Pastor Prince, I gave my life to Jesus when I was a teen, but after visiting many different churches, I still had no idea what it really meant to be saved, and what the finished work of Christ on the cross really meant.

I thought life would be easy now, and I would instantly start living holy for God. But the more I tried to live holy, the more I failed miserably. I started feeling more guilty, dirty, ashamed, and condemned than ever before in my life.

I lived in a downward spiral of guilt for about 25 years, feeling increasingly distant from the loving Jesus who saved me as a teen. I knew He was real, but because of my guilt, I sank deeper into a life of sin and guilt, falling into a black hole of depression and despair, feeling so far away from Him. I ended up living in constant sexual immorality, pornography, using every kind of hard and soft drug regularly, and developing a heavy addiction to alcohol.

Meanwhile, all I heard from the churches was that I should live a holy life “because I am a Christian.” I thought I was a failure and that something was very wrong with me. Many times, I felt like I was losing my mind because of the guilt, and I didn’t want to live anymore. Life felt like a horrible hell.

What great fun the enemy must have had whispering all this garbage into my mind, and how easy it must have been for him to trick me into guilt and condemnation—all because I did not know the truth of Jesus’ finished work. But from the very moment I understood Jesus’ finished work on the cross, where He became all my sin so that I could become the righteousness of God in Him, my perspective began to shift.

Through your ministry and your book Destined to Reign, my thinking slowly changed. I began reading the Bible and seeing the truth of the gospel! I made an intentional decision to only believe what God’s Word says about me, no matter what my feelings or thoughts might say. Today, I am completely free from alcohol, drugs, and pornography, and I am living a sexually moral life! All praise to King Jesus! Thank you, Joseph Prince, for your obedience to Him.