Urban Report

Personal Testimony

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jason Bradley (Host), Yvonne Lewis (Host), Lotolua Ilaoa

Home

Series Code: UBR

Program Code: UBR000240A


00:01 Stay tuned to meet a former assassin
00:03 for the Mexican drug cartel
00:05 whose life has been transformed
00:07 by the power of the Holy Spirit.
00:09 My name is Yvonne Lewis. And I'm Jason Bradley.
00:12 And you're watching Urban Report.
00:40 Hello and welcome to Urban Report.
00:42 Today, our guest is Lotolua Ilaoa.
00:47 Did I say it right? Yes, you have.
00:50 Welcome to Urban Report. Thank you.
00:54 First of all, I need to say, hi, to Jason.
00:56 Oh! Thank you. Jason!
00:59 Welcome, I'm so glad you're co-hosting.
01:01 All right, glad to be here.
01:03 I just found out about you today
01:06 and we always want to share powerful testimonies
01:10 with our viewers and we know that
01:11 you're on the today program earlier for 3ABN.
01:15 And well, Pastor John Lomacang said,
01:18 "You've got to interview this brother."
01:21 So we're gonna call you brother Loto,
01:23 so I don't butcher your name.
01:25 Yes.
01:26 Brother Loto and we just want to hear
01:30 where God has brought you.
01:32 So let's start with where you were brought up,
01:35 where were you raised?
01:36 I was born and was raised up
01:39 in the first 11 years of my life in American Samoa.
01:44 That's in South Pacific where all those islands
01:47 closer to New Zealand, closer to Australia.
01:49 You say it, say it again, Samoa?
01:52 American Samoa.
01:53 See, we say Samoa, right? Yeah.
01:55 But it's Samoa.
01:57 Samoa, yes.
01:59 It's just like, with Spanish.
02:01 That's why it's kind of easy to pronounce Spanish words
02:04 because it's the same pronunciation
02:07 as where I'm from.
02:08 So I was born there and 11 years.
02:11 And after when I was 11 then that's when my mother
02:18 brought us to the state to Hawaii first,
02:20 and then to Hawaii to here, to the United States.
02:22 What led her to leave?
02:24 Well, my older siblings,
02:26 I'm the number nine of eleven siblings.
02:30 Wow! Wow!
02:33 Five brothers and five sisters,
02:35 and I have two younger sisters,
02:38 younger than me and but I'm the ninth.
02:42 But most of them, the older one siblings are here
02:43 in the United States so my mother wants to leave.
02:47 We have our own land, we have homes
02:49 there in the Island,
02:50 but she wants to be closer to her kids.
02:53 And I believe the main thing was because my father
02:56 was a visionary of education.
02:59 She wants us to have a good education
03:02 because that's power, he knew that.
03:05 And so my mother kind of followed along in that,
03:07 you know, that mindset and wants to bring
03:09 his younger kids to go to school.
03:13 And that's why the reason why she brought us here.
03:16 So you moved to Hawaii...
03:18 Moved to Hawaii, that's where when my sister,
03:20 my older sister was staying as she's a Registered Nurse.
03:24 And so she was kind of grounded there and then
03:28 so we came there just to settle before we come in
03:30 with the rest of the families here in California.
03:33 What was the spiritual life in your home?
03:36 Did you have a...
03:37 Did you grow up in a Christian home or...
03:39 Yes, I grew up in a Christian home
03:41 with some of my siblings, the older ones who're not.
03:44 My father and my mother, they were called Christians.
03:48 The majority of American Samoa people
03:50 were Protestant Christians, but in their own way.
03:56 But my mother and my father,
03:58 they were suddenly keeping Christians
04:01 and but my mother was the one that found
04:05 by the determination of this Bible worker
04:08 that came to our village.
04:09 He was fearless.
04:11 And so he came there and witnessed to my mother
04:15 and brought about this message that we have today
04:18 a Seventh Day Adventist.
04:19 Ah! So... Oh, wow!
04:21 Go ahead, Jason, you had a question?
04:23 So he came there, he witnessed to your mom
04:25 and then she became Seventh Day Adventist.
04:28 How did your dad take that? Yeah, that's a wonderful story.
04:31 My dad was very determined
04:33 to discourage the Bible worker guy,
04:36 but my mother was very determined.
04:37 She was determined because she not in a way defiance
04:40 for my dad or against my dad or his family,
04:44 but she saw the truth.
04:46 Today, I look back as, I'm very proud to have a mother
04:50 with no education whatsoever, but she was determined to know
04:54 because she saw this truth
04:56 that she had never heard before.
04:58 And I thank God for that Bible worker.
04:59 So to make a story, she decided to give her life
05:03 and to seal the deal with the baptism
05:07 so I do not, I don't recall what date it was
05:11 but it was on the Sabbath
05:12 that she was going to have this baptism.
05:14 My dad was drunk and see, my dad was been drinking
05:17 and doing everything, not in a drunk,
05:19 he's not a drunk, but he was under alcohol
05:22 and he decided that, I guess, he was trying to drown
05:24 the pain of letting his wife.
05:27 But he chose to come on that Sabbath day
05:29 and told the pastor that was baptizing,
05:33 and told him that, "I want to be baptized
05:35 with my wife."
05:36 Yeah, because he wants to join. I think...
05:38 Had he been sitting in on the studies?
05:41 Had he been hearing them? No.
05:43 He just did it all because of his love for my wife,
05:46 for my, I mean, for my mother.
05:48 Yes.
05:49 My mother was 12 years younger than my dad.
05:51 My mother was very good looking.
05:53 She was a very good looking mother.
05:56 And so my dad was like a person,
05:58 that I think, her looks broke him down.
06:05 So, yeah.
06:06 So he was so enamored by her that...
06:08 Yes.
06:10 If she was gonna make this step,
06:11 he was gonna make it too.
06:13 Yes. And he came there drunk?
06:16 He was under the influence that was the story I heard.
06:18 I might be wrong, but this was a story
06:20 that was passed down to me from my mom and older siblings.
06:24 So after the baptism, did he remain an Adventist?
06:28 Or what did he do?
06:30 My father became more zealous than my mother.
06:32 Really?
06:34 Because he was the oldest of the children of my grandpa,
06:39 and my grandfather was a High Chief.
06:42 He was a High Chief of the village
06:43 and that's not a small title.
06:45 Ilaoa family is very big in Loni village.
06:49 It's called the Lion village.
06:51 And so they're very, their word is very, very powerful
06:55 and influential to all the villagers.
06:58 So is the High Chief like the king?
07:00 The High Chief is like the head of that...
07:03 yes, on the village.
07:06 Although, there are other chiefs,
07:07 but he was one of the main ones.
07:10 And so, my father, my dad was the oldest of the children
07:15 and especially if you are a man, a boy,
07:18 so you are going to be the next one to take over.
07:23 But, my dad decided he would not be part
07:25 of the culture and everything else.
07:26 He wants to raise up his children in this faith
07:29 that he has learned.
07:30 Oh!
07:32 So it was something that what causes a frown
07:35 from my grandpa and grandmother and as well as the family.
