Ευαγγελική Βαπτιστική Εκκλησία

Testimonies - Testimony of Bro. Markos Boussios

Personal Testimony of Markos Boussios

I was born into a Christian family. Both my parents were sincere and devout believers in God, having accepted Christ as their own personal Savior. Naturally, under such parents, I was taught the word of God and the way of salvation since childhood. We lived at a village in Epirus, called Kato Ravenia. There were no other people of like faith, and we faced intolerance and contempt on the part of the community. As a child I often wondered why we were not like the rest of the people, why we were different! I would ask my mother and she would tell me, “Son, there certainly are other people like us, too, but not here”, and she would go on mentioning the nearest town, Jannina, where there was a small Evangelical Church. “Some day” she continued “God will move us there so we can have fellowship with people of the same faith”. Those were very difficult years. The Greco-Italian war had just ended and Greece, despite her victory over Italy, was conquered by Germany and occupied by the enemies for almost four years. Famine was killing more people than the military force of the enemies. And it was then that father died, leaving behind a widow with seven young children. I was the only boy in the family, and sixth in the order of age. A sister right after me, Martha, died while father was still living. I could feel the pain of losing both, sister and father, but mother comforted me by telling me that they had gone to be with the Lord and were much better there and some day we, too, would go to be with Jesus and them either by death or by the Rapture.

On Sundays, about the time believers held their church services all over, mother would have us all around a table, open the word of God, read out a portion and give us a message, sing and pray together. That was our family devotions service, which, as a child then I did not appreciate, especially as I would hear the voices of other children of the neighborhood playing outside. My mind was with them and I wished my mother were like theirs. Inside me, though, I feared God. I was very much afraid of dying and going to hell, and knew that in order to escape it I should repent and trust Jesus as my personal Savior. I mentioned the Rapture before. Mother talked to us about it quite often, and urged us to be ready. Many a time I would get up with fear at night and go to mother’s bed to see if she hadn’t been taken up. And when I saw she was there I returned to my bed to continue my sleep. This agony lasted for years. I went through a long and arduous process until, by God’s grace, I found peace and rest in my Savior. I won’t get into details now, but as I go on in my narration I’ll make recurrences and fill in gaps, as there are so many of God’s wonderful interventions, both in the family and in my personal life, that may support the faith of some of the readers. Now, I think, I should come to the main point. Satan, whose purpose is always to thwart God’s plans and works, tried to catch me into three traps, insidious and very dangerous. But praise God, my mother’s prayers, and later, when we had moved to Jannina and attended the Evangelical Church there, those of other believers, too, helped me escape those snares and in due time be saved.

The first trap was the fact that as a child of a Christian family, with the fear of God instilled inside me, I didn’t do all that other boys my age did. I never cursed or used filthy language or fight with any of my playmates. The respect I had for my mother was exceptional. I never talked back to her, even when I grew up. All these “assets” the devil used against me. So, he would come and tell me, “You are foolish to be afraid of going to hell. Don’t you see how good a boy you are? Hell is for bad people, not for people like you. Compared with all the other children you know you are an angel. Stop being afraid of hell. It is not for you”. This, sort of pacified my conscience for some time, but again the fear of dying and going to hell would haunt me. And as I grew in years so much more I would feel the pain of guilt and sinfulness and the need of getting right with God. Those that think the devil attacks all men in the same way and with the same weapons make a grave mistake. His quiver is full of darts of all sorts, fit not only for every person particularly, but also for every circumstance. The second trap consisted in telling me: “You a sinner? You go to hell? Oh, no, don’t be foolish. You know so much of the Bible. You know the truth. Didn’t Jesus say 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'?” That’s it, I thought, I know all that is to be known about Christ and salvation and so much else from the Bible. I am, therefore, free from the bondage of sin and the devil has no power on me. Praise the Lord. Far from me all fear of judgment and hell. You see, my friend, Satan, in order to keep a soul away from Christ uses even most blessed Bible truth. What a sermon that was! How wonderful to know that the knowledge of truth sets a sinner free! Satan doesn’t deny the truth, he adulterates it. He did not suggest to Cain that he offer no sacrifice, but that he substitute the fruit of the ground instead of a lamb from the flock, as appears that God had appointed. Also, he approaches men with truth, but not THE truth. How could he, since Christ emphatically said: “I am the truth.”

