Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Jacques Laguerre
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000124A
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00:01 Stay tuned to meet a young man that by the power of God
00:03 turned his passion into purity. 00:05 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching 00:08 Urban Report... 00:31 Hello and welcome to Urban Report... 00:34 My guest today is Jacques Laguerre 00:36 Founder and CEO of Genesis of Purity 00:39 a Program that helps others to practice sexual purity... 00:42 Welcome to Urban Report Jacques... 00:45 Thank you for having me Dr. Lewis... 00:48 Oh, it's great to have you here and feel free to call me Yvonne. 00:51 So, Jacques, give us a little bit of background 00:55 I just want to let our Viewers know that 00:58 I had heard about your testimony 01:01 through our mutual friend, Mike Carducci, 01:04 who is with 'Coming Out' Ministries 01:06 and he said, "You have to hear 01:08 Jacques Laguerre... you need to meet him... " 01:10 and he and his ministry did some work on 01:14 "Pure Choices" 01:16 and... so he said, "You need to have him on the Program... " 01:20 so, I thought, "Wow, I need to have him 01:21 on Urban Report as well... " 01:23 so, I'm so glad that you're with us... 01:25 thank you so much for being with us... 01:27 Thank you for having me... 01:29 So, give us a little bit about your background... 01:31 tell us a little bit about where you came from... 01:34 I'm the third and last child of a Seventh-day Adventist Pastor 01:40 he's been a pastor for about 35 years now... 01:43 You're a PK... Pastor's Kid... 01:45 PK, yeah, that's me... 01:47 Okay, and where did you grow up? 01:51 I grew up actually in 01:54 Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 01:56 in that area, you know, because my dad... being a pastor 01:59 kind of... moving churches... around... in those two states... 02:02 I think that people don't really understand 02:06 the demands on a pastor's child 02:10 or the pastor's family... the wife... the children... 02:13 I mean, it's got to be so difficult... 02:16 moving from place to place and meeting new people 02:19 tell us some of the challenges that you have as a PK... 02:22 I'd say, the moving around... it wasn't too bad... 02:28 for me personally... just because I had... 02:31 I didn't really have trouble making friends... 02:33 but I'd say the hardest part about being a pastor's kid 02:36 is the expectation... 02:37 you don't expect a doctor's kid to know how to perform surgery 02:43 but for some reason... people expect pastors' kids 02:46 to be perfect children that do everything in accordance 02:51 with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy... 02:52 and so, very early on... I felt like I had to choose... 02:56 whether I want to serve God fully... 02:58 or whether I wanted to live up to the stereotype of 03:01 "Pastors' kids are the worst". 03:02 Wow! that's an interesting place to be... 03:06 if you have to make a choice as to 03:08 whether you want to invest yourself totally into 03:12 the stereotype or into what God would have you do... 03:16 correct? Hmmm... hmmm... yes, yes, yes... 03:18 What did you decide? 03:19 Well, early on, I decided wrongly... 03:22 and I definitely fell to the stereotype of pastors' kids 03:27 being rebellious and not wanting to conform 03:31 to the Word of God... and so, I kind of chose 03:34 the path more frequently traveled by pastors' kids... 03:39 So, tell us what happened in your life... 03:44 how did you go from being that PK 03:47 and trying to do the right thing even though you were 03:51 kind of going to the "left" it sounds like... 03:54 how did you end up really falling into sin? 03:57 Well, it started when I was about 10 years old, actually, 04:05 and I was exposed to some explicit material 04:10 on the computer... 04:11 and I don't really remember 04:14 where my parents were... or where my family was... 04:16 our computer was in the main room 04:18 it was in the family room... 04:19 but while I was just surfing the internet... I came across 04:23 nothing that would incite any sort of 04:28 concern by most people... 04:31 it was just a woman in a bikini... 04:32 and to a 10-year-old mind... it just... 04:34 my mind just gravitated to that image... 04:36 and so, from there, I then got introduced to pornography 04:42 by my friend... we went over to his house 04:44 to work on a project... 04:45 and that was kind of the catalyst that began 04:48 my slide into sin... sexual sin to be more specific. 04:52 So, you were about 10... when... 04:56 when it started... 