Early Life
James Gilles was born in 1962 in Evansville, Indiana. As early as eighth grade, Gilles was already beginning to embrace the counter culture lifestyle that was still strong in the early 1970s. His first major encounter with law enforcement came during his freshman year of high school when he was arrested for possession of alcoholic beverages and under 30 grams of marijuana. Not more than a month later, Gilles was once again arrested for possession of alcohol and marijuana following an automobile accident driven by a friend. Heavy pot usage eventually gave way to harder drugs including cocaine. The drugs also led him to lose jobs three different times by the time he was 18.
A lifestyle of alcohol abuse, heavy drug use, and an obsession with muscle cars began to take a toll on Jim Gilles. In 1980, an unemployed and desperate Gilles was persuaded by his brother's former roommate to start attending church and reading the Bible. The chance encounter eventually led to Gilles completely changing his lifestyle on November 7, 1980, while Gilles was attending a Van Halen rock concert. Van Halen's original lead singer, David Lee Roth, shouted to the crowd, "Not even God can save your soul at a Van Halen concert." Roth then began to sing their hit song, "Runnin' with the Devil".
Read more about this topic: Brother Jim
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