The Entertainment Industry is a maze of seduction and illusion. 00:00:01.30\00:00:04.00 Stay tuned to see how one man found his way out and is paving 00:00:04.03\00:00:08.07 the way for others to find Christ. 00:00:08.10\00:00:10.04 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching 00:00:10.07\00:00:12.74 Urban Report... 00:00:12.77\00:00:15.51 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:00:35.73\00:00:38.73 My guest today is Pastor Ivor Myers, 00:00:38.77\00:00:41.74 President and Founder of Power of the Lamb Ministries 00:00:41.77\00:00:44.67 and Bible ARME Camp and co-host of 3abn's Battles of Faith 00:00:44.71\00:00:49.44 with his wife Atonte Myers. Welcome to Urban Report 00:00:49.48\00:00:53.18 Pastor Myers... Thank you for having me Yvonne. 00:00:53.21\00:00:55.92 It's so great to have you here, I am excited because I know you 00:00:55.95\00:00:59.92 have some great information for us today. 00:00:59.95\00:01:02.96 Praise the Lord, praise God. So, a lot of our viewers are 00:01:02.99\00:01:07.13 familiar with Battles of Faith, but we have some who aren't. 00:01:07.20\00:01:12.43 Tell us about your story... tell us how you just evolved 00:01:12.47\00:01:17.67 by the grace of God into who you are... who were you before? 00:01:17.71\00:01:22.81 Well, I was born in Jamaica in 00:01:22.84\00:01:27.78 1972 and my family came to the United States when I was about 00:01:27.82\00:01:33.36 5... I think maybe 6 years old, and we didn't have any religious 00:01:33.39\00:01:38.89 background, we just kind of went to Church on certain days 00:01:38.93\00:01:43.63 of the... maybe once or twice a year... you know, 00:01:43.67\00:01:48.30 Christmas and if family members had invited us but nothing... 00:01:48.34\00:01:52.34 we just didn't grow up in a religious setting and when I 00:01:52.37\00:01:56.85 came to the United States, I had a very strong Jamaican 00:01:56.88\00:02:01.32 accent and so the kids would make fun of me and I 00:02:01.35\00:02:05.99 discovered that one of the best ways to make friends was 00:02:06.02\00:02:09.66 to get into that culture, that was actually getting popular 00:02:09.69\00:02:13.73 at that time which was hip-hop, break-dancing and my younger 00:02:13.76\00:02:17.73 brother and I started getting into the whole, you know, 00:02:17.77\00:02:20.77 the whole scene... the dressing, the style, the language 00:02:20.80\00:02:24.31 everything... so that's what got us into the hip-hop culture 00:02:24.34\00:02:32.01 and we just began to flourish in it... you know, 00:02:32.05\00:02:36.58 getting involved in Rap music and it eventually led 00:02:36.62\00:02:41.46 to an eight-album contract with EMI Records... 00:02:41.49\00:02:46.16 now I just kind of jumped a whole lot there but we were 00:02:46.19\00:02:50.53 signed to a contract with EMI Records in 1993 00:02:50.57\00:02:54.94 as part of a four-man hip-hop group 00:02:54.97\00:02:58.64 and during this time again, we really had no strong 00:02:58.67\00:03:02.28 religious encounter... and we thought that we were 00:03:02.31\00:03:05.85 on our way to fame which we were we ended up on Soul Train, BET, 00:03:05.88\00:03:09.78 Rap City, MTV, I mean we were the up-and-coming group... 00:03:09.82\00:03:15.49 Let me ask you something Pastor, when you were kind of immersed 00:03:15.52\00:03:24.93 in the hip-hop culture, did you feel that anything was 00:03:24.97\00:03:28.44 wrong with it or did you really just embrace it as being 00:03:28.47\00:03:32.64 what you wanted to do? Yeah, I just embraced it, I mean 00:03:32.67\00:03:37.08 I didn't have any real compass to determine what was right 00:03:37.11\00:03:41.52 and what was wrong and, in fact, in the Hip-Hop culture, 00:03:41.55\00:03:46.32 it was very antagonistic to the Bible, so, you know, 00:03:46.35\00:03:51.93 the Bible was