Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220039A
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00:06 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:14 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello friends. Welcome to 3ABN Today. I want to thank all of 01:11 you for being with us today. We have a very, very special 01:14 program during this hour. You're not going to want to go anywhere 01:17 Don't change the channel, don't change it, don't go to a 01:21 different YouTube video whatever it is, however, it is you're 01:23 watching this program right now. You're not going to want to miss 01:26 this hour, this special hour together because we have three 01:29 ministries with us today in the house and we're excited about 01:32 what we're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking 01:34 about evangelism. Opportunities that these special motorcycle 01:38 ministries as well as another ministry is what they're doing 01:41 to take the gospel to as many people as possible. Just to let 01:45 you know who I am in case you don't know, I'm Ryan Day. I work 01:48 here in the pastoral department at 3ABN and if you are brand new 01:52 to the Three Angels Broadcasting Network we just want to say 01:55 thank you for joining us and welcome to the family. Because 01:58 today on this special program we have with us Sabbath Keepers 02:02 Motorcycle Ministry. Okay. We're going to be talking to James 02:06 Castillo in just a few moments. How you doing James? 02:08 I'm blessed. 02:10 Amen and praise the Lord. And then we also have Peter O'Connor 02:13 with us and you're going to be representing He Returns Ministry 02:16 (That is correct) Amen, praise the Lord. And then we have 02:19 Sinuhe Figuroa. (Yes) Did I 02:21 say that right? (Oh yes) Sinuhe Figueroa. I just like the name 02:24 brother. (No that's right) All right. And you are with 02:28 the Adventist 02:29 Motorcycle Ministry (That's correct) and man these guys have 02:32 a powerful testimony. I haven't heard it all so I'm going to be 02:35 hearing a lot of this for the first time just like you are 02:37 today. But we've talked a little bit about this in preparing for 02:41 this special program today. I'm excited to hear their story and 02:44 and what God is doing through them and a major, major upcoming 02:50 it's actually the biggest, from my understanding, the biggest 02:54 motorcycle rally in the nation Sturgis and I know I think it's 02:59 in South Dakota. Is that right? Okay. (That's correct) We're 03:01 going to be talking about that. We don't want to spoil just yet 03:03 but before we get right into their story and into what God is 03:07 doing for them we're going to have a special musical number 03:09 brought to us by Pastor John Lomacang and he's going to be 03:13 singing a special song for us that's entitled I Will Go. 03:16 ♪ ♪ 03:43 ♪ Give me ears to hear you Spirit ♪ 03:52 ♪ Give me feet to follow through ♪ 03:56 ♪ Give me hands to touch the hurting ♪ 04:02 ♪ And the faith to follow You ♪ 04:08 ♪ Give me grace to be your servant ♪ 04:18 ♪ Give me mercy for the lost ♪ 04:23 ♪ Give me passion for your glory ♪ 04:30 ♪ Give me passion for the cross ♪ 04:37 ♪ And I go where there are no easy roads ♪ 04:42 ♪ Leave the comforts that I know ♪ 04:46 ♪ I will go and let this journey be my home ♪ 04:54 ♪ I will go, I will go ♪ 05:05 ♪ ♪ 05:16 ♪ I'll let go of my ambition cut the roots that run so deep ♪ 05:27 ♪ I will learn to give away what I cannot really keep ♪ 05:39 ♪ What I cannot really keep ♪ 05:45 ♪ Help me see with eyes of faith ♪ 05:55 ♪ Give me strength to run this race ♪ 06:01 ♪ And I will go where there are no easy roads ♪ 06:08 ♪ Leave the comforts that I know ♪ 06:13 ♪ I will go and let this journey be my home ♪ 06:21 ♪ I will go, I will go ♪ 06:27 ♪ I will go where your glory is unknown ♪ 06:34 ♪ I will live for you alone ♪ 06:40 ♪ I will go because my life is not my own ♪ 06:47 ♪ I will go, I will go, I will go ♪ 07:14 Amen, amen. Thank you so much Pastor John Lomacang for that 07:18 beautiful song, I Will Go. That's what the Bible message, 07:22 the commission is all about. God is sending us out to take the 07:26 gospel to all of the world and that's exactly what the Lord is 07:30 leading these powerful ministries that are with us 07:33 today to do. And so I want to just give a general introduction 07:36 to my friends here. I have to admit I don't normally answer 07:42 my phone for just random messages or random numbers that 07:45 come through if I don't know who it is. I like to know who it 07:48 is first before I answer. Because we get a lot of spam 07:50 calls and whatnot. I got this weird phone call one day on my 07:54 phone and I didn't recognize the number and a few minutes 07:58 later my brother calls me and he says, Hey, did you get a 08:02 phone call from my friend in Texas. I said I don't know I 08:05 don't think so. And he said, well he said he tried to call 08:07 you. Come to find out it was Sinuhe and you were calling me 08:11 and you had touched base with me and you said, Hey brother, 08:13 we've got a powerful work that's going to be going on in South 08:16 Dakota and you're representing Adventist Motorcycle Ministry. 08:19 So Sinuhe tell us a little bit about you and a little bit about 08:24 your background and where you're from and all that. 08:26 Well if it's ever a good time to pull strings it is because of 08:32 this because of the vision. God's gives what it is. 08:34 Amen, brother. 08:36 Well my name is Sinuhe Figueroa as you already told the audience 08:40 and I'm originally from Acapulco, Mexico but been living 08:44 20 years now in Houston, Texas with my family over there and 08:49 my wife, beautiful wife and children. And I'm part of the 08:52 Adventist Motorcycle Ministry. And the Adventist Motorcycle 08:56 Ministry was initiated here in the U.S. in the state of Florida 09:01 2008. So a group of retired pastors got together. They loved 09:08 riding motorcycles, they're all into it. But you know they're 09:11 also all into ministry. So they said what about if we use this 09:16 what we like, you know our passion about motorcycles and 09:19 our passion about ministry, just put it together, combine it. And 09:24 they started you know like riding places, going and 09:27 visiting people, the sick, the elderly, incarcerated and they 09:33 started like also going and mingling and reaching out to the 09:37 bikers. And that's how this ministry originated. 