Participants: Dwayne Lemon (Host), Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000004
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00:29 Hello. My name is Dwayne Lemon.
00:31 And I'm Lance Wilbur. 00:33 And we want to welcome you to a True Knowledge of Self 00:36 where we get a knowledge of ourselves 00:39 from a biblical perspective. 00:41 We want to welcome you all and thank you for joining us. 00:43 Today we are going to be continuing 00:45 from where we left off in this incredible testimony 00:47 as we were listening to Brother Lance share with us 00:50 how God was leading in his life 00:52 and we see that he's gone through several experiences 00:54 and it was quite incredible to see how he was ingrained 00:58 and deeply into the hip-hop culture, 01:01 especially the intellectual aspect, 01:04 which is really different 01:05 from a lot of what other people look for. 01:07 Most people think just about the fun aspect, 01:09 and I'm sure he did have fun, is that right? 01:10 Absolutely. Oh, yes. 01:12 But nevertheless we also know that there is another side 01:15 that Lance was talking about this 01:17 when he was interviewing myself, 01:18 but he is now going through this in his own experience, 01:21 where he was talking about the intelligence 01:23 in all of these things that also 01:25 is a strong influential power 01:27 coming from the hip-hop and R&B culture. 01:29 We saw that Lance grew up in a home 01:31 where dad was not around often 01:33 and mother was there struggling, 01:34 trying to do what she could to rear him up 01:37 and his little brother, 01:38 and we also saw that television 01:39 and the basic street lifestyle was there pulling at him, 01:43 grabbing at him and just consistently 01:45 trying to draw him into their mold 01:46 and we saw that he was starting to be formed in that mold, 01:49 little by little, even to the point 01:51 that he found himself to being the reflector 01:52 of other men's thoughts 01:54 and presenting a lot of philosophies and ideas, 01:57 rejecting religion, and the list goes on 02:00 and we want to pick right back up on that, 02:01 Lance, and I want us to go ahead 02:03 and continue talking with our viewers 02:05 and just getting an idea, 02:07 here you are at this stage, you're a teenager, 02:09 you're a young man, 02:10 and you're going through these experiences 02:12 where right now religion is definitely a turnoff 02:15 especially as it related to Christianity. 02:17 Yeah. 02:18 But then also, you are finding yourself more so with the, 02:21 you know, Five-Percent Movement 02:22 and just looking at what's coming in through that, 02:25 all the influences, the culture, 02:26 the lifestyle, was there anything else 02:29 that was also a grab in your mind in a positive way 02:33 that was pulling you 02:34 while you were also engrossed in this hip-hop lifestyle. 02:36 Oh, yeah, absolutely. 02:38 I mean, I was really into the sports, like I said, 02:42 I was always big, I was a three-sport athlete, 02:44 so even from a little kid, I was too big for Pop Warner, 02:48 but I played. 02:49 There was other football leagues, 02:50 so I'm playing football, I'm playing baseball, 02:53 I'm playing basketball. 02:54 And as I started to get older, into my teenage years, 02:57 I'm getter taller and, you know, 03:00 slimming down and growing taller. 03:02 So I began to gravitate towards basketball 03:06 just because, you know, it was just more appealing. 03:10 Baseball became increasingly boring 03:13 and is not compatible with, 03:15 you know, doing what I was doing, 03:17 living a lifestyle I was living, 03:19 and then going and sitting out you know playing outfield 03:21 or first base for two hours in 95-degree heat. 03:27 So you know, I'm at apex of my baseball career, 03:30 I do tournaments in Canada, 03:31 you know pitching and, you know, 03:34 it was good but it wasn't like basketball. 03:37 Football was good 03:39 but I didn't like to destroy my body in practice 03:42 and have these people yelling at you 03:44 and you play 12 games a season 03:45 or what have you in high school. 03:47 So I was recruited in those regards 03:50 for high school athletics 03:51 where basketball became my passion, 03:53 basketball became what I did, and I didn't really pick it up 03:56 until, you know, maybe 10 or 11 years old. 03:58 But once I started picking it up 04:00 and getting serious with basketball, 04:03 I quickly excelled too. 04:05 I was playing in varsity in my freshman year, 04:08 in high school, 04:10 and that obviously continued to the point 04:12 where as early as 10th grade, 04:15 I'm getting invitations, you know, 04:17 letters to, hey we appreciate. 