With hurricane Oscar , , ,

Dwight L. Moody, regarded as one of the great evangelists of the 19^th century, once noted, "Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; ninety-nine will read the Christian."

My hope with the long personality profile I've put together below is that readers will "read" Christian evangelist Oscar Woodall for exactly who he is—an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I had the pleasure of meeting Oscar in 1996 as part of an evangelism training clinic I attended through my church in Chicago (Shorewood Bible Church) and remember being instantly impressed by his demeanor and candor. His strength of character radiated off him as he talked to a friend and co-worker of mine about gaining salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Upon calling on some of Oscar's long-time friends and associates this past week to be included in this article, I was given many more stories and testimonies than I could ever use that speak to what a truly remarkable "soldier for Christ" Woodall is and has been in his 38 years of service to the Lord.

As friend Keith Baxter, pastor of Tampa Bay Fellowship in Tampa, Fla., sums it up, "Oscar just thought more about other folks than he did himself and that really is the love of God. That's really what love is—to regard other people more than yourself."

Friend Russ Hargett, pastor of Suncoast Bible Fellowship in St. Petersburg. Fla., testifies, "Everybody I know, even the mentors I've had in my life, are not sin-free people, but Oscar has been an exemplary person. He's taught me we have to allow each other to fail; we as Christians can't just expect people not to make mistakes.

"I've seen him when he was wrong be upset about it and say, 'You know, I made a mistake here. Maybe I made a judgment call that wasn't in line with the Word of God.'

"I have learned through him that true integrity comes from a man's view about the Bible. Integrity doesn't come from just being honest, paying the bills on time, or any of those kinds of things. I'm talking about how a man views the Word of God; how he considers the Word of God to be.

"As the Apostle Paul says, 'When ye received the Word of God, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.' "

A favorite quote of Oscar's, coming from his "dear brother in the Lord, Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones," expresses what Oscar has given the thousands of people worldwide he's made a point of getting to know: "You will be the same person five years from now that you are today except for two things—the books you read and the people you meet."

(Editor's Note: Indispensable to writing this piece have been two books: "Search for Security; The Story of Oscar Woodall," written by David Enlow in 1986, and "My Journey from Law to Grace," written by Woodall in 1993. Many, many  facts and quotes, as well as some word and sentence phrasings, have been taken from Enlow's book and he has granted permission for this article's appearance.)

*****

"Do you know for sure you are going to heaven when you die?"

Even as 79-year-old Oscar "Woody" Woodall was near death last month from a heart attack and congestive heart failure, he managed to get answers to this question from the doctors, nurses and technicians who cared for him at Southlake Hospital near his home in Clermont, Fla.

It's a question Woodall has asked on a near-daily basis for the past three-and-a-half decades to literally thousands of people across Florida and the world—from high-level business executives and government officials to nursing home patients and Death Row inmates.

"Nobody loved me enough during the first 40 years of my life to ask such a question," Woodall will inform those who permit him to share how he "came to know the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ" in 1966. "They either assumed I was a Christian, and I don't know how they could have thought that, or they didn't care about my spiritual welfare."

Concern for people's eternal destiny is what led Woodall, at the age of 48 in 1973, to leave his enviable sales career with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and embark on a new vocation as a self-described "evangelist-at-large."

In this capacity, he has seen perhaps thousands of men and women, from all ages and backgrounds, trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

"Oscar's heartbeat is for the 'lost'—to win the 'lost,' " says friend Larry Sanborn, a sales executive with Mears Motor Leasing in Orlando. "That's where he's focused."

Long-time friend Keith Baxter, pastor of Tampa Bible Fellowship in Tampa, adds, "It doesn't matter whether he's buying a pair of shoes, eating in a restaurant or staying at a hotel, Oscar's going to talk to people about eternal life. He calls it being 'soul-conscious.' "

*****

Woodall's story begins with his Great Depression upbringing in Miami, living in a household with little money and a father who drank and gambled. His mother later suffered from psychiatric problems.

As a young boy, Woodall would often be asked by his mother to walk down to the corner bar to see if his father was there and to tell him it was time for dinner.

After his sophomore year of high school, Woodall, a drinker and gambler himself by then, dropped out of school to run with one of Miami's roughest street gangs. Street fights involving knives, guns and other weapons ensued.

The onset of World War II was the only thing to put a halt to Woodall's criminal path. Faced with the draft as he neared 18, he enlisted in the United States Air Force as an aviation cadet.

After basic training in Mississippi, Woodall, at 6'5", was told he was too tall for flying duties. He was transferred along with his newfound enlisted friend, actor Charlton Heston, to Illinois for six months of radio school.

Subsequent transfers with Heston were to Texas, Utah and then the Aleutian Peninsula of Alaska, where his crew enjoyed visiting local Eskimo families and hunting and fishing.