09:41 All right. So we're going to come back to you in just a few 09:43 moments, a little bit more on Adventist Motorcycle Ministry 09:45 but I want to go on to my brother Pete O'Connor and you're 09:48 representing He Returns Ministry today. So Pete tell us a little 09:52 bit about yourself, where you're from, your background. 09:55 I'm originally from, not originally but I came from 09:59 Nebraska. I spent 20 years in the military there. So I ended 10:06 up being with the ministry called He Returns about two 10:09 years ago actually when the pandemic started. And one of the 10:14 church members, vice president when He Returns was actually 10:16 asking me all these weird questions every Sabbath and I 10:20 didn't realize that he was interviewing me. Ha. So and when 10:26 he got to know who I was and interviewing me they invited me 10:32 one day for potluck and I went to their house for a potluck and 10:36 they actually asked me if I wanted to be part of their 10:39 ministry. I said sure. Tell me more about what He Returns is. 10:42 And He Returns is basically spreading the three angels' 10:45 messages in Revelation chapter 14 to be out there, you know 10:49 spread out every nation, tribe and tongue. So when they asked 10:54 me if I wanted to be part I jumped into it. I prayed about 10:56 it and I said yes I do want to be part of this ministry. 10:59 Amen, praise the Lord. And you have, I know you have a powerful 11:01 story. We're going to get back a little more in just a moment 11:03 with He Returns Ministry and you can tell us a little bit 11:07 about your background as well. But James Castillo, Sabbath 11:10 Keepers Motorcycle Ministry Vice President. And I'm familiar with 11:16 this group because I was introduced to this many years 11:19 ago. I was holding an evangelistic series in 11:22 Northwest Arkansas and one of the guys that you and I know 11:25 was wearing...he came to church every Sabbath with this vest on 11:29 and I was so interested because I did not know at the time that 11:32 Adventism even had a motorcycle ministry and Sabbath Keepers was 11:38 the first that I was introduced to. But tell us a little bit 11:41 about yourself, where you're from, your background. 11:43 Okay, well I'm originally from California. Right now I live in 11:47 Northern California right at the base of Mt. Shasta. We have our 11:52 local chapter there in Redding, California. Sabbath Keepers 11:57 began in 1994 with a little group of people in Hollister, 12:02 California. It's also known as the home of the American biker. 12:08 So we had three people there that saw this event going on 12:13 in the church. They were sitting there going we're not going to 12:17 get them to come to the church so we're going to take the 12:18 church to them. And so they dressed up like bikers and they 12:21 went out there and started handing out literature and found 12:23 out how well that works so they came up with this Sabbath 12:26 Keepers Motorcycle Ministry and it took off. I mean in 12:31 California it developed a lot of chapters there, Washington and 12:35 now we're I think 50 chapters. We have some in Canada and also 12:45 a chapter in New South Wales, Australia. So we're spreading 12:48 out. It's a lot of fun reaching people in this crazy world of 12:55 bikers. 12:56 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord I know you have a powerful story 12:57 as well. We're going to come back in just a few moments and 12:59 let you tell us a little bit about that biker life, you and 13:02 Pete both. You and Pete both Both James and Pete were 13:06 previous bikers in the actually gang and we're going to talk 13:09 about that in just a little bit. So you can't go anywhere. Don't 13:11 change the channel. But I want to come back to you Sinuhe. I 13:16 know we're going to talk a little bit more about Sabbath Keepers 13:19 Motorcycle Ministry as well but some people might be saying well 13:22 there's Sabbath Keepers Motorcycle Ministry and then 13:25 there's Adventist Motorcycle Ministry. I know there's 13:27 probably some similarities in the sense of your commission, 13:31 your mission and all that the Lord is leading you guys to do 13:34 Let's talk a little bit about what sets you guys apart, what's 13:37 special about Adventist Motorcycle Ministries and what 13:40 God is leading you guys to do specifically for the mission of 13:44 taking the gospel, the three angels' messages to the world 13:46 and specifically to these bikers. 13:49 Well yes as you said there's a different motorcycle ministries 13:53 within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We have another one in 13:57 Texas that's called the Three Angels' Messengers. I'll 14:01 probably hear from Sabbath Keepers and other ministries as 14:04 well. When I describe what we do and what differentiates us 14:07 from other Christian motorcycle ministries, I'm talking also 14:12 about other ministries as well. You know what happens is the 14:19 Lord gives these great ideas about ministries to several 14:23 people at the same time. That's why we are several ministries 14:26 within our church, in our country. But when I got into 14:31 motorcycles I didn't belong to a motorcycle group or club 14:36 like they did 14:37 before. But I got into motorcycles and I was already 14:41 an Adventist, you know, recently baptized. I started hanging out 14:46 with...I used to go to this motorcycle Knights, right, like 14:52 bars you know with rough life and party life. But I wasn't 14:57 feeling comfortable because I already knew the truth. So then 15:01 I started looking for Christian motorcycle groups. There is many 15:05 plenty. And they're doing a great work, you know, they're 15:09 spreading the gospel as well. But they still smoke, they get 15:15 together in bars, they drink, they're still out in the world 15:19 you know. So it still didn't satisfy me because it's not what 15:25 I was looking for. I didn't feel comfortable with it. So then I 15:28 didn't know that within the Seventh-day Adventist Church 15:31 there was motorcycle ministries until I started going to Houston 15:36 Central SDA and I saw a guy wearing a vest. It catched my 15:41 attention. I said, what is that guy doing here with that vest? 15:44 And I just got closer and I read you know his vest AMM Adventist 15:50 Motorcycle Ministry. That was my brother Ray Louis which is the 15:53 national and international president of AMM right now. 15:59 And immediately I went up to him and asked him how to join 16:02 this Adventist Motorcycle Ministry? 