Finally, I was invited to go to a church one night. Me and a friend of mine were up at Cumming, Georgia, at the mall, and of course we were alcohol and drug loaded. At that time in my life, it did not matter who was around me; I spoke what I thought. I was who I was; I would say, “You live your life, and let me live mine,” and that’s the way it was. Nothing really bothered me. Anyway, we were up there minding our own business, doing our own thing, and we noticed these two girls coming up through there, and I recognized the driver ’cause we hung out with her brother a lot. I knew she was real religious, real Christian-fied. For some reason, there was something that started bothering me and making me feel like I needed to hide the alcohol, the beer we were drinking. For some reason I said, “Jimmy, hide that beer.”
When she pulled up, she said, “Well, hey, Greg; hey, Jimmy. What are y’all doing?” I said, “Ah, nothing much,” and she said, “I can already see that.” For some reason I just felt lowered; I mean lowered. I thought, “What’s wrong with me?” I thought somebody had spiked my drink; I never had felt that way and I didn’t know what was going on. I guess I was under conviction. She said, “Greg, I wanted to pull over here to invite you—now, Jimmy can go, too, if he wants to—but the Lord wanted me to come over here to invite you to come to our revival. It starts tomorrow night.” It was Church of God—Pentecostal; ’course I was always raised Baptist, which I was always taught that denomination is just a symbol but salvation is the real thing, and I said, “Yeah, I’ll go.” She said, “Are you sure you’re not saying that just because of the shape you’re in?” I looked over at her and said, “I promise you, I will go.” I said that probably about five times, and each time I said that, I’d become sober. The more I said, “I promise you,” the more I became sober.
I looked at her and I said, “I promise you, I’ll go.” I was really warped in the head ’cause I couldn’t figure it out. Here I am, all distorted in my mind from alcohol and drugs, and the more I’m saying, “I promise you,” the more I became sober. Now, Jimmy is the type that had never been to church. He could care less about church, don’t care about going to church, but he said that he would go. That sorta threw me for a loop, too. She said, “Okay, we’ll meet back up here tomorrow evening, and y’all can follow us up there.” About two thirty or three o’clock that morning, I took Jimmy home and, being in our situation with what we were doing, I thought, “This is it; I’ll never hear any more from Jimmy.” You see, the way we actually started our day was, we would smoke it, and we would pop the top. That would be our breakfast and how we started our day and everything, the first thing every morning.
I went home and got some sleep and woke up, and I was feeling pretty good, actually, for the first time. I went up to town to get something to eat. As I was coming back and getting to the red light there between Highway 9 and 20, the thought came to my mind, “Didn’t you have fun last night?” I sat there and thought about that and I thought, “Yeah, I did.” “Wouldn’t you like to have another good time like that tonight?” I set there and started thinking ’bout that, and I know the windows in my car were sealed tight, but there was this still breeze that came blowing through my vehicle and went right across in front of me and this still voice said, “You made a promise.” I’ve never questioned that. I slid up behind the wheel of my car, and I said, “I’m going to church; I’m going to church.” Nothing would change my mind, not drugs, alcohol, or money, nothing; I knew I was going to church.
Jimmy called me two hours ahead of time and said, “Are you gonna come get me?” I said, “Are you going?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Have you been drinking?” I knew him and I knew that was the first thing we did every morning. He said, “I ain’t touched a drop.” Well, I couldn’t believe that, and I said, “Are you sure?” Well, he started gettin’ mad at me then and he said, “Greg, I swear to you, I have not had one drink; I have not smoked anything; I ain’t took nothing; I have not done anything.” Then I was startled, and I just could not believe that, but I just took his word for it, and I picked him up, and we met those girls up in town there and we followed them. The church was over in Buford; I never will forget. I remember that I was about twenty-three years old. We pulled up in the parking lot, and I thought, “Where’s the church?” Here’s this big parking lot and I thought, “Is that the church? This is a big place here. Is this the church?” You gotta remember that my hair was real thick then, way down on my back and real long. I had earrings, and I thought I was somebody, something, you know. I played the eighties rock ’n’ roll music and all that stuff, and I thought about the Bible saying, “Come as you are,” and I thought, “This is the way I am, and I ain’t gonna change for nobody. They accept me or they don’t accept me.”
