NOW I SING A BETTER SONG

by Chazz Borjas
(Tokyo, Japan)

THESE ARE EXCERPTS FROM MY TESTIMONY OF HOW I PERSONALLY CAME TO KNOW THE LORD JESUS THROUGH A BORN AGAIN EXPERIENCE.
THE FULL TESTIMONY CAN BE FOUND HERE:

http://www.puritypublications.com/puritypublications/2007/Now_I_Sing_A_Better_Song.htm

Hi, my name is Charles Edward Borjas. I became a missionary on November of 1970 and have been in Japan since 1972. As a youth I was always interested in music. I therefore decided to study different forms of contemporary music of my day. I learned to sing at an early age. I then I started a collection of my own 45s and LPs. I enjoyed the Beatles and looked up to them as intelligent and smart, with an understanding of the younger generation. I learned to play the guitar and sing their songs from the age of 13. After intense study and much practice I became the lead vocal of a local band. I was brought up a Roman Catholic, and I can remember that I wanted to become a missionary since the early age of thirteen. However, at the age of 16 I decided to do my own research and pursue other interests, so I stopped going to church on Sunday.

Nevertheless, I was still very interested to discover if there really was a God of Love, and what He thought about me personally. I continued my search for truth as I delved deeper into the Beatles recordings of their darker side, along with Iron Butterfly, Deep Purple, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc. I wanted to become like them. They were my mentors, my gods, my life. So that is what I became; Dark, confused most of the time, incoherent, impatient, unloving. This is what that kind of music did to me.

I started my own rock group and spent a lot of my time singing empty meaningless songs, which only brought me further down and deeper into the darkness. I got into drugs so bad that I almost died three times from overdoses. Many of my friends were getting sent to Viet Nam as they were drafted and some of them never returned. Those who did became crazy. I thought I was next, so I decided to join the Air Force instead. Actually this did save my life as I had a fairly easy life in the Air Force as a jet engine mechanic. However, this was the not the profession I was interested in for my life’s work. I was still a bit of bewilderment and constant confusion of why I was here on earth.

I thought that somehow being Catholic might save me from a horrible death in Vietnam. I sought the help and advice of friends, professionals, pastors, etc. I somehow gathered from my friends that the way to happiness and bliss was through the world of substance abuse, so I followed suit, due to the peer pressure that surrounded me. I found momentary peace, comfort and what I thought was understanding during that Age Of Aquarius amongst the counter-culture flower children and their music, customs, free-love, religions, and speech.

I knew I had to start making some serious decisions for my life before those decisions were made by someone else I did not even know. I had medical problems that gave me an early discharge from the Air Force. After I was discharged, I decided to continue my quest to find the truth and purpose for life. I traveled around and my journeys took me to California, where it was said that everyone would find whatever it was they were seeking.

I decided to try learning about agriculture and had made efforts to study farming in the mountains of Oregon. To support myself and raise funds to reach Oregon I was able to fall back on my singing talents by entertaining in live houses and nightclubs around San Diego and L.A. I was intent on not wasting my life, and new that I must not give up until I found the answers about life I was seeking. I knew there was something missing from my life and that only God could help me find the meaning of life, but I did not know where to find Him. That is why I hoped that by living in the mountains and learning to how to grow food would somehow bring me close to nature, and thus God. That is when I believe that God answered the deepest most desperate cry of my heart for the truth, and what I was supposed to do with my life.

I had a sudden urge to walk, strange as it may seem, all night and all the next day. While I was walking all around L.A. I was praying, asking God to lead me and guide me. I knew He had a special place for me. I then noticed a Salvation Army mission building on the opposite side of the street I was walking. I did not realize it but I was now walking down the center of skid row. I went inside and asked if I could stay there for the weekend before trying to complete my trip to Oregon. I was 20 years old at the time. The nice man suggested that I try the place just down the street from there as there were a lot of young people my age there. So I thought that was a good tip. I hurried down the street a few blocks down and as I approached a similar looking building I saw a large sign hanging vertically from the side of the building with large neon letters that said Jesus Saves.

As I approached the building, the front door swung open and a young girl and man walked out saw me crossing the street and the girl yelled out “Jesus Loves You!” very enthusiastically. I answered and said that I was really happy to hear that! With that I was invited inside. I saw a man behind a desk in the greeting office, and I told him that I was looking for a place to stay for the weekend. To which he sincerely replied, “we have a place for life!”

Was this an invitation to join them? I thought. Live in Skid Row for the rest of my life doing what? So I asked questions like what would I be doing here, and they answered me and shared Bible verses with me about being born again. I soon found myself kneeling down, closing my eyes and praying to ask Jesus into my heart. This was the beginning of my new life.

I first began to know the Lord at the age of seven, when I received my first Holy communion, and when I was attending Sunday school, and later on as a teen I attended some Salvation Army services with my girlfriend, where I again had prayed and rededicated my life to God. It was at that time I prayed, and asked Jesus into my heart.

It was again, at a Servicemen center that a young man shared with me about being born again by the Spirit, and I accepted the Word in my heart at that time too, but that seed wasn’t grown up until I saw the opportunity to take the ticket to becoming a missionary, when I met The Children of God. I know He changed me right then on the spot. I was different. I no longer wanted to smoke cigarettes, take drugs, or follow my own way. I found the Way, the Truth and the Life, and God showed me that the best way to fulfill His calling in my life was to learn all I can about the Bible and obey His commission to "Go Ye Into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

I became a full time Bible student and missionary to Japan, which was what I had wanted to do since the age of 13. It was the dedication to the Lord and His Word in the Bible to preach the Gospel to every creature, obeying His commandment in Mark 16:15, and to love one another, that attracted me with the hope God can use my music, since I was a musician.

I was always happy to get out where I belonged, out to the highways and byways with God's message of salvation in word and song. In 2005 I terminated my membership and left the group in order to spend more time communicating with and seeing my extended family. I am still a missionary, and although I left the group, I have no regrets of my life 35 years as a missionary in the field of the Japan.

So has it come to this? So what are we here for? What are you here for? Have you found the answer to that question? What have you done with your life? Never mind what I did with MINE, What will YOU say when YOU stand before God Almighty some day and He asks you very lovingly, “What have YOU done with YOUR life?” How will you answer? I would not want to leave this life without finding the truth about why I am really here, and what my purpose in life is.

You can read all the literature in the world, watch all the movies, gain all the knowledge in the world, learn to speak every language, and make all the money in the world. However, if you have not learned how to LOVE, it is not really worth anything now is it? You will still be sad, you will still be empty, and you will still be fearful and lonely. You will become bitter without any real friends to comfort you, because you chose the path of self-satisfaction only to find that the path of self-satisfaction does not really satisfy.

If you choose the road to bitterness and hate it only will lead you to more confusion, sadness, darkness and disease! It will separate you from God, others and also yourself. Only Jesus and His love can satisfy. You will only find peace when you learn to forgive those who have wronged you. That is also when you will find forgiveness too, from God and the people you have wronged. I have learned this. He is the one who can answer the heartaches and can fill the void of every human being on the face of the earth.

Jesus has little or nothing to do with what religion or church you belong to. Jesus is not a religion, He is a PERSON! He is a King! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is my king and yours too! Just to receive the Love of God is so simple and it has nothing to do with church ceremonies, or religion, or traditions. Why not try it? You just pray a little prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive all of your sins, and you will be born again into his kingdom. You can join a church or group but you cannot join a kingdom, because it is a country.



May God Bless You as you seek His truth in His Word. God loves you unconditionally, and wants you to know!

In His Love and Grace,

Chazz Eddie Borjas