I Was A Drunk For 17 Years

I am about to tell you a story you should find interesting, but much more important, profitable. In fact, if you believe what I relay to you here and act upon it, your life will be completely changed. 

THERE IS A GOD

I can say without reservation, there is a God! We have been created. How do I know? Because I met this God, and I continue to meet with this God on a daily basis. I am going to tell you things that if they are true; if I am honestly relaying the truth, then you have no other choice than to believe my God is real.

If you choose to read this awkwardly written story, you will have the choice of believing me or not believing me. if you choose not to believe me, you will always wonder why I would go to so much trouble to tell a lie.

So, if you choose to believe this is true, you will have another choice. Do I do what my Creator wants me to do or do I do what I want to do? Another question - who knows what is best for you? You or the Creator? Who knows the plan for your life: The Creator or the created?. The Lord has such a wonderful life planned for you. A bed of roses? Not necessarily. There are Christians in this world who do not have the freedom to serve the Lord like we have. They face prison, torture and death for the exquisite joy of knowing and loving him.

THE STORY!

My name is Ron Neel and I was a drunk for seventeen years...17 years... I did not have a physical addiction, but the psychological addiction was bad enough.

I joined the army when I was seventeen. With alcohol so readily available, I became an instant drunk and was court marshaled before I was in six months. I was in a bar in Stuttgart, Germany when I had "words" with an M.P. I remembered him grabbing my arm, and the next thing I remember was 4 or 5 of them working me over. I never remembered taking a bottle to his head which nearly took his ear off.

I stayed in trouble the three years I was in.

When I was in my early twenties, I would hear older fellows talk about getting a bottle and going off to drink by themselves. I thought to myself, "not me".

But, by my mid twenties, I was doing just that. I can remember the times I fell in the bath tub and couldn't get out....and I would drive in that condition. I would chain smoke when I drank and would drink until I passed out.

Needless to say, I was really bad about starting fires. One place I lived, I set the couch on fire twice; the first time firemen woke me. The second time, a friend jerked me off the couch when the pillow my head was on burst into flames. He said I never flinched.

I always knew I had a problem, but most of the time I was satisfied with it. Then sometimes I would look into the mirror and see myself as I was and would think of suicide.

I remember once I looked in the sky at all the stars and thought, "here this planet is in this vast universe. We come into this world completely helpless without any choice of time, parents, or circumstance. We struggle through this life from one problem to another. Some hang on to money for their later years, others end up eating dog food to survive. Then there are those like me...completely out of control. This thing just doesn't make any sense to me. It might be better to take a short cut and take the easy way out of here."

Today it all make perfect sense to me. I am a pilgrim, joyfully passing through this world on my way home. I try to encourage as many people as I can to go with me. It has now been 27 years since I had a drink of alcohol. People have told me, "it must have taken a lot of will power to quit." My answer to that is...It took no will power at all, because I did not quit.

One Friday morning, my wife was walking home from a prayer meeting. The Lord spoke to her and told her to go back and pray for me again. They prayed to the Lord that he would take away my desire for alcohol. That Sunday night I was drinking beer and as I walked to the fridge for another, the desire for alcohol left me and I have not had the desire since.

At the time, I had no idea if I was happy about it or sad about it. I just knew something had been taken from me. A couple of days later, my wife told me what had happened. She said I shook all over and grabbed my cigarettes and said "don¹t go down there (to the prayer meetings) and take these (cigarettes) away from me!"

I had been claiming to be an atheist, but the one I was denying was the only one who could have done this. It wasn't long before I was happy about my deliverance. It took a month to get the poison out of my body, but my mind cleared and I stopped repeating myself. I was telling everyone how the Lord had delivered me.

I still was not a Christian.

It was over two years more before I gave my life to Christ and was born again. I had such a hard time submitting my will to him. But I finally did.

To follow your own will takes you to hell, to follow His will take you to heaven!

It is very simple to come into the kingdom of God, and you certainly do not have to wait as long as I did, just talk to God. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Tell Him you want to serve Him and that you want Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. Pour out your heart to him, and if you do this in sincerity, you will become a child of God. You will become brand new, have a new beginning, and enter a new realm. "Old things are passed away, all things become new". There is so much more I desire to tell you, but I have tried to condense this. If you give your heart to my Jesus, please call me. I have seen so many miracles. I have received physical healings. I have seen others healed and I have seen the Lord do so many things.

It has been my pleasure, and the privilege of my life to share this with you. My friends, you do not have to be a drunk to need Jesus. You don't need to be a drug head, and adulterer, or a murderer to need Jesus. You only need be a mortal man/woman. You can be the most upright person around, but rejection of your Creator will doom you. Jesus came from Heaven, lived a perfect life, and died a perfect death for YOU.

It is our privilege to print Mr. Neel's testimony. You have an open invitation to contact him at 512-365-1364 or any of the listed ministries or churches in the Directory on page 6 or Brother Hank at The Master's Table at 512-446-0306 any time, if you need spiritual counseling or leading to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.