IN THE BEGINNING: John's Descent into the Darkness Begins

By Pamela Schuffert presenting investigative journalism from a Biblical Christian perspective-

My brother John was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1956, at Lindsey Air station (as it was called at that time in post-war Germany). We were an Air Force family through and through, with my father being famous in the USAF, and my being born at the actual headquarters of the USAF, Bolling AFB in Washington DC.

From the beginning, I loved my "little brother," who was four years younger than I, although he would soon grow to the height of 6'3", over a foot taller than me. In fact, he was tall and good looking, gifted in music and guitar. But such attributes, APART from being balanced by faith in God through Jesus Christ and the guidelines of the Word of God, would soon prove to become his undoing in his early teen years.

We both grew up in a very privileged neighborhood, "high-end" and known for it's resident politicians, senators, military generals, FBI, CIA , lawyers and other high-end people who worked in DC, but who resided in rich, safe neighborhoods outside the city and the Beltway. We fit in nicely: my father was famous and my mother was a secretary to a Congressman on Capitol Hill for a while.

Our high school was known as "the country club high school," in fact. And whenever you have the "rich , elite and powerful" high-end people residing in and around the Washington DC area, you ALSO have DRUGS flowing freely.

It's a well kept secret in DC circles: IF you are a part of the self-professing "rich and elite," you can get away with trafficking in and doing illegal drugs! NOT a problem! The big rich politicians in DC do it all the time. Many Presidents and VPs have also been known throughout various administrations to do the same, and their Cabinet members right along with them. All of this kind of information is well shielded from the public view. All insiders known about the seamy world of prostitutes groomed especially to service the high end elite in DC, the wild parties with sex and drugs and perversion of every kind.

But IF you happen to come from "the other side of the tracks" and get caught dealing or doing drugs, WHAM! You are arrested and face many years in prison as a result. Sadly, the CASTE SYSTEM of the "privileged" versus the underprivileged is alive and well, including in our nation's Capitol and in the "justice systems" of America today.

I can remember my early years of being trained as a professional nanny, to frequently serve the high-end society in the Washington DC area. I worked and trained with what is now known as the premier staffing company in the Washington DC area, from it's very beginning. At times, the clients I served were families whose husbands worked in the White House. I would also be called upon to help host special birthday parties for the children of the elite at times.

I sadly learned though, that the double standard exists throughout the American caste system, wherein the rich a favored, and the poor trampled on. I can remember clearly homes that I worked in consisting of high society people, and recall overhearing them giggling in the morning over "...the lines of coke we snorted last night..." and how much fun they had at their party the night before. And then they would especially laugh when they realized I had heard everything they said, and finally look at one another with conspiratorial smiles and winks.

In the Northern Virginia neighborhood where my brother and I grew up in, many of his friends were the children of "the elite" who worked in DC. Many of their parents were into the drug culture, and the children became involved as well. Wild parties filled with sex and drugs were commonplace in our neighborhoods.

However, in 1971, my mother and I experienced an incredible encounter with the power of the Living God, which I have reported on previously in my reports throughout the years. In 1971, following attending a Christian miracle crusade where I prayed to be healed of life-threatening conditions that my doctors could not heal(one physician even practicing medicine on Park Avenue, NYC) I was completely healed through the power of Jesus Christ, later confirmed through testing by one of my astonished doctors.

This encounter with the reality of the Living God was to change the course of my life forevermore. Jesus Christ became my Lord and Savior at last, and ALL of my former New Age occult involvement disappeared, the books and occult tools burned and renounced, and the eternal WORD OF GOD took it's place instead.

(Readers involved in New Age and paganism, take note: there is simply NO comparison between the demonic fallen powers of the New Age occult, wicca or satanism, and the power of the Living God as manifested to the world through Jesus Christ His Son. The very power you are looking for, can ONLY be found in it's fullness through the Living God Himself...and His Name is NOT "Lucifer" nor "the goddess and the horned god," etc.!)

Prior to this amazing experience, I had been looking for "God" in alternative religions, New Age heresy and occultism. One of the main reasons that I did this, was because I found no evident manifestations of any power in my "dead" church I had attended. The word of God was not preached in my popular local church, only flowery "feel good" messages that could not lead anyone to salvation. It was the kind of "church" in name only, that high-end people and politicians in that area favored, because SIN was not preached against nor confronted, neither was repentance and salvation, and the sinful could therefore leave every service NOT convicted of the sinfulness of their corrupt lifestyles!

The message of my "church" seemed at times to be:"Party on, dudes..." because "Jesus LOVES YOU!"And a good God who LOVES you could never send anyone to hell...or could He??? The preacher somehow forgot that while God indeed "so loved the world," He also HATES the sins that separate us from a holy and living God, and always lead to damnation in the end IF not repented of and forgiven.

And that is WHY He sent His Son Jesus the Christ into the world, to convict the world of sin and to bring repentance and salvation to this trouble planet.

And so the age of 18, I became a born again Christian, following five terrible years of illness that FINALLY, only Jesus Christ Himself could heal. I became resolutely determined to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of my life, and my wonderful mother choose to fully follow Him with me.

BUT MY BROTHER? The world and all it's enticements in our high-end neighborhood and the Washington DC area, during the unfolding "hippy" drug culture era so strong in Washington DC, were to prove too much for him to resist. And so began his slow descent into hell and the seamy world of "drugs, sex, rock n' roll," and it's accompanying bitter and tragic fruits that such a lifestyle will always produce.

But my brother was deeply loved by both my mother and I, and we continued to hang onto him, beseeching God to get ahold of his life and bring him to Jesus Christ at last. My mother was given given a prophetic word by the Holy Spirit through one person in ministry , that "...the PRODIGAL shall RETURN!" It would take over forty long years of our faithfully praying, witnessing and attempting to ministering to John, before God's promises were finally fulfilled.

"For the ages of sin is death..." declares the Bible. Oh, what my brother was to discover in that tragic world of rebellion, darkness, heartache and sin!

Christian parents, NEVER GIVE UP on your wayward children! CONTINUE to fast and pray for them and their salvation and deliverance from sin, drugs and alcohol and whatever else is destroying their lives. YOUR love, forgiveness (manifested again and again) and your persistent prayers WILL SOMEDAY BRING YOUR PRODIGAL CHILDREN HOME!

Yes, in spite of all you may have been through, THERE IS HOPE! After decades of walking in the darkness, my beloved brother John finally came home to Jesus Christ and his family once again. He now knows what it means to be a Christian and to walk in the light of His mercy and forgiveness and grace. And YOUR children (or lost spouse, parent, etc.) can experience this wonderful grace as well...freely purchased for all by Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for OUR sins to be forgiven.

Our Christian ministry has a burden for lost youth and their families, because of what we ourselves suffered in our family until victory through Jesus finally came. You can send me your prayers requests for YOUR "prodigal children" and John and I will faithfully intercede in prayer for them daily. Send all prayer requests to: JesusChrist4ever@live.com and we will respond. You can also send all prayer requests to : PO Box 488, Montreat, NC, 28757,and we will respond.

John's amazing testimony TO BE CONTINUED.

-Pamela Schuffert reporting from NC