Pastor Prince, I was born in a Christian home, always loved going to church, and even got baptized. However, I went through depression in my teenage years. I did not know anything about the grace of God and nobody told me about how we are justified through faith alone in Christ.

I wanted to know more about Jesus, but what I heard from the pulpit did not bring me joy. I was taught in church to maintain a standard of “perfection” and often failed to do so. I was also taught that salvation is free but all the other blessings of God had to be earned. These teachings killed my spirit because I did not know what to do whenever I missed the mark. My heart and mind were always filled with sorrow and condemnation.

When a swine flu broke out in Brazil, many people died, causing panic. I was terrified! I did not know what to think, did not have a strong sense of God’s love and protection over my life, and was deceived by the enemy that I would die of this disease. This fear greatly affected my performance in school. Although I wasn’t sick, I felt so afraid that my body started showing symptoms of the disease! A doctor said they were caused by stress and worry.

In the same time period, I learned about the “unpardonable sin.” I was terrified thinking I had committed it and wondered why no one else seemed to be bothered by it. My thoughts started afflicting me. I could not think clearly and believed that God was angry with me.

Amazingly, God led me to worship Him through singing. I felt peace whenever I did so. However, my mind continued to be entrenched in wrong believing—I had no confidence in God’s love and was always focused on how I kept making mistakes. I believed God blamed me for everything that was wrong in my life, including the negative thoughts I had. As a result, I lived life nervous, stressed, and always felt like crap.

During a church retreat, a pastor told us to confess all our sins or we would end up in hell. From then on, I tried to confess all my sins and it was TERRIBLE! When I was playing football, studying, or in the movies, I would be confessing every bad thought in my mind. My friends avoided me, thinking I was weird and annoying. But I was really sincere in trying to get close to God. I got even more depressed and eventually started spending entire afternoons in my room with no courage to do anything else. My thoughts grew terrible and dirty, and I felt I was at the point of a nervous breakdown.

I asked my mother to bring me to a psychological aid center. I thought it was the end for me. At that time, she had begun watching your programs and she invited me to join her. Your messages on grace helped me feel better and they seemed too good to be true. I filled my mobile phone with your messages and spent hours listening to them—on the bus, at home, or in school. I also read your books, Destined To Reign and Unmerited Favor, in Portuguese. Since then, God has delivered me completely!

I have learned that I am the righteousness of God in Christ and that this can never change. Hallelujah! I began to devour the Bible. Now, I have peace and am freed from ALL the bad thoughts and self-condemnation that once destroyed me. Today, I do not feel sad or distressed. On the contrary, I am confident in God’s love and all the fear is gone! I live a totally fascinating life in Jesus today!

God has also opened doors for me—I graduated from the best university in the state with the course of my dreams, and got to take my (expensive) driver’s license course for free!

All these blessings are great, but truly, the greatest blessing is the freedom and peace from being justified by God through faith in Christ. I can’t express fully how grateful I am for having been freed from being a slave to sin and living a liberating life in Christ’s righteousness. Thank You, Jesus!

Thank you, Pastor Joseph Prince. Do not stop preaching the message of grace! God bless your life and your family. To Jesus be the glory forever. Hallelujah!