Participants: Pr. Marquis Johns (Host), Rainbow Israel
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000030
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00:01 The following program discusses sensitive issues.
00:03 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:05 may be too candid for younger children. 00:08 Welcome to the New Journey, 00:09 a program about real life people 00:11 with real life testimonies, 00:13 doing real life ministry for Jesus Christ. 00:15 I'm your host, Pastor Marquis Johns. 00:17 Join us on the new journey. 00:54 God has gifted each of us 00:56 with a unique personal testimony 00:58 and it is through sharing that testimony 01:00 that we overcome the woes of the enemy. 01:03 With us today is such a person 01:04 that has a testimony like you will not believe. 01:07 Brother Rainbow Israel, 01:09 thank you for being with us on the new journey. 01:10 Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. 01:12 Man, man, listen, I just want to get right into the story 01:15 but first start by telling us a little bit about 01:17 where you're from, 01:18 like where you were born, where you grew up 01:20 and give us a little background. 01:21 I was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey 01:23 by way of Camden. 01:25 Moved to Baltimore, 01:27 probably about six or seven months, years old 01:29 and then raised in Baltimore. 01:31 Happen to freak within California. 01:34 Okay, so at what age do you move out to California, 01:37 do you remember? 01:38 Thirteen. Thirteen. Thirteen. 01:39 So tell us about that 01:41 because you know I'm from Los Angeles. 01:42 Okay. Yeah. I'm from South Central. 01:43 So tell us a little bit about the move out to California. 01:46 What was that like for you? 01:48 It was rough for me 01:49 I think that was the beginning of my rebellious stage 01:51 because I didn't really want to leave Baltimore, 01:54 no family members out there, all my family here. 01:57 My mom decides to go on a spiritual journey, 01:59 so we moved to California, 02:01 happen to move to 52nd Street between Main and Broadway. 02:05 So I decided to become a Crip. Okay. 02:08 You know, so that whole experience 02:10 was just profound in itself. 02:12 So I grew up in a similar area. 02:15 What gang were you from? 02:17 Five Deuce Broadway Gangster group. 02:19 And that's interesting. 02:21 I was a Q102 East Coast Crip. Wow. 02:23 So right on the other side of 110, you know 02:26 and I remember when the East Coast 02:29 and the Broadway's at one point we were cool, 02:32 and then there was a point we got beat for one another, 02:34 so it's an interesting thing that we're sitting here now 02:37 in this life able to be brothers in Christ 02:40 because have we met back then there's a possibility 02:42 this would be a completely different conversation. 02:44 Might not have. 02:47 We might not have been here. 02:48 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 02:50 I see that. 02:52 So bless the Lord for conversion 02:54 and new creatures in Christ. 02:56 So you move out to California, 02:57 you get involved in the gang life, 03:00 what is that life for you? 03:01 What is it like being in California, 03:02 you're from Baltimore, you come out here yearning, 03:04 you know, you're going to California, 03:06 you're Crip now, what's that like? 03:08 It was very interesting 03:09 because I've always been a inquisitive kid, 03:13 so back then we had covatis cut with the short hair, 03:16 had a little waves. 03:17 So I'll go out there 03:18 with this different type of slang, 03:20 so they're intrigued by this little dude 03:22 who talks different then they found out Baltimore 03:24 and they say what's that? 03:26 You know, what is that Baltimore? 03:28 So you know going to school being chased home by the guys, 03:32 telling them what set you from gang and all 03:34 and I happened to be on this neighborhood 03:36 that their guy saw them running me home. 03:38 So they're like "oh, oh, what's going on with this?" 03:41 And then he introduced me to the gang say, 03:43 well, you need some protection, you need to join this gang. 03:45 So they made me go through the initiation, 03:47 you know, one line... 03:48 few line of this way and another line of this way 03:50 I'll run through, you know, me being little, 03:53 they didn't beat me up too bad, 03:54 you know, they let me feel some blows but... 03:57 Oh, but the next day, I went to school, oh yeah, 04:00 he said, let him bring you home, 04:01 let him run you home. 04:03 Let him chase me home, got to the strip, 04:05 turn around we got in, got it in, beat them all up, 04:08 had no problems ever since. 