Right Choices Book

I'm always inspired when I hear of people who have every reason to fail, yet they choose to succeed. Likewise, my heart breaks when I hear of people who have every reason to succeed, yet they choose to fail.

Fifty-two right ethical choices are highlighted with short stories of personal successes and failures. Each lesson is reinforced with corresponding bullet points. The scripture analysis section is unique, well researched, and easy to understand. The book is appropriate for both youth and adults. All will be enlightened by the realization that:

You are not a victim of your circumstances.

You will always have an opportunity to choose

Galen Manning


	Sample Chapter from Right Choices

ACCEPT JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOUR

Chapter 26

FOR the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market place, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us.

He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Matthew 20: 1-14

He was eighty-eight years old when he died. Mother wanted her three boys to be involved in the funeral. My younger brother, David, read the obituary and the passage of scripture referenced above. My older brother, Gary, shared fond memories of our dad. I preached the following sermon:

“My brothers have spoken to you of events concerning our dad’s life. I will take my turn now and speak to you about our dad’s death and the days leading up to our dad’s death. I have a portion of scripture to read to you from the second chapter of II Kings.

AND it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.

And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day?
And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.

And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day?

And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan.

And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.

And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.

And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.

The fifteenth of the month was significant for my father. He was born on August 15. He died on March 15. But the most important fact that I will share with you today is that he was saved, accepted Jesus as his Savior, on February 15, thirty days prior to his death. If you knew my dad well, you know this was truly a miracle. Dad was a self-proclaimed agnostic. His official religious claim was that he did not know if God existed. He had worked out in his mind that since he hadn’t seen God, nor heard God, nor touched God, he therefore could not verify the existence of God. Since he could not verify the existence of God, he therefore would not humble himself to pray to a god who might not exist.

Dad suffered with Parkinson’s disease for many years. Mother was quite attentive in her efforts to care for him. About two years ago, it was discovered that Dad also had cancer. He was too frail to survive the surgery that was needed to eradicate the disease. We all knew his time for continued life was limited.

Everyone in the family talked to Dad about his need to accept Jesus as his Savior. We told him, ‘Dad, there’s going to come a time when you will be departing this life, and it will be important for you to know that you are right with God.’ But it was hard for Dad to accept the existence of God. He had spent his entire life refusing to acknowledge God, and he didn’t want to change his beliefs now.

Dad never joined a church. He only attended services two times a year, Easter and Christmas. He always wanted to see his children or grandchildren in the church plays and the choir presentations. I think he enjoyed the fellowship, but he never accepted the doctrine of the church. I remember being a small child when Dad came to watch me in an Easter program. The pastor asked everyone to stand and bow their heads for a word of prayer. I opened my eyes to peek at my dad. His eyes weren’t closed and his head wasn’t bowed. He refused to pray to a god whom he could not verify existed.

Dad’s health declined. We knew he wouldn’t live long. He became interested in talking about the possibility of the existence of God, but nothing more. He still wasn’t ready to humble himself before God and accept Jesus as his Savior. ‘God may not exist,’ he told me, ‘and Jesus may have been just a normal man.’

Salvation is a personal matter. We could not accept Jesus as Savior in place of our dad, and we could not force Dad to accept Jesus as his Savior. If he was to be saved, he would have to choose to accept Jesus as his Savior for himself.

Last month, on February 15, Mother left the house to go grocery shopping. At that time, we were able to leave Dad unattended for only brief periods of time. I was assigned the job of checking on Dad while Mother was away. As I walked into the house, the phone was ringing. Dad’s sister, Aunt Madge, was calling. When I answered the phone Madge said, ‘Galen, I know this is a silly thing to ask, but would you ask Walter if he ever found that spoon he was looking for?’

‘I don’t know if I ever got back with you Madge; [ I was speaking to Madge while addressing the congregation,] but in case you were still wondering about it, he did find the spoon.’

‘I’ve been talking with Walter for quite a while,’ Madge said. ‘He’s concerned. He knows he’s going to die. He doesn’t know if there’s a heaven to go to and he doesn’t know if he will be going there if it does exist.’

‘I’ll go talk to him,’ I said.

I walked into his room and knelt down beside his hospital bed, a bed which the hospice organization had provided for him. ‘Dad,’ I said, ‘Aunt Madge said you’ve been talking to her about God. Would you like to talk some more?’

He said, ‘Yes’.

