Hey, parents! For almost 40 years, Adventures in Odyssey has been helping kids like yours form relationships with Christ. Now, the animated Adventures in Odyssey film, Journey into the Impossible, will reach a new generation of families. But we need your help to finish the film and launch it in theaters. Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar before May 1st. See the trailer and donate today at FocusOnTheFamily.com slash Impossible. Isn't there more to life than just a few years we live on this earth? There's got to be more. And there's more than just making money or being successful. There's just five more important things. As I said, where do we spend eternity? That should be one of the big questions we should all ask. That's two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer sharing about the most important thing in life, eternity, and your relationship with Jesus Christ. He's our guest today on Focus On The Family with Jim Daly and I'm John Fuller. Yeah, thankfully I was able to meet up with Bernhard last year while he was here in Colorado Springs at a PGA Tour of Champions at the Broadmoor. He was so gracious to agree to tape before he started his, I think, second or third round. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I'd be like, what? I can't do that, but he was very gracious. He has quite a story growing up in a humble beginnings in Germany working as a caddy, as a young man, and then falling in love with golf and through a lot of hard work. He made it to the top of his sport and now he is in his late 60s. He is one of the most winningest players in history. I'm not sure if that's grammatically correct. He conveys the idea. Yeah, and of course he landed in the top of his sport. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. He's a great player. I'm not sure if that's grammatically correct, but he conveys the idea. Yeah, and of course he landed in the World Golf Hall of Fame, which is a great honor. But the thing that changed his life and his family's life forever was an encounter with Jesus Christ, and you'll hear that story today. Yeah, Bernhardt is known as the father of German golf, and he's now in his 20th season on the PGA Tour of Champions. The second all-time winner on the European Tour, and he played in his final Masters Tournament last year, and with that event underway this week, it seemed like a great time for us to share this conversation on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. You came out of the womb, kind of swinging, because your mother had a diagnosis of a high-risk pregnancy. What was going on there? I wasn't supposed to come out of the womb. My mother had one son. He passed away when he was three months. Then she had another son, dead list. He's my older brother now, five years older, and my manager. She had another one, our sister, Maria. When she had her, she was told by the doctor, you should never have another child. No more pregnancy, because you will die, and your child will die. Then you leave a husband with two little kids behind. But they were strong Catholics, and in those days you didn't abort, period. She got pregnant, and that was me. Now the doctor says, you've got to get rid of this pregnancy of this child. She says, no, I'm not doing it. Burnhard, that attitude. Focus on the family. We are an organization dedicated to fight for those pre-born babies and their moms. I really appreciate that. I was born into a poor family. I was the last born. My mom was 42 when she had me. Doctors tried to talk her into aborting me. We both sit here, making it through that gateway into life. Does it give you a special insight or drive about that passion for life? Well, it certainly does, and I think in my case I believe there was spiritual warfare from the very first day. The evil one didn't want me to be alive. At least that's how I see it. I think it's accurate. The scripture says in John 10.10, the thief, meaning Satan, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He had you right at the top of his list, it sounds like. Moving along from there, you were just a couple years older than me, but that was post-war Germany. What was that environment like as a little boy growing up? What was like a rebounding country? It was very difficult in terms of we didn't have anything. My dad didn't have a car until I was 12. That's when you could afford his first car. We didn't have a television until I was eight, and it was black and white with three channels. Things like that. We never really lacked food because my parents worked both very hard to provide food, but in terms of closing, I don't think I got new shoes until I was about 12 or 14. We didn't even have a bathroom in the house initially that they built with their own hands. It's a tiny little house because my dad was the bricklayer. We had an outhouse and we used newspaper, stuff like that. In Germany, you had, I believe, the draft, so you had to do a compulsory military time, but there's where you first had a setback physically. What happened in all that context? Yeah, it was for me the worst time of my life next to having the YIPS. I was 18 when I finished my apprenticeship as an assistant pro. I got my diploma as a head professional, and I thought I was going to make a living teaching golf. I won the German national close championship when I was 17 and a businessman in Cologne said, if you're interested in playing the European tour, just play in tournaments, I will help you financially. I said, that sounds exciting. I contacted him. He sponsored me. We struck a deal. At age 18, I went to the European tour. One year on the European tour, I did OK. I finished 56 on the money list and got exempt for the following year. Then I got drafted into the Air Force. I was 19 years old. That meant my whole career got put on hold for 15 months. The first three months was boot camp. One particular morning, they said, OK, today we're going to march all day long. It was in January, frozen ground, similar to here. Sometimes snow, sometimes frost. 