04:10 Yeah. Yeah. 04:11 And so how long do you live in California? 04:13 How long was the stay? 04:14 Six years. Okay. 04:16 So from thirteen to nineteen, 04:18 you were running in with the Broadway Gangster Crips, 04:20 living a gang life. 04:22 So were you at that point 04:25 introduced to the crack cocaine... 04:27 When did the drug, the drugs trafficking or usage 04:31 or when did that take place? 04:32 Well, it didn't happen until I came back to Baltimore, 04:35 but before that I got in trouble 04:37 with the law out there. 04:38 So being a juvenile 04:40 couldn't leave the state of California till I was 18. 04:42 Wind up being in these new forms, things like that 04:45 got saved, turned 18, 04:49 you know, got released from prison 04:51 was able to come back to Baltimore. 04:53 How long we were you in jail that time? 04:54 I probably was about maybe a year. 04:57 Okay, okay. 04:58 So that begins your stints in jail, 05:01 the little stints here and there. 05:03 Yes, yes. 05:04 So the first time you get any time in jail was in California? 05:06 Was in California. Okay. 05:07 So then you get out of jail, 05:09 you know, have an encounter with Christ 05:11 and then you move back to Baltimore? 05:13 That's when I got out. Okay. 05:16 That's when it got to ugly phase. 05:17 So tell us about the ugly phase. 05:18 How long this ugly phase last? 05:20 It lasts from like about 19 to age 26. 05:23 Okay. 05:25 So tell us, you get back to Baltimore... 05:26 Now, here's something I want to ask about because of... 05:28 I used to work at a home for At Rescue 05:31 and I was able to interact with a couple of people 05:34 who claim affiliation 05:35 with the Bloods and the Crips and is there a... 05:37 Was there when you came back out of Baltimore, 05:39 was there a gang culture 05:41 similar to what was going on in California? 05:45 Was there a gang culture or was there not one? 05:47 And if there was, what was the gang culture like out here 05:49 and how did it differ from that in California? 05:51 Well, it wasn't a gang culture back here. 05:54 I remember I used to tell my boys, 05:57 you know, about the gangs 05:58 and they would, they would be intrigued, 06:00 but now I see it start to rise and I was dumbfounded 06:05 because I was like, wow, all these years later, 06:07 you know, Baltimore is just catching on to this, 06:10 even though it's in a negative light 06:12 they're just catching on and so, 06:15 you know, it wasn't back then but now, 06:18 you know, they would gangbanger for all the wrong reasons 06:21 not to say the gangbanger has a good reason, 06:24 initially it did, 06:26 it was supposed to be for the good 06:27 of the neighborhood to bring brothers together 06:28 for a positive, 06:30 to help and put back to the neighborhood 06:32 but then it turned ugly specially 06:33 when the drugs got introduced. 06:35 So nowadays, these young guys back here 06:37 have no idea of why they're gangbanging 06:40 just because they see it on videos. 06:42 And see, one of the things that I found interesting 06:44 when I interacted with the young people 06:45 who profess to be Bloods or Crips 06:48 and this is something we didn't do in my era coming up. 06:50 I mean, it was about keeping your mouth shut, 06:52 snitches get stitches, the whole nine yards. 06:55 However now they tell me something 06:57 about this concept of knowledge books 07:00 and knowledge books is where they write down 07:01 all the gang lingo, all the gang culture 07:04 and when I first heard that I'm thinking, 07:05 man when I was coming up, 07:06 has somebody got that? 07:08 You know, the police, I mean... 07:09 that would have just been a catastrophe waiting to happen 07:12 but now they are transmitting all of the gang culture 07:17 and gang lingo to one another. 07:19 Have you had any interaction with people 07:20 who are into the knowledge, 07:22 you know, the gangbangers that are into knowledge books. 