Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Jaime Espinal
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000055S
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00:01 Stay tuned to meet a man whose life was radically changed
00:04 by the transforming power of God... 00:06 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching Urban Report 00:32 Hello and welcome to Urban Report 00:35 My guest today is Jaime Espinal, I first heard about him 00:39 from Pastor C.A. Murray, he told me that Jaime's story 00:44 is incredible and I was fascinated when he shared 00:47 some of it with me... so I felt that I had to share it 00:50 with our Urban Report viewers. Welcome to Urban Report Jaime, 00:55 Thank you Yvonne... So glad to have you... 00:57 Very nice to be here... Thank you... OK so... 01:00 Pastor Murray just gave me a little bit of your testimony 01:04 but our viewers don't know anything about you 01:06 so tell us about you... tell us about your early years. 01:10 OK... I'm originally from Colombia 01:12 I grew up in a very secular environment 01:15 my father was very proud of me when I was 9-years-old 01:20 and was drinking already... so that's the environment 01:26 I grew up with... Was your dad an alcoholic? 01:29 Yes... he was... he was... and, you know, later on, 01:34 he saw the results because... my life was just one trial 01:39 after another one... I got into a lot of violence 01:42 with gangs and I was fighting all the time... 01:46 How did you get drawn into gangs? 01:48 Well, some of the people that I was hanging around with 01:53 they were drinking... we used to gather just to drink 01:57 but we ended up in fights and all kinds of other things 02:01 so that's basically... you know I was... 02:04 there were weeks that 02:07 they had to get me out of jail three or four times in a week 02:12 and my mother... she suffered a lot because I would come home 02:17 all bleeding... she didn't know if the blood was 02:21 from me or somebody else and she had a rough time... 02:25 and they wanted me to move from there and they wanted to 02:30 send me to the United States so that I would be 02:32 away from that... but I didn't want to... 02:34 but later on... things got so bad that for my own sake 02:39 I made the decision to leave on my own 02:42 and I came to the United States. Now how many brothers 02:45 and sisters did you have... growing up? 02:47 I have another 4 brothers and 1 sister, 02:49 And where were you in the birth order? 02:51 I'm the second... Second... 02:53 Yes... OK, now were your other brothers 02:55 doing the same kinds of things? No... no... they were not... 02:58 So just you... Yeah... it was just me... 03:00 Wow, wow... isn't it interesting how you know, your life was 03:05 going down... one path... and you come up in the same 03:09 environment... as your sisters and brothers... 03:13 but... you know... some kids take a 03:16 "dark path" so to speak and others take a different path... 03:20 so, you decided to leave... 03:23 you decided... that you were going to leave Colombia... 03:26 Yes... How old were you? 03:28 At that time... I was 16-years-old 03:30 OK... 16 and trying to be a man where you thinking 03:34 you're a man... Right... right... 03:35 Machismo? Oh yeah... I've been arguing 03:38 with my dad... he would say... 03:40 you're not a man yet... and I'd say... 03:41 yes... I'm a man already... but I was wrong... 03:44 He was right... Hmmmm... hmmmm... hmmm... 03:46 So I moved to the United States and I tried to have a 03:51 decent life... I had my regular jobs... but my friends 03:55 in the States... in Texas... they were all in the 03:59 drug business... Oh... so whom did you come 04:03 and stay with? It was the son of a... 04:07 a friend of my father's... OK... OK... 04:11 but... I wasn't with him very long, you know, 04:14 because he didn't want to really help... 04:17 and so... anyway... I was in that environment... 04:21 I stayed like that for a couple of years... 04:24 people thought that I was in the business of the drugs 04:29 but I was not... but later on... 04:31 I started getting some offers to start getting deep into this 04:37 type of work... It's so interesting because now 04:41 were you in School? Had you dropped out of School? 04:45 Where were you in terms of School? 04:47 Yeah... I dropped out... OK... and started hanging 04:51 with the wrong crowd... so to speak... 04:54 Yes... hmmmm... hmmmm... and started... 