Earnie

The house in Thailand had been dedicated to territorial spirits with spirit strings running around the entire perimeter. Bob's family experienced sustained illness — malaria for Bob, near-death illness for his infant son — and general spiritual attack while living there.

By age nine or ten, Bob had already been introduced to alcohol, pornography, and foul language through the construction-site environment — a trajectory that, without intervention, would have led to a drug overdose or car wreck by his own assessment.

After Bob's conversion, his father was distraught — he had lost the drinking buddy and business heir he planned for. He did not speak to Bob for six weeks after Bob prayed over him during a medical emergency, creating sustained relational tension designed to discourage the new believer.

Jeremiah 1:5

The anchor verse of Bob's testimony — God's foreknowledge and calling before birth, which Bob saw as God's plan for a poor Alabama boy.

Romans 3:23

One of five verses the young evangelist used to lead Bob to Christ — 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'

Ephesians 2:8–9

Salvation as the gift of God, not of works — the verse that made it clear to Bob this was what he needed.

1 Corinthians 10:13

God provides a way out of temptation — gave Bob assurance he could overcome habits and temptations of his youth.

Psalms 119:105

Implicit in Bob's repeated description of the Word as a billboard and road sign guiding his life.

Mark 5:9–10

Bob cited Legion's territorial plea — 'don't cast us out of this region' — to explain the demonic oppression he encountered in Thailand.

Galatians 4:4

'In the fullness of time Jesus came' — Bob applied this principle to God's perfect timing in bringing the gospel to Thailand.

Luke 2:29–30

Bob compared himself to Simeon — having seen the Lord's work, he is at peace and ready to go to heaven.

Matthew 28:19–20

The Great Commission — the explicit scriptural mandate Bob and his wife surrendered to when called to Southeast Asia.

Luke 23:42–43

Bob compared his father's deathbed prayer for forgiveness to the thief on the cross — a last-moment salvation.

Bob explicitly anchors his entire testimony to this verse — God's foreknowledge and calling of an unlikely poor boy from Alabama.

Bob explicitly compares himself to Simeon — having seen God's glory in his lifetime, he is at peace and ready to depart.

Bob explicitly names this parallel for his father's last-moment prayer for forgiveness before dying of a heart attack.

Bob directly cited the Legion account to explain the territorial demonic oppression his family encountered in Thailand.

Jesus told Bob to look at how he trained the Twelve as the model for training evangelistic teams in the Philippines.