A Thief in the Night (1972)

Mike Niday: Jim Wright

Quotes 

• Duane : No one knows when it's going to happen. When they asked Him, even Jesus said that He didn't know the exact time. But it's going to happen. One of these days and it could be any minute now, Christ is going to come back for His own. After that it's going to be pretty awful here on Earth.

  Jim Wright : Like what?

  Duane : Well for example, the Bible says that right now the spirit of God is holding back the full force of evil in the world, but after the believers go, the spirit will too. That means a whole new ball game, only this time with no rules, evil will just take over. And the evil one the Bible calls the antichrist or the beast, will rule supreme. See we just don't know what it would be like to live in a world like that. The good around us still has the support of the spirit of God. After He goes... wow.

  Jerry Bradford : You really believe all that?

  Duane : Yes I do.

  Jerry Bradford : Lots of luck.

  Duane : I'll say one thing, anybody who's left here is going to need it.

  Jim Wright : If you really believe that, you couldn't even look at your watch without wondering if it was going to happen now.

  Duane : Yeah, but to the Christian it's something we look forward to. The non-Christian is waiting for the end of life and doom. The believer's waiting to meet the One who gave us life.

• Patty Myers : It's all beyond me, I've been raised in the church, taught to do the best I can, to believe in God and hope for the best, what else is there? I mean I'm good. I don't lie, I don't cheat. I'm as good as the next person, maybe better.

  Pastor Balmer : God made us for Himself, that He might enjoy us, and that we might enjoy Him, and also that we might enjoy each other. But we, well actually you, broke that relationship when you didn't choose Christ.

  Patty Myers : I never made that choice.

  Pastor Balmer : Have you ever chosen FOR Him?

  Patty Myers : Well, maybe not, but my minister says we don't have to get all hung up on that theology stuff. God is love, and He's not going to destroy us because we can't help doing wrong, is He?

  Pastor Balmer : It's true that God IS love, and that God is holy, but God will also punish sin.

  Jim Wright : I think I understand, but where does love fit in? How could a God who loved me cause me to go through what I did?

  Pastor Balmer : Well Jim you have to understand there are times when God uses circumstances in our lives, to bring us into a closer relationship with Himself. Look at it this way, what chance did you have of making it after your accident?

  Jim Wright : Not too much.

  Pastor Balmer : None at all. There was no way your body could produce the antibodies that were needed to fight that poison.

  Jim Wright : Someone else had been through it. HIS blood had the cure.

  Pastor Balmer : Exactly, HIS blood had the cure. And all you had to do was receive it. When you received his blood, that saved your life.