|
The
Testimony of Timothy T. LaFond |
|
My name is
Timothy LaFond. I am from |
|
I cried
out! I screamed out with every ounce of muscle, "GOD HELP ME!" |
|
That was |
|
I
graduated in 1968 and that summer I was introduced to Marijuana. That
escalated into smoking hash, P.C.P., also called angel dust, T, H.C.,
Mescaline, and L.S.D. I loved to drink beer and wine along with the drugs. |
|
In 1974
the company I worked for in |
|
One
weekend, while doing L.S.D. I started hallucinating and got very paranoid. I
normally would fish all night at the end of the dock while doing drugs. This particular
night, I couldn't keep focused so I ended up in bed. I was scared and afraid
that I was losing my mind. I remember asking God to let me keep my mind! |
|
The
following Friday, my mother said to me, "Last Saturday you were really
drunk! I asked her why she would say that? She said, "About |
|
Here, I
have to say the words to this blessed song. |
|
He lives,
He Lives, Christ Jesus lives today. |
|
He walks
with me, and talks with me along life's narrow way. |
|
He lives, He
lives, Salvation to impart, |
|
You ask me
how I know he lives. |
|
He lives
within my heart! |
|
Now I know
that my family would never have forgiven me if God had not intervened that
summer night. I was the youngest of seven children, and considered the Black
Sheep of the family. I thank God, for that night was the last time I took
Mescaline or L.S.D! To God Be the Glory! |
|
For the
next two years I would continue to smoke Pot. I also got dependent on speed or
white crosses, and little did I know that God was bringing me closer to
knowing Him and His Glory. Never to be the same person again! All my life I
lived for me, for self, for parties, and all I did was sin, sin, sin, and
sin. I later came to realize that God's Holy Spirit was guiding me even
though I never knew Him! I was full of the devil! |
|
JEREMIAH
29:13 says, "and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for
me with all your heart" |
|
Now let me
tell you what happened on |
|
On |
|
The day
was a typical cold, winter day and a pile of metal was brought in from
outside the plant with snow all over it and of course the snow had melted,
which left us standing in a pool of water. We weren't worried about it,
otherwise we would have left and not worked there until the water dried up. |
|
I would put
my hand on the pile of metal, on one side of my body, up by my shoulder, and
then take it off, and then put my hand on the machine. I would go back and
forth like this all the while thinking that the machine was grounded, which
it wasn't. This went on all morning, meanwhile the others in the plant were
also busy doing the jobs they were assigned to. Some times the others would
have their back to me and this is what happened when Gill had walked away and
two others guys that I had been talking to at other intervals had walked
around the other side of the fire truck. Well, everyone had gone and I
touched the metal and the machine with both hands at the same time. I became
the conductor to be the ground. Electricity shot through me and it picked my
feet right up off the ground contracting the muscles in my legs. I knew right
away, that I was getting electrocuted. I was looking out into the shop from
the platform that I was on and I could see everything going on as normal. No
one knew that I was being electrocuted. Just to let you know my cardiologists
couldn't believe that I made it through this because when you are standing in
water it is ten times worse! |
|
While I
was getting electrocuted crucifixion style the electricity was flowing right
through me, I saw my spirit leave my body. Instantly, I was in hell! At that
time, I didn't know anything about the bible. I wasn't a religious person or
a Christian and didn't know any Christians. I just know that I was cast into
outer darkness. I heard the most horrifying, tormenting screams imaginable. I
heard these time and time again, and although I never saw who was screaming,
I, myself, would scream because of the fear of those frightening screams. |
|
My sins
were tormenting me while I was in hell, |
|
People
have asked me, "How long were you there?" Well, it felt like
eternity! It was that long! I couldn't tell you how long I was there, but I don't
want to go back. |
|
Besides
the screaming there were also demons. Yes, there really are demons.
