You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Professor :

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

Today 6 years ago I got the news that I have IDC — Invasive Ductal Carcinoma breast cancer - stage 3!

That it is the most aggressive Breast Cancer there is - then God decided I should live and I thank HIM every day!

God added another 6 years to my life so that I can tell people that HE is the God that heals, I will tell anyone one that is willing to listern! Believe the Word of God it is true and God is the ONLY LIVING GOD that can heal you from any illness even an aggressive cancer like I had.

I am completely cured!

I praise and worship God for this and give HIM all the glory and the thanks for His love for us.

Blessings
Thea

Pad van ware vergifnis na moord

My laaste sê…

Op 11 Desember 2003, kry ons die aaklige tyding dat my kleinboet Human van Staden, 'n 25 jarige mediese dokter en stigterslid van Brilliant Cut, wreed vermoor aangetref is in sy meenthuis in Langenhovenpark .

Niemand kon ons voorberei op die seer en die media-debakel wat daarop gevolg het nie…nóg minder op die onreg wat sy nagedagtenis aangedoen is toe die regstelsel kortpad gekies het deur hulle pleitooreenkomste te aanvaar veral nadat die familie mislei is met die inhoud daarvan. Ek onthou my ouers se stomgeslane gesigte met die lees daarvan in die Hooggeregshof. Die slagoffer het geen regte en kan homself nie verdedig...gedane sake het geen keer en Human se karakter en menswees is die buffer vir die aanslae daarbuite. Ons, sy familie, wéét wie hy was, my ouers kén hulle jongste.

Die afgelope amper 13 jaar moes ek toesien hoe my gesin swaarkry en rondskarrel om al die flenters weer bymekaar te trek want sien, ons is ‘n omgee-familie. Ene waar ons ons verskille omhels, saamstaan en nooit, ooit, iemand agterweë laat nie. Ons hartsglimlagte het getaan en alhoewel mooi herinneringe uiteindelik die lelik-onthou weggeskuif het, was ons beroof van ‘n eenheid  wat eens as idillies beskou was. Woordelose, hartseer gesprekke tussen my stukkende ouers het my sprakeloos gelaat,  almal se seer en rondtas na halms van hoop het my telkemale laat smeek na Bo vir nóg genade, nóg méér liefde maar veral vir vergifnis want diep binne my het ek die nagmerries onthou van my kleinboet se liggaam wat so weerloos daar lê … hande en voete vasgebind, mond volgeprop met kous of t-shirt…kop verbrysel met ‘n 8kg klip.

Ek onthou die bisarre aanbod aan die familie van onbekende oorde om die skuldiges “uit te haal” vir ‘n skamele R5000 per kop. Saam het ons besluit dat ons nie ook tot daardie vlak sou daal nie. Vandag veral, weergalm my paps se woorde na hul vonnisoplegging deur my wese…”Julle het ons glimlag-kind doodgemaak, slegs sy nagedagtenis kan verder goed doen op hierdie aarde. Julle gaan tronk toe…gaan verander asseblief ten goede, neem Jesus aan as julle Saligmaker en wys aan die wêreld dat my kind se dood tog  iets groots en positiefs tot gevolg gehad het.”

Ons as familie het aangegaan, my kleinboet onthou vir die wonderlike mens wat hy was. Die hartseer het plek gemaak vir lekker lag wanneer ons herinneringe gedeel het. Intussen het ons my mams ook teruggegee aan ons Skepper en vleg ons haar en Mannie saam-saam deur ons gedagtes.

Die skuldiges is jare gelede al sonder ons medewete vrygelaat en alhoewel ons nooit eens wou weet waar hulle hulle bevind nie, het  kennisse van vriende my gedurig van hulle doen en late in kennis gestel. Volgens gerugte kon hulle nie daarin slaag om die reguit paadjie te stap nie. Dit het nie werklik aan my saak gemaak nie want hulle het die res van hulle lewens gehad om dinge reg te maak, die klad en die beeld van hoe hulle oor my kleinboet se lewelose liggaam getree en getrap het terwyl hulle sy huis gestroop het, uit hulle gedagtes te verban…immers was daardie beelde alreeds ‘n straf.Maar, die mens se tyd is nie noodwendig God se tyd nie. Gisteroggend kry ek tyding van ‘n vriendin dat sy moordenaar, Kevin van den Berg ,

Saterdagoggend gesterf het in Pelonomi Hospitaal se ICU na ‘n oordosis dwelms.  Die tyding het skaars ingesink of ‘n verslaggewer skakel laataand om te verneem of ons bewus is van Kevin se afsterwe…nodeloos om te sê dat sensasie-gerigte media geen kommentaar verdien. Die eerste tyding en kennisse van hom bevestig dat hy wel aan ‘n oordosis dwelms beswyk het.

