FROM NARCOTICS TO THE NAZARENE "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."                                              Romans 6:18 MY TESTIMONY I. A PROSPEROUS BOY.    My life started in 1928, one cold day on December 28.   That was a year of prosperity in America just before the '29 crash.   I grew up in a poor family finan- cially, but a family of high morals.   There was never any drinking, dancing, joke telling, or anything unclean.    My daddy was a hard worker who had some small produce trucks.   Every summer I was on one of them learning how to sell produce, while making money at the same time.   As a boy, I was like all other boys who liked to play in the woods and ride horses.   The desire to work and make money always had me.    When I was eleven years old, I had a horse and wagon and was peddling from house to house here in Houston.   I saved every dime, and when I was seventeen I left home with a good truck that was paid for.   Two years had come and gone when I got my sec- ond truck.   Then my trouble started. II. A PRISONER OF THE DEVIL.    Since the age of seventeen, I had smoked mari- juana, but not to excess.   At eighteen I took a few shots of dope, but this didn't satisfy me.   I wanted some trucks, a pocket full of money, and a gang of hoodlum friends.   Never did I want to be chained to some habit.

At the age of twenty heroin took her awful hold, and all I could do was not enough to shake it.   I quit, left town, prayed, and asked preachers to pray for me, but I was chained by the devil.    The years from twenty to twenty-five were the most horrible years of existence I had ever known or read about.   My family was gone, the trucks were gone, and friends were gone.   What was once a good kid, was now a hopeless drug addict.    After being in jail for vagrancy, theft, felony theft, burglary, and possession of heroin, I decided to take "a cure."   After spending some forty days in a hospital and $1,000.00 in cash, two days after I was out, I had a needle in my arm.   There was no cure.   The federal man said, "Lady, forget this boy.   There is no hope for him.   Once a drug addict, always a drug addict. He is chained." III. A PROBLEM TO EVERYONE.    One day my daughter came into the house and told my mother that the little girl next door could not play with her anymore, because her daddy was a dope fiend.   Yes, no man lives to himself or dies to himself.    The city I lived in never wanted me.   Many times some policeman would say, "Jack, go somewhere else."   I was in trouble, in jail, robbing, stealing, and writing hot checks.   Jack was a real problem to everyone.    I decided that maybe the U.S. Army could help me. After eleven months and twenty-seven days, with on- ly eighty-three good days spent in service, a captain said that he wished he could help me, but that I had gone too far.   I was discharged with an undesirable discharge.   Written across the bottom of the discharge were the words: "Reason for discharge --Narcotic."   The army took me in handcuffs to a J.C.

Penney store and there bought me a suit of clothes, gave me a train ticket, and sent me back to Texas. IV. PARDONED BY JESUS CHRIST.    When I was in jail and the army stockade, I would read the Bible.   Many times I went to a chaplain or preacher for help.   I went to a Catholic church and joined a Baptist church.   I tried everything I knew.   I prayed every day for God to help me loose from this habit.    When we had moved from Texas to California, my mother wrote a letter to me telling of a friend who had been saved and was now pastor of the First Baptist Church of Cypress, California.   Out of curiosity I went to this church.   This pastor told me what God had done for him.   I went regularly for a month to see if God could do the same for me.    One night, October 12, 1953, I went down to the altar and on my knees I asked Christ to save me from drugs, death, and Hell.   I was not made perfect that day, but that day my load of sin was lifted, and a desire was put in my heart to live for Jesus. V. A PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL.    I had only been saved about three weeks, when I knew that God wanted me to preach.   I walked down the same aisle where I was saved and surrendered my life to Jesus for service.   For twenty-two years I've tried to preach and live for Him.   It has not been a bed of roses, nor has it been glamorous.   The rocks in our way have been many but God has brought us on.    We started a church and a Christian school in Houston, Texas, in 1957.   Many were saved, and many lives changed.   God also blessed us and let us preach seven days a week on a 50,000 watt radio sta- tion.   We praise God for letting us go from California to Carolina telling what Christ had done for us.   Now

after 22 years, we are still going on with Jesus.   In closing, I would like to call your attention to Mark 5:1-20.    1. A man insane. Verse 2.    2. This man lived in a graveyard and was        untamable. Verses 3 and 4.    3. He tried to take his own life. Verse 5.    4. When he saw Jesus he ran to him.        Verse 6.    5. Jesus loosed him from his sin. Verse 8.    6. He put on his clothes and was in his right        mind. Verse 15.    7. He began to tell what happened to him.        Verse 20.    This same thing can happen to you if you are will- ing to let Jesus Christ take over your life, which you have wrecked.    "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" John 1:12.    "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."   II Corinthians 5:17. JACK WOOD Please send this tract to us to let us know that after reading it, you have decided to trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Name ______________________ Address ____________________ City _____________ Zip _____ State ________________ Age __ FELLOWSHIP TRACT LEAGUE P.O. BOX 164   LEBANON, OH 45036   U.S.A. ALL TRACTS FREE AS THE LORD PROVIDES. Tract No. 125

[ Christian Helps Ministry (USA) ] [ Christian Home Bible Course ]