Participants: Bill Santos, Jaime Jorge
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201304
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00:11 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time.
00:14 God's book, The Bible 00:18 Still relevant in today's complex world 00:24 It Is Written 00:27 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 00:38 BILL: Welcome to the It is Written Canada television program. 00:41 My name is Bill Santos. 00:42 Thanks for taking the time to join us today. 00:46 You know, every so often on our program, we have special guests. 00:49 And I have to tell you, as the host of the program, it's always a treat to 00:53 have guests that come with life experiences that I know are going to benefit 00:59 all of us as we listen to them. 01:01 And today, we have a guest. 01:04 He's probably not unknown to many Canadian viewers 'cause he has been on 01:09 Canadian television quite a bit. 01:11 He is a renowned concert violinist, Jaime Jorge. 01:15 Jaime, thank you so much for being here. 01:17 JAIME: Thank you for having me. 01:18 I'm excited to be here. 01:20 BILL: That's great. 01:21 Now, this is the first time you and I have had a chance to be on the 01:23 program. 01:24 But like I said earlier, many of our Canadian viewers would be familiar 01:27 with you because you have been on Canadian television quite a bit, 01:32 playing. 01:36 And God has gifted you, man, in a mighty, mighty way. 01:38 But we're going to get a chance to hear you today. 01:42 But for the benefit of those few that may not know you, I'd like to 01:46 learn a little bit about you. 01:48 JAIME: Sure. 01:49 BILL: So you know, tell us, you know, where were you born? 01:52 Where are you from? 01:53 And let's get going on who you are. 01:55 JAIME: Well, I was born in the Communist island of Cuba. 01:57 And I was fortunate and blessed to be born into a Christian home. 02:01 My parents already knew the Lord. 02:04 They had accepted the gift of salvation. 02:06 And so I was born in an environment of love and worship to God, even 02:12 though we were in a country that persecuted Christians, oftentimes. 02:17 But for me and my sister, because there's two of us, I think we didn't really 02:21 experience the kind of reality that my parents did, and others, because 02:26 we were shielded from so much of it. 02:29 However, we still experienced trials and tribulations at school. 02:33 In order for you to be a communist, you had to wear a little scarf. 02:38 It was called a Pioneer scarf. 02:41 And if you didn't show up at school wearing it, when you lined up in the 02:45 morning with all the other hundreds of other students, everybody wore 02:49 the same uniform, it was very easy to pick out those young people who did 02:53 not wear their scarves. 02:55 And so from the very beginning of every day, teachers and the principal 02:58 would know who was a Christian. 03:00 And sometimes we would be interrogated half of the morning. 03:03 "Why are you a Christian? 03:05 Why do you believe in God? 03:06 Where is God? 03:07 Show God to us so that we can believe too. 03:09 " And so we had some of those challenges from the very beginning. 03:13 But we were taught to love Jesus and to serve him no matter what. 03:17 And so when I started playing the violin at the age of 5, and it was 03:21 because my mother forced me, not because I wanted to. I want to make that 03:25 very clear. she recognized that I had a talent, began to take me to violin 03:30 lessons, and I excelled. 03:32 And so when I was 9, I participated in a competition that was at 03:36 the local school. 03:38 From there, we kept going up, city's, province, national, and I got to the 03:43 very last round, and I played in an auditorium full of people from all 03:47 over the island, participants, representatives from all 03:51 over the country. 03:53 When I finished playing and I walked off the stage, the judges said, 03:56 "You played so well that you deserve to win first place. 04:00 " And of course, I lit up. 04:02 But one of them said, "We know that you're a Christian. 04:07 And in this country, we don't believe in God. 04:09 And we cannot acknowledge anybody that does. 04:12 But if tonight, you go out on that stage and you make a public declaration that 04:18 you will renounce your faith in God." BILL: Oh my goodness. 04:20 Now, how old were you? 04:22 JAIME: Nine. 04:23 BILL: Wow. 04:24 JAIME: ". we will give you first place and the big trophy. 