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David Charles Craley
When I was twelve years old, I loved to listen to a Sunday evening radio broadcast entitled The Master Speaks. I’d lay in bed thinking about school the next day, and then I’d hear the narrator say:...view moreWhen I was twelve years old, I loved to listen to a Sunday evening radio broadcast entitled The Master Speaks. I’d lay in bed thinking about school the next day, and then I’d hear the narrator say: “Come with us to the hillsides of Galilee. The people have gathered there to hear the Master.” Then the narrator would say: “Listen! The Master speaks.” And I’d picture Jesus standing in the sun by the seaside. And in a deep reassuring voice He’d begin to speak intriguing words that always touched my heart: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Sometimes it seemed like He was speaking to me face to face. It was during one of those Sunday evenings listening to the Master speak that I gave my heart to Jesus and confessed Him as my Lord and Savior. I believe I was baptized in holy spirit at that time but, of course, I did not even realize it.
Throughout high school and college, occasionally I would seek out Bible study groups, but mostly I was out of touch with Jesus until many years later. Those years of wandering and how I kept searching for the “light” in all the wrong places—including hallucinogenic drugs and Eastern religions—are revealed in my first book--The Hope of Glory: In Search of the Light-- published in 1979. The truth is, I had become a drug addict at that time in my life—obsessed with seeking a return to the hallucinogenic ecstasy of the “Clear Light of the Void” and the Buddha state of mind that the “sacrament” of mescaline powder induced for me. In time I became borderline schizophrenic—longing for the enchanting experience of the counterfeit “light” of drug-induced Nirvana and yet having to make a living in an uncaring world. After months of sorrow and yearning for the experience of the “light,” which over time seemed to have faded into some distant imperial realm despite my stronger doses of the “sacrament,” I was at the end of my rope and even considered running off to the desert to join Timothy Leary who had earlier encouraged me to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” Until one night I met a remarkable new friend with whom I had a compelling discussion about it all. His name was Daniel. In our discussion about the “light,” and when I finally complained to him—“Daniel, how do I get back to the ‘light?’ I can’t seem to get to the ‘light’ anymore, no matter how much mescaline I snort”--I will never forget what Daniel replied on that transformative night of my life. He said: “Don’t you remember the One who said: ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life?’” And that evening in a dimly lighted cubicle of a bath house on the south-side of San Francisco, I came back home to the loving presence of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
A week or so later Daniel introduced me to friends involved in a sweet fellowship of Christian believers where I began to learn simple Bible principles of “power for abundant living.” I was hungry to learn and signed up for an intensive 30-hour film class all about keys to understanding the Bible. As the hours of the class unfolded over several evenings, I felt ushered into the presence of the Lord by the gracious words that the teacher spoke. “The word of God is living,” the teacher would say, “and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It was about halfway through the class when the teacher in the film stood up from his desk and, walking toward the camera, and seeming to point directly at me, said: “To you God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, Christ in you, Christ in YOU—the hope of glory!” At that moment it was as if the holy spirit in me leaped for joy as my heart burned with a hunger to understand, and I knew at that moment that I had made a silent vow to search and to discover just what “Christ in you!” was all about.
Even before completing that Bible class, I asked my friend Daniel about the baptism in the holy spirit and the manifestations of the spirit of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy that I saw and heard being practiced during the fellowship meetings. As Daniel demonstrated speaking in tongues for me, I asked him: “Can I do it?” He said: “Sure, if you want to. You’re born again of the spirit.” As he taught me the simple principles of how to speak in tongues and its amazing benefits, I too began speaking “the wonderful works of God” that very evening. Over the next days and weeks I would go out to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and, high above the rolling waves of the ocean and beneath the dazzling blue sky, I would speak in tongues much so that soon my words were like “rivers of living water” flowing up and out of my belly toward heaven.
It’s been more than fifty years since I began that hallowed quest to discover the meaning of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” A few months after graduating from that life-changing Bible class, I left San Francisco to participate in the summer school classes and activities of a four-campus international biblical research and teaching center headquartered in west-central Ohio. In my hunger to learn and my zeal for the word of God, at the conclusion of the summer school program I was invited to join the staff of that ministry. As God provided over time, I spent nearly fifteen years on staff (and afterwards with my own publishing business in association with the ministry), rising to the level of managing editor of publications, a member of the faculty, and a member of the President’s Cabinet of directors. I confess—it was all a labor of love.
In 2011 I finally published my second book which I had been working on for years—The Secret to Holy Spirit Authority: In the Power of the Spirit. And in 2014 came The Voice of My Brother’s Blood: A Love Story, a memoir of my years in that evangelical ministry.
Indeed, in my more than 78 years of living and loving life, I have “tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Your Everlasting Life: Who Will You Be in Paradise? is the culmination of my years of study and teaching. I consider it the crowning achievement of my life’s work. Certain revelations in the book may be shocking to some readers but, I’m sure, a joy and encouragement to others. My hope and prayer is that it will inspire all who read it toward a more worthy endeavor in the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
David Charles Craley
Spring 2022view less
Books by David Charles Craley
The Secret to Holy Spirit Authority: In the Power of the Spirit Your Everlasting Life: Who Will You Be in Paradise? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Voice of My Brother's Blood: A Love Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings