...persuaded

"'King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe' Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You almost persuade me to become a Christian'" (Acts 26:27-28).

Brett Blair writes how "on January 23, 1909, a small invention played a crucial role in the lives of 1500 people. The New York-bound ocean liner the Florida rammed into the Republic. Jack Binns, the Republic's new wireless radio man, reassembled his contraption which had been destroyed in the collision. He sent out distress calls for the next 12 hours until the crew and passengers were rescued in the dawn light of Sunday morning. Only a few died.

"Jack Binns became a national hero. He was given a ticker-tape parade. Songs were written about him. He even testified before congress on the importance of regulating wireless technology on all ships. Congress listened politely but ignored his message. Binn gave up his quest, accepted no profit from his celebrity, and went back home to England to await reassignment. Three years later he received an assignment aboard a ship that he turned down.  He had fallen in love and was soon to marry. The turned down assignment? The Titanic.

"It is now felt that Binn's message was ignored because so few lives were lost on the Republic. It took tragedy on the scale of the Titanic for the importance of wireless to be understood."¹

King Agrippa was an almost-persuaded ... but lost. Be certain not to wait until it is too late to take heed of God's warnings in the Bible. Be sure you have accepted God's plan of salvation from a lost eternity. Whatever you do, don't be an almost-persuaded.