04:20 Now, I hated school. 04:22 I hated reading and I hated school, 04:24 so I did not participate in class. 04:26 I skipped school, I skipped class. 04:28 I was pretty much left to myself to get myself up 04:32 into school everyday. 04:33 So school was just a mess for me, 04:36 but I would get letters from, you know, D1 school saying, 04:39 "Oh, we value your B plus average, 04:42 your grade point average, and we can't wait to..." 04:45 And all these enticing letters, you know, Syracuse, and Miami, 04:49 and Fordham, Rutgers, Washington, and you know, 04:54 several other local schools, 04:55 and I was getting those letters in 10th grade. 04:59 When I moved to another city, I started, the coach, you know, 05:02 he was the... 05:04 At that time I think he had the record for winning as coach 05:06 in high school basketball 05:08 and he started coming to me and say, 05:11 "Hey, you know, we are thinking about sending you to this camp. 05:15 Don't worry about the payment, you know we'll take care of it, 05:17 oh, shoes, you know, different little things, 05:20 incentives to play, you know, summer league, 05:22 and I'm telling you, I'm a poor student. 05:27 I didn't go to school, rarely. 05:29 I didn't do homework, I didn't do, 05:31 but they are giving me all these incentives 05:33 to do these things. 05:34 So I enjoyed it, I pursued it, 05:37 but at the same time I did not appreciate 05:41 the whole culture of athletics 05:43 and kind of the clique mentality 05:46 and everybody happened to ingratiate themselves 05:48 to the coach and kind of be at the certain functions 05:51 and I just, I didn't want anything to do with that 05:54 and I was completely against it. 05:56 Now, I didn't get a chance to share this in my testimony, 05:59 but we're going to talk about this in later episodes as well. 06:02 There were two influences that were working in my life 06:05 when I was really into the hip-hop culture. 06:07 Obviously, hip-hop was one of them, 06:08 but the other one was martial arts. 06:10 I was really, really heavy into martial arts 06:11 and when I was doing martial arts, 06:13 I found that I had to get to a point to make a choice, 06:16 which one am I really going to pursue fully. 06:18 Right. 06:19 Martial arts or... 06:21 and I love both of them. 06:22 Now I can phase out of that for myself 06:24 but I'm curious for you, you're in basketball, 06:26 did you see that the two were blending, 06:28 hip-hop culture and what you are trying to do 06:30 and holding the lines 06:31 and keeping it in its purest state 06:33 with the underground movement and then, of course, 06:35 you are also now pretty much pursuing 06:37 like a basketball career. 06:38 Did you find that they blended 06:40 or did you find that they were at variance one 06:42 with the other and you had to make a choice. 06:44 Yeah. Definitely I had to make a choice. 06:45 Again, elite athletics, 06:47 when you want to go to that next level, 06:49 where that's all you're going to live, eat, sleep, 06:51 breathe. 06:52 When you go to that level, smoking cigarettes, 06:56 smoking weed every day, 06:58 drinking alcohol every day is not compatible 07:01 with elite athletics. 07:03 It's a lifestyle and am I going to go to practice 07:07 for three hours after school and do double sessions? 07:09 Am I going to do winter league and summer league and, 07:13 go to camps and all that, 07:14 or am I going to continue my lifestyle 07:16 and pursue the hip-hop and, you know, 07:19 do the shows and do the battles and be where I need to be. 07:22 And now there is another, you know, 07:25 key dynamic in this whole thing. 07:28 I'm having a child. 07:30 And my girlfriend at the time, she gets pregnant. 07:33 So as I am going in now to make a decision. 07:36 Am I going to go to college or not? 07:39 Am I going to go and try to see how this is going to play out? 07:41 Because I can still play basketball 07:43 and kind of do the MC thing 07:45 and go to college and still float, 07:47 but, you know, get through because of the basketball, 07:49 and she comes into my life, my oldest daughter, 07:52 and she is born right there at 17, 07:55 pregnant at 16 and then 17 she is born. 07:58 So I made the decision. 08:00 If I go to school, there is absolutely no way 08:04 I'm going to even consider my girlfriend or my daughter 08:08 back in Massachusetts. 08:10 I'm going to go away, 08:11 I was thinking leaning towards Miami 08:14 or even, you know, Fordham Ruggers, New York area, 08:17 New York tri-state area being away. 08:20 So I said, I have to do the responsible thing 08:23 even though as an irresponsible corrupt individual, 08:27 I have to do a responsible thing 08:28 and stay close to my daughter. 