In [Christ] we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.
—Colossians 1:14
After the American Civil War, Major General Lew Wallace served a stint as governor of New Mexico Territory, where he encountered Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett. The Civil War and the Wild West convinced Wallace that reconciliation and redemption could be found only in Jesus Christ. His book, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, has been called “the most influential Christian book of the 19th century.”
Wallace said, “I am not a member of any church or denomination, nor have I ever been . . . but I believe absolutely in the Christian conception of God.”
“[God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13–14).
The age of miracles isn’t over. God makes
saints out of sinners. That’s a miracle.