Rescue The Perishing
Of course I'm a Christian... I'm American!!
“Of course I’m a Christian… I’m American!” This was my idea of being saved for the first 16 years of my life. I went to a dead church as a kid and learned religion, not relationship. My girlfriend and her mother tried to tell me that I wasn’t ‘saved’ and was on my way to hell but I adamantly proclaimed that I was ‘ok.’ Little did I know they were right. Under bondage to lust, pornography, and selfishness, my world revolved around me and my idea of God was a “loving God that only sends murderers and child molesters to hell.” Yes, I tried drugs and alcohol, but they never were a vice for me.
God wondrously opened my eyes in 1987 and revealed his grace and mercy to me. When I became a “new creature in Christ” the joy I felt was overwhelming and the regret for my sinful past was grieving. As I was laughing like I heard the best joke ever and crying as if my dog died, the weight of my sinful past lifted. I WAS FREE! This was the best high EVER!
God wondrously opened my eyes in 1987 and revealed his grace and mercy to me. When I became a “new creature in Christ” the joy I felt was overwhelming and the regret for my sinful past was grieving. As I was laughing like I heard the best joke ever and crying as if my dog died, the weight of my sinful past lifted. I WAS FREE! This was the best high EVER!
The biggest question in my mind at that instant was, “WHY HASN’T ANY EVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS??!?!?” From that moment on, I was determined to share:
· Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to Mc Donald’s makes you a Big Mac.
· If you claim to be a Christian and you’re living like the devil, YOU AREN’T SAVED!
· You must be BORN AGAIN!
· You can be free from sin. The Lord calls us to holiness.
· If you’re a Christian and you aren't sharing your faith, there is something wrong with you spiritually.
I went to Bible College to become a Pastor several years ago. While there I met my wife, married her and we became pregnant thereafter. My dream of finishing college and becoming a pastor changed to a reality of providing for my wife and kids. I went from Pastor-wannabe to restaurant manager... for 14 years. During that time I also was active in different types of ministry from worship team member, worship team leader, to urban evangelism. In 2002 I began to grow weary of the restaurant business. Partly due to the long hours and partly to the fact that Becky was pulling her hair out in stress over being a single mother. So, having a dream of becoming self-employed and having a sense of God leading me to become an insurance broker, I left the industry I cut my teeth on.
Things were going well in insurance. In fact, for awhile, I began to focus more on sales, building a huge agency, money, and "things" than I focused on God. That is what we call an idol. Anyhow, God woke me up in June of 2005. How? One might think a 'word of knowledge' would be sufficient. Or a car wreck. How about a letter? NO... I was diagnosed at the age of 35 with a non-seminoma, extra-gonadal, germ-cell tumor. The prognosis of this type of rare cancer is only a 40% survival rate. I went through 20 rounds of grueling chemo... 21 hours / day, 5 days straight... 4 cycles of that. I spent 10 days in the hospital at first when my right lung collapsed on me and 10 days after my surgery. Altogether about 30-40 days. Oh yeah... the tumor was the size of a grapefruit between my heart and lung (mediastinum). The surgeon had to remove a 1/4 of my right lung, a part of my pericardium, and the tumor. Evidently my case was unique. The hospital was abuzz with my name. Famous for what? Almost dying? I later visited with a cancer research scientist and he shook my hand twice. He informed me that I, statistically, shouldn't be alive. God had a reason for me to be alive. God saved me twice... once in 1987 and again in 2005.
This would wake even the most hardened sinner up (you would think). I began to refocus. I started the ordination process through the church I was attending. I began preaching on Sunday nights and some Sunday mornings. God was beginning to use me in ways that I didn't allow him to use me in the past. After allot of soul-searching, I finally realized that this message of repentance needs to preached in the church and on the streets. It’s time to stop playing church and it’s time to pick up where the disciples left off…. “GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES.”
Don Grimes - don@rescue-the-perishing.com
Jim Colwell [picture not necessarily actual person... although the resemblance is uncanny]
Hi, my name is Jim Colwell. I'm Don's partner in the ministry of Rescue The Perishing! You are probably astonished by the uncanny resemblance I have to Curly of the Three Stooges (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.) If I have what could be called a "vice" it would be getting totally cracked-up watching Moe, Larry, and Curly doing their thing...comic genius! Oh yeah, I like Shemp too! But as you've probably guessed, Curly is my main man.
If you are active in street evangelism, you may already know me, or have seen me in places like: New Orleans, LA, during the Mardi Gras; preaching at the Kentucky Derby, or the Indy 500. Maybe you've run into me passing out tracts or witnessing on the streets, or outside a concert in Cincinnati, Lexington, or other spots around Ohio and Kentucky. Let me take a portion of your time to share some of my testimony.
