Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Richard Bland
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000069S
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00:00 Stay tuned to meet a man that's walking in his
00:03 divine destiny and helping others... to find theirs... 00:06 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching 00:09 Urban Report... 00:30 Hello and welcome to Urban Report 00:32 My guest today is Richard Bland 00:35 President and Founder of United Prison Ministries. 00:38 Welcome to Urban Report Brother Richard... 00:41 I'm happy to be with you Yvonne... 00:42 It's so good to have you... so, okay, some of our viewers 00:47 might know you... but then... others don't 00:50 tell us a little bit about you 00:52 and how you got involved in Prison Ministries... 00:55 Yvonne, how many days do we have? 00:58 This is just a 30-minute program... 01:00 Prophetic time or what? 01:02 Real time... Oh, real time... okay then, 01:04 quickly here, I grew up in a Christian home... 01:07 and I went to Christian Schools and then I went to EMC 01:13 Emmanuel Missionary College 01:14 of course, it's Andrews University now 01:15 and then... from there 01:17 I started out in the real estate business 01:19 a little bit in Chicago but really got to 01:22 San Diego, California where I really got involved 01:25 in the Real Estate business, and the Lord blessed me 01:28 in that business and I had the opportunity 01:30 to meet the leaders of the Country like the Mayor 01:33 and the Governor and so forth, the Governor Ronald Reagan 01:36 would happen to be the Governor at this particular time 01:39 of my story... I want to tell you about 01:40 and I became the President of the San Diego Realtor Board 01:44 part of the San Diego... from that... 01:47 I became... it was a Bank that was needed 01:51 this was in the late 60s and money was tight 01:54 so, I became the Founder of Pacific Coast Bank 01:58 in San Diego... 01:59 So you went from Real Estate to being a Banker? 02:02 Well, Founder and Owner of the Bank... really... 02:05 An Owner of a Bank... 02:07 I started out there because of a certain situation 02:09 and it was with the political thing... 02:11 and I'm saying that for this reason 02:13 so, from that, Ronald Reagan... at that time... 02:17 Richard Nixon was the President of the United States 02:19 so Ronald Reagan recommended that I be on Richard Nixon's 02:22 Advisory Board... that's where my story 02:25 really picks up... that changed my life, 02:28 well, I'll never forget, it was June 1972 02:32 the President called me... in fact he called my 02:35 Real Estate Office and as I got home 02:37 my Secretary called and said, "The President just called... " 02:39 I said, "What!" and so I called the White House 02:42 then, he asked me would I be one his members on 02:44 the Advisory Board there... 02:46 and so... my chest, you know, went out... you know, 02:50 but it was all the politics thing 02:52 but, this is what happened, we met once a month 02:55 at the Congress Building, right there at the White House 02:57 but this particular day 02:59 by me being a vegetarian 03:00 I had never eaten anything that had a mother 03:02 so, I said, "If it doesn't grow on the ground, it's not mine. " 03:05 Mother or a face... Mother or a face... 03:07 so, if it doesn't grown on the vine, it's not mine... 03:11 so, this particular day... as we got in... to eat lunch 03:14 I told the maître d' that I wanted the vegetable plate 03:17 well, naturally, my food is not ready right now 03:20 but it didn't take but 4 or 5 minutes 03:21 because they got everything you think about 03:23 at the White House for food, you know, 03:24 so, as the members put down the other plates of food 03:28 take the top off of, you know, I think they had 03:31 filet mignon whatever you call that 03:32 he skipped over me... so when the guy skipped over me 03:36 the guy sitting next to me said, 03:37 "Hey, you passed him up... " 03:39 I said, "Well, that's what you White folks do inside the 03:41 White House... " He laughed just like you... 03:43 he said, "No, no, no, no" He got nervous? 03:45 Yeah, he got nervous... but it was okay... 03:47 they were just senators on the Board... 