Welcome to The New Journey,
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a program where you
meet real life people
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with real life testimonies,
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doing real life
ministry for Jesus Christ.
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I'm your host Aaron Chancy.
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Come join us on The New Journey.
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Hello, and welcome
to The New Journey.
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Now I know that
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you're used to seeing
Aaron Chancy in this chair
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and the guest that he is
interviewing in that chair.
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But Aaron has such
a compelling story,
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that we both felt impressed
to bring that story to you.
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And so, Aaron
is on the hot seat.
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Yes, indeed.
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Aaron, it's so good
to have you as the host
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on The New Journey.
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Thank you.
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You have such an
interesting story.
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God has brought you
such a mighty long way.
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Yes, definitely.
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Tell us a bit
about your background.
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Okay.
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Where were you born?
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Okay.
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Well, I was
actually born in Michigan,
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and, but I didn't
live there that long.
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We were actually
there for few months
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and we left Michigan.
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And my parents, they eventually
got into the military.
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They realized that,
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you know, we didn't
have that much money.
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So they each decided,
they went into the military.
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My mom is a officer,
my father is enlisted.
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And this provided
the funds necessary
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that we needed.
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And at a young age,
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it took us to
various places in the world.
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I lived in
Germany for three years,
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lived in Hawaii for three years.
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So I got to see certain things
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that other young
people of my age hadn't seen.
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And I remember one
thing, you know, my dad said,
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at one point
things got very difficult,
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you know, finances and all,
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that he could have
easily left the home,
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just as many
people do, you know,
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and the kids are
grown up by a single mother.
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But he said, you know what,
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I don't want to be
like everybody else.
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I don't want the
kids be in a statistic
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and decided to stay.
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So they stayed together,
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my parents are
still married as of today.
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And but being that,
they were in the military,
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it took us various
places around the world.
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So we had that benefit
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myself and my
brother Adam Chancy,
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seeing different
parts of the globe
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that other people have not seen.
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So at what point did
you start moving around,
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how old were you?
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I remember, when
we left Michigan,
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probably when I was,
maybe a couple of months old.
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I really don't even
remember living there like that.
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Oh.
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We lived in different
parts of the United States.
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Lived in
Philadelphia with my grandmother
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for a little while,
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lived in North Carolina,
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lived in Texas
a number of times.
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We always seem to move places
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and we always seem
to move back to Texas,
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either to Killeen, San Antonio,
just different parts of Texas.
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So the moving
around was constant
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up until from probably
little bit after I was born,
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up until probably
around 14, 15 years old.
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That was something
that I was used to.
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And I think it
affected me in a big way.
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Where many people,
they would get the joy of
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going to different countries,
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you know,
seeing different things
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especially at a young age,
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because most
people don't see those.
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Most of my friends,
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they have never been
out of United States,
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some of them hadn't
even been out of the city
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that they live in.
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Right.
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And it's just a reality.
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A lot of
African-Americans don't travel.
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And so, I had that blessing.
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But there was a downside to it.
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Where doing a lot of traveling
while my brother enjoyed
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and it was kind of
almost like a fairytale to him,
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he got to see everything.
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For me, it kind of
started an identity crisis.
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So where...
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Okay, well,
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I'm living in
Germany for three years,
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so I identify with Germans.
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And at one point
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I spoke better
German than I spoke English
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because I was
there at a young age.
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I was there probably
from age 6, 7, and 8.
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So you know, you're
just learning language
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at that time.
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And I went to a school that was,
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you know, primarily German.
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And so, I actually spoke German
at a time better than English.
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So you're with
this type of culture.
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Then we left there,
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we went back to
Texas for a while.
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And from there
we went to Hawaii,
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so now I am
around a whole another
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different type of culture.
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So it's kind of like
you get lost in the mix,
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and it's like who am I really
from all this moving around?
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So there is a benefit to it,
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you get to see different
things around the globe.
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But then, you
can get lost in it.
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So your own identity
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hadn't really been
firmly secured really
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before you did all this moving,
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so you kind of lost
yourself as you said.
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Yes, definitely, definitely.
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What about the spiritual climate
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in your home, what was that?
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Okay.
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It was a great
spiritual climate in my home.
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I'm fortunate to come from
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the Seventh-day
Adventist background.
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As I stated a second ago,
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my mother and my
father are still together.
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Grew up, you know,
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just like a lot of young
people in Adventist church
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going to
pathfinders every Sunday.
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Going to camporees,
different things like that.
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We have family
worship in the household.
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And as I get more into my story,
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you realize the
household I come from
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is not typical for my lifestyle.
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So we have family worship,
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we went to church every Sabbath,
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we went to prayer
meeting Wednesday night.
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We were at church,
we were in the church.
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But, you know, even though
the family was in a church,
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and we had,
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you know, you go
to people's houses
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and you see the Bible,
you see different books.
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We had all the
Spirit of Prophecy books
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in the home.
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And they weren't just
there just to look good,
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they were actually read.
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My parent read the
Spirit of Prophecy.
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And it was the little,
the real little red books.
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And, you know,
they would read them,
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they had all of them,
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not just the
Conflict of the Ages series.
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But ones like
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Counsels on Diet and
Foods, Ministry of Healing,
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different ones that some
people don't necessarily read.
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So I saw all of this growing up.
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And it was a great
spiritual atmosphere.
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Typically, like I say
for, what I've got involved in,
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a person doesn't come
from my type of household
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with both parents in the home.
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And a great spiritual
climate, where even I went to
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a mixture of
Seventh-day Adventist schools
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as well as public schools.
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So I had the tools necessary
to be grounded in the truth.
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But I hadn't
experienced Jesus for myself.
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And isn't that
interesting thing, Aaron,
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because in so many cases,
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the parents might have
that relationship with Christ,
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but the kids don't.
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Yeah, definitely.
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And they haven't
found them for themselves.
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Yeah, true.
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And so that was your experience.
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Your parents were grounded,
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your parents had
the relationship.
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Yes.
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But you didn't.
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Yeah, definitely, definitely.
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And so, what
did that mean to you
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in terms of your development?
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Well, I think
because I didn't have...
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Number one, my
identity as myself.
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It's kind of like I
don't necessarily know I am.
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So I just pull from
various types of people.
