Personal Stories

Pastor Joseph Prince, 6 years ago, my life was a disaster. I was forced to divorce my wife and to break up with my family and friends. I was at the lowest point in my life. I had a lot of financial debts, and I was addicted to pornography and smoking. I was completely alone without my family and friends. There were many days where I didn’t have anything to eat in the evening because I had no money.

I used to attend a church in Perth, Australia but never truly felt that I belonged there. Growing up, I always had a void in my life due to the bullying I experienced, and the absence of my parents as I was in boarding school, and also their expectations of me to excel in my studies.

I grew up in a Christian household, but I never truly understood the love of God.

My children had been taken away from me in 1983. Their mother married another man who adopted my children, and they tried to prevent me from seeing them again.

I used to help oversee a drug cartel in Sydney, Australia for the triads. Through the Lord’s intervention, I got saved while in prison. A very well–meaning pastor then taught me to work for my salvation. He also warned me about grace–filled churches and false doctrines. By the time I got out of prison, I was ready to work for God and give my life to Him as a slave.

I was disowned by my dad when I was five years old. This caused me to grow up with a void in my heart. I was convinced that something I did had caused my dad to not want or love me.

I was raised as a believer but was taught some limiting beliefs. I believed if I was trusting God for something and sinned, spoke negatively about it, or got in strife with someone, that would end my “faith walk” of trusting God for my breakthrough, and I had to start back at square one. I also believed that if my breakthrough took time or wasn’t happening, it was because my faith wasn’t enough.

Pastor Prince, I’m a twenty-three-year-old university student who grew up in a Christian family, attended church, and went to a Christian college. However, I made choices in life that greatly delayed my studies, career, relationships, and spiritual growth.

Up until a few months ago, I was addicted to cigarettes and marijuana for 18 years and also to pornography. I had tried many times to quit all three because I knew they were wrong but felt so condemned that I couldn’t. The pornography addiction led me to massage parlours, which then led to me feeling even more condemned than before, as no one knew I was doing this.

Pastor Prince, we came from a background where we received heavy legalistic teaching before we discovered the gospel of God’s grace.

I’ve had very bad panic and anxiety attacks since I was about 12 or 13 years old. When I was 14, I was put on Xanax, a narcotic pill that is very addictive.

Pastor Prince, I want to thank you for the blessed truths you have brought into my life.Two years ago after the birth of my son, I started to find it hard to cope.