16:04 Do you have to have a motorcycle to join? 16:07 No. That's a great question. That's a great question because 16:10 we have many riders but we have also many supporters and they're 16:14 part of the ministry as well. And for logistics you know we 16:18 try to ride everywhere we go. As a matter of fact, our motto 16:23 is Ever Ride as a Mission. So we don't ride without being a 16:28 mission. We're mission-oriented. But you know it's great if you 16:32 ride also but also we need the support of the nonriders as well 16:36 You know because we do fellowship, we do ministry, 16:41 and it's just, you know, it's for everybody. 16:44 Oh for sure. Amen, amen. Hey we're talking a little bit about 16:49 your story and how you became a motorcyclist and you said you 16:53 were telling me that your mother tell us a little bit about that 16:56 again. I just...it caught my attention... 16:59 Well I'm glad that my mom is not an English speaker because 17:02 otherwise, I'm going to be like you are talking about me right 17:06 now. She would not be happy. I don't know maybe we're hearing 17:09 we might do this interview something in Spanish then I'll 17:12 be careful, I'll be careful. Yes well growing up when I was a 17:16 teenager I always loved motorcycles. But my mother she's 17:20 very strong you know. I know in the Asian culture, they have 17:24 like tiger mother, but in the Hispanic culture as well. So she 17:29 said, she said don't even think about getting a motorcycle. The 17:32 day you get a motorcycle you get your casket as well and 17:36 you'll be out of this house. 17:39 Oh wow... 17:40 That delayed me a little bit. 17:42 But the Lord said, You know what I'll take care of him, Mama 17:44 because I got a mission for him to take my message to the world. 17:47 To these bikers. Praise the Lord So we're going to come back to 17:49 you in just a few moments when we get into the talking about 17:51 Sturgis, this major event in just a moment. We're going to 17:54 Pete at this moment. Pete, my brother. Have you always been a 17:57 Seventh-day Adventist? 17:58 You know I was adopted twice but when I got adopted the second 18:03 time I was adopted by a Seventh- day Adventist family so yes been 18:07 an Adventist for you know quite a few years but actually joined 18:13 the military, the Air Force, when actually I graduated high 18:16 school and that's when I started you know leaving the church. 18:20 So I ended up falling away from God for 15 years and that's how 18:24 I ended up joining a motorcycle club, or what the world calls it 18:30 motorcycle gang. So I fell away and about four years ago that's 18:36 when you know I gave my life back to God again. So God called 18:40 me back to, to, be with Him and I'm glad He did. So... 18:45 Absolutely. So I have to ask you so you left the church for a 18:49 little while. This was when you became involved in this 18:54 motorcycle group. How in the world does somebody come in 18:58 contact or even get involved in something like that? 19:02 Usually, it's a, you have to know them. You get invited. You can't 19:08 invite yourself. 19:09 Okay, it's just like you can't just walk up to a gang, Hey I 19:11 want to be a part of your gang. It doesn't work like that. 19:14 No, it doesn't. So I knew someone within that motorcycle club and 19:21 I talked to him and he talked to me and he actually invited me. 19:25 So I got invited and I went in and they liked me and you had to 19:30 attend every meeting that they had, every function they had, 19:32 because they wanted to make sure that you're going to be 19:36 100 percent for the club and not just ah halfway, you know. 19:39 They want a full commitment, you know so. And that's what they 19:43 were looking for. 19:45 That's amazing, and, this maybe a touchy question to ask 19:50 but I have...it just popped into my mind. When you say fully 19:54 committed I mean what does a gang like this do or what is the 20:00 purpose, what is the agenda. Obviously, you're a group, you're 20:03 a gang so when you say fully committed what does that mean to 20:07 be fully committed to a biker gang or group like this? 20:11 So here's an example. I was in the military for 20 years. It's 20:15 the same thing when you go through boot camp. They put you 20:19 through boot camp. You prospect for a whole year and you're very 20:24 committed. Whenever they call you, they send you a text 20:27 message, you have to be out there, no matter what day of 20:30 the week, unless you're working of course. If you got a job they 20:35 are okay with that. But during your days off, soon as they send 20:40 a message, or call you or send you a text message they want you 20:44 to be out there, you know, working for them. So it's, it's 20:47 a rough lifestyle. 20:49 Rough lifestyle. All right, all right. Well I'm not going to get 20:52 into too much detail. I'll leave it at that. But that's just 20:55 fascinating to me. So I know we're going to get into James's 20:58 story because you were also in this previous biker lifestyle 21:01 as well. But you know there came a time when the Lord starts to. 21:04 Were you still in the gang or a part of the group when the Lord 21:08 was starting to speak to you or had you already left? 21:11 Actually yeah, I was still in the gang when God was actually 21:15 tugging my life, because you know I was still breaking the 21:19 Sabbath but I could tell that God was, okay, look what you're 21:24 doing, what are you doing? Do you remember. And remember what 21:26 the Bible says you train up a child, he'll remember these 21:29 things. And I remembered the things that my mom had taught me 21:32 and you realize, okay God, I'm sorry for what I've done and you 21:36 start transitioning in a slow process. Sometimes it's a slow 21:40 process but for me, it was a, it was a fast transition, you 21:46 know from being a club life to living for God now. So... 21:51 So then...and we were talking about this earlier and I told 21:55 you I was going to ask you this question because it's just 21:58 fascinating me. You know, us, the viewers at home who have no 22:02 clue about this particular life style, you know, the biker club 22:05 or biker gangs. It's kind of a common understanding that once 22:10 you get in it's not, it's not easy to get out. You know in 22:15 fact Hollywood