Brian, USA, Age 29
My old life is everything opposite from my new life now with God.
I was a school dropout after the 7th grade. I came from a divorced home and was not significantly churched as a youth. My teenage years were spent heavily into drugs: pot, crystal meth, LSD, hash, cocaine, and alcohol. I first got into drugs–both pot and acid–when I was a meek 13 years old. This led into crank intensely by my later years (17) until I finally entered drug rehab to no avail at the age of 18.
My youth was also strongly rooted in hard rock music and heavy metal, so much so that I became a bass guitar player and sought to make my livelihood as a musician. When I was 18, I left my hometown in the Midwest for the East Coast in pursuit of becoming such a musician. It was then that I was confronted by an occultist in the music scene who led me into a vast array of different occult teachings in order to prepare me for initiation into a circle cult. It was at this time that I first saw real occult powers and auras upon my teacher.
At the age of 19 I moved again to Florida where I proposed to continue my endeavour to join an organised occult order in the hopes of proceeding into professional music. My endeavour failed miserably though as drugs and occult manifestos combined in a driving negative power that spiraled me down into a dark depth of depression, misery and suicidal struggle.
At the very pit of it all–at the very bottom of the lowliest state of my life–I began to pray, calling on Jesus. Something in me, probably from youth, pointed at Jesus Christ as the Lord. In so much confusion and darkness, God heard my prayer and set me into a sequence of events that led to my conversion “…for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
I had studied some of Christianity from my new age sources, but they all disguised Jesus as being some kind of mystic rather than the Lord and Savior. Nonetheless, in deep desperation, my calling on Jesus opened up the truth to me against errors. Firstly, I realized that all professed new age beliefs were a deception.
I prayed for a day and a half straight, calling out Jesus’ name into the atmosphere, knowing somehow, against the evil power present with me, that He could hear me. He responded to me in a dramatic display of a vision of pure white light that fell into my range of vision. This aesthetic experience lasted for probably 30 seconds to a minute, but it was, in reality, a divine touch of Christ from Heaven.
After this event, occuring in the early morning, I forced myself to seek out help and knocked upon the door of my neighbor’s house, whom I knew was a professing Christian. He was helpful to what degree he could understand my situation. In my very demonic state I was hospitalized in acute treatment as physicians pondered my scenario. However, some of the physicians at this facility were also Christians and were aware of demonic activity and had dealt with it before. They realized my needs were more to convert to Christianity than to receive drug therapy.
Thus I was released and sought God through prayer, Bible reading, and the local Church, a First United Methodist. After about 2 weeks I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior by confessing my sins and asking him to save me. I was baptized in water by the minister in the church as he laid his hands upon my head and prayed the Holy Spirit would come into my being, and He did.
This began my journey into Christianity, of which now has entered its 9th year. The amazing thing truly is, with God in my life, I have seen freedom from addictions, restoration of my entire well-being (from drugs, crime, and occult bondage) and a college education leading to a doctorate in pharmacy (of which I practice now–can you believe that!) I have an enriching life in Christ, and I experience the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, including hearing from God on a daily basis.