One Year Later

This is a tale of redemption. The story of how I turned my degenerate life around to overcome extreme hedonism and depression..

I am a millennial man who was raised by atheist boomers in Illinois + California. My parents, peers and the authority figures in my life failed to instill in me a sense of morality, honesty, bravery, patience, a desire for hard work or a genuine understanding of truth and love for just over 28 years. Although I was failed growing up, I still should have answered God's call sooner in life. I instead chose to indulge in the pleasures of this world, and dove head-first into the brokenness for many years..

I chose to have premarital sex with tens of different women. I struggled with an addiction to pornography and violent content. I smoked marijuana daily, drank alcohol to excess, and experimented with psychedelic drugs often. I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a week, ate unhealthy + processed foods constantly and to a gluttonous extent.. I was weak and broken in almost all the ways. I consumed and abused substances, as well as people, in a selfish attempt to fill the emptiness of my soul, but nothing ever seemed to work. All of the happiness in my life was temporary.

This drove me into repetitive periods of depression + loneliness, and eventually pushed me within minutes of ending my life near the end of 2018. However, our Heavenly Father had other plans for me, and through divine intervention my suicide was prevented. This much needed wake-up call led me towards the Gospels, and an honest search for the answers to my problems. The Lord was patient with me, yet determined to help save my soul.

From the day I should have ceased to exist in this place, it still took many months to find enough answers and encouragement to get my act together. I still foolishly indulged in flesh pleasures and continued to deny reality. All in an attempt to avoid truly taking responsibility for my actions, and to delay beginning the necessary steps of improvement. I couldn't find the will to fight against my old habits and the obstacles of my environment. Until the night of April 15th, 2019 happened..

That was the night I finally repented for my many sins, and humbled myself before God. I honestly prayed for the first time, asking for forgiveness and direction, while also truly thanking Him for the many blessings I failed to appreciate. I poured my soul out before Him, offered my body + life to Him, and really meant it.. He responded to me in a glorious, beyond beautiful voice that was voiceless. That night I was put on a mission of knowing and understanding Him, finding the logos of His creation and the love of His presence. It is a night I can never forget, a night that began an epic story of redemption, and a night that saved a soul.

It has now been an entire year since my salvation night. I am completely sober, chaste, healthy, and faithful. I no longer drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or marijuana, nor do I have sexual relations with others, use pornography or engage in adulterous behaviors. I eat healthy foods in moderation, I soak up plenty of sunshine, exercise daily, and read regularly. But most importantly, I pray every night before bed, I read scripture constantly, I thank the Lord for every day I am given, and as a result I have been born again into the truth, the light, and the love of our God. 365 days after repenting for my sins, my life is now simply amazing.

I was weak, now I am strong. I was broken, now I am whole. I was dead, now I am alive. I was lost, but now I am found! And it has all been accomplished by first realizing I was suffering because of my actions, that my fear + anger was destroying me physically and spiritually. Then deciding to repent to my maker for choosing to do so, and asking with a honest heart how to overcome my sins and find His kingdom. The answers to our most important and urgent questions are found in the words + teachings of His only son, the reality I chose to ignore and deny for far too long.

Those who believe and trust in our creator will overcome all things. He held my hand as I overcame my addictions and flesh urges, He advised me as I searched for the truth, and He is always there for me when I need help. I strongly recommend you reach out to Him if you are struggling with life in this world.. He is patient, understanding, merciful, and waiting for you still.

I was lost, but now I am found. You can be too, it is never too late! Repent for what you have done, forgive what others have done to you, and love + be loved by our creator. If you ever need help, encouragement, advice, or just someone to listen please do not hesitate to reach out to me.. You can always email me [ seanvplanet@gmail.com ] or send me physical letters [ Sean Cory  PO BOX 330172  Nashville, Tennessee 37203 ] and I will be more than happy to talk with &/or help you!

Sympathy For Sinners

The most wicked, despicable, heinous, degenerate, and destructive of sinners can be redeemed. It is never too late for anybody.. Our creator is patient, forgiving, understanding, loving and waiting for us to overcome the evils of this temporary place. It is no easy task, but we must have sympathy for the sinners.

