David Caleb Hairabedian
Roots
Susan Hairabedian is a woman who intimately hears the voice of God. In the early morning hours one day in 1963, the Holy Spirit awoke her with these words, “I want you to have another child.” Her youngest child was five years old. She already had one son and one daughter, having another child had not been a consideration for her. After discussing her spiritual encounter with her husband, Tom, they agreed to yield to the will of God and change the course of their lives. By divine appointment, on 26 May 1964, David Caleb Hairabedian, was birthed into this world.
Hairabedian grew up attending a conservative Christian denominational church. His mother is a full blooded Jew and his father is a full blooded Armenian. They were both converted to Christianity shortly after they were married. The rigid religious structure of this denominational theology did not nurture the gifts forming from within him. His lack of knowledge pertaining to spiritual life would prove to be a significant loss as he developed into manhood.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," Hosea 4:6
Spiritual dreams
As a toddler Hairabedian received vivid dreams in his sleep. These dreams proved accurate to even small details. As he grew he became more vocal about his gift. Consequently he was rejected by his peers. At school and church he regularly suffered persecution by those lacking belief in present day prophetic experiences. He felt lost, rejected and alone.
Like most children, the support of his family wasn’t enough, he wanted acceptance from his peer group. His parent’s church appeared to him to be monotonous and did not feed him spiritually.
“There seemed to be no one to teach or disciple me in the things of the Spirit,” says Hairabedian.
The wrong path
By his late teens Hariabedian had gradually rejected everyone and everything that he felt had rejected him.
“When the gifts, abilities, and talents God gives us are not yielded to the Holy Spirit, they can become the greatest hindrance to our relationship with God. The enemy can then use our gifts to do evil instead of good,” says Pastor Hairabedian.
As a young man his ear to hear the Holy Spirit had been deafened by sin.
“I gradually slipped farther from God as I pursued acceptance, popularity, money, and more free time to enjoy the good things in life,” says Hairabedian.
His first illegal activity, at age 19, was motivated by a desire to have extra cash for a date during his first year in college. Satan had already set up the scenario to take him into deep sin by tempting Hairabedian to be comfortable with unwholesome environments, where he began to socialize with people already involved in criminal activity.
Today he takes full responsibility for his life. Hairabdiant warns, “The adversary gradually lulls people into spiritual darkness much like a master chef cooks a lobster, beginning in cold water and slowly increasing the heat to the boiling point.”
Arrested
One small cocaine sale turned into two, then quickly evolved into a lucrative cocaine trafficking business associated with the Columbian cartel. Cocaine dealing transitioned into the theft of a $3.5 million plane.
Susan Hairabedian did not know what her son was involved in, but she knew it was not good. One evening she bowed in prayer and completely surrendered her son to the Lord. She asked Him to not allow her son to die and to call him into His service. Hairabedian’s attempt to steal a second plane was cut short by the faith of his mother’s pray, and God’s quick response. Within forty eight hours the rod of divine chastisement would descend on her son, compelling him down a new road.
The night before Hairabedian and his partners were to steal the second plane, he had a spiritual dream revealing to him the vivid details of his own arrest the next day. Hairabedian shared the dream with his soon to be co-defendant. After a brief discussion they concluded, "Aaah, what's in a dream!"
The sting operation lived out exactly how he had dreamed it. At the age of 24, Hairabedian along with his partners were arrested by federal agents.
Twenty-two year prison sentence
Ultimately Hairabedian received a twenty-two year prison sentence. At first he was in denial that he would have to face accountability for his actions.
“God slowly removed every prop from me that would enable me to stand. I lost my lawyers, finances, and friends. People I had trusted turned on me. Only my family stood by my side,” says Hairabedian.
Conversion
In the coming months he would eventually fall off the pedestal that was his towering ego, and begin to contemplate how he arrived at this low place in life. God had taken everyone and everything from Hairabedian’s old life, and replaced them with prison and a series of born again Christian cell mates. He was being crushed by the consequences of his lifestyle, but even behind bars God’s mercy reached out to him. As cramped as that little three man cell was, the Holy Spirit was able to find a home there too
In March of 1990 Hairabedian made a covenant with the Lord and surrendered his life to Him less than a year after his incarceration.
