Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Pr. Wyatt Allen
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000173A
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00:01 Stay tuned to meet a man who went from crime to Christ.
00:05 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:06 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:33 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:35 My guest today is Wyatt Allen, 00:37 he's an Author, Associate Speaker 00:39 and Evangelist, for Amazing Facts. 00:41 Welcome to Urban Report, Wyatt. 00:43 So glad to be here. 00:45 Oh, it's a blessing to have you, your testimony is so rich, 00:50 God has brought you a mighty long way has He not? 00:54 He certainly has, but my testimony is... 00:56 I'm just one in among many of 00:58 what God can do in somebody's life. 00:59 It's amazing to me as you look at people's journeys 01:04 and you listen to where they were... and where... 01:08 and you look at them now, and you see, 01:11 such a transformation 01:13 from where they were to where they are now, 01:15 tell us a little bit about yourself, where did you grow up? 01:18 I grew up in Missouri, pretty crazy life growing up, 01:21 just... it was actually pretty common to most people 01:24 because this is pretty typical in America today 01:26 but... my parents split up when I was three, 01:29 divorced, we... my brother and my sister... 01:31 we all moved into a Women's Shelter with my mom 01:34 because my dad was violent and abusive 01:36 and we eventually settled in Jefferson City, Missouri, 01:39 and for a few years 01:42 we were safe from the violence and... 01:43 but not safe from life, 01:46 we still got into a lot of trouble 01:48 and my brother and I... we would steal and rob and 01:52 burn down houses, not that we really tried to 01:55 but we set some fires and ended up burning down a house, 01:58 that was at... six years old... 02:00 At six? 02:02 Six years old... 02:04 So, when you... okay, let's go back for a second 02:07 your dad left, and you were... how old? 02:10 Well, my mom left... she had to sneak out like, 02:13 2:00 in the morning, he was drunk and... 02:16 finally was able to get away and so... I was three years old. 02:20 So, your mom carried a lot within her, 02:25 a lot of pain and maybe fear, 02:28 was your mom a Christian at this time, was she...? 02:32 I think she was doing the best she could, 02:34 she was a busy mom, and I think she just... 02:37 she had tried to hold down three jobs at one point 02:39 and it just... it was really... 02:41 let's just say, I wasn't raised with a Christian upbringing 02:45 though she did teach me the Lord's Prayer. 02:47 I remember when I first read the Bible 02:49 for the very first time in my life, 02:50 the Lord's Prayer just came back to me when I came to it... 02:53 I'm like... "I know this, I know this" 02:54 but I don't remember learning it 02:56 so it's really interesting how that worked out. 02:58 Yes, yes, so at three... you moved... 03:01 you sneaked out, basically, 03:02 your mom sneaked out of the house 03:04 and took you to a shelter 03:05 and you lived in the shelter for how long? 03:08 It wasn't terribly long 03:10 until we could actually find somebody to move in with 03:13 and then... she was able to get a job further north 03:16 and so, it was a little process but my dad eventually... 03:20 he'd got into some trouble and had gotten out of jail 03:23 and... so he was able to start getting custody back of his kids 03:26 so it was a back and forth custody issue for years. 03:31 Ah, so at six, then... you began doing some really... 03:36 it began to express some anti-social behavior, right? 03:40 So you started doing what... with your brother? 03:43 Well, I mean, I was six, my brother was eight, 03:46 we ran all over town just causing trouble. 03:48 Where was your mom? 03:50 Working. 03:51 We were supposed to be with the babysitters 03:54 but the babysitters... at least the one we had 03:56 the ones we had weren't really as much concerned 03:58 about watching us and we had a little sister, 04:00 I have a sister who was three years younger than me 04:02 she was a newborn when we left, 04:04 and so she... anyway, she was three at this time 04:07 and so she was home with the babysitter 04:08 but my brother and I... 04:10 just skateboarded around town and... 04:12 we started fires in places and we would steal from stores. 04:16 I think we have a picture of you and your mom and your family 04:20 that we can put up, 04:22 your mom and your brother and your sister. 