Jesus said, “Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Many people are raised in church, but that does not make them believers or a children of God. The relationship with God is personal and direct and cannot be gained through birth, being born into a Christian family or even by going to church. Jesus said that many will be told, “I never knew you” though they professed to know God and do things in His name.
Sometimes people make a profession of faith because they think “it is the right thing to do”, though it isn’t genuine. Luke Hahn wanted to be born again after two of his friends proclaimed to be born again, but it wasn’t genuine. He faked it and then perpetuated the the lie for years. It wasn’t until his pride and false profession of faith were “stripped from him” following an accident that left him wheelchair bound that things changed for Luke.
Here is the story of a young man who came to the realization that he did not know God though he was raised in the church in a Christian family, and that realization made all the difference in the world.
Following are four testimonies that likely represent many people in America who believe themselves to be right with God because they have bought in to an easy form of Christianity that is nothing more than an insurance policy to save a person from hell. But Jesus is not just a Savior, but God. A true encounter with God changes people and gives them new hearts, making them more like Him in a lifelong process called sanctification. If there is no change in your life, in your heart, if there is no fruit from your relationship with God, you may not have received the life that Jesus has to give. It is not too late.
Navigating by Faith 
Am I a false Christian?
I was raised in a Christian family. When I was 10, I decided to get Baptized. Despite this, absolutely nothing changed at all from before and afterward.
And it got worse in Middle/High school. Lust, masturbation, pride, envy, greed, adultery (I looked at women lustfully), hate, etc.
When the Pamdemic came, I came to my senses and realized how far off I become. I have been sense worrying about my salvation.
I’ve changed when I realized my sins. I began reading the Bible, I had a real relationship with God, etc.
I trust in the finished work of what Jesus did on the cross and realize that I am a colossal sinner. I deserve God’s judgment and that Jesus is my only hope.
I was definitely a false convert then, but what about now? I want to know for sure, and I have been loosing my mind.
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I never thought of myself as saved. I said the words when I was young, but never changed how I lived. And although I had remorse for sin, I never fully gave myself to God through Jesus. Eventually I’d end up in prison from a lifetime of sin. I was an addict for many years. But that all changed while in prison. This isn’t the whole story, as God is still working on me since leaving prison, but this is what I experienced and I can testify that Jesus is the Christ.
On October 25th 2022 I had a dream. In my dream some men walked up to me, and one of them held out his hands in a cupped position showing me that he was holding meth. He told me to follow them, to come get high with them. As I started to follow them I heard a voice to my left, in a whisper. The voice said, “Do not go with them.” I turned to my left and I saw a skeleton sitting on a porch, but didn’t understand what I was looking at. I turned back around and saw the men walking up a hill in front of me. The voice spoke again, “If you go with them you will never stop using drugs, God has a plan for you.” I knew right then that the voice that I heard was my friend, Dell Williams, relative. So I went to Dell to tell him about the voice, and I woke up.
That morning I called my friend Douglas and told him about the dream. Douglas asked when I’d had the dream, and I told him it was that night before. Douglas said that Dell had come up to him on the 25th, and told him that he had a letter to give to me. He asked me what I thought the chances of that were. I hadn’t seen or talked to Dell in 28 months, but was with him the day before I came to prison.
Dell wrote and directed Vincent’s Vow in 2018/2019, and it came out in 2020. Douglas had donated a copy of it to the prison chapel where I was in August of 2022. I tried to go see it multiple times, but every time I’d go up to the chapel to watch it, they seemed to have something going on that prevented me from being able to. But after the dream and what Douglas had said on the phone, I thought maybe I should try again. So on October 27th I went up to the chapel, and was told that I could watch it.
At 19:49 seconds into the movie, Dell as the character Vincent is going to get into his car when he hears a voice to his left, in a whisper. Although the words are in-audible, it was the same voice that I heard in my dream. I got up from my seat and said, “That’s not possible.” But I kept watching. At 1:29:00 into the movie it is revealed to be Vincent’s sisters spirit trying to communicate with him from the grave. She was trying to point him towards God. I got on my knees right there in that room and told God that He had my attention. But that wasn’t the end of it, He wasn’t done.
Later that day I was standing in line to get my depression meds like I’d been doing everyday for the better part of a year. I turned to my left, and in the window of medical was a skeleton. One like you’d see in a doctors office or science lab. I turned back around and saw the men infront of me walking up the wheel chair ramp to get their meds. God was saying that the depression meds weren’t going to cure my depression. That only He could fill that empty hole in my heart.
