Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Wyatt Allen
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000477A
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00:01 Join us today on "Issues and Answers"
00:02 and discover how God has a plan 00:06 for the least of the least. 00:40 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and we are so thankful 00:42 that you have joined us today for "Issues and Answers." 00:46 I had a special burden 00:48 to invite this guest back today. 00:51 I interviewed him on 3ABN Today, 00:53 not too long ago 00:55 and was so impressed with his story, 01:00 felt that he needed to return and so we've invited him back 01:05 and he's got an incredible message. 01:08 Let me introduce you to our special guest, 01:11 Wyatt Allen. 01:13 Wyatt, you are an evangelist for Amazing Facts. 01:16 You're also the founder 01:18 of a ministry called 'In Time Hope.' 01:21 You and your wife 01:23 and your precious little daughter, 01:24 Purity, travel constantly... 01:28 That's right. 01:29 Doing evangelistic series 01:32 and you have written a book that to me is... 01:39 First time I interviewed you, it was about your book 01:41 and I had not had the opportunity to read it, 01:43 since then I did read it. 01:44 And it's an amazing book called, 01:47 "The Least of the Least" 01:50 and it says at the bottom of that, 01:53 the subtitle is "From Crime to Christ". 01:58 When you look at you and the smile on your face 02:02 and the reflection of Jesus Christ from your life, 02:06 it's difficult to believe 02:08 that you ever had a problem in your life. 02:13 We have no particular agenda, we've got a few programs, 02:16 we've invited you to come to a few programs with us. 02:19 So what I'd like to do today 02:21 is just start with a little of your story 02:25 'cause there's a lot of our viewers 02:26 who may not have seen that Today program. 02:28 Let's talk about your growing up years 02:32 and how you found yourself behind bars. 02:36 All right. 02:38 Well, you know, the story begins like, 02:41 many people's stories begin 02:42 and that is just with a broken divided home. 02:45 It's pretty typical in America, 02:46 not everybody turns out like me, thankfully. 02:49 But the bad choices I made all growing up, 02:55 they unfolded into just terrible disaster 02:59 and just hurting people, drug use and abuse and but... 03:06 So what would, 03:07 I know there may be some young people 03:08 that are watching today. 03:10 Tell us about a few of the bad choices 03:12 that took you into direction 03:13 that was very definitely away from God 03:16 toward a different power. 03:18 Really, I think it was two main things 03:20 just kind of coming from two different angles. 03:22 So the first one of course, 03:23 I grew up with lot of violence around me 03:26 and so at an early age I really 03:29 saw that violence was the answer. 03:31 I know it's not but that's what I thought. 03:33 I saw my dad solve a lot of problems through, 03:35 you know, pulling people off the side of the road 03:37 and beating them up to get, you know, 03:38 road rage or all these things 03:40 and so I had a lot of fights in schools. 03:43 So just a lot of violence growing up 03:47 and that whole mentality I guess, 03:50 it led me easily into drug use, 03:53 even finding my dad's stashed marijuana 03:55 and smoking that and getting addicted to it 03:59 and just staying with it for a long time 04:02 until that's all I can live for. 04:04 And what about your spiritual life? 04:07 You kind of took, you returned left 04:10 when you should have turned right. 04:11 Tell us about that? 04:13 Well, the, you know, I'm thankful, you know, 04:15 both my mom and my dad were believers 04:16 and they divorced when I was three 04:18 so I, kind of, have a step mom and a step dad 04:19 but everybody believed in God. 04:21 There is no doubt about that and... 04:24 But what happened is because I didn't have 04:26 a very hands-on personal direction in discipleship, 04:30 I ended up being 04:33 pretty much free to make my own choices 04:34 when it comes to spiritual things 04:36 and so even I went to some Sunday schools 04:38 when I was a kid, I don't remember 04:39 a whole lot about those, 04:40 I would know how to do some crafts 04:42 but that's about it. 04:43 I didn't learn about Jesus, I never connected with Him. 04:45 But when I found out