04:25 And of course that's me being pretty ornery, 04:27 you can see my little sister there, 04:29 and I never was the nicest kid. 04:31 Well, praise the Lord for the journey, right? 04:34 Not where you were but where you are now. 04:36 That's right and where I'm going to go. 04:38 Amen, amen for sure. 04:40 So, at six, you started doing all of these things... 04:44 running around town, setting fires... 04:47 just doing all kinds of things, what happened then... 04:50 if you're doing this at six, 04:51 and your mom had no idea 04:54 that you guys were acting like this? 04:56 Well, we got arrested for the fire thing... 04:58 so... she actually... we just lost custody 05:01 for a short time, from my mom 05:03 because of that issue. 05:04 Did you go into Foster...? 05:06 We didn't then... 05:07 we actually were in a Foster Home later, 05:09 my dad had... it was a big issue and 05:12 he came home to drop us kids off 05:14 and my mom was sleeping, 05:16 like I said, she had all these jobs 05:17 and she wasn't there, and so he broke in the house 05:19 he got into a fight with my mom, broke her back 05:21 and so she was in the hospital recovering 05:24 my dad was... he got in trouble 05:26 so we had to go to Foster Home during that time 05:28 but I was probably about ten or eleven, then, I think, 05:31 but it was pretty... a lot of violence growing up 05:35 a lot of alcohol and... 05:37 I know there were drugs behind the scenes now, 05:40 but I didn't really see it then, but... 05:41 How did seeing the violence then, impact your life? 05:46 Well, what... I'm going to share with you in a little bit, 05:49 how I ended up going to prison 05:50 with a 20-year prison sentence 05:52 and it was for a violent crime. Dr. Yvonne: Okay... 05:53 We'll talk about it in a moment but... 05:55 when I look back at the violence I saw growing up, 05:57 I don't make that as an excuse at all 05:59 I mean, I chose what I did, 06:01 it was a very, very much conscious choice 06:04 but at the same time, 06:06 violence always seemed to be an answer. 06:07 My dad would pull people off the road 06:10 and then just beat them up for cutting him off 06:14 and just seeing that as a solution, so many times, 06:17 I thought, "Well, violence must work for me too" 06:20 You know, Wyatt, 06:22 it's interesting you would say that 06:23 because so many times, in our inner cities, 06:25 especially when there are no men around 06:28 then our young guys have no clue about how to be a man 06:33 and so... "you looked at me, funny... " 06:36 or "you stepped on my shoe, I'm killing you," 06:39 it's like... the response is so disproportionate 06:42 to what's actually done 06:44 and it's because of the absence 06:47 of the father... to teach... 06:50 in your case, your dad was there, 06:52 but he didn't have... 06:54 I don't know what his situation was with his dad, 06:56 but somewhere, there was kind of... 06:59 Very much the same, 07:00 there was violence and alcohol and others... 07:01 Yes, yes, there's this trend, 07:05 that we see, that only God can break. 07:08 Indeed and it does take a miracle, 07:11 you can't just wake up one morning and say, 07:14 "You know what... I'm not going to do this anymore. " 07:16 Literally, it takes something supernatural to change a heart 07:20 and that's what I determined in my family, 07:22 that listen, there has been a... this... 07:24 I don't know if you call it a generational curse 07:26 or whatever you want to call it, but it's stopping 07:27 because through God's grace, we're going to be overcomers, 07:30 and we're going to live a new life 07:32 and I'm going to be the dad that I didn't have 07:34 and even though my dad was sometimes there, 07:37 he worked pretty hard himself, he was a hard worker, 07:39 if he taught me anything, it was hard work, 07:40 but it definitely... 07:42 the other moral lessons were not there, 07:44 in fact, when I first started using drugs, 07:47 it was because I found his stash of Marijuana 07:49 and he had all of these drugs... I mean... pounds of Marijuana 07:53 and so I was able to take as much as I wanted and... 07:55 Was he selling it? 07:57 No, he just bought it, 07:58 he used it... him and my step-mom, 07:59 they smoked as much as they... 08:01 we always would smell something funny 08:03 but I didn't know what it was and one night, 08:05 one day, just being a kid 08:07 and putting my clothes or something 08:09 and there was a safe, 08:10 they had a floor safe and it was open 08:12 and I was able to get in there and see all these drugs 08:16 it was incredible and I just... 08:18 so I went and experimented with it, 08:20 before I experimented with it though, 08:22 I reverse-engineered the lock, I didn't reverse-engineer, 08:25 I basically figured out the locking mechanism 08:27 so I knew the combination because it was open 08:29 anyway, I was a stupid kid but I was pretty smart... 