My testimony is about how God can take a ruined soul such as I was, and by His power transform it into a new creature in Christ! Before I came to the Lord, I was a confused, angry, rebellious, and incorrigible young man. I had a turbulent childhood to say the least. Both of my parents worked while I frequently skipped school, and ran the streets. I was molested by a cousin at a very young age, which set the course for sexual lust to develop strongly in me. I started stealing, shoplifting, and breaking into houses--I stole money from my own mother on many occasions. I got involved with drugs when I was about 12 years old when a cousin turned me on to smoking pot (hmmm...cousin again; parents, watch out who you leave your children alone with)!
By the age of 16, I was drinking heavily, smoking dope at every opportunity, taking any pills I could get my hands on, tripping on LSD, and eventually sticking needles in my arm, trying to satisfy a lust for something elusive, that drugs, although I didn't realize it at the time, would never satisfy. If we couldn’t get a “quality” high, my friends and I would sniff glue, lighter fluid, or even gasoline; our motto was “anything to catch a buzz.”
I overdosed several times and ended up in the hospital from one OD. I was in the psychiatric hospital twice due to drug related problems. I ran away from home repeatedly, and was busted many times as a minor. I must have spent at least a year or more locked up in the Juvenile Detention Center in Indianapolis. I spent 1 ½ years in a home for troubled youth. I become a dropout at the age of 15 when a psychiatrist had me officially removed from school because I was too nervous, paranoid, and delusional from drug abuse to function like a normal highschooler. All before the ripe old age of 16 years!
But mark this down: none of the doctors, social workers, or institutions helped me to lose my lust for getting high. As soon as I had the opportunity I went back to my same old ways. I didn’t want to quit. I liked the things I was doing, even though deep inside I knew they were wrong.
I finally hit my low when I split from home and moved in with a dope dealer/addict. We lived in a rough section of town where I sold drugs for him and in return he let me crash in his apartment and kept me high. We were shooting pure Crystal Methedrine (when we could get it), or diet pills like Desoxyn, which were soaked in water to leech out the methamphetamine hydrochloride in the tablets (the liquid then being injected.) My life was literally one nonstop quest for booze, reefer, pills, meth or whatever I could find to get high.
I'm not going into detail about all the sexual immorality that went on along the way. Suffice it to say that I was fornicator and a sexual pervert. I relate these things with great shame. The life I was leading was a wicked and perverted path straight to hell and destruction. Right before God powerfully arrested my life, I received a copy of Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible and was starting to dabble in the occult. I thank God he saved me before I jumped off the cliff into full blown Satanism. But the life I was living already put me firmly in Satan’s camp, and firmly in his grasp...we were fast becoming great pals.
Things came to a screeching halt when I was robbed at gunpoint while selling Meth in a local pool hall. The hoodlums took the money and the drugs, but I thank God they didn’t take my life! Having a couple of pistols pointed at my face was a wake up call and I began to take a look at the life I was leading. Rick, the guy I was dealing for, didn’t believe my story and I found myself on the street. I didn't know it then but it was the Lord closing the doors and opportunities for sin to continue to in my life, and that he was preparing the way for my salvation. Like the prodigal son, I came to my senses and decided to go “home.” I called my Dad (my parents were living in Southern Indiana at the time) and he came and got me and took me home.
It was while living at home in New Albany, Indiana, that God intervened in my life, and did what none of the doctors, hospitals, jails or institutions had been able to do, even after years of trying; he delivered me and changed my heart in a moment of time.
Here is how the Lord changed my life: I was playing pinball in a local arcade when a nerdy looking guy in polyester pants and a button down shirt came over to me and started telling me about death, sin’s wages, and eternal damnation. He had my attention because I knew about all these things from going to church as a small child. [See, God started showing me little glimpses of the truth even when I was very young. A little seed had been planted. Here and there that little seed was watered along the way. Now, it was ripe for harvest! All that prior time, Satan had tried his very best to destroy me and ruin my life--he even tried to snuff me out when I came within about 3 feet of being run over with a freight train at the age of 8--but God was about to bring to nothing all his evil schemes!]
One thing I was absolutely sure of was that I was a BIG sinner and I was surely going to split hell wide open whenever I died. I thought there was no hope that I would ever change. There is no doubt in my mind now, that I was on the road to ruin and would have ended up in prison, dead from an overdose, dead by some illness due to my unhealthy lifestyle and drug abuse, shot to death, or stabbed to death and dumped in an alley somewhere.
So I knew I was condemned, but that's when the guy (his name was Johnny Lames: Johnny if you’re still out there, God bless your obedience and boldness brother!) told me that Jesus loved me and would forgive me of all my sins if I would turn to him and ask him to. I said, “You mean to tell me that God loves a person like me, and will forgive me for ALL my awful wickedness and sins”? He told me, “Yes, Jesus paid the price for every vile deed you have done when every drop of his precious blood was shed on the cross to redeem you from eternal death.” He said, “Just turn from sin to him and believe that he died and rose from the dead so that you could be delivered, cleansed, and freed from the power and penalty of sin! Receive him as the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of all creation, and the Lord and Master over your life. Confess that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and you will be born again”! We went outside to the side of the building and right there I prayed and asked God to forgive me of my sins.