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I would basically pull from
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what I like from
various types of people
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and incorporate
that into myself.
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We call that
syncretic by the way.
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Okay.
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I didn't know
there was a term for it.
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Where you take
difference beliefs, you know,
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and you say,
okay, I like this belief
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and like that one,
and I like that one...
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Okay, let's put all together
and start a denomination.
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I mean, that's kind of way.
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Okay. I really like that.
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Yeah. Okay.
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That's kind of way.
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And that's kind of
what I do with my character.
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I pull from
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various different
types of groups of people,
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and I incorporated
that within myself.
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And even with the household,
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you know, myself
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not having that relationship
with Jesus for myself
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where...
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I mean it caused
a lot of conflict,
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because, you know,
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of course you're
living in a home,
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you have to do
what your parents say,
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different things like that.
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But unless you have
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a relationship of
your own with Jesus,
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you really not
gonna see the value of it.
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Just like, I didn't
understand the Sabbath.
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And I think a lot of times,
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we think that because
we come from a good home,
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where the parents, you know,
and I have children myself.
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And we think that,
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okay, we're going to church,
we're going to prayer meeting,
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different things like that.
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So they should
know these truths,
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they should know why we do them.
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And I remember
one of my friends,
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one of my best friends,
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when I was
around in a fifth grade.
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And he asked about the Sabbath,
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now I know what
answer to give him,
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because I studied
these things out for myself.
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But at that point,
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even though I've been
in church my whole life.
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Seventh-day
Adventist church my whole life.
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The answer that
I gave him was...
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What was his question exactly?
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Well, his question was, well,
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what can you do on a Sabbath?
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And what can you not do
on a Sabbath or on Saturday,
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he used the word Saturday.
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Right.
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And the answer
that I gave him was,
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well, if I don't...
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let's just say for instance,
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if I don't watch
football during the week,
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then I can watch
football on Saturday.
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Because my concept was
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what I don't do during the week,
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I can do it on Sabbath.
00:09:00.94\00:09:02.50
But what I do, do on...
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What I don't do on Sabbath,
I can do during the week.
00:09:03.94\00:09:06.61
So it's just like
a work sense of it.
00:09:06.68\00:09:08.54
I didn't...
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Wow, much harder.
00:09:09.94\00:09:11.28
I didn't quiet understand it.
00:09:11.31\00:09:12.65
So if I didn't watch
secular TV during the week,
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then I can watch
secular TV on the Sabbath.
00:09:14.35\00:09:15.68
You see, what I am saying.
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Wow, okay.
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That's the
answer that I gave him
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and it's
interesting like I said,
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I grew up in the church.
00:09:21.86\00:09:23.19
So it's like I
should know this stuff.
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Grew up going to Sabbath school,
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you know, my
parent firmly believed
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in all that stuff.
00:09:27.73\00:09:29.06
And...
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What you had
though was this concept of
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what happens on
Sabbath is different
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from what
happens during the week,
00:09:37.61\00:09:38.94
and that's true.
00:09:38.97\00:09:40.31
And that part is right.
00:09:40.34\00:09:41.68
But it was just that.
00:09:41.71\00:09:43.04
You know, little too warm.
00:09:43.08\00:09:44.41
It just worked a little.
00:09:44.45\00:09:45.78
But yeah,
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but you did have
the part right about
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Sabbath is a different day.
00:09:48.55\00:09:49.88
It's different
than every other day.
00:09:49.92\00:09:51.25
Yeah, that's it, that's it.
00:09:51.29\00:09:52.62
Yeah, so what happened
00:09:52.65\00:09:53.99
when you answered
your friend like that,
00:09:54.02\00:09:55.36
did he get it,
00:09:55.39\00:09:56.73
did it seem strange to him?
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Well, he didn't
really understand it.
00:09:58.13\00:09:59.46
And I think, he was a
little bit older to me,
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but it really didn't make sense,
00:10:00.86\00:10:02.20
like why is that,
00:10:02.23\00:10:03.57
because he went
to church on Sunday
00:10:03.60\00:10:04.93
and it was just a regular.
00:10:04.97\00:10:06.30
You know, for a
lot of my friends
00:10:06.33\00:10:07.67
that went to church on Sunday,
it's just like any other day.
00:10:07.70\00:10:09.10
Right.
00:10:09.14\00:10:10.51
You just...
00:10:10.54\00:10:11.87
you go to church,
but then you come home,
00:10:11.91\00:10:13.24
you watch
football, you do whatever,
00:10:13.27\00:10:14.74
you enjoy the same pleasures
that you do it on the week,
00:10:14.78\00:10:17.55
its not separated
like a holy day for most,
00:10:17.58\00:10:20.12
where as for the Sabbath,
00:10:20.15\00:10:21.48
you know,
00:10:21.52\00:10:22.85
it's separate than
every other day of the week.
00:10:22.88\00:10:24.59
That's how God ordained it
from the beginning of the time.
00:10:24.62\00:10:26.89
It's different
than the other six days.
00:10:26.96\00:10:28.92
And I didn't realize
that as a young person.
00:10:28.96\00:10:30.56
I didn't know
how to explain that.
00:10:30.63\00:10:32.03
So I think one
important aspect in parenting,
00:10:32.06\00:10:34.86
where,
00:10:34.90\00:10:36.23
even though the children are
in Seventh-day Adventist home
00:10:36.26\00:10:38.33
learning the
truth, know the truth,
00:10:38.37\00:10:39.70
going to different things.
00:10:39.73\00:10:41.10
It's still
important for us as parents
00:10:41.14\00:10:42.64
to talk to the children about
00:10:42.67\00:10:44.01
what we believe
and why we believe it.
00:10:44.04\00:10:45.94
And even to show
them where it's found
00:10:45.97\00:10:47.31
using sort of an acronym
what Pastor Carlton Byrd uses.
00:10:47.38\00:10:50.15
I says, now what you
believe, why you believe,
00:10:50.18\00:10:52.18
and where it's found.
00:10:52.21\00:10:53.55
Because even as young people,
00:10:53.62\00:10:54.95
we can be a
witness to our friends.
