Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Jason Bradley (Host), Eric Wilson
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000196A
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00:01 So you think that martial arts are just about self defense?
00:04 Well, stay tuned to find out 00:05 what's really behind Martial arts 00:07 and eastern mysticism. 00:09 My name is Yvonne Lewis. And I am Jason Bradley. 00:11 And you are watching Urban Report. 00:37 Hello, and Welcome to Urban Report. 00:39 Our guest today is Eric Wilson, 00:41 former instructor in the martial arts of Qigong, 00:44 Bagua, and Tai-chi chuan. 00:47 Jason is with me. Yeah. 00:49 And we are going to explore the martial arts 00:51 and the force behind it. 00:53 Welcome to Urban Report, Eric. 00:55 It's a pleasure to meet you. 00:57 Before we start, we have a little clip 00:59 that just kind of sets this whole thing up, 01:01 and I want to air that clip. 01:02 Just take a look. 03:08 Wow. That was powerful. Yeah. 03:13 What got you involved in the martial arts? 03:17 Before we even go there, 03:18 lets talk about where you were born, 03:20 how you were raised, 03:22 all that and find out about your journey. 03:25 So where were you born and where did you grow up? 03:28 I was born in Orlando, Florida. 03:31 My parents were Seventh-day Adventist Christians, 03:34 so I was raised in a Christian home. 03:37 When I was probably five years old, 03:39 we moved up north to Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, 03:44 spent most of my life in that area on the east coast. 03:47 And were you an only child or did you have siblings? 03:50 No, I have a brother, seven years younger to me, 03:53 and we are very close, so, yes, madam. 03:55 Yeah, and so you were raised 03:58 by Seventh-day Adventist parents, 04:01 and so you grew up in a two parent household. 04:03 Yes, madam. 04:05 And then did it remained that way 04:07 or was there has been change, what happened in your life? 04:10 When I was 12-years-old 04:12 my parents went through separation and a divorce 04:15 and the enemy came into our home, 04:17 like it does in so many homes, and causes conflict. 04:22 And we don't even realize often that the conflict is with him, 04:26 not with one another. 04:28 So my parents were divorced, you know, when I was 12. 04:32 How did that make you feel when they got divorced? 04:37 It created doubt, it created insecurity, 04:43 it created a feeling of rejection, 04:46 as a young man, especially. 04:48 And I know its same for young women as well 04:51 but for young man especially, 04:53 a father figure, having a father, 04:56 a dad in a home is what gives you 04:58 and assures you of your purpose in life. 05:01 God has called all of us as sons and daughters of God, 05:05 and its true, a father and a mother, 05:07 that we are assured of that, that we're given a role. 05:13 And, so when my mom and dad were divorced 05:15 and my dad had to move away, I lost that, you know, 05:19 I was searching desperately for what is my purpose in life, 05:22 you know, what is my reason for being here. 05:25 And lot of times, young people, when they're searching that, 05:30 they look for role model. 05:31 It may be in Hollywood or it may be in sports 05:34 or it may be in the fashion industry, 05:37 but they are looking for someone 05:38 who look up to assure them of who they are 05:42 and their identity. 05:44 So for me, when I saw the man 05:47 that practicing the martial arts, 05:48 I saw what I was missing, 05:50 I saw the man that appear to be fearless, 05:52 they appear to be in control of every facet of their lives. 05:57 Nothing took them by surprise or caught them of God. 06:00 And I thought you know, that's what I want, 06:01 I want that kind of confidence, 06:03 I want that assurance in my life. 06:05 And I didn't realize that that assurance comes 06:08 from knowing who we are in Christ. 06:12 So, you, by the age of 14, 06:18 you were kind of searching for that mentor, 06:22 that role model, that hoping. 06:24 And in school, I guess at that time too, 06:28 you know, you go through like could bullied 06:31 or there can be... 06:33 Was that your situation as well? 06:35 Yes. 06:36 Men are trying to prove themselves, 06:39 especially young men. 06:40 So I had a number of men, young men that were you know, 06:44 trying to prove themselves and use me as their guinea pig. 06:49 So I told my mom, I said, 06:51 I really want to get started in martial arts. 06:53 And at first, my mom was very against it. 06:56 She couldn't explain why but she just felt in her heart 06:59 that something just was not right about it. 07:02 And anyway, I found out about a school 07:06 that was a "Christian martial arts school." 07:10 A Christian martial arts school, 07:11 I've never heard of such. 07:13 Well, yeah. 07:14 And like, back when I started, in 1983, 1984, 07:18 it was unheard off almost. 07:20 Now they're everywhere Christian martial art schools. 07:23 Yes, Christian yoga, Christian tai-chi. 07:26 I mean, it's everywhere. 07:27 What differentiates them from mainstream martial arts? 07:31 What do they do that differs? 07:34 They say the word "Jesus." That's about it? 07:38 I don't mean that derogatory, but often times you know, 07:42 it sort of like music. 07:44 What's Christian rock? 07:45 Or what's the difference between Christian rock 07:46 and regular rock? 07:48 Well, the words. 07:50 I'm going to do a yoga pose, or I'm going to meditate 07:53 but I'm going to meditate, I'm going to use Jesus' name. 07:58 So the school, I know that the intent was good, 08:01 they read Bible verses, you know, 08:04 they were some changes made in people's life. 08:06 But what was hard was is that, Jesus says, 08:09 if someone strikes you on one side of your face, 08:12 turn the cheek. 08:13 The martial art says, if someone swings at you, 08:16 block in counter. 08:17 So there's an opposition in the teaching. 08:21 One is completely against with the other, 08:24 the spirit is completely different. 08:26 One is a spirit of pride 08:28 and the other is the spirit of humility. 08:30 Well, and I'm going to explore that a little bit more 08:32 but let's go back for a second. 08:33 When you walked into that dojo for the first time, 08:36 what did you think? 08:38 Well, explain what a dojo is first of all 08:40 because some viewers might not know that. 08:42 And then explain how you felt when you walked into the dojo. 08:47 The first place my mother took me, 08:50 it was a Japanese school, which is a dojo. 08:53 It's a Japanese word and it means to us in American, 08:57 in English language, it means a training hall. 09:00 But if you look the word up in the Japanese 09:02 it actually has a much deeper meaning. 09:06 It means, up the place of enlightenment. 09:10 The Chinese word for that is Daochang. 09:12 It has the same meaning, a place of enlightenment. 09:16 In Hindu religion, it would be a place of Nirvana. 