Speaking in a recent interview on the “God Behind Bars” podcast, John Robert Hill Jr., a former prison inmate who went from chasing fame, money, drugs, and women to following God, spoke about how he was radically changed when he encountered the Holy Spirit in his jail cell, an incident that changed his “fate from thug life to Christ.”
Hill is better known as Holy Gabbana to his one million online followers. Before he found God, he was serving time in prison for a bevy of serious offenses, including hit-and-run charges, gun charges, and narcotics possession.
Describing how things took a turn toward the criminal in his life, Hill said, “All you got to do to make this much money is to be a fool and act reckless…I could do that. I started being a nut.” He added that his social media content, which involved vandalism, robbing stores, and jumping on people’s cars, went viral, granting him some fame but causing harm and leading him to a dark place. He described how that fame and criminality was based on him acting alone, saying, “I didn’t blow up with a team. I didn’t blow up with a manager. I blew up from the streets.”
Eventually, his lifestyle of crime and popping pills led him to prison, which is where he ended up in 2018. But that turned out for the best for him as, while there, his cellmate, Joshua, led him to faith. Describing that conversation with Joshua, Hill said, “He was like, ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ For that man to ask me, do I believe in Jesus? That lets me know that God was always thinking about me. Anybody else could have been my cellmate. In that moment, God reached me through my cellmate.”
He continued, “When I went to jail, Jesus wasn’t on my mind, because to be honest. I wasn’t thinking about Jesus when I went to jail. You may not be thinking about Jesus, but he is thinking about you. But God was literally setting me up so I could have an encounter with him.” He added, “In jail, I encountered Jesus. A lot of people they don’t understand that God speaks through people… in that moment God reached me through my cellmate.”
Then, describing his transformative experience with the Holy Spirit, he said, “I was on my bunk, and I decided to worship. And I’m singing, ‘Jesus loves you, for he died on the cross for our sins. He’s always with you from beginning to the end.’ I bundle up in my covers, and I start crying.” He continued, “I can’t explain why I was sad, but I was just sad. But something hovered over me and stripped my sadness away and filled me with joy. I was just laughing. I felt like a child.”
Now, his life has changed, he says: “I’m not dependent on drugs anymore. I’ve been sober for four years now. I don’t even have a desire to get back on drugs or anything. The emptiness that I was feeling, the void that was within me could only be filled by Jesus.”
Featured image credit: Holy Gabbana Instagram