07:39 Look how brave he had to be to go up against his culture.
07:44 Yes.
07:46 And what he had known all that time to say,
07:49 "No, I don't want to be a part of it."
07:51 Was it because that culture worshipped other gods?
07:56 Or what was it that made him feel uncomfortable
07:59 with taking on that High Chief title?
08:04 I think he looked at it in the way
08:05 that because of the traditions.
08:08 He looked at it from that perspective
08:09 and many of the traditions will get his way
08:12 which I see it today with my Samoan people
08:15 that our inner, they're bringing that
08:18 even inside the church.
08:20 And often, it takes away and so I saw that wisdom.
08:23 I saw why he did what he did
08:25 or by the leading in the Holy Spirit.
08:27 What he does, it takes away the spiritual.
08:31 Actually, the culture dominates spiritual things
08:36 and so I think I see his wisdom.
08:40 But I can also see that, you know,
08:41 how like, generations, like, I'm his son,
08:45 but I can also see that he could balanced it out
08:48 in a way that it'll win his family,
08:52 if he will stand firmly, but I guess at the time,
08:54 you know, it was the only light that he knew...
08:56 Right.
08:57 And so that's the leading in the Holy Spirit
08:59 that guided him to do that to make that decision.
09:02 So...
09:04 So he decided that he wasn't going to be
09:07 the High Chief.
09:09 Yes.
09:10 And he was the high priest... Yes.
09:13 The priest of your home. Yes.
09:16 And so your mom and dad now, were they,
09:20 did they force the family to observe Sabbath
09:25 and all that or how did that, how did you guys
09:27 fall in the line with all that?
09:30 It was something like that.
09:31 They were, you know, in a way, it was something like that
09:33 they were very strict.
09:35 They were very strict.
09:38 I remember when I was growing up,
09:39 we remember this,
09:40 I didn't feel that way towards my dad
09:43 in a way that I felt like I was being forced.
09:47 My older siblings may, but me, I get away with everything.
09:51 My dad, there's no wrong with my father.
09:54 I don't do no wrong before my father's eyes.
09:56 Ah!
09:57 You were one of his favorites then, ah?
09:59 You're the golden child... Yeah, the golden child.
10:01 The favorite. The favorite!
10:02 The favorite and you know, my dear brothers,
10:04 they know that.
10:06 I mean, don't get me wrong,
10:07 my father loves all his children.
10:09 But, I was one that never gets spanked.
10:13 Yeah, so I can tell you a very quick incidents
10:16 and my brothers, one time I get in trouble,
10:20 get into trouble, and so my mother can't catch me,
10:22 I'll run, you know.
10:24 And so she said, "Okay, you wait
10:25 until your father gets home."
10:27 So my father gets home, to make a long story short,
10:32 took us back in the room and first,
10:35 it was my older brother, the one that's next to me.
10:38 Both of us were the one that get into trouble.
10:41 And took him and spanked him, you know,
10:43 his hands and he came out crying.
10:45 Okay?
10:46 And so, you know, my mother looked at me
10:48 and said, "Yeah, you're next.
10:49 You're gonna get it."
10:51 So I went in there and, you know, me,
10:52 I have no fear of my dad, you know, because I know,
10:54 me and him have that connection with my dad.
10:57 And so I went and I just jump right on his lap,
11:00 grab his hand and play with his hands,
11:03 and he was just looking at me, and he went like this,
11:04 "You know, I have to do something
11:06 or your mother is going to get mad
11:08 if I don't spank you."
11:09 So he told me, he said, "What I'm gonna do,
11:12 I'm gonna hit my hand with a belt.
11:15 And when I hit my hand you need to scream."
11:19 So that's what he did and I scream
11:21 and I pretend to...
11:22 Wow!
11:24 To cry and I went out and that was it.
11:26 You know, that's how he treated,
11:28 you know, yeah, anyway...
11:30 So then growing up,
11:33 your dad never disappointed you?
11:35 Never, anything, he was so proud of me
11:39 when, you know, I will always try to do things
11:41 to make my father proud
11:44 and to live up in a way that pleases him.
11:48 And I think that was the reason why it makes it so easy
11:51 when my heavenly Father find His way into my heart,
11:56 now I have that same connection with Him.
11:59 I want to do things to please Him.
12:01 Yes.
12:02 I want to please the one who loved me.
12:04 Yes, yes, yes.
12:05 Anyway so, right now, I get almost like,
12:06 you know, choked up because I love Jesus so much
12:09 because how can you not love someone
12:11 that gave his life for you?
12:13 Yes.
12:14 And so... Yes.
12:15 So you, so you basically got away with, you know,
12:21 just everything with your dad.
12:23 I'll get away with murder with my dad.
12:26 And your mom, she didn't discipline you?
12:30 She was the disciplinary. Okay.
12:32 When my dad was not there, when, he passed,
12:36 when I was nine years old.
12:37 I was nine years old when my dad passed
12:39 and so that's when the effect of discipline
12:42 I started knowing and learning.
12:45 She didn't meant that was the only way that,
12:47 you know, she can know back then,
12:49 but I'm glad I got spanked in a way
12:51 to get my senses right correctly.
12:53 But, yes, yes, my dad passed when I was nine years old.
12:58 How did you react or respond to your father passing?
13:02 Very angry, I lost, I rebel against,
13:09 I hate the world.
13:11 I hate the world because my dad was not only my dad,
13:13 he was like a God to me.
13:15 I didn't know God, but that was my God.
13:18 And so when he was taken from me,
13:20 I thank God that I was not old when that happened to my dad
13:25 because the individuals that was responsible
13:28 for hitting a drunk driver,
13:30 I will probably take it out on them so,
13:34 but I'm glad God, it's amazing.
13:36 He knows, He knows our weaknesses,
13:38 He knows where we need to be.
13:39 So your dad died suddenly?
13:42 Yes.
13:44 My dad was in the Marines.
13:48 And then after he got out of the Marines,
13:50 he became a police in the Island.
13:53 And then after that he became the director
13:56 of the Motor Pool for the government.
13:58 So he was the director, so the drivers has to come
14:03 from the place to pick him up from my home,
14:05 from our home to take them to work.
14:07 But, this particular driver came to pick him up
14:09 instead of coming directly to pick up my dad.
14:12 He stopped by one of my relatives bar
14:16 and took a drink.
14:18 And so to make a long story short,
14:21 after he got off, he was under the influence,
14:23 he's raced down the streets with the...
14:26 because in the main road of the Island,
14:30 there's only one, and so there's only two lanes
14:32 and so they raced down,
14:34 my dad walked up to the streets, you know,
14:36 walk up to the main road because he was waiting
14:38 for the guy to pick him up.
14:40 And so when he walked up there,
14:42 he has kind of hearing problem with one of his ears,
14:44 I don't remember which one.
14:47 And so when they were racing down,
14:49 I guess one of them kind of swerved off,
14:52 I guess it was time to turn or whatever, however he did,
14:55 and he took off and come directly
14:57 and hit my dad on the side of the road,
14:58 and dragged him underneath the vehicle.
15:02 He was alive.