really soups it up and make it feel like you 22:17 know your life's on the line or in many cases and so I don't 22:19 know if that's the case but I just wanted to ask you and I'll 22:21 probably ask you as well, James, in regards to you know how do 22:24 you get out of something like this? Is there are process or do 22:27 you just go up to your leader and say you know hey I'm done 22:29 I'm walking away and that's... How does that work? 22:32 One of the difference...like James was in a 1 percent club 22:36 I was not. We fall underneath it but I basically just told them I 22:42 said I'm giving my life to God, I said here's my color, which is 22:45 is your cut. I says I'm done with this lifestyle. And they 22:48 were not happy about it but nothing they could do, you know, 22:52 it's not like the 1 percent club It's a little bit different but 22:56 for us, it was an easy transition kind of but I had a lot of 23:03 backlash from the club members. You know like oh why are you 23:07 leaving us. You disappoint us you know. That kind of stuff but 23:10 I know I planted a seed because there's still one brother that I 23:14 still, talk to there and so praise the Lord that you know 23:18 God is still working in his heart. So it wasn't an easy 23:22 transition but with God anything is possible... 23:25 Amen, brother. I love that. I love that. So we're going to 23:28 come back to you in just a few moments because I know you're 23:29 teaming up with these guys with this He Returns Ministry and 23:34 this big event that's going to be happening in Sturgis soon. 23:36 So we're going to come back to those details. James my brother. 23:39 (Yeah) He's got me intrigued now this 1 percent club. I got to 23:43 know a little bit about something about that. 23:44 But first of all let's go back to...let's talk a little bit 23:47 about your background because you also were very much deeply 23:52 involved in a biker...Do you... do the bikers call it a biker 23:57 gang. What's the language that you use to describe what you 23:59 were part of. 24:01 We're a club. (A club) Okay there's a...you have riding 24:08 organizations, you have associations, you have clubs, 24:12 then you have one percenters. And when you...okay I'm going to 24:20 start from the beginning. I started off as a youngster just 24:23 riding dirt bikes. I got fascinated with motorcycles in 24:28 eighth grade. Our arts teacher got a guy from the local 24:32 Kawasaki dealership to come and we had a motorcycle repair class 24:35 in eighth grade. We had hands-on stuff there. So through high 24:41 school I met some people, some outlaw clubs and the brothers 24:49 kind of took us underwing and You know you meet people and 24:52 then you go work for people and the next thing you know you're 24:55 wrapped up deep in everything. The darkness really... 24:59 So this isn't something that happens kind of overnight. It's 25:00 a gradual... 25:03 It's a process like Pete said. You have to know people and they 25:07 want to know you. If you're going to be dedicated because in 25:11 the one percenter world it's a lot different than all the other 25:13 clubs. You basically marry the mob. You no longer own anything 25:20 in your life. So I got involved with a little club in a little 25:27 town called Livermore. It was called Satan's Legion. It was a 25:31 little local club and that got me...you know when I read the 25:36 story in Mark about the demoniac and what's their name, Legion, 25:41 for many, I went whoa. And I was in a jail cell when I read that 25:45 the first time and then it started taking on more reality 25:52 in my life. Later I got involved with a national club called the 25:57 Banshees where I started off in that club as the road captain 26:01 worked my way up to local president and then I became the 26:05 national president. And the way I got out is my wife used to 26:11 call me you're just mean. And that's how I got out. 26:14 I just told everybody 26:16 this is how it's going to be. And because of the way I lived 26:19 back then nobody wanted to challenge that because 26:23 I was a very bad person. I spent a lot of prison time. 26:28 I gotcha, I gotcha. So it would be safe to say that the old 26:33 James was somebody you didn't want to cross. 26:36 That guy's dead now. As my wife she tells me, Is your dragon 26:40 dead or is it just bury it in the ice? in the snow? I said now 26:43 he's dead. Yeah. 26:45 That's amazing, that's amazing. So how...So then now how do you 26:47 see you know were you a part of these gangs when God got ahold 26:51 of your life or was it, you were out. 26:55 I got out of the club but was still living that life style 26:58 because I had all these connections with people. There 27:03 was a, in 1999 I mean I was involved in meth and meth 27:10 production and got arrested the third time for this situation. 27:14 And my wife got arrested with me and it was somebody in the jail 27:19 that started talking to me about Christ and helped me out. And I 27:24 just want to tell you a little miracle that happened. (Sure, 27:26 sure). We we're 27 days into my wife and I being in the 27:31 Sacramento County Jail and this guy Steven keeps talking to me 27:33 about prayer and God helping me. I wake up in the middle of the 27:36 night and here's this kid face down on the concrete slab in our 27:41 cell just praying his heart out. And that's when the Holy Spirit 27:43 touched my heart and said, It's time. (Wow) So I got down on the 27:47 floor and I prayed with him. Said God you know I know I 27:51 messed up but Faye doesn't deserve to be here. I just pray 27:55 that you would get her out of here. She'd never been in 27:57 trouble in her life. Simple prayer. Next morning they let us 28:01 out for day room time. I'm heading straight for the phone. 28:05 I'm going to call my house because Steven keeps talking to 28:08 me about faith. So I'm jumping out on faith. Faye got out of 28:11 jail last night. (Wow!) I called my house and guess who answered 28:15 the phone. Yeah. She said why are you calling here. I said 28:20 last night I prayed you'd get out of jail and she said, I got 28:24 out last night. I just walked in the door. Right when she walked 28:28 in the door, the phone rang. I looked at Steven and he's 28:32 looking at me and I'm going, all right, I am going to start 28:34 listening to what you're saying. And the process that's happened 28:38 after that is just, I mean, books could be written on the 28:43 miracles... 