August 17, 2024 • 26 mins
Can someone's darkest moments truly be a path to light? Bruce Plummer returns to our podcast to share a riveting account of how he found salvation amidst despair. From wrestling with anger and homelessness to a failed suicide attempt, Bruce’s story is nothing short of transformative. Discover how a chance encounter with Pastor Gibb and the powerful message of John 3:16 illuminated his path to redemption, setting the stage for a profound inner change. Bruce candidly discusses how acknowledging his sins and seeking forgiveness altered the course of his life, offering a profound lesson on the transformative power of faith.
Witness a life changed by faith as Bruce recounts his spiritual awakening and miraculous cure from alcoholism. His new journey led him to Oklahoma Baptist University and the First Indian Baptist Church, paving the way for a devoted ministry. Inspired by Henry Blackaby, Bruce eventually returned to his home reservation, dedicating over 22 years to spreading the gospel through Fry Bread Fellowship Ministries. Through heartfelt personal stories, he shares the impactful spiritual work accomplished among America's indigenous people, offering a moving testament to God's boundless love and grace. Tune in to hear how Bruce’s unwavering faith continues to inspire and transform lives.
https://www.montanaindianministries.org/
https://www.jacksonfamilyministry.com
https://bobslone.com/home/podcast-production/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to More Than Medicine.
I'm your host, dr RobertJackson, bringing to you
biblical insights and storiesfrom the country doctor's rusty,
dusty scrapbook.
Well, I'm delighted once againthis week to have Bruce Plummer
with me.
We started off with his storylast week and again we're going
to finish up where we left off.
(00:22):
So, bruce, welcome to More ThanMedicine.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm glad to be here again.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, last week we finished with your testimony and
I want us to back up a littlebit because some of my listeners
probably were not here lastweek.
So, Bruce, if you don't mind, Iwant you to go backwards in
time a little bit in your storyto where you were in the home of
Pastor Gibb.
(00:51):
Did I say that right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Gibb, yeah Gibb.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh, Pastor Gibb, Okay , and just share with them the
crisis point in your life wherehe and his family were sharing
the gospel with you and you madeyour profession of faith in his
home.
If you don't mind, go back intime to there and then let's go
forward from there.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Okay, all right.
Well, I sure appreciate theopportunity to share what God
has done for me in my life.
And some time ago I read a bookfrom Mark Tw Twain, and he was
a great philosopher and he hadonce said that the two greatest
days in any individual's life isthe day they were born and the
(01:34):
day that they found out why.
And I've always pondered onthat thing because that makes to
me it made a whole lot of sense, because I don't remember the
day I was born, but I'm reallyhappy that my mother had me.
I was born on the Fort BalnupIndian Reservation in north
central Montana in 1952.
And 21 years later, after goingthrough kind of a crazy
(01:55):
lifestyle and kind of a radicalleft-wing angry young Indian man
, going through an attempt ofsuicide and meeting this friend
of mine who took me into hishome just to talk to me, I found
out the reason why I was born.
And that concept of Mark Twainhas ever stuck in my head,
(02:16):
because the most two importantdays of my life have been the
day that I was born and the daythat I found out why.
And the day that I found outwhy In February of 1973, I had
been discussing the issues of mylife, of being an Indian, an
indigenous person that lives inthe United States, and all that
happened to us.
I was angry and frustrated anddisappointed with the government
(02:39):
, the way they had treated mypeople for these last hundreds
of years.
Anyway, to make a long storyshort, I was in his house and he
had kept sharing the gospelwith me and one of the most
amazing things is he shared ascripture that actually went
into my heart and I began tograsp and read it and God began
to grow that scripture in myheart and that was John 3.16,
(03:01):
because he said, for God soloved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son thatwhosoever believes in him should
not perish but have everlastinglife.
Now, I had always believed inthe Creator.
Like I explained in mytestimony before, there's never
been a time in my life that Ididn't know there was a Creator.
Romans in the first chaptertalks about you cannot look at
creation without recognizing aCreator, and that's the way I
(03:23):
was and my people, on myreservation.
We've always understood.
What we didn't know is wedidn't know who God's son was.
We had heard about Jesus, butthat had never sunk through.
But when I heard it from theway he expressed it.
Anyway, one morning after livingwith him for a couple of weeks,
I was in the shower and livingin their tri-level house.
(03:46):
I was living in the bottomlevel and had my own bedroom, my
own shower and bathroom and Iwas showering.
I was thinking about what hetold me and I always tell people
.
What attracted me to what Gibbwas sharing with me about God
and about his son, jesus Christ,was the possibility that I
could get a brand new start.
(04:07):
Now I often thought and saidwell, don't you want to go to
heaven?
I said, well, yeah, heavenwould be nice.
You know, if you had a choicebetween heaven and hell, I would
choose heaven, hell.
I wasn't as scared of hellbecause when you live on the
streets in some of our cities,living on the streets, homeless,
trying to find out food to eatand where to sleep every night
(04:29):
that's like living in hell.
It just is.
But anyway, I was thinkingthrough.
He told me that there was onlytwo requirements and that first
is you had to acknowledge thatyou were a sinner.
I didn't have any problem afterbeing homeless and being a
vagabond and doing all thethings that homeless do people
an alcoholic to find somethingto drink, to find something to
eat, something to sleep.
You know, you're willing tosteal, to do whatever you have
to do, and that's the type ofguy in life I was living.
(04:51):
So I thought about that.
But he told me, in sharing thegospel with me, about God and
about his son, jesus Christ, whodied on the cross for every
human being on the planet.
That began to make sense to me.
I was always been a logical man.
I know there was only one setof human beings.
There's only one race.
There's only one earth.
There's only one people.
There's only one God.
(05:12):
It's no more complicated thanthat.
I've always known that.
But anyway, I was sitting in theshower and he said that you
first have to acknowledge thatyou're a sinner.
I didn't have any problem withthat.
I knew that I was a bum, I knewthat I was a drunk, I knew that
I was a sinner.
I was tired of being a drunk, Iwas tired of being a bum, I was
tired of stealing, tired ofliving the life that I had to
(05:32):
live in order to survive everyday.
And I thought you know, gibbtold me that if I would repent,
if I would come to God and askfor forgiveness, that he would
grant me forgiveness, and thatwas the first step on a
direction where I could live alife and get a brand new start
Again.
The byproduct of that I got togo to heaven, which was great,
(05:54):
but more important to me was thepossibility, after screwing up
my life for 21 years, tobecoming exactly what I never
wanted to become, and that wasnothing but a drunk Indian.
I was interested in the conceptof this that Christ died on the
cross for my sins, all the sinsI committed.
