Dr. Frank Gonzales
His Story
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God." Hebrews 10:31
From a shoeshine boy to a night club entertainer to pre-med student to servant of God. Evangelist
Frank Gonzales has found his place in life. Big enough to lay aside denominational ties to work with other spiritual leaders
in united evangelistic crusades. Frank is also small enough to take time from his packed schedule to speak to a high school
Bible club.
His evangelistic association has a permanent staff LaGrange, Georgia dedicated to presenting
the gospel in churches, on the streets, in homes or offices -- wherever there are people who need to be awakened to a meaningful
relationship with Jesus Christ. The philosophy of the entire organization is to "Win the Lost at Any Cost."
Frank Gonzales walked the streets of Los Angeles at the age of nine, yelling lustily, "Shine!
Shine 'em up there! Shine Sir?" And it was also at this age that he walked into a little church near his home and heard
the awesome truth that Jesus Christ loved him. Listening, thinking nothing of himself except that he was an insignificant
little Mexican boy, he thought: "I wish I could hurry and grow up so I could become a Christian. It must be wonderful to know
the Lord Jesus."
It was a sermon on hell that brought little frank to Christ one night. Frank was the only
person to respond to the alter call. As the invitation hymn was sung he stepped out, giving the preacher his hand and God
his heart. God became so real to him and he was so sure that Jesus Christ had come into his heart that when he went to bed
that night he wouldn't turn over for fear of squashing the Lord!
When Frank was ten, his parent opened a restaurant in West Los Angeles. And on the juke box
Frank began listening to the trumpet playing of Harry James. Frank's one consuming desire became to play the trumpet like
James. This was not smply a childish whim, but an intense desire.
It did not take long, after his parents rented a trumpet for him from the school, for frank
to be well on his way to becoming like his idol. two years of lessons, plus a maximum of natural talent, and Frank was playing
for teen-age dances. Later on, he played in night clubs and loved it. He played all the beats ----rock 'n roll, boogie-woogie,
etc. ---and he thought it was great. This was life at its best!
Still Frank attended church every Sunday morning. He believed that to play the trumpet and
help people forget their troubles was the best he could do in life, and it never occurred to him that it could be wrong. Not
then.
The world offered bigger and bigger allurements---famous htels and country clubs, the Goldrush
Follies of 49. The world at his fingertips, and there was no way to go but up. And then he was offered a band of his
own for television. It was to good! It was all he wanted from life. He needed nothing more. And no one.
And then Frank learned, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God."
God drew a line before Frank Gonzales and said, "Stop." His lungs seemed to be burning and there was pain, so Frank went to
see the doctor. "Frank, I'm sorry, but you're a very sick young man."
Driven by both despair and unbelief, he consulted three doctors before the truth of it pierced
his heart. Tuberculosis! He had to go to a sanatorium----immediately. He must go while there was tike and hope. But he would
never play the trumpet again.
Two weeks later. lying in a hospital bed. Frank began to question. "Why, God? Why? What went
wrong? I went to church. Where did I miss the boat?"
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. One day, he turned the radio on and heard Rudy
Atwood playing " Heavenly Sunshine, heavenly sunshine..." Frank's mind went back to the moment in the tiny church when he
had given his hearty to the Lord Jesus Christ. To what remote place had his joy vanished? Where was the deep peace in knowing
Christ.
Scenes began to march through his weary minds. Boys beating one another to death with bicycle
chains or slashing each others faces with the jagged lids of tin cans---because someone had danced with the wrong girl. He
saw girls in tight skirts and flimsy blouses; teen-age couples dancing over the floor through their own vomit.
At the bottom, helpless and without hope, Frank again turned to God and he found himself
restored to perfect fellowship, wondrous joy and glorious peace. Now he determined to turn from the worldly life and live
for the Saviour who had bought him.
And he walked out of the sanatorium well and whole. Again, things began going his way. Soon
he was back in the same old business again, only this time as a radio disc-jockey. Life seemed full---and Frank forgot his
prayer and his promise.
Three short months later he was back in the sanatorium. Same ward. Same bed. "It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God." Again in his desperation, Frank pleaded with God for forgiveness and promised
that, if He would guide his life, he would do whatever God wanted him to do. And, in that moment, Frank knew that God had
a plan for his life. In the same moment, Frank's heart rebelled again.
