I know a lot of people have had a rough life. I know also that even more have had a rougher life than mine. The message of this testimony is for those who have had a pretty easy life. Those who wouldn't know what a rough life is, except for what they have seen on television or in a movie.

I pray that my testimony will help someone.

The story which you are about to read is true and documented.

First, I want to prepare you. Remember, this is for those who have led a sheltered life and don't know what goes on in most lives. Life has not been good to all of us.

At the age of eleven I was placed in a private school operated by the sisters of Saint Joseph. I was sent there because my parents couldn't handle me. I wouldn't go to school, and I would stay out all night most of the time. The reason, for this was, I didn't feel any love at. home. Although I know today that my mother loved me then as she does now.

I spent three long years of my life at the private school and hated every minute I was there, I learned to hate it so much that no could tell me to do anything, I had no respect for authority. (However, most of what they tried to teach me rubbed off on. me, and in a way I am glad it did.)

After going back home, I got into trouble, I stole about $300 that my mother was holding for the church. She was the church treasurer. I was caught an hour or so later. The reason I was caught was, I stole from God my Father. I didn't have the sense to realize it for quite some time.

Then I was placed in a reform school, Oakdale Boys' industrial School, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first day I was there some of the other boys got me down on the ground and put cigarettes out on my arm. I still have the scars from that today.

I was at Oakdale for about six months and tried to escape at least twenty times that I can remember. Finally I was sent to George Junior Republic at Grove City, Pennsylvania. I was there about a year and tried to escape three times that I know of. The last time I stayed out, because the judge said I didn't have to go back.

I had been out almost a year when I got involved in stealing cars and transporting them across state lines. In the meantime I joined the Army. But the Army soon discharged me for being unfit for military service.

After being released by the Army I went back to stealing cars. I drove a car until I felt like it was getting too hot, then I ditched it and stole another.

Later I was arrested in Seward, Nebraska, driving a stolen 1969 Dodge Charger. I had been stopped for speeding. The judge sentenced me to 30 days in jail for giving false information to a law enforcement officer.

After serving my time in Seward, I went to Davenport, Nebraska, and took a job with a paving construction company, I collected my pay after a week's work and started, hitchhiking.

A trucker heading for Salt Lake City, Utah, gave me a ride. I rode with him to pick up his load and stayed to help him unload. Then I went home with him to help out on his ranch near New Braunfels, Texas. I stayed there about three days then stole his car and drove it to Pennsylvania. When I got there I turned around and drove to California. About a hundred miles out of Bakers-field I stopped to rest. While I was resting the state police stopped to see if I was all right. They arrested me on the spot and put me in jail in Los Angeles. The judge gave me a four-to-six-year suspended sentence and I was placed on four years probation.

I went back to Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania, and lived about a month. I couldn't find a job anywhere. Finally I took a service station job near the house where I was staying. The first day on the job I stole a car and went to Charlotte, North Carolina, with it.

In Charlotte I was stopped for speeding again and was arrested and put in jail. This time I was sentenced to two years running concurrent with the probation that I had.

In April of 1975 I was sent back to California for a revocation hearing for probation violation. At the hearing the judge sentenced me to serve the four-to-six-years. Then they sent me back to Milan, Michigan, where I was doing the two-year sentence.

When I first went down (to prison), in 1973, I got interested in Christianity, But I backslid so far that I got involved in Satanism. I was so deeply involved that ail my spare time went to reading anything and everything that I could find on the subject. I was considered Satan's high priest of a dormitory of about 150 men.

While holding black mass one night something happened that scared me so bad that I could hardly talk for about six hours or so. I still get the shakes when I think about it.

I had a vision of me standing before God at His Judgment Seat in heaven. God didn't say a word to me. He just pointed to a door. I walked through the door that led to the eternal flames of hell. I hope no one believes there is no hell, because there is. I've seen it, I've felt it and I thank God that I will never have to go there again.

