Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Greg Emelander
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000118A
|
00:01 Stay tuned to meet a man
00:02 who, though raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, 00:05 found himself living as a mid-level drug dealer... 00:07 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:09 and you're watching Urban Report... 00:33 Hello and welcome to Urban Report... 00:35 My guest today is Greg Emelander, 00:38 President of Conviction Ministries Inc. 00:40 Welcome to Urban Report Greg... Thank you... 00:43 It is so good to have you here. It's good to be here... 00:46 I've heard that you have an amazing testimony... 00:50 and I just met you today... and from what I've heard... 00:54 your story is something that our Viewers really need to hear. 00:58 So, tell me a little bit about your background... 01:01 Where were you born and raised? 01:02 I was born in lonia, Michigan... that's where we were raised... 01:06 and my father was a farmer 01:08 my mom worked in a local doctor's office... 01:09 and for most of my childhood, it was spent in the country... 01:13 I attended a Seventh-day Adventist School 01:15 all the way from first through eighth grade... 01:17 and by all accounts... I had a really good childhood... 01:20 So, you came from a two-parent family... 01:23 and... was your dad very active in the home 01:26 was he a strong presence in your home? 01:29 He was... of course being a farmer 01:31 there were long hours during the summer 01:33 but during the winter... he was home... 01:35 quite a bit... and he was a good, Christian man 01:39 he was always solid in terms of 01:42 making sure that we understood our faith... 01:45 that we read our Bible... so as I was raised... 01:48 we definitely had a strong Christian presence in the home. 01:52 So, when did it start to change for you... 01:55 because you went from 1st through the 8th grade 01:58 in a Seventh-day Adventist School... 02:00 were you spiritual during that time... 02:03 or did you begin to change during that time... 02:06 Towards the end of 7th through 8th grade... 02:08 I began to change... 02:10 of course my home began to change as well... 02:12 my parents began fighting and in time... 02:15 their fighting, of course, affected my brother... 02:19 my sister and I... and our ability to communicate 02:22 without fighting... diminished... 02:24 and so, that's kind of what happened towards 7th and 8th 02:28 so the family began to kind of disintegrate 02:31 Hmmm... hmmm... and with that 02:33 came a change in you... 02:35 so how did it manifest itself, what happened? 02:38 The biggest change came when my parents announced 02:41 that they were going to get divorced... 02:43 once they divorced... they separated... 02:44 and we children kind of felt drawn to one parent 02:50 or the other... Hmmm... 02:51 it wasn't that we became "pawns" 02:53 but we felt that tension between the two... 02:55 like we had to be loyal to one 02:57 and kind of push away the other 02:58 You had to pick one... Yes, absolutely... 03:00 Hmmm... hmmm... and when you're around 03:01 that individual... even though they didn't say that 03:03 that's kind of how we felt... and there was a lot of strain 03:07 between our siblings... because of that... 03:09 let's say my sister wanted to be with my mom... 03:12 I didn't want my dad to be alone... 03:13 so I wanted to be with my dad... 03:15 but at the same time I wanted to be with my mom... 03:17 and that type of tension between the siblings 03:19 really created a bad atmosphere 03:21 You know... it's amazing Greg, 03:23 the impact that divorce has on the children... 03:27 it doesn't matter what age... they can be adult children 03:30 of the couple... but divorce has a profound impact 03:35 so, your sister wanted to go with your mom 03:38 you wanted to go with your dad, Hmmm... hmmm... 03:41 what happened... how did it end up? 03:43 Ultimately, that's exactly what happened... 03:45 I stayed with my mom for a short while 03:47 but I became increasingly angry... 03:49 I wanted to rebel... I wasn't getting the attention 03:54 that I felt I deserved and, of course, I started acting out 03:56 and ultimately that led to some disciplinary issues 03:59 I stole from a store and got busted stealing... 