I went back and shared all of this with my buddies, who thought I was either making it up or that I was crazy. But they couldn’t deny the instant change. I no longer wanted to blow people down who had certain cases, or listen to perverted and nasty jokes. Over the next two weeks I began to distance myself from them. Not because I thought I was better, but because I couldn’t in good conscience be apart of that anymore. One day I walked into my wing and all my old buddies were high on meth. I told one of them that he needed to go up to his cell because he was noticeably high, and he motioned for me to follow him. He went over to the corner of the room, and pretended to be on the phone. He reached into his pocket, and pulled his hand out in a cupped position showing me that he had about a gram of meth in the palm of his hand. I asked him, “if i wanted some of that, would you give me some?” He said, “yeah Donnie, do you want to go upstairs and get high?” In my dream the men were walking up a hill to get high. How could the dream apply to both the Med line and this moment right here? Two birds with one stone. How is that possible? How does God do that?!? I guess the answer is we serve an awesome God who in His perfect timing, makes all things possible. Amen?
For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps them from pride. He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death. Job 33:14-18
Now that God revealed Himself and drew me to Him, which path do I follow? I didn’t hear a voice say follow Jesus. Just that God has a plan for me. What happened next is biblical but not a lot of things people see it this way. Through circumstances and everyday life God revealed who Christ is. As one example look at the story in f Abraham taking Isaac up on the mountains of Moriah. It seems s something that literally happened that points at Jesus. I don’t know what the name of this is but I call it “living prophecy” or “prophecy through the creation”
Disclaimer: I never knew the Bible before these things started happening in my life. They happened and I would share them and people would point me to the Bible and what I found brought me to tears everytime.
But here is how God revealed who Jesus is and I testify that Jesus is Lord not because of what people have told me, but because God revealed it to me, just another sinner
How do I know that Jesus is who He says He is? Everyone will tell you that He is the Son of God, and that He is their Lord and Savior, but how do they know this? Some people would tell me because the Bible says He is. Ok, well I agree now, that the Bible is true, but just because people said that, didn’t make it true to me at the time I asked the question.
I did not come to the knowledge of who Jesus is by just believing people. I needed solid evidence. And before you say to just have faith, know what faith means. The original word in Hebrew for faith is Emunah. The root word for Emunah, emun, speaks of that which is sure, solid or truth. So by this definition, we see that faith is linked to truth. And I needed the truth so that I could know where to place faith, and to know which path to follow. So where was I going to get the knowledge of this truth? The answer was God. He revealed it to me over the course of about 14 months while in prison.
I started reading my Bible after God’s revelation on the 25th. And this is where I got the first revelation of who Jesus is and that the Bible had truth in it. I was reading the book of Luke chapter 2:41-49 and it spoke to me. It reminded me of a story of my own that happened when I was just four years old.
I lived in a trailer park in Jackson, Missouri with my mom and two sisters. One day I was playing outside in the yard and my mom came out to ask me if I wanted to go to church with my sisters. I told her I didn’t want to go, so she said okay and went back inside. A few minutes later the church bus came by and picked my sisters up and drove to the other side of the park. I could see the bus across my neighbors yard, and changed my mind right then, and without telling my mom, and only wearing cut off jean shorts, I took off across my neighbors yard, jumped on the bus, and went to church!
When I got there, a woman asked me where my shirt and shoes were. You can probably imagine how embarrassed I felt. She found me a shirt to wear, and shortly after that my mom and the police came barging into the room. My mom was frantic, and said something to the effect of, “Oh thank God! What were you thinking? I thought you got kidnapped! Don’t ever do that to me again!”
In Luke 2:41-49, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the Passover festival in Jerusalem and on their way back home, Jesus without permission, lingers behind in the city. His parents travel a whole day before realizing it, so they rush back to the city where they searched for Him for three days, before finding Him in the temple. His mother says to Him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your Father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” Jesus replied, “But why did you need to search? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Jesus didn’t ask for permission to stay and I didn’t ask for permission to go, but both of us were found in our Father’s house. My mom, like Mary, searched everywhere else first, and then found me in the one place she knew I should be. God is the author of life, but how could He write my story to point at Jesus? One day I intend to get the answer to that question.
Also, in Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and their eyes were opened, they covered themselves with fig leaves. Later God made them tunics of skin and clothed them. That woman at church, who was a servant of God, clothed me.
If that is not convincing enough, here is another story with a sign from God.