I shared some personal testimony with him about my relationship with God. Then he asked me, ‘How can we know that there actually is a God?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘You just have to look for evidence. Consider for instance, God’s Word, the Bible. Did you know that the Bible was written over a period of 1600 years by forty different authors. Did you know that from the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, to the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, there is a single continuous message presented to us. That message is that God loves us and He wants a relationship with us, but sin has separated us from God. That’s why God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross and thereby pay for the penalty of our sins. Through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, we can be blessed with a relationship with God. The Old Testament points to that message. The New Testament verifies that message. Another piece of evidence in God’s Word is fulfillment of prophesy. Some things prophesied, or in other words, predicted in some portions of scripture are fulfilled in other portions of scripture. There are literally thousands of fulfilled specific prophesies scattered throughout the Bible. Considering the time span involved in the writing of the Bible, the number of people involved, the fulfillment of prophesy, and the continuity of the message presented to us in the Bible, the Bible itself is a miracle. It’s evidence of the existence of God.’

Then he said, ‘But nobody’s ever seen God. How do you know that there is a God when you can’t see him?’

‘But you’ve seen miracles,’ I replied. ‘You’ve seen miracles happen within your family’s lives. You’ve seen miracles in my life. There have been times in my life when you’ve seen me receive miraculous healing, and you know that. You saw me when I was sick, and yet you know that I am now healed. Remember when I was diagnosed with an incurable disease called essential tremors.’ [The disease has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.] ‘I suffered with it for almost three years, yet God has delivered me from it. I no longer take medication for it, and I no longer have any symptoms of the disease. You know that the doctors said there was no cure for essential tremors, yet you know also that I’m healed. You may not see God, but you do see evidence of God when you see miracles.

‘It’s just so hard to accept,’ he said.

‘Well, let’s just take a look at someone in the Bible who also was skeptical and had a difficult time accepting the reality of the things of God.’ I turned to the third chapter of John and read to my dad the story of a man named Nicodemus.

THERE was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

I stopped reading so I could try to explain this portion of scripture to my dad. ‘It takes a flesh birth, a born of water birth, to enter natural life. My daughter-in-law, Lauren, is pregnant with twin babies right now. The two babies are currently living in their mother’s womb. In every pregnant mother’s womb there is embryonic fluid; Jesus called it water, which is necessary to protect and grow the baby, or babies, until they are ready to be born. This, the natural pregnancy and birth process, is what I believe Jesus was referring to when he said, ‘Except a man be born of water.’ But Jesus also said that we must be born ‘of the Spirit’, or else, ‘he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’

Dad, like Nicodemus, understood the flesh birth, the born of water birth. But, Dad, like Nicodemus, did not understand the spiritual birth. So I read further.

‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, Ye must be born again.’

‘Do you see this Dad? When Jesus said, ‘Ye must be born again,’ He wasn’t referring to a natural / flesh birth. He was referring to a spiritual birth. That’s why he said you must be born again. Let’s read further.’

‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’

I explained, ‘When you walk outside, and you see the leaves on the trees moving, you’re seeing evidence of the wind. You can’t see the wind itself because air is invisible to us, but you know the wind is blowing because you see the evidence. That’s a reference to the spiritual aspect of being born again. When you get saved, Jesus doesn’t come down and physically shake your hand and God doesn’t hand you a document to put in a frame and hang on the wall. But you know a change has taken place because you can feel it. You don’t see anything tangible happen, but you know something is different because you feel it. You do, however, see results from being born of the Spirit. When the wind blows the leaves, each leaf’s movement is a result of the wind blowing. When a person accepts Jesus as his Savior, the lifestyle changes and the attitude changes that occur are also a result of being born of the Spirit. Let’s read some more.’

‘Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?’

‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:’

I stopped again to explain. ‘When the children of Israel were traveling to the promised land, they got distracted and they rebelled against God. Even though God had miraculously provided for them all along their journey, they chose to give up on God by questioning God’s motives. God, however, didn’t give up on them. They had traveled far from Egypt, and they were headed toward the promised land. They needed God’s protection from all the enemies that surrounded them. God had to re-focus their attention back to him, so he sent fiery serpents among the people. Then, when the people were bitten by the serpents, they repented of their sin and cried out to God for help. So often that’s what people do. When things are going well, they ignore God. But when a time of need arises, they repent and cry out to God. So God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. Everyone who suffered with a snake bite from one of the fiery serpents was required to stare at the serpent of brass, on the pole. After focusing their attention on the serpent of brass, they received their physical healing. Let’s understand what Jesus was talking about when he said, ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.’ When Jesus said Son of man, He was referring to Himself. When Jesus said, ‘Even so must the Son of man be lifted up,’ He was referring to the cross on which He would be crucified. The children of Israel had to focus their attention on the serpent of brass in order to receive their physical healing. We have to focus our attention on Jesus, in order to receive our spiritual healing, or in other words, our salvation.’ I continued reading.

‘That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.’

‘Here’s an important part, Dad.’

‘He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.’