Having earned his high school equivalency in the service, Woodall returned home to Miami after discharge to take a job with the Florida East Coast Railroad. He met his wife, Dorothy, while on a summer assignment in Montana as a transportation agent for the resort hotels there.

*****

Shortly after the birth of their first child, Linda, 29-year-old Woodall gained employment with Met Life as a debit agent and quickly moved up the ranks.

By 1964, the top-selling insurance salesman was selected by upper management in New York to establish a brand-new marketing unit in London to be aimed at American executives in England and Europe. Previously, insurance had only been sold to military men overseas.

Within six months, Woodall sold more that $1 million in insurance and made $3 million in sales by the end of a year.

While in London, Woodall made sure his family, now including younger daughter, Lisa, and son, John, attended church on a fairly regularly basis, but with no particular loyalty to any one—instead "playing church," as Dorothy, already a Believer, recalls it.

"Up until this time God played little or no part in our conversation or reasoning," says Woodall. "It was not that I disbelieved in God. I had the attitude, 'If there's a creation, there must be a Creator.' I didn't disbelieve in Jesus, as I had been taught about him from the time I was a youngster."

*****

Since age six, Woodall, along with his three older sisters, had been taken to Sunday School and church by a family who lived behind them. Urged on by the faith of his Christian mother, who prayed continually for her family, Woodall maintained loyal church attendance until age 13 but then quit going.

"I was baptized at 13 but that didn't make me a Christian," he says.

It wasn't until Woodall's return from London to Miami 17 months later, to accept an appointment he desired as Coral Gables' district manager—made available upon his former boss'  retirement—that he truly began to examine his spiritual life.

"When I returned home, things didn't seem the same," Woodall recalls. "I had gone away and changed in many ways. I quickly discovered it was true: 'All that glitters is not gold.' "

Several months later, Woodall agreed to return to London on a new five-year assignment with his company, but not before a temporary breakdown in terms negotiations that had him thinking he was out of a job.

At this seeming crossroads in his 40-year-old life, Woodall's mind began to race with thoughts about God and Jesus Christ and everything he had been taught. Unexpectedly, he found himself alternately praying, sobbing and crying out for God's direction.

"God," he remembers praying on this unforgettable night of Dec. 13, 1966, "I do not desire to be president of my country or my company. I desire to know you. I want you to take my life and use it for your good purpose, whatever that means and I don't know what it means."

During his sleepless night, Woodall says he discovered the meaning of repentance:

"I realized my life had been spent doing things my own way, giving God only lip service. I saw myself as God saw me—a hopeless, helpless lost sinner who deserved hell. I looked at the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-man who died and shed His blood for my sin."

The next morning, a Sunday, Woodall took his family to the same Central Baptist Church in Miami he grew up in. By coincidence, the preacher delivered the sermon, "What is Success?"

The pastor explained that while men gauge success by worldly accomplishments and other men's accolades, God's standard is having a personal relationship with His Son.

He quoted from the Bible three verses; John 14:6 ("I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"); John 8:32 ("And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free") and John 8:36 ("If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed").

"This was the message I had somehow missed, or possibly heard but not understood," says Woodall. "I had taken the world's philosophy, 'Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, you can achieve. You are what you think. If you work hard and your good deeds outweigh your bad, you might make it to heaven—if there is a heaven.'

"What truly changed and transformed my life was when I understood that I could know for sure I would go to heaven when I died. It wasn't hope, or think or wish. I could know."

*****

Once back in London, Woodall and his family rented out a spacious luxury flat directly opposite Harrod's Department Store in the Knightsbridge area, making it an "embassy for the Lord Jesus Christ," as Woodall puts it, and inviting in many lonely Americans also away on business.

Within 12 months, Woodall became Met Life's top money producer worldwide for the period.

His next church involvement was as a founding member of the American Church in London.

Simultaneously, he and his wife initiated a youth ministry to spiritually fortify their three children, who had just come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ, along with other young people in the city.

What started as a dozen teenagers gathering in Woodall's home for fellowship and Bible study eventually turned into a ministry to 150 kids, with even some of the teens' parents joining in on meetings, conferences and youth retreats. One of the group's first guest speakers was Cliff Richards, a noted British pop singer and convert of the first Billy Graham Crusade in London's famed Harringay Arena.

At work, Woodall became bolder in witnessing to people about their eternal life while selling them life insurance.

When asked to participate in a panel discussion for a 1970 meeting of the Million Dollar Round Table (an organization for leaders in the insurance industry), Woodall, the first Met Life salesman ever to be invited to address the MDRT, purposefully included his Christian testimony in his remarks to some 2,200 delegates who met in Honolulu.

Surprisingly, he received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his talk and later scores of attendees approached him to express appreciation for his clearcut testimony. His appearance even prompted the launching of a prayer group by some MDRT members.

