Gentry's Testimony

A WORD FROM MOM . . . . . . .

Yes, I'm his mother and so proud of him and the Lord's saving power working in his life. Of course, being his mother, I could see him slipping away and it was not easy. But one thing was certain, I would not let Satan take his life. There were many nights awake in prayer, weeping, praying in the Holy Ghost, not knowing where he was or what he was doing, but just knowing I must pray. And then when I had done all I knew to do, I just would "stand" and remind myself and the enemy that Gentry belonged to God. A few months before Gentry came back to the Lord, I began to see him lose so much weight. He looked like a walking corpse and this broke my heart. I knew he was on drugs and not eating properly or getting rest. When he would come by the house, usually on a Friday or Saturday night, usually with a friend who looked the same, I knew they would be on their way to the night life of sin. When he would leave the house, I would cry and pray..."Lord, take care of my baby, guardian and ministering angels protect him, Satan you can't have him. Lord, I thank you that he will come back to You. Oh God, just keep him safe" and I would watch them drive away until the car was out of sight.

We give all praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ for saving him and placing a very strong desire in his heart to be in church every service. It blesses my heart to know he is faithfully attending church, praising and worshipping God with all of his heart. He is now married and I am so blessed to have four beautiful and wonderful grandchildren. God has blessed and promoted him in his career over and over as he is faithful to God with his tithe and offerings. He has such a giving heart toward others, and as the Word of God teaches, "the Lord gives seed to the sower." If Jesus is not in your life, let Him in. He will do the same for you. If you are a Christian parent with a wayward son or daughter, stand in the gap for your child. Prayer works, you must take your place in the gap for your child. Do not ever give up!

The song you hear playing is entitled "There Is None Like You." This is one of Gentry's favorite choruses: "There is none like You
No one else can touch my heart like you do
I could search for all eternity long and find
There is none like You."

AND NOW, GENTRY'S TESTIMONY, given to the Singles Class at the World of Pentecost on Sunday morning, February 9, 1997. . . . . . .

I am now 23 years old, but my story begins when I was 21 years old. It was on a Saturday night in June of 1995. All of my friends had called and all the plans had been made for another night on the town. I was very much into the night life scene and had become what was known as an "original" which meant that I had been around for a few years. Three years doesn't seem like much except when your dealing with the night life. I have seen many of my friends disappear or die from drug overdoses, aids, murder, jail time and so on. When you're able to elude all of the above and manage to stay on your feet, you become "original." During this three years, I began using drugs very heavily and had sunk to the weight of 96 lbs. I became addicted to pot, cocaine, x-tasy, heroin, speed, freebase cocaine, freebase PCP, rohiphinol before it was popularized as the date rape drug, quaaludes, zanex, acid, pain killers, mushrooms, mescaline, and many other things I couldn't even pronouce, mixing two or three of these things at a time and not even caring that any of them could kill me in an instant. I even buried an 18 year old friend earlier the same year to a heroin overdose, but that didn't stop me. After her funeral, we all just got wasted on the same things that killed her. I stayed so stoned that I would snort two or three lines of cocaine just to get high enough so I could turn around and smoke myself stoned again. I remember being awake for two or three days straight, 24 hours a day, tripping on acid and crystal, continually smoking pot to try to relax so that I could just go to sleep. My addiction was so strong that the first thing I did when I would wake from sleep or come out of a comatose drug state is look for my marijuana or any residue of cocaine left on the glass table from the night before. I was miserable, but I had tricked myself into believing that I was happy. I began to feel so far from God.

After snorting a few lines of cocaine and smoking a few bowls of pot, I was ready to go out to do God knows what for the rest of the night. While sitting on the couch getting high with my pipe in hand, I had begun to drift into an illusion of happiness, when suddenly I was tormented by a horrifying reality that had been haunting me for many months. I began to think of the rapture. I was raised in the church all of my life and had forsaken God at age 16. As the thoughts began to pour over my mind, I knew that I would not be saved. I knew that any morning I was going to wake up and all of God's saints would be gone. Being raised in a holiness church, the majority of the sermons were dealing with the endtimes, rivers of blood, and the wars of the apocolypse. I had rationed myself to the belief that I was going to make it to Heaven, just not in the same fashion as everyone else. When I could have changed my life, I chose to die the death of a martyr rather than take the mark of the beast. This was my plan to get to Heaven.

The Lord spoke to me that night while I was sitting on the couch. I can remember plainly what He said...."Come as you are!!!" It had been so long since I had felt anything from God that it completely dumbfounded me. I put down my marijuana pipe and made a proclamation to my friend as he was walking out the door. I said, "Sean, I'm not going out tonight. I think I'm going to stay home so I can go to bed early. I'm going to church tomorrow!" He looked at me as if I had lost my mind, then turned and walked out of the house, slamming the door. At that moment, I felt a strange peace not knowing it would be the first stand of many I would have to take.

Sunday morning came. I had been to the World of Pentecost a few times before. My parents had also been attending for several years. I hadn't let them know that I was coming because I just wanted to sneak in and sneak out. I made my way to the balcony where I have been sitting ever since. That Sunday there was a special guest speaker that some of you may remember. Donnie Moore had come to deliver the Word of God to me. In his sermon he preached of all of the terrible deaths that people went through to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He spoke on what it really meant to be a martyr for Christ. While describing the brutal deaths, I found that I had begun to weep uncontrollably. I cried all service long. At the end, he gave an altar call, but I refused to go. Sure there was the tried and true statements such as "Don't leave this building unless you're right with God...and, if you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity...! These cries fell on deaf ears. I left and went straight home. When I entered my apartment, it was as if I had entered the gates of hell. There was such a spirit of oppression and bondage in that place. I made my way to the couch and reached for my pipe. I could not bring it to my lips. Doing drugs had become as common as tying my shoes, but today after coming from such a presence of God, I could not pollute the feelings of the service. I remembered Pastor Phillips saying "Come back tonight. Donnie Moore will be preaching again." So I laid down on the couch and slept until just before the six o'clock service. I got up and went to church. I cannot remember anything that Donnie Moore said that night. All I know is that when the altar call was given, I went and gave my heart back to the Lord and instantly the Lord broke the chains of drug addiction. He revived my spirit and I began to speak in tongues. When I left church, I left there a new man. Since that day I have been straight. No more coke, no more pot, no more heroin, no more anything.

The Lord has totally turned my life around. He gave me a full time job in which I have had three raises in a year and a half, took me off of welfare, and made it possible for me to purchase my own home, with no cosigners, at age 21. The Lord has been good to me and I believe He has just started. I am far from the perfect Christian, but one thing is certain...

IF YOU GIVE HIM ALL OF THE BROKEN PIECES OF YOUR LIFE,

HE CAN DEFINITELY PUT IT BACK TOGETHER,

. . . . .AND THEN SOME !

ALL PRAISE TO JESUS !