Participants: Lance Wilbur (Host), Dwayne Lemon
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000002
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00:30 Hello, my name is Lance Wilbur.
00:32 And I'm Dwayne Lemon. 00:33 And we like to welcome you to another episode of TKS, 00:36 a True Knowledge of Self, 00:38 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:42 For those of you who are just tuning in, 00:44 we've been going over a story. 00:46 The story is Dwayne Lemon's. 00:49 And we discussed the fact that we're involved in a war. 00:53 We talked about this war in the Book of Revelation chapter 12 00:56 and we saw that it began in heaven. 00:58 And we saw that it-- Now has come to the earth. 01:02 And the war, the battle is waged 01:04 over the control of humanity's minds. 01:08 And we talked about the fact that the Bible in verse 11 01:12 of Chapter 12 gives us insight into how humanity can overcome 01:16 and gain a victory in this warfare. 01:18 And it shows that they overcame them by the blood of the Lamb, 01:22 which we will be talking about in future episodes, 01:24 and by the word of their testimony. 01:28 So we're talking about Dwayne Lemon's testimony, 01:30 we're talking about his story. 01:32 We saw how he was reared in the heart 01:34 of New York City in Hollis, Queens. 01:37 We talked about his upbringing 01:38 and coming from a virtual obscurity, 01:41 and getting involved heavily into the hip hop scene, 01:44 into the dance aspect of hip hop. 01:47 And eventually, he got his break 01:49 and eventually, he found himself 01:51 entrenched in the industry. 01:52 And this is where we left off, 01:53 and we were gonna be picking up from that point. 01:55 And so I'd like to now ask you some questions again 01:59 and kind of, if you could just bring us up to speed 02:02 and help us understand in brief. 02:04 You came from a regular family if you will 02:08 and find yourself now fully entrenched 02:11 in the hip hop industry as a dancer, choreographer. 02:15 Again, just show us where we are now. 02:17 Yeah, I mean, when you think about 02:19 how many individuals try to make it in entertainment, 02:23 whether it be through singing or poetry, 02:25 rhyming, dancing or whatever, acting, 02:28 you get literally millions of people 02:30 throughout North America alone, let alone throughout the world, 02:34 who are trying to make it to the top. 02:35 So imagine, you got this young black child 02:39 growing up in Hollis, Queens, New York 02:41 listening to hip hop like anybody else, 02:42 going to those clubs, going to the parties. 02:45 But now here it is that I was able to 02:47 actually work with the people 02:49 that one day I used to watch on television, 02:50 I was entertained by them. 02:52 Now I'm on television and I'm entertaining people. 02:55 It felt like I arrived, that's the best way 02:58 that I can explain it. 02:59 I'm making more money than I could have ever imagined. 03:02 I'm also on television, 03:03 I have people adoring me and admiring me 03:06 and I can get any girlfriend I want or anything. 03:07 So I mean, I had my own choices now. 03:09 A lot of people wanted to be my friend 03:11 and to hang out with me. 03:12 So at this stage in my life, I felt practically like 03:16 what some would call even a god on earth 03:17 because you know when you think of God 03:19 you think of one who gets adoration, 03:22 someone who gets worship, 03:23 someone who people are willing to sacrifice 03:25 so that they can pay homage to this person 03:28 and receive His blessings. 03:29 This is how people were treating me. 03:31 And this is how people are treated 03:33 in the entertainment industry. 03:34 They're treated as gods, they treated as individuals 03:36 that are superior to natural humanity. 03:39 So now I'm in that mix. 03:41 So you can imagine my head is full of self. 03:43 At this point, I'm thinking I am all that and then some. 03:45 I'm thinking I've arrived. 03:47 So this is something you were looking for 03:48 as a young man, in high school even. 03:51 Getting it at a local level and then now going up 03:54 to an international level, you're on tours now. 03:56 So who-- who were some of the people 03:58 that you're working with at this point? 03:59 Well, at that point again, 04:01 I was working with people like Queen Latifah. 