ARTMSTRONG: GOD'S WORD CAME SUDDENLY

CAPE GIRARDEAU - When former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong of Colorado decided to let God change his life, the inspiration came from a man he didn't even know.

"All in all, my life changed dramatically," said Armstrong, the main speaker at the Fourth Annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Show Me Center. "Not in a bolt of lightning, but a little bit every day over the past 17 years."

Armstrong spoke Friday morning to what Cape Girardeau Mayor Francis "Gene" Rhodes said appeared to be the largest crowd to attend a prayer breakfast. Show Me Center Director David Ross said 815 people attended.

Until January, Armstrong had served two terms in the U.S. Senate. His 12-year career there ended after he announced that he would not seek another term.

Prior to being a senator, Armstrong president of an Idaho television station and a former newspaper and radio station owner also served six years as a U.S. congressman.

The fateful day came 17 years ago, said Armstrong. He told the crowd that despite career successes in both business and politics, with the money and influence that accompanied them, he wasn't happy.

"I was desperate. I was despondent. I was crumbling inside," he said until a man he didn't even know visited him in his House of Representatives office and asked him where he stood with Jesus Christ.

"You know I didn't expect someone to ask me that. That's not the kind of thing we talked about where I came from; we didn't even talk about that in church."

But instead of dismissing the man or the situation, Armstrong said, he listened. Today, he said he believes God prepared his heart for the occasion.

"(God) gives each of us a unique set of experiences that prepares us to consider seriously ... Jesus Christ. I believe he makes that opportunity available to all of us," Armstrong said.

The man, Armstrong said, told him that if he wanted to get his life back on track and have the relationship with God that he wanted, he would have to follow four spiritual laws. The first three were that God loves him and has a wonderful plan for his life; that there was something in his life that made it impossible for him to enjoy the relationship with God that he would like to have, and that the only way to be forgiven for sin, according to the Bible, is Jesus Christ.

Yet it was the fourth law that really had an impact on him, said Armstrong. And the point was that people aren't Christians simply because their parents are, because they're members of a church, or because their grandfather may be a preacher, as Armstrong said his grandfather was. Rather, being a Christian is a conscious act of the will, Armstrong said the man told him.

After that, he said, all aspects of his life changed for the better, especially his family life. Armstrong said that although his marriage had been a happy one, it too, was greatly enriched.

Armstrong has since relayed the same message of the four spiritual laws to other people. One such person was a young male legislative assistant at the U.S. Senate whom Armstrong had known for years.

The exchange took place on the front steps of the U.S. Senate right after Armstrong had been defeated on the senate floor over an amendment he had authored. Although Armstrong said he was very upset afterwards, and ready to sulk in his office, his gaze fell upon the assistant, and Armstrong knew it was the moment he was to speak to the assistant about Jesus Christ.

Armstrong said he thought to himself, "Lord, not now." But the impulse was too strong.

"I walked over to him and, just in a fury, I said, `Follow me,'" Armstrong said sternly. "And I gave to him what I believe is the crankiest presentation of the gospel that has ever been heard in North America."

Then Armstrong left the assistant standing on the steps. It took another year for him to find out what had happened in the young man's life. Now, Armstrong said, he is one of the great young leaders in Washington, D.C., and a teacher of Bible studies.

Yet Armstrong said things like the messenger or the smoothness of the message doesn't matter at all. "What God honors is the intention of our heart," he said.

Prior to Armstrong's comments Friday, Mayor Rhodes welcomed everyone to the breakfast.

"It's great when we can all come together and put aside our petty differences and break bread," Rhodes said.

The event was sponsored by the Christian Business Men's Committee of Cape Girardeau.