That very moment, in an instance of time, God gave me a new heart! The old person I used to be was gone; I was a new “me”; a brand new person! All the old guilt for the mountain of sins I’d piled up had vanished in a split second like a puff of smoke in the wind! I felt clean for the first time in my entire life! My heart was flooded with joy, and real peace came over my mind. I'd never felt like this from any drug. Nobody had to tell me to love God and seek him. I felt an immense love for my savior, and wanted to please him and know more about Jesus. My conscience was so tender toward all sin...I knew God wanted me to break with every sin. I turned away from the wicked life I was leading and turned to God in repentance. I knew that God had set me free from sin’s power and would give me his power to live my life in a way that would please Him. I also knew that I was saved by grace and that I could never have been saved, nor would I ever be saved by my own good works. No, Jesus had borne my sins, and he had placed the robe of his righteousness on me to cover the filthy rags of my unworthy deeds. My sins were laid to his account and dealt with on the cross; his righteousness was set to my account and now the gates of heaven were flung wide open to me. I was reconciled to God by his Son! That much I had revealed to me right from the start.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it’s been a bed of roses. It hasn’t been easy by any means. Anyone that says or thinks the life of a disciple is a cakewalk is sorely mistaken and in for a rude awakening. Tribulations, afflictions, temptations and trials await the believer, along with the joy and peace and all the fruit of the Spirit of God!
Old habits don’t die easy. They kick and scream and struggle all the way to the altar. They beg and plead to live on in our lives until the very moment the sacrificial knife is plunged into their heart. I’ve had to learn many things the hard way. Some of my struggles were due to a lack of sound teaching, but most of them were due to trying to subdue my lusts and evil desires in my own strength, and because I hung on to some "pet" sins for a long time and didn't put them to death through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't have to take years for a person to learn to look to Jesus in faith for every aspect of the Christian life. We should teach new converts immediately that sanctification is as much a work of grace through the power of the Spirit working in us, as our salvation is by grace and the regenerating and renewing of the Spirit. If you are a new believer and are struggling with sin, read on and learn from my mistakes.
I want to hasten to add however, that while I’ve turned my back on the Lord at times in the past, he has never given up on me! He did not cast me off, but he certainly chastised me! I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit someone’s theology, and I’m not interested in arguing about it, either! But I’ve had to go through the “school of hard knocks” more than once. I shamefully admit that I have grievously backslid on more than one occasion and have wasted years of my life wallowing around in the pigsty of sin after having believed in, and after having received Christ by faith. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, read on because God has a cure for it.
Let me take a moment to speak to any backslider that may be reading this. God will forgive you! Although you may be under, and intensely "feel” a heavy weight of guilt and shame, and it seems that God is far away from you, and is finished with you, and has cast you off, probably forever; it is not so! No, the father of lies, who lured you from your steadfastness to start with, has now turned the tables on you and is seeking to keep you in sin, doubt, and unbelief! Here is a precious promise of God that you may by faith plead before the throne of grace: "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." (Jeremiah 3:22 NKJV) He is calling you to return to him and he will “heal” your backslidings!
Backslider, here is another precious promise to come back to God with: "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NKJV)
My backslidden friend, though you may have grievously departed from your first love, God is able to save, forgive, and to cleanse you from every, and all, sin. No matter how far you’ve wandered and strayed from the paths of righteousness, He will restore you if you come to Him with a broken heart and in faith! The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18 ESV) Do your first works over again! Remember God is just and the justifier of the ungodly...Jesus came to save sinners, such as you and I was. Turn back to Him and away from wickedness. God will forgive you, restore you, and strengthen you with might in your inner man to walk pleasing in his sight once again!
There is a verse in a song by Chuck Girard that says, “I was a sinner saved by grace, but I’m not a sinner any more. I chose to live in righteousness and not to practice sin no more. I did not say I would not fall, but when I do I’ll run to him. For he is faithful and He’s just to forgive, you know He died for all our sins.” Repent and turn in faith to Christ once again!
Listen, you may be a foolish prodigal son; you may have squandered your inheritance by sinning and presuming upon his grace until your heart has become as hard as a stone; but rest assured that if you'll turn back to the Lord, He will soften your heart! So don’t stay away from home and perish at the pig troth of the world and of sin...go back to the Father, and don't hesitate for one more second! I believe He is looking for your return right now, and that there will be joy in heaven when you repent and return to the Lord! You may have to reap the consequences of the evil you've done, but the Lord will restore you. Every wandering from God has consequences. So be warned that those evil pleasures you’re indulging in will come back to haunt you in the form of sinful thoughts, painful memories, and temptations to return to indulging your lusts. The things that you’ve put into your heart and mind will stay there to prick your conscience and trouble your thoughts even if you repent and return to the Lord. So come back now, and stop polluting your heart to your own detriment!
