Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Ivor Myers
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000044S
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00:01 The Entertainment Industry is a maze of seduction and illusion.
00:04 Stay tuned to see how one man found his way out and is paving 00:08 the way for others to find Christ. 00:10 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching 00:12 Urban Report... 00:35 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:38 My guest today is Pastor Ivor Myers, 00:41 President and Founder of Power of the Lamb Ministries 00:44 and Bible ARME Camp and co-host of 3abn's Battles of Faith 00:49 with his wife Atonte Myers. Welcome to Urban Report 00:53 Pastor Myers... Thank you for having me Yvonne. 00:55 It's so great to have you here, I am excited because I know you 00:59 have some great information for us today. 01:02 Praise the Lord, praise God. So, a lot of our viewers are 01:07 familiar with Battles of Faith, but we have some who aren't. 01:12 Tell us about your story... tell us how you just evolved 01:17 by the grace of God into who you are... who were you before? 01:22 Well, I was born in Jamaica in 01:27 1972 and my family came to the United States when I was about 01:33 5... I think maybe 6 years old, and we didn't have any religious 01:38 background, we just kind of went to Church on certain days 01:43 of the... maybe once or twice a year... you know, 01:48 Christmas and if family members had invited us but nothing... 01:52 we just didn't grow up in a religious setting and when I 01:56 came to the United States, I had a very strong Jamaican 02:01 accent and so the kids would make fun of me and I 02:06 discovered that one of the best ways to make friends was 02:09 to get into that culture, that was actually getting popular 02:13 at that time which was hip-hop, break-dancing and my younger 02:17 brother and I started getting into the whole, you know, 02:20 the whole scene... the dressing, the style, the language 02:24 everything... so that's what got us into the hip-hop culture 02:32 and we just began to flourish in it... you know, 02:36 getting involved in Rap music and it eventually led 02:41 to an eight-album contract with EMI Records... 02:46 now I just kind of jumped a whole lot there but we were 02:50 signed to a contract with EMI Records in 1993 02:54 as part of a four-man hip-hop group 02:58 and during this time again, we really had no strong 03:02 religious encounter... and we thought that we were 03:05 on our way to fame which we were we ended up on Soul Train, BET, 03:09 Rap City, MTV, I mean we were the up-and-coming group... 03:15 Let me ask you something Pastor, when you were kind of immersed 03:24 in the hip-hop culture, did you feel that anything was 03:28 wrong with it or did you really just embrace it as being 03:32 what you wanted to do? Yeah, I just embraced it, I mean 03:37 I didn't have any real compass to determine what was right 03:41 and what was wrong and, in fact, in the Hip-Hop culture, 03:46 it was very antagonistic to the Bible, so, you know, 03:51 the Bible was considered a tampered book, 03:53 and, you know, the racial issues it was just like... 03:59 the Bible is not our book, the black man being from Africa, 04:04 there was a whole lot of talk of other religions like 04:08 the Nation of 5 percenters, the Nation of Islam and all 04:12 these other kinds of quote unquote "Black Religions" 04:16 so, as far as the Bible was concerned, it wasn't really, 04:20 you know, I had no compass and the Bible just wasn't 04:23 a part of our lives in the way that would have helped me 04:27 to determine, "Oh yeah, this is right... 04:29 this is wrong," you know, nothing like that... 04:32 Right, it's so interesting to me how Satan does that, I mean, 04:37 if you have nothing else to compare it with... 04:39 nothing else to counteract the counterfeit so to speak, then, 04:45 of course, you tend to kind of embrace what "feels" good or 04:50 what sounds good and so you just kind of flow over into that 04:54 because there is nothing to balance that out or to actually 04:59 get rid of the wrong and put you on the right course... so... 05:03 Absolutely... so you were in this group 05:05 and you guys were starting to hit the big time, 05:09 singing in all these TV programs and doing all that... 05:13 where was your head, were you, again, was this something that 05:17 you were ready to go for? Was your head totally just 05:21 into this? Or did you feel afraid of the success? 