Praise the Lord God. You know, a lot of you guys have seen me on television off and on. I go through the airports; I go different places; people run up to me and say 'Hi' to me. I went to a big gang-banger thing, oh goodness, two or three weeks ago. A great big convention, if you will, and there were 30,000 people there. Most of them were, quite frankly, gang-bangers here in Los Angelos. And we went through there with cameras. And it was surprisin' how many people came up and hugged us, hugged me; and said, 'You know, we've seen you on television.' And you know, that's one of the wonderful things about Christian television. And I want you to understand that we need to support Christian television. I do want to hear from you as well. And I want you to write letters and let us know what's goin' on with you. And we want you to let us know how we can pray for you. We do pray for you. And I do appreciate your prayers for me as well.

The Word of God says, They overcome the enemy by blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony. We overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony. Now, I believe, not only when you share testimony are you touchin' some else's life; but, you're actually allowin' God to continue to touch your life. Because you are reaffirmin' your faith. And some people say, 'What is your testimony?' I believe in Jesus. That's a testimony right there. That's in synopsis form, I mean, that's pretty right down to it. :) But that is a testimony, when you say, 'I believe in Jesus.' So not only are you doin' somethin' to reach someone else; but, I believe, you're tellin' the entire universe, if you will. You're sayin'. 'I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I will not bow my knee to any foreign god. I will not embrace a god that I have not known. Or that I was not raised with. O this, or that, or the other thing. Or a false god. I will embrace the God who created the heavens and the earth.' And it is incontravertible truth, it is absolute truth. God created the heavens and the earth. Not Buddha, not Allah, not Mohammed. God! The God who created the heavens and the earth. He sent His only Son, His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die in propitiation, in place, for our sins. And through my Lord and Savior Jesus, I've been redeemed and I've been set free. And the Word of God says in Psalm 107, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

Man, I'm tellin' ya. I gave them some photographs [I love this new openin' we did], Brian helped me with the music and did all this. And then Dan and the guys here, Jack, and the guys here at TBN, put together a new openin' [for Standin' On The Rock]. But, I'm gonna tell you the truth. I gave them photographs of me from before I knew Jesus. And those photographs have never been shown on Christian television because they say they're too rough. Because you could see the whites of my eyes; I weighed 128 lbs. from drugs and all the crazy stuff; and I was so full of the devil. Now, I just didn't go out and go, 'Hey, Devil, come on. Take me over. I want to get paranoid; I want to lose my mind; I want to get hooked on dope; I want to have nothin' but friends who are users and abusers and crazies.' You know? Even though I love those guys. I still do love 'em. But, now we're seein' a lot of them come out of darkness. But you see, it was an insidious sort of assault, if you will, that came against me. I was broken as a kid. I was broken and I was hurt. I came from a bad background. I had a very difficult time in my life as a young man. And because of that, I began doin' rock'n'roll; I began smokin' dope; I began doin' things that were ungodly. I wound up gettin' arrested as a teenager. And put in jail. And all kinds of problems that had happened in my life. And goin' out rockin' and rollin'.

Now, again, for you to say, your testimony. You can say, 'I believe in Jesus.' Or, You can be more verbose, or more whatever. You can talk and you can say, 'This is what happened in my life.' But, I'm gonna tell you one thing that the devil can never take from you. First of all, he can't take your salvation. The devil can't take Nothin' from you, when you get right down to it. Because, I am washed in the blood of Jesus. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. My loved ones belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I have, belongs to God. God has given freely and I give back to the Lord.

But I want to tell you somethin'. I've had some times when I've had some very difficult circumstances, since I've been saved. I've had people challenge me. Some of the most hard core witnessin' you can do is in the prisons. And I go into these prisons. I've had guys come up and get right in my face, before I'm gettin' ready to speak. One time, in particular, I went in and saw Charles Manson. He asked me to come and see him. So, I went and I saw him. I thought, Well, Lord, if Manson wrote to me, I'll go and I'll see him. It turned out that he said he was a fan of mine, and the music before I was saved. What a rave that is for the old stuff. But, in any event, I got in there. And sometimes you'll run into people that will know Scripture. They can twist Scripture. The devil knows Scripture. He can twist Scripture. But, I'll tell you one thing that nobody can ever come against, is when you look them straight in the face. And you say to them, like in my case, I look at them. And I say, 'OK. I was a rich young 'rock'n'roll' lord, whatever you want to call it, guy livin' out in a mansion - Belle Terre - New York, six acreas on the ocean there, big stone mansion. You know, up and out ain't too cool either. You think it's so cool to get and to have. Well, I had, I've had plenty. Been on the cover of Time, done all these kind of things. But, I want to tell you somethin' man. I was bound up; I was hooked on pills; I was full of hate; I was full of death; I was full of murderous spirits, and a violent nature, and a violent spirit. And I was paranoid to the point of where I had to take pills or get drunk every day. Not to get high, man. Not even to get straight. But just to try to chill and remain cool, to where I felt that I could function. Because I got to where I couldn't function anywhere but on stage. And that was demonic in itself. I felt like real life was unreal. But bein' on stage is where I felt the most comfortable. So, I wound up bein' so bound up that I felt, man, there was no way out.

And then one day. Have you had a 'one day'? Maybe today's your one day. Maybe this is your moment. Maybe you've had a 'one day' awhile back, and you just kinda kept goin' down that road to perdition, that road of sin, or whatever. And maybe you realized that the Lord did grab a hold of your life. And you're runnin' a muck, and you need to get your act together.

And then one day. I was in my mansion in New York. I had grown up in Ohio, just a kid out there rockin'. And then wound up in this mansion in New York, with the Beatles' manager and all this other stuff goin' on in my life. And I thought, Wow, got the platinum album, got the this, got the that. And God sent carpenters into my home. I think it's amazing that Jesus, the carpenter's son if you will, Son of the Living God actually, but grew up in a carpenter's home, sent carpenters into my home. And they looked at me. This guy, Nick Desipio, ex-mafia guy came from Italy. Talka lika dis. I came walkin' down. And he said, 'You bigga rocka star. You thinka you big rock star, huh?' I'm lookin' at him, man, I'm thinkin', 'Psst, Who are you? You're workin' for me, dude. You know, maybe, I'm, you know, a kid here. Long haired. But, moi, this is mine, man. The house is mine. Everything's mine.' He said, 'You bigga rocka star. I hear you even sing and done the big production of Jesusa Chrisa Superstar. Now, are you ready to met the real Jesusa Chrisa?' I said, 'You momma [with accompaining hand jester] gonna met Jesus Christ.' And I got heavy with him. Three hours later, I found myself back down those steps. And I said, 'If you want to pray, pray.' They prayed for me. Jesus set me free. I gave my heart to the Lord. And I have never regretted that one day since. I will never look back, other than to share with you; or, possibly, to remember where I've come from. But, I'm not lookin' back like where I came from to see where I'm goin'. I know where I'm goin'. I'm goin' on with the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. The Word of God says, For God so loved the world [you're part of the world, aren't you?] For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him [whosoever, you're whosoever] whosoever believeth in Him, [Do you believe in the Lord?] should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Word of God says, All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Have you called on the Lord Jesus? Call on Him right now and he'll set you free.

My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Studio, Standin' On The Rock, July 1997