God's Making of an Evangelist

Chapter One

The Early Years

God’s evangelists just don’t show up on the scene. They are born into this world, fashioned and shaped by God Almighty to fit His design. Martin Luther, Dwight L. Moody, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Sunday, and Kathryn Kuhlman were born into this world as ordinary people and fashioned by the Lord to do extra ordinary things.

Now, another of God’s evangelists, Richard Raymond Truran, has appeared on the scene. Is this another simply born life that is also a speck of time in eternity? Another soul God planned and destined to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus the Christ; a life that God Almighty chose to fashion and shape to His design; a life that will reach and shape millions of people for the Lord; one who was chosen to fashion millions of people’s lives to fit into God’s design. Richard Raymond Truran, a soul destined to have an everlasting effect on you throughout eternity.

I, Richard Raymond Truran, was born on June 9, 1954, at the US naval station at Argentia, Newfoundland, to my proud parents, Richard Michael Truran and Loretta Ann Truran. I arrived three months early, premature and weighing in at four pounds, thirteen and a quarter ounces, at a time when the medical profession’s knowledge level was limited. I was not expected to live.

God must have shouted His holy order to His angels, Keep him alive! You would think that with such urgency God would have shouted his holy order twice. However, this was not so; in Heaven, God only gives the order once and it is done. I lived my first three months in an incubator; precious, unsightly months, with tubes running out of my nose, tubes from my arms, and wires attached to me every which way. I humbly thank the Lord for keeping me alive.

10 "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

11 For the Son of man is come to save that which is lost."

Matthew 18:10–11 (King James Version)

My mother died when I was thirty-five. I will never forget one of the last things she said. My mother asked, Richard do you know that you were born three months early? I said yes. Then she asked, Do you know why you were born three months early? I said, No! Then she told me the reason. She said, Rich when I was pregnant with you somebody beat me up real bad. They abused me! They were hitting and hitting me and hitting me! They were even hitting me in the stomach and that is what caused you to be born premature. Thank God that even before my birth God had His hand on my life. God was constantly watching over me. As I look back, I can see that even before my birth satan had tried to kill me. That’s satan with a little s. Satan had tried to destroy my ministry and me even before I was born.

When I graduated from high school, I went off to attend college to major in medical technology. I wasn’t a Christian yet. My real major in college was partying or taking up space. The reason I tell you this is that in my first health class at California University in California, Pennsylvania, the professor told us students to look at the palms of our hands. He then said, On the palms of your hands you have three big lines, and on every student here those lines on the palms of your hands should meet. If those lines on the palms of your hands do not meet, then you have a problem! Either you were born mentally retarded, or you came mighty close to being born mentally retarded. Then the professor asked, Is there a student here whose lines on your palms do not meet? There was a silence in the classroom. Every student there studied the lines on the palms of their hands. As I looked around the class, I observed all the young, childhood-freckled college students. They were each wondering what they were doing in college and wondering what they would one day be, including those like me who didn’t have a care or a worry in the world. Oh, how we Christians became burdened down and attached to the trials of this world!

The professor asked again, Does anybody have lines on their hands that do not meet? Nobody in the class raised their hand. However, there was one hand that should have been raised. That was mine. The lines on my hands did not meet. I was too embarrassed to raise my hand. The Lord had not yet taught me to be truthful.

As I sat there, I looked and looked at the palms of my hands. The lines did not meet. Not only was I born three months early and not expected to live, but I could also see that there was a good chance I was almost born mentally retarded! Not only had satan tried to destroy me before I was born, but he had also tried to destroy my mind. Satan tried his best to kill me and stop my ministry. The best he could do was fail! Fortunately, I was born alive and with a healthy mind. Satan had failed twice to destroy me. Do you know what that makes satan? A two-time loser! I thank the Lord for watching over me at such a precious time in my life.

Children, their angels in heaven always see the face of God.

(See: Matthew 18:10)

Praise God! If you have a child who is mentally retarded or you are mentally handicapped, know that God cares for you and loves you. When a special-needs person is born, God knows all about them for He has put them there. So many times, God gives special-needs children to those parents who can give them special love. What a job to be done for the Lord! Such parents are called by God to walk in a deeper love than many others. Humankind decides when to have sex. However, God decides when to give life.

