I grew up in a religious home where we went to church regularly but that was it, going to church. As a child, I was blessed in one religious organization and confirmed in another. After my confirmation, I got frustrated and uninterested in going to church. It meant nothing to me. It was just going through a religious ritual, and after a while I stopped attending church. From that time of my early teens up to my early twenties, I lived for the things the world had to offer. During that period, my life became empty and seemed to have no real meaning and direction. It was at that particular time I was introduced to the use of marijuana by a friend of mine. To maintain that lifestyle, I found new friends who were Rastafarians. They grew the plants and from them I could get as much as I needed. It was because of the use of marijuana and the music of the Rastafarians that I was drawn to become a Rastafarian myself. This particular "Rasta" group that I joined became very religious and self-righteous. There was a popular saying among us, "Rasta means righteousness." In an effort to live up to our own righteous standard, we built a wooden shack in the hills and spent most of our time there. We went into the hills to get away from "Babylon" or the corrupted world system. At the shack, we smoked marijuana, listened to Reggae music, and read the Bible as part of our worship to JAH (The Most High). As we got more serious with our self-righteous living, we spent more time listening to radio stations to hear the Reggae music, Gospel music, and Gospel preaching. Radio Lighthouse (Caribbean Radio Lighthouse) then became one of the radio stations we listened to regularly.

We obtained a parcel of land from the government of Antigua, which we used for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. Most afternoons, we worked on the crop farm. While working, we would tune in to the Daily Light broadcast on Radio Lighthouse with Pastor St. Clair Archibald. We came to the conclusion that this man was preaching the truth direct from the Bible. During that time, a dramatic change came among us when one of our members took sick and had to be admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery. That member was Jerome Martin. He made a commitment to the Lord during his time in the hospital, that if He would heal him and save his life, he would not smoke marijuana again. He afterward told us the deal he made with the Lord. It so happened that most of the members of our group stopped smoking for a short while. Life without marijuana was empty and boring and so all of us went back to smoking, except Jerome.

It came to a point that three of us remained together while the others were drifting away. The three of us who remained were reasoning one night and we came to the conclusion that we should be going to a church where people are serious and are preaching the truth. It so happened that one Sunday I tuned my radio to Radio Lighthouse and heard the program Maranatha Outreach. I told the others about the program and we later found out it was the same speaker we had been listening to every afternoon on the farm. I wrote to Pastor Archibald and explained to him our situation and our desire to find a good church and spiritual help. He did not respond with a personal letter, but he and other members of the Lighthouse staff came to visit us at our home address, but they did not find us there. They left some Bible tracts and an invitation to visit their church. We accepted the invitation and went to church on a Wednesday night and then the following Sunday. It was during that same Sunday evening service that Jerome, Vanier, and I went forward and publicly accepted the Lord Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. I knew the Lord was dealing with me personally to be saved and that Sunday evening, November 15, 1981, I received Christ Jesus into my heart.

Augustine Erskine

Friday, February 3, 2012

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Brian & Charity Collins -  SINGAPORE
Richard & Patty Comer -  CENTRAL AMERICA
Brian & Jamie Cone -  THAILAND