04:26 " But my parents had taught me as it says in God's word that it is 04:29 better to obey God rather than men. 04:31 And so I said, "Thank you, but no. 04:34 " And they said, "Okay. 04:36 " I went home, lost that opportunity. 04:38 Some time passed. 04:39 And one of these same judges came to my house to offer me a scholarship on 04:43 behalf of the government of Cuba to go to Moscow to study, he said, in the 04:47 best music school in the world, the Moscow Conservatory of Music in 04:50 Russia. 04:51 He said, "You will be famous. 04:53 Your family will have a better life. 04:55 All you have to do is sign this paper that says you don't believe in God 04:59 anymore. 05:01 " BILL: Oh my goodness. 05:02 JAIME: He said, "Now, I don't care what you believe in. 05:03 Just sign this. 05:05 " BILL: Just sign the paper. 05:06 JAIME: And I said, "Listen, if that's the condition, you're wasting 05:08 your time 'cause you already know my answer. 05:10 " And he stood up and he said, "You're right. 05:12 You're wasting my time and the time of the communist government because you are 05:16 never going to be a good violinist. 05:18 " And he stormed off and left and I never saw him again. 05:21 BILL: Wow. 05:23 JAIME: But God has greater plans than we can imagine. 05:28 And God is always faithful. 05:30 And when we are faithful, we're able to see what he has for us. 05:35 And you know, I was walking away from the biggest opportunity of my 05:38 life. 05:39 BILL: Yes, of course. 05:41 JAIME: But I was walking away from something even bigger if I would've been 05:43 willing to renounce my faith in God, and I wasn't going to do that. 05:46 But my family got the news just a couple of months after that, that we were 05:52 being allowed to leave Cuba and go to the United States of America. 05:55 My dad had dreamed of and tried for years to leave Cuba. 06:00 And the opportunity came and the Lord opened the doors and my family went 06:04 to the U.S. 06:06 where I had many, many other opportunities to continue to further the 06:09 talent that God has given me. 06:11 Because really, what I do and playing the violin is not an ability that I 06:15 deserved or that I earned. 06:17 It was given to me by God. 06:18 And my mother taught me that I always needed to dedicate my talents for 06:23 God's honour and glory. 06:24 And so now I have the wonderful privilege to share this talent with 06:28 others and remind other people that their talents also have the opportunity 06:32 to be used in the Lord's work to bring others to Jesus Christ. 06:37 And as you know, because you do God's work, there is nothing better to do 06:41 when we do God's will and we fulfill his calling in our lives. 06:46 BILL: Yeah, I've often said God can use anyone. 06:47 He just looks for us to be available to be used by him. 06:50 JAIME: That's right. 06:51 BILL: So how old were you when you came to the United States? 06:53 JAIME: Ten years old. 06:54 BILL: Ten years old. 06:55 JAIME: It was in 1980. 06:56 BILL: That must have been quite a shock for you to come to the United States. 06:59 JAIME: It was like going from black and white television to colour 07:02 television. 07:03 BILL: Right, okay. 07:04 JAIME: You know. 07:05 I remember the day we arrived. 07:07 I ate an apple and a grape for the very first time. 07:09 And I chewed gum for the very first time in my life. 07:11 In fact, I chewed it for so long that it disintegrated. 07:16 And then I wanted to swallow it and they said, "No, no, no, you spit it 07:19 out and then there's more. 07:21 " BILL: You get another one. 07:22 JAIME: There was more of everything. 07:23 I had never been to a store. 07:25 The stores in Cuba are like this: you walk in. 07:28 There's a counter. 07:30 You give the person who works there the booklet that the government gives 07:33 you which says how many pounds or kilos of rice and beans you get every 07:39 day, how many loaves of bread, how many you get every month, not every 07:42 day. 07:44 And then they weight it, bring it. 07:45 You pay and you walk out. 07:47 BILL: You walk out. 07:49 JAIME: You can't choose whether you want yogurt that's Greek yogurt or 07:51 flavoured yogurt or this kind of juice, none of that. 07:54 And when I walked into a store and I saw aisles and aisles packed with food 07:59 and different types of the same kind of food, I was just amazed. 08:04 I was overwhelmed. 08:05 I'd never been to a clothing store before where you could just 08:08 choose from all kinds of sizes and colours and styles and get what you 08:13 wanted; you just had to pay. 08:14 We didn't have that before. 08:15 It was absolutely amazing. 08:17 BILL: Wow. 08:18 So you pursued your gift of violin. 