In my life, I really didn’t get to know my real father, but I can still find something for which to thank him. I have no ax to grind; I’m alive and doing well. My father was a cook in the army when my parents first married. Times were tough! There wasn’t much money. My mother told me that if it weren’t for my father being a cook, we would have starved! Thank God he knew to make a meal out of nothing.

After living in Newfoundland for a handful of years, my father’s new assignment came up and we were off for Augusta, Georgia. My mother told me that when we were on the plane flying over the ocean, one of the plane’s engines caught fire. It kept on flying, trying to make a forced landing. My mother never flew again. She wouldn’t get on another airplane the rest of her life! It looked like I was still on the devil’s hit list. Kill Rich! Satan’s mission is to kill, to steal, and to destroy. God’s mission is to set free, to deliver, and to bless. Just in case you don’t know it, you, too, are still on the devil’s hit list.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10 (New International Version)

A few years later, a reassignment came up, and we drove up north to around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area. The first six years of my life were tough! I was trying to learn to talk all over North America; I had a Newfoundland accent from Canada, a southern accent from Georgia, and a northern accent from Pennsylvania. It was no wonder I didn’t start speaking until the age of three. I began speaking one day when Oral Roberts was on television and asked if anybody needed a miracle. My mother put her hand on the television and they both prayed together for a miracle to happen! God honored their faith and let His evangelist speak his first words. Even to this day when I get up to preach, I catch many a congregation’s ear with my accent. They just can’t quite figure out what type of accent I have or where I came from. The first question they ask me when they have the chance is Where are you from? I always tell them, Well, I’m a citizen of Heaven! I really don’t remember all that much about the first six years of my life. I do remember a time my parents had a fight. Someone threw a jar of mustard in the kitchen. There was mustard on the kitchen walls, mustard on the refrigerator door, and mustard everywhere. My parents must have been really mad at each other because the mustard wasn’t cleaned up for days! Other than that, I’ve never really seen my parents fight.

I remember when my father was out grocery shopping; he was going from store to store to save some money on the specials. At one store, he left my brother and me in the car while he went inside. Back in those days it was called give me a break! Today it is called child abuse! Well anyway, I was in the front seat, and my brother was in the back seat. We did some shopping of our own. We looked inside the bags of groceries in the car and found three dozen eggs. We didn’t mind being left in the car alone. We sure did have a good time. We had the egg fight of our lives with the windows rolled up! I sure do wish you could have seen my father’s face when he returned from shopping. Even today, I still find a good laugh over what we did. Laughter? Laughter is one of the best medicines that God gave us.

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)

I also remember the first Christmas when I discovered Santa Claus. I got my first train set that year. A Lionel train, and a good one at that. The locomotive had smoke coming out of its engine. It had a railroad crossing that really worked, a caboose, and all the boxcars in the middle loaded with extras, not to mention the two men on the sidecar who pedaled up and down to go around the track. Thanks Dad! Thanks God! That train set would be worth a fortune today if I still had it, thousands of dollars! They sure don’t make trains like that anymore.

Moreover, I still remember my childhood dog and the first time old Blackie had puppies. She had her puppies down in the cellar in a cubby-hole on the floor. My brother and I got a cardboard box and put some rags in it. Then we took her puppies one by one and put them into the box. She looked up at us as a mother would have and trusted us. I remember the proud look she had on her face as she was watching her newborn pups like a hawk. I can still remember how those pups couldn’t walk yet. Their eyes were pure blue. They couldn’t see yet either or eat solid food. They had to drink milk. I also remember that I examined them closely as I picked them up. They were very pretty and clean. Moreover, they smelled fresh and pure. Those pups remind me of Christians just being saved, each so pure, clean, holy, and fresh; not able to eat solid food yet! They are just able to drink God’s Word from the Bible; Christians unable to see yet! Young Christians must be shown the way to walk in the path of God. Christians, salvation is a gift from God! It’s free, but there is a great price to pay to keep it. You are going to have to lay down your life! This is the reason why so many Christians never stay saved; they never finish the race; they never totally commit to the Lord.