No, don’t harden your heart any further. Remember: A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy. (Pro 29:1 NIV) Now is the day of salvation and the accepted time for you to turn--you have no promise of tomorrow--so run to the mercy seat while God is near and calling for you to repent and return to Him.
OK, I couldn’t help but reach out to every backslider after realizing how regretful and sorrowful a state backsliding is, and how the pollutions of sin remain and trouble the soul even after they are repented of. Yes, we are cleansed of our sins, but we also reap what we sow. Don’t even consider the ways of sin, or look lightly on the consequences of sin. There are unforeseen and unconsidered consequences to the least of sins.
But getting back to what I was saying before: despite failings, I’ve learned through it all, that God is a merciful God; that He is a loving God; that He is forgiving God; and that He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!
I have also learned to hate sin above all things, and to flee to the Lord early for refuge against the deceitfulness of sin, and to flee to Him early for the strength to withstand temptation. He will make a way of escape so you can bear it and endure temptation. Don’t try to go toe-to-toe with Satan, sin, and lusts; flee from them and into the arms of Jesus where you’ll find the mighty power of God to be victorious over all your enemies, especially your own self!
Speaking of sin--sin is to God, “that abominable thing that I hate.” It is sin itself that is the most sinful thing! It is the evil of evils, and should be hated as the most loathsome thing--against God, man, and all good. Consider that it was one seemingly minor act of disobedience (the eating of a piece of fruit) that plunged all mankind into a morass of iniquity and a cesspool of sin. That is how evil the least sin is! All the wickedness of human history--all the war, poverty, inhumanity, murder, violence, perversion, and gross and immoral deeds--flow from that one polluted and poison source; from that one act of sin an entire race has been ruined!
Likewise, the punishment attached to sin also proves how great an evil it is. That God will damn the impenitent sinner to suffer his eternal wrath, vengeance, and everlasting fire against sin, and that the wicked must be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever, both testify to the enormous evil that sin is in and of itself.
Consider it was one sin that plunged this world into spiritual darkness and death, and consider that it only takes one sin to account you guilty before the judgment bar of God in the day of His righteous judgment, also consider that if one sin is found on your account that you must pay the penalty, which is eternal death! Oh, you foolish and dull to understand sinner, flee to Christ, cry out to God to "save me, oh Lord, lest I perish'!
One sin! Your own conscience should be screaming about the army of black marks put down against you in God’s book. You’ve drank in sin like water, and but one sin is all it takes to forever block your admittance into heaven, and to forever seal your fate of eternal separation from the joy of God’s presence, and to forever seal your fate of suffering and enduring the furnace of everlasting and unquenchable fire, the just desert meted out to every person who dies bearing their own sins. You better run to the mercy seat and get on your face before the Almighty and cry out for Him to save you from the wrath to come!
Actually, it could not be other than it is concerning sin and punishment because God is a holy God; one that is sinless, pure and incorruptible by his very nature. He is glorious in holiness! Since sin is the exact opposite of His nature, he is intensely opposed to it, even the least bit of it. God abhors, detests, loathes, and hates sin in all its hideous forms.
If men would meditate and consider the sinfulness of sin and the holiness of God, they would not look upon disobedience to God so lightly. And to the person who is born of God, sin should be as equally abhorrent to you as it is to God! Christian, if you do not have a holy hatred of all sin, you should turn to God's Word and closely consider what the testimony of the Holy Spirit is against sin! Oh, so many are being poisoned by the noxious miasma of false teaching and the commandments of men; so many are confidently presuming on the grace of God while they continue to practice sin. Look to the Word of Life and receive understanding. Let God be true and every man a liar! Whoever has an ear, let him hear!
But I’ve digressed into preaching here, so getting back to my testimony: since I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, I completed the Teen Challenge program in Philadelphia, PA. I went on to complete my GED and to receive a BS from Union College. I was also ordained into the ministry.
One day I had a dream in which I heard a voice say to me, “Every street is a mission field, and every street corner a pulpit...go into all the world and preach the gospel.” I immediately knew that God was pointing me in the direction street ministry. I know that many are called to minister to those who are already the saints of God, but I believe that He has sent me OUT into the harvest fields of the world to glean that which is still left to be gleaned and garnered into God's barns, often times from the dregs of fallen humanity!
Soon afterward I became involved in street evangelism, outdoor preaching, and ministering to the multitudes of lost souls perishing all around us. Over the years I’ve acquired a deep desire to minister to the outcasts of society, the homeless, etc.
