Thomas P. McCarthy

The last time I met with Tom at his trailer in Florida, he told me that he gave his life to Christ as a child. We’ve all sinned and gone astray and the only hope any one of us has in eternity with God is believing that Christ died for our sins and that he rose again for our justification. Tom may not have walked the walk, but anyone who thinks they do, better look twice at the word of God. All have sinned, all have gone astray, all have fallen short of the glory of God, all are in need of a Savior, and Jesus is the only one who can save. The wages of our sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. If you believe in your heart, and profess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. Tom believed Jesus was his Savior. God’s ways are higher than ours, his thoughts are higher than ours. Jesus said, “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” Who are we to question how and to what extent God “cleans up,” those he accepts and receives. Tom was not the expletive that his naturally born children profess him to be; Tom was a child of God, made in the image of God, birthed into a world full of sin and sinful people. He may have been deceived, but again, if you think you aren’t, it is only by the grace of God, the light of his Word, that we are delivered from lies, deception, falsehood, and enabled to abide in him. We don’t abide in God because we’ve earned it, we abide in God by the grace of God. Tom did not earn it, he did not deserve it, but he shared his witness of believing what he had been taught from a young age with me, he believed Jesus was his Savior. Tom was a S.O.G.M.H. that’s a Son of God Most High. His daughter Bobbi has also professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior and would do well to take to heart all of his teachings, especially those about what comes out of the mouth being a reflection of what is stored in the heart. A good tree bearing good fruit and a bad tree bearing bad fruit and a good tree being incapable of bearing bad fruit and likewise, a bad tree being incapable of bearing good fruit. Judge not, lest ye be judged. The kingdom of heaven is near, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Ye must be born again.