Travel opportunities abounded for the Woodalls during their second London sojourn, including trips throughout the continent, to Africa and to Israel.

"The Scriptures truly came alive as we observed the places where Jesus lived, walked, was crucified, died, was buried and rose again," Woodall says of their Israel excursion.

Also while in England, Woodall established professional groups among lawyers, stock brokers, CPAs, bankers and others. One fellowship, in particular, became known rather widely in professional circles as the "Woodall Cell of the Professional Save-the-World Society," an obvious playful gibe at Woodall's evangelistic zeal.

At one point during his London stay, Woodall was even able to organize a meeting with his former Air Force roommate, Charlton Heston, who was in town for a brief time shooting a television show. Woodall shared his concern about where his actor-friend would spend eternity.

*****

For his return welcome to Florida in 1972, Woodall's company magazine, Metropolitan Life, carried the headline: "Superstar Woody Woodall Comes Home After 7 Outstanding Years in England."

Woodall took a desired sales position for the insurance giant's Orlando district and also headed up promotion of the Million Dollar Round Table in the company's Southeast territory, encouraging participation among the thousands of salesmen and managers throughout the region.

In campaigning for potential MDRT qualifiers, Woodall didn't hesitate bringing up his faith. To his delight, speech attendees would consistently approach him at the podium afterward, primarily to inquire more about his spiritual pilgrimage.

What may well have been the turning point in Woodall's business career, though, was when a district manager confronted him one day with, "Woodall, I don't know if religion and business mix."

Undaunted, Woodall returned with, "Jim, I appreciate your comment, but I want you to know I don't have a religion; I have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. If the time comes when that relationship doesn't mix with business, you can be assured I will give up the business."

*****

Over the next 12-18 months, Woodall says God began to show him He was "decreasing my desire for employment with Metropolitan Life and for commerce, showing me He had in mind a different type of work for my remaining earthly pilgrimage."

Around the same time of Woodall's job departure in 1973, both his daughter, Linda, and son, John, had enrolled at Florida Bible College in Hollywood, Fla.

The two children convinced their parents—and sister Lisa—to join them at school, making it a family affair on campus.

The Woodalls' suburban Orlando home was put up for sale and their furnishings moved into storage. A young Christian family was even found to adopt their Shelty pup, Fritz, acquired in England.

Early in the school year, news broke on campus that the school's president was leaving after having confessed immorality. Woodall and his wife immediately saw God's providential sovereignty in placing them amongst the student body's 1,300 young people to lend parental comfort and stability.

As part of their one-year commitment to Bible college, the Woodall couple discovered a special pull toward rescue mission work and prison ministry.

Upon return to the Orlando area, Woodall was invited to minister at the Orange County Jail and then asked to join a team of six men to visit the Florida State Prison on a weekly basis. Each team member was assigned to a wing housing 17 convicted murderers. It was a time when the State of Florida had begun pursuing the death penalty much more aggressively.

Woodall went cell to cell giving the Gospel, even on Death Row, reminding incarcerated murderers that, "God will forgive and save a murderer as quickly as He will a liar, and He will send a liar to hell as quickly as he will a murderer."

His message, he says, was frequently met with "hungry hearts ready to respond to God's message of love and forgiveness of sin."

As for those on Death Row, "I'd say you didn't have to convince them they were sinners. They knew where they were and that they were at about the end of their line. For all the ones who had their hearts hardened, there were others who were receptive and open to the Word."

From the beginning, Woodall says he felt a profound awareness he was on "Satan's turf." There were extreme incidents of man's inhumanity to man, such as when one inmate gouged out another inmate's eyes with a spoon. There was also rampant sexual perversion. From all he gleaned from personal conversations with prisoners, Woodall drew a few basic conclusions:

"The prisoners seemed to have a two-fold common denominator," he says. "First, they had a perverted view of God; then they had a perverted view of fatherhood. Almost without exception, they did not have a father who taught them of the love of Jesus, but rather one who abused them and other family members."

*****

In 1977, when Woodall became the first person to ever truly share the Bible's message of salvation to triple-murderer David Leroy Washington, scheduled for the electric chair, the confessed killer immediately trusted in Jesus Christ as his Savior.

Through a dozen subsequent visits to Washington before his death, Woodall says he marveled at the man's "love for the Lord and hunger for the Word of God."

Washington's spiritual transformation, in fact, proved a powerful witness to fellow prisoners and the prison staff. An essay he wrote, "Sentenced to Die," was sent to a local television host in Jacksonville, who, upon read his words aloud on her weekly Sunday morning show, garnered unparalleled viewer response.

"In all my years on television, I have never had such a response to anything I have read on my show," wrote the show's host, Ethel Bannister, in an appeal letter to the Southern Prisoners' Defense Committee. "I hope that his life can be spared, so that he can continue to reach out to help people in my community as he has so effectively done with this essay."