89 of them... you know 03:50 so, and the guy didn't hear him 03:52 because the guy had gone on with his business 03:54 but then, when the guy brought me my food 03:56 he set it down there... and he said, 03:59 "Bland, why do you eat that?" you know, 04:01 so, it so happened... he was the President 04:04 of General Motors that asked me that question, 04:06 well years ago, the new car used to come out 04:08 in September... I don't know if you remember that 04:10 but September was the month they came out 04:13 for the following year, so, coming on the plane to 04:18 San Diego... I saw the new Cadillac that had just come out 04:20 and so I asked him, "What did you put in the glove 04:23 compartment of the car?" He said, "A manual... " 04:25 I said, "What for?" He said, "To operate the car" 04:26 I said, "Well, suppose... the person doesn't follow it?" 04:29 He said, "Then the guarantee of the car will be off... " 04:31 I said, "Why will the guarantee be off?" 04:33 He said, "We made the car, and so we know what it takes 04:36 to run the car and maintain it... " 04:39 Come on... and I pull out my little Bible 04:41 Oh, come on now... and I said, "When God made me 04:43 and He made you, He told what to put in this body 04:46 He told us how to maintain it and all of that... " 04:49 and from that conversation quickly... he said, 04:51 "Look, we don't believe that stuff up here... " 04:53 the Bible and all the stuff that I'm sharing with him 04:56 from the Bible... so after lunch we sat in the 04:59 corner for about two hours and we got to talking 05:02 and I'll never forget these words... 05:04 since we're not running on prophetic time... 05:06 he said to me, he said, 05:08 "Bland, did you know by the year 2000 05:10 there will be no more war, no more cancer, no more crime, 05:14 we got the answers to all of that up here... " 05:16 and I'm showing him, I said, "according to the Bible 05:18 it's going to get worse and worse and worse, 05:20 and worse... " but after about two hours 05:23 he looked at me and this is what he said to me, 05:24 he says, "If you believe that book.. what are you doing here?" 05:27 Hmmm... hmmm... I said, "What do you mean?" 05:30 he said, "You showed me in the book 05:32 that God would take care of all of your needs... 05:34 you showed me that you're working for Him. " 05:35 he said, "If a man was working for me... at General Motors... 05:39 he'd better not be working part-time at Chrysler... " 05:42 Come on now... Wow! 05:46 Yvonne, that was the longest ride... 05:50 mentally I had in my life... in the airplane... 05:52 to San Diego... coming from Washington, D.C. 05:55 back to San Diego... you notice, I said... "mentally" 05:57 my wife and I... we just came back 05:59 from New Zealand which is about 32 hours 06:01 this year already... but that wasn't the longest ride 06:04 as that ride was... I said, "Suppose he's right... " 06:07 He said, "What are you doing in here... because...?" 06:10 He thought that it was a compromise? 06:12 Well it is... 06:14 To be an advisor to the President? 06:16 No, to be up there with those crooks and stuff 06:19 and dealing with them... and I had showed him 06:23 in the Bible... where as a Christian... 06:25 we have to go all the world to preach the gospel... 06:27 and God will take care of all our needs... 06:28 remember, I'm skipping over a lot that we talked about... 06:31 he is very brilliant... because he's the President 06:33 of General Motors, he told me what I had already 06:36 showed him in the Bible, see... he gave it back to me... 06:39 he said, "If," you know, "if you were working for me... " 06:43 and God was taking care of all your needs... " 06:45 I was telling him that God maintains us and gives us breath 06:47 and all that stuff... Right... 06:49 but then still... what was I doing part-time? 06:51 I'm up there working with all these people... 06:53 and he told the truth... they don't believe it... 06:56 they don't believe in the Word of God up there... 06:58 just a lot of politics, you know, 06:59 and so, what am I doing there? 07:01 He said, "If you believe that book, what are you doing here?" 07:03 Wow! So, now, I'm on my way back 07:07 to San Diego... I knew I could sell real estate, 07:09 I knew... any given week during that time... 07:11 I can make 10 to 15 thousand dollars... 