considered a tampered book, 00:03:51.96\00:03:53.86 and, you know, the racial issues it was just like... 00:03:53.90\00:03:59.37 the Bible is not our book, the black man being from Africa, 00:03:59.40\00:04:04.11 there was a whole lot of talk of other religions like 00:04:04.14\00:04:08.34 the Nation of 5 percenters, the Nation of Islam and all 00:04:08.38\00:04:12.55 these other kinds of quote unquote "Black Religions" 00:04:12.58\00:04:16.58 so, as far as the Bible was concerned, it wasn't really, 00:04:16.62\00:04:20.09 you know, I had no compass and the Bible just wasn't 00:04:20.12\00:04:23.89 a part of our lives in the way that would have helped me 00:04:23.93\00:04:27.73 to determine, "Oh yeah, this is right... 00:04:27.76\00:04:29.06 this is wrong," you know, nothing like that... 00:04:29.10\00:04:32.20 Right, it's so interesting to me how Satan does that, I mean, 00:04:32.23\00:04:37.01 if you have nothing else to compare it with... 00:04:37.04\00:04:39.91 nothing else to counteract the counterfeit so to speak, then, 00:04:39.94\00:04:45.45 of course, you tend to kind of embrace what "feels" good or 00:04:45.48\00:04:50.25 what sounds good and so you just kind of flow over into that 00:04:50.29\00:04:54.69 because there is nothing to balance that out or to actually 00:04:54.72\00:04:59.33 get rid of the wrong and put you on the right course... so... 00:04:59.36\00:05:03.93 Absolutely... so you were in this group 00:05:03.97\00:05:05.47 and you guys were starting to hit the big time, 00:05:05.50\00:05:09.67 singing in all these TV programs and doing all that... 00:05:09.70\00:05:13.78 where was your head, were you, again, was this something that 00:05:13.81\00:05:17.68 you were ready to go for? Was your head totally just 00:05:17.71\00:05:21.58 into this? Or did you feel afraid of the success? 00:05:21.62\00:05:24.79 Where were you? No, not at all, we were totally 00:05:24.82\00:05:27.92 into it, we had always dreamed of, you know, being like those 00:05:27.96\00:05:32.33 of them that we had seen on TV before us 00:05:32.36\00:05:34.00 and so we looked up to these Rap Stars and now we were like, 00:05:34.03\00:05:37.77 "Okay, it's our turn... " and totally moving forward 00:05:37.80\00:05:41.87 totally gung ho and it's just interesting that 00:05:41.90\00:05:48.28 it was there in the midst of what I felt was our dream 00:05:48.31\00:05:53.72 being realized that we were introduced to Christianity 00:05:53.75\00:05:58.35 and specifically the Adventist message... 00:05:58.39\00:06:00.22 So, just as you were crossing over, 00:06:00.26\00:06:05.16 you got introduced into the Adventist message... 00:06:05.19\00:06:08.56 How did that happen? 00:06:08.60\00:06:09.70 Well, I went to college in Virginia State University 00:06:09.73\00:06:14.40 and when we got our record deal, my younger brother, 00:06:14.44\00:06:19.34 myself and two of our good friends... we were part of this 00:06:19.37\00:06:23.28 four-man group... but we had a large entourage, 00:06:23.31\00:06:26.15 who were also made up of groups, it was about 3 or 4 groups 00:06:26.18\00:06:29.92 of us and when we got our record deal, it was like the 00:06:29.95\00:06:33.56 opening wedge for the others to follow in our steps 00:06:33.59\00:06:36.36 and we were going to, like kind of, provide a platform 00:06:36.39\00:06:39.76 you know, for them to secure record deals... 00:06:39.79\00:06:43.06 so we kind of all left school together and went up to 00:06:43.10\00:06:47.47 New York City and it was there that we were introduced 00:06:47.50\00:06:51.84 through a mutual friend, and at this time, we didn't even 00:06:51.87\00:06:56.41 I had never even heard of the term Adventist... 