Category: » The Kingdom Guard

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

My name is Joseph Baranauskas and recently, I gave my life to the Lord, again.

Some have asked how I got to this point in life and why I'm doing this.

I was raised in a military family on an Air Force base in Austin, Texas during the 1970's through the early 80's.

Growing up, my parents made me to go to church Sunday mornings on base. The services we attended were typical Protestant affairs.

You know, the kind with stand up, sing hymn number whatever, kneel in "canned" prayer, sit and listen to dry sermons, stand up again to sing the next hymn number out of a book…ad infinitum.

There seemed to be no real joy in the congregation, just mindless obedience.

I even became an alter boy because that was the thing to do to impress my friends.

The sad thing was, I never really connected with God. It was more of a social status thing for me.

Also, it was something to do on weekends to hopefully stay out of trouble, though that was not always the case.

After leaving high school in 1981 at the ripe age of 17, I immediately joined the United States Marine Corps. I wanted to be the baddest, toughest, meanest Marine to walk the earth.

I was in the infantry and got really lucky. I was selected for Marine Barracks duty @ NSA in Naples, Italy in late 1981.

While stationed there, my job was protecting the NATO Headquarters building at Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSouth) down the road from our base.

It was rather impressive duty. I got to wear our famous “Dress Blues” uniform everyday, mingling with NATO Generals and the like. The respect and admiration I received from everyone made me feel important.

Once I was discharged from the Marine Corps, I decided I wanted to live in San Diego, CA since that is where I went to bootcamp. I loved the area and it was as far from home as I could get yet still be in the US.

After arriving in San Diego as a new civilian, I paid for one month of rent in a seedy downtown hotel with every intention of getting a job and establishing my new life there.

Little did I know, my new-found freedom as a young adult, would lead me into alcoholism, drug addiction and general wild abandon.

I never did start that job search. Partying was much more fun! Until the rent came due and I ran out of money.

As you can guess, I got kicked out of the hotel due to non-payment.

However, I was able to scrape together a few bucks to store my property in a downtown Grey Hound bus station locker.

Funny thing is, bus station lockers also require periodic rent payments. Well, because I was living in such sin, partying and living for the moment, the day came to pay for my locker.

If you guessed I didn’t have any money left, you'd be absolutely right. Needless to say, the bus station disposed of all of my personal property!

The only thing I had left in the world was the clothes I had on and the pair of shoes on my feet.

Long story short, I wound up homeless, living on the streets for 8 months and seriously considering suicide.

I was wretched. I hadn’t been able to bathe for months. I couldn’t call my family for help, I mean, I was a proud Marine after all!

I was too proud to beg, too dumb to steal and too scared to rob.

The only way I could eat was once a day at the San Diego Rescue Mission.

For everyone that wanted to be fed, they required you to attend a one hour church service before dinner. Wouldn’t you believe it? Just my luck!

Well, because I came from a “religious” background, God was meaningless to me. He was just something that everyone seemed to pray to but wasn't real.

I was startving, so I played church along with everyone else. I just did what I had to do to survive, right?

They rotated various churches to come in and minister every week.

One night, there was a church called The Jamul Bible Church. These people were what I came to know as a non-denominational, charismatic, word-of-faith fellowship.

There were two youth ministers that night. Ron and Becky Hoffman.

They didn’t preach to us. They simply shared what the Lord had done in their life. It was real, heart-felt and extremely convicting to my soul.

I started crying because I could feel the Holy Spirit welling up inside of me, though I didn’t know what it was at the time.

I was tired, beat down and at the end of my rope ready to end it all.

That night, when Ron and Becky made the alter call, I couldn’t take the pain any more and went up. I said to myself “God, if you are real, please show yourself to me".

I was on the verge of killing myself that night or shortly thereafter.

I opened my heart and asked Jesus into my life at that alter. A tough Marine sobbing on his knees for the first time ever!

After the service, I was so shaken I couldn’t eat, though I was literally starving.

When Ron and Becky saw the sobbing mess sitting in the shadows in the back, they came to minister to me.

Later that night, Ron and Becky told me the Holy Spirit prompted them to bring me home with them.