I was very privileged to work with Denny Nissley and Christ in Action Ministries (CIA) for a while, helping to coordinate outreaches to large events like the Mardi Gras, the Indianapolis 500, Spring Break, sporting events, etc. While working with CIA in Georgia, I ministered weekly on the streets of Dalton to the many young people cruising the “strip” every weekend. My time with CIA was a great blessing and I learned a lot from Denny, who is, IMO, one of the Fathers of street ministry in our time. I cut my ministry teeth street preaching with Denny and the many people that were associated with his ministry at the time. I'll always be grateful for my time in service with Christ in Action, and for the influence and knowledge I gained through Denny’s example. I haven’t seen him in a long time, but let me tell you, he is one brother who is truly “as bold as a lion.” CIA is still taking the love of Christ "to where it's most desperately needed and hardest to find" through their large coordinating efforts in the area of disaster relief. May God richly reward them as they do good "unto the least of these."
Don was in Georgia back then and we were first involved in ministry together there. We preached and witnessed on the streets of Dalton together. That was about 18 years ago!
I came to Kentucky in the late 90’s and have been involved in street evangelism, preaching and ministry in numerous places in Southeastern KY. I have also been involved with a number of different churches and groups in KY. Although it is not my calling to be a pastor in a local church setting, in the past I have preached in a number of different churches of various denominations, but for years now, I have had a very strong leading toward street ministry as a primary focus.
After having lost contact with Don for a time, I learned that he was living near Cincinnati. We both felt it was more than a coincidence that we ended up in the “same neck of the woods.”
We started Rescue the Perishing for one reason: to proclaim Christ as Savior and Lord to a lost and dying world that will surely perish without Him! Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, how shall they hear without a preacher? We are compelled by the Holy Spirit to go and be that "preacher" preaching the gospel of the kingdom to every creature! That is what RTP is ALL about! Our message is simple, “Repent and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
Jim was born in Scranton, PA, in 1958. He is currently 51 years old. He and his devoted wife Karol have been married for 27 years, and have 5 children ranging in age from 9 to 20. Jim works full time in the Information Technology field for a major telecommunications corporation. He came to the Lord in the early 70’s at the end of what is now called “The Jesus Movement”. Jim is an ordained minister, but has never focused on ministry within the church. He has a BS from Union College. He has been active in ministry off and on for the last 25 years. Currently, when not being a husband, Dad, or computer "Guru," he devotes his remaining time to street evangelism, outdoor preaching, and ministry to the downtrodden and homeless (and anyone else who will listen to him.) He primarily finances these ministries out-of-pocket.
Jim Colwell - jim@rescue-the-perishing.com
If you are active in street evangelism, you may already know me, or have seen me in places like: New Orleans, LA, during the Mardi Gras; preaching at the Kentucky Derby, or the Indy 500. Maybe you've run into me passing out tracts or witnessing on the streets, or outside a concert in Cincinnati, Lexington, or other spots around Ohio and Kentucky. Let me take a portion of your time to share some of my testimony.
My testimony is about how God can take a ruined soul such as I was, and by His power transform it into a new creature in Christ! Before I came to the Lord, I was a confused, angry, rebellious, and incorrigible young man. I had a turbulent childhood to say the least. Both of my parents worked while I frequently skipped school, and ran the streets. I was molested by a cousin at a very young age, which set the course for sexual lust to develop strongly in me. I started stealing, shoplifting, and breaking into houses--I stole money from my own mother on many occasions. I got involved with drugs when I was about 12 years old when a cousin turned me on to smoking pot (hmmm...cousin again; parents, watch out who you leave your children alone with)!
By the age of 16, I was drinking heavily, smoking dope at every opportunity, taking any pills I could get my hands on, tripping on LSD, and eventually sticking needles in my arm, trying to satisfy a lust for something elusive, that drugs, although I didn't realize it at the time, would never satisfy. If we couldn’t get a “quality” high, my friends and I would sniff glue, lighter fluid, or even gasoline; our motto was “anything to catch a buzz.”
I overdosed several times and ended up in the hospital from one OD. I was in the psychiatric hospital twice due to drug related problems. I ran away from home repeatedly, and was busted many times as a minor. I must have spent at least a year or more locked up in the Juvenile Detention Center in Indianapolis. I spent 1 ½ years in a home for troubled youth. I become a dropout at the age of 15 when a psychiatrist had me officially removed from school because I was too nervous, paranoid, and delusional from drug abuse to function like a normal highschooler. All before the ripe old age of 16 years!
But mark this down: none of the doctors, social workers, or institutions helped me to lose my lust for getting high. As soon as I had the opportunity I went back to my same old ways. I didn’t want to quit. I liked the things I was doing, even though deep inside I knew they were wrong.
I finally hit my low when I split from home and moved in with a dope dealer/addict. We lived in a rough section of town where I sold drugs for him and in return he let me crash in his apartment and kept me high. We were shooting pure Crystal Methedrine (when we could get it), or diet pills like Desoxyn, which were soaked in water to leech out the methamphetamine hydrochloride in the tablets (the liquid then being injected.) My life was literally one nonstop quest for booze, reefer, pills, meth or whatever I could find to get high.
