How I Become A Christian, My Christmas Gift To You!
Merry Christmas! A Christmas Message I wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you all to commit yourself to a successful new year.
Your success is based mainly on your commitment.
I believe one of the biggest reasons we procrastinate is lack of confidence.
This is based mostly on past experiences.
I want to share an experience that changed my life.
It was my commitment to the one whom Christmas is all about.
It was not a commitment to a church.
It was not a commitment to any group at all.
This story is about my personal commitment to the person whom Christmas is all about.
Does that mean I'm some perfect guy? Heck no! But does that mean I have an excuse to live without taking personal responsibility for my own actions? Quite the opposite.
I was raised in a home where God was never really mentioned.
I was raised Catholic, with an Italian mother, but it was just religion.
I grew up to believe in the Christian faith.
I personally believed Jesus was born, He was the Son of God, He died on a cross and gave His life as payment, or justification, for the guilty.
Since I was 7 years old I believed that.
I prayed when things would got bad, I said my 'Our Fathers', but that was about it.
I opened a successful company right out of college (1978) and actually retired at 30 years of age.
I sold my company and moved to Oregon from the Silicon Valley.
I had a beautiful river front ranch all paid off, allot of money in the bank, and a California based company that sent me a good income every month.
When I got to Oregon I bought a string of thoroughbred race horses that actually had a monthly training bill as high as $20,000 a month, so I had to go back to work fast.
Because I studied computers since high school, that helped me to quickly get a new company started from my home.
Who remembers Fortran? That was our computer language before our young team members were even born! My best friend was on one of the original teams of a little company just starting to grow known as Intel.
We worked together in those days.
But I was about to have a major adjustment.
Tough times were about to hit! Let me make a very long story short! I met the wrong guy and got cleaned out of everything.
I instantly lost over $250,000 cash and all my property! How could this happen to an intelligent business man like me? It happened through buying a business without the right knowledge.
The seller showed on paper that the business grossed millions a year and made a net of $10,000 per month.
Yet actually it was millions in debt that had not been disclosed.
The day I stepped in, and sat at my new desk, the phone started ringing, "You owe me 20k"...
Ring, Ring...
"This company owes me 100k!" I was in complete and total shock! Now I must also mention at the time I lived a nice home on 400 acres, a new Maserati, I went to Lake Tahoe or Las Vegas almost every other week.
I lived life in the fast lane.
God was not in my daily routine.
But He was about to get my attention.
This is a Christmas story? Sounds like a nightmare, and it was! I thought I was pretty smart.
I had a Lic.
Realtor represent me when I bought the new business so I thought I was protected.
But he had to file bankruptcy on me from what happened.
So here is a side note for anyone thinking of buying a business.
I learned something very few people know.
Whenever you buy a business, ALWAYS perform what's called a 'Bulk Transfer Sale'.
What this does is it gives anyone who is owed money from a company, a period of time to come forward.
If they do not come forward within the set time, they can make no claims and your new business is assured to be debt free.
So the company I bought had several million in debt and about a million in services that had already been paid for from customers, in advance.
So I spent everything I had left, fulfilling every obligation of that scam business, because I assumed the debts, even though they were not disclosed.
I got a famous attorney, only to find out that the crook already had a 5 million dollar judgment against him in Los Angeles, and was wanted by a civil group in Texas.
The money was gone, there would be no way to retrieve it, and I would be behind the 5 million dollar judgment! Now the story really gets interesting I was raised in a semi Italian home.
My mother was Sicilian and we had friends and relatives like the Godfather movie visit us from time to time over the years.
So this is what happened.
The word got out that I lost everything and I got a call.
Mr.
Sicilian: "Hello Geno! This is Mr.
Sicilian, we heard you were sick.
" Me: "Oh..
Hi Mr.
Sicilian, ahhh, I'm OK, how are you sir?" Mr.
Sicilian: "We heard what happened to you.
We are sending a Doctor to help you.
