Spiro Miras Testimony

Hello my friends. I am writing this little booklet to share my life experiences with you, hoping that you will benefit from my frenzy search for happiness everywhere. After trusting in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior I finally got peace and joy.

My name is Spiro Miras. I was born in Istanbul , Turkey in 1965. Though I Was born in Turkey my family is of Greek descent, we belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church. Unlike the 97% of people that live in Turkey they are Muslims.

Growing up in Istanbul wasn't easy because of the hatred between Greeks and

Turks and our religious and cultural differences that goes back centuries.

Greeks in Istanbul were treated badly and were always afraid for there life's. Our parents always advised us not to speak Greek when we went out.

I like to share a story from Istanbul Turkey that I read in a book titled "Jesus freaks" that is about murdered Christians for their faith.

By centuries, the Ottoman Empire of Turkey was guardian of the holy places of the Islam. Today the Muslim faith is increasing in influence. In agreement with Operation World, Turkey is one of the nations less reached by the gospel in the world. Of its 55 million inhabitants, only a small percentage has listened to the gospel. For the small group in Turkey that dares to confess Christ, the life can be very dangerous. In January of 1998, in the Greek-Orthodox Church Saint Therapon, in Istanbul, was sacked and burned. The body of the guard of the church of seventy and three years of age was found in the well of the church with both hands tied and a cracked skull. Evangelizing is difficult, since the Turks place the evangelic Christians in same category as the Armenian terrorists and the Jehovah witnesses. In March of 1998, the main generals of the Turkish army exerted pressure in favor of the efforts of the government, to limit the influence of the Islam on the secular government, maintaining Turkey as a state of nondenominational Islam. Pray so that the government remains independent of the Islamic religious influence and God gives strength to the Christians in Turkey so that they can face the intense opposition."

My father was a good man that worked very hard to raise our family. I have an older brother Angelo and a younger sister Sofia.

I went to a bilingual elementary school that taught us the Greek and Turkish language.

My mother, brother and sister assisted in the church regularly. This is how they taught us our Christian values at home.

My aunts and grandparents on my mother's side of my family moved to Los Angeles, California in the early 70's. My family and I followed them by making that big move in the summer of 1974. We were very happy to move to L.A and start a new life.

I was in the 4th grade at the time. The overwhelming responsibility of raising a family of 5 in a new country, and not being able to speak the English language was especially very hard for my father who felt very depressed most of the time. In those old days nobody would go to a psychologist, they would just say that he was nervous. Looking back now, I can surely say he suffered from Manic Depression.

My father wanted to get out of this situation, and truly desired to return to Greece. But my aunts, uncles, and grandparents wanted us to be all together and, suggested giving it some time. My father gave it some thought but still made the decision to go to Greece anyway. He decided to go by himself to Greece with the goal to get a job and to ultimately move the whole family to Greece.

After few weeks had gone bye we got the terrible news that my father had attempted suicide. It's impossible to describe the feelings but you can imagine. My mother and my sister immediately went back to help my dad, and to help him recuperate. He had attempted suicide by cutting his veins and taking many pills.

Thank God he did recover on the 3rd month after being in the hospital for a total of 4 months. My brother and I went back to Greece after finishing our school year in the summer of 1975 to be with our family.

With God's help my father started working. He started from zero, he began selling lottery tickets in the streets to support our family. We all lived in a studio apartment at the time, depending on each other, and feeling very close to each other. I thank God to this day because we had all the necessary things like food, and I remember being close to school. I was very athletic, and loved playing soccer at first, and then also played basketball.

It was difficult adjusting to 2 different countries and customs in a 2 years time period.

My father always worked hard and he always provided for our family. One thing that he could never get out of his mind was that he blamed my mom's side of the family for what had happened to him and to our family. So sometimes on the weekends when he would have a little too much to drink (Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 23:31) he would loose control and be verbally abusive towards my mom, and that would make me and everybody in the house very sad. My father also was the macho type and did not let my mom go out of the house at all by herself.