07:13 but I knew... some atheists could too... 07:16 and, I said, "Well, wait a minute now... " 07:18 as I was reading in my Bible, 07:21 everybody that found Jesus what did they do? 07:24 they stopped what they were doing and followed Him... 07:27 check it out... everybody... whether they were doctors 07:29 tax collectors or whoever they were... 07:32 because Jesus said, "I have appointed you, 07:34 I have ordained you... " like it says in John 15:16 07:37 so, that got me to thinking... 07:39 What! I am working part-time 07:42 for the Lord... 07:43 I was a part-time person, and if you look at 07:45 Matthew the 7th I think the 21st or 23rd verse 07:49 it says that... some people will say, 07:50 "Lord I did this, in your name, I did that in your name, 07:53 then He said, "I never... " what? 07:54 "... knew you, depart from me... " 07:56 Why? because... you're a part-time worker... 07:57 Would you have a part-time husband? 07:59 No... Okay then, neither does God... 08:02 so I'm just telling you now, what affected me... 08:04 so, from that... to cut the long story... 08:07 I said, "Well, Lord, what can I do for you full-time...?" 08:11 well, everybody can eat... my wife's a good cook 08:13 so I said, "What we need to do... " 08:15 Ray Kroc was the owner of McDonald's... 08:17 well, he's a business acquaintance of mine 08:18 in San Diego at the time, 08:20 this was back in the 70s... so, I said, 08:22 "If he can open up McDonald's all over the world... 08:24 I can open Health Food stores all over the world... " 08:25 so after much prayer... four years of lining it up 08:29 and all that stuff, we... looking at the testimonies 08:32 we said, "Anything you start, you start it in the South. " 08:34 So, the Lord... with a lot of intervention, 08:38 we ended up in Birmingham, Alabama 08:40 to open up a Health Food Restaurant... 08:42 we were going to open up, 08:43 everywhere you saw a McDonald's... 08:44 we were going to have a Health Food Restaurant 08:47 saved a lot of money... had 4 years of studying 08:50 and all that stuff, 08:52 got there... the Lord closed the door... 08:54 after all the arrangements, I won't go into that 08:57 that's a story within itself... 08:58 but the Lord closed the door, 09:00 and one day... I was asked to go down to a prison 09:05 with an interracial group of people... 09:08 inter-denominational group of people... 09:10 Sister McKinnon... and they wanted somebody 09:12 to go down with her... so, we had a lot of materials 09:15 due to our restaurant and stuff like that... 09:17 so I took with me, about 200 of the books 09:20 Spirit of Prophecy books, Steps to Christ... and so forth 09:22 you know, with me... so I passed them out there 09:25 they had a huge crowd... about 250 guys 09:27 and I passed them out... the Chaplain, later on... saw me 09:32 he said, "You know... " about 3 weeks later 09:34 he asked me for some... 09:35 I asked him... "could the men have some tapes 09:37 that they could listen to... " the Chaplain said, "Yeah" 09:40 well, C.D. Brooks had just run a meeting in Washington, D.C. 09:43 beautiful tapes... they talk about the Bible only, 09:46 you know, what the Word of God is... 09:48 so I took them to the Chaplain about 2 weeks later 09:51 and as I gave him the tapes, he said to me... 09:53 he says, 09:54 "Those men really love those books... " 09:56 I said, "What books?" He said, "The books of E.G. White... " 09:58 he said, "I'd like to have a 1,000 of them... " 10:00 I said, "A thousand!" He said, "Yeah" 10:02 so the next day... You got excited eh... 10:04 the next day, my wife and I... 10:05 we put a thousand of them in the car 10:07 well, 10 boxes... they had a 100 in each box, 10:09 got down there and I opened up every box 10:12 when I saw the prison... 10:14 put an enrollment card in it 10:15 because I'm not ever going to see these people anymore, 10:17 you know, because I always fish with a hook, 10:20 when I give somebody something I tell them, you know, 10:22 I want to know what the answer is in two weeks, 10:24 or something like that... Ah, wait, wait, wait, wait... 10:27 okay, wait now, say, "you fish with a hook" 10:30 yeah... because that's the only way you can catch a bait 10:32 because a lot of people fish... without the bait, 10:34 you know, so when I give you something, 10:36 I'm going to get a response back... 10:37 Okay... I'll tell you, 10:39 "Look, this is the book here I want to know your opinion 10:41 I'm taking a survey, and I want to know 10:43 what you think of this... he says, "Well, I'm a... " 10:45 "I don't care what you are" 10:46 I say, "That's what I'm looking for 10:48 I'm looking for people just like you 10:50 tell me what you think of this book," you know 10:53 I kind of think you can sell ice to an Eskimo... 