What? Why? I was a dirty, stinky, drunk, mean, tattered and battered Marine. I didn’t deserve this!

I vividly recall crying in the back seat on the way to their home. I was so embarrassed and humiliated. I was stinking up their car with a foul odor that smelled like death.

For the next year, they and the rest of the Jamul Bible Church congregation nursed me lovingly back to life.

They taught me the Word and helped me come to realize I have a living, breathing and loving God in my life.

Years later, I got married, had two beautiful daughters and our family was deeply ingrained in a similar fellowship in Austin, TX.

Over the years, the Lord had blessed me beyond what I could imagine.

Jesus gave me an aptitude and passion for technology. For the last 25 years I have been a Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise Architect and Chief Technology Officer.

I was not only blessed with my own software company, but I've had the privilege of working with/for some of the biggest tech firms doing things you can’t even fathom.

In 2000, we bought a tour bus, strapped our new Ford Expedition to the back of it and hit the road with the girls in tow.

We eventually landed in Southern California, bought another home there and life was great.

However, we never got rooted into a new church once settled. We stopped praying as a family, reading God’s Word and you can imagine what happened after that.

I was too busy being successful with work that I just didn’t have time for God anymore.

Life was so good in fact, that I got it into my head that everything we had; 2 houses, a tour bus, a fleet of cars, motorcycles, 2 airplanes…we had all that because of my skills and talent!

Sadly, not realizing it, I was slowly turning my life back over to the Prince of Darkness; Satan.

Cutting through the chase, I quickly became an alcoholic and addict once again. Booze, drugs, women, lustful for anything/everything I thought I needed to make my life complete.

Once I hit that point, I lost my wife, my children, our homes and lastly myself.

I ran from the Lord for the last 20 years, participating in some of the most vile things a person could do short of murder. Though I had murdered many people in my heart and mind!

In Sept 2020, beat down, tired, hopeless and contemplating suicide over the summer, the Holy Spirit started whispering to me, begging me to come home, back home to Jesus.

At the end of September, my heart was finally willing and I said "Lord, if you would have me, here I am".

God has a sense of humor!

A couple of weeks ago, I didn’t have enough money to buy a Bible. I told the Lord as soon as I could scrape enough money together, after my basic living expenses, I’d buy one and get back into His Word.

I was driving for the rideshare company Lyft to survive (during a pandemic no less) and one day, I stopped at a convenience store to get gas and use the restroom.

As soon as I walked into the men’s room, on the counter sitting in a puddle of water, was a brand new Bible sealed in a plastic zip-lock bag keeping it safe.

There was someone in one of the stalls and I said “excuse me, but is this Bible yours”?

Whomever that person was (I am convinced it was an angel) didn’t respond. I asked a second time a little louder, still no reply.

The Holy Spirit whispered to me that it was mine. God gave me His Word in a convenience store bathroom!

I dried it off, took it out of the bag and went back out to my car. I quickly noticed that whoever left it for me, also left an index card inserted into it in the Book of Joshua, suggesting I read Joshua 1:8.

I read it sitting in my car at the gas pump and broke down crying uncontrollably…and laughing hysterically.

People at other pumps around me must have thought I lost my mind!

LOL, God ALWAYS finds a way!

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

The prosperity and success He promises me, will have nothing to do with money or earthly treasures, but those treasures stored up in Heaven.

The Lord nourishes me daily with His love and wisdom through His Word.

My Personal Commission From The King of Kings

Jesus has called me to leverage my design talent, technical skills and military experience He blessed me with: To arm and protect His flock against the trials and tribulations that lie ahead.

I will follow diligently as He guides me into bringing the lost into His Kingdom and to train Godly soldiers for the fight to come.

After my wicked carelessness over the last 20 years, he wants me to do a great work for Him and His Glory as we all watch the Book of Revelation unfold in front of us.

He reveals to me day-by-day; the Spirit going into this site as you see it now and advancing into the near future.

He told me time is short, the crops are ready for harvest and to put my heart, mind and hand to the plow. The time is near!

Won't you join us now and prepare your household to survive the battles in the days to come?