We got out of the vehicle and met them up there at the front, and we start to go in there, and, man, we get in the door, and I look around at the balcony, and I thought, “This is a big place.” The girl that invited us said, “Greg, we’re going up closer to the front. Y’all are more than welcome to come sit with us if you like.” Me and Jimmy both said, “Right here’s good,” and it was the very back seat in the whole place. We start to go in, and I tell Jimmy to go ahead and he said, “Oh no, you go ahead.” We were arguing over who was going to sit on the very end of the seat. I gave in and let him have the end seat. So here we sit.
Brother Jentezen Franklin, he hadn’t actually made it big at the time, was helping with the revival. I didn’t know him. I didn’t know anybody. The only people I knew were Jimmy and that girl and her friend. I didn’t really even know her friend. We were just sitting there, and I had heard preachers preach drugs, Heaven, and rock ’n’ roll, hell and all, and it sunk in somewhat, but it didn’t really. That night, when Jentezen got up there, the spirit of God come through him. When he started preaching, it became 3-D. You gotta remember that pulpit was a long way off, and it was like somebody zoomed him in. When he started preaching, that preaching was for me, and I knew that, even with all those hundreds of people there, that message was for me. When he starting preaching God’s word, the Spirit was coming through him, and here I sat and I thought, “Okay, well, this is all right, but we can just ease off a little bit; there ain’t no need to jump on me.”
About that time he started getting a little more involved in the message about the drugs, alcohol, Heaven, hell, and how all this worked. I thought I’d slide over to the left side, hiding behind this bigger lady, but for some reason it was just like his face was visualizing, coming direct at me, and it was the Word. The Word coming from his mouth was coming straight at me, and I thought, “Well, I’ll slide over,” and I slid over and leaned toward Jimmy behind that bigger, heavier man, and I thought, “This is good.” Well, let me tell you, the Word was still coming through, and right there was Jentezen’s face; it was just coming in 3-D, and he was just zoomed in to me. There was no avoiding that. My heart was pounding; I started sweatin’. Something was letting me know I needed to get up, and there were a lot of people there, and they are not giving an altar call at the time. I was scared to death. Then this still, silent voice said, “Come on; get Jimmy to go with you.” So I looked at him, and I said, “Come on, Jimmy, let’s get up and go.” He said, “Go where?” And I said, “To the altar.” He dropped his head and put his finger over his mouth and went “Shhhhhh.” When he went “Shhhhhh,” it sounded like it delayed and reverberated and filled that whole place. It was like we was in an empty hall and it just carried. I thought, “Wow.” He sat there and he said, “Unh-uh, no way.” So I sat there, and I knew it was me.
This lady beside me said, “You want to get up, don’t you?” There was something telling me no, but there was more yes, and I said, “Yeah,” so she said, “I’ll pray for you.” I sat there trying to build my courage, and they hadn’t give an altar call yet. A few minutes later he asked if anybody wanted to come down, and I started to get up, and on the left side of me, it was like a hand slapped me on the shoulder and set me down. I shook my head, and I thought,
“Surely that lady did not just set me down after she just said she was gonna pray for me.” As I started to stand back up, it hit me again on the left shoulder, and I looked to my side; there was nothing there, but the weight was, and I started to push up, and it pushed me down. It sat me down, and after about four times of that, on the fifth try, I said, “Jesus, I can’t see you, but I believe in you,” and I said, “If you’ll help me get up from here, I’ll meet you down there at that altar.” When I started to stand up again, that same thing hit me again on the left side and started pushing. Well, my encouragement was to push that much harder, and I said in my mind that I was not going to quit and I pushed, give it all that I had, and it was like trying to pick up a van; it was almost impossible, but I kept pushing, and once I got halfway, that hindrance snapped. I heard a noise in my left ear, and it went straight down to the floor, zzzzup. Next thing I know that whole place turned white, and I was like floating, and the next thing I know, I was at the third pew at the front. I looked to my right, and there were three ladies with a glow to their face and the prettiest smile that you’ve ever seen, and I was a stranger there, but I knew they were there for me, without a doubt; for some reason they were there for me. I knew that.