He used to tell us to love each other but we really did not have a good example to follow in him. My dad had 6 or 7 brothers and sisters that we didn't even know because he didn't talk with them. Today I believe that it is so much more important that parents lead by example rather then telling kids what is right or wrong. We did not have any real love in our house. My Dad was always too busy with work and his own problems then to spend any quality time with us kids.

In 1978 my brother moved to the USA. He was only 17 years old, and he moved in with my aunt in L.A. to look for a better future in the promise land of United States of America.

I was 12 years old and I was in 7th grade when I started to play basketball. I loved basketball so much I used to play it all my free time, and the great thing is that I had a lot of friends that I made playing the game. Most of the kids were from school and from my neighborhood. I also joined a basketball team for my age group and there was a senior team that was in the club that was in the professional basketball league of Greece. I was doing so good that they had me practicing with the senior team when I was only about 15 or 16 years of age. That is when I made a friend named Kurt Rambis. Kurt Rambis became a famous basketball player in the USA and had a great career in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers. In the 1980's he played for the Greek professional team called "AEK". I had the pleasure to play with Kurt Rambis for 2 years when I used to practice with the professional team in Greece, and that became the highlight of my basketball career, and a true inspiration.

In 1982 when I turned 17 I moved from Greece to L.A. for a better opportunity, and maybe to have a chance to play basketball. At first I went to high school for a year while I was working at my brother's car lot washing cars. But because I was older than the other kids in high school, I decided to stop High School without graduating from high school and went on to a Junior College for about a year and a half. I wasn't paying attention to my studies in Junior College, and instead I decided to start concentrating on the car business. It was enticing because it was also a lucrative business.

My idea at the time was why go to school when I can make a lot of money. Looking back, this was a very wrong idea because education is very important. Without education you are limited in your capacity. In most cases you end up working hard for other people's businesses.

Around 1986 my brother opened his own car lot where I worked full time with him.

In the meantime I had adopted the custom of dating as many women as possible. For my entertainment I used to go out every night.

The idea then was if I work hard then I deserve to play hard also. Playing hard of course was not just going out for dinner. In 1984 I tried cocaine for the first time, and I liked it at the time. I did cocaine for about 2 months straight, and because of this habit I had lost a lot of weight. After that experience I started to dislike it, but it still would make me nervous all the time.

In 1986 when we were opening up Osborne Auto Sales a guy named Ralph that was painting our store signs offered me marijuana that I liked a lot. It would make me laugh and kind of relax and be stupid. After that experience I would continue to smoke for about 10 years almost every day.

In 1989 I opened my own car lot and that's when I even went wilder. I worked 7 day a week high on marijuana most of the time. I drove expensive cars like

Porsche's, Mercedes, Ferrari's, and even had Harley Davidson motorcycles. I also lived in the most prestige's areas of Los Angeles like Malibu beach. I also had a 1 bedroom apartment bedroom that I paid $2,200 a month rent at that time at Sunset Plaza. At that time I became addicted to sex. I was using escort services (prostitutes),(Proverbs 6) and at the same time I was having a serious relationship with a really nice lady named Sandra that was 10 years older than me. She was a nurse and some times she would give me pills to take with alcohol. One time I remember I drove my motorcycle at night through a canyon after taking a good dosage of sleeping pills. I was very cruel and verbally abusive to this lady Sandra that I dated for almost 10 years.

Another thing that was driving me crazy was that I used to love pornographic magazines. I remember that every time I used to walk in to a liquor store to by a drink or any little thing, I made sure I got a Playboy or a Hustler magazine also.

I also hanged out in nudie bars almost daily.

I also used to buy lingerie for my dates, and I would ask them to pose like the photos in the Playboy magazines. I would take photos of the girls and than I would show them to my friends. I would always be so very proud of my accomplishments.

I used to also listen to x-rated rap music and rock and roll. At one time I also had 4 earrings. I would also spend money freely. At one time I bought cowboy boots that cost me $1,500, and jackets that cost $1,500. This was in 1990's if you can imagine.