07:24 No, I'm from that era like you, 07:26 you know, we didn't have that back then, 07:28 the closest I came to 07:29 and I've seen a documentary on TV, 07:31 you know, it's like the book where they teach them 07:33 how to do these gang signs and also, 07:35 so that they can decipher the codes 07:38 that are sent through the mail to the inmates, 07:39 this how they monitor, they exactly have a team 07:43 now that's just designated to decipher gang lingo. 07:47 Wow, wow, wow. That's crazy, isn't it? 07:49 It is, it is because that is what, 07:51 I mean this would have never happen 07:52 when I was coming up like you wrote it down, 07:53 what's wrong with you? 07:55 That just go to show 07:56 the progression of the gang life, you know. 07:59 Being involved in a gang has gotten a little sophisticated, 08:02 yeah. 08:05 So you get back to Baltimore, 19 years of age. 08:08 Tell us about your re-introduction 08:10 to the Baltimore society and culture? 08:12 Oh, man, I was always... 08:14 In my youth I was always a follower 08:16 that's what I have to say, 08:18 and so whatever was the latest thing to do I did it, 08:20 and so I remember being introduced to a crack cocaine 08:23 because the powder cocaine never done that before. 08:26 You now follow the trend, 08:27 you put it on your gums and you sniff. 08:30 You walk around my gums numb, my nose numb. 08:33 You ain't get no enjoyment out of that. 08:34 So you know the crack cocaine came tried it, 08:38 didn't know what to expect. 08:40 You know, but that being introduced 08:43 kind of hook me, man, 08:44 and I just went back and forth for that 08:46 and then everything went downhill man, 08:48 I became a crack head, dolophine, 08:50 blackout drinker, drug dealer, ex con, 08:53 tried everything that you can imagine 08:55 just to get high up on pills, everything. 08:57 How was your family responded to this, 08:59 what was your relationship like with your family? 09:00 I know with my mom when she started using drugs, 09:03 I mean, I mean, we live a bunch of different places, 09:07 she stole from people. 09:10 There were a couple of occasions 09:11 where I remember waking up in the middle of the night 09:14 and my mom is literally in a fight with a guy. 09:17 She's standing in the living room 09:18 both of them are stark naked. 09:19 And they're fighting 09:21 and she's hitting him with the axe and kill him. 09:24 And I'm getting my brothers and rushing, 09:26 you know, over to the neighbor's house 09:28 because she has, you know, promised him, 09:31 you know, sex if he bought the dope. 09:35 And now that they didn't have the dope 09:37 and he's trying to cash in on his hands 09:38 and she's like, no, I ain't going down 09:40 but that caused our relationship to be strained 09:44 and it strained a lot of her relationships 09:46 with other people. 09:48 How was your family responding to your crack addiction? 09:50 Man at first... 09:52 Excuse me at first they thought it was just alcohol 09:54 but you know, that crack takes a toll on you 09:57 when you get real skinny, you don't eat, 10:00 you know, you don't want to wash and bathe, 10:02 and so it became fragmented, 10:04 I started stealing from family members, friends, 10:07 you know, I will go up to the drug boys, 10:09 you know, they will put the dope out, 10:10 I will snatch it and run, 10:12 you know, God literally carrying me, 10:13 bullets flying pass my ears. 10:16 You know, I remember feeling that, 10:17 I know it had to be some angels man 10:19 because I was running so fast, 10:20 a couple steps I didn't even hit the ground, 10:22 you know, when I fell and I slit my hand 10:24 and you would think that once I got home, 10:27 I would nurse the wounds first, right? 10:29 No, it was get high first then nurse the wounds. 10:31 So you know, that crack cocaine is definitely a mind drug, 10:35 you know, like heroin it affects your physical body 10:38 but that crack man, they say you just chasing that one out 10:41 that you can never reclaim. 10:42 And chasing that first high. 10:43 So you start doing time in prison 10:47 when you're in California. 