AMAZING STORY
Multiple Addictions Destroyed His Life, but One Thing Saved It
By Robert Hull
The 700 Club
CBN.com -David Stein was born and raised Jewish. Although his parents observed certain holidays, they didn’t believe in God. “I loved the history. I loved the food. I loved my family. But without having any concept of who God was, when I became 13 and was Bar Mitzvah’ed, that was it for me. I just never set foot in a synagogue again.”
David also remembers when he found pornography at the age of 11. “It got a grip on me at an early age. And I remember thinking it was cool. I enjoyed it, and never thought that pornography was bad; and just kept looking at it for years.”
David carried his pornography addiction to college—and added more vices along the way. “I was just enjoying partying more than anything else; and wasn’t going to class. A couple hits off of a pipe or a joint. That was enough for me. That was enough to take me to a place where I lost all my motivation. Later on in life, used it as an escape.”
After college, David got a lucky break and landed a job in sports radio. Eventually, he married. Despite his career success and new wife—David maintained his nightlife. “I guess there’s this moral compass of ‘I shouldn’t be doing these things,’ but…pursuing pleasure, sexual sin, pot, alcohol; that was my passion. I didn’t feel like I was living on the edge. I felt like I was just normal.”
After years of affairs and womanizing, David destroyed his home life. His marriage of 10 years was suddenly over. “It was crushing to know that I had wounded someone so deeply. To feel alone and abandoned, though it was my fault the night that it ended. I was laying on the floor of a half empty closet because only my stuff was left. And I remember being in a fetal position. And I thought, ‘how did I get—how did I become this?’”
The night he hit rock bottom, David said he felt a supernatural power take over his body. “I just felt like I was being picked up off the floor. As I’m being picked up off the floor, and I didn’t realize it was happening, my desire to drink and smoke was gone, completely gone.”
After his experience, David dove into support groups and self-help efforts. But, it never seemed to be enough. At the age of 45, he started to think about God. “So for the first time in, (how many years is that? 32 years?) I walked into a synagogue and it felt awfully empty. And I didn’t want it to. I wanted to have this great encounter with the Almighty. And have Him embrace me at the front door and say, ‘welcome back, good to have you.’ And it was cold.”
David told a counselor about his experience at synagogue. And she took off her therapy hat and she put on her Christian hat, and she told me who Jesus is. And she told me what Jesus did for me. And that He died for me. And that His blood can wash away my sins, everything that I had done. I knew that I needed a Savior. And I fell to my knees, and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It was the most freeing moment of my entire life. I felt every burden off of me. I know that it was Jesus who delivered me in that closet. And it was Jesus who picked me up. It was Jesus who allowed me to have a new life. It was as freeing as if I had chains on my arms and legs and those chains were broken.”
As David started studying the Bible, going to church, and learning more about Jesus, his life started changing dramatically. “One of the very first verses that was unveiled to me was Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 29. ‘Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only such that is for the building up of others, that it may give grace to those who hear.’ How kind of God to give that to a guy who talks for a living. God unveiled women are His daughters, His creation, not for me. He was preparing me to have a different life, to have a new life, to have a transformed life.”
Today, David is remarried. He and his wife Leanna shared their first kiss at the altar and now co-host a Christian radio show. “(I have) a second chance that God has given me to speak truth and say, ‘hey, I did it this way for a long time. And I messed things up pretty bad. But here’s the truth of who God is; Jesus is Rescuer and Redeemer for me. And now Lord, Savior, Christ and King. He rescued me. And He redeemed my life. And anyone can have a transformed heart.”
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