04:57 Yes, yes, I was around 10 years old... 05:00 You know, it's interesting Jacques because 05:03 so often, we as parents aren't monitoring... 05:06 and this is not an indictment of your parents, 05:08 I'm saying... in general... 05:09 we often don't know 05:11 what our children are looking at on the computer... 05:14 we kind of let them go and play on the computer 05:16 and we think that everything is all good... 05:19 Hmmm... hmmm... but there are so many images 05:21 that, as you just stated, it was just a woman in a bikini 05:25 which by all intents and purposes 05:28 maybe might not have stimulated someone else... but for you... 05:31 it was the beginning of that descent... 05:34 It was the beginning... hmmm... hmmm... 05:36 so, my point is that... as parents 05:40 we have to really monitor our children 05:43 and really make sure that... 05:45 maybe put some safeguards on the computer or something 05:48 that kind of avoid these forays into pornography 05:53 because it happens and it happens gradually... 05:58 and it happens insidiously 06:00 and then our children are hung up with images 06:03 that they cannot get rid of... 06:05 I guess the interesting thing about protecting the children is 06:12 that... they've done studies where they've shown 06:15 grown men above the age of 25... 06:17 that had never been exposed to pornography... 06:19 sexually, explicit material... and they were disgusted by it... 06:23 and so there's something that happens with the brain 06:26 that... during your childhood years 06:28 when your brain is still forming you see pornography... 06:31 and it's instantly addictive... 06:33 but if you've had the chance to develop mentally, 06:36 spiritually and cognitively... 06:37 then, even if you're exposed to it later on in life... 06:40 it's not going to take you by surprise... 06:42 you're going to be disgusted by it... 06:44 That's a very interesting point, 06:47 so the young mind that's not fully formed yet... 06:51 is much more susceptible to the impact of it... 06:55 than the adult mind that can say... 06:58 "Oh, this is disgusting... " Hmmm... hmmm... 07:00 that's a very interesting point, 07:02 that's one of the reasons why 07:04 using Marijuana in the teen years 07:07 also is so detrimental because the frontal lobes 07:11 just aren't fully developed yet 07:13 the frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed 07:15 and all kinds of problems ensue... 07:19 so, it's really important to guard the avenues of the soul 07:25 basically... because if we don't all these images and things 07:31 really can take control of the young mind... 07:34 and the older mind too... but the young mind particularly. 07:38 So, you found yourself with your friend... 07:42 you got into pornography, and how old were you... 07:46 when you really were at your peak of addiction 07:50 with pornography? 07:51 Well, I can't really say that that there was a peak 07:57 just because of the nature of any addiction... 08:00 it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse... 08:01 and so, I'd say I was at my peak in my 20s... 08:05 by this time I had been watching pornography for over a decade 08:10 and so, just like with any other of drug... you need something 08:15 we need more usage... and just need things 08:19 that are a little less conventional 08:21 to get the same response... physically and mentally 08:24 and so, I'd say, 08:26 right before I gave my life to Christ 08:27 it was my midnight hour... 08:29 I could see the effects of pornography 08:34 killing me in ways that I could not... when I just began. 08:37 Such as... unpack it a little bit for us... 08:42 To unpack it a little bit... just... 08:43 my view of women in general 08:47 my idea for why God created sex 08:51 because I think we forget that sometimes 08:53 that pornography and all these things are just the perversion 08:56 of something beautiful that God created... and so, 08:59 I had been so educated by pornography and by the media 09:05 and by the music that I didn't even really understand 09:08 God's beautiful, initial intention for sex... 09:11 I couldn't really connect 09:14 with people because you're always hiding something 09:17 so you really can't be open, you can't be honest, 09:20 I could never have a relationship with a woman 09:23 I had tried several times but things just kind of collapsed 09:26 just because I wasn't emotionally available... 09:30 I wasn't all there... 09:31 it was just killing me emotionally... 09:35 and like I said, 09:36 I couldn't see that "beginning" because I had just begun 09:40 but as I had continued to indulge, indulge, indulge... 09:42 and to put things into my brain 09:46 that were more bizarre and more crazy 09:48 it began to change me a lot more 09:51 and I was beginning to see the effects... 