08:30 And street life, to me at that time, 08:33 was way more important than, you know, organized athletics, 08:37 because I can still play basketball 08:39 on the street level, 08:40 still do tournaments, still do summer leagues, 08:43 and get the accolades in that respect, 08:44 keep my craft in that respect 08:46 and still excel and pursue my hip-hop career. 08:50 Now, I'm curious because the same way 08:52 when I saw those women lined up in the hotel room 08:57 and, you know, I said to myself, 08:59 this looks wrong, there was something 09:01 that was in my head 09:03 that instilled that that was wrong 09:04 when there was a lot of people around me 09:06 that felt that was right. 09:07 Here you are, you are a teenager, 09:09 and you are at the height of two areas, 09:11 one in the experience of hip-hop culture 09:13 and the underground but then also athletics, 09:16 but yet there is a principle that's in your head that says, 09:19 all right, I got my girlfriend pregnant, 09:22 we are about to have this baby, I need to be responsible. 09:25 Now I would imagine 09:27 the majority of brothers around you 09:28 during that time were not thinking like that 09:30 as it relates to when they get women pregnant. 09:32 A lot of times, they are telling them to go 09:33 to the abortion clinic, you know, whatever. 09:35 You didn't do this. 09:37 Where do you think that came from? 09:39 I've no idea. 09:40 I know now, but I had no idea then. 09:43 There were strange things like that all the time, 09:45 like you could be so corrupt that you'd beat somebody down 09:49 in the street over anything, a sandwich, it could be... 09:54 I was in situations 09:55 where I would commit random acts of violence 09:58 just because I was upset at some other person 10:00 that had nothing to do with. 10:02 I would just randomly pick somebody 10:03 and, you know, beat them down for no reason 10:06 that no interaction with them. 10:09 So I would do that and feel no way about it. 10:12 No problems, no second thoughts, no regrets, 10:15 and you know laugh five minutes later 10:17 and joke two minutes later, 10:20 but then there were other situations 10:22 where I had this severe moral, 10:25 you know, unction to do the right thing 10:27 and these standards to make right decisions, 10:31 "Hey, don't do that, that's a wrong move, 10:34 you know, do it like this." 10:35 So I knew God was watching over me 10:38 and He was taking care of me 10:39 and instructing me even in my ignorance, 10:41 but I didn't attributed to God at that point. 10:43 I just considered it myself, making right decisions 10:46 and doing what I felt was right at the time. 10:48 Now, when you look at the Gospel of John, 10:50 it does tell us that there is a time that comes 10:52 where the Spirit of God is with us 10:54 and then eventually in us. 10:57 I'm sure at this stage in your life, obviously, 10:59 the Spirit of God may not have been in you 11:00 but He was with you, He was guiding you 11:02 and trying to lead you 11:03 to right decisions, right paths, 11:05 and I'm sure that we understand today 11:06 that that was the Lord that was leading for you 11:08 to do something good or responsible. 11:10 But my question is was there anything 11:12 even in the books of intelligence 11:13 or anything like that that comes out, 11:15 because there is sometimes with people who, 11:18 they look at hip-hop culture, 11:19 and they say everything about it is wicked, 11:22 there is no good principles that can come out of it, 11:25 but then you have others who say, well, no, 11:26 there are some good principles and, therefore, 11:28 they try to elevate it from that standpoint. 11:30 I mean, was that a reality in your life 11:31 with some of the things 11:32 you were exposed to from listening 11:34 because I know you weren't reading it 11:35 but from listening. 11:36 Yeah. 11:38 I mean, really the turning point for me 11:39 was I'm contemplating, 11:42 I always refer to it as a midlife crisis. 11:45 Fifteen years old midlife crisis. 11:48 I'm pretty much sick and tired of the trappings, 11:53 you know, the girls, the drugs, the money, the violence, 11:57 you know, all of those things. 12:00 I didn't have any fulfillment. 12:01 I did it, and the fulfillment almost expired 12:04 as soon as the act was completed, 12:07 and I got sick and tired of the same crew, 12:09 the same people hanging around, 12:11 doing the same thing everyday. 12:12 It just became, you know, I was sick and tired. 