< Back to Stories

Mike

From: Auckland, New Zealand

“…for me, the greatest change was (and still is) what happened in my mind. I went from never thinking about God to being mesmerized by the fact that there is a God—and not only that God exists, but that there is a God who cares for us…”

Mike’s Bible prophecy website: www.thesefactschangeeverything.com

I was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to kiwi (nickname for a New Zealander) parents who I lived with until I was six years old, which was when my ‘parents’ became ‘parent’ because my dad decided to leave home and not come back. From then on I was raised by my mum.

As I recall, Mum was a bit of a party girl and enjoyed it, but she did stick with us and for that I am thankful. Mum was not in any way a person who talked about anything to do with God. I don't remember even one word about God or Jesus in the first 19 years of my life. Thus, I never thought about there being any alternative to following your dreams and having fun in life. As they say, the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.

By the time I was 19 years young, I had expanded my horizons somewhat, but not as wisely as I could—and most probably should— have. I left home at 16 and went on a surfing holiday, which I enjoyed so much that I never made it back home. I ended up staying at my favorite beach ever, beautiful Whangamata, which all these years later I still love.

I make mention of this because it was during my days at Whangamata that the direction of my life changed substantially. I went there as a naive teenager, excited to be able to surf, and I left three years later with a conviction for growing marijuana (60 plants), a major liking for LSD, and a ‘nothing beats a party’ mentality.

In my innocent quest for what I guess was contentment, I managed to get myself tangled up in things that I sort of enjoyed, but just knew were not helping me. But, like many people, I had my friends and I didn’t want them to think less of me, so I just kept doing what I was doing. Nobody, that I recall, ever mentioned anything (that registered) about God. As a result, I tended to think ‘God people’ of all religions were weak, shallow people who needed a religion-crutch to lean on. Most seemed nerdy and the polar opposite of what I wanted for my life, whatever it was.

But, as I mentioned, I did want contentment. The drama for me was that the more I sought it with all the variables of everyday life, the more evasive it seemed to become, and although I never mentioned it to anyone (in case they thought I was a twerp), it did bother me. Despite all the things I pursued, it always seemed like I was the proverbial square peg in a round hole. By the time I was 19 and a half years old I had become much less social, was stoned virtually every day, and was selling large quantities of drugs. I took LSD often and as a result found myself drifting away from my one true love, which was surfing. What I needed was somebody to come up to me and tell me to get real (which I thought I was) and tell me straight what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 5:10: “He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance (or whatever you love) with increase.” But no-one did—not one person, so I assumed that’s what you do: sort out what tickles your fancy and then bleed it for all its worth, which I did.

That was until a good friend of mine (the NZ surfing champion at the time) contacted me while I was in Australia on a surfing, have as much fun as possible, holiday. I received a letter from him and he told me he had given up dope and now believed in God. My initial reaction was what you would expect of a person with my mindset—something like, "What is he thinking? To give up dope and all that goes with it is one thing, but to become a Bible-believer? You have got to be joking!" I was 99% horrified and 1% intrigued, or bothered, or something like that. But I was bothered enough to leave Oz and head back to NZ, if for no other reason than to help my friend to see how stupid he was being. And here’s the thing... When I saw my friend, he was normal—shock-horror! My initial fears that he had turned instant nerd were not realized, and even more aggravating was the fact that he actually made sense when explaining what he'd done in regards to Bible standard (which I can honestly say I knew absolutely zilch about).

That week, I did some soul-searching and I did have to admit (only to myself, mind you) that in my humble quest for utopia, I was only getting closer to the dreaded aipotu (utopia spelled backwards!), and I sort of concluded that even though it irked me (most likely because I thought it manifested a type of character weakness), I should at least consider what my friend was speaking about. It was around this time during a particular conversation with him that he showed me scriptures from the Bible that spoke of the soon, second coming of Jesus Christ, which again I can say I knew absolutely nothing about—scriptures written over 1900 years ago that described our world today with uncanny accuracy, and I was intrigued (and I mean seriously intrigued). How could this be, and how come so accurate—and, more to the point, how come nobody ever mentioned these things to me in the years I thought mainly about myself?

To cut a long story shorter, I did go to a fellowship meeting and what impressed me more than anything was that the people seemed (and were) quite normal. At that meeting, I saw two girls get baptized (by full immersion in water), and for reasons I know not why, I thought I should do that—or more to the point, I had nothing to lose if I did. So I did, that very day, and as stupid as it sounds, it was the best thing I have ever done. Three days later, while at home by myself, I prayed to God and asked something along the lines of, “If you are there, could you please give me the Holy Spirit” (which my friend told me he had received). Virtually instantly, I had the same tangible experience as recorded in the Bible (specifically, the Book of Acts in chapters 2, 10 and 19), and as cliché and corny as it sounds, it literally has changed my life.

From that day, without even consciously trying to do so, I gave up several things that had become quite dominating parts of my being. For example, I instantly gave up smoking cigarettes (from 30 a day to zero). I gave up dope (no drugs now for over 35 years and continuing). I completely gave up alcohol, which even at my young age was becoming an increasing habit. And, I gave up the habit of swearing—and I had it bad, as in not many sentences were f-word free. I also eased off on being self-centred, which for me at least was a good thing.

But for me, the greatest change was (and still is) what happened in my mind. I went from never thinking about God to being quite mesmerized by the fact that there is a God—and not only that God exists, but that there is a God who cares for us; who wants to, and does, bless the lives of those who allow Him to; and, who is coming back to our beautiful planet that we (mankind) seem to be bent on ruining.