Meet me at bla bla..
on..
bla bla!" I don't want to get into what a doctor is.
But let me tell you they say doctors kill people.
I think some really do.
Now this was over 20 years ago so don't think I am some 'connected' mobster.
That old man died, and those from that era are all in jail or dead, as far as I know.
So I was invited to go see the doctor! That was when it happened! Now I was really drinking allot as I knew I would get my money back if I went to the meeting, but what was the cost? Was it my soul? You know they say that when the 'gangs' of today, or the mafias of yesterday do you a favor, they own you.
I never went to that meeting and never heard from that group since.
Praise God! Before I decided not to go, I was toiling over the matter.
I knew I would never go down that road, but I had lost everything! Now when all this was happening I just happen to go to a church one day called Calvary Chapel.
I remember our friends waited outside so we could all go down to the bar right after the service.
But something was drawing me to this place that day.
I remember it well.
It was a day that a young man was being interviewed from the Pastor.
He asked him this.
"If you could sum up everything you learned on your mission trip to South America, into one sentence, what would it be?" Then he said these 'telling' words.
"I found that God requires 100%.
" Oh how those words hit me.
"How could anyone do that? That's impossible! Sure I believed in God.
Sure I believed in Jesus, but how...
?" So what happened after that church service? I drank and partied even more! That's what a 30 year old CEO, with a triple 'A' personality does when he doesn't know what to do, in the natural! But then I had a life changing event.
As I knew I was no killer, I was in a real dilemma.
Get the million back, and lose my soul? I didn't know what to do.
Another thing was the fact that I had heard that the guy who took me for everything was laughing about it, and knowing I could just say 'go' and I would have my money back, didn't make it any easier.
Those guys break all your bones first, and then ask for the money.
They have an incredible collection success rate.
Pay, or sleep with the fish.
But God stepped in.
You may or may not believe me, but I had a clear, supernatural vision over 20 years ago, and I still remember it to this day.
I was standing on a road, right at a'Y' at the end of the road.
To turn to the right meant give it all up, let it go, and surrender your life to Christ.
Was getting my money back worth eternity? The turn to the left of the 'Y' went down.
It meant you get your money now! It meant revenge.
It meant power.
But I believe at the end of that road is, and was, a place called hell.
I believe such a place does in fact exist.
Most people don't realize that Jesus talked about hell more than any other subject.
The decision everyone must make is who Jesus is to them, and He could only be one of three scenarios.
The 'good teacher' thing doesn't hold.
He was either a liar, a lunatic, or who He said he was, the only true Lord.
Liar- He was fooling everyone, knowing it was all lies.
That's a hard one to swallow from someone who teaches to 'love your enemies'.
People who say that do not promote lying.
Well if not liar, then he would have to be a...
Lunatic- He was crazy and He thought He was someone he wasn't.
Well that's a hard one to swallow because all you have to do is read the wisdom he spoke.
He always blew the people away.
His enemies could never fool him.
You couldn't do that to a crazy lunatic! So that leaves one choice.
Lord- He was who He said he was.
In that conclusion we must deal with it, or stick our head in the sand and not face reality.
Most of us set up a dream world of our own that ignores the words of the one whom history itself is numbered by the days since His death.
Its 2011 years since Jesus died! 2011 AD...
BC- Before Christ! Well I made my choice and want you to know I respect yours.
I gave my heart away to Jesus.
I have never regretted it for one second in over 20 years now.
I even called the crook, after I made my decision over 20 years ago and forgave him.
Ever since that day, Christmas has meant so much more to me.
I don't push my faith on anyone.
That doesn't work anyway.
I just try to live the way that He said we are to live.
"In whatever you do, do only to others, what you would want done to you.
" I can tell you, since the day I surrendered to the Lord, I have been offered millions to turn away from Him, especially from online entrepreneurs.
Jesus said it this way, "What would it profit a man, if he gained the whole world and lost his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?" So let me end with this.
I want to make allot of money and I'm pretty good at what I do.