10:48 I'm sure that with this growing crack addiction, 10:53 prison becomes a reality, 10:55 explain to us about you going in and out of the jail system 10:58 as a crack head and as a dolophine 11:00 and all the other things you described so far? 11:02 Well, when I was introduced 11:05 to the prison system in Maryland, 11:06 I went in a full blown crack head per se, 11:08 you know, I was just still 11:10 dibbling and dabbling the things 11:11 and I will always do small time 11:13 like a year here six months there, 11:15 18 months here and there, 11:17 so you know, was just trying to come back out 11:19 and just you know, you make up a lot of false hopes 11:24 when you're in prison. 11:25 I'm going to do xyz but then when you get out, 11:28 reality sets in and you kind of, 11:29 you don't have a support, 11:31 you kind of fall back to the same old ways. 11:33 So that's basically how my little cycle was. 11:35 So from 18, you said to about 26, 11:39 you're struggling with crack going in and out of jail 11:43 a year here, six months there, 18 months here 11:45 and this is after being brought up in Camden, 11:49 introduce, you know, Baltimore City about 19, 11:51 go to California join the Broadway Gangster Crips, 11:54 live that gang lifestyle for a while, 11:57 come back to Baltimore 11:58 get swallowed up into the crack cocaine 12:00 that it just swept through the nation 12:02 and is claiming lives left and right. 12:05 After that you start going in and out of jail, 12:07 you're stealing from crack dealers, 12:09 you're stealing from family members 12:11 and this last from 18 to 26. 12:14 What happened when you were 26 12:16 that began if you will the turning point in your life? 12:20 Well, my mom, she was a traveling missionary. 12:22 You know, that's how we got to California so... 12:25 I came to my wit's end because I was like, 12:28 I need to stop this, 12:30 you know, my life was really going down here 12:31 when I tried to commit suicide that didn't happen. 12:35 And so my mom, she came off the mission field 12:38 and she saw me, I came in the house that night, 12:40 man, half of my hair was shaved bald, 12:42 half I had hair on it 12:44 because my family kicked me out of our body to finish off, 12:47 so I couldn't complete the cycle. 12:49 And my mom looked at me man, she said... 12:52 I was homeless, jobless, penniless. 12:53 My grandma was standing there 12:55 in the senior citizens building. 12:56 So that's where I'd stand with 12:57 because I burned my bridges through my family. 13:00 My mom looked at me and saying, man, go to bed, 13:02 got to deal with you in the morning. 13:03 The next morning, she looked at me 13:05 gave me some words in the Bible. 13:07 God told me I was lawless, 13:08 you know, I need to get my way back to him, 13:11 plus we gonna fast three days, three nights 13:13 to break that cycle of addiction, 13:15 to break that stronghold that Satan has on me, 13:18 and that was in February of 1991. 13:21 And I was 26 years old, man, I've been drug free ever since. 13:24 Ever since the three day fast? 13:26 Ever since the three day fast. 13:28 Fast from food? 13:29 Totally abstinence. 13:30 Fast from water? Totally abstinence. 13:32 Fasts from crack cocaine? Totally abstinence. 13:34 You just... everything for three days 13:35 straight to nothing? 13:36 Totally abstinence. 13:38 And I was ready, I was ready, 13:39 because I knew whatever God say, 13:41 I was ready 'cause I know He's real 13:43 I was running from Him, you know, so I welcome that, 13:45 man, it was a wonderful thing 13:47 and just so happened that a lady 13:49 that lived in my grandmother's senior citizen building 13:51 had a church and it was having revival 13:53 for these next three days. 13:55 Okay. So, okay, good. 13:57 This is good, this is good, this is good. 13:58 So three day fast, complete abstinence. 14:01 No bread, water, nothing, no drugs, 14:04 then right after the fast is over, 14:06 there's a revival happening at a local church? 14:08 No, during the fast. During the fast? 14:10 During the three days. Okay. 14:11 Had to have me something to keep me occupied 14:13 that's how good God is, you know, so those three days, 14:16 three nights have revival and I was there every night. 14:19 And then I can just feel God just rejuvenating me 14:22 and I'm in there, I'm praising the Lord, 14:24 I'm just, I'm just being rejuvenated. 14:26 And so when the fast end, 14:28 my mom getting ready to go back on a mission field. 