15:04 My dad was alive only for a moment
15:06 when we took him to the hospital
15:09 and that's when he left those words with my mother,
15:11 he told...
15:13 let me see if I can, in English.
15:17 He says, "Be courageous," he told my mother.
15:20 He gave a charge.
15:21 He says, "Be courageous, remember our children."
15:25 And so that's what I think that was the burden
15:27 that my mother always had.
15:28 It was that to trying to be courageous for all of us,
15:33 and in the same time to remember his children,
15:37 his and her children, my father,
15:39 to raise them or trying to keep that charge upright.
15:43 So all she had to do is prayer.
15:44 She became the prayer warrior for our family.
15:47 She pray intensively
15:49 and I'm the product of those prayers today.
15:52 Oh, yeah. In spite of my rebellion.
15:54 Oh, Yes.
15:56 So when did you begin to rebel?
15:58 You said that you became very angry.
16:01 Yes. Were you angry with God?
16:03 Were you angry with your dad?
16:04 Who were you angry with when he died?
16:07 I cannot say I was angry with God
16:08 'cause I didn't know God.
16:10 But, I think I was just angry at anybody.
16:13 I was just angry in anything because I felt that
16:16 I had lost a great loss to me.
16:19 He was someone that was very special to me.
16:21 So I can never say, you know, I was angry to God.
16:24 I never did because the reason why I said that,
16:29 one of the things I've learned from my dad
16:31 that that he loved this God.
16:34 He loved this God. And so I don't know this God.
16:37 I didn't know God, but I trust my dad.
16:41 I trust him that if he loved Him
16:43 then I can trust Him too.
16:44 I can love Him.
16:46 It's almost like the story of Joseph.
16:47 It reminds me a lot of...
16:49 I mean, Joseph was 17 years old
16:51 when he was sold by his brothers to Egypt.
16:54 And I was wondering, I've been wondering
16:55 about that story because
16:58 how can the 17 year old was sold by his own kin
17:02 and yet he trusted God?
17:06 When I turned back, when I start
17:07 reading into the stories, I saw that it says,
17:10 he often spent time with his father Jacob.
17:12 And Jacob tell him all the stories about his life.
17:15 And you know the story that, you know,
17:16 Jacob ran for his life because of what he did
17:19 to his brother Esau.
17:21 So 20 years he ran.
17:23 So I believe that Joseph on his way
17:27 whether he was walking, or dragging,
17:29 or being in a cart whatever,
17:31 however they transport him to Egypt,
17:33 that's what he had it in his mind.
17:35 He may not know God,
17:36 but remember the dreams that he had.
17:37 He had an experience with God.
17:40 And so he said to himself, "I'm gonna trust this God.
17:43 I'm gonna trust the God of my dad."
17:45 And so the same with me, I trusted God.
17:50 I didn't curse or whatever it maybe, never.
17:53 Right!
17:54 I knew that I can't do because I was very respectful.
17:56 It was one of the things I've learned from my dad
17:57 was vary to be respectful.
18:00 Loyal then be respectful, so anyway.
18:06 So your dad dies at nine and then you go into puberty
18:11 and the teen years, what happened during that time?
18:14 Well, you know, I came here in the United States.
18:17 I was about 11 years old and I started going to school,
18:22 and well, actually, I got to go back.
18:24 In those years, they have this thing, you know,
18:27 in the islands where there were,
18:28 since I have all older brothers,
18:30 they would take their younger brother
18:32 and match up with other younger brothers
18:34 of other families.
18:36 And they'll often have fights.
18:38 They will fight, fist of fist, you know,
18:41 you obviously don't have nothing on us back then.
18:43 Back then, it was just knuckle to knuckle.
18:45 Wow!
18:46 And so you know, that's what we were doing,
18:48 that's what, you know, they would put me to,
18:52 you know, against other kids.
18:55 And I never lost a fight,
18:57 so yeah, that's where I started,
19:01 I believe that's how I now channel
19:05 this anger within me, this pain of losing my dad.
19:11 So I was taking out on fighting.
19:14 What were you guys fighting for?
19:15 Was it position, or what was it?
19:20 It was more like bragging rights
19:22 for the older brothers, for the families.
19:24 It was always like for families,
19:26 whose family, who's a siblings, who's,
19:29 and that's usually the case because there's always someone
19:31 that, "Okay, we're better than you."
19:33 The family names like, the Ilaoa name,
19:36 and whatever it is so.
19:38 But, I think most of it is just bragging rights
19:40 on the older siblings.
19:42 And so they like to put up their little brothers to fight.
19:44 And this particular one brother of mine and so he,
19:49 I've always, me and him used to be very,
19:52 we're very close
19:53 because from that since point when I was young.
19:57 And that was one of the incidents, you know,
20:00 kind of back track.
20:05 It was one morning we were onto school,
20:08 going to school day with my dad because he was so envision
20:10 in his children to have education.
20:16 And so there's only one good school
20:18 with good education in the island
20:20 and that was a Catholic school.
20:22 He already is a Seventh-day Adventist.
20:24 He's taking his boys to a Catholic school
20:27 because that was one of the best schools
20:29 to educate them.
20:31 So they had to get up early in the morning
20:33 and take the bus early in the morning.
20:36 And me and my other brother,
20:38 a little bit older than me and my younger sister,
20:41 the youngest one was too young
20:43 to go to school at this time.
20:45 And so we had to go to the public school.
20:47 So they go this way, we go this way.
20:49 So when we're on our way to go to school,
20:50 they have the special place where they wait for the bus
20:54 to come and pick them up to take them.
20:57 And I saw, when I came out we saw there was a fight.
21:02 You know, my two brothers there,
21:03 one of them is fighting this big guy, bully guy.
21:07 And so the first instinct in my, that's how I'm
21:10 because, you know, ever since I was little, I have this,
21:12 I've always been protective of my family.
21:16 And you're not gonna mess with my family.
21:18 You mess with my family, I'm gonna bring it to you.
21:21 And so I saw it and the first, I didn't even ask,
21:24 I ran over there.
21:26 I didn't even think twice or anything, I ran,
21:27 I saw it was my brother.
21:29 But, my other older brother is just standing with my sister.
21:32 So when I got there, there was all these boys,
21:36 you know, at the time, they were, I think they were,
21:39 I say they were in their 13s, 14s.
21:43 At that time they were big,
21:45 I'm only like about eight years old.
21:48 Wow! Were you a big kid?
21:50 No, I don't consider myself big,
21:53 but my brothers were bigger, you know,
21:55 they were big like, regular Samoan guy.
21:59 But, I was always a person that likes to be fit,
22:01 you know, I like to stay fit
22:03 and especially what I was doing.
22:06 And so I ran down there and I saw that my brother was,
22:09 this guy got him around on a chokehold
22:11 like this underneath with his back on it.
22:14 And I look at my other brother, he was just standing there.
22:16 I don't believe that because when, you know,
22:18 when somebody is, you know, your kin
22:20 or somebody is in trouble, you help.
22:23 Now, remember I'm a little kid.
22:25 In the islands, they have this thing
22:26 that where they decorate their driveways
22:28 and their homes with rocks and they paint these rocks,
22:33 you know, you can find in many islands,
22:34 they paint rocks like specially with the color,
22:36 bright colors.