I explained a critical concept to my Dad at this time. ‘Dad, do you understand, being a good person is not good enough. You’ve been a good person your whole life. But you’re in condemnation if you don’t believe in the Son of God; if you don’t accept Jesus as your Savior.’ Then I turned directly to him and said, ‘Dad, would you like to be saved?’

He said, ‘Yes.’

Then I said, ‘Would you like to pray a sinner’s prayer of repentance, and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins?’

He said, ‘Yes, but I don’t know how to pray.’

He was a man who had lived eighty-eight years, but never in his life had he prayed. Remember his refusal to bow his head at the Easter service. I suppose that if you had an opportunity to talk to the most wicked scoundrel in the country, you’d probably find out that at some time in his life, he had gotten into trouble and had cried out to God. But that’s not true of my Dad. He never prayed. He didn’t even know how to pray.

I said, ‘It’s easy. Just talk to God.’

He said, ‘I just don’t know if I can do it.’

I said, ‘Would you like me to pray with you? You can just repeat after me.’

He said, ‘Yes.’

I walked over to the hospital bed. I knelt down beside him. I held his hand. I opened my mouth and started to pray. All of a sudden, the phone rang. I didn’t want to let the moment pass so I ignored it for about three rings. Then I decided that it was too much distraction. I answered the phone. It was Diane, Gary’s wife.

She said, ‘I was just checking on Walter. How’s he doing?’

I said, ‘Diane, he’s about to pray through to salvation right now.’

‘Oh! I’ll hang up the phone.’

We both hung up the phone. I walked back to the bedroom. I visited with Dad a little bit more, then I said, ‘Are you ready, again, to pray?’

He said, ‘Yes.’

I knelt down beside him again. I held his hand. I closed my eyes. I opened my mouth to begin praying when, once again, the phone rang. This time I didn’t wait for three rings. I got up immediately and walked into the next room to answer the phone. As I was walking to the phone, the door swung open, and into the house walked my daughter Amy. She was one step ahead of me, so she answered the phone before I could get to it. I was thinking, ‘I can’t let this opportunity pass.’ I turned around and walked back to the bedroom again. I got to the same spot, bypassing any discussion this time. I got down on one knee. I grabbed hold of my dad’s hand. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth to pray when… into the room walked my wife, Barbie, and Amy.

‘Hi, Granddad! How are you doing!?’

They immediately realized something significant and personal was happening and they backed out of the room with an ‘Oh! We’re sorry. We’ll come back later.’

There had been a lot of distractions, but, it appeared now that we had our opportunity to pray. I turned to my dad and said, ‘Dad, are you ready to pray a sinner’s prayer of repentance, to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, now?’

He looked at me and said, ‘No.’

No?! All I could think was… ‘Awwwwwwwwgh!!!’

Then he said, ‘I’ve been thinking about it. I think I’d like my family to be here for this.’

‘Oh ….well… Ok! Great idea!’

He then said, ‘I want to get all my family here!’

I said, ‘Well, Kayla [David‘s daughter] is in Weatherford, Oklahoma. I don’t know if we can get her here.’ I was thinking that we shouldn’t put this off for a week. ‘But I can get my brothers and some of our children here. Would that be all right?’

He said, ‘Yes.’

I contacted my brothers, told them what was happening, and asked them to bring as many of their children as were available. I called my children. My mother arrived home, found out what was happening, and then she started calling people and telling them to pray for this event.

That evening, we all met at Mother and Dad’s house at seven o’clock. We gathered around the kitchen table. We shared some personal testimony about our salvation experiences and our relationships with God. We read the scripture about the story Jesus told concerning the laborers who went to the field at different times of the day; yet when it came time for them to receive their wages, they all received the same payment. Gary said, ‘You see Dad, it doesn’t matter that you are waiting until you’re eighty-eight years old to get saved. The payment is still the same. You’ll go to heaven the same as you would if you would have accepted Jesus as your Savior when you were a young person.’

Someone said, ‘Are you ready to pray?’

He said, ‘Yes,’ and ‘I hope Jesus can forgive me of my sins.’

We all spoke at once. ‘Oh yes, Dad! Jesus can forgive you! Absolutely, Dad! Jesus will forgive you!’

Karissa [David’s daughter] had a written-out prayer of repentance. Here’s what it said:

Heavenly Father, I have sinned against you.

want forgiveness for all my sins

believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and arose again

Father, I give you my life to do with as you wish.

I want Jesus to come into my life and into my heart.

This I ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen

David was sitting next to Dad. He read the words of this prayer, one line at a time, and Dad repeated every word. It was his first prayer. He repeated each line with emotion and in a strong voice. When it came time for Amen, he almost shouted out - ‘AMEN!’