And Gibb told me.
He said you know, bruce, thatevery sin that you committed up
(06:17):
to age of 21, if you're willingto acknowledge those and repent
from them, god will forgive them.
He said, but let me tell youwhat's more important Not only
will he forgive those sins, thathe would forget them.
I said you mean to tell me thatGod would actually forget
everything I've done and hewould give me a brand new start?
He said absolutely, if yourepent from your sins, and then
(06:39):
the next step is you have to askhis son, jesus Christ, to come
into your heart.
I said well, that doesn't makeany sense to me, but I was
showering.
I had shampoo in my head, I hadreal long hair and I processed
in my mind, you know, and Ithought, okay, god, you know,
I'm going to do a gift, I'mgoing to take a chance, you know
, I mean, I should have beendead at that point anyway.
(06:59):
And you know, if God is willingto give me an opportunity to
have a brand new start, I'mgoing to take it.
I said so.
I rinsed off everything and Istood with my water running on
my head and I closed my eyes andI looked up to heaven as I
thought that's where God was.
I said, god, I'm a sinner, I'mjust a drunk, I'm a bum.
(07:20):
Every bad thing you think.
I've done so many things wrongand I'm truly sorry about that.
If you would be willing toforgive me, I promise you, I
take the best chance I can tonever do I would change my life.
Give told me that whenrepentance, what repentance
means is you literally changethe direction.
You might be headed south andyou turn around and you head
(07:42):
north.
You might be headed west andyou turn around and head east.
It's a complete change yourlife.
I said that's what I want, god.
I'm tired of being a bum, tiredof being a drunk, tired of
being a thief and all the stupidthings that drunks and
alcoholics and homeless peopledo.
I said, if you'll forgive me, Iwant to ask for forgiving.
I said now this next step, thatgives said I have to personally.
(08:03):
Nobody can do this for me.
I have to ask Jesus Christ tocome into my heart.
It didn't make sense to me.
I told Gibbs that doesn't makesense.
How can Christ come into myheart?
He's a spiritual being.
I've always known that I wascomposed of two entities and
each individual is.
We have a physical body, but wealso have a spiritualness that
(08:25):
God blew into us, the breath oflife that he blew into Adam.
So I said, okay, father, I'veasked you for repentance.
I've repented of my sins.
I've asked you to forgive me.
I want to change directions.
Now I'm going to ask you.
And I said, okay, god, I don'thave any faith to believe that
if I ask Jesus, he'll come in.
That doesn't make sense to me.
But Gibb said I have to havefaith.
(08:46):
I said so, god, not only am Igoing to ask Jesus to come in,
I'm going to ask that you giveme the faith to believe that
Jesus is going to come in, Isaid, because I don't have any.
It doesn't make sense to me.
So I stood in that shower thatmorning 50 years ago, bowed my
head.
I said, father, I've repentedof my sins, I've asked for
forgiveness, and now I'm goingto say this sentence that Gibb
(09:07):
told me to say.
I said, god, would you allowyour son, jesus Christ, to come
into my heart and to cleanse meand to reside in me and give me
a whole new direction of lifeinto eternity and head towards
hell?
And I prayed that and I saidAmen.
Nothing happened.
I thought, well, I thought Iwas going to hear angels sing
and they weren't singing.
And I thought, maybe brightlights.
(09:28):
There was no bright lights andI said, huh, that's interesting.
And so I opened the shower doorto reach for a towel.
And as I reached for a towel, Ilooked at my hand and I wasn't
drunk, like I told you, and I'mnot proud of that, but that's
why I had the shakes really bad,until I could get a beer to
drink and calm down.
I looked at my hands.
I flipped them back over andboth hands were as steady as can
be.
(09:48):
I thought, huh, I wonder if Godcan cure alcoholism on the spot
and I never went to detox.
He just literally cured me ofmy alcoholism on that spot.
So I grabbed a towel and Istarted to dry off with the
towel.
Of course my skin was brown.
Towel.
And I started to dry off withthe towel, of course my skin was
brown.
And as I dried my arm down Ilooked at it and I thought dang.
(10:08):
I thought when I become aChristian I was going to turn
white.
But my brown skin stayed.
And I took my hand and ranthrough my hair and it was real
long.
I said I'm faith.
You wash day.
You know, I still know mylanguage.
And I said the craziest thing 50years ago I wonder if God saves
Indians.
I mean, that thought hadn'toccurred to me before.
I wonder if he can save me.
(10:29):
I think he did.
And I thought about drinking.
And I looked at my hands andthere was no shakes.
For the first time in years andyears I had no desire to drink
alcohol.
I thought, man Bruce, maybeyou're a Christian.
Maybe God saved you.
Maybe what Gibbs said was right.
Maybe God did forgive you.
Maybe he erased that blackboardthat you had of all those bad
(10:50):
things you'd done.
He wiped it clean.
And not only did he wipe itclean, he threw those sins away
that he doesn't even rememberthem.
And I thought this is reallycrazy.
So I dressed up.
I heard Beth, his wife, sayBruce, breakfast is ready, come
on, we want to pray.
I said I'll be there in aminute.
So I ran upstairs real quickand they said let's pray.
I said, well, first I've got totell you something.
And they said what are yougoing to tell us?
(11:11):
I said, well, I think I'm aChristian.
And they jumped up and theysaid what do you mean?
So I gave them All the sins Icommitted in 21 years, the
drunkenness and everything else,all the bad things I've done,
and I think he forgave me.
And then I asked God to give menot only Christ to come into my
heart, but to give me the faithto believe.
(11:33):
I just needed a little bit offaith.
I think God gave me that faithto believe and I'll be honest
with you, it was just a littlebit of faith, because I still
was wondering did this reallyhappen, bruce?
And I said I think it did,because my hands don't shake
anymore, I don't feel likedrinking, I don't have a desire
to get drunk anymore, and I toldthem that Of course they
started crying and hugging meand their kids hugged me they
(11:55):
had two kids at the time and heran upstairs and he grabbed this
New American Standard Bible,this hardbound.
He come back and he was beenwaiting for that moment.
I think he said, bruce, this isGod's Word right here, this is
God's living Word.
He said every answer to everyproblem you have for the rest of
your life is found in this book, right here.
All you got to do is sit downand read it.
I took it from him and Ithought this is crazy.
(12:17):
I mean, I had never read theBible before meeting Gib and he
had shown me in our discussionfor a couple of weeks and my
anger and frustration, differentverses, but that one verse kept
sticking in my head.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever.
And I thought to myself Iwonder if I'm a whosoever, I
must be a whosoever.
(12:37):
And Gibb said you are awhosoever, bruce.
