Marines

One Marine To Another

Ministry Update July 27, 2026

Justin, Doug and I witnessed downtown on Friday July 24, 2026. It was really quiet at first. The three of us had a great time of fellowship and it was great catching up with Justin. But he had worked several weird shifts that week and only made it about half of the time witnessing. The best encounter was at the end, one Marine to another.

I’ll Find Out What Happens When It Happens

But before that, Doug and I witnessed to three teenagers. They all took tracts. I asked them what they think happens after you die and two of them said they didn’t know. That we will find out when we get there. I pointed out that would be like walking out onto I-44 and saying “I’ll find out what happens when it happens.” You don’t want to wait until a semi crushes you to find out what happens and you sure don’t want to wait until you die to find out what happens.

I explained that God is real, whether you believe it or not and God has given each of us an eternal soul, whether you believe it or not. You will spend eternity in Heaven or in Hell. It’s one or the other. Then I shared that Jesus is the only Savior, the only way to Heaven. One teenager – the older one, took the tract, but never engaged. Another one would say something every now and then, but mainly looked down. The third teenager looked at us and engaged in conversation with us. But when I thought I was losing him, I asked him if they had Bibles and two of them said they did. I encouraged them to read them, especially the book of John in the New Testament.

Even though I thought that they were losing interest, Doug didn’t give up that quickly. He jumped in and talked about Judgment Day and God’s Moral Law. He talked to them about the  10 Commandments and how none of us have kept them. He also shared the Gospel with them. I’m grateful that Doug didn’t quit when I did.

Did You Serve In The Military?

Right after that I handed a tract to a homeless guy. I saw his camouflage backpack, but didn’t think much about it. Doug piped up and said, “Did you serve in the military?” Vernon replied, “Yes”. Doug then asked which branch and Vernon said the Marines. Doug told him that he was a Marine too. It was a great opening to a Gospel conversation, one Marine to another. Vernon told us that he served in the Gulf War. Doug asked him if he saw action and Vernon said that he did. Doug gently asked him if one those bullets would have killed him at that time, would he have gone to Heaven? Vernon said that he hoped so. Doug explained that the Bible says we can know so (1 John 5:11-12). We have the assurance of salvation from God through the Holy Spirit when we are truly saved (Romans 8:16). Doug had a great conversation with Vernon and we could tell that Vernon was close to surrendering to the Lord.

After Doug witnessed to him, I gave Vernon a New Testament and Alistair Begg’s book The Man On The Middle Cross. I briefly shared the Gospel with Vernon too. He appeared to have head knowledge of Jesus, but not heart knowledge. It seemed like he was counting on his being baptized when he was younger. Doug asked Vernon if we could pray for him and he was ok with that. I prayed that God would save Vernon, that God would open his heart (Acts 16:14) and reveal God’s Holiness to Vernon and Vernon’s sinfulness to him and that Vernon would cry out for God to save him. That is our prayer, that God would save Vernon and the three teenagers we witnessed to Friday night and may the Lord bless the tracts that were handed out.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with others)