12:15 I just didn't like it. 12:16 So I'm frustrated there and I remember 12:19 even as a little child, I didn't know who God was, 12:21 I didn't know Christianity like that, 12:22 but I would curse God out. 12:24 In my mind, God was like a genie. 12:26 I would pray and say some magic words, 12:28 or say something and say, "Hey, God, give me this." 12:31 And if it didn't materialize instantly, 12:33 I would literally curse God out, you know, audibly. 12:37 And I didn't understand what I was doing, 12:39 but that's the way I viewed it. 12:40 So now at 15 I'm having these questions. 12:44 What is my purpose? 12:45 What is the point of human existence? 12:50 You know, why, the universe, what is it? 12:53 Is there a God? Is there not a God. 12:55 So I'm having these questions in my mind 12:57 and a voice came into my head 13:00 and said explicitly, interrupted me, 13:02 and said if you want answers, go and read. 13:06 If you want answers, go and read. 13:09 Something that I hated to do. 13:10 I thought it was for certain sort of people 13:13 that was below me and it was unnecessary for me, 13:16 I had the knowledge that I needed. 13:17 But I took the challenge, 13:19 again, I took it as a challenge. 13:20 If you want answers, go read. 13:22 I literally got up at that moment, 13:24 I got up and went to the high school library 13:26 at the high school 13:28 I was attending at that time and I got out some books. 13:31 I got out, I think, four books or five. 13:33 I got a book on Shamanism, 13:37 I got a book on Egyptology, 13:40 I got a book on philosophy, 13:42 a big giant college textbook on philosophy, 13:45 and I got a book on Mars, 13:48 aliens and stuff of the red planet. 13:50 Got you. 13:51 So I literally took the challenge. 13:53 If you want answers, go read, I said, 13:55 no problem I'm going to go read 13:56 and I started to read and study religions 13:59 and that led me on a journey that, 14:01 you know, brought me to where I am today. 14:04 Very interesting. 14:05 So you are on the journey now 14:06 and you are reading all these books now. 14:09 One thing I would think is 14:10 none of these books are in agreement 14:11 with each other. 14:13 You know, Egyptology one moment, 14:14 then you got another book talking about Mars and aliens, 14:17 and then you have another book 14:18 that talks about various philosophies 14:20 that can come from Chinese culture, 14:21 otherwise, and not necessarily Egypt. 14:23 So you're filling your head with knowledge 14:26 and you're gaining all this information 14:29 but it's possible, I mean, did you notice contradictions? 14:31 Absolutely. 14:32 The way that I rationalized it 14:36 was that there was truth in everything 14:41 and my job is just to find the truth in everything 14:45 and bring it together and make my own truth. 14:47 Now, is there a type of movement, 14:50 religious structure or anything like that 14:52 that exists today 14:53 which just kind of brings about those same principles, 14:55 you think where it's kind of like 14:57 find the truth in just about anything 14:59 and try to amalgamate it and bring out there. 15:00 Yeah. 15:02 I mean, in my opinion it's plenty, 15:03 I mean, I think even some Christians do that, 15:05 Muslims do that, 15:07 where they say you know what, "Yeah, that's true 15:08 but I think this is also true." 15:10 New age movement, 15:11 like we talked about, the Five-Percent Nation 15:13 and in fact, how I across the Five-Percent Nation, 15:17 I said, I had the early exposure with the individual 15:19 that came from Brooklyn 15:21 but he wasn't really building like that. 15:23 He wasn't really always trying to convert people. 15:26 He just mentioned that 15:27 he was associated with the Five-Percent Nation. 15:30 But a friend, a close friend, 15:32 you know, I call it a close friend 15:34 'cause somebody in my crew at this time, 15:36 his mother was actually one of the earths, 15:39 you know she was part of the Nation, 15:41 and she had all of the books. 15:43 She had the 120 lessons, pre-mathematics, 15:46 you know, the demonology, 15:48 she had all of the necessary literature 15:52 to prepare for examination 15:54 to enter the Five-Percent Nation. 15:57 And so what I told myself is I'm pretty much convinced 16:01 that the Five-Percent Nation is where I want to be, 16:04 because I saw it as supreme 16:07 in the sense that it had some kind of explanation 16:11 for all the contradictions and discrepancies, 16:13 and it propped up the individual 16:16 as the sole controller 16:17 and the authority, the God, the final law, 16:21 and the final verdict in all decisions. 