28:44 It makes you wonder why Steven was in there. 28:45 Oh well I can tell you about Steven. He was there for me. 28:49 Because when he told me why he was arrested I'm going why are 28:52 you even here? It was just amazing. 28:55 It was a miracle. It was a divine appointment that 28:57 God had just for James. (Amen) 28:59 Wow! Praise the Lord. 29:00 And we're still in touch. 29:02 Praise the Lord, that's amazing. So then how did you get involved 29:05 with Sabbath Keepers Motorcycle Ministry? 29:07 So after I did my prison time I got paroled in 2003 and we 29:13 became involved with 3ABN. We were representatives at the 29:18 Redwood Camp meeting for them there through a couple 29:20 that used to do a 29:23 lot with Danny way back then. And so we drove the called 29:30 the Honey Wagon 29:31 the pumper truck and so we were doing the booth, putting the 29:34 literature out for 3ABN and other literature there and 29:37 Sabbath Keepers had a booth there. I didn't know anything 29:40 about them but my wife started talking to the girl that was 29:42 representing them there and my wife told her, she said, I told 29:47 her that you'll get a bike again It's in your blood. So she 29:51 traded information with them and I kept getting these emails 29:54 rapid fire, hey come to this event, come to this event. 29:58 I didn't want to get back involved with bikers again 30:02 because I knew where it just kept taking me back. And as he 30:04 mentioned there's a lot of "Christian" ministries out there 30:08 but they're still drinking and smoking and doing the life style 30:11 Finally, an event came along where I said, Okay we'll go. 30:17 And it was a very special event. The guy that they were doing the 30:22 fundraiser for the lost his home, lost a job, lost his home, and 30:27 then his daughter committed suicide. And so I said let's go 30:31 check this out, see what they're doing with these people. We met 30:35 the people there. They were genuine Seventh-day Adventists. 30:38 That's how I learned about the Adventist message in prison. 30:40 I decided to give my life to that mission and no turning back 30:47 So we got involved with Sabbath Keepers Ministry I think in 2009 30:52 or 2010 and we've gone from just our little local chaplain to I 30:58 was the local president. Now I'm the national vice president. 31:00 Wow, brother how powerful! 31:02 And so you know just amazing how God'll take that chunk of coal 31:06 and start to fashion it for a jewel for Him. 31:09 Absolutely, absolutely. So just out of curiosity. How much time 31:13 out of the year do you guys spend on the road witnessing on 31:16 behalf of your ministries? 31:17 Well we as we said every ride for us is a mission so we get 31:23 together with our local chapters and we organize events. We 31:28 organize you know rides, get together and every opportunity 31:31 you know that we have, if we encounter somebody in a gas 31:36 station we are armed with you know books and literature here 31:41 As a matter of fact, I want to show you really quick, we have 31:43 this is one of the two that we are distributing, over there is 31:48 a Steps to Jesus but it's a motorcyclist's edition. It's 31:51 called The Ride of Your Life. We share thousands of books like 31:57 this in every motorcycle rally that we go. And we try to do it 32:02 all. You know one thing that we do is we partner with the 32:05 local churches. We help other Ministries. So we support all 32:10 the ministries. We do Drive Through Prayer over in Houston 32:13 We are part as well and support the prison ministry in anything 32:19 and everything that we can do. 32:21 Amen. Wow. And so He Returns Ministry, you're with He Returns 32:26 and you said you guys are all about the three angels' messages 32:28 but do you specifically do something similar. Do you ride 32:32 and share with He Returns or is it a different purpose? 32:38 He Returns is a different ministry in what they do. Most 32:40 of our ministries, we do a lot of publishing, especially overseas 32:45 in South Africa and India. We just partnered up. So a lot of 32:49 literature that we're involved with. Matter of fact, one of our 32:54 members is actually working for Streams of Light. He is in 32:56 charge of the publishing clearance house there and so 33:02 we're actually going to be getting our Great Controversy 33:05 book through them, actually. 33:07 I'm very familiar with Streams of Light. Oleg is... 33:11 Oleg, yeah, yeah. Yes so when all this started we got contact 33:15 with Streams of Light and talked with the people there and I know 33:20 that they're going be publishing over three million a month of 33:26 Great Controversy because I believe last year at ASI they 33:30 want to have a billion Great Controversies spread across the 33:34 world by I think what was it by 2024 or something like that. 33:37 So God put it upon my heart that that's what we need to do to 33:42 these bikers up in Sturgis, South Dakota. 33:44 Amen, amen, amen. And so the same thing with you James. Would 33:49 Sabbath Keepers Motorcycle Ministry. How often or how long 33:52 are you guys out on the road you know sharing? 33:55 Well you know for every season there's a purpose and so you 34:00 know in the wintertime basically what we do is we plan when 34:04 springtime rolls around we have our events planned in different 34:08 parts of the nation or different parts of the world and we get 34:14 out there to those events. Like in March there's a Daytona rally 34:18 So we have a local chapter in Florida and Rick Thames who you 34:23 mentioned he travels there with the trailer and his bike because 34:27 somebody has to bring all that literature. So Daytona, we have 34:32 Hollister, Street Vibrations in Reno, Las Vegas. On the west 34:38 coast there's a lot of rally's. In Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, 34:44 Bikes, Blues, and Barbecues. I mean wherever there's a biker 34:47 event you're going to find one of our ministries there. 34:52 Literature evangelists, that's what we are. You know and so 34:56 we're blessed to get there and just...There are so many people 34:59 right now that are asking questions, what is going on in 35:03 What's going on with this crazy world, man? You got to know some 35:06 bikers are asking that question too... 35:07 Yeah because you know I think a lot of us have this idea that 35:11 you know bikers are just hardened you know guys that just 35:14 don't care about anything but their bikes and their you know 35:16 their drugs and their drinking and alcohol and their fighting. 