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"Charles' Christian Testimony"

When I was a young child, I died of an asthma attack. I remember this very bright lady. It was as if she had a light bulb on the inside of her that was shining very bright. She told me my time is not yet, for the Lord has something for me to do. Rest now.

Later, when I was still a young child, I remember playing in my uncle's yard. I was playing near some big boulder rocks when I stooped down and heard the sound of rattling. I looked to the side, and it was a rattlesnake all curled up. When I jumped up, it was as if the rattlesnake was about to bite me.

Still, there was something between me and that rattlesnake rather than someone. As I ran yelling snake snake snake, my uncle came out of his house and said Boy, what are you out here yelling for So I told him snake. He saw the snake crawling towards me and said, 'Stand still.'

So he went into the house and got his rifle, and as the snake was approaching me, the snake never curled up to bite me again, but my uncle shot him in the head twice. A little while after that, we left North Carolina and moved to New Haven, Connecticut.

When I became an adult, I started using drugs. First, I started sniffing cocaine, and once I couldn't sniff that anymore because of my tonsils. I would have choked on it, so I stopped getting high for a while.

I wanted to get high again, so I started smoking crack cocaine. To make a long story short, I was out on a Thursday night getting high and drinking, and went to work that Friday.

Going to Church

My uncle said, 'Ray, this is the last night of revival; you should come to church tonight.' I said, 'Okay,' and he said, 'For real,' and I said, 'Yes, for real.'

When I got off work and went home, my wife said, 'You, I, and the kids are going out to dinner tonight.' I said, 'No, we're not. We're going to church.' She said, For real? Kids, hurry up and get dressed. So we went to church that night.

The choir sang, and the preacher preached, and I had strange, inexplicable feelings on the inside. So they had an altar call for prayer, and I felt a strange sensation inside me. However, I was resisting, so I went back to my seat and continued resisting as I exited the church door.

On our way home, as we hadn't eaten yet, we stopped and picked up some Chinese food for dinner. Then we went to bed.

That night, I had a dream that Jesus Christ came to me and said, I want you to resist the devil. I was high and said yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, whatever, and as I walked away from him, he yelled out, No, I  want you to resist and rebuke the devil! I said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.'

I went out and sat up against a concrete wall, and Jesus started floating towards me with his arms reaching out to touch me. I was saying, " Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me, but when He touched me, all of these evil spirits came out of me. I mean, there were so many of them that just flew out of me.

A Temporarily Changed Man

I woke up that next morning, a changed man. I had no desire for crack cocaine, and my wife and I joined the church. But three and a half years later, I wanted to get high again. So one night I went out and got some crack cocaine, went to the store, got a stem, a lighter, and a chowboard, and went to park on a side street.

It was as if someone on my left side was saying, 'Do it,' and someone on my right side was saying, 'Don't do it.' I said, 'Well, the Word of God says to give  thanks for all things, and I gave him thanks, and then I started getting high.'

Boy, was that a big mistake I made. I got high for 12 and a half years trying to get off of crack cocaine. After that 12 and 1/2 years, my girl and I were sitting around smoking crack cocaine all night. I got a little angry with her.

I went into my bedroom, lay across the bed with my feet hanging to the floor, and I cried out to God I can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. I know you have something better for me. So, I fell asleep, and when I woke up, my girl was still getting high, and she asked if I wanted a hit, and I said no. So I went back, lay down, and went back to sleep.

When I woke up that morning, my girl had stepped out, but she left me some crack cocaine and a pipe on the table. I looked at it, went to the bathroom, came back, and looked at it again. I said no, and then went back to bed. I have been clean ever since, and that's been over 20 years - praise God, Glory hallelujah! I'm now in a wheelchair.

My Dream

One night, I had a dream that I was behind a thick glass wall with a bunch of smoke, and as I was standing there, the devil came to me and presented me with some drugs. He said Take this drug I said no. Again, he said, Take this drug, and I said, I never want drugs in my life again, so we went back and forth.

Next, I was sitting in a chair and he was standing in front of me with the drugs and a knife, and he said, Take this drug, and I told him I would rather die first; then he was standing behind me now with the knife to my throat. He said, Take this drug and I said I told you I would rather die first.

So he cut my throat, and now my spirit was out of the body. I looked back and saw this body slumped over, and I asked myself, Who is that? It can't be me, I'm standing here. Is that the enemy or the Holy Spirit?

So I turned around and a man with a long black hooded robe said to me, take my hand, but as I went to take his hand, a voice called out, "Charles, do not take his hand," so I snatched my hand back and started walking away from him, but he said, I'll be back for you later. I was confused and didn't know if I had walked away from my Lord and savior or the enemy.

I woke up early that morning and thought to myself, 'Let me get up and get this over with,' rather than just getting in the shower. I got in the shower and was washing with my foot up on the edge of the tub; then it was as if something picked me up and turned me around 45°, facing the corner.

There was a shelf hanging on the wall, and as I started to fall, I tried to move my arms to catch myself, but I couldn't. I remember thinking Oh my God, I'm about to break my neck and as I was falling, I saw that my chin was going to hit the shelf, and I heard the sound of crack, crack, crack.

I had broken three bones in my neck and was now lying in the tub, one leg over the tub, the other on the faucet. I have no idea how my foot got over the faucet. All my weight was bearing down on my neck, and I tried to yell out, 'Penelope help,' but it was in a very low voice.  

I had lost my ability to yell out loud, but my brother-in-law, who is mentally challenged, heard me, and he started making noise because he's not able to speak.
So, my wife came running to see if something was wrong with him, but he was pointing to the bathroom.

Then, she heard me yell for help, so she came into the bathroom and saw my situation. I said Help me, don't let me die in this tub, don't let me die in this tub. She tried to get me out, but couldn't. I said Get some help, so she ran next door to get some help. That guy came over and said, 'Call 911.

The fire department came out first, and as the fireman got in the tub to take the pressure off my neck, I felt my spirit leaving my body; the fireman said, " Stay with me, stay with me, buddy and I came back into my body; this happened three or four times, then the ambulance got there.

They got me out of the tub. They worked on me in the bathroom and resuscitated me, and were taking me to the ambulance when I died. I remember coming too, and the person with me was yelling, 'Speed up, speed up! He's back, he's back, he's back!'

When I got to the emergency room, I wasn't feeling any pain but was praising the Lord and asking every doctor that came near me, Do you know Jesus as your Lord and savior, and all but one said yes.

However, there was one doctor who didn't answer me, and I kept asking until he finally said, Yes. The doctor said that I should be in a lot of pain, but I wasn't, praise God, Glory hallelujah. (I also give a big shout-out to the New Haven fire department for help saving my life, and also the EMTs.)

Charles: United States

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