04:02 I was working with you know, hip hop group 04:06 that was called A Tribe Called Quest, 04:08 which was a led out a rapper named Q-Tip. 04:10 I think he's still pretty much out there today. 04:12 You have individual like Busta Rhymes, 04:14 you have individuals like the Wu-Tang Clan 04:16 with Method Man and all these folks. 04:18 Then you have people in more of the R'n'B scene. 04:20 Again, this was like Brandy, Keith Sweat, 04:24 working with people like Silk or Boyz II Men. 04:27 This was the era that I was in. 04:28 So it was working with people like that 04:31 that made me up to this "celebrity status" 04:34 as far as a dancer was concerned. 04:35 I was amazed at how much dancers 04:38 receive so much adoration. 04:40 And again, because I moved from being just a dancer, 04:43 performer to now a choreographer, 04:46 so now I'm not only performing the steps, 04:48 but I'm creating the steps. 04:49 So there's a major notoriety that comes with that 04:52 to the point that now, not only the common people 04:55 that you meet on a day to day basis in the world, 04:58 they were adoring you, 04:59 but even people very much in the industry 05:01 because now they're looking at you 05:02 as an innovative person, a creator... 05:04 So now artists are looking to you 05:07 because you can make them look better. 05:08 Exactly, exactly. 05:09 So now I became an asset to them. 05:11 So how much, for example, from a regular, 05:13 you know, base level dancer to a choreographer, 05:17 what's the money difference? 05:19 Oh, base level dancer can do a music video 05:21 maybe make anywhere from $200 to $300. 05:25 If you are fortunate, you can probably make about 05:27 $500 or $600 depending on the artist many a times 05:30 'cause some artist have bigger budgets. 05:31 And again, this is numbers from that time. 05:33 Yeah, numbers from that time. 05:35 So you're talking again around early '90s. 05:37 These were the kind of dollar figures 05:39 that was real to a dancer. 05:41 Sometimes you got less than $100 too. 05:43 But when you do choreography, 05:45 I mean I could get paid $5,000 just to choreograph one song. 05:50 And then if you write a contract 05:51 where you're gonna choreograph 12 deals, 05:53 then you just take 5,000 times 12. 05:55 So the money was drastically different. 05:58 So once I got a taste of that world, 06:00 that was the world I didn't want to leave. 06:01 I said, "Oh, no, I'm gonna stay here." 06:03 Because performing was the easy part, 06:04 choreography took much more brain work. 06:06 It took a lot more thinking and crafting. 06:08 And therefore, it challenged me and I wanted that challenge. 06:11 So I accepted that part so here's where I am now. 06:14 Now I'm making a good amount of money, 06:16 I'm traveling, I'm on television, 06:18 I'm making the name for myself. 06:20 And now I also wanted to help people too. 06:22 So I'm doing all that I can 06:23 to just try to get my name out there 06:25 and to be as absolutely popular as possible. 06:28 Right, so you're also mentioning 06:29 that there was a void that even you know growing up, 06:33 childhood, teenage years, there was a void. 06:36 You tried to fill it with different things. 06:38 Now you have material wealth. 06:39 You can pretty much do whatever you want, 06:40 go wherever you want around traveling globally now. 06:44 Yeah. And the void still exists. 06:47 What is it or what are some of the things that explore or-- 06:51 You know, sounded the alarm or the red flags 06:55 that showed you that the industry did not have 06:58 what it took to fill a void? 07:00 It was the quiet moments. 07:02 That's why you'll find in the world generally, 07:05 and especially, in the hip hop and R'n'B culture and industry, 07:08 there's always activity. 07:10 You're always doing something, 07:11 you got to keep yourself engaged, 07:12 you got to keep yourself moving on to the next project, 07:14 next program, next place or what have you. 07:17 Because if you have too many of those quiet moments, 07:19 when you study the Bible you'll remember 07:21 that God doesn't always speak through the major tempests 07:23 or whirlwinds that take place 07:25 but it's all still quiet moments 07:26 where the voice of God speaks 07:28 most forcibly to the conscience. 07:30 So it is in those quiet moments when you have downtime. 