22:38 The colors of our village is gold and green.
22:40 So they painted all these, you know,
22:43 make it beautiful that colors with gold.
22:46 So the first thing caught my eye was that gold big rock.
22:48 I can't take this guy, he was too big.
22:50 I said, "Get off my brother." And he's still...
22:54 So I grabbed this big rock and when he turned his back...
22:58 You know, I'm not glorifying in this
23:00 and that's kind of thing when I was a little kid,
23:02 I was always protective.
23:03 I broke his back.
23:05 I got him off and then they came
23:07 and chased him off.
23:08 Well, anyway, to make a story, this is one of the things
23:10 my dad was still alive at this time.
23:13 Went to school, came back,
23:14 the whole family of this injured boy
23:18 came to my father to apologize or whatever
23:21 because remember, my dad was up there
23:24 and trying to make things right
23:25 because they know who my dad is.
23:27 So when I was walking by and my dad looked out
23:30 and he saw me walking down, he just looked at me
23:32 like this one approval saying...
23:33 like that.
23:35 And that's how it is with my dad.
23:36 You know, me and him, I did not believe that
23:39 he was looking for that.
23:41 He was looking for a son that is strong,
23:46 and I think that was, in my heart
23:48 I wanted to please him.
23:51 But when he was taken, that's when I got,
23:54 that's when all that rebelism love to fight,
23:57 you know, all that because it take you that long.
24:00 Anyway, that's the beginning.
24:01 I mean, this is the kind of thing, I believe,
24:05 I understand what they're talking about.
24:06 It starts when you're young.
24:08 Whatever that you behold and whatever it is,
24:11 that's gonna form your perspective
24:14 of what life is going to be.
24:16 And that was something I was good at,
24:18 that was something I was adapt to it
24:20 is violence at the time.
24:22 So it was easy for me.
24:23 It was easy for me to get into violence.
24:25 Violence was second nature.
24:27 It was something normal and natural so...
24:30 It's so interesting how the devil just, you know,
24:34 he knows our propensities, he knows our tendencies,
24:41 and he will take those and bring
24:44 the worst out of us with that.
24:46 Whereas, of course, the Lord wants to take
24:48 our weaknesses and strengthen us through Him.
24:53 Yes. Not strengthen.
24:55 In ourselves...
24:56 Right, right and not, you know, nurture the sin, but...
25:00 Yeah. Deliver us from sin.
25:02 So that's where the violence took route for you.
25:07 So then what happened?
25:08 When did you get into the whole drug scene?
25:13 Okay, that was after my high school years,
25:16 I joined, my high school years, I was belong to a gang.
25:20 These are just thug kids, you know,
25:22 like you're here today, I don't know
25:24 if you heard about the Crips, the Bloods.
25:25 Oh, yeah.
25:27 You heard about the Nortenos, the Surenos,
25:29 and many other main ones that you see
25:31 even now the Mexican case of,
25:34 that come from El Salvador and all that.
25:36 Those are thugs, those are kids.
25:38 But I started that way.
25:40 And it's just like you said, it's a sea
25:41 that you started out that way and you work
25:44 and graduate yourself up to the guys
25:48 that are actually doing most of these crimes
25:49 that you see today.
25:51 They're the ones responsible, but they don't get caught
25:53 because they are legit people in a society.
25:58 But many of them are, they're very dirty.
26:01 You know, we're talking about not your regular police,
26:03 the police, the majority of police
26:05 are good men, good women.
26:08 But, the ones that are over them
26:11 and those are the ones that are very much
26:12 corrupt or intact, you know, with crime and I believe,
26:16 today that this drug war that we have today
26:20 or whatever it may be, they will never win.
26:22 You can never win that thing because there's money involved.
26:25 Right!
26:26 And when money is involved, well, then corrupt,
26:29 people will become corrupted.
26:31 So, how did you get lured into the gang?
26:34 Okay.
26:36 The gangs is, it was easy for me
26:37 'cause it was just hanged out with groups,
26:39 you know, with my boys.
26:41 It was a Asian Pacific Islander,
26:45 Asian Pacific Islander gang, you know,
26:47 it's constitute of Vietnamese and Koreans,
26:52 Chinese, Samoans, Guamanians.
26:55 So it's not like an Asian Pacific gang
26:58 and we call ourselves, "the chap rocks"
27:01 and chap rocks is a Filipino name for long tail.
27:05 So we wear red rag,
27:08 we tie our rags in our neck and hang in the back.
27:11 And they have what you call the blue rags
27:15 and those are the Northside boys
27:16 in San Jose, California.
27:18 And so we would usually go up against them
27:21 because they were all much, much older boys.
27:24 That's like the Bloods and the Crips.
27:26 So the Red and the Blue, right? Yes.
27:28 And usually, they get along, you know,
27:30 whoever, if you're a red rag,
27:31 you get along with the Nortenos,
27:33 you'll get along with the Bloods.
27:34 If you're a blue rag, you'll get along
27:36 with the El Salvadorians, the Surenos, and like that,
27:41 all simple is in California.
27:43 So I was involved in that for a little bit,
27:45 but I wasn't into the drug yet.
27:48 The drug came later on when I got out of the Navy,
27:51 although, I was in the military after High school
27:56 and I just wanted to get away, to get away from everything.
28:00 And so the founder of the gang, the thug gang
28:04 went in the Navy with me, you know, he went in,
28:07 I joined, and we took off.
28:10 And it was after that when I got off, I was intended,
28:14 I wanted to be a police.
28:16 I actually wanted to be a cop when I got out.
28:19 And so I went about, I went to school
28:21 to do all the schools for firearms
28:23 and everything like that, I went to training
28:26 with my intention and work as a job to supply my needs
28:31 whereas security.
28:33 So, but my focus was to become a police.
28:36 I want to be like my dad, you know,
28:39 in the military he was,
28:40 and I wanted to follow that example.
28:43 But in that, through that I meet some friends
28:46 and I saw the ways of making money.
28:49 So I started out a little bit in to do
28:51 to start out with selling a little teen,
28:54 teener is a 100 bucks, you know,
28:56 and a c-note, you know, like a c-note is a 100.
29:00 So and or selling 8 balls
29:03 and stuff like that with cocaine
29:05 and to make a long story short, after I got myself into,
29:11 I got into a very bad accident while I was a security,
29:15 not while I was security, but in my mini truck,
29:19 I was having a party with a friend all night
29:22 and I came back from San Francisco
29:25 and my car, I fell asleep, I flew off on the freeway
29:29 and hit the side of a building.
29:31 So I was fortunate because I have a habit
29:34 of putting on a seatbelt,
29:37 but my friend that was on the passenger seat did not
29:39 because, well, he didn't die,
29:42 but he flew through and he was alive.
29:45 He's alive today.
29:47 But from then on, I was injured myself
29:50 because I broke a hip on the wall up,
29:53 it was chipped off in the socket of my hip,
29:56 and I could see it in the, there was a little piece.
29:58 I didn't know that bones can grow back.
