This month I want to share just a brief testimony with you, that you might better know me and understand what an awesome God we serve.
My life changed at a little church on February 16th, 1975, when I was 14 years old. The Holy Spirit drew me to the altar � Jesus came into my heart and life. Five days following this, while in a service with the late Rev. H. Richard Hall, I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and 2 days later I was baptized in water in a cold, cold creek. But the Holy Ghost was there too. That week will stand out for me for the rest of my life because I knew then what it is like to be with the Master. In later years I took the road of the prodigal son � I was called of God but ran from that call, going out into the world to sow �wild oats�.
Those years away from God were miserable � nothing I touched could make me happy � I mean nothing! When I looked in the mirror I couldn�t stand the man I saw. A void existed that nothing on earth could fill. Many times I would pass an old country church or tent meeting while away from God, and the singing and shouting would bring me to tears. I COULDN�T STAND IT! I was empty without God. Songs sung by saints like Sister Hallie Hudson haunted me. I was miserable. Frankly, I thought I had gone so far I couldn�t go back. I wanted to die but knew if I did I�d go to hell. The Holy Spirit extended His invitation to me many times, but I was too hard.
In March of 1991 I was charged with Capitol Murder, a murder I didn�t commit. I was an angry man inside and full of rage. I was alone without God. The State of Kentucky wanted to give me the death penalty. I was bitter and didn�t care � very determined not to sell out to God and be labeled with those having �jailhouse religion�. In 1993 several ministers started coming by my cell to see me. Some had known me for years. I�m sure some looked at me as an outlaw, but they didn�t give up on me - they kept extending God�s love. I came back to God and started selling out to Him. That death penalty turned into a 20-year sentence! That sentence of eternity in hell turned into eternity in Glory with Jesus! I�m forever grateful to the ministers that then and now extend God�s love to me and others in prison: my Pastor Bro Kerry Yates, Bro Leon Simpson, Bro Boyce Houk, Bro Cleveland Johnson, Bro Jeff Aaron, Bro Grover Dean, and Bro H.R. Hall.
God had called me years before to go into a prison/ jail ministry - now I was incarcerated myself. The men who came to see me had demonstrated that God can make a difference and that He loves the sinner, no matter what. Those men took the time to come speak with me and others. In 1998 the Holy Spirit urged me to start a ministry from inside the prison, and He even gave me its name. I wrestled with it and was pretty much convinced that I wasn�t qualified. There was no way financially or otherwise that I could do it, or so I thought. The Holy Spirit told me it could be done and that He would make the way. All I needed to do was put forth the effort, and believe God! In December of 1998, the first message was done on a typewriter in the office where I worked at the prison. The mailing list had 25 people on it � God provided the copies and I bought the stamps. God later sent a Christian friend from Louisiana to help in the effort monthly. It grew!
In late 1999 God sent a God-fearing woman into my life who was working in her own prison ministry. Kim stepped up and took over the publishing of the ministry in August of 2000, and we were married in November of that same year. God has abundantly blessed us and our children, Cassie and Justin. We have a wonderful home church with some of God�s best people at our side supporting us. The newsletter now goes out hardcopy to over 110 addresses, many with bulk mailings; via email to at least that many and probably much more; and is available on our own website.
I�ve said all that to say this � NO circumstance is too hard for God! Trials and tribulations come, but if we�re going to be to be partakers in victory, we must be partakers in suffering. I�ve suffered mostly because of my disobedient past, but I�ve also suffered because of my dedication to Christ. All these have made Kim and I closer to God and each other. We know I Peter 4:19 is true: �Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.� God has a purpose, a �will�, for all our lives. He will meet our needs � He always has. God brought me from rock bottom and the minute I reached up for Him, He reached down and snatched me out of hell. God set me on The Solid Rock � JESUS! This ministry grows daily. The anointing gets stronger. We sit in AWE at God�s work in our lives � He is an Awesome God. If I could pick just one scripture that I have stood on, it would be this: �I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.� (Psalm 37:25) My beloved, that is something you can take to the bank � we serve an �AWESOME GOD�!
I�d like to take this opportunity to recognize and give thanks to some people who have been positive forces in my life. These are those other than ministers who have taken to time to visit and write, to edify and comfort me: Sis Flanagan, Bro & Sis Townsend, Bro & Sis McHargue, Bro Humble, Bro & Sis Walker and family, Highway to Holiness, Bro & Sis Martin, many Chaplains, my Sisters in Christ (Patricia, Patsy, Sherri, Lee, Rhonda, and Nell) and last but not least my beloved wife Kim and our children, Cassie and Justin. Each time I step up to preach it will be because of what Jesus did at Calvary, these people loving and supporting me, a dear sweet mother (the late Janice George) and a praying grandmother, Velma Shepherd, who has never given up on me.
As I close this, my prayer is that none of you ever give up on your children, your spouse or anyone that still breathes air on God�s earth. Don�t ever give up on anyone or yourself, because God doesn�t. Look what He did for me! He IS an AWESOME GOD!
In Christ, Bro. Don George
The following is from the Fellowship Tract League of Lebanon, Ohio�
�YOUR LAST 5 MINUTES�
Someone just died!
For the next few minutes, I want you to live as if it were your last moments alive. After all, someone in your city will die in the next few minutes. It could be you. Why not?
When you are dead, someone will place a sheet or maybe a blanket over your head. An ambulance will take you to the hospital for an autopsy. The undertaker will be called, and arrangements will be made to place you in a grave. People will come to the funeral and shed tears over your lifeless body. They will look at your cold, blank face and mourn, but you will be gone. They will slowly drive to a cemetery with your body in a casket. At the cemetery they will carry your casket to a hole in the ground and lower it down. People will cry. The men will cover your casket with dirt and a tombstone. Your name, the date of your birth and today�s date will be on the stone. The people will leave, recover, and perhaps someday, forget that your body is there.
Your five minutes are almost gone, so I must get to the point. When your time is up and you have died, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? We have already decided where your body is going, but what about your soul?!!! Will you be in Heaven or hell? Oh, yes, you will be at one place or the other, so in these remaining minutes I will tell you what to do to get to the place of your choice.
TO GO TO HELL�
Do nothing! You have already done enough! �For the wages of sin is death;� Romans 6:23a
TO GO TO HEAVEN�
1. BELIEVE YOU ARE A SINNER. �For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God:� Romans 3:23
2. BELIEVE YOU DESERVE TO GO TO HELL. �Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:� Romans 5:12
3. BELIEVE JESUS DIED TO PAY FOR YOUR SINS. �But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yetsinners, Christ died for us.� Romans 5:8
4. TRUST JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOUR. �For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.� Romans 10:13
Your time is short in this world. The decision is your own personal responsibility. �And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:� Hebrews 9:27
I will tell you what you must do to go to Heaven. Acknowledge your sins and admit that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness. Confess to God that you know Jesus died for you on the cross, was buried and resurrected and now sits at the right hand of God the Father to save your soul. Ask Him to help you turn from your unbelief and come into your heart and save you for Jesus� sake. �That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.� Romans 10:9 Did you receive Him as your Saviour? If you did, you are ready to go to Heaven.
Hallelujah! May God bless you all!