Sin is an act of transgression against our maker. It is a corruption of a human being through acts which are spiritually wicked &/or physically destructive. But even the worst of sinners can still return to God and find His love again. Our salvation is always waiting.. Always, for all of us.

Even when the criminals come to corrupt, when the exploiters seek to exploit, when the strong attempt to dominate, and when the boomers, zoomers, doomers, coomers, simps, thots, aggressors + oppressors attempt to lead you astray or do you harm, reject them with confidence knowing that the grace of our Lord is all that matters in the end. Recognize that you must sympathize with those unwilling or unable to grasp that fact due to their brokenness. Love all of God's children, even if they have chosen to reject His love. For they are the people who truly need your help and love the most.

The Prodigal Son: 
Luke 15:11-32
Jesus spoke; "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' So he got up and went to his father. 
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 
The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

This parable explains how God's children can always be reborn and found again in the eyes of their heavenly father. We're all sinners at one point, in desperate need of salvation and mercy. Return to your Lord in humility, for He is truly compassionate, celebratory, restorative and loving! Our father rejoices for all that is found, if only the one, no matter how long it takes.

We all need the forgiveness of our heavenly father at some point in time, and we will receive it once we learn to forgive His children.

Those who have been destroyed by their brokenness, or overcome with wickedness, do play a crucial role in our own spiritual journey. Sometimes to test us, or to show us by example how bad existence can be when we stray away from our Lord. To let us feel the temperature of the darkness when we drift away from the light of His kingdom.

Our creator could destroy Satan at any moment.. There is no cheat code to beat or defeat our Lord, even for the distributor of evil. Our Lord lets Satan corrupt, tempt, manipulate and destroy us because our heavenly father wants us to choose Him. We are given free will by our maker to find His kingdom for ourselves. We are undoubtedly made perfect in His image, then corrupted by our environment [ Satan's schemes + the children of the lie ] and we are to seek His love and His kingdom by our own choosing. The path towards the light lies in loving our God, loving His children, as well as those still seeking Him and all the rest who fall short or fail to do so.

Forgive all to be forgiven by Him, love all in order to be loved by Him.

In closing, I suggest you always remember to not judge others for their failures or emotional instabilities, no matter how close to God you may be. Know that those around you are on a different journey physically and spiritually, that our environments and timelines are never going to match up according to our desires. To those who have accepted Jesus in their hearts, Satan will still seek to corrupt your ego into believing that you are superior or better than those who choose or can't help but sin.. I recommend that you try not to merely believe that you do or do not have faith, but live in faith and just be a child of God without any doubt or presumption.


Please remind yourself to read this if ever you have doubts or skepticism about sympathizing with sinners:

Colossians 3:12-15
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." 

Martyr Moment : St. Alexis, The Man of God

Saint Alexis [411] was born of pious and noble parents in Rome in the time of the Emperor Honorius. His parents, Euphemianus and Agalais, set a high standard of godly living: his father, though wealthy, sat down to dine only once a day, at sunset. By his parents' arrangement Alexis was married at a young age. However, without ever living with his new wife, he fled to Edessa in Mesopotamia, where he lived in asceticism for eighteen years, presenting himself as a beggar in order to avoid the praise of men. When, despite his efforts, he began to be known as a holy man, he fled the city and took ship for Laodicea.

By divine providence, the ship was blown off course and forced to land in Rome. Taking this as a sign, Alexis, still disguised as a beggar, returned to his parents' house, where he sat at the gates, unrecognized by any of his family. His father, not knowing who he was, allowed him to live in a hut in his courtyard. There Alexis spent another seventeen years, living only on bread and water. He died clutching a piece of paper on which he had revealed his true identity. At the time of his death, the pope of Rome heard a voice saying "Look for the Man of God," and revealing where he should look. It is said that the Emperor Honorius, the Pope and a large retinue came to the house, where they found Alexis dead in his tiny hut, his face shining like the sun. His parents and wife were at first overcome with grief to learn that their son and husband had been secretly living near them, but they were comforted when they saw that his body healed the sick and exuded a fragrant myrrh. Thus they knew that God had glorified him.