There was also two different times when I traveled to Greece and the Greek islands with 2 different girls at the same trip.

I have traveled to Las Vegas, Cuba, Costa Rica , Venezuela, Hawaii,

Amsterdam, London, Antigua, and many parts of Mexico with girls always in my mind.

At this point I'm sure some of you guys are probably saying, "Hey man, what are you complaining about? It looks like you have had a pretty good life".

This is the KEY point where even though I was able to live the Playboy lifestyle (being a shy person and very quiet) that the world thinks that this should bring happiness. But the truth is that I was very empty inside and very unhappy and full of guilt.

There was always a little voice inside saying again and again "something is missing, something is missing, something is missing". Although I would continue to accomplish my goals like to meet more women, or get a nice car, or move to a nicer apartment, or buy a house, or travel after getting all of these things. The little voice was still there saying "something is missing, something is missing, something is missing".

There really was "something" missing! Actually there was "someone" missing.

Jesus Christ.

Please let me continue and you will see in the following pages what REAL HAPPINESS is all about.

In January of 1992 my sister, her husband, and her little girl also moved to L.A. My mom also came to help her baby-sit for her. My father decided to stay in Greece by himself at the time. He was supposed to come for the holidays to be with us, but he could not decide. He would say that he would come, and than he would change his mind.

In the night of November 22, 1992, I received a call from my brother-in-law in Greece. He gave me the news that my father had committed suicide.

At that point a new chapter in my life would begin. The next morning my whole family got on a plane to go to Greece to attend my father's funeral. When we got there, we met with the morgue people to arrange everything. The owner of the funeral office explained to us that the church does not let people that commit suicide have there funeral service in the church, but with his connections he will try to get it done.

My brother and I went to see my dad's body, but some how we couldn't see it because it wasn't ready.

While in Athens, Greece, in my uncles store, my brother and I saw a priest (pastor of the Orthodox Church) passing by and my brother got his attention. We asked the priest, why does the church refuse to have a funeral service in the church for a person that has committed suicide. We asked him to please explain to us the reason. The relatively young priest with a very friendly smile and shiny eyes responded politely. "Of course there is a God he said. He asked us what the worst sin that a man can commit? We didn't know what to say so he continued. He said to take away someone's life. Still he said, even at that point if the sinner truly repents in his heart and asks for forgiveness from God, God will forgive him. In a case of a suicide there is no time to ask for forgiveness, and no one has the right to take his own life except for the one who gave it to us.

At that point when he explained that God can and does forgive even a murderer (see the story of Karla Tucker death row inmate) something happened inside of me that is hard to explain with words. I felt like a big very heavy load had been lifted up from my shoulders. I felt like I was introduced to my God that I had totally forgotten about and I was very happy to know that he is so forgiving and graceful, and so I decided to get know him more.

The next day in the funeral I didn't cry. I thought to myself, why cry if my dad is gone already. I remember I had very long hair at that time (in a ponytail).

A week had gone bye, and it was time go back to L.A. I remember that I had lost probably 15 pounds at the time.

I had started talking some religious nonsense at the time. I had thought I was Jesus.

At the time I also started getting very mad with my girlfriend. I wasn't sleeping or eating well either. So my friend Lee and my girlfriend Sandra took me to a psychiatrist to be evaluated and see how I could be helped. The doctor diagnosed me with bipolar disorder (manic depression) and started me on a treatment with medications exercise and regular visits.

You ask, what is manic depression? It's a terrible mental illness that there is no cure at this time. It actually runs in my family. It's a chemical imbalance that some times you feel so good in the manic episodes that you can do very crazy things that can be dangerous to yourself and others. Than there is the depressed seasons that you get so depressed that you don't even want to move out of your bed. Not even to take a shower. I would get really depressed where I would sometimes want to commit suicide.

A good movie to watch to see what manic disorder is like is. The movie Mr. Jones, with Richard Gere.