I got down on my hands and knees, but I did not know how to pray. I thought, “What’s God want me to say?” Only thing I knew to say was “God, what he preached on is in my life, drugs, alcohol, rock ’n’ roll; it’s all in my life, and I can’t quit. I tried to quit; I can’t quit. I feel that I’m gonna die this way, but the preacher just told me if I believed in you and asked in your name if you would you save my soul, you’ll do that. So that’s what I’m gonna do ’cause I don’t know what you want me to say.” I said, “In your name, Jesus Christ, would you please save my soul?” I just kept asking Him, “Lord, save my soul.” I didn’t feel anything different. I said, “Lord, I just don’t really feel the change. I’ve always been told there’d be a change; you’ll feel a change.” All of a sudden a little vision of people appeared around me, and that still voice spoke out and said, “People of the world are holding you back,” and there was a little vision of a white robe, and hands and feet, that’s all I saw, just a little vision, maybe about two inches tall, just a little vision. I said, “Jesus, that’s you, ain’t it?” I said, “Would you please save my soul, please?” Next thing I know, when I come up from that altar, I came back so far, and ’bout that time something started pulling me backwards, and I felt like I was gonna fall, so I thought I’d take my left leg and put it back there and brace myself so I wouldn’t fall. My feet was anchored; they were not movin’. They were there to stay. And something just kept pulling me back. I felt like I was gonna fall. That still, silent voice came in my right ear and said, “Let go; I gotcha.” I said, “Jesus, with all my mind and all my heart, I believe that you’ve got me,” and I let go. When I did, I came a way back and my head dropped down. I saw a white, bright light come from my heart, through my flesh, through my shirt, all the way across to the other side, and there was a still, silent voice came dead center in my right ear. I almost had to quit breathing to hear it and just listen. When I caught hold of it, it was crystal clear, and he spoke to me and said, “You made the right choice, and you will be rewarded for it in Heaven.”
I looked up where those ladies were at, and it was like white floatin’, like a spirit, like angels floatin’, and I don’t even remember being in my body. Everything was totally different. Talking about the peace, love, the joy, and the happiness that I had, that’s the first time that I’ve ever experienced anything like that. The best way to describe it is, you can’t see the wind, but you can feel it, and that’s how it felt.
As soon as I turned and laid eyes on Jimmy in the back, every bone in my body started crushing and hurtin’, and I dropped to my hands and knees achin’, in so much agony and pain. I said, “God, what is wrong?” That still, silent voice came to my right ear and said, “Jimmy is a part of you; Jimmy shoulda gotten up; he will now probably regret it.” That’s just been one more true experience for me that makes me know that my name’s been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Over in the years I have strayed away, and it’s been a constant battle in life, but I have made a commitment to serve the Lord.
Well, let me tell you about my Copenhagen deal. Now, there again, just like with anything else in your life, you can have whatever you want and think there is nothing wrong with it. Of course, we all do that. We make excuses for what we do. There’s nothing wrong, if we look at it the way we look at it, but in God’s eyes, it’s a totally different situation. We say that we want to do what God wants us to do, but at the same time, we avoid the right thing. I started smoking, dipping, and the whole nine yards, at six years old. I knew I was gonna die from my cigarettes because I watched my grandpa suffer for six years, laying in his home on a hospital bed from smoking. I’d hear him begging God to take him. He was on oxygen like you wouldn’t believe, turned wide open, and he still couldn’t breathe. I was watching this, and I crushed my cigarettes, and I said, “I’m gonna quit.” So I gave up my cigarettes in 1990, and I stayed quit for three years, but I craved a cigarette the whole time. I’d walk around smelling and breathing in other people’s smoke. Somebody said, “If you’re gonna do that, you might as well light up one ’cause you’ve not quit.” I had never in my life, even as a kid, been sick on cigarettes—tobacco, yes, but smoking, no. About that time, I just gave up on quitting, and when I went back to try smoking again, I got real bad sick. It took me two weeks, but of course I kept forcing myself, and before I quit the next time, I got up to about four packs a day. I kept doing that for about two more years before I gave it up.