Indescribable and most ugly things you had ever seen. They came up to me and
taunted me. Yelling in my face, "We got you now!" Laughing at me
saying, "We fooled you!" |
|
"We
fooled you!" "We got you now!" Followed by hideous laughter. |
|
Now these
things I am telling you took the Lord a few years to bring back to me. I have
seen demons since in the real and spiritual life and by the grace of God I
have cast them out. They are afraid of those of us who are Christian because
of who is inside of us. |
|
While I
was there I realized there was no hope of every seeing God. I cried out to
God during this time saying, "Oh God help me!" Again, "God,
Help me!" One of the amazing things on my last scream, was my plea for
God to help me. I felt Gods hand reach down and touch my shoulder. He is
everywhere. In the bible you will read it. He is in Heaven, and earth and
hell. He heard my plea. The right hand of the Lord touched me, I felt his
fingers and thumb on my shoulder and He pulled me out of hell. He set me free
from that electricity! |
|
One of my
fellow workers, Joe, who was a safety foreman in the shop and was about 150
or 200 feet from me, heard my scream. He didn't hear the words, "God
help me!" As loud as I could scream, as if it was my last scream,
fearfully. But what he did hear was, "The most horrible scream" he
had ever heard in his whole life. He told me later. He said he asked people,
" Who was it that screamed like that, and they told me it was you,
Tim!" He asked me, "Why did you scream like that?" I told him,
"that machine bit me, Joe! It electrocuted me..." Joe said,
"Tim that was the most horrifying scream I have ever heard in my whole
life. It was just like a scream out of hell!" See he didn't hear
"God help me" He just heard the scream! I thank God for that. |
|
The moment
God touched my left shoulder; I saw my spirit come right back into my body
like some one hit me in the chest! I came back alive and on the ground. My
left knee hit the corner of a two wheeler cart and made the tires spin and
propel the cart up in the air, as if a ghost had taken a ride on it, and hit
the wall behind me. |
|
I got up
and was completely white, shaken, and numb for about 2 hours. I knew what had
happened but couldn't tell anybody. I was taken to the hospital for 3 days. I
had a major heart attack and numerous strokes after that and then lost my
memory. |
|
It is a
very frightful thing to lose your memory. I remember going back to work and I
got into a corner and Gill came up to me and ask what was the matter with me
and I said "I can't remember, I can't remember what I am supposed to do,
Gill" I was crying. I said, "I know I work here, but I can't remember
what to do" He said, "Maybe we should go talk to the boss" Of
course, my boss couldn't help me. |
|
Well,
later my neurologists said that most people do lose their memory when
electrocuted. She told me that I only lost 30 million brain cells. Well, I
only had 31! She scared the living daylights out of me, cause I really didn't
know how many brain cells I had! She did tell me that I would get them back. |
|
My back
started to go out. My wife would leave for work and come home and say, "what
did you do today?" I would cry and tell her that when she left the
house, "I got up and locked the door and my back went out. I laid here
on the floor until about 15 minutes ago. I couldn't get up! So for 8 1/2
hours I laid right there on the floor waiting for you to come home!"
This would happen time and time again. Doctors of course would tell me that
they had done all these test and could find nothing wrong with my back. I
never knew when it would happen, but it seemed to happen often when my wife wasn't
around. |
|
I started
having strokes. The Doctor would move the paper that read my heart rate on
the EKG and he would take it 3 times a day. He would look at it and ask if I
was Ok. He did this often, and this also scared the daylights out of me. He was
the top cardiologist in the state and he was puzzled about my condition. I
was such an amazement to him that he told his staff that whenever I came into
the office he wanted to see me right away. No matter if he was with a patient
or not! I could walk into his office anytime and see him instantly! Sometimes
after I left the Doctors office I would feel really bad. Really bad! |
|
One day I
looked at the Cardiologist and said, "Doc., If I was to tell you where I
went you wouldn't believe it, and God brought me back!" I didn't have
the presence of God in my heart so I couldn't tell him. |
|
He said to
me one time, "I am not a Christian but have you ever heard of a
Christian? I have some friends that are and I told them all about you being
electrocuted and that you should be dead. You are a miracle! Anyone who has
had electric shock through his or her heart like you did at 10 times the
voltage should be dead. The only way to bring them back is electricity that
we know of. |
|
Now I had
electricity in me for four or five months after the shock. I found that out
the first time I kissed my wife. We would shock each other when we touched!
And it hurt! Now can you imagine? Every time you reach for your wife, you
were shocked again! We got so we would touch each other at the same time to
lessen the shock. It really wasn't as funny as it sounds. The electricity
that came into me didn't come out. It could have come out my feet or hands.
