PERSONAL TESTIMONY WRITTEN BY JOHN CASIAS

God working in my life...
I, (John) praise the Lord for a number of folks that were concerned for our souls. A dear pastor, Rev. Alvin Taylor of Faith Baptist Church in Amarillo, TX cared so much that he witnessed to me almost every day for five years. The loving members of that church were faithful in praying for our salvation, also.

There were others from varied walks of life who also witnessed: Dr. James Hale, a dentist; John Harrison, a pharmaceutical salesman; Bill Engle, a pharmacist; Wanda's cousin, Sandra Bobbitt, a school teacher. Finally, after angrily forbidding Sandra to even visit in our home, she sent another couple to witness to us.

On October 19, 1972, she sent Butch and Carol Lee to our home. I wouldn't let him come in. Wanda, hearing voices coming from the front door, walked from the kitchen to the living room. As Wanda came toward the front door, Carol saw her and ask her, "Are you Wanda?" Wanda replied, "yes!" Sandra told her that they attended church with her cousin Sandra. Wanda, being much nicer than me, said, "Oh, please come in". I told Wanda they were leaving. Wanda ignored me and just kept talking to Carol and again invited them in. (Isn't it marvelous how the Holy Spirit works?) Butch said, "Okay, for ten minutes". They stayed until 1:30 A.M. showing us how to be saved.

The devil's pride...
I did not accept Christ that night. But, I had promised that we would go to church on Sunday. I was under heavy conviction and just felt like falling on my face and repenting of my sins; but pride was stronger than me. My thoughts kept going back to the way I had been brainwashed: "Catholicism is the only true religion; what are you thinking of doing?" Those and many other negative thoughts passed through my mind. They told us it was the beginning of an annual revival, although I had no idea what that was. I didn't even know what an invitation was. They told me that it was what comes after the message.

The long service...
The Sunday service I promised to attend was very long. Bro. Gardner, a pastor from San Antonio, TX, was preaching the revival. It was around 2:30 PM when Bro. Gardner started to expose everything that I had shared with Butch that Thursday night while I was under conviction. He would say: "You know you're miserable. Why don't you admit it and come to the alter and talk to Jesus? You know that your Spiritual condition is rotten; admit that you don't even know how to pray. Give in. Don't act tough with God!" In my heart I was very hurt and angry; and, as he spoke I was getting madder. I was going to get even with Butch Lee. Nothing makes me more angry then when I open my heart to someone in confidence and have them double-cross me by telling every Tom, Dick, and Harry; what I shared with them.

My decision, not God's...
I decided to get up and leave. I had already calculated every move I was going to make. In my plan I was going to punch Butch Lee in the mouth, hoping to break his jaw. If anyone else decided to jumped me, I would shoot them. At that time I carried a .38 pistol everywhere I went. But, as I was about to execute my plan, I asked Wanda if she was leaving with me. Naturally, she asked me why. I told her that that little fat sucker had no business sharing everything we spoke about to anyone. Wanda asked me, "how do you know?" I told her to listen to him; she did for a little while, then looked at me and said, "I see what you mean". That was like throwing fuel on the fire. I started to rise from my pew to execute my well-calculated plan.

But God...
Philippians 2:27 "BUT GOD HAD MERCY" God had His plan better calculated! At the very second that I was rising from the pew, Pastor Gardner scream out, "If you (and of course it seemed that he was still pointing right at me) think that I spoke to someone here or anywhere about your condition, that is the devil lying to you. I make it a policy to never, and I said NEVER, talk about anyone's condition. I let the Holy Spirit lead me and tell to me what I need to say!" At that moment my life went to pieces. I figured this guy was either the biggest and best liar in the world or, he could be telling the truth. I thought to myself, "Is this guy really telling the truth?" All I know is that he neutralized me completely; and he put my mind and heart on ZERO. Have you ever bought a new car and the speedometer is almost on zero? Well, that is the way I was. Starting new!

I had never read the bible...
Matthew 22:29. As a Catholic I had never read the Bible. Also I had never prayed! In fact, everything Pastor Gardner said, was true. I know now that it was the Holy Spirit that revealed my condition to him. And I now understand that he was NOT talking directly to me. I now know that it was the Holy Spirit convicting me of how miserable I really was; and that truth was painful for me. As a Catholic I had been the Chairman (President) of a Catholic Church and I had been the 13th Congressional District Chairman for the Republican Party. This all took place in Amarillo, TX. So you see I was FULL OF THE DEVIL'S DIET: PRIDE! That was the reason why I was having problems.

I just saw Jesus as a good, moral man...
I finally realized that the burden I had was NOT going away! As a Catholic I saw Jesus as a good, moral man; but it was the same as seeing George Washington, a good man from history. As Pastor Gardner continued to give the longest invitation I have ever been in; by now it was after 3:00 PM. All of a sudden I found my self trying to pray. I'll never forget my prayer. It went something like this: "O God, if there is a true Jesus Christ and if He is alive the way this preacher says He is, and if He can truly save, I need to know it..."

PRAISE GOD...I WAS SAVED!
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new".

A Side Note...
On the Thursday night, after Butch and Carol left our home, Wanda and I got ready for bed around 2:00 AM. We were discussing the visit we had with Butch and Carol. We jokingly came to the conclusion that if the Communists were to take over Amarillo, we would be the first ones to be killed, because we were involved in politics and we were very vocal in exposing the Communist doctrine for what it really is. But my worst thought was: if they were to kill us, we would end up in that same hell with the Communists! That really bothered me. I couldn't bear the thought of spending eternity with Communists! Then we remembered and discussed what all those friends had tried to make us understand: That salvation is by grace; and that we could pray anywhere and anytime. I told Wanda that we could pray right now. She agreed. So we knelt on the floor leaning on the side of our large round bed and held hands. I was making an effort to pray; but I just mumbled words that made no sense. I could hear Wanda pray, and she sounded really good. All of a sudden, both of us felt something like an electrical shock traveling through our clasped hands. We immediately stopped praying. I looked at her and she looked at me. I told her she had just gotten saved. Her answer was, "No, you did. I know that because God isn't going to save me. I was praying for you to be saved." However, I insisted that she was the one saved. (Man, I would have made a good Pentecostal! Ha, ha). After awhile, I finally convinced her that she was saved. (Neither of us knew what salvation was all about). On Sunday, October 22nd, as we entered in the church, (remember, we had promised to go), the very first thing I told Butch and Carol Lee was that Wanda had gotten saved after they left that night. Naturally they were rejoicing in the Lord! I learned a valuable lesson from that as I began my ministry. I learned to ask people how they were saved. No one ever asked us anything. (I thought I saved Wanda. Had she died, she would be in hell right now). We were blessed with a loving church family in Central Baptist Church in Amarillo and with a Godly pastor, John Bingham. Brother Bingham went to heaven a short time before we went full-time into the ministry. However, he was a faithful servant of the Lord and a loving mentor.