about this idea of witchcraft 04:49 or the occult, 04:51 my brother gave me a book about that. 04:53 I started reading through it and I just, I was in trance, 04:56 I really wanted to have this kind of power 05:00 that the book talked about and of course, 05:03 I was playing role playing games 05:05 like dungeons and dragons, magic-the gathering 05:08 and reading books about dragons, 05:12 some fantasy lands, and, 05:13 you know, all these things and though in my mind 05:15 I knew all of it was fiction, all of the sudden I realized 05:18 my defenses were being let down. 05:22 And so whenever the real Satanic witch craft, 05:27 it is truly Satanic whether... 05:28 Yes. 05:30 You know, we learned that there is white magic 05:31 and black magic 05:32 and those involved in white magic say, 05:34 "Stay away from the black magic". 05:35 But you got the same puppet master 05:36 behind both of them, you know. 05:38 Yes. 05:39 So any way I got involved in that 05:41 which eventually led into maybe, 05:43 an opening to Satanism 05:44 and so that's where I became a part of the church of Satan 05:47 and, of course, now, so being violent, 05:49 with a drug problem, involved in crazy spiritualism, 05:54 I was just... 05:56 Miss a lot of control. All right. 05:58 So you have a few little run-ins 06:01 where you're caught with some dope of some sort 06:05 and then you actually 06:06 are put into a juvenile facility. 06:10 Something tragic happened there, 06:12 tell us about it. 06:13 Well, the juvenile facility, they got tired on my... 06:16 I got arrested so many times, positive for drugs, 06:19 possessions, burglaries because of drugs 06:22 and all of these things. 06:23 They finally said, "We're gonna do a drug rehab, 06:27 you need help, you need treatment." 06:29 Which is great, not that I wanted it but that, 06:31 you know, for a society that wants to take care 06:33 of people's drug problems, that's a great thing. 06:36 Problem was, 06:38 there wasn't a spiritual element to that. 06:40 They were trying to 06:42 show me the benefits of good choices 06:44 and the terrible consequences of bad choices 06:47 which has it's affect but 06:49 I just couldn't wait to get out of drug rehab 06:50 so I could do more drugs. 06:52 But while I was there, 06:53 that's when I got into a conflict 06:55 with one of the staff there at the facility 06:58 and I ended up attacking him really bad 07:01 and it's in the book, tells about that, 07:03 that turning point in my life where I assaulted him 07:06 and I got locked up 07:08 and he went to the hospital and it was pretty tragic. 07:11 Yes. 07:12 So you ended up then actually, they held you when you're 15? 07:16 I was 15-years-old. 07:17 And they held you over till you were 16, 07:19 so they could try you as an adult. 07:20 Correct. 07:22 Which, you know, 07:23 that's an interesting concept to me 07:24 that someone you could know 07:26 when they committed the crime 07:27 and where we can't really try him as adult 07:29 'cause he's a juvenile but yet, they can hold you over 07:32 and what was your sentence 07:35 when they tried you as an adult? 07:37 Well, to try us as an adult, 07:38 was just the process of them saying, 07:39 "Hey, he's competent to stand trial." 07:42 And now he's 16, he's competent. 07:43 So now they sent me off to County jail 07:46 where the other adults were, 07:48 and I'm actually going to be standing trial. 07:50 But you only stand trial if you're denying your crime 07:53 or some mitigating circumstances 07:56 and so you want to be before a jury. 07:58 But, you know, I was guilty 08:00 and I became a Christian during this time 08:01 and so I just, I told the judge... 08:03 And your attorney actually thought 08:05 he'd be able to get you off 08:06 and so here you are in County jail, 08:09 you get introduced to the lord. 08:11 Yeah, right, actually I got introduced to the Lord 08:13 in the juvenile detention center, 08:16 it was a whole flowing and process there, 08:18 I mean, I was a baby Christian, 08:20 I had no clue about anything, I mean, I didn't know... 08:23 That's when your mother told you 08:24 to pick up a Bible and read it? 08:26 She did, which I resented very much. 08:28 But the Spirit... 08:30 You believed, I mean, 08:31 your bible was the book the Satan or Bible... 