14:30 Remember, I'm still homeless, jobless, penniless, 14:33 all of a sudden I don't notice, she said something, 14:35 you got an appointment 14:36 with Salvation Army in the morning. 14:38 You need to go down there. 14:40 And so they gonna give you a new analysis test 14:43 to make sure you clean. 14:44 Look how good God. 14:46 That was the fast it was all about, 14:47 not just to break the stronghold 14:49 but to have me clean 14:50 so I can enter the Salvation Army. 14:53 And I stayed there for six months man, 14:54 got my life back together, got on my feet. 14:57 Okay, okay. That was wonderful. 14:58 Okay. Okay. I like the smile... 15:00 When I think about it, hey, that saved, 15:03 God saved my life, man 15:04 because I was on a one way ticket down. 15:06 Right, right, right. Okay. 15:08 So now you're clean and you've been 15:12 in the Salvation Army for six months, 15:14 life is together, clean, mind on spiritual things, 15:19 what does God need, want Rainbow to do then? 15:22 What's the next, what's the next kind of act? 15:24 Now to be honest because I love to be honest. 15:27 God wanted me to surrender and submit to Him. 15:30 I wanted to rap now because that's what 15:32 I did in the secular world. 15:33 So I wanted to rap, He said, now you need to put that down. 15:36 Man, there's thousand and one rappers, 15:38 I need somebody with some substance, 15:39 I need somebody to live what they're saying. 15:42 So he told me to put that up so you know the next ten years, 15:45 He started to make me and mold me and shape me 15:47 but in between time around 2003, 15:50 He allowed me to go back into the prison 15:52 and start preaching in a prison. 15:54 So you want to rap after six months. 15:57 You're like, okay, now I'm gonna do this rap game thing, 15:59 but God is like, no, I need you to sit down 16:02 and so for ten years you weren't doing the music. 16:03 What were you doing during that ten year period of time? 16:05 Actually I was letting God make me, man. 16:08 I was doing my best to live by His Word, 16:11 you know, no drinking, no drugging, no fornicating, 16:14 I'm just living by His Word to the best 16:17 and my ability and just let Him make me 16:21 and I fell back, you know, 16:23 once I got off the Salvation Army, 16:24 I went to a recovery house, 16:26 there for about six months trying to get a job. 16:29 The wreckage of my past came up, 16:31 you know, my uncle called me one day 16:33 and said man, a policeman looking for you, 16:35 they got a warrant for your arrest. 16:36 I'm just like, oh no, so you know, gosh, 16:39 you have to turn yourself in, 16:40 so I will stay with my grandmother 16:42 off and on in senior citizen building 16:44 and I had to go to Emerson and... 16:46 I can't remember it should be Emerson Avenue 16:48 and something and they pulled up in a truck, 16:51 jumped out on me with the guns drawn 16:54 but they looked at my arrest picture 16:56 and they looked at me 16:57 and they looked at the arrest picture again 16:59 and then they looked at me and they put the guns down 17:03 and said turn around and one said, 17:05 no, turn to the front and handcuff me in the front. 17:08 And the guys said, man, 17:09 whatever you're doing keep doing, 17:11 but we gotta take you in. 17:13 Right. 17:14 Helping me now and say you want to cigarette? 17:15 And I started to say, yes, and was like, no. 17:18 You know, so the wreckage of my past caught up, 17:20 I had to serve that time, came home... 17:22 How much time was that? About a year. 17:24 Okay. I came home... 17:26 And because of the wreckage in the past 17:27 I was staying with a family member. 17:29 And I didn't get a job as fast 17:31 as they would like to see me get a job. 17:33 So they stopped giving me bus money, 17:35 so I walked around my old neighborhood 17:38 and it was a open air drug market, 17:40 and I was looking and I was like, 17:41 wow, I don't use it no more. 17:44 I can get some money. 17:46 And you know, one thing led to another, 17:48 I started selling the crack 17:49 and things start going well for me, 17:52 you know, everything like that then I got arrested. 17:54 Now I'm clear now, I've got a clear mind 17:57 I'm still in the backseat in this thing, 17:59 but I've got a clear mind. 18:00 So when I got arrested I said, 18:02 Oh Lord, I know what you're doing. 