Religious, Sinful, and Lost — Until Jesus Made Me New

A Personal Testimony by Jannie Viljoen

I grew up in a typical religious Afrikaner home in South Africa.

I was baptized as a baby, faithfully attended Sunday school and catechism classes, and eventually, at the age of 16, was confirmed as a member of my church.

These things made my parents proud.

But they had made no real spiritual change in my heart.

After completing matric in 1972 and leaving my parents’ home, I threw off the religious restraints with which I had grown up.

During the following year, while completing my compulsory military service, and afterward as a college student, I embraced the world and its sinful pleasures.

Yet because of my religious background, I still considered myself a Christian.

The Bible was not part of my life.

Prayer was not part of my life.

The church was not part of my life.

In fact, I considered such things a hindrance to my life of “wine, women, and song.”

Little did I realize the truth of God’s warning:

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” — Proverbs 16:25

A Christian in Name Only

At the beginning of 1977, I began teaching at a school in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Now that I was earning a salary, I had the money to go even deeper into the life I had chosen.

Alcohol became increasingly important to me.

By my late twenties, I had reached the point where I felt I could not function without a certain amount of alcohol in my system.

I was still capable of calling myself a Christian.

But I was spiritually dead.

I had religion without Christ.

I had church membership without salvation.

I had been baptized, catechized, and confirmed—but none of those things had changed my sinful heart.

The Lord Jesus said:

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” — John 10:10

Satan had deceived me.

Sin was destroying me.

And the frightening thing was:

I did not even realize it.

Then God Put a Real Christian in My Path

During 1980, while I was recklessly continuing down this road, God in His mercy brought a true Christian across my path.

She was a young woman whose life was different from mine.

What I saw and heard in her life forced me to examine my own supposed Christianity.

I began to realize that my Christianity was based upon ideas that did not agree with the Word of God.

Growing up in a Christian home could not save me.

Being baptized as a baby could not save me.

Being confirmed into a church could not save me.

Calling myself a Christian could not save me.

I needed Christ.

The Holy Spirit began using the Word of God to convict my heart.

For the first time, I began to see myself as God saw me.

I was a lost sinner.

I was under the judgment of God.

And my only hope was the Lord Jesus Christ, who had died for my sins.

Jesus said:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” — John 14:6

January 16, 1981

Then came the evening I will never forget.

January 16, 1981.

With conviction in my heart, I got down on my knees.

I brought my dirty, sinful life to Jesus Christ.

I acknowledged what God had already said about me:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” — Romans 3:23

I confessed that I was a sinner.

I believed that Jesus Christ had taken the punishment for my sins upon the Cross:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” — Isaiah 53:5

And by faith I received Him as my Saviour.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” — John 1:12

When I rose from my knees after praying, I felt spiritually clean.

But it was more than a feeling.

I knew that God had forgiven me.

I knew that I was His child.

And I knew that something had changed.

I was a new man.

The Bible says:

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

The Alcohol Was Gone

Something remarkable happened immediately.

The alcohol that had increasingly controlled my life lost its hold upon me.

I had reached the point where I felt that I could not function without alcohol in my system.

Yet from the time I came to Christ, I no longer desired it.

The Lord had set me free.

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” — John 8:36

Not long afterward, the Lord also delivered me from my addiction to cigarettes.

And that Christian girl whom God had used to awaken me to the reality of my own lost condition?

In time, the Lord gave her to me as my wife.

She became my faithful companion and spiritual support.

I Wanted to Serve God

After my conversion, a deep longing arose within me to give my life to the full-time service of the Lord.

In 1984, I saw an advertisement in a Christian magazine for a position with a mission organization.

I applied.

My application was unsuccessful.

At first, this was disappointing.

But God used it to teach me an important lesson.

I had decided that I wanted to enter full-time Christian service, and then I had tried to make it happen myself.

I began to realize that if God wanted me in full-time ministry, He would have to open the door.

So, in my heart, I told the Lord:

If You want me to remain a schoolteacher for the rest of my life, I will serve You there.

I would wait for His time.

Meanwhile, I began studying theology by correspondence through a Bible college.

My Classroom Became My Mission Field

God had not forgotten me simply because He had not immediately put me into what I considered “full-time ministry.”

