Testimonials
Hello Brother Tom,
I am so excited to have found your web page again. First of Gods blessings to you this day, and I hope your health is better from the last newsletter I read God is good and he is bigger that diabetes or heart attacks!!!!!!
I will keep you in prayer though. I'm at work Praise God for work!!!! Its a little slow today so I was kinda just surfing the internet and you came into my mind and heart. I was given your testimony about 13 or 14 yrs ago its was one tool that God did use in my salvation to Jesus Christ, a guy (who became a friend) that sat next to me witnessed to me and then handed me the dvd.
Your testimony was to say the least incredible I have never forgotten it and today I have ordered it so I too can use this as a tool for those other hard to reach tough guys. One of them being the father of my children. He was incarcerated for over 7 yrs and became affiliated with an organization. He wants to love God but at the same time still has that cold mean heart.
Then there is the father of my two granddaughters who run with little street gang members who doesnt take life or my granddaughter much less my daughter seriously. I know your testimony will make an impact in there life as it has done mine and countless of others. I just also wanted to drop a line and say Im grateful to God that he has kept you and just to let you know I will make a commitment to partner with you.
Stay strong in Christ and know that God is bigger than any situation that may come your way. Eat healthy, exersice, rest and rest in Jesus. Love you brother Tom. God Bless you and Strenghten you for his work. IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!!!
I've read the comments posted back and forth on other lying sites, and just wanted to say the following...
According to the United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. - 955 F.2d 688, Tom was involved with Jilly's Restaurant in Giorgia (as mentioned in his testimony). Papania, along with several other Mafia connected individuals (Forgione,Coppola & Biscuiti - some members of a Chicago based crime family) all had interests in the restaurants. This same court document says, and I quote "Papanier was apparently using his ties to New York organized crime to represent Coppola". This same document describes the kidnapping of Jilly's owner, and I quote "In the aftermath of the kidnapping, fearing that Cam and Pilara remained a threat to him, his family, and his assets, Coppola did two things: First, he approached Forgione, a Miami-area union official with ties to organized crime, to assure his protection, and second, he recruited a bodyguard, Papanier, from New York". The Gambino family recv'd $100,000 for saving Coppola's life; an undisclosed Chicago family recv'd $500,000. This court document also describes the contract on Tom's life with failed/aborted bombing attempts which Tom mentions in his testimony. Don't take my word for it, contact the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia directly with questions pertaining to my information listed.
Hi Tom,
My co-worker invited me to hear you speak. I attended the session Sunday night, October 7, 2001. It was a very memorable and enlightening experience.
Last night, I attended again and also purchased the tapes from Sunday night.
Tom, I have talked to friends, co-workers and family members about your story. It is the most intriguing life story I have ever been privileged to hear.
Your road to Christ is one that I have shared with many.
The impact that it has will penetrate the hardest of hearts and bring anyone down to size.
I am writing to thank you for the seminars that you held.
Best Regards,
Bill D.
Dear Tom Papania,
My name is Tiana, and I'm an inmate at the County jail here in Woodland California . I just heard your testimony in the Bible study class held today and I had to respond.
I'm in here for drugs. It's my second time in jail, and I am a twenty year old female, and with God's help it will be my last time. I don't want to go into it, mainly
I just want to say that your testimony has touched me, and it will stay in my memory forever. Thank you for giving me hope today.
Sincerely,
Tiana.
Dear Mr. Papania,
My sister and I were moved by your powerful personal testimony last Sunday night. Your past life and Christian conversion are truly a miracle.
I have shared much of your testimony with several of my friends. Your relationship with your father brought back memories of my relationship with my deceased dad.
I was more abused emotionally than physically but it definitely left a scar in my life.
It is great to know that our Father in Heaven loves each of us unconditionally and is ready to forgive us for whatever we might have done.
Keep up the good work.
Dear Tom,
I'm writing you regarding your audio tape and the influence it has had on me and many others and to ask your advice regarding my own personal walk.
I listened to the tape again today after receive ended back from a friend. I purchased the tape when you spoke of a church in Massachusetts a few years ago.
Close to a dozen people that I am aware of have come to saving acceptance of Christ due to this tape and tapes friends have purchased after hearing mine .
Dear Tom,
My name is Catherine. I wanted to say thank you to you for sharing your story. Though I have never met you nor have I ever heard you speak live, I did hear your audio tape.
Because of your tape, my life is forever changed.
At the age of 18, I was stealing multi-million dollar equipment for some of your old pals. I didn't know what I was doing, but then again - I did. Where else can you go at the age of 18 and make a grand a week? All I knew was that I didn't want to go to college and I couldn't spend my money fast enough. Drugs and alcohol seemed to be my only true friends as they seemed to be the only reliable things in my life at the time.
