by Joseph N. Jenkins

From a small child, my mind was captivated with cartoons and comics. I was born in 1951 and experienced television in its infancy. I recall early cartoon programming like “Crusader Rabbit” and the Warner Brothers shorts. I often tried to draw my favorite characters, even as a pre-schooler. I can remember showing my mother a drawing I made of Donald Duck.

One day my parents came home with a copy of Dell Comics’ Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories for me. This comic book genuinely launched me into fascination for the comics’ field.

During my elementary school years, my interest in comic books grew and varied more in subject. I left the world of funny animal comics and entered the realm of Harvey Comics. I found the adventures of .phper the Friendly Ghost and his friends more suitable to my older tastes. As I only dabbled in an occasional Looney Tunes or Uncle Scrooge before, I now began to collect comics in earnest. I often drew .phper for my classmates.

My greatest turning point came in the summer of 1963. I discovered DC Comics’ Justice League of America number 21 in the comics rack. The super hero comic had caught the fancies and imaginations of my youthful heart. My path was forged for years to come.

I disposed of the Harvey Comics I owned and made room for the super-hero genre. My collection was small at first but I found a carryout store that sold old comics for five cents each. In a few months time, my comic collection reached 100 comic books. I now drew pictures of the Flash, Green Lantern and other heroes. In a few years, my collection had amassed well over several thousand copies. Each title was catalogued on index cards, listed in files, and stored in plastic bags for protection.

My goal in life was simple: to become a professional comic book artist and writer. This remained constant all my years of growing up and heightened as a teen. However, in October 1968, I was diagnosed with “Juvenile” or “Onset Diabetes.” This was during my senior year in high school. During my stay in the hospital, a friend in my class who attended a Baptist church sent his pastor and co-pastor to see me. This man of God shared the Gospel with me, but I told him I was “already saved”; which I was not. I did this to get rid of them. I still had dreams of being an artist and comic book writer.

The comic books I continued to collect contained letter pages, where “comics fans” would correspond with the editor of a title to review and make general comments on a recent issue. Much to my surprise, one of my letters was printed in Blue Beetle number two, published by Charlton Comics. This letter resulted in my being contacted by other fans. One fan lived in my own city of Toledo, Ohio. Through him I met other fans across the nation. We comprised part of a sub-culture called “comics fandom.”

One fan in particular became a very good friend. He published his own “fanzine,” an amateur comic book-type magazine. As the editor, he allowed me to create a continuing series in his fanzine. This led to strips and artwork being used in other fanzines.

On November 1, 1972, I received a letter from my friend Alan that said, in part, “…I know that you do use swearing in a lot of your stories [that I wrote and drew for comics fanzines] nowadays. Anyway, Joe, you feel that it is about time that comics matured and that there should be some nudity. Well, a couple of months ago, like when I saw you last, I felt the same way. But now, Joe, well things are different. I’ve asked Christ to come into my life and try to straighten me out, Joe. I guess I thought I was a Christian all my life because I believed in God and Jesus, but I have found that that it is not enough to be a true Christian. Wow! There are a few more things that a person should know and that he should do before he can consider himself saved and know that he’ll have eternal life after death. Joe, you have been my closest friend. I still consider you my best friend and I want you to be saved along with me when this world comes to its Final Day.”

My immediate response was to reject what Alan had shared with me and I did not get saved. Alan continued to write and witness to me time and time again. The Holy Spirit used the material Alan sent to convict me of my need for Christ to be my Saviour.

I had moved to New York City in September, 1973, to work for DC Comics as a reprint touch-up artist, a technical behind-the-scenes position. My future goal of becoming a professional comic book artist and writer was within my g.php. I literally stood in the doorway of achieving all that I desired since a small child. I had no satisfaction. The dreams, which were so near fulfillment, were empty, hollow and without depth. My spirit longed intensely to do something “more important in life.” I wanted to be more of an impact in the lives of others than to merely entertain people.

In December, 1973, while on vacation for Christmas, I came across a former co-worker in a shopping mall. He invited me to church and I visited December 30, 1973. I heard the Gospel once more and returned to visit the same church the next Sunday, on January 6, 1974. It was this second visit to the church when I was saved.

I moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in May, 1978, and enrolled in the Bible College division of Tennessee Temple. I met Ray Thompson of Baptist International Missions, Inc. After hearing my testimony, he asked if I would be interested in writing cartoon-style Gospel tracts for BIMI. As a result of that meeting, God led me to produce “Man’s Most-Asked Question” and “Heaven.” They were printed in four-color process. Hundreds of thousands of copies were distributed. “Man’s Most-Asked Question” was also translated into a number of foreign languages by missionaries and used on various fields. God also blessed in allowing me the privilege of designing the logo for BIMI, commissioned by Ray Thompson.

Also of interesting note is that November 1978, a preacher friend of mine suggested that I should seek the Lord’s will concerning a wife. He said that I should pray for one. I heeded his advice. That same month, on Thanksgiving Day, Sheila Morrison trusted Christ as her Saviour at Fort Bluff Camp near Dayton, Tennessee. Sheila was a student at Tennessee Temple, and was helping Camp Administrators, Mike and Naomi Crane during the Thanksgiving holiday. She was unsure of her salvation, but made certain that Thursday at the camp.

On April 13, 1979, a couple who had moved to Chattanooga from the same church I was from in Toledo decided to do a little bit of “match making” between Sheila and me. They arranged a pizza dinner at their apartment to allow us to meet. I really didn’t want to go; Sheila told them she was coming “but for fellowship only.”