That was when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I praise God that I was able to be saved from the fiery pits of hell through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

This is what happens when a man goes to prison. Prison is no game! The people who are confined in prison play for keeps. They are the type of people who think that if they have a problem with someone else, they are justified in eliminating the problem permanently. Everyone goes back to his animal instinct to survive. I'm going to be perfectly honest with you and not hold anything back that I feel would be of benefit to you. I want you to be able to understand the different circumstances that occur in prisons all over the world.

Maybe through this article just one teenager or someone else can be saved by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then maybe they will never have to go through what I, and many others, have gone through. If this happens, then everything that I have gone through and every day that I have been in prison will be worth it.

A convict's reputation is very important, to him while he's behind bars. After all, his reputation is all he has.

During a period of about foul years before I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I built a reputation for myself that has been hard for me to get rid of now that I have given my life to Jesus. After dedicating my life to Jesus about a year and a half ago, the prison guards still held my past against me. It is very hard for me at times not living up to the reputation that I had. They keep wanting to shove it down my throat. I really get frustrated at times. But with the help of Jesus Christ I will some day be able to overcome this time of trial that I am through. I will stand my ground for Jesus Christ and will not falter.

My past life earned me the name "Hillbilly," because I headed a clique, in prison there are groups of convicts who swear to stick together through every kind of circumstance, even killing, for the protection of each other. My clique was the "K's" (short for Ku Klux Klan). I had gone so far as to start racial riots, sit downs, work stoppages, and just about anything else that I could think of to defy authority. Ever since I can remember I've never liked authority or anyone that represented it. I never liked doing anything that necessitated someone standing over me telling me what to do. But now, thanks to Jesus Christ, I can take orders without one word of complaint.

I've been in several Federal Prisons, from Milan, Michigan, Petersburg, Virginia, Lompoc, California; Tallahassec, Florida and finally Memphis, Tennessee, where I am presently incarcerated.

These do not include the ones I have been in on the way to the other ones as a holdover These are Leavenworth, Kansas; Atlanta, Georgia; El Reno, Oklahoma; Texarkana, Texas; La Tuna, Texas; Terre Haute, Indiana and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The reason for my moving around so much is because the guards could never control me, although I will give them credit where credit is due for trying. They tried hard to break me, but they would finally give up and transfer me to another prison so they wouldn't have to put up with me any more, or have to worry about me.

I've fought, I've hurt people, and I've been. hurt. My nose has been broken so many times in fist fights' that I stopped counting. During all this time, my greatest fear was the night time, as no one ever knows when they might be killed. I've never been stabbed but I was "piped" once (hit on the head with a metal bar).

People who have never been exposed to this kind of life tell themselves, "Well, this doesn't go on in our free country."

Well, brothers and sisters, you're wrong. It does happen and will keep on happening as long as all of us let it happen. This will go on either, until we the people stop it, or until Jesus Christ comes again, which I don't think will be very long from now.

If I were to sit down and tell you about prison it would take me a lifetime, and then it would be only about the things that I have seen or experienced. For someone else to go to prison is a different thing than what it was for me when I came in. Every one does their own thing and everything is different because every one is different. If you were to go to prison you would have a complete different interpretation of prison than the one I would try to explain to you. It is different for all who come here and believe me, it is no joke.

I could never readily admit this before to anyone, but God has given me the strength to tell you. Since my incarceration, October 11, 1973, I have had about six "kids" (prison slang for homosexual). In Tallahassee I stabbed an inmate for trying to take my kid. There is a difference between an inmate and a convict. An inmate will do anything that he is told by the guards, with no complaint or rebellion. A convict would rather go to the "hole" (maximum security). An inmate is considered a low life, scum-of-the-earth type individual in a convict's eyes. I used to be a convict, now I'm considered an inmate because I accepted. Jesus as my Savior. That used to be hard for me to accept because of my pride. It also means that my time is a lot harder to do as far as being in prison. But, to most I am still considered a convict, as they have known me for some time and they know what I am about. They can't understand it but they accept it. I have led three convicts to Jesus Christ. Actually, they brought themselves with the help of the. Holy Spirit.