04:02 and so, that was the first time I had interaction 04:04 with the police... but along with that rebellious 04:06 attitude came smoking cigarettes... 04:08 because that was one thing I knew I wasn't allowed to do... 04:11 but yet... I did... and at the end of 8th grade, 04:14 they transferred us to a public school... 04:16 so, I went from a Seventh-day Adventist School... 04:18 to a public school... and I was completely unprepared. 04:21 That is a huge transition isn't it? 04:24 I had that happen to me... and you go from a small... 04:28 kind of intimate setting... with the Adventist School 04:31 sometimes to a really big public school... 04:34 and it's... the classes are different, 04:35 the people are different, 04:37 so how did going to a public school, impact you spiritually? 04:40 Well, it impacted me to such a degree that 04:45 the spirituality was just completely in the background... 04:48 everything that I used to be... a Pathfinder... 04:50 I mean, I was a dedicated child of God... 04:52 but as soon as the divorce happened... 04:55 all of that disappeared... even though my dad was taking 04:57 us to Church on the weekends that he had us... 05:00 because we had to switch back and forth... 05:02 it was something I wasn't even thinking about 05:04 so, by the time I'm in School... I'm not thinking about the Bible 05:07 I'm not thinking about Christ, 05:08 I'm not thinking about God at all... 05:10 I'm thinking about "How can I develop friendships 05:13 to where I don't feel rejected, 05:15 or I don't feel I'm not part of the group... " 05:18 and that desire to want to be accepted... 05:21 ultimately led me down a very dark path... 05:23 So, 7th and 8th grades... 05:27 those were the pivotal years for you... 05:29 that's when things just kind of shifted into this real 05:33 "drift away" from the Lord and from the values 05:36 that you had... when you went to high school, 05:40 did you develop the wrong... 05:41 did you take on the wrong friends... the wrong associates 05:45 tell us about your associates in high school... 05:47 I was not athletic... I was, kind of a small guy, 05:49 I wasn't short... but I was definitely skinny... 05:52 so athleticism was not in my gene pool... 05:54 necessarily... not within me individually... 05:57 and I didn't necessarily like the negative attention 06:01 that the academics got... 06:02 so I was ultimately drawn to the troublemakers... 06:06 and, of course, with troublemakers comes trouble... 06:10 and... so I began having problems with my teachers 06:13 with my parents... 06:14 with individuals just in the community 06:16 and inside... internally... all of the little choices 06:20 that I was making... to rebel... 06:21 every decision that I made that was kind of... 06:24 "going against authority" built upon itself... 06:28 and what I was doing became progressively worse 06:31 and worse and worse and worse, and so I went from stealing... 06:34 and smoking cigarettes to smoking Marijuana, 06:37 and then, my criminal activity 06:40 as far as how I was acting out became more aggressive... 06:44 Tell us about that... 06:46 so, for instance, I remember one night... 06:48 we had gotten into an argument with an individual 06:51 who had already graduated high school, 06:52 and he was a "bad kid" in town 06:54 and I got the bright idea 06:56 that we were going to get him back one night... 06:58 so, I had a truck... we filled it with cinder blocks 07:00 and we got him to chase us 07:01 through town in the middle of the night... 07:03 and I had a friend in the back of the truck... 07:04 and he would pop up... and I remember, he was throwing 07:07 cinder blocks at this car while we were doing high speeds 07:09 down the middle of the town... now, I was 16 at that time 07:12 and we didn't care whether or not somebody got hurt 07:15 or whether or not somebody even got killed... 07:16 we just didn't care... but that was... one small step 07:20 that led ultimately towards that larger journey 07:23 Isn't it interesting, Greg, how... you know... 07:26 you make decisions and choices that really don't reflect 07:30 the intelligence that you have, I mean, you don't think, 07:34 from cause to effect... Hmmm... 07:36 you're just thinking this is what... 07:38 you're kind of ruled by your impulses, 07:40 Absolutely... 