Later lees ek op Facebook dat hy aan “breinvliesontsteking” dood is, dat hy die kans gehad het om sy sondes te bely en sy hart aan Jesus gegee het. Waaraan hy werklik beswyk het, maak nie saak nie. Ons dien ‘n Here wie vir ons aan die Kruis gesterf het…’n God wie al Sy kinders lief het en bowenal, onbeskryflik genadig is. As hy opreg bely het sal God hom vergewe en hom in Sy Koninkryk verwelkom. Wat ek of enige iemand dink, voel of sê, is irrelevant.  Wat belangrik is, is dat die res wat betrokke was, ook die waarde van tyd besef want ‘n kans om op die nippertjie reg te maak, word nie almal gegun nie.

Ons is onbeskryflik dankbaar vir al die genade, lewe nog steeds vir nou, vertroetel die onthou en sien uit na ‘n eendag-weer-ontmoet.

Alle sterkte aan sy familie.
Ché

Olympian Smashes Michael Johnson's Record, Gives Glory to God

The South African Olympian won first place in the 400 meter race.Olympian Smashes Michael Johnson's Record, Gives Glory to God

 

Wayde van Niekerk

Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa is giving the glory to God after winning gold and setting a new world record at the Olympic games.

, beating Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record by nearly half a second.

His gold medal comes as a big win because just 24 years ago, Van Nierkerk's mother, who was also a runner, was not allowed to compete as a black woman in South Africa. For millions, his victory represents South Africa's triumph over the racial segregation of the apartheid regime.

But despite his heightened celebrity status, this Olympian is giving all the glory to God.

"I dove for the finish line," Van Nierkerk told ABC. "And right after that, I went down on my knees and thanked God and my family and everyone for tonight."

When asked about his racing strategy, he just said he was able to win because he had God and the South African people.

After winning, he tweeted a picture of him kneeling on the track with an inscription saying "Jesus did it," and "God is power."

Van Niekerk is not the only Olympic athlete who is giving glory to God. The world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, who is expected to win in the 100 meter and 200 meter races at the games today, gives his praise to God.

Before and after almost every race, the audience will see Bolt say a silent prayer or point to the sky.  He also thanked God on Twitter after making history at the 2012 Beijing Olympic Games.

"I want to thank God for everything he has done for me 'cause without him none of this wouldn't be possible," he tweeted. – ends

Sacrificial Love

Elderly Woman Gives Up Liver Transplant to Save Life of Stranger: 'I Thank God for Her Everyday'

Jones, who got a transplant four days after her incredible gift, says it was what she 'had to do'. Flores, who had just

got married, is grateful to the great-grandmother  WFAA/ScreenGrab

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:13

In an amazing act of sacrificial love, an elderly woman gave away her liver transplant to save the life of a stranger - even though it meant risking her own life.

According to USA Today, Brenda Jones, a 69-year-old great-grandmother from Dallas, Texas, had been waiting for a liver transplant for a year when she finally got the call she had been waiting for on July 18 and was rushed to Baylor University Medical Center.

However, when she arrived, she met fellow patient, 23-year-old Abigail Flores, a newlywed who had been airlifted to the hospital after her liver completely collapsed. The young woman, who was from a small town in East Texas, only had days to live if she didn't get a new liver immediately.

Upon discovering the liver was a match for both women, Jones, without hesitating, opted to put herself back on the waiting list for a liver transplant in order to save Flores' life.

"In my heart, I wouldn't have been able to live with the liver if I had let this little girl die," Jones told NBCDFW. "And I still had more time ... I would have been a very selfish person."

She added, "All I could think about was that I had more time to wait a little longer on a liver and she didn't have any time..I just knew that's what I had to do...it was common sense."

