Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Aaron Chancy
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000060
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00:10 Welcome to The New Journey,
00:11 a program where you meet real life people 00:13 with real life testimonies, 00:15 doing real life ministry for Jesus Christ. 00:17 I'm your host Aaron Chancy. 00:19 Come join us on The New Journey. 00:53 Hello, and welcome to The New Journey. 00:55 Now I know that 00:57 you're used to seeing Aaron Chancy in this chair 01:00 and the guest that he is interviewing in that chair. 01:04 But Aaron has such a compelling story, 01:06 that we both felt impressed to bring that story to you. 01:10 And so, Aaron is on the hot seat. 01:14 Yes, indeed. 01:16 Aaron, it's so good to have you as the host 01:19 on The New Journey. 01:20 Thank you. 01:22 You have such an interesting story. 01:24 God has brought you such a mighty long way. 01:27 Yes, definitely. 01:28 Tell us a bit about your background. 01:30 Okay. 01:32 Where were you born? 01:33 Okay. 01:34 Well, I was actually born in Michigan, 01:36 and, but I didn't live there that long. 01:38 We were actually there for few months 01:40 and we left Michigan. 01:41 And my parents, they eventually got into the military. 01:45 They realized that, 01:47 you know, we didn't have that much money. 01:49 So they each decided, they went into the military. 01:51 My mom is a officer, my father is enlisted. 01:54 And this provided the funds necessary 01:56 that we needed. 01:58 And at a young age, 01:59 it took us to various places in the world. 02:01 I lived in Germany for three years, 02:03 lived in Hawaii for three years. 02:05 So I got to see certain things 02:06 that other young people of my age hadn't seen. 02:09 And I remember one thing, you know, my dad said, 02:12 at one point things got very difficult, 02:14 you know, finances and all, 02:16 that he could have easily left the home, 02:18 just as many people do, you know, 02:20 and the kids are grown up by a single mother. 02:22 But he said, you know what, 02:23 I don't want to be like everybody else. 02:25 I don't want the kids be in a statistic 02:27 and decided to stay. 02:29 So they stayed together, 02:30 my parents are still married as of today. 02:33 And but being that, they were in the military, 02:36 it took us various places around the world. 02:38 So we had that benefit 02:39 myself and my brother Adam Chancy, 02:41 seeing different parts of the globe 02:43 that other people have not seen. 02:45 So at what point did you start moving around, 02:48 how old were you? 02:49 I remember, when we left Michigan, 02:51 probably when I was, maybe a couple of months old. 02:54 I really don't even remember living there like that. 02:55 Oh. 02:57 We lived in different parts of the United States. 02:59 Lived in Philadelphia with my grandmother 03:01 for a little while, 03:02 lived in North Carolina, 03:04 lived in Texas a number of times. 03:06 We always seem to move places 03:07 and we always seem to move back to Texas, 03:09 either to Killeen, San Antonio, just different parts of Texas. 03:13 So the moving around was constant 03:15 up until from probably little bit after I was born, 03:18 up until probably around 14, 15 years old. 03:23 That was something that I was used to. 03:25 And I think it affected me in a big way. 03:28 Where many people, they would get the joy of 03:32 going to different countries, 03:34 you know, seeing different things 03:35 especially at a young age, 03:36 because most people don't see those. 03:38 Most of my friends, 03:39 they have never been out of United States, 03:40 some of them hadn't even been out of the city 03:42 that they live in. 03:43 Right. 03:45 And it's just a reality. 03:46 A lot of African-Americans don't travel. 03:47 And so, I had that blessing. 03:50 But there was a downside to it. 03:52 Where doing a lot of traveling while my brother enjoyed 03:56 and it was kind of almost like a fairytale to him, 03:58 he got to see everything. 03:59 For me, it kind of started an identity crisis. 04:02 So where... 04:03 Okay, well, 04:05 I'm living in Germany for three years, 04:06 so I identify with Germans. 04:07 And at one point 04:09 I spoke better German than I spoke English 04:10 because I was there at a young age. 04:12 I was there probably from age 6, 7, and 8. 