07:33 maybe you're traveling somewhere 07:35 and you don't have a headset on where you're banging 07:37 some music through your ears, 07:38 it's those quiet moments that now you start to listen. 07:42 And you start hearing things, 07:43 you start thinking about things, 07:45 you start picturing life. 07:46 And before you know it, 07:48 you start coming face to face with yourself. 07:49 And to be honest that's why most of those people 07:52 at that level and even in everyday life, 07:54 people keep themselves busy. 07:56 That's the point. To avoid that quiet time when-- 07:59 To avoid the time when you're by yourself. 08:02 And God, as we understand it now. 08:06 God speaks to the heart. That's right. 08:07 It really challenges you 08:08 and challenges what you believe, 08:10 challenges your course in life. 08:12 Exactly, so therefore, that's what this phraseology 08:14 comes from "quiet your conscience." 08:16 Where they teach you to quiet your conscience 08:18 and the way you quite your conscience 08:19 is that you have to drown it out 08:21 by doing something else, either filling your conscience 08:23 with something else or doing some type of activity, 08:26 anything that will take your mind off of that thing 08:29 that by the grace of God would lead one to God. 08:32 So it was during the quiet times 08:33 that I started to see. 08:35 You know, I'm making money, I'm on television. 08:37 I'll tell you the truth, 08:38 there were times that I was on tour. 08:40 And I saw a light, I saw a light 08:42 and my eyes were open. 08:44 Because a lot of people think once you get on tour 08:47 and you starting to perform, 08:49 you're gonna just see the limelight, 08:51 you're gonna see all of this magnificent stuff, 08:53 you're gonna see the Bling-bling. 08:54 Yeah. Everything. 08:56 But what happens is as you starting to see things that 08:58 if you have a conscience, it bothers you. 09:00 I remember one rapper, 09:01 he had four women waiting outside of his hotel room, 09:07 just so that they could be used by him 09:09 as a piece of meat for sexual pleasure 09:12 to congratulate him 09:13 for making it another year for his birthday. 09:15 In other words, they were for women 09:16 waiting outside of his hotel room 09:18 just so that they could bid him happy birthday 09:20 by giving their bodies to him. 09:22 And I remember 'cause I open my hotel room 09:24 I see these ladies there 09:25 and I'm like, "What are they doing there?" 09:27 And then I found out the next day 09:28 why I was disgusted by that. 09:30 I mean, I was not like, oh, that was cool, 09:31 I wish that was the last thing on my mind. 09:33 In my mind, I said that is disgusting. 09:35 I can't believe a woman would degrade herself like that. 09:38 And therefore, I found that it was the after parties 09:42 and things of that nature, believe it or not, 09:44 even though I would perform and I would look like 09:46 I was very much into what I was doing, 09:48 when the performance was over 09:50 and the after party would take place, 09:52 nine times out of ten, 09:54 I wouldn't go to the after parties. 09:55 I became disgusted with the very people 09:57 that I was working for. 09:58 Now what we talked about this void 10:01 and we talked about the other elements 10:03 of the culture of hip hop culture, 10:06 for example, what we've been focusing on 10:07 for the most part is the "having fun" element. 10:10 Yeah, yeah. You know. 10:11 And that's pretty much the most exploited element, 10:14 where it's just about having fun 10:15 and there's nothing else. 10:17 You know, anything goes 10:18 and there's really no checks and balances. 10:20 But there is another side, 10:23 you know, there is the knowledge, 10:25 the wisdom, what they call the "over standing." 10:27 So there is the other elements where you're actually supposed 10:30 to be seeking knowledge, and discipline, and growing, 10:34 and developing righteousness, truth, all those things. 10:37 So we're behind the scenes now as you're, 10:40 you know, escalating in your career, 10:42 were there some of those elements 10:43 that you are getting exposed to? 10:45 What were some of the things happening on that side? 10:47 Definitely. 10:48 Because of the fact again, coming from the East Coast, 10:51 one of the major hip hop artists 10:53 in the East Coast was KRS-One. 10:55 KRS-One, K-R-S O-N-E for one. 10:58 Knowledge Reigns Supreme over nearly everybody. 