God saved you and now you'reheaded down a new path.
I always tell people that whenI know you're not supposed to
make deals with God.
I didn't know that at the time,but I told God, if you'll
forgive me of my sins, if Jesuswill come into my heart and if
you'll take me into heaven andhead me towards eternity, I'll
(12:58):
spend the rest of my lifeworking for you.
I'll go where you want me to go.
I'll say what you want me to.
Guess I didn't understand theconcept of preaching, but I'll
be willing to tell my story,what you did for me, as long as
I'm alive.
And that happened 50 years ago.
So since then, six months later,I found myself at Oklahoma
Baptist University.
(13:18):
I hitchhiked from Portland,oregon, down to Shawnee,
oklahoma.
I was never a really stupid guyIf I could quit drinking.
I was a pretty good student andthey let me in under.
I'd been to a year of collegeand had done really well the
first semester.
The second semester I droppedout because I was drinking and
doing too many drugs and stuffand so I dropped out.
(13:38):
But I had good grades, so theylet me under probation in there
and it was just crazy.
A couple weeks later I said well, I find I give to them.
I need to go to churchsomewhere, and I thought so.
I started looking and I sawthis church in the yellow pages.
It said First Indian BaptistChurch, shawnee, oklahoma, and I
thought well, if there'sIndians there, I'm going to go
down there.
So I, the pastor was a guynamed Jimmy Anderson, so I went
(14:03):
down there there and I walked tothe door with long hair, levi's
and t-shirt and Levi jacketthat's all I owned, and a few
clothes I bought in six monthsthat Gibb had helped me buy.
I'd worked a little bit, gone toa semester of college, junior
college in Portland Oregon, anddone real well and started
school there.
And he said well, bruce, haveyou been baptized?
I said, well, gibb mentionedbaptizing, but he was a Lutheran
(14:25):
.
He said we sprinkle water onyou.
And he said and he didn't quiteexplain it the way Jimmy
Anderson said well, bruce,baptism is the first step that
you have to take in your lifeand you have to admit that you
were a sinner and that God hadsaved you and you're really to
be publicly saved.
He explained it to me.
I said well, that's fine, hesaid, but we dunk people in the
water.
I said that's fine, it doesn'tbother me.
So, anyway, I mean long storyshort, the next Sunday I brought
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clothes, he baptized me and wewent to dinner afterwards, you
know, and I thought this iscrazy.
And he had the certificate andhe said here, bruce Plummer is
now an official member of theSouthern Baptist Convention.
He's a Southern Baptist andbelongs to the First Indian
Baptist Church of Shawnee,oklahoma.
I said what does that mean?
He said, well, you're aSouthern Baptist.
I said, what does that mean?
He said, well, you're aSouthern Baptist now because you
(15:09):
were baptized.
I said I'm a Southern Baptist.
Is that a denomination or whatis that?
I didn't understand.
He explained it to me.
I said, well, okay.
So anyway, I went to college Tomake a story short, got out of
college, went to California fora little while, couldn't find
work because all I studied wasBible, because I was reading the
(15:30):
Bible every day and I stillremember, probably five years
after being saved.
I was always frustrated withwhat the United States
government did to my people andI guess I had unforgiveness in
my heart.
I finally said, okay, god, Iforgive the government for what
they did to my people.
And I guess I had unforgivenessin my heart.
I finally said, okay, god, Iforgive the government for what
they did to my people.
I'm sorry that I'm sobullheaded and I've been
(15:52):
harboring that unforgiveness inmy heart and I know it's no good
, so I need to get rid of it.
So would you help me forgivethe American government for what
they did?
And all of a sudden, I felt tomyself that God was saying Bruce
, welcome to my world.
I said you mean, I'm actually achristian god.
And he didn't talk anymore,that that I get to go to
eternity and and you forgive me.
(16:13):
And and from that point on, Iwas able to sing the national
anthem in church.
I I refused to sing it for thefirst four or five years of my,
my christian life because I justcouldn't believe it.
Now, all of a sudden, I became aproud american.
I was proud to be a us citizens.
I was proud to be a US citizen.
I was proud to be a tribalcitizen.
In the government my government, on my reservation we had a
dual citizenship.
(16:33):
I was a full-blooded Indianliving on a reservation, a
tribal member, but I also nowwas an American citizen.
I was proud of both of those.
Anyway, went on I started achurch at Riverside Indian
School Riverside Indian Collegeexcuse me, riverside College, a
Southern Baptist school and Istarted an Indian church there
that's still functioning, to myknowledge, to this day.
(16:55):
And then I moved back toCalifornia and for the next
20-some years I was abivocational pastor.
I was educating the Bible, butI didn't have quite all the
things.
I didn't go to seminary oranything like that, but I just
had a wife and I had a familyand I started growing and
maturing and had to take care ofthem.
So I worked full-time but Ipastored churches or I preached.
(17:17):
I started as a youth directorfor a number of years in several
different denominations, but Ialways came back to the Southern
Baptist because that's where Iwas licensed to preach and
ordained as a Southern Baptistminister.
So, anyway, for the next 20years, but I just felt, I guess,
kind of an emptiness.
I always wanted to go back tomy home reservation, to reach my
(17:38):
people, to tell them my story,because the concept of what God
did for me, nobody could takethat away from me.
That belonged to me.
I was there.
It's as real today, 50 yearsafter it happened, as it was 50
years ago.
I remember the smell of thesoap, the shampoo, the feeling
of water.
Everything is just absolutelycrystal clear in my head.
(18:01):
And I remember reading the Biblethat my obligation as a Christ
follower was to tell the greatmystery of what God can do for
every one of us if we're onlywilling.
So that's what I was studying,that's what I was learning,
that's what I was preaching.
I would tell my story over andover and over again.
This is what God did for me.
I don't care if you believe itor not.
(18:22):
I was cured of my alcoholism onthe spot.
God sent me and allowed me togo to a Bible school to learn
the basics of Bible.
I wasn't a great preacher, butI knew my story and I knew what
God.
And God told me that I whetherI was a pastor or whether I was
just a normal everyday Christian, I had the obligation to tell
(18:45):
what God had done for me.
And so my commitment to God.
I said if you save me and ifyou forgive me, I'll spend the
rest of my life, and so I'vebeen doing that for 50 years.
So about 23 or 24 years ago Iwas pastoring three churches and
working a full-time job, and soon Sunday morning I was a
circuit preacher.
I would travel 30 miles onedirection.
(19:07):
I was a circuit preacher.
