We received the following email from a brother in South Africa who especially enjoys the Letters From Prisoners articles we regularly post on this website.

God Bless You

I was released from prison 1998 after a fellow inmate introduced me to the prophet’s Message. I believe it to be God's mind for this age. No one will ever get me to believe otherwise. I was born and raised in a Catholic home, then became a Muslim because it looked better than the Catholics. During my prison sentence I met Bro. Jacob, also from South Africa, who received the Message also in prison, and who studied it with me. No one will ever be able to stop what God started. God set this fire alight and we should just keep it burning.

We then contacted Brother Gershwin and asked him if he would give us permission to post his testimony on this website. He wholeheartedly agreed on the condition that it would be for the glory of God and a blessing to the Bride of Christ. At our request, he also added to his testimony.

I was born in South Africa in 1972, April 4. Both my parents are now late. My family name is like a gang name in the place I grew up. We where very poor but God looked after us always. My dad had a alcohol problem and later my mom followed. I had to go out as the eldest of my brothers and sisters to get money. I left school at grade 7 and started dealing drugs.

I got into gangsterism at the age of 17. My first charge against me was assault and so was the second. Then it started as a group. I got married at the age of 21, but had a lot of court cases against me. I was sentenced 1995, May 4, to 6 years in prison. That’s when I realized that somehow I had to stop. I was one of the people that was under the impression the world belongs to me.

I told my mom and dad that they did not send me there, so they should look after my other brothers and sisters. In prison I joined a gang, became a Muslim, and later became friends with Bro. Jacob, who took me to one side and started studying the Scriptures with me.

I was surprised because he knew so much and yet being an uneducated person. I started reading Bro. Branham's books and I understood he was an uneducated man, but knew so much about history that even historians didn’t know. The first book I read was Marriage and Divorce.

Out of prison I got a job a couple of weeks after my release, where I am still working. I went to a church that I knew was a follower of the Message only to find out they were not what I expected. I gave up because it was just not to my expectation.

We traveled in a mini bus for transportation, and the driver who drove us to work told us that we should start reading the Bible in the morning. I used to speak the little I knew to the Pentecostal people at work. To them I knew the Bible.

One day the driver was encouraging us, and he said things that did not make sense to them. So they ask me if he was speaking the truth, and as he stopped, I continued. Just as I was about to get out of the bus, he stopped me and asked how I knew those things. I told him, “Let me be honest with you. I know people don’t like the man, but I believe with my whole heart in the Message of Bro. Branham.”

He than started to tell me that he is also a follower of the same. So he invited me to their church. I was baptized later that year in the same church.

My parents belonged to the Old Apostle Church just before my dad died. They came one day when he was sick, after I convinced him that Jesus Christ is Lord. They came to give him communion, and just as they left, I called them back to say, “You’re not finished.” So I took a bucket and started washing his feet. My prayer was, “Lord as I’m cleaning my dad’s feet, Thou clean his body.” Thirty minutes later my dad died. My mom was baptized the following year in the Name of the Lord.

Please pray for us as we are still going through hard times. The past is always haunting me.

God Bless You
You brother in Christ,
Gershwin