The Jesus we celebrate at Easter still brings hope today

Tony's story

It was Easter Saturday 2002 and I had decided that was the day I would take my own life.

At that time I was a drug addicted man. I couldn’t go a day without them and I became suicidal because I couldn’t live without them any longer. My kidneys were failing and I would try to stop but just couldn’t do life without drugs to ease the pain.

So, I was watching TV by myself with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other thinking, “Today is the day I’m going to finish this”, when I flicked channels to a man sharing his testimony.

He was a drug addict and was telling his story about how he was once without hope and how he invited Jesus into his life. He was basically telling the story of my life! I flicked the channel again and the movie King of Kings was on. It was the part of the movie where Jesus was carrying the cross to Golgotha.

The only way I can explain it is that when I saw him carrying that cross, I suddenly knew somehow that this man was the answer to every single problem in my life.

After the TV testimony, there’d been a number to call, so I did. In response, a couple of days later a pastor explained to me how I ended up in the pit I was in – and why my heart was now suddenly full of joy. From that time, the Bible became real to me. I thought, “This stuff has to be true because I experienced it before I started reading (about) it.”

Ever since then I have had a very strong desire to share this with as many people as possible because I know that God saved ‘a wretch like me’. I wasn’t a hopeless case after all. God pulled me out and put me on a rock called Jesus Christ.

I had been a man without hope. I was bankrupt and without many employment prospects and now I’m a railway manager. I was also bankrupt in relationships and socially, but now I have beautiful friendships and family.

Learn more about Jesus and the Christian faith that transformed Tony’s life here.

God turned everything around. He’s taken me overseas on mission trips. I want to share the love and truth of God because it changed my life and you don’t have to look far to see a lot of other lives that need transforming.

I am now a leader in my local Salvation Army church. I play guitar in the worship band and I preach. Our pastors are such humble leaders and I just love that The Salvation Army is all about getting outside that building and going out into the world as Jesus did.

Would you like to join us at church this Easter? Find your local Salvation Army here.

Recently a few of us from our church went to visit a friend in hospital and there was a fella sitting there looking very down. We asked him how he was and he shared that he had terminal cancer. We shared our testimonies and he gave his life to Christ.

Two of us went back to visit him that night and his countenance, his demeanour, had completely changed. Even his swelling had gone down! He had a beaming smile and he was so excited.

He passed away two days later but the good news is that where he’d had no hope, he had become filled with God’s spirit, filled with joy, and when he went, he went to meet God his maker. 

I know without a doubt and firsthand that Jesus is still alive and transforms lives today. I am living proof!

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