I grew up in a wonderful family with loving parents. They loved each other and honored each other and loved each one of their eight children. There were no favorites. We all had equal access to the love they poured out on us.
When I was a boy, I grew up reading adventure books. I loved the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and another favorite was Robinson Caruso. I dreamed about traveling the world and visiting the islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora. I loved the adventure and had a very strong imagination.
Something happened to me at the young age of eight. I was not looking for what I would be introduced to. My father owned a motel and I spent lots of time with him. One day I was bringing ice to one of the rooms and the men in the room showed me a porn magazine.
I was instantly hooked.
I could not get those images out of my mind. The trap had been set for me and I was snared without any doing on my part. I was an innocent child and in a moment became hooked on sex and would be bound completely for the next 20 years.
When I said I was bound, I am not exaggerating. I would steal magazines from the drug store, the grocery store and would even enter homes where I knew there were these types of material. So not only was I hooked on porn, but now I was a thief.
Then before I even knew what was happening, I became a chronic liar. My dad would ask me questions about things and I would look him straight in the eye and lie to him. I was slowly being hardened to my conscience of right and wrong.
When I was 15, I realized I had musical talent. My instrument of choice was bass guitar and it was the only thing that took my mind off of sex. I poured myself into my instrument and became very good at it.
Before long I was in a band and then I realized that the girls would throw themselves at musicians, so the one thing that would take my mind off of sex was now the vehicle that would take me deeper and deeper into perversion.
I played all around the US and lived in Memphis for a year of so and in late 1975, I moved to Dallas Texas. It was in Dallas that I came to the end of myself. I was tired of living the way I was and I truly wanted to change.
I tried all sorts of avenues of self help, trying desperately to become better. I had my astrological charts done. I delved into Dianetics. I went to many new age seminars. I did EST, ONE and a few others. Here I was trying to get free of my lifestyle, to be a better man and stop hurting women as well as myself.
When I was in EST, I met up with some of the leaders in Dallas who invited me to a party which turned out to be an orgy. These ‘enlightened’ people surely didn’t have any freedom I was looking for. After looking at several other religions, transcendental meditation and so forth, I went back to the church I grew up in. I returned to Catholicism.
I dove in with all that I had but there was no change in me. I was going to church regularly and it had no effect. I still had the very same struggles and no power to say NO to all the temptations that came my way.
One day, I was outside painting my house and I was flipping through the channels on my radio headset. I happened on to this station and I heard this man’s voice that caught my attention.
This was the first time I had ever listened to a radio talk show. What he said was good. He was not a preacher but rather a conservative talk show host based on Judeo-Christian principles. I agreed with what he said and decided to listen to him again the next day.
After a few days, I listened to the program right after his and I heard the gospel of Jesus presented in a way that I had never heard before. This man spoke with such power and I was hearing things from the Bible I never had heard before. I started realizing I did not know God like this man did and I craved what he had.
Within a month, I was filling the spare time of my day listening to different preachers who were proclaiming the Gospel and for the most part, they were all in agreement to what they were saying. I was hearing the Gospel and learning what the Bible actually said. I had never read the Bible and only knew a few passages that I had heard growing up. Even though I was listening to the teachings, I was still bound in my sin.
I think this is a critical point to make. Even though I was hearing the Word preached and I was in agreement, I still was not set free and I knew it.
One day something miraculous happened. I was listening to one of these teachers and he asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ as their Savior.
I had never heard of that before.
I thought it was enough to believe that Christ was Who He said He was. I grew up believing that He was God’s Son who died in my place.
That day I prayed the sinner’s prayer and asked Jesus to come into my heart and change me. I tell you the truth, I was changed in an instant. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states “I am a new creation in Christ. The old has passed away and the new has come.” I was born again into the Kingdom of God.
The shackles fell off of me and the chains of perversion lost their control over me.
I still had a struggle in my mind about women, but I now had a choice. Before my born again experience, it was like I could not make a choice except to choose to have sex. Now I had to power to say no. I didn’t have the drive any longer to look at porn.
The temptation was still there, but the control over my mind had been broken. We must renew our minds with the washing of the water of the Word of God. The word says that we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Romans 12:2.
When something is dirty and stained, it must be washed to remove that filth. This is exactly what happened to me.
So here is the bottom line. I don’t care if you are Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Pentecostal or any other denomination of Christianity OR any other religion that you can think of. You can be sitting in those churches and think you are right with God because you belong to that church. You attend church on a regular basis.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
You can have a head knowledge of Christ and even believe who He said He was. That will not save you. You must be born again. Jesus Himself said this.
If you are struggling with all the cares of this world and living a lifestyle of sin, you probably are not born again.
If you have Christ in your heart, things are going to change. One thing that changes is you’ll have joy. You’ll get His JOY and the Word says the Joy of the Lord is your strength.
What is that strength for? It is to give you the power to overcome the snares of this world.
So here is the bottom line again. Religion cannot save you.
Only a personal relationship with Jesus, the King of Kings, the Creator of the Universe can save you.
He is Creator of everything seen and unseen, was born of a virgin and lived a perfect, sinless life. He was tried in the court of Pilot as a trouble maker because He made Himself to be equal with God. Because of this, he was condemned to death by crucifixion. He was buried and on the third day, just as He said, He rose from the grave and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He alone is worthy to be praised and honored because He is glorious. He was faithful to live a life without sin in order to be a perfect sacrifice for us.
Why? Because without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin. If our sins are not forgiven, there is no way that we will be able to enter into Heaven where God dwells. He is holy and we are made holy ONLY by the blood of the lamb that was slain from the foundations of the world.
No one can approach God on your behalf. You have to come yourself and there is only one mediator between God and man. It is Jesus. He is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek and no other can take His place. No preacher can get you there. No priest can get you there. Only Jesus can make you whole.
You can choose to believe the words of man, which have been proven so many times to be lies or you can choose to believe the infallible Word of God, which has been proven time and again to stand up against all false claims made by ungodly men. What other book has been written that tells you the end from the beginning.
Of course, all the liars out there will tell you all the inconsistencies in the Bible, but they can all be proven if one wants to search. This is a matter of life and death.
If you don’t come to the Lord and receive His life in you, then you will die the second death. If you believe and are born again, your spirit will live with a new body forever.
Jesus said you must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God. This is the most important decision you will ever make.
If you want to live, pray this prayer with me. Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of my sins and my unbelief. I now believe in You and take You at Your Word. I believe You are the Son of God and gave Your life so that I might live. I receive You into my heart so Your Holy Spirit will dwell within me. I thank You that my name is written in the Lambs Book of Life. I thank You Lord for saving me. Amen!
Please contact me at David@JeweledSteel.com if you are struggling and need someone to talk to. I am here for you.