I would travel 30 miles onedirection to preach in a small
rural church in a smallcommunity away from where I
lived and then I'd make it backfor the 11 o'clock service in
the big church that I pastoredand then after lunch I would go
to the reservation and I had achurch there that I would preach
at 2 o'clock, 2 or 2.30.
And that depends where I gotthere in the afternoon.
And I did that for five yearsand I kept wanting to go back to
(19:29):
my reservation.
I went to listen to a conferencethat Henry Blackaby was
speaking at and at thatconference Henry Blackaby
convinced me.
He told me that, bruce, he saidthe next great spiritual
awakening is going to begin withAmerica, is going to begin with
the indigenous people.
And I was going to go there andsay I don't know you, mr
(19:55):
Blackaby, I've gone through yourBible study, experiencing God,
and absolutely loved it.
I said but you're mistaken, ourpeople are too small in numbers
, we're too insignificant, we'retoo poor, we're too uneducated
and to make it happen.
But at the end of that sermonhe preached on Nehemiah.
At the very end of that service, I said okay, god.
I went forward and I knelt downin front of Henry Blackaby and
I asked God for forgiveness fornot realizing that.
I believe that I'm bought intothis.
That radically changed my life,because I understood, yes, that
(20:19):
could happen.
It's amazing to me, as I lookback at my life, how I've seen
that God uses the small, thepoor, the insignificant to get
his work done.
And it just I felt really badthat I had it took so long over
25 years for me to realize that.
So, anyway, I went back and Ichanged my ministry.
I resigned the three churches Iwas preaching at.
(20:41):
I resigned as a.
I was a director of this largetruck shop and a food feed store
and I moved back to my homereservation and I've been out
here for 22 years working.
I didn't start a church.
I came back just because Iwanted to reach my people with
the gospel of God is what Iwanted.
I wanted to explain to themthat there is only one God,
(21:04):
there is only one earth, there'sonly one people.
It's no more complicated thanthat.
And so, to make a long storyshort, we didn't start a church.
But there was a church here, aSouthern Baptist church, that
the pastor died real suddenly,and I had cousins that went
there.
They asked me to preach if Iwould fulfill and help bury him,
and I did that and it just kindof grew, that church took off
(21:25):
and then the tribal governmentasked me if I would open a
campground on the southern partof the reservation in the
mountains.
And they said they would giveme the land, they would give me
a home site lease and they woulddo my sewer and my water, but
they wouldn't build my home.
That's up to me.
But they gave me this 40 acresto build a youth camp on.
They were trying to get youthto work with kids.
(21:46):
So I to build a youth camp onthis.
They were trying to get youthto work with kids.
I said, well, I've always lovedkids.
I've been a youth directoramong my pastorates in my time
in the ministry.
So we came out here and thebathroom worked and we got the
well going and today, afterworking for 17 years, I opened
this camp up 17.
Well, this will be our 18thyear.
So it will be 17 years ago our18th summer, we started having
(22:08):
youth camps in our ministry.
I started a church in an urbanarea working with homeless
Indians, like I was at one timein the second largest city in
Montana, and I've been doingthat for seven years now.
I travel over there on Thursdayevenings and we do what's
called Fry Bread FellowshipMinistries and fry bread is
something that is a bread thatIndians all across North America
(22:31):
know what it is.
We make fry bread and we makesoup and I get to share the
gospel of God and I get to tellmy story and help convert my
people to what God had done forme and lead them to the Lord.
I've had individuals who wouldgo to powwows, would pick up
trash, would give out free water, free prayer, and we share the
gospel.
I could tell you hundreds ofstories and one particular young
(22:54):
man, a Hispanic man, wasactually at this powwow on the
Crow Reservation and my peoplewere working with him.
They shared the gospel with himand they finally, in
exasperation, they came and saidBruce, we can't get him to pray
.
So I went down there and I askedhim what was going on and I,
exasperation, they came and saidBruce, we can't get him to pray
.
So I went down there and Iasked him what was going on.
And I asked him well, why areyou here talking to us right now
?
He said I don't know.
(23:14):
I said well, I know.
He said how do you know whatI'm here?
I said I know you're heretalking to my people.
And now I'm here talking to youfor one reason because God's
extending the gospel of God toyou.
He, he's given you anopportunity right now.
So you know what we said.
You know that you were a sinner.
He said yes, you know you haveto repent.
He said, yes.
I said you know you have tohave Christ to come into your
(23:36):
heart.
He said yes, I know that too,but I just don't know if I want
to do it right now.
I said well, that's the end ofthe story.
I can't tell you anymore.
God loves you.
You're here talking to me andmy people.
I'm here standing here sayingI'm going to ask you one more
time Jose, do you want to acceptJesus Christ as your favor?
His little girl was about 10 or12 years old, was standing
(23:56):
behind him, tears were runningdown her eyes and she was
clasping her hands and she hadher head praying.
She was praying for her dad insilence and he looked up to me
after about two or three minutes.
It seemed like an eternity.
He said yes, sir, I want to dothis.
I want to ask Christ.
We prayed with him on this spotand welcomed him into the
kingdom.
I can tell you story after storywhere God has worked just like
(24:18):
that in my life.
It's been amazing to me how, ifyou, people will go out there
and just tell what God did foryou, that's all you have to do
is tell your story what God hasdone, what the Bible has done
for you, what Christ has donefor you, what the Holy Spirit
has filled you, how God has usedyou.
If you would do that, they tellme that 90% 7% of the believers
(24:39):
in America never tell theirstories.
That's our problem.
We need to get out there andjust do the simple thing Share
with what God's done for you,like God's done for me.
After 50 years, I have a campthat's 380 acres.
We just finished our largestyouth camp.
We had 325 people.
These past two weeks we had 27young adults and children accept
(25:00):
the Lord and be asked to cometo the kingdom.
He just continues to bless ourministry.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
I love it, bruce, I love tohear it.
And you're right, the power isin the gospel, the power is in
telling the story, the Spirit of.
God anoints our testimonies,and we shouldn't be afraid or
ashamed to tell people what Godhas done in our lives, that's
(25:27):
right.
He blesses those testimonies, heblesses the gospel message,
right?
Well, brother, I appreciate youtelling your story.
I'm just sitting here,transfixed, I'm just amazed to
hear what God has done in yourlife and through your life.
And it's been a fun ride,hasn't it, brother?
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And I tell you what my youngest daughter asked me
the other day.
She said Dad.
She said when are you going toretire?
I said retire.
I said I'm 71 years old.
I said there's no word in theBible that says I can retire.
She said well, that's exactlywhat I thought you were going to
say Dad, I love you and thanksfor all you taught me.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
So it's amazing, brother.
God's given us a commission andwe have to fulfill that mission
until the very end.