I had been praying for the Lord’s will concerning a wife and knew at once this was His helpmeet for me. Normally, I was very shy and quiet around girls, but I knew that on such a large campus as Tennessee Temple I might not see Sheila again. I asked her out for a date that same evening, and she accepted.

We had begun to see each other frequently and regularly as often as our work and class schedules allowed. On May 11, we had a stroll in Warner Park where I proposed to her and she accepted.

In the spring of that year, I had contracted the “Russian Flu,” which was sweeping the country at that time. The influenza made me very sick and my diabetes became uncontrolled. I experienced severe vomiting, which (unknown to me) had scarred my esophagus. On June 1, just a short time after proposing to Sheila, I was admitted to Parkridge Hospital to determine why I was having problems. It was while running a test to see if there was stomach cancer that the esophageal scarring was found. The doctors began a series of dilatations to reopen the stricture, which had caused my esophagus to shrink to the size of a pinhead. I couldn’t even swallow water. I remained in the hospital nearly the entire month of June, being released on the 28th.

The dilatation process did not achieve the expected success. The esophagus strictured again and I was readmitted on November 20. I was released on December 4, but readmitted again on the 10th. The doctors said this stricturing should not be occurring so quickly. This began a long series of readmissions to the hospital with my being out only for a few days and back in again for another procedure. From the first admission on June 1, until the surgery, which finally corrected the problem, I spent the equivalent of three months in hospital rooms. My weight had deteriorated from 160 pounds to 100 pounds, and all of my muscles were eaten away by my body to provide nutrients to itself.

Sheila and I planned to be married June 7, 1980, so we moved to Toledo, Ohio, in May. Sheila lived with my mother until the wedding date and I stayed in our trailer, which we were to rent. We had a beautiful wedding on June 7.

My father had contacted my physician prior to our move to Toledo, who referred me to a specialist. July 23, 1980, I was admitted to Flower Hospital where the surgeons performed a six-hour technique that has permitted me to swallow since.

For the next several years, my wife and I served our Lord at Westwood (now called Northwest) Baptist Church in Toledo. I continued to seek the face of God for His perfect will believing the call to preach was upon my life. In the course of these years, BIMI had ceased being actively involved in the printing ministry, and publication of my two tracts had been stopped.

In July 1987, God led my family and me to move to Greenville, South Carolina, to labor for Him in a children’s home ministry. We loved this work, but felt deep within there was yet something more He desired for our lives.

While members of Freedom Baptist Church in Greenville, Pastor C.T.L. Spear and printing missionary Tom Gaudet from Broomfield, Colorado, presented their work of printing Bibles and New Testaments. In early February 1990, I made a trip to Broomfield to see the ministry and attend the Old Paths Scripture Press Annual Banquet.

It was at this time my paths crossed with Dr. Wash Pennington, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church and director of Fellowship Tract League. At that time, I gave Dr. Pennington permission to publish three Gospel tracts as he determined the Lord’s leading in doing. He said he would pray about it. Some months later, Fellowship Tract League began to produce “I’ll Do It Later,” “Man’s Most-Asked Question,” and “Absolutely Free.” I had begun a tract ministry in our own church, but nothing in the scope of what Old Paths or Fellowship was doing.

In late 1990, I began to develop difficulty seeing. My thoughts were that I needed stronger lens for my glasses. As I would be covered in a few months on my wife’s health insurance, we opted to wait to see the optometrist until such time. When we called for an appointment, we were unable to be scheduled in with the optometrist until the end of April 1991.

The eye doctor came to the room where I was waiting after the examination. He said, “Mr. Jenkins, you don’t need new glasses; you need new eyes.” From there I was referred to an ophthalmologist. He explained that I had Diabetic Retinopathy and referred me to another ophthalmologist specializing in that field. I met this doctor May 3. He quickly ordered laser surgery treatments on both eyes. I had two treatments in each eye. The lasers appeared to be a success.

A short time later, on June 14, the retina of the right eye detached. The doctor met my wife and me at the hospital. He performed emergency eye surgery on June 15, reattaching the retina in a three-hour operation and placing a gas bubble inside the eye to maintain the retina’s position. This lasted until June 27, when the retina detached again. Once more, I had emergency surgery. This second procedure failed when the right retina detached a third time on July 31. After the third surgery, the retina detached again on September 10. My specialist in Greenville said he could not do anything else for me and recommended a slightly different technique available at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. I went to Emory on September 17, with surgery performed the next day. The operation appeared to be a success. However, on January 3, 1992, it was found that this new method was not successful.

I am now legally blind in my right eye, and partially able to see in my left. I have had to terminate my plans of full-time service (the tract ministry in Greenville) but the Lord IS in control of His children’s lives. Where my personal effort in tract ministry amounted in only tens of thousands of Gospel tracts, He has bigger purposes, grander designs, and larger visions than I could ever have. Fellowship Tract League has printed and distributed the tracts God led me to write and draw in the TENS OF MILLIONS. They have been translated into many foreign languages and sent around the world.

*Please pray much for Brother Jenkins. God has greatly used him in getting the message of Christ to the world through Gospel literature. He has noteable compassion for lost souls and a passion to point mankind to Christ. Presently he needs five-way bypass heart surgery but his physical condition will not permit the operation. He has other physical needs that only God can cure. Thank you for praying.

Ray Thompson