Hello friends, my name is Gerard Troise. I am 63 years old and live in the beautiful Ozark mountain region of Southwestern Missouri, but my life was not always so happy and peaceful. To share my entire story would be to write another book, but I will try to be brief here to give you an idea of who I am and to share with you some of my personal life experiences.
I was born in 1960 in Queens New York, where I lived and worked for the majority of my life. As a young child, I was extremely hyperactive and considered to be (ADHD), even being placed on medication for a time for this condition. (Mostly I was just bored). Needless to say, the classroom was not my favorite place. During the 70s when I was growing up, the term “college material” was often touted to describe the more academically inclined kids, and I did not fit the description, so after high school, I briefly attended a trade school for refrigeration & air conditioning and began my working career… Later in life, I did earn many college credits in various subjects, but the majority of what I learned has been through personal study.
Between my late 20s and early 30s, a series of poor choices led me down the dark road of narcotics abuse, and when my job of more than 10 years in a refrigeration manufacturing plant downsized and relocated to Texas and I was suddenly unemployed, what had been a nightly habit of drug use quickly became a full-blown addiction. I also had friends who were drug users, and being that I was single and owned my own home, several of them would come by to have a place to hang out and get high, spending large sums of money on drugs and supporting my addiction as well.
Bound by the spirit of addiction to crack cocaine, I would often be wide awake for two entire days and nights at a time, finally taking the edge off with Zanex sticks and 160 proof vodka mixed with beer, just so I could wind down and sleep a little. I also ate very poorly during this time in my life, and my body weight plummeted to a dangerously low level. An otherwise moral and decent person will do things under the influence of narcotics that they would never dream of doing in their normal state of mind, and sadly, I was no exception during this time. The addiction just takes priority over everything else in a person’s life and crowds out all that is most dear to them.
One night when I was out of drugs and cash and desperate for more, I went to Lefrak City in Corona and stole some crack from a local street dealer. Two weeks later I returned to that area to make a drug deal, and after the exchange, while raising the electric window of my car, I could see out of the corner of my eye a man crouching down and lifting both of his hands. The next second my window exploded, and I could feel blood running down my left temple, very close to my eye. I thought that somebody had thrown a rock at the window, and it wasn’t until I arrived back home and carefully examined my face in the mirror that I realized that I had been shot with a gun; the glint of the bullet was still deep inside the gaping wound.
Suddenly realizing just how narrowly I had escaped certain death that night, I immediately felt weak and sick. The bullet had struck me right in the center of my head, and if the window had been but an inch lower at that second, it would not have been able to deflect its full impact. Also, had I hesitated to look at the man crouching down, that bullet would’ve surely gone directly through my left eye. I knew at that moment that I had received a true miracle in the sparing of my life, but what happened next was even more profound… An obscure verse of Scripture from the book of 2nd Kings was immediately brought to my memory and attention… Scripture was the furthest thing from my mind at that time in my life, and I sincerely believe that this was a message to me directly from God. I also instantly had a full understanding of the revealed message in that verse:
“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward”. (2 Kings 19:30)
God was indeed letting me know right then and there that although my life had been threatened by addiction and violence, He could and would establish me once again to take root downward into the firm foundation of His love and that I would bear good fruit upward again in my life if only I would choose to trust Him. During my teen years, I did have a deep spiritual hunger and sought God, receiving a revelation of His Goodness and Love at the age of 19, but the many problems I faced in later years caused me to believe that He no longer loved me… On this night, I knew for certain that He still did love me despite my many mistakes, and I chose to firmly place my trust in His goodness and love once again.
Recovery was still a tough battle for me, and I did have some setbacks along the way. I had to make a firm decision each day to resist the temptation to use narcotics, but with a true commitment to God through Jesus Christ there is great power, and as I began to re-establish a Spiritual foundation of sincere prayer and bible study, that stronghold of addiction was completely broken over my life.
Still out of work at this time I needed to generate income to pay bills, and I began by metal recycling, collecting copper, brass, aluminum & stainless steel from building & demolition sites. I earned surprisingly good money doing this. I also began a small indoor/outdoor painting and weatherproofing business which I advertised with business cards and in neighborhood publications, and I found that I could earn more income doing these things than most people earn at a regular job, especially during the warmer months of the year in New York City. Working for myself during this period in my life was very rewarding in a personal way, and I continued to make good connections with people and grow Spiritually with God.
I later took a job with the United States Postal Service in which I worked as a level 6 circuit mailman with some 2,000 customers in Jamaica Queens. It was during this time that I was inspired to begin writing the book “King Josiah The Untold Story”, (originally titled A Heart In The Hand Of God). I had the sense at the time that the book was somehow “downloaded” inside of me Spiritually, and it had been gifted to me to get it into print, so each day I took a notepad to work with me and jotted down inspired lines in a rough draft in the truck between mail relays. At night I would smooth out and type these lines into a printable online document, and it was during these evening writing sessions that I experienced some of the greatest levels of God’s intimate Peace and Anointing that I had ever felt in my entire lifetime. This continued for 10 months until the manuscript was completed.
Soon after completing the King Josiah manuscript, I began to attend Beth Israel fellowship of Wayne NJ with Pastor/Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. He was one of the first people with whom I shared this project, and he loved it. Jonathan Cahn was one of the most genuine ministers, as well as one of the most intelligent people that I had ever met and we soon became friends. Beth Israel also has a missionary outreach to many nations and during my time there I had the opportunity to participate in several mission trips to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Columbia, and Peru. In this way, I had the opportunity to share from my heart with many in these nations as well as with many people on my job, and I was blessed to lead people to Jesus Christ, both at home and abroad, seeing God’s Word powerfully fulfilled in my lifetime of “bearing fruit upward” for His Glory and Honor.
Jonathan himself is the author of several books beginning with “The Harbinger” in 2012. It’s interesting however that as God strongly led me beginning in late 2023 to publish “King Josiah The Untold Story” in all 4 venues, Audiobook, Kindlebook, Paperback, and Hardcover, Jonathan was at the same time led by God to release his new book, “The Josiah Manifesto”. We had no personal collaboration concerning this, but I certainly believe that it is more than a mere coincidence. The Spirit of God often works in this manner to confirm a powerful message that He wants people to get ahold of by confirming its importance and timeliness through two or three witnesses. (2 Corinthians 13:1)
If you have recently read or listened to King Josiah The Untold Story, I would love to hear from you. I am always open to comments and questions, so please don’t be a stranger. Know also that if you are struggling with addiction or any other problem in your life, I will never judge you; you have a true friend here, and someone who has lived through it himself.
I was a prodigal son who experienced the Love of God in my life in a profound way, and now I extend His Love to you… Know that wherever you are in life, you also are Dearly Loved by God, and Your Story Is Not Over Yet!
Gerard Troise
