Rapper Holy Gabbana knows all about how God can change a life, and he took his testimony behind bars, leading over 35 incarcerated men to Jesus.
“Formerly known as Boonk Gang, now it’s Holy Gabbana, but this transformation — it’s all God,” the rapper said in a video shared by God Behind Bars. “You know, back then I used to think I had it all figured out. I’ve taken myself so far in the streets by myself — rob, bank fraud. But you know that lifestyle it promises so much, but it delivers nothing. It just leaves you broke.”
For a long time, Holy Gabbana, whose real name is John Robert Hill Jr., tried to fill his life “with things that don’t last — money, sex, fame, drugs.” He was eventually arrested but found God while in prison.
“When I turned myself in, the whole jail was like, ‘Oh snap, we locked up with Boonk Gang.’ The COs were like, ‘Who is that?’” Gabbana explained in a previous interview. “They put me up in solitary confinement for a week. They asked me, ‘Am I in fear of my life?’ I told them, ‘No.’ So, they put me in the general population.”
He was taken to his cell, and his cellmate asked a question that changed his life forever.
“When I was in jail, my cellmate introduced me to Jesus. He asked me, ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’” the rapper told the crowd of over 450 incarcerated men at San Quentin Prison. “When I was in jail, I wouldn’t even think about Jesus. But ain’t it amazing how God may not be on our mind, but we always on His mind. Even though the world, they looked at me as a lost cause, but God seen a soul that was worth redeeming.”
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“People may look at you like a lost cause just because you made a mistake, but God, He ain’t looking at your rap sheet. He sees the gifts that He’s planted inside of you. He sees your worth because He’s your creator,” he encouraged.
Holy Gabbana doesn’t know much about Jesus, “but the best thing about this walk is it’s not about perfection. It’s about progression,”
“Every single day, making a decision to keep going. You’re not defined by the mistakes you made. What makes you is the decisions you make, and right now you got a decision to make to pursue God to keep going no matter what,” he emphasized.
Today, Holy Gabbana uses his platform to bring glory to God.
What a powerful testimony of the truly transforming power of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
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