I am working on some big projects that if they go through, allot of orphans will benefit from it.
I believe its coming.
I write my 10 goals down everyday and I see them slowly coming to pass.
If Harvard University said that's all I have to do, (write my goals down everyday and work on them with diligence and perseverance), to be in the top 3%, then I'm doing it! The bible even backs it up.
"As a man thinks, so is he.
", "Write the vision...
it will surely come to pass!" I try to run my business in what I call 'the fear of God'.
Yes I do fear God.
Like a kid who knows what his dad can do, but he knows he loves him so much.
Because I have the love of Jesus in me, I love you guys like my own family.
Even as messed up and rebellious as we all are at times, He loves us all, whether we know it or not.
The greatest Christmas present I could give to you is my story.
I hope you find what you are looking for in life.
I found the meaning of Life.
If I told you all the miracles I have witnessed over the past 22 years you would not believe me.
Or maybe you would.
Merry Christmas! We need to be helping each other, and lifting each other up, no matter what our own personal beliefs are.
If you don't believe any of this, I'm OK with it.
I still care about you just as much.
Even when the rich young Ruler walked away from Jesus, it says Jesus still loved him.
We don't have to believe the same way to be great friends and colleagues.
He will take anyone, no matter what they have done, or even said about Him.
The Apostle Paul's name was changed from Saul.
His occupation 2011 years ago was to gather Christians (men, women, and children), and take them to the coliseum, (that still stands today), and offer them up for lions food! While on the way doing 'his thing' one day, a light from heaven shown all around him knocking him off his horse.
It blinded him.
A voice said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me..
?" Saul answered, "Who are you Lord?" The voice from the sky said, "I am Jesus, whom you persecute...
" Saul was forgiven and went on to be a champion in his faith.
I REALLY want you all to be healthy, happy, wealthy, and whatever else you desire in the coming year.
And I love how He wants to give us the desires of our heart.
He said, "Delight in Me, and I will give you the desires of your heart!" Merry Christmas, and may He give you the desires of your heart, this coming year.
Your success is based mainly on your commitment.
I believe one of the biggest reasons we procrastinate is lack of confidence.
This is based mostly on past experiences.
I want to share an experience that changed my life.
It was my commitment to the one whom Christmas is all about.
It was not a commitment to a church.
It was not a commitment to any group at all.
This story is about my personal commitment to the person whom Christmas is all about.
Does that mean I'm some perfect guy? Heck no! But does that mean I have an excuse to live without taking personal responsibility for my own actions? Quite the opposite.
I was raised in a home where God was never really mentioned.
I was raised Catholic, with an Italian mother, but it was just religion.
I grew up to believe in the Christian faith.
I personally believed Jesus was born, He was the Son of God, He died on a cross and gave His life as payment, or justification, for the guilty.
Since I was 7 years old I believed that.
I prayed when things would got bad, I said my 'Our Fathers', but that was about it.
I opened a successful company right out of college (1978) and actually retired at 30 years of age.
I sold my company and moved to Oregon from the Silicon Valley.
I had a beautiful river front ranch all paid off, allot of money in the bank, and a California based company that sent me a good income every month.
When I got to Oregon I bought a string of thoroughbred race horses that actually had a monthly training bill as high as $20,000 a month, so I had to go back to work fast.
Because I studied computers since high school, that helped me to quickly get a new company started from my home.
Who remembers Fortran? That was our computer language before our young team members were even born! My best friend was on one of the original teams of a little company just starting to grow known as Intel.
We worked together in those days.
But I was about to have a major adjustment.
Tough times were about to hit! Let me make a very long story short! I met the wrong guy and got cleaned out of everything.
I instantly lost over $250,000 cash and all my property! How could this happen to an intelligent business man like me? It happened through buying a business without the right knowledge.
The seller showed on paper that the business grossed millions a year and made a net of $10,000 per month.
Yet actually it was millions in debt that had not been disclosed.