07:41 "This is what I feel like doing, so this is what I'm going to do" 07:43 and I mean, that's why smoking weed... 07:47 it's one of the reasons... smoking weed... with teenagers 07:51 is so bad... because the frontal lobe 07:54 is not as developed as it should be... 07:57 and so they're smoking weed and then making 07:59 choices that can just impact them for the rest of their lives 08:02 without realizing it... so, these are some of the things 08:05 that you were doing... you had started smoking weed 08:07 you had started to get more and more aggressive 08:09 Hmmm... hmmm... 08:10 how did that play out when you were maybe 18 or 19? 08:14 Well, I had a pretty bad habit as far as Marijuana went... 08:19 but I didn't want to have to pay for my habit 08:21 and so I started selling in order to cover that 08:24 And how old were you during this time? 08:25 I started selling when I was 17 Okay... 08:27 but by 18 or 19... it was pretty well established 08:30 I had a certain amount of clientele 08:33 but I could tell that... I really loved the money... 08:37 I really loved the attention that I was getting from 08:40 living in that type of lifestyle and ultimately 08:43 I ended up meeting an individual who became a connection for me, 08:47 he was very well connected with an Organization 08:49 a criminal organization that was trafficking 08:51 large quantities of Marijuana from Mexico through Texas 08:55 and I mean, semi-trailers full of weed... 08:58 and he became my solid connection 09:01 and ultimately I... through him... 09:03 I started selling 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, 09:06 40-pound blocks of Marijuana 09:07 Oh, so, you went from not really making much money 09:13 because you were a farmer's son all right... 09:14 Hmmm... hmmm... so you weren't really making 09:15 much when you were doing work... 09:18 to now... you're making big money 09:20 and you're getting attached to the money... 09:23 Oh absolutely... Right... and the lifestyle... 09:26 and everything that goes with it... 09:28 so, where did that take you, what happened after that? 09:32 Of course, with drugs come... drug use... 09:34 Hmmm... and I didn't keep the 09:36 "cardinal rule" of the drug dealer 09:38 and I started using my own supply... 09:39 eventually that led to a really bad Cocaine addiction 09:43 because Marijuana just wasn't enough for me, 09:45 I got sick of having to deal with larger quantities of 09:47 Marijuana and switched to Cocaine... 09:48 and selling Cocaine, of course, I'm using Cocaine 09:52 and that addiction just got insatiable... 09:55 we were trafficking in Ecstasy and Shrooms 09:57 and pharmaceuticals... and so my selection of material 10:02 that I was selling... it was large... 10:04 they ended up calling me the "Street Pharmacist" 10:05 because I carried so many of varieties of 10:07 everything you could think of... 10:09 On your person... 10:10 On my person... so, for instance if you 10:11 see me today... generally, I have a backpack... 10:14 well, back in the day... I had a backpack too... 10:16 today my Bible is in there... with my highlighting kit 10:19 and everything else... but back then... 10:21 I would have 2 or 3 different grades of Marijuana, 10:23 2 different types of Shrooms, 2 different kinds of Cocaine... 10:26 and I'd have pharmaceuticals through the roof 10:29 and so, they called me "The Street Pharmacist" 10:31 because I carried a veritable pharmacy... on my back... 10:33 Wow! and see, honestly, you don't look like you 10:37 had a bunch of drugs on you, I don't know how you looked then 10:40 now, of course, you have the love of the Lord 10:42 and it's in your face... Yes... 10:44 and your countenance, but then... 10:46 I don't know if you looked like a hippie 10:47 or you if you looked like you were using drugs yourself... 10:49 but, to me... it's amazing how Satan just starts you 10:55 at one place... you weren't doing drugs at all 10:58 at one point... once you started... 11:01 that was the gateway... 11:02 and Marijuana just led you to do Cocaine... 