Colin Garnett grew up in Stockport, South Manchester, in a tough working-class culture. A teenage involvement with alcohol, amphetamines and violence led to an adult heroin addiction. For many years he was lost in a crime-and-drugs lifestyle and did time in twenty-seven different English prison and two military prisons. But on 17th June 1993, in a prison chapel, he turned to God with a heavy heart and received Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. From that moment, God started to transform Colin's life. Colin has become a highly effective evangelist with a very powerful ministry to those in prisons and their families, to those trapped in addictions and their families, and to the hearts and minds of developing youth. Colin and his wife Deanna now run The Bethesda Recovery Homes of South Africa where they are seeing a steady stream of individuals and families receiving reconciliation and freedom'. ENDORSEMENTS 'Meeting Colin Garnett and hearing his story was a spiritual tonic - if not a shake-up! May God continue to keep him and use him in this very needy and difficult work for which he is almost uniquely gifted and qualified' - Dick Lucas, Rector Emeritus, St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, London 'Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. It has been a privilege to see that hope so powerfully expressed through the life and ministry of Colin Garnett, one of our graduates. Read and Rejoice'. Dr Steve Brady, Principle, Moorlands College 'As you read this story you might forgiven for doubting its veracity because it seems so fantastic in an age of cynicism, but I urge you to read on to the end and conclude that only God can change a life and that He has done well with Colin'. Rev. Vic Jackopson M.B.E. - Founder and President of Hope Now International. 'There are some very special people that God takes from the most unlikely places and transforms them to serve Him in an utterly amazing way. Colin is one of those

JUNKIE MEETS JESUS

By Colin Garnett

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2011 Colin Garnett
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-3837-2

Chapter One

Matthew 24:4-13

4 And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Dedicated to the vagrant I loved who died in enemy territory.

Trapped By an Imaginary Reputation

I came to South Africa as a missionary to gangsters in 2001 with a view to becoming head of Hope Now International Prison Ministry; primarily because of my 'rags to royalty' type of storyline. I had been transformed by a wonderful conversion experience in an English prison rubbish bin, where I had been changed from an academic drop out heroin addict who had spent years in and out of prisons hospitals and rehabs, to a having a living freedom from addiction playing an active role in missionary work in some of the worlds hardest prisons and loneliest orphanages. Then at the age of 37 I was offered an opportunity to undertake a Bachelor of Theology re-educational program at Moorlands Bible College, from which I successfully graduated in 2001. I was then Ordained under Rev. Vic Jackopson M.B.E. as an evangelistic missionary before setting out on a pilgrimage into the mission field of South Africa's gang and drug culture.

My past life experiences of darkness and the new life as an evangelistic convert to Christ, supplemented by a wonderful marriage to Deanna, an attorney, gave us a wonderful balance for what I was told would be the 'rigours of Christian ministry'. My secret reaction to the 'threat' of 'Christian ministry' was one of cynicism as I quietly thought to myself, 'how bad can it get'? I had no idea how unprepared I was for the shocks and the attacks to which we would be exposed as we stepped into the battlefield of ministry.

I started to suspect that my story actually qualified me for very little when one particular guy sat and quietly told me of his life, after he had ensured that what he was telling me would remain confidential. Once he felt safe enough with me, he then coldly spoke of being raped as a boy by a member of clergy, of beatings and rapes of prostitutes, of sibling-rape, of beating his own mother half-to death and of his brutal wife-beating whilst prostituting her for money to buy heroin.

In the space of 15 minutes it felt like this guy had told me his deepest darkest secrets, and I suddenly started to feel as if I was way out of my depth. I somehow managed to compose myself though and actually started to feel that it must soon start to get better until the window of silence between us broke when he started telling me of his drug dealing days in the then infamous Hillbrow district of Johannesburg. Over quite a short process of time I started to see that my criminal past was actually working against me. I became a hostage to the some of the vilest secrets and it seemed to be assumed that I would not be affected by them because I was an ex-con. I had an increasing sense of concern that I was becoming a cultural prisoner deep within a people of intense abuse and suppressed rage, and I was right, I did.

I did not feel any type of physical threat from any of these people but I had the strangest feeling that that would only be the case as long as I agreed with them. My suspicions proved accurate, as soon I (a) disagreed with them (b) started saying 'no' to them and/ or (b) threatened their many hidden agendas, another story started to unfold. A progression of poison would start to seep from behind the veneers of these relationships as soon they perceived any form of threat to their relationships.

Initially the decline was slow but definite as these guys first started to undermine my position between them, making their minds up that I needed to be taught a lesson, and from there: I was verbally abused, publicly ridiculed and physically attacked. One particularly damaged individual went from being my best friend to being my arch enemy, bent on destroying what he saw as 'my reputation', a slur campaign was launched where I was accused of sexual harassment, of interactions with internet pornography, and of having sexual fantasies and adulterous relationships with women from within the congregations where I regularly preached; followed by how I was a gay prostitute selling Jesus for cash at our rehabilitation facility, where I was willing to perform lewd sex acts for financial gain. Plans were also hatched to have me kidnapped and 'done away with once and for all' and it was publicly announced that I was responsible for causing miscarriages in people who worked for me. We were stolen from and received blackmail threats and an attempted extortion for hundreds of thousands of Rand.

You would be forgiven for thinking; 'well this is why these guys are in prison, these are the low-life of society and no one really believes them anyway; so what's the problem? And to some degree you would be right, but let me explain what the problem is; none of these attacks came from behind a prison cell door or from within the gang culture; they came from individuals who had worked their way in to a Christian congregation where they remained hidden and therefore unchallenged, claiming to be born again, spirit filled Christians, and that was my welcome the spiritual battlefield of Christian ministry.

Titus 1:15 'To the pure in heart, all things are pure, but to the defiled and corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are defiled and polluted' Amplified Version

If you quietly meditated on this verse I believe you may catch a glimpse of what spiritual warfare holds; Although it means that whilst we the redeemed are called to get up close and personal with the most damaged and the most deceptive of people, we must see beyond any contempt that we might feel for their sin and manifest compassion for the dying sinner. We must however remain vigilant with an urgency to settle for nothing less than authentic 'fruit that will last' as the only milestone by which we should assess the authenticity of the professing 'converts' within our ministry.

For the true converts, the purity of their heart will be seen by how they view and bless everyone around them. For the false converts, those who profess piety yet remain defiled in heart, their poison will eventually erupt and be seen by the way they hate and curse anyone whom they perceive to be a threat to their distortions. The...