00:06:56.44\00:06:59.35 so one night we were all, sitting around talking about 00:06:59.38\00:07:03.18 The New World Order and The Mark of the Beast 00:07:03.22\00:07:05.95 and we had no clue what we were talking about 00:07:05.99\00:07:08.72 we were just... we had gotten to this place where it was like 00:07:08.76\00:07:11.16 the end thing, if you will, to, you know, to talk about 00:07:11.19\00:07:15.53 conspiracy theories and the Mark of the Beast, 00:07:15.56\00:07:18.73 and the New World Order and how they are after 00:07:18.77\00:07:21.90 the black man and... Say again... 00:07:21.94\00:07:24.37 You guys were sitting around and philosophizing 00:07:24.41\00:07:26.94 without having any foundation... Yeah... we had no clue 00:07:26.98\00:07:30.75 we had no clue what we were talking about so, this young man 00:07:30.78\00:07:34.48 as we were speaking, he just asked us 00:07:34.52\00:07:38.32 "So, hey, what day do you think the Sabbath is?" 00:07:38.35\00:07:42.42 and, you know, I remember thinking, "What an off-the-wall 00:07:42.46\00:07:45.43 question...," like, you know, we are here talking about 00:07:45.46\00:07:48.43 the Mark of the Beast and about New World Order stuff 00:07:48.46\00:07:51.47 and here this guy is... and we had just met him, 00:07:51.50\00:07:54.60 he was like 19 at that time and we were like 20, 21... 00:07:54.64\00:07:57.74 we were all young adults. Right... 00:07:57.77\00:08:00.34 And we're like, you know, "Sunday... everybody knows that 00:08:00.38\00:08:03.18 the Sabbath is on Sunday, what kind of question is that?" 00:08:03.21\00:08:06.01 And then he asked us... He said, "What day is the 00:08:06.05\00:08:11.02 Sabbath on?" and we were like... "The seventh Day... you know 00:08:11.05\00:08:13.56 that's obvious... " and he was like, he said, 00:08:13.59\00:08:17.83 "What day is Saturday? What day is Sunday?" 00:08:17.86\00:08:20.90 and we were like... "The seventh day... " 00:08:20.93\00:08:23.87 and then, he was like... "What day is Saturday?" 00:08:23.90\00:08:27.54 and we were like, "The seventh day" 00:08:27.57\00:08:31.37 We had just never thought about it before... I mean, 00:08:31.41\00:08:34.51 the math... When he asked us those questions 00:08:34.54\00:08:36.88 we were like "Wait a minute something is not adding up here" 00:08:36.91\00:08:39.95 And from that point on, I mean, it was just like 00:08:39.98\00:08:43.82 something clicked and I was like "Now, wait a minute... 00:08:43.85\00:08:46.49 how did that happen?" And then, "Sunday is actually 00:08:46.52\00:08:48.92 the first day of the week, Saturday is the end of the week, 00:08:48.96\00:08:51.93 so how does that happen?" and it turned into... 00:08:51.96\00:08:56.36 like a four-hour Bible Study that night... 00:08:56.40\00:08:59.53 with like 30 of us... Ah... I love it... 00:08:59.57\00:09:01.77 Now was this young man, was he... a part of the... 00:09:01.80\00:09:05.57 one of the groups that wanted to get a record deal? 00:09:05.61\00:09:08.81 No, no, no, we had just met him, he was living in New York 00:09:08.84\00:09:12.68 we had all come up from Virginia I was, like I said, 00:09:12.71\00:09:15.52 born in Jamaica and raised up in New York but then 00:09:15.55\00:09:18.29 ended up going to college in Virginia so I was coming back 00:09:18.32\00:09:21.39 to New York and most of the guys were from New York as well, 00:09:21.42\00:09:24.46 but this young man was living in New York 00:09:24.49\00:09:28.70 and was a friend of one of our friends so we were 00:09:28.73\00:09:31.50 all really just meeting him... I see... and so you guys were 00:09:31.53\00:09:36.04 just kind of hanging out and shooting the breeze and 00:09:36.07\00:09:38.47 philosophizing about Mark of the Beast and all that 00:09:38.51\00:09:41.74 and here this guy, just tumbles your world... 00:09:41.78\00:09:44.95 rocks your world by asking you about which day is the Sabbath. 