11:05 which led you to do the other things... 11:07 and you just spiraled downward... 11:09 so, you began selling and using and walking around 11:15 with the drugs on your person... Oh, I did... definitely... 11:19 and nobody advised you not to do that? 11:21 I didn't care... I got to the point where 11:23 the people who used to be my dealers 11:26 then became my customers... 11:27 and so, I became one of the top dogs in the area... 11:29 and even the Chief of Police in my town 11:31 would tell you that for 3 and 1/2 years 11:33 they focused on trying to bust me 11:35 that I was their main focus for such a long time 11:38 that when I finally got arrested it was like 11:40 they really didn't understand how to go about 11:43 doing the police work that they were doing 11:45 before they were focusing on me... 11:46 So you were so much the focal point of their attention... 11:51 and their activities... that once they had you... 11:54 they didn't really know what to do... 11:55 Yes... They didn't have much more to do 11:57 How did you avoid 12:00 avoid getting locked up for those 3 years, what did you do? 12:05 Well, I didn't have a criminal record to speak of 12:07 when I finally got arrested... 12:09 the DEA's Central Michigan Enforcement Team... 12:11 West Michigan Enforcement Team, State Police and the 12:13 County's Police Department, Kent County Sheriff's Department 12:15 they all busted me at once... 12:16 and I was charged with three counts of delivering 12:19 and manufacturing Cocaine less than 50 grams... 12:21 but because of my lack of criminal record 12:24 and because of my health problems at that time... 12:26 and because of other factors, 12:28 they just gave me a slap on the wrist 12:30 and that "slap on the wrist" was 97 days in jail... 12:32 felony probation... life-time felony probation 12:36 which was, I believe, 2 years, 8,000 dollars in fines, 12:39 honestly... they were giving me enough rope to hang myself 12:42 because they knew that I wasn't going to stop 12:44 but with the charges that I received... 12:46 the maximum sentence they could have given me 12:48 was 40 years so by giving me a rope, 12:49 they knew that the next time I got in trouble, 12:51 they'd be able to throw the book at me... 12:53 And there was a next time... 12:56 There absolutely was... Tell us about that... 12:58 So, I quit selling drugs... after I got busted in 2003... 13:02 but I never quit doing drugs... now, I quit using Marijuana 13:05 and Cocaine... but I was still an addict... 13:08 and I still wanted to get high 13:09 so, what I did was... I went to the doctor's office 13:11 I started getting prescriptions 13:12 and ultimately went through a Pain Clinic 13:14 and they prescribed me Morphine, and Avinza 13:16 which is 24-hours- sustained-release-morphine 13:18 and Fentanyl patches... 13:20 and so, I was getting all these prescriptions at once... 13:22 and so the Fentanyl patches, I started shooting up 13:25 and I'd mix that with Crack Cocaine... 13:27 so, breakfast for me... after a period of two years 13:30 was honestly a syringe for Fentanyl with Crack Cocaine 13:34 and I'd have a 3-day patch in each shot... 13:37 so, now, Fentanyl being 80 times more powerful than Morphine... 13:41 you can imagine just how high my tolerance was, 13:44 the doctors, ultimately, cut me off of my prescriptions 13:47 and that's what led me to doing what I ended up doing... 13:50 Which... we're going to come to in a second... 13:54 So, Greg, this is mind-boggling to me because 13:57 I always think about... 13:58 about God's plan and Satan's plan 14:02 and when you look and you see 14:05 how God's plan is to prosper you 14:07 and to give you an abundant life 14:09 and Satan's plan is to destroy you... 14:11 and when you're on Satan's path, and on that trajectory... 14:17 you don't really see or care about what's going on... 14:21 Is that where you were? did you care about your body 14:25 did you care about what this was doing to you... 14:28 morally or physically or spiritually... 14:31 Not at all... What were you thinking? 14:33 I had no concern for my well-being, as a matter of fact 14:35 when I was 19, my lung collapsed 14:37 the surgeon essentially told me when I was healed... 