"Not a preacher, Lord! Not me!" He didn't know the Word. Why, he couldn't even seem to keep
his own life straight.
Frank had tried turning his back on God. It hadn't worked. Now he chose another course. Compromise.
He could go into the medical profession. He'd be helping mankind; he'd be doing good. God wouldn't mind. He'd understand.
Beginning work there in the sanatorium, in the X-ray division, he was soon moved to surgical
X-ray. It was there he met a lovely Christian girl. And, as things go, they went. After two years Frank came to the realization
that the strange feeling he felt inside must be what people call love, and he proposed marriage. Eagerly they began to prepare
for the future.
Once more life was full and rich, and the world was a wonderful one in which to live. Frank
had his life all planned out and he didn't need anyone or anything. But Frank had forgotten his promise: "Anything you want
me to do, Lord."
As their engagement continued on, Frank would receive letters from Ruth saying how
she loved life and the beauty she saw watching the setting sun as it decorated the horizon with crimson color; or a squirrel
as it flittered across the window ledge enjoying the warmth of the sun. She would say, "God is so good." All of this she would
write in spite of the fact that she was viewing all of this from the sanatorium where she had been a patient for three long
years.
Until on day, Valentine's Day, something happened. Ruth was wheeled into an operating room
at 7:30 in the morning, not to return until 4:40 that afternoon. . . minus her right lung.
Frank sat beside her bed all night, watching the still form, the doctors standing by, nurses
checking blood pressure, oxygen, pulse. He prayed, "God help her. If anyone loves her, I do. If anyone loves you, she does."
He remembered their happiness, their boundless joy, their plans for the future. Ruth couldn't die! Not Ruth! "God,
you've got to help her. You've got to strengthen her!"
The following night he returned to her room, only to see the sight that every man fears to
see---the still form of a loved one, with a sheet drawn over the face. He pulled away the sheet, touch the cold face, and
fled a moment later from the hospital screaming words that came from a bitter, broken heart, "She's dead, she's dead, she's
dead!"
At the graveside, he made a bitter decision. "I want no part of the Christian life! Church,
God, Christ----nothing!"
Yet, every morning during his next year of pre-med school at UCLA, he awoke with the burning
question, "God, why? How?"
And one morning God replied, "Frank, you promised me your heart, your life, your soul, everything.
You gave me nothing. Frank, I keep my promises to you; I want you to keep your promises to me."
There in his living room, Frank fell to his knees in bitter tears and confessed his sin and
his failures. He had done it before; said the same words before. But this time it was real, and it was final. "I'm not much,
but what I am, I'm yours. I can't do much, but what I can do, I'll do for you. I've been a proud, lying, stubborn, egotistical
fool. God forgive me!" He had known that it was a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living god, but in that moment
he learned that it is a wonderful thing to fall into the hands of a loving Saviour.
From UCLA Frank made his way to Bob Jones University where he received his Master's degree.
Now in the ministry for 25 years, he has been halfway around the world and has seen over 500,000 (by the time frank went home
to be with the Lord, it was over 800,000) decisions for Jesus Christ. Seventy-five percent of these have come from young
people hungry for God.
Each summer Frank takes a group of young people to Mexico to preach in churches and prisons,
and do child evangelism work. Because of his special love for orphans, he has been instrumental in constructing an orphanage
in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico with capacity to house one hundred children.
God has given him an outreach to drug addicts, and Frank, along with a team of young people,
who have been named "Freedom Sound" conduct drug prevention programs and seminars in school throughout North America. Some
members of Freedom Sound are former drug addicts who have found a new life in Christ, being released from drugs with no withdrawals
of any kind. This team travels with Frank, his wife Jeanne, and their children, conducting meeting daily in churches, schools,
on radio, and on television, in order to "Win the Lost at Any Cost."
Aside from his preaching, Frank is best known for his trumpet playing. His anointed singing
and playing have won scores of people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
His word to teens? "Let God have your life---He makes no mistakes."
We've spoken of a relation with a living God, a God who draws us with bonds
of love. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come . Whoever comes to Him, he will not cast out.
You can come to Him right now, by inviting Jesus into your heart. This living God can instill new life in you. If you would
like to know more about really seeking Him, we would like to help you.