08:22 At what point did you realize that this is something special here, I 08:26 mean, that God is going to, you know, do something special with me here? 08:30 JAIME: You know, interestingly enough, I hated the violin. 08:33 My mother forced me to practice for 15 years. 08:36 And it wasn't until I was a freshman in college in the U.S. 08:41 I was 18 years old. 08:42 And I played for a talent show at school. 08:46 And I remember playing this classical piece of music and I was scared to 08:51 death because I thought, "Nobody's going to like classical music. 08:56 " All the other participants were singing and dancing and doing rock 08:59 and roll and rap and all this stuff. 09:02 I thought, "When I get up there, people are going to boo me, you know. 09:04 " And I was scared. 09:06 I went out there. 09:07 My hands were sweaty. 09:10 My palms on the inside, but on the outside, they were stiff. 09:13 And I just started playing. 09:15 And I said, "Lord, help me to be a light and an example here for You. 09:18 " When I finished playing that song, the whole place came down. 09:21 People on their feet, clapping, yelling, cheering. 09:24 For weeks after that, they would come and hunt me down as I walked around 09:28 the campus saying, "Who are you? 09:30 Why are you different? 09:31 What is it about you that is different? 09:33 " And I saw two things there that night. 09:35 Number one, the power of music, and number two, the power of being a servant 09:40 of God. 09:41 People could tell that there was something different about me. 09:43 And I thought, "You know what? 09:45 I want to use this for God's honour and glory. 09:48 " But I didn't want to be a musician; I wanted to be a doctor, 'cause I went to 09:52 medical school. 09:53 And it was into my second year that the Lord called me to walk away from 09:58 medicine to do music medicine, music ministry fulltime. 10:02 BILL: Earlier, we had the opportunity to have you tape a couple songs. 10:08 We're going to listen to one right now. 10:10 Maybe you can give us a brief introduction on what you're going to be playing 10:14 for us. 10:15 JAIME: Absolutely. 10:16 You know, we don't have a lot of guarantees in this world. 10:17 But we can be guaranteed of the fact that God has secured our salvation 10:21 through Jesus dying on the cross for us. 10:24 And so that is an assurance that we have of his love for us. 10:28 It never goes away, it never dies, it never changes. 10:30 And this song simply says, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. 10:36 " 10:40 (Violin Music) 13:56 BILL: Well, that was beautiful. 13:59 If your mom's listening, Mrs. Jaime Jorge, thank you for insisting that 14:02 your son continue to play. 14:04 JAIME: I will let her know. 14:06 BILL: So you leave medical school and you pursue the violin as a ministry. 14:09 Now, you've had the opportunity to play all around the world in some 14:14 pretty interesting places. 14:17 Is there one that sort of stands out for you? 14:19 JAIME: Well, yes. 14:23 BILL: Hey, I know that's a tough question because there's probably a bunch 14:25 of them, right? 14:27 But. JAIME: But you might be surprised by my answer. 14:29 I was in Mexico three years ago. 14:32 And I was invited to do a number of concerts in a couple of days. 14:38 You know, over there, it's just shotgun. 14:40 You go and you go and you go. 14:41 BILL: Right. 14:42 JAIME: And it was great. 14:44 And I played, I remember, for a mayor and a governor in different places. 14:49 And then they took me to a hut church. 14:52 And the floor was dirt. 14:55 And there was no sound system, there was no fancy lighting, but there were 15:00 such humble and sincere people there. 15:05 And at the end of the concert, a couple of them gave their hearts to the 15:09 Lord. 15:10 And I will never, ever forget that. 15:13 And it reminds me of the fact that what we do isn't just to play for some 15:19 president or some king or some dignitary. 15:22 It is to touch people's lives. 15:24 And in the simplest of places, there are people who are hungry for God's 15:29 word. 15:31 And it is our privilege to be able to reach those people as well. 15:34 BILL: And you have literally played for presidents and kings. 15:39 And isn't it incredible to know that the power of the King of kings worked 15:45 through you in that little hut church to reach those souls for Jesus Christ? 15:49 JAIME: That's right. 15:51 BILL: It's eternal consequences, citizens of the Kingdom. 15:53 JAIME: Amen. 15:54 BILL: Jaime, you've been at this now for how long? 15:56 JAIME: 25 years. 