Now that you understand more about my illness I will continue my story.

So with my new diagnosis the doctors told me that would have to take medication for the rest of my life.

In June of 1994 my brother got married in Costa Rica and me and my mother went to his wedding and I remember on the plane I was reading my bible. On the plane I had designed a picture of Jesus, and I decided to get that tattoo that says Jesus Saves. Some people had told me that it is not Christ like to get a tattoo but I didn't care. I thought that the only thing that was forever is Jesus, and so I got the tattoo.

Now I know better. I know that that the tattoo has to be in our hearts and in our mind.

After the wedding I went to Greece to be with my sister and my mom, and my brother who was going to be there on his honeymoon.

I then stopped taking my medications because I was feeling OK. Because I stopped, I had a manic episode that I ended up taking my clothes off and started walking nude in the street one night. The police took me to jail that night. I also remember that I had $3,000 that I gave out to many different people in the street. The next day the judge ordered me to go to the psychiatric hospital. I stayed there for about a week till my girlfriend Sandra came from the USA to take me home. I spend time in the hospital in the USA also. Then I had 3 or 4 reoccurring episodes when not taking my medications in total after that. I then understood that I had to take the medications and see my doctor once a month for the rest of my life. I also couldn't sleep if I didn't take my sleeping pills at night.

The year that followed my dad's death I lost my business, and my house because I couldn't afford the payments. My credit got ruined and my girlfriend that I promised to marry moved away after I changed my mind. (Philipians 3:7-8)

I then had a brief time of going to church and it felt good (Matthew 13:1-9)(The Parable of the sower). But the pressures of life, work, and not having any real Christian friends around got me to go back to my old ways of living, and chasing after women, and smoking marijuana.(Matthew 12:43)

It was a hard time. My brother gave me a job but things were not happening.

The best time I had was when I was asleep. There was a time when I was depressed that I slept trough the whole summer. That is for 3 months without doing almost anything. I used to wake up at 4:00 or 5:00pm. I would eat something and go back to sleep.

In 1995 my best friend Lee invited me to go to work with him in the

Caribbean in the island of Antigua to work at a call center office. I wanted a change in my life and so I took the offer and I went with him. Things didn't work out there so some people told us to go to Santo Domingo. I had never heard of the Dominican Republic at the time.

I have now been living here in Santo Domingo for the last 10 years. When I first came down here to the Dominican Republic I went wild again going out every night to casinos, discotheques, nudie bars, whorehouses, you name it, drinking, gambling, and the girls down here were so very beautiful and friendly.

I even remember once rolling a joint with a small piece of paper from my bible.

In the beginning I had stopped taking my medication again. After about a year or so I then had a manic episode and I ended up in the hospital in terrible condition. By that time I had met my present wife Ana that is very beautiful, smart, and has allot of patience with me. Even though I started taking my medications I continued the wild lifestyle. In the mean time I had developed these wild fantasies of wanting to have two women in bed at the same time. I figured if one woman was good then two together must be even better.

At the office where I still work I use to spend hours surfing through pornographic material.

In 1996 my wife got pregnant with twins. We were very excited but our lifestyle hadn't really changed much. We still went out to the casino every night. In the 6th month of her pregnancy we lost the babies to a miscarriage. That really hurt us.

God then gave us another chance and on February 12, 1999, Diego my first boy was born, and then on August 15, 2001, Carlito was born. We thank God for being so generous with us.

When I think of all these things that I did in my life, I thought it was going to give me happiness and peace. I think that every one of us wants to have this peace.

I LOOKED EVERYWHERE. In relationships. In serious ones, and not so serious ones. Let me tell you all, that with this crazy promiscuous lifestyle (playboy), we don't only hurt ourselves but everyone around us. The other problem is that when we live like this, and someone really special comes along that can be a good wife for us, we wont be able to notice that because we become to busy in the chase for another women.

