From Hell to the Glory of God
by Timothy T. LaFond
My name is Timothy LaFond. I am from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am formerly from Farmington and Union Lake in the state of Michigan. I want to give my personal testimony on dying and going to hell. I want to share some of the facts and what happened and how I ended up being cast into "outer darkness."
I cried out! I screamed out with every ounce of muscle, "GOD HELP ME!"
That was January 27, 1977. The first 27 years of my life, I was raised in a Catholic home and attended 12 years of catholic schooling. One of my favorite nuns, Sister Maria Elizabeth told me that none of the other nuns or teachers liked me, except her. Well, with that said she was always my favorite and I had lot of respect for her, but the others meant nothing to me.
I graduated in 1968 and that summer I was introduced to Marijuana. That escalated into smoking hash, P.C.P., also called angel dust, T, H.C., Mescaline, and L.S.D. I loved to drink beer and wine along with the drugs.
In 1974 the company I worked for in Ohio went on Strike. The strike lasted until early fall. I did my one weeks duty on the picket line and then drove to my mothers' home on the Cheboygan River in Michigan for the remaining strike time.
One weekend, while doing L.S.D. I started hallucinating and got very paranoid. I normally would fish all night at the end of the dock while doing drugs. This particular night, I couldn't keep focused so I ended up in bed. I was scared and afraid that I was losing my mind. I remember asking God to let me keep my mind!
The following Friday, my mother said to me, "Last Saturday you were really drunk! I asked her why she would say that? She said, "About 3:30 I was up and went into your room. I was looking at you and couldn't tell if you were breathing or not. So I sat down on the side of your bed and I bent over you to see. Suddenly you grabbed me around the neck and started chocking me. I couldn't get away and the more I fought the harder you squeezed! I couldn't say anything! You just kept saying, "MOM, is that you? Mom is that you?" Finally you let me go. I was so out of breath that I passed out right next to you, until I could regain my breath and strength!"
Here, I have to say the words to this blessed song.
He lives, He Lives,
Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me, and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, Salvation to impart,
You ask me how I know he lives.
He lives within my heart!
Now I know that my family would never have forgiven me if God had not intervened that summer night. I was the youngest of seven children, and considered the Black Sheep of the family. I thank God, for that night was the last time I took Mescaline or L.S.D! To God Be the Glory!
For the next two years I would continue to smoke Pot. I also got dependent on speed or white crosses, and little did I know that God was bringing me closer to knowing Him and His Glory. Never to be the same person again! All my life I lived for me, for self, for parties, and all I did was sin, sin, sin, and sin. I later came to realize that God's Holy Spirit was guiding me even though I never knew Him! I was full of the devil!
JEREMIAH 29:13 says, "and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart"
Now let me tell you what happened on January 27, 1977.
On January 27,1977, I was living in Columbus, Ohio. My job was building fire trucks for Sutphen Fire Equipment Corporation in Dublin. I had been working there for about four years at that time. It was Friday about 2:30 in the afternoon, we were putting doors of fire trucks together, punching out the holes on the doors. We would do about 60 at a time, which would be about 3 or 4 trucks. Gill, a fellow employee and friend of mine, was picking up the doors and putting them into the punch machine. I would hold them at the top and line each one up on the press, then let go. He would push a button with his foot and the machine would punch out the hole.
The day was a typical cold, winter day and a pile of metal was brought in from outside the plant with snow all over it and of course the snow had melted, which left us standing in a pool of water. We weren't worried about it, otherwise we would have left and not worked there until the water dried up.
I would put my hand on the pile of metal, on one side of my body, up by my shoulder, and then take it off, and then put my hand on the machine. I would go back and forth like this all the while thinking that the machine was grounded, which it wasn't. This went on all morning, meanwhile the others in the plant were also busy doing the jobs they were assigned to. Some times the others would have their back to me and this is
what happened when Gill had walked away and two others guys that I had been talking to at other intervals had walked around the other side of the fire truck. Well, everyone had gone and I touched the metal and the machine with both hands at the same time. I became the conductor to be the ground. Electricity shot through me and it picked my feet right up off the ground contracting the muscles in my legs. I knew right away, that I was getting electrocuted. I was looking out into the shop from the platform that I was on and I could see everything going on as normal. No one knew that I was being electrocuted. Just to let you know my cardiologists couldn't believe that I made it through this because when you are standing in water it is ten times worse!
While I was getting electrocuted crucifixion style the electricity was flowing right through me, I saw my spirit leave my body. Instantly, I was in hell! At that time, I didn't know anything about the bible. I wasn't a religious person or a Christian and didn't know any Christians. I just know that I was cast into outer darkness. I heard the most horrifying, tormenting screams imaginable. I heard these time and time again, and although I never saw who was screaming, I, myself, would scream because of the fear of those frightening screams.
