admin posted on June 25, 2006 14:39
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THE FIDDLER AND THE BOOTLEGGER TRANSFORMED
Personal Story of Albert Ramsay
I was born in Knutsford, Prince Edward Island, Canada in 1913. I was just five years old when my mother died. My father ensured trusted relatives cared for his four children. I have sweet memories of my grandmother reading Bible stories to me. Even though I was very young, I recall her telling me about ‘two roads.’ She made a deep impression on my young mind as she told me of the broad road that led to darkness and destruction. Years later, I learned the two roads and two eternal destinies were taught by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7.
My oldest sister was 14, I was 12 and my younger sister was 10 when my father bought a little farm in Shamrock, PEI on the County Line Road. He wanted to bring his little family back together again. My youngest sibling remained with the relatives he had been with since infancy – a decision we all later regretted. Even though we were in our new little home, we still had no mother.
As a boy, there was a cloud of loneliness hanging over my young life, which only an orphan understands. I learned to play the violin in my early teens. My fiddling brought me into company with men much older than myself who influenced me in the ways of sin. At a very early age I proved the emptiness of the pleasures of sin, which some practice for a lifetime.
Emptiness
One night coming home from a dance I said to my sister: “Eva, if this is all there is to live for, I feel like taking my own life.” What a poor, unhappy wretch man is who only lives for what he can get out of this life.
At 18, Revival Meetings came to our community. I thought this would be the answer to the emptiness inside. Each night the preacher challenged us to dedicate our life to Christ. Knowing my dear mother was in heaven, I thought responding to the preacher’s challenge might help me get there. The last night the preacher pleaded with the audience to ‘take their stand’ for Christ. Along with 12 others we took our stand. People patted me on the back: “Albert we are proud of you for the stand you have taken.” I replied: “I’m proud too.” I left there that night with a determination to change my ways and live the ‘converted’ life.
It was a noble resolve but that’s all it was. The Lord Jesus compared it to an unclean spirit going out and the house swept and garnished but still empty! No indwelling Holy Spirit; no knowledge of sins forgiven; in short – no New Birth which alone can change a man. Emptiness is what I experienced.
National health authorities insist that children be inoculated against certain infectious diseases thus immunizing them against the real diseases when they come along. In the spiritual realm Satan, the ‘god of this world’ did this with me. (2 Corinthians 4:4) The Bible says the Devil is a deceiver. (Revelation 12:9) Oh how many people he has deceived in this way. People thinking they have the real thing. Some people settle down to live a good moral life – but for me I drifted back to the old sins with a new zest. I missed them as a child misses his toys. Stung once by the shallowness of religion, I didn’t want anything more to do with it. I reinstated myself with the old crowd working hard to prove how tough I was.
The next time a Gospel preacher offered me a Gospel paper, I refused. With a defiant tone I said: “I’m not interested in religion. I have to work for a living! I don’t have time to read.”