*****

Washington's essay read, in part: "Death may be only an unpleasant thought to you because you're not facing it. I am. However, like it or not, welcome or dread it, sooner or later you too must die.

"You may say you haven't killed anyone or committed a hideous crime against society, like I have. And you probably are right. You probably go to church; you try to live right.

"So why is this condemned man saying I am sentenced to die? Because time, history, graveyards and casket makers testify that you too are under the sentence of death…

"Yes, I have an appointment with the electric chair, but not with death…My grave may be the next one dug in the graveyard, but I won't be there. How do I know? God's Word tells me so…I won't be there because I believe the Word of God.

"I am a Christian by faith in the shed blood of Jesus, and by faith I know that when I die I will go to be with the Lord.

"Before I became a Christian, I was terrified at the very thought of dying...Death does not frighten me now. God in heaven bears me witness: I am not afraid to die…Salvation takes away the fear of death and judgment (I John 4:18—"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.")

*****

An invitation for Woodall and his wife to conduct a seven-week Bible study at the Women's State Prison in Lowell, Fla., led to an 18-month commitment in which 600 residents, a third of whom were incarcerated for murder charges or other crimes of passion, gained spiritual edification.

Again, the hunger for God's Word was overwhelming, says Woodall. The prison became a training ground for its newly converted inmates and Dorothy maintained a ministry of correspondence with them and their families.

"On a weekly basis, we would see 'new babes' born into the Body of Christ," says Woodall.

Through the experience, he says he realized even more clearly, "Rehabilitation doesn't work; only regeneration. If a person goes to prison without Christ and comes out without Him, he or she is worse off than before entering prison—they only acquire more 'tricks of the trade.' "

A desire to help nurture new Believers just-released from prison, as well as assist young Christians in rescue mission settings, prompted the Woodalls to open up their own home as a refuge of sorts, offering study of the Word of God and spiritual encouragement in a familial setting.

Four men were staying with them when they got a call from a 55-year-old woman they had met sharing the Gospel one day to patients at a mental institution in Arcadia. The Woodalls arranged for the woman to be released from the state facility into their custody.

"She had raised four of her own children, plus three of her sister's, despite severe bouts with cancer and other illnesses," says Woodall. "God's hand in all this quickly became apparent."

As it turned out, Amy, a former nurse who eventually went on to supervise a nursing home, was able to care for another Woodall house guest—a former mental patient named Marty—after he had 3,000 pounds of sheetrock fall on him in a freak construction site accident, severely breaking both his legs.

Once Marty was well enough to walk in leg casts six months following his injury, the Woodalls put him on a plane back home to his native Puerto Rico. They later traveled to Puerto Rico to meet with him and about 35 of his relatives.

Within ten days of the their arrival, more than 20 of Marty's relatives came to know Christ, including his mother, stepfather, father, stepmother, 9-year-old daughter, 99-year-old grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins.

*****

Among many other unique stories of struggling individuals finding restoration under Woodall's care, is that of 38-year-old Alan, a son of a rabbi in New York City who had been roaming the country aimlessly after losing his wife, mother and father in an automobile accident eight months earlier.

Alan was traveling via Greyhound from Miami to North Carolina when his bus pulled into Orlando's station for a short stop and he suddenly found himself following a piece of advice his Christian wife had once given him: "If you ever want to know the truth, contact a Baptist or Bible church pastor."

Picking up a number from the phone book, he placed a call to the Bible church attended by the Woodalls. The pastor was away and when his wife answered the call, she decided to contact Woodall, who agreed to meet the man at the bus station.

Upon arrival, Woodall invited the traveler to come home with him and stay for awhile to consider his problems in light of God's Word.

During the eight-mile drive back to his house, Woodall delivered the Bible's message of salvation and Alan immediately trusted in Christ as his Savior. He stayed with the Woodalls for four days, "feasting on the Word," as Woodall puts it, before resuming his travels.

*****

In 1975, Woodall and his wife entered a new realm of evangelism when he accepted an invitation from an evangelistic organization to be part of a three-week, 30-member team crusade through the Taejon area of South Korea.

"We were reminded in our briefing before departure that our spiritual life would not be the same after this trip and it turned out to be true," says Woodall of the expedition that resulted in thousands of people—young and old—trusting in Jesus Christ.

The Woodalls witnessed a hunger for the Word of God unlike anything previously encountered.

Though surrounded by the atheistic forces of Communism from North Vietnam, China and Russia, government leaders spoke openly of their faith in Christ and likened themselves to Gideon's army.

Team visits to the military bases were met enthusiastically by commanding generals, who would order their men into formation—2,000 at a time—and then encourage Woodall and others to "preach the Gospel to them."

After sharing testimonies and the Bible's gospel message, up to 800 of the uniformed men stood to indicate they were trusting in Christ as their Savior.

