18 year prisoner becomes preacher: “Jesus saved me completely”

After being in prison for 18 years, Niran Chaicharean’s life is dramatically different than it used to be, thanks to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is now a preacher and Bachelor of Theology student at Bangkok Bible College and Seminary (BBCS) in Thailand.

Niran grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ as a young boy, but in his teenage years, he was surrounded by bad influences and involved in a street gang. “I was in and out of jail regularly. I drank and lived a careless life…One day, everything came crashing down.” During a street fight, Niran killed a man, sending him to prison for 18 years. Realizing his gang friends were no longer there for him, Niran felt betrayed, hurt and realized the only one who could truly help him was Jesus Christ. He confessed his sins to God, prayed for forgiveness and asked God to help him in the midst of having no one else that could. “I felt God’s love, joy and peace. I started to read the Bible again, and it was through that that God enlivened and changed me.”

Niran found favor with the guards as a model prisoner, even being appointed to oversee his fellow prisoners. He completed his high school equivalency exams and asked God to give him a new life upon his release. Niran says he has learned the true meaning of grace. “By this grace, God is changing the life of a once hot tempered, rebellious, hard-headed and violent man. I used to live an awful life. I made many mistakes and was absolutely lost. I failed miserably, but my failure was not the end of the story…Jesus saved me completely.”

Today, God is using Niran’s changed life to display His greatness. “From once being a prisoner, I am being shaped into a preacher to tell everyone about Jesus Christ. To God be the glory!”

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!