00:09:44.98\00:09:49.92 Yeah, yeah... And really that question 00:09:49.95\00:09:52.69 shouldn't have even mattered to us because we weren't going to 00:09:52.72\00:09:56.12 church and we knew very little about the Bible... 00:09:56.16\00:09:58.46 but for some reason, it was like stumbling upon something 00:09:58.49\00:10:03.40 that was like... "Wait a minute... 00:10:03.43\00:10:06.53 everyone we know goes to church on Sunday... 00:10:06.57\00:10:09.34 what do you mean... the Sabbath is on Saturday?" 00:10:09.37\00:10:11.37 and that question led to another question, 00:10:11.41\00:10:13.64 led to another question... four-hour Bible study 00:10:13.68\00:10:16.75 and from that night on, everyday we would study the Bible 00:10:16.78\00:10:22.35 every day... and he had shared with us in particular 00:10:22.38\00:10:26.99 the prophecy of Daniel Chapter 7 which, you know, talks about 00:10:27.02\00:10:33.03 these beasts coming up out of the sea and how these 00:10:33.06\00:10:36.40 nations would overthrow one another... 00:10:36.43\00:10:38.00 coming down to our very day and so that just totally 00:10:38.03\00:10:43.34 intrigued me and learning that prophecy really changed 00:10:43.37\00:10:48.61 a whole lot for me... to the point where I started 00:10:48.64\00:10:51.68 giving Bible studies before I knew anything else... 00:10:51.71\00:10:54.68 Like I would just give people Bible studies on Daniel 7 00:10:54.72\00:10:57.65 I knew nothing else about the Bible but it so hit me 00:10:57.69\00:11:00.66 I memorized that chapter and when people would say 00:11:00.69\00:11:03.49 "Hey, can I get a Bible study?" 00:11:03.53\00:11:04.69 and I'd, you know, because I was in the music industry... 00:11:04.73\00:11:06.70 it was very easy for me to give Bible studies... 00:11:06.73\00:11:10.10 and so, I'd give these Bible studies and they'd say, 00:11:10.13\00:11:12.27 "When can we have another one?" and I wouldn't have another one, 00:11:12.30\00:11:14.97 I'd be like, "Give me another six weeks and I'll get stuff 00:11:15.00\00:11:20.84 that I can share. " and so... 00:11:20.88\00:11:22.28 That's awesome... so... isn't it... 00:11:22.31\00:11:23.88 God is just so off-the-chain, the way He does things... 00:11:23.91\00:11:28.82 He accomplishes so much with one move... 00:11:28.85\00:11:32.12 Look at what He did... He brought in 00:11:32.15\00:11:34.59 a peer... to talk to you... because you would probably 00:11:34.62\00:11:38.79 have received it better from the peer, 00:11:38.83\00:11:41.46 brought in a peer to talk to you and then quickened your spirit 00:11:41.50\00:11:46.07 and gave you this passion, for the Word 00:11:46.10\00:11:49.54 and gave you... you had already some credibility 00:11:49.57\00:11:53.48 because you were in the music business, so you had a little 00:11:53.51\00:11:56.28 credibility there and so people were going to listen 00:11:56.31\00:11:59.18 to what you had to say, and He gave you that passion 00:11:59.21\00:12:02.05 for prophecy... Yeah, yeah, yeah... 00:12:02.08\00:12:04.05 Okay, so what happened then? Well, you know, actually it was 00:12:04.09\00:12:10.09 we ended up becoming baptized into the church 00:12:10.13\00:12:13.60 and when I say "we"... I mean there were at least... 00:12:13.63\00:12:17.53 I would say, maybe somewhere between 15 and 20 of us 00:12:17.57\00:12:21.47 that as a result of that conversation 00:12:21.50\00:12:25.14 and what happened afterward... were eventually baptized 00:12:25.17\00:12:28.41 into the church... including my younger brother 00:12:28.44\00:12:30.55 who is now a minister as well. So, it's amazing, Yvonne, when I 00:12:30.58\00:12:36.32 think back, it was, you know... when we learned that he was an 00:12:36.35\00:12:42.06 Adventist, we were like, we're coming to church with you 00:12:42.09\00:12:44.33 this Sabbath... so like 20 of us, dread-locked, 00:12:44.36\00:12:49.10 gum-chewing and sagging, you know, just rolled up 00:12:49.13\00:12:53.47 in the church and the looks on the people's faces! 