09:20 Interesting. 09:21 Isn't it interesting, how here in this country, 09:25 we have taken in certain practices 09:29 thinking that they are harmless, 09:32 thinking that they are just you know, 09:34 self-defense or whatever, 09:36 but it's more than what we know, 09:40 more than what we know. 09:41 Well, you know, it's like those things 09:42 where they look great on their surface, 09:45 but as you dig deeper, you unveil or uncover the truth 09:51 and the meaning behind it. 09:53 I mean, it's even if you look at today 09:56 with all this togetherness and stuff like that, 09:59 how people want to all come together in terms of religion 10:03 and things of that nature. 10:05 What happens is 10:06 people are gonna end up compromising morals 10:09 and beliefs, and coming together, 10:12 which sounds great on the surface 10:14 but what are you giving up? 10:15 Are you giving up God's law to follow man's law 10:18 and man's idea or you know, just a come together? 10:23 Right, right, right. I remember with you, J. 10:27 I put you into karate, and without knowing, you know, 10:31 I was thinking, Eric, as you're talking about, 10:33 your mother was a bit reticent about taking you 10:37 to learn about self-defense and stuff. 10:41 Well, with J, I wanted to put him in there 10:43 because I want to make sure 10:45 that if anybody was trying to fight with him or something, 10:47 he would know how to defend himself. 10:50 And, well, J, you tell what happened with you 10:54 when I put you and took you out. 10:56 Well, okay. 10:58 So she put me into karate 11:00 and I went and was excited about it. 11:04 But then I noticed they had the statue in the front 11:07 and they want you to bow to a Buddha, 11:09 and then you know, you are bowing to each other, 11:12 it's a lot of bowing going on. 11:14 And my mom, when she saw that, she was like, no, 11:17 you are not bowing to anything, you know. 11:20 And she ended up pull me out not too long after that. 11:24 Oh, yeah, he never went back. Praise the Lord. 11:25 Because, I didn't... 11:27 when I walked in, I hadn't walked in before. 11:29 I would just drop him off and pick him up. 11:31 But I walked in this time with him, 11:34 and I saw everybody was bowing to a statue. 11:38 And I thought, oh, no, oh, no, no, 11:42 my son is not going to do that. 11:44 Was that your experience, 11:45 when you walked into that first training center, 11:50 dojo for the first time, did they have you bow, 11:54 bow to each other, bow to the statue? 11:56 What did you do when you walked in? 11:59 The first time that I went, we were just there visiting, 12:02 so we didn't have to go through you know, 12:04 that part of the ritual. 12:07 But if someone signs up, 12:09 it's very common even here in the states. 12:11 If it's a traditional school, you remove your shoes 12:14 when you step into the school or onto the mat, 12:17 you bow to the instructor, you bow towards the showmen 12:20 or the front of the dojo, the studio. 12:24 And that was one of the things that really, 12:27 I found after years of being in the martial arts was, 12:31 it made me compromise what God's word say. 12:35 God's word says, you know, "I am the Lord your God, 12:39 thy shall not bow down or serve anyone above me." 12:42 That's right. 12:44 Being at that martial arts, it doesn't really mean that. 12:46 I know that's what it says, 12:47 but that's not what it really means. 12:49 The martial art says 12:51 when you reach at certain level of achievement 12:53 that you are called the Sifu or a Sensei, 12:56 which means a master. 12:57 Jesus said, don't call any man master, 13:00 you have one master, even me. 13:03 Again, there's a compromise. 13:05 And then you know, I learned later on, you know, 13:08 when I stepped on to the training floor, 13:11 almost every martial arts studio 13:14 that's a traditional studio, you have to remove your shoes. 13:18 And I remember you know, 13:20 when I was at church reading about Moses, 13:22 when he appeared before the Lord at the burning bush, 13:24 and God told him, take off your shoes, 13:27 you're standing on holy ground. 13:29 And you know, but I did all these things 13:32 and it was like small steps. 13:34 Either you take one step and compromise, 13:36 and it's easier to take the next one. 13:38 And then you take another, and then you take another. 13:40 And pretty soon you're so far down the path 13:42 you can't find your way back out 13:43 nor do you even realize that you're in the wrong. 13:46 That's right. 13:48 So it was that way, it was very gradual. 13:50 And I didn't realize where it was leading me. 13:53 How long did you study? I was in it right at 25 years. 13:57 And far did you go? 14:00 The highest rank that I was awarded 14:03 was a 5th Dan in Chinese kung fu. 14:08 And then I had seven black belts 14:11 in combative styles 14:13 and then I also have instructor certification 14:15 in internal arts in Chinese medicines. 14:18 Explain that system to us. So you said a 5th Dan. 14:21 What is a 5th Dan 14:22 and what are the different levels? 14:24 Okay, and these vary dependant on whether it's Japanese style 14:28 or whether it's a Chinese style. 14:30 But as a general rule, 14:32 a 1st Dan is a first level black belt. 14:36 That means you just got your black belt. 14:38 And the masters will tell you, 14:39 that means you've mastered the basics. 14:41 It means you just got out of you know, the beginning, 14:44 you know the basics. 14:46 And for people that want to go past that, 14:49 they'll normally strive 14:51 to become what's known as a Sifu in Chinese 14:54 or a Sensei, which is an instructor. 14:57 Some schools, I mean, 14:59 you have to be a 2nd Dan or 3rd Dan. 15:01 Other schools, I mean, you can be promoted 15:03 to that right off the bat if the other instructor knows 15:06 that you're ready. 15:08 But the Dan or Dan ranks, they normally have, 15:11 most schools will have first through 10th Dan. 15:15 So you make black belt 15:16 and that's concerned first Dan, 15:18 and then there's a second Dan, a third Dan, a forth Dan. 15:21 And to reach the level of a master, 15:25 typically is a sixth Dan. 15:28 Normally, it's the number six 15:30 that they consider to be a master, 15:31 which I find interesting. 15:33 That is interesting. 15:34 Because six is the number of man. 15:36 Right. 15:37 And I know the last grandmaster that I trained under, 15:41 you know, he explained to me one time. 15:43 He said, "Eric," he said, 15:44 "For someone to achieve that rank, 15:47 to be recognized in traditional kung fu," 15:49 which was my primary style back then, 15:52 "For someone to achieve a sixth Dan 15:55 there has to be a surrender to those powers, 15:59 there has to be a surrender." 16:01 He said, "You can have technique," he said, 16:03 "But it's not technique that makes a master, 16:07 there's something spiritual 16:09 that has to be imparted to you." 16:10 Isn't that fascinating? 