The gesture stunned doctors, who had never seen such a thing before: "The judgment behind it seemed very clear, but it still felt unorthodox nonetheless," said Dr. Greg McKenna, a Baylor Hospital surgeon.

God rewarded Jones' faithfulness: Just a few days later, doctors placed Jones back at the top of the list, and the elderly woman miraculously received a liver herself. Both women are currently recovering from their transplant surgeries in rooms across from one another.

Flores told reporters she is grateful for a second chance at life, and thanks God everyday for the generosity of a stranger.

"If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be sitting right here right now," Flores said. "It makes me feel good because my husband and I, we just got married and we want to have kids. She gave me the opportunity to be able to do that later on in life."

She added, "I thank God for her each and every day."

Gered op 90

Vrede in Vredehoek

Die Kaapse buurt se naam is Vredehoek, maar in die praghuis van die 90-jarige Duitser was geen vrede nie.

Hy bly in die kelderverdieping van sy huis. Hy slyp halfedelgesteentes, die mooiste werk ooit. Sy seun woon bo in die huis. Hy verkoop sy pa se stene. Pa en seun lewe egter al baie jare lank in haat jeens mekaar. Die kelderverdieping lyk soos iets uit die Middeleeue.

‘n Gehoorsame gelowige vrou, een van ons getroue lesers,  het ‘n tyd gelede met die pa en seun kennis gemaak. Dit was moeilik,

die Duitser obsternaat, erg doof met ‘n verterende haat jeens sy seun en God.

Sy vertel: God het deur my briewe en liefdestakies hom bedien en die Woord laat lewend word, onbaatsugtg, onvoorwaardelik.

Die pa en seun het lewe van mekaar gesteel. Die seun en sy vrou het geen kinders nie en hy is die enigste seun. Die ouman het homself as 'n dooie boom gesien.

Die Here het my in 'n visie gewys hoe die ouman die trappe opklim Hemel toe en hoe Jesus hom inwag.

Onlangs beland die ouman in die hopsitaal. Toe ek by die hospitaal kom, vra hy hoe ek daar uitgekom het, want hy het gewag vir my! Jesus het ons gestuur.

Hierdie man was 'n geslypte seun van God, want hy sê in sy eie woorde, 'all my life I tried to live by what is right and what is wrong' en tog kon hy nie die liefde na sy seun deurgee nie. Hy het so hard probeer om perfek te wees –  en perfeksionisme nagestreef in alles.

Sy seun, is ‘n patetiese figuurtjie, geboeë en gebreek deur die verloop van die lewe. Sy pa is geskei van sy ma toe hy jonk was.

En tog word die 90-jarige ouman getrek deur God se genade sodat hy op sy sterfbed die Waarheid sien en sy hart getransformeer word deur drie woorde: 'I forgive you!

Die woorde ontbreek my om dit te beskryf: Hoe die transformasie sigbaar in trane oor hulle gemanifesteer het in daardie wonderlike oomblik van vergifnis en genade.

Dit was Glorieryk!

En hy is steeds nie dood nie! Dit is asof die Here nou 'n tyd gegee het waarin hulle verlore tyd moet opvang in 'n splinternuwe verhouding!

Loof die Here!!

Wandel in die liefde. Efes.  5:2

‘n Nuwe verbond gee ek julle, om mekaar lief te hê. Joh. 13:34; 15-17

Ek is 'n Koningskind!

Ek is ‘n Koningskind!
Ek is meer as Oorwinnaar deur Christus wat my krag gee
Ek is die kop en nie die stert
Ek is tot alles in staat weens Sy krag
Ek sit saam met Jesus in hemelse plekke
Ek regeer saam met Hom oor die vyand en sy werke
Satan en weerstaan jou, jou werrke en jou planne;
Ek bind jou en maak jou kragteloos in Jesus’ naam
Jy’t genoeg gesteel en geslag
Jou tyd is op
Die bloed van Jesus is teen jou
Ek eis duisendvoudig terug, al’s wat jy van my gesteel het
Ek eis ‘n siel vir elke sent wat jy van my beroof het
God sal jou straf;
Ek neem my gesag in Christus op
Hy leef in my en ek deur Hom
Met Jesus loop ek ‘n bende storm
Met Hom spring ek oor ‘n muur
In Jesus’ naam
Amen en Amen...