Five years and half a million later, I was told to disappear or that I would get a bullet in my head for having dated the boss' son-in-law. Yes, I am a woman. I didn't know he was married, much less did I know to the boss' daughter.
Well, I disappeared alright. I became a truck driver moving goods out to the coast. I really didn't know you could still make a few grand a week legally. The problem was that I was miserable.
I met someone along the way, and now have a beautiful little boy. He is now five. His father is no longer with us, he hit us one too many times. Danny and I barely escaped with our clothes on our backs.
Henever came after us and I never went after him. I think he went back to Arizona. But this isn't why I am writing to you.
After he left, I continued to drive a trailer from New York to Boston everyday. I worked about 70 hours per week and still took home about $2,000/week. I figured with no child support in the future, I should try to make the best of it and make sure my son will never have to want for everything. I couldn't have been more deluded.
I was sitting on a dock somewhere in Jersey having another one of those miserable days as a truck driver when this man approached me. He asked me how my day was going and I told him, "Fine, as soon as I can get the heck out of here! I can't stand waiting!" He then reached into his pocket and took out a tape and told me to take care. I put it in my pocket and figured it for some Jehovah's Witness literature. About an hour later I was loaded and heading home.
I got on to the turnpike and popped in the tape. I heard your voice come on. The next couple of hours were spent on the side of the New Jersey turnpike crying my eyes out. Your testimony changed me forever.
That night I went to my parents' home and asked if I could move back in with them. I told them I wanted to go to college and fulfill those dreams of working at West Point Military Academy as a doctor in the hospital there.
I told them that I wanted to sell everything, pay off all of my debt, and go to school full-time. Never before had my parents embraced me as they did that day.
I gave my boss three weeks notice to find a new driver and he found someone within two days. I cannot express the joy that has come into my life. I always thought that material things and the best that money can buy were just barely good enough for my son and I. I was so wrong. Waking up and spending time at breakfast is by far worth more to me than just about anything I ever bought. I never fully understood that what he really needed was his mommy there for him instead of with his nanny.
Danny and I are best friends now, like it should be. I have been going to school for two solid years now. I am so happy. And broke. I finally exhausted all of my savings and even used up my annuity from the Teamsters. I took a job waitressing about a month and a half ago. It is quite humbling, but it pays for the gasoline. I still shop for only the best, that is, the best that I can find at Wal-Mart. But I am not complaining nor am I looking for a handout. I merely wanted to say thank you for spreading your word, far enough to reach the likes of me. A kid at 18 with academic scholarships galore, but wanted to take the easy way out and make the big money by just driving.
I guess it just goes back to the old saying, you can't argue with a drunk and you can't argue with a teenager. I am 32, now, quite happy and living my life like I should have so many years ago.
This is why I am writing to you. I am not sure what it was about your tape, your story? your voice? Both?
In any case, thanks, and even though I lost your tape when the Jeep was sold I can only hope that it fell into the hands of another who needed to be saved.
Love,
Catherine
Dear brother in Christ, Tom,
I’d like to thank you very much for the video and audio cassettes, which I received yesterday.
And I’d like to share with you the following: Nearly a month ago, a relative of mine asked me if I could lend her 30 dollars. By the way, this is a one-month salary in many state offices; and working as a teacher (of Italian) in a university I was getting 30 dollars per month. In the beginning I was reluctant to give her that money because I knew I would never get it back. But the Holy Spirit reminded me that I shouldn’t give only to those from whom I expect to get back. It is like Luke 14:13, 14: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
So, I gave her the sum she wanted with an open heart. And yesterday, when I got the parcel from you and saw that the total value of the gift is 30 dollars, the Holy Spirit reminded me of that story. I thank you again. And I thank our Lord, who kept the parcel safe on its long way from the USA to Armenia.
May God be glorified through the God’s Saving Grace Ministries.
God bless you.
Your sister in Christ,
Anna
Mr. Papania,
I want to thank you for sharing your personal testimony, and your commitment you have in serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
My dad is a truck driver and he received one of your tapes at a truck stop. he listened to the tape and gave it to me to listen to... he told me that I would really receive a blessing from your tape. He was right! your testimony truly is a blessing.
I then gave the tape to other family members to listen to, and they also enjoyed hearing your testimony.
I always thought it would be nice to hear you speak in person, and to meet you, but, I thought that the odds of that happening would be very slim.
Well, the Lord has perfect timing!... I was at a Christian bookstore and I noticed on their information board that you was giving your testimony at a church in the area close to where I live. Was I ever surprised! My dad and I went to hear you speak, and we were able to meet you, talk to you and purchased your video.
I want to thank the lord for giving us the opportunity to hear you, and to meet you. Again, we enjoyed your testimony and I appreciate you being committed to serving the Lord the way that you do. May God continue to bless you and your family! Thank you!