30:00 And so I found out later on afterwards that it grew back
30:04 and it healed.
30:05 And so I was thankful that I didn't choose
30:07 the advice of the doctors who came to me and said,
30:09 there're six doctors, who said, three doctors says to operate
30:12 and the other three says,
30:14 "Oh, if you leave it and endure the pain,
30:16 it'll grow back and you'll be fine."
30:18 I said, "Oh, no, I would take the pain."
30:21 Because you don't want hip surgery.
30:23 No, I didn't want them to cut through me.
30:24 Yeah.
30:26 So while I was under that healing process, you know,
30:29 for, I say about six months, it was coming to an end.
30:33 One of my colleagues, one of my friends
30:37 called me from Washington and says,
30:39 "Why don't you come up here?
30:40 You know, and I got some action over here."
30:44 So that's when I said, "Well, you know what..."
30:45 He said, "I'll pay you way to come up."
30:47 I said, "No."
30:48 I was just gonna come up, I'll pay my way,
30:50 I'll pay my way because my intention was not that,
30:51 I just want to get away.
30:54 And to get a new scenery
30:55 and then I'll come back to California.
30:58 Well, when I went up there, they were moving big weights,
31:03 and with my talent and everything else
31:06 and I went in with them.
31:09 And so that's why I started with the violence
31:11 and everything else because you need to be that way
31:14 in order to control the people and control the territory.
31:18 Yeah.
31:20 You know, that's one of the things that I notice
31:23 about street culture is that you can't, it's like,
31:30 you can't let people take advantage of you
31:32 because if you do then you look that as,
31:35 you know, we can...
31:36 Yeah.
31:37 And if you respond, you have to respond
31:40 kind of over the top
31:42 which then gets you in jail or killed.
31:44 It's like, it forces you to have a whole different
31:49 way of dealing with things.
31:50 You can't just sit down and talk about something.
31:53 Ah, you better go harder than the next minute.
31:55 Yeah, and that just, that takes you
31:58 into whole other realm of either getting killed
32:01 or getting incarcerated.
32:02 Yes.
32:04 When your name is put out there as you've been
32:06 letting something slide of being passive,
32:08 well, then you'd be surprised how the rest
32:12 will take advantage of that.
32:15 I think they can get away with it.
32:17 Yes, they can get away with it.
32:18 And that's just what Satan, that's his plan
32:20 because he wants to kill you while you're out there...
32:22 Yes, correct.
32:24 He wants to destroy you while you're out there.
32:26 And so if you go with the way the street goes,
32:31 that's your destiny because you don't see
32:33 a lot of "Oh, geez," you don't...
32:34 No. You know...
32:36 There's no 401k.
32:37 Right, exactly.
32:39 Retiring in a box or a cell.
32:41 That's right. Yes.
32:43 That's right. So you found yourself...
32:45 Yes.
32:46 You had been doing the violent thing
32:51 from being a kid that was kind of
32:53 nurtured in you over time.
32:56 And then now you're finding yourself
32:59 in the street with street culture...
33:02 Where you have to defend what's yours...
33:06 And you can't let anybody take advantage of you.
33:09 And you have to be serious.
33:10 Now you, now it's getting serious now.
33:13 Right!
33:14 It's getting serious because
33:17 you're dealing with some serious things.
33:21 And so you know, I was introduced into that life
33:24 and you have to be tough to control your territory.
33:27 And there were Cubans from Florida,
33:30 there were Bloods and Crips from Southern California.
33:34 And these are not wannabes,
33:36 these are the real people, the real members.
33:38 And so they were moving their territory
33:40 because they were chased out because of the crackdown
33:42 of the authorities down south in Southern California
33:46 and also in Florida.
33:47 So they're trying to find new territory
33:49 where they can move their products.
33:50 There's different lines of families
33:53 that are controlling cartel, different from Mexico
33:57 there's lines that comes from the other side
34:00 of where Texas is at.
34:02 They will move that line and all the families
34:04 that will run the drugs that goes up from Texas,
34:06 Oklahoma, Colorado, going that way.
34:08 So they're trying to divide territories
34:10 and they want to stay in territories,
34:12 whoever's controlling.
34:14 There's family in this area where I met,
34:17 there's family that control from the cartel
34:19 that's running the line from Oregon, from California,
34:22 Oregon and Washington, going up in Alaska.
34:26 So these are families,
34:28 these are not just anybody that just wanted.
34:30 Many of the people that you see that are selling cocaine,
34:34 They're are just product, little guys
34:36 that are selling from,
34:37 they're getting their stuff from families
34:39 that are controlling the moving of things,
34:43 moving of the product.
34:44 So if you go to South, if you go down south
34:47 or go into Mexico to get then it's cheaper.
34:50 You know, they would give it to the,
34:51 cartel would give it to you cheaper.
34:52 But if they'll bring the supply to you,
34:54 there's a lot of risk then the product
34:56 will go up higher.
34:58 So the things in the, in there, in these families
35:01 that are controlling these things,
35:03 one of this particular family that, they were decided
35:07 that they were trying to save them some money
35:08 and send their brothers, the two brothers,
35:11 one of their two brothers that they send down
35:14 to Mexico to bring the product.
35:16 But when they sent him down there, they play,
35:18 that's another part of the game is, it gets dirty,
35:20 if you're weak then they're gonna take
35:22 advantage of you.
35:23 So they put him to the test
35:25 and they kill both of the brothers
35:27 and took the money and everything else.
35:29 And that's part of the game,
35:31 it's part of the life, that life.
35:33 The life is, if you're weak, they're gonna take advantage.
35:36 But if you rise to the occasion, you know,
35:38 to what somebody has done to you, then yeah,
35:41 they'll be known that, "Okay, that we can trust this guy,
35:44 they're not gonna just fold up in a..."
35:47 So when they do that,
35:50 they do want to have a war
35:53 with the people of the family up there.
35:54 So they gave them a deal that if you provide
35:57 a safe house up there in Washington,
35:59 we will bring the product to you for free
36:02 and we'll settle or squash it.
36:04 We'll squash the thing.
36:06 Well, that's when they call me because my name was known,
36:10 always known in the streets and everything else
36:12 in up in Washington and everything else.
36:14 And they would call to whenever they,
36:17 these are the families that controlled the stuff up,
36:19 then they would call me and say,
36:21 "Hey, yo, want to meet up and we have the business
36:24 and things like that you need to take care."
36:27 So whenever they need something to be controlling,
36:29 they will call me.
36:31 And so they call me in and we wanted to meet
36:35 and they asked me, this is what happened
36:39 and what needs to be done.
36:41 This is where the house is at.
36:42 This is where the, it needs to take care of the debts."
36:46 So knowing the fact that there's a set up, you know,
36:51 in it and also I have to ask them questions.
36:55 So I ask them and I say, "What happened?"
36:56 And he ran it down to me the secular story that happens,
36:59 and but you don't trust, you don't,
37:00 there's no such thing.
37:02 The first lesson that I've learned
37:04 in the street is that, "You don't trust anyone."
37:07 When Jesus came into my life,
37:11 that's what it makes sense to me, 'God'
37:14 and when I read in the Scripture,
37:15 I believe it's in Jeremiah 17:5 or 17:9.