16:23 I don't have to consult a book. 16:25 I decide on the spot and my decision is law 16:28 and my decision is right. 16:30 So whether that means I have to cut somebody down 16:32 or that means I have to do this on the side 16:35 or that means I have to think this way 16:36 or say this or say that 16:38 it is based on my own interpretation 16:40 and my own understanding. 16:42 So I told myself, I'm going to become a Five-Percenter 16:46 but before I do that, I have to read the Quran. 16:50 I have to approach the Quran and study it 16:54 and then if my mind is still settled, 16:58 then go in to study my lessons and go through the process. 17:02 So I began that journey 17:05 and I found myself going through, 17:08 you know, 30 books, 40 books, going to the point now 17:12 where I studied New Age, I studied Buddhism, 17:14 and Shamanism, and Shintoism, 17:16 and read books on all these various religions, 17:18 some more than others, never reading the Bible. 17:22 But now I found myself studying the Quran 17:24 and to me this is the final transition 17:27 into where I feel that I need to be. 17:29 Now, there are people who use as almost a bragging point 17:34 or a point of merit 17:35 that I have read X amount of books, 17:37 I understand X amount of languages, 17:39 I've been exposed to X amount of religions, 17:41 therefore, I'm now an authority on spirituality. 17:44 That's right. 17:45 What's your thoughts on that? 17:47 On those people today or my thoughts back then? 17:49 Your thoughts on people today. 17:51 I'm curious about that. 17:52 Well, it goes down to the root of corruption in humanity 17:57 is selfishness, you know, self-exaltation, 18:00 the idea that "I" am the one that determines 18:04 what's right and wrong, 18:06 and the idea that there is nobody above me, 18:08 and there is no standard that is set 18:10 outside of the standards that I set. 18:13 The idea of God that has a law, that has a way, 18:17 that has a standard and that... 18:21 that not demands but deserves my worship 18:26 and reverence and respect. 18:27 I'm the person that should obtain the reverence 18:30 and the respect based on my standards 18:32 and what I say is right. 18:33 So to me it's, it's kind of a copout in a sense, 18:40 because anything, anytime you are challenged, 18:43 you can simply, you know, step away from that standard 18:45 or that principle or that philosophy 18:48 and just kind of spin it into something else. 18:50 You can never corner me because I can just... 18:54 Oh, well, if I don't, oh, you don't like that, 18:55 then I can just become this 18:56 and I can become that and I say, 18:58 well, yeah, that's right in this situation but is wrong. 19:00 You know, so I'm kind like a chameleon, 19:03 I'm never really settled into something, 19:05 what I'm really settled in is to myself. 19:07 So truth becomes relative in that absolute. 19:09 Truth becomes relative and there is no absolute 19:11 and that becomes... 19:13 It has a crippling effect. 19:15 And I think, I've seen it in my own life 19:18 and I think other people have experienced it as well. 19:21 So with that understanding, 19:24 where was the breaking 19:27 transitioning paradigm shift point in your life 19:30 where these understandings you have today 19:33 became real to you back then. 19:34 You're reading all these books, 19:36 now you're going through the Quran, 19:37 and you are going through the height of heights 19:38 as you put it, 19:40 but yet you understand today that 19:41 this was leading on a downward spiral. 19:43 What was it that broke 19:46 this thought process in your mind 19:47 and put you on the shift now 19:49 to the understanding you have today? 19:50 Right. 19:52 So when I got that original challenge, 19:53 if you want answers, go and read. 19:54 I now became conscious if you will of this outside, 19:58 kind of, call it a third eye, 20:01 you know, this special wisdom that would come to you, 20:03 revelations if you will, 20:06 so I was kind of conscious of that, 20:08 you know, and I studied meditation, 20:09 and I was always constantly 20:11 trying to follow all these principles 20:13 and kind of, again, make my own truth 20:14 based on the things that I would pick 20:16 and grab from other sources. 20:19 Eventually, a friend's, or before that even happened, 20:24 I visited my family down south 20:26 and my sister was talking about, 20:27 oh, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm saved. 20:29 And I didn't know what she was talking about, 20:30 it was nonsense to me. 20:32 But she gave me a book, she put a book in my hand. 20:33 It's "Knowing God's Plan for Your Life". 