08:33 Right, which I was extremely mad 08:34 of because when I got locked up, 08:36 they actually took my Satanic bible away from me, 08:38 they took it from me and I was so mad. 08:40 But I did, I wanted, 08:42 I was going to challenge the Bible 08:43 and I was, this is I was 15 locked up 08:45 in the juvenile detention center 08:47 and I wanted to challenge the Bible. 08:49 And that's when I picked up the Bible, in fact, 08:51 I took it when nobody was looking 08:52 'cause I, kind of, have this reputation 08:53 for being a Satanist. 08:55 And so I took it back to myself and with, you know, 08:57 23 hours a day, studied or read rather 09:00 and it was in that journey of going through the Bible 09:03 that I was converted. 09:04 But your mother gave you a gift that turned out to be 09:06 an invaluable tool, what was that? 09:08 Right. Oh, the Strongest Concordance. 09:10 Well, do you know the miracle story behind that? 09:12 First, the first miracle is that, 09:14 you know, she prayed for me and you can't undermine 09:17 the power of a mother's prayers. 09:19 And I have met so many people 09:20 who are praying for their boys in prison 09:22 and don't give up those prayers. 09:24 But I would say that 09:27 she just went out to the book store 09:29 and said, "I've got to get him something. 09:31 Now he's a Christian." 09:32 I told her I was a Christian and she bought me 09:34 a Strongs Exhaustive Concordance. 09:36 And she didn't really know what it was. 09:37 But, you know, it's a nice thick book 09:39 and looked good 09:41 so she brought it into the juvenile center, 09:42 they allowed me to have it 09:43 'cause you're allowed to have two books. 09:45 So I had a Bible and a Strongs Concordance 09:46 and I studied. 09:48 So you then actually, 09:50 you're studying to prove the Bible wrong 09:52 because one thing that Wyatt shared with me 09:56 sometime back was that the Satanic Bible basically, 10:03 it says everything the opposite 10:04 of what the Christian Bible says, 10:07 but the Satanic Bible says, 10:08 "Just don't turn your other cheek, get even." 10:11 But it also claims 10:14 that there are lots of contradictions 10:18 if you will, in the Bible. 10:20 So you actually started studying 10:22 with the intent, "Hey. 10:24 I'm gonna prove this Bible wrong." 10:26 I can't tell you how many times, 10:28 when I was practicing Satanism as much as I could 10:32 when I was free, I told Christians, 10:34 you know, "Oh, you Christians, 10:36 first of all, you're all hypocrites." 10:37 And, you know, I said, 10:38 "You're following a crazy religion, 10:40 your Bibles are fantasy 10:41 and it's full of contradictions and errs." 10:43 I knew that because the Satanic Bible said so 10:45 and so, you know, nobody ever challenged on it. 10:48 I just said, "Your Bible can't be trusted." 10:50 And now I'm gonna find them, 10:52 I mean, they're obviously there. 10:54 Everybody says they're there. 10:55 So why would it be hard 10:56 to find those contradictions and errs. 10:58 And you did it. 10:59 I couldn't find them. All right. 11:01 So you're a baby Christian then before you go to... 11:05 I forgot that part of the story 11:06 but before you didn't go to County jail, 11:08 you spent a year in a County jail growing 11:11 and then what was your sentence? 11:13 I got a 20 year prison sentence. 11:14 So you at the age of 16, are sentenced to 20 years. 11:19 Yeah. 11:21 How that must but, you know, the amazing thing to me 11:24 was your attorney thought there was some hope 11:26 he could get you off 11:28 and you went before the judge and said, 11:30 "Hey, I'm guilty." 11:31 Well, when I was a kid, like a 11-years-old, 11:33 I think I was diagnosed of having ADHD 11:35 and then I've got locked up in psychiatric hospitals 11:38 for trying to run away and threatening my dad 11:39 and all these things 11:41 and they started labeling me 11:42 with all these medical disorders, 11:44 mental disorders and they were putting me 11:45 on all kinds of medications, I mean, tons of medications. 11:48 Well, when I was in the drug rehab program, 11:51 I was on some of those drug medications 11:53 and because they didn't had the dosage right 11:57 and give me too much or too little, 12:00 my attorney thought he can really... 12:02 Those were mitigating circumstances. 12:04 And also my age at the time and so... 12:07 But the judge, she said, you know what? 12:08 You did a indoor crime, you're gonna do it all time. 12:10 But you actually went before the judge 12:12 and said, "Hey, I'm guilty." 