Barry Goode
Good News Incorporated
Box 255 Para Hills
5096
South Australia
My Conversion
My surname is Goode, but for years my life bore little resemblance to it. First arrested at the age of seven for breaking and entering into a giant industrial complex, I was ready for any 'job' that came up - including the first armed robbery of an Adelaide TAB office, (Government Betting Shop) (some of the money was later returned as bets on the TAB)! The raid proved successful – at least for two months - until I was arrested and charged with armed robbery with violence.
I received a seven-year sentence for an offence which carried a maximum penalty of life. All told, I can look back on more than 20 high-court convictions, and many lower-court offences and sentences totaling 17 years imprisonment (reduced by parole and remission to nearly a decade) , carried out in prison and detention centers in four States.
By the age of 32, one out of every four years I had lived had been spent behind bars. Once, in Long Bay's Punishment Division, I was deprived of all amenities, was allowed no books, and had my food reduced to half-rations. Even the Bible in the cell remained unopened – except when I tore the pages out for use as cigarette paper. I was convinced there was no God. At one of the few church services I attended in prison, guards hauled me out during a hymn for singing rock'n'roll songs 'to liven things up a bit'.
STRAIGHT, BUT SLIPPING
Released on parole, I went straight for three years, (thanks to the help of Ray Kidney of OARS), where I was given work. But I still carried a huge mental load. My conscience seemed like a raw chunk, as if someone was slicing through my nervous system with a razor blade. Intensely burdened with guilt, I was thoroughly dissatisfied with what the world had to offer. I found it difficult to look anyone in the face. I respected and admired friends at work, but thought they were nerds, real softies who had been fooled into believing that God was real and alive.
I tore up many of the Christian leaflets that came my way, and sought refuge in booze, hypnotism, and an attempt at positive thinking. But my anguish grew worse and worse; I saw myself slipping into darkness. Composure and peace of mind were unknown.
Deep down, I yearned to enjoy what friends at work possessed. I thought they were brainwashed, conned, blind believers in a nonexistent God; yet their faith and love for me remained unshakeable.
CHANGED, BUT UNCERTAIN
I wondered: Is there a God after all? If so, then what my workmates had said about his total forgiveness and peace might also be true. In that case, I desperately needed what God had to offer. Guilt, loneliness, futility, and lack of purpose and peace finally drove me to cry out: 'God, I don't know if you exist, but if you do, come quickly; I need you badly. 0 God, if you're really there, I want you more than anything this world can offer. I'm sick of this rotten life. Please come into my heart and change me. Give me a new life - now!'
Sadly, I felt nothing - but I was somehow comforted by a belief that if I died, I would instantly go to be with Jesus in heaven - not hell. Having committed myself, I decided to make myself acceptable to God. I tried to 'claw' my way to heaven. I determined to be different, to be a saint, to earn my passage by good deeds.
But within a few days I knew I was 'busted'. Every time I steeled myself to resist improper thoughts or actions, it seemed as if I’d unleashed all the forces of hell. I couldn't win; I could never be good enough for God. I felt no saving power - only a numb lost ness.
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
In this crisis, I set out to find comfort in the only way I knew: I went out to get drunk. On the way, I passed a church where I stood at the back on my own - not really listening, but thinking and praying. The result was unbelievable. A beautiful flood of love washed over me. It was so sweet, so pure, so holy and white - pure white, brilliant white. It broke into my heart. The Lord spoke to me: “No matter how difficult life becomes, trust in my love, worship me with all your heart and everything else will fall into place.
I returned home, and sat down to read the whole Letter to the Romans from the once-hated Bible. That night for the first time in years I went to sleep wonderfully filled with God's promised forgiveness and peace. It was such a wonderful experience that my face hurt from smiling so much. The love of Jesus transcends anything a man can feel or think.
No emotion is deeper, no experience greater, than when a lost person is welcomed home by God and buries his hurts and shame in the ocean of God's forgiveness and love. My bondage is over. I know Jesus is with me. I know he lives in me. He is even more real to me than the knowledge that I exist. To know Jesus is to know total reality.”
A GIFT FOR ALL
You can know Jesus, too. You don't have to have been a criminal to need God. You don't have to try to be perfect to earn God's favour. God's forgiveness and love are his gift, available to all. That gift is yours as you repent of your sins and trust in the Savior who died for you. Pray a prayer like this:
“Lord Jesus, I know that I am a Sinner. I need your forgiveness for everything I have ever done against you and my fellowman. I need your peace, purpose, and direction for my life. I throw myself on your love, for you died on the cross for me. Come and live in my heart as my Savior, protector, and friend. Amen. “
WHAT HAPPENED TO BARRY?
Barry became a Pastor, and Prison Chaplain, and evangelist, whose life is dedicated to the mission of bringing the truth of God to all.
Email: gnews@myaccess.com.au If you want to know more about Barry's life, read the best selling books: Too Tough for Tears and Prisoner of Hope and Call No One Hopeless. There are other powerful Poetry books that he has written too. Video and cassette tapes of his testimony and messages are also available.
Last Update 09/05/09
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