11:00 So he, you know, KRS was really heavy into knowledge. 11:03 So any time you listen to KRS-One, 11:05 he's gonna start dropping a lot of knowledge. 11:07 Then of course, there was the Brand Nubians, 11:09 you know, you listen to Brand Nubians, 11:11 Grand Puba and all these guys. 11:13 And you know, again, they're dropping knowledge, 11:15 the PRT, the Poor Righteous Teachers. 11:17 All of these different groups, you know were coming out 11:19 and they were bringing in a different aspect. 11:22 Even though they believed in having fun, 11:24 they also believed in knowledge and education and science. 11:26 It wasn't made prominent. 11:28 Yeah, it wasn't made prominent 11:29 by any stretch of the imagination. 11:31 But nevertheless, it was something intriguing 11:33 to people who were seeking knowledge 11:35 or open to knowledge. 11:36 So I did get exposed to that. 11:38 And I think that maybe that paved a way 11:40 to some degree of ultimately where I am even today 11:43 because it got me interested in reading. 11:46 It got me interested in searching myself 11:48 and starting to really think about well what is my role 11:50 because remember, the foundation 11:52 of hip hop culture is knowledge of self. 11:54 You know, when you understand who you are, 11:57 when you understand, in their case, 11:58 that you are a God, you know, on earth and so on 12:02 that it gives a level of understanding 12:05 or as they call it over standing 12:06 which supposedly puts me 12:08 at a certain state in my existence, 12:10 where I can start manifesting things 12:12 that are above and beyond the common man. 12:14 So I did get exposed to that 12:16 as well along with the "fun side". 12:18 The fun side was dominant. No question about it. 12:21 But then I started to see some things 12:23 that really began to turn me off. 12:25 I would go to certain parties or clubs 12:28 that a lot of our artists were holding. 12:30 And there will be everything from gunshots. 12:32 There would be parties where there was fighting. 12:34 There would be women that would get raped. 12:36 There were times where I was promised money 12:38 and I wasn't paid. 12:39 There were all sorts of things, 12:40 there were times I would go on tour 12:42 and I remember one time working with one artist 12:44 and they asked me to grab the bags to carry it on to, 12:48 you know, the bus, 12:50 which is what the job of a roadie was. 12:52 They called them the roadies. 12:53 And I said, "Well, I'm not a roadie, I'm a dancer. 12:55 So the roadie can handle that." 12:57 And I was told, you know what, 12:59 "You better do it or else if you don't. 13:01 You're gonna have to find your way back home." 13:02 And were you told that nicely? 13:04 I was not told that not even halfway nicely. 13:06 So you know, I got exposed to that. 13:09 And this was the stuff that people don't see. 13:11 They don't see, I saw a man get a gun shot 13:13 right in his eye and die instantly. 13:15 That I can't erase that picture from my head. 13:16 I've seen individual get bludgeoned to death 13:19 by even corrupt police officers, 13:21 who would take these guys and bring them. 13:23 I saw one police, several police officers 13:25 bring one man into a bathroom. 13:27 And the door is this way 13:28 and they're supposed to go outside 13:30 to the police car. 13:31 But instead they bring the man to the bathroom 13:33 and you hear this man screaming for dear life. 13:36 As they begin to beat him and bludgeon him to death, 13:40 where his face was covered with blood and swollen. 13:43 These are the pictures that I saw that I said, 13:45 "Wow, you know, this is not what I thought." 13:48 Right, so there is an element to the street life 13:52 and to that culture and that environment 13:56 that nobody can deny is negative. 13:58 No doubt. 14:00 And there's people, they find themselves 14:01 "trapped" in it if you will or they have no other choice 14:03 and no other alternative. 14:05 But it sometimes left unsaid. 14:08 In other words, there is individuals like you mentioned, 14:10 they're certain artist who make it prominent 14:12 and highlight the problems, highlight the challenges 14:15 of that kind of life style. 14:17 But many of them, I can't say all 14:19 but many of them don't provide 14:21 a practical and viable solution. 