05:24 Where were you? No, not at all, we were totally 05:27 into it, we had always dreamed of, you know, being like those 05:32 of them that we had seen on TV before us 05:34 and so we looked up to these Rap Stars and now we were like, 05:37 "Okay, it's our turn... " and totally moving forward 05:41 totally gung ho and it's just interesting that 05:48 it was there in the midst of what I felt was our dream 05:53 being realized that we were introduced to Christianity 05:58 and specifically the Adventist message... 06:00 So, just as you were crossing over, 06:05 you got introduced into the Adventist message... 06:08 How did that happen? 06:09 Well, I went to college in Virginia State University 06:14 and when we got our record deal, my younger brother, 06:19 myself and two of our good friends... we were part of this 06:23 four-man group... but we had a large entourage, 06:26 who were also made up of groups, it was about 3 or 4 groups 06:29 of us and when we got our record deal, it was like the 06:33 opening wedge for the others to follow in our steps 06:36 and we were going to, like kind of, provide a platform 06:39 you know, for them to secure record deals... 06:43 so we kind of all left school together and went up to 06:47 New York City and it was there that we were introduced 06:51 through a mutual friend, and at this time, we didn't even 06:56 I had never even heard of the term Adventist... 06:59 so one night we were all, sitting around talking about 07:03 The New World Order and The Mark of the Beast 07:05 and we had no clue what we were talking about 07:08 we were just... we had gotten to this place where it was like 07:11 the end thing, if you will, to, you know, to talk about 07:15 conspiracy theories and the Mark of the Beast, 07:18 and the New World Order and how they are after 07:21 the black man and... Say again... 07:24 You guys were sitting around and philosophizing 07:26 without having any foundation... Yeah... we had no clue 07:30 we had no clue what we were talking about so, this young man 07:34 as we were speaking, he just asked us 07:38 "So, hey, what day do you think the Sabbath is?" 07:42 and, you know, I remember thinking, "What an off-the-wall 07:45 question...," like, you know, we are here talking about 07:48 the Mark of the Beast and about New World Order stuff 07:51 and here this guy is... and we had just met him, 07:54 he was like 19 at that time and we were like 20, 21... 07:57 we were all young adults. Right... 08:00 And we're like, you know, "Sunday... everybody knows that 08:03 the Sabbath is on Sunday, what kind of question is that?" 08:06 And then he asked us... He said, "What day is the 08:11 Sabbath on?" and we were like... "The seventh Day... you know 08:13 that's obvious... " and he was like, he said, 08:17 "What day is Saturday? What day is Sunday?" 08:20 and we were like... "The seventh day... " 08:23 and then, he was like... "What day is Saturday?" 08:27 and we were like, "The seventh day" 08:31 We had just never thought about it before... I mean, 08:34 the math... When he asked us those questions 08:36 we were like "Wait a minute something is not adding up here" 08:39 And from that point on, I mean, it was just like 08:43 something clicked and I was like "Now, wait a minute... 08:46 how did that happen?" And then, "Sunday is actually 08:48 the first day of the week, Saturday is the end of the week, 08:51 so how does that happen?" and it turned into... 08:56 like a four-hour Bible Study that night... 08:59 with like 30 of us... Ah... I love it... 09:01 Now was this young man, was he... a part of the... 09:05 one of the groups that wanted to get a record deal? 09:08 No, no, no, we had just met him, he was living in New York 09:12 we had all come up from Virginia I was, like I said, 09:15 born in Jamaica and raised up in New York but then 09:18 ended up going to college in Virginia so I was coming back 09:21 to New York and most of the guys were from New York as well, 09:24 but this young man was living in New York 09:28 and was a friend of one of our friends so we were 09:31 all really just meeting him... I see... and so you guys were 09:36 just kind of hanging out and shooting the breeze and 09:38 philosophizing about Mark of the Beast and all that 09:41 and here this guy, just tumbles your world... 09:44 rocks your world by asking you about which day is the Sabbath. 09:49 Yeah, yeah... And really that question 09:52 shouldn't have even mattered to us because we weren't going to 09:56 church and we knew very little about the Bible... 