16:12 You see if you're at this level. 16:15 You don't know about this spiritual dimension. 16:17 You don't know 16:19 that that there's something else going on 16:22 underneath it. 16:23 It's as you continue 16:25 actually to get deeper and deeper into it 16:28 that you learned that there's something else going on here. 16:32 It's not just self-defense, it's a spiritual level too. 16:37 Let's unpack that a little bit more, Eric, 16:38 because you bring out some things 16:42 in your documentary that we are going to air, 16:44 by the grace of God on Dare to Dream. 16:46 We're going to show that clip a bit later. 16:49 You bring out some things in there about Dao 16:53 and about the circle. 16:55 I found that to be fascinating. 16:57 Let's talk a little bit more 16:58 about this spiritualistic aspect of the martial arts. 17:05 One of the, one of the first things 17:07 that I remember when I was training, 17:10 like, as a white belt, 17:12 as a beginner in the studio that I started in, 17:15 I would watch some of the men that had you know, 17:17 green belts or brown belts that had been there for, 17:19 you know, three years, or five years, or eight years, 17:22 or ten years. 17:23 And I would watch them when they would fight 17:26 or when they would kick the bag 17:27 or when they would do certain you know, 17:29 drills, and you could see the power that was there. 17:33 And then I would watch the grandmaster, 17:35 and I'll never forget something. 17:37 I remember one time 17:38 when he was talking to a group of the higher level students, 17:41 and he was talking to them about this energy 17:44 that is known as Chi, 17:46 or in the Japanese, they call it Ki, 17:48 like an aikido. 17:50 He was talking about this energy 17:52 that martial artists strove to access, to tap into. 17:58 And he said, "When you grab a hold of your opponent," 18:01 he said, "It's not just physical muscle." 18:04 You can't just physically do things 18:08 because that will only go so far. 18:09 I mean, I can run my whole life 18:11 and I'm never going to be overrun 70 miles an hour, 18:14 right? 18:15 You know, because I'm not built to do that. 18:18 With a human being, 18:20 the human fist is not physically built to do things 18:26 that you see a lot of martial artists capable of doing. 18:29 And when he was demonstrating this to them, 18:31 I remember we had a training bagged. 18:33 It was like 150 pound training bag. 18:36 And it's hanging you know, and he reached over 18:40 and he grabbed that with one hand 18:42 and he picked it up and he shook it with one hand. 18:46 And it was like, all of us were just dumbstruck, you know. 18:50 How did he picked that up with one hand 18:52 like it was featherweight? 18:55 And then he said, "That's what you got to know 18:57 how to tap into, that's what..." 18:59 So this carrot was constantly dangled in front of the, 19:04 the students that have been initiated, 19:06 the ones that have been there for a few years. 19:09 There's always that carrot. 19:10 They say, if you want more 19:12 you just got to take another step, 19:14 another compromise. 19:17 And that's the thing, you don't have a sense... 19:21 when you first get into it you have no idea 19:23 how far you're going to drift. 19:26 Because Satan is very crafty, 19:29 he just takes you just a little step at a time, 19:33 a little step at a time. 19:34 Were you going to say something, J? 19:35 Yeah. 19:37 We talked prior to this program 19:38 and you were you were talking about Chi, 19:41 and when you get to a certain level 19:43 how you're teaching different levels, 19:46 different things about Chi. 19:47 Will you touch on that? 19:52 What is your, definition of Chi? 19:55 Let me give you the definition that I was given 19:58 by one of the grandmasters I'd trained under. 20:01 I went to see him to learn from him 20:04 that weekend and he only taught black belts. 20:07 You could come to him from any style, any style, 20:11 it didn't matter, and so I went to learn, 20:13 and he would take you and begin training you. 20:15 Even if he had never been in that style 20:17 he could teach you how to make your style better, 20:20 how to make your abilities better. 20:22 And I asked him one time, I said, you know, 20:26 "How do you know what this person knows, 20:30 how do you help them?" 20:31 And he said, "Eric," he said, "all martial arts 20:34 find the roots at the Shaolin Temple." 20:37 And he said, "What was it that Shaolin Temple taught?" 20:41 He said, "If you see Taekwondo and you Tai-Chi, 20:45 and you see you know, yoga, 20:47 and you see Taoist exercises, 20:49 and you see you know, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or aikido, 20:53 if all of them find the roots at the Shaolin temple." 20:57 He said, "What was that they taught?" 20:59 Because all of these look 21:00 like they're so different from one another." 21:03 And I didn't know the answer, but I was very intrigued, 21:06 I wanted to know. 21:07 What is the common thread 21:09 that's woven throughout all of these different arts? 21:13 And I'll never forget, he drew a diagram 21:16 and he showed all these arts, almost like a family tree. 21:19 He showed all of these paths, 21:21 how they all went back to Shaolin, 21:24 and then at Shaolin, he took the marker 21:26 and he put a big E, and he circled it. 21:29 He said, "That's what they taught. 21:31 Energy, Chi." 21:34 And he said, "That's what they want to share 21:37 with the world." 21:38 He said, "Now when a beginner comes to me," he said, 21:42 "you teach a beginner that Chi is this internal strength 21:44 that's already inside you, 21:46 you just have to learn how to tap into it and use it." 21:49 And they do that with yoga, they do it with Tai-Chi, 21:51 they do it with aikido, meditation, whatever, 21:55 didn't matter what you call it. 21:57 He says, "Now for an intermediate student, 22:00 we tell them that Chi is a breath." 22:03 That's why you do the deep breathing exercises 22:05 that's why the meditation and, the chanting, the mantras. 22:12 He said, "Now for the advanced student," 22:14 he said, "for someone that's past black belt," 22:17 he said, "you reveal to them what Chi really is. 22:21 Chi is spirit." 22:24 And when he said that to me, you know, 22:27 alarm bells were going off. 22:29 But unfortunately, I mean, I turned my ear, 22:31 I didn't want to hear what God was trying to tell me. 22:34 And it was, it wasn't long after that 22:38 that I went to visit him for some one-on-one training. 22:42 And I'll never forget this, when this happened, 22:45 I was there in the studio, in a martial art studio 22:48 and he and I were talking, 22:50 and one of the young black belts, 22:52 younger man came in. 22:53 And he was carrying this big piece of artwork 22:56 that was covered in brown paper, 22:57 you know, wrapped you know, with string. 23:00 And the grandmaster was really excited. 