The Day He Testified About Jesus
- Apr 11, 2018
- 10 min read
Albert Francis Barbush, Sr.
May 1, 1916 - April 7, 1989
Albert & Mary Barbush
This is a story about the testimony of my father, Albert F. Barbush, Sr.
The Bible tells us,
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10 New King James Version
"Confess with your mouth" . . . "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation". When we are saved, when we believe with our minds and our hearts that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, we will tell people about it. We cannot keep quiet about what He has done for us. We should not. We are even commanded by the Bible to do so.
My family was born and raised Catholic. As I know that faith, having been Catholic for over 30 years, we went into church quietly, knelt down for a prayer, then sat and waited for the service to start. There was little talk between people. It was a private time, even though it occurred with many people in one sanctuary.
When I was a child, we did not have "The Sign of Peace", which is people greeting one another with a handshake and "Peace be with you" at one point during the service. I remember when the Catholic Church initiated that ritual, my mother was set against it. She was not going to shake hands and touch anyone. Maybe that's because everything was so private regarding her faith.
Well, in my 30s, about 32 years old, I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. When that happened, a whole new atmosphere opened up to me. There was a sharing of what God had done in my life. There was reading and study of the Bible, alone and with groups. I began to learn about God's Word. Thus, I started an on-going experience of confessing my belief and faith in Jesus Christ, knowing that being born again was the gateway to Heaven.
I wanted to, and am commanded to by God's Word, to tell others about His salvation plan. That was something difficult to share with family members that were still in the Catholic faith that I left behind. They thought I had left "the church", but I knew that I had joined "the church", the body of Christ, and went on to a true and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
When you get saved, you want others to be saved. You wanted to share Christ with others. I wanted to know if my Dad had a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I could see by his actions, his works, that he was likely saved, but good works does not get you into Heaven. Being born again gets you into Heaven. And when you are born again, confession of Christ is a witness to being born again. I did not hear my Dad openly confess Christ with words, by speaking from his mouth. Why?
My father was a rather quiet man. He rarely talked about anything of major consequence to me. That's why they call his generation, "The Silent Generation". It seems that they did not talk about things that they went through, at least not to the children. One example is that I don't remember Dad ever telling us anything about his experiences in World War II. And we never asked. That discussion would likely have been difficult for him to recall memories from the war and being separated from family, a wife and new born son, Buddy, Albert F. Barbush, Jr. Another example is religion. Dad may never have directly discussed with us the private details of his beliefs in the Catholic faith.
There were ways that my father expressed his saving belief in Jesus Christ. He played the organ at church every Sunday. He lived a good life, had a good marriage, and raised a family. He helped people in various ways. Even with all that, I still wanted to hear a verbal confession of his beliefs in Jesus Christ. I may have never directly heard that, but there was an experience that was most impacting to me where I saw Dad's confession of his faith in Jesus Christ. It happened on April 7, 1989.
Dad was ill with cancer for many years. It started with the discovery of colon cancer. Though it was treated over the years, it gradually progressed to the point of ending his life. Given that Dad was terminally ill, and on the verge of entering eternity, what I wanted to know most from Dad was his response to "Are you saved? What does Jesus mean to you?"
During his final months, Dad was in the hospital again because of the cancer. During that last hospital stay, I got a phone call from my brother, Bud. Bud was wondering what was going on because things did not seem to add up about Dad's condition. Bud told me that he talked to Dad's doctor and the doctor told him Dad's true condition. It was bad, very bad. Staying silent about the fullness of his condition, Dad withheld certain information from us. Finally, the doctor gave Bud the full truth. So, Bud called me and told me. After that call, though it was late at night, after midnight, I immediately went to see Dad in the hospital.
It was after midnight and I did not know if the hospital (Community General Osteopathic Hospital) would let me into see Dad at that hour. They did. I went to Dad's room. He was lying on his stomach. I don't remember if he was sleeping or not, but we did get to share a few words. I remember saying to Dad, "I guess you've been holding out on us." I don't remember what he said or what I said further, except for this . . . . I asked Dad something about his relationship with Jesus Christ. He simply said, "Everything's okay between me and Him." That's all I remember about that visit. I likely felt that those words were sufficient assurance for me to know the eternal life that my father was destined for. I don't remember the date of that visit and I don't remember how long before April 7th that visit was, but, I do vividly remember the happenings of April 7, 1989.
April 7th was a Friday. At that time, Dad was bedridden and feeling really bad. The doctors had done all they could do. There were no medical solutions left, so, he was sent home. I went to see him early in the morning before going to work. I spent some time with him and even fed him some jello. I remember saying something witty about doing that for him at that time, and we exchanged some smiles. I stayed a while and then left for work.
The next thing I remember is getting a phone call at work saying that I should come home to be with Dad. Things were looking really bad. When I arrived at the house, many family members were there. Some of Dad's brothers and sisters were there. I remember seeing Uncle Kenny and Aunt Vi. There may have been other of his siblings there. My cousin Marcia was there. I was there with my wife, Yvonne. She was 7 months pregnant with our son, Joseph.
At one point, I was out in the front yard talking with Marcia about things. We were standing on the sidewalk next to the neighbor's property line. Faye and John Loser were our neighbors there for decades. As Marcia and I were talking about the situation, someone came to the front door, and told me to come quick into the house. I ran across the yard, jumped over Mom's flower bed at the front porch, and went into the bedroom where Dad was. Many were around the bed and overflowing into the hall outside the bedroom door.
