S.S.

God sometimes meets a challenge head on and judges sin. Other times he waits for the sinner to repent. When God does not judge a boy or girl right away for their sin, he is longsuffering.

A man named Robert Ingersoll was an atheist. He did not believe there was a God. He did not want other people to believe in God either. He preached against God with as much energy as he could. We know that the Bible says there is a God and that God is loving to all men. God would give Ingersoll a chance to be saved right up until he died.

One night in a large auditorium, Ingersoll was trying to convince a large crowd that there was no such thing as God.

"I'll give God a chance to prove that he exists!" said Ingersoll. "I'll give him a chance to prove that he can do anything. I challenge him to strike me dead within 5 minutes!"

Ingersoll waited silently with his watch in his hand. A minute went by and nothing happened. Another minute went by and some people left. They didn't want to be there if something happened. Another minute went by and a woman fainted. The mood was tense and the room was deathly silent. One minute to go and Ingersoll was still standing defiantly on the stage. Finally five minutes were up. Ingersoll slipped his watch into his pocket and turned to the audience.

"See!" he said boldly. "There is no God. I am still very much alive!"

After the speech a young man said to a christian lady. "Well, guess Ingersoll certainly proved something tonight!"

"He certainly did," said the lady. "But not what he wanted to prove. All he proved was that God's mercy cannot be exhausted in just five minutes."

God says it this way. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Don't be surprised then to know that if Ingersoll never was saved, he certainly did meet his challenge. Ingersoll would meet God.