I was very rebellious through my teenage years. I drank a lot of alcohol and smoked a lot of marijuana. I wasted most of what I made on this type of life style. On my 19th birthday my Grandpa died. That same night I got thrown in jail for DUI. About a year after this I moved away from my parents. One night one of my friends mentioned about one of us moving to Florida and shipping marijuana up to Michigan. That night I decided to sell everything and move to Florida where my oldest sister lived.

At the time I didn’t know it but that same sister was praying that I would get saved. I moved down to Florida in 1975. I stopped at my sisters home. That week they were having a revival at their church. She asked me to go with them. I refused to go. I felt like it was my parents making me go to church again. She said if I didn’t go, would I at least look at some pamphlets. I agreed to do this. They were like small comic books. I glanced at one, but that was as far as I went. That night my brother-in-law asked me what I believed about going to heaven. From what I was told, I believed that being baptized as a child would get me to heaven. He asked me if he could show me what the Bible says about how to get to heaven. I agreed to this. This was all new to me, because I don’t remember being shown very much from the Bible about anything. We were mainly taught from the catechism. He showed me John 3:16, about getting saved as being a gift from God. But we must act upon it. He illustrated it to me by saying what would I have to do to receive the Bible he had in his hands as a gift. I said take it. He said it is that easy to receive salvation from God as a gift. He already did ALL the work. I felt that it was too good to be true. So when they asked me to go to church with them the next night I accepted. I wanted to make sure I was going to do it right. It was so different, because they actually taught the Bible. That night I asked God to forgive me of my sins, and I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Not long after that I gave up all my bad habits and addictions.

You wouldn’t have recognized me if you saw me before and after. I had shoulder length hair, cussed a lot, and I didn’t care about anyone else. That night my future wife was scared to just shake my hand.

Less than 3yrs later God blessed me with my wife. He continues to bless us in everything. Sometimes things get difficult, but God has his reasons for this. We don’t see why then, but afterward it is very plain as to why. If I had it to do all over again I would have done it much sooner, if the chance would have arisen.

My statement to anyone who is considering getting saved is, DO IT NOW! Before it's to late. My friend that lived up in Michigan, died before I was able to tell him.

This is all you have to do.

1. Admit to God you are a sinner.
2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent).
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried and rose from the dead.
4. Through prayer, invite Jesus into your life to become your personal Savior.

What to pray.

Dear God, I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ shed His precious blood and died for my sins. I am willing to turn from sins. I now invite Christ to come into my life as my personal Savior.

After salvation the Christian walk.

1. Read Bible every day to get to know Jesus Christ better.
2. Talk with God in prayer every day.
3. Be baptized and gather together with other Christians to worship God and receive instruction, edification, and correction from Gods word the Bible.
4. Tell others about Jesus Christ.

Thank you for taking time to read about my experience.
James Bergman

This Page Updated on: 12 March 2006