37:22 Verse 5, it's in 17 I believe.
37:24 It says "Cursed is the man that trusts in man.
37:27 Cursed is the men that maketh man his trust
37:30 and whose heart departeth."
37:32 That makes a whole lot of sense to me.
37:35 It makes sense to me because I know that
37:37 I've been in the world.
37:39 And when the Scripture is telling me that it says,
37:42 "I love this guy.
37:44 I trust this guy because his word makes sense."
37:47 You know, a person that doesn't, you know,
37:49 the Word of guy, this all make sense to me.
37:51 So, I said, "Okay, I can trust you."
37:55 So my first lesson was in this where I survive is
37:58 don't trust anyone.
38:00 So ask them, I say, "I tell you what?
38:01 Okay, you want me to do this job.
38:03 Okay, that's fine. That's no problem.
38:05 This is the amount.
38:07 This is what you're gonna give me now..."
38:09 And I don't want to glorify anything like that,
38:12 you know, those thing that I've done.
38:14 I want to glorify Jesus. Yes, of course.
38:16 You're just laying the groundwork...
38:17 Correct. For people to understand...
38:19 Yes. Where you were.
38:21 Oh, Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah.
38:23 And so I asked him a question, I said, "I tell you what,
38:27 if that was my family, if that was my family,
38:30 my blood, I would want to do it myself,"
38:33 but in the same time, I'm asking,
38:34 where are this because it could be a set up.
38:38 And you know and...
38:39 Let me just make sure I'm understanding.
38:41 They wanted you to come and protect this family
38:46 because of the goods that were coming there.
38:48 What were they asking you to do?
38:49 They were asking me to pay back...
38:51 Retaliation. Retaliation.
38:53 Oh, okay.
38:54 Because the very family that was the very family
38:57 and how do I know that.
38:58 Well, how do you know those families?
38:59 You know, that's question that your viewers
39:01 probably saying right now.
39:03 But what I'm saying, whenever there's a, the cartel,
39:08 wherever there's a important,
39:10 they carry an insignia with them.
39:14 This is very important.
39:15 A lot of people don't know this.
39:17 The insignia that gives their authority
39:18 that this person is the very higher.
39:21 They will usually carry a weapon
39:23 and that specific weapon is a silver, pure silver
39:28 Pistol with marble handles.
39:32 Some of the crimes in different other areas,
39:34 they usually use it and marks that way,
39:35 that means that's the authority,
39:38 this person is special.
39:40 So when the job was done, you know,
39:43 kind of fast forward on, when job is done,
39:44 they have that pistol.
39:46 And that was the pistol that I did take
39:49 and give it to the people afterwards.
39:52 But anyway, let me backtrack again.
39:54 So I asked him a question.
39:56 So I said, "What if that was my family?
40:00 You know, won't you want to do that yourself?
40:03 I mean if it was my family, I would like to do that myself
40:06 because I don't want nobody else,
40:07 I want to get even."
40:09 And he looked at me and he said, "No, no.
40:14 I want you to do it because you do it right."
40:17 You know, I didn't finish there.
40:19 I want to ask him another question.
40:20 "Okay, that's fine, but here, what if I go and get
40:25 the brothers, get them and put it before you
40:29 so that way you can be satisfied
40:31 because that's what I will do.
40:32 And I just want to know, where is that?"
40:35 And he also replied once again is that, "No."
40:40 So right there in my head
40:42 because I did not know the whole story.
40:44 This is a story that now I know is that there's a setup here.
40:49 Right!
40:50 So I have to make provision.
40:52 I have to make provision for an escape.
40:54 Whatever it maybe, he needs to make sure
40:56 to cover my tracks and everything else.
40:58 Every time I do a job, there's always a cleaner,
41:02 there's a clean group.
41:04 They don't see me, I don't see them.
41:06 They have a whole different crew
41:08 that goes and clean it up.
41:09 There's no evidence of foul.
41:11 This is occurred and I believe is still happening today.
41:16 I'm out of it now.
41:18 But, I just go and get rid of the mark
41:21 and the cleaners will go and do the rest of the job.
41:24 So when I finish the job, I don't want to, you know,
41:29 I don't want to glorify the self,
41:31 but the thing is it was nothing.
41:34 It was, after we finish the job and everything else,
41:38 I wanted to make sure, I know because the questions
41:41 that I've been asked before, and I know
41:43 the viewers that says, what, how did you get out of this?
41:46 Yeah. That was gonna be my next question.
41:48 How did you get out? My reputation was very...
41:52 What I do was very, very, very, very mean,
41:54 I don't think you will ever like me
41:57 when if you meet me about 25 years ago.
41:59 So how I went about in order to get this job done,
42:03 it was not only to get the job done,
42:05 but to make sure this guy, first of all,
42:07 I already see that he's weak.
42:09 He's weak.
42:10 And I know that he, if he sets me up,
42:14 I'm gonna have to send a message to him.
42:16 And send a message in a way that not only his whole family
42:19 would know, but the organization would know.
42:24 And so it was a very, very terrible thing.
42:26 Yeah.
42:28 Very terrible thing that, how it happened?
42:29 How did Jesus change your life
42:32 because you were on this trajectory of sin and death?
42:38 Yes. How did Jesus, what did He do?
42:41 That was the most scariest part and the most scariest part
42:44 because I was coming to the point
42:47 where I look at people that's just nothing.
42:52 You know, when you don't have a conscience.
42:54 Right!
42:55 That's a very scary thing even today with me.
42:57 When I look back to as, I thank,
42:59 I'm ever thankful to God that He will come to me.
43:02 Remember, I said it before that my Mother was praying.
43:05 And that was the charge that my Dad gave it to her
43:08 and she stuck by that faithfully.
43:11 And she was praying, and praying, and praying.
43:14 How did I come about? How did I snap out of that?
43:17 To make it, I know the time is, it goes by so fast with us.
43:21 My Mother came up there to visit
43:23 some of my relatives up in Washington.
43:25 And they were holding prayer meeting.
43:27 They were praying and she was fasting.
43:29 I remember one time when we had a family gathering
43:33 in Northern California and my mother told me,
43:36 she asked me and said, "Son,
43:38 why don't you put away your sin?"
43:41 And I look at my dear Mother, you know, and very seriously
43:45 I said, "Mom, I love my sin.
43:48 I love my sin. I was good at my sin.
43:51 I was prospering in my sin."
43:53 And I said, "It seems like you guys are not even happy
43:55 in your righteousness, in what you guys are doing."
43:59 So I'm good in what I do. And I'm happy.
44:02 I'm telling you today that the devil can make you happy,
44:05 can make you happy in a sense.
44:07 Make you think you're happy.
44:08 Exactly, thank you for correcting me.
44:10 It can actually make you,
44:11 you think like you're enjoying, but you're not.
44:13 You're miserable inside. Right!
44:15 Because I can recall that I was still looking,
44:17 there's that emptiness, there's that hole inside.
44:20 When I'm alone, only I can face that.
44:23 And I see that, it seems like everything is right,
44:25 but it was not right.