He says, “Within days I began sharing with other inmates what I had found in Jesus.“ For the next eighteen and a half years he would serve God as an inmate minister in seven federal prisons.
Conditions in prison are often harsh. God taught Hairabedian how to depend on Him for all things. While in prison he still suffered rejection and persecution for proclaiming the divine gifts God had blessed him with. However, this time he overcame these trials through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and an anointed gift to hear and see divine truth. The truth does set you free.
Prison Ministry
In Hairabedian’s prison ministry there is much prayer, scripture study, fasting and fellowship. He offers free downloadable teachings. There is also a great focus on believing the promises in scripture. He makes no emphasis on denominations, but teaches Christians to nurture a personal relationship with God. Hairabedian’s unorthodox ministry is patterned after the examples of Jesus’ public ministry, transforming the lives of the outcasts. He offers them the abundant life of healing and deliverance. As a result healings of physical and emotional conditions frequently occur. Christian inmates experience prophecy, spiritual dreams, revelations, visions and many spiritual encounters. These men are a living testimony of the words of Messiah to the religious elite, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 21:31, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you.”
While in prison Hairabedian formed “The Heart of America Prison Ministry", a non-profit ministry that gives away fully loaded leather bound bibles to male and female prisoners. Over the last fifteen years, “Heart Ministry” has distributed approximately 5,000 bibles in 870 facilities (State, federal and ten international prisons). These bibles are in a variety of translations and languages. Recently they have shipped out 600 Bibles to individual inmates.
Proclaiming the good news of Jesus to men and women in prison not only saves souls and families, but also saves our society. Those who are genuinely converted to Christ in prison are less likely to become repeat offenders and be re-incarcerated. Hairabedian states, “With a donation of $25.00, the cost to purchase a bible, we can reduce recidivism and save tax payers $25,000 per year for incarceration.”
Release from prison
Hairabedian was released from prison in September 2008. He is now ministering in the Kansas City metro in churches, homes and street ministry.
“I definitely feel called to minister in my community today, just as I did in prison. There are many people on the outside who are just as bound up as people in prisons are. There are lots of different kinds of spiritual and emotional prisons, and the churches are full of people in need of freedom. The good news is that Jesus came to set the captives free in the 21st century,” says Pastor David C. Hairabedian.
According to Hairabedian there are a variety of bondages that imprison people:
- the shackles of shame
- the handcuffs of hatred
- the lockdown of lust
- the Bastille of bitterness
- the jailhouse of jealousy
- the underground of unforgiveness
- the penitentiary of pride
Testimonies
Ray and Pam Miller has been attending Hairabedian’s ministry services for several months.
“My spiritual life had been on hold for years, not knowing how to get closer to the Lord. David’s books gave me guidance on how to develop a deeper more personal relationship with God. I have seen more miracles happen in my life since I began to receive his ministry. He is anointed. When he preaches the words touch my soul. They are not empty.” says Pam Miller.
Ray Miller elaborates on his wife’s comments, “Christian churches that are not full gospel teach people religious dogma. They are teaching about Jesus, instead of bringing people to Jesus. In contrast, David’s ministry leads people out of this dogma into an intimate personal relationship with Jesus through the gifts of the Spirit.”
His mission
Hairabedian’s life is a living revelation of the power of God to transform a sinner into an anointed servant. He desires to unify believers toward the glory of God.
At a resent ministry service Hairabedian preached, “When the anointing is in the house, people will see past the preacher and say, ‘What a great Savior we have!’”
According to Hairabedian, “Everyone is called to be a servant of God, just not everyone knows it, yet.”
Hairabedian believes his mission is to point the way to Messiah, so that all mankind may know the power and love of the only Living God.
Comments about this article are welcome.
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