12:13 I did. Didn't you? 12:15 And, you know, and I was hoping for mercy. 12:17 I mean, I was facing two life sentences. 12:18 I had a assault charge and an armed criminal action, 12:22 it's almost like a assault with a deadly weapon. 12:24 It's two actual crimes 12:25 and I was facing the life sentences 12:27 for both of those. 12:28 Now I didn't think I would get the life sentences 12:30 but still I could get up to 30 years for both 12:32 and I did not want that. 12:33 But you know what? 12:35 If I thought in my mind, if I'm guilty, 12:37 I say, I'm guilty, you know, show how apologetic I am. 12:40 I mean, you can't really say, "Hold out on me." 12:41 You destroyed a man's life. 12:45 I mean, I just was hoping for mercy. 12:47 Yeah, so actually though I do believe 12:50 that in reading your story, it was all part of God's plan. 12:54 You've had to suffer the consequences 12:56 of your action, but God... 12:59 What Satan, maybe have meant for evil, 13:02 God turned it around for good. 13:03 Amen. 13:05 Because how many years did you actually serve? 13:07 I ended up serving only 14 out of the 20. 13:09 And during those 14 years, 13:12 I'm just amazed how industrious you were. 13:18 You were obviously led by the Holy Spirit 13:21 because you spent your time there, 13:24 it was almost you came out with equivalent 13:27 of a seminary study, a degree, in religion, 13:31 you knew the Bible back and forth 13:33 but you also studied other languages. 13:36 You learned accounting, you learned all kinds of things 13:40 and you studied very practical things to know 13:44 what to do when you got out of prison. 13:48 It's very difficult 13:49 if someone goes to prison at an early age, 13:53 when they're teenagers, you know, 13:55 their brain is still forming. 13:58 They say particularly, in men, 14:00 that your frontal lobe's not even fully developed 14:03 till you're 21. 14:04 But if you've been locked up for all that time, 14:08 how do you balance a check book? 14:10 How do you learn to do these things? 14:12 But Wyatt did and I wanna speak to some of you who are watching 14:16 from the prison systems right now. 14:18 Please take some motherly advice. 14:20 Spend your time, invest your time wisely. 14:24 Time is a gift from God, 14:27 time is life and how you invest your time 14:30 is how you invest your life. 14:32 Wyatt did, was you invested your time learning 14:37 and all kinds of things so that when you came out, 14:41 you were actually ready to meet the world. 14:45 You know, for many years I thought, 14:46 you know, Jesus is gonna come back before I get out, 14:48 you know, but even if He was to come back 14:51 before I get out, I still need to make 14:53 the best use of my time. 14:54 Now I'm not the perfect example, 14:55 there's many, many hours and days 14:58 and months and years 14:59 that I did not spend that time as good as I should have. 15:03 As most Christians, it's a maturity process 15:06 and I have my rough spots 15:07 and there's our growing period and there were set backs. 15:10 But I did, I kept my eyes on the prize 15:12 and I kept moving forward and I am so thankful 15:15 looking back that I took advantage 15:17 of the opportunities that I did, 15:18 and they were given to me, lot of them, 15:20 I happened to be in certain penitentiaries 15:23 that had industries and opportunities for education 15:27 and so my first goal was to get my GED. 15:30 I was in ninth grade when I got incarcerated, 15:32 so I didn't, that's all the education I had. 15:34 But I wanted my GED because from there 15:37 not only could I make 850 a month 15:39 or set a 750 a month 15:40 which was, hey, that dollar increase was a lot. 15:43 But I could also then be qualified for these other, 15:47 you know, industry programs and educational programs. 15:51 So I started computer courses and I worked in the chapel 15:55 as a clerk, so I learned clerking skills. 15:57 Working in a prison chapel by the way, 15:59 I had all these reference books 16:01 that I can refer to, all that, it was incredible. 16:04 Yes, and you were very active. 16:06 Now two things that impressed me that 16:09 you were, kind of, like one of God's missionaries, 16:12 it was like you're on a mission trip 16:13 because you were 16:15 truly reflecting the Lord in prison 16:17 and people got to know that 16:18 and you were able to minister to people. 