44:26 Right!
44:27 But anyway, my Mother was praying
44:29 and she prayed this prayer.
44:30 Finally, prayed this prayer, she said,
44:32 "Father, do not let him enjoy his sin,
44:37 make him to be miserable in his sin."
44:41 I went on, went afterwards when the Lord came to me
44:44 and I opened my heart to Jesus, I know, I'm confessed,
44:46 but I want to retract it.
44:48 I asked my Mother after I gave my heart to Jesus,
44:51 when I accepted God's invitation,
44:53 I asked my Mother,
44:55 "When did you pray his prayer?"
44:57 And I retract the timeline.
45:00 It was exactly when everything went wrong.
45:03 We usually take breaks after we move all the weight.
45:07 You know, weight means all the other drugs.
45:10 And this particular time after we moved there,
45:13 we go on vacation.
45:15 But the rest of the thug, you know,
45:16 the guys in the corners on the streets,
45:18 they're still out there, their faces is open
45:20 to the authority that's why you see our jails filled.
45:23 But, the real bad guys or shall I say bad girls,
45:26 there are also women are enjoying life
45:30 just like normal, like anybody else.
45:32 It was nothing.
45:34 They're enjoying much more than your regular guy
45:36 that is maybe making 10,000 a week,
45:39 whatever it maybe, and that's what draws them in.
45:41 But, they are suffering.
45:44 But the regular, the people that are bringing in
45:46 the weights and all the drugs and everything else
45:48 and they are safe.
45:50 The other ones that takes vacation and go,
45:53 enjoy like a normal life with their families
45:54 and everything else.
45:56 And they're thinking that, "Oh, this is the high life."
45:58 This is the highlife. Yeah.
46:00 But, it's not. But, it's not.
46:01 It's miserable inside.
46:02 You cannot, I mean, you're sleeping
46:04 and you know that you have, you're picking up enemies,
46:07 you don't know when, so you're constantly
46:09 armed yourself.
46:10 Right! Constantly look in the mirror.
46:13 You know, when you get in the car,
46:14 you're always thinking when you're in a place,
46:17 where is I'm gonna be?
46:18 What I'm gonna... Yes, yes.
46:20 And there's no peace.
46:21 Like enslaved by your profession.
46:23 Yes, yes.
46:24 And who's after me and all my family?
46:27 Yes. Yeah.
46:29 So... So how did Jesus find you?
46:31 So, what happened?
46:32 Well, you know, whenever we finished moving the product,
46:37 we take breaks.
46:38 We take a vacation.
46:40 And so this particular time, we finished everything.
46:45 And somehow I locked the keys in the Corvette.
46:49 The Corvette, the keys were locked in the Corvette.
46:51 And so they were out there trying to please me,
46:55 trying to please, trying to open the all out there,
46:58 trying to get in there and I was left me
47:01 alone inside the house, in my colleague's houses.
47:07 So I decided because I carry a bio
47:10 about that have a pure cocaine, I mean, not pure,
47:14 but it's the good one.
47:15 And I wanted to be safe only for my own personal use.
47:18 I don't want just...
47:20 And whenever I'm on relax and everything else,
47:23 I take a snort aligned and keep me awake
47:26 and everything anyway.
47:28 I'm not saying this in edifying to glorify cocaine by the way.
47:32 I'm saying that's what I was doing
47:33 in this particular thing.
47:35 And anyway, all of a sudden, when I did this in here,
47:41 I set that in a way to confirm what I was going to say now.
47:46 All of a sudden, I hear this voice inside this house,
47:50 this room, I was all by myself.
47:53 "Come home," two words, very serious and very loud.
47:58 So I look around, I didn't see anybody in there.
48:02 But, the first thing in my mind,
48:05 it says maybe somebody mess with my supply.
48:11 You thought you were hallucinating or something?
48:13 Yes.
48:14 Yes, I mean, all these things or somebody's trying
48:15 to set me up, maybe something is in the drug
48:17 that's messing me up or whatever.
48:19 So, I was looking, I wonder there was nothing.
48:23 All of a sudden, my mind start change,
48:24 those going on in my head
48:26 that this is something supernatural.
48:29 This is happening to me because I was wide awake.
48:32 I knew I wasn't drinking. I didn't drink.
48:34 I just took a line so I was very much clear in my mind.
48:40 And after I was thinking about,
48:42 all my thoughts started going back to my Dad.
48:45 This is what started going back, you know,
48:47 the things the God that I was, that my Dad was telling me
48:51 about this supernatural stuff, going my mind,
48:53 started going back to religion, and things like this.
48:57 All of a sudden, I see for myself to you,
49:01 as I'm looking to you right now, I'm not seeing you.
49:04 All I see was a black shadow leaving my body.
49:09 And it's going away from me.
49:12 And I can't see,
49:13 but I'm just seeing a dark shadow.
49:15 Well, that's all I see, it's in like a tunnel vision.
49:18 And believe me, I thought myself I was going nuts.
49:21 I'm in this thing, but it seems like I'm just lost in it.
49:25 I just want a fast, you know, fast forward.
49:28 This is the time I didn't know that my Mother was praying,
49:32 was having prayer, my mother's...
49:34 I went in and trace it back
49:37 that's when everything started going wrong.
49:38 Things were locking, the carstart choking,
49:42 you know, and yet mechanic, when I call my mechanic,
49:44 he came and says, "There's nothing wrong, guys.
49:45 Everything is fine."
49:47 So my mind was already in the mode
49:49 that somebody's trying to set me up.
49:51 That's my way of thinking towards this whole experience
49:55 I'm going through right now, but it was not.
49:56 It was God because my Mom was praying.
49:59 It's time to follow you up
50:00 and trying to bring you home, come home.
50:02 Yes.
50:03 That's what, now, it make sense to me.
50:05 But back then my mind was thinking,
50:07 "Okay, somebody's trying to set me up.
50:09 I'm gonna have to make provision."
50:11 That's what I was thinking.
50:13 But when I saw this supernatural thing going out,
50:15 and I believe that dark shadow was actually I was possessed
50:19 from all the violence and everything else
50:21 and I thought it was me.
50:22 It was actually,
50:24 Satan can actually give you skills.
50:26 Can give you some very, very,
50:29 and I thought I was getting away,
50:31 but not only I believe that the prayers of my Mother
50:33 was protecting me, you know, from Satan trying to kill me.
50:37 Right.
50:38 But in the same time, Satan was trying to impress me
50:40 with all these things I can get away with it,
50:42 getting shot at, or whatever it maybe
50:43 and yet you don't get killed
50:45 or whatever incident trying to set me up,
50:47 and I get away.
50:48 Whenever the DEA or the police will get into one of my places,
50:52 I'm not there, I'm gone.
50:54 I'm always like, two step ahead of them.
50:56 So they never catch me.
50:58 So God has to catch me Himself.
51:01 I start boring... in this incident, this night.
51:04 I start all of a sudden, I kneel down on my knees.
51:07 Knelt down, I never do that.
51:10 But here am I, it's like go through an experience.
51:13 And I'm not gonna say an out-of-body experience.