Similar responses were found among high school and college students. The team learned that many thousands of South Koreans would wake at 4 a.m. to walk miles to meet with other Believers and pray for themselves and their nation.

By contrast, a team stop one Sunday morning to conduct services at the U.S. Air Force base in Osan, where some 6,000 U.S. servicemen were stationed, generated an audience of only 12.

Woodall and his teammates actually smelled alcohol on the breath of the chaplain who escorted them into the chapel for their presentation. They later learned 500 or more prostitutes had regular access to the base.

"We couldn't help but feel downhearted," says Woodall, "seeing the contrast between the South Korean leadership with their men in excellent training—physical and mental—and eagerly desirous that their men know the Gospel, while our troops seemed to be disinterested, lethargic and apathetic toward the things of God."

*****

Compelled by this apparent ravenous craving for biblical truth in foreign places where citizens don't have access to Christian TV, radio, Bible colleges, seminaries, churches, etc., the Woodalls determined to make their own tour abroad following the South Korea mission.

When they discovered Pan-American Airlines offered an 80-day around-the-world trip for $999,  provided the traveler went on a standby basis, the opportunity seemed meant to be.

Among the places they chose to stop were England, France, Austria, Iran, India, Hong Kong, Japan and Hawaii.

In Tehran, the Woodalls knew no one but were pleased to locate a small group of Believers. Amazingly, the very same day they left the country, martial law was declared, leading to the taking of the American hostages.

"We could truly sense the satanic hostility and fear in the eyes and lives of the Iranians," Woodall says. "We felt a great need to pray for the country and the Believers there."

The couple arrived in Delhi just after seasonal floods and quickly found opportunities to meet with Believers and deliver the Gospel in schools, churches, street meetings, YMCAs and elsewhere.

"We recognized God loved these 800 million Indian people just as much as He loved the 200 million in America," says Woodall, "and there was a vast need for the proclamation of the Gospel among them.

"Their problem was not nearly so much the lack of food, even though there is much starvation in India. Rather, it's the wrong religion—the worship of 33 million gods, including animals, and ancestor worship—instead of worshipping the living and true God, the Lord Jesus Christ."

In Osaka, Japan, the Woodalls worked with a Japanese pastor who had come to the United States as an exchange student and became a Believer before returning to his own country as a minister. They also labored with an American missionary in a church and school in the city of Gamagori.

Woodall says he observed many Japanese respond positively to the Gospel and it was obvious to him of "God's great love for the 120 million people of Japan, despite the only two percent who name the name of Christ."

*****

Once returned to the United States, the Woodalls' next traveling adventure fit the Bible verse Luke 14:23: "And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."

The two set off in a newly purchased 31-foot travel-trailer to seek out every known relative on both sides of their families, determining the spiritual condition of each one. All in all, they traveled to 45 of the 48 contiguous states, criss-crossing the country several times.

"We knew there were three things we could not do for our relatives—we could not convict them, convert them or convince them—but we knew the love of Christ could constrain them," says Woodall.

While many of Dorothy's relatives were Catholic, interesting conversations emerged. On Woodall's side, there were relatives he hadn't seen in 50 years and he found aunts as old as 92 and cousins as old as 80 and as young as 12.

In one specific instance, Woodall called a first cousin on his mother's side who had married a first cousin on his father's side. When he informed them he would be driving through their area, specifically Tifton, Ga., the cousins arranged a dinner for 40 relatives.

Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Woodall shared with his kin how his life had changed since trusting in Jesus Christ at age 40 and how he desired more than anything else to know each of his loved ones also knew Christ as their Savior.

What he found was that many of his relatives had already professed faith in Christ. Some others were disinterested and a few followed through by later coming to salvation.

*****

In visiting Dorothy's relatives, Woodall's other trademark question of, "If you were to die today, do you know where you would spend eternity?" was often met with, "That's up to God."

"No," Woodall would respond, "God declared it's up to you. The Bible clearly says you may not only know where you'll spend eternity but you actually choose where you'll spend eternity—not based upon what you do or how you live your life, but on what you believe God has done for you."

Sharing the basic salvation message, Woodall found many of these in-laws had never heard it before. Some responded positively and, as Woodall puts it, "none were left without excuse."

While Dorothy was raised Catholic, she says she began questioning the traditions of her Church after going away to college and having "someone love me enough to share with me that I wasn't a Christian by going to mass or by my good works—it was  by believing what Christ had done for me at Calvary."

Dorothy finally left the Church early in her relationship with Oscar when he told her he didn't believe he could marry a Catholic or raise his children in the Church. She trusted in Christ as her Savior one Sunday morning in 1952 when she and her newlywed husband attended the Baptist church Woodall grew up in—the same one they visited upon his own conversion in '66.

