Personal Testimony

Born in 1935 my earliest memories are the German bombing of Bristol commencing in November 1940. The worst devastation was around the main central shopping area only a dozen exploding within half a mile of my home. There were also a lot of incendiaries, many of which did not ignite and us kids were given the job of putting them in buckets of sand or water.!! At that age there was no fear and my dad told me I once woke up in his arms one night being carried down to a garden Anderson shelter, saying "What is it dad, another air raid" and immediately going back to sleep. The adults were, of course, very concerned as the most the shelters would protect you from was flying debris.

My parents encouraged me to attend a local Church of England Sunday School and I accepted what I was taught. I looked upon God as a kind of spiritual Santa Claus who, when I died, would say to me "I know you are not perfect but you are not as bad as Joe Bloggs down the road, so I'll let you in to Heaven"! That basic belief remained with me until the age of sixteen and a half, when I was sitting in Kensington Baptist Chapel Bristol at a baptismal service. Suddenly I became very aware that I needed God to "sort me out". A youth leader saw my concern and spent a couple of hours taking me through the appropriate Bible passages and God opened my awareness of Him and I responded to His call, asking Jesus into my heart, surrendering control thereof to Him. That was the moment I was Born Again  as per 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

There was an instantaneous, visible change in my lifestyle. I was never particularly badly behaved but now I realised that was irrelevant to my spiritual condition. I became acutely God aware and set about learning as much as I could about Christianity, putting it into practice with the help of several Church leaders. Although I quickly acquired several new Christian friends, I maintained close contact with my previous friends, both at school and in my locality, who I made fully aware of my "conversion" and they respected my, polite, refusal to continue in practices which were contrary to my new beliefs.

I attended Bristol Grammar School, which had a high academic reputation and also an excellent sporting record, from the age of 11 (just scraping a scholarship), and attained the university entrance standard but, as in those days a university degree was not considered an advantage in many areas and I needed to start earning as soon as possible, did not seek such. I joined Barclays Bank and commenced my National Service in August 1953, serving in the Royal Army Pay Corps entirely within England, where I maintained a strong Christian witness and organised small meetings. I bought  a motorbike and managed to go home most weekends so maintaining a strong link with my Christian and other civilian friends. From the onset of my conversion I was convinced that sexual intercourse should be reserved for marriage and observed that through several, sometimes very close, girlfriends, one of whom I would much have liked to marry but she was not of the same opinion, and I eventually married at the age of 25. Over the years, I was moved by the Bank to various locations, Bedminster Bristol, Henleaze Bristol, Westbury Wilts, Gloucester main branch, Cheltenham, Barton Street Gloucester, and finally Chippenham  Wilts.  In each of those locations I made my Christian beliefs clear and attended both Baptist, Open Brethren and Free Church Assemblies.  We had one daughter then one son, but experienced difficult times with each. Eventually, the pressure greatly affected our marriage and it became very clear that the marriage was in danger. That period lasted a further 10 years when I realised there was no prospect of recovery and we separated, divorcing several years later.

By November 1973 I had reached the position as the second manager (designation "Manager's Assistant") in a largish branch and had a secured lending  discretion of £50000, which put me in a position of helping many people  in both business and personal matters, really enjoying my work. However by November 1971  I had become frustrated by the  way the Bank was changing it's direction and, after investigating the prospect of another career, resigned.  That caused a bit of a furore as they had never had a manager in my position resign before.  I set up in business of my own as a Financial Planner. Within a year my business expanded, eventually having offices in 8 separate locations, with12 office staff and 40 salesmen. For a while the business prospered, concentrating largely on the development of legitimate tax planning arrangements. Unfortunately, this gave me my first experience of the tricks the Establishment used to foil claims considered "dangerous" and I experienced a large number of delaying tactics at the hands of the Special Commissioners for Tax. But that is another story. The end result was that my business had to bear enormous costs in the process, which took over 4 years.

I changed the direction of the activities of the business slightly and it took on the nature of a small Merchant Bank, heavily involved in the finance and development of business property. and although it grew considerably, I was much better at personal involvement with clients than supervising staff.   I took on partnership type associations and provided a central technical service, leaving most administration to others.

Throughout all this time, my faith and trust in God was growing and I was heavily involved in evangelical Christian matters, being of practical help whenever the Lord enabled.

