BILL:  AN EX-OUTLAW BIKER

After 20 years drug and alcohol use, several years a member of the Hells Angels © , 8 years in prison, and 6 years as a fugitive from the FBI, Jesus set Bill free.

I grew up in San Diego California, born into a good loving family.  I began running with kids older than I and started getting into trouble as a teenager.  I began using drugs on a daily basis and then began getting arrested quite often.  I rode a 1941 Knucklehead Harley Davidson to High School and began taking on the characteristics of the Outlaw Bikers in the area.

I was arrested some 20 times over a period of 23 years.  Each time arrested I was high or drunk.  From those arrests I was in prison 3 times plus a violation, a total of 8 years. Every time I was released I said, “I am never coming back." The longest I ever stayed out of prison was one year. The shortest was 67 days.

As they were sending me back to prison for the third time I skipped bail and went to Canada, becoming a fugitive from the FBI. . As a member of the Hells Angels © in California I transferred to a Canadian Chapter.  There was a war going on between the club I was with and a rival club.  I decided to get revenge and shoot their former president.  I learned he had quit the bike club he was with and had become a Christian.  I decided to kill him anyway. So I drove 1500 miles with his picture and a gun and from only 4 feet away I shot him  5 times.  Later I learned that as Doug lay on the ground he prayed for me, "God, don't be mad at him, he is only doing what he thinks is right, track him down and save him like you did me and fill him with your love,. In Jesus name, Amen."

Later Doug told me how that day he had sat on his motorcycle and thanked God for all the things God had done for him. “I am no longer in prison, I am no longer in the Bike Club, I don't drink or  use drugs anymore, in  36 hours I am getting married to a good Christian girl, what could go wrong."  Just then I pulled up and began shooting him, but he said he could feel an angel wrap his wings around him and the bullets felt like mosquito bites.  Then the peace of God came over him and God spoke and told him to pray for me.

In the hospital Doug refused the Demerol for the pain, he told them as they prepared him for surgery, "I'll just pray."  In only 3 days he walked out of the hospital completely healed from 5 gunshot wounds. 4 days later he was married and on his honeymoon praying God would find me and change my life.

I returned to California because the Canadian Police were looking for me for this shooting. Moving to Humboldt County I looked up Tommy, a former member of the club I was with, whom I thought was growing Pot. But when I found him he had changed.  He was now a Christian and a Prison Minister. He began to tell me how Jesus died on the cross for me because I was guilty before God.  That if I died separated from God I would go to Hell.  But that God loves everyone so much He sent Jesus to die for all of us.  And on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead.  He went on to say to me if I would pray God would hear me and that if I died that night I would go to Heaven. So I prayed, "God forgive me for living me life without You, I want Jesus to come into my life, I want to live for you".  In Jesus name. Amen

At water baptism I was instantly set free from the 20 years of drugs, alcohol, cursing, stealing and violence, all these desires were now gone.  God began sending me back to people I had wronged asking them to forgive me. I wrote out a letter to Doug my shooting victim asking him to forgive me - which he did.

The FBI found me after 6 years and I was sent to Donovan prison in San Diego.  During those 3 years I spent hours upon hours studying the Bible and praying.   I watched other Christians being released from prison and then return again.  So I decided I will not compromise and come back to prison.  I began to meditate on every area that could cause me to fall.  I no longer had a desire to use drugs or drink, but I realized I could not even associate with anyone who did those things.  The trouble that is following them will get over on me if I am around them.  I cut off all of my old friends completely.  I searched my heart for areas I could be tempted in and made a firm decision to stay as far away from those temptations as possible.

I decided before I left the prison how I would react to every temptation I might encounter - how I would say no and walk away. I left prison with this scripture to direct my life: Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

My only purpose now was to follow God and do things His way.  I asked God about every important decision - where to work, where to live and who to marry. And God began changing my plans to His.  He sent me to a Rescue Mission to be a staff member feeding the homeless.  Being there surrounded me with strong Christians. This is where my wife Carmen and I were married; she is a true gift from God.  Together we went to Canada and spent 11 days with Doug, whom I had shot 7 years before.  Doug and I told our stories together in churches, a jail and other meetings.  We stood together telling others God will set you free.

I have been out of prison since 1990 and now travel nationwide and to foreign countries proclaiming the  Gospel of Jesus Christ with my wife.  My life changed when I decided to do things God's way and not my own, to drop my old friends and to live by God's Word. The miracles continue, Mac Gober the President and Founder of Canaan Land Bible Training Center in Alabama, Doug’s best friend is now my pastor.

On November 13, 1998 the State of California gave me a Certificate of Rehabilitation restoring my rights back to me. Thank You Jesus for a new life.

Bill Peters