10:57 I do... but anyway, so what happens... though 11:02 in the meantime... the people that I went down there with 11:05 had told me this... that it takes 5 years to get inside... 11:08 of having a meeting... a regular program in the prison 11:11 that's what they told me... I'm just talking to... you know, 11:13 so that won't bother me because I'm still looking over my resume 11:17 So, you still weren't even thinking about Prison Ministries 11:20 Oh, no, no, no, no, no, so, Ben told me 5 years... 11:24 so when I took the boxes of books in there, 11:27 to the Chaplain that day, 11:29 he said, "Come on in and meet the officers. " 11:32 I went in there, as soon as I met the officers 11:34 my wife and I, he said, 11:35 "This is Mr. and Mrs. Bland, they're going to start 11:37 a Bible Class here... " I didn't know anything about it. 11:40 So, sure enough, 3 weeks later, we started... 11:43 now, what am I going to do? I got there and told the man 11:46 I said, "Look, whatever I'm talking about... 11:47 is going to be in the Bible, we're going to study the Bible" 11:50 he said, "Okay" so a group of the guys, 11:53 that night, said to me, "What does the Bible say 11:56 about speaking in tongues?" I told them what the Bible said, 11:58 then another group says... 12:00 This is the officers... not the inmates, right 12:03 It's the inmates... Oh, this is the inmates, ok, ok, 12:05 He told the officers that I was going to start a Bible Class 12:08 in the prison, the Chaplain told them 12:12 Okay... okay... The Chaplain is telling them... 12:15 so, therefore, he had invited me so, that night 12:18 the guy that asked me... I told him what the Bible says 12:20 about speaking in tongues... then another group asked, 12:23 "What does the Bible say about eating pork?" 12:25 now those happened to be some Muslim guys... 12:28 Hmmm... hmmm... and so, after the class 12:31 they said, "We got him now... " I said, "You got who?" 12:34 He said, "the Chaplain... the Chaplain is Pentecostal 12:37 he eats pork and speaks in tongues... and you said 12:40 the Bible says that it's not right.. " 12:42 Oh my! what am I going to do? who invited me there, Yvonne? 12:47 So, you're the guest... in the Chaplain's 'house' so to speak, 12:51 and you're giving ammunition to them... 12:54 to get after him... That's right... they said, 12:56 "We got him now. " He wasn't there though 12:58 so, I said, "What!" they said, "We got him now. " 13:02 So, I went back home, I said, "Oh my, what am I 13:06 going to do Lord?" The Lord said, 13:07 "I'll tell you what to do... call up the Chaplain 13:10 tell him... that you only want to talk to 10 men 13:12 every other week, and talk to the whole crowd 13:15 every week... and the reason why 13:17 you want to talk to the 10 men tell the Chaplain that you get 13:20 a chance to help the families out... 13:22 of those 10 men so that you can get a chance to know them, 13:23 because if it's a huge crowd you can't help everybody... " 13:26 So, I called the Chaplain... he said, "That's a good idea. " 13:28 But my real reason was this, Yvonne, 13:31 I could teach those ten what I know 13:33 they still got 20 years in prison... 13:35 so when they kick me out... they already know, you know, 13:38 so you're replicating... Yeah, I'm teaching them, 13:41 so, those ten... the next week, I start out with, 13:44 by the time my wife got in there there are about 75 guys were 13:47 already in the room so the officers started reading 13:50 out the names... saying, you have to leave, leave, leave 13:52 you know, like that... so five of the guys that were 13:54 not on the list... were standing close by 13:55 and they said, "Hey, can we stay?" 13:57 I said, "Okay, you can stay. " so we started with 15 people 14:00 my wife and I and another couple 14:01 and I told them, I said, "Look, what I'm giving you 14:06 is the Word of God.. my name is not important 14:09 I gave them Jeremiah 17:5 14:11 which says, "Cursed is the man that trusts in man... " 14:14 I said, "I'm a man... " 14:15 I said, "If you trust me... 14:16 the Bible says that you're going to be cursed... " 14:18 they said, "What!" I said, "Yeah, 14:19 now Jeremiah 17:7 says, 14:21 Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord... 14:23 if you want to be blessed, whom should you trust?" 