My Testimonial

Testimonial

i friend, thank you for visiting my web site. I hope to show through an example that the gospel of Jesus Christ is real. It can also work effectively for those who trust it. I will use my own life experience as evidence of that. I hope that God will use what is written to help someone in their need for Him.
will begin with my childhood. I enjoyed my childhood but I lived as if there was no God. I was not a religious person, neither I nor my family. You could probably count the number of times I had been to a church service on one of your hands. The first twenty-three years of my life seemed sort of empty and meaningless. I believed in my mind that there was a God but it was as if He was way out in space somewhere. I didn't think that I could ever come to know Him and His son Jesus Christ. Therefore, I went my own way and did my own thing.

y waywardness manifested itself in many forms. The sins of my youth were many, so I will not go into all of them. I am ashamed of my sins and I would prefer not to mention them. Yet, I will tell some of what a sinful life is like with the hope that I might help someone else. Some of my sins encompassed alcohol abuse, continuous marijuana use, and other illegal drug abuse.
et me tell you what the year 1980 was like. On January 1st 1980 I went to a New Year's Eve party and got into an argument with my younger brother. He threw me backwards and I reached to catch myself with my left arm and broke my elbow. I turned nineteen years old in April of that year. A few months later I got into another argument with my brother and I busted his eye open with my fist.

he summer was drawing to a close when a guy, two girls, and I were riding around in my car. I veered off the road momentarily while someone was passing me a joint. The right front hub cap came off my car but I was not aware of it. Later that night I went to a car lot that was closed. I found a car with a hubcap like mine and sought to snatch it off with my right hand. I ended up with two fingers cut severely and no hubcap. I had to have a medical operation to reattach the tendons in those two fingers.
y darkness continued and I made a false report to my doctor and automobile insurance company. I told them that I had injured my fingers while changing a flat tire on my car. The insurance company then paid approximately $2,500 for doctor bills and time lost from work. The injury and operation rendered my right hand almost useless for a while. During that time I got into an argument with a guy over a girl. He busted my eye open and I had to have stitches because of it. I was becoming a regular visitor to the hospital.

he year was drawing to an end when my brother and I were involved in a car wreck. On November 9, 1980, James and I left a party and hit a telephone pole. Again alcohol, marijuana, and another drug attributed to my troubles. I spent the next four and a half months in the hospital. Death seemed to stalk me continually. I left Shepard Spinal Center on March 21, 1981. It was the first day of spring and yet things didn't look to bright for me. I was paralyzed from my neck down and dependent on a ventilator to breathe for me at all times. I didn't know it but the doctors had told my parents that I might live a year. The paralysis and ventilator dependence was permanent.

returned home and was determined that I would never again drink alcohol, mess with drugs or pot. I had learned my lesson. Yet, I continued to live my life as if there was no God. The paralysis separated me from most of my old friends and acquaintances. I began to watch TV a lot. There were times when I would go to bed at night and wake up the next morning with the TV still on. I didn't care whether the programming contained profanity, nudity, or whatever. I continued to listen to rock and pop music. I would use profanity sometimes.
began to eat after returning home and started getting better physically. Yet, I was still sin sick. About three years later a young lady and her children started visiting me. They were from the Church of God. The lady wanted God to heal me and she prayed for that often. The Lord didn't choose to heal me but he used her faith to put a desire in me for Him.

turned 23 in April of 1984 and by May I was converted to Jesus Christ. I was watching a Billy Graham Crusade on TV and God used Mr. Graham's preaching to show me what I needed to do. I believed that God wanted me to turn from my sins and acknowledge publicly my need for Jesus. I also realized that I needed to ask Him to forgive my sins and to make a lifelong committment to Jesus.
y older sister Janice Gabriel was attending Second Baptist Church in Macon, Ga. at that time. The church was having a revival with Manley Beasley preaching. On the last night of the revival I went to church with my mother and sister. I went forward when the invitation was given and did as I believed God was leading me to. I was not coming to the church nor the preacher. I was coming to Jesus Christ. I know that he received me for my life was changed at that moment. I went into that church building one person, but I came out a totally different person.

started reading the bible right after my conversion. This is strange because up to that point in my life I hated to read. My conversion took place over twenty-five years ago and bible reading continues to be an important exercise to me. God has taught me to pray to Him and I love it. Since I first called upon Jesus Christ I have attended church regularly.
stopped watching TV for years and now I'm cautious about what TV programing I watch. I quit listening to rock and pop music. Now I listen to contemporary Christian music. I seek to give rather than take and try to live peacefully rather than warring. Jesus talk has replaced profanity. I wrote the insurance company that I defrauded and confessed my wrongs, asking them to forgive me and requested to make restitution. I re-paid them $100 a month for three years and then they wrote me back and told me that my account was paid in full. I have also made restitution to others. Now I have a clear conscience. I know that Jesus has forgiven me and I have done my best to do as He would want me to.

am paralyzed and on a ventilator but I still got baptized. My life was radically changed and I believe it agrees with II Corinthians 5:17 which reads: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God..." I am what I am today because of Jesus Christ and the things that I do and have done, I do through His power. Therefore, I conclude that the gospel of Jesus Christ is real. For apart from it I nor anyone else would have any hope of everlasting and abundant life. Thanks be to God for Jesus the Christ...Amen!