It could have even come out the top of my head. I was having all these
strokes that hurt so bad and made me curl up into a fetal position. This is
why the Doctor would see me whenever I was having these strokes. Of course,
he couldn't do anything to help me. |
|
I was in top
physical condition at the time of this electrocution. I played on a baseball
team that was 8th place in the state of Ohio. I taught scuba diving. I loved
to scuba dive. But when this happened to me I wasn't interested in playing
sports anymore. It didn't mean anything to me to go to the ocean and scuba
dive and play with the sharks. I had a void in my life. I knew in my heart
who saved me! I saw where I was headed! I saw eternity and met death and I
didn't want to meet it again! I had met God but now I had no idea how to find
him. |
|
I would go
out with my party friends and tell them that I wanted to find God. We would
laugh about it, but I was serious! They would tell me to have another beer,
or smoke another joint! I started asking my friends if I was going crazy,
because I really wanted to find God! The only way they knew how to help me
was to encourage me to get higher and forget it! They just didn't understand!
I just kept saying, "I want to find God! I want to find God!" You
would have thought that I really was going crazy! I cried, "I WANT TO
FIND GOD!" |
|
I hadn't
found any help from my Doctors or old friends. Just encouraging words that I
was all right, that my memory would come back, that my strokes would subside,
that my heart was healthy. They only knew the physical heart. My friends only
knew the "old Tim". I WANTED TO FIND GOD! I WAS A SINNER WHO HAD
DIED AND GONE TO HELL! I WAS LOST AND WITHOUT GOD! |
|
I moved to
Liberal, Kansas and went to school to become a diesel mechanic. I was also
working in the oil fields and in a shop. Learning all the basics to becoming
a mechanic. |
|
One day in
November I read an article about Anita Bryant coming to town to speak out
against homosexuality, with Cecil Todd as the evangelist. I arranged for all my
new friends, about 10 or 12 of us, to go see her and hear her preach out
against homosexuality. I thought I was going to go and do some bashing of the
homosexuals. I even went so far as to take a baseball bat. I didn't know what
a Christian crusade was. I didn't know about all the beautiful music and
songs that she was going to be singing. When we got to the stadium, my wife
saw the bat in the back seat and said, "You don't need that!" Then
she told me what we were going to see. You know, a lot of times, when you are
a sinner, you want to sit way in the back. We sat all the way at the top of
the stadium. |
|
I had
never heard Anita sing before. She was in the orange juice commercials, and
this night she sang "Blessed Assurance". I had never heard that before
and it was so beautiful. She also sang "Victory in Jesus", and,
"How Great Thou Art" My heart was stirred! The songs were speaking
to me, just as they do now when I hear them. She sang 8 or 10 more songs, but
I only remember those three. |
|
Then Cecil
Todd got up and gave the message. I couldn't tell you what he said, something
about salvation and that Jesus saves. When he gave the altar call and told
everyone who wanted, to come forward, I was the first one to get up. All I
remember is that here was the God I have been searching for! I have wanted to
find Him for the last 10 months! Finally going to a crusade, out of the blue,
God led me to Him! I literally ran down those steep steps! I was told later
from my friends, that I ran so fast down the stairs, they were worried I
might trip! They even called out, "Don't let him fall!" I was on
the second seat from the top! It looked like angels were carrying me, I flew
that fast! I asked God to forgive me of my sins! Praise the Lord! |
|
Nothing
much else happened that night. I got home and grabbed the bible and started
reading in John. I remember the words, " In the beginning, was the word,
and the word was with God and the Word was God." I thought, "If
only I would have known! If only some one could have told me! If only someone
could have said, Hey Tim, read the bible. It's right there where you will
find God!" I said, "Oh God. I have been looking for you everywhere
for 10 months and here you were, in this Bible." |
|
The Lord
was really speaking to me. I read John, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Over and over
again I read these books, for five to six years! I just was so thirsty for
His Word! |
|
People
tell me what a wonderful testimony I have. "No." I reply. "I am
just a sinner saved by Grace! Once I was lost but now I am found." Don't
any of you ever say that! Your testimony is as good as mine. The Grace of God