09:58 but for some reason, it was like stumbling upon something 10:03 that was like... "Wait a minute... 10:06 everyone we know goes to church on Sunday... 10:09 what do you mean... the Sabbath is on Saturday?" 10:11 and that question led to another question, 10:13 led to another question... four-hour Bible study 10:16 and from that night on, everyday we would study the Bible 10:22 every day... and he had shared with us in particular 10:27 the prophecy of Daniel Chapter 7 which, you know, talks about 10:33 these beasts coming up out of the sea and how these 10:36 nations would overthrow one another... 10:38 coming down to our very day and so that just totally 10:43 intrigued me and learning that prophecy really changed 10:48 a whole lot for me... to the point where I started 10:51 giving Bible studies before I knew anything else... 10:54 Like I would just give people Bible studies on Daniel 7 10:57 I knew nothing else about the Bible but it so hit me 11:00 I memorized that chapter and when people would say 11:03 "Hey, can I get a Bible study?" 11:04 and I'd, you know, because I was in the music industry... 11:06 it was very easy for me to give Bible studies... 11:10 and so, I'd give these Bible studies and they'd say, 11:12 "When can we have another one?" and I wouldn't have another one, 11:15 I'd be like, "Give me another six weeks and I'll get stuff 11:20 that I can share. " and so... 11:22 That's awesome... so... isn't it... 11:23 God is just so off-the-chain, the way He does things... 11:28 He accomplishes so much with one move... 11:32 Look at what He did... He brought in 11:34 a peer... to talk to you... because you would probably 11:38 have received it better from the peer, 11:41 brought in a peer to talk to you and then quickened your spirit 11:46 and gave you this passion, for the Word 11:49 and gave you... you had already some credibility 11:53 because you were in the music business, so you had a little 11:56 credibility there and so people were going to listen 11:59 to what you had to say, and He gave you that passion 12:02 for prophecy... Yeah, yeah, yeah... 12:04 Okay, so what happened then? Well, you know, actually it was 12:10 we ended up becoming baptized into the church 12:13 and when I say "we"... I mean there were at least... 12:17 I would say, maybe somewhere between 15 and 20 of us 12:21 that as a result of that conversation 12:25 and what happened afterward... were eventually baptized 12:28 into the church... including my younger brother 12:30 who is now a minister as well. So, it's amazing, Yvonne, when I 12:36 think back, it was, you know... when we learned that he was an 12:42 Adventist, we were like, we're coming to church with you 12:44 this Sabbath... so like 20 of us, dread-locked, 12:49 gum-chewing and sagging, you know, just rolled up 12:53 in the church and the looks on the people's faces! 12:56 it was a small church too and the people were like... 13:01 we were just so excited to be there we didn't, you know, 13:04 we didn't even notice that people were looking at us 13:08 like that... Yeah, yeah... 13:09 And anything the Pastor said, we were like literally 13:14 losing our minds... we were like "What! he just talked about 13:18 tithe... what! we've got to warn the world, 13:21 "Pay your tithe!" you know, I mean anything... 13:23 literally anything that came out of his mouth, 13:26 we were just blown away! I love it... because, 13:30 it's like giving water to a thirsty soul... 13:34 Yeah, yes... You know, it's... 13:35 your souls were being watered, this is what you were looking 13:38 for and hadn't been able to find Yeah... 13:41 Now, let me ask you something because a lot of young people 13:45 need to know this... as you were embracing 13:51 Biblical concepts, what was going on with you 13:55 as you were trying to perform... I would imagine that 13:59 at some point, you had like a little, what they call... 14:02 cognitive dissonance, where, you know, 14:06 you knew what was right but then you were performing 14:10 so... you had a clash, tell us a little bit about that 14:13 because I am sure you had something like that happen. 14:16 Yeah... well initially we were so excited... we decided 14:19 that we were going to put the three angels' messages 14:22 into our hip-hop music. Oh... Okay 14:26 So, we would be in the clubs and, you know, we would 14:31 have backpacks when we performed and like military backpacks... 