00:10:54.98\00:10:56.99
And if I would have
understand it fully,
00:10:57.02\00:10:59.95
not just from-
00:10:59.99\00:11:01.32
If it would've been
more experimental for me
00:11:01.36\00:11:02.99
and understanding it in my life,
00:11:03.02\00:11:04.76
I could've been a
better witness to my friend
00:11:04.79\00:11:06.90
to explain the Sabbath to him,
00:11:06.93\00:11:08.30
and he could have possibly
taken it back to his parents.
00:11:08.33\00:11:10.67
But I didn't
necessarily know it like this.
00:11:10.70\00:11:13.17
So I think it's key for us
to talk to our children about
00:11:13.20\00:11:16.30
what we actually
believe, why we do it.
00:11:16.34\00:11:18.54
And place Jesus in
the center of all of it.
00:11:18.57\00:11:21.21
Jesus, and our relational
Jesus in the center of it.
00:11:21.24\00:11:23.95
And that is the
keyword I think "relational."
00:11:23.98\00:11:26.92
Definitely, definitely.
00:11:26.95\00:11:28.28
Because,
otherwise it is ritualistic.
00:11:28.32\00:11:30.49
Yeah.
00:11:30.52\00:11:31.85
And so, let's get
back to how you grew up,
00:11:31.89\00:11:35.79
because you grew up
00:11:35.82\00:11:37.16
as an Adventist...
00:11:37.23\00:11:38.56
Yeah, definitely.
00:11:38.59\00:11:39.93
You grew up going to church.
00:11:39.96\00:11:41.30
When did you get
on that wrong path?
00:11:41.33\00:11:43.67
The dark side. The dark side.
00:11:43.70\00:11:45.03
Yeah, okay. Yeah.
00:11:45.07\00:11:46.40
How did the dark side come out?
00:11:46.43\00:11:47.77
Okay.
00:11:47.80\00:11:49.17
You know, a lot of young people,
00:11:49.20\00:11:51.31
especially a lot of
young African-American males,
00:11:51.34\00:11:53.88
we have a strong
pull towards sports,
00:11:53.91\00:11:57.28
basketball and football mainly.
00:11:57.35\00:11:59.08
And I always grew
up loving football.
00:11:59.11\00:12:01.38
My dad was a football fan,
00:12:01.42\00:12:03.15
most of my family
were all football fans.
00:12:03.18\00:12:06.19
And so I grew up watching
it, playing it, just loving it.
00:12:06.22\00:12:09.52
I loved to play
outside, love being outside.
00:12:09.56\00:12:11.86
So this was like my goal
00:12:11.89\00:12:13.23
just like, this
is what I'm gonna do,
00:12:13.26\00:12:14.60
I know that's what I'm gonna do.
00:12:14.63\00:12:15.96
I'm gonna either play
basketball or football.
00:12:16.00\00:12:17.70
You know, people would say
00:12:17.73\00:12:19.07
I mean that you're too
small, you're too short,
00:12:19.10\00:12:20.47
you're too
this, you're too that.
00:12:20.54\00:12:21.87
I didn't care, you
know, that didn't matter.
00:12:21.90\00:12:23.24
I knew what I was gonna do.
00:12:23.27\00:12:25.14
I had a gentleman
asked me one time,
00:12:25.17\00:12:26.78
I think I was around
eleven, and he asked me,
00:12:26.81\00:12:28.61
"So what are you
gonna do about the Sabbath?"
00:12:28.64\00:12:30.75
And that kind of turned
me off from the Sabbath,
00:12:30.78\00:12:32.91
because I'm eleven,
00:12:32.95\00:12:34.68
I didn't know what I want to do.
00:12:34.72\00:12:36.05
And I didn't know
how to rationalize.
00:12:36.08\00:12:37.49
I didn't have a
relationship with Jesus,
00:12:37.52\00:12:39.25
to care enough about the Sabbath
00:12:39.29\00:12:40.66
at that point.
00:12:40.69\00:12:42.02
I cared about sports
and I knew that I loved it.
00:12:42.06\00:12:44.23
This is what I was tied to.
00:12:44.26\00:12:45.59
And as I stated,
00:12:45.63\00:12:47.00
I went through a
mixture of Adventist schools,
00:12:47.40\00:12:49.53
Seventh-day
Adventist church schools,
00:12:49.56\00:12:50.90
as well as public schools.
00:12:50.97\00:12:52.73
And I knew that
00:12:52.77\00:12:54.14
I needed to be in public schools
00:12:54.17\00:12:55.50
if I wanted to get somewhere.
00:12:55.54\00:12:57.31
So I kind of had a resentment
00:12:57.34\00:12:59.41
towards
Seventh-day Adventist schools,
00:12:59.44\00:13:01.51
'cause these schools
aren't gonna get me to where
00:13:01.54\00:13:03.18
I want to be in sports.
00:13:03.21\00:13:04.55
And I need to be
in public school,
00:13:04.58\00:13:06.45
and so I ended up
going to a mixture of both.
00:13:06.48\00:13:10.39
And the public schools,
00:13:10.42\00:13:12.09
you know, I ended
up getting into trouble
00:13:12.12\00:13:13.46
in number of them.
00:13:13.49\00:13:14.82
Just because, this
is not where I knew,
00:13:14.86\00:13:16.83
I needed to be to
get where I wanted to be.
00:13:16.86\00:13:18.96
What kind of trouble?
00:13:18.99\00:13:20.50
Well, I was
kicked out of one, just,
00:13:20.53\00:13:23.67
you know, messing with females,
00:13:23.70\00:13:25.03
different things like that,
00:13:25.07\00:13:26.40
that I shouldn't be doing.
00:13:26.43\00:13:27.77
Smoking marijuana,
stealing different things,
00:13:27.80\00:13:31.14
just petty stuff like that
00:13:31.17\00:13:33.78
that shouldn't be
doing at Adventist school
00:13:33.81\00:13:35.61
or shouldn't be doing.
00:13:35.64\00:13:36.98
Right, right.
00:13:37.05\00:13:38.38
But, you know, no,
tolerance and, you know,
00:13:38.41\00:13:39.75
getting kicked
out, getting suspended,
00:13:39.78\00:13:41.12
different things like that.
00:13:41.15\00:13:42.48
I made a threat one
time on a couple of students
00:13:42.52\00:13:44.89
that I was gonna kill them.
00:13:44.92\00:13:46.42
And, you know,
just not tolerated.