14:40 that one more time... if it collapsed another time 14:42 he would be able to fix it, the third time... I'd be done 14:44 and so, at the age of 19... 14:46 it was essentially a death sentence... in my mind 14:49 and so, I lived as recklessly as you could... 14:52 I had no concern about my life, 14:54 and honestly... I had no concern for anybody else's... 14:56 I was so hot-headed that if somebody... 14:58 I remember one time somebody told me 15:00 to turn the radio down... and the next thing... 15:02 they knew he had a bullet coming at him 15:03 and that was me... because I just didn't care anymore 15:06 and so, as far as shooting up or doing something to my body, 15:09 it didn't matter... 15:11 My! so what happened to you... 15:14 what was the thing that really happened that got your attention 15:18 Well, when the doctor's office cut me off... 15:20 I started breaking into houses in order to feed my habit... 15:23 which ultimately led the police officers to chase me down 15:26 and the day they arrested me, I had a gun in the car, 15:29 and I went to grab that gun to shoot that officer, 15:31 and a passenger who was in my car... 15:33 grabbed that gun before I could get it 15:35 and restricted me from getting to it... 15:37 and then the cops pulled me out of the car and I was arrested 15:39 that was God's version of saving my life... right there... 15:42 and so, I went through the Court process 15:44 which was... five months, then went to prison 15:46 ultimately, I was sentenced to 7 to 20 years 15:48 in the Michigan Department of Corrections... 15:50 and when I got to prison, 15:51 God started showing me all the times that He had saved my life, 15:54 all the times He had stepped in, in the face of my rebellion, 15:57 in the face of my stupidity... 15:59 you know, you never see it when you're living in it... 16:01 Right... right... because as you said... 16:02 the devil tends to bind you, 16:04 you're not focused on God or spiritual things, 16:07 but God showed me all the times He'd saved my life 16:10 the drug overdoses, the armed robberies... 16:12 all the stupid things that I did... 16:14 and that He just stepped in and said, "You know what... 16:15 I'm going to cover you in mercy right now, 16:18 because I know where you can be 10 years from now," so... 16:20 when I saw God's love, honestly I was so taken aback 16:25 by the fact that even in that rebellion... 16:27 He cared enough to save my life, 16:29 that really brought me back to who I used to be as a child 16:33 and I started asking myself, 16:34 "Why did I end up here... who am I, really who am I? 16:37 because now, all the drugs are gone... 16:39 all the "numbing" is gone that I had been trying to do 16:43 to stop myself from really processing 16:45 all the bad choices that I made, all those are gone... 16:48 and now I'm faced with reality, and it was hard... 16:51 but I could feel God's love there, 16:53 and I could feel Him really guiding me... 16:55 and so I got on my knees one night... 16:57 and I just started asking for forgiveness for every sin 17:00 that I could think of... I ended up in tears that night, 17:03 and obviously sobbing on my bunk... 17:05 and I crawl back under that bunk and as I rolled under that bunk, 17:08 I've told people that... I felt as if the weight of sin 17:11 was coming off my body... 17:12 like 8 inches of concrete was rising up off of my body... 17:16 and it was incredible because I knew at that point 17:19 that I had... honestly been forgiven 17:21 and I know... God doesn't do that for everybody 17:23 but I needed it right then... I had to have it... 17:25 because I was at such a point of hopelessness 17:27 because I had broken into my 17:28 parents' house to feed my addiction... 17:30 I had broken into my dad's house to steal that pistol 17:32 I was going to shoot that cop with... 17:34 I was on my way to go rob a pharmacy by the way... 17:36 but I could feel God's love 17:39 and I knew that I had been forgiven... 