04:14 So you know, you're just learning language 04:16 at that time. 04:17 And I went to a school that was, 04:19 you know, primarily German. 04:20 And so, I actually spoke German at a time better than English. 04:23 So you're with this type of culture. 04:26 Then we left there, 04:28 we went back to Texas for a while. 04:30 And from there we went to Hawaii, 04:32 so now I am around a whole another 04:33 different type of culture. 04:34 So it's kind of like you get lost in the mix, 04:36 and it's like who am I really from all this moving around? 04:40 So there is a benefit to it, 04:42 you get to see different things around the globe. 04:44 But then, you can get lost in it. 04:47 So your own identity 04:49 hadn't really been firmly secured really 04:53 before you did all this moving, 04:55 so you kind of lost yourself as you said. 05:00 Yes, definitely, definitely. 05:01 What about the spiritual climate 05:02 in your home, what was that? 05:04 Okay. 05:05 It was a great spiritual climate in my home. 05:07 I'm fortunate to come from 05:08 the Seventh-day Adventist background. 05:09 As I stated a second ago, 05:11 my mother and my father are still together. 05:12 Grew up, you know, 05:14 just like a lot of young people in Adventist church 05:15 going to pathfinders every Sunday. 05:18 Going to camporees, different things like that. 05:21 We have family worship in the household. 05:24 And as I get more into my story, 05:26 you realize the household I come from 05:27 is not typical for my lifestyle. 05:30 So we have family worship, 05:31 we went to church every Sabbath, 05:32 we went to prayer meeting Wednesday night. 05:34 We were at church, we were in the church. 05:36 But, you know, even though the family was in a church, 05:39 and we had, 05:40 you know, you go to people's houses 05:42 and you see the Bible, you see different books. 05:44 We had all the Spirit of Prophecy books 05:45 in the home. 05:46 And they weren't just there just to look good, 05:48 they were actually read. 05:49 My parent read the Spirit of Prophecy. 05:51 And it was the little, the real little red books. 05:53 And, you know, they would read them, 05:55 they had all of them, 05:56 not just the Conflict of the Ages series. 05:59 But ones like 06:00 Counsels on Diet and Foods, Ministry of Healing, 06:03 different ones that some people don't necessarily read. 06:06 So I saw all of this growing up. 06:08 And it was a great spiritual atmosphere. 06:11 Typically, like I say for, what I've got involved in, 06:14 a person doesn't come from my type of household 06:17 with both parents in the home. 06:18 And a great spiritual climate, where even I went to 06:21 a mixture of Seventh-day Adventist schools 06:23 as well as public schools. 06:25 So I had the tools necessary to be grounded in the truth. 06:31 But I hadn't experienced Jesus for myself. 06:34 And isn't that interesting thing, Aaron, 06:37 because in so many cases, 06:40 the parents might have that relationship with Christ, 06:44 but the kids don't. 06:46 Yeah, definitely. 06:47 And they haven't found them for themselves. 06:49 Yeah, true. 06:51 And so that was your experience. 06:52 Your parents were grounded, 06:54 your parents had the relationship. 06:55 Yes. 06:56 But you didn't. 06:58 Yeah, definitely, definitely. 06:59 And so, what did that mean to you 07:02 in terms of your development? 07:04 Well, I think because I didn't have... 07:07 Number one, my identity as myself. 07:09 It's kind of like I don't necessarily know I am. 07:11 So I just pull from various types of people. 07:14 I would basically pull from 07:16 what I like from various types of people 07:18 and incorporate that into myself. 07:19 We call that syncretic by the way. 07:21 Okay. 07:22 I didn't know there was a term for it. 07:24 Where you take difference beliefs, you know, 07:25 and you say, okay, I like this belief 07:27 and like that one, and I like that one... 07:28 Okay, let's put all together and start a denomination. 07:31 I mean, that's kind of way. 07:32 Okay. I really like that. 07:34 Yeah. Okay. 07:35 That's kind of way. 07:36 And that's kind of what I do with my character. 07:38 I pull from 07:39 various different types of groups of people, 07:40 and I incorporated that within myself. 