23:03 And I don't call him that, I got to be careful, 23:06 I don't call him that because that's what I think of him. 23:08 He's just a man but I'm giving a reference. 23:10 Right, right. 23:12 But this grandmaster, 23:13 he was so excited about receiving this artwork. 23:16 And so he took the paper off of it 23:18 and he put this out there and says, 23:19 "This really beautiful piece of Chinese calligraphy. 23:23 And you know, you look at it, 23:25 and I knew what some of the Chinese symbols were 23:27 in calligraphy, but not all, I couldn't read Chinese. 23:31 And so the young black belt left 23:33 and we were there alone in the studio, 23:36 and I asked the grandmaster, I said, 23:39 "What does it mean?" 23:41 And he got this look on his face, 23:43 and I could tell that the enemy, 23:46 the dragon was influencing him, how to avoid it. 23:52 And he said, "What it means in English is, 23:58 it's the devil that's in the details." 24:01 Wow. 24:02 And when he said that, 24:07 I mean, didn't know what to say, 24:08 because there was no getting around that. 24:10 And it was like the Lord was in his mercy, 24:12 he was trying desperately to set me free. 24:16 And in my mind, what I said was, 24:19 okay, he may believe that 24:21 but I don't have to go that far. 24:23 You know, I'm not going to, it doesn't mean that to me, 24:26 you know, when we meditate, I know what she's meditate to 24:29 but I'm meditating to Jesus. 24:32 That's what I did. 24:33 Eric, I did almost the same thing, 24:35 because a lot of you know my journey 24:38 with eastern medicine, traditional Chinese medicine. 24:41 And I did a lot of the same thing. 24:43 Once you've gotten to a certain place 24:47 and you start finding out a little bit more, 24:49 and a little bit more, 24:51 you have one or two choices to make. 24:53 You either say, "Oh, I'm way I'm out too far," or you say, 24:58 "I don't embrace that, this is where I am, 25:02 I am a Christian, I'm not into that eastern thing, 25:05 so I'm going to just put that aside." 25:08 So I know exactly what you're saying 25:11 that you reached that point and really the Lord was, 25:15 he was reaching out to me almost tears in my eyes 25:18 as you were talking, because I know 25:19 he was trying to get your attention 25:22 and show you where you were. 25:24 But by this point you were so immersed it 25:28 that you made rationalizations for it. 25:31 Yes. 25:32 So how did these little compromises 25:37 and rationalizations, 25:38 how did that affect your family? 25:41 By this time I would imagine 25:42 that you have a family, you're married. 25:45 How did your studying the martial arts 25:47 affect your family? 25:50 Probably the greatest way that I noticed from myself 25:53 that the training in the martial arts, 25:57 and it wasn't just martial arts, 25:59 but it was also some of the other arts 26:01 that I had begun learning. 26:02 You know, the internal arts like Tai-chi, or Bagua, 26:05 or Qigong. 26:07 The focus was inward. 26:09 So you know, someone that practices Tie-Chi, 26:12 you're always taught in that class how do you feel. 26:16 You know, so instead of being faith in God's word, 26:18 it's feeling. 26:19 In yoga, your focus is inward. How does this make you feel? 26:23 Are you breathing right 26:24 or are you feeling that in the right place? 26:26 Well, looking inward, the focus is on self, 26:30 in the martial arts the focus is on self. 26:33 If you open the yellow page ad, anywhere in the country, 26:37 you'll see one main description, self, 26:41 self-esteem, self-discipline, self-control, self-defense. 26:46 Everything's focuses on self rather than on others. 26:51 So what happened was 26:52 I started noticing in my family, 26:54 in my marriage that my focus was on self, 26:58 it was on me rather than on how can I please my wife, 27:01 how can I sacrifice myself 27:04 on behalf of my family, my wife, 27:06 my children, and others. 27:08 My focus was on me, I want to take care of me. 27:12 And that developed kind of correlated with your, 27:18 the deeper you got into the martial arts, 27:20 the more into self you became? 27:23 Yes, Yes. 27:24 And, and that's amazing too 27:26 because like there's a lot of the yoga websites now, 27:30 when you look, 27:31 they'll have a picture of the Buddha. 27:34 And they'll have a picture, you know, and they'll say, 27:37 "Yoga is the study of self, 27:39 it's the realization of the greater self within." 27:43 And you think, wow, 27:44 I mean, has the Lord not warned us of this? 27:46 And you know, yoga is creeping into churches, 27:51 and schools, and there's just this big push. 27:55 I'm working now on my second little booklet, 27:58 my first one was, What's Wrong with Acupuncture? 28:01 Because I was involved in that for years. 28:04 And now I'm working on one, What's Wrong with Yoga?" 28:07 Praise the Lord. 28:08 Praise the Lord, because people think that it's harmless, 28:12 it's just them stretching and breathing, and it's not. 28:15 What do you say is wrong with yoga? 28:18 The part that is the most, 28:23 the thing that should give us the most clear warning 28:26 is what the word yoga literally means. 28:29 When you look at the word yoga up, in Hindu, Sanskrit, 28:33 if you go to any Hindu dictionary 28:35 or any yoga website, 28:36 they are open about what yoga is. 28:39 The word yoga literally means to yoke to 28:42 or be joined to Brahma, 28:45 which is another name for the Hindu Gods collectively. 28:48 And it's a counterfeit. 28:51 Jesus said, "Come unto me all you that labor 28:53 and are heavy laden, 28:55 take my yoke upon you and learn of me." 28:58 But these pagan disciplines are saying, 29:01 "Become yoked to Brahma, 29:03 become yoked or join to these Hindu Gods." 29:07 So that that's the first clue that it's not a good thing. 29:10 Absolutely. 29:12 It's interesting because all of these things 29:13 are the opposite of Christianity, 29:15 like you were saying a lot of self, self, self, self 29:19 and then feelings. 29:20 We're taught to operate off principles not feelings. 29:23 Amen. So that's very interesting. 29:26 And then it's interesting that it's, the whole thing 29:28 is seems like in terms of martial arts 29:31 that it's based off deception, right? 29:34 So you are supposed to teach a certain thing 29:36 to different levels. 29:38 So you tell them that okay, this Chi is just energy, 29:41 it's just the life force. 29:43 Then it becomes breathing. 29:44 Then you know, later what was the third thing? 29:47 Then it becomes a spirit. 29:49 Then it becomes spirit, so then you really find out 29:52 once you've already got deep enough. 29:56 So I find that to be very interesting, 30:00 almost like gone back to the garden. 30:02 It is, and it's funny that you use that analogy 30:05 because when you look at what they teach 30:09 in any of these eastern mystical arts, 30:13 I was asked one time, you know, 30:16 what is it, if you could sum up in one sentence, 30:19 what's the danger of any of these eastern practices? 