14:24 So and I'd like to speak to the audience for a moment. 14:26 For those of you who have absolutely no idea 14:28 what we're talking about 14:30 and some of these terms that we're using, 14:33 we're gonna be dealing with these subjects moving forward 14:36 and we're gonna go in detail 14:38 and deal with some of the things 14:39 that we're talking about and really explain 14:41 and kind of break it down 14:42 and kind of peel the curtain back. 14:45 So that we can see if these things are indeed 14:48 as viable as they're promoted to be 14:51 or is there something better, 14:53 is there a better choice, is there a better way. 14:55 So again, we understand those dynamics, 14:59 at least now I hope so. 15:01 Now as you've seen these things and you're having, 15:04 you're making these moral judgments 15:05 and you're saying this is wrong. 15:07 This can't be and how is it now affecting you, how is it-- 15:11 Is it changing your perspective, 15:13 is it changing your attitude towards their industry? 15:15 It's funny, I'm starting to gradually 15:19 "See the Light" because you know, 15:21 again, I came into entertainment with an attitude 15:24 that this is gonna be the best thing in the world. 15:26 And granted, there is money. 15:27 There is no question about that, 15:29 there is lots of sex 15:30 there is no question about that. 15:31 All of the pleasures of this world 15:34 are definitely in the industry. 15:36 And they are there because it's an entrapment. 15:37 It's something put together by the enemy himself, 15:39 you know what I'm saying, God already spoke about this 15:41 in the book of 2 Timothy 3: 1-4. 15:45 God talks about it. 15:46 He talks about "in the last days, 15:47 perilous times shall come. 15:49 There is gonna be people 15:50 who are lovers of their own selves," 15:52 you know, and all of these different things 15:54 but then in verse 5 He says, "having a form of godliness 15:56 but denying the power thereof." 15:58 So even when I would see these pleasure lovers 16:01 and there is lots of pleasure to be fulfilled in there, 16:04 at the end of the day, 16:06 it still left the heart void, it didn't fulfill. 16:09 So I started to go through that. 16:11 So there were those quite moments, 16:12 going to bed at night. 16:13 That's why some people, they smoke weed 16:15 until they can't smoke it anymore. 16:16 Anything that takes the mind into another world 16:19 instead of facing the real world. 16:20 Like fantasy. Having, yeah, you know fantasy. 16:22 So here it is, I'm kind of turned off. 16:26 A Making money is my job and I'm treating like a job 16:28 but I'm really not enjoy myself 16:30 because I've been exposed to enough now 16:32 that I said you know what, 16:33 this culture is presenting something that is not true. 16:36 It is not very real, it appears real, 16:39 people call it real but it's not. 16:41 That's why, that's why you know, God gave us 16:42 the inspiration for this because the foundation again, 16:45 of hip-hop and R'n'B culture is knowledge of self 16:49 but God's word gives us a true knowledge of self 16:52 and a true knowledge of self 16:53 is where you're gonna end up finding that peace 16:55 and we're gonna build on that. 16:56 But I was looking for something better than what they had. 17:01 A friend of mine TJ, his name was, 17:04 his stage name was Psycho and TJ was an amazing dancer 17:09 but what happened was, we went on tour with Latifah, 17:12 and then we came back for a break. 17:14 We're supposed to go back on tour. 17:16 Well, TJ calls me up 17:17 and I knew that he was a church going guy 17:19 so he calls me up and he says, "Hey man, 17:20 listen I can't go back on tour." 17:22 I said, "Why not?" 17:24 He said, "Because Christ and the world cannot mix." 17:27 Now when he said that to me that sound like a Greek. 17:30 I was like, what are you talking about 17:31 Christ and the world, I don't even understand that 17:33 but he said, "Dwayne, you're gonna 17:34 understand sooner or later 17:36 that if you're gonna give your life to Jesus, 17:37 you got to be with Him 17:39 and if you're gonna be in the world, 17:40 then be in world but you can't ride the fence. 17:42 And to me, it didn't make sense at all 17:44 but it was the seed that was planted. 