09:52 To me, it's so fascinating how the enemy works... 09:59 he starts you off with one little picture 10:02 and then... there's this... just downward spiral 10:06 you take in more and more and more... 10:11 and it's more depravity 10:14 just consistently going downward that's his plan... 10:18 just as God has a plan to prosper us 10:21 and to give us a future and a hope... 10:23 Satan's plan is to destroy us and to use our weaknesses 10:27 against us... so, he started with you 10:31 with that one image and then, 10:32 little by little over time you found that you were just 10:37 being more and more drawn to it 10:39 and it was changing your perception of women, 10:42 changing your perception of sex... 10:45 because sex is a holy thing when in the context of marriage 10:49 It is... 10:50 but outside of the context of marriage... 10:52 it's not meant to be outside of the context of marriage 10:57 so it's amazing to me how the enemy just chips away 11:01 chips away at you... and finds ways to draw you into 11:06 further away from God and isolate you 11:11 because it sounds to me as though you became 11:14 rather isolated... 11:15 were you introverted as a result of the addiction? 11:18 Well, I'm naturally introverted. Okay... 11:22 And so the pornography addiction 11:25 made it that much worse 11:27 we can read in an amazing book I had a chance to read... 11:31 on the psychological effects of pornography... 11:33 "Wired for Intimacy" 11:34 that pornography is even that much more dangerous 11:38 for people that are highly introverted... like myself 11:40 because naturally you don't like putting yourself out there 11:44 for the awkwardness... 11:46 sometimes the nervousness of meeting women in real life 11:49 and so pornography even attaches to your brain even more 11:53 and it's some place where you feel safe... 11:56 secure... even though it's a false "safe" 11:59 it's a false security... 12:00 that's something that kind of draws... 12:03 kind of draws at your personality a little bit more 12:07 than someone who is highly extroverted... 12:09 That's very interesting... you also mentioned the music... 12:15 the music also was having a detrimental effect on you... 12:20 tell us a little bit about that... 12:22 what kind of music were you listening to? 12:23 Well, some of my friends have called me a "cosmopolin" 12:29 I don't feel bound by culture, by nationality, 12:32 by skin color or by anything... and so, I like all music... 12:36 I used to listened to hip hop... 12:39 R and B... I used to listened to Salsa... 12:40 Merengue... I used to listen to some Country 12:42 I used to listen to Techno... 12:44 I used to listen to music across all genres... 12:48 and the theme of a woman being an object... 12:51 even though it might be presented 12:53 a little bit more harshly... in hip hop and R and B 12:56 and things of that nature... the image that God has for women 13:03 is not present in any of those genres... 13:06 if you to listen to them... 13:07 and so I was just getting different doses of sin... 13:09 depending on what genre I decided to listen to... 13:12 and you know, the lyrics, the way that women are presented 13:18 just the words that are used to describe them... 13:21 it's just not something that was holy and uplifting... 13:25 and even if the song wasn't degrading 13:27 and it was just presenting sex in a beautiful light... 13:30 that's not something that I needed to be hearing 13:32 as a single man... a teenager... with my hormones raging... 13:37 I didn't need to throw any gasoline... on a fire... 13:39 so that's why I've kind of had to cut 13:43 all that music out of my life... when I gave my life to Christ 13:46 He gave me the power to do it because, if I had held on... 13:50 to that music... 13:52 and I'm trying to search the Bible... 13:55 I'm trying to search the Spirit of Prophecy... 13:57 I would have been pulled in two directions... 14:00 and usually when someone is having that fight 14:03 where they are feeling both the Spirit and the flesh 14:06 the flesh tends to win 14:07 because that's our natural disposition... 14:09 That's right... And so God... God has shown me 14:12 in numerous ways... whether it was... 14:15 watching sermons on audioverse 14:17 or YouTube or whether I was watching something on 3ABN 14:20 that everything had to pass the 14:24 Philippians 4 verse 8 test... if it's not pure... 14:26 if it's not true... if it's not holy... 14:27 if it's not bringing me closer to Christ... 