We sometimes ask that of old schoolfriends, but what about this bloke?…

Here is an extract from Robert Drewe’s autobiographical book The Shark Net.

He devotes one whole chapter to the Billy Graham phenomena in 1959. He describes the climactic moment of the service:

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His arms swept up. His hands were cupped, seeming to draw us in to him. ‘Christ stands with the man and woman in the street,’ he said. ‘Repent. Believe in Christ the Lord. Be saved.’ Then suddenly quieter now, he invited everyone to come forward and receive Christ. A tremor flickered through the audience.

It seemed a lot of

Perth

people were aching to be saved. In every row people shifted in their seats and began to stand, to respond, to join him on the stage. Soon they were deciding for Christ all over the place – healthy people, cripples, old and young, the well dressed and the casual. He kept quietly urging and beckoning us to join him. It was hypnotic. It was contagious.

The people getting up from the seats didn’t look like religious maniacs. They looked like your average movie audience on a Saturday night. I recognised neighbours and a contingent of biys from

Wesley

College

whom I’d played sports against. I saw my friend John Sturkey. I saw the chemist’s wife and my old math’s teacher. Two rows along I saw Eric the Dunlop delivery driver, sitting by a sign saying ‘South Perth Methodists’. People stood up all along the rows of chairs and people began sliding down from the roofs of the cattle, horse and pig pavilions. The chemist’s wife stood up. Eric stood up and joined Billy Graham. People were having conversions all around me.

Why is this significant? Because the ‘Eric’ he mentions is the infamous WA serial killer – Eric Cooke who wreaked havoc in the western suburbs of

Perth

in the late 50’s and 60’s, with two innocent people getting charged with his crimes.

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So – let’s assume Eric made a genuine decision to follow Jesus that night (he was probably well aware of his sin). And yet he continued to kill other women.

Where is Eric now? Is the grace of God so huge that a one off commitment ensures one’s eternal destiny, or do we need to ‘prove’ our salvation in some way?