15:57 BILL: 25 years. 15:59 My goodness, it is a lifetime. 16:01 JAIME: It is. 16:03 And I didn't imagine that it was going to last this long, you know. 16:06 When I walked away from medical school, I really had no expectations that a 16:12 whole lot was going to happen other than the fact that I was allowing God to 16:16 use me. 16:18 And I say that because all of us have that choice to make. 16:21 Like you said, He wants to use us, but do we make ourselves available to 16:24 Him? 16:25 So I didn't know what was going to happen. 16:27 I just knew that God was going to have to provide 'cause the salary of a 16:31 doctor is a little different than the salary of a Christian musician, 16:34 you know. 16:35 But I'm humbled the way that God has blessed, not necessarily on human 16:40 terms, 'cause I think we look at success in different ways. 16:45 For us, I think as human beings, success is money and fame and fortune and 16:50 power. 16:51 For God, I believe success is how well He can use those people that allow 16:56 Him to use them. 16:58 Bottom line. 17:00 And so as I look back, it almost seems impossible and it is, except that God 17:05 has been the one guiding. 17:06 And when God guides, we don't have any reason to be afraid and anything to 17:12 worry about because He's going to work it out. 17:15 BILL: Yeah, it is an incredible experience because you know, you lack 17:20 the security of, you know, a fulltime employment, and you've really placed 17:27 yourself out there at God's will. 17:29 And He has sustained for these 25 years and you've impacted many, many lives. 17:36 You know, we just had you do a concert for us just the other night just 17:38 because we taped this. 17:40 And dozens and dozens of people came to me and said that they were moved by 17:44 your playing, because it's beyond. I mean, you're definitely a gifted 17:49 musician. 17:51 But there's something that comes through in that music that is this 17:55 ministry, this call to Jesus Christ that I think is so, so powerful, Jaime. 18:02 JAIME: Praise the Lord. 18:03 BILL: And God has used you mightily. 18:05 We wanted to talk a little bit about. I want to leave some time 'cause I know 18:09 you have a special project that commemorated your 25th anniversary. 18:15 But as you look back over, you know, your 25 years, you know, serving God this 18:21 way, we've talked about this special moment there in Mexico. 18:24 Any regrets? 18:26 JAIME: Oh, certainly. 18:28 You always pay a price for what you do. 18:33 And sometimes people come up to me and say, "Oh, that TV personality or 18:39 religious personality, you know, I heard that something happened or they 18:43 got sick or their life sort of fell apart. 18:46 " You know, I think one of the most challenging and difficult things I've ever 18:52 gone through was losing my marriage. 18:54 I never imagined when I got married that this could or would happen. 18:59 And yet, it did. 19:01 And yeah, you betcha, it is a regret. 19:03 And for a long time, I dealt with guilt. 19:06 I dealt with these feelings of inadequateness, until the 19:11 Lord reminded me that it isn't about me; it's about Him. 19:16 Because I was thinking about walking away and never playing the violin 19:20 again. 19:21 BILL: Wow. 19:22 JAIME: How could I stand up in front of people and tell them anything when my 19:23 life is a mess, you know? 19:25 And I remember God saying to me one time, "Go out there and play and talk. 19:29 It's not about you; it's about Me. 19:31 " And it really changed my approach because you get used to the lights and the 19:36 focus being on you. 19:38 It really isn't about me. 19:39 It's not about you. 19:40 It's about Jesus Christ. 19:42 And it gave me strength to go out and it gave me hope that even when I make 19:46 mistakes and I make big mistakes like that or my life falls apart, that God 19:49 can still work in my life and He can renew and He can change things and He 19:55 can redo things. 19:57 And I am thankful for what has happened and what God has done. 20:01 BILL: Let me ask you something: would you be willing to come back next 20:04 week? 20:05 'Cause I. and talk specifically. JAIME: Yeah. 20:07 BILL: . about the breakdown. JAIME: You bet. 20:09 BILL: . of your marriage? 20:11 JAIME: You bet. 20:12 BILL: 'Cause I've got to believe that there's people listening here that 20:13 are going through, have gone through the same thing. 20:15 And I think your experience can impact. 20:19 And so is that. JAIME: You betcha. 