08:33 and so... anyway... and then... from then on... 08:36 I had access to these drugs all the time. 08:37 How old were you when you started experimenting with drugs 08:40 I was 13- or 14-years-old and, of course, 08:43 I had a whole new group of friends, 08:46 I started... all of a sudden... 08:48 to make friends I didn't have before, 08:50 because I seemed to have a lot of drugs and so 08:53 everyone wanted to be my friend and I was too naive to see 08:55 that it was actually to drugs they liked and not me, 08:58 but I was invited to parties and it was a change in my life. 09:02 So, look at the trend now, right... 09:05 one of the things that we talk about 09:07 on Dare to Dream and particularly on Urban Report, 09:11 is God's plan, 09:12 God has a plan and Satan has a plan, 09:15 and Satan's plan is to destroy, 09:18 and Satan's plan is to start you here 09:21 and take you downward. 09:23 And listen, I was reading his plan book 09:25 and following it perfectly. 09:27 Right... I believe that's what was happening, 09:29 and thankfully, God intervened, 09:31 but you were on this downward spiral at three, at six, 09:38 at eight, at fourteen... downward spiral, 09:44 because that was Satan's plan but praise God 09:46 that's not where God wanted you. 09:48 Tell us a little bit more about when you were... at fourteen... 09:52 what happened to you, 09:54 you mentioned something in this book 09:56 and you have a great book 09:57 that we are going to be referring to, 10:00 "The Least of the Least," it is an excellent book 10:02 and I'm really impressed with what I've seen so far, 10:07 so, what happened to you when you were fourteen 10:11 with the nightclub? 10:12 Well, again I was that kid that was always searching, 10:17 always looking for belonging and meaning and that nightclub, 10:21 it was a place where they played all this loud music 10:25 but since they didn't serve alcohol, I could go in there 10:28 and so, one night, 10:30 we were just looking to go out and have fun and party 10:34 and so when we were pulling into the parking garage, 10:37 there at the nightclub, the police lights were behind us 10:40 and we all... of course we were extremely high 10:43 and we were all packing drugs 10:45 so we jumped out of the car 10:46 and began to run as fast as we could, 10:48 in the opposite directions, 10:50 all of us took off a different way, 10:51 mine happened to lead me right into this night club 10:53 called Silverado's 10:54 and when I went into there, 10:57 I mean, I was in the "Goth" thing for a time 11:00 so I had all this makeup on 11:02 and this black lipstick and it was a mess. 11:03 I got to ask you something about that 11:06 because I don't know that much about the "Goth" thing, 11:08 is that related to witchcraft? Is it... what is the Goth...? 11:13 No, there are some people that are into Goth 11:16 that are completely Atheists but Goth is... 11:18 it's a subculture of people that are... 11:20 you know, they're really... 11:23 they don't need to be involved in just anything, 11:27 they're okay with being loners and... but anyway, 11:31 it has a dark essence to it where you dress in dark clothes, 11:38 you put black makeup on 11:39 and I guess, I dabbled in it, and I wasn't really 11:43 there weren't a whole lot of us that did this, 11:45 and it wasn't a long part of my experience 11:48 but it was that night 11:49 at the nightclub you mentioned earlier, 11:51 I went and washed all that stuff off my face 11:53 because I didn't want to get caught, 11:54 I knew that it was pretty recognizable so... 11:56 I didn't want the police to catch me 11:58 so I washed all of it off my face 12:00 and then I sat down at a table 12:02 and guess who? Right next to me 12:04 was a guy in a long, black trench coat, 12:06 and the long and short of it is, he turned out to be a Satanist 12:10 and he could see I was nervous, I was high, I was scared, 12:14 I thought I was going to get caught, 12:15 I didn't want to get caught, and he did a spell 12:20 at which he was able to take away 12:22 all the nervousness, all the fear, 12:24 my mind was completely clear, 12:26 you'd think Satan wanted me to be "high," 12:28 but all of a sudden, I'm thinking as clear as 12:30 I've ever thought... and... 12:31 He did a spell verbally or did... 12:33 We went through a ritual, 12:35 where he had a noose and a knife 12:37 and prayers and Luciferian... and calling out to Lucifer 12:40 and Mephistopheles and all these Satanic names 12:42 and I was basically repeating after him... a prayer 12:45 and we had to hold our hands in a certain way 12:47 and so, after the spell was over immediately... just the clarity 12:51 and so I knew there was power in this... 12:52 Ooooh, that gives me a chill. 