HIKES POINT NEWS CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION STORY/VIDEO

Crystal Blue Persuasion is a story about Tommy James converting to Christianity. In 1966 Tommy was hooked on pills, booze and other chemicals. Hooked may be too strong of a word. At that time drugs were simply a lifestyle choice. He admits he is a recovering alcoholic...thanks to the help he received from the Betty Ford Clinic. His inspiration for writing Crystal Blue Persuasion came after a concert in 1966 while he was lying on the floor in his room in a Holiday Inn. During this period of his life, Tommy was a UFO enthusiast. He enjoyed reading about UFOs. While stumbling around in his room he knocked over a lamp and as he was putting the lamp back on the stand he inadvertently caused the drawer to the night stand to open. Inside the drawer was a Gedion Bible. He took the Bible and spinned the pages with his thumb. He stopped his spin and placed his index finger on a page and it was the book of Ezekeil. This book reveals a story about the prophet Ezekeil seeing a firery wheel spinning in the sky at night. The story reads like a UFO encounter. Tommy took this as a sign. Later that week back in his New York apartment he watched Billy Graham preach and Tommy said, "Dr Graham explained why Jesus came to earth and I had never heard anyone explain the story from that point of view. When the invitation was given for people to convert to Christianity, I put my eye on the TV screen and my hand on the TV and accepted Jesus into my life". Tommy continiued and said, "My life did not immediately change but my committment was real". Within two years of this incident every member of the Tommy James and the Shondells' band converted to Christianity. Eventally, Tommy was able to turn his life around, grow in his faith and find the peace that all of us search for in life.