16:20 The other thing that amazed me 16:21 is you never really had any attacks 16:24 while you were in prison. 16:26 No, there were two incidences that I tell about in the book 16:30 but in fact, one of them, I don't tell about that 16:32 but I'll share it with you. 16:34 I was in the prison, I was working in the kitchen, 16:38 I tried all the jobs there, 16:39 I was working in the prison kitchen 16:40 on the line serving food and there was a Muslim 16:43 and he was, we were talking back and forth 16:46 and they're, you know, 16:47 trying to impress other people and he said, 16:49 " So you think you're a Christian 16:51 and you follow the Bible." 16:52 I said, "Well, I do my best." 16:53 He said, "So when Jesus says, turn your other cheek, 16:55 do you turn your other cheek?" 16:56 I said, "By God's grace, I will." 16:58 He hauls off and he slaps me as hard as he can 17:02 across my face. 17:03 Now my face, of course, 17:05 you could imagine how red my face would have turned. 17:07 Thankfully, it's a little bit dark in there, 17:09 I'm avoiding the cooks and the other staff 17:11 from seeing me until we got on serving. 17:15 But I turned the other cheek for one, but for two, 17:18 it ended up not getting like a black eye 17:20 or anything and so... 17:22 I never got in trouble for, because if I get the black eye, 17:23 I get locked up. 17:25 And, of course, in prison you don't tell on anybody so, 17:27 you know, that's the end of that 17:29 but I would definitely get locked up myself, 17:31 I didn't want that. 17:32 But anyway, it turns out, 17:34 a few weeks later, he comes out to me 17:35 and he apologized to me personally 17:37 for doing that and it's, you know, for me, 17:41 it was like strengthening in my faith 17:44 because, you know, I didn't know if I could do it, 17:45 in my mind I said to myself... 17:47 Yeah. 17:48 I'm in prison for a while in crime. 17:49 I tell myself, "I'm never going to be wild 17:51 in my life again ever. 17:53 Never lay my hand on anybody, even to defend my own life." 17:55 And I didn't know if I could, 17:58 you know, you always say, "Oh, man, I cannot do this." 18:01 But I did it and I just praise God for that. 18:04 Well, you know, 18:05 it's interesting because the Bible says 18:07 in the principles found in II Corinthians 3:18 that 18:09 "We become what we behold." 18:11 Uh-huh. 18:12 And if certainly for you violence was something 18:16 that was modeled for you in your young life 18:21 but as you beheld Jesus Christ in this Word, 18:26 the Holy Spirit really led you 18:27 from one level of His glory to the next. 18:29 He never solved a problem through violence. 18:31 You look at His whole life, 18:32 you know, He told His disciples, 18:33 you know, He says, 18:35 "My kingdom is not of this world" 18:36 Yes. 18:37 And I... 18:39 And, you know, I just want to kinda fast forward 18:41 'cause I wanna make sure we get to this. 18:44 It is amazing how God's hand was on you through out this 18:50 but you came out and you became involved 18:53 with a very beautiful young woman 18:56 and this was over... 18:57 Was it Skype or Facebook? How did you all meet? 19:02 It was a Christian social network, 19:03 Adventist social network specifically. 19:04 Okay. 19:06 So you meet... 19:10 Through social media, now you haven't met in person. 19:12 Not yet. 19:14 But... 19:15 Yeah, Skype is the main thing. 19:17 We eventually started talking on the phone, 19:18 then seen each other through Skype, 19:19 it developed to that. 19:21 Okay. Yeah. 19:22 And here is somebody who you've come out, 19:25 now you're doing actually Bible work. 19:27 We won't take time to explain how when you came out, 19:30 went to church, the pastor sees in you the passion 19:34 and sees that you're filled with the Holy Spirit. 19:37 They hire you as a Bible worker, 19:39 so now you're communicating 19:41 with this beautiful young woman, 19:42 very lovely Christian woman as well 19:47 and we're just gonna cut to the chase, 19:50 you ended up catching the prize there, didn't you? 19:52 Wow. You did. 19:54 And definitely, you know what? 19:56 My whole life is a story of miracles and that 19:58 is one of the most wonderful miracle 20:00 because I believe God... 20:02 She was always asking herself, "Where's my husband? 20:04 Where's my husband?" 20:06 All these years, you know, 20:07 she's 29 when I meet her and where's my husband? 