14:37 so we'd be performing, we'd have these backpacks on 14:39 and then we would stop and we would say 14:42 something like... you know... "Who wants to know who the man 14:45 of sin is? throw your hands in the air... 14:48 and everybody would like... throw their hands in the air... 14:50 and then, we would take, out of our backpacks, 14:52 the book, The Great Controversy and start throwing it out 14:55 in the audience... and the people were diving for 14:58 the books... they had no clue what they were diving for... 15:00 but it's just because it was coming from us, 15:03 and, you know, I mean, that's what's... 15:06 And I'd like to say is that God... in times of ignorance 15:10 He winks... Yes... 15:11 So He was doing a lot of winking... you know like, 15:14 "Angels, just go bless them, just go... " Ohhhhh... 15:19 You know, we were honest, we were sincere, 15:23 Yes... and I say that, you know, 15:27 because we... I know better now... 15:30 than I did then and I believe that God blessed us then 15:33 in our ignorance... Of course, because God meets us 15:36 where we are... Exactly... 15:38 ...and He knows where you are going to be... 15:40 Exactly... But where you are at that point, 15:42 you wanted to witness, even through the hip-hop realm, 15:47 you wanted to witness... so you guys were tossing out 15:51 the Great Controversies at the Club... 15:53 Yeah, Yvonne, it's funny because we would even 15:58 warn people to get out of the Clubs and we would say things 16:03 like "What are you doing in the Clubs.. this is the Babylon... " 16:06 and we are in the Clubs warning people to get out of the Clubs 16:09 and, you know, I think a pivotal 16:12 point came for me because I remember one night 16:15 I was just wondering "Lord, you know, we're warning 16:18 these people, you know, about their lifestyle and 16:21 what they are doing and, you know, all this stuff" and 16:23 what if God came back on a Friday night, you know 16:26 on a Sabbath when they were in the Clubs... and I don't know 16:30 what we were thinking... but it's like God said to me, 16:32 "You cannot call people out of Babylon, 16:35 if you are a part of Babylon yourself. " 16:37 Come on, come on... ... And that realization 16:40 I mean that was the beginning of actually both my brother and I 16:45 making a final decision to come out of the Industry... 16:49 That is what actually kicked it off... 16:52 Isn't that... that's that's amazing... 16:55 God knows exactly when to do that, 16:59 He is just so incredible... and I praise the Lord 17:02 that you obeyed and responded so you came out at that point 17:08 you and your brothers came out at that point 17:10 and what did your friends think? When you left, when you left 17:15 the music industry, what did they think? 17:17 Well, it was a process that led us to come out... I mean... 17:21 after I heard that, you know, I was still like, 17:24 yeah, but maybe He could use me in the Industry 17:27 and maybe I can be a blessing to others 17:29 by doing this... you know, I can reach people in here 17:34 that I couldn't reach out there, you know all the reasoning's 17:38 that would be typical of, you know, self-justification of 17:41 why I should stay in this Industry and make money... 17:44 Yes... ... and, you know, ultimately 17:48 through studying the Bible and especially studying the 17:51 Spirit of Prophecy and just 17:54 really praying... asking God, God what would you have me to do 17:57 you know, He showed me that light and darkness 18:01 cannot dwell together... and that if I am going to call 18:06 people out of something, out of error, out of darkness, 18:09 I had to come out of it myself, and He also showed me, 18:13 you know, Babylon will not and does not respect 18:17 and when I say Babylon, I use that term, you know, 18:21 in a world-wide sense... it does not respect 18:26 the kind of Christianity that compromises... 18:31 and so, you know, I am in the Industry and we are here 18:36 trying to talk about Jesus, but people are like, 18:38 "Yeah, but, you know, I know you're talking about Jesus, 18:41 but it's not really REAL because you're still here... 18:43 That is so true, and that's a point that we really need to 18:47 look at for a minute too because the fact that the world doesn't 18:52 really respect your still being in it... 18:56 Yeah... ... even if you are trying to 18:59 shine a light... shine THE light, 19:02 if you're still a part of it, you haven't made any sacrifices, 19:07 Yeah, yeah... ... you know, so you still want 19:09 what Babylon offers but you cloak it with spirituality, 19:13 Absolutely, absolutely... ... and