A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
On December 25, 2012, C. Sumner Wemp, the pastor who led me to
Christ in 1958, went to be with the Lord. He was 90 years old. As I explained in another article [see “A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father,” under “Articles,” 2006, #85, at www.insightsfromtheword.com], he not only led me to Christ, he had an enormous impact on my life and ministry. Before he died, my spiritual father wrote an article to be sent after his death to the thousands of people on his personal email ministry list. It is the finest tribute I could give to him, because it so epitomizes who he was. Here it is:
“My partner in this email ministry, Steve, asked me to write something to send to you when Jesus calls me home. Well GLORY!! If you are reading this, it means I’ve seen Jesus! He has called me home and has spoken
those cherished words, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant!’ (Matt.
25:21). I’ve seen my beautiful wife, Celeste, and others who went to heaven ahead of me, those who may have read a gospel tract that told of how much Jesus loved them!
“To those still thinking about trusting Jesus:
“What are you waiting for? God loves you and sent His Son, the
Lord Jesus to suffer and die for your sins and mine. He paid the eternal
punishment for all you and I both have done wrong, all of our sins for the wages of sin is death and Jesus paid the debt in full, rose again and was seen alive by hundreds of people. If you will believe Him, that Jesus really did pay for your sins too and receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, He will save you and will give you a home in heaven, instead of sending you to hell. And I will see you someday again!
“To those already saved:
“You and I have been given the awesome and eternal privilege of
giving everyone a chance to get saved, to get their sins forgiven and go to
heaven instead of hell. We have been commanded by the God who saved us and told to us preach or give the gospel to every person. Of course we must be as courteous as we can and do it graciously which I genuinely tried to do. Out of the thousands of tracts I gave over my lifetime, less than a few dozen people have refused them or were rude to me. But as happened a couple of months ago, I gave a tract to a lady on an elevator and she blurted out. ‘Oh, I need to be saved, tell me what to do.’ In just seconds we got off the elevator and I had the thrill of giving her the gospel and the thrill of praying with her as she understood and accepted Christ as her Savior. Minutes later when I got outside the building, I started weeping and wanted to fall on my face and thank almighty God for the inestimable privilege He had just given me. So help me, witnessing and winning people to Christ will give you the most wonderful experience of your life. If you are not caring and sharing the gospel to lost human beings just like you once were, Satan is robbing you blind of eternal rejoicing and rewards that such precious experiences bring. Why don’t you do the logical and sensible
thing and obey God and get in on the greatest privileges of your life? Help
people to go to heaven instead of hell. Make sense?
“Father, You are so wonderful to let us have a part in this eternal privilege. You said, we shall catch men. Dear God please help each one reading this get in on it! In Jesus’ name.”
“Oh, how I wish I could have known each of you personally and
how I long for you to be so mightily used of God! My race is finished but God can still use you. Won’t you get in on it? You too can win souls. There is nothing greater, more lasting, more rewarding you will ever do. I implore you to stick with it and do what the Word of God says. I LOVE YOU, because of Calvary, Sumner.” (See his website: www.sumnerwemp.com.)
As you can see, evangelism burned in Sumner Wemp’s bones, for
which I will be eternally grateful.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 12/27/2012
Christ in 1958, went to be with the Lord. He was 90 years old. As I explained in another article [see “A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father,” under “Articles,” 2006, #85, at www.insightsfromtheword.com], he not only led me to Christ, he had an enormous impact on my life and ministry. Before he died, my spiritual father wrote an article to be sent after his death to the thousands of people on his personal email ministry list. It is the finest tribute I could give to him, because it so epitomizes who he was. Here it is:
“My partner in this email ministry, Steve, asked me to write something to send to you when Jesus calls me home. Well GLORY!! If you are reading this, it means I’ve seen Jesus! He has called me home and has spoken
those cherished words, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant!’ (Matt.
25:21). I’ve seen my beautiful wife, Celeste, and others who went to heaven ahead of me, those who may have read a gospel tract that told of how much Jesus loved them!
“To those still thinking about trusting Jesus:
“What are you waiting for? God loves you and sent His Son, the
Lord Jesus to suffer and die for your sins and mine. He paid the eternal
punishment for all you and I both have done wrong, all of our sins for the wages of sin is death and Jesus paid the debt in full, rose again and was seen alive by hundreds of people. If you will believe Him, that Jesus really did pay for your sins too and receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, He will save you and will give you a home in heaven, instead of sending you to hell. And I will see you someday again!
“To those already saved:
“You and I have been given the awesome and eternal privilege of
giving everyone a chance to get saved, to get their sins forgiven and go to
heaven instead of hell. We have been commanded by the God who saved us and told to us preach or give the gospel to every person. Of course we must be as courteous as we can and do it graciously which I genuinely tried to do. Out of the thousands of tracts I gave over my lifetime, less than a few dozen people have refused them or were rude to me. But as happened a couple of months ago, I gave a tract to a lady on an elevator and she blurted out. ‘Oh, I need to be saved, tell me what to do.’ In just seconds we got off the elevator and I had the thrill of giving her the gospel and the thrill of praying with her as she understood and accepted Christ as her Savior. Minutes later when I got outside the building, I started weeping and wanted to fall on my face and thank almighty God for the inestimable privilege He had just given me. So help me, witnessing and winning people to Christ will give you the most wonderful experience of your life. If you are not caring and sharing the gospel to lost human beings just like you once were, Satan is robbing you blind of eternal rejoicing and rewards that such precious experiences bring. Why don’t you do the logical and sensible
thing and obey God and get in on the greatest privileges of your life? Help
people to go to heaven instead of hell. Make sense?
“Father, You are so wonderful to let us have a part in this eternal privilege. You said, we shall catch men. Dear God please help each one reading this get in on it! In Jesus’ name.”
“Oh, how I wish I could have known each of you personally and
how I long for you to be so mightily used of God! My race is finished but God can still use you. Won’t you get in on it? You too can win souls. There is nothing greater, more lasting, more rewarding you will ever do. I implore you to stick with it and do what the Word of God says. I LOVE YOU, because of Calvary, Sumner.” (See his website: www.sumnerwemp.com.)
As you can see, evangelism burned in Sumner Wemp’s bones, for
which I will be eternally grateful.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 12/27/2012