17:41 and I knew at that point in my life... even though I didn't 17:43 have a clue of what it was going to look like... 17:44 I knew my life was going to be different 17:46 and I knew that 17:47 even though I had 7 years of prison to do 17:49 that somehow it was going to be used to glorify God... 17:51 See... oh it is so juicy... because, what you just showed us 17:58 really... is that you had a physiological 18:02 response... to God's forgiveness 18:05 you felt that peace that comes over you... 18:07 when you feel forgiven by God... 18:09 it doesn't matter what you've done... 18:11 Viewers, it doesn't matter what you've done... 18:14 God will forgive you... 18:16 Greg, I want you to look into your camera there... 18:19 and I want you to tell a young man 18:21 who is right now in the throes of sin... 18:25 and where you were... drug dealing, robbing... 18:28 all that stuff... and tell him... what to do... 18:31 how he can break free... 18:34 of that feeling of just... imprisonment... 18:36 "One thing that I understood that really 18:39 God brought to my heart was that... 18:42 'your past does not have to dictate your future' 18:45 what you've done in the past is irrelevant... 18:47 God loves you nonetheless, 18:49 and He's willing to take you off from that... 18:51 and really... the only thing that binds you 18:53 is your choice, whether to accept the love 18:55 and the mercy and forgiveness that God has... 18:57 if you're willing to accept that He's willing to give it to you, 19:00 and I promise you whatever sins you've committed 19:02 He's wanting to forgive you, 19:03 and whatever binds you at this time... 19:05 he's willing to break from around you... 19:07 and He can lead you in that path of peace... He will... 19:11 I promise... that's one thing He's promised us 19:13 that's what salvation is about... " 19:15 Thank you... that is so true and people need to hear it 19:19 and then he can hear it from someone... 19:21 who's been there... 19:22 who's been doing the same things they're doing... 19:25 it's not like somebody like me 19:27 that doesn't know firsthand about it... 19:29 if you know firsthand about it, and you've experienced 19:32 going through the lawlessness, 19:34 and then you experience God's peace... 19:37 we're all sinners... 19:39 we're all sinners and in need of a Savior... 19:41 and we just have different paths that we go down 19:44 but we're all sinners, and we just praise God 19:47 that He delivers us... Amen... 19:49 because He will put us back on solid ground... 19:52 so, I need to ask you this because I didn't ask before... 19:56 when you decided that you were coming back 19:59 to the Lord... did you have someone 20:01 in prison that was saying, 20:03 "Hey, you need to kind of look at yourself... " 20:05 or was it the Holy Spirit directly... talking to you? 20:08 It was the Holy Spirit... when I went to prison, 20:11 I started looking at who was around me... 20:13 Hmmm... and by looking at those 20:14 around me... at first you want to sit there 20:16 and point fingers kind of like the Pharisee and 20:18 the Publican and the sinners 20:20 in the Synagogue... and as I'm looking at these 20:22 individuals... and I'm pointing fingers 20:24 in my mind... I realize I'm in the same place they are, 20:27 so in Society's eyes... I'm no different than they are 20:30 Hmmm... hmmm... so, I've got a serial killer 20:32 on one side or a serial rapist on one side 20:34 I've got an axe murderer on the other, 20:35 and in Society's eyes... 20:37 I am no different... 20:38 so who am I to judge them, 20:39 and so that's what really got me to thinking 20:42 about the fact that, "Hey, I had every opportunity 20:44 in the world... I've the whole future 20:47 is laid out in front of me... there are no obstacles... 20:50 except my own choices... " and when I realized that 20:53 it was on me... that those were my choices 20:55 that I made that led me to where I was at, 20:57 well, that opened up a whole different situation... 21:01 So, how long... after you had this realization 21:05 and this epiphany and this experience with God... 21:10 how long after that... did you get out of prison? 21:14 seven years... it was actually six and a half 21:17 Okay... so, I'd already done five months in the Country jail 21:21 when I finally got sentenced 21:22 and went to Michigan Department of Corrections... 