Tuesday 12 May 2015

How I came to be a Christian

By Faith!

When I was a little boy I always believed there must be a God up there somewhere. I was also captivated by the film shown every year at Christmas for a few years ‘Jesus of Nazareth’.  If you asked my mum, she would say she is CofE and my Dad would say Catholic, but neither of them ever went to church  - I don’t remember seeing a Bible in our home either.

It was not until years later I got converted.  To cut a long story short …

Mum and dad split up, by 15 yrs old I was off the rails. By the time I was 18 I had 3 appearances before magistrates and appeared twice at Chichester Crown court for more serious crimes.

What began the change was years of listening to, and idolising Bob Marley and smoking loads of weed. I learned Bob was a Rasta and I came to the conclusion that Bob must know something I don’t about God so I decided to find out about the Rasta God. I thought, I could handle that, smoking weed and listening to reggae.

I learned Rastas read the Bible so I got myself one and started reading. I was again absolutely stunned by Jesus in the gospels. He seemed so true and good and amazing, I kind of knew He was real. But I also began to see that Rastas and the Bible could not both be true, either both were rubbish or one was true. I was persuaded the Bible was true. I then began really searching and in my search got involved with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. About a year later (I was 20) I got converted - it was life-changing.

I remember that while learning with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and some Christians I got to know, I became confused, I didn’t know what or who was true. I remember listening to Tracey Chapman's song crossroads ...

Demons they are on my trail
I'm standing at the crossroads of hell
I look to the left I look to the right
There're hands that grab me on every side

I specifically remember feeling like that and praying, 

"Jesus, when you was on the earth I would have followed you, but now you're not, and I don't know which crowd to join. I could study every religion and still not know for certain. It's up to you, take me or leave me to the devil, there's nothing I can do."

It was after that, that Jesus dramatically broke into my life. While I was praying, I heard words spoken to me in the most amazing way and repeated 3 times.

"Jesus died for you"

Although I'd read this many times in my life and knew it, the thought, occurred to me exactly like this … 

 "He died to take away my sin, the way to God is open". 

As I thought “the way to God is open” it is as though heaven was opened up for me at that very moment, I might as well have been there, the joy I was suddenly experiencing was unbelievable.

It is as though the penny dropped and my eyes were opened, I knew Jesus had taken hold of me and saved me. The way to Him was open and my years of searching ended. It wasn't that I found Him, I didn't, I gave up and left myself to Him. It was He who then took hold of me. Then there was joy, it was electric! Uncontainable. The night Jesus saved me was unquestionably the best night of my life so far. He filled me with His Spirit so that I overflowed with so much joy I could not contain myself, I laughed out loud and cried, my belly hurt, I was so happy. I had never known such joy. Then came peace. 

I still didn't know which crowd to follow, which religion was right or even if there was a right one, all I knew is that I found Jesus and He is all I needed. I was walking on air.

The next morning I read my Bible. OMG! I'd been reading it for years but this was different. It was all so new and it spoke amazingly to me and thrilled me. I remember so clearly reading John 1, especially these verses ...

11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

I knew immediately that this explained my experience. I'd been born of God! It dawned on me that I was now a child of God. That was another joyful moment. I don't mean I felt happy, I mean something happened inside as I read and joy welled up and overflowed. I can only describe it as a purifying and cleansing joy.

That same day I arranged to see the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and told them I have found Jesus. They both told me I had been deceived and smirked at me, but I didn’t care, what I had was simply the best. I told the Christians the same but their reaction was different. They praised God! They told me how they had been praying for me that I would find Jesus. They seemed as excited as me! And again there was so much joy, this time, not only me but them too. Then I began to understand that I wasn't the only child of God, I was part of a family, and these were my brand new brothers and sisters - and they were great, we had something so amazing in common. 

That week I went to church for the first time. It was a tiny little church in Fittleworth. A few old people, a good Christian friend and me. Two things struck me that day. 1) The dullness of the church building. 2) The joy I experienced again as I sang the first song I ever sang as a Christian.

You are the King of Glory
You are the Prince of Peace
You are the Lord of heaven and earth
You're the Son of Righteousness
Angels bow down before You
Worship and adore, for 
You have the words of eternal life
You are Jesus Christ the Lord

Hosanna to the Son of David
Hosanna to the King of kings
Glory in the highest heavens for
Jesus the Messiah reigns!

As I declared those words to Jesus, it was just as though someone had written the words for me to sing to Him, they were perfect! And again, I was filled with joy!

That was a very dizzy week! My major life decisions were settled there and then - I knew I was changed forever, I knew my whole destiny and life was changed forever, my life was devoted to this new person in my life, Jesus.

Since then I have been devoted to following Him. It has certainly not been easy, in fact it is really hard at times, quite a lot of the time.

But that was the beginning of my faith in Jesus. That was the beginning of my walk with Him. 

I have been a christian now for 24 years and I have absolutely no regrets - Jesus is the most wonderful, perfect, kindest and most powerful and wise person in the universe and I feel so blessed that I know Him and that he calls me His friend - that is awesome!

All this sound strange? Well don’t just believe me, find out for yourself. I’d love to meet with you to share the good news with you, help answer questions, my hope is that Jesus will do for you what He has done for me.


Romans 1
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’

Acts 2
38 Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’


If you would like to take a step of faith to find out more, Private Message me and I will be happy to meet with you for a one off chat about it, whoever and wherever you are, then see how it goes form there.