30:23 It's one thing. 30:25 It undermines faith in God's word. 30:29 And let me share, you just said it. 30:32 They put feeling instead of faith in God's word, 30:35 instead of principle. 30:37 This is what God says, I'm going to walk forward 30:39 because he said this, he's promised this. 30:42 But do I feel that way? 30:43 So you're taught to rely on how you feel 30:46 rather than what you know to be right 30:48 from the word of God. 30:49 And in my life, in the martial arts 30:52 as well as the other arts, traditional Chinese medicine 30:55 or the qigong or whatever, 30:57 that principle was the same that was what was compromised. 31:02 So as I began to yield to what these eastern arts 31:08 were telling me to do, taking my shoes off, bowing, 31:11 calling the man Sifu or master or grandmaster, 31:14 when God's word says don't do that. 31:17 They got easier to compromise. 31:19 And when the enemy came into my wife and I's life, 31:23 as he attacks so many marriages, 31:26 God's word says, this is how you do it. 31:29 I hate divorce. 31:31 I have no will that anyone ever goes through that 31:34 because I know the damage it does. 31:37 And then I'm used to looking inwardly, 31:42 how does this make me feel? 31:44 You know, well, I don't care if that's what God's word says. 31:48 May be he didn't even really mean that. 31:49 I can remember 31:51 when the devil first brought the thought 31:53 to my mind about, 31:54 this is not going to work, you know, 31:56 I'll just need to split up. 31:57 You were made for one another. 31:59 It's like, I went through this scriptures for months 32:02 looking up every single word that I can find, 32:04 every promise, every commanded by God 32:07 that had to do with marriage. 32:09 And it's like I couldn't find anything to give me an out. 32:13 And it's not that I wanted to get divorced 32:15 but it was like I had been taught for all those years 32:19 to top to fight physically, 32:23 even though the Word of God says, 32:25 "That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 32:27 they're not fleshly." 32:29 So when my marriage came under attack 32:31 instead of getting on my knees 32:33 and using the sword of the Spirit, 32:36 I was trying to do it in my own strength. 32:38 And I failed miserably, 32:40 and I felt like I couldn't achieve, 32:42 I couldn't do the right thing. 32:45 You know, I would say, I'm going to bite my tongue, 32:46 I'm not going to say that. 32:48 The next thing I knew I'm opening my mouth 32:49 and I'm saying something that, 32:51 you know, I shouldn't say that hurt my wife. 32:53 So it got to a point where I just said, 32:55 you know I can't do this anymore, 32:57 I can't live this way anymore. 32:59 And I walked away from my wife and my family. 33:02 And you know, I was hurting, 33:05 but I hurt them so much greater. 33:08 But all of that came about because of one simple thing, 33:12 not having faith 33:14 that God will do exactly what he's promised. 33:18 So was your wife, 33:20 when you were studying the martial arts and all that, 33:23 was she noticing the changes in you over the years 33:27 as a result of that or did she, 33:29 does she have a connect the two things? 33:33 She didn't, when we were, when we were still together 33:38 because we wound up going through a separation 33:40 and divorce. 33:42 She saw the changes but she didn't realize 33:46 that there were spiritual forces 33:48 that were working to bring those changes about, 33:51 fallen angels. 33:52 I mean, demons or devils, whatever you want to call them. 33:56 They have an active role in so many people's lives 34:00 and she didn't realize 34:02 that that's what was causing the conflict. 34:05 You know, Ephesians 6 tells us 34:07 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood 34:09 but against principalities and powers. 34:11 That's not just the people that are rule in the world, 34:14 it's the people that are in our homes. 34:16 Like demons. Yeah. 34:18 And we open the door for them 34:21 to the certain things within our lives 34:23 that open the door for them to come in. 34:25 That's right, that's right. Absolutely. 34:27 So by my permission they were entering into our lives. 34:31 And I'll give an example 34:33 the word martial art is the art of war. 34:36 It literally means martial, war, art, the art of war. 34:41 And you think, 34:43 is that what I wanted to teach my children? 34:45 That's the fruit of what that training will do. 34:48 They say it's self-discipline and self-control 34:51 but what you're actually gonna have 34:53 is you're gonna have someone who's very proud, 34:55 independent, un-submissive, selfish, 35:00 self-centered, controlling. 35:03 All of those fruits of warfare, in my wife and I's life, 35:09 one of the things that first struck her, 35:13 it was right after we had separated, 35:15 I don't know if we were divorced yet or not. 35:17 But the Lord showed her something, she had a dream. 35:21 And she said, in this dream she saw, 35:25 the higher level people that were there at the school, 35:27 that I was training with, you know the green belts, 35:30 brown belts, black belts. 35:31 And she said, "We were linked arm and arm together," 35:37 and she said, "she looked and she could see us," 35:40 and then she said, "she saw on the outside, the wives, 35:45 and the mothers, and the children. 35:46 And she said, "We were getting closer in this circle, 35:51 was being pulled tighter, 35:52 and the families were being pushed to the outside." 35:57 And I remember her telling me that dream 35:59 and I sort of just dismissed it, 36:02 I didn't want to hear it when she told me, 36:03 I wasn't, my eyes weren't opened to hear or to see. 36:08 And but the Lord is very merciful. 36:11 How did he get your attention? 36:15 One night I was teaching a class, 36:18 this was after my wife and I had been divorced for sometime. 36:25 I was teaching a class, and it was a Bagua class, 36:28 and I was teaching a beginning level group, 36:31 so we were going through the motions very slowly, 36:33 it's similar to Tai-Chi. 36:35 And I was leading them 36:37 in what's called a form or a Kata. 36:40 And I was leading this group of men and women 36:44 and we were walking slowly in this circle, 36:47 and we were doing these certain mudras, 36:49 these hand movements, 36:50 and we were focusing internally on our breathing 36:54 and focusing on moving this "energy" through our body. 37:00 And while we were doing this I looked 37:02 and were moving no faster than this, 37:04 everything that we were doing was slow motion. 37:07 And as I was doing it a looked in the eyes 37:11 of you know, those 12, 13, 14 people that were there, 37:14 however many. 37:16 And it's like they were in a trance, they were gone, 37:19 and they were drenched in sweat. 37:22 And a thought popped into my head, 37:25 we have not done anything that is Callisthenic. 