00:12:53.50\00:12:56.67 it was a small church too and the people were like... 00:12:56.71\00:13:01.01 we were just so excited to be there we didn't, you know, 00:13:01.04\00:13:04.61 we didn't even notice that people were looking at us 00:13:04.65\00:13:08.28 like that... Yeah, yeah... 00:13:08.32\00:13:09.42 And anything the Pastor said, we were like literally 00:13:09.45\00:13:14.06 losing our minds... we were like "What! he just talked about 00:13:14.09\00:13:18.26 tithe... what! we've got to warn the world, 00:13:18.29\00:13:21.53 "Pay your tithe!" you know, I mean anything... 00:13:21.56\00:13:23.53 literally anything that came out of his mouth, 00:13:23.57\00:13:26.74 we were just blown away! I love it... because, 00:13:26.77\00:13:30.41 it's like giving water to a thirsty soul... 00:13:30.44\00:13:34.04 Yeah, yes... You know, it's... 00:13:34.08\00:13:35.31 your souls were being watered, this is what you were looking 00:13:35.34\00:13:38.41 for and hadn't been able to find Yeah... 00:13:38.45\00:13:41.05 Now, let me ask you something because a lot of young people 00:13:41.08\00:13:45.69 need to know this... as you were embracing 00:13:45.72\00:13:51.33 Biblical concepts, what was going on with you 00:13:51.36\00:13:55.06 as you were trying to perform... I would imagine that 00:13:55.10\00:13:59.00 at some point, you had like a little, what they call... 00:13:59.03\00:14:02.90 cognitive dissonance, where, you know, 00:14:02.94\00:14:06.78 you knew what was right but then you were performing 00:14:06.81\00:14:10.65 so... you had a clash, tell us a little bit about that 00:14:10.68\00:14:13.58 because I am sure you had something like that happen. 00:14:13.62\00:14:16.52 Yeah... well initially we were so excited... we decided 00:14:16.55\00:14:19.62 that we were going to put the three angels' messages 00:14:19.65\00:14:22.56 into our hip-hop music. Oh... Okay 00:14:22.59\00:14:26.59 So, we would be in the clubs and, you know, we would 00:14:26.63\00:14:31.20 have backpacks when we performed and like military backpacks... 00:14:31.23\00:14:37.71 so we'd be performing, we'd have these backpacks on 00:14:37.74\00:14:39.91 and then we would stop and we would say 00:14:39.94\00:14:42.11 something like... you know... "Who wants to know who the man 00:14:42.14\00:14:45.11 of sin is? throw your hands in the air... 00:14:45.15\00:14:48.02 and everybody would like... throw their hands in the air... 00:14:48.05\00:14:50.05 and then, we would take, out of our backpacks, 00:14:50.09\00:14:52.75 the book, The Great Controversy and start throwing it out 00:14:52.79\00:14:55.89 in the audience... and the people were diving for 00:14:55.92\00:14:58.96 the books... they had no clue what they were diving for... 00:14:58.99\00:15:00.90 but it's just because it was coming from us, 00:15:00.93\00:15:03.16 and, you know, I mean, that's what's... 00:15:03.20\00:15:06.67 And I'd like to say is that God... in times of ignorance 00:15:06.70\00:15:10.51 He winks... Yes... 00:15:10.54\00:15:11.54 So He was doing a lot of winking... you know like, 00:15:11.57\00:15:14.58 "Angels, just go bless them, just go... " Ohhhhh... 00:15:14.61\00:15:19.85 You know, we were honest, we were sincere, 00:15:19.88\00:15:23.52 Yes... and I say that, you know, 00:15:23.55\00:15:27.19 because we... I know better now... 00:15:27.22\00:15:30.83 than I did then and I believe that God blessed us then 00:15:30.86\00:15:33.70 in our ignorance... Of course, because God meets us 00:15:33.73\00:15:36.50 where we are... Exactly... 