14:30 then it had to go... 14:32 and that's a decision I had to make... 14:33 it was a hard one... and the devil definitely knew 14:37 what he was doing... because one week, I believe, 14:41 after I decided to make that commitment... 14:43 one of my favorite artists came out... with his new album... 14:47 I had been waiting for... for over 6 months... 14:50 and so, I had to make a decision... one weekend... 14:53 whether I'd make an exception for an artist that I appreciated 14:56 and luckily... Christ gave me the strength... 14:59 to not download that album 15:02 and that was one of the best decisions 15:05 that I've ever made... and I've never looked back... 15:07 Amen... that is awesome... 15:09 What was it that made you decide to come to Christ... 15:15 to turn your life over to Him... 15:17 what happened in your life that made you... 15:20 that influenced you... in making that decision? 15:23 Well, that's kind of a 15:25 complicated question... 15:27 I may have to back up a couple of years... 15:29 if that's okay... Sure... sure... 15:33 So I spent 2 years at Andrews... 15:36 and I did relatively okay scholastically... 15:40 I didn't get the grades that I could have gotten... 15:42 because I was distracted... you know... 15:44 by sexual sin and by alcohol... 15:47 and by... a good time... 15:49 I heard about Marijuana that's when I got introduced to 15:52 to Marijuana and Tobacco and all these different things... 15:54 but I didn't do that terribly 15:58 that I could see the effect that it had... on my life... 15:59 it was only when I transferred to another Adventist Institution 16:04 where I didn't know anyone because my friends... 16:07 I had a really good group of friends... at Andrews... 16:10 that were really spiritual... 16:12 and so they kind of kept me in line... 16:14 but I hung out behind closed doors 16:17 with a bad crowd as well... 16:18 and so, my good friends kind of kept me at bay... 16:23 but when I transferred to Southern... 16:26 I didn't know anyone there... 16:27 and so, I just met all the other rebels 16:29 that were upset that they had to be at an Adventist School 16:32 and I got into so many different things at Southern... 16:35 because of my lifestyle... 16:37 I was arrested twice that semester... 16:41 I failed every single class... 16:43 except for Snowboarding, I believe... 16:46 and Horseback Riding... 16:48 That's not funny but... 16:50 I'm sure your parents didn't send you to Southern 16:54 for Snowboarding and Horseback Riding alone... 16:56 No, that's not what they sent me for at all... 17:00 I was just being bad... yeah, yeah, yeah... 17:03 I can laugh about it now, I can laugh about it now... 17:06 Yeah... And so after all that... 17:10 I then decided... 17:12 after Southern asked me not to come back... 17:14 because I failed about every single class like I said earlier 17:17 I decided to join the army... 17:19 and so I enlisted in the United States Army 17:23 and I joined on November 16, 2011... 17:27 and so, I was... you know, 17:29 I was just living the typical life... 17:31 and the things that made me a rebel... 17:33 at Andrews and Southern... just made me normal in the army 17:38 I was now a small fish in a big pond... 17:42 where the latter had been true at an Adventist Institution... 17:46 and so, I began to even get further and further into sin... 17:50 more alcohol, pornography was something that was joked about 17:54 in the Adventist culture at both Schools... 17:57 it wasn't something that you would talk about 18:00 even though you knew your friends might be watching it... 18:02 sometimes, you might find something on the computer 18:05 and you would just have to close it... 18:07 so that you guys wouldn't have to have the awkward conversation 18:10 but in the Military... I was Combat Arms... 18:14 and so there were no females... 18:16 it was just a male-dominated culture 18:18 and so people would joke about pornography 18:20 and all these different things, sleeping around and alcohol... 18:23 and drug use... 18:24 and so I got even deeper into that lifestyle 18:27 even to the point where I began soliciting prostitutes 18:31 and all these different things were going on in my life 18:34 and I just kind of saw as a 18:36 natural progression of growing up... 18:38 but the devil was roping me in more and more and more... 18:42 and so, it was kind of looking back 18:45 and seeing how I had destroyed my life 18:48 and how far I had gone... 18:49 but there was one night in particular 18:53 that kind of awakened me to my spiritual lethargy 18:57 it was the Super Bowl I think 2012... 19:01 and my friend... we had been at his house 19:04 we were all drinking... 