00:13:46.45\00:13:49.32
So when I realized that
00:13:49.36\00:13:50.93
my dream of sports
was just slipping away,
00:13:50.96\00:13:53.60
either because I
wouldn't go to school,
00:13:53.63\00:13:55.63
because I was always going to
00:13:55.66\00:13:57.47
a mixture of Adventists
schools and public schools,
00:13:57.50\00:13:59.63
or I couldn't make to grade.
00:13:59.67\00:14:01.27
Then it's kind of
like, what was left?
00:14:01.30\00:14:04.14
I remember when I was 16,
00:14:04.21\00:14:05.54
my dad asked me and my brother,
00:14:05.57\00:14:06.91
we were driving in the
car living in San Antonio.
00:14:06.94\00:14:08.58
And he asked us both,
"What do y'all want to be
00:14:08.61\00:14:11.38
when you grow up or
what do you wanna do?"
00:14:11.41\00:14:13.55
And my brother
gave all his stuff,
00:14:13.62\00:14:15.22
he kind of always
had his stuff mapped out
00:14:15.25\00:14:17.32
what he wanted to do.
00:14:17.39\00:14:18.75
And even though he
had his little vices,
00:14:18.79\00:14:20.96
sorry Adam for
saying that, but...
00:14:20.99\00:14:23.73
He always had his little vices,
00:14:23.76\00:14:25.96
but he knew
what he wanted to do.
00:14:25.99\00:14:28.13
Where my dreams
are sports, went south.
00:14:28.16\00:14:31.63
The only thing
that I could think of
00:14:31.67\00:14:33.00
to tell my dad
was, I just want a car.
00:14:33.03\00:14:34.37
You know, that's all I want.
00:14:34.40\00:14:35.74
I just want a car, 'cause
I knew, if I get me a car,
00:14:35.77\00:14:37.94
I know what I'm gonna
do around San Antonio.
00:14:37.97\00:14:39.61
I'm a beat, you know,
00:14:39.64\00:14:40.98
I was already
doing all types of stuff.
00:14:41.01\00:14:42.48
But now I didn't
have to rely on bus,
00:14:42.51\00:14:43.88
so I didn't have to rely
on somebody to pick me up.
00:14:43.95\00:14:46.31
So being that I
had no vision anymore,
00:14:46.35\00:14:49.15
I started to look at
other people, and see like wow.
00:14:49.18\00:14:52.15
I notice my friends
that will go to school.
00:14:52.19\00:14:54.42
And I would notice
15, 16 year old kids
00:14:54.46\00:14:58.06
come to school with
tattoos all over their bodies.
00:14:58.09\00:15:00.80
Gold teeth in the mouth,
00:15:00.83\00:15:02.16
and that's a big thing in Texas,
00:15:02.20\00:15:03.57
for the younger people,
00:15:03.60\00:15:04.93
as well as they
would have women,
00:15:04.97\00:15:07.34
and they would have cars,
00:15:07.37\00:15:08.70
with rims on them,
and system in the truck.
00:15:08.74\00:15:10.71
Now I see that stuff as trivial.
00:15:10.74\00:15:12.54
You know, that stuff, whatever.
00:15:12.57\00:15:13.98
You know, a lot of are
so satanic or whatever.
00:15:14.01\00:15:16.38
But I didn't know
that at that time.
00:15:16.41\00:15:17.75
I just knew,
this is what I wanted.
00:15:17.78\00:15:19.71
And I found out
that a lot of them,
00:15:19.75\00:15:21.48
they were selling
drugs, they were robbing,
00:15:21.52\00:15:23.12
different things like that.
00:15:23.15\00:15:24.49
And it was fast money.
00:15:24.52\00:15:25.85
So my addiction to
that lifestyle started
00:15:25.89\00:15:28.72
with that fast money.
00:15:28.76\00:15:30.13
Just seeing how
fast I could get a $1000.
00:15:30.16\00:15:32.63
And to know, okay,
if I work here at a job,
00:15:32.66\00:15:35.06
I worked at a Luby's cafeteria
00:15:35.10\00:15:36.67
in San Antonio for a while.
00:15:36.70\00:15:38.40
I worked for two
weeks, get a check, $200.
00:15:38.43\00:15:41.74
And I'm seeing
friends that's working,
00:15:41.77\00:15:44.04
putting in an
hour in the streets,
00:15:44.11\00:15:46.11
coming with $1000.
00:15:46.14\00:15:48.04
It didn't weigh
out to me, you know.
00:15:48.08\00:15:49.78
And my parents
weren't the type to say,
00:15:49.81\00:15:52.31
if I went to them,
00:15:52.35\00:15:53.72
that they would just
give me what I wanted.
00:15:53.75\00:15:55.08
I didn't have, I didn't grow...
00:15:55.12\00:15:56.45
We were always
like lower middle class,
00:15:56.48\00:15:58.42
but I didn't have a
silver spoon in my mouth
00:15:58.45\00:16:00.16
where was, you know, okay,
00:16:00.19\00:16:01.52
you can get what you ask for.
00:16:01.56\00:16:02.89
My dad would pretty much say,
00:16:02.92\00:16:04.26
you got to work for it,
00:16:04.29\00:16:05.63
and this work just
had no appeal to me.
00:16:05.66\00:16:07.00
Right.
00:16:07.03\00:16:08.36
Well, because you were watching
00:16:08.40\00:16:09.76
your friends who were making...
00:16:09.80\00:16:12.60
You didn't want to
work for work sake.
00:16:12.63\00:16:14.40
Yeah. Definitely, sure.
00:16:14.44\00:16:15.97
You weren't trying to
just work for work sake.
00:16:16.00\00:16:17.64
You were trying to
work and make the most money
00:16:17.67\00:16:20.81
that you could in the
shortest amount of time,
00:16:20.88\00:16:22.81
with the least
amount of effort, right?
00:16:22.84\00:16:24.18
Definitely. Yeah, 100 percent.
00:16:24.25\00:16:26.21
What role did hip-hop
play in drawing you into that?
00:16:26.25\00:16:31.15
Well, hip-hop played
a great big role for me.
00:16:31.19\00:16:33.46
People want to say that,
00:16:33.49\00:16:35.36
TV is just entertainment,
music is just entertainment.