*****

Through their years of ministry, the Woodalls have made sure to always emphasize the training up of other Believers to be fellow "soldiers of the Word" with them.

"There's the expression, 'Evangelism is not taught, it's caught,' " Woodall says. "It should be a way of life."

Starting when his grandchildren were little, for example, Woodall would have them tag along on visits to rescue missions. Once, as part of helping a young man facing prison, Woodall took two of his grandsons, both under 10, to court with him so they could see and learn firsthand what happens when young males, coming from homes where Christ is not preeminent, start out "playing" with knives and guns and suddenly find themselves threatened with a lifetime of incarceration.

To help guide young men and women in ministry work, Woodall would often organize "field time" with them, demonstrating first-hand his methods for engaging strangers, whether knocking on doors in residential areas, visiting parks and campgrounds or going into prisons, children's detention centers, nursing homes, etc.

"He always talked about looking for the fishing ground and he never saw a closed door," recalls Baxter. "You knew if Oscar went somewhere with you he was going to talk to somebody. "

Long-time friend David Dowell, pastor of Tri-Cities Grace Fellowship near Knoxville, Tenn., adds, "He was like a good bird dog…He always cut to the chase. Anyone who talked with him for at least 15 minutes was bound to learn his main reason for talking."

*****

In 1994, Woodall was helping conduct an evangelism training clinic in Chicago—through the worldwide ministry outfit Grace School of the Bible—when a man involved in the school, Nick Terziski, relayed to Woodall his desire to return to his native Bulgaria, recently freed from Communist rule, and give the Gospel to relatives and friends.

Woodall jumped at the idea and immediately organized for Terziski, a U.S. citizen who escaped Bulgaria in 1970, to join him and the school's founder and president, Pastor Richard Jordan of Shorewood Bible Church in Chicago, on a three-man mission to Eastern Europe.

"After Oscar heard that I was from Bulgaria, he says that’s the ticket for him to go into that part of the world," says Terziski. "He knew through me he could open doors in Bulgaria and Macedonia."

Capitalizing on Terziski's familiarity with the people, land and language, the three effectively reached hundreds of people with the gospel message and witnessed many trust in Christ as Savior, including Terziski's relatives.

In a visit to Terziski's home village of Shiroki Doi, for example, his brother-in-law and two sisters expressed faith in Christ after being given answers to their long-held plea, expressed by the brother-in-law: "The Communists made the Church into something we know it isn't, but we do not know what it should be. Can you tell us what is true?"

Upon hearing the men say they had come to "exult the person of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible," the brother-in-law responded, "Yes, that's the book! Can you tell us what the Bible says?"

Among many other surprise developments from the three-week trip was when Woodall, with the help of Terziski as translator, won permission from the Prison General in Sophia, Bulgaria for the three to preach in the same maximum-security prison Terziski was once jailed after an unsuccessful attempt in 1969 to escape Bulgaria to freedom through Yugoslavia.

The visit represented the first time the gospel was openly preached inside Bulgaria's main prison since the Communists took over in the 1940s and forbade the preaching or teaching of the Bible.

"We had about 30-40 men really listen when they heard people had come from America to preach the Gospel," recalls Terziski. "Some of the men said, 'Go home, Americans,' and some really listened, so it was kind of exciting to see the response."

*****

Part of Woodall's tutelage has been to help develop a Believer's mental fortitude for the tough aspects of evangelism work, including its inevitable rejections. In 1988, he produced a six-cassette audio training course for fledgling evangelists called, "Spiritual Boot Camp!" Today, the course has been distributed around the world.

"I've learned in my previous experiences not to take 'nos' personally," Woodall says as a piece of advice for others. "As I would tell people when I was in insurance, if I was talking to them about financial planning or whatever, 'You're not saying 'no' to me, you're saying 'no' to your family. You're saying, 'No, I don't want to provide security for them in the event of my death or whatever.'

"I adopted the philosophy that in every situation somebody is being sold. Either the person's going to sell you on their perspective or you're going to sell them."

Key to the witnessing process, believes Woodall, is asking what he calls the "crunch questions."

"You normally can't get someone saved until you first get them 'lost,' and the only way I know to do this is by asking questions," he says. "The Scripture says, 'If our gospel be hid it is hid to them who are lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded their minds to the glorious image of Christ.' "

*****

Woodall's penchant for asking tough spiritual questions led him to a dramatic new dimension of biblical understanding—as well as controversy within mainstream evangelicalism—in the early '80s when he first learned about what is sometimes referred to as "dispensational Pauline truth."

Unlike what the vast majority of churchgoers are taught, Woodall explains, Believers are not to follow the "gospel of the Kingdom" from Jesus Christ's earthly ministry to Israel, but are to adhere to the distinct ministry of the Apostle Paul, given him by direct revelation from Jesus Christ after Christ's resurrection and ascension into heaven.