I have hurt many women with the way that I lived in my 20's and half of my 30's. One of the persons that I hurt the most is Alexis my firstborn daughter that I haven't spent any time with.

I looked for happiness in possessions like homes, business, clothes, jewelry, cars, and motorcycles, entertainment drinking, drugs, music, discotheque, nudie bars, and casinos. In international traveling. In shopping for expensive items. I went crazy trying to figure out how to be happy and why I wasn't happy having experienced all these things especially coming from a poor background.

I can tell you today the truth. That with God's love he did reveal to me where real happiness is, and where it comes from, and how to get it.

It was in February on 2003 that my wife invited me to go to the church. My wife's sister Melania was attending church because they where having Evangelistic meetings for a week.

Evangelism means spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. After attending 4 or 5 meetings that week, I understood with the help of God, and his Holy Spirit that if someone considers himself to be a Christian he has to really commit himself to Jesus Christ and follow Him. I understood that I had to make my decision public, and get baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I had to get baptized when I was a baby, at only a few months old. Then I had seen people get baptized in protestant churches being adults. That's how I understood that it was my time to knowingly commit to be a real follower and open my heart to Jesus Christ to come in and stay in forever.

To be honest I didn't even know what was really ahead for me and my family.

I communicated with the Pastor of the church Hermes Taveras that I wanted to get baptized, and on March 1st 2003 I got baptized. When I was talking to the pastor, my wife wasn't sure about my decision because she thought that I wasn't ready to make a decision yet. She didn't understand the convincing power of the Holy Spirit that was over me. She also knew of the rules and regulations of the church that she thought that maybe I couldn't follow.

I want to tell you, my friend that rules or following any rules has never saved anybody. What saves a person is Jesus Christ and with what He did on the cross. Paying the penalty for our sins so by faith in Him we can be free. Free to do whatever we want, and continue to live in sin? NO. Free to follow Him and obey Him because of the Love we feel for Him and the Love He has showed us.

I want to take the opportunity to raise your attention to something important my friend. That none of the characters that are in the bible that God considers them as His people are perfect except of course for Jesus Christ.

Moses killed and Egyptian, David committed adultery and killed Bathsheba's husband Arias, Rehab was a prostituted, Mary Magdalene was a prostituted, Matthew was a tax collector and the list goes on. These people where like you and me when they SINCERELY repented from there sins. God forgave them and when they obeyed and followed God's rules is when they where blessed by Him. When they disobeyed and forgot about God that's when they got in trouble.

Baptism is symbolism, when you go in the water your old self dies with all the sinful nature, and you come out of the water a new person in Christ.

That is exactly happened with me. I felt like a new person. I was very happy with my decision to follow Christ. I started going twice a week to church, studying my bible daily and praying. Always trying to find new sites in the Internet that talked about Jesus.

Before all this, I had a friend named Franco that helped me a lot to get to know God. He explained what adultery is all about in God's eyes.

I told my psychologist that I wanted to try to see if I could get by without taking any medication, and he told me that we could try as long as I was honest with myself. Since March of 2003 I have not needed to take any medications, Glory be to Jesus.

I trusted Him 100%. I believed all his promises and with his help I was able to clear up my sinful lifestyle and start new. I am here to tell you that Jesus Christ still cures today. First you must want to be cured. Second you must believe that He can do it for you. Third you must commit 100% to Him and follow him because from his part, he wants to cure you.

This is how he cured me.

We all have a soul that needs a relationship with his creator.

Without this relationship, our soul is dead.(John 3:3) Sin separates us from God.

Sin is cancer to the soul. The guilt of Sin eats up the soul.

When I received Jesus Christ as my only Lord and Savior. First he forgave me for all my sins. That took away all the guilty feelings. Then when I understood the amount of love that he had for me. To die for me on the cross (watch the movie Passion of Christ) so I can reconcile with God the Father. I just fell in Love with Him.

So the forgiveness, the unconditional Love, and telling me that I can be his friend, and I can follow him, and become part of His family. He saved me from sin and getting lost forever. He cured me, and gave me a real life that's full of His Spirit that is Love, Joy, Peace, Self control, Faith, Kindness that's how he cured me.