30-pound backpack rifle, and we go out there walking around the fields and into the woods. The guy in charge, basically not even 20 years old or whatever, but he was in charge. He said, today we're practicing low airplane attack. What does that mean? Low enemy airplanes flying at you, shooting machine gun bullets at you. You throw yourself on the ground as quick as you can, so you're smaller target than standing up. He showed us, throw yourself on the ground. We did that hundreds of times. Imagine, 30-pound backpack rifle, every time you hit the ground, that backpack does that into your back. I made it through that day next morning, 6 o'clock the alarm went off. I tried to get out of bed, and I couldn't. I was in a screw shading pain. Couldn't lift my hand, couldn't lift my foot, couldn't roll, couldn't do anything. I was sharing a room with seven others. We were eight in a room. They said, get out, get out. They're going to give you hell if you don't get out. You know you've got to be on time. I said, I can't. They thought I was joking, because they were drunk most nights, because they treated us so bad. Coping mechanism. Exactly. I didn't do that. Anyways, finally an officer came and said, we know you're just acting like you're in pain or something. I said, no, I'm in pain. I can't move. Anyways, make a long story short, they called the ambulance, sent me to the hospital. I had a stress fracture in my lower back, L4, L5, and two bulging discs. So, six weeks in the hospital with my feet hung up, so to take the pressure off. I thought I was done. I thought my golf career was over. Right. But I was able to get back, do some rehab, and to this day have not had a back operation, even though I've had lots of back problems in the years to come as well. That's amazing that you were able to overcome that. I mean, that usually is a sports ending career. Let's move to the Masters. I've had a chance to play the Masters, not in the Masters, but play Augusta. I needed to correct that very quickly, didn't I? But it's a beautiful course. It's kind of the dream. I called it the Disneyland for golfers, right? You step onto the property and boom, you're in a special place. But that's kind of where a lot of spiritual things happen for you as well, right? I mean, you won it, I think it was in 1985? It was, yeah. I won in 1985 after finishing in second in the British Open twice, just in 84 and 81, I think. The ninth hole, I walked to the tenth tee box and I had a quick glance and there's this big leaderboard and I saw Curtis Strange at the top and I was next, I think, and I said on-life camera and all that, Jesus Christ, I couldn't believe I was four shots behind Curtis Strange and I saw nothing of it. I thought it was just a powerful expression. But that night, I couldn't sleep at all. I end the next night and the next night and I'm gone. What's going on? You've just become a major champion. That's what you've dreamed about. And you just got married a year ago. You got a beautiful young wife. You have money, you have cars. You're on top of the world. I was ranked number one in the world when the World Rankings came out shortly afterwards. I had everything this world could offer for a 27-year-old and more, but I had an emptiness and I had no idea what it was. No clue. So we drove to Hiltonette for the next tournament. I played a practice round with Bobby Clempit, who was one of the young superstars at the time. He was supposed to be the next Czech Nicholas and he was a believer. We finished our practice round on Tuesday and he goes, Bernie, why don't you come to the Bible study on Wednesday night, tomorrow night? And I go, Bible study, what exactly are you doing? I grew up Catholic. I didn't have my own Bible. I went to church, Confession, tried to be a good boy, kind of a good human being. So he said, oh, we have this chaplain, Larry Moody, his name. He comes every Wednesday. We spend an hour together and he either teaches out of the Bible or about a topic that can relate to our lives. So I was very vague. I said, well, Bobby, I'm not sure I'm going to come, but thanks for the invite. I'll talk to my wife, Vicky, and we'll see. So I mentioned it to Vicky. We decided to go. We had none else to do Wednesday night. Another story before I continue with that is three days earlier on Sunday evening, when I made that comment, Jesus Christ, Curtis Strange, his foreshad said to me, Larry Moody, the chaplain, and Scott Simpson, another believer, were watching on TV. And, you know, they heard me swear on national, international television. And they said, let's pray for this German fellow. That one day he would use Jesus Christ in a different way. Wow. And here I am three days later walking into the Bible study. That Larry Moody's teaching and Scott Simpson was a skeptic for three and a half years. He went to the Bible study to prove that the Christians are all idiots and they need a crutch. And Christianity is rubbish. It took him three and a half years to become a Christian. Anyways, I walk into the room and what does Larry Moody teach on? John 3.3. You have to be born again. If he had taught of anything else, I would have said, yeah, I've heard that before. I heard that sermon on the mound. I heard, you know, Jesus did this wonder of that. I've been going to church for 25 years, but he was teaching about born again. And the Catholic church where I grew up never talked about being born again. They talked about being a good person, earning your way there. And the Bible says nobody can earn their way there. No one. So I was very curious. I wanted to know the truth. So I went to Larry Moody after the study and said, what kind of Bible are you using? And he flipped it over and said, oh, it's the NIV, New International Version. But they're all more or less say the same