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Joe & Denise Chiappetta

Special Origin Episode!

Joe: Comic books made it easy for me to believe that heroes were real. Every month the hero invented new ways to fight evil. That’s what I wanted to do. Of course, super-heroes either waited until they received their super powers to take action (Spider-Man), or they waited until something radical happened to change them forever (Batman).

As my adulthood unfolded, I frowned upon the bitter truth; my comic book collection had grown to 10,000 books, three decades had gone by, and I hadn’t been a hero to anyone. The radical change I was hoping would occur, simply did not happen. Consequently, being a hero would have to wait. In the meantime, my focus dove deeper into selfishness, lying, idolatry, impurity, lust, impatience, rudeness, rebellion, and the list goes on.

My life became a mess, and I have legal papers to prove it. Not that I needed proof: people saw it. My neighbor and friend Jay Shelbrack sat down with me to study the Bible. The first time he tried though, I started swearing at him. How dare he judge my life. That study didn’t get past the first scripture, but over time I compared Jay’s life to my own. It was shocking to discover the awful truth: I had more in common with the super-villains than the super-heroes. I was the Tinkerer. This was one of Spider-Man’s enemies. The Tinkerer was so creative, that he would literally tinker around and invent new ways of doing evil. To my shame, that was me, and many people were hurt by it.

In an attempt to rectify this, I became a cartoonist. If I couldn’t be a super-hero, at least I could work in a related area, namely comic books. I even tried to do good by writing about my short-comings as a parent, in an effort to warn others. Within the comic book industry, I received notoriety and praise for my self-published “Silly Daddy” comic book series. It was at the height of this time that I met Denise, who, in no time became my live-in girlfriend.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
Proverbs 14:12

Denise: At 20 years old, when I met Joe, there were a lot of ways that seemed right to me, but I was having a hard time deciding which one was really the right way. One might have thought that I would have been very happy with my life at that point: I was attending a private university on a full-tuition academic scholarship, I had an older, artistic boyfriend who appealed to my vanity and was constantly drawing portraits of me, and I lived in his nice house in the suburbs. I spent a lot of my time in school taking philosophy courses where I was exposed to a lot of different “ways,” but nothing that satisfied my soul on a deep level. My life, relationships, and all my learning were leaving me empty. Finally, after reading countless other books, I decided to re-visit the Bible which I had been taught to some extent as a child. Reading it as an adult, I found myself relating to Pilate, boldly and perhaps defiantly asking Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) and “Where do you come from?” (John 19:9). I started to pray that God would show me direction for my life. A couple weeks later I was talking with my neighbor, Barb Shelbrack, when she suggested that we study the Bible together.

As I began studying with Barb, and she shared scriptures that gave spiritual instruction, things became radically clear. Jesus spoke with authority and his life proved it. He was so much more than the human philosophers I had been studying, he was Lord and Savior. His way was perfect”¦ the ultimate hero. I had to live for Jesus, and adjust my life to his standards. It was the hardest decision I’d ever made, but what other choice did I have? Live knowing that my life did not match up to the Bible? No. With much prayer, I made many changes, which included moving out of Joe’s house and telling him that he needed to seek God too. Then I got baptized, and started a new life.

Meanwhile…

Joe: The few times I ran into Denise after she moved out were strange. She was a different person: confident, pure-hearted, not who I remembered. What I did remember though, was her warning about following Jesus; “Your life depends on it.” Finally, after realizing how powerless my life was, I asked Jay Shelbrack to study the Bible with me for the second time (a year later). And much to my surprise, the scriptures clearly showed that I was an enemy of God.

In traditional comic books, the hero always has a nemesis: Professor Xavier (X-men) has Magneto, Superman has Lex Luthor. In real life as well, the nemesis of Jesus is Satan. There I was with all my knowledge of heroes, and yet I was on the wrong side of the battle. I had more in common with the nemesis of Jesus (Satan) than I did with Jesus. What a horrifying truth this was. So I studied every day with Jay for a week and got baptized. Finally, I could fight the good fight, with weapons not of this world.

By the power of Jesus, the Chiappettas became a family

Using Biblical guidelines and discipling, God even brought Denise and I back together. We are happily married with a wonderful family committed to serving on the side of the ultimate super-hero, namely Jesus Christ.

Joe and Denise Chiappetta

Categories: Testimonials