14:25 they said, "The Lord... " and I reeled it in their mind 14:28 "Don't trust any man... trust the Lord... " 14:31 I said, now the 9th verse tells Jeremiah 17:9 says 14:36 The heart is deceitful above all things 14:37 and desperately wicked, who can know it? 14:39 I said, "Have you done things that you didn't intend to do?" 14:41 They said, "Yeah" I said, 14:42 "So, you can't trust yourself, right?" 14:44 they said, "That's right. " I said, 14:45 "So, don't trust any other man. " 14:47 Now, what I really did there was I eliminated everybody else 14:50 that don't believe the Bible did you know that? 14:52 Everybody... anybody... 14:53 I got rid of all my competition right there... 14:55 Wow! Because we are the only one 14:57 in the world... that stays with the Bible... 15:00 did you know that? we're the only one 15:02 everybody else leaves something out of the Bible... 15:04 so, there, I eliminated my competition right there, 15:07 so I drilled that in their minds I said, 15:09 "Now, the 10 Commandments God has put us here... 15:12 because... remember this... only Church people said, 15:15 'The Law of the Lord is done away with... '" 15:17 prisoners know that there's a law... 15:19 you never have a prisoner who said, 15:20 "The Law was done away with. " Come on... 15:22 Only people who go to Church say that the Law is done away with 15:24 did you know that? Come on, now Brother Richard... 15:26 That's right... That's right... because you know 15:29 prisoners know that there's a law because they broke it... 15:31 that's why they're in there... So, only Church people 15:33 the devil used... to say, "The Law was done away with 15:35 remember that... " So, I said now, 15:38 "What commandment would you think 15:40 that every prisoner knows that they have broken?" 15:43 and they read down... they said, "The 8th Commandment 15:45 all of us have stolen one time or another... " 15:47 I said, "That's right. " I said, "Now, let me tell you 15:49 what it is... " If I should give you a dollar 15:52 Yvonne to give to... everybody here... 15:54 at 3abn... a dollar... and you do not give 15:56 one of them a dollar, what have you done? 15:58 Stolen... That's right... 15:59 I said, "So, whatever you learn from me... 16:02 if you don't share it... you're stealing from them... 16:04 because the Bible said, 'Go into all the world'" 16:06 and I said, "Where is your world?" 16:07 they said, "Wherever you are... " 16:08 I said, "So, anybody... that you pass up 16:11 that you don't share with them 16:13 what you're learning from God's Word 16:14 you're a thief... " They said, "That's right" 16:16 let me tell you... from those 15 Bible students... 16:21 in 6 months' time... we had 18,000 Bible studies going on. 16:25 18,000! 18,000! 16:26 let me tell you how... 16:28 they started sharing with officers 16:30 they started writing home, they started doing other people 16:33 and I'm just saying, it's amazing 16:34 in fact, as I was just thinking here... 16:36 then we designed Bible Classes 16:40 "What the Bible Says" "What the Bible Says" 16:43 Now for "What the Bible says" before they can get 16:45 their certificate... they have to enroll 3 other people... 16:49 so, therefore, every student has to listen to it 4 times 16:52 Oh, that's great... They have to... 16:55 So they're studying and they're sharing it 16:58 and they're reinforcing the information in their heads 17:02 That's correct... and the Holy Spirit 17:03 is quickening their spirits... That right... 17:06 Wow! praise the Lord! Then we showed them this... 17:08 We fill them with little secrets that, 17:10 maybe a lot of people don't know... 17:11 The reason why... I understand Google says 17:15 that there are 38,800 different churches in the world 17:17 that use the Bible... 38,000... 17:19 different churches use the Bible as their text book... 17:22 now, how many ways can you dial my phone number wrong? 17:24 millions right? Yes... 17:27 how many ways can you dial it right? 