04:55 at first, you weren't involved in drugs and then you decided 04:59 to step out into that? Well, yeah... I was offered 05:04 a job to start smuggling money into Colombia from the States 05:09 Oh... So, I started taking large 05:12 amounts of money to Colombia 05:14 and then later on... I was offered 05:17 to kill some people who were the main drug dealers 05:22 in the area... I refused to do that... 05:25 but then later on... I started building up 05:29 my own chain of drug business so, I started working 05:36 with the cartels from Colombia and built up a chain... 05:40 in Miami... New York... Dallas and Colombia 05:43 very soon... I had a number of families that were working 05:48 for me... and I had a lot of distributors and, you know, 05:52 I was married at that time... and had a little daughter... 05:56 and for safety reasons, I had them move to Florida 06:03 so they won't be near to where I was doing 06:06 all these operations... Look at this now Brother Jaime, 06:10 OK so... you started drinking at 9 right? 06:16 You... at 15 or 16... you come to the States 06:21 because your parents can't deal with where you were going 06:25 with your life... Yes... 06:26 you come to the States... you don't start with drugs yet 06:31 this is... Satan takes us down this downward spiral right 06:35 That's right... that's right... ... gradually, gradually... so 06:39 at first... you are... I'm not going to mess with those 06:41 drugs... but then... you kind of because you're hanging with 06:45 the people that are doing it... and you're probably seeing 06:48 the fast money... and thinking well... maybe if I do this... 06:52 then I won't do that... and then you just kind of get 06:57 more and more involved... I was being prepared for this 07:00 since my teenage years... and it all was 07:05 just a matter of time... I would say... 07:07 Yes... yes... yes... ... and so that eventually came 07:11 and I clicked into it... and that's how the Devil works.. 07:16 That is how the Devil works you know, I always talk about 07:21 on Urban Report... I always talk about the plan 07:24 that God has... just as God has a plan for us 07:28 that is so... exceedingly abundantly more than 07:31 what we could ask or think... so the enemy... 07:34 has a plan for us too... right? Right... that's right... 07:37 He saw you... he saw that you have skills, 07:40 and he wanted to take those skills and use them for him 07:45 but God had a different plan... That's right... and it's so true 07:49 what you just said... and, you know, 07:50 I have different people along the way that have asked me 07:54 to study the Bible... but I refused to do it... 07:57 you know, I said... "That's not for me... 07:58 that's for... you know... in fact, I came to the point 08:02 where I said... I cannot hear somebody 08:04 to tell me what was the truth because... 08:06 even if they are in error... they're going to defend it 08:11 as the truth... so, therefore, I said... 08:13 I'm closed to any human being period 08:15 Wow... ... and that's the way I was... 08:17 and God saw that and went where I was... 08:20 and He dealt with 08:22 that situation... we have a wonderful God, don't we? 08:25 Oh! don't we... don't we though, you know, when we think about 08:28 how much He wants to bless us how much he wants to give to us 08:32 but we block our own blessings. Right... 08:34 You know... we stand in the way of our own blessings... 08:38 OK, so you got involved with sending money to Colombia 08:43 and you had all of these families, now you... 08:45 that says to me... you got serious businessman skills 08:50 you had some serious... business multi-level marketing, whatever 08:55 you got all these.. families... working under you... 09:00 Yes... yes... and I became the number one 09:03 drug dealer in the Dallas area at that time... 09:06 very soon... yes... Now, I came here from Dallas 09:09 Oh, you did... Yes, I lived in Dallas from 1996 09:12 to 2010... OK... I was there before that 09:16 we're talking about 25 years 26 years... something... 09:19 so, anyways... I got arrested... I did something that I wasn't 09:26 supposed to be doing... and I did it... 09:29 and I got arrested... I felt like 09:32 I was falling from a big tower, and then... I was there in jail, 09:36 and thinking that... it really is not worth it 09:40 Hmmmmm... ... and I came to that decision 09:43 and I said... "As soon as I get out of here 09:46 I'm going to close everything up and I will never going to go 09:51 into this ever again because it's not worth it... " 09:54 Yes... ... and then... one week later 09:57 they called me out and I was free... in the streets 10:01 and I called my lawyer... I said, "I'm out... " 10:05 and he said... "How? I haven't even 10:08 started working on your case.. " and I said, 10:10 "Well, don't even bother, because I'm already out" 10:13 Wait, now wait... wait now Brother Jaime... 