Last on God’s List

by Clare Heath-Whyte, Jason Armstrong

This is the story of Jason Armstrong. From childhood he knew nothing but abuse, fighting and crime. He grew into an aggressive man addicted to violence and drugs. Time in prison, serious injury and the deaths of close friends did nothing to alter his self-destructive course. Spiralling out of control, he dabbled in the occult with disturbing results. Then, one night, in desperation he cried out to the God he had ignored all his life. Surely God would never listen to him -- he’d be the last person on God’s list.

144 pages, Paperback

Published October 2, 2023

About the author

Clare Heath-Whyte is a popular speaker and author of Old Wives Tales and First Wives Club . Clare is Vaughan Robert's sister and is married to David who is a vicar who writes groovy tunes and they have two children. She lives in Morden, South London.

Reviews

[Rebecca Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells a great testimony to God's transforming power in someone's life. It's not written amazingly well, but that's ok, it's written in a simple, easy to understand way. It tells the story of Jason and his violent life, often dominated by drink and drugs and latterly (before he trusted in Jesus) his hauntings by demons. But it also tells of the amazing transformation that happened in Jason's life after he trusted in Jesus for salvation.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll confess that I only got this one as part of a job lot. If I didn't buy it, I wouldn't have received such a good deal on the other four books that I really wanted! I thought to myself, do I need to read another Cross and Switchblade? I've heard plenty of testimonies like this before in mens conventions and churches who have Prison Fellowship guest speakers. I felt guilty, however. When did I become so blasé about this?!

Like a couple of others, I found this one difficult to rate. As a High School teacher there are aspects to the story of a violent, abusive family background that are gut-wrenchingly too close for comfort. I got the mild impression the story was stretched to make it not just eighty pages of a really amazing testimony and therefore not long enough for a book. This being said, the length did add to an impression of a continued frustration with the constant cycles of alcoholism and drug-induced violence, prison and missed opportunities. And, I still read it in one sitting.

The final forty pages, however, made this far more worthwhile. I'm mindful as one who daily deals with teenagers, who themselves have a lot of grief and pain in their lives, along with those who also ask me about ouija boards in lessons. This book is a timely reminder. While it may not be the sort of thing a teenager would read, the occult factor in this book is truly terrifying - this story is not Cross and Switchblade, after all.

The other feature I found refreshing was the fact that the final forty pages was not just a happy ending, but a journey out of darkness. Too often, the testimonies I've heard and read finish too quickly (e.g. my life was transformed and I've never looked back!) but this one still showed the struggles "post-conversion" and had much more of a gritty realism than I expected and I was happy to see the author gave this part a good amount of space.

[Gavin Felgate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book starts with Jason Armstrong knocking on his local pastor's door. The pastor, David, answers it, despite fearing for his life, only for Jason to beg for help turning his life around.

I've had the privelege of hearing Jason speak, and was glad I did. Jason had a murky past, full of violence, which started at school. He also had a drug addiction problem, and eventually he realised he had to change his ways, and gradually got to know Jesus. He gradually became a loving husband and father, although that did not necessarily stop his problems. According to the book he occasionally saw demons in his house (whether this was caused by his drugs or a real event is not clear).

The book does not hold back on any details of Jason's troubled life, setting out all of the unpleasant details, which even include slitting another man's throat at one point. I found it very readable though, and it was a good reminder than however bad you are, you're not too bad for Jesus to save you. It's also a good book for people who are only just looking into Christianity, and want to know how to get to know Jesus better.

[George Heath-Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason's story is an incredible testimony to the work of Jesus, and Jesus alone, in salvation. It's not a story about an incredibly brave pastor risking his life to save people, or a story about a man figuring things out on his own, but about God dragging someone out of the darkest pit imaginable, and using the faith, love and prayers of several Christians over decades to do it.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solidly good book, which looked at the unlikely conversion and general life story of Jason Armstrong, who became a Christian, despite a very difficult background. I particularly enjoyed the honesty in this book about how conversion is not the end, but rather the start of a new journey. would recommend to both believers and non believers.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is fascinating and really inspiring, an incredible journey to faith from someone who you would think was the furthest from Christianity.

The way it is written does make it hard to understand at times, but still a powerful story.

[Chris Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Striking (and wonderful testimony) - especially interesting and helpful because it deals with the reality of demonic attack and God's spiritualy protection over his people, a subject that perhaps we're not very familiar with in the UK. Easy to read and well worth it.

[Jake Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good testimony of how Christ can change even the most violent and destructive of lives.

[Jane Gibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting stary of God reaching a highly unlikely convert.