I Met a Man Who Made Me Rich!
By Michael Seth
I was born in Port Arthur, Texas and raised in the small coastal town of Lake Jackson. My mother took us as children to Catholic church, while my dad attended the local Lutheran church. I studied to be an altar boy in the Catholic church, but was soon disillusioned with it. I just stopped going to church. By this time my family had already been split up. I started using drugs. This was when marijuana went for about $5.00 for a match box and was relatively hard to come by. We changed schools a couple of times and ended up attending Westbury Sr. High School. Most of the kids there came from middle to upper middle class families. It was there that I began to dabble in other drugs. Soon I began dealing in drugs, at first, just casually. It wasn't long before I met an ex-convict, who got me hurtling into a high time drug dealing career.
It was during this time that I met my best friend, Jimmy Cole, who became my dealing partner. I moved from dealing so much pot to "speed."
We eventually helped in establishing the first rock and roll club in Houston, "Jubilee Hall." It was there that as we sat on the steps of the club sizing up the market that we had created, we came to discuss the big question: "Is this all, or is there something else that we have been missing all along?" Just then the front door flew open and an announcement was made that refreshments were being served downstairs by a Baptist youth group.
Best Friend Transformed
Jimmy went down immediately for something to drink while I remained seated on the front steps in bewilderment. Soon I was aroused by curiosity and went to see what had happened to my friend. As I approached the room where he was seated with two others in intense conversation. I held back from entering the room lest I disturb him. I decided that I would just go back to the apartment and have a party with my friends. Much later Jimmy returned and awakened me with he exclamation that he had found the man that was "going to make us rich."
He had obviously found something very powerful, as I had never seen him smile all the time that I had known him. A strong light was now shining forth from him. He told me he would pick me up early the next morning. Little did I realize that the next morning just happened to be Sunday morning. Jimmy picked me up and we were off to meet this mystery man that was going to "make us rich". Before I went, I loaded myself down with various doses of drugs. I had drugs all over my person and a nicely rolled joint behind my ear. I was under the impression that we were on our way to do a drug deal. Jimmy picked me up promptly at 8:30 am as he had promised. It was amazing the effect that this strange new "drug" had on him. He was still glowing with radiance and smiling. Definitely a wonder drug of the decade, I thought, and I wanted my share. We jumped into Jim's sports car and were off to meet the man that was to make us rich!
Dealing in Church
After what seemed an endless drive, we pulled into a church parking lot much to my surprise. My first thought was, "Great, no one will ever expect us to be doing a deal in a church. Bust free deal!"
So I began immediately asking questions about the deal. This other guy didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Jim knew that he couldn't tell that we were going to a church, so he just said, "I met a man that was going to make us rich." Anyway, this man took us to a room in one of the wings of the church and left us, assuring us that he would be back soon. Some lady there began talking to everyone about someone named Noah. Jim was quite excited about it, as if he had known the guy all his life and was glad to hear some good news about him. Who cares about Noah! When's the deal going to take place? That was on my mind. After an hour of talk about Noah, the GI looking man finally returned to rescue us from this lady and Noah! We were then ushered by our new acquaintance into a much larger area, the sanctuary, where were gathered about 1,500 to 2,000 GI types with their wives. To me, they all looked the same. There were more straight people than I cared to deal with all in the same place and at the same time. How on earth were we going to be able to make a deal with all these people all around us?
The Big Question
The service went on but I never heard a word of what was said, being more interested in the deal than anything else. But Jim seemed to be getting a certain kind of charge out of what he was hearing and this began to worry me. Finally, about 15 minutes before the service was over, the preacher made an announcement the only part of which I heard, was his question, "Is there anyone here that would like to receive Jesus as their personal Savior?
Suddenly, something snapped inside me as I looked toward Jim. Our eyes locked, we reached out and grasped each other's hands and boldly proclaimed as we stood to our fee amidst hundreds of people, "Yes, we do!"
Spiritual Dealings
As we marched toward the altar, it hadn't really dawned on me what I was doing. Before I knew it, I was on my knees asking Jesus to come into my heart.
What followed was totally supernatural and miraculous. I came down immediately off of the chemically related high I was on. Then it seemed as if someone had poured a big bucket of warm honey over my head! It ran down from the tip of my head to the soles of my feet with a warm tingling sensation. I was completely cleansed! I turned around after standing to my feet and with a big smile on my face, noted the satisfied expression on my friend's face and the radiating smiles on the faces of at least 200 who came forward to congratulate us on the first birthday of my new life. God's call on my life to serve Him full time was indisputable and undeniable. We both felt the tremendous desire to share our new found freedom with others.