10:16 OK... so... you did something you weren't supposed to do 10:20 you get arrested... you go to jail... 10:24 and while in jail... you start thinking about 10:27 all of the things that you've done... right? 10:31 and you're thinking to yourself... it is not worth it 10:34 Right... And Texas jails are notorious... 10:37 Oh, my! they are notorious... so you're in there and you say 10:41 "This isn't worth it... I'm getting out of this... " 10:45 and then... how did you get set free? 10:49 OK... well, I was arrested with somebody else 10:51 and it looks like... they were following him... basically 10:56 and so for... Oh... they didn't have enough 10:58 on you? No... it seems like something 11:00 it was... but you see... after I got out... 11:05 I started selling big loose properties and closing... 11:10 calling all these people I was working with 11:13 saying, "Goodbye... this is it" putting everything straight 11:16 closing everything out and... it was done... 11:18 and then, I went to Mexico, I went to Colombia, 11:21 came back to the States... into Florida and started working 11:24 a regular job... I like the business 11:27 I started selling cars... you know... the business cars... 11:30 and... after a year... of doing this... 11:33 my boss invited me to have some drinks in Disney 11:37 so, we went... and we drank until we thought we had enough 11:41 he went to his house, and I attempted 11:43 to go to my house... I never made it... 11:46 I fell asleep and hit a tree... and then... the next day 11:52 a police officer knocked on my window... 11:55 told me to roll down the window, asked me for the 11:58 Driver's License... I gave him my Driver's License 12:02 he went to his car... and then.. minutes were going by 12:06 and he didn't come back yet... and then a lot of other 12:10 police cars started arriving... 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12:14 ten police cars were all around me... 12:17 and then the police officer came to me and said... 12:19 Mr. Espinal... we've been looking for you 12:21 we have a warrant for your arrest... we've been looking 12:24 for you... for about a year... What? 12:28 So, I told myself, this was an error... 12:29 or something... a mistake but when I was in jail 12:33 I realized, they had re-opened the case and this was now 12:39 a serious business... going on... right now... 12:43 Oh... so you... OK... so, I just want to re-cap 12:47 a little bit... so you get out... 12:49 kind of on a technicality... you get out of jail 12:53 you lead... an upstanding life.. you're not dealing with anything 12:57 you're not dealing with drugs... you're not supervising 13:00 drug dealers... you're not doing any of that 13:02 you're straight as an arrow at this point... 13:05 Yes... You hit a tree... 13:08 Right... ... and were you in the car 13:11 all night? Yeah... I just passed out... 13:14 and then... when you came to... you got arrested... 13:17 That's right... My! 13:19 So, while I was in jail.. then I started looking for the Lord 13:23 then I started praying for him... 13:25 I found... a Bible in Spanish which is very hard 13:30 in those years... to find... and I started reading... 13:34 and I was reading and reading and reading the New Testament 13:37 but didn't understand... a thing... 13:39 I was not able to understand anything... and then... 13:43 Was it King James Version... Yes... but then, you know, 13:47 I was sleeping one night... and then... something strong 13:51 came to me... it is very hard to describe... 13:54 I was just full of joy... 13:59 and it was a lot of peace 14:03 and it was so wonderful it's very hard to describe 14:06 but it woke me up because it just came, you know, 14:09 so suddenly... Was it a presence in the room 14:13 was it... or just the feeling... Yeah, that's what I had... 14:16 I didn't see anything... I just felt it and noticed that 14:20 and I immediately... I stood up and knelt down 14:24 and I started praying... and for the first time 14:28 I opened my heart to God, you know, because we were taught 14:32 to just... in the Catholic Church 14:34 we were taught just to repeat things... 14:36 but here... I'm not repeating anything... 14:38 I'm just opening my heart to the Lord 14:40 and then... I started praying for hours... 