Pat Boone Encourages You to Choose Wisely
SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
In the 1960s, Pat was on a world concert tour in Thailand. One day he came across three Buddhist monks in a public square. “To my horror, I saw that they had doused themselves with kerosene and set themselves on fire,” recalled Pat.
He discovered they were doing this to draw attention to their faith to try and persuade others to believe what they believed. Pat thought, “What kind of faith was this? And did I have as much faith as those monks in what I believed?”
Although he grew up in a Christian home and was taught about God, he wanted to prove what he believed was true. Pat did extensive research and came up with three points about his faith:
- God exists – Science proves this. For example, the earth’s orderly creation. Somebody had to be the Designer, Creator, and the Source of everything.
- The Bible is the Word of God – Divinely inspired and authored through inspired men. The original documents of the Old and New Testaments were copied by scribes and oracles sometimes simultaneously. Most were written on perishable paper. The fact that biblical texts from the period before the Babylonian exile survived is a miracle.
- Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Israel – “There are more eyewitnesses, factual information recorded about this young Jewish man than about any of the world rulers or prominent people of His time,” shared Pat. He is the Savior of all men and women.
After his findings, Pat renewed his own commitment to Jesus. Pat faithfully reads through the Bible every year since then and makes it his mission to convince everyone of the truths God has shown him.
SMALL WORD, BIG POWER
The word “if” is a tiny word. “Huge matters hang on what this little word says, and sometimes, world changing circumstances and events follow it,” shared Pat. Some examples include:
- IF Noah hadn’t obeyed God, all life would have been destroyed. Noah obeyed and built the ark. His family was allowed to live.
- IF Lot’s wife had not looked back on Sodom, she would not have turned to a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife disobeyed and died.
- IF Moses’ people (Israelites) applied the blood of an animal to their doorpost, their firstborn would be spared when the angel of death went through the land. The Israelites obeyed and their firstborn were spared. God keeps His promises for blessings and curses.
THE BIGGEST “IF”
The biggest and most urgent “IF” of all is the choice to follow Jesus (spend eternal life in Heaven with God) or to reject Him (spend eternity in hell). A great majority of people will choose not to follow Him. For those who do the path is not easy, but the gift is never ending life.
Through the years Pat has done more than 300 baptisms in his swimming pool at his house in Beverly Hills. He does this because churches don’t baptize like they used to. A few years ago, he baptized a woman named Mary who was 81-years-old. She was uncertain if she was saved because she didn’t feel saved. Pat asked if she would believe it, if Jesus says she is saved. He reminded her of the scripture : “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved…; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Mary agreed with the scripture and was baptized by Pat. Once she was immersed and came out of the water, she was excited and knew with certainty in her heart she was saved. Mary died one week later.
PAT’S INFO.
Pat has sold 45 million records worldwide, has 13 gold singles, two gold albums and a platinum album, and has recorded over 2,300 songs, more than any recording artist in recorded music history (Frank Sinatra recorded 1,500). Pat had forty-one chart hits in the 1950s – one more than Elvis Presley. His most notable smashes included the No. 1 records “Don’t Forbid Me,” “Love Letters in the Sand” and “April Love,” all three issued in 1957.
He also starred in 15 movies and has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2003 Pat was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Other ventures: he owned the Oakland Oaks basketball team in 1969, made the biggest deal in the history of the ABC network program, Shark Tank, a few years ago for the American rights to the Air Car and started Mercy Corps, in their home, now a half billion dollar a year nonprofit humanitarian organization.
He married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Foley, when they were nineteen and attended college together. They had four daughters and were married sixty-five years before her death in 2019. “We lived a wonderful, blessed life together. I’ve parted with my better half for a little while…but we don’t die, we just move on to another place, and today (January 11, 2019) was moving day,” Pat said of his high school sweetheart. “She’s changed her address is all and moved to a different mansion that I expect to join her in one day.”
At 88, Pat is still very active. He just finished a cruise which departed from Istanbul and disembarked in Athens. He plays tennis every Saturday. Pat is also the direct, five “greats” grandson of pioneer Daniel Boone.