Right, you and I will bepreaching and teaching and
sharing the gospel until thevery end, until he calls us home
.
That's exactly right.
I understand that Well, you'relistening to More Than Medicine.
I'm your host, dr RobertJackson.
My guest today is Bruce Plummer, a missionary to the American
Indians, and I hope you all willbe praying for Bruce.
(26:33):
He has an amazing ministry outthere in Montana, right, Bruce?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's correct.
God's blessed me way beyond mywildest imaginations.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
All right, well, thank you for listening.
I'm your host, dr RobertJackson.
We'll be back again next weekon More Than Medicine.
May the Lord bless you realgood.
Welcome to More Than Medicine.
I'm your host, dr RobertJackson, bringing to you
biblical insights and storiesfrom the country doctor's rusty,
dusty scrapbook.
Well, I'm delighted once againthis week to have Bruce Plummer
with me.
We started off with his storylast week and again we're going
to finish up where we left off.
(00:22):
So, bruce, welcome to More ThanMedicine.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm glad to be here again.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, last week we finished with your testimony and
I want us to back up a littlebit because some of my listeners
probably were not here lastweek.
So, Bruce, if you don't mind, Iwant you to go backwards in
time a little bit in your storyto where you were in the home of
Pastor Gibb.
(00:51):
Did I say that right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Gibb, yeah Gibb.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh, Pastor Gibb, Okay , and just share with them the
crisis point in your life wherehe and his family were sharing
the gospel with you and you madeyour profession of faith in his
home.
If you don't mind, go back intime to there and then let's go
forward from there.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Okay, all right.
Well, I sure appreciate theopportunity to share what God
has done for me in my life.
And some time ago I read a bookfrom Mark Tw Twain, and he was
a great philosopher and he hadonce said that the two greatest
days in any individual's life isthe day they were born and the
(01:34):
day that they found out why.
And I've always pondered onthat thing because that makes to
me it made a whole lot of sense, because I don't remember the
day I was born, but I'm reallyhappy that my mother had me.
I was born on the Fort BalnupIndian Reservation in north
central Montana in 1952.
And 21 years later, after goingthrough kind of a crazy
(01:55):
lifestyle and kind of a radicalleft-wing angry young Indian man
, going through an attempt ofsuicide and meeting this friend
of mine who took me into hishome just to talk to me, I found
out the reason why I was born.
And that concept of Mark Twainhas ever stuck in my head,
(02:16):
because the most two importantdays of my life have been the
day that I was born and the daythat I found out why.
And the day that I found outwhy In February of 1973, I had
been discussing the issues of mylife, of being an Indian, an
indigenous person that lives inthe United States, and all that
happened to us.
I was angry and frustrated anddisappointed with the government
(02:39):
, the way they had treated mypeople for these last hundreds
of years.
Anyway, to make a long storyshort, I was in his house and he
had kept sharing the gospelwith me and one of the most
amazing things is he shared ascripture that actually went
into my heart and I began tograsp and read it and God began
to grow that scripture in myheart and that was John 3.16,
(03:01):
because he said, for God soloved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son thatwhosoever believes in him should
not perish but have everlastinglife.
Now, I had always believed inthe Creator.
Like I explained in mytestimony before, there's never
been a time in my life that Ididn't know there was a Creator.
Romans in the first chaptertalks about you cannot look at
creation without recognizing aCreator, and that's the way I
(03:23):
was and my people, on myreservation.
We've always understood.
What we didn't know is wedidn't know who God's son was.
We had heard about Jesus, butthat had never sunk through.
But when I heard it from theway he expressed it.
Anyway, one morning after livingwith him for a couple of weeks,
I was in the shower and livingin their tri-level house.
(03:46):
I was living in the bottomlevel and had my own bedroom, my
own shower and bathroom and Iwas showering.
I was thinking about what hetold me and I always tell people
.
What attracted me to what Gibbwas sharing with me about God
and about his son, jesus Christ,was the possibility that I
could get a brand new start.
(04:07):
Now I often thought and saidwell, don't you want to go to
heaven?
I said, well, yeah, heavenwould be nice.
You know, if you had a choicebetween heaven and hell, I would
choose heaven, hell.
I wasn't as scared of hellbecause when you live on the
streets in some of our cities,living on the streets, homeless,
trying to find out food to eatand where to sleep every night
(04:29):
that's like living in hell.
It just is.
But anyway, I was thinkingthrough.
He told me that there was onlytwo requirements and that first
is you had to acknowledge thatyou were a sinner.
I didn't have any problem afterbeing homeless and being a
vagabond and doing all thethings that homeless do people
an alcoholic to find somethingto drink, to find something to
eat, something to sleep.
You know, you're willing tosteal, to do whatever you have
to do, and that's the type ofguy in life I was living.
(04:51):
So I thought about that.
But he told me, in sharing thegospel with me, about God and
about his son, jesus Christ, whodied on the cross for every
human being on the planet.
That began to make sense to me.
I was always been a logical man.
I know there was only one setof human beings.
There's only one race.
There's only one earth.
There's only one people.
There's only one God.
(05:12):
It's no more complicated thanthat.
I've always known that.
But anyway, I was sitting in theshower and he said that you
first have to acknowledge thatyou're a sinner.
I didn't have any problem withthat.
I knew that I was a bum, I knewthat I was a drunk, I knew that
I was a sinner.
I was tired of being a drunk, Iwas tired of being a bum, I was
tired of stealing, tired ofliving the life that I had to
(05:32):
live in order to survive everyday.
And I thought you know, gibbtold me that if I would repent,
if I would come to God and askfor forgiveness, that he would
grant me forgiveness, and thatwas the first step on a
direction where I could live alife and get a brand new start
Again.
The byproduct of that I got togo to heaven, which was great,
(05:54):
but more important to me was thepossibility, after screwing up
my life for 21 years, tobecoming exactly what I never
wanted to become, and that wasnothing but a drunk Indian.
I was interested in the conceptof this that Christ died on the
cross for my sins, all the sinsI committed.
And Gibb told me.
He said you know, bruce, thatevery sin that you committed up
(06:17):
to age of 21, if you're willingto acknowledge those and repent
from them, god will forgive them.
He said, but let me tell youwhat's more important Not only
will he forgive those sins, thathe would forget them.
I said you mean to tell me thatGod would actually forget
everything I've done and hewould give me a brand new start?
He said absolutely, if yourepent from your sins, and then
(06:39):
the next step is you have to askhis son, jesus Christ, to come
into your heart.
I said well, that doesn't makeany sense to me, but I was
showering.