Suddenly, serious business problems began to emerge.  In 1985 I was approached by an Austrian based businessman who required large funding for a project to acquire a Belgian oil refinery which was experiencing financial problems associated with the economics of disposing of waste products. His solution was to convert the waste sludge into an environmentally acceptable burnable state which could then be profitably sold. I thoroughly examined the technique, obtaining an independent scientific report on the project. It seemed OK and, as the amount required was way beyond my capacity I contacted an American group which took a favorable view but required further financial reports on various aspects. This I proceeded to arrange and meanwhile personally provided funds to tide the Austrian over but the he became impatient and, totally independently of me, made a temporary arrangement to obtain the loan required, US$10,000,000.  He did this with the help of his Belgian accountant and told me when he had succeeded. He phoned me and told me of his success and invited me to join him in Germany and he would offer me the position of financial Director of the new venture. He told me that he and his accountant had received a bank draft for the $10,000,000 and had deposited it at Bank International Luxemburg, who electronically checked it and gave him a cashable draft for $1,000,000,  I must admit that at that stage I did not believe him but he asked me to make the matter top priority and agreed to pay me £50,000 provided I joined him immediately, as he wished to set up contacts and financial arrangements in Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. We spent a week doing that and finished up at the International Bank of Luxembourg where the manager dealing with the matter assured me that the draft was definitely genuine and that the $10,000,000 was guaranteed and fully cleared in the account. I returned home   and cleared a few outstanding matters in my personal business before travelling to Germany to meet the Austrian, only to find he had been detained in Belgium accused of handling forged bank drafts. As I knew that the draft had been confirmed cleared I contacted the Belgian police and arranged to fly to Brussels and give evidence. This I did but to my amazement, I was arrested and detained in prison for 3 months. Apparently, the Belgian police considered I was the most intelligent person they had found in their investigation so I must have been the organiser!!!!  The resultant publication of my arrest resulted in the immediate collapse of my business. I was released after 3 months but no apology has ever been made by the Belgian authorities. That was in 1990.The collapse of my business resulted in many assets being sold at substantial losses and a lot of clients lost money. I could do nothing about it as I also lost everything I owned.  In spite of the receivers  stating it was not a criminal matter, I did face a criminal trial which dismissed all charges against me.  I did make several attempts to establish a successful business in the hope of repaying those who had lost funds, but was unsuccessful. 

Before my Belgian problems, the husband of a lady I was friendly with in my teens died and I subsequently re-established contact with her. After several months we decided to live together, treating our relationship as a fully binding marriage, legally marrying in June 2000, probably the happiest day of my life because she wanted to fully identify with me.  Unfortunately, 2 years later she developed hip problems and had a hip replacement, which was very successful and she recovered within a year.  However, the experience changed her attitude to me and our physical relationship was never restored. I tried my hardest to  help her and make myself as attractive (weight loss etc) as possible, but with no success.. She did give me reasons but I did not believe them. We embarked on a new house building product but were cheated by a supposed Christian,  (I do not believe a Christian can hold a Bible and promise to tell the truth, and then blatantly lie as one of the commandments contains "I will not hold him guiltless who takes My name in vain" and we are ONLY a Christian when God does hold us guiltless). We ran into financial problems when we we lost the case (the judge was dishonest, preferring his Free Mason links with the person who lied, rather than his oath to uphold justice) and although at an intermediate hearing a Lord Justice clearly saw the truth and authorised us to make a full appeal) we eventually ran out of funds and had to come to an unsatisfactory settlement which eventually resulted in our losing both our houses and becoming totally insolvent. Regrettably, I decided not to wait for the Lord to act and took matters into my own hands.  I submitted false VAT returns in a fruitless attempt to solve the legal position, without success. I was eventually caught and received, at age 83 with severe mobility problems, a 2 year 10 month prison sentence, serving 14 months before release on license. My wife abandoned me (I have since divorced her) and only one of my friends maintained contact with me. I served most of my sentence in Leyhill open prison and had an amazingly beneficial time there.  Shortly after first being jailed, I asked God to take me through my life and convict me of any unconfessed sin. He did this over a period of several months and I sought forgiveness as and when each conviction of sin emerged. From the beginning of that process I experienced a greater sense of peace than I have known for many decades and that peace remains to this day. The full story of my crime did not emerge in court but I fully acknowledge my sole responsibility for that offence and I rest in Gods provision

 1Co 6:9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 

1Co 6:10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 

1Co 6:11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 

 .

I am also fully content to leave the justice of the matter in God's hands.

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 

I genuinely pity those who have wronged me and have prayed for their enlightenment. I have no authority to forgive nor judge their actions (only God can do that) but I do pray that He will not hold to their charge any damage they may have done to me. (In accordance with 

Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 

Act 7:60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. )

I lost  virtually all my items of value  and my available funds fell to below £50 , but God is fully providing for my needs as my expenses are well below my state pension and pension credit/attendance allowance payments and I am actually able to save about  £50. per week as I am teatotal,  control my food intake and take no holday trips.

I praise God for His provision and for bringing me to this position.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

Shortly prior to my release from prison, my first wife with whom I had kept in contact through our children, developed terminal cancer and needed a carer. As neither of our children could devote the necessary time, I took on the position. Although my age and mobility problems were restrictive, I managed all the main cooking, dish washing and car driving. I was also present 24 hours per day in the event of emergencies. She was told she had between 3 months and a year to live and her treatment was for palliative purposes. However,  I believe  I am here in accordance with God's will and, by His grace, will see this matter through.  She actually survived for nearly 3 years and passed away on 26/07/2022.  Shortly before that, she did clearly recover/attain a saving faith in God which renders all my apparent misfortunes fully acceptable.  I wait to see what events await me, my faith securely anchored in God's loving care.

It is now 12 months since the lady I was caring for died. During that time, The Lord has abundantly provided for my needs and I now live in a self contained bed sit in Clevedon.  I am amazed at the completeness of The Lord's provision during that time.  I have experienced the practicality of 

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 

and

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

and

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.