37:29 Why are they sweating? 37:31 I mean, physically, physiologically, 37:33 that doesn't make sense. 37:35 Why are they drenched in sweat, and we're moving this slow? 37:40 And at that moment I remember, it was, 37:44 I felt like I was taken above. 37:47 It's like I was looking down from 20 feet above 37:50 where we were, 37:52 and I could see what I was doing, 37:53 I could see our students and I saw a pattern. 38:00 You know it's like somebody, 38:01 when a farmer goes out in this field 38:02 and there's a crop circle, what does he see? 38:05 It's a mess, who did this to my corn? 38:08 When the guy flies over that morning in the airplane, 38:10 he's like who did that design on the ground? 38:14 He doesn't see a mess, he can see what it really is. 38:17 And the Lord was allowing me to see from his perspective. 38:22 And when the class was over, I went to a piece of paper 38:25 and I drew what that looked like, 38:27 and it was a circle with a dot in the center, 38:30 a focal point or a bull's eye. 38:33 And all the sudden, it was like there was a flash in my mind 38:36 of that picture that, it's called enso, 38:40 that picture of that circle with that dot in the middle. 38:43 Through all the literature, all the books that I had, 38:46 didn't matter if they were Chinese or Japanese or Hindu, 38:50 Aikido, Kung-Fu, Shaolin, even Filipino. 38:55 I remembered seeing that in the books in my library. 38:59 And that night I went home, to my apartment 39:02 and I started pulling those books out, 39:05 looking for that symbol. 39:06 And after I found it in so many different places, 39:09 I went online and looked, 39:11 and I saw what that symbol really meant. 39:14 And I began, the Lord began to cause me 39:17 to understand the powers that were behind 39:20 when I was practicing. 39:23 And I thought, you know, how do I tell my students this? 39:25 I mean, they're going to resist. 39:27 You tell somebody a new truth and the wall goes up. 39:29 What does the symbol mean? I'll tell you in a second. 39:31 Okay, okay go ahead, go ahead. 39:33 I got to tell you how... 39:34 Okay, okay go ahead. 39:37 So I went to my advanced class the next week, 39:40 we had a special group of people 39:41 that met on a certain night, 10 o'clock at night 39:44 after all the other classes were done, 39:46 and we had a closed door class, 39:48 where I taught them about the secret stuff 39:50 in martial arts, you know, Chi and Energy. 39:53 And I told my son, I have homework for you. 39:56 I said, "I want you to," 39:57 I drew that symbol on the board, I said, 40:00 "I want you to find out what this symbol means." 40:02 I said, "I don't care where you look, 40:04 you can look in Babylonian, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, 40:08 you can look in witchcraft, you can look in Tattoo books, 40:11 you can look in martial arts." 40:12 I said, "I don't care where you find that symbol, 40:14 find that symbol and find the meaning for me." 40:16 And the symbol is a circle, within a circle. 40:20 It's a circle with a dot in the center. 40:22 A circle with a dot. 40:24 It can be, doesn't matter the size of the dot, 40:25 it's just a circle within a circle. 40:28 And, anyway, so left on with that, 40:31 didn't make a big issue out of it. 40:33 They all came back the next week for that class 40:36 and you could have heard a pin drop 40:38 when I walked in. 40:40 Nobody was talking. Everybody was just silent. 40:43 And I asked them I said, 40:45 "Okay," I said, "Who wants to go first?" 40:47 And one by one they began to get up 40:50 and share what they found and what their sources were. 40:53 And they were from all kinds of sources. 40:56 But all of them had the same answer. 40:58 All of these high level students 41:00 had the same answer. 41:02 The symbol is the symbol for the Sun God. 41:06 It was the original symbol of the Yin and Yang. 41:09 You know we see a Yin and Yang, which is part white, 41:11 part black, a little bit a wide in the dark place 41:15 and a little bit of black in the light place. 41:17 That symbol originally was just a circle. 41:20 And then the Dao said, 41:21 "It's really a circle with a dot in the center." 41:23 And then they said, 41:25 "No, it's really a symbol with a Yin and Yang. 41:29 And now we're seeing that change one more time 41:31 to where it's actually three, 41:35 there's a division into three spheres. 41:39 But they all found it. 41:40 So I didn't have to tell them what I had found, 41:44 they found it. 41:45 The Sun God. 41:48 I hope that our viewers are picking up 41:52 on what this really is, this is not... 41:55 Again, there are surface things 41:58 and then there are latent, a cult, hidden things. 42:03 And the Lord would have us to know 42:06 what is really behind this eastern mysticism. 42:11 Remember, in the Bible 42:12 how people will worship famous Sun, 42:15 God hated that. 42:17 And now it's all through the martial arts, 42:20 the Yin and the Yang, you know, 42:22 the whole concept of blending... 42:25 The light with dark. 42:27 Light with darkness, good and evil. 42:29 It's like God never called this to-- 42:31 we are to eschew evil. 42:32 Amen. 42:33 But God, but, 42:36 God, would have us to know that this is what's going on 42:42 out there so that we can be equipped, 42:44 we can be equipped and well furnished. 42:46 Now, what about if you, is there any way to separate, 42:50 let's say you want to learn self-defense techniques. 42:53 Like how can you separate, 42:55 or can you even separate the spiritual component 42:59 from the actual physical part? 43:02 That's a good question, 43:04 and we have a lot of Christians, 43:05 especially men that ask that. 43:07 Because you know, as a man, 43:09 we ought to protect our families, 43:10 we are to protect the helpless. 43:15 What I have found 43:17 and I encourage every man and woman 43:19 that's listening, you know, seek the Lord personally 43:22 for they answer of this question. 43:24 I'm going to share with you what the Lord has shown me. 43:28 The idea, let's take for example of our military. 43:32 Right now our military is being trained 43:34 in a lot of the different eastern arts. 43:37 Our police officers are being trained heavily in the Chinese, 43:42 and the Japanese, and the Filipino martial arts. 43:47 We did not see military or law enforcement 43:52 using these arts until after World War II, 43:55 when our troops came home from Asia, 43:59 from Okinawa. 44:00 When, when our troops went to Okinawa, 44:02 they saw all these little masters, you know, 44:04 some of them only 4.8 foot, 5 foot tall, 44:08 they could do the seemly miraculous things, 44:11 and they were enthralled. 44:13 And they came back 44:15 and they brought that with them. 44:16 And then the Orient 44:17 begin to send more masters over here 44:20 to introduce you know, these eastern techniques. 44:24 Because with the eastern techniques 44:26 comes the eastern philosophy. 