20:09 And she realizes God was preserving him 20:12 in prison and so I like to think 20:14 about it like that anyway. 20:15 And, yeah, I'm... 20:18 That's the miracle story that, 20:19 the book tells the whole romance... 20:20 And the fun of that but I tell you, 20:22 God put us together. 20:24 Some people I think God says, you know, 20:26 here's the pool of people you can pick from 20:29 and then sometimes, God, like with, you know, 20:31 Abraham's son and such, 20:33 they pick out Rebecca specifically. 20:35 Well, I think she's my Rebecca very, very clearly. 20:37 Very beautiful. 20:39 So now as amazing as 20:41 all of this is and how wonderful the Lord, 20:44 you know, He certainly, I think of Jeremiah, 20:46 it's actually, I'm open there, 20:48 Jeremiah 29:11, 12 when God says, 20:51 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you." 20:55 Says the Lord, "thoughts of peace 20:57 and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope, 21:01 then you will call upon me 21:03 and pray to me and I will listen to you," 21:07 and it goes on to say, "and you will find me 21:10 when you will seek me and find me, 21:13 when you search for me with all your heart". 21:16 Amen. Well, that's what happened. 21:17 Do you realize this context is Israel's in captivity? 21:20 Yes. 21:21 So, I mean, this is talking to prisoners. 21:22 Yes. That's hope. 21:24 Now God actually then opened the door for you to go 21:30 to the Amazing Facts College of Evangelism. 21:33 Many of you know Pastor Doug Batchelor 21:35 and they have an evangelistic college, 21:38 you go there and once again, God taps you on the shoulder 21:43 because Amazing Facts 21:44 actually then hires you as an evangelist for them. 21:48 Which is what you're doing today. 21:50 But I want to go back for a minute 21:53 because we have very little time left. 21:56 Explain to me what the title of your book, 22:01 "The Least of the Least," 22:05 where did you get the title of this book? 22:09 Well, I've always considered myself 22:12 to be the least, I mean, when you've been humbled 22:15 as much as you have to go to prison, 22:17 you're guilty, it's, you know, 22:18 shameful thing you can think of and I was guilty 22:21 but in the book of Mathew 25, 22:25 Jesus talks about the least and He talks about, 22:29 you know, "When you minister unto the least, 22:31 you ministered unto me." 22:32 But in this list of least's 22:33 and I'm not gonna read the whole passage here 22:35 but it talks about, from 40 on, it says, 22:39 "I was hungry" verse 42 "and you gave me no food." 22:42 That's talking about the wicked, I want to go to the righteous, 22:44 there's always a more positive side of it. 22:45 So back in verse 35. 22:46 "I was hungry and you gave me food, 22:48 I was thirsty and you gave me drink, 22:50 I was a stranger and you took me in, 22:52 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, 22:55 I was in prison and you came to me." 22:57 So in this list of least's by Jesus on definition... 22:59 By Jesus on definition, 23:00 He puts those in prison as the least 23:03 of the least and that's I think, 23:08 praise God for all the ministries 23:09 that ministered to all these other groups, 23:10 but I feel that those in prison 23:12 maybe are more disenfranchised than others. 23:15 They are less focused on than others 23:18 and there's a really huge ministry gap there, 23:21 to minister to those to "The Least of the Least," 23:24 whether in prison or in the process 23:25 of getting out of prison. 23:27 And because they are behind bars 23:29 because they're not in the public, 23:32 in our eye, it is easy to not to think of them... 23:36 Yup! 23:37 You know, I'm very excited 3ABN has a program called 23:41 "Free Indeed," but we also, 23:42 have a very strong prison ministry. 23:44 Which touched my life personally 23:46 when I was incarcerated in many ways. 23:47 Praise God. Praise God. 23:49 So it's something that, 23:51 so "The Least of the Least, " is... 23:53 Not just talking about me, it's talking about all of those 23:56 that have been locked up incarcerated and put away. 23:59 And I know someone is watching us today 24:01 from prison, I mean, 24:03 I can say that, that's not a prophetic statement 24:06 I can say it because 24:07 3ABN is on in so many prison systems 24:09 and we get so much... 24:12 so many reports of how people watch these programs. 