19:05 we were all having, what we thought, was a good time 19:09 and my friend's wife... after the Super Bowl was over... 19:12 she asked that we play a game, 19:15 and we had been, you know, drinking a lot of alcohol 19:18 and just finding 19:20 interesting ways to destroy our bodies with alcohol 19:23 and so I thought that she was going to come up with some new 19:27 innovative way... to drink... 19:29 and she suggested that we play a game 19:31 where you conjure up a spirit... 19:35 Wow! and, yes, yes, yes... and 19:38 up unto this point, like I told you earlier, 19:40 I had done a lot of things that I knew to be wrong... 19:43 I might not be able to quote a verse... 19:47 but I knew it was wrong... 19:48 but me being from a Haitian background... 19:52 I was very familiar with... with occult 19:55 and my father tells me stories 19:56 about different voodoo priests 19:58 in Haiti and all these different things... 20:00 and so, when she said that... 20:02 I kind of got serious really quickly... 20:04 and my friend who I hung out with all the time... 20:08 because we were really close, 20:10 he had never seen me take a moral stand on anything... 20:14 and so, when he saw that... he started talking to me 20:18 and I began to tell him certain texts that Adventists... 20:22 we love to use... like, 20:23 "The living know that they shall die but the dead know nothing" 20:26 and I began to tell him, 20:28 "Don't you know what she's trying to do... 20:29 she's trying to invite demons" 20:31 and I started telling him that there are angels 20:34 and the great controversy 20:35 and this is all while I'm drunk, mind you, 20:38 looks like... Proverbs knew what it was talking about... 20:40 when it said, "Train up a child in the way he should go: 20:43 and when he is old, he will not depart from it" 20:44 Yes... and so I began to explain to him 20:46 the great controversy and all these different things 20:49 and I was supposed to sleep at that house... 20:51 she brought it up again, and again, and again... 20:54 she brought it up 3 times, 20:56 and eventually, she looked at the clock 20:58 and the time that you had to start the game had passed... 21:01 and so, she kind of dropped it, 21:03 and so we stayed up for a little bit longer... 21:05 and then, everybody goes to sleep... 21:08 now, I had been in the Military for over a year, at this point, 21:13 and I had slept in so many different places... 21:15 I have slept in the beds of trucks... 21:20 I've slept in parking lots... I've slept in dirt holes... 21:23 I've slept everywhere... 21:24 and now, I'm on a really nice soft couch and I can't sleep... 21:31 and I felt like... someone was watching me... 21:34 or something was watching me, and so, that night, 21:40 I just decided to take my chances 21:42 and just drive back to my barracks room... 21:44 and from there... 21:46 my brother... he sent me the link 21:48 to Roger Morneau's documentary, "A Trip into the Supernatural" 21:52 and after watching that documentary... 21:55 I think it was maybe an hour and a half or two hours 21:57 the spiritual world and 22:01 my passions became really, really apparent... 22:04 and that's when the Holy Spirit started to reach me... 22:07 and so, a couple of days later, 22:09 I officially surrendered my life to Christ... 22:14 Wow! that is amazing... God is a friend... 22:19 that is amazing... that God... you know... 22:23 God keeps His hand on us Jacques doesn't He? 22:27 He does... He does... 22:28 He didn't let you get... but so far... 22:30 and then... somebody said, 22:32 one of my friends who is a pastor said... 22:34 God is like a giant fisherman, you know, 22:36 He lets you kind of go out... and then he reels you back in... 22:39 and it seems like... I mean, we have to respond... 22:41 you know, it's our choice... 22:43 but He knows how to reel us back in 22:46 and that idea... that your friend's wife had 22:50 about conjuring up spirits... she crossed the line with you... 22:54 That's what it sounds like... she crossed the line... 22:57 and the Holy Spirit was showing you... this is how it gets... 23:02 this is how low you can get... if you get away from me... 23:06 and so, you gave your life to the Lord... 23:11 and you're now doing... "Genesis of Purity" 23:15 tell us about your ministry, what is that about? 23:18 Okay, well, it actually came about 23:21 rather spontaneously... it kind of came by in 2 parts 23:24 I forgot who the author of this book is... 23:27 but it's called "Correlated Bible Readings" 23:31 and it pairs the Bible with the Spirit of Prophecy 23:33 through the whole Conflict of the Ages series... 