12:54 And I was involved in witchcraft 12:55 so this was mostly a cult, up to this point, 12:58 but just... not... 13:00 because it wasn't a whole lot of us 13:02 and so I didn't delve on it too deeply... I read the books 13:04 and believed in the power and the... 13:06 but I had never seen something this powerful 13:08 and I've always been told to stay away from dark magic, 13:10 you know, it's okay, white magic is great 13:12 but black magic is not good and so... 13:14 What's the difference? 13:15 There isn't... but I thought there was. 13:17 What is the professed difference? 13:19 Oh well, White Magic being... you know, 13:21 you manipulate people but... 13:25 it's like in Witchcraft, we had the Wiccan Rede, 13:27 "Do as ye will but harm ye none" 13:29 so there was the ethics there to some degree 13:32 but in Satanism, it was different, 13:34 it was this whole attitude of, 13:36 oh like Aleister Crowley said, 13:38 "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" 13:41 you know, it's the Stelema idea of 13:43 "You are your own god, do what you want to do" 13:45 and so I loved that idea 13:47 and... but it wasn't the spirit of Christ, 13:51 you know what Christ's attitude was, 13:53 He says, "Not my will but thine be done" 13:55 and so that's the attitude I didn't know anything about 13:58 because that was selfish. 13:59 At this point, when you were talking to the Satanist, 14:03 did you feel anything like, "Oh! this is like... 14:07 I don't need to mess with this, this is evil" 14:12 or were you drawn to it? 14:14 Well, Satan had already been getting to me 14:16 through the... I was listening to heavy metal music 14:20 which was very Satanic, 14:22 I was reading all these spiritualistic books 14:24 that dealt in the occult, I played Dungeons and Dragons, 14:27 I played Magic: The Gathering I read these fantasy books 14:30 and so I was already inclined toward 14:34 the "dark side" if you could call it that, 14:37 but even though there was a little bit of... 14:39 I won't say "resistance" but hesitation, 14:42 but, you know, the guy... he was really as open with me 14:44 he said, "Why don't you go out and buy a Satanic Bible, 14:46 go to any bookstore and get one" 14:48 I said, "Really, I've never even heard of it before" 14:50 And so I went down to the Bookstore 14:52 and I got a Satanic Bible 14:54 and as I began to read this thing, 14:56 it appealed to my flesh in every single way 14:58 it told me, like I said, that I was my own god 15:01 that everything is here for my pleasure, 15:04 and it twisted Christianity so much 15:07 but it made sense to me which, of course, it would 15:10 because I was definitely a carnal-minded person 15:12 and so, I would, use the Satanist thing, 15:16 to... I would pick on my Christian... 15:20 I wouldn't call them friends but 15:21 schoolmates, I was in 9th Grade by now, 15:24 I was about 15 years old, and just out of control 15:27 because... if you have no morals, 15:31 if what is right is based on what your heart says, 15:36 which you hear repeated so often, 15:37 "just followed your heart" right? Yvonne: Right... 15:39 That's really a Satanic principle. Yvonne: Absolutely. 15:42 But, in the Bible it says, 15:43 "There's a way which seems right to man, 15:44 but in the end are the ways of death. " Yvonne: Right. 15:46 "And he that trusteth his own heart is a fool" 15:47 that's another Scripture. Yvonne: Right. 15:49 but you know, I trusted in my own heart and I just... 15:51 but it made sense to me 15:53 and I did everything I wanted to do, 15:54 which was partying, which was to have fun, 15:56 which was to do drugs, which was... nothing right... 16:00 I didn't care who I hurt in the process, 16:02 I broke my mom's heart, I would run away from home, 16:04 can you imagine the tears she shed 16:05 as she went around town putting up Missing Posters, 16:09 to try to help her find her boy when I would run away from home. 16:12 So you would run away from home routinely 16:16 I mean... was it a routine thing? 16:17 Yeah, because at home all I heard was, 16:18 "Don't do this, don't do this" 16:20 but whenever I was out there at a party, 16:22 I mean, I could stay all night long, 16:24 I could eat junk food out of 16:26 neighbors' cabinets, you know, whatever... 