14:43 and then... I wanted to stop and I was not able to... 14:47 I felt something very strong in my jaw... you know 14:52 there was this moaning... and I kept on... 14:54 and I don't know where those words were coming from 14:58 but I prayed all night, until the daylight came. 15:01 And this was your first time ever... really praying 15:05 ever talking to God like a friend... 15:06 Yes... right after I had this, it came to me, 15:09 and then, you know, from the day after 15:13 then I started reading the Bible and I started seeing light in it 15:17 Yes... yes, praise the Lord... ... and then I started seeing 15:21 the beauty of the plan of salvation... 15:24 that if I confess my sins, and if I come to the Lord 15:28 repented... He will forgive me He will give me a new life 15:34 and not only that, but eternal life... 15:36 Yes... So, I was just so excited 15:39 with this that I could not keep it for myself... 15:42 so, I started sharing this with my other inmate 15:46 and he started crying... and he was ex-Vet, you know 15:50 from the Vietnam War... Yeah... 15:51 he was crying... and he, you know, 15:54 I was sharing with... then I started sharing with 15:56 other inmates... and I shared with all the inmates 15:58 that were allowing me to share it with... 16:01 and then, after I did that, I started calling my family, 16:04 and my friends... and over the phone I was just sharing 16:07 with them what I was seeing in the Bible 16:09 and then after I have talked with them... 16:11 and I have talked with the inmates, I started writing 16:14 to myself... all the things that I was seeing from the Bible 16:18 and it was just wonderful, you know, 16:20 I see the hope... you know... and that the Word of God 16:24 gives us... and that was my strength and I was leaning 16:27 into that and I was just falling in love with the precious Savior 16:31 Oh... ... and, you know, 16:32 there was a time that somebody asked me, 16:35 "Jaime, how many lawyers do you have?" and I said, 16:38 "Well, I have one in Chicago, I have two here in Florida 16:42 I have one in Texas, but I'm getting to know a 5th one" 16:45 and because the Lord tells us in First John 16:48 that He is our advocate... That's right. 16:50 ...and that He will deal with our case, you know, 16:53 and I just told him that I was just getting to know the 5th one 16:57 that I have five... Yes... come on... come on... 17:00 so it was just so exciting... you know... 17:03 so then they came and they told me 17:05 "You need to go to Texas, they're going to extradite 17:08 you to Texas... and I said... 17:10 Oh... so you weren't in Texas? No... this was in Florida 17:12 Oh, OK... Ok... ... and then... 17:15 I prayed to the Lord I said, "Lord, I don't want to 17:18 go to Texas... but... if it's for my own good, 17:22 so I will not go back to my old life, let it be... " 17:26 and then eventually... they said "You're going to Texas... " 17:30 so, they started getting me ready to transfer me there 17:34 they started checking me... everything out... 17:37 and I had the Bible in my hand, and they said, "What is that?" 17:39 and I said, "That's a Bible" "You cannot take the Bible. " 17:43 I said, "I need this Bible, this is what is holding me up 17:46 here... I need it very badly... " 17:49 "You cannot take the Bible. " "Please, it's only a Bible... " 17:52 "YOU CANNOT TAKE THE BIBLE." and then... I had to just leave 17:56 it there... but I felt that they were pulling it out 17:59 from me... you know... Yes... yes... 18:01 That was your lifeline... YES... YES...YES... 18:04 so, anyway... they took me... they put the chains 18:09 all around me... took me to the runway of the 18:11 Orlando International Airport, and as soon as we got into 18:16 the runway... an airplane came just on time 18:19 and got me up and we flew to New Orleans... 18:23 in New Orleans... they put me with other inmates... in a bus 18:26 and took me to Oklahoma. I was in Oklahoma 18:30 and as I was in Oklahoma, I got there in midnight 18:33 it was a Federal Prison, they had many floors 18:36 and according to your case, the worse your case was, 18:39 you were in the higher levels, Hmmmmm... 18:41 ...and then... so I was about the third level... 18:44 and I was the only one going to that floor 18:47 so I went there and they opened the gates... 18:50 very noisy... gates... old prison... and they told me 18:55 "Step on... forward... " and I did.. they closed the door 18:58 and then they opened the other gate 19:00 and then they said, "Step forward" 19:02 I stepped forward... they closed the door 19:05 and here I am... in the hall of a tank... they call it 19:09 where there is about 8 to 9 cells 19:11 and they were all closed... everybody was sleeping... 