John Harper’s last convert

John Harper’s Last Convert
By Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer |

Pastor John Harper was one of the passagers on the Titanic that sank in April 1912. When the Titanic started to sink, he made sure his sister and six year old daugter got into a life boat and then he went back. Survivors later reported that as Titanic began to sink, Harper admonished people to be prepared to die. And when he found himself in the icy water with a life jacket, floating near another man, Harper asked, “Are you saved?”

“No, I’m not saved!” the desperate man replied. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!” Harper shouted.

One report says Harper, knowing he could not survive long in the icy water, took off his life jacket and threw it to another person with the words, “You need this more than I do!” Moments later, Harper disappeared beneath the water.

Four years later, when there was a reunion of the survivors of the Titanic, the man to whom Harper had witnessed told the story of his rescue and gave a testimony of his conversion recorded in a tract, I was John Harper’s Last Convert.

This Gospel does not spare us from drowning in an ocean, but it does spare us from a far worse eternal destruction.