07:43 And even with the household, 07:46 you know, myself 07:47 not having that relationship with Jesus for myself 07:49 where... 07:51 I mean it caused a lot of conflict, 07:52 because, you know, 07:54 of course you're living in a home, 07:55 you have to do what your parents say, 07:57 different things like that. 07:58 But unless you have 07:59 a relationship of your own with Jesus, 08:03 you really not gonna see the value of it. 08:05 Just like, I didn't understand the Sabbath. 08:07 And I think a lot of times, 08:08 we think that because we come from a good home, 08:11 where the parents, you know, and I have children myself. 08:14 And we think that, 08:15 okay, we're going to church, we're going to prayer meeting, 08:17 different things like that. 08:18 So they should know these truths, 08:20 they should know why we do them. 08:21 And I remember one of my friends, 08:23 one of my best friends, 08:24 when I was around in a fifth grade. 08:26 And he asked about the Sabbath, 08:29 now I know what answer to give him, 08:30 because I studied these things out for myself. 08:33 But at that point, 08:34 even though I've been in church my whole life. 08:36 Seventh-day Adventist church my whole life. 08:37 The answer that I gave him was... 08:39 What was his question exactly? 08:41 Well, his question was, well, 08:42 what can you do on a Sabbath? 08:44 And what can you not do on a Sabbath or on Saturday, 08:46 he used the word Saturday. 08:48 Right. 08:49 And the answer that I gave him was, 08:51 well, if I don't... 08:52 let's just say for instance, 08:54 if I don't watch football during the week, 08:55 then I can watch football on Saturday. 08:57 Because my concept was 08:59 what I don't do during the week, 09:00 I can do it on Sabbath. 09:02 But what I do, do on... 09:03 What I don't do on Sabbath, I can do during the week. 09:06 So it's just like a work sense of it. 09:08 I didn't... 09:09 Wow, much harder. 09:11 I didn't quiet understand it. 09:12 So if I didn't watch secular TV during the week, 09:14 then I can watch secular TV on the Sabbath. 09:15 You see, what I am saying. 09:17 Wow, okay. 09:18 That's the answer that I gave him 09:20 and it's interesting like I said, 09:21 I grew up in the church. 09:23 So it's like I should know this stuff. 09:24 Grew up going to Sabbath school, 09:26 you know, my parent firmly believed 09:27 in all that stuff. 09:29 And... 09:30 What you had though was this concept of 09:34 what happens on Sabbath is different 09:37 from what happens during the week, 09:38 and that's true. 09:40 And that part is right. 09:41 But it was just that. 09:43 You know, little too warm. 09:44 It just worked a little. 09:45 But yeah, 09:47 but you did have the part right about 09:48 Sabbath is a different day. 09:49 It's different than every other day. 09:51 Yeah, that's it, that's it. 09:52 Yeah, so what happened 09:54 when you answered your friend like that, 09:55 did he get it, 09:56 did it seem strange to him? 09:58 Well, he didn't really understand it. 09:59 And I think, he was a little bit older to me, 10:00 but it really didn't make sense, 10:02 like why is that, 10:03 because he went to church on Sunday 10:04 and it was just a regular. 10:06 You know, for a lot of my friends 10:07 that went to church on Sunday, it's just like any other day. 10:09 Right. 10:10 You just... 10:11 you go to church, but then you come home, 10:13 you watch football, you do whatever, 10:14 you enjoy the same pleasures that you do it on the week, 10:17 its not separated like a holy day for most, 10:20 where as for the Sabbath, 10:21 you know, 10:22 it's separate than every other day of the week. 10:24 That's how God ordained it from the beginning of the time. 10:26 It's different than the other six days. 10:28 And I didn't realize that as a young person. 10:30 I didn't know how to explain that. 10:32 So I think one important aspect in parenting, 10:34 where, 10:36 even though the children are in Seventh-day Adventist home 10:38 learning the truth, know the truth, 10:39 going to different things. 10:41 It's still important for us as parents 10:42 to talk to the children about 10:44 what we believe and why we believe it. 10:45 And even to show them where it's found 10:47 using sort of an acronym what Pastor Carlton Byrd uses. 10:50 I says, now what you believe, why you believe, 10:52 and where it's found. 