The Becker Baptist youth group (Momentum) had a very special guest speaker show up to give their testimony during last week’s regular activities at “The Hub”.

 

Pastor Brian Cole of Faith Free Church in Stanley, WI, paid an exuberant visit to Becker Baptist to explain his childhood, his life of addictions and crime and his newfound walk with God.

 

Youth Pastor Kevin Drehmel had seen a live testimony of Cole’s a short while ago and wondered if his story would benefit his young group of kids.

 

After last Wednesday’s talk, there’s no doubt Cole’s attestation pierced the souls of young and old alike.

 

The Hub is a home owned by Becker Baptist Church and it is utilized by the church’s youth program called Momentum. They open their doors to area youth every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. for youths to participate in games, sports, grab a bite to eat and worship.

 

To begin the night, Cole pronounced that by him telling his testimony, it’s purpose was not to shine a light on him — but to shine a light on Jesus Christ.

 

“Everything started for me when I was 10-years-old,” he said to the eager crowd of about 75 people. “I’m telling you I was bullied and abused as a kid and forced for years to go to a Lutheran Church.”

 

Cole, 49, also said he had faced years of physical and mental abuse from his father.

 

“By the time I reached 10 years old, I had had it,” he said. “I didn’t want to be in school, didn’t want to be at home and didn’t want to be at that church my parents went to.”

 

Cole said it was at that time he met up and started hanging with a group of older kids. He saw it as acceptance and just about anything they offered him or asked him to do, he would say, “sure”.

 

“That’s how the devil hooked me,” he said. “From cigarettes to marijuana to worse drugs and then to committing crimes.”

 

Cole said he became a satanist with the group and they would break into Christian churches and steal their communion sacraments and use the bread and wine to conduct their own satanic rituals.

 

“By the time I was 14, I was already heavily into satanism and thoroughly despised Christians,” he said. “I was into drugs, porn, sex, Dungeons and Dragons and all kinds of bad stuff before I even reached my 14th birthday.”

 

Cole explained that he went on to spend 27 years in prison for many of his iniquities, four as a juvenile. He said he spent 33 years of his life following the satanic cult, 25 years as a drug addict and even committed murder when he shot a man who was harassing his girl.

 

“In 2007, I got out of prison, but right away started smoking meth again,” he said. “Soon thereafter, a friend of mine died and two days later I lost my job, my house, my car and all desire to live.”

 

Cole said he tried several times to kill himself but found out he was too much of a coward to go through with it. 

 

One night, he got so wasted he fell down and passed out in a cold snowbank on a crisp night.

 

“By the grace of God, my brother found me and saved my life,” he said. “I almost died right there.”

 

He was 44 at this time and by the time he woke from his foggy mind, he realized he was looking at the possibility of spending even more significant years in jail.

 

“After the fog lifted in my mind, I finally came to myself and told myself, ‘something’s gotta change,’” Brian said. “I had to quit drugs so I decided to go to an AA program but couldn’t find anything that wasn’t faith-based.”

 

Brian said when he arrived for the first session, he proclaimed he wasn’t there to get religion or anything so “don’t try and push your Christianity on me.”

 

Brian still had a deep hatred for the Christian faith and all its followers.

 

Brian’s program director told him that in order to do the worksheets and homework, he had to have a Bible to fill in the blanks.

 

So reluctantly, he stole a small, Gideon Bible from the jail library and hid it in his cell.

 

Through the providence of God, Brian opened that Bible to Psalm 51:7 where it says, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

 

“That hit me hard because those are the exact words we would use for cleansing in the rituals of Satanism,” Brian told the audience.

 

Brian said it was at that moment when the truth started sinking in.

 

“I went from me filling in the blanks to my blanks being filled,” he said.

 

He visited the prison Pastor and told him he wanted to accept Christ as his savior, but he felt too ashamed for all the wrongs he had done. The pastor recited Psalm 103:12 where it says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

 

The pastor told Brian all he needed to do was repent and ask God into his life.

 

So he did, at that moment.

 

“I started reading other books like Lee Strobel’s A Case for Christ, which had a huge impact on me,” Brian said. “Then I read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and that renewed me as well.”

 

Brian, though, still struggled with the acceptance of God’s forgiveness for all his wrongdoings. But by the time he was ready to shed the darkness of jail, he was walking with a new purpose.

 

“The devil used, abused me and Jesus came and took me and put a new passion in my heart,” Cole said. “God didn’t necessarily change who I was as a person, but He changed who He now wants me to be.”

 

Cole went on to warn the youths at the event that social media can be a very bad tool for the devil and he asked them all to be very, very careful. He tenderly yet boldly challenged the kids to bring their woes, worries and sinful thoughts and actions to a pastor or parent to get right with God.

 

“Are any of you brokenhearted?” Brian asked the group though not asking for a show of hands. “If you are, look to Psalm 34:18 where it says, ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

 

Cole concluded his testimony and gave away free books, DVDs, reference material and pamphlets on his walk with God and other resources he recommends. His image — a stocky, short man with tattoos, a mohawk haircut, a biker jacket with patches and a grey goatee are all part of his character that appeals to listeners of all ages. 

 

His outer likeness depicts a crust of hardness and toughness. 

 

His inner self is all marshmallows.

 

Brian Cole is married (Marsha) and they have three children (Lance, Dylan and Isaiah). He is in his fourth and final year of seminary and is a certified drug and alcohol counselor. He has over 200 diplomas and certificates in Bible studies, anger management classes, leadership training, CGIP and parenting education. 

 

Brian is also certified through the Free Church of America as a pastor and serves as the Faith Free Outreach and Youth Pastor.