I'm not going into detail about all the sexual immorality that went on along the way. Suffice it to say that I was fornicator and a sexual pervert. I relate these things with great shame. The life I was leading was a wicked and perverted path straight to hell and destruction. Right before God powerfully arrested my life, I received a copy of Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible and was starting to dabble in the occult. I thank God he saved me before I jumped off the cliff into full blown Satanism. But the life I was living already put me firmly in Satan’s camp, and firmly in his grasp...we were fast becoming great pals.
Things came to a screeching halt when I was robbed at gunpoint while selling Meth in a local pool hall. The hoodlums took the money and the drugs, but I thank God they didn’t take my life! Having a couple of pistols pointed at my face was a wake up call and I began to take a look at the life I was leading. Rick, the guy I was dealing for, didn’t believe my story and I found myself on the street. I didn't know it then but it was the Lord closing the doors and opportunities for sin to continue to in my life, and that he was preparing the way for my salvation. Like the prodigal son, I came to my senses and decided to go “home.” I called my Dad (my parents were living in Southern Indiana at the time) and he came and got me and took me home.
It was while living at home in New Albany, Indiana, that God intervened in my life, and did what none of the doctors, hospitals, jails or institutions had been able to do, even after years of trying; he delivered me and changed my heart in a moment of time.
Here is how the Lord changed my life: I was playing pinball in a local arcade when a nerdy looking guy in polyester pants and a button down shirt came over to me and started telling me about death, sin’s wages, and eternal damnation. He had my attention because I knew about all these things from going to church as a small child. [See, God started showing me little glimpses of the truth even when I was very young. A little seed had been planted. Here and there that little seed was watered along the way. Now, it was ripe for harvest! All that prior time, Satan had tried his very best to destroy me and ruin my life--he even tried to snuff me out when I came within about 3 feet of being run over with a freight train at the age of 8--but God was about to bring to nothing all his evil schemes!]
One thing I was absolutely sure of was that I was a BIG sinner and I was surely going to split hell wide open whenever I died. I thought there was no hope that I would ever change. There is no doubt in my mind now, that I was on the road to ruin and would have ended up in prison, dead from an overdose, dead by some illness due to my unhealthy lifestyle and drug abuse, shot to death, or stabbed to death and dumped in an alley somewhere.
So I knew I was condemned, but that's when the guy (his name was Johnny Lames: Johnny if you’re still out there, God bless your obedience and boldness brother!) told me that Jesus loved me and would forgive me of all my sins if I would turn to him and ask him to. I said, “You mean to tell me that God loves a person like me, and will forgive me for ALL my awful wickedness and sins”? He told me, “Yes, Jesus paid the price for every vile deed you have done when every drop of his precious blood was shed on the cross to redeem you from eternal death.” He said, “Just turn from sin to him and believe that he died and rose from the dead so that you could be delivered, cleansed, and freed from the power and penalty of sin! Receive him as the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of all creation, and the Lord and Master over your life. Confess that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and you will be born again”! We went outside to the side of the building and right there I prayed and asked God to forgive me of my sins.
That very moment, in an instance of time, God gave me a new heart! The old person I used to be was gone; I was a new “me”; a brand new person! All the old guilt for the mountain of sins I’d piled up had vanished in a split second like a puff of smoke in the wind! I felt clean for the first time in my entire life! My heart was flooded with joy, and real peace came over my mind. I'd never felt like this from any drug. Nobody had to tell me to love God and seek him. I felt an immense love for my savior, and wanted to please him and know more about Jesus. My conscience was so tender toward all sin...I knew God wanted me to break with every sin. I turned away from the wicked life I was leading and turned to God in repentance. I knew that God had set me free from sin’s power and would give me his power to live my life in a way that would please Him. I also knew that I was saved by grace and that I could never have been saved, nor would I ever be saved by my own good works. No, Jesus had borne my sins, and he had placed the robe of his righteousness on me to cover the filthy rags of my unworthy deeds. My sins were laid to his account and dealt with on the cross; his righteousness was set to my account and now the gates of heaven were flung wide open to me. I was reconciled to God by his Son! That much I had revealed to me right from the start.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it’s been a bed of roses. It hasn’t been easy by any means. Anyone that says or thinks the life of a disciple is a cakewalk is sorely mistaken and in for a rude awakening. Tribulations, afflictions, temptations and trials await the believer, along with the joy and peace and all the fruit of the Spirit of God!
Old habits don’t die easy. They kick and scream and struggle all the way to the altar. They beg and plead to live on in our lives until the very moment the sacrificial knife is plunged into their heart. I’ve had to learn many things the hard way. Some of my struggles were due to a lack of sound teaching, but most of them were due to trying to subdue my lusts and evil desires in my own strength, and because I hung on to some "pet" sins for a long time and didn't put them to death through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't have to take years for a person to learn to look to Jesus in faith for every aspect of the Christian life. We should teach new converts immediately that sanctification is as much a work of grace through the power of the Spirit working in us, as our salvation is by grace and the regenerating and renewing of the Spirit. If you are a new believer and are struggling with sin, read on and learn from my mistakes.