10:53 Because even as young people, 10:54 we can be a witness to our friends. 10:57 And if I would have understand it fully, 10:59 not just from- 11:01 If it would've been more experimental for me 11:03 and understanding it in my life, 11:04 I could've been a better witness to my friend 11:06 to explain the Sabbath to him, 11:08 and he could have possibly taken it back to his parents. 11:10 But I didn't necessarily know it like this. 11:13 So I think it's key for us to talk to our children about 11:16 what we actually believe, why we do it. 11:18 And place Jesus in the center of all of it. 11:21 Jesus, and our relational Jesus in the center of it. 11:23 And that is the keyword I think "relational." 11:26 Definitely, definitely. 11:28 Because, otherwise it is ritualistic. 11:30 Yeah. 11:31 And so, let's get back to how you grew up, 11:35 because you grew up 11:37 as an Adventist... 11:38 Yeah, definitely. 11:39 You grew up going to church. 11:41 When did you get on that wrong path? 11:43 The dark side. The dark side. 11:45 Yeah, okay. Yeah. 11:46 How did the dark side come out? 11:47 Okay. 11:49 You know, a lot of young people, 11:51 especially a lot of young African-American males, 11:53 we have a strong pull towards sports, 11:57 basketball and football mainly. 11:59 And I always grew up loving football. 12:01 My dad was a football fan, 12:03 most of my family were all football fans. 12:06 And so I grew up watching it, playing it, just loving it. 12:09 I loved to play outside, love being outside. 12:11 So this was like my goal 12:13 just like, this is what I'm gonna do, 12:14 I know that's what I'm gonna do. 12:16 I'm gonna either play basketball or football. 12:17 You know, people would say 12:19 I mean that you're too small, you're too short, 12:20 you're too this, you're too that. 12:21 I didn't care, you know, that didn't matter. 12:23 I knew what I was gonna do. 12:25 I had a gentleman asked me one time, 12:26 I think I was around eleven, and he asked me, 12:28 "So what are you gonna do about the Sabbath?" 12:30 And that kind of turned me off from the Sabbath, 12:32 because I'm eleven, 12:34 I didn't know what I want to do. 12:36 And I didn't know how to rationalize. 12:37 I didn't have a relationship with Jesus, 12:39 to care enough about the Sabbath 12:40 at that point. 12:42 I cared about sports and I knew that I loved it. 12:44 This is what I was tied to. 12:45 And as I stated, 12:47 I went through a mixture of Adventist schools, 12:49 Seventh-day Adventist church schools, 12:50 as well as public schools. 12:52 And I knew that 12:54 I needed to be in public schools 12:55 if I wanted to get somewhere. 12:57 So I kind of had a resentment 12:59 towards Seventh-day Adventist schools, 13:01 'cause these schools aren't gonna get me to where 13:03 I want to be in sports. 13:04 And I need to be in public school, 13:06 and so I ended up going to a mixture of both. 13:10 And the public schools, 13:12 you know, I ended up getting into trouble 13:13 in number of them. 13:14 Just because, this is not where I knew, 13:16 I needed to be to get where I wanted to be. 13:18 What kind of trouble? 13:20 Well, I was kicked out of one, just, 13:23 you know, messing with females, 13:25 different things like that, 13:26 that I shouldn't be doing. 13:27 Smoking marijuana, stealing different things, 13:31 just petty stuff like that 13:33 that shouldn't be doing at Adventist school 13:35 or shouldn't be doing. 13:37 Right, right. 13:38 But, you know, no, tolerance and, you know, 13:39 getting kicked out, getting suspended, 13:41 different things like that. 13:42 I made a threat one time on a couple of students 13:44 that I was gonna kill them. 13:46 And, you know, just not tolerated. 13:49 So when I realized that 13:50 my dream of sports was just slipping away, 13:53 either because I wouldn't go to school, 13:55 because I was always going to 13:57 a mixture of Adventists schools and public schools, 13:59 or I couldn't make to grade. 14:01 Then it's kind of like, what was left? 14:04 I remember when I was 16, 14:05 my dad asked me and my brother, 14:06 we were driving in the car living in San Antonio. 