God has the power to create. There are three c’s of God: God creates, God causes, and God controls. He created man in His image.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26 (KJV)

Not only did God create us in His own image, but God also gave man the ability to create in his own image; that is, to procreate by giving birth. The result is our children look like us. Man was given the opportunity to duplicate through procreation, but man was not given a chance to be God! Only God can create in His image or likeness. Man creates in his own likeness, but without the holiness of God.

Man’s attempt to create in the image of God is futile! When a person accepts God’s plan of salvation and repents his of sins, it is no wonder that all Heaven rejoices. God must certainly look down from His throne and say, You got that one right baby! Your attempts to create in My image are futile. Now you have My holiness. Now you are created in My image! It’s no wonder all Heaven rejoices when a person is saved!

6Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:6–7 (New International Version)

God must certainly be looking down from His throne saying, My young pups, My young Christians, so fresh, so pure, so Holy, so Holy! You’re just like My Son Jesus. Now you are just like Me. You’re now made in My image.

Anyway, back to my childhood, I have a story to tell. I don’t remember much more about the first seven years of my life that will be of any great importance to you. However, I will tell you about God during those first years. God was good to me! He loved me! In Heaven, there is no time. You have to have a beginning and an end for time to exist. God is eternal. In Heaven, there is no beginning or ending. God is the alpha and omega. God dwells in eternity, but time dwells in God. God has already lived our tomorrows just as He has lived all our yesterdays. God loves us so much He invented time to show us the fullness of His love! The love of God is so great eternity couldn’t contain it. Whoa! God loves His newborn Christians and adult Christians so much that eternity cannot contain the love He has for each of you! God had to invent more time to show it. Christians out there, know that God loves you.

The Word of God says that one of our days unto the Lord is as a thousand years. I never quite understood that scripture until one day as I was on the way to work. I was extremely tired and worn out from working at my job and going to Bible college. The Lord said to me that morning, Rich I’m going to be giving you My peace today and I’m going to slow down time for you so that you can enjoy it! The eight hours I spent at work that day made for the longest day of my life. God made those eight hours last as long as my whole life, forty-three years long! I kept looking and looking at my watch, but it seemed like time stood still. I enjoyed the peace of God that day. Sure was a long one!

One day is unto the Lord as a thousand years! In Heaven, there is no time. God has slowed time down in Heaven so much that time doesn’t exist. Just so, you could enjoy Heaven to its fullness. Praise God! God cares about you so much that He has found time to concern Himself with every detail in your life! Even with all that, God always finds the time to be sitting on His throne in Heaven so the Christians there can come and visit Him.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Isaiah 6:1–4 (NIV)

When you get to Heaven one of the first things you will ask God is What type of music is this here? Then you will be telling the Lord that you have never heard anything so beautiful in your lifetime! God will tell you, In Heaven there is no time. I’ve slowed time down so that you can enjoy every second of Heaven to its fullest. For music to have beats, you have to have time. This music here in Heaven has no beats to it because there is no time here! I created this music in Heaven for you to enjoy. Being God is complicated!

Heaven is all about God’s love. God is love. When satan first appeared in the Bible, his lies and cunning deceived Adam and Eve. Satan is the deceiver who wanted to be greater than God.

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?

2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Genesis 3:1–7 (New King James Version)

However, in the competition, who would be the greatest? Sampson, who was the strongest of men at that time, showed up on the scene. Samson was a man with long locks of hair who knew how to humble a man. When he showed up on the scene, he humiliated other men.

16 And Sampson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

Judges 15:16 (KJV)

In the competition of who would be the greatest, a man called the mad Mongolian showed up on the scene. When he, Genghis Khan, showed up, he conquered nations. When Benjamin Franklin showed up on the scene, being the thinker that he was, he invented us to death. However, in the competition of the best, General Douglas MacArthur showed up on the scene with his signature corncob pipe in hand leading his victorious armies. In the competition of who would be the greatest, Albert Einstein showed up on the scene, being the genius that he was, with his theories on relativity and even a theory on the existence of God. Einstein outthought all of mankind. However, in the competition of great singing, Bing Crosby showed up on the scene, certainly the singer of the twentieth century. He not only sang, but he also had everyone singing along. Soul singing brought Mahalia Jackson, and rock and roll music brought us Elvis The King Presley. However, in the competition of who had the best of the best, Tina Turner showed up on the scene to sing with her million-dollar legs. Well, I really shouldn’t say what she did best. Do you want to know? Tina really knew how to sing, and she knew how to show off those legs. Not only did Tina have the best show in town, she was the show! My hat’s off to you, Tina Turner. What a class act. When you finished your show, there always seemed like there wasn’t any competition left. When they once asked Tina during an interview how she kept her legs in such good shape, she simply answered, I just wear Hanes! Moreover, in this competition of who the best is, God showed up! He needed no introduction. He gave us the greatest gift of all, LOVE!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 (NIV)