16:28 and just living my life the way I wanted to live it 16:31 and I didn't have a care in the world, 16:33 for anybody else, 16:34 and that's the spirit of Satanism... it's selfishness. 16:37 Selfish... that's at the root, isn't it? 16:40 But you wonder how many people are Satanist 16:41 and don't know it. 16:43 Ooooh! now that... that is a very deep question 16:47 that is a very... so, you can kind of take that 16:52 a little bit further and say that 16:54 "You could be a Christian and be a Satanist?" 16:58 Well, Satan has a lot of Christians in his camp 17:01 that certainly think they're Christians 17:03 and we got to be careful, 17:04 it's not about going around and judging 17:06 who's a Satanist and who's a Christian, 17:08 but if you really want to boil it down, 17:10 there are only really sheep and goats, 17:12 there are only wheat and tares, 17:14 which in reality it means 17:15 there are only Satanists and Christians, 17:18 and we need to consider which camp we're in. 17:21 And I think it's important that we really look at... 17:26 we really take time to evaluate where we are 17:29 as it relates to Jesus Christ. 17:30 Also, examine yourself. 17:32 That's right and work out our salvation 17:34 with fear and trembling, so, we have to 17:37 really talk to the Lord and find out where we are, 17:40 you know, "Search me O God, try me, 17:43 see if there is any wicked way in me," 17:46 and so, if we do that, then, we can be on the right path, 17:50 He will put us on the right path so let's kind of... again... 17:55 go through your journey, by this time, 17:56 you are doing drugs, 17:59 you are... kind of a full-blown Satanist? 18:02 That spiral you were talking about, 18:04 it was going down further and further 18:06 and it really got out of control, 18:09 I got arrested so many times because I was burglarizing homes 18:12 I was beating people up at school 18:16 or getting beat up whenever we have a fight, 18:18 but I would definitely fight a lot, 18:20 so I was getting arrested for assaults, 18:22 I was getting arrested for possession 18:25 because I had all these drugs and I wasn't... 18:27 like I said that I was smart but I was stupid, 18:28 so I'd get caught a lot, 18:30 but I kept getting released, I kept getting out of trouble, 18:33 I kept getting a slap on the wrist, 18:34 and I just... I thought it was my Satanic prayers 18:38 that was delivering me, you know, 18:40 but it was still spiraling... 18:41 finally I got arrested for the last time, 18:43 but not for the last time, 18:45 but for a time, they said, "We're not letting you out" 18:47 we are going to send you to Drug Rehab, you have a problem, 18:50 and I said, "My only problem is the fact 18:52 that you're taking away my drugs" 18:54 I had such a chip on my shoulder I had such an attitude. 18:56 What was the charge for this? 18:57 Well, it was possession, and then there was... 19:00 they called it "Habitual Absence" 19:02 continually running away, 19:04 and every time I got arrested, 19:05 I was either... had drugs or... I was... 19:07 my the drug test was always positive 19:08 and so they could tell I had a big drug problem, 19:11 and so, they finally sent me to Drug Rehab, 19:14 and that's where 19:16 I had the biggest opportunity of my life to fix my life, 19:19 they talked about "delayed gratification," 19:21 they talked about... not being a slave to your addictions 19:25 and it wasn't a Christian-based Program 19:26 but it gave me another avenue of life to follow, 19:30 but I just couldn't wait to get out, 19:32 because I couldn't wait to get back to my parties. 19:35 So... how did you... I can't... 19:37 our time is going so fast 19:39 and I need to find out how you found the Lord. 19:42 Tell us how... 19:45 So, when I was in the Rehab Program, 19:47 I got into a conflict with one of the Supervisors there 19:50 and that's a long story... you have to read the book 19:54 to find out the details but I ended up attacking the man 19:57 and he went to the hospital hurt really bad 20:01 and they locked me up in the Juvenile Detention Center 20:03 and I spent a year in that Juvenile Detention Center 20:06 and while I was in the Juvenile Detention Center, 20:09 I challenged the Bible, I wanted to prove it wrong, 20:12 I wanted to put Christians in their place, 20:13 I wanted to find... really... I think even deeper down, 20:16 I wanted to find an excuse to not follow God. 20:20 And... but as I read through the Bible, 20:23 I mean, just reading story after story of God's love, 20:27 