14:08 And he asked us both, "What do y'all want to be 14:11 when you grow up or what do you wanna do?" 14:13 And my brother gave all his stuff, 14:15 he kind of always had his stuff mapped out 14:17 what he wanted to do. 14:18 And even though he had his little vices, 14:20 sorry Adam for saying that, but... 14:23 He always had his little vices, 14:25 but he knew what he wanted to do. 14:28 Where my dreams are sports, went south. 14:31 The only thing that I could think of 14:33 to tell my dad was, I just want a car. 14:34 You know, that's all I want. 14:35 I just want a car, 'cause I knew, if I get me a car, 14:37 I know what I'm gonna do around San Antonio. 14:39 I'm a beat, you know, 14:41 I was already doing all types of stuff. 14:42 But now I didn't have to rely on bus, 14:43 so I didn't have to rely on somebody to pick me up. 14:46 So being that I had no vision anymore, 14:49 I started to look at other people, and see like wow. 14:52 I notice my friends that will go to school. 14:54 And I would notice 15, 16 year old kids 14:58 come to school with tattoos all over their bodies. 15:00 Gold teeth in the mouth, 15:02 and that's a big thing in Texas, 15:03 for the younger people, 15:04 as well as they would have women, 15:07 and they would have cars, 15:08 with rims on them, and system in the truck. 15:10 Now I see that stuff as trivial. 15:12 You know, that stuff, whatever. 15:14 You know, a lot of are so satanic or whatever. 15:16 But I didn't know that at that time. 15:17 I just knew, this is what I wanted. 15:19 And I found out that a lot of them, 15:21 they were selling drugs, they were robbing, 15:23 different things like that. 15:24 And it was fast money. 15:25 So my addiction to that lifestyle started 15:28 with that fast money. 15:30 Just seeing how fast I could get a $1000. 15:32 And to know, okay, if I work here at a job, 15:35 I worked at a Luby's cafeteria 15:36 in San Antonio for a while. 15:38 I worked for two weeks, get a check, $200. 15:41 And I'm seeing friends that's working, 15:44 putting in an hour in the streets, 15:46 coming with $1000. 15:48 It didn't weigh out to me, you know. 15:49 And my parents weren't the type to say, 15:52 if I went to them, 15:53 that they would just give me what I wanted. 15:55 I didn't have, I didn't grow... 15:56 We were always like lower middle class, 15:58 but I didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth 16:00 where was, you know, okay, 16:01 you can get what you ask for. 16:02 My dad would pretty much say, 16:04 you got to work for it, 16:05 and this work just had no appeal to me. 16:07 Right. 16:08 Well, because you were watching 16:09 your friends who were making... 16:12 You didn't want to work for work sake. 16:14 Yeah. Definitely, sure. 16:16 You weren't trying to just work for work sake. 16:17 You were trying to work and make the most money 16:20 that you could in the shortest amount of time, 16:22 with the least amount of effort, right? 16:24 Definitely. Yeah, 100 percent. 16:26 What role did hip-hop play in drawing you into that? 16:31 Well, hip-hop played a great big role for me. 16:33 People want to say that, 16:35 TV is just entertainment, music is just entertainment. 16:37 That's a blatant lie, 16:39 because we know from the word of God, 16:40 that when Satan was Lucifer in heaven, 16:42 he made music. 16:44 So when he got kicked out of heaven, 16:45 he didn't lose that power, 16:46 he didn't lose that desire for music. 16:48 So all he's done is come down here to earth, 16:51 as the Bible said 16:52 "Woe to the inhibitors of the earth, 16:53 for the devil has come down having great wrath." 16:55 He's come down and he's using all same things, 16:58 that same music as a tool to get people's attention. 17:01 And he knows that the pull that hip-hop 17:04 has upon young people. 17:06 I remember when I was doing a presentation 17:09 at a church one time, after I changed my life. 17:11 And I was doing it on hip-hop. 17:13 And I went to the founder of hip-hop, 17:15 his name is Afrika Bambaataa. 17:17 I went to his webpage 17:18 and I noticed something interesting. 17:20 as soon as I clicked on the webpage, 17:22 it was like this Indian man with six arms, 17:26 he had six arms going around his body 17:29 and on each of those arms, he had something in his hand. 17:32 And then it started to talk about 17:33 the five elements of hip-hop. 17:35 And it mentioned the B boy, the B girl, 17:38 different things like that. 17:40 And it said the most important element 17:42 that all true hip-hop artists know is 17:45 that the knowledge of yourself as God. 17:47 And when I saw that, I was like wow, 17:49 and as you look at each of those arms. 17:51 On some of those arms, 17:53 they each had satanic symbols on them. 17:55 And I was like, wow, 17:56 and I went back to the book "Great Controversy" 17:58 and I looked, I have the illustrative version, 18:00 and had some of these pictures on there. 