My sins were tormenting me while I was in hell, January 27, 1977. I saw my sins pass from my right to my left down to the age of five. Now here I am a young man of 27 years, seeing all my sins pass before me in living color. It was like watching a motion picture screen! I saw my very first sin committed at the age of 5. The sin of disobedience, and not honoring my mother and my father. My mother said, "I don't want you boys to eat those marshmallows. We are going to roast them over the fire in the back yard with the family tonight." Well, my mother caught my brother, Cliff, and I, hiding behind a stump, in our back yard in Farmington, Michigan, eating those marshmallows. This wasn't a sin of murder, or rape, or what ever the world considers a horrible sin, but a simple sin of disobedience. It was the last of a long line of sins shown to me. I saw sin, after sin, after sin. For every sin, there was a scream! Screams from me!
People have asked me, "How long were you there?" Well, it felt like eternity! It was that long! I couldn't tell you how long I was there, but I don't want to go back.
Besides the screaming there were also demons. Yes, there really are demons. Indescribable and most ugly things you had ever seen. They came up to me and taunted me. Yelling in my face, "We got you now!" Laughing at me saying, "We fooled you!"
"We fooled you!" "We got you now!" Followed by hideous laughter.
Now these things I am telling you took the Lord a few years to bring back to me. I have seen demons since in the real and spiritual life and by the grace of God I have cast them out. They are afraid of those of us who are Christian because of who is inside of us.
While I was there I realized there was no hope of every seeing God. I cried out to God during this time saying, "Oh God help me!" Again, "God, Help me!" One of the amazing things on my last scream, was my plea for God to help me. I felt Gods hand reach down and touch my shoulder. He is everywhere. In the bible you will read it. He is in Heaven, and earth and hell. He heard my plea. The right hand of the Lord touched me, I felt his fingers and thumb on my shoulder and He pulled me out of hell. He set me free from that electricity!
One of my fellow workers, Joe, who was a safety foreman in the shop and was about 150 or 200 feet from me, heard my scream. He didn't hear the words, "God help me!" As loud as I could scream, as if it was my last scream, fearfully. But what he did hear was, "The most horrible scream" he had ever heard in his whole life. He told me later. He said he asked people, " Who was it that screamed like that, and they told me it was you, Tim!" He asked me, "Why did you scream like that?" I told him, "that machine bit me, Joe! It electrocuted me..." Joe said, "Tim that was the most horrifying scream I have ever heard in my whole life. It was just like a scream out of hell!" See he didn't hear "God help me" He just heard the scream! I thank God for that.
The moment God touched my left shoulder; I saw my spirit come right back into my body like some one hit me in the chest! I came back alive and on the ground. My left knee hit the corner of a two wheeler cart and made the tires spin and propel the cart up in the air, as if a ghost had taken a ride on it, and hit the wall behind me.
I got up and was completely white, shaken, and numb for about 2 hours. I knew what had happened but couldn't tell anybody. I was taken to the hospital for 3 days. I had a major heart attack and numerous strokes after that and then lost my memory.
It is a very frightful thing to lose your memory. I remember going back to work and I got into a corner and Gill came up to me and ask what was the matter with me and I said "I can't remember, I can't remember what I am supposed to do, Gill" I was crying. I said, "I know I work here, but I can't remember what to do" He said, "Maybe we should go talk to the boss" Of course, my boss couldn't help me.
Well, later my neurologists said that most people do lose their memory when electrocuted. She told me that I only lost 30 million brain cells. Well, I only had 31! She scared the living daylights out of me, cause I really didn't know how many brain cells I had! She did tell me that I would get them back.
My back started to go out. My wife would leave for work and come home and say, "what did you do today?" I would cry and tell her that when she left the house, "I got up and locked the door and my back went out. I laid here on the floor until about 15 minutes ago. I couldn't get up! So for 8 1/2 hours I laid right there on the floor waiting for you to come home!" This would happen time and time again. Doctors of course would tell me that they had done all these test and could find nothing wrong with my back. I never knew when it would happen, but it seemed to happen often when my wife wasn't around.
I started having strokes. The Doctor would move the paper that read my heart rate on the EKG and he would take it 3 times a day. He would look at it and ask if I was
Ok. He did this often, and this also scared the daylights out of me. He was the top cardiologist in the state and he was puzzled about my condition. I was such an amazement to him that he told his staff that whenever I came into the office he wanted to see me right away. No matter if he was with a patient or not! I could walk into his office anytime and see him instantly! Sometimes after I left the Doctors office I would feel really bad. Really bad!
One day I looked at the Cardiologist and said, "Doc., If I was to tell you where I went you wouldn't believe it, and God brought me back!" I didn't have the presence of God in my heart so I couldn't tell him.