21:24 so, I'd been in the Michigan Department of Corrections 21:26 formally for only 16 days... but I had five months previous 21:30 to that... to really start weighing 21:31 what had happened... 21:33 so I went through 7 years of prison... in all... 21:36 7 years of incarceration 21:37 and in that time... God gave me opportunities 21:40 left and right to practice my faith... 21:42 one... to get grounded... my dad sent me a 21:44 "Conflict of Ages" series and I went through that 21:46 and then the Bible studies from Amazing Facts... 21:49 and my dad had given me one of the biggest gifts... 21:51 it was the Bible... and that Bible... 21:53 I began studying... and I really started just 21:56 allowing that to become a big part of my life... 21:59 you know... getting back into the Word 22:01 and understanding those promises that were in there... 22:03 understanding what it meant to be a child of God... 22:05 to have that position in Christ understanding what freedom 22:09 what salvation was all about, it was huge for me 22:11 because then... it allowed me to realize 22:13 that I already had victory over all these things 22:15 that the devil was trying to tell me... 22:16 which he had me bound by... 22:18 and by understanding that freedom, 22:20 I was able to share that with others... 22:22 so no matter what prison I went to... 22:24 I had Bible Study Groups 22:25 whether I'd be studying with officers 22:26 or whether it was prisoners, sometimes in the visiting room 22:29 I had the Bible Study with my then-fiancée... 22:31 and you'd see people across from me listening 22:34 to the conversation and then once they were gone... 22:36 the officers would start asking questions 22:38 about what we were talking about in our Bible Study 22:40 and I could just see God working 22:42 Yes, how awesome is that! 22:43 It doesn't matter where we are... 22:45 Right... wherever we are... 22:47 we can let our light shine, and once you have that spirit 22:51 of God in you... you can't... 22:53 it's like fire shut up in your bones... right? 22:55 That's right... you have to talk about it... 22:57 so look at what God did 22:59 even where you were at that time... 23:01 you were then, now bringing other people to Him 23:04 and allowing God to use you 23:07 so that they could experience His peace as well... 23:10 That's right... and it didn't stop 23:11 once I got out of prison... 23:12 I formed "Conviction Ministries Incorporated" 23:15 That was going to be my 23:16 next question... tell us about that... 23:17 So, Conviction Ministries Incorporated is kind of the 23:20 outgrowth of the burden that God put on my heart... 23:22 in prison I had real difficulty finding quality material 23:27 once you are in prison, you are pretty much cut off 23:29 from Society... everybody you knew in Church 23:31 pretty much wants to push you away... 23:33 but Hebrews 13 says... 23:34 to remember those that are in prison 23:36 as though you are in prison with them... 23:37 as though you are chained with them... 23:39 and when I got out... I realized just because I was 23:41 out of prison didn't mean that I didn't have a duty 23:44 to those individuals that I left behind... 23:45 so, I started raising money to send 23:48 quality Study Bibles back in... 23:50 because I realized we can send tons of books 23:52 into prisons... but what they really need 23:54 is number one... a Bible... 23:56 and number 2, the Study Guides that have to go with the Bibles 23:59 because if I send a Bible into prison... 24:00 there are going to be a hundred people there 24:02 to misinterpret that Bible... 24:04 but, if I send a Bible in there and in that Bible 24:07 is cross reference and has all of our material... in that Bible 24:11 it becomes much harder for somebody to come along 24:14 and tell the recipient of that Bible 24:16 error... and so they don't accept it... 24:19 so Conviction Ministries was formed to raise money 24:22 to purchase our... Seventh-day Adventist material 24:24 our Study Bibles... and to send them back in... 24:26 That's tremendous... 24:29 and how old is Convictions Ministries? 24:30 I had to start it when I got off parole... 24:32 because they said... it was about a "conflict of interest" 24:34 so, I formally started it in 2012... 24:37 and between 2013 and 2014... so far, we have sent in 24:43 over 14,000 dollars in Bibles... 