Heart Surgeon tells of Resurrection from the Dead (miracles)

At World Doctor's Conference, Heart Surgeon Relates Astounding Account of a Resurrection from the Dead

"We quickly rushed the gentleman down to the intensive care unit, and the hospital was by now buzzing about the fact that a dead man had been brought back to life. After a couple of days he woke up. He had an amazing story to tell after I had asked him, 'Where have you been and where were you on that day that you had that massive heart attack? You were gone and we prayed you back to life in Jesus name.'"

(MIAMI, FL) The audience of 120 doctors from 50 countries sat in stunned silence as a renowned heart doctor produced evidence of how, after he had prayed for a patient who had died and was being prepared for the morgue, was brought back to life after prayer.

Dr. Chauncey W. Crandall IV, who serves at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, made his dramatic presentation on Friday, July 13th at the 4th Annual World Christian Doctors Network Conference in Miami, Florida.

He produced dramatic evidence that was shown on the screen and then, afterwards, agreed to tell the story to Assist News Service in an interview with Dan Wooding.

The following is the interview as conducted by Dan:

Dr. Crandall began by saying that the dramatic incident took place almost a year ago in West Palm Beach, Florida. "We had a fifty-three year old man who came to the emergency room with a massive heart attack and actually his heart had stopped," he said. "The medical people had worked on him for over forty minutes in the emergency room and then declared him dead.

"They called me in to evaluate the patient towards the end of his treatment where they had unsuccessfully tried to revive him. The nurse was preparing his body to be taken down to the morgue when the Holy Spirit told me to 'turn around and pray for that man.' When the Holy Spirit talks to you, you have to respond. It's sometimes a quiet voice and this was a quiet voice and to honor the Lord I did turn around and I went to the side of that stretcher where his body was being prepared.

"There was no life in the man. His face and feet and arms were completely black with death and I sat next to his body and I prayed, 'Lord, Father; how am I going to pray for this man? He's dead. What can I do?' All of a sudden, these words came out of my mouth, 'Father, God, I cry out for the soul of this man if he does not know You as his Lord and Savior, please raise him from the dead right now in Jesus name.

"It was amazing as a couple minutes later, we were looking at the monitor and all of a sudden a heart beat showed up. It was a perfect beat; a normal beat; and then after a couple more minutes, he started moving and then his fingers were moving and then his toes began moving and then he started mumbling words.

"There was a nurse in the room�she wasn't a Believer�and she screamed out and said 'Doctor Crandall, what have you done to this patient?' And I said, 'All I've done is cry out for his soul in Jesus name.'

"We quickly rushed the gentleman down to the intensive care unit, and the hospital was by now buzzing about the fact that a dead man had been brought back to life. After a couple of days he woke up. He had an amazing story to tell after I had asked him, 'Where have you been and where were you on that day that you had that massive heart attack? You were gone and we prayed you back to life in Jesus name.'

"He said, 'Doctor Crandall, it's the most amazing thing. I was in a dark room and there was no light. It was complete darkness and I felt I was in a casket and I kept repeating that I was so disappointed.' He said the disappointment came from the fact that none of his family, friends or colleagues, had come to visit him. Then he told me, 'All of a sudden, these men came in and they wrapped me up and they threw me in the trash.'

"Dan, he was in hell that day and as he told me that story, I cried out, 'Lord, this gentleman needs to accept You as Lord and Savior.' I then explained the salvation message to this man as he sat in that bed and I held his hand and I cried out, 'Father God, in the name of Jesus, I pray that this man accepts you as his Lord and Savior right here in the intensive care unit.' He held out his hand and accepted Christ as his Savior with tears rolling down from his eyes and now he's a child of God.

"I told him, 'You never have to be thrown in the trash into total darkness now. The life of Christ is in you and the light of the kingdom of Heaven is on you now."

I asked Dr. Crandall if there had been any brain damage to the patient.

"No there was no brain damage at all; his brain was completely normal," he said. "I was most concerned about his hands because his fingers were completely black and he had some numbness in his fingers and his feet, but now that is totally resolved."

I asked Dr. Crandall if he could give the name of the man and he said he couldn't as the patient had requested that it would not be revealed.