God came out of nowhere, stood on nothing, and made everything. Whoosh! He had love. God is love. God loved everyone!

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:16 (NIV)

I like what it says in the first chapter of John. The first chapter of John talks about the Word of God becoming flesh.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the Beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:1–5 (NIV)

Let’s take a closer look at that. Revelation is God’s Word. Creation is His work. The Holy Spirit is the sole seer and interpreter of both. When you look at the Word of God in the Bible and begin to study it, God doesn’t hide anything from you. God hides nothing! Know that all answers are in Him.

His very work from the beginning is revelation—a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth. On and on from fact divine He advances, until at length in His Son Jesus He unveils his very face.

George MacDonald (1824–1905)

In the beginning was the Word… Here we see that the Word of God was established from the beginning of time. If the Word of God was established from the beginning of time, then the Word of God is self-existent! Moreover, if the Word of God is self-existent, then it is self-existing. Moreover, if the Word of God is both self-existent and self-existing, then the Word of God has to be God, all-powerful!

And the Word of God was with God… Here we see that from the very beginning of time, the Word of God established its relationship with God.

And the Word was God… Here we see a progression of action. The Word of God is alive, upright walking, and proclaiming its evidence and its existence. God’s Word is action. Action! Action! Action!

In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… Know that the Bible is alive! The Word of God has just gone from being a noun to being a verb. Action… Action… Action… the Word of God! The Word of God is action!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God… You might ask yourself, Where was God before the beginning of time? Can you find an interpretative question there? If in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God then think on this! I ask where was God before the beginning of time? Let’s take a closer look at it. Let’s see if we can answer it with an interpretative answer that asks the question, Where was God before the beginning of time? Man has asked this question repeatedly, down through the ages! The answer is But where is God not?

Jesus, in Him is life. Jesus Christ is life! He is life. Jesus Christ is life. All problems and trials in our lives are just details. Jesus is life and all the worldly occurrences are just details. A little faith will take a man’s soul to Heaven, but greater faith will bring Heaven to a man’s soul. God is peace. Jesus Christ is life. Jesus is your peace. In Him is life and that light is the light of man. God is light.

Isn’t it interesting how His light distinguishes God? Man is distinguished by his shadow, but His light distinguishes God. God is light! God shows us the way to walk in the dark times of our lives. Man’s shadow leaves him in the dark times of his life when there is no sun just like many of our friends leave us in the dark times of our lives. However, God is light! God will never leave you.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)

God will never leave or forsake you. God sticks by closer than a friend. In Him is life and that life is the light of man. The light shines in the darkness. I like what Helen Adams Keller once said that pertains to this subject. Helen Keller was a godly woman of many trials and triumphs. She said, God is the light in my darkness and the voice in my silence. What a mouthful! God is the light in my darkness and the voice in my silence.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. I just can’t quite figure out why people don’t want to accept God’s plan of salvation that He has for them and become Christians by asking God to forgive them of their sins and inviting Jesus into their lives. Christians because God is light and the light of men, your future with God is bright. Your future in Heaven is bright.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:5 (NIV)

I hope you have enjoyed this little play with the words of the Bible. The Bible should be fun, just as Christianity should be fun! Moreover, I hope you have learned something. Christ is the master of the scriptures; we are only His servants.

