Guest Blog – Ron Tanner

Today I thought that I would post something different and have a guest blogger, Ron Tanner. Ron has been attending the Gospel Center for about seven months on Saturday evenings and also is part of Discover Recovery. I asked his permission to share this in our newsletter and I thought that since many of my readers do not get the newsletter, I would share it here as well. It is longer than normal post, but the story of lifechange is amazing and I never grow tired of hearing stories such as that of Ron.

I was born with obsessive compulsive disorder. At age 12, I was introduced to pornography and I started down the road to a severe addiction.  At age 16, I began working in a hospital laboratory and assisting the pathologist with autopsies. I continued this work for 10 years, viewing death and victims of disease, accidents, rapes, and murders. Anger, bitterness, and hatred developed in me.

During my laboratory career, I studied science and math and kept up with technical advances. The plant kingdom, animal kingdom, and creation of the universe, as I understood it, amazed me, but something was missing.

I began drinking at age 19 and visited the local barrooms frequently.  I was lonely, shy, lost, afraid and had low self-esteem; but when I drank, the  alcohol took away all my inhibitions.  At age 25, I met a young lady who introduced me to marijuana, uppers, and downers (pills).  I was unaware of the destructive path of addiction that began controlling my life.  I was self-centered and thought nothing could control me.  No one could tell me anything.

I ended up cheating on my wife, and my marriage ended in divorce.  I was looking for love, so I ended up remarrying, and swore to do everything right.  But my second marriage ended after 8 months. I ended up losing my wife, my job, and my house over a 3 month period. I swore there was no God and gave my soul to Satan.

I moved to Ft Lauderdale, Florida and  began a life of evil, not caring about myself or others.  I began drinking heavily, smoking pot every day, was introduced to cocaine, and continued to live an immoral life.  Satan had me in his grasp.  Life continued to go downhill; everything was dragging me deeper into despair. I became lonely, isolated, depressed, and totally addicted to cocaine.  After 25 years of addiction, I decided to commit suicide.  I had spent 4 days locked up in my bedroom, and decided to take all the sleeping pills I had approximately 90 pills.

After taking the pills, I decided to pour gasoline on my basement floor and set it on fire. If the pills didn’t kill me, surely the fire would finish the job.  As I stood in the center of the seven gallons of gasoline I had poured on the floor, I dropped a match.

Looking down at the flames I felt I was looking into the pits of hell.  Satan had my soul.  I heard a voice clearly saying “Step Out”.  I remained standing in the 20 foot circle of flames.  The voice repeated “Step Out”.  The voice was loud and clear.  I stepped out of the flames. My shoes and pants were burning.  I turned to look at the flames, was hit in the face with heat and smoke, and blacked out.

Somehow I got out of the basement and ended up driving my pick up truck uptown and wrecking into several parked cars.  The police took me to the hospital. I awoke in the emergency room, and was taken to the Lebanon County Prison.
I realize now that it took 25 years for me to get to God. I am still suffering the consequences of my sin. But I am so thankful that  God saved me from sin, pulled me out of the pits of destruction, and put me on a new path with a new purpose – to serve the Lord, my God, with all my heart, mind, body, and soul for as long as I shall live.

Ron is attending the Gospel Center and is part of the Discover Recovery program. It is a joy to see the Lord working in his life! rwb