As a youngster, I had always believed in God, as my family had a Christian upbringing. (My father was a minister in an Assemblies of God Church). When I was eight years old, my dad died as a result of leukemia. I remember that as I cried in the hospital room a comforting thought came to me with an assurance that although my dad had just died, “God would be my Father.”

As I grew older, I still believed in God, yet I did not know Jesus. In fact, I thought that Jesus was just “second in command” and whenever I wanted to pray to God I didn’t need to involve Jesus at all. It was my belief that I could bypass Jesus and just go straight to the “main man” (God).

Yes, I thought that just because I believed in God it made me a “Christian.” Yet, with a belief that God existed, I was still miserable and had a sense of emptiness within. What’s worse, there was a raging anger that would flare up at the slightest provocation. When I married, in 1973, the anger would be directed toward my wife and for the first three years our marriage was a living hell, and I was the cause of it. I blamed my wife for the problems and it was evident that our marriage was falling apart.

As I came under conviction by the Holy Spirit, I realized that I needed God in my life and I would ask my wife to attend church so that we could learn more about God. My wife was a professing atheist and in my claim to be a Christian I can really see now that I was a very poor testimony to her. Finally, in my desperation and hopeless feeling, I prayed to God and said that I needed to get close to Him and wanted to straighten out my life. I told God that my wife did not believe in Him, but I did, and if it was necessary, I would divorce my wife in order to get my life straightened out with Him.

One day, in 1976, I was listening to a Christian radio program where a book titled, How do we know there is a God? by author John Warwick Montgomery was being offered free to the listening audience. I sent for the book and received it a few days later. As I read the book, I became excited because it had answers to many questions that I had always wondered about. My excitement became overwhelming and I immediately went to a room where my wife was and began telling her about the book and asked if she would read it with me. I kept going on and on about God and what this book had to say up to the point that it annoyed my wife and she turned and yelled, “Quit harping at me!” I then turned around and walked out of the room and quietly said, “Well, God, I guess that’s your answer, I will divorce my wife.”

Yes, I had made up my mind right then and it was settled in my heart that this was God’s answer. As I set the book down, I suddenly felt as if I was in a vacuum and there was a feeling of stillness and silence. I then heard the most crystal clear voice speak these words, “Ask Diane if she believes Jesus was The Son of God.” Without hesitation, I returned to the room where my wife was and said, “Diane, do you believe Jesus was The Son of God?” She suddenly turned to me with a startled look on her face, raised her hand, and said to wait, that we could talk about it later.

As she recounted the incident, Diane told me that when she heard the words spoken to her, she suddenly realized that she had been denying God all along and she became aware that this was a point where she had to make a decision. She relates that it also seemed like a veil had been lifted from in front of her eyes and had the awareness that if she said “Yes” then everything would be alright – but if she said “No” then she would not have another chance to decide and God would not approach her again.

Later that evening, Diane said she believed Jesus was The Son of God. We both received Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior through the result of God’s Divine Intervention during a time of crisis in our marriage. Without a doubt, I attest to the truth that one cannot bypass Jesus. It is clear in scripture where Jesus proclaims, “I Am The Way, The Truth and The Life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)

May God receive the glory for His mercy in our lives and thank you for reading this testimony.

Mike Ramirez
Starman3000m@netscape.net