Craig

“I was a mean atheist who mocked Christians — then at age 13, an overwhelming presence followed me home and I had to accept or reject God on the spot.”

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What they struggled with

Loneliness / isolation Persecution for faith

False refuges

Intellectual searching

What this story reveals about God

Relentless pursuit Unconditional love Patience Father's heart Teacher's heart

Religious background

Atheism Agnostic

Main testimony theme

How they came to faith

Supernatural encounter Intellectual conviction

Content advisory

Before you watch

This is a gentle, intellectually rich testimony from a former mean atheist who came to faith through philosophical searching and a sovereign encounter with God's presence at age 13. There is no graphic content — this story is particularly for skeptics and thinkers who believe faith and science cannot coexist, and it ends with decades of fruitful scholarship and a remarkable marriage.

What this story teaches

Intellectual resistance to God often has less to do with evidence and more to do with the framework through which evidence is filtered. When the framework shifts — even slightly — God can get through.

How God moved

Go Deeper

After I became a Christian, I still had all those intellectual questions that I had before. And so I needed to begin doing research to answer these questions. And I can happily say over the years I found answers to most of the questions. There's still questions I have. It's all right to have some questions. We never know everything. But to the deepest questions, I would pray. I would go do the research. And the Lord would help me to find the answers. One place to start is to start by asking God to show himself to you. That's where I started. Never a bad place to start. And then when he shows himself to you, when you have enough to commit yourself in trust to him for the rest of the way to show you the rest.

Intellectual resistance to God often has less to do with evidence and more to do with the framework through which evidence is filtered. When the framework shifts — even slightly — God can get through.

What you can take from this

If you have intellectual objections to faith, write down your single biggest question this week and ask God directly: 'If you're real, show me.' Then sit with the silence and notice what happens.

Core lie

Craig believed from age nine that God was an unnecessary hypothesis — that everything could be explained through naturalism and evolution. He thought Christianity was incompatible with science and mocked Christians. He had studied all ancient Mediterranean literature but scrupulously avoided the Bible.

Isolation pattern

Craig was socially awkward and self-described as one of the 'mean atheists.' He had no Christian community, no church exposure, and deliberately avoided the Bible. He was isolated from the very people and text that could have reached him.

1

God, I don't understand this, but okay. I always said, if I ever believed there was a God, I wouldn't be like these people who say they believe and don't live like it. If I ever believed there was a God, I would give you everything. So, God, I believe now cuz you're here. What am I going to do? I don't understand though what Jesus dying and rising from the dead, how that makes me right with you. But if that's what you say, I'll believe it. But God, I don't know how to be made right with you. So, if you want to make me right with you, I need you to do it yourself.

2

The pastor led me basically in the kind of prayer I'd prayed 2 days earlier. And this time I felt the same overwhelming presence of God.

3

I found that New Testament. I said, 'I better start reading this and find out the instructions for how to live a Christian life.' I found out quickly that if you read 40 chapters of the Bible a day, you can get through the New Testament once a week or through the Bible once a month.

4

I said, 'I better start going to church, too.' There was a pastor who had been nice to me. He'd seen me running to school in the rain when he was taking his daughter to school. He'd pull over and give me a ride. So that Sunday I showed up at 7:00 in the morning.

Romans 5:5–10

Craig connected this passage to the divine voice he heard about God's love shown through the cross — the Spirit pointing to Christ's death as proof of love.

Mark 12:17

Craig flipped his Bible open hoping for a call to abandon everything; it landed on 'Render to Caesar what is Caesar's' — he took it as instruction to complete his Latin assignment.

Psalms 1:1

Craig referenced the Psalms as models for prayer, describing certain psalms as meant to be prayed rather than studied.

Like Paul, Craig was an active opponent of Christians who was stopped in his tracks by an overwhelming divine presence and immediately surrendered.

Craig came to himself intellectually, recognised his need, and turned toward a Father who was already reaching out — the classic prodigal arc.

Craig explicitly invokes this parable to explain his own conversion — he was soil that looked like rock but proved good ground.

Craig's Christian Walk

Stopped beating up his younger brother Chris, whose observation of this change led Chris to faith. About 10 people came to Christ through Craig's witness in his first year as a believer. Younger siblings became believers. Married Medine and built a shared ministry. Turned down a national merit scholarship to pursue Bible college, a decision he later confirmed was right.

I guess I'm a Christian now.

Prayer

The power of Prayer — Two fundamentalist Baptist street evangelists stood in the gap for Craig.

Approached Craig on the street and shared how he could have eternal life through Jesus dying and rising again. Though Craig argued with them for 45 minutes and they could not answer his scientific questions, one called after him as he walked away warning him about hardening his heart — a word that lodged in Craig's mind and sent him home thinking seriously about eternity. Later, a kind pastor who had given Craig rides to school in the rain became the second bridge, leading him in a prayer of commitment two days after his initial conversion.

Is today your day?

Yes — I'm Ready

Absolutely, He will.

You don't have to figure everything out right now.

You don't need to have all the answers.

If something stirred in your heart while you were watching or reading — that's not nothing.

That is the Holy Spirit gently knocking on the door of your heart.

Stay right here. There's no rush. The Spirit doesn't pressure or hurry.

Watch another video. Read a little more. Take your time.

When you're ready — even if “ready” just means a little curious — Jesus is ready to meet you.

You don't have to clean up your life first.

You don't have to pass any test.

You only need to say a simple “yes” to Him.

He will take care of the rest.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Luke 11:9

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