Sinner, come to sweet Jesus (Pecador, ven al dulce Jesús)

Music piece by:
Unknown
Testimony by:
anonymous
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, September 1973

One time, a group of male and female evangelicals came to Teja Island to preach. They were taken to the visitors’ yard.

Because we prisoners had nothing else to do, we went to see them.

They began installing their guitars, basses, keyboards and drums. I thought: 'this will be big'. They sang their Christian praise and worship songs.

In the audience, we must have been about 150, out of a total of 1,000.

They sang 'Pecador, ven al dulce Jesús' in two and three voices. We were fascinated. This song was saying 'come to Him'. I didn’t convert to Christianism there but that was the bridge.

Something very funny happened that stayed with me for the rest of my life. After the music finished one of the evangelicals asked: 'Who wants to receive Jesus Christ as their saviour?' One prisoner replied: 'but what if they put us in prison again?'

We all burst out laughing. You had to find a way to let off steam.

After my time in prison, I couldn't finish my education and all employment opportunities disappeared. I went to Argentina.

My landlords were evangelical. They always invited me to church but I didn’t want to.

I went one day and I encountered the music that I remembered from prison. I went forward and received the Lord. I’ve been an evangelical Christian ever since.


Tags:

Published on: 13 January 2018

Sinner, come to sweet Jesus
and you will be forever happy
for if you want to have Him
the Divine Lord you will find.

[Chorus]
Come to Him, you sinner
for your good Saviour is waiting.

If any son foolishly sinned
you are searching for compassion at his feet
kind brother, you will find it in Jesus
and in his arms, you will have forgiveness.

If ailing you feel that you are dying
He will be your celestial doctor
you will find in his blood too
medicine to cure such ill.

Lamb that left the flock
come back to your benign Lord
in his arms, you will be taken
by your sweet and kind Shepherd.



Related testimonies:

  • Sinner, come to sweet Jesus (Pecador, ven al dulce Jesús)  anónimo, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, September 1973

    One time, a group of male and female evangelicals came to Teja Island to preach. They were taken to the visitors’ yard.

  • Three White Lilies (Tres blancos lirios)  Domingo Lizama, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 9 October 1973

    They arrested me at my workplace in October 1973 . I was 31 years old and worked as a porter at a logging business in Chumpullo, near Valdivia.

  • The Wall (La muralla)  Domingo Lizama, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, 1973 - 1978

    In prison, there was a guy who played the guitar. He cheered up the afternoons in the cell. We all sang with him.

  • Fifth Symphony  anónimo, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, September 1973

    I like all classical music, particularly Beethoven and Mozart. I listen to it all day on Radio Esperanza, on the bus I drive. The passengers like it.

  • Luchín  anónimo, Cárcel de Valdivia / Cárcel de Isla Teja, September 1973

    They said that once you got to the prison of Teja Island, you were safe.

Testimonies from the Cantos Cautivos platform can be cited and shared as long as they are attributed (including the author, our project’s name and URL), for non-commercial purposes and without modifications, as per the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authorisation is required for 1) any reuse different from citations and sharing via the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license of the platform data and its associated metadata, and 2) any use in events, concerts, plays, films, etc., of musical works written or recorded by project participants. To that end, we request that you send a proposal at least one month in advance to contact@cantoscautivos.org. For uses of musical works written or recorded by people outside the project, please contact copyright holders.