00:15:36.53\00:15:38.23 ...and He knows where you are going to be... 00:15:38.27\00:15:40.37 Exactly... But where you are at that point, 00:15:40.40\00:15:42.44 you wanted to witness, even through the hip-hop realm, 00:15:42.47\00:15:47.14 you wanted to witness... so you guys were tossing out 00:15:47.18\00:15:51.81 the Great Controversies at the Club... 00:15:51.85\00:15:53.92 Yeah, Yvonne, it's funny because we would even 00:15:53.95\00:15:58.89 warn people to get out of the Clubs and we would say things 00:15:58.92\00:16:03.53 like "What are you doing in the Clubs.. this is the Babylon... " 00:16:03.56\00:16:06.06 and we are in the Clubs warning people to get out of the Clubs 00:16:06.09\00:16:09.63 and, you know, I think a pivotal 00:16:09.66\00:16:12.77 point came for me because I remember one night 00:16:12.80\00:16:15.27 I was just wondering "Lord, you know, we're warning 00:16:15.30\00:16:18.21 these people, you know, about their lifestyle and 00:16:18.24\00:16:21.08 what they are doing and, you know, all this stuff" and 00:16:21.11\00:16:23.81 what if God came back on a Friday night, you know 00:16:23.85\00:16:26.38 on a Sabbath when they were in the Clubs... and I don't know 00:16:26.41\00:16:30.29 what we were thinking... but it's like God said to me, 00:16:30.32\00:16:32.39 "You cannot call people out of Babylon, 00:16:32.42\00:16:34.99 if you are a part of Babylon yourself. " 00:16:35.02\00:16:37.56 Come on, come on... ... And that realization 00:16:37.59\00:16:40.90 I mean that was the beginning of actually both my brother and I 00:16:40.93\00:16:45.93 making a final decision to come out of the Industry... 00:16:45.97\00:16:49.20 That is what actually kicked it off... 00:16:49.24\00:16:52.04 Isn't that... that's that's amazing... 00:16:52.07\00:16:55.54 God knows exactly when to do that, 00:16:55.58\00:16:59.01 He is just so incredible... and I praise the Lord 00:16:59.05\00:17:02.78 that you obeyed and responded so you came out at that point 00:17:02.82\00:17:08.29 you and your brothers came out at that point 00:17:08.32\00:17:10.56 and what did your friends think? When you left, when you left 00:17:10.59\00:17:15.63 the music industry, what did they think? 00:17:15.66\00:17:17.23 Well, it was a process that led us to come out... I mean... 00:17:17.27\00:17:21.77 after I heard that, you know, I was still like, 00:17:21.80\00:17:24.74 yeah, but maybe He could use me in the Industry 00:17:24.77\00:17:27.61 and maybe I can be a blessing to others 00:17:27.64\00:17:29.71 by doing this... you know, I can reach people in here 00:17:29.74\00:17:34.25 that I couldn't reach out there, you know all the reasoning's 00:17:34.28\00:17:38.12 that would be typical of, you know, self-justification of 00:17:38.15\00:17:41.92 why I should stay in this Industry and make money... 00:17:41.96\00:17:44.09 Yes... ... and, you know, ultimately 00:17:44.13\00:17:48.66 through studying the Bible and especially studying the 00:17:48.70\00:17:51.90 Spirit of Prophecy and just 00:17:51.93\00:17:54.64 really praying... asking God, God what would you have me to do 00:17:54.67\00:17:57.47 you know, He showed me that light and darkness 00:17:57.51\00:18:01.28 cannot dwell together... and that if I am going to call 00:18:01.31\00:18:05.98 people out of something, out of error, out of darkness, 00:18:06.01\00:18:09.25 I had to come out of it myself, and He also showed me, 00:18:09.28\00:18:13.02 you know, Babylon will not and does not respect 00:18:13.05\00:18:17.29 and when I say Babylon, I use that term, you know, 00:18:17.33\00:18:21.46 in a world-wide sense... it does not respect 00:18:21.50\00:18:26.27 the kind of Christianity that compromises... 