thing no matter what version you get. And he says, I recommend you buy your own Bible and start studying. And if you have questions, you can ask me. So make a long story short about three months later after going to more Bible studies. Start reading the Bible. It was very clear to me that I had to be born again. And that I was never good enough on my own to earn my way to heaven. But Jesus did all that for me. I just had to believe in him. So I got on my knees, prayed the prayer, the acceptance prayer, and that emptiness that I had was gone. Yeah. I mean, that's so I could see the emotion in your face even today. And there's years ago, but that ability to leap to a point of faith. It's an amazing transition, right? That hole in your heart. So many people, Bernard, have that hole in their heart. I've talked to gay activists and they've talked about, you know, if we just get marriage, it'll fill that void in our heart. And I will say to them, I don't think that'll do it. And sure enough, to their credit, a couple of them came back, talked to me and said, I'm not filling that space. Right. Well, it's like me. I had everything. I had everything. You could, firstly, everything you could. I had more than I could even have imagined coming from a little village and being a bricklayer son, being a multi-millionaire and playing golf with kings and queens and the heads of state and having success all over the world and all that. Incredible, but I still had that emptiness because God was missing in my life. Yeah. And what an amazing transition. Scott Simpson actually has been a supporter of Focus on the Family. Not surprised. Your friend, the golfer. Yeah. What a great guy. In that regard, I mean, you've had so much success in every direction. I just met your son and his wife and your little granddaughter, who is so charming. She's a bundle of energy. So often we look at that and we see this in proverbs. Is that a great source of joy for you, your four children, your grandchildren? I mean, when you think of your family, just speak to the importance of that. Oh, absolutely. Family was always important to me. And, you know, besides God, my next priority really. So we're very blessed at all of our children believing God. And we have now four grandkids, which is, you know, a whole nother story. It just gives you purpose, you know, on top of obviously sharing the good news. But one thing I also wanted to mention, you know, when I became a believer, my brother was my manager five years older than me. And he was watching me like a hawk. He thought I'd fallen into the deep end. I've joined a sect or something like that. And he told me that a year and a half later, he says, I've been watching you. And I was really worried about you, but I want what you got. Wow. That's terrific. So he became a believer. My parents became believers. I mean, there's a story, but sorry. No, I appreciate the emotion. It's real. We built a home in Germany, my wife and I, because I thought I was going to play on the European tour, not the U.S. tour. And we had the staircase, wooden staircase going up and put a little niche in the wall. And we put a, this was before I was a believer, put Mary in there, you know, woodcarrying from Oberammergau, Oberammergau with Mother Mary with Jesus. Because that's what Catholics often pray to, right? Well, one day when I became a believer, I didn't want to pray to Mary anymore. So I took the woodcarving out of there and put it in the attic. My mother sees Mary is missing. She goes, where's Mary? I say, sit down. So we had a long discussion. I said, where in the Bible does it say I have to pray to Mary? If you can show it to me, I will pray to Mary. But if not, then accept Mary is gone and pray to Jesus, pray to God, because you don't have to go through Mary to get to God. You can pray directly to him. So we had many discussions along that line and finally they all turned to be come believers. Oh man, that is exciting. That's just a life well-led. And I mean, even again, that emotion that you have, but what a beautiful thing God allowed in your life to draw your family into relationship with him. And well through your perseverance. I think the Bible talks about that, right? There's blessings of a thousand generations, or many generations, you know, but they can also be cautious. Probably right here at the end, that idea of legacy, we've touched on it a bit, but when you look back, you've had it all. You're still doing great, winning tournaments, making money, 67, you're still doing great. But when you look at it overall, that legacy that you hope your children, your grandchildren, all the great, great grandchildren that are going to see that you were their great, great grandpa, right? Look what he accomplished. But what would you say to them that they have to know? But in that context, and that's speaking to the rest of us as well, you've got the money, you've got the fame, but most importantly, you have the Lord. Yeah, you have to have a personal relationship with Jesus. That's really what matters, because it's all about him. You know, he created us for a purpose. We're his. We're only living on this in this world for whatever amount of time it is. It's like a little dot on a long line of eternity. So the big question is, where do you spend eternity in hell or in heaven? And how do you live your life here on earth? You know, we're, and I, including myself, we're so focused on what we're doing today. And if things go wrong, we get upset. And instead of having an eternal view, we have a worldly view. And I fall into that trap many times, you know, like right now, I'm focused on the U.S. senior open because that's what I'm going to do. We're teeing off in a couple of hours, so sorry. We interrupted that, but we're grateful. That's for sure. It's not, but that's just, you know, we're so caught up, and the evil one has an amazing way of keeping us busy. You know, we