23:36 and so, it's a really bright pink book... 23:40 you really can't miss it 23:41 and they have three plans inside of this book 23:44 one-year, two-years and four-years 23:46 where you can read the Bible 23:48 in conjunction 23:49 with the corresponding books from the Spirit of Prophecy 23:52 and so, I decided to do that... and so, of course, 23:56 I started in the book of Genesis 23:58 and as I was reading the book of Genesis... 24:01 I saw that there were so many stories 24:04 of people's relationships 24:06 both healthy and unhealthy, and like... Adam and Eve... 24:09 and then you have Cain and Abel... 24:11 and then you have 24:12 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... 24:14 and their 3 wives... and all the drama... 24:16 that ensued... 24:17 and then you have the sons of Jacob 24:20 which have all sorts of relationship drama... as well 24:23 and as I was reading... and studying this book in-depth 24:26 along with the Spirit of Prophecy, 24:28 I saw men... even men of faith and even people who have... 24:35 tribes named after them and who will have their names 24:39 etched on all the gates of the New Jerusalem... 24:42 when it came to opposite-sex relations... 24:44 they just seemed to not really have any guidance... 24:48 Hmmm... and so... 24:51 I've always loved giving people relationship advice... 24:53 before I gave my life to Christ it was terrible advice 24:58 but I always enjoyed giving people advice on relationships 25:01 and so, I started to jot down some notes... 25:05 on different topics... and different seminars 25:08 I could potentially give... when I got out of the Military, 25:11 and as I started to do this... my notebook became 25:16 more full and full and full and full... 25:18 to where I now I probably have maybe 50 or 60 presentations... 25:22 that I still need to work on but I have all the ideas... 25:26 I've worked on maybe 20 so far... 25:28 and so, I thought of the name "Genesis of Purity" 25:31 just because of where God had taken me 25:33 and I kind of felt like Paul in a way... 25:36 1 Timothy 4 verse 9... when he says, 25:38 "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation 25:42 Christ Jesus came to save sinners of which I am chief... " 25:46 and so, Christ wanted to show the extent of His grace... 25:49 through Paul... and I think that Christ wanted to show 25:53 the world the extent of His grace 25:55 when it comes to sexual sin through me... 25:57 and so, I wanted to be able to share that with people... 26:00 and so, I just went online and I checked if 26:03 Genesisofpurity. org was taken and I just bought the URL... 26:07 Let's put your website up by-the-way... 26:09 go ahead... Okay... and I just bought 26:12 the URL... without even knowing 26:14 when I was going to be out of the Military... 26:16 that this thing was even going to take off... 26:18 I kind of just acted in faith... 26:20 and so, now I go to schools and churches 26:24 and I share my testimony but then... 26:28 I don't want to only tell them only about how the devil 26:30 was able to drag me... into the mud... 26:32 I want to tell them of how Christ was able to take me out 26:36 and to clean me... 26:37 and I want to be able to share with people 26:39 different principles... 26:41 that if you haven't fallen into that life... 26:43 that you can use to prevent that 26:45 and different things on relationships 26:47 and courtship and seeking parental guidance 26:51 and all these different things that seem so old-fashioned... 26:55 but what I always tell young people... 26:58 especially young women... 26:59 I say, "Do you want to be married for a long time?" 27:02 and they say, "Yeah, I want to be married for life... " 27:05 I say, "Well that's old-fashioned... " 27:08 because people get married for 6 months... 27:10 a year... two years... three years... 27:12 and if you want old-fashioned results... 27:15 you have to use old-fashioned methods 27:18 and so... Genesis of Purity is all about 27:20 just going back to the book of Genesis... where it all began... 27:23 showing people the principles 27:25 that can guide your relationships 27:27 so that their picture of what they're supposed to be... 27:30 you know, Ellen White says that, 27:32 "Marriage is supposed to be a foretaste of heaven" 27:34 Hmmm... hmmm... and it is... 27:37 it is just the opposite for most people... 27:40 I know... because they don't apply 27:41 the principles found in the Scripture... 27:43 and that's what Genesis of Purity is all about. 27:46 That is awesome... I don't know where our time went 27:48 but thank you so much for being with us... 27:51 we want the Lord to just continue to bless you 27:54 and thank you Viewer, for tuning in... 27:57 Make sure to tune in next time because, you know what? 28:00 It just wouldn't be the same without you... |
Revised 2015-07-29