He said to me one time, "I am not a Christian but have you ever heard of a Christian? I have some friends that are and I told them all about you being electrocuted and that you should be dead. You are a miracle! Anyone who has had electric shock through his or her heart like you did at 10 times the voltage should be dead. The only way to bring them back is electricity that we know of.
Now I had electricity in me for four or five months after the shock. I found that out the first time I kissed my wife. We would shock each other when we touched! And it hurt! Now can you imagine? Every time you reach for your wife, you were shocked again! We got so we would touch each other at the same time to lessen the shock. It really wasn't as funny as it sounds. The electricity that came into me didn't come out. It could have come out my feet or hands. It could have even come out the top of my head. I was having all these strokes that hurt so bad and made me curl up into a fetal position. This is why the Doctor would see me whenever I was having these strokes. Of course, he couldn't do anything to help me.
I was in top physical condition at the time of this electrocution. I played on a baseball team that was 8th place in the state of Ohio. I taught scuba diving. I loved to scuba dive. But when this happened to me I wasn't interested in playing sports anymore. It didn't mean anything to me to go to the ocean and scuba dive and play with the sharks. I had a void in my life. I knew in my heart who saved me! I saw where I was headed! I saw eternity and met death and I didn't want to meet it again! I had met God but now I had no idea how to find him.
I would go out with my party friends and tell them that I wanted to find God. We would laugh about it, but I was serious! They would tell me to have another beer, or smoke another joint! I started asking my friends if I was going crazy, because I really wanted to find God! The only way they knew how to help me was to encourage me to get higher and forget it! They just didn't understand! I just kept saying, "I want to find God! I want to find God!" You would have thought that I really was going crazy! I cried, "I WANT TO FIND GOD!"
I hadn't found any help from my Doctors or old friends. Just encouraging words that I was all right, that my memory would come back, that my strokes would subside, that my heart was healthy. They only knew the physical heart. My friends only knew the
"old Tim". I WANTED TO FIND GOD! I WAS A SINNER WHO HAD DIED AND GONE TO HELL! I WAS LOST AND WITHOUT GOD!
I moved to Liberal, Kansas and went to school to become a diesel mechanic. I was also working in the oil fields and in a shop. Learning all the basics to becoming a mechanic.
One day in November I read an article about Anita Bryant coming to town to speak out against homosexuality, with Cecil Todd as the evangelist. I arranged for all my new friends, about 10 or 12 of us, to go see her and hear her preach out against homosexuality. I thought I was going to go and do some bashing of the homosexuals. I even went so far as to take a baseball bat. I didn't know what a Christian crusade was. I didn't know about all the beautiful music and songs that she was going to be singing. When we got to the stadium, my wife saw the bat in the back seat and said, "You don't need that!" Then she told me what we were going to see. You know, a lot of times, when you are a sinner, you want to sit way in the back. We sat all the way at the top of the stadium.
I had never heard Anita sing before. She was in the orange juice commercials, and this night she sang "Blessed Assurance". I had never heard that before and it was so beautiful. She also sang "Victory in Jesus", and, "How Great Thou Art" My heart was stirred! The songs were speaking to me, just as they do now when I hear them. She sang 8 or 10 more songs, but I only remember those three.
Then Cecil Todd got up and gave the message. I couldn't tell you what he said,
something about salvation and that Jesus saves. When he gave the altar call and told everyone who wanted, to come forward, I was the first one to get up. All I remember is that here was the God I have been searching for! I have wanted to find Him for the last 10 months! Finally going to a crusade, out of the blue, God led me to Him! I literally ran down those steep steps! I was told later from my friends, that I ran so fast down the stairs, they were worried I might trip! They even called out, "Don't let him fall!" I was on the second seat from the top! It looked like angels were carrying me, I flew that fast! I asked God to forgive me of my sins! Praise the Lord!
Nothing much else happened that night. I got home and grabbed the bible and started reading in John. I remember the words, " In the beginning, was the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God." I thought, "If only I would have known! If only some one could have told me! If only someone could have said, Hey Tim, read the bible. It's right there where you will find God!" I said, "Oh God. I have been looking for you everywhere for 10 months and here you were, in this Bible."
The Lord was really speaking to me. I read John, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Over and over again I read these books, for five to six years! I just was so thirsty for His Word!
People tell me what a wonderful testimony I have. "No." I reply. "I am just a sinner saved by Grace! Once I was lost but now I am found." Don't any of you ever say that! Your testimony is as good as mine. The Grace of God has saved you! He has
forgiven you! I am no different! I just took a harder road to get there! And God said this is a little hard cookie! We are going to take him a different way!
What I found out by reading the scriptures and kneeling down to praying and listening to God speak to my heart, is that He came in such a sweet way! Life has been much better then I could ever tell you. Much more glorious then I have ever dreamed possible. I never knew that giving my heart to the Lord would make such a difference!