00:16:35.39\00:16:37.96
That's a blatant lie,
00:16:37.99\00:16:39.33
because we know
from the word of God,
00:16:39.36\00:16:40.70
that when Satan
was Lucifer in heaven,
00:16:40.73\00:16:42.60
he made music.
00:16:42.63\00:16:43.97
So when he got
kicked out of heaven,
00:16:44.00\00:16:45.33
he didn't lose that power,
00:16:45.37\00:16:46.74
he didn't lose
that desire for music.
00:16:46.77\00:16:48.87
So all he's done is
come down here to earth,
00:16:48.90\00:16:51.11
as the Bible said
00:16:51.14\00:16:52.47
"Woe to the
inhibitors of the earth,
00:16:52.51\00:16:53.88
for the devil has come
down having great wrath."
00:16:53.91\00:16:55.91
He's come down and
he's using all same things,
00:16:55.94\00:16:58.18
that same music as a tool
to get people's attention.
00:16:58.21\00:17:01.58
And he knows that
the pull that hip-hop
00:17:01.62\00:17:03.99
has upon young people.
00:17:04.02\00:17:06.29
I remember when I
was doing a presentation
00:17:06.32\00:17:09.06
at a church one time,
after I changed my life.
00:17:09.09\00:17:11.46
And I was doing it on hip-hop.
00:17:11.49\00:17:13.19
And I went to the
founder of hip-hop,
00:17:13.23\00:17:15.70
his name is Afrika Bambaataa.
00:17:15.73\00:17:17.27
I went to his webpage
00:17:17.30\00:17:18.80
and I noticed
something interesting.
00:17:18.83\00:17:20.37
as soon as I
clicked on the webpage,
00:17:20.44\00:17:22.10
it was like this
Indian man with six arms,
00:17:22.14\00:17:26.17
he had six arms
going around his body
00:17:26.21\00:17:28.98
and on each of those arms,
he had something in his hand.
00:17:29.01\00:17:32.01
And then it
started to talk about
00:17:32.05\00:17:33.75
the five elements of hip-hop.
00:17:33.82\00:17:35.55
And it mentioned
the B boy, the B girl,
00:17:35.58\00:17:38.92
different things like that.
00:17:38.95\00:17:40.29
And it said the
most important element
00:17:40.36\00:17:42.32
that all true
hip-hop artists know is
00:17:42.36\00:17:45.06
that the knowledge
of yourself as God.
00:17:45.09\00:17:47.50
And when I saw
that, I was like wow,
00:17:47.53\00:17:49.83
and as you look at
each of those arms.
00:17:49.86\00:17:51.70
On some of those arms,
00:17:51.73\00:17:53.07
they each had
satanic symbols on them.
00:17:53.10\00:17:55.34
And I was like, wow,
00:17:55.37\00:17:56.71
and I went back to the
book "Great Controversy"
00:17:56.74\00:17:58.57
and I looked, I have
the illustrative version,
00:17:58.61\00:18:00.41
and had some of
these pictures on there.
00:18:00.48\00:18:02.51
And I was like, wow,
this is on as hip-hop page.
00:18:02.54\00:18:05.01
And I realized then,
00:18:05.05\00:18:06.72
and I realized that
that's the same thing
00:18:06.75\00:18:08.85
that Satan told Eve
in the very beginning,
00:18:08.88\00:18:11.32
when he broke
down all her senses.
00:18:11.35\00:18:13.09
He said, "You shall be as
Gods, knowing good and evil."
00:18:13.12\00:18:15.99
And that's the same repeated lie
00:18:16.02\00:18:17.89
that has been going on for ever.
00:18:17.93\00:18:19.69
And as Afrika Bambaataa put it,
00:18:19.73\00:18:21.33
that all true
hip-hop artists know
00:18:21.36\00:18:23.57
that the
knowledge of self as God,
00:18:23.60\00:18:26.17
is the most important element.
00:18:26.20\00:18:27.54
So I saw how it had a
great pull up on me to where,
00:18:27.57\00:18:31.34
I mean I just lived hip-hop,
00:18:31.37\00:18:33.14
I just breathed
hip-hop, I loved it.
00:18:33.17\00:18:35.44
And I remember even
my dad saying one time
00:18:35.48\00:18:37.45
where he was like,
00:18:37.48\00:18:38.81
you know, and he is not for TV,
00:18:38.85\00:18:40.35
just sitting around watching TV.
00:18:40.42\00:18:41.75
But he was like, "Man,
just watch TV or something."
00:18:41.78\00:18:43.89
'Cause I would literally
sit in my room for hours
00:18:43.92\00:18:46.19
and pump this music in my head.
00:18:46.22\00:18:48.36
And watch BET hip-hop video...
00:18:48.39\00:18:50.23
it had a strong impact upon me.
00:18:50.26\00:18:51.59
You know, one of my big things,
00:18:51.63\00:18:54.60
you know, is...
00:18:54.63\00:18:57.50
I host a program
called Urban Report.
00:18:57.57\00:18:59.33
Okay.
00:18:59.37\00:19:00.74
And, one of my
big, big issues, Aaron,
00:19:00.77\00:19:04.64
is the affect of hip-hop
music on our communities.
00:19:04.67\00:19:08.54
Definitely.
00:19:08.58\00:19:09.91
For one thing...
00:19:09.94\00:19:11.51
and we have a
program called "TKS",
00:19:11.55\00:19:14.05
True knowledge of Self.
00:19:14.12\00:19:15.45
Yeah.
00:19:15.48\00:19:16.82
Because one of the
things that happens is...
00:19:16.85\00:19:19.35
It's new age thought. Yeah.
00:19:19.39\00:19:21.52
It's old, but it's new
age thought, where man is God.
00:19:21.56\00:19:25.66
Wow.
00:19:25.69\00:19:27.03
And it's a
satanic, demonic thing
00:19:27.10\00:19:29.16
where man wants to be
elevated to the level of God.
00:19:29.20\00:19:31.93
To that level. Definitely.
00:19:31.97\00:19:33.87
And the music,
00:19:33.94\00:19:35.50
music combined
with rhythm and rhyme,
00:19:35.54\00:19:39.17
gets into your subconscious mind
00:19:39.21\00:19:41.01
and shapes those values.
00:19:41.04\00:19:42.38
Definitely.
00:19:42.41\00:19:43.75
So you begin to
look at women as objects.
