Gospel Light Minute – Anthony Hopkins (#267)
He is a legendary Welsh actor, widely considered to be one of the greatest of his generation. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992 for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and since then was nominated for four other Academy Awards for his performances in the films, The Remains of the Day in 1993, Nixon in 1995, Amistad in 1997 and The Two Popes in 2019. He is also the recipient of three BAFTAs, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and in 2008 he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Despite the success garnered, during the early years of his career, the well-known actor was also a well-known atheist who found himself in a raging battle with alcoholism. During an appearance in 2018 at the 11th annual LEAP conference for high school and college students, the actor shared a major turning point in his life which led him from atheism and alcoholism to belief in the Almighty God.
While his alcohol addiction started “innocently” because “that’s what you do in theater, you drink,” the habit took over his life and by 1975, his drinking had spiraled out of control. “I was hell-bent on destruction,” the award-winning actor recalled. “It was like being possessed by a demon, an addiction, and I couldn’t stop. And there are millions of people around like that.”
That same year, he turned to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to seek help he desperately needed. As GodTV recounts based on the actor’s testimony, up until then, he had been an atheist. But during an AA meeting, a woman asked him a simple question: “Why don’t you just trust in God?”
Putting his faith in God was not something he had ever tried. But as desperate as he was, he thought, “Well, why not?” Deciding to believe and trust in God was the moment everything changed for the actor. “I could not stop [drinking], but I just asked for a little bit of help [from God] and suddenly, pow. It was just like, bingo,” he recalled.
Miraculously, he says the craving to drink was taken from him, “never to return again.” And he’s believed in God ever since, working daily to grow in his faith. When asked in a CNN interview with Piers Morgan if he believed in God, the repentant former atheist replied wholeheartedly, “Yes, I do. I do.”
While he will perhaps always be best known for his pitch-perfect portrayal of villainous characters like the evil Hannibal Lecter (for which he won an Oscar), the legendary actor lives out his real life with Christ in his heart. He knows what it’s like to live as an atheist before finding God and now he just feels sorry for atheists, comparing a life of unbelief to “living in a closed cell with no windows.”
“I’d hate to have to live like that, wouldn’t you?” he asks.
His name is Sir Anthony Hopkins.
This is the “Chief of Sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, reminding you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me. Just as Anthony Hopkins trusts in God for salvation, may I encourage you to do the same. Here is how:
1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In fact, I am the chief of sinners, so don’t think that you’re alone.
2. Accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
3. Accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible says in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Remember, friend, Believe by faith. Share the faith. and Keep the faith!
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