When he was just six years old, Taron had an experience that confirmed the reality of God. He suffered from repeated bouts of tonsillitis and high fevers that kept bringing him back to the hospital.
“One evening,” Taron recalls, “I was really sick and asked my grandmother if God would ever heal me. She said He would.”
The following afternoon, around 4 pm, Taron was in his bed when suddenly the entire room lit up. He remembers, “I saw Jesus descending from heaven into my room. He asked what was wrong and I told Him about my illness.” Taron says Jesus placed His fingers in his mouth, removed his tonsils, and told him he would get well.
Actually, Taron now knows a kind surgeon removed his infected tonsils, but nonetheless his vision of being healed “was a catalyst for my strong belief in God at a young age.”
Taron, who currently lives in Glendale, was a teenager when he first heard a message that really changed his life. Coming from an Armenian heritage—the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion around AD 301—Taron was raised in a religious home. But he was seeking not only to be part of a faith community, but to know and more fully understand Christianity.
“Pastor Doug was speaking Sunday mornings on TV,” Taron recalls. “He made the most sense of all the other preachers out there.” The messages not only made sense, it led to his conversion while he was a high school sophomore. Even his classmates noticed his changed life.
“I began to do the Amazing Facts Bible Study Guides and watch Pastor Doug on TV. It was a critical point in my conversion,” Taron said. “I educated myself and concluded this is the truth. I need to make a decision for baptism.” He watched more videos on the Amazing Facts website (
www.AmazingFacts.org), read many online articles, and went over the studies multiple times. “I wanted to know everything I could about a particular topic.”
Taron’s thorough study impacted his lifestyle. “While reading Amazing Facts materials, I saw parts of my life that needed to change—my diet, the music I listened to, the movies I watched, my whole life needed to go in a different direction.”
Taron stopped hanging out with his friends on Friday nights and began keeping the Sabbath. “I stopped attending art class on Saturdays. That was hard to let go since I enjoyed painting so much. But when conviction comes, decisions have to be made,” he explains. He had no regrets about his choice.
“I began to attend church and become active in ministry,” he tells. After attending a training program on soul winning Taron now shares his faith with just about everyone he meets. “Now I am giving Bible studies to friends, co-workers, and anyone I can find. I also teach a class at my local church and help prepare other members to be Bible workers.”
Ultimately, Taron wants to enter full-time ministry. “I want to be a pastor and serve [others] for Christ,” he said. “My main goal is to lift up Jesus and bring the truth of the gospel to them. He is currently working as an insurance agent. “I provide life and health policies to clients, but my primary job is to help others secure eternal life insurance!”
What really grounded Taron in Bible truth were resources from Amazing Facts. “What really helped me were the Millennium of Prophecy videos. I think I watched them 10 times. I also liked the Hidden Truth magazine.”
Taron once heard Pastor Doug say that when you hear something, say it out loud, and then write it down you will remember it well. So he took the Hidden Truth magazine and copied it, word-for-word in a notebook. “It really helped me to internalize God’s truth and locked these foundational teachings into my memory.”
Because you cared enough to provide these resources, Taron has come to know Christ personally, and he has been faithfully passing on his blessing to others—studying with both young and old to lead them into a saving relationship with Christ too!