The day I stepped in, and sat at my new desk, the phone started ringing, "You owe me 20k"...
Ring, Ring...
"This company owes me 100k!" I was in complete and total shock! Now I must also mention at the time I lived a nice home on 400 acres, a new Maserati, I went to Lake Tahoe or Las Vegas almost every other week.
I lived life in the fast lane.
God was not in my daily routine.
But He was about to get my attention.
This is a Christmas story? Sounds like a nightmare, and it was! I thought I was pretty smart.
I had a Lic.
Realtor represent me when I bought the new business so I thought I was protected.
But he had to file bankruptcy on me from what happened.
So here is a side note for anyone thinking of buying a business.
I learned something very few people know.
Whenever you buy a business, ALWAYS perform what's called a 'Bulk Transfer Sale'.
What this does is it gives anyone who is owed money from a company, a period of time to come forward.
If they do not come forward within the set time, they can make no claims and your new business is assured to be debt free.
So the company I bought had several million in debt and about a million in services that had already been paid for from customers, in advance.
So I spent everything I had left, fulfilling every obligation of that scam business, because I assumed the debts, even though they were not disclosed.
I got a famous attorney, only to find out that the crook already had a 5 million dollar judgment against him in Los Angeles, and was wanted by a civil group in Texas.
The money was gone, there would be no way to retrieve it, and I would be behind the 5 million dollar judgment! Now the story really gets interesting I was raised in a semi Italian home.
My mother was Sicilian and we had friends and relatives like the Godfather movie visit us from time to time over the years.
So this is what happened.
The word got out that I lost everything and I got a call.
Mr.
Sicilian: "Hello Geno! This is Mr.
Sicilian, we heard you were sick.
" Me: "Oh..
Hi Mr.
Sicilian, ahhh, I'm OK, how are you sir?" Mr.
Sicilian: "We heard what happened to you.
We are sending a Doctor to help you.
Meet me at bla bla..
on..
bla bla!" I don't want to get into what a doctor is.
But let me tell you they say doctors kill people.
I think some really do.
Now this was over 20 years ago so don't think I am some 'connected' mobster.
That old man died, and those from that era are all in jail or dead, as far as I know.
So I was invited to go see the doctor! That was when it happened! Now I was really drinking allot as I knew I would get my money back if I went to the meeting, but what was the cost? Was it my soul? You know they say that when the 'gangs' of today, or the mafias of yesterday do you a favor, they own you.
I never went to that meeting and never heard from that group since.
Praise God! Before I decided not to go, I was toiling over the matter.
I knew I would never go down that road, but I had lost everything! Now when all this was happening I just happen to go to a church one day called Calvary Chapel.
I remember our friends waited outside so we could all go down to the bar right after the service.
But something was drawing me to this place that day.
I remember it well.
It was a day that a young man was being interviewed from the Pastor.
He asked him this.
"If you could sum up everything you learned on your mission trip to South America, into one sentence, what would it be?" Then he said these 'telling' words.
"I found that God requires 100%.
" Oh how those words hit me.
"How could anyone do that? That's impossible! Sure I believed in God.
Sure I believed in Jesus, but how...
?" So what happened after that church service? I drank and partied even more! That's what a 30 year old CEO, with a triple 'A' personality does when he doesn't know what to do, in the natural! But then I had a life changing event.
As I knew I was no killer, I was in a real dilemma.
Get the million back, and lose my soul? I didn't know what to do.
Another thing was the fact that I had heard that the guy who took me for everything was laughing about it, and knowing I could just say 'go' and I would have my money back, didn't make it any easier.
Those guys break all your bones first, and then ask for the money.
They have an incredible collection success rate.
Pay, or sleep with the fish.
But God stepped in.
You may or may not believe me, but I had a clear, supernatural vision over 20 years ago, and I still remember it to this day.
I was standing on a road, right at a'Y' at the end of the road.
To turn to the right meant give it all up, let it go, and surrender your life to Christ.