35:20 You just got to think they're just rough yet their humans just 35:23 like all of us and I got to believe that they're asking 35:27 questions too. What's going on? What's going to happen in the 35:30 future? 35:32 You know what's interesting about Sturgis...I like the idea 35:38 of a fisherman. Some people stand on the shore on the bank 35:42 and fish you know so that's in the booth. Some people are in a 35:45 boat. I look at like pastors in the church. But I'm a fly 35:49 fisherman. I like to be out in the stream of things and so I 35:52 go around and I talk to people. Vendors are a captive audience 35:56 because they're right there. They got to be with their 36:00 business right there. And you know I'll talk to them. But some 36:04 of the majors like the Halls Angels have big, big things 36:07 there at Sturgis. You can get into conversations with the guys 36:11 there that they know Bible stuff you know. Um like myself. I was 36:17 raised as a Roman Catholic. We never really read the Bible when 36:20 we were kids. We went to catechism and all but when 36:24 you're in prison somebody's going to hand you a Bible and 36:27 you'll read through it you know and a lot of people know it. 36:32 These guys have read these stories and like I got into a 36:35 conversation with one of the guys at the Colorado chapter 36:39 and started to talking to him about Daniel and the prophecies 36:43 of Daniel and he knew what I was talking about. Then somebody 36:47 came and interrupted our conversation. He had to go but 36:50 well, seeds were planted. And that's what it's all about. It's 36:54 just planting seeds. 36:55 You guys are not just about planting seeds. I think you're 36:58 about to plant an entire field when you go to Sturgis. So Let's 37:02 talk Sturgis now. What is the wo...We've talked about it, 37:04 we've mentioned it a few times. For some of our viewers at home 37:07 they don't have a clue what Sturgis is. I didn't know what 37:09 Sturgis was until just a few minutes ago before this 37:12 interview. So what is Sturgis and what is God leading you guys 37:16 to do there? 37:17 Well I'll start to tell you that it's the biggest motorcycle 37:21 rally and you mentioned in the nation, probably in the world. 37:24 What attendance is in excess of half a million people over there 37:28 Yeah, sometimes close to a million depending on the... 37:32 Yeah. In Texas, we have the Lone Star rally and that is half a 37:35 million people on the island of Galveston so Sturgis maybe will 37:37 be close to a million. Imagine a million bikers, a million 37:43 assistant, probably have a million bikers in this little town. So 37:45 some people have asked us you know what it's like, what it's 37:49 like to be there. You want to have an image of Sodom and 37:53 Gomorrah you go to Sturgis. So it's not for the faint-hearted. 37:55 Clothing is optional, right James. (Optional, yes) 38:02 Wow. You said clothing is optional. Oh wow. 38:08 So it's a mission, it's a mission field. So James and the 38:11 Sabbath Keepers, they have been there continuously 38:13 for the past years. 38:15 Past seven years. This'll be our eighth year in a row. 38:16 Wow. These are events that you would have...that you have 38:20 probably I'm sure attended Sturgis many more times even 38:23 before... 38:24 Oh yeah. The first time I went there I thought it was like 38:26 motorcycle world. I mean it's like...I looked around and it's 38:30 like there's no cars. 38:34 Cars, yeah. I can see motorcycles. 38:35 Motorcycles, yeah. 38:36 I could imagine I-80 leading up to that event. Just all 38:40 motorcycles that major... 38:41 90 and 80 and all 38:43 90 and...oh my goodness. That's amazing, that's amazing. So 38:46 you're going to be going to Sturgis. When is this event now? 38:50 It's August 4th through the 15th 38:53 August 5th through the 14th. 38:55 Okay. And so let's talk about what specifically God is going 38:59 lead you guys to do when you get there and maybe talk a 39:02 little bit about this event and what you've seen and what you've 39:05 experienced when you've done this in the past. 39:07 Sure so before we talk about the Sturgis, I actually met Juan 39:13 Santos, he's from Adventist Motorcycle Ministry, at ASI 39:17 rally last year. And I was walking around and I see this 39:20 guy you know wearing a vest. I was like I know what that is. 39:23 So I ran up to him. I said hey Brother I didn't know there was 39:26 an Adventist Motorcycle Ministry So we got to talking. I got his 39:31 business card and from there I didn't talk to him for a whole 39:33 year. In January of this year I was sitting in my car and the 39:38 Holy Spirit was saying you need to go to Sturgis this year. He 39:42 said, you used to live that life style, you know how to talk to 39:45 them, you know how to approach them. He said you need to go 39:48 witness to them. I said that is a good idea. So that day when 39:55 the Holy Spirit spoke to me I actually, I believe I texted 39:59 Juan that day. I said, Hey I would like to talk to you about 40:01 a ministry idea. I said, Sturgis is coming up you know in eight 40:06 months. I said, Let's do something. Let's collaborate as 40:09 a ministry. So he said yes. And then he got a hold of James and 40:15 we got Sabbath Keeper Motorcycle Ministry, which I didn't know 40:17 about as well. And we ended up getting together with Zoom 40:21 meeting, phone calls, telegram, lots of messages and 40:27 collaborating on what we're going to do, fasting and praying 40:28 as well. And God is leading the way. So our plan is to hand out 40:34 thousands of Great Controversies and Steps to Jesus to everyone 40:38 out there you know because everyone needs to be reached 40:41 from poor too old to gang members whatever lifestyle that they 40:46 been living in everyone needs to be reached because the Gospel 40:50 has to be preached to every nation, tribe, and tongue so that 40:54 the end can come. And that's what we want to do. And you 40:57 don't hear too much about the biker life you know and 41:00 witnessing to them. I mean not when I was an Adventist. 