JOHNNY'S TESTIMONY
Written in 1996
Brought Up in Church
My name is Johnny Coffey. I have been in church since I was seven years old, and I heard all about God my whole life. I was a fairly good kid. I didn’t curse; I didn’t drink; I didn’t do much of anything wrong. I usually obeyed what my mom told me to do. I was not a rebellious kid.
Change
When I was about 18 years old things started changing. I started drinking and partying just to see what it was like, because I had never really done anything that wrong. I just wanted to try it out; try something new. I just got hooked up with the wrong people. I was real hard core into heavy metal rock bands and punk music. I dyed my hair 20 million colors. I had a mohawk, tattoos, and the whole nine yards. I gave up on God and gave up on Christians altogether. I had a lot of bad run-ins with Christians that were not living right. It just kind of turned me away from the Christian life and from believing it altogether. I tried to become an atheist, but I still believed in God. So basically, I just turned to hating Him since I could not stop believing in Him. I started hating Christians in general. I hated the whole message in general and I just thought it was rubbish.
Devil Worship
About a year and a half ago, I got into a bunch of Devil-worshipping bands. One of my favorite bands I listened to had a lead singer who was a priest in a Satanic church and he preached a lot about Satanism. I went to the mall and bought a Satanic Bible. It took three days and six dollars, and I got into it. I read the entire Satanic Bible all the way through. I hated God and everything having to do with him.
Your Brother is Preaching
Right before I got saved, my Dad’s family was having a reunion. I ended up going to church with him. I did not want to go. I did not want to be there. I hated the preacher, which didn’t help any. That night when I came home I was getting ready for a party. My mom came in and said, "Your brother is preaching tonight. You have to go to church." I didn’t want to go because I had talked to a friend of mine and he was supposed to be getting me some acid. This guy was supposed to be calling me at 4:30 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. I said, "There is no way I am going to church tonight!" I had plans. I was really mad, but no matter how mad I got, I decided that I wasn’t going to back out because it was my brother.
Hypocrites
I went to church and I was mad the whole time. I was cursing like crazy in my head; cursing everyone out. I totally hated everybody. I did not want to be there. I smarted-off to everybody. The preacher had changed the regular service, because he was preaching at the jail earlier that afternoon. I got there, and my friend, Lisa Byrd, made me sit up front with her. It was the first time I had sat up front in a long time. I was sitting there not going to listen to anything, and then they brought up the pastor’s son, a twelve year old boy named Stephen Cofield. A twelve year old kid got up to the pulpit and preached God’s word! He started preaching against hypocrites, so I perked up real fast because I hated them more than anything. I said "Cool; I will just sit here and hate them with him." He started talking about hypocrites and how you need to love these people that come to the church looking like freaks.
So Much Joy
I kind of just woke up. I wasn’t down or anything. I wasn’t depressed. I was enjoying my life. I wasn’t down when I got saved. I didn’t get pulled up out of some guilt trip. I was having a good time. Here I was, sitting in that pew listening to this kid preach the word of God at twelve years of age not caring what anybody thought. Next a 16 year old got up, and he was practically an evangelist. He preached in prison and all over the place. Then my brother got up there to preach. I was sitting there through the whole thing and God kept talking to me. He just told me that night, "If you don’t get saved, you are going to die and go to Hell." I never heard that before. I had been in church my whole life. I knew the Gospel message. I knew everything. That’s the reason no one could get me saved. I knew the Bible. No one could tell me anything. When God told me it was totally different. It was like, He is real. I knew he was real. I was sitting in that pew and God was talking to me. I knew he was real without a doubt in my mind. I could feel Him. Halfway through my brother's message, I just stood up and walked to the front of the auditorium. I told Mark I needed to get saved. So much joy went through me; I can’t even explain. I had done so many drugs--alcohol, cocaine, acid and just about anything you can name. I did it all. I will tell you something. None of that even came close to the way I felt when I stood up there to trust Jesus Christ as my Saviour. When I got saved I could have climbed the walls I had so much joy.
No Regrets
You know, I have had problems and doubts. Satan gets you down and starts fighting you. I can tell you this. To this day I have not regretted it one bit. It has been a year since I trusted Christ to save me. I have not done any drugs since the day I was saved. I used to smoke three packs a day. Now I smoke none. I am just happy and glad, and I praise Jesus for what he has brought me from.
Johnny Coffey was saved on June 14, 1996, exactly one year after his brother Mark was called to preach. As of the posting of this article (March 2008), Johnny is married and has two children. He teaches Sunday School, preaches in the local jail, and attends Whitfield Baptist Church in Dalton Georgia, USA.