51:15 I don't believe in all that nonsense or whatever,
51:17 but excuse me, but I know what I was going through,
51:21 but it seems like I'm not even in control of what's going on.
51:24 Right.
51:25 But, all I know that I'm agreeing
51:26 with this in my mind.
51:28 I'm agreeing with this, this is real.
51:31 This is what my Dad, it seems like
51:32 the Holy Spirit was having this fight
51:34 against Satan was pulling, which way I'm going to go.
51:38 So I knew that I stop boring classes,
51:41 "You know what, I'm out of here.
51:43 I'm gone."
51:44 And they were thinking like I was gonna go to a safe house.
51:47 I left everything.
51:49 I went back to my house in Walla Walla, Washington.
51:54 And in there, when I got there, I started still crying,
51:57 still my heart was crying, and a flier came through.
52:03 It says that, "Evangelistic meetings
52:05 that was held by an evangelist from California."
52:09 His name was Dick Pollard.
52:10 And he was holding evangelistic meetings
52:12 in Washington in the Stateline Church there.
52:19 And so I went to the, there I gave my life.
52:22 You know, gave my life, my heart to Jesus.
52:26 And this is the part where it doesn't make sense,
52:29 not even my Mother,
52:30 and not even my brothers and sisters.
52:31 But, see God does not want you to rely on your family
52:35 even if we're believers.
52:37 This is like, whenever God calls you,
52:39 whatever the God touch you, He wants you to have
52:41 just a personal experience just between you and Him.
52:44 Right. He doesn't want anyone to help.
52:47 That's my opinion.
52:50 You know, as far as, because it might be different
52:52 the way God moves in everybody.
52:54 But, God wants me to have a personal connection
52:57 with Him alone.
52:58 It has to be nobody else.
53:00 So after I got baptized and everything else,
53:04 I was given my life, I wanted to do right things.
53:06 I wanted to go to school.
53:08 I wanted, you know...
53:10 All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit came to me
53:11 and says, "You need to go, turn yourself in."
53:15 Wow! Wow!
53:17 Now I can look, I can look back to it now.
53:21 It makes sense to me.
53:22 I mean, my heart was all in it.
53:25 But I believe that, you know, I never forget
53:27 what Pastor Lomacang just said to me.
53:30 There's something that touches my heart
53:32 which I never thought about it.
53:34 In order for something to have true repentance,
53:36 I forgot the way he said it.
53:38 The true repentance is not only to confess,
53:42 to confess it.
53:43 But, I believe the way I looked at it now
53:45 is that God test our hearts.
53:48 If it's really genuine,
53:49 can you imagine if it was tested,
53:50 and I would say, a voice say to me and says,
53:53 "Oh, go turn yourself."
53:54 As if, you know, "No way, that's stupid."
53:58 But, I believe God trying to test my heart at that time,
54:01 how real.
54:02 It's not so much that He already knew
54:03 what I was going to do, but He wants me to know
54:08 to see this experience for myself.
54:09 Right.
54:11 To see my own heart, the build my heart up
54:12 in such a way that it would be real for Him later on
54:15 once I give my heart to God.
54:17 And I believe that's an experience I got,
54:19 it puts every one of us to the test.
54:22 So you turned yourself in. Yes.
54:24 I can't believe our time was running out.
54:26 And there's so much more. Okay, I know.
54:27 So much more, I know.
54:29 So you turned yourself in. Yes.
54:32 And what happened?
54:33 Is that the time? Yes.
54:35 I did 20 years.
54:36 They gave me a 20 year sentence.
54:38 The judge supposed to be giving me 27 years
54:40 that was the...
54:42 that's the end of the crime that was first-degree murder.
54:45 And it was two counts,
54:46 but they only charged me one count.
54:48 The judge told me in the sentencing day, he said,
54:51 "If I have had the power to take up more time
54:54 and give you lesser time."
54:56 They were... because they saw the remorse.
55:01 Only God can put that
55:02 in the heart of an unbelieving judge.
55:04 I don't know if he was believing or not.
55:05 But he said that, they gave me 20 years,
55:09 only 20 years,
55:10 that's impossible for two counts.
55:13 But, they charged me only for one count.
55:15 I got off.
55:16 I went and served 17.5 years, and 2.5 years parole for,
55:22 I came off early for good behavior.
55:24 You know, I mean, "Good behavior".
55:25 That's amazing.
55:26 And while you were in there, what happened with you?
55:30 While I was in there, I came in connection with 3ABN.
55:33 Wow.
55:35 3ABN was probably one of the main teachers
55:38 that God brought or resource that God brought into my life
55:41 to teach me about the truth.
55:43 And I believe that was one of the main reason
55:45 why God took, and say for me to turn myself in
55:49 because I know today, if I was free still
55:53 and be with my family and friends,
55:56 I believe sooner or later,
55:57 I will be going right back to the world.
55:58 Right.
56:00 But, God has to take me away
56:01 with just a time alone with Him.
56:03 And 3ABN was the one that came into my life
56:06 such as teacher such as Doug Batchelor
56:08 with his life story, with a brother Kenneth Cox
56:11 was preaching, Albrecht.
56:12 Yes.
56:14 And many others would tie
56:16 and many other people that taught,
56:18 but above all the writings of Ellen G. White
56:20 that was shared with me with the Saints that was there,
56:25 that came in volunteer.
56:27 Those are the ones that gave me this kind of mind
56:29 that I have today, a balanced mind.
56:32 Now, I can never say I'm, but it was the writings
56:35 and the Word of God of Ellen G. White.
56:37 And 3ABN through showing me all the good programmers
56:40 and everything else that I watch to learn
56:43 from Brother Dwight Nelson.
56:45 I've learned that in order for love to be loved
56:47 for concerning my wife today, you must give the right to say,
56:51 yes because I didn't give nobody the right to say,
56:52 yes, or say, no.
56:54 It's either my way or no way.
56:56 So I've learned many of these lessons through 3ABN.
56:59 Praise the Lord. And what are you doing now?
57:03 I'm doing, now I'm not gonna say
57:04 the name of the job 'cause I don't want them to,
57:07 you know, the work for,
57:09 but I work for a logistic company,
57:11 very powerful major companies logistics that
57:17 and just you know, I know, it's not,
57:19 it's peanuts but I only make 1,100 a week.
57:21 You know, so that's fine enough with me.
57:23 1,100 a week? Yes.
57:25 But that's not...
57:26 For being a felony.
57:28 So... Yeah.
57:29 Yeah. Yeah. An x felon.
57:30 An ex-felon. Yes, correct.
57:32 We praise the Lord for you, brother.
57:34 Praise the Lord. Thank you.
57:36 Thank you for sharing your story with us.
57:38 And I think so many people are gonna be so blessed
57:43 by your testimony.
57:44 I mean, this is something that is just, it's so powerful.
57:48 Thank you so much.
57:50 Thank you, Jason, for being with us.
57:51 Thank you.
57:53 I can't believe how amazing God is
57:55 and just how He changes the life.
57:58 Thank you so much for joining us.
58:00 Join us next time 'cause you know what?
58:02 It just wouldn't be the same without you.


Home

Revised 2017-11-20