I had shampoo in my head, I hadreal long hair and I processed
in my mind, you know, and Ithought, okay, god, you know,
I'm going to do a gift, I'mgoing to take a chance, you know
, I mean, I should have beendead at that point anyway.
(06:59):
And you know, if God is willingto give me an opportunity to
have a brand new start, I'mgoing to take it.
I said so.
I rinsed off everything and Istood with my water running on
my head and I closed my eyes andI looked up to heaven as I
thought that's where God was.
I said, god, I'm a sinner, I'mjust a drunk, I'm a bum.
(07:20):
Every bad thing you think.
I've done so many things wrongand I'm truly sorry about that.
If you would be willing toforgive me, I promise you, I
take the best chance I can tonever do I would change my life.
Give told me that whenrepentance, what repentance
means is you literally changethe direction.
You might be headed south andyou turn around and you head
(07:42):
north.
You might be headed west andyou turn around and head east.
It's a complete change yourlife.
I said that's what I want, god.
I'm tired of being a bum, tiredof being a drunk, tired of
being a thief and all the stupidthings that drunks and
alcoholics and homeless peopledo.
I said, if you'll forgive me, Iwant to ask for forgiving.
I said now this next step, thatgives said I have to personally.
(08:03):
Nobody can do this for me.
I have to ask Jesus Christ tocome into my heart.
It didn't make sense to me.
I told Gibbs that doesn't makesense.
How can Christ come into myheart?
He's a spiritual being.
I've always known that I wascomposed of two entities and
each individual is.
We have a physical body, but wealso have a spiritualness that
(08:25):
God blew into us, the breath oflife that he blew into Adam.
So I said, okay, father, I'veasked you for repentance.
I've repented of my sins.
I've asked you to forgive me.
I want to change directions.
Now I'm going to ask you.
And I said, okay, god, I don'thave any faith to believe that
if I ask Jesus, he'll come in.
That doesn't make sense to me.
But Gibb said I have to havefaith.
(08:46):
I said so, god, not only am Igoing to ask Jesus to come in,
I'm going to ask that you giveme the faith to believe that
Jesus is going to come in, Isaid, because I don't have any.
It doesn't make sense to me.
So I stood in that shower thatmorning 50 years ago, bowed my
head.
I said, father, I've repentedof my sins, I've asked for
forgiveness, and now I'm goingto say this sentence that Gibb
(09:07):
told me to say.
I said, god, would you allowyour son, jesus Christ, to come
into my heart and to cleanse meand to reside in me and give me
a whole new direction of lifeinto eternity and head towards
hell?
And I prayed that and I saidAmen.
Nothing happened.
I thought, well, I thought Iwas going to hear angels sing
and they weren't singing.
And I thought, maybe brightlights.
(09:28):
There was no bright lights andI said, huh, that's interesting.
And so I opened the shower doorto reach for a towel.
And as I reached for a towel, Ilooked at my hand and I wasn't
drunk, like I told you, and I'mnot proud of that, but that's
why I had the shakes really bad,until I could get a beer to
drink and calm down.
I looked at my hands.
I flipped them back over andboth hands were as steady as can
be.
(09:48):
I thought, huh, I wonder if Godcan cure alcoholism on the spot
and I never went to detox.
He just literally cured me ofmy alcoholism on that spot.
So I grabbed a towel and Istarted to dry off with the
towel.
Of course my skin was brown.
Towel.
And I started to dry off withthe towel, of course my skin was
brown.
And as I dried my arm down Ilooked at it and I thought dang.
(10:08):
I thought when I become aChristian I was going to turn
white.
But my brown skin stayed.
And I took my hand and ranthrough my hair and it was real
long.
I said I'm faith.
You wash day.
You know, I still know mylanguage.
And I said the craziest thing 50years ago I wonder if God saves
Indians.
I mean, that thought hadn'toccurred to me before.
I wonder if he can save me.
(10:29):
I think he did.
And I thought about drinking.
And I looked at my hands andthere was no shakes.
For the first time in years andyears I had no desire to drink
alcohol.
I thought, man Bruce, maybeyou're a Christian.
Maybe God saved you.
Maybe what Gibbs said was right.
Maybe God did forgive you.
Maybe he erased that blackboardthat you had of all those bad
(10:50):
things you'd done.
He wiped it clean.
And not only did he wipe itclean, he threw those sins away
that he doesn't even rememberthem.
And I thought this is reallycrazy.
So I dressed up.
I heard Beth, his wife, sayBruce, breakfast is ready, come
on, we want to pray.
I said I'll be there in aminute.
So I ran upstairs real quickand they said let's pray.
I said, well, first I've got totell you something.
And they said what are yougoing to tell us?
(11:11):
I said, well, I think I'm aChristian.
And they jumped up and theysaid what do you mean?
So I gave them All the sins Icommitted in 21 years, the
drunkenness and everything else,all the bad things I've done,
and I think he forgave me.
And then I asked God to give menot only Christ to come into my
heart, but to give me the faithto believe.
(11:33):
I just needed a little bit offaith.
I think God gave me that faithto believe and I'll be honest
with you, it was just a littlebit of faith, because I still
was wondering did this reallyhappen, bruce?
And I said I think it did,because my hands don't shake
anymore, I don't feel likedrinking, I don't have a desire
to get drunk anymore, and I toldthem that Of course they
started crying and hugging meand their kids hugged me they
(11:55):
had two kids at the time and heran upstairs and he grabbed this
New American Standard Bible,this hardbound.
He come back and he was beenwaiting for that moment.
I think he said, bruce, this isGod's Word right here, this is
God's living Word.
He said every answer to everyproblem you have for the rest of
your life is found in this book, right here.
All you got to do is sit downand read it.
I took it from him and Ithought this is crazy.
(12:17):
I mean, I had never read theBible before meeting Gib and he
had shown me in our discussionfor a couple of weeks and my
anger and frustration, differentverses, but that one verse kept
sticking in my head.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever.
And I thought to myself Iwonder if I'm a whosoever, I
must be a whosoever.
(12:37):
And Gibb said you are awhosoever, bruce.
God saved you and now you'reheaded down a new path.
I always tell people that whenI know you're not supposed to
make deals with God.
I didn't know that at the time,but I told God, if you'll
forgive me of my sins, if Jesuswill come into my heart and if
you'll take me into heaven andhead me towards eternity, I'll
(12:58):
spend the rest of my lifeworking for you.
I'll go where you want me to go.
I'll say what you want me to.
Guess I didn't understand theconcept of preaching, but I'll
be willing to tell my story,what you did for me, as long as
I'm alive.
And that happened 50 years ago.
So since then, six months later,I found myself at Oklahoma
Baptist University.