20:35 It was just a small little book talking about, 20:37 we're all running the race and the Book of Romans 20:41 and the different aspects of Paul's epistles 20:44 and I read it and, you know, just took it. 20:47 Through the course of this reading, 20:49 I also came across other books. 20:51 I was visiting a friend at his apartment 20:53 and he had a book on the counter 20:55 called Illuminati 666 20:58 and this book basically went through the history 21:00 of paganism and showed how... 21:03 Kind of the biblical war that we're talking about, 21:05 the Great Controversy and Bible Prophecy, 21:07 Daniel, Revelation, 21:08 and kind of broke all those things down. 21:09 I took that in as truth. 21:13 That book appealed to me 21:14 because it had that seal of the United States, 21:18 the pyramid with the eye on top, 21:19 that's on the dollar bill, it had that on the cover. 21:22 I had read another book 21:23 my girlfriend who is my wife now, 21:25 her cousin came from LA to visit 21:27 and he brought this book called the "New World Order" 21:29 and it had that same symbol, so I read that book. 21:31 When I saw the other book with the same symbol, 21:32 I said, man, I got to read that book. 21:35 Another instance, I'm building, 21:37 you know, we are talking, building these concepts 21:39 and going in deep, doing the science 21:42 and mathematics with two of my friends. 21:44 We were staying up all night talking and talking nonsense, 21:47 and eventually I break off from the conversation, 21:50 go into the closet in my mother's house, 21:52 in her hallway there is this closet. 21:54 I opened the closet, 21:55 there is a box of books on the floor. 21:58 I get that box and it looks interesting. 22:00 It has these books in there with interesting titles 22:03 and I bring it back to my couple of friends there 22:05 and we're all excited, 22:07 we're like, man, look at this book, 22:08 I'm going to take this one, I'm going to that one. 22:10 Both of those brothers got locked up, disappeared 22:12 and I ended up with the book called "Acts of the Apostles" 22:14 that walks through the Books of Acts 22:17 and the experience of the apostles of Jesus Christ 22:20 after His death and crucifixion. 22:23 I read through that book 22:25 and applied it to my "knowledge". 22:29 Eventually, as you know, time passes, 22:32 and me and my friend are coming out of the mall, 22:35 we are complaining about haircuts. 22:37 He was from New York, Bushwick area, Brooklyn 22:41 and I was coming from the Boston area. 22:43 We are in this other city now and there is no barber shops. 22:46 There is one barber shop that's no good, 22:47 we get into house cuts, 22:49 taking a train two hours to go get a haircut 22:51 and we're complaining, 22:53 we're just talking nonsense, complaining, joking. 22:56 We get in the car 22:58 and in the car there is a flyer. 23:00 And the flyer, normally trash, 23:02 we read the flyer and it says... 23:04 now open, the Armatree's barber shop, 23:06 $5 off the first haircut. 23:08 It was right down the block from the mall we were at 23:10 and we're amazed, we're like, well, let's go check it out. 23:13 There is a coupon 23:14 and it's right down the street so we go, 23:17 we meet the barber, the owner, he is cool. 23:21 It's literally about three blocks from the job 23:23 that we had at the time, the place we were working. 23:25 So I found myself now going to this barber's shop 23:28 you know once, twice, three times a week 23:31 either to get a haircut 23:32 or just, you know, just to talk, just to hang out. 23:35 As that continues, 23:37 we start getting in these religious battles, 23:39 like these heated almost fistfight religious battles 23:42 and my friend is siding with the barber and the owner. 23:47 I cannot understand. 23:49 It makes me furious 23:51 and they are talking this Bible... 23:53 They're talking about Bible Christianity, 23:55 they don't understand. 23:56 I'm telling them, hey, the Bible is half truth, 23:57 it was corrupted. 23:59 You know, Jesus is not God, He shouldn't be worshipped. 24:01 He is the example of humanity 24:04 but He was there to tell us that God is in us. 24:07 And this is my whole perspective, 24:08 and I'm trying to embarrass these, these... 24:11 Guy's talking about Christianity. 24:12 All of a sudden, remember a brother 24:14 that I'm running the streets with, 24:15 doing all kinds of dirt, 24:17 all of a sudden he is talking Bible, 24:18 and I don't understand it, doesn't make sense. 24:20 So this went on for several months. 