I grew up on the streets of New Jersey with a chip on my shoulder. I didn’t have much of a home life, even as a 3rd and 4th grader, so I was left to run the streets. Things didn’t get better as I got older – they got worse, and by the time I was 12, I refused to believe in God anymore. My atheism became the passion and religion of my life. By the time I was in college, I was so desperately lost that I quit a full scholarship at Boston University to go find the truth … whatever that might be and wherever I might find it.

It was at that time that I received a supernatural revelation while I was sitting on the banks of the Charles River in Boston. I had not believed in God since I was 12 years old, so it took a 2nd revelation two weeks later to convince me that I wasn’t going crazy. God was really there! No, He wasn’t just really there – He was really, really, really there! You cannot imagine the explosion in my soul that enveloped me. But which God? Where do I find Him again? Is there a group of us? Do we meet somewhere?

I had no idea where to go and find God, but one thing I was sure of … it couldn’t be Jesus Christ. It had to be somebody else. Jesus was the very last one that I wanted to believe in. But then, a few weeks later, I opened an old King James Bible and started to read. As I read, the pages came to life (I now understand what they mean by “Living Bible”). After I don’t know how long, I closed the pages and knew that it was the Truth – Noah and the Ark, Adam and Eve, and yes, even Jesus Christ. At that point I quit everything, put a pack over my shoulder and stuck my thumb out to go find Jesus.

It was 1969, and there was a lot of crazy stuff out there, but somehow, the Lord steered me around things that were not of Him, and finally brought me to Hollywood CA where I was confronted by a hippie with long hair, patched jeans, and a ragged t-shirt who told me that if I didn’t repent, I would burn in Hell. Excuse me? God had talked to me! What was this repentance stuff? But for an hour, this hippie delivered the Word of God in the Spirit and cut through my heart until I knew that I had to come to church and get right with God.

What an experience that was! No one had told me that you could actually feel the Spirit of God enter into your body, or that you could physically feel the Blood of Jesus wash away that burden of sin that oppressed me all my life. That night set my course for the rest of my life. It didn’t matter what I had to do or for how long – I was set to serve the Lord and do whatever He asked of me. Keep the blessings for someone else – I wanted to carry the burden of the Blood Stained Banner and was willing to give my life to what I now realized was the greatest cause on the face of the Earth.

That was 40 years ago. I have kept my promise that I made to Him that evening, and He has kept His promises to me. He has taken me around the world in radio, in print, and in person. His Spirit has flowed through me in marvelous ways, and I have seen the miracle of deliverance and salvation that He has done to those who are hungry enough to reach up and grab hold of His Grace.

But I feel like I have just begun. He has shown me what is coming, both good and bad, and the enormity of the stark reality of Eternity is right around the corner. There is so many to reach, so many churches to be ignited, so many lost to be rescued. The battle lines are being formed for a great spiritual war as we approach the end, and God is raising up a new generation of warriors to stand in the gap and hold up the torch of the Light of Jesus Christ to an increasingly dark world.

As for me, I plan on being right up there on the front lines, holding out to this generation a Gospel, not of word or doctrine or philosophy, but a Gospel of power that can save their souls.