19:16 there was no noise at all, except when they closed 19:18 that door... they shut that door... 19:20 and then... I was the only one 19:22 in the hall and they told me "Go and walk to Cell Number 7... 19:27 stay right there... " I went there and then... 19:29 they opened that door for that cell... 19:32 they told me, with a microphone, "Step in... " 19:37 I, you know, stepped in... they closed that door 19:41 and here... I have my things in my hand... 19:44 just and kind of looking around where I just came to 19:47 and as I have this in my hand, I hear a voice... 19:51 from the outside of the bar... from the hall... 19:55 there was a Black man with an overall... 19:58 he said, "Hey, would you like to have a Bible in Spanish?" 20:03 and I said, "What! a Bible in Spanish!" 20:07 and I came too close and I took that Bible 20:10 and I couldn't believe it I was just looking at it... 20:13 and then... and then I wanted to thank 20:16 the person and he was just not there... 20:18 Come on... Brother... I looked to one side of the hall 20:21 there was nobody... I looked to the other side 20:25 there was nobody... and I never heard any other 20:28 noise after they locked... they closed the gates for me 20:31 so there was no opening or closing of any gate 20:35 at that time... and I just... 20:39 I cannot just believe it, you know, 20:41 I have the Bible... right there you know... 20:43 I never missed it... the Lord provided for me... 20:46 Yes... yes... yes... So I started reading 20:48 that Bible again and praising the Lord 20:50 I started praying all night until the day light came again 20:54 and I was just praising the Lord... 20:55 I got to know the inmate now and introduced myself 20:59 and I started sharing with him about the good news 21:02 and I talked about the Bible with him for two days 21:05 after two days he accepted that Christ Jesus was his Lord 21:09 and Savior and he was crying and he was saying, 21:12 "Oh, if my brother would only hear this... " 21:16 and I said, "Where is your brother?" 21:18 he said, "He's in the last floor of this prison... " 21:20 Wow... ... so after a couple of days 21:23 of being with him... they moved me to another cell 21:26 I came to this other cell, I introduced myself 21:29 and I started sharing what the Lord was doing in my life 21:32 and asking them to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior 21:36 and they were accepting the Lord There wasn't resistance... 21:40 there wasn't... just like... "Who do you think you are... 21:42 giving me this information...?" No... because God was taking me 21:46 only to the "ripe" people, He knew who were the 21:51 right people... I didn't have any choice 21:53 I didn't have any choice on where I was sent... 21:56 because I didn't know why they were taking me 22:00 from one cell to another... except that God has a plan... 22:03 Yes... ... for these people... 22:04 so then they took me to another cell... and then I started 22:08 sharing the gospel over there, they were accepting 22:11 the Lord Jesus Christ... they took me to another cell 22:14 and then they took me to another cell... 22:16 here, I am on the last floor now and they put me in this cell 22:21 with this big Black guy... who had scars everywhere 22:27 very mean looking... I walked in there 22:30 they closed the gate... and I had to look up 22:33 to see his face... and then he started talking 22:35 so mean with bad words and then he started saying that he was 22:41 there because he had killed 23 people... 22:43 My!... ... and the last 3 people... 22:45 he had killed right there in the cells... 22:48 you know... in jail... He was trying to intimidate you? 22:52 Oh, I was just praying... "God, where did I come to?" 22:56 Where have you brought me to? Please, please help me... " 22:59 and, you know, after a few hours of being there 23:03 he started asking about what I had done 23:09 "Tell me more about yourself" and I started sharing the 23:12 Lord Jesus Christ... to him... and I started sharing about 23:16 the plan of salvation... Come on... 23:17 ...and I started sharing to him that if he comes to the Lord 23:21 He will give him a new life... no matter what he had done 23:24 in the past... That's right... 23:25 ...and then, he came to the point where he was crying 23:29 he was a different person now... I mean, you can see beauty now 23:34 in him... Yes... yes... yes... 23:36 ...and he was opening up to the Lord and Savior 23:39 and then he accepted Him as his Savior... 