00:19:43.78\00:19:46.28
Yeah. Exactly.
00:19:46.31\00:19:47.65
You begin to
think that I'm all that.
00:19:47.68\00:19:49.92
A lot of that
rap stuff, you know,
00:19:49.95\00:19:51.52
the swag, all of that
stuff that goes with it.
00:19:51.55\00:19:53.69
Yeah, swag.
00:19:53.76\00:19:55.09
You know, it's like, you know,
00:19:55.12\00:19:56.46
I'm the man, I'm this, I'm that.
00:19:56.49\00:19:58.89
Definitely. It's all about me.
00:19:58.93\00:20:00.40
Yeah.
00:20:00.43\00:20:01.76
And it's so antithetical
to what God's about.
00:20:01.80\00:20:05.70
And so that's why,
00:20:05.73\00:20:07.27
I'm big on the
impact that hip-hop has had
00:20:07.34\00:20:12.44
on our young people
and continues to have.
00:20:12.47\00:20:13.81
Definitely.
00:20:13.88\00:20:15.31
So you're saying
that in your life,
00:20:15.34\00:20:17.88
hip-hop drew you into
00:20:17.91\00:20:20.02
this other way of
thinking and looking at life.
00:20:20.05\00:20:21.98
Definitely, definitely.
00:20:22.02\00:20:23.52
Because I remember
watching music videos,
00:20:23.59\00:20:26.65
and money being thrown around,
00:20:26.69\00:20:28.06
and different things like that.
00:20:28.09\00:20:29.42
And just listening to the word.
00:20:29.46\00:20:30.83
I wasn't one that just
listen to a good beats.
00:20:30.86\00:20:33.29
Some people try to say,
00:20:33.33\00:20:34.66
well, they're just
listening to the beat.
00:20:34.70\00:20:36.03
Whatever that's nonsense too.
00:20:36.06\00:20:37.40
Because there's no
way you can just listen
00:20:37.47\00:20:38.80
to that without the
words getting in you.
00:20:38.83\00:20:40.17
That's right.
Yeah, that's not the...
00:20:40.20\00:20:41.54
Even if you don't realize
it, they are getting in there.
00:20:41.57\00:20:42.90
That's straight nonsense.
00:20:42.94\00:20:44.27
And I remember,
00:20:44.31\00:20:45.74
just listening to these words,
00:20:45.77\00:20:48.01
and I mean, I
would tune into the way,
00:20:48.04\00:20:50.35
I could feel them in me.
00:20:50.38\00:20:51.91
And I remember one time,
00:20:51.95\00:20:53.28
one of my cousins
just asked me man, like,
00:20:53.31\00:20:54.72
"Why can't you
change your life?"
00:20:54.75\00:20:56.08
And I told him straight, I said,
00:20:56.12\00:20:57.49
"It's the music
man, the music is in me."
00:20:57.52\00:20:59.42
And it's just like,
00:20:59.45\00:21:00.79
I had a demonic pull within
me strong with that music.
00:21:00.86\00:21:04.49
And I remember one time,
00:21:04.53\00:21:06.03
I looked at something
that Tupac had to say.
00:21:06.06\00:21:08.43
I used to listen
to Tupac pretty hard.
00:21:08.46\00:21:10.20
And it was one time,
00:21:10.27\00:21:11.60
when he's in incarcerated
he did an interview.
00:21:11.63\00:21:13.13
And he said, he
told people straight,
00:21:13.17\00:21:14.54
he said, "Don't just
bob your head to the music."
00:21:14.57\00:21:16.17
He said, "If you
listen to my words,
00:21:16.20\00:21:17.77
my words are spiritual."
00:21:17.81\00:21:19.14
You know what I'm saying.
00:21:19.17\00:21:20.51
So they're actually
having an impact upon.
00:21:20.58\00:21:22.21
And he knew it.
00:21:22.24\00:21:23.65
And he said it straight up.
00:21:23.68\00:21:25.01
That gives me a chill.
00:21:25.05\00:21:26.38
And a lot of
people don't realize that,
00:21:26.41\00:21:28.32
that music is
spiritual and it's pleasing.
00:21:28.35\00:21:30.59
He said specifically,
"Listen to what I'm saying,
00:21:30.62\00:21:32.59
don't just bob your
head to this music."
00:21:32.62\00:21:34.39
Because stuff is coming
into you as you're listening
00:21:34.42\00:21:37.53
and a lot of
people don't realize that.
00:21:37.56\00:21:39.66
And it shaped
me, and it changed me
00:21:39.69\00:21:41.56
and it let me down
that path for selling drugs,
00:21:41.60\00:21:44.17
of robbing people.
00:21:44.20\00:21:45.70
My first time
incarcerated was at 16,
00:21:45.73\00:21:47.84
for burglary charge.
00:21:47.87\00:21:49.60
Then my next charge was...
00:21:49.64\00:21:51.11
I didn't even complete that,
00:21:51.14\00:21:52.47
I did a week in juvenile center.
00:21:52.51\00:21:54.54
I got out, and I
was on probation,
00:21:54.58\00:21:57.58
and I was on a year,
for year probation at Texas.
00:21:57.65\00:22:00.55
And couldn't complete that
00:22:00.62\00:22:02.02
because, you know,
my mind hadn't changed.
00:22:02.05\00:22:04.02
And I saw some money, you know,
00:22:04.09\00:22:06.29
some fast money and
just hooked, addicted.
00:22:06.32\00:22:09.06
And I eventually
got locked up again,
00:22:09.09\00:22:11.53
not even a year
later, when I was 17,
00:22:11.56\00:22:14.00
this time I was
charged as an adult.
00:22:14.03\00:22:16.53
At 17 years old,
now I'm in a big house,
00:22:16.56\00:22:18.63
now I'm in jail with people
00:22:18.67\00:22:20.24
who had murdered,
people that have raped,
00:22:20.27\00:22:22.67
all different types of things.
00:22:22.70\00:22:24.34
And I ended up,
00:22:24.37\00:22:25.71
it was a home invasion charge,
00:22:25.74\00:22:27.08
second degree
home invasion charge
00:22:27.11\00:22:29.34
with a couple of other
charges that I had with that
00:22:29.38\00:22:31.95
which I think they classed
it as a second degree felony.
