Dwight Moody

 As taken from my history class, here is Dwight Moody's “Greatest Mistake”; something to think about as we bring the gospel to people:

Moody was preaching the evening of October 8, 1871. He concluded his gospel message that night by asking the question, “What will you do with Jesus?” Then Moody added, “I wish you would seriously consider this subject, for next Sunday we will speak about the cross, and at that time I’ll ask again, ‘What will YOU do with Jesus?”

That evening someone knocked over a lantern in the O’Leary’s barn and started the Great Chicago Fire. Although it is often blamed on a cow, people actually thought that it was done be a robber; later, a man named Louis M. Cohn confessed that he was running away from an illegal card game in the O’Leary’s barn and accidentally knocked over a lantern. It had been an unusually dry summer and fall, and a strong wind spread the fire quickly, destroying 17,500 buildings and 73 miles of street. Ninety thousand people were left homeless, and it is believed that 300 people died in the blaze. After 24 hours, the rains came and helped quench the fire.

Moody’s church and home were both destroyed, as well as the YMCA, but what felt more keenly was the possibility that among the dead were people who had been in church that evening and whom he had sent away to think about their answer. He viewed that as his greatest mistake. “Now, whenever I preach,” Moody said later, “I press for a definite decision. I would rather lose my right hand than give people even a day to decide for Christ, for I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again. The Gospel invitation is a ‘today only’ offer!”