have these iPhones, handys. I mean, we can be reached day and night, and it takes our time, we don't spend enough time anymore reading the Bible, just being still, spending time with God, which should be the priority of our lives. But the evil ones keeping us busy, we keep ourselves busy, and it's less and less of that. And sadly, I have to say, I've lived in America now 40 years. You know, this country was built on spiritual principles, right? And God we trust. Many are moving away from that, and it's not doing us any good. Yeah, I totally agree on that. The opportunity to share Christ, as Scott Simpson did with you and other players that are Christian and Marco Mara, I know there's a number of really solid believers, both in the younger PGA tour, but also the senior tour. Have you been emboldened to do that? Are you able to talk to other players to say, I was where you're at, but let me share with you. Yeah, you know, we still have Bible study, every Wednesday or Thursday, depending what tour you play on. We just had one actually last night here at Colorado Springs. And yeah, we always try to encourage non-believers to think about it, those that are sitting on the fence, or just find the truth. Isn't there more to life than just a few years we live on this earth? There's got to be more. And there's more than just making money or being successful. There's just far more important things. As I said, where do we spend eternity? That should be one of the big questions we should all ask. The question. We have been extremely blessed by Larry Moody, the chaplain. He was the chaplain on the P.J. tour for over 40 years. He ministered to Scott Simms and Larry Nelson, Tom Lehman. On and on, there's a list of Larry Meis. I mean, I'm only mentioning a handful. There are dozens and dozens that he's poured into. And he's still doing it now on the champion's tour. He's been out here over 10 years. Oh, wow. Faithful service. Yes, very much. And very solid, great foundation. Well, Bernard, we so appreciate you being with us. We know you got to go do your thing. Thank you first and foremost for just standing for Christ, unashamedly. And when you look back to that comment at the masters of using his name in vain, do you feel that forgiveness? Do you know the Lord said, OK? Absolutely. I felt that forgiveness as soon as I accepted him. You know, I felt like he promised all of our sins of forgiven past, present, and future if you accept him and you repent. And the one thing we didn't discuss, and I hope I have one more minute. Sure. The second time I won the Masters in 93. So now eight years later, I was a Christian and they take me to Butler Cabin again. And the question was, you know, is the first victory more important or your second Masters? Which one means more? And I said something along the lines, well, you know, they're both very important. First one is, first time I became a major champion. But to me personally, the second one is more important because it's Easter Sunday today and we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I believe I'm the only guy in Butler Cabin on interviews that mentioned Jesus Christ twice, once in a bad way, once in a good way. I love the sense of humor in that and I believe God understands, certainly forgives you and what a wonderful testimony. Bernhard, thank you so much for being with us. Thanks for having me, Jim. Boom. Thank you. What an inspiring conversation today with Bernhard Langer on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly and what a great visit, Jim. Yeah, it was so much fun, especially being at the Broadmoor and being with the senior PGA guys. That's who was playing that day. And again, it was just so nice of Bernhard to take time before he went out on his round during competition. Unbelievable. Yeah, just incredible. You know, just a few hundred thousand on the line. But it was amazing and he was so generous. But what was so good is how much he loves the Lord. I mean, he's had a profound change in who he was from center to believer. And that's what he talked about. It was awesome and that's what's most important to him, not the trophies and the money and all those things. And he said it so well right there at the end. You know, if you haven't explored what it means to be a Christian and put your faith in Christ, you might want to think about doing that before your last breath, right? And now is the best time to start. If you're in that spot and you've never considered is Jesus who he said he was and is, I'd like to encourage you to come to our website. We have an online article called Coming Home, which explains how to start that relationship with Jesus Christ. And then also Bernard told us the story of his mother being encouraged by doctors to abort him as a baby. Think of that. She and her husband thankfully didn't give in to that doctor's pressure. And Focus on the Family has a wonderful program called Option ultrasound that provides ultrasound machines and training for pregnancy centers. And together we encourage women to choose life for their child. $60. We've been at this over 20 years. We know the metrics. It takes $60 to save the baby's life through Option ultrasound. Gene and I support that every month. I hope you could consider saving a baby for $60. Yeah, call today to donate and to find that article coming home. The number is 800-232-6459. 800, the letter A in the word family. We've got the links in the show notes. And on behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller inviting you back next time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. And it's our job as believers to share his truth with a world in need. I'll encourage you to do that through my podcast, Refocus with Jim Daly. I visit with fascinating guests about important topics like gender confusion, cancel culture, and more. While helping you share God's love with others, listen at refocuswithjimdaly.com.