has saved you! He has forgiven you! I am no different! I just took a harder
road to get there! And God said this is a little hard cookie! We are going to
take him a different way! |
|
What I
found out by reading the scriptures and kneeling down to praying and
listening to God speak to my heart, is that He came in such a sweet way! Life
has been much better then I could ever tell you. Much more glorious then I
have ever dreamed possible. I never knew that giving my heart to the Lord
would make such a difference! |
|
Victorious
is another word. Seek the Lord with your whole heart! "Search for me,
and you will find |
|
I found
health! My strokes went away when I found Jesus! My memory came back to me
when I found Jesus! It was even better then it was before! Remembering facts
and figures and things! I started to memorize scripture. He helped me to
remember! My back pain also went away! No more pain! |
|
I found a
Savior that took away all my strokes, back pain, brought back and restored my
memory, enriched my life, and also took all my sins! He took all my sins and has
forgiven me! It wasn't till about 4 years later that I could start talking
about it to others! |
|
In
September of 1987, when I was at the |
|
There were
hundreds of millions of them. What a fearful site! I remember writing it all
down and asking, "Lord, where are all those people?" He told me
they were all over the world. And I believe that in this day and age, God is
going to use my testimony, and pluck them right back into existence and
living for Jesus. |
|
God has
crowned me with many Victories and many precious friends throughout |
|
In 1988,
after completing my first year of |
|
After he was
saved, my nieces husband, Dave Bills once said to me "I've seen 2000 lb.
bombs explode in |
|
My wife
and I went to a camp meeting in |
|
After the
service, there was this elderly gentleman, in the back who motioned me to his
side. He told me he was 68 years old. He said, "I have been a church
member here for 30 years. I have been on the board for 20 years. Ten years ago
I died! I am very influential in the church. I was in a car accident. I was
put in a body bag. I died and went to hell! I didn't tell anyone, that I died
and went to hell! I was ashamed to tell anyone that I was sent there. Here I
was a grandfather of this church! But young man, |
|
Oh young
man! But young man, today when you gave your testimony, and gave an altar
call and people came and were saved, I knew, I had been freed! I was bound by
Satan. I couldn't tell my story! God sent you to free me! I said, "Oh
God, I want to be like him. Set me free. Get me out of here so that I can
tell my testimony!" |
|
This is
what told me that God had sent Celeste and myself to
this church. Sure my wife and I praised the Lord for those 25-30 people who
gave their hearts to the Lord that day. But this one Gentlemen, now he can go
out and tell his story and be used by God for the saving of souls! Glory to
God! |
|
This is
why God saved my soul, and sanctified me. I thank God for my soul and for my
testimony to be used to save souls. Thank you Jesus! I Love the Lord today!
He has set me free! Hallelujah! |
|
I have
gotten used to the family of God. I have learned to say, "I really love
you." and to hug every brother and sister in Christ. My church family
became my family away from family. I saw my Mother, brothers, sisters,
nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, friends and co-workers no longer
as such, but as souls who were lost and dying and going to hell. So I have
learned to pray and fast. Prayer is the key to heaven. Words are a mere
expression of thought and nothing more. Believing is what really counts, but
Faith unlocks the door. |
|
My mother,
on her death bed, five days before she died, said, "Jesus, I'm
seventy-eight years old and dying. I don't know you like my little baby boy
knows you!" She was saved on |
|
It is my
hope God can use my testimony around the country, in |
|
Father, we
just thank you for your grace and mercy, for the cross of Christ, that God
gave His son, so that we may have life. He is in the Heavens, and every part of
our lives, if we just recognize it. Lord we pray today that you bless this as
it goes out and touches lives. AMEN |
|
|
|
Rev.
Timothy T. LaFond |
|
123 West
Ohio |
|
|
|
Phone
number: 1-719-382-8826 |
|
August 14,
2000 |
|
|
|
This is a
testimony of my husband’s brother. I knew him before and I know him now. I
have seen what the Lord has done for him. I also have seen and experienced
the change that, due to Tims prayers and witness, the Lord has made in my
husband and myself. I hope you will print this. I have sent it as an
attachment because of its length. Sincerely, Sue LaFond |
|
shyshadow3@yahoo.com |