Was getting my money back worth eternity? The turn to the left of the 'Y' went down.
It meant you get your money now! It meant revenge.
It meant power.
But I believe at the end of that road is, and was, a place called hell.
I believe such a place does in fact exist.
Most people don't realize that Jesus talked about hell more than any other subject.
The decision everyone must make is who Jesus is to them, and He could only be one of three scenarios.
The 'good teacher' thing doesn't hold.
He was either a liar, a lunatic, or who He said he was, the only true Lord.
Liar- He was fooling everyone, knowing it was all lies.
That's a hard one to swallow from someone who teaches to 'love your enemies'.
People who say that do not promote lying.
Well if not liar, then he would have to be a...
Lunatic- He was crazy and He thought He was someone he wasn't.
Well that's a hard one to swallow because all you have to do is read the wisdom he spoke.
He always blew the people away.
His enemies could never fool him.
You couldn't do that to a crazy lunatic! So that leaves one choice.
Lord- He was who He said he was.
In that conclusion we must deal with it, or stick our head in the sand and not face reality.
Most of us set up a dream world of our own that ignores the words of the one whom history itself is numbered by the days since His death.
Its 2011 years since Jesus died! 2011 AD...
BC- Before Christ! Well I made my choice and want you to know I respect yours.
I gave my heart away to Jesus.
I have never regretted it for one second in over 20 years now.
I even called the crook, after I made my decision over 20 years ago and forgave him.
Ever since that day, Christmas has meant so much more to me.
I don't push my faith on anyone.
That doesn't work anyway.
I just try to live the way that He said we are to live.
"In whatever you do, do only to others, what you would want done to you.
" I can tell you, since the day I surrendered to the Lord, I have been offered millions to turn away from Him, especially from online entrepreneurs.
Jesus said it this way, "What would it profit a man, if he gained the whole world and lost his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?" So let me end with this.
I want to make allot of money and I'm pretty good at what I do.
I am working on some big projects that if they go through, allot of orphans will benefit from it.
I believe its coming.
I write my 10 goals down everyday and I see them slowly coming to pass.
If Harvard University said that's all I have to do, (write my goals down everyday and work on them with diligence and perseverance), to be in the top 3%, then I'm doing it! The bible even backs it up.
"As a man thinks, so is he.
", "Write the vision...
it will surely come to pass!" I try to run my business in what I call 'the fear of God'.
Yes I do fear God.
Like a kid who knows what his dad can do, but he knows he loves him so much.
Because I have the love of Jesus in me, I love you guys like my own family.
Even as messed up and rebellious as we all are at times, He loves us all, whether we know it or not.
The greatest Christmas present I could give to you is my story.
I hope you find what you are looking for in life.
I found the meaning of Life.
If I told you all the miracles I have witnessed over the past 22 years you would not believe me.
Or maybe you would.
Merry Christmas! We need to be helping each other, and lifting each other up, no matter what our own personal beliefs are.
If you don't believe any of this, I'm OK with it.
I still care about you just as much.
Even when the rich young Ruler walked away from Jesus, it says Jesus still loved him.
We don't have to believe the same way to be great friends and colleagues.
He will take anyone, no matter what they have done, or even said about Him.
The Apostle Paul's name was changed from Saul.
His occupation 2011 years ago was to gather Christians (men, women, and children), and take them to the coliseum, (that still stands today), and offer them up for lions food! While on the way doing 'his thing' one day, a light from heaven shown all around him knocking him off his horse.
It blinded him.
A voice said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me..
?" Saul answered, "Who are you Lord?" The voice from the sky said, "I am Jesus, whom you persecute...
" Saul was forgiven and went on to be a champion in his faith.
I REALLY want you all to be healthy, happy, wealthy, and whatever else you desire in the coming year.
And I love how He wants to give us the desires of our heart.
He said, "Delight in Me, and I will give you the desires of your heart!" Merry Christmas, and may He give you the desires of your heart, this coming year.