people see through that 19:15 they see through that... Absolutely, yeah... 19:16 So once you came to that realization and accepted that 19:21 and then internalized it, what did you do? 19:23 Well, you know, I realized that I had to make some 19:26 serious changes... like the Lord said, 19:28 "You're going to follow me, you need to follow me... " 19:31 and, you know, that meant that I had to change 19:34 the way that I walked, because I walked with that limp, 19:37 you know, that street limp, I had to change the way that 19:39 I talked... you know, the slang that I used, 19:42 I mean, everything had to change about me so that people 19:45 could see that there was actual change going on within me... 19:49 and that I wasn't just talking but there were corresponding 19:53 fruits... and I'll tell you... it's easy to talk Christianity 19:57 because people in the Industry do it all the time... 20:01 it's another thing to actually pick up your cross 20:04 and follow Christ... and God... Absolutely... 20:07 When I made the decision to walk away from an almost 20:10 million dollar contract, which, you know, today it's nothing 20:14 but back then it was something.. especially for me... 20:16 a college kid that, you know, dropped out of college 20:19 to do this... when I made that decision to walk away... 20:22 that's when people were like... "OK, this guy is serious. " 20:26 Before then... people were like "Oh, yeah, you know, 20:28 we had an idea you were Christian," but they didn't 20:31 take me seriously... they didn't take me seriously... 20:34 they didn't take what I was saying too seriously... 20:36 When I did that.. people started listening... 20:40 and I remember God... I asked God... I was like... 20:44 "God, you know, if you take me from behind this microphone, 20:47 please put me behind another where I will be able to 20:50 reach people... " Because I just felt like, 20:53 you know, this is where the stage is at... 20:55 if I get rid of this stage, "What's going to happen? 20:57 How am I going to reach people?" and I made a decision to walk 21:01 away from the Industry... not thinking I am going to 21:04 be a pastor... like that wasn't on my radar at all, 21:07 because, I just wasn't thinking that, you know, 21:10 What does it take to be a pastor? you probably have to go 21:13 to school, I had no clue on what on it took to be a pastor, 21:16 so I dropped out of the Music, my brother and I actually went 21:20 to work at Target making... I think like $5.50 or $6 an hour 21:28 and my thought was just, "Well, maybe I'll work my way up 21:33 the Target ladder and, you know, eventually move from, you know, 21:37 unloading boxes to maybe being a Manager, like, you know, 21:40 that was just what I was thinking like, 21:42 I don't know what I'm going to do now, 21:43 but I am definitely not doing that... 21:45 and there were series of events, the Lord opened up the doors 21:49 and has given me an audience that, 21:54 you know, rivals and, I think, surpasses what I was doing 21:59 in the Music Industry... Look at God... and how He... 22:05 and I say this on Urban Report all the time, that God has a 22:09 divine plan for us and that if we seek Him and find out 22:14 "What is that plan, what is it that you want me to do... " 22:18 He will bless us beyond measure, and when you are walking in 22:22 that plan... there is nothing more fulfilling than that, 22:26 Absolutely... So you get a twofer... 22:27 you're being obedient, but you are also being blessed 22:31 because through being obedient, there are blessings beyond 22:35 measure... Yeah, yeah... 22:37 I remember, you know, that I had people... friends, family 22:43 saying, "What are you doing?" you know, you can have 22:45 such an influence if you just stayed in the Industry 22:48 and ministered that way... and, I was like, you know what? 22:53 you guys don't understand, like, you know, for me to do this, 22:58 is to lose my soul... you know, the preaching of the 23:03 three angels' message is so diametrically opposed to the 23:08 world that... the world will not give you an 23:12 avenue to really preach that message... 23:14 That's right... So if you are comfortable 23:16 in Hollywood, if you are comfortable 23:18 in the Industry and, you know, "Hey, I'm preaching the message" 23:23 but you're in the Industry, something's not right, 23:26 like, you can't be in a dark room... and the room be lit up 23:30 at the same time... Come on, come on now... 23:33 That doesn't happen, where there is light, 23:35 darkness is opposed to it, it hates it, 23:38 and, you know, I know, because, as I was in the Industry 23:43 and as I began to put in my lyrics... you know, 23:47 in my rhyming... things that were becoming too 23:52 spiritual... the Industry started saying something... 