"Few Believers, especially pastors and those involved in various seminaries, recognize that the commission given to the twelve apostles has been set aside," says Woodall. "This commission, and indeed the entire prophesied Kingdom program, are in abeyance because of a later, and greater, commission given to the Apostle Paul."

In essence, Christ revealed to Paul a "mystery which was kept secret since the world began," (Rom. 16: 25-26) designating him as the "pattern" (I Tim. 1:15-16) and "wise masterbuilder" (I Cor. 3:10) for all men, Jew and Gentile, to follow in today's current "dispensation of  the gospel." (I Cor. 9:17)

"Our commission, or marching orders, for today—our current dispensation—does not come from our Lord's instructions to the twelve in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and early Acts," explains Woodall, "but rather when our risen Lord spoke from on high through the Apostle Paul, giving him the plans to build 'the church which is His body' with no distinction between Jew and Gentile. (I Cor. 12: 12-13)

"We are saved by his gospel (I Cor. 15: 1-4), established by his gospel (Romans 16:25), and judged by his gospel (Romans 2:16)."

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Among the problems this "mystery" message from Paul poses for mainstream Christianity is its exclusion of water baptism, speaking in tongues, healing, tithing and other "Law program" miracles and practices (as indicated in I Cor. 1:17 and Ephesians chapter 4).

"There is 'one Lord, one faith, one baptism,' Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:5," says Woodall. "Despite this truth, many preachers and teachers insist on a multiplicity of baptisms. This insistence constitutes a slap in the face of God, for it demeans the operation of God as being insufficient. We are baptized by God the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and no ritual of man, though borrowed from the earlier Hebrew program, can add anything to that."

In all his travels throughout  the U.S. and world, in fact, Woodall says he and his wife found water baptism to be "one of the most confusing and divisive issues in the religion of mankind."

"Some would preach three baptisms, some two and some one for the current Church age," recalls Woodall. "Some would sprinkle, some pour. Some would immerse two times forward, once backward. Some baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, while others do so in the name of Jesus only. Some baptize infants, and others would baptize adults only. Some will say that you're not saved unless water-baptized, while others say that baptism is a testimony only."

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The discovery of Paul's unique apostleship was the impetus for Woodall helping establish the Orlando area's first non-Baptist, non-Pentecostal church in 1983. Today, the Berean Grace Fellowship, located in Winter Garden, links to similar-minded congregations in Edgewater, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Dade City.

Doug Dodd, pastor of the Edgewater assembly, Berean Bible Church, who has done extensive evangelism work with Woodall over the years, says the impact for Believers learning dispensational Bible divisions is "life-changing stuff. It changes your whole viewpoint as to how you approach God, His Word, His people and His work."

To the critics who have suggested Woodall makes too much of Paul's ministry, he responds, "Would you dare say that those living under the dispensation of the law made too much of Moses? Moses was chosen to be a spokesman for God. Would you dare say that the twelve apostles were made too much of?"

Other critics have accused Woodall of being a "Bible chopper" who must not believe the whole Bible.

To them, he assures, "I believe that all of God's Word, from Genesis through Revelation, is for the Believer today. However, we must be sure to enjoy the Scriptures in light of 2 Timothy 2:15—'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'

"I would not want to be so selfish as to take promises that were written for God's people in previous or future times and claim them for myself, rather than understanding what God has written for the Body of Christ today in Romans through Philemon."

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Another volatile issue that has engaged Woodall in confrontations over the past several decades—even within the Christian circles who follow Paul's gospel—is his stand for the Authorized King James Version of the Bible.

Not only does Woodall believe it’s the only fully trustworthy Bible in English (coming from a different source of manuscripts than the other versions), he considers it to be the infallible, inspired Word of God for English-speaking people, providentially preserved without error from the original manuscripts.

"When God says He's magnified His Word above His name, that indicates to me that His Word is more important than anything, and I equate the perfect Scripture to the perfect Savior," says Woodall.

"Some will take this perfect Savior, but reject the perfect Scripture, so I think this is still the primary issue that faces the Body of Christ today. The real issue is the accuracy and reliability of a text we can hold in our hand."

Woodall reasons that if God inspired only the "originals," as the majority of Christians believe, then man is "on his own" to discover the Words of God and that would suggest "God passed down as an inheritance to His family uninspired Scriptures."

"From my perspective, to teach that inspiration is found only in the originals and deny the innerant Word of God for today, is to contend that there is no Scripture to preach," says Woodall, who will point out to critics that Jesus Christ did not hold the "original" in His hand when He read the "Scripture" as recorded in Luke 4.

"If I believed that the Bible in my hands was filled with mistakes, I would cease to preach to the lost," he assures. "I can praise God, though, that He has been faithful to inspire His Word, and especially important to me, to preserve it."