Dad was never an affectionate person, but he felt emotional at the time. He wanted to express it to us in some way. When he finished praying, we were all still sitting around the table smiling at each other. Dad said, ‘I’d like to shake everyone’s hand!’ We all stood up, lined up in a row, and each one of us took our turn shaking his hand. No sooner had we finished shaking Dad’s hand and offering our congratulations that he spoke to us again and said, ‘I want to give everyone a hug!’ We all lined up, again, and allowed him to give each one of us a hug. Once this was completed, and we had all sat back down, Dad said, ‘I want you all to know that I love you very much.’

I’m forty-nine years old. That was the first time I can ever remember hearing my father say that he loved me. I knew that he surely did, but he never shared things like that. Dear friends, can you see the change that takes place, immediately in people’s lives, when they allow Jesus to take the load of the sin that they’ve been carrying and they allow God to replace sin’s burden with his love! Dad was never able to express to his children that he loved them, because he never knew that God loved him. Once Dad chose to accept Jesus as his Savior, the shackles of sin were released, and he was free to receive love and free to express love.

We had about a week to rejoice. Dad had about a week of mental clarity before his mind started failing him. But during that week, his mind was alert and rational. He participated in Bible study every day. He had prayer before each meal, and he had a time of personal prayer to God each day. His demeanor took on a sweetness that we had never seen before. The change in his life was truly amazing.

After about a week, as Dad’s mind began to fail him, he was no longer able to have conversations or think rationally. His body began shutting down and the dying process took over.

Remember the scripture that I started with today: Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, and Elisha saw it.

We had some hospice nurses attending to Dad for the last few weeks of his life. They were quite helpful. We appreciate them very much. Mother’s favorite nurse was a lady named Suzy. About 4:00 A.M. on the morning that my dad was to pass away, Mother called hospice, and Suzy came to assist the family. Suzy had seen death many times. That’s what she does for a living. She assists patients and their families with the dying process. We three boys were taking turns staying with Dad in his final days. Gary refused to leave, but David and I took turns each night. It was my night off. Dad’s health had deteriorated. He was suffering terribly. At about 6:45 A.M., there was a call at my house. Barbie answered the phone. Mother said, ‘Tell Galen to get over here right now!’

I jumped up and got into my clothes. As I was putting on my shirt, a button popped off. I fumbled with the button situation for about fifteen to twenty seconds. Barbie scolded me, ‘Don’t worry about that button, just go!’ I ran out the door and drove quickly down the road to my mother and dad’s house. At the same instant that I was opening the door and taking my first step to enter the house, Dad breathed his last breath, and Suzy pronounced him to be dead.

I walked into the bedroom. Everyone was sitting around the bed facing the body of my father. I could immediately tell that life was gone from my father’s face. I had been watching him almost constantly for the last couple of days, not being sure at any time if life was going to continue to the next breath. But seeing him now, it was easy to recognize that life was gone. He just looked different. Something about a person’s appearance changes when life has left the body. They began to share with me what had happened. They said that Dad had suffered terribly throughout the night. But, in that last few minutes of Dad’s life, a peaceful look had come across his face. They said he had died peacefully. Sometime during that last few minutes, when the peaceful look was on his face, Suzy had turned to my brothers and my mother and said, ‘Your father / your husband, is viewing the Promised Land right now.’

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, and Elisha saw it.

I can only imagine what my father was seeing as he was viewing the Promised Land.

We were all standing around the hospital bed. Dad’s body was still warm and we were all touching his arms or holding his hand. Someone turned the light on and Mother said ‘Turn the light off. Walter never liked it shining in his eyes.’ He was gone, but Mother was acting like he was still alive. As I stood there by the bed, looking at my dad, all I could see was death. But, from my father’s perspective, he was viewing the Promised Land, and all he could see was life!

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, and Elisha saw it!

Dear friends! If only we could see what our loved ones see as they leave this life and enter the Promised Land. When Elijah entered heaven by the whirlwind, Elisha saw it! I was viewing the body, and all I could see was death. But Dad was viewing the Promised Land, and all he could see was life.

I can only imagine what was taking place at that time. I remembered the last words my dad said before he prayed the sinner’s prayer: ‘I hope Jesus can forgive me of my sins.’ I can imagine that at the very moment we were gathered around the bed, viewing the body which used to contain my father, Dad was at that moment standing at the entrance gate to Heaven. I can imagine my dad turning to the gate keeper and repeating those same words, ‘ I hope Jesus can forgive me of my sins.’ I would presume that the first person to step out and greet the new arrival would be Jesus himself. I can imagine Jesus hearing my dad say those words, ‘I hope Jesus can forgive me of my sins,’ and Jesus himself stepping out from behind a gate post, reaching out his hand and saying ‘Welcome, Walter. Yes, I can forgive you… I just did… I just did.”

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God: Romans 3:23

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us: Romans 5: 8

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord: Romans 6:23