23:41 and tears were coming down his face 23:44 and you won't believe... you won't think that 23:47 that would happen in somebody like him... 23:50 this happened after a couple of days of being with him 23:53 and then, later on... they called me after a few days 23:56 to another cell... and when I came there 23:58 I asked him, "What is your name?" 24:00 and he gave me his name... he was the brother of the first 24:05 inmate I met at the beginning... The one who said, 24:07 I wish you could meet my brother... 24:08 Yes... it was just his brother.. and I started talking 24:12 with him... sharing the gospel with him... 24:15 and sure enough... he was just so ready 24:18 to take this gospel and he was praising the Lord 24:22 you know... I'm not a singer but I was writing songs 24:26 and I was teaching them too because all these are like 24:29 spiritual children for me... and I was... 24:32 now we need to praise the Lord, and I was just singing along 24:37 and they following me we were rejoicing 24:40 and shouting and singing to the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, 24:43 and then... after a month of being there... 24:46 I was in transit and finally they took me to Dallas 24:52 where my case was... and then there was 24:55 all kinds of miracles happened for the following 25:00 6 months in there I mean... one miracle after the other one 25:04 Tell us one... Well I want to tell you this one 25:08 at one time I was in a cell visiting somebody 25:13 and I saw a little teeny paper full of dust... 25:17 under the foot of the leg of this inmate 25:21 and I asked him 25:22 "May I lift that piece of paper" and he said, "Sure" 25:26 so I lifted it up... dusted it off... 25:30 I opened it up... and it was an Outpost Center 25:34 from Keene, Texas, and I, I... it said, 25:38 "Community Service" and I said, 25:40 "Well, these people may help me with Bible... " 25:42 and so I wrote to them... and I said, 25:44 I need Bibles in English and I need Bibles in Spanish 25:47 they sent me a full box of Bibles in English 25:49 and a full box of Bibles in Spanish 25:51 I had a small group in Spanish and I had a small group 25:55 in English... we were studying the Bible 25:57 and so... we had a feast with all these Bibles... 26:00 and it was just so wonderful, Yes... 26:03 but not only that... I was praying to the Lord 26:05 to give me a confirmation that the experience I was having 26:08 was the true experience... because some people thought 26:10 I was crazy... Hmmmmm... 26:12 and then... these same people who sent me the Bibles 26:15 sent me a little book called, "Steps to Christ" 26:18 Come on... come on now... ... and then... when I read that 26:21 when I got that book... for the first time I hear 26:25 the still small voice that was telling me 26:28 "There's no error... in that book... " 26:30 and I couldn't believe it until I read it 26:32 it was refreshing my soul, that was the confirmation... 26:36 I needed so badly... that what I was experiencing 26:39 was the true conversion and it was just so exciting 26:42 because then God lead me into... as I studied the different 26:46 denominations that are out there... 26:48 then for the first time I hear about the 26:51 Seventh-day Adventist Church, and that's how 26:53 I got to know the Seventh-day Adventist Church 26:55 when I got out of jail... they were going to give me 26:58 39 years in prison... but God... 27:01 all the 4 lawyers resigned... except the 5th one... 27:05 and He got me out... Amen... 27:08 ...and I just praise the Lord because He gave me... 27:10 a new life... Yes, and what are you doing now? 27:13 Well, we have a ministry in Mexico... 27:15 we have... my wife and I... we have a 27:17 Medical Missionary Training mission in Mexico 27:20 we're helping all kinds of people that come over there 27:23 with natural remedies... we have a vegetarian restaurant, 27:26 agriculture program... and a lot of other services 27:29 that we have on our website... Amazing... and we'll put your 27:33 website up on the air as well. Thank you so much. 27:36 I can't believe our time is up, this... I mean, this flew by 27:40 this is so powerful... I mean... several times 27:43 I just wanted to cry... Thank you so much... 27:46 Thank you and God bless you. God bless you, God bless you. 27:49 Continue doing your work for the Lord... we need you. 27:52 Look at how God just led this Brother... 27:55 from one path to another. We hope you were blessed. 27:58 Well, join us next time... It just wouldn't be the same... 28:02 without you... |
Revised 2025-01-08