44:28 Yin and Yang, every art, 44:31 no matter whether it's Chinese medicine 44:32 or yoga or Tai-Chi or Reiki or kung-fu, 44:38 it doesn't matter. 44:39 Every one of those arts, 44:41 their philosophy is based on Yin and Yang, 44:44 the blending of light and darkness. 44:46 Now with self-defense, and I'll give you an example. 44:50 I cannot find the phrase self-defense 44:53 anywhere in Scripture. 44:55 I can find, I can find hundreds of places 44:59 where it says, "The Lord is my defense." 45:01 And I'll share with you why I respond with that. 45:05 I remember one day when my stepfather, 45:07 and he is a God-fearing man. 45:09 He came to visit with my mom and my family had left 45:15 and he and I were there alone. 45:16 And he came into the office and he said, he said, "Eric, 45:19 let me ask you a question now that your wife's not here." 45:22 He said, "Now I know you got out of the martial arts," 45:25 he said, "I know God you know, called you out of that." 45:27 And he said, "But if someone broke into your house tonight 45:32 and they were going to hurt your wife and children," 45:35 he said, "You'd use those martial arts techniques 45:39 to defend your family, wouldn't you?" 45:41 And the moment he started the question 45:42 I knew where it was going, and I was praying, 45:45 I was like, Lord, I need an answer, 45:47 not my answer, I need your answer. 45:49 What is your answer? 45:51 And the Lord gave me that answer. 45:53 And I told him, I said, "Wayne," I said, 45:56 "I know you're a man of God, 45:57 I know you believe the Bible, don't you?" 45:59 And he said, "Yes." 46:01 And I said, "Right here, in Psalm 34:7-8, 46:06 there's a promise that's given us." 46:08 The Lord says, "The angel of the Lord 46:12 encamps round about them 46:15 that fear Him and delivers them. 46:19 Blessed is the man that trust within him. 46:22 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." 46:26 And I said, "You know what," 46:27 I said, "I'm not saying that God is going to condemn someone 46:31 who uses a gun or that uses a baseball bat 46:34 or uses pepper spray. 46:37 That's not what I'm saying." 46:38 I said, "But what I have decided in my life 46:40 is I want to walk on a path of faith. 46:44 I want to walk as I see Peter, and James, 46:46 and John, and Paul. 46:48 And I can't find one account of them 46:50 ever having to defend themselves 46:52 in the New Testament." 46:55 Now I did have someone bring it to me one time 46:57 to question, the Old Testament. 46:59 Well, God sent the children of Israel 47:01 into the land of Canaan, and he said, 47:02 wipe out man, woman, and child, and what about that? 47:06 And I was like, 47:07 okay, that's a good question Lord, you know. 47:09 What your answer to that? 47:11 And a friend of mine have a little light studios, 47:13 just happened to have that answer. 47:15 And he called me one day and he shared it with me. 47:17 He said, "Eric did you ever notice 47:19 that when the children of Israel 47:21 were sent into the land of Canaan, 47:22 what the Lord told them?" 47:24 I said, I mean, no, I didn't. 47:27 He said, it actually says, you won't have to fight 47:30 because I'm going to send the hornets in the bees in, 47:33 in front of you 47:34 and they will drive out the inhabitants of the land. 47:37 But you know what, 47:39 they didn't trust God to do what he said he would do. 47:41 So God said, "Okay, if you're going to have to go to Plan B, 47:44 then I'll help you. 47:46 But I want plan A." 47:48 So, you know, when it comes to self-defense, 47:52 when Jesus said, turn the other cheek, 47:54 he's not talking about somebody 47:56 that's trying to murder you or your family. 47:58 He's talking about you and I have an issue, 48:00 or you and some man has an issue, 48:02 and there's pride involved, and I'm trying to show you up 48:05 or you're trying to show me up. 48:07 Jesus was like, take the blow. 48:09 I mean, it's not going to kill you, 48:10 get knocked down, it's not going to kill you. 48:13 So that's what that means 48:14 when it talks about turn the other cheek. 48:16 You know, defending your family, 48:18 I encourage each of us 48:20 because of the days we're living in, 48:22 to learn how to take hold of his promises 48:25 and not let go because he cannot lie. 48:29 So if someone is, 'cause this question 48:31 had crossed my mind earlier. 48:33 If after 24, 25 years of practicing that, 48:38 if someone approached you from the back 48:40 and just grabbed you, 48:42 would you just instinctively go into a defensive mode, 48:46 just because that's kind of, that was where you were? 48:50 Do you kind of instinctively respond to that or, 48:55 'cause you might not even have a chance 48:57 to cognitively go there. 48:59 I'm just, you know what I mean, like... 49:01 Like a reflex. Like a reflex. 49:02 Okay, and that's I'm glad you brought that up. 49:07 One of the grandmasters I trained with, there were two. 49:10 The first one, he told me something he said, "Eric," 49:12 he said, "you never want there to be a thought in a fight." 49:17 He said, "If you think 49:18 while you're fighting you've already lost." 49:21 We were taught in the Chinese system, 49:23 in kung-fu, you've got to become the animal. 49:26 If you're a tiger stylist, you have to become, 49:31 you have to allow that spirit of the tiger 49:34 to take possession of you. 49:35 And they weren't really you know, 49:38 in a nice way, you know. 49:40 You want to become like that tiger, 49:42 and that inspires you with, wow, 49:44 they're ferocious and they're brave. 49:46 And they let that go for a while. 49:48 But after you get past black belt 49:50 or right at, they tell you, you have to become it. 49:53 You don't pretend anymore. We go through the motions. 49:57 Like in the Chinese system, you know, 49:59 you would do motions like a tiger 50:01 or stance like a tiger. 50:03 But we do that because you're going through those motions 50:06 to make it easier to allow that spirit to come in. 50:11 So on a self-defense, you know, viewpoint, 50:16 when we look at that and you think, 50:19 how do I defend myself against somebody? 50:21 You know, are those reactions going to come back? 50:26 Walking away from martial arts is not like walking away from, 50:29 okay, I'm not going to go clubbing anymore, 50:31 I'm not going to listen to rock 'n' roll music. 50:34 There were spirits that had been there 50:36 influencing my life for those 25 years, 50:40 those had to be cast out of my life. 50:44 And when the Lord, you know, set me free from that. 50:47 I remember, I kept a couple of boxes that had rank, 50:52 and certificates, and all these pictures, 50:55 and videos, and books and all that junk. 50:58 And one day the Lord spoke to me and he was like, 51:00 how long are you going to keep that stuff? 51:03 I said, why, I may need that, Lord, you know, 51:04 one day to show people. 