20:21 BILL: . okay? 20:22 It's not that I want to cut the subject down right now, but I think we need 20:24 to dedicate an appropriate amount of time to this, 'cause I believe you can 20:27 truly help someone. 20:30 JAIME: I hope so. 20:32 BILL: Tell us a little bit about this special project that you put together to 20:35 commemorate your 25 years in ministry. 20:38 JAIME: Yes. 20:40 Well, I was on a cruise to Alaska with my sister a couple years ago, and she 20:43 said, "Why don't we do something? 20:45 " And the idea at first was just, "Let's do a concert, you know. 20:48 We'll have people, we'll invite those that have been a part of the 20:52 ministry and have supported," and this and that. 20:54 And then she said, "Well, why don't we invite some of your musician friends? 20:57 " And then I started thinking even bigger than that. 21:01 "Well, why don't we have an orchestra, a choir, a band? 21:04 Why don't we record this to turn into a live concert DVD and a 21:08 documentary? 21:09 " And so we began to work towards this. 21:11 The Lord opened the doors, because when you do a project like this, it's 21:15 not an easy feat. 21:16 I brought it before the Lord. 21:18 You know, we were going to need a lot of resources, a lot of time, a lot of 21:21 help. 21:22 And the Lord opened the doors. 21:24 In November of 2012, we had a concert in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 21:28 and a band, an orchestra, a choir came together. 21:31 And then some of these friends that I invited were also able to come. 21:35 And so we had duets during the concert; we had. with everybody joining in. 21:41 And I had the privilege of the participation of Michael Card, one of the 21:46 most successful singer/songwriters in Christian music. 21:50 Larnelle Harris, one of my very favourite singers as well. 21:54 Kirk Whalum, who is an amazing sax player. 21:56 He used to give Bible studies to Whitney Houston. 22:00 BILL: Isn't that something? 22:02 JAIME: He was her sax player. 22:03 And they would travel together and he would pray with her. 22:04 And some other friends, Sam Ocampo, Jennifer LaMountain, John Stoddart, 22:07 and we were able to put this project together for God's honour and glory. 22:11 And when people are watching this now, whether it's on television or 22:15 after the concerts, people are saying, "You know what? 22:18 I want to either give my heart to the Lord or I want to dedicate my life, 22:23 because if God can use somebody like you, coming from a country like Cuba, 22:27 where you had no future, where you had no hope, maybe. what could God do 22:32 with me? 22:33 " BILL: Yes. 22:35 JAIME: And so that is the aim. 22:36 BILL: How can someone get that, very quickly? 22:37 JAIME: Visiting our website, jaimejorge.com. 22:39 BILL: And we'll make sure that there's a link on our website, 22:42 itiswrittencanada.ca for that. 22:43 JAIME: Thank you. 22:44 BILL: We want to get to the second song that you taped earlier and which 22:47 one will that be? 22:48 JAIME: A mighty fortress is our God. 22:49 Bill: Let's listen to that Jaime. 22:58 (Violin music) 26:12 BILL: If you enjoyed today's interview with Jaime and would like to 26:14 receive a free DVD of this interview, you can request one from It Is Written. 26:19 It is our gift to you. 26:21 Here is the information you need to get your copy. 26:25 Here is the information you need to get your copy. 27:25 BILL: Well, that's the end of the program. 27:27 It goes by fast, doesn't it? 27:28 JAIME: Man, it sure does. 27:29 BILL: Thank you for agreeing to join us again next week. 27:32 JAIME: You betcha. 27:33 It's an honour. 27:34 BILL: Thank you for watching. 27:36 I want to let you know that on November the 8th, that's Friday, November 27:39 the 8th, I will be conducting a Bible seminar at the Windsor Seventh-Day 27:44 Adventist Church, 27:45 If you're in the area, why don't you come and join us? 27:48 Visit our website for the address. 27:50 If you're not in the area and can't join us, don't worry, go to our website, 27:54 itiswrittencanada.ca. 27:57 Click the "watch live" tab and you will be able to watch that seminar from 28:01 anywhere in the world on any mobile device. 28:06 I hope you will join us. 28:08 On the website, we will also have a link to Jaime's website where you 28:12 can acquire his DVDs and his CDs and this special 25th anniversary DVD that 28:19 I know you will just love. 28:21 Well, our plan and our prayer is that we come back together next week. 28:26 Until then, remember, it is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but 28:32 by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. |
Revised 2015-02-06