I was 17 when I said the "Sinner's Prayer" and "accepted Jesus into my heart" - I was at a Youth Convention in Oshkosh Wisconsin. A girl named Jessica in my High School class, the "Christian," asked me for whatever reason, if I wanted to come along. Probably because her parents felt sorry for me, or perhaps because they were concerned that I was on the fast track to hell.

I remember the speaker, Dave Roever was giving his testimony and inviting those who wanted to "make a decision for Christ" to come to the altar. He said, if you've got pain, if you've got hurts, if you are feeling unfulfilled, you need Jesus; He'll heal your pain, he'll fix your hurts, and fill that lingering hole that you need filled in your heart.

You see, a couple of years earlier, my family had gone through a difficult separation and divorce, my brother and I basically hated one another, I was not at all successful in relationships with girls, so I was lonely, and felt as though nobody really understood what I was going through. I think today's generation refers to these types of teens as "emos." So that was me, an emo before my time...

So I said the prayer, and he assured me and everyone else who'd repeated the short prayer after him, as we knelt on the Convention Center floor, that we were now saved, and on our way to heaven when we died. I felt better about myself, and I was happy for the first time in years... Though, my parents were still divorced, my brother and I weren't any better, and I didn't feel anymore attractive than before, so lonliness seemed more superficial now that I was "saved."

Over the course of the next year, I applied for and was accepted to North Central Bible College in Minneapolis Minnesota, I joined my friend Jessica's church, and somehow managed to get myself a girlfriend... READ MORE