He is that something, that is missing from everyone's heart that doesn't have Him inside.

Before it was anger, fighting, coursing, lusting, depression, unhappiness and the like. Listen to these verses from Apostle Paul where he explains it better in Galatians 5:19-25. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Paul also said "if God is with us who can be against us" Romans 8:31

My friend this is the Gospel (Good News) message of Jesus Christ.

We were made by God to have an intimate relationship with Him.

That we don't have (because we are sinners, sins have separated us from Him)

That we CAN have (through faith in his Son Jesus Christ)

We must choose. Do we believe Him? Do we trust Him? Do we follow Him?

Hearing the gospel and not deciding or waiting for any reason means that we decline, don't believe and don't trust Him.

We have nothing to wait for. He receives us just the way we are and He helps us change from inside out.

We can not change by ourselves. Only He can do it for us.

We all suffer from the disease called Sin.

Only Jesus Christ saves us from Sin.

His main purpose was to rescue mankind from the penalty and the power of Sin. Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 That's what I am trying to communicate to you my friend that I did believe and trust, and now I am walking with Him.

He cured me from an illness that doctors can't cure.

He took me out of the darkness and put me in the light.

I was blind now I can see. Someone mite say, man you where never blind you're lying. Let me ask you this. Isn't someone blind when God sends him a blessing of a beautiful healthy baby and he doesn't understand the greatness of the gift and lets the opportunity to enjoy this blessing go bye?

In the same way we are blind not to except what God is offering to us through His Son Jesus Christ forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.

God will forgive us whenever we sincerely ask for forgiveness but there is no use in living in sin because nothing good comes out of it. God does forgive, but there are some things we can't go back and change. If you get some incurable disease from being promiscuse God will forgive you when you go back to Him, but you would still have to deal with your illness. Or if your relationship with your spouse ends up in a divorce, God will still forgive you and take you back, but you will still have a broken relationship with your spouse. Or if you are doing something illegal and end up in jail God will still forgive you and take you back but you would still have to serve your sentence.

That is why NOW is the time to let Jesus in to your heart. Just as you are,

He will come in and fill up your heart with so much love that you automatically will change from inside out.

Besides we never know when our last day on this planet will be.

And I tell you Jesus promised us that He will be back to take us with Him and no one knows when that will be either. He will come like a thieve in the night.(1 Thesalonians 5:2)

So NOW is the time to give your heart to Jesus.

I am full of Joy every day because I know that every day is made especially by Him for us, and no one can guarantee that we will have another one.

I appreciate my friends and relatives my neighbors my coworkers, and everybody that I met because I know that they are one of God's creations.

I feel so privileged to be called Ambassador of Jesus Christ because that is what he call's us as His followers.

When hard times come I know He is on my side, and I know it's for my own good, and I am sure that He wants me to learn something.

I know when I talk to Him, He listens to me, and He talks to me through His word the Bible.

Jesus has made many promises (40,000 promises in the Bible) to His sincere followers I don't know them all yet but I know that he does keep them all.

The only thing that I would like you to see from this booklet my friend is that this Jesus Christ that was born in Nazareth by a virgin, walked the streets of today's Israel preaching the good news of God's kingdom, and he healed people, did miracles, and was crucified and was resurrected on the 3rd day.

He still does the same thing today because he is still alive seated on the right hand of the Father. He still does everything that he did when He was here and even more.

Give Him a chance. He is at the door of your heart knocking now if you let Him in.

He works miracles!

Revelation 3:20 Jesus says "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me".

If you decide to receive Jesus Christ in your heart right now, please sincerely pray out loud this prayer with me.

Dear Jesus Christ. I know that I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I belive that you died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite you in to my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

JESUS LOVES YOU!

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George Nevrodis (email = george@presentmedia.com )
Spiros Miras (email = curedbyjesus@gmail.com )