Because Woodall says he is mindful of the confusion and doubt the vast array of Bible versions often arouse in a "new babe in Christ," he is ever-vigilant in warning "against those who will 'educate' you out of your Bible."

"As I work with new converts, I tell them of those who will point out alleged mistakes and imply that only by knowing the 'original languages' can they really understand God's Word," explains Woodall, once identified by a peer as "a good man gone bad" for his KJV-only stance.

He further warns, "Satan, from the garden until now, by lies and human reasoning—scholarship, so called—seeks to destroy, corrupt and craftily handle the words of God."

*****

For years now, Woodall has refrained from calling himself a Christian, instead answering people, "I'm a Bible-believer." He reasons the term "Christian" has become very confusing.

"Sometimes a person feels that if they're going to church and they're not an atheist, and they're not a Jew, and they've been baptized, that they're a Christian," says Woodall. "The Mormons call themselves Christians."

"Bible-believers are people who believe the Book," summarizes Woodall. "We believe we have God's Word without error. We don't have to defend this Book, all we have to do is proclaim it. As we proclaim it, we see God the Holy Spirit take it and bring life to spiritually dead men."

*****

Today, physical death nears ever closer for Woodall, who has battled prostate cancer for seven years in addition to his worsening heart condition.  He is currently receiving 24-hour nursing care in his home and is mostly bed-ridden. Breathing is difficult at times and he's in constant pain.

"Only God knows whether I've got hours, days, weeks or months before He calls me home," says Woodall, referring to his death as his "graduation."

He and his wife, children and grandchildren have already planned and "rehearsed"  his funeral, which he assures will be filled with music, praise and testimonies. There will be a slide presentation pictorializing his life from boyhood. Son, John, a minister currently on staff at Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., will officiate.

"I'm likening this to kind of like a wedding ceremony," says Woodall. "We don't want any black dresses—we're all going to wear light-colored clothing for a festivity, not a mourning."

Even in his weakened state, and with limited ability to talk, Woodall continues to field phone calls each day from admirers, former associates, childhood friends, relatives, etc. around the world who have learned of his approaching death.

He also continues to receive visitors into his home, amazing them with his strength of will and work-oriented mindset as he continues on with soul-winning endeavors.

When friend Russ Hargett, pastor of Suncoast Bible Fellowship in St. Petersburg, stopped by recently, for example, the two talked about overseas evangelism efforts and how the Florida grace assemblies Woodall helped establish were really starting to see the pay off in increased inquiries for ministry help by Believers in England, Switzerland, Holland, Bulgaria and Japan.

Also, they discussed the St. Petersburg church's upcoming "planting" of a satellite church in Plantation, Fla.

"Oscar's a retrospect person who throughly enjoys strategizing, planning and moving forward," says Hargett. "I thought when I left him this last time that that was pretty much it, because he really is getting to that point, but he's an old war-horse so it may take awhile. He's anxious to go but he's anxious to stay."

*****

Editor's Note:

Some readers might be curious just what it is Woodall says to a person who answers, "I don't know," to his question, "Do you know for sure you are going to heaven when you die?"

First, he asks, "If you don't know and you could know, would you want to know?" If the answer is "yes," he gives a gospel message similar to this one of his:

"To go to heaven you have to be perfect, but knowing that none of us can be perfect, you simply have to believe that God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the perfect Savior who paid for all your sins on the cross 2,000 years ago.

"Your requirement to be accepted into the family of God, known today as the Body of Christ, is simply to believe what God said, and He said that we've 'all sinned and come short of the glory of God.'

"Romans 6:23 says the wages, or the payment, for your sin is death, and if you pay for your sin you pay for it with spiritual death, physical death and separation from God—

literally ending up in the Lake of Fire.

"But, He said, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God made a provision for your sin. He said that while 'we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.' He died for those who are unlike him, which includes you and me. That's in Romans 5:6.

In Romans 5:8, we are told God commended, or demonstrated, His love toward us that 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' Christ didn't die to pay for His sin. He didn't have any. He was sinless. He was perfect.

"There's an account in the Scriptures where, when the Philippian jailer sensed the presence of God within Paul and Silas, he asked the question, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' The answer was quick and positive in content: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house." (Acts 16: 30-31)

"What ends the gospel that saves when believed is I Cor. 15:1-4, where it says how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose up again the third day according to Scriptures.

"The question is, 'Do you believe that Christ died to pay for your sin?' It's not enough to have an intellectual belief. That is, do you trust in Him and Him alone? Not Him plus what you do, but trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross?

"If you do, on the authority of God's Word, He said you immediately have eternal life. He further says, 'For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

"All you can do for a gift is to say you receive it. And receiving the gift means you are trusting in what Christ did for you. If so, praise the Lord, you become my brother, or sister, and you have eternal life and God will live within and through you during your earthly journey and give you a home in heaven when you draw your last breath."