Now the third trap was that of good deeds. Millions of nominal Christians are caught in this trap. In fact every man-made religion is anthropocentric. Every religion is man’s effort to reach God. It is a ladder man puts up in order, by climbing it, to reach God. In other words Satan, after deceiving Adam and Eve and causing them to fall, and with them all their posterity, introduced the religion of works. This is in effect what the devil was telling me: “You will grow up, do good works, even become a preacher, thus you’ll have souls brought to Christ, what else you think you need. Could it be possible to preach the gospel to others and you yourself not be saved? Away from such thoughts and enjoy the peace of God”. Some, reading this testimony, might think it is somewhat hyperbolic, but it isn’t at all. The devil works in that way in countless cases, and the sad thing is, in most of them he succeeds. Since childhood I had known this was a must for me, as my mother had told me how I came into the family. She had five girls. She wanted at least one boy. Then she prayed and asked God to give her a boy and, like Anna, Samuel’s mother, vowed to dedicate him to His service. Her earnest prayer was “My God, please, give me a boy and I will dedicate him to serve Thee as a preacher.” God answered that prayer and I knew I couldn’t afford drifting away. Thus my childhood years went by. The solutions the enemy offered for the metaphysical problem that vexed my soul didn't have any substantial results. My agony about my soul’s destiny grew all the while, and as a fire burned within me. The preaching at the small Evangelical Church at Jannina, was rather for believers. The sermons were mainly edificatory, whereas I needed evangelistic ones. There are, unfortunately, a lot of Evangelical and, perhaps, Baptist churches as well, that take for granted the gospel to be known to people called Christian at large, and limit their preaching on subjects concerning believers. But they make a big mistake. The preaching of the gospel, as presented in the New Testament, is the main mission of the church, every church that believes Christ to be its head. Besides, that is the meaning of the Greek word kerygma that is almost invariably rendered preaching in English. Kerygma is the proclamation of the saving grace of God and the call to repentance in order to salvation through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we moved to Athens, I was fascinated by such a lot of things. The city for me was excellent then. Its buildings, neoclassical, decorated with statues and other artifacts all over the facades, true jewels to the eye, filled me with admiration. Then there were the numerous ancient and more modern monuments, that would be impossible for anyone to pick out some in order to make specific mention of! Athens was, and still is, full of masterpieces of art of all ages. It was the year A.D 1947. We reminisce over that Athens with painful nostalgia, as most of it, unfortunately, a couple of decades later, started being sacrificed on the altar of mammon so rapidly. All these things, however, couldn’t quench the nostalgia for Jannina that burned inside me. It was there I first met other believers of like faith, with love, real love. To me they seemed like angels. In that church I was helped very much spiritually. There were only about two or three other boys of my age with whom I could keep company and share a lot of activities. Of course friends I made of my schoolmates and classmates too, as well as of my neighborhood. Things were quite different then. People lived close one to another, and I was just like a brother with the other children of the community. I have no doubt that those of you that have been to Jannina will agree with me that it is quite a different town now. It has grown to a big and modern town in all respects, with one of the best universities in the country, and nothing reminds one of what the town was back then in my childhood years. Yes, Jannina is a beautiful and very busy town. Compared with other towns, not only of Greece, but also of other countries, that are especially advertised, there is nothing to be jealous of. The lake of Jannina, because as Pamvotis, I am afraid, few would know it, that time was full of fish, carp, blenny and eels as big as boas for which that lake is especially famous. On the little island of the lake the restaurants display them together with a lot of other fish and crustaceous creatures in big aquariums. Many times, especially the first days and weeks of our moving to that town, I would go down to the lake and as little fishing boats came from all over bringing their catch for the market, I was thinking of the sea of Galilee and the scenes we read about in the New Testament. It was, indeed a fascinating experience for me.