17:29 One... I found out something 17:31 if you do not pray 17:33 and ask for the Holy Spirit, 17:34 the devil will always interpret the Bible to you... 17:36 Hmmm... So, many people... all of us... 17:39 a lot of people... they read the Bible and don't pray... 17:43 so, the Holy Spirit does not interpret it until you ask 17:46 Hmmm... because a thief comes in when 17:49 you don't ask... God said, 17:50 "Ask, and it shall be given... I'm right there for you 17:53 but if you don't ask... I'm not going to do it... " 17:55 I've tested out... I've been meeting in about 80 countries 17:59 of the world... when a person prays 18:02 and asks for the Holy Spirit, they come up with the 18:04 same answer I do... " Hmmm... 18:06 because they're getting it from the same source... 18:08 Hmmm... So, if you're don't... 18:09 so any time... remember that 18:11 that's why the Spirit of Prophecy says, 18:13 Ellen G. White says, "Always pray... " 18:14 it doesn't say sometime... 18:15 when you open up God's Word, Yes... 18:18 and that's what you do for the Program... 18:19 Because it's the Holy Spirit's job to bring us into all truth. 18:23 Exactly... To teach us... and to bring back 18:25 to our remembrance that which we've studied... 18:28 Exactly right... in fact in James 1:5 it says, 18:30 If you lack wisdom... ask God... 18:31 so, when they ask me a question, I say, 18:33 "Ask God... don't ask me... " 18:35 Hmmm... Because God knows 18:37 where you are in your spiritual walk... 18:38 see, I don't know where you are, so, all I do is give them 18:42 what the Word of God says, that's what they do... 18:44 now remember this... we're teaching them 18:46 to teach others... now, what do they teach others? 18:48 only what the Bible says... not to give their opinion 18:51 see, anytime you give your opinion... 18:53 then, you are of the devil... Yes... 18:55 you see what I mean... because God's Word tells us 18:57 in Proverbs the 30th chapter and verses 5 and 6 19:00 that the Word of God is pure, and if you add to it... 19:03 it says, "You are a liar. " Hmmm... 19:05 How many times have you been in Sabbath School 19:07 and you've heard these other people lying... 19:08 because they add to the Word of God... 19:09 Hmmm... see what I mean... 19:10 so, it's all of that... so we taught them 19:13 we said, now let me tell you something... 19:14 there are 66 books here... they say, "That's right... " 19:16 I say, there's 1,189 chapters... 31,173 verses 19:22 773,692 words... I say, now... 19:25 that's what you're going to be studying for eternity 19:27 because God's Word will last forever... 19:29 Hmmm... So, if you don't have enough 19:30 time... I'll talk to the judge, he'll give you more time... 19:32 they laugh... just like you... 19:35 I said, "But the main thing is, studying God's Word... " 19:38 because that's the only thing that's going to last forever 19:40 isn't it... Yes... 19:41 so we know... that's going to be for eternity... 19:43 and I tell them, and I say, "So, when you share with 19:45 somebody... give them what the Bible says... " 19:47 when you give them you're opinion... then you are lying. 19:50 So, what you did was... 19:53 under the unction... 19:55 because we know... this was the Holy Spirit 19:57 that led you there... you went in... 19:59 taught these inmates... and in 6 months... 20:03 you went from... what was the original number... 20:06 15 Bible students... 15 Bible students to 18,000 20:09 Now, let me tell you what... three weeks later 20:12 that Chaplain did come to me, after then... 20:15 he says, "I think you don't need to be coming here anymore" 20:18 guess what the men told him? 20:20 What? "Chaplain, this is the only 20:23 Ministry that stays with the Bible... and if they go... 20:26 you need to go... because the Bible needs to go, 20:28 this is the only Ministry... that's stays with the Bible... 20:31 And so the Chaplain became threatened by that? 20:34 Oh, yeah... because the guys... after all... 20:36 he's ministering to them then this rose up... 20:38 they said, "no... no... " and so now, we stayed... 