18:04 I said, I surrender, you get me out of this, 18:06 I'm running for you. 18:08 And so I was sentenced to five years with possession 18:12 with intent to distribute crack cocaine. 18:14 Served two years, eight months, six days, ten hours, 18:17 forty five minutes and made up in my mind, 18:20 Lord, I'm running for me from here on now, 18:22 you know, I was released and I came home flat footed man 18:25 and you know joined a local church 18:27 and they start letting God build me up. 18:29 And then I was introduced to the prison ministry in 2003. 18:33 So in 2003, God introduce you to prison ministry. 18:36 Tell me about that introduction? 18:38 I was telling the gentleman earlier, 18:40 we started going to the institution 18:43 and I was just going as a lay member. 18:45 You know just going to enjoy the service. 18:47 So the elder from Miracle Temple said, 18:49 I want you to preach next month. 18:50 I said, okay, fine. So I preached next month. 18:53 Then we came back the next month, 18:55 he said, we want you to preach again next month. 18:56 I said, okay, fine, I preached again. 18:59 Not thinking that is going to be mild, 19:00 I just come and enjoy the service, he said, 19:01 God told me to tell you that 19:03 you are the preacher from here on now. 19:05 I said really? 19:07 But I made a promise to God like 26 years ago 19:10 in the same institution that I go back to now, 19:12 I said Lord, you getting me out of this now... 19:14 Now wait, wait, wait. 19:15 So you're now going back to the place 19:17 that you had once served time in? 19:19 Yes. 19:20 And so God has seen fit after all of, 19:22 all of the foolishness that you got yourself involved 19:25 in running away from Him, 19:26 you ended up in a jail that God now is saying, listen, 19:29 I want you to go back 19:30 and almost talk to the person you were 19:33 when you were here. 19:34 Yes, sir. Okay, okay, okay. 19:35 So now you're doing prison ministry and you have... 19:40 Initially wanted to do the rap that rap thing, God said, 19:42 nah, nah, nah, no rap thing for you. 19:45 And so while you're doing prison ministry, 19:47 does God ever come back around 19:48 and say, okay, now you might be ready for that? 19:51 Yes, He did. 19:53 And then you know, look I thought 19:54 I wouldn't had I'm thinking, 19:55 you know, where is this coming from? 19:57 You know, does I had to a check myself, 19:58 is this self ambition or you know 20:00 because I don't want to, I don't want to disobey, 20:02 man, he bought me from the gutter. 20:04 So I heard Him say, I need you to pick up 20:05 the music ministry now. 20:07 So and I ignored it for like a year 20:11 and He said, Rainbow, I need you to start a ministry 20:14 and this time around He brought everything to me. 20:17 What no effort going to seek this, 20:19 going to seek that, going to seek tracks, 20:21 studio time everything 20:22 just fell in my lap from the church. 20:24 Everything just fell in my lap, 20:26 and then so I just started the ministry 20:28 and produced the CD 20:30 which is called now I understand. 20:31 So now I have a full fledged music ministry as well 20:35 and look, just this year, man, 20:36 God blessed me to have a catalog 20:39 to go into the institution that I'm preaching 20:41 so the Emmys can purchase it doing their package CDs. 20:43 Mercy, mercy. That's a blessing. 20:45 Now here's what I want to ask, 20:47 how long have you been doing the prison ministry? 20:49 About how long? Ten years. 20:50 Ten years? Next year it will be ten years. 20:52 Next year it will be ten years. 20:53 Rainbow, have you had an opportunity 20:54 where you are going to the prisons 20:57 and you meet someone in jail 20:59 who's in either a similar situation worse 21:02 or slightly better, I mean, 21:04 that's very relative than you were 21:06 when you were there 21:07 and have been able to establish a relationship with them 21:09 and see them be rehabilitated and come out 21:13 and be a productive member of society? 21:14 Have you had that experience? 21:16 No, not yet. Okay. 21:17 Because most of the inmates where I met, 21:20 they have a lot of times in, 21:21 they're not going away and the other ones, 21:25 so we minister to Adventists, predominately Hispanic. 