During the summer, as school was out, together with other boys my age, I would get my gear, usually a fishing-rod, bait etc., and early in the morning would go for a good catch. There was scarcely a time that I went home without at least one or two carps big enough to feed the whole family for a day or two. Swimming in that lake was quite another wonderful experience. It was not like swimming in the sea, of which I had no experience then. In order to keep above water you had to constantly move hands and leg the right way. But was quite a pleasure for us kids, and what was more, the water at that time was so clean that as we swam we could also drink of it if we got thirsty! I mentioned already that the town was very busy. Shops everywhere, little factories here and there, street markets and bazaars of all sorts, as villagers from a large area around would come to sell their products and buy what they needed and couldn't find at their villages. Noise, a lot of noise around market places. So different from the quietness and serenity of the village I had been familiar with, which was only disrupted at times by a cock’s crow or the bellowing of a sheep or the barking of a dog. Now, it’s just that we older people are nostalgic for. To the life of a village we want to return, and those that can, do so. However, for me, a boy full of life and energy, life in a busy town was a very exciting experience. Time to get back to Athens now. I mentioned before how impressed I was of the then beautiful city. Now I will come to the Evangelical churches. The number of them and the size of some, as well as some of the preachers, lifted me up to heaven. Here I heard for the first time clear evangelistic preaching. That kind of preaching made me realize my sinfulness and the need of repenting and receiving Christ as my personal Savior in order to be saved. One Sunday evening at a suburban church the sermon gave me the mercy shot. The subject was the question Elijah asked the backslidden people of Israel in the days of Ahab and Jezebel as he was giving the battle against the prophets of Baal on Carmel: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (1Kings 18:21). Though my case wasn't like that, I didn't halt between two or more opinions, yet the repeated appeals of the preacher for immediate decision touched my heart deeply and as I was going home I talked to myself saying: “That is it. No more procrastination. The message was just for me, thank God. I must make a decision, I need to be saved and be now.”

I was a high school student then, in my eleventh grade. And those were the days of Easter vacation. I don’t know why, but I had stayed home alone. It was Good Friday and the church bells tolled plaintively as the Greek Orthodox churches reenact the crucifixion of Jesus on that day. I had rather conflicting feelings in my heart and wanted to vent them out by doing something. It was that period of my life, which most of us go through, that I liked to draw. My preference was boats of all sorts. As I searched through my papers to find the sheets I wanted, I came accross a tract entitled "If we neglect." I picked it up right away and eagerly started reading it. The track didn't come before me by accident, God brought it. As I read I was especially impressed by two illustrations the writer used. One spoke of a physicist that being prostrate on the ground of a hill slope was holding a magnifying glass and through it carefully observed and studied one of the numerous small flowers that gave their color to the whole area around. A shepherd some distance away that saw him, out of curiosity and interest, walked up to him and asked: "Sir, what are you doing there lying flat on the ground?" The scientist, asked him to bow and look and as he looked through the lens he burst into tears. The physicist was sort of impressed and wondering asked: "What is the matter, why are you crying?" Upon which the shepherd answered, "I cry because I'm thinking of the thousands of such beautiful creatures of God that I've crushed with these brogans!" And the tract continued: "Reader, how many golden opportunities God has given you to repent and trust Christ as your Savior and you have, by mere negligence maybe, let them go unexploited? Don,t you think it is high time you started pondering seriously on your soul's salvation?" Then the writer had another illustration. An eagle had landed on a corpse on the river Niagara and burying its talons deeply into it enjoyed a special meal. The river though was running, and running fast, toward the famous and awful Niagara Falls. The eagle trusted its wings thinking that even the last moment, just a little before reaching the critical point, it could move them and find itself up in the sky safe and secure. But, things don't always come as we figure, and the moment it tried to fly with great horor discovered that its talons were so strongly entangled with its prey that before it realized it both tumbled down into the deep becoming one and the same thing, the eagle and the corpse, providing, perhaps, farther down in the course of the water, another nice meal for some other birds of prey.

