Charles' New Testimony Story

My parents took me to church from birth until I was off to college. My friend Ernie and I took our dates to church on Sunday morning. One date even asked the Pastor to lead me to Christ after the service. We had just spent the night together.

I had every opportunity to receive Christ, but "it" never took, because the Holy Spirit is not an "it". In all my churchgoing, I never experienced His presence. I didn't know the Holy Spirit was a Person, Who wanted to satisfy the desires of my heart.

After the crimes, I became more open to God, but I was still blinded by pride and lust, not knowing what direction to turn. When I got off death row in San Quentin in 1972, Hinduism was presented to me, but still, "it" didn't seem real. I was seeking a reality, the truth, even a God presence that had alluded me all my life.

I needed the power of God to break the sin in my life and convict me of my unbelief, not a religion. I was transferred to the California Men's Colony, where I tried to fill the void in my heart with rock 'n roll, hobbies, visiting the ladies and working for the psych's, but nothing gave me the love and acceptance that I was seeking.

The Lord was preparing me to experience the glory of His presence. In early 1975, Christians from all directions began to share the Good News with me. I overheard a lady in the visiting room sharing John 3:16 with a fellow prisoner. I had memorized it in Vacation Bible School, so I turned to my visitor and said, "God did so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

My visitor who had had a bad relationship with a priest, said: "You don't believe that!" I said: "I do!" She told me of her painful experience that kept her from believing, but I was good ground. Later that day, I heard that same lady sharing more about Jesus by the vending machines, watering the seed.

Then, my mother contacted a musician she saw on the 700 Club named Chico Holiday. She asked him to visit me since he lived in California. He came and shared the Gospel with me, but I didn't receive. So, she asked a radio prison minister named Chaplain Ray to visit. He came and told me about Bruce Davis being saved, who shared the Gospel with Susan Atkins, who got saved too. I still didn't receive.

As a result, the prison chaplain asked a Christian brother in the building to invite me to Sunday services during Lent. It wasn't long until I was going on Thursday nights as well. After a couple of months, there was a weeklong revival where I accepted Christ on May 23, 1975. On the last night of the revival, I barely raised my hand as Reverend Divito gave the altar call, when an usher named Mel saw it and took me by the arm to the altar.

I knelt there that night with Reverend Divito and prayed the sinner's prayer when the power of the Holy Spirit baptized me in His Love. I went back to my room, looked in the mirror, and I was glowing in the Spirit. I said to myself, "This is ten times better than drugs!" Later, I found in Daniel 1:20 that he and his brothers were found to be ten times better in wisdom and understanding by the king than all the magicians and astrologers.

My parents were ecstatic to say the least. Once a year, we would have a five-day family visit in a trailer overnight where we sang and shared Scriptures for hours. Through all the emotional pain I had caused, they had grabbed onto God with all their heart to pull them through the grieving process.

The Chaplain asked me to become a part of his eight-man staff, which I did with my clerical skill, but God had greater plans for me. Within two years, I had become an usher, deacon and a student chaplain, teaching and preaching. In 1979, I was married, and my wife and I founded Abounding Love Ministries in 1980. I became an ordained minister in 1981, having grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The best was yet to come, being seen through the eye of faith, and accompanied by many trials and tribulations of ministry and prison marriage through the '80s. In 1993, we moved to a prison in Northern California and with the Lord's help, we would continue to raise our children and minister to thousands in prison and people around the world by mail.

In 1997, aboundinglove.org came to pass early in the internet world. We were able to place most of our materials on the website before my wife divorced me in 2003, so the ministry could continue strong online. We've remained friends all these years as parents to our children.

For over two decades, I carried out a prison ministry with the chaplains of a Northern California prison, teaching, preaching and establishing and overseeing a Christian 12 Step ministry until 2017, when I moved to San Diego.

For the past decade, my ministry has simply been one-on-one, giving most of my energy online. In 2023, the Lord made the way to digitize my messages given from 1977-1984 for our podcast. But this didn't complete our online presence, which is now on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok with the help of friends and family.

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.

"For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:33, 36, NKJV).

Charles D. Watson
www.aboundinglove.org