41:05 You know, actually, I still am an Adventist but you don't hear 41:09 about it too much you know. So that's what our plan is and so 41:13 us collaborating together that's what we plan to do. So donations 41:18 and volunteers as well. But if you are going to volunteer, just 41:21 remember what Brother Sinuhe said about Sodom and Gomorrah 41:27 It is not for the faint heart. So you have to be ground rooted 41:32 if you're going to end up volunteering to go there. 41:35 It's like the Nineveh, you know the Nineveh for mission You know 41:40 Some of us come from that world and some of us are reluctant to 41:44 go back, right? But that's our Nineveh. The Lord is sending us 41:46 there. 41:48 That's amazing, that's amazing. So if you don't mind let me see 41:51 this book here for a moment. So this is the Steps to Jesus. So 41:55 for those of you who may not be familiar with this book, of 41:57 course this is the biker version of Steps to Christ written by 42:01 Ellen G. White. This book is powerful. A little over 100 42:05 pages, right at 100 pages, 120, 125 pages. This book changed my 42:09 whole perspective on living for Jesus Christ, what it meant to 42:13 have a personal daily relationship with Him. 42:15 That's why it's called Steps... The original version Steps to 42:17 Christ. This one you know Steps to Jesus. This is genius. 42:20 Because this right here is going to lead, whoever reads this book 42:24 it's going to lead them into a personal relationship with 42:28 Christ. We can have all of the prophecies in our mind, all the 42:32 time frames and all of the proof texts for this and that, but if 42:34 you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus none of 42:37 that stuff matters right. And so the fact that you guys are 42:39 handing this out is neat. This is the very first book ever 42:42 given to me when I was first being introduced to Seventh-day 42:45 Adventists and I went home actually planning to disprove 42:50 Ellen White as a prophet. I said Oh, she's not a prophet. You know 42:54 So the pastor gives me Steps to Christ. Surely if she's a false 42:56 the prophet you'll find something wrong in this book. You know 42:58 read it. I took it home. I think it was by the third chapter I 43:01 was just like Whoa. This woman has to be a prophet. And the 43:05 more and more I read I found myself just being drawn more 43:08 and more and more to Jesus. So these are the kind of books, 43:11 this is one of the books you're going to be handing out when you 43:13 go to Sturgis. They're going to be putting thousands and 43:16 thousands of copies in these roughened, hard bikers hands. 43:20 And I have to just ask you guys you've done this before 43:23 obviously at some of these different rallies. Do you ever 43:25 have any like negative experiences when you go to hand 43:29 it to them. I'm sure some of them are just like puff you 43:32 know. Chuckles. 43:34 I could tell you just two years ago when we were at Daytona 43:38 rally sometimes you'll try to hand someone a book and they'll 43:42 say no I'm good. And the Lord gave me this return. Don't you 43:46 want to be better? And the guy turned around and he said, Okay 43:50 I'll take it. You know and so I started using that and it's 43:54 amazing how many more people just took the book. And so and 43:59 that's also the first book I read of the Adventist book in 44:03 prison in Folsom State Prison that before I even knew about 44:06 Seventh-day Adventists I read that book and it was missing 44:08 pages but I was like fascinated with this writing. Then when I 44:13 was introduced to the Adventist message and the Great 44:16 Controversy. That changed my whole view on what I learned as 44:22 a Roman Catholic kid. 44:23 Okay so the Great Controversy now, let's just talk about that 44:26 one because you're going to also by handing out Great Controversy 44:28 Okay, this is basically the...You want to slide that down here to 44:32 me. This is basically...God gave Mrs. White this book. This was 44:37 the last of what's called the Great Conflict Series or the 44:40 Conflict of the Ages Series. It's basically a commentary on 44:45 the book of Revelation and from the time of John on the Island 44:47 of Patmos all the way through the church ages all the way down 44:50 to even beyond the second coming of Christ and to the New Earth 44:54 and so on. This book is, I mean I can't even...I don't even know 44:57 if I can find the words. Hey there have been so many people 45:00 whose lives have been transformed by reading this book 45:03 because it's not only a great book of history. It's a book 45:06 that literally draws you to the prophetic text draws you to 45:10 Christ through the prophetic text and it helps in a great 45:13 detailed manner to prepare us and to inform us about what is 45:17 happening right now, what Christ is doing right now in the 45:20 heavenly sanctuary above and how we should prepare for His soon 45:24 return and it also gives us all of the prophetic details of how 45:27 the final events are going to unfold in a very detailed manner 45:30 from now all the way until the end of time. So I could imagine 45:35 there's a lot...just the title alone, The Great Controversy, 45:40 it's just captivating. It's a great, I mean they should make a 45:44 movie out of it. I know they have some movies out there but a 45:47 big, big production should be done of this book. It's 45:50 fantastic. 45:51 Again, three years ago when the COVID thing started and liberty 45:55 of conscience started to be threatened, the Lord gave me 45:59 that little entering wedge to hand out that book. I put a book 46:03 marker in, I mean I took a lot of them and put that in the page 46:06 there, and I just would open up and I would ask the people who 46:09 would come to the booth, do you think the title of this chapter 46:12 is relevant for the time we're living in. And they go 46:15 absolutely. I said, let me tell you when this book was written. 46:18 And when I tell them the date they're like oh I got to read 46:21 that. I said you should just read these last 10 chapters. You 46:24 will want to read the rest of it 46:26 That's right brother. That's right. Yeah, because you know I 46:29 think the first half of the book or so a little bit more than the 46:31 first half is just a powerful history walking us through the 46:35 time of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. all the way through the 46:38 dark ages, those 1260 years of papal reign and all of you know 46:46 persecution that's happening there. But I agree with you man. 46:48 Those last 10 chapters are just whew (yes). It's a powerful 46:51 book. If you haven't read The Great Controversy my friends 46:55 get you a copy of The Great Controversy because that's what 46:58 these guys are going to be handing out when they go to 47:00 Sturgis. And so what are some stories or some reactions? Have 47:04 you had anyone at the rallies or someone that you have shared 47:07 this with that have responded to you in regards to reading the 47:11 content? 