18:02 And I was like, wow, this is on as hip-hop page. 18:05 And I realized then, 18:06 and I realized that that's the same thing 18:08 that Satan told Eve in the very beginning, 18:11 when he broke down all her senses. 18:13 He said, "You shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." 18:16 And that's the same repeated lie 18:17 that has been going on for ever. 18:19 And as Afrika Bambaataa put it, 18:21 that all true hip-hop artists know 18:23 that the knowledge of self as God, 18:26 is the most important element. 18:27 So I saw how it had a great pull up on me to where, 18:31 I mean I just lived hip-hop, 18:33 I just breathed hip-hop, I loved it. 18:35 And I remember even my dad saying one time 18:37 where he was like, 18:38 you know, and he is not for TV, 18:40 just sitting around watching TV. 18:41 But he was like, "Man, just watch TV or something." 18:43 'Cause I would literally sit in my room for hours 18:46 and pump this music in my head. 18:48 And watch BET hip-hop video... 18:50 it had a strong impact upon me. 18:51 You know, one of my big things, 18:54 you know, is... 18:57 I host a program called Urban Report. 18:59 Okay. 19:00 And, one of my big, big issues, Aaron, 19:04 is the affect of hip-hop music on our communities. 19:08 Definitely. 19:09 For one thing... 19:11 and we have a program called "TKS", 19:14 True knowledge of Self. 19:15 Yeah. 19:16 Because one of the things that happens is... 19:19 It's new age thought. Yeah. 19:21 It's old, but it's new age thought, where man is God. 19:25 Wow. 19:27 And it's a satanic, demonic thing 19:29 where man wants to be elevated to the level of God. 19:31 To that level. Definitely. 19:33 And the music, 19:35 music combined with rhythm and rhyme, 19:39 gets into your subconscious mind 19:41 and shapes those values. 19:42 Definitely. 19:43 So you begin to look at women as objects. 19:46 Yeah. Exactly. 19:47 You begin to think that I'm all that. 19:49 A lot of that rap stuff, you know, 19:51 the swag, all of that stuff that goes with it. 19:53 Yeah, swag. 19:55 You know, it's like, you know, 19:56 I'm the man, I'm this, I'm that. 19:58 Definitely. It's all about me. 20:00 Yeah. 20:01 And it's so antithetical to what God's about. 20:05 And so that's why, 20:07 I'm big on the impact that hip-hop has had 20:12 on our young people and continues to have. 20:13 Definitely. 20:15 So you're saying that in your life, 20:17 hip-hop drew you into 20:20 this other way of thinking and looking at life. 20:22 Definitely, definitely. 20:23 Because I remember watching music videos, 20:26 and money being thrown around, 20:28 and different things like that. 20:29 And just listening to the word. 20:30 I wasn't one that just listen to a good beats. 20:33 Some people try to say, 20:34 well, they're just listening to the beat. 20:36 Whatever that's nonsense too. 20:37 Because there's no way you can just listen 20:38 to that without the words getting in you. 20:40 That's right. Yeah, that's not the... 20:41 Even if you don't realize it, they are getting in there. 20:42 That's straight nonsense. 20:44 And I remember, 20:45 just listening to these words, 20:48 and I mean, I would tune into the way, 20:50 I could feel them in me. 20:51 And I remember one time, 20:53 one of my cousins just asked me man, like, 20:54 "Why can't you change your life?" 20:56 And I told him straight, I said, 20:57 "It's the music man, the music is in me." 20:59 And it's just like, 21:00 I had a demonic pull within me strong with that music. 21:04 And I remember one time, 21:06 I looked at something that Tupac had to say. 21:08 I used to listen to Tupac pretty hard. 21:10 And it was one time, 21:11 when he's in incarcerated he did an interview. 21:13 And he said, he told people straight, 21:14 he said, "Don't just bob your head to the music." 21:16 He said, "If you listen to my words, 21:17 my words are spiritual." 21:19 You know what I'm saying. 