The writer of the tract continued in the same spirit, "Reader, are you making the same mistake? Do you enjoy something God hates while time, as the river Nigara, runs and brings you toward the great deep? Do you trust on your ability to get rid of your sins any time you decide? Do you think you will have a chance the last moment? Oh, no, the eagle of our illustration should warn you and you should think wisely and soberly this very moment deciding to fall prostrate at the feet of Jesus and accept Him as your Savior right now. Don't put it off, you may have no other opportunity and tomorrow it may be too late! That was it! I fell on my knees right away and poured my soul out to God. I confessed my sinfulness and asked Him to forgive me in Christ's name. I knew full well in order for one to be saved no prayer is necessary, and something like that we find nowhere in the New Testament. All that is required of the sinner in order for his salvation is trusting Christ and His finished work. But, myself had the knowledge, all I needed was to be assured my sins were forgiven and I was saved from eternal damnation. I can't remember nor say how long I prayed or what I said. What I do very vividly remember though, is that my heart filled with the joy of heaven and a burden was lifted from my soul. God's Spirit sealed me for the day of redemption and gave me the assurance of salvation and eternal life. Getting up from my knees I would sing: "Yes, Christ did save me, He made me happy, blessed be the moment, glory to my Redeemer", words of a well-known and often-sung hymn. That night, for all this happened in the evening, I didn't sleep at all. I was so happy that I kept praying and praising God. For some days I felt I didn't live on the earth. The experience I had was indeed so intense that the devil would come back making me wonder if what had happened was real or wasn't just an emotional overwhelming often happening to people like me. Well, thank God, it was real and this was proven by such a sharp change in my character and life that, besides the inside witness of the Spirit that nothing could make me call in question, my family, the church, my schoolmates, all that new me before could easily notice. A lot of things I loved before, not necessarily bad in themselves, now I had no use at all for. The question now wasn't if I was allowed to do something, but rather what God wanted me to do as a Christian and child of His. The difference is great, and quite a test to prove whether regeneration has taken place or not. I would be often asked to go with friends or do something and it was natural for me to refuse, if I thought God wouldn't approve of it. My friends then, greatly wondering, would ask: "What's the matter with you? You're not the same. What's happened?" And with boldness I would give my testimony.

The assurance of salvation is both "objective" and "subjective". The objective comes by believing the Scripture. So much is said there about salvation by faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. When this faith in the word is genuine then the Holy Spirit, Who regenerates the believer, indwells him and gives him what we call "subjective" assurance. The former is man's part, the latter God's. Believe and you will be saved. Of course, no doubt, all is by grace. Man without divine assistance can neither realize his condition, nor feel the need of repentance and trusting Christ for salvation. This being given, for the conversion of a sinner all the praise goes to God. When one professes Christ as one's Savior we do not congratulate him, but say "praise the Lord, God bless you" etc. There is certainly man's part, too, but the work is wholly God's, and to Him we give all the glory. God offers and man must accept the offer. And this also is of God! There's a point here that needs further emphasis and clarification, so there would be no misunderstanding. Emotional experience might differ from person to person. And there are those that all indications testify to the fact of their having been saved, that didn't feel anything when they trusted Christ as their Savior nor do they remember when exactly it took place. For God's sake, let us not fall into the trap of making salvation either conditional on or proven by what and how one feels. The word of God leaves no doubt on this. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom.10:17). Paul had seen a lot, heard a lot, felt a lot, but never based on all that the assurance of his salvation. Only on faith in Christ. He said: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him agaist that day" (2 Tim. 1:12b). Amen.