00:18:26.30\00:18:31.04 and so, you know, I am in the Industry and we are here 00:18:31.07\00:18:36.71 trying to talk about Jesus, but people are like, 00:18:36.75\00:18:38.68 "Yeah, but, you know, I know you're talking about Jesus, 00:18:38.71\00:18:41.08 but it's not really REAL because you're still here... 00:18:41.12\00:18:43.45 That is so true, and that's a point that we really need to 00:18:43.49\00:18:47.16 look at for a minute too because the fact that the world doesn't 00:18:47.19\00:18:52.66 really respect your still being in it... 00:18:52.69\00:18:56.87 Yeah... ... even if you are trying to 00:18:56.90\00:18:59.77 shine a light... shine THE light, 00:18:59.80\00:19:02.60 if you're still a part of it, you haven't made any sacrifices, 00:19:02.64\00:19:07.11 Yeah, yeah... ... you know, so you still want 00:19:07.14\00:19:09.08 what Babylon offers but you cloak it with spirituality, 00:19:09.11\00:19:13.78 Absolutely, absolutely... ... and people see through that 00:19:13.82\00:19:15.38 they see through that... Absolutely, yeah... 00:19:15.42\00:19:16.89 So once you came to that realization and accepted that 00:19:16.92\00:19:21.32 and then internalized it, what did you do? 00:19:21.36\00:19:23.39 Well, you know, I realized that I had to make some 00:19:23.43\00:19:26.86 serious changes... like the Lord said, 00:19:26.90\00:19:28.43 "You're going to follow me, you need to follow me... " 00:19:28.46\00:19:31.07 and, you know, that meant that I had to change 00:19:31.10\00:19:34.30 the way that I walked, because I walked with that limp, 00:19:34.34\00:19:37.01 you know, that street limp, I had to change the way that 00:19:37.04\00:19:39.67 I talked... you know, the slang that I used, 00:19:39.71\00:19:42.11 I mean, everything had to change about me so that people 00:19:42.14\00:19:45.95 could see that there was actual change going on within me... 00:19:45.98\00:19:49.75 and that I wasn't just talking but there were corresponding 00:19:49.78\00:19:53.82 fruits... and I'll tell you... it's easy to talk Christianity 00:19:53.86\00:19:57.86 because people in the Industry do it all the time... 00:19:57.89\00:20:01.36 it's another thing to actually pick up your cross 00:20:01.40\00:20:04.90 and follow Christ... and God... Absolutely... 00:20:04.93\00:20:07.84 When I made the decision to walk away from an almost 00:20:07.87\00:20:10.87 million dollar contract, which, you know, today it's nothing 00:20:10.91\00:20:14.18 but back then it was something.. especially for me... 00:20:14.21\00:20:16.61 a college kid that, you know, dropped out of college 00:20:16.64\00:20:19.45 to do this... when I made that decision to walk away... 00:20:19.48\00:20:22.95 that's when people were like... "OK, this guy is serious. " 00:20:22.98\00:20:26.42 Before then... people were like "Oh, yeah, you know, 00:20:26.45\00:20:28.82 we had an idea you were Christian," but they didn't 00:20:28.86\00:20:31.63 take me seriously... they didn't take me seriously... 00:20:31.66\00:20:34.36 they didn't take what I was saying too seriously... 00:20:34.36\00:20:36.80 When I did that.. people started listening... 00:20:36.83\00:20:40.57 and I remember God... I asked God... I was like... 00:20:40.60\00:20:44.24 "God, you know, if you take me from behind this microphone, 00:20:44.27\00:20:47.64 please put me behind another where I will be able to 00:20:47.68\00:20:50.71 reach people... " Because I just felt like, 00:20:50.75\00:20:53.15 you know, this is where the stage is at... 00:20:53.18\00:20:55.55 if I get rid of this stage, "What's going to happen? 