I stabbed the inmate in Tallahassee because he thought he could take what was mine and get away with it without me giving any repercussions. Therefore, to protect my reputation and keep the respect of the other convicts. I stabbed the man. If someone tries to disrespect you in any way, you do your best to do away with that person. That way, you have no problems. Today I ask God to keep that person I stabbed safe and free from all harm. I am truly sorry that it ever happened, I know that it didn't have to be, but I was not a Christian then and I felt it had to be done at the time. Satan has a way of leading people astray and people have a way of following his leading.

To give you a little more insight on what takes place in prison, I will tell you a little about what a young person can expect if he ever goes to prison. These are just some of the things that I have seen or experienced myself. These things happen everyday.

I feel compelled to dwell on what happens to young men who come to prison as I went through it myself. I might have handled it a little different than most would have, but I did what I thought was right.

Before I start I just want to thank God for the time that I have done in reform school as it taught me what I should do if ever backed into a comer not knowing what to do. I used to handle all situations as a convict would, now I leave it up to God as. He is the One that rules my life.

A "kid" is a person who comes to prison young and "pretty." He is one who doesn't have the strength it takes to handle different situations. He is not prepared for it physically or mentally.

This is how most kids are found or made. A young dude comes to prison, he doesn't know what is going on. He just got here and is scared to death, or just about. He is not a homosexual and has never even thought about being one. He is the typical all-american boy who made a mistake. The judge just wanted to teach, him a lesson,

The kid comes in with all his property or belongings. He puts them in his locker and makes his bed. Then he might decide to go to the yard or something. He comes back to find "zoo-zoo's and wham-wham's" (candy, cigarettes, coffee and things of this nature) on his bed. He picks the things up and puts them in his locker.

After he has eaten all the candy, smoked all the cigarettes and drank all the coffee, the dude that put all that stuff on the kid's bed to begin with comes and asks him for all the stuff back. Naturally the kid can't give it back. But the dude keeps insisting that he wants it now. There is no way the kid can give it back so the dude goes to get his shank (homemade knife). He comes back and pulls it out to let the kid see. The kid gets scared. The dude says something like, "I'll give you three choices. One, get my stuff. Two, get stabbed with this knife. Three, do some kind of sex act for me." Nine out often times the kid does the sex act for the dude and becomes the dude's "kid."

To be a Christian in prison is the hardest thing that a man can do. A person gets tired of all the little games that the convicts run on him to try to make him backslide. You see, when a man becomes a Christian in prison he is considered weak. The convicts think that they are stronger and can make the Christians do whatever they want. I have seen this time and again. I thank God that they don't try this on me any more because I was totally fed up with it. God tells us in His Book that He will not let us go through any more than what we can endure. I think this is the reason that they stopped on. me, because God saw that I wouldn't be able to take anymore.

I used to get laughed at and criticized. I would have to constantly swallow my pride, which at times is still hard for me to do. But, now I think, "what did Jesus do when He was laughed at, lied to, and spit on for me?" He did nothing. I forgive those who make fun of me now, and I pray that someday, someday they will see the light before it's too late.

The Bible also tells us that pride is the downfall of every man unless used for the Glory of God. I put my pride in Jesus of Nazareth, Who arose from the grave after dying on the cross at Calvary for the redemption of all mankind.

I know there are many Christians in here and out there who put their pride in themselves. They even think it's too hard to confess they are Christians. Well, brothers and sisters, for those who are doing this, I want you to know that having this pride in yourselves will never get you to heaven. In fact, for those of you who are putting pride in yourselves you are on a one way trip straight to hell.

I thank God for my pride because I learned to use it for the glory of God, and not my own. We are not here on this earth to please man. We are here to please God. If we can't please God then there is no use for us being here. God made man for His pleasure, not our own.

I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and gave Him my life to run the way that He wants to run it, not the way I want to. I will do everything within my power, and the power that God has given to me, to spread His Word to every living creature. I am doing this so that someone can be save by the grace of God through Jesus Christ so they will never have to endure the pains that I, and so many others, have endured. All my pains will be well worth it if I can save one person from going to the fiery gates and pits of hell.

May God bless you all and hold all of you in the hollow of His hands safely, always and forever.