When I was young, maybe about four or five, my Father taught me how to use a witches stick or divining rod, a pendulum and other occult things. I was going to church but learned to hate it. I started messing with Ouija boards, seances, ESP and more occult things.
By 19 I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. By 24 drugs were a habit and I was an alcoholic. I was smoking pot, popping pills, and hanging out with a real bad crowd. I had a few run-ins with police, but was never arrested. Of course, I was into heavy metal music. I was in a heavy metal band. One night while playing, we decided to celebrate the anniversary of a dead singer. I drank a whole bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey and almost died, but that didn't stop my partying. I met my wife in this band.
In May of 1983, I was still into partying. I had an addiction for horror films and couldn't get enough of them. Pornography was also prominent in my life. I quit the band. We drank and smoked at my apartment all the time. There was always somebody there to get drunk or stoned. People passed out on the floors or couches. My wife partied, but sometimes it bothered her. I was loving it: horror movies, pornography, and heavy metal music. I was starting going to bars, chasing other women, and not coming home.
By the time we had been married five years we were very unhappy. We started falling into debt and fighting. After all the years of people partying at my house they stopped coming around as much. I became more violent every day, smashing things in the house. We decided to separate but I hated it. I also hated my wife.
One night I was watching a horror movie with a friend and decided to go get drunk at a local bar. Then another friend and I did some drugs. When I came home, my wife and her friend were watching TV. For no reason, I went raving mad. I just about took both their heads off with a sword, smashed out a window, and tore a phone out of the wall. My wife and her friend ran out, still in their night gowns, got in the car, and left. I followed them but couldn't find them.
Although I still didn't change my ways, my wife came back after a few months of separation. I started singing in a band again, not drinking as much but still getting smashed up when I did. One night I was so drunk I couldn't see. I got into a fight, busted up a beer glass with my teeth, and started eating it to show how tough I really was. That's only part of it, the same night I fell asleep on a water bed that was just filled up and almost died of hypothermia.
People were starting to talk to me about the Lord. I wasn't listening, but seeds were still planted. One night while drunk I commited adultery with a old girlfriend in her car in a bar parking lot. The next day I told my wife. She forgave me but I still had guilt. It was then I decided to accept the Lord and ask for forgiveness. I was cleaned up. Not immediately, but they did go: cigarettes, beer, music, everything. The music was replaced with Christian music. Someone sold me a part of their collection the week I got saved.
I'm going to tell you the Christian life isn't easy. It's a lot easier going through the fire and water with the Lord. I praise Him for what He did for me, and wouldn't go back for anything this world offers.