23:54 "Hey, calm down, now, you are getting a little bit too 23:57 spiritual... " and that's when I realized, 23:58 "You know what... Babylon will only allow you to 24:01 say so much and to do so much... " 24:03 That is so true... and I see it all the time, 24:07 you see it on the Grammy Awards, for example, 24:10 where if an artist says, "I want to thank God... " 24:13 everybody is cool... it's OK, you know, 24:15 you can call a tree God... and everybody goes... 24:19 "Oh, it's OK... " But if you say, "Jesus Christ" 24:22 Bam! there is... Jesus Christ is that... 24:25 that offence... to the world, Yeah, yeah... 24:29 and so... it's an amazing thing they don't... 24:33 be a little spiritual... but don't be too spiritual, 24:36 and certainly, don't profess to be Christian and to live by 24:40 the Bible... then you're really looked at as "Strange" 24:44 Absolutely... and as Adventists, you know, 24:47 we have a very specific message, Yes... 24:50 and you cannot preach that message... share that message, 24:54 you know... some people talk about Daniel, 24:56 how Daniel was in Babylon but he was still a witness, 24:59 you know, a couple of things Daniel was there by force... 25:01 not by choice... he was taken captive... 25:05 and Daniel's... you can see how the Babylonians 25:09 treated Daniel... just look... they threw him 25:12 in the Lion's Den... they tried to get him to stop 25:15 doing... in other words, 25:16 they did not like... they didn't praise Daniel 25:19 in any way, shape or form, because of what he stood for... 25:22 they hated him, they wanted to get rid of him... 25:25 That's right... They did not embrace him... 25:27 and Daniel was such a powerful witness in Babylon, 25:31 against his will of being captive there... 25:34 he actually converted the King of Babylon... 25:39 Isn't that awesome? So, I mean, if, if, yeah, 25:44 if we are actually doing what God's wanting us to do, 25:47 then, there's going to be conversions taking place, 25:50 and you're not going to be liked you're going to be persecuted, 25:55 and not embraced and so... I realized that, you know, 26:00 the Lord did not want me to voluntarily put myself 26:03 in Babylon... in that Industry and He called me out 26:07 and has, I believe, blessed my ministry, 26:13 which I didn't even know I was going to have, 26:15 but He blessed that ministry, above and beyond what I could 26:20 have possibly imagined... He would have done for me. 26:23 Praise the Lord... Praise the Lord... 26:25 Tell us briefly, because we only have about a minute... 26:28 Wow! 26:29 Tell us... I know... the time has just flown by... 26:31 there's so much more I could ask you, 26:32 but, tell us about... I keep getting it confused, 26:35 Bible Arme Camp or Arme Bible Camp? 26:38 Arme Bible Camp... What is that? 26:40 Arme Bible Camp is one of the ministries that God has 26:43 blessed me with... and has given me a team 26:49 of people that have pulled this together, essentially, that 26:53 that the ministry is about teaching people how to get 26:56 into the Word of God for themselves... 26:59 how to get into the deeper things of the Bible... 27:01 and how to equip themselves and arm themselves... 27:04 hence the name: Arm Me... Oh... Arm Me... 27:08 Absolutely... Oh, thank you... 27:11 And we've traveled around the world and we put on camps 27:13 around the world so... that's what we are... 27:16 we are a traveling school... teaching people how to be 27:18 armed with the Word of God... That's incredible... 27:21 that's incredible... Thank you so much for being with 27:23 us today... You are such a blessing... 27:26 Thank you Yvonne, thank you for having me and 27:28 I wish we could have had more time to talk but praise God... 27:32 Praise God... and so when you come to 3abn 27:36 to do some more taping, you have to let me interview you 27:39 in person again... Absolutely... 27:41 Praise the Lord... Thank you... 27:43 Thank you... Well, once again, our time has 27:46 slipped away from us... where does it go? 27:48 Thanks so much for tuning in... Join us next time... 27:52 You know, we really, really, really want to bring you 27:55 programs that will bless you... so join us next time... 27:59 because... it just wouldn't be the same without you... |
Revised 2024-12-24