Victorious is another word. Seek the Lord with your whole heart! "Search for me, and you will find me." it says in Jeremiah.
I found health! My strokes went away when I found Jesus! My memory came back to me when I found Jesus! It was even better then it was before! Remembering facts and figures and things! I started to memorize scripture. He helped me to remember! My back pain also went away! No more pain!
I found a Savior that took away all my strokes, back pain, brought back and restored my memory, enriched my life, and also took all my sins! He took all my sins and has forgiven me! It wasn't till about 4 years later that I could start talking about it to others!
In September of 1987, when I was at the Nazarene Bible College, I was in prayer and God came. He took me into another dimension and showed me the "lake of fire" and held me there! There were millions of people burning in the "lake of fire." Their bodies were whole but they were burning! It was awful! Horrifying! Screaming people! It was a fearful thing to see, but I was at peace, knowing that God had his hand on my shoulder. I didn't know what to think about that. So I just kept it in my thoughts and went to school the next day. After arriving home, I went again to the Lord in prayer, at 3:30 in the afternoon and he came again. This time he showed me the whole thing and showed me the edge of the lake of fire. There were people falling over the edge. People were right on the brink of the fire. He said to me, "You are going to pluck them out of hell. You are going to save them and pull them back over the edge with your testimony. You will get them before they go in."
There were hundreds of millions of them. What a fearful site! I remember writing it all down and asking, "Lord, where are all those people?" He told me they were all over the world. And I believe that in this day and age, God is going to use my testimony, and pluck them right back into existence and living for Jesus.
God has crowned me with many Victories and many precious friends throughout America. I have witnessed countless revivals, camp meetings, Holy Ghost Meetings, and the Salvation of souls. My testimony and the Joy of the Lord has blessed many. I write the words of friends, saints, and family members. "We haven't seen such power with God in years!"
In 1988, after completing my first year of Bible College, my brother, David, said to me, "I was always ashamed of you and what you had become, but today, I am really proud to call you my brother, and to see what God has done for you!"
After he was saved, my nieces husband, Dave Bills once said to me "I've seen 2000 lb. bombs explode in Vietnam, and saw what they could do, but today, I saw more power in one man than all the bombs dropped in Vietnam!" Praise God!
My wife and I went to a camp meeting in Henderson, North Carolina and went to a church while there, and the pastor asked me and my wife to speak and give our testimonies. I told them about me dying and going to hell. About 25 to 30 gave their hearts to the Lord that day, weeping and crying at the alter.
After the service, there was this elderly gentleman, in the back who motioned me to his side. He told me he was 68 years old. He said, "I have been a church member here for 30 years. I have been on the board for 20 years. Ten years ago I died! I am very influential in the church. I was in a car accident. I was put in a body bag. I died and went to hell! I didn't tell anyone, that I died and went to hell! I was ashamed to tell anyone that I was sent there. Here I was a grandfather of this church! But young man,
Oh young man! But young man, today when you gave your testimony, and gave an altar call and people came and were saved, I knew, I had been freed! I was bound by Satan. I couldn't tell my story! God sent you to free me! I said, "Oh God, I want to be like him. Set me free. Get me out of here so that I can tell my testimony!"
This is what told me that God had sent Celeste and myself to this church. Sure my wife and I praised the Lord for those 25-30 people who gave their hearts to the Lord that day. But this one Gentlemen, now he can go out and tell his story and be used by God for the saving of souls! Glory to God!
This is why God saved my soul, and sanctified me. I thank God for my soul and for my testimony to be used to save souls. Thank you Jesus! I Love the Lord today! He has set me free! Hallelujah!
I have gotten used to the family of God. I have learned to say, "I really love you." and to hug every brother and sister in Christ. My church family became my family away from family. I saw my Mother, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, friends and co-workers no longer as such, but as souls who were lost and dying and going to hell. So I have learned to pray and fast. Prayer is the key to heaven. Words are a mere expression of thought and nothing more. Believing is what really counts, but Faith unlocks the door.
My mother, on her death bed, five days before she died, said, "Jesus, I'm seventy-eight years old and dying. I don't know you like my little baby boy knows you!" She was saved on March 4, 1987 at 2:30 p.m. and many more have come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. GLORY TO GOD!
It is my hope God can use my testimony around the country, in America and in China, in the name of Jesus.
Father, we just thank you for your grace and mercy, for the cross of Christ, that God gave His son, so that we may have life. He is in the Heavens, and every part of our lives, if we just recognize it. Lord we pray today that you bless this as it goes out and touches lives. AMEN
Rev. Timothy T. LaFond
123 West Ohio
Fountain, Colorado 80817
Phone number: 1-719-382-8826
August 14, 2000