Dog’s Invitation

Excerpt taken from Nine Lives and Counting: A Bounty Hunter’s Journey to Faith, Hope, and Redemption by Duane “Dog” Chapman

Chapter 12
Dog’s Invitation

“Lord, remember me . . .”
—Luke 23:42

I relate more and more to King David every day. I understand David as a warrior. I understand him as a guy who was part of a conspiracy to commit murder and an accessory after the fact. I understand him as an adulterer. I understand David as a guy who fought the Philistines with his bare hands and passionately chased after the enemies of God’s people. I understand him as a man who worshiped God with all his might. I understand him as a man with complicated relationships with his children, and I understand him as a man who watered his couch with his tears when he was in grief.

My mother often told me as a child that I was a little David. She told me God loved David because he was so good at repenting, and I needed to be good at repenting too. I pray all the time to ask God to forgive me of my sins. Like David, I pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.”

David was known as a man after God’s own heart. Man, I want to be known like that too.

Every day I pray and ask God to forgive me for specific sins I know I have done. I also ask Him to forgive me for sins I didn’t even know I committed. Those kinds of sins are called trespasses, and they are just like that—like going inside a building when you don’t see a No Trespassing sign. You didn’t know it was wrong when you did it. I repent like this every day. Why? I never know if today is my last day on earth, and when I meet God, I want to walk into heaven with clean hands and a pure heart. I want to meet Him as a forgiven man, washed clean by the blood of the lamb.

Sometimes I meet someone who feels like they have gone too far. They feel like they have committed so many sins—or maybe just the really bad ones—that they are beyond hope. But that isn’t true. If you still have enough of a conscience to recognize that you have been sinful and have any curiosity about God inside you, you haven’t gone too far. God can and will forgive you.

When you ask for forgiveness, the Bible says He throws your sins into the sea of forgetfulness. For example, say you shoplift, and you ask God to forgive you for shoplifting. The next time you go to Him, if you say, “Remember when I talked to You about shoplifting?” He’ll say no. When God forgives you, He removes that sin from you as far as the East is from the West.

I am no theologian. I am not a pastor or even a preacher, but I am a forgiven man! So let me ask you, how far is the East from the West, friend? You don’t need to bring that thing up with God ever again. Once you confess sin and ask God to forgive you, it’s over. Done. Not guilty.

This Dog’s been pardoned!

I have personally experienced the mercy of God and His forgiveness. At the foot of the cross, we are all equal. Sin is sin. We are the ones who decide which sins are more socially acceptable than others. The murderer is the same in God’s eyes as the church lady who gossips.

When you ask God to forgive you and live inside you as Lord, you don’t have to suffer the sentence you deserve for all the bad things you have done. Jesus took that punishment for you. You are God’s child. Jesus becomes your brother, and heaven is your home.

That’s good news.

I am God’s messenger, and I carry this message to you. I want you to know that you can be forgiven. All you have to do is ask.

Maybe you know you need God’s forgiveness. Maybe your life is a mess, and you could really use His help. Maybe you are hungry for His love. Maybe you don’t believe God cares about you or aren’t even sure if He is real.

Think about this: If I am wrong and God is not real, you’ve got nothing to lose. But if I’m right and God is who He says He is, then you could lose everything by not believing. Why not give this a shot?

Maybe you haven’t prayed in a long time—or ever. Maybe you aren’t even sure how to pray. Maybe you think you have to do something first to get cleaned up enough to talk to God.

But you don’t.

You can come to God exactly as you are right now. There is nothing you need to do first. All you have to do is believe.

That’s all. Believe that God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for your sin—Jesus went to prison in your place so you could know God. That’s His gift to you—salvation. Jesus does the saving, brother; all we do is the asking.

And I have more good news. You don’t have to go inside a church, walk down an aisle, or shake a preacher’s hand to receive Jesus. You can do it right now, wherever you are. You just have to ask Him to come and live in your heart.

If you are still breathing, then it’s not too late.

A friend of mine lost his dad recently. His father wasn’t a particularly nice man. He was an alcoholic and hadn’t been much of a father. But in his final days, he repented and asked Jesus to save him. My friend asked me, “Dog, my dad lived such a bad life for so many years. Do you mean to tell me that his confession at the very end was enough? I need to know—is my dad in heaven?”

“Yes,” I said confidently. “If your dad accepted the Lord before he died, he is in heaven. There is no doubt in my mind. It is never too late.”