20:43 At that point... were you feeling that 20:45 this is what God is leading me to do... 20:48 instead of the restaurant? No, no, I'm still... no 20:50 now, this is where your story picks up... 20:52 I am still interested in my restaurant, 20:54 Okay... because I'm there in Birmingham, 20:56 but, I'm buying the books now these books here... 20:59 cost me money... I'm buying... one week... I spend $5,000 21:03 next month... especially when it's spreading $8,000... $10,000 21:08 three and a half years later, 21:11 my wife said, 21:13 "Guess what... all we got is $3.61... " 21:17 You have spent... All the money... 21:21 I can't go in the restaurant business now... 21:23 The Lord said, "This is what I want you to do" 21:26 so, I said, "Lord" now this is what I said to him 21:28 I want you to understand me, I said, "Lord, if you want me 21:31 to stay here, I'm not going to ask anybody for the money 21:33 I'm available... I'm not going to ask anybody 21:37 to work for the Ministry... but what I'm going to do... 21:41 oh, by the way... by that time, we had about 21:43 a hundred volunteers... going to all the prisons 21:45 in Alabama... that I had organized then... 21:47 but we were buying the books... I didn't take up a donation 21:50 from anybody... but now we're down to how much? 21:52 three dollars... And 61 cents... 21:54 now my wife would say, less than ten dollars... 21:56 so, I'm going to give her a credit card... and see... 21:58 but anyhow, I remember the figures 22:00 $3.61... that night we got on our knees and said, 22:06 "Lord, now... I know that I'm on trial... 22:11 because you put the devil out of heaven for being 22:14 disobedient... but Lord, you're on trial too 22:18 because I'm going to do everything you said... 22:21 and if you don't take care of my needs, 22:22 I'm going to get me another God... 22:25 I can't trust you... " Hmmm... 22:27 Not the next day... but the following day after that 22:32 this was on a Monday night... that Wednesday... 22:33 Brother Santini who was out there by the Condo mailbox 22:38 brought me a number ten envelope the large envelope 22:42 I opened it up... there was a check in there 22:44 for $20,000... What? 22:46 Another man from another State.. a Company... 22:50 and so, I looked at it... I called the man... 22:52 I said, "What's this for?" He said, "Mister, I don't know 22:55 the Lord told me to send you this... " 22:57 Is God not amazing or what! 23:01 He was confirming... 23:03 I'm trying to tell you... He was confirming, 23:06 that He is your God... Oh yeah... 23:09 I said, "I don't know what to use this for... " 23:12 He said, "I don't know what are you doing?" 23:13 I said, "I'm in the prison ministries... " 23:14 he said, "Well, use it for that and what you want to use it for" 23:16 Since that time, Yvonne, God gets the glory... 23:21 we've given away 71 million books... 23:23 free... free... free... 23:26 Praise God... 71 million 23:28 that's right... Praise the Lord... 23:32 I'm sending it to every prison in Russia... all over Romania, 23:34 all over the United States, and what we send is... 23:37 you see this book right here... 23:38 when I send a letter to a prison... 23:40 to all the prisons in the United States once a year 23:42 I said, "Whatever you ask for, ask me for it... " 23:44 and so, I can go on and on and tell you the many stories 23:47 because I just had so many at the time 23:49 but I'm just letting you know what the Lord has done... 23:51 Yes... But, let me tell you 23:52 what He's done for me... two things... 23:54 number one... it was a blessing 23:58 that the Lord took me down to that $3.61... I'll tell you why 24:01 when I first got involved with the prisoners... 24:05 they'd say, "Pr. Bland, now, I'm a dope dealer... " 24:09 the women would say, "I'm a prostitute... 24:10 what am I going to do when I get out of here? 24:12 I'm a Christian now... " I said, "The Lord will provide" 24:15 guess what though... I still had $50,000 in the Bank, 24:18 Hmmm... hmmm... but let me tell you 24:20 30 years ago right now... 24:23 since that time... 24:25 everything we've got, the Lord is sending... 24:27 Amen... So, I know... 24:28 so, when I tell them now, I'm talking from experience 24:31 before, I was talking from the money I thought was mine 24:33 Right... You see what I mean... 24:35 And it's easier... you know... it's eminently easier to say 24:39 "The Lord's going to take care of you... " 24:41 and you're sitting back, on what you've got... 24:43 That's what I'm saying... But when you're actually 24:44 living in a state of dependence 24:48 then you can share that... so truthfully... 