Testimony of Richard Simmonds

Given during June 8, 2003 Worship Service

Choices! Don't you love them - And we get to make so many of them. Like, is it Wheaties or Fruit Loops - should I live in Denver or Chicago - should I Marry or stay Single. I think it is obvious, some choices are more important than others. A wise person said - "We make our choices, then our choices make us." God says - "Choose this day whom you will serve."

Good morning! My name is Dick Simmonds. My wife Cathy and I have been attending SGC for about seven years.

I believe we are all challenged more than once by God to "choose this day whom you will serve." Before I became a Christian, I was a follower of Ayn Rand. Those of you who remember the 50s and 60s may recognize that name. Rand was a Russian immigrant, a writer and a philosopher; she developed the Objectivist philosophy. And, she was an atheist - an avowed atheist. Religion for her was a non-issue - she refused to even discuss it.

Her best known books were "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," although "We The Living" hooked me. Interestingly enough, even though she died in 1982, her books are experiencing a renewed popularity today. God, for the Objectivist, was individualism and they worshipped competence. They believed in capitalism without conscience, their world had no contradictions. Selfishness was seen as a virtue while humility was viewed as a sign of weakness. She and her philosophy had no need for God.

In the early 60s as a college student and later as a young professional, her philosophy had great appeal for me. It was logical and reasonable - and it fed my ego. As a person, I was proud and arrogant, self reliant and self centered. Like the Simon and Garfunkel song of that era said - I was a rock, I was an island - I NEEDED no one. If you knew me then, you probably wouldn't have liked me.

I had grown up as a "special event type" church attender, you know - Christmas, Easter, weddings, funerals, but with little understanding and no commitment to spiritual things. I wish someone had told me "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."

Objectivism was a good fit for me. For the moment, it seemed all to be working. And though I believed the philosophy, and though all my Objectivist friends claimed to be atheists, I could never bring myself to say - There is no God. And though my life seemed to going okay, deep down, there was a void, an empty space in my life. I see now I always believed there was a God, I had just never taken the time to consider what that meant for me, personally.

Then, at the age of 26, a funny thing happened. As Pastor Nelson pointed out in a message last fall, someone was "fighting for my soul." My sister and my brother-in-law, who had recently become Christians, were praying for me, as were people in their church and God was making His move.

A job change in December of 1968 required a move from Pittsburgh, PA to Denver, Colorado. I left my family, all my friends and nearly everyone I knew and I came to a place where I knew no one, not one person. It was the Christmas season, I was all alone and God had me right where He wanted me. Through a God directed set of circumstances, I found myself in an evangelical church listening to the Gospel and the "Hound of Heaven," as Francis Thompson called Him, caught up with me. The challenge was given - choose THIS day whom YOU will serve.

Either the hallow, empty, impotent gods of Rand's philosophy or the living, powerful, loving God of the Bible. I had seen enough of the selfish, cold and egotistical life of Objectivism. I had seen the feet of clay of its founder. And I chose - But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

That was thirty-four years ago and, I am telling you this morning, that was the best choice I have ever made.