“That’s a relief,” my friend said, and he let out a big sigh.

“It sure is,” I said. “How about you? If you died today, would you see your dad in heaven?”

“I’m not sure,” he answered.

“Well, I know how to make sure,” I said, and we prayed together for him to accept Christ.

“Now, if your son ever calls me and has to ask if you went to heaven, I’ll be able to tell him yes, brother!” I hung up that phone smiling.

Prayer is easy. It is just talking to God, and God’s mercy is big enough to handle and cover anything you have ever done. There is nothing so bad that it can disqualify you from being loved by God.

God can’t run out of grace. Ever.

Why not confess your sins right now? Get them off your chest and tell God everything. He already knows—He’s just waiting for you to ask. I promise He’ll do it.

I have a strange calling on my life. I feel called to round up the devil’s herd. God sent me to talk to the ones who don’t think they are good enough for Him and those who have been running away from Him. He sent me to the ones who have lived a hard life—for whatever reason—and feel like it might be too late.

In the Bible you will find dozens of men and women who committed every kind of sin. Noah was an alcoholic. David was an adulterer and accessory to murder. Rahab (David’s great-great-great-grandmother) was a prostitute. Zacchaeus was a corrupt tax collector. The apostle Paul (a.k.a. Saul of Tarsus) was a brutal persecutor of Christians. Peter betrayed Jesus … and the list goes on. But their sins didn’t disqualify them.

Soon after I got out of prison, I was asked to share a message with a group of pastors. I was really nervous, and I went to God and said, It’s ten minutes until the curtain opens. Are they going to listen to this felon? Really? Maybe I should just cancel.

God answered, Listen, I know another felon convicted of something He never did. He received the death penalty.

Yeah? I asked. Who?

That felon was My Son, Jesus.

Whoa! I never thought of it like that before!

And you know what? God said. There were two convicted criminals hanging there beside Him. One mocked Jesus and said, “Aren’t You supposed to be the Son of God? Why don’t You save Yourself?” But the other one said, “Remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.”

“Remember me,” I said out loud.

Jesus took that felon with Him. The first person into paradise after Jesus’ death was a convicted felon. God is in the felony restoration business, and He certainly wants to restore you.

If you aren’t sure what to say, start here: Lord, remember me.

That’s a start. Praying remember me is a seed of faith. It means you believe—even if just a tiny little bit. So now, you can take it a little bit further.

Lord,

I know I am a sinner and can do nothing to save myself. I cannot work my way to heaven; I can only get there through You. I believe You are the Son of God. Even if I don’t understand how it works yet, I believe You died on the cross to forgive my sins.

Remember me.

I want to be forgiven. I confess my sins. I repent, and I ask for Your forgiveness. By faith, I receive the gift of salvation. Help me learn to trust You. Come live in my heart and give me a new life.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Did you mean those words when you read them? If you did, then I want you to say them out loud. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. You believe what you hear yourself say. So say “Jesus is Lord” out loud right now.

Now say it again.

Say it until you believe it. Really believe it. “Jesus is Lord!”

Welcome to the pack! You now belong to my family—the family of God. God loves you, and He wants to see your life made new. He has a never-ending supply of second chances. Nine lives are nothing to Him!

I wish I could tell you that praying this prayer would fix everything for you by tomorrow, but that isn’t true. The circumstances of your life may take some time to change. For sure, though, you will change. In the middle of your circumstances, God will change you. When you accept Jesus, you gain access to God’s power and all the resources of heaven. You can ask Him for anything. You can call on Him for help in the middle of any kind of trouble. You can ask Him for miracles, just like I have done again and again, and God has never failed me yet.

I’m still changing. I drop the f-bomb a lot less these days. Francie says it is God sanding off my rough edges. But the real change is how I see God and love others. I can see God is changing me from the inside out. Whatever time I have left on this earth, I want to spend it loving God and loving people. I would rather have Jesus than fame. Fame is fleeting—it can vanish in a day. Salvation is forever.

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time—or maybe for the first time in a long time—I would love to hear from you. Will you please share this moment with me? You can email me at [email protected], and I will write back and send you some things that will encourage you and help you with your newly found or newly restored faith.

This chapter is called “Dog’s Invitation,” but it is really God’s invitation. How will you answer?

I hope you’ll say, “Remember me,” so you can begin your new life too.

…

Order your copy of Nine Lives and Counting: A Bounty Hunter’s Journey to Faith, Hope, and Redemption by Duane “Dog” Chapman