00:22:31.98\00:22:34.32
And I was looking at like,
00:22:34.35\00:22:35.68
three and half to five
and half years sentence.
00:22:35.72\00:22:37.72
But since it was my
first time as an adult,
00:22:37.75\00:22:39.99
they differed
that and I ended up
00:22:40.06\00:22:42.56
going to prison boot camp,
where I served three months,
00:22:42.59\00:22:45.46
then I went to a
halfway house for a month.
00:22:45.49\00:22:48.20
Well, the reason
it's halfway house is
00:22:48.23\00:22:49.56
'cause you are
halfway locked up,
00:22:49.60\00:22:50.97
and you're halfway back
home, so it's a halfway.
00:22:51.00\00:22:53.84
And that's kind of
getting you reintegrated
00:22:53.87\00:22:55.54
back into society as well.
00:22:55.57\00:22:57.84
So I was there for a month.
00:22:57.87\00:22:59.21
I got out and they
put me on house arrest,
00:22:59.24\00:23:01.34
while I had this
tethering thing on my ankle.
00:23:01.38\00:23:03.75
And I was on three
years probation at that time.
00:23:03.78\00:23:07.22
Again didn't
complete that once again,
00:23:07.25\00:23:09.48
'cause my mind hadn't changed.
00:23:09.52\00:23:11.09
And still addicted to
money, still addicted to women,
00:23:11.12\00:23:14.09
still addicted to the music,
all these types of things.
00:23:14.16\00:23:16.93
And then I ended up
catching another charge
00:23:16.96\00:23:21.16
when I was 19 years old.
00:23:21.20\00:23:23.00
And because I
already had priors,
00:23:23.03\00:23:25.10
this is the charge,
they sent me to the prison.
00:23:25.13\00:23:27.34
They called it
engaging in criminal activities
00:23:27.37\00:23:29.70
where I had robbed a bank,
00:23:29.74\00:23:31.61
where I broke into
the bank late at night,
00:23:31.64\00:23:33.88
as well as robbed a subway.
00:23:33.91\00:23:36.31
And so because I had priors,
00:23:36.34\00:23:38.71
this is what
caused me to go to prison.
00:23:38.75\00:23:40.95
And...
00:23:40.98\00:23:42.32
What were you
thinking, Aaron, like,
00:23:42.35\00:23:43.99
where is my life going?
00:23:44.02\00:23:46.02
Well, at that point,
00:23:46.05\00:23:47.39
I think I was so high on drugs
00:23:47.46\00:23:50.53
constantly that you don't think.
00:23:50.56\00:23:52.36
I remember when we were going to
00:23:52.39\00:23:54.20
break into that bank that night.
00:23:54.23\00:23:55.56
I was talking to my
friend, and I was like...
00:23:55.60\00:23:57.47
I mean really just
gassing up his head like men,
00:23:57.50\00:23:59.33
"we are gonna get in there,
we're going to get $75,000,
00:23:59.37\00:24:01.57
and you know, we
didn't get nothing out of it,
00:24:01.60\00:24:03.04
by the way, you know.
00:24:03.07\00:24:04.41
And it's
interesting how we do stuff,
00:24:04.44\00:24:05.87
and you get
locked up with people.
00:24:05.91\00:24:07.58
And people did stuff,
you did that for two dollars.
00:24:07.61\00:24:11.55
It is just interesting
the stuff that we do.
00:24:11.58\00:24:13.08
You're not thinking.
00:24:13.11\00:24:14.45
You're controlled
by another spirit.
00:24:14.48\00:24:15.82
You're controlled...
00:24:15.85\00:24:17.19
it is literally
spirits of devils,
00:24:17.22\00:24:18.99
they are just guiding you.
00:24:19.02\00:24:20.86
And I remember that, you know,
00:24:20.89\00:24:23.43
we didn't get any
thing out of that.
00:24:23.46\00:24:25.26
And I didn't think.
00:24:25.29\00:24:27.00
And because I know,
00:24:27.03\00:24:28.36
while we were
talking to each other,
00:24:28.40\00:24:29.83
we were drinking 40's of,
00:24:29.86\00:24:31.67
40's of some kind
of alcohol that day.
00:24:31.70\00:24:33.44
It was Bud Ice.
00:24:33.47\00:24:34.80
We were drinking 40's of those.
00:24:34.84\00:24:36.17
I probably consumed
about four of those,
00:24:36.20\00:24:37.54
which is a lot of alcohol.
00:24:37.61\00:24:38.97
And it's like,
I'm just not thinking,
00:24:39.01\00:24:41.11
I'm letting in the drugs,
I'm letting in the alcohol,
00:24:41.14\00:24:43.08
just take over,
and these are becoming
00:24:43.11\00:24:45.45
my mind to me to where
00:24:45.48\00:24:47.22
I'm just doing all
types of nonsense, you know.
00:24:47.25\00:24:49.45
How did you find Jesus,
00:24:49.48\00:24:51.49
I mean I can't believe
the time is going by so fast.
00:24:51.52\00:24:54.29
I mean, it's just...
00:24:54.32\00:24:55.66
and your story
is so interesting.
00:24:55.69\00:24:57.33
How did you find Him?
00:24:57.36\00:24:58.69
Well, you know,
it wasn't necessarily
00:24:58.73\00:25:01.60
through me being incarcerated,
00:25:01.63\00:25:04.33
because you know, I
would have times in my life
00:25:04.37\00:25:06.27
where I'd try to change my life
00:25:06.30\00:25:07.74
but it had never stuck.
00:25:07.77\00:25:09.10
I didn't hit rock bottom enough.
00:25:09.14\00:25:10.91
So I got out of prison,
00:25:10.94\00:25:12.27
I started
transporting pounds of marijuana
00:25:12.31\00:25:14.01
from Texas to North Carolina.
00:25:14.08\00:25:15.88
I moved there,
00:25:15.91\00:25:17.28
and even through
that situation, robbed,
00:25:17.35\00:25:19.28
you know, I had a
gun put in my face.
00:25:19.31\00:25:21.62
You know, I had
been on car chases,
00:25:21.65\00:25:23.89
where people try to
chase me and kill me
00:25:23.92\00:25:25.35
or whatever, all these
various types of things.
00:25:25.39\00:25:27.26
But those still
didn't get my attention.