47:12 In the Lone Star rally, you know we have many, many _ 47:15 and when we went there we got a booth right in front of the 47:19 stage. You know they're blasting hard rock music like almost 24/7 47:24 for four days, right? So we thought oh we got the worst spot 47:29 to be. But actually, it turned out to be a blessing. And to the 47:34 left there was a vape and smoke you know dispensary and to the 47:41 right was a jewelry, biker jewelry and injury and stuff 47:45 like that so we were right in the middle. And we were handing 47:48 out these books and the people from the booths, they were mad at 47:51 us because the people kept you know leaving those books over 47:54 there in their places. But the Holy Spirit is the One who does 47:59 the work you know. And on the mornings, Sunday morning, they 48:04 do worship over there, they do worship on the stage because 48:08 they let the Christian ministries take over and do 48:10 worship. And this guy comes to the stage and he says I just 48:15 encountered this book you know yesterday and he starts reading 48:20 pages from the Steps to Jesus in the stage in front of those 48:24 thousands of bikers. (Wow!) And he asked us to come in and to 48:30 pray with them. (Amen) 48:31 That's amazing. So you're seeing not only are seeds being sewn 48:35 but you're seeing the fruit of the labor. That's what you're 48:37 doing. That's what this is all about right? You know handing 48:40 out...you know sharing the gospel my friends. You never 48:43 know. Just the sharing of a book the sharing of the gospel 48:47 message in the form of literature is powerful because 48:49 they may not listen to you tell them, but they'll take it home 48:52 and they'll read it. And those words just come alive when a 48:55 person is in the quietness of their own home or wherever it is 48:59 Maybe on the road somewhere, in a motel, riding across the 49:02 nation on a motorcycle. This is the real deal. So I have to ask 49:08 though, I'm just so curious. When you get to this event, like 49:12 Sturgis or any of these other rallies you got to know that you 49:15 guys are running into some of your old friends. You got to 49:18 know some people see you and say hey! There's Pete. What is 49:22 Pete doing here? What is James doing here? Do you have some 49:26 moments like that and how does that usually go when you meet 49:29 people from your past life and then they see what you're doing 49:32 now? 49:34 Oh yeah. We had at the Reno Street Vibrations a girl that I 49:38 used to go out with. She said, Oh I'm living over here and 49:43 Sherry's up here too and so she told me that they both were 49:49 going to come to the booth and when they got there she told 49:53 Sherry, she goes yeah, he's nothing like he used to be. 49:58 I said well praise God for that. It's nothing I can change. 50:02 Without me, you can do nothing He said. And so you know when 50:06 you commit yourself...I committed myself into that dark 50:09 world at one time. Now I've given my whole life to Christ 50:12 saying where you send me I will go. And that's, you know, in all 50:17 the years that my wife and I have been involved in this 50:20 the ministry we've never lacked for anything and we have this phrase 50:26 if it's God's will it's God's bill. And a couple of times when 50:29 we were going to go to Sturgis you know everybody was freaking 50:33 out because we didn't have enough money. I said if the 50:36 Lord wants us there, we'll have the money before the deadlines 50:38 and every year everything has been paid for. And so you know 50:42 definitely the Lord wants us there and so... 50:44 Amen, Absolutely, praise the Lord. I'm guessing that's a 50:47 similar situation with you as well, huh? 50:49 Well actually I know that I'm going to be in Sturgis this year 50:52 and I'm probably going to see my old club members there so, 50:56 because they're still there and I think it's going to be a 51:00 blessing because they're going to see a huge change in me 51:02 because they knew the lifestyle I used to be. I used to be a 51:05 hothead person. You know, just didn't have a care in life but I 51:12 know they notice a huge difference you know because I'm 51:13 still friends with them on Facebook and I put a lot of 51:17 stuff of Ellen White quotes and actually, a lot of 3ABN videos as 51:23 well. So I can't wait because it's going to be a blessing to 51:27 see them because I do want to witness to them. I do want to 51:30 let them know that hey Jesus loves you. He wants you to be in 51:34 his kingdom. He says He loves the sinner but He hates the sin. 51:42 And that's what He does and He loves everyone no matter what 51:46 you have done in your life and that's what He wants all of us 51:49 to do. 51:51 All right, so how can people contact AMM Adventist Motorcycle 51:55 Ministries? How can they get in contact with you? 51:56 Well if you want to be a part of a ministry a motorcycle ministry 52:00 you don't need a motorcycle. You can call me personally. 52:03 Bought myself a number. They're going to show it (832) 343-3036 52:08 or go to the web to AdventistMotorcycleMinistry.org 52:13 AdventistMotorcycleMinistry.org He Returns Ministry, how can 52:17 they get in contact with you? 52:19 info@HeReturns.org and we have a phone number there as well 52:23 (844)453-7874 and we're also going to put up the flyer as 52:25 well so you could donate and actually, find more information 52:30 about donations and volunteer work. 52:32 So if you don't read that number back just one more time guys. 52:35 That's (844) 453-7874. Thank you so much my brother. And how do 52:43 people get in contact with Sabbath Keepers Motorcycle 52:45 Ministry? 52:46 Okay, so being the national vice president, I put my personal 52:49 information up there because I can orchestrate where it goes. 52:52 So they can reach James Castillo at (530) 925-1099 and my 53:01 personal contact at email is 3AMServant@gmail.com 53:07 Amen. All right so we kind of ran out of time here. We're 53:09 going to take a short break. We'll be back in just a moment. |
Revised 2023-04-17