Nigel Benn enjoyed a long and successful career as a world famous boxer, he was two times champion of the world. As a result of his boxing career Nigel earned millions, lived in big plush houses and drove fast cars. He could attract almost any woman he wanted. What more could a man want you may well ask? However despite these great sporting achievements Nigel will often say that those world titles are insignificant when compared to the life he now lives and what he has accomplished since leaving the ring.
Nigel became a born again Christian after his boxing career and now devotes his life to following Jesus. Once named the dark destroyer he achieved 35 knock outs in 42 professional fights but would now more appropriately be known as the darkness destroyer. A life of training hard and fighting hard has given way to the rather more gentle pursuits of prayer and preaching. His medals he describes as just "bits of metal"and when people praise him for his achievements he points to scripture "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul". He felt he had forfeited himself, body, soul, mind and will, to something beyond his control.
Nigel’s addiction was casual sex, he spent lots of time partying, there were no shortage of women wanting to sleep with a famous person let alone a world boxing champion and sadly as a result there were well publicised bust ups with his wife Caroline. His addiction led to depression, self-pity and various psychiatrists and counselors seemed unable to relieve his problems. It came to the point where he made an attempt to commit suicide. He tied a hosepipe to his car exhaust but the hose fell out of the car not once but three times in what Nigel now calls a miracle. As the hose slid out of the car for the last time Nigel had an encounter with Jesus who was to show Nigel that he was there for him. He immediately realised that God had spared his life.
All through this difficult time he had still called himself a Christian and attended church, he recalls that it’s possible to go to church and outwardly give praise but still not have fellowship with God. It was only after this encounter that he started to live a true Christian life. Nigel recalls it was only when he earnestly confessed his wrongs that he felt true freedom, for it was God who had humbled him and brought him to a place of true confession. The most difficult part was telling his wife the truth because he realised that he could have lost both her and his children whom he loved because of his weakness. He felt remorse because he knew he was hurting her. He knew that there was something missing in his life, that he was on the road to self- destruction, he knew he was unhappy. He didn't know why he was doing the things he was doing, crying out for help yet powerless to stop. He was in bondage to sin.
After confession he felt free and liberated and the process of repair in his marriage and and life had begun. He and Caroline now travel to churches throughout the U.K. preach in prisons, telling their dramatic story in the hope that it may be an inspiration to others by showing the true healing power of Jesus. Nigel left the family home for one year in order to live with his pastor and study in more detail the word of God. His relationship with God developed throughout that time and alongside Caroline they both now help to run a youth group at their local church in Majorca. He thinks there is a caricature of Christianity as being something boring, something for wimps but his story is testimony to the power of change, transformation for good through humble confession and by boldly proclaiming the word of God which he believes required more courage than facing an opponent in the ring. SOME THOUGHTS We may feel that our own sin is not as bad as Nigel’s, that we may never behave in such an immoral way or have never reached such a desperate state. Jesus though describes the small sins as being just as harmful as the seemingly big ones. Anger is the seed for murder. A glad eye for the opposite sex may be the seed for adultery. All this is common for humans and the teachings of Jesus help us to learn what happens when sins develop and spiral out of control. We may not only harm ourselves and others but create a barrier between us and God.
For those who do not experience a relationship with God nor believe that it is possible may not worry much about such a barrier. One thing for sure though is that there is error in the world. We cast our eyes over the news and sometimes in our own experience we are saddened by Man's inhumanity to Man. Often we are disappointed by our own shortcomings and in more serious cases can be plagued by guilt remorse or anger. When we are wronged we can also feel the same. We often hold these things within ourselves which can damage us physically, psychologically and emotionally. When we believe with the faith of our heart in God who can cleanse us of sin then we allow Jesus in to heal us whether error be seemingly insignificant or serious. It’s not just that confession is good for the soul as In Nigel's case but also forgiveness as in Caroline's case.
As the Church confessional has decreased and the practice of forgiveness in prayer becomes less common the event of the counselor, the agony aunt and the therapist has grown. The Psychiatrist despite his expertise could not fully help Nigel Benn because it was his wrongdoing that was causing both the death of his spirit and the terrible relationship problems in his life. When in faith we habitually embrace confession in prayer God deals with the small sins as we go. Whatever our spiritual state and as shown in Nigel’s case we are never beyond healing. As scripture tells us "If we say we have not sinned we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us but if we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins" 1 John 1: 8
Summary and references from Life Change by Mark Elsdon-Dew