Here's the picture of who was gathered around Dad at his bed. My mother, Mary, was on the right side of the bed just next to Dad. My brother, Bud, Albert Jr., was there. Others were around the bed, at the foot of the bed, and overflowing into the hall. My wife, Yvonne, was sitting on the left side of the bed, looking at Dad. I was standing behind her, watching all this happen.
Apparently, Dad knew what was happening. Dad turned his head and looked to his wife, Mary, my mother, and said, "I love you." Mom said, "I love you too." Dad then turned his head back, looking straight ahead, and then he suddenly began to convulse, his entire body. His eyes rolled up and you could only see the whites of his eyes. Suddenly, seemingly inexplicable, his eyes came back forward and he turned to his left and was looking in Yvonne's direction. He looked in that direction for his final moments until he was gone.
Dad had passed from this life into the next life, a life in eternity. Apparently, as evidenced by his many good works, Dad believed "with the heart unto righteousness". But, where was his confession with the mouth made unto salvation"? I never heard it. I never heard it, but something else happened that he responded to.
In talking to Mom later, she told me that after they expressed their love for one another, and after he convulsed, he then turned and looked to a picture of Jesus that was on the wall to his left. She said he looked at that picture till he was gone.
I also learned from Yvonne, that when Dad and Mom expressed their love for one another, and then Dad turned back to look ahead and started to convulse with his eyes rolled up, she started to pray. The first word Yvonne spoke in her prayer was a name, the name of Jesus. Her prayer started with the name of Jesus. Yvonne said that at that moment, Dad's eyes came back forward and he turned in response to the name of Jesus and he was looking at her till he was gone. The picture of Jesus and Yvonne sitting on the bed were in close alignment with Dad's sight line. That's why Mom thought Dad was looking at the picture. But Yvonne was certain that Dad was looking at her. She knew that Dad responded to the name of Jesus. Though Dad did not speak the name of Jesus, he immediately responded to the name of Jesus. How else would his eyes suddenly come back forward after convulsing without control?
What was Dad seeing after he heard the name of Jesus? Was he seeing Yvonne? Maybe at first, but as he continued to gaze, was he seeing someone calling him to Heaven? Was he seeing Jesus? No one can know what he was seeing. Apparently, something supernatural happened when Dad heard the name of Jesus and his eyes came back forward for him to see what was ahead of him and we could see his eyes again. Regardless, I had sufficient evidence that my father, Albert F. Barbush, Sr. was a born again, child of God, and is now eternally in Heaven with Jesus, his Savior. That is something you want to know about your family members that gives you the hope of seeing them again in eternity, as opposed to them being eternally lost.
But, that's not the end of the story.
One evening, I was at church waiting for the service to start. There was a worship leader playing the piano before the service started. I watched and listened to him play. I could see that he was playing the music from the heart. He was feeling what he was playing. That took me to memories of my father, because he was an excellent piano player and played often in our home.
Easter in 1989 was Sunday, March 26th. On that day, in the evening, we were at my Mom's and Dad's home. During that visit, I asked Dad to play one of his medleys so that I could record it. When Dad would play piano at home, he would play medleys, one song after another, with excellent transitions between songs. His transitions, he called "walking along the keys".
So, at my request, Dad sat down to play a medley. He played one with a set of hymns, such as, "Just As I Am". He played a group of hymns that filled one side of a 30-minute cassette tape. Then, on the other side, he played another medley of secular songs, such as, "It's A Small World". I still have that cassette, 29 years later. Below is a list of the hymns and songs that he played and I recorded on cassette tape..
[A picture of Dad from his very young days]
Amazing Grace
I Come (Just As I Am)
I Believe
He Is Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy
Breath Of Life (Breath On Me)
The Old Rugged Cross
Make Me A Channel Of Peace
On Eagles Wings
When I was watching the piano player at church playing from his heart, I realized that Dad played those hymns from his heart, songs about God and Jesus that he believed and felt within himself. At that moment, sitting in the church watching a piano player play from his heart and thinking about Dad playing hymns from his heart, I realized, I had another testimony from my father of his saving belief in God and Jesus, a belief that gained him eternal life with God and Jesus in Heaven. I realized that when Dad was struck with cancer that was life threatening, and he was playing hymns on his piano, and he was "walking along the keys" between songs, he was playing from his heart. Again, another testimony from my father as to his eternal salvation.
When one gets saved, born again, and believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth and life that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father, then that one must testify of that salvation experience to a hurting world, to people who need to hear about God's salvation plan in the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Christianity is not a faith that is kept private and silent. Jesus came in public, expressing Himself publicly, at times calmly and at times forcefully, whatever it took to meet the people in the situation at hand. He was expressive and He calls His people to be expressive.
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 New International Version
Written by:
James Eugene Barbush
3rd son of Albert F. Barbush, Sr.
Written on the 29 Anniversary of Albert's Passing
JamesEBarbush@GMail.com
(717) 514-5549
Linglestown, PA
Amazing Grace
I Come (Just As I Am)
I Believe
He Is Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy
Breath Of Life (Breath On Me)
The Old Rugged Cross
Make Me A Channel Of Peace
On Eagles Wings
Comments