21:29 So the other guys the first day which are lot of black inmates, 21:32 I'll see them coming and going and we have a relationship 21:36 but it's nothing where I can keep in contact with them. 21:39 Although I see God is expanding that 21:40 because the chaplain asked me to do start come in 21:44 and doing concerts, many concerts now 21:46 that's going to invite all of them. 21:48 So I get to interact with some of them. 21:50 So eventually, you know, they've been reaching out, 21:52 you know, where you stay, can I give you my number, 21:54 can I give you my information? 21:55 So I have to be kind of careful 21:56 because of the prison institution, 21:58 you know, and some of their rules 22:00 but I kind of see that coming in the future though. 22:02 So here's the story thus far 22:04 is young man grows up little bit in Baltimore, 22:08 born in Camden goes out to California 22:11 joins the Crips gang. 22:12 Yeah. 22:14 Bangs in Cali for about six years. 22:16 Does a year in jail, 22:18 gives him a kind of a wakeup call. 22:19 Yes. He goes back to Baltimore. 22:21 Family moves back to Baltimore 22:23 when he gets there the drug epidemic 22:25 that is sweeping the nation sweeps him up with it, 22:28 become a crack head from the ages of 19 to 26. 22:32 Stealing from families, stealing from drug, 22:34 in and out of jail. 22:36 And it was seen as though there was no hope, 22:38 absolutely no hope for you, 22:40 and then your mother shows up 22:41 from the mission field three day prayer, 22:44 fast, going to a revival, God renews you, 22:48 pulls you out of darkness, calls you into light 22:51 and now you're doing prison ministry 22:52 for the last ten years. 22:54 I mean, when you, 22:55 when you think about that story, 22:56 when you put that all together, 22:58 Rainbow, like how does that make you feel? 23:00 How does that make you feel seeing where God, 23:01 where you were, 23:03 where God intersected with your life? 23:05 Where He's brought you from? And where you are now? 23:08 Grateful. 23:11 You know sometimes get prideful. 23:14 You know sometimes you know, ego and pride sets in the way 23:17 but God always has a way of humbling. 23:20 You know to let me know, Rainbow, 23:22 you haven't done anything, it's about me. 23:25 You know, case in point, I came out from prison, 23:28 I was home about a year 23:30 and I had a job doing residential counseling. 23:33 And so you know, I could have done 23:35 something different I had to restrain the child 23:38 and so you know, they said, we want temporarily you off 23:40 but you know what that means? 23:41 That's just until we lay you off. 23:43 And so... 23:46 Pastor at my church that I was attending 23:47 at the time worked with state highway administration 23:50 and he said man, 23:51 you need to get down here with your heart. 23:54 And so I prayed about it and God told me to go down. 23:57 He said remember you're not doing anything, I'm doing this. 23:59 So I'm home from prison a year. 24:02 So I go down there, fill out the application, 24:03 you know, you get to that point. 24:05 Have you ever been convicted of a crime? 24:07 If so, please explain. So I say, yes. 24:09 If so please explain. I left a blank. 24:12 Went home God beat me up, He said, did not I tell you 24:14 you're not in control with nothing. 24:16 You go back tomorrow, get that application 24:18 and put on that what you was incarcerated for. 24:20 I'm showing you my power. 24:23 So the next day I went back, I said I want to submit 24:25 some information off the application 24:26 can I please have it back? 24:28 So the lady personnel standing over me. 24:29 So I wrote possession with intent to distribute cocaine, 24:32 five years, I've been there 13 years. 24:38 So, you know, and during that time, 24:40 I said that to say sometimes pride sets in, 24:43 that's the time I get little arrogant 24:45 but God has a way of humbling but when I look at 24:47 the total whisperers on a day to day basis, 24:50 especially going into the institution 24:51 I think that's why he did that for me 24:53 because that always humbles me when I walk through that door. 24:57 Here's what I want to do now. 24:58 You're going into a local prison 25:00 and God is using you to speak life into people 25:02 who only see that 25:04 but through this broadcast God can now take that story 25:08 to prisons you may never be able to physically visit, 25:11 but I want you to do is, I want you to look at 25:13 this camera right here 25:14 and I want you to speak to someone in a prison 25:17 who has maybe a similar situation as you 25:20 and explain to them the hope that God has given you. 25:22 Take about the next minute and a half 25:24 just talk to the camera. 