24:15 Wyatt, take just a moment and looking in that camera 24:19 and if you could say something 24:22 'cause what I want to say to you 24:24 if you're watching is 24:27 if God has a plan for your life 24:30 for the "Least of the Least," it doesn't matter. 24:33 Look at what God has done in Wyatt's life, 24:37 a 20 years sentence of which he served 14. 24:40 And how God has put your feet 24:43 on a narrow path but on a highway, 24:46 a highway to heaven if you will... 24:47 Amen. 24:49 And He is using you 24:50 to touch so many other people's lives, 24:52 to reach down 24:55 and pull people out of the darkness 24:57 and into His light 24:59 as you share the gospel with so many people... 25:02 Amen. 25:03 You have a beautiful young daughter. 25:05 How old is Purity? She is awe... 25:06 She'll be two this month, and believe it or not, 25:08 since the last time I was on this program, 25:10 you asked me about a future family. 25:11 We found out that we were actually pregnant 25:13 during our last... 25:14 Praise God. 25:16 Meeting, so we're gonna expect one this October. 25:17 Wonderful! We got to you find your home... 25:20 I may share with them. 25:21 Just, I want you to speak to them 25:24 just from the heart. 25:25 What would you tell them to do while they're there? 25:29 How would you advise them to use their time 25:33 while they're in prison? 25:34 Okay. Well, you know there is... 25:38 There is a four letter word 25:40 that it's what gonna hold you through 25:41 and that is "hope." 25:43 Hope is something that I held on 25:46 to through my whole experience 25:48 even when I had no reason to have that hope, 25:49 and that hope gave me a desire to press forward, 25:53 to press on to become better, 25:56 to not give up, to just, to achieve. 26:02 I wanted to be somebody for Jesus, 26:04 even though I was the least of the least, 26:05 and you might feel that you're the least of the least 26:07 wherever you're at in your experience, 26:08 but the reality is when you recognize 26:12 you're working for the greatest of the great 26:14 and that the blood of Jesus Christ was spent 26:17 to save you then all of a sudden 26:18 you sense yourself of value not of yourself 26:21 but what He has put on you 26:22 and that gives you a hope, a drive, 26:26 a worthiness 26:27 that can let you move forward 26:30 and overcome the obstacles in your life, 26:32 and so I know that, 26:34 in prison the most... 26:40 I don't know the darkest place I can think of. 26:43 You know, you can make something of yourself. 26:45 You can be a servant in God's cause, 26:47 you can achieve what He wants for you. 26:49 Set free! 26:50 He set free while you're inside and so what happened to me, 26:54 I'm nobody special 26:56 and I've made my share of mistakes, 26:57 but if it can happen to me, 26:59 as rough and as least as I am, 27:01 then I know that there is nobody God cannot 27:04 do miracles with as well. 27:06 Amen. Amen. I really believe that. 27:08 I just want to say that, if you're in prison ministries 27:12 and this is unusual, 27:14 I usually don't really promote a book this, 27:16 this heavenly, but I'm gonna say that 27:18 what I enjoyed so much about your book is, 27:22 it's your life story, 27:23 and as you learn about the different times 27:26 you learn about different doctrines 27:27 and how it impacted you. 27:29 So you find all these Bible doctrines, 27:31 the 28 fundamental beliefs are right here 27:34 and they're presented in such a way 27:36 that this is a book 27:38 that's good for everyone to read. 27:41 But I believe that if you're involved in prison ministries, 27:44 get this book "The Least of the Least." 27:46 Every prisoner ought to have it, 27:48 every person ought to have it. 27:50 We all need to be set for it. 27:51 And we send a lot of men to prisons, 27:53 I promise you lot of parents called me in, 27:54 we send them in, we just wanted to happen. 27:56 Praise the Lord. 27:57 Wyatt, thank you so much. 27:59 I'm so glad that you gonna come back 28:00 'cause we kind of lay the groundwork today, 28:02 but please join us next time 28:04 as we continue talking with Wyatt 28:06 and talking about the value of prison ministry, 28:09 how you might become involved in prison ministry 28:12 and just share God's plan for "The Least of the Least." 28:17 Thank you so much for joining us. |
Revised 2017-01-12