00:25:27.29\00:25:29.29
It wasn't until in 2008,
00:25:29.32\00:25:31.86
I was running
from the law real hard.
00:25:31.89\00:25:34.00
I moved to Baton
Rouge, Louisiana in 2007.
00:25:34.03\00:25:37.37
And at that point
I was using cocaine,
00:25:37.40\00:25:40.14
a little bit of
heroin, I was using ecstasy,
00:25:40.17\00:25:42.20
I was popping
prescription pills,
00:25:42.24\00:25:44.41
I was using marijuana,
00:25:44.44\00:25:45.84
I smoked a packet a
day and I drank alcohol,
00:25:45.87\00:25:48.51
so all these things,
and I have literally done
00:25:48.54\00:25:50.05
all of these things at one time.
00:25:50.08\00:25:52.31
I've been so high
to where you just,
00:25:52.35\00:25:53.85
there's no
higher that you can get.
00:25:53.92\00:25:55.28
There's no possible way out.
00:25:55.32\00:25:56.69
All you do is get sick.
00:25:56.72\00:25:58.05
And I was on a
mission to overdose,
00:25:58.09\00:25:59.52
because I wanted
to come to that point,
00:25:59.55\00:26:02.09
where I could
just commit suicide,
00:26:02.12\00:26:03.96
so I was purposely
trying to overdose,
00:26:04.03\00:26:06.09
but praise the
Lord, it never happen.
00:26:06.13\00:26:07.50
So I remember,
I'm talking real fast,
00:26:07.53\00:26:08.90
'cause time is short.
00:26:08.93\00:26:10.27
But I remember
one specific night,
00:26:10.30\00:26:11.67
I was high on four drugs
00:26:11.70\00:26:13.27
and I had walked
into my room in the house,
00:26:13.34\00:26:15.97
and when I walked into the room,
00:26:16.00\00:26:18.27
immediately a fear came
upon me like never before.
00:26:18.31\00:26:21.24
And I knew
something was in this room,
00:26:21.28\00:26:22.84
that didn't belong there.
00:26:22.88\00:26:24.25
I laid down on a
mattress on the floor
00:26:24.28\00:26:25.78
and I looked up and
I could see demons...
00:26:25.81\00:26:27.52
it's like a spirit world
started revealing itself.
00:26:27.55\00:26:30.02
I could see demons moving above,
00:26:30.09\00:26:31.62
and I heard the Holy Spirit
speaking to me at that point.
00:26:31.65\00:26:34.42
And he called my name,
and I knew at that point,
00:26:34.46\00:26:36.76
when he said, "Aaron, you need
00:26:36.83\00:26:38.16
to get your life
together or that's it."
00:26:38.19\00:26:40.00
I knew I was on the
brink of the unpardonable sin,
00:26:40.03\00:26:42.20
I knew it.
00:26:42.23\00:26:43.57
When you run and you
run and you're running,
00:26:43.60\00:26:44.93
you're tuning out
the voice of the Lord.
00:26:44.97\00:26:46.74
But the beautiful thing is
00:26:46.77\00:26:48.10
God is going to chase
you as long as possible,
00:26:48.14\00:26:51.14
as long as possible.
00:26:51.17\00:26:52.51
And I knew it, so at that point,
00:26:52.54\00:26:54.18
I came to this decision,
and there is more in there
00:26:54.21\00:26:56.11
with my dad involved in
all, but for the sake of time.
00:26:56.14\00:26:58.68
I knew it, so I made
the decision that night
00:26:58.71\00:27:00.72
that I'm gonna serve the Lord.
00:27:00.75\00:27:02.08
I had hit rock
bottom to the point
00:27:02.12\00:27:03.89
where all I could do is look up.
00:27:03.92\00:27:05.59
And that point,
00:27:05.62\00:27:06.96
it was a hard test
coming to the Lord.
00:27:06.99\00:27:08.39
And I want to say
that to you young people,
00:27:08.42\00:27:09.89
that it is a hard
task coming to the Lord.
00:27:09.92\00:27:12.43
But you know what, as
I did, I made a decision,
00:27:12.46\00:27:14.86
every single day,
no matter what I did,
00:27:14.90\00:27:17.27
I'm gonna read the word.
00:27:17.30\00:27:18.63
no matter what I do,
I'm gonna read the word
00:27:18.67\00:27:20.44
and I read
Patriarchs and Prophets.
00:27:20.47\00:27:22.44
And as I did
that, I noticed that,
00:27:22.47\00:27:24.37
as I came to Jesus,
the drug started to stop,
00:27:24.41\00:27:27.08
the habits started to stop.
00:27:27.11\00:27:28.44
Now, it's been over six years
00:27:28.48\00:27:29.81
since I've been
serving the Lord.
00:27:29.84\00:27:31.35
Praise God.
00:27:31.38\00:27:32.71
I mean, that is so...
00:27:32.75\00:27:34.12
You know, you can't
loose when you serve the Lord.
00:27:34.15\00:27:36.28
Amen.
00:27:36.32\00:27:37.65
You can't lose,
but you gotta know Him.
00:27:37.69\00:27:39.29
Yeah, definitely.
To want to serve Him.
00:27:39.32\00:27:41.02
Definitely, definitely.
00:27:41.06\00:27:42.39
Praise God that
He has done this.
00:27:42.42\00:27:43.76
You are truly
on The New Journey.
00:27:43.83\00:27:45.96
Amen. Amen.
00:27:45.99\00:27:47.33
I just want to say,
00:27:47.40\00:27:48.73
you're doing an
outstanding job as a host.
00:27:48.76\00:27:50.10
Praise the Lord.
00:27:50.13\00:27:51.47
And we just
praise the Lord for you.
00:27:51.50\00:27:52.83
Praise the Lord. Thank you.
00:27:52.87\00:27:54.20
I can't believe our time is up.
00:27:54.24\00:27:55.70
This was such a blessing.
00:27:55.74\00:27:57.41
Please join us next
time on The New Journey,
00:27:57.44\00:27:59.51
where your host, Aaron Chancy,
00:27:59.54\00:28:01.54
will be hosting.
00:28:01.58\00:28:02.91
God bless you.
00:28:02.94\00:28:04.28
See you next time.
00:28:04.31\00:28:05.65