This summer, I met a fellow named Darrin by a poolside in Wilmington, North Carolina. Darrin had long hair and lots of tattoos so, before I introduced myself, I already knew he’d be a good conversationalist. I wanted to ask him whether it was possible to get sunburned through his tattoos or whether he needed to put suntan lotion on top of them. But it was getting late so we decided to talk about God, Satan, and salvation.
Darrin told me he had gotten saved when he was 13 years old. But things didn’t work out for him after his salvation. He went astray and eventually joined a satanic cult and started getting lots of satanic jewelry to go along with the tattoos. His commitment to Satan lasted far longer than his commitment to Jesus – 24 years to be exact.
Some folks may think that joining a satanic cult and worshipping the devil is about as low as one can fall – especially after one has supposedly made a lifetime commitment to Jesus. But it isn’t. Darrin’s life proves that one can fall much further.
Although he had spent years as a worshipper of Satan waking up with no desire to live, Darrin never really came close to killing himself – that is, until he finally hit rock bottom. In his case, it was a pending felony drug conviction that nearly pushed him over the edge, quite literally.
After he lost his job and his wife and his home, Darrin had nothing left but his commitment to Satan. And so he made a decision to end his life. He was certain that he was going to prison but he refused to let it happen there. He thought to himself “If I’m going to die, I might as well die someplace beautiful.” So he bought a one-way ticket to New Hampshire.
After he arrived, Darrin went for a long walk in the beautiful New Hampshire countryside before stopping in the middle of a bridge overlooking a river. As he looked down over the water he cried out to the one he worshipped. He said that he heard the voice of Satan responding by asking him to just go ahead and do it. Darrin knew that he was headed for death but just needed some time to figure out how he was going to give his life to Satan forever.
But before he acted, Darrin said he heard another voice – one that he now describes as the voice of God. It simply commanded him with two simple words to “Get up.”
And he did.
Darrin got up and walked through the New Hampshire countryside for two or three miles until he saw a little church that was standing on a hill. There was a man standing in the doorway of the church working on a stained glass window when he saw Darrin walking up the path towards him. It was the pastor of the small church. And he asked Darrin if he could help him. Darrin said that indeed he had come needing someone to talk to him.
And he just laid it all out for the preacher to hear. From the devil worship to the drugs he told his story to a pastor who refused to offer any condemnation. After he was finished spilling his guts and crying out for help, the pastor invited him to church that evening.
And he went.
I don’t have to tell you that Darrin made it back from New Hampshire alive. Otherwise, we would not have met this summer by a poolside in North Carolina. But I neglected to tell you that Darrin was soaking wet throughout our conversation because my friend Mike had just dunked him in the pool.
Just before Mike baptized Darrin he read a little statement from our born-again-again friend. The statement said that he never really thought during those lowest points of his life that God could have any love for – much less any use for – someone like him. But I think we all know how he is being used today.
It wasn’t really that long ago that Darrin’s neck and wrists and fingers with covered with satanic jewelry. But today a cross hangs around his neck as he goes walking through the world with a glowing smile upon his face.
I can’t help but wonder how many times conservative Christians like me see a man covered in tattoos wearing a cross and think to ourselves “why is he wearing that cross?” We do ourselves a great disservice when we fail to see God in the eyes of those who do not look or act or dress like we do.
I was glad I got up to go introduce myself so I could hear more from Darrin about his walk with God. Like countless others now hearing his wonderful story, I’m really happy that Darrin got up, too.
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Mike S. Adams was born in Columbus, Mississippi on October 30, 1964. While a student at Clear Lake High School in Houston, TX, his team won the state 5A soccer championship. Mike Adams graduated from C.L.H.S. in 1983 with a 1.8 GPA. Mike Adams was ranked 734 among a class of 740, largely as a result of flunking English all four years of high school. After obtaining an Associate's degree in psychology from San Jacinto College, Mike Adams moved on to Mississippi State University where he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. While living in the fraternity house, his GPA rose to 3.4, allowing him to finish his B.A., and then to pursue a Master's in Psychology. In 1990, Mike Adams turned down a chance to pursue a PhD in psychology from the University of Georgia, opting instead to remain at Mississippi State to study Sociology/Criminology. This decision was made entirely on the basis of his reluctance to quit his night job as member of a musical duo. Playing music in bars and at fraternity parties and weddings financed his education. Mike Adams also played for free beer.
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Upon getting his doctorate in 1993, Adams, then an atheist and a Democrat, was hired by UNC-Wilmington to teach in the criminal justice program. A few years later, Adams abandoned his atheism and also became a Republican. He also nearly abandoned teaching when he took a one-year leave of absence to study law at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998. After returning to teach at UNC-Wilmington, Adams won the Faculty Member of the Year award (issued by the Office of the Dean of Students) for the second time in 2000.
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After his involvement in a well publicized free speech controversy in the wake of the 911 terror attacks, Adams became a vocal critic of the diversity movement in academia. After making appearances on shows like Hannity and Colmes, the O'Reilly Factor, and Scarborough Country, Adams was asked to write a column for Townhall.com.
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Today Mike Adams enjoys the privilege of expressing himself both as a teacher and a writer. Mike Adams is also an avid hunter and reader of classic literature. Mike Adams published his first book, Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel, in 2004. His second book, Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts "Womyn" On Campus, was published in 2008.
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