"All I can say is that he was fifty-three years old and he was a car mechanic," he said. "He had a family who were Believers, but he left them twenty years ago because he didn't believe in the Lord. His family continued to pray for twenty years for his salvation, and his ex-wife was on her hands and knees praying for the salvation of her ex-husband, who came to know the Lord that day."

I then asked the doctor if he had seen other similar miracles in his practice.

"I've been witness to three cases of people being raised from the dead," he said. "One other case was when another patient came to the hospital with a massive heart attack. It was on the very day that I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and I'd been praying for weeks that I would receive this mighty baptism that the Lord can give us. We were working on this patient that came in again with a massive heart attack and who didn't survive in the operating room.

"All of a sudden, that Baptism of the Holy Spirit hit me and I started speaking in a spiritual language and crying over this patient who, in the operating room theater, had passed away. And then, within five or ten minutes, the heartbeat came back and life came back to this patient. Once again, the nurses who are not Believers looked at me as if to say, 'There goes Doctor Crandall on another case'."

I concluded the interview by asking Dr. Crandall what he would like to say to doctors who do not believe in supernatural healing.

"I would just like to say to my colleagues and physicians out there, that the Lord is real. We've seen many miracles and we pray for our patients daily. There is not one week that goes by that we don't see a mighty miracle in our office. The people need this; they need the power of Christ in their life and they need the power of Christ for healing.

"I would just encourage my fellow doctors to get involved in a church, meet with a minister, and attend a healing service run by people that believe in the power of Jesus Christ. We love our colleagues in medicine 'we pray for them'."


Dr. Chauncey W. Crandall IV

Jailhouse Religion:

How This Ex-Prostitute Turned Death Row to "Life Row"

"I had a lot of people tell me, 'Oh, this is jailhouse religion. And when you leave, you're going to lose it!' It's been nine years, and I'm more on fire and more zealous today than I've ever been. And I refuse to hear that. I'm going to live for Jesus, and I'm going to stay on fire. I want to see revival in the prison." -Dawn Knighton

(Daytona Beach, FL)—[CBN News] When the women living in Dawn Knighton's Florida beachside house wake up, they are greeted by artwork with encouraging Bible verses, like the popular passage from Psalm 139. It affirms how humanity is "fearfully and wonderfully made." (Screengrab via CBN News)

The bright, flowery wall art is a far cry from the lifeless steel bars and stark bare walls they used to see when the only home they knew was a prison cell.

Like clockwork, Knighton's housemates start their day with a mandatory three to five mile run along the beach. They're also required to meet daily for prayer, Bible study, and accountability.

Per house rules, the women are prohibited from pursuing romantic relationships unless they are married.

'We're Not Bad People'
The rules are rigid but deemed a necessity to transition successfully to living outside of prison.

"We need places that will give us a second chance," said Susan Dascanio, an ex-felon and one of Knighton's housemates. "We're not bad people. We've made bad choices."

For recently released inmates, second chances are hardly a part of their lexicon.

"While you're in prison and behind those bars, all they tell you is that you're never going to make it. You're a convicted felon," said Alexis Nurell, another housemate who joined Knighton's program after serving a 10-year second degree murder sentence.

Statistically, it's true. About 600,000 inmates are released annually, and two-thirds wind up being re-arrested.

While women commit fewer and less violent crimes than men, the challenges they face when they return to society are often the same—like trying to find housing, employment, and a system of support.

Knighton, a Christian counselor and an ordained minister, opened up her small three-bedroom home to provide women all of those things and to help them become productive members of society.

She founded Radical Restoration Ministries in 2008, a faith-based non-profit whose mission is to help rehabilitate women coming out of prison.

For Knighton that mission hits particularly close to home.

"I deserve to be doing life in prison, and only by the grace of God did He have another plan for my life," she explained.

Journey to Jail
Her life of crime began early on, using and selling drugs. She also eventually sold her body to feed an addiction to crack cocaine.

"Before I knew it, I was homeless and living a life doing things I never dreamed I would do—having absolutely no morals and doing everything I could just to survive," she told CBN News.

Kathy Tolleson recalls seeing Knighton in her neighborhood years ago. It was in front of her home where Knighton used to walk the streets in pursuit of men looking to pay for sex.

