Posted on 04/20/2025 5:54:01 AM PDT by vespa300
They called me Sammy the Bull. Yeah, that Sammy. I ran with the streets, led one of the most powerful crime families in America… but none of that gave me true peace 🕊️.
I always believed in God but this time, it was different. This time, I surrendered ✝️.
From the shadows of organized crime to stepping into the waters of baptism, my journey is one of redemption, hope, and God’s relentless love. In this powerful testimony, I open up about the pain, the struggle, the doubts, and the moment everything changed.
If you’re searching for hope… if you feel too far gone… I promise you—you’re not. 🙌 God’s grace is BIGGER than your past. I’m living proof. 💯
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Facing the ultimate prison....
They all wake up and realize how terrible they had been. Most of them.
>>>Facing the ultimate prison....
They all wake up and realize how terrible they had been. Most of them.>>>>
Well, according to the Bible, we are all evil. There is non righteous, no not one. Jesus himself calls us evil. Matthew 7:11.
The closer a person gets to Christ, the more he sees how bad he is. Billy Graham used to say that and it’s true. Paul said he was the chief of sinners.
Only Christ is good. As he told the rich young ruler.....Only God is good. Glad Sammy found redemption. God now considers him to be perfect as if he never sinned. Romans 3:22......he has the righteousness of God credited to him. He is accounted perfect. Declared perfect.
I tell people.....don’t think you don’t have to be perfect to get to heaven. You can’t have ever committed a single sin in thought word or deed. Not a second of sin. Ever.
So that’s the bad news because I’ve already ruined that this morning. But the good news is.....the perfection of Christ is imputed to me. Now. And as I abide in him....I have it.
That is why gospel means “good news.” The reformer Tyndale said the book of Romans is such good news...it makes a man’s heart to sing and his feet to dance for joy. Look at the face on Sammy as he comes up out of the water.
He is no longer guilty of a single sin. Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We are all wretches. Amen.
Good for him. In Catholic Church teaching my understanding is there’ll be som considerable time and reparations in purgatory in a case like this
Fr Groeschel said that, yes, even a mafia hit man can confess and convert in confession if he has time in the end and makes a good confession to a priest in the sacrament
He knew of some such cases. He was from jersey city.
He added that of course he did not recommend this manner of conversion, recommending a life of conversion - now I’m paraphrasing hi- and not taking a chance on not having time for confession before a sudden death
“They all wake up and realize how terrible they had been”
I don’t think this is so
He’s still a murdering scumbag that belongs in hell. Some sins can’t be washed away. Shouldn’t be.
When God and I have a disagreement, as we do here, He is right and I am wrong, every time. 😸
If scumbags like Sammy the Bull can get salvation it has no value. He is personified evil.
>>>He’s still a murdering scumbag that belongs in hell. Some sins can’t be washed away. Shouldn’t be.>>>
You mean like David who committed adultery with a man’s wife then had that man killed? God later called him the apple of my eye. David wrote the Pslams where he revealed his great sin and his remorse.
Jesus said there is no sin he will not forgive except a sin against the Holy Spirit. And that’s because the Holy Spirit draws us to Christ. So when we reject Christ, that’s the unpardonable sin.
Here’s a text you may want to consider. I am a protestant so the Bible is my sole authority.
Mark 3:28-29
The Unpardonable Sin
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—
No offense, but I am glad that the God I worship follows His rules, not discostu's.
My level of 'holiness' does not vary much from Sammy's, not from God's perspective.
“If scumbags like Sammy the Bull can get salvation it has no value.”
And if God can’t forgive and save scumbags, He has no power.
final impenitence
not a good look
>>>>Good for him. In Catholic Church teaching my understanding is there’ll be som considerable time and reparations in purgatory in a case like this
Fr Groeschel said that, yes, even a mafia hit man can confess and convert in confession if he has time in the end and makes a good confession to a priest in the sacrament
He knew of some such cases. He was from jersey city.
He added that of course he did not recommend this manner of conversion, recommending a life of conversion - now I’m paraphrasing hi- and not taking a chance on not having time for confession before a sudden death>>>
With all due respect, as a Protestant , I pretty much disagree with everything above. The cross was sufficient enough to pay for any sin and all sins and I don’t confess to any human being. Only to God. The Bible says Jesus is my mediator. We read that in Hebrews.
Yes, I disagree with much of Roman Catholic theology and certainly on how a person is saved. But I respect individuals and I admire individual Catholics and their faith and commitment.
We can agree to disagree. God bless.
Like Paul who murdered Christians?
>>>final impenitence
not a good look>>>
I don’t know, that thief on the cross got in just in the nick of time. Heaven was the last thing he stole and Christ was happy to give it to him. When I see him in heaven...I’m going tell him how much hope he gave people...and joke with him...”dude, you barely got in huh?” Wow....close call. His buddy won’t be there.
It’s amazing to me how many Christians still don’t get the grace of God. He saves the guttermost to the utter most. Just amazing how many don’t seem to grasp how good God is and how bad we are.
>>>Like Paul who murdered Christians?>>>
Paul held the coats of those who were stoning Stephen. Cheering them on. He persecuted the Christians. And then look what God did with Paul.
Amen brother...amen.
...and St. Paul on the road to Damascus?
Rejoice, Sammy the Prodigal Son has returned.
Christ came for the lost. It is Amazing Grace. Christ is the shepherd who leaves the ninety nine for the one lost. The author of the song Amazing Grace, John Newton, was a slave trader. The Apostle Paul hunted and killed Christians. God’s Grace is Amazing, it saved a wretch like me.
>>>Rejoice, Sammy the Prodigal Son has returned.>>
The Bible says all heaven rejoice when one sinner turns to God and repents.
Prisons are filled with men who committed the host heinous crimes and have been born again and will be in heaven.
We are all Barrabas.....a very bad man. A guilty man. Set free while an innocent took his place in the judgement. We are all Barrabbas.
David berkowitz, (th3 son of sam mass murderer) is also saved and leads bible studies in prison and has been able to lead others to christ too. He fully acknowledged that his punishment shou,d be death, butsince they won’t put him to death he has decided to give his time to the lord in prison. He knows he’s never getting out, and doesn’t want to. God can reach even hardened mass murderers. Carla fay tucker was another who accepted christ- she was put to death, but went in peace- quite the radical change from when she was first arrested and imprisoned- like night and day change. I beleive even Jeffrey Dahmer who was beaten to death I. Prison might have gotten saved before his death. Though he was a weird one- he did do a video begging people not to get caught up in porn like he did- he spoke about how it fueled his inner demons until it became an obsession with him- and he eventually stepped over the line because porn
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