(13:18):
I hitchhiked from Portland,oregon, down to Shawnee,
oklahoma.
I was never a really stupid guyIf I could quit drinking.
I was a pretty good student andthey let me in under.
I'd been to a year of collegeand had done really well the
first semester.
The second semester I droppedout because I was drinking and
doing too many drugs and stuffand so I dropped out.
(13:38):
But I had good grades, so theylet me under probation in there
and it was just crazy.
A couple weeks later I said well, I find I give to them.
I need to go to churchsomewhere, and I thought so.
I started looking and I sawthis church in the yellow pages.
It said First Indian BaptistChurch, shawnee, oklahoma, and I
thought well, if there'sIndians there, I'm going to go
down there.
So I, the pastor was a guynamed Jimmy Anderson, so I went
(14:03):
down there there and I walked tothe door with long hair, levi's
and t-shirt and Levi jacketthat's all I owned, and a few
clothes I bought in six monthsthat Gibb had helped me buy.
I'd worked a little bit, gone toa semester of college, junior
college in Portland Oregon, anddone real well and started
school there.
And he said well, bruce, haveyou been baptized?
I said, well, gibb mentionedbaptizing, but he was a Lutheran
(14:25):
.
He said we sprinkle water onyou.
And he said and he didn't quiteexplain it the way Jimmy
Anderson said well, bruce,baptism is the first step that
you have to take in your lifeand you have to admit that you
were a sinner and that God hadsaved you and you're really to
be publicly saved.
He explained it to me.
I said well, that's fine, hesaid, but we dunk people in the
water.
I said that's fine, it doesn'tbother me.
So, anyway, I mean long storyshort, the next Sunday I brought
(14:47):
clothes, he baptized me and wewent to dinner afterwards, you
know, and I thought this iscrazy.
And he had the certificate andhe said here, bruce Plummer is
now an official member of theSouthern Baptist Convention.
He's a Southern Baptist andbelongs to the First Indian
Baptist Church of Shawnee,oklahoma.
I said what does that mean?
He said, well, you're aSouthern Baptist.
I said, what does that mean?
He said, well, you're aSouthern Baptist now because you
(15:09):
were baptized.
I said I'm a Southern Baptist.
Is that a denomination or whatis that?
I didn't understand.
He explained it to me.
I said, well, okay.
So anyway, I went to college Tomake a story short, got out of
college, went to California fora little while, couldn't find
work because all I studied wasBible, because I was reading the
(15:30):
Bible every day and I stillremember, probably five years
after being saved.
I was always frustrated withwhat the United States
government did to my people andI guess I had unforgiveness in
my heart.
I finally said, okay, god, Iforgive the government for what
they did to my people.
And I guess I had unforgivenessin my heart.
I finally said, okay, god, Iforgive the government for what
they did to my people.
I'm sorry that I'm sobullheaded and I've been
(15:52):
harboring that unforgiveness inmy heart and I know it's no good
, so I need to get rid of it.
So would you help me forgivethe American government for what
they did?
And all of a sudden, I felt tomyself that God was saying Bruce
, welcome to my world.
I said you mean, I'm actually achristian god.
And he didn't talk anymore,that that I get to go to
eternity and and you forgive me.
(16:13):
And and from that point on, Iwas able to sing the national
anthem in church.
I I refused to sing it for thefirst four or five years of my,
my christian life because I justcouldn't believe it.
Now, all of a sudden, I became aproud american.
I was proud to be a us citizens.
I was proud to be a US citizen.
I was proud to be a tribalcitizen.
In the government my government, on my reservation we had a
dual citizenship.
(16:33):
I was a full-blooded Indianliving on a reservation, a
tribal member, but I also nowwas an American citizen.
I was proud of both of those.
Anyway, went on I started achurch at Riverside Indian
School Riverside Indian Collegeexcuse me, riverside College, a
Southern Baptist school and Istarted an Indian church there
that's still functioning, to myknowledge, to this day.
(16:55):
And then I moved back toCalifornia and for the next
20-some years I was abivocational pastor.
I was educating the Bible, butI didn't have quite all the
things.
I didn't go to seminary oranything like that, but I just
had a wife and I had a familyand I started growing and
maturing and had to take care ofthem.
So I worked full-time but Ipastored churches or I preached.
(17:17):
I started as a youth directorfor a number of years in several
different denominations, but Ialways came back to the Southern
Baptist because that's where Iwas licensed to preach and
ordained as a Southern Baptistminister.
So, anyway, for the next 20years, but I just felt, I guess,
kind of an emptiness.
I always wanted to go back tomy home reservation, to reach my
(17:38):
people, to tell them my story,because the concept of what God
did for me, nobody could takethat away from me.
That belonged to me.
I was there.
It's as real today, 50 yearsafter it happened, as it was 50
years ago.
I remember the smell of thesoap, the shampoo, the feeling
of water.
Everything is just absolutelycrystal clear in my head.
(18:01):
And I remember reading the Biblethat my obligation as a Christ
follower was to tell the greatmystery of what God can do for
every one of us if we're onlywilling.
So that's what I was studying,that's what I was learning,
that's what I was preaching.
I would tell my story over andover and over again.
This is what God did for me.
I don't care if you believe itor not.
(18:22):
I was cured of my alcoholism onthe spot.
God sent me and allowed me togo to a Bible school to learn
the basics of Bible.
I wasn't a great preacher, butI knew my story and I knew what
God.
And God told me that I whetherI was a pastor or whether I was
just a normal everyday Christian, I had the obligation to tell
(18:45):
what God had done for me.
And so my commitment to God.
I said if you save me and ifyou forgive me, I'll spend the
rest of my life, and so I'vebeen doing that for 50 years.
So about 23 or 24 years ago Iwas pastoring three churches and
working a full-time job, and soon Sunday morning I was a
circuit preacher.
I would travel 30 miles onedirection.
(19:07):
I was a circuit preacher.
I would travel 30 miles onedirection to preach in a small
rural church in a smallcommunity away from where I
lived and then I'd make it backfor the 11 o'clock service in
the big church that I pastoredand then after lunch I would go
to the reservation and I had achurch there that I would preach
at 2 o'clock, 2 or 2.30.
And that depends where I gotthere in the afternoon.
And I did that for five yearsand I kept wanting to go back to
(19:29):
my reservation.
I went to listen to a conferencethat Henry Blackaby was
speaking at and at thatconference Henry Blackaby
convinced me.
He told me that, bruce, he saidthe next great spiritual
awakening is going to begin withAmerica, is going to begin with
the indigenous people.
And I was going to go there andsay I don't know you, mr
(19:55):
Blackaby, I've gone through yourBible study, experiencing God,
and absolutely loved it.