24:46 now, I'm working with Remnant Publications right now 24:49 to come out with an Outreach edition of our Bible 24:52 so, it will have all the Remnant Study Guides 24:55 in the back... all the study material 24:56 that comes in the Remnant Study Bible 24:57 will be in the back... the only thing it won't have 25:00 is the Spirit of Prophecy quotes in the front... 25:02 Tell us what's in there... 25:03 So, in the Bible that we'll have, 25:05 it will have the parables of Christ 25:07 it will have the sanctuary... 25:09 all the furniture of the sanctuary broken down 25:11 because what a lot of people don't understand is... 25:13 the sanctuary message 25:14 is actually the key to understanding salvation 25:17 if you understand what 25:18 each of those pieces of furniture mean, 25:20 you will understand a facet of salvation... 25:21 Hmmm... hmmm... and so, the Remnant Study Bible 25:23 breaks that down... it also has one of the largest 25:26 concordances that you can find in any Bible... 25:28 it's a 3-column, 180-page concordance... 25:30 on top of that, it covers the miracles, 25:33 it covers the parables, 25:34 has sections from Christ's Object Lessons 25:36 and it goes through all of our doctrines 25:38 as a 26-topic chain reference, 25:41 so that it takes you not only through the 25:43 fundamentals of our doctrines, 25:44 but it goes through some of the finer facets 25:47 of our doctrines that kind of off-shoot subjects 25:49 that most Study Bibles and 25:51 definitely no other Adventist Bible covers 25:53 and so, I want to be able to provide that message for anybody 25:57 in prison who wants to understand the truth... 26:00 and by offering a Bible at an inexpensive rate... 26:03 we'll be able to reach a lot of individuals 26:05 that we never would have been able to touch... 26:07 That is wonderful... now suppose some people want to 26:10 donate Bibles to prisoners to inmates in various Facilities 26:15 how can they get in touch with you 26:16 you have your website... we'll put your website 26:18 up on the screen... How can they contact you? 26:20 There is a contact link on my website 26:22 they can also donate directly to Conviction Ministries from there 26:26 what a lot of people don't understand is 26:28 you just can't send materials to prisons... 26:30 it has to come from a publisher, it has to be brand new, 26:33 and because of those restrictions 26:35 they're very picky... and so Conviction Ministries 26:38 raises the money... we then send that money 26:40 to the Publisher... the Publisher then sends 26:42 those books directly to the Chaplain or to the Prisoner... 26:46 so Conviction Ministries facilitates that... 26:48 I call the Chaplains... 26:50 I develop a relationship with them 26:51 tell them those materials are coming in... 26:53 what it's really intended for, 26:55 and then those Chaplains will pass it out... 26:57 Now, if we have a Chaplain who isn't friendly 26:59 then the Publisher will send those Bibles to each 27:01 individual that we have listed 27:03 so they can go right to the website... 27:05 donate directly... and it's no problem... 27:08 That is great... we really need to have that kind 27:12 of a Study Bible in these Facilities 27:14 so that people can learn about Jesus... 27:17 and be able to go to references that's really great 27:20 because those cross references are important... 27:23 that helps you to dig more deeply into the Word... 27:25 Thank you so much for being with us 27:27 what a wonderful ministry you have... 27:29 Thank you... what a wonderful testimony 27:31 you have we really appreciate it... 27:32 Greg's story is proof that our God can take a life 27:37 that's headed in the wrong direction... 27:39 turn it around... give it purpose... 27:41 and passion... 27:42 I am so thrilled about his ministry 27:44 make sure that you support him, 27:46 make sure that you go to his website... 27:48 check out the website, 27:49 make donations to Conviction Ministries Inc. 27:53 because people need to know about our God... 27:56 Well, thanks for tuning in... 27:58 join us next time because you know what... 28:01 it just wouldn't be the same without you... |
Revised 2015-07-16