I want to hasten to add however, that while I’ve turned my back on the Lord at times in the past, he has never given up on me! He did not cast me off, but he certainly chastised me! I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit someone’s theology, and I’m not interested in arguing about it, either! But I’ve had to go through the “school of hard knocks” more than once. I shamefully admit that I have grievously backslid on more than one occasion and have wasted years of my life wallowing around in the pigsty of sin after having believed in, and after having received Christ by faith. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, read on because God has a cure for it.
Let me take a moment to speak to any backslider that may be reading this. God will forgive you! Although you may be under, and intensely "feel” a heavy weight of guilt and shame, and it seems that God is far away from you, and is finished with you, and has cast you off, probably forever; it is not so! No, the father of lies, who lured you from your steadfastness to start with, has now turned the tables on you and is seeking to keep you in sin, doubt, and unbelief! Here is a precious promise of God that you may by faith plead before the throne of grace: "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." (Jeremiah 3:22 NKJV) He is calling you to return to him and he will “heal” your backslidings!
Backslider, here is another precious promise to come back to God with: "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NKJV)
My backslidden friend, though you may have grievously departed from your first love, God is able to save, forgive, and to cleanse you from every, and all, sin. No matter how far you’ve wandered and strayed from the paths of righteousness, He will restore you if you come to Him with a broken heart and in faith! The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18 ESV) Do your first works over again! Remember God is just and the justifier of the ungodly...Jesus came to save sinners, such as you and I was. Turn back to Him and away from wickedness. God will forgive you, restore you, and strengthen you with might in your inner man to walk pleasing in his sight once again!
There is a verse in a song by Chuck Girard that says, “I was a sinner saved by grace, but I’m not a sinner any more. I chose to live in righteousness and not to practice sin no more. I did not say I would not fall, but when I do I’ll run to him. For he is faithful and He’s just to forgive, you know He died for all our sins.” Repent and turn in faith to Christ once again!
Listen, you may be a foolish prodigal son; you may have squandered your inheritance by sinning and presuming upon his grace until your heart has become as hard as a stone; but rest assured that if you'll turn back to the Lord, He will soften your heart! So don’t stay away from home and perish at the pig troth of the world and of sin...go back to the Father, and don't hesitate for one more second! I believe He is looking for your return right now, and that there will be joy in heaven when you repent and return to the Lord! You may have to reap the consequences of the evil you've done, but the Lord will restore you. Every wandering from God has consequences. So be warned that those evil pleasures you’re indulging in will come back to haunt you in the form of sinful thoughts, painful memories, and temptations to return to indulging your lusts. The things that you’ve put into your heart and mind will stay there to prick your conscience and trouble your thoughts even if you repent and return to the Lord. So come back now, and stop polluting your heart to your own detriment!
No, don’t harden your heart any further. Remember: A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy. (Pro 29:1 NIV) Now is the day of salvation and the accepted time for you to turn--you have no promise of tomorrow--so run to the mercy seat while God is near and calling for you to repent and return to Him.
OK, I couldn’t help but reach out to every backslider after realizing how regretful and sorrowful a state backsliding is, and how the pollutions of sin remain and trouble the soul even after they are repented of. Yes, we are cleansed of our sins, but we also reap what we sow. Don’t even consider the ways of sin, or look lightly on the consequences of sin. There are unforeseen and unconsidered consequences to the least of sins.
But getting back to what I was saying before: despite failings, I’ve learned through it all, that God is a merciful God; that He is a loving God; that He is forgiving God; and that He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!
I have also learned to hate sin above all things, and to flee to the Lord early for refuge against the deceitfulness of sin, and to flee to Him early for the strength to withstand temptation. He will make a way of escape so you can bear it and endure temptation. Don’t try to go toe-to-toe with Satan, sin, and lusts; flee from them and into the arms of Jesus where you’ll find the mighty power of God to be victorious over all your enemies, especially your own self!
Speaking of sin--sin is to God, “that abominable thing that I hate.” It is sin itself that is the most sinful thing! It is the evil of evils, and should be hated as the most loathsome thing--against God, man, and all good. Consider that it was one seemingly minor act of disobedience (the eating of a piece of fruit) that plunged all mankind into a morass of iniquity and a cesspool of sin. That is how evil the least sin is! All the wickedness of human history--all the war, poverty, inhumanity, murder, violence, perversion, and gross and immoral deeds--flow from that one polluted and poison source; from that one act of sin an entire race has been ruined!
Likewise, the punishment attached to sin also proves how great an evil it is. That God will damn the impenitent sinner to suffer his eternal wrath, vengeance, and everlasting fire against sin, and that the wicked must be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever, both testify to the enormous evil that sin is in and of itself.
Consider it was one sin that plunged this world into spiritual darkness and death, and consider that it only takes one sin to account you guilty before the judgment bar of God in the day of His righteous judgment, also consider that if one sin is found on your account that you must pay the penalty, which is eternal death! Oh, you foolish and dull to understand sinner, flee to Christ, cry out to God to "save me, oh Lord, lest I perish'!