"That was really my first encounter with Dawn," Tolleson recounted. "I didn't know Dawn personally, but I know I was praying for Dawn and a number of others like her."

Tolleson didn't just pray. She also posted signs that read "No Prostitution Zone" on telephone poles and found other methods to discourage prostitutes from picking up customers in front of her family home.

"I would get on the bullhorn and say, 'This is a no prostitution zone. The police will be called. Remove yourself from the area,'" she explained.

At the time, Knighton wasn't aware of those prayers. All she knew was that the lady with the bullhorn was hurting business.

"I [was] standing out there with a glock in my pants," Knighton recalled, acknowledging their lack of fondness for one another as they repeatedly went back and forth.

Raped, battered, and abused by some of the same men who paid her for sex, Knighton lost her desire to live. But not before her nearly 50 felony convictions finally caught up with her.

She faced up to 15 years in prison after her last arrest.

A New Dawn - Prison to Pastor
The night she was taken in, she was placed in maximum security and confined in an eight-by-ten prison cell with only a Bible.

That was when she decided to recommit to her Christian faith from which she had walked away and ask for help.

"I said, 'God, if you're really who You say You are and You can set me free, if You'll set me free, I'll spend the rest of my life telling people what You've done in my life.' And He did!" she explained.

It was the beginning of a radical change that sparked what she describes as a vision from God to open houses for women coming out of prison with nowhere to go. (Screengrab via CBN News)

Knighton began to counsel and pray with other female inmates. She also completed her first year of Bible College while in prison.

She was released after serving only a year and a half and credits her early exit to the "grace of God."

She then moved in with her mother, worked as a barber, and continued her education at Covenant Bible College and Seminary. In 2013, she earned a doctorate in theology.

Knighton sees her release and new life as nothing short of a miracle. They also serve as reminders of her promise to return to prisons to show other inmates there's hope.

"I had never really seen anyone who had come out of my lifestyle—who had made it. And I told the Lord, I said, 'I want to be the one to do it,'" she recalled.

Knighton's changed life has given her access within the Florida Department of Corrections to minister to women in the very same prison where she once served time.

Her ministry has since partnered with others like Pastor Sheryl Brady and the Texas Offenders Reentry Initiative (TORI), a ministry of the Potter's House in Dallas, Texas.

'You're the Lady on the Corner!'
Perhaps the most surprising partnership is one she developed at a Christian conference a few years after being released from prison.

It was at that conference when she bumped into an unsuspecting acquaintance from her past.

"She [looked] at me and [said], 'You don't remember me, do you?'" Tolleson recalled. "She said, 'You're the lady with a bullhorn.' And I said, 'You're the lady on my corner.'"

"Never did I dream in a million years that ... five years later, I'd be at a conference and here comes this little lady that I once knew with the bullhorn," Knighton echoed.

They now attend the same church along with the women enrolled in Knighton's program. Every week, they pile into Knighton's car and worship at the church located around the corner from the house where she used to walk the streets—a reminder of her changed life.

She and her housemates view Tolleson as a "spiritual mom."

"To bring us full circle to be able to minister together has been amazing," Knighton reflected.

The two also preach together and pray for women on death row, which they affectionately renamed "life row."

"Wherever [Dawn] goes she brings life," Tolleson explained. "If she's in death row, it becomes life row."

Radical Restoration Ministries' rigorous discipleship program has a 98 percent success rate and a year-long waiting list. The women who have completed the program believe they are forever changed.

Belinda Kitchens, who recently left Florida to work with Heidi Baker's Christian missions group to help children in Mozambique, credits both God and Knighton for her new identity.

"I'm so thankful that [God] took somebody like me and like us, all of us, and turned all of our ugliness and he made it all beautiful," Kitchens said.

Knighton is now taking her message into men's prisons and planning to open discipleship homes for them, too.

But her passion remains the same: to see a radical change in what she calls the "prison nation."

"I had a lot of people tell me, 'Oh, this is jailhouse religion. And when you leave, you're going to lose it!'" Knighton said. "It's been nine years, and I'm more on fire and more zealous today than I've ever been. And I refuse to hear that. I'm going to live for Jesus, and I'm going to stay on fire. I want to see revival in the prison."