17:48 It was like Isaiah 55:1, where the Bible says, 17:50 "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, 17:53 it will not return unto me void, 17:55 but it shall accomplish that which I please, 17:57 in that thing whereto I sent it." 17:59 It was accomplishing 18:00 what God wanted to do in my mind 18:02 but at the beginning of it, I couldn't understand it. 18:05 So therefore, it was through him 18:07 making to stand for Jesus and trying of course, 18:09 to get me to follow Jesus, 18:11 that was like no, no, no I'm not, 18:12 I'm not really interested in that right now, 18:13 I want to make money, 18:15 I want to get big, I want to this-- 18:16 It planted a seed. 18:17 But it definitely planted to seed, no question. 18:19 So it was through that 18:20 that something major happened in my life 18:23 which actually calls to paradigm shift. 18:25 And I believe this paradigm shift 18:26 is the same paradigm shift 18:28 that a lot of people have gone through, 18:30 unfortunately, some may need to go through. 18:31 I don't want people to go through this 18:33 but sometimes we need things to wake us up. 18:35 My nephew Charlie, who was just about 18:39 a year or two younger than me through my sister Laverne, 18:42 he really wanted to make money like his uncle, 18:44 he is Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York. 18:45 They are not making a lot of money. 18:47 Brownsville was code name Murderville. 18:48 So he is in the area that's really, really bad 18:52 and he decided to sell drugs. 18:54 And the night he sold drugs, was the night he was killed. 18:58 And he gunned down by people 18:59 who professed to be his friends. 19:01 And when I went to his funeral, 19:04 and I'm looking at this closed cascade 19:06 because his head was so wounded badly 19:07 that they couldn't even have an open cascade. 19:09 And I'm looking at this cascade and nephew is in there 19:12 and as I'm looking at this cascade, I'm mad 19:14 because I'm like if you want the money 19:16 I would have gave you money, 19:17 you know, a lot of things going through my mind. 19:19 But when that cascade started to go down into the ground, 19:23 and I felt like for the first time 19:25 he's been pulled out of my life, 19:26 it was at that moment that I started to cry 19:29 and I really felt like he's gone. 19:31 You know, and then I went to the limousine, 19:34 and when I went into the limousine, 19:36 this is the first time, it was like the all the voices 19:39 in the limousine were drowned out. 19:41 And I heard a voice as clear as day 19:44 and that voice were saying, 19:46 "Will you accept me now, will you accept me now?" 19:50 And it was from hearing that voice that 19:52 even though I'm completely ignorant of the Bible, 19:55 I remember the few little stories 19:56 that I've heard about how God can speak to someone, 19:58 and in my mind I knew. 20:00 I said, this is got to be God talking to me. 20:02 So therefore, I said, in that limousine, 20:05 "Yes Lord, I will accept you in my life." 20:08 And it was from that point 20:09 that I began this journey now of trying to understand 20:12 what does it mean to be a Christian. 20:13 Right, so you start going to church, 20:16 you're hooking up with your boy, TJ? 20:18 Yeah, I mean, I called TJ up I said, 20:19 all right talk to me what do I got to do 20:21 and he said, well you need to go to church. 20:22 All right. And I said, all right. 20:24 And he was going to the Pentecostal Church 20:25 so I went there with him. 20:26 So he started attending church 20:28 and you know, taking that path, still in the industry? 20:31 Yep. 20:32 So how did you make the transition? 20:34 How did-- did that continue to escalate 20:36 the more the depravity of the industry, 20:38 what was the final straw there? 20:40 The more depravity of the industry 20:42 is constant climb higher and higher, 20:45 okay, so definitely you see the more depravity, big time. 20:48 It just get worse and worse and worse. 20:50 But as I started to read the Bible 20:53 a little bit more and everything, 20:55 you know, things started opening up to me. 20:56 Now I got to be honest with you, man, 20:58 I went to the Pentecostal Church. 21:00 Now when I see a bunch of people 21:01 that are running around and speaking in languages 21:04 that I know I don't understand. 