"The Testimony" by Robert L. Bass The Internet's most famous document

"The Testimony" by Robert L. Bass

I thought you might be interested to know that one of your competitors, Robert L Bass (me) of Bass Home Electronics, is also a born again Christian. I saw your post in the news group and decided to visit your site to see what you sell.

Actually, I was intending to check your prices since a prospective client had told me you charge less than I do on a couple of items. I wondered about the reason your company's name is "Alpha & Omega," since it is one of the names of God. Boy was I happy to find out!

I read your testimony and was glad to hear of the change Jesus has made in your life. I, too, have had a drastic turn-around in my life after meeting Jesus Christ.

In brief, I grew up in a loving home with good, honest parents. But I was always the rebel. I fought constantly with my brothers and sisters, the kids in school and most of all with any form of authority. By the end of seventh grade my parents could no longer control me. They sent me to a private school for troubled youth in New Hampshire. It cost all they had to ty to help me.

Soon I got into a fight and stabbed a classmate. I was 13 years old then. I spent the next four and a half years locked up, all the while building a rage inside me against everyone around me.

At age 17 I was released and came home to live with my family. In a few months I dropped out of the school my parents had enrolled me in, moved to Grenwich Village in New York City and joined the "hippy" scene. That was 1969. I spent the next 10 years on drugs, wandering around the country, in and out of jails on many felony charges.

I wrecked several cars, destroyed the lives of anyone who tried to help me and caused the death of an innocent woman in a car wreck in Missouri. Still I had no clue how to change my life.

In Florida my road to destruction finally came to the brink. Convicted of multiple felonies and facing many years in prison, I was about to go right down the drain forever. With the "winning" personality I had developed, I got in some fights in the jail as I awaited the sentence. I was charged as a "Habitual Felon" and faced 35 years to life. It was finally over...

And then God did a miracle. He sent a man into the jail all the way up to the solitary block where I was being kept due to fighting. This man brought the message that someone still cared about me. That there is a God and that He really loves me -- just as I am.

That night I got down and prayed an honest prayer of repentance for the first time in my life. I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life and to enable me to deal with the terrible prison sentence I was expecting. I didn't dare dream of ever being set free. I was certain I would not live 35 years in the Florida prison system. Too many other convicts hated me and wanted to see me dead.

But God had a plan for my life. A glorious plan of redemption, freedom and joy in the Holy Spirit! Three months later the judge allowed me to go to a Christian drug treatment facility in Hartford, CT. There I spent nearly two years, first as a student in the program and later as a volunteer staff member helping others learn to follow Jesus as I had.

Well it's been 18 years since I was set free from prison and 18 years since I was set free from the bonds of death and destruction that I had wrapped around my life. God has never failed me. Jesus has given me two wonderful children and a lovely wife. In fact, both of my boys have been called into missions. Praise God!

And just to show the world that Jesus can and does really change lives completely... He has given me a burglar alarm business. I was a thief and a con man. But Jesus has enabled me to protect the homes, lives and businesses of over a thousand people in Connecticut. And now He is helping me build a national security business over the Internet.

Sometimes I think God really has a great sense of humor, too. You see, some of the people whose homes I protect are judges, police officers and attorneys. Several good friends of mine are state police officers. Even a federal judge has entrusted me with his safety. I have key safes with about 300 keys to homes and businesses and God knows he had made me into a man who wouldn't even think of abusing that trust. Isn't He wonderful?

I will encourage you to never stop seeking Him. Keep sharing your testimony with anyone who will listen, my friend. And as God gives you opportunities to speak for His glory, you go right on and obey Him.

In His Service,

RLBass