Pastor's Testimony

"My Struggle and the Power That Changed My Life"
by
Pastor Raymond R. Watson Jr.

I would like to share with you how God delivered me out of eight years of bondage to alcohol and drugs. My story begins at the age of 12. I had my first experience with alcohol by sneaking a can of beer from my parents refrigerator.
When I'd go out with my friends I would use my small allowance to buy alcohol. We would drink until we were drunk. At first it seemed like something"fun" to do, in accepting this challenge of "peer pressure" to drink. I never realized this was the doorway which would lead to a long road to drugs, alcohol and also heartache and a messed up life.
As time went on, the excitement of drinking alcohol began to grow dim and it was then I was exposed to drugs and the drug "community". By the time I was 15, I was a full fledged alcohol and drug user, even though I would never have admitted it at the time.
Everything that goes with the alcohol and drug territory became a part of my life... lying, cheating, and stealing, I did whatever it took to get cash, money on a daily basis in order to be able to feed my cravings for drugs. It wasn't long before I was selling drugs.
I began spending a lot of time in nightclubs and bar rooms. It was in this environment that I was introduced to a new "high", the high of cocaine. The next four years were to become some of the darkest days of my life because this new found "high" in the form of a white powder had me doing things that I never dreamed I could possibly do. I got to the point of stealing from my own parents and abusing family.
By the time I turned 19, I felt completely burned out from this type of life. It was then I realized I was hooked on drugs. At this point something happened that later made me feel that this was my turning point.
In one day I lost everything that I thought was the reason for living. I lost a good full time job, totally demolished my first car I had ever bought, and at the same time I wasted and spent all of the money I had that belonged to a drug dealer. He sent a message by my brother that he was going to kill me the next time he saw me. I literally went into hiding being fearful of the message I had received. I was afraid to go out during the day, but even more afraid to go out at night.
I went to another part of town to "hang out" with some new friends I had met and it was then that I met the young lady who was soon to become my wife. It was her sister who first witnessed to me about this apostolic message. The day she talked with me it seemed as if the very power and Spirit of God was beaming all over her face. I never did forget that night even though it was a long time before I visited her church.
As time went on, Mary and I began to seriously date one another, even though I was still using alcohol and drugs, she began to tell me about this group of Pentecostal people who she had visited (which was her sister's church) and how she wanted me to go with her on Sunday. Because of my foolish pride, I put her off for many, many months.
Thinking back, Mary reminded me of the lady in the bible who appealed to the unjust Judge. She stayed after me, "bothering me" to go to church. I remember how I cursed my fiance' for bothering me about going to church, but that didn't stop Mary.
One day I finally agreed to visit just one time and I warned her not to ask me to go ever again. I visited that Sunday and I"ll never forget the presence and power of god that I felt, but also how that being so bound by drugs and alcohol the devil began to work on my mind.
I felt like Mary and her sisters had told the preacher everything about me and all the dirtiness and sin in my life. Every time he would raise his hand and point his finger towards the congregation, it seemed as if his eyes made contact with mine and he was preaching right at me. I felt the convicting power of God, but at the same time I also felt his love. Something began to happen that day that made me to know how sick and tired I was of the life I had been living.
In October of 1979, I repented of all my sins and was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of those sins by my former pastor, Rev. Danny Brown. At this point I began to go to church on a regular basis even though I had not yet received the Holy Ghost.
My struggle was that I didn't want to got back to my old life, but it was as if the enemy was pulling me to the nightclubs and other night spots. Even though I would not go on the inside of these places anymore after I had repented and was baptized in Jesus name, I found myself going and sitting in my parked car in front of these places struggling with myself over whether I should go in and pick up where I left off or continue on to seek after this life changing power of the Holy Ghost.
After several weeks of this struggle, on December 30th of 1979 on a Sunday afternoon, God gloriously filled me with the baptism of His Spirit and I began to speak in tongues. It felt so good! I did not ever want to stop speaking this wonderful language of praise. The only way that I could possible relate it on that day, and even today, is that this is one of the best"highs" I have ever had in all my life.
It's now been over 35 years since I've touched alcohol or drugs and I can truly say today that if God can save Raymond Watson and deliver him from an eight-year bondage to alcohol and drugs. He can do it for anybody.