of His patience, how, even from the Garden of Eden, 20:30 all through the end, He's always pursuing His people 20:34 that are always running from Him, you know, 20:36 stubborn... just like I was, and I was so stubborn, 20:39 and the Children of Israel, I mean, 20:42 you look at how many times they strayed, 20:44 but God still reached out His hand of mercy 20:46 and I finally came into a story in the book of 1st Samuel, 20:49 I saw again, God's mercy... and when I saw God's mercy, 20:53 as beautiful as it was, 20:55 it just broke my heart 20:57 and I saw... for the first time in my life, 21:00 the magnitude of my crime, and not just my crime, 21:03 but what I had done to my parents, 21:05 what I had done to everybody in my life, 21:06 how selfish I was living, and how... I would just... 21:11 more than anybody, I had hurt God. 21:12 And I didn't even know a whole lot about Jesus 21:14 at the time because I hadn't gotten to the New Testament yet 21:17 it took me about a month to read through the whole Bible, 21:19 so this was a... 21:20 Yvonne: A month? 21:22 A month... I was locked up for about 23 hours a day... so... 21:24 Wow! so you were doing some serious reading... 21:26 Oh! and I remember, 21:27 they made me shut the lights out like 9 o'clock 21:29 I'd be up there at the window, I'd be like... 21:31 looking at the light coming through the window, 21:32 I tried to... just to keep reading... 21:36 the stories were so interesting. 21:38 The hunger kind of took over. 21:39 I didn't like it at first because, I mean it was like... 21:41 it was very religious, you know, 21:44 it was just soaked in religion and I just 21:46 didn't like the idea but the more I read it, 21:48 I realized that it's actually a story... a love story, 21:51 and I had read all the fantasy books in the past and 21:55 I'm starting to get the big picture 21:56 because when you read a whole lot, you get to see that 21:58 but I just kept reading through the Bible, 22:01 I came to Psalm 51 about God and His mercy and His forgiveness, 22:04 and just poured out my life to Him, 22:06 I believe I became a Christian then. 22:09 Were you going to meetings inside of the prison, 22:11 were they having Church Meetings or anything? 22:14 No, not at all, I hated Christians, remember? 22:17 I despised them, 22:19 I still considered myself a Satanist, 22:20 but as I decided that this really was something 22:24 that was incredible and I gave my heart to the Lord, 22:26 and I kept reading and I found out about who Jesus was 22:28 and I read the Book of Matthew and I'm like, 22:30 "Whoa, this is incredible, 22:31 this is what everybody has been saying, 22:32 why didn't somebody tell me this?" 22:34 You know, and then I read the book of Mark 22:36 which was like, "Are you kidding me? 22:37 I get to hear the story of Jesus... again," 22:39 and I get it for the third and fourth time in reading John, 22:41 and as I just... I fell in love with Jesus, 22:44 and I did start to go to some of the church services 22:47 that were there, that were Sunday services 22:49 and this was in Springfield, Missouri, 22:50 and we had people coming in 22:52 from the local Christian College there, 22:54 and they would give me books on hermeneutics 22:57 and my mom sent me a Strong's Concordance 22:59 and I'm listening to the radio, we had a Walkman radio 23:01 I finally earned some privileges, 23:03 and I'm learning as much as I can 23:04 soaking in the gospel, 23:06 and just wanting to know the truth, 23:09 and that put me on the path, 23:10 the journey of finding out about the Sabbath, 23:13 finding out about many of these precious truths 23:15 that we now teach as Seventh-day Adventists, 23:19 and it took me a long time but I finally said, 23:23 "These are God's people, this is the church... for me " 23:25 and so, anyway, I was certified as an adult, 23:28 I was sent to County Jail, I spent 10 months there, 23:30 I pled guilty, the judge sentenced me 23:33 to 20 years in prison. Yvonne: Twenty years? 23:34 Wyatt: Twenty years... Yvonne: For possession? 23:36 Wyatt: No, no, no, I'm sorry, this was for the assault, 23:38 I assaulted the guy while I was in Juvenile Detention Center 23:41 Yvonne: Oh! Okay, okay. 23:43 Yeah, actually, because all the other charges 23:44 were minor in comparison, they dropped all those... 