51:06 And God was like, burn it, 51:08 because you still haven't closed the door. 51:11 So what I did was, I photocopied everything 51:13 that need to be photocopied, 51:15 and I went outside my family and we lit a nice bonfire. 51:19 And it was amazing because when we did this, 51:23 I was burning the belts, and burning certificates. 51:26 And certificates on parchment paper, 51:27 you know, it's just paper. 51:29 You'd stick a green belt certificate in there 51:31 and it was gone. 51:33 And I put the first black belt certificate in there, 51:36 in kung-fu, and it took probably 10 or 15 minutes 51:39 for that one piece of paper to burn. 51:42 It sat there in the middle of a bonfire 51:44 that was you know, four feet tall 51:47 and it sizzled and smoked, but would not catch fire. 51:51 And my son even noticed it, 51:53 he was like, "Dad, what what's wrong with that? 51:55 Why would it not burn?" 51:57 And same thing, when I put that first black belt in there. 52:00 I mean, it took forever for that thing to burn. 52:03 And the other belts, it was like there were gone. 52:06 But God told me, he said, Eric, he said, 52:08 when you come out of it, are you willing for me 52:11 to deliver you from all the gifts 52:13 that you've gained? 52:15 And I remember the verse in the Bible, it says, 52:17 'If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creation. 52:21 Old things are passed away, 52:23 behold, all things are become new." 52:25 And I wrestled with that for a few days and I was like, 52:28 I'm willing for you to take those gifts. 52:30 I'm willing for you to take those memories, 52:32 and I forsake them. 52:34 And so now if somebody comes up 52:35 and they grab a hold of me, 52:37 they're just grabbing a hold of just a nobody. 52:40 I'm 47 year old, nobody. 52:43 Well, that's amazing, your story is amazing. 52:45 And we are planning to air, 52:48 you have a documentary really, a two part series 52:52 that we want to air on Dare to Dream. 52:54 We want to show a clip from that in just a second, 52:57 but your story is just amazing, and we thank you so much. 53:01 Let's show that clip 53:02 so that viewers can see what's going to be on that. 53:20 I remember my first introduction 53:22 to the martial arts. 53:24 I was only about four or five years old, 53:27 as I watched in amazement as a little oriental man 53:30 perform seemingly impossible feats of skill and power. 53:34 A seed was planted that day, 53:37 a seed which grew silently within in my heart 53:39 for the next 10 years of my young life. 53:43 I never forgot the exhibition that I had seen that day, 53:46 and I dreamed of the possibility 53:48 of doing those things, 53:49 which I had watched the little old Asian man 53:52 demonstrate with such ease. 53:55 But little did I realize the darkness 53:56 into which this path I was now following would lead. 54:00 Nor the lives that my decision that day 54:02 would influence and forever change. 54:06 Today, the martial arts are looked upon as sport, 54:09 as self-defense, help, and fitness, 54:12 and often as a form of artistic expression. 54:15 But is this the way it is always been? 54:18 Who are these men and women who dedicate their lives 54:21 to these arts and amaze onlookers 54:24 with their incredible feats 54:25 of almost superhuman strength and speed? 54:29 How are these abilities attained? 54:31 And from whence comes the philosophies 54:33 and spiritual teachings which permeate practices? 54:37 Why do we see such a growing influence 54:40 of Eastern philosophy and mystical practices 54:42 within the Christian church over the last 10 years? 54:45 Are these practices focused merely on athletic ability? 54:49 Or are they being used to prepare mankind 54:52 for the coming of a world teacher 54:54 and a 1,000 years of peace? 54:57 Are these eastern mystical arts, 54:59 based merely on human talent and ability? 55:02 Or is there something much darker 55:04 and more elusive working behind the scenes? 55:09 Wow! The Dragon Revealed. 55:12 That's, it's an amazing documentary. 55:14 And Eric, and Little Light Studios 55:17 have given us permission to share it with you. 55:20 So check your listing, your schedule 55:22 to see when it's going to air 55:24 because we're going to air it on Sabbath afternoons, 55:27 on Saturday, for those you don't know 55:28 when the Sabbath is. 55:30 The Seventh-day of the week, Saturday. 55:32 We're going to start airing it on the Sabbath, 55:34 Saturday afternoon. 55:35 So check your schedule to see when it's going to air. 55:40 Excellent. 55:41 So, Eric, what would you tell our viewers 55:43 in one minute or so. 55:45 What would you tell the viewer 55:47 who has been involved in the martial arts, 55:52 how can they detach from it? 55:54 What can they do to get away from it? 55:57 Tell them, please look into that camera 55:59 and talk to our viewer about their journey. 56:03 What I would do for anyone 56:06 that this had involvement in these arts, 56:08 whether it be martial arts, or Tie-Chi or yoga, 56:12 just seek from God's word first the truth. 56:16 Lord, does this line up with your word? 56:19 Once you've done that, all it takes is surrender. 56:22 The moment that we go to Christ and we say, 56:25 I'm so sorry what I did, 56:26 I didn't know this was ignorant. 56:29 I didn't know when I was involved in it. 56:31 Ask Him to forgive you, 56:33 tell him that you want to surrender 56:35 and be completely his. 56:37 And the moment you do that, 56:39 that moment he will set you free. 56:42 We so appreciate you and your ministry. 56:45 Tell us, give us your website so that people can find you. 56:49 Our website is IsaiahMinistries.wordpress.com. 56:54 And we'd be happy to answer questions 56:56 or to also send help if someone would like help or prayer. 56:59 Oh, that's great. 57:01 Thank you so for being with us. It is a pleasure to meet you. 57:03 And you too, J. You too. 57:05 Matthew 7:17-20 says, 57:07 "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit 57:10 but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 57:14 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit 57:17 neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 57:20 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down 57:23 and cast into the fire. 57:25 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." 57:28 So we ask you today, 57:30 what is the root of the tree that you are developing? 57:35 Is it a corrupt tree 57:38 or is it good fruit that's gonna be born 57:41 from a good root? 57:44 Check and see what you're studying, 57:46 make sure that you're in the will of God. 57:49 God has a plan for you, He's not gonna let you down. 57:53 So thank you so much for joining us. 57:55 Thank you, Jason. And you're welcome, mother. 57:57 Thank you again, Eric. This was a blessing. 58:00 Join us next time 'cause you know what, 58:02 it's just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2016-08-22