One sin! Your own conscience should be screaming about the army of black marks put down against you in God’s book. You’ve drank in sin like water, and but one sin is all it takes to forever block your admittance into heaven, and to forever seal your fate of eternal separation from the joy of God’s presence, and to forever seal your fate of suffering and enduring the furnace of everlasting and unquenchable fire, the just desert meted out to every person who dies bearing their own sins. You better run to the mercy seat and get on your face before the Almighty and cry out for Him to save you from the wrath to come!
Actually, it could not be other than it is concerning sin and punishment because God is a holy God; one that is sinless, pure and incorruptible by his very nature. He is glorious in holiness! Since sin is the exact opposite of His nature, he is intensely opposed to it, even the least bit of it. God abhors, detests, loathes, and hates sin in all its hideous forms.
If men would meditate and consider the sinfulness of sin and the holiness of God, they would not look upon disobedience to God so lightly. And to the person who is born of God, sin should be as equally abhorrent to you as it is to God! Christian, if you do not have a holy hatred of all sin, you should turn to God's Word and closely consider what the testimony of the Holy Spirit is against sin! Oh, so many are being poisoned by the noxious miasma of false teaching and the commandments of men; so many are confidently presuming on the grace of God while they continue to practice sin. Look to the Word of Life and receive understanding. Let God be true and every man a liar! Whoever has an ear, let him hear!
But I’ve digressed into preaching here, so getting back to my testimony: since I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, I completed the Teen Challenge program in Philadelphia, PA. I went on to complete my GED and to receive a BS from Union College. I was also ordained into the ministry.
One day I had a dream in which I heard a voice say to me, “Every street is a mission field, and every street corner a pulpit...go into all the world and preach the gospel.” I immediately knew that God was pointing me in the direction street ministry. I know that many are called to minister to those who are already the saints of God, but I believe that He has sent me OUT into the harvest fields of the world to glean that which is still left to be gleaned and garnered into God's barns, often times from the dregs of fallen humanity!
Soon afterward I became involved in street evangelism, outdoor preaching, and ministering to the multitudes of lost souls perishing all around us. Over the years I’ve acquired a deep desire to minister to the outcasts of society, the homeless, etc.
I was very privileged to work with Denny Nissley and Christ in Action Ministries (CIA) for a while, helping to coordinate outreaches to large events like the Mardi Gras, the Indianapolis 500, Spring Break, sporting events, etc. While working with CIA in Georgia, I ministered weekly on the streets of Dalton to the many young people cruising the “strip” every weekend. My time with CIA was a great blessing and I learned a lot from Denny, who is, IMO, one of the Fathers of street ministry in our time. I cut my ministry teeth street preaching with Denny and the many people that were associated with his ministry at the time. I'll always be grateful for my time in service with Christ in Action, and for the influence and knowledge I gained through Denny’s example. I haven’t seen him in a long time, but let me tell you, he is one brother who is truly “as bold as a lion.” CIA is still taking the love of Christ "to where it's most desperately needed and hardest to find" through their large coordinating efforts in the area of disaster relief. May God richly reward them as they do good "unto the least of these."
Don was in Georgia back then and we were first involved in ministry together there. We preached and witnessed on the streets of Dalton together. That was about 18 years ago!
I came to Kentucky in the late 90’s and have been involved in street evangelism, preaching and ministry in numerous places in Southeastern KY. I have also been involved with a number of different churches and groups in KY. Although it is not my calling to be a pastor in a local church setting, in the past I have preached in a number of different churches of various denominations, but for years now, I have had a very strong leading toward street ministry as a primary focus.
After having lost contact with Don for a time, I learned that he was living near Cincinnati. We both felt it was more than a coincidence that we ended up in the “same neck of the woods.”
We started Rescue the Perishing for one reason: to proclaim Christ as Savior and Lord to a lost and dying world that will surely perish without Him! Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, how shall they hear without a preacher? We are compelled by the Holy Spirit to go and be that "preacher" preaching the gospel of the kingdom to every creature! That is what RTP is ALL about! Our message is simple, “Repent and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
Jim was born in Scranton, PA, in 1958. He is currently 51 years old. He and his devoted wife Karol have been married for 27 years, and have 5 children ranging in age from 9 to 20. Jim works full time in the Information Technology field for a major telecommunications corporation. He came to the Lord in the early 70’s at the end of what is now called “The Jesus Movement”. Jim is an ordained minister, but has never focused on ministry within the church. He has a BS from Union College. He has been active in ministry off and on for the last 25 years. Currently, when not being a husband, Dad, or computer "Guru," he devotes his remaining time to street evangelism, outdoor preaching, and ministry to the downtrodden and homeless (and anyone else who will listen to him.) He primarily finances these ministries out-of-pocket.
Jim Colwell - jim@rescue-the-perishing.com