My dipping, of course, I kept doing that. I kept praying and asking God to help me quit dipping and all the time packing the can, and packing it in my mouth and saying, “God, will you help me quit dipping?” I was wanting God’s help, but at the same time, I wasn’t putting forth an effort to help myself or be a part of this. When people’s prayers are going on, God hears those prayers and He knows, and I guess He started helping me out a little bit ’cause each time I would put a dip in, I was not feeling good about what I was doing, so I’d try to hide it. I’d cover my mouth, and I’d never done that before. Same as with the alcohol deal. Why did I do that? I couldn’t figure it out. There was something there bothering me. Then I started getting sick. Each time I would put a dip in, I would start getting sick. I would think, “God, why am I getting sick?” Here I don’t realize I’m praying, asking God for help. Finally God let me realize one day, when it got so bad and I was so sick, that I just couldn’t really deal, that I needed to get serious. I fell down and asked God for help. I said, “Lord, I’ve always been the one to give in and give up.” I said, “I can do that easy, but trying to accomplish something, that’s been the hardest thing for me to do.” I’d just give up. The least little thing that rattled my nerves, I’d think, “Well, gotta get a dip; gotta calm my nerves.” Anyway, I said, “God with your help, I’ve got to do this.” And I’ve always prayed, “God, before your coming, I just hope and pray that it’s your will, and you’ll have me cleaned up ’cause you said that only the pure and holy enters in the Kingdom of Heaven.” It kept bothering me, realizing that this dip is making my temple unclean. That made me try that much more. When I turned it over to Him and started confessing to Him, and I would have these trials and temptations come to me, and I could have given up, but I was honest. I fell down and said, “God, here I am with this same problem. I got this craving coming in, and you know I’m about to give in. I’m not gonna lie to you. I could go to the store right now and buy about two cans of this stuff and start dipping,” but I said, “I don’t want that. Will you deliver me from this? I want to be strong.” When I started doing that, things started changing. He heard me and knew how serious I was. I finally was able to quit. I told Daddy, “It seems like now I understand more how God wants things and wants us to do. I said, “If you’ll abide with Him, He’ll abide with
you, and now if you’ll stay connected with Him, locally, not long distance, but locally, He’ll answer your prayers. He’s proven that to me.” That’s true with anything in our lives.
When it comes to drugs and alcohol, my advice to young people is, first, don’t do it. That’s the first thing. You’ve always got that first invitation to smoke your first joint, drink your first alcohol drink, take your first downer, coke, whatever it is; there’s always that first time. I know we can tell people not to do it, but most people are gonna wind up trying it. That’s the wrong thing; they need to take advice from somebody that’s been there and done that. Find the right surroundings, and find somebody in the church that’s really close to God. Pick the right environment, and don’t socialize with the wrong crowd. You can be tempted, and the devil will say, “Hey, you can do this and do that,” but remember, it’s not the greatest thing. That’s just the devil, leading you off on his little trail, to pull you away from God. So pick the right environment because you become who you hang with, and that’s the bottom line. So choose to hang with the right people, you are more likely to do good. You need somebody to guide you there.
The Stancils’ music is available from Morris Stancil, 1825 Lakeside Trail, Cumming, GA 30041.
The Banjo Can Also Touch the Heart
~Dale Tilley~
It’s obvious from the first moment you speak with Dale Tilley that he feels very passionate about life—from being an evangelist, his life’s calling, to being a loving husband, father, and musician. He speaks from the heart and is energetic in expressing his thoughts and feelings, for as he said to me, “As you notice, Teresa, I have the gift of gab.” A naturally talented musician, Dale, with his wife, Jan, welcomed us warmly into their home in northwest Georgia on a June afternoon. Surrounded by family photos on the walls and Dale’s guitar and banjo on music stands, Dale openly shared his brief music career, his acceptance of Jesus as his Savior and Lord, and how he was able to bring his musical skills of playing, writing, and singing into his call to the ministry. A passionate man with a story to tell, he has traveled to many parts of the world sharing his music and God’s love.
The Foxfire 45th Anniversary Book Page 37