24:51 The Lord gave me the experience, Yes... 24:53 And since that time... I had to use that experience... 24:56 many, many, many times, you see, 24:58 now to think about... how's the Lord's Prayer... 25:00 "Our Father"... what "which are in heaven" 25:03 "Hallowed be thy... " what? "thy name... " 25:04 "thy" what? "kingdom come" 25:06 "thy will be done on earth... as it is in heaven... " 25:08 what's the next part? "give us this day... "give who? 25:10 "us" so, now, that's the key... 25:13 when I get something, I'm supposed to share it... 25:15 see, when I ask for stuff, God is giving it to us, not to me... 25:19 and so, that's what we found out so, before we buy the books 25:24 we buy, maybe, a box at a time, now we're buying them at 25:27 half a million at a time... that's the only way we can do 25:30 to keep the prices down... because the Lord has done this. 25:33 And so, what's the plan... 25:34 are you getting it into all the prisons 25:37 Every prison in the United States... we serve them 25:39 we just send out an open letter to them... 25:40 if they write me that they want 20,000 of "Desire of Ages" 25:44 I just give it to them... just like Jim was saying yesterday, 25:47 Jim Gilley... when he was in New York, during the 911 thing 25:50 he called me up... we sent them 20,000 Bibles 25:52 to give away in New York... and then we sent to them, 25:55 you know, just give them away... 25:56 because he was in charge of that Program at the time... 25:59 so, what I'm saying to you, the Lord has done this... 26:02 Yes... He gets the credit 26:03 for everything... Oh yes... 26:04 so, what I'm saying to you... everything since then... 26:06 I can go on... but let me tell you 26:08 how it has helped me spiritually... 26:09 I'm in the prison one night, a tornado came up 26:15 just about the time we got started... 26:18 I'm standing there... and all the lights went out 26:20 in the prison... boom... a prisoner to my left named 26:25 Tommy Weyser... I'll never forget it... 26:27 got up and hit the Podium and said, 26:28 "In the name of Jesus, turn these lights back on... " 26:31 they came on... in that room only for the next 2 hours... 26:33 the whole prison was dark... why didn't I do it? 26:36 because I told him... that God can do... 26:38 what? everything... I didn't believe it myself... 26:40 Hmmm... Prisoners have taught me 26:43 to trust God... they have taught me... 26:45 Yes... You hear me? 26:46 Yes... I can go on... 26:48 One night... So, you've got 26:49 you've benefitted so much... Oh, what are you talking about? 26:51 That's why I say... "work our your own salvation" 26:54 Yes... See, I was telling that stuff 26:55 but I didn't believe it myself until, one guy, one night named 27:00 John Sam... we'd break up in small classes... 27:04 I said, "Can you read... " he says, "No" then he says "Yes" 27:08 "Can you read?" "Yeah... " 27:09 "Can you read... " he said, "No, but I'll try... " 27:11 37-year-old guy... and I get to him... 27:14 and by-the-way... we don't talk to anybody 27:15 unless they have a Bible in the Class... 27:16 if they refuse the Bible we ask them to leave... 27:18 Really... Oh yeah... 27:20 Yeah because... how can you teach... without the Word? 27:22 We're down to like 40 seconds... What do you... 27:25 40 seconds before the Program ends? 27:27 Yes... I can't believe it... I can't either... 27:29 I want more... tell us what you need... 27:32 Well, I need to tell the story so other people can get involved 27:36 we found out a book that's a winner right here... 27:39 this book right here... "Bible Questions Answered" 27:42 Okay... has never been turned down... 27:43 we got now a million of them, it's designed for people to 27:46 win this for us... we make it available to you now 27:48 because it has 14 Bible Studies in it... 27:51 Oh... we'll put up your website 27:54 so that people 27:55 they need to get this book here... 27:56 we'll put up your website so that people can order it... 27:59 Order this book... Yes, thank you so much 28:01 for being with us... You said I had 40 seconds... 28:03 it's over now... and thank you joining in... 28:05 Tune in next time... It just wouldn't be the same 28:07 without you... |
Revised 2025-01-29