I was already in a mission field.

My school.

As a teacher, I had wonderful opportunities to speak to pupils and fellow teachers about salvation through Jesus Christ.

Over the years, the Lord gave me the privilege of seeing a number of children and teachers come to profess faith in Christ.

Eventually, I became a school principal.

God had kept me in education.

And He had given me souls to reach there.

Then something happened that seemed to destroy any possibility of ever becoming a preacher.

I Lost My Voice

During 1996, I began experiencing problems with my voice while teaching.

At first, it was troublesome.

Then it became serious.

While I was trying to teach a class, my voice would simply disappear.

I was referred to a throat specialist.

After extensive examinations, including a brain scan, I was told that a virus had apparently affected the brain stem and damaged the nerve centre controlling one of my vocal cords.

I could speak for only a short time before my voice would disappear.

The specialist told me that medically there was nothing that could be done.

My teaching career was over.

This was a tremendous disappointment.

I was losing the profession in which I had served for years.

But there was something else that hurt even more.

How could a man without a voice ever preach?

I had wanted to serve God in full-time ministry.

And now I could hardly speak.

Yet in the middle of that disappointment, God gave me peace.

I knew that He did not make mistakes.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” — Romans 8:28

Then My Voice Began Coming Back

I left teaching during 1997.

About three months later, I began noticing something unexpected.

My voice seemed to be getting stronger.

I immediately made an appointment with a specialist.

Eventually, three specialists in Pretoria examined me. They studied the scans and reports from my earlier examinations and conducted their own tests.

Their conclusion astonished me.

They could not explain it.

But the damaged vocal cord was strengthening.

The words of Jesus came to mind:

“With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” — Mark 10:27

The very voice I thought I had lost was returning.

And God was about to show me why.

God Opened the Door

At about this time, I had completed my theological studies.

Then a group of Baptist believers approached me and asked whether I would pastor their church.

Years earlier, I had tried to enter full-time ministry.

The door had closed.

Now, after losing my teaching career and nearly losing my voice, I had not forced open any door.

God opened one.

I began to understand something I had started learning back in 1984:

When God calls a man into His service, God is able to arrange the circumstances.

He does it His way.

And He does it in His time.

The words of Isaiah became precious:

“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” — Isaiah 30:21

The teacher who had lost his voice became a preacher.

He Has Never Forsaken Me

By God’s grace and mercy, I entered full-time Christian ministry.

Life since my conversion has not always been easy.

Becoming a Christian did not mean that there would never again be disappointment, suffering, uncertainty, or trials.

But through it all, there is one thing I have never experienced:

I have never experienced Christ forsaking me.

I can say with complete confidence that His promise is true:

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” — Hebrews 13:5

When I look back over my life, I see a religious boy who thought that church membership made him a Christian.

I see a young man chasing the pleasures of the world.

I see alcohol taking control of his life.

I see a Christian woman whose life showed him that his own Christianity was empty.

I see a sinner on his knees on January 16, 1981.

I see the alcohol lose its grip.

I see a schoolteacher who wanted to become a preacher but had to learn to wait for God.

I see that same teacher being told that his voice was permanently damaged.

And then I see God give him back his voice and open a pulpit.

Through it all, I have learned:

God makes no mistakes.

Religion Cannot Save You

Dear reader, perhaps you have religion as I once did.

Perhaps you were baptized.

Perhaps you attended Sunday school.

Perhaps you were confirmed.

Perhaps your parents are Christians.

Perhaps you attend church.

Perhaps everybody around you thinks you are a Christian.

But there is a far more important question:

Have you personally come to Jesus Christ as a lost sinner and received Him as your Saviour?

I once possessed Christianity in name.

But I did not possess Christ.

Jesus said:

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” — John 6:37

Come to Him.

And if you are already a born-again child of God, trust Him with your life regardless of your circumstances.

When a door closes, trust Him.

When your plans fail, trust Him.

When you cannot understand what He is doing, trust Him.

When it appears that the very thing you need in order to serve Him has been taken away, trust Him.

He is still in control.

“For with God all things are possible.” — Mark 10:27

Glory to His Name!

—Jannie Viljoen