Well, back to my childhood: I have a story to tell. Will you please forgive me? I was born to preach, not to tell stories. When I was about the age of seven, my father was getting ready for a new assignment in the army. He was going to leave for Germany and bring us along later after he found a place for us to stay. Before our father left, he took my brother and me out shopping to a Woolworth’s five-and-dime store. He gave us twenty dollars each to buy some toys, a going-away gift for us! That was the last time that I would see my father again. My parents got a divorce. I never really saw my parents fight or argue. I never understood why they got a divorce. That was the last time I ever saw my father. I never received a Christmas card, a birthday card, or even a graduation card, nothing at all except child support! What I needed was a little bit of love, a father’s presence. Even to this day, the biggest thing that I regret about my childhood is that my father was not there. A person to show me what a real dad was. A father made in the image of God. I had no father figure in my life, no godlike figure in my life. No Dad. Parents, raise your children. Parents, the best example of God that you can give your children is to be a godly parent. Fathers must surrender any right they may feel they have to act unreasonably toward their children. Parents, please be parents!

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4 (NIV)

Chapter Two

The Teenage Years

When thinking back about my teenage years, they were a lot of fun, fun, fun, and fun. We didn’t have all the computer toys that the children have today. We didn’t have the hundred-dollar tennis shoes that the kids must have today. Even with all the luxuries that today’s kids have, they are still bored. Not us kids back then—we were never bored. We had fun. We were very poor, but the best part of it was that we didn’t know that we were poor! We were lucky to have a pair of pants, let alone a pair of hundred-dollar Reeboks. Even with hardly any money, we were never bored. My allowance was two dollars a week! In addition, if I ran out of money, I could always collect pop or soda bottles to return to sell at the store for two cents each. A milk bottle was a rare find. What a blessing! Finding a milk bottle meant you could quit working for the day. You had just struck it rich by earning twenty-five cents.

We would go spend our quarter on peas for our peashooters. It was time for a good old pea fight. When we ran out of peas, we had pillow fights. We collected baseball cards. In addition, we even became very skilled at flipping them to win some more baseball cards. Heads you win, tails you lose. If we had a couple of baseball cards that were doubles, we’d attach them to the spokes of our bicycles with clothespins, and then we had a motorcycle. It didn’t take a whole lot of money to have fun.

In the springtime, we would get out our fishing poles that we bought by collecting the S and H stamps. You got the stamps when you bought gas. Off fishing we went. Once my friend Stanley was fooling around and said, Look at the big fish I just hooked. His pole was bending toward the ground. He really thought that he had a snag! Guess what? The biggest catfish that you have ever seen came jumping out of the water. The fight of reeling him in was on.

Our fishing hole was down at the creek. One night, there was a lightning storm, and a huge tree was struck. The tree fell across the creek and made a dam, creating a deep fishing hole. We called it Big Tree. We sure did have a lot of fun. When it was too hot to fish, we stripped down and went swimming or skinny-dipping. We were just a bunch of skinny kids taking a dip. I went back to our fishing hole the last time I went home. It wasn’t there anymore. Over the years, the tree had eroded away! The creek was shallow where the tree used to be. There was no fishing hole, just a shallow creek. God was good to us children.

In the summertime, we had a lot of fun. We used to thumb rides up to the golf course and caddie to make some extra spending money. One time, we snuck into a neighbor’s garden and had a golf tournament with baseball bats. We must have smashed about one hundred tomatoes before our neighbor caught us. We were laughing very hard, and he came out to see what all the commotion was. He sure was mad! I shouldn’t mention the tomato fights we used to have. Nevertheless, you just had to laugh when you were hit square in the face with a big, rotten tomato.

During the summer, we would always go up to the cow pastures and throw stones at the cows. We never really meant to hurt the cows. We just wanted to get the bulls mad enough to chase us. After all, King David in his youth had fought a lion and a bear.

34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

1 Samuel 17:34–35 (KJV)

Growing up back then, our proving ground was fighting bulls. Trust me, we got those bulls mad! Have you ever gotten a bull so mad that he chased you up a tree? I have. We kids back then sure did know how to have a lot of fun, but we weren’t living our lives for the Lord, as King David did.

In the fall, we all went camping. We sure did make some big bonfires. Fun, fun, and more fun! We used to roast marshmallows or hot dogs on a stick over an open fire. They sure were good. We slept in tents or in homemade shacks.

At Halloween time, after the farmers harvested their corn crops, we would glean the cornfields for the leftover corn. After we husked the corn, we threw corn at houses and cars; we also soaped a lot of car windows.

The fall months were always