Merle Haggard as Christian & as evangelist

The late, great Merle Haggard lived a pretty wild life, but he turned more and more to faith, especially as he struggled in his last illnesses.  Not only that, at least one writer says that he became a Christian because of Haggard’s music.

From Merle Haggard turned to God more and more as he aged | News OK:

Country music star Merle Haggard, who died Wednesday at age 79, made a career out of singing about drinking and prison along with paying homage to the working class. But, as illnesses like cancer caused his health to decline over the last decade, he drew closer to God.

“It’s almost embarrassing to know that the Lord cares that much for me, but I’m going to shout it to the world,” he wrote on his website after surviving lung cancer in 2008, according to The Christian Post.

[Keep reading. . .] 

Then there is this tribute, going into more detail about Haggard’s faith and his gospel albums and telling how they brought the author to salvation:  See  Daniel Schultz, How Merle Haggard Saved my Soul.  An excerpt:

I owe a lot to that faith, not least of which was my own salvation, in a way. At a time when I was drinking too much and not finding enough direction in life, a friend slipped me a tape of Haggard—among many other country stars—singing gospel. It finally occurred to me one night while smoking a Lucky Strike that I liked the album not just because the music was so good, but because the message was something I needed to hear. That propelled me into an adult faith, and from there into seminary and a career spent mostly serving a lot of people who looked and sounded like Merle Haggard.