JERRY DUCKWORTH
On Christmas Eve of 2017, I was in the darkest place of my life. I had been arrested for
felony probation violation and possession of meth. I had gotten into a fight with another inmate and was charged with assault inflicting serious bodily injury and thrown into an isolation cell.
So here I am, Christmas Eve, in an isolation cell under the Burke County Courthouse. I cannot celebrate with the other inmates, and I can’t even call home to wish my family a Merry Christmas. I thought to myself “this is my life now, locked up like an animal, alone with no hope, and then I will die and burn in Hell for all eternity”. The darkness engulfed me along with a suffocating sense of hopelessness.
As the suffocating darkness seemed to swallow me whole, my eyes were opened to my predicament. I felt as if the ground could open up at any moment and I would plummet into the fiery depths of Hell. I did not fully understand the Gospel. All I knew was that I was compelled to do whatever was necessary to be saved. I wanted to bust out of that cell and run to a church, but I could not, and my fear and desperation increased. What if I died before I could be saved? I was nearly in a panic and began to cry out to the other inmates “I need to be saved, what do I do”? He told me to calm down and that one of the Christian guards would be on duty soon. That gave me a small sense of ease, but that was in four hours! What if Christ came back before then?! I paced back and forth until finally he was on duty and was walking past my cell. I stopped him and said these words that I had heard from the book of Acts “What must I do to be saved?” He led me to Christ and suddenly my heart overflowed with a sense of the love of God. I felt a peace wash over me as if I could feel the blood of Jesus cleanse me, and I knew that my life would never be the same. It was out of the darkness that the light of the Gospel shone forth in all its brilliant splendor, and my life was changed forever: post tenebras lux.
ALLISON DUCKWORTH
When God saved me, I was far from home and at my lowest point, deeply deceived by the lies of New Age. I was raised Reformed Jewish and was an agnostic. After college, I began down a rabbit hole of philosophy, intrigued by Satan’s original lie: “I can be like God”. I was so invested in thislie that when my boyfriend got saved, I rejected God and chose to go my own way. From this point until about 2 years later was a downward spiral as I went full throttle into every New Age practice that presented itself to me. During this time, I met a very charismatic New Ager who called himself Jesus Chrysler. This false Christ told me that the Universe had destined us to meet and that both of us were sent here to this earth to help humanity together. I believed these lies, and I hitched a ride in Jesus Chrysler’s van for the foreseeable future. The dynamic of our relationship was very strange and unhealthy because I was pretty much his disciple first and his girlfriend second. I was extremely receptive to everything he said, and he often berated me, making me believe I was absolutely helpless without him. As we traveled together further away from home, I adopted new beliefs and spiritual practices, and became more and more alienated from my friends and family. We finally arrived in Asheville and Chrysler took a side-trip to Canada, leaving me alone for the first time in our relationship. God chose to save me in West Asheville. On a walk, I came across a neighborhood bookshelf that had a children’s book in it called “The Little Lost Angel”. When I opened the first page I was surprised to find, written in little girl’s handwriting, “Allison”. The story was of a little angel that came down from heaven with the angels to sing at Christ’s birth and was left behind. As she searched for the King, she asked about Him and those she asked ended up coming to Christ because of her. I felt the warmth of God’s love telling me I had been adopted into His Kingdom and that I could share this good news, too. When I looked up from the book with tears in my eyes, I truly saw God’s creation for the first time. I was born again!I got hired at the ice cream shop down the street from there. One day, my husband came in to get an ice cream cone and we both witnessed to a homeless woman who came in. A few
months later, we were married. Now we got to church right across the street from the ice cream shop! We moved to Fruitland Baptist Bible College where I am getting my Associates in Christian Ministry. I am blessed to raise my two young boys, John and Levi, and serve in prisonministry as a part of ChristSong. The chaos that I once knew has by the grace of God turned into order and structure. The false Gospel, false Christ, and false Great Commission have been replaced by the True ones. God truly is a worker of miracles and the best storyteller of all. I look forward to seeing what God does in the future!
months later, we were married. Now we got to church right across the street from the ice cream shop! We moved to Fruitland Baptist Bible College where I am getting my Associates in Christian Ministry. I am blessed to raise my two young boys, John and Levi, and serve in prisonministry as a part of ChristSong. The chaos that I once knew has by the grace of God turned into order and structure. The false Gospel, false Christ, and false Great Commission have been replaced by the True ones. God truly is a worker of miracles and the best storyteller of all. I look forward to seeing what God does in the future!