21:20 So they're actually having an impact upon. 21:22 And he knew it. 21:23 And he said it straight up. 21:25 That gives me a chill. 21:26 And a lot of people don't realize that, 21:28 that music is spiritual and it's pleasing. 21:30 He said specifically, "Listen to what I'm saying, 21:32 don't just bob your head to this music." 21:34 Because stuff is coming into you as you're listening 21:37 and a lot of people don't realize that. 21:39 And it shaped me, and it changed me 21:41 and it let me down that path for selling drugs, 21:44 of robbing people. 21:45 My first time incarcerated was at 16, 21:47 for burglary charge. 21:49 Then my next charge was... 21:51 I didn't even complete that, 21:52 I did a week in juvenile center. 21:54 I got out, and I was on probation, 21:57 and I was on a year, for year probation at Texas. 22:00 And couldn't complete that 22:02 because, you know, my mind hadn't changed. 22:04 And I saw some money, you know, 22:06 some fast money and just hooked, addicted. 22:09 And I eventually got locked up again, 22:11 not even a year later, when I was 17, 22:14 this time I was charged as an adult. 22:16 At 17 years old, now I'm in a big house, 22:18 now I'm in jail with people 22:20 who had murdered, people that have raped, 22:22 all different types of things. 22:24 And I ended up, 22:25 it was a home invasion charge, 22:27 second degree home invasion charge 22:29 with a couple of other charges that I had with that 22:31 which I think they classed it as a second degree felony. 22:34 And I was looking at like, 22:35 three and half to five and half years sentence. 22:37 But since it was my first time as an adult, 22:40 they differed that and I ended up 22:42 going to prison boot camp, where I served three months, 22:45 then I went to a halfway house for a month. 22:48 Well, the reason it's halfway house is 22:49 'cause you are halfway locked up, 22:51 and you're halfway back home, so it's a halfway. 22:53 And that's kind of getting you reintegrated 22:55 back into society as well. 22:57 So I was there for a month. 22:59 I got out and they put me on house arrest, 23:01 while I had this tethering thing on my ankle. 23:03 And I was on three years probation at that time. 23:07 Again didn't complete that once again, 23:09 'cause my mind hadn't changed. 23:11 And still addicted to money, still addicted to women, 23:14 still addicted to the music, all these types of things. 23:16 And then I ended up catching another charge 23:21 when I was 19 years old. 23:23 And because I already had priors, 23:25 this is the charge, they sent me to the prison. 23:27 They called it engaging in criminal activities 23:29 where I had robbed a bank, 23:31 where I broke into the bank late at night, 23:33 as well as robbed a subway. 23:36 And so because I had priors, 23:38 this is what caused me to go to prison. 23:40 And... 23:42 What were you thinking, Aaron, like, 23:44 where is my life going? 23:46 Well, at that point, 23:47 I think I was so high on drugs 23:50 constantly that you don't think. 23:52 I remember when we were going to 23:54 break into that bank that night. 23:55 I was talking to my friend, and I was like... 23:57 I mean really just gassing up his head like men, 23:59 "we are gonna get in there, we're going to get $75,000, 24:01 and you know, we didn't get nothing out of it, 24:03 by the way, you know. 24:04 And it's interesting how we do stuff, 24:05 and you get locked up with people. 24:07 And people did stuff, you did that for two dollars. 24:11 It is just interesting the stuff that we do. 24:13 You're not thinking. 24:14 You're controlled by another spirit. 24:15 You're controlled... 24:17 it is literally spirits of devils, 24:19 they are just guiding you. 24:20 And I remember that, you know, 24:23 we didn't get any thing out of that. 24:25 And I didn't think. 24:27 And because I know, 24:28 while we were talking to each other, 24:29 we were drinking 40's of, 24:31 40's of some kind of alcohol that day. 24:33 It was Bud Ice. 24:34 We were drinking 40's of those. 24:36 I probably consumed about four of those, 24:37 which is a lot of alcohol. 24:39 And it's like, I'm just not thinking, 24:41 I'm letting in the drugs, I'm letting in the alcohol, 24:43 just take over, and these are becoming 24:45 my mind to me to where 24:47 I'm just doing all types of nonsense, you know. 24:49 How did you find Jesus, 24:51 I mean I can't believe the time is going by so fast. 24:54 I mean, it's just... 24:55 and your story is so interesting. 