00:20:55.58\00:20:57.82 How am I going to reach people?" and I made a decision to walk 00:20:57.85\00:21:01.26 away from the Industry... not thinking I am going to 00:21:01.29\00:21:04.26 be a pastor... like that wasn't on my radar at all, 00:21:04.29\00:21:07.83 because, I just wasn't thinking that, you know, 00:21:07.86\00:21:10.43 What does it take to be a pastor? you probably have to go 00:21:10.47\00:21:13.13 to school, I had no clue on what on it took to be a pastor, 00:21:13.17\00:21:16.67 so I dropped out of the Music, my brother and I actually went 00:21:16.71\00:21:20.18 to work at Target making... I think like $5.50 or $6 an hour 00:21:20.21\00:21:28.65 and my thought was just, "Well, maybe I'll work my way up 00:21:28.68\00:21:32.99 the Target ladder and, you know, eventually move from, you know, 00:21:33.02\00:21:37.09 unloading boxes to maybe being a Manager, like, you know, 00:21:37.13\00:21:40.76 that was just what I was thinking like, 00:21:40.80\00:21:42.23 I don't know what I'm going to do now, 00:21:42.26\00:21:43.83 but I am definitely not doing that... 00:21:43.87\00:21:45.37 and there were series of events, the Lord opened up the doors 00:21:45.40\00:21:49.60 and has given me an audience that, 00:21:49.64\00:21:54.31 you know, rivals and, I think, surpasses what I was doing 00:21:54.34\00:21:59.81 in the Music Industry... Look at God... and how He... 00:21:59.85\00:22:05.29 and I say this on Urban Report all the time, that God has a 00:22:05.32\00:22:09.76 divine plan for us and that if we seek Him and find out 00:22:09.79\00:22:14.13 "What is that plan, what is it that you want me to do... " 00:22:14.20\00:22:18.27 He will bless us beyond measure, and when you are walking in 00:22:18.30\00:22:22.40 that plan... there is nothing more fulfilling than that, 00:22:22.44\00:22:25.97 Absolutely... So you get a twofer... 00:22:26.01\00:22:27.71 you're being obedient, but you are also being blessed 00:22:27.74\00:22:31.11 because through being obedient, there are blessings beyond 00:22:31.15\00:22:35.65 measure... Yeah, yeah... 00:22:35.68\00:22:37.39 I remember, you know, that I had people... friends, family 00:22:37.42\00:22:43.06 saying, "What are you doing?" you know, you can have 00:22:43.09\00:22:45.76 such an influence if you just stayed in the Industry 00:22:45.79\00:22:48.70 and ministered that way... and, I was like, you know what? 00:22:48.73\00:22:53.50 you guys don't understand, like, you know, for me to do this, 00:22:53.54\00:22:58.24 is to lose my soul... you know, the preaching of the 00:22:58.27\00:23:03.21 three angels' message is so diametrically opposed to the 00:23:03.24\00:23:08.12 world that... the world will not give you an 00:23:08.15\00:23:12.39 avenue to really preach that message... 00:23:12.42\00:23:14.32 That's right... So if you are comfortable 00:23:14.36\00:23:16.29 in Hollywood, if you are comfortable 00:23:16.59\00:23:18.83 in the Industry and, you know, "Hey, I'm preaching the message" 00:23:18.86\00:23:23.06 but you're in the Industry, something's not right, 00:23:23.10\00:23:26.37 like, you can't be in a dark room... and the room be lit up 00:23:26.40\00:23:30.47 at the same time... Come on, come on now... 00:23:30.51\00:23:32.97 That doesn't happen, where there is light, 00:23:33.01\00:23:35.68 darkness is opposed to it, it hates it, 00:23:35.71\00:23:38.38 and, you know, I know, because, as I was in the Industry 00:23:38.41\00:23:43.59 and as I began to put in my lyrics... you know, 00:23:43.62\00:23:47.96 in my rhyming... things that were becoming too 00:23:47.99\00:23:52.23 spiritual... the Industry started saying something... 00:23:52.26\00:23:54.86 "Hey, calm down, now, you are getting a little bit too 00:23:54.93\00:23:57.53 spiritual... " and that's when I realized, 00:23:57.57\00:23:58.93 "You know what... Babylon will only allow you to 00:23:58.97\00:24:01.24 say so much and to do so much... " 00:24:01.27\00:24:03.77 That is so true... and I see it all the time, 00:24:03.81\00:24:07.44 you see it on the Grammy Awards, for example, 00:24:07.48\00:24:10.48 where if an artist says, "I want to thank God... " 00:24:10.51\00:24:13.55 everybody is cool... it's OK, you know, 00:24:13.58\00:24:15.78 you can call a tree God... and everybody goes... 00:24:15.82\00:24:19.12 "Oh, it's OK... " But if you say, "