When pastor and preacher John Harper and his six year old daughter boarded the Titanic it was for the privilege of becoming the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago.

When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Harper successfully led his daughter to a lifeboat. Then he ran person to person, passionately telling them about Christ. As the water began to submerge the “unsinkable” ship, Harper was heard shouting, ”women, children, and the unsaved into the lifeboats.” Rebuffed by a certain man at the offer of salvation Harper gave him his own life vest, saying, “you need this more than I do.” Up until the last moment Harper pleaded with people to give their lives to Jesus.

The ship disappeared beneath the deep frigid waters leaving hundreds floundering in its wake with no realistic chance for rescue. Harper struggled through hyperthermia to swim to as many people as he could, still sharing the Gospel. He would evidentially lose his battle with hypothermia but not before giving many people one last glorious Gospel witness.

Four years after the tragedy at a Titanic survivor’s meeting in Ontario, Canada, one survivor recounted his interaction with Harper in the middle of the icy waters of the Atlantic. He testified he was clinging to ship debris when Harper swam up to him, twice challenging him with a biblical invitation to “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” He rejected the offer once. Yet given the second chance and with miles of water beneath his feet, the man gave his life to Christ. 

Then as Harper succumbed to his watery grave, this new believer was rescued by a returning lifeboat. As he concluded his remarks at the Ontario meeting of survivors he simply stated, “I am the last convert of  John Harper.”

Source: Baptist Press

BIBLE STUDY: Romans 10:13-15

PRAISE: God that, through His servant, He gave many one last opportunity of salvation. Pray for more John Harpers today!