Serving Metropolitan Detroit Since 1944
Serving Metropolitan Detroit Since 1944
Yes, there was a time in my life when I was an Atheist. I was an atheist and did not believe one word of the Bible and neither did I accept any concept of any kind of God. I have to admit that even though a Bible was always prominently displayed on our living room coffee table I never read the words in it I just looked at the awesome pictures in it. One day when I was behind the old gym behind our ole High School I asked God to reveal Himself to me and when He did not I cussed Him out and I became on that day an atheist. I really did not even know what that was I just knew they were people who did not believe in God and that became my new religion. Also, my friend down the street said that the Bible was a book the White man wrote to keep us in slavery.
One day back in 1975, I was talking with my father about the condition of Black people in America. There were rumors going around the hood that Black folks were going to be sent back to Africa. I wanted to see what he had to say about that and a number of other things I brought up to him. No matter what I said his constant consistent response was, God, got this. His answer made no sense at all to me, and so frustrated and angry I proceeded to go upstairs to my room and strongly disagree with his nonsensical answers. I was ignorant but not crazy.
Just as I was leaving the kitchen on my way upstairs my mother met me just as I was entering the hallway. She asked me three questions. First, she asked me whose world was this and I said God's. Don't forget I am an atheist who just admitted that the God I don't believe in exists and He created and owns this world. Next, she asked me, whose problems are those you brought up to your father? I said once again God's. Then she asked me, then who is responsible for fixing all the problems you brought up to your father? I answered God. Then she handed me the book that was always on our coffee table and she told me to go upstairs and read it and do not come down until I finish it. So I did. The book was entitled Come Unto Me.
The book had some awesome full-page pictures in it but for the first time as long as that book had been on the coffee table I actually would read the words in it. After reading it and seeing Jesus conquer my major fear, death, and proving an answer as to what happens after death, I gave my whole life to Jesus Christ. Before this, I lived in constant fear of death. And I had no answer to the three questions that constantly followed me around. First, where did I come from? No answer. Number two, what am I doing here? No answer. And number three, where do I go when I leave here because everybody leaves here? And still, I no answer. Long story short, my mom and my dad on that day led me to faith in Jesus Christ, and finally, I had the answer to all three of those questions.
But to be honest with you, it seemed like nothing was really different in me or my life. I was still doing everything I had always done. Then one day as I was on my way to the corner to sell some weed and other various pills that I sold regularly daily would turn out to be anything but regular. I had no idea that this would be the day that Jesus would change my life forever. You see this day turned out to be the day Jesus Christ would reveal the gift of God his Father to me namely Himself.
As I was on my way to the corner I found myself suddenly lying on the ground and I heard a voice I assumed to be God's voice say to me, you are a son of the Most-High God and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, I answered saying how unworthy I was and how everybody knew me to be a deadbeat dad and a drug dealer. I said to the voice I heard that people would never listen to me because they all know me. He repeated that same refrain. He said you are a son of the Most-High God and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I then said to the voice talking to me inside my head, you cannot be God because if you were you would know how disgusting I am, and He responded by saying I am the God you searched for behind the High School.
After hearing this I immediately started crying profusely and I was scared to death. You see nobody on earth knew I did that only God could have known that I looked for Him behind the High School on that day, and when He did not show up I cussed Him out and became an atheist. I thought for sure I finally meet Him and now because of the cuss out He is going to kill me.
He did not kill me He just continued to tell me that I am a son of the Most-High God and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All I knew about Jesus Christ at that time was what I had read in that book my mom gave me and what my father told me about God. The book was a compilation of all four of the gospels designed to lead the reader to Christ. It worked. Just then Jesus filled me with the Holy Spirit and I have been a preacher ever since that day back in 1975. I did go back to the corner and when I got there the Holy Spirit for the first time spoke to those who were there through me. I preached my first gospel message on the corner of 15th street and Salliotte.
Needless to say, those who were waiting for me were amazed that I was now, all of a sudden, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see previous to this I was known for mocking preachers and calling them everything but a child of God. I would say that they were a bunch of crooks hustling people out of their money, and now here I am saying something totally different from what they had heard from me before this day.
Today I preach and I am the pastor of a church Jesus used me to organize in 2003 and I have written three books about the God who I previously had no idea existed and did not believe in.
My first book "Jesus Christ From His Birth To His Ascension" was based solely on the book that my mom used to lead me to Christ. And I tend to talk about Jesus like my dad talked to me about Him without a Bible in his hand. From my father, I learned to hide God's word in my heart as he did so that way I am never without God. From my mother, I learned to read about Jesus as they both did so I would know what resources to use to help lead people to Christ and to teach them to live for Christ in an Un-Christian world just like she did for me. Beginning in 2009 lasting to 2019 I taught a Bible Class on Blog Talk Radio five days a week. To date, I have written three books about the God I said did not exist and our church motto is "A Ministry of Teaching, Learning, And Doing."
In closing my mom and my dad didn't just make my day that day, they made my eternal life. I thank God for my, dad, and mom for not letting me go through this life without knowing God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. And to all of you who Jesus Christ used to model Him in front of me, I say thanx, and may the Love of God you showed me along this way be returned to you five hundred times more.
With All The Love In Jesus Christ
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