25:26 I want you to just look at me. Just look at me, man. 25:30 Ex crack head, dolophine, blackout drinker, drug dealer, 25:33 ex con, suicidal thoughts, 25:35 trying to kill myself still here. 25:38 God is no respecter of persons, 25:39 if He did it for me He can do it for you. 25:42 Even when you don't want to do, He has a plan 25:44 and a call for your life, He can do it. 25:46 It just takes faith, size of a mustard seed. 25:49 I know it may sound like a cliche 25:51 but listen, it doesn't have to be a cliche for you. 25:54 You put it into action hold on to his unchanging hand 25:57 and God will bring you through no matter what it looks like, 26:00 no matter how many people are down, 26:02 no matter how many people against you. 26:04 Amen, God can bring you out 26:06 and you can shine like pure gold. 26:09 That is crazy because I believe that 26:12 so many people who get themselves 26:15 into those situations, Rainbow, 26:17 don't feel like there is any opportunity 26:20 because once you start, 26:21 once you start stealing from family and you, 26:23 like you said you burn those bridges, 26:26 there never seems to way there never seems 26:28 to be a way back over the bridge 26:30 you've learned to the lives that you have ran from, 26:33 but God sometimes can intervene 26:36 and builds bridges where you destroy them. 26:39 He does. 26:40 And what He has done 26:41 and what your story demonstrates for us is that 26:43 God, you know, we've heard this phrase going around 26:46 can take you from the guttermost 26:47 to the uttermost. 26:48 Yes sir. From the pit to the palace. 26:50 Yes. 26:51 Here you are now sitting, I mean, 26:53 well dressed, look good. 26:55 And I think that someone who sees you now 26:58 would never know that 26:59 that's the lifestyle that you were in. 27:02 They would never know that, 27:03 similar to when the police officers 27:05 pulled up on you jumped out and said, hey, wait, wait... 27:08 Is this the right guy? Is this the right guy. 27:10 And, Rainbow, that is indeed an encouragement not only, 27:16 hear me, I don't think it's an encouragement 27:17 only for the inmate or the crack head 27:20 or for the blackout drinker. 27:21 I think it's an encouragement 27:23 for those who've never experienced any of those things 27:25 because I sometimes tell people 27:27 when sharing my personal testimony, 27:28 the great testimonies that I hear not to say 27:31 that ours have been a similar testimony as yours, 27:34 not to say that ours is any less valuable 27:36 or any less powerful 27:38 but the one that's a powerful to me 27:39 having been where I've been is the person 27:42 who says I've never drank anything. 27:44 I've never smoked anything, I've never been to jail 27:47 because to me I wonder what power did you have 27:51 that enabled you to make it through 27:52 the same amount of years that I've made it through 27:55 without doing any of the things that I've done. 27:57 And so your story gives hope to that person as well, 28:00 give strength to them 28:02 because they know that like marijuana 28:04 can be a gateway drug, 28:06 petty theft can be a gateway crime. 28:07 And so somebody watching this show right now 28:11 is probably being able to be uplifted 28:14 and see that God can and will give you a testimony 28:18 not just for the building up of yourself, 28:20 not just for pride and arrogance, 28:22 not just for you to say look at what I've done 28:25 and look at what I have accomplished 28:26 but so that you can share that testimony with someone 28:30 and exemplify what the Bible says 28:31 in Revelation 12:11, 28:34 "And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb 28:37 and by the word of their testimony." 28:40 God is giving somebody a testimony 28:44 that you can encourage someone else. 28:46 Rainbow, I like to thank you for being on our show today. 28:49 Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. 28:50 God bless you for sharing with us the old journey 28:52 as well as the new journey. 28:53 Thank you. God bless. God bless. |
Revised 2017-10-26