I said but you're mistaken, ourpeople are too small in numbers
, we're too insignificant, we'retoo poor, we're too uneducated
and to make it happen.
But at the end of that sermonhe preached on Nehemiah.
At the very end of that service, I said okay, god.
I went forward and I knelt downin front of Henry Blackaby and
I asked God for forgiveness fornot realizing that.
I believe that I'm bought intothis.
That radically changed my life,because I understood, yes, that
(20:19):
could happen.
It's amazing to me, as I lookback at my life, how I've seen
that God uses the small, thepoor, the insignificant to get
his work done.
And it just I felt really badthat I had it took so long over
25 years for me to realize that.
So, anyway, I went back and Ichanged my ministry.
I resigned the three churches Iwas preaching at.
(20:41):
I resigned as a.
I was a director of this largetruck shop and a food feed store
and I moved back to my homereservation and I've been out
here for 22 years working.
I didn't start a church.
I came back just because Iwanted to reach my people with
the gospel of God is what Iwanted.
I wanted to explain to themthat there is only one God,
(21:04):
there is only one earth, there'sonly one people.
It's no more complicated thanthat.
And so, to make a long storyshort, we didn't start a church.
But there was a church here, aSouthern Baptist church, that
the pastor died real suddenly,and I had cousins that went
there.
They asked me to preach if Iwould fulfill and help bury him,
and I did that and it just kindof grew, that church took off
(21:25):
and then the tribal governmentasked me if I would open a
campground on the southern partof the reservation in the
mountains.
And they said they would giveme the land, they would give me
a home site lease and they woulddo my sewer and my water, but
they wouldn't build my home.
That's up to me.
But they gave me this 40 acresto build a youth camp on.
They were trying to get youthto work with kids.
(21:46):
So I to build a youth camp onthis.
They were trying to get youthto work with kids.
I said, well, I've always lovedkids.
I've been a youth directoramong my pastorates in my time
in the ministry.
So we came out here and thebathroom worked and we got the
well going and today, afterworking for 17 years, I opened
this camp up 17.
Well, this will be our 18thyear.
So it will be 17 years ago our18th summer, we started having
(22:08):
youth camps in our ministry.
I started a church in an urbanarea working with homeless
Indians, like I was at one timein the second largest city in
Montana, and I've been doingthat for seven years now.
I travel over there on Thursdayevenings and we do what's
called Fry Bread FellowshipMinistries and fry bread is
something that is a bread thatIndians all across North America
(22:31):
know what it is.
We make fry bread and we makesoup and I get to share the
gospel of God and I get to tellmy story and help convert my
people to what God had done forme and lead them to the Lord.
I've had individuals who wouldgo to powwows, would pick up
trash, would give out free water, free prayer, and we share the
gospel.
I could tell you hundreds ofstories and one particular young
(22:54):
man, a Hispanic man, wasactually at this powwow on the
Crow Reservation and my peoplewere working with him.
They shared the gospel with himand they finally, in
exasperation, they came and saidBruce, we can't get him to pray
.
So I went down there and I askedhim what was going on and I,
exasperation, they came and saidBruce, we can't get him to pray
.
So I went down there and Iasked him what was going on.
And I asked him well, why areyou here talking to us right now
?
He said I don't know.
(23:14):
I said well, I know.
He said how do you know whatI'm here?
I said I know you're heretalking to my people.
And now I'm here talking to youfor one reason because God's
extending the gospel of God toyou.
He, he's given you anopportunity right now.
So you know what we said.
You know that you were a sinner.
He said yes, you know you haveto repent.
He said, yes.
I said you know you have tohave Christ to come into your
(23:36):
heart.
He said yes, I know that too,but I just don't know if I want
to do it right now.
I said well, that's the end ofthe story.
I can't tell you anymore.
God loves you.
You're here talking to me andmy people.
I'm here standing here sayingI'm going to ask you one more
time Jose, do you want to acceptJesus Christ as your favor?
His little girl was about 10 or12 years old, was standing
(23:56):
behind him, tears were runningdown her eyes and she was
clasping her hands and she hadher head praying.
She was praying for her dad insilence and he looked up to me
after about two or three minutes.
It seemed like an eternity.
He said yes, sir, I want to dothis.
I want to ask Christ.
We prayed with him on this spotand welcomed him into the
kingdom.
I can tell you story after storywhere God has worked just like
(24:18):
that in my life.
It's been amazing to me how, ifyou, people will go out there
and just tell what God did foryou, that's all you have to do
is tell your story what God hasdone, what the Bible has done
for you, what Christ has donefor you, what the Holy Spirit
has filled you, how God has usedyou.
If you would do that, they tellme that 90% 7% of the believers
(24:39):
in America never tell theirstories.
That's our problem.
We need to get out there andjust do the simple thing Share
with what God's done for you,like God's done for me.
After 50 years, I have a campthat's 380 acres.
We just finished our largestyouth camp.
We had 325 people.
These past two weeks we had 27young adults and children accept
(25:00):
the Lord and be asked to cometo the kingdom.
He just continues to bless ourministry.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
I love it, bruce, I love tohear it.
And you're right, the power isin the gospel, the power is in
telling the story, the Spirit of.
God anoints our testimonies,and we shouldn't be afraid or
ashamed to tell people what Godhas done in our lives, that's
(25:27):
right.
He blesses those testimonies, heblesses the gospel message,
right?
Well, brother, I appreciate youtelling your story.
I'm just sitting here,transfixed, I'm just amazed to
hear what God has done in yourlife and through your life.
And it's been a fun ride,hasn't it, brother?
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And I tell you what my youngest daughter asked me
the other day.
She said Dad.
She said when are you going toretire?
I said retire.
I said I'm 71 years old.
I said there's no word in theBible that says I can retire.
She said well, that's exactlywhat I thought you were going to
say Dad, I love you and thanksfor all you taught me.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
So it's amazing, brother.
God's given us a commission andwe have to fulfill that mission
until the very end.
Right, you and I will bepreaching and teaching and
sharing the gospel until thevery end, until he calls us home
.
That's exactly right.
I understand that Well, you'relistening to More Than Medicine.
I'm your host, dr RobertJackson.
My guest today is Bruce Plummer, a missionary to the American
Indians, and I hope you all willbe praying for Bruce.
(26:33):
He has an amazing ministry outthere in Montana, right, Bruce?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's correct.
God's blessed me way beyond mywildest imaginations.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
All right, well, thank you for listening.
I'm your host, dr RobertJackson.
We'll be back again next weekon More Than Medicine.
May the Lord bless you realgood.
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