His Last Convert

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There where a lot of notable wealthy people on the Titanic in 1912. But the most notable passenger on the Titanic was someone that most of the world has never heard of before. He was a man by the name of John Harper. He was a plan ordinary Pastor from the city of Glasgow, Scotland. He had faithfully shepherded his congregation for years, he was a fairly young minister only 40 years old. He had given over a decade to his church 15 years as their Pastor. Moody Memorial Church in Chicago had invited him to come and preach a series of sermons. So he had accepted the invitation and had booked himself on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. As he boarded the ship he thought, “I will have plenty of time to prepare my sermons for this preaching series. But Pastor John had a bit of a problem staying in his room and studying because he had such a heart for people. It is told that the night before the Titanic sunk that John Harper was on the deck earnestly pleading and begging someone to come to Christ. He had given his life day in and day out to see people get into the spiritual lifeboat. And that night when that iceberg struck that ship he was awakened so he got up and started making his way to the lifeboat and he realized their wasn’t enough room for everyone. So he started going from deck to deck crying out – “women and children and the unsaved to the lifeboats.” He said, “lets get the non-Christians on first.” Now as he was dong this you could imagine the panic. Many people were cast into the waters and survived for a while in the freezing waters, Pastor John was one of those people. He hung on to a wooden piece of debris floating in the water.
Some of the passengers because of the swirling currents of the sinking ship were being brought close to one another and then flung back apart. One of the men was brought into close proximity with John Harper and John cried out sir are you a Christian? And the man answered simply, NO. And the current took him away into the darkness. A few minutes later by God’s providence that same man was brought back into John Harper’s sight and John asked him again, “Sir, are you saved yet – have you accepted Christ?” And the man said, “NO, I can’t honestly say that I am.” Apparently that was the last thing John Harper ever said, he lost his grip on the piece of debris and sunk down into the Atlantic Ocean and died. That man that John Harper was pleading with to become a Christian in his last few moments of life was one of the very few who was plucked out of the icy waters by one of the ships that rushed to the scene. He testified that he did accept Christ that very night and he settled in Hamilton in Ontario Canada. He was often asked to speak and give his testimony and he would proudly step up and say I’m John Harpers last convert.

SOURCE: http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item.php/2563.html
   

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