24:22 Eventually the barber comes up to me one day, 24:23 I'm sitting in the shop, and he says, 24:25 "Hey, I got a pastor coming through 24:27 and he is going to give some Bible studies." 24:29 I was excited because in my mind 24:32 I'm like bring the pastor through, 24:33 I will cut him down 24:34 just like I've been cutting you guys down 24:36 and embarrassing you this whole time. 24:38 You know in the Five-Percent Nation, 24:40 they call it cutting hairs, chopping necks, 24:43 you know, we embarrass weak Christians 24:45 and use their own stuff against them. 24:48 So I sat there and waited, closed the shop. 24:52 There was about 25 of us or so, sitting in this group 24:55 and having a Bible study. 24:56 I had never even heard of the concept. 24:58 I never studied the Bible, I read a couple, 25:00 you know, read Revelation, Ezekiel, 25:01 some prophecies, never studied it. 25:04 We go through these studies 25:05 and it's the authority of God's word 25:07 on one side of this piece of paper 25:08 and the other side is talking about Daniel 2 25:11 and the image of Nebuchadnezzar 25:13 that we're going to be talking about. 25:14 And in fact, these are things that I read 25:16 and accepted as truth in some of these random books 25:19 I found along the way and now I'm 60 books in 25:22 and I accepted these things as truth, 25:24 and I'm seeing them for the first time 25:25 actually in the Bible. 25:27 I was astonished, 25:28 I kept my mouth shut the whole time. 25:30 I went at the end of the study, 25:32 I asked the pastor, "Hey, you got any more of those." 25:34 He gave me a stack of studies, 31 lessons, 25:36 he gave me a Bible and a retractable pencil. 25:39 I lost my job, I got sick, lost my job. 25:42 Everyday I did those studies. 25:44 I woke up 8 and just did those studies. 25:46 I did them through once 31 lessons, 25:47 again a second time, a half way to third 25:50 and I was absolutely settled in my mind. 25:52 All of the contradictions, 25:54 all of the writings about Jesus from the New Ages, 25:57 from the Muslims, from the Quran, from the NOY, 26:00 from the Five-Percenters 26:02 saying that Jesus did this, 26:03 oh, He didn't die on the cross, He did... 26:04 All of the contradictions that they claimed 26:06 were completely dismantled. 26:08 The Bible didn't contradict itself. 26:09 All of the talk wasn't true. 26:12 The Bible establishes its own authority 26:14 and it explains everything clearly 26:17 and my mind was made up 26:18 and I come to find out 26:20 that the pastor was Seventh-Day Adventist, 26:22 come to find out 26:23 that the barber was Seventh-day Adventist, 26:26 my boy that I was running the streets 26:27 was Seventh-day Adventist, 26:28 a girl that I was working was Seventh-day Adventist, 26:30 all of these Adventists, 26:32 the books in my mother's house Seventh-day Adventist books 26:35 left there by somebody that lived in my house, 26:38 a friend and he moved away, 26:40 he's trying to get with the girl, 26:41 and he started going to this church, got baptized, 26:44 they gave him a gift, 26:45 he left the books when he moved out. 26:47 The friend that I was building with that I got locked up, 26:49 he was Seventh-day Adventist. 26:50 All these people making drug transactions 26:53 with, suppliers, Seventh-day Adventist. 26:56 So I found myself now a Seventh-day Adventist, 27:01 and to me it was the truth 27:03 and there was no way anybody could budge me out of it 27:06 because I had gone through that journey. 27:08 That was my mindset then 27:10 and essentially is my mindset now. 27:12 But I don't think I am as militant as I once was. 27:15 And you know what? 27:16 I look forward to talking more 27:18 when we get into some of those polishing effects 27:20 that God does in a person's life 27:23 because as you said militant, 27:24 so it is that I remembered being very militant as well. 27:27 But we are grateful for the way God works in our lives 27:29 and I really appreciate you sharing the things 27:31 that you shared with us, brother, 27:33 and I trust that to our viewers that this is something 27:35 that I would trust would pose a powerful blessing to you all. 27:39 I really want to thank you all for joining with us today. 27:41 Lance, I want to thank you 27:42 for sharing with us your testimony, 27:44 and I hope that this has overcoming power to all of us 27:47 that's going to be able to help us 27:49 to know how we can have victory in our own lives. 27:52 Until the next time, 27:53 join with us on the next episode 27:54 and remember Proverbs 2:6, 27:57 "It is God that gives wisdom 27:59 and out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding." |
Revised 2017-05-01