21:06 And I'm trying to figure out 21:07 why are they doing this, what's going on here 21:09 and it doesn't make sense to me. 21:11 So as a result of that I left, I got turned off. 21:15 I'm gonna be honest with you because I started feeling 21:16 like these people are faking it, 21:18 I didn't even think it was genuine. 21:19 So therefore, I left that church 21:21 and I went to the Catholic Church. 21:23 And then I'm trying to go ahead and see what's happening there. 21:26 You know, it was communion 21:27 and I took a little of the grape juice, 21:29 so I thought, but it was alcohol 21:31 and I was familiar with alcohol because that's my old world. 21:33 But nevertheless, I'm like, a church that serves alcohol, 21:35 you know, so things weren't making sense. 21:38 Slowly but surely, 21:40 I'm getting exposed to Christianity 21:41 on a deeper level than I've ever been before. 21:44 But at the same time, 21:45 I'm getting turned off with Christianity now, 21:46 because I'm like this, this doesn't make any sense. 21:49 And in hip hop, because of the building 21:53 of the knowledge of self principles, 21:55 my brother was part of a group called Nuwaubians 21:58 And the Nuwaubians that you know, 22:00 we'll probably build on that in another episode 22:02 but, you know, they basically 22:04 like the Five Percenters the O Five Percenters 22:06 and what they would instill in my mind is that Christians 22:10 are people who just don't really understand 22:12 what they believe, the Bible is a white man's book. 22:14 You know, they would just go down the list 22:16 of all these reasons why I should not be a Christian? 22:18 Yeah. 22:19 Going to these churches seem the confusion 22:21 and all these other things reinforced 22:24 what I was hearing from hip-hop. 22:26 You know, from that exposure that I had. 22:28 So I got to a point 22:30 that I was like look I'm really getting turned off with this, 22:32 I'm turned off with hip-hop, but quite honestly, 22:34 I was even more turned off 22:36 with the pictures of Christianity 22:37 that I was seeing. 22:39 Hip hop to me was more genuine. 22:41 They're like look, this is who we are 22:42 and this is what we are about. 22:44 And their lifestyles were consistent. 22:45 Well, Christians were people who were going around like, 22:48 hey, this is what we believe but it was total hypocrisy. 22:52 But I knew that there had to be something right 22:54 about the Bible, they had to be 22:56 something right about Christianity. 22:58 But I think I was getting some foul pictures. 22:59 Right, so you've been exposed, 23:01 you're chasing knowledge of self-- 23:03 Yeah. 23:04 And you think it's here, it's not there. 23:06 You try something else, you try something else 23:08 and you find yourself now becoming grounded 23:11 in the Nuwaubian way, you know, in that whole circle. 23:16 And crossing paths with all the, you know, 23:18 the black moors and the Five Percenters 23:21 and the NOI and all these people 23:22 now sharing some of the same circles. 23:25 Yep. 23:26 What is your-- Were you challenged 23:28 with the industry, I know that you turned something down, 23:31 you know, towards the end. 23:33 Well, basically what happened was this. 23:35 In my quest for really trying to understand myself, 23:39 God and His will for my life, I found myself at a point 23:42 where I was confused in the hip hop culture and Nuwaupu. 23:45 I was also confused as it related to Christianity 23:48 of what I was exposed to. 23:49 So I found myself on the Friday night giving God an ultimatum 23:52 and telling Him if you don't let me know who you are, 23:55 by tomorrow I'm just gonna totally give up on Christianity 23:58 and I'm just gonna go ahead and join with the Nuwaubians 24:00 because it made more sense. 24:02 It was from that that the following day, 24:04 a friend of mine found a flier, laying on the street, 24:06 she brings it to my house and she shows me 24:09 all these topics that are on the flier 24:11 that were exactly the questions that I had issues about. 24:13 Like, what were some of them? 24:14 Oh man, well first of all, 24:16 where is my existence as a black man 24:18 because they instill this in to me 24:20 in the part of hip-hop culture that I was exposed to. 24:22 Angels are white, patriarchs are white, 24:25 prophets are white, Jesus is white, 24:26 everybody is white. 