When I was in Bowling Green prison, I met a young man named Jas (Jace) Willis. Jas would come to GED class high all the time. One day I left him a note, I drew a picture of a superhero with a stop sign shaped emblem on his chest. Written inside of it was “K2” with a line going through it and the caption read, “Stop smoking that crap!” I meant it as a joke, but his response was heartfelt. In his reply he said, “Hey Donnie, Ha! Ha! Yeah I know I smoke a lot of K2, but I’m really trying to quit, will you pray for me?” Gosh dang if it didn’t move me to tears! I sent him another note explaining that I considered it a blessing to be able to pray for him. That I believed God put him in my way for a reason.
At some point Jas joined Islam for protection. He was in trouble with some other inmates over debts so the Muslim guys were looking out for him. One day he came up to me in the gym and asked for some advice. He said that he was still struggling with K2 addiction, and sexual immorality. He said that his Muslim brothers had acted violent towards him because of it. He wanted to know if I thought that he was taking the right path by following Islam, because he was beginning to question it. I told him that I felt God was pointing me towards Jesus and told him why. I told him that I was beginning to believe that Jesus was the Son of God and not just a prophet as Islam says. I told him that God, through the Holy Spirit warned me in a dream about using meth, which gave me the strength to overcome my addiction. I also told him that I still struggled with lustfulness, but had more self control when I focused on Jesus.
Jas looked at the clock and said that he had to get back to his housing unit to pray. I told him I would walk with him, so we walked out of the gym and over to the softball field. We could have gone left or right. I asked Jas which way he wanted to take. To the left were crowds of people all the way back to his housing unit. To the right it was virtually clear. He looked both ways and said that we should go right, that the other way was too crowded. That way we could talk more without interruption. So we went right and as we went around home plate, and just before we got to first base, Jas said, “What is that?!?” Surprised by his sudden outburst I said, “What is what?” He pointed at the ground by first base and written there in the dirt was, “Tired of using drugs? Try Jesus!” He asked if that was a sign from God and I said, “Jas, you came to me today and asked me if I thought you were taking the right path by following Islam. When we got to the ballfield you were presented with two options. One way was full of distractions, chaos, and sin. The other way was clear of all those things, and on that path that you chose, you saw a sign that pointed at Jesus.
Jesus says, “Wide and broad is the path that leads to destruction and there are many who choose that way, but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few will ever find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
Just to give you an idea, there were four housing units on the yard that day. Two hundred inmates in each house. To the left there were so many people, and to the right there were maybe ten.
How crazy is it that the sign that was written in the dirt was written with someone’s finger? When the woman who was caught in the act of adultery was brought to Jesus, they questioned Jesus as to what He would have them do to her, he stooped down on the ground and began writing in the dirt with His finger….
Jace is a modern masculine name of Greek and Hebrew origin, frequently used as a diminutive of Jason (“healer”) or, in Hebrew, interpreted as “the Lord is salvation”.
If that is not enough then here is yet another sign. While I was in the STE Geneieve, MO county jail, on the 28th night, I had a dream. In my dream I was walking down the sidewalk and passed a woman with blonde hair. I said, “I think that was my cousin Kia.” Shortly after that, I woke up. That night I was told to pack my stuff because I was going to OKC. On the third day that I was there a man named Dylan came in. He sat at our table and introduced himself. He said that he had been on probation, and that he kept using meth, so they sent him to prison for two years. I told him I was sorry to hear that and he said not to be, it was good that it happened. If it hadn’t, meth would have destroyed his family. He said he had a wife and two children. I said, “Oh, so your wife is sticking by you?” And he said, “KIA.” My dream instantly came back to my mind and I said, “What?” And he said, “Oh, sorry, I thought you asked my wifes name, but yeah she is sticking by me, for sure.” I sat and shared my testimony with Dylan and while I did I noticed something about him. He had a few tattoos, but only two stood out to me. On one forearm was written, “LIKE FATHER” and on the other, “LIKE SON”
Maybe that is still not enough to convince you, so I will give you one more. When I left OKC they took me to a federal holdover in Tallahatchie, Mississippi. I was in intake for 20 hours. It was horrible. Right before I went to my housing unit I was given a piece of paper with my housing unit and what wing I was going to. I paid it no mind. It was a long walk to the housing unit, but when we finally got there and I walked inside, I was floored. JC was painted on all three pillars that were in the center of the wing. I had to look at the paper that was in my hand. Written on that paper was JC-73. “J” was the housing unit, “C” was the wing and “73” was my cell. How crazy is that?
Was all that just a coincidence? I will agree with that if we agree that coincidence means the same thing. Coincide means 1) to occupy the same place in space or time, 2) to correspond or agree exactly. I am in agreement with what all this means. God is most definitely real. Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son, and the truth can be found in the scriptures, amen?
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
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I am happy that you have found that God loves you and died for you in human flesh as Jesus so that you could have salvation and have connection with Him. He is a great God!
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