24:57 How did you find Him? 24:58 Well, you know, it wasn't necessarily 25:01 through me being incarcerated, 25:04 because you know, I would have times in my life 25:06 where I'd try to change my life 25:07 but it had never stuck. 25:09 I didn't hit rock bottom enough. 25:10 So I got out of prison, 25:12 I started transporting pounds of marijuana 25:14 from Texas to North Carolina. 25:15 I moved there, 25:17 and even through that situation, robbed, 25:19 you know, I had a gun put in my face. 25:21 You know, I had been on car chases, 25:23 where people try to chase me and kill me 25:25 or whatever, all these various types of things. 25:27 But those still didn't get my attention. 25:29 It wasn't until in 2008, 25:31 I was running from the law real hard. 25:34 I moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2007. 25:37 And at that point I was using cocaine, 25:40 a little bit of heroin, I was using ecstasy, 25:42 I was popping prescription pills, 25:44 I was using marijuana, 25:45 I smoked a packet a day and I drank alcohol, 25:48 so all these things, and I have literally done 25:50 all of these things at one time. 25:52 I've been so high to where you just, 25:53 there's no higher that you can get. 25:55 There's no possible way out. 25:56 All you do is get sick. 25:58 And I was on a mission to overdose, 25:59 because I wanted to come to that point, 26:02 where I could just commit suicide, 26:04 so I was purposely trying to overdose, 26:06 but praise the Lord, it never happen. 26:07 So I remember, I'm talking real fast, 26:08 'cause time is short. 26:10 But I remember one specific night, 26:11 I was high on four drugs 26:13 and I had walked into my room in the house, 26:16 and when I walked into the room, 26:18 immediately a fear came upon me like never before. 26:21 And I knew something was in this room, 26:22 that didn't belong there. 26:24 I laid down on a mattress on the floor 26:25 and I looked up and I could see demons... 26:27 it's like a spirit world started revealing itself. 26:30 I could see demons moving above, 26:31 and I heard the Holy Spirit speaking to me at that point. 26:34 And he called my name, and I knew at that point, 26:36 when he said, "Aaron, you need 26:38 to get your life together or that's it." 26:40 I knew I was on the brink of the unpardonable sin, 26:42 I knew it. 26:43 When you run and you run and you're running, 26:44 you're tuning out the voice of the Lord. 26:46 But the beautiful thing is 26:48 God is going to chase you as long as possible, 26:51 as long as possible. 26:52 And I knew it, so at that point, 26:54 I came to this decision, and there is more in there 26:56 with my dad involved in all, but for the sake of time. 26:58 I knew it, so I made the decision that night 27:00 that I'm gonna serve the Lord. 27:02 I had hit rock bottom to the point 27:03 where all I could do is look up. 27:05 And that point, 27:06 it was a hard test coming to the Lord. 27:08 And I want to say that to you young people, 27:09 that it is a hard task coming to the Lord. 27:12 But you know what, as I did, I made a decision, 27:14 every single day, no matter what I did, 27:17 I'm gonna read the word. 27:18 no matter what I do, I'm gonna read the word 27:20 and I read Patriarchs and Prophets. 27:22 And as I did that, I noticed that, 27:24 as I came to Jesus, the drug started to stop, 27:27 the habits started to stop. 27:28 Now, it's been over six years 27:29 since I've been serving the Lord. 27:31 Praise God. 27:32 I mean, that is so... 27:34 You know, you can't loose when you serve the Lord. 27:36 Amen. 27:37 You can't lose, but you gotta know Him. 27:39 Yeah, definitely. To want to serve Him. 27:41 Definitely, definitely. 27:42 Praise God that He has done this. 27:43 You are truly on The New Journey. 27:45 Amen. Amen. 27:47 I just want to say, 27:48 you're doing an outstanding job as a host. 27:50 Praise the Lord. 27:51 And we just praise the Lord for you. 27:52 Praise the Lord. Thank you. 27:54 I can't believe our time is up. 27:55 This was such a blessing. 27:57 Please join us next time on The New Journey, 27:59 where your host, Aaron Chancy, 28:01 will be hosting. 28:02 God bless you. 28:04 See you next time. |
Revised 2016-05-03