always placed a restraint on me by her presence. No matter what time of the night or morning I would come home she would always have been sitting waiting and most probably praying. She would frequently say, "Your friends will laugh you into hell, but they will not laugh you out of it." There was no such thing as that while we lived in London and we thought it was just great. My friend and I decided that when we returned from London to Belfast we would leave home, get an apartment, and continue our worldly ways. We returned in September. By November we still had not managed to get suitable accommodation and I was living at home. I still went to the gospel meeting every Lord’s day evening. I considered it a small price to pay to keep peace at home for I knew it pleased my parents.

In the month of November the late Mr. Albert Leckie from Scotland came to Glenburn Gospel Hall, where my parents were in fellowship, for gospel meetings. I went on the Lord’s Day evenings as usual but had no thought whatsoever about my eternal welfare. I considered salvation to be some kind of emotional upheaval, which was the experience of weak minded folk who needed the thought of some great Utopia in the sky to help them through this world. On 26th November Mr. Leckie spoke from Matt.25, the parable of the ten virgins and his subject was the coming again of the Lord Jesus for His own. The Holy Spirit of God was at work and I trembled. I was really alarmed since I thought I had built an intellectual shield around me and would never be bothered with such thoughts again. When I left the meeting there was only one thought in my mind and it came again and again — "the Lord’s coming and you’re not saved; the Lord’s coming and you’re not saved."

It was my habit to spend the Lord’s day evenings in a snooker club and I went along thinking that I could get away from these thoughts, but to no avail. I made the excuse to my companions that I was unwell and made my way home still with this in my mind, "the Lord’s coming and you’re not saved; the Lord’s coming and you’re not saved." I went to bed and lying in bed pondering this great matter the words of Lk.18.13 came to me and I made them the cry of my heart to God, "God be merciful to me a sinner." At that very moment I was saved and born into the family of God.

I did not tell anyone what had happened. I thought I would see if this was real or imaginary. However, Rom.10.9 constantly came before me, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Some of my colleagues noticed a change because I had stopped smoking. I went to the Rugby club for training on the Tuesday night and refused to go to the bar afterwards. Even though I had not publicly confessed Christ as my Saviour, the word was around the rugby club, "the big fellow has got religious."

My father asked me to go to meeting on the Wednesday night and to his surprise I agreed to go. After the meeting Mr. Leckie, uninvited and unexpectedly, called to our home for supper and he asked me, in front of the whole company, "Brian, what do you think of this matter of salvation?" With Rom.10.9 still in my mind I replied, "When are you saved, when you believe or when you confess?" He pointed out that it was when a person believes and asked me why I had asked that question. It was then I publicly confessed that I had accepted God’s offer of salvation. In our home that evening there was joy which was undescribable — the prodigal had returned. Some time later I asked Mr. Leckie what brought him to our home that particular evening and he replied that during the meeting on Wednesday night he noticed something he never saw before, I was singing!

The following May I was baptised and received into the fellowship in Glenburn Gospel Hall in East Belfast. In June 1971 I was married and came to live in Dunmurry and was heartily received by the assembly meeting in the Gospel Hall there.

From my early Christian days I had a desire to read and learn God’s Word. I did not do much preaching. My father advised me not to preach until I knew what I was preaching about and that I should read the Bible first. However after I was married a brother from the assembly at Derriaghy called Tom Armstrong asked me to accompany him on Lord’s Day evenings to preach the gospel. This happy association continued for over 20 years. We had a series of meetings together in a portable hall close to where we lived in 1976 and the Lord was pleased to bless in salvation. Other series of meetings followed with different brethren and the Lord was gracious in giving encouragement here and there by blessing His word to the salvation of souls. I became more and more exercised about full time work for the Lord. My problem was where should I go to serve Him? I spoke to Mr. E. Fairfield about Venezuela and Mr. A. Hull about Nova Scotia but neither of these areas opened up for me. I was encouraged by Acts 12.16, "But Peter continued knocking . . ." and I kept praying. The latter part of Isa.24.15 struck me forcibly "Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, (even) the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea." I wondered for a long time where are the "isles of the sea" for me? The last place I wanted them to be was the British Isles. The amount of service I was undertaking was increasing with gospel meetings, ministry meetings and the editorship of this magazine. It was becoming difficult to keep my lecturing and research work going at the University where I was employed and undertake all the work of the Lord that was coming my way.

In 1988 I had occasion to visit part of the USA on business and met with the saints where I could. I spent a Lord’s day in McKeesport and afterwards Mr. Harold Clarke asked, "when are you going to stop wasting your time lecturing and get at the Lord’s work?" Obviously he knew absolutely nothing of my exercise. In 1991 I accompanied Mr. Thomas Bentley on a trip to Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. He was most positive in his encouragement to me. One Lord’s day he spoke from Jn.12.25,26, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will (my) Father honour." I felt it was a message direct from heaven to me. In 1992 David McAlister and I shared gospel meetings in his home assembly in Parkgate Gospel Hall and later that year I spoke at his farewell meeting as he, his wife and little daughter, left Belfast to serve the Lord in Zambia. At that meeting I felt such a hypocrite since I was encouraging David and his wife to do something that I had never done.

At the beginning of 1993 I was invited to join Mr. Jack Lennox for gospel meetings in the Ebenezer Gospel Hall, Bangor, Co. Down. I felt the matter was coming to a climax and asked the Lord in the words of Ps.86.17, "Shew me a token for good; . . ." This He graciously did when a number of souls professed faith in the Lord Jesus. Brother Lennox also encouraged me to give my time to the Lord’s work. On 20th March I attended a conference in Glenburn Gospel Hall where one of the preachers was Mr. Jim Flanigan. He spoke on peace and one of his texts was Col.3.15, "let the peace of God rule in your hearts, . . ." . At this particular time my mind was in turmoil and I was having no peace. I thought there is only one thing to do and that is to speak to the overseeing brethren in Dunmurry and at least I will have peace. I spoke to them briefly the next day and subsequently we had a longer discussion. A few weeks later the brethren indicated that they were very happy to be identified with my exercise and would have no hesitation in commending me to the grace of God for the work.

I left my employment on 30th September 1993 and joined brother Jack Lennox in the work of the gospel. We have been encouraged to have seen the Lord’s hand in blessing since then and many have been the assurances that we did not miss the Lord’s pathway for us. He has been most gracious and has provided for us in every way. To God be the glory, great things he hath done! "Brethren pray for us".