24:28 The only black man was the Simon of the Cyrenes 24:30 who carry Jesus' cross and you know, 24:32 and when they build that package up right, 24:34 it does kind of create and indignation in you like, 24:37 "What's going on, where am I, where are my people, 24:38 what's my identification?" 24:40 So when this man had a study 24:42 on the role of the African American in the Bible, 24:45 I said, wow, I never heard that before. 24:48 He had the study that night called 24:49 The African American and the Pig, 24:50 I said, "Wait a minute, 24:52 Christians talk about not eating pork?" 24:53 I know that from the Islamic influence 24:55 but not from Christians. 24:56 So sure enough, man, I had to go, so I went. 24:58 It 15 minutes from my house, went down, 25:01 heard it and it was the most explosive thing 25:04 I ever heard in my life. 25:05 I mean, everything was biblical, everything. 25:08 And from that I said, 25:10 "Who are you people? What are you teaching?" 25:12 And they began to do Bible's studies with me, 25:14 they began to walk me through the word of God. 25:16 And it got me to a point that I made a decision 25:18 to go all the way with Jesus 25:19 and to follow Him and to keep His word 25:22 and by His grace live His words. 25:24 All right, so you came to the truth 25:27 as you understood it at that time. 25:29 And you've been walking that path ever since. 25:31 Now what was the final challenge 25:34 that the industry threw at you, to try to trap you in their-- 25:38 and where you have to make a decision 25:40 for or against the truth? 25:42 Well, what happened was as I began to study the Bible, 25:44 I began to learn about the importance of God's people 25:47 keeping His commandments. 25:48 And keeping His commandments, it meant all not some. 25:51 So therefore, when I look at James Chapter 2 25:53 and it says, that if I break one, 25:55 I'm guilty of breaking all, I said, all right, 25:56 well, obviously I want to honor God 25:58 and keep all of His commandments, 25:59 which of course, includes the fourth Commandment, 26:01 which includes the seventh day Sabbath. 26:03 So when I began to understand that 26:05 I started telling everybody in the industry 26:06 I said, look I can't work on Sabbaths. 26:08 And they said, Saturday's are our biggest days. 26:11 Friday nights and Saturdays, 26:12 that's our biggest selling days, bigger tickets. 26:14 So it got to a point that in the beginning, 26:17 because of the money pull, 26:19 yeah, I found myself selling out on the Lord. 26:21 And I began to do my own thing but then overtime, 26:24 the conviction started to dwell so heavily 26:27 that I've remembered one time I was with Heavy D, 26:29 we went on tour and I was dancing anyhow 26:31 even though I knew it was wrong, 26:33 and I was dancing on the Sabbath, you know. 26:35 And as I began to understand that 26:37 it got to a point in my experience 26:38 that God spoke to my heart and He says, 26:40 "Son if you continue doing this, 26:43 you'll never come back to me." 26:45 It was kind of like God was saying 26:46 and I love the words that God used, 26:48 it wasn't, if you keep doing this I'll cut you off. 26:50 God says, "If you keep doing this, 26:51 you won't come back to me." 26:53 Because you get entrenched in it. 26:55 I had to make a decision beyond my feelings and therefore, 26:59 I went and I called them up and I said that's it. 27:02 And it was over with the entertainment industry. 27:03 It got to a point that I realized 27:05 that the entertainment industry and God's commandments 27:07 are variants one with another. 27:09 And any Christian, any person who claims to love Jesus 27:12 and wants to follow God's word, 27:14 Jesus' word says, here is the proof, 27:16 "If you love me, keep My commandments." 27:19 John 14:15. 27:20 So it got to a point that I had to realize 27:22 if I love God, I need to do what He says, 27:24 even though it's not what my heart wants. 27:28 That's an absolutely amazing story. 27:30 And you're able to overcome 27:31 and you moved from that life style 27:33 into a life style with Christ. 27:36 Unfortunately, we're out of time 27:38 and we're gonna continue, we're gonna talk about, 27:39 a little bit about my story, my testimony. 27:42 So we want to encourage you to come back again, 27:45 visit us again, invite a friend 27:47 and we want to remind you again in Proverbs 2:6, it says, 27:52 "The Lord giveth wisdom and out of His mouth 27:56 comes knowledge and understanding." |
Revised 2016-02-04