23:46 though I was a Juvenile so 23:47 they didn't bring me to trial for those, 23:49 but... anyway, yeah, 20 years in prison for assault, 23:53 and... but by God's grace, 23:56 even though I studied during that time 23:57 and I took every opportunity I could to memorize the Bible 24:00 and to grow and to learn, God had mercy 24:05 and he let me out in 14 years... six years early, 24:10 they let me out of prison. Yvonne: Oh! praise God. 24:12 That was mercy, Sister. Yvonne: Amen, amen... 24:15 And so, anyway, I got out and that's where my life just... 24:20 miracles, more miracles began to happen. 24:22 Now look at this now... so you go through all of this 24:26 you were incarcerated for the 14 years, 24:29 and then... you get out... 24:32 but sometimes, when guys get out or women get out, 24:35 their religion is left... 24:38 Yeah, they read their Bible only once... 24:39 Exactly, exactly, but for you, 24:41 you took it with you, didn't you? 24:44 I had no other option, I wouldn't know how to live 24:46 if it wouldn't be a Christian life 24:49 and I knew, it wasn't just that, 24:51 it wasn't just the practical reasons, 24:52 the reality is, you don't leave your best friend behind. 24:55 Oh, come on... come on now... 24:57 And so you got take Him with you 24:58 and He's been with me by my side... ever since 25:00 and you know what? He has loved me so much 25:02 Yvonne, listen, it wasn't long after I got out, 25:06 that God placed in my path, 25:08 the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, 25:10 and it just so happened that God had worked in her life 25:13 in such a way that she would actually listen to me 25:15 after she found out... I told her right... immediately 25:18 that I... the time in prison and she wanted to know 25:21 what I had done for... work, and I told her, 25:24 "Well I actually... I just got a job" 25:25 she asked: "What did you do before that?" 25:27 "Well, anyway... " long story short, 25:30 she wanted to make sure I wasn't living with my Mama. 25:32 Okay... 25:34 But... I wasn't some freeloader, which was good for her, 25:36 but anyway, the Lord just led us together, 25:39 and we were so... and by the way that whole courtship 25:41 and dating experience and how we got married, 25:44 all that stuff is in the book. 25:45 And this book again is, 25:47 "The Least of the Least: From Crime to Christ" 25:50 how do you get the book? 25:51 You can do it a couple of different ways, 25:53 you can go to remnantpublications. com 25:54 or call Remnant Publications 25:56 and they'll be happy to send you some 25:57 and I encourage people to get them 25:59 and send them into the prisons, give them to your young people, 26:01 I wrote this book specifically... 26:03 anybody can enjoy it, 26:04 but for specifically the young person 26:07 that has been struggling with drugs and alcohol 26:09 loneliness... this book is for them 26:12 but... and you can also go to my website: 26:15 www. EndTimeHope. org 26:17 and I have all the information there to help you get a book 26:20 or several if you want. Yvonne: That's great. 26:23 But, you know, now with this book, it's really interesting, 26:27 the miracles associated with that book, 26:29 lives have been transformed from what I've heard, 26:32 many people share with me, 26:34 but we also now work full time, my wife and I, 26:37 we travel around doing Bible Prophecy Seminars 26:39 and so we do full Revelation Seminars 26:41 we've done them all over the Country and around the world. 26:43 People can contact you through your website? 26:45 Yeah, they can contact us through the website, 26:47 they can contact me through Amazing Facts 26:50 in fact, we have a whole team at Amazing Facts 26:52 that is happy to go around and travel and do these meetings 26:55 but you know... endtimehope. org. 26:57 That's awesome, that's awesome, 27:00 so, right now, you've come through this long journey 27:04 you've given your heart to Jesus, 27:06 He has shown you miracle after miracle, 27:09 how would you summarize your experience in one sentence? 27:14 Hmmm... grace to grace, 27:18 mercy to mercy, 27:20 every day is a new adventure to serve 27:23 and to please and listen... Jesus said this, 27:27 He said two things, "Not my will by thine be done" 27:33 that's my attitude now and He also said, 27:35 that He has to be about His Father's business. 27:38 Yes... 27:39 So, that's kind of my attitude today. 27:41 Amen, well thank you so much for being with us. 27:43 Wyatt: My pleasure. 27:44 May God continue to bless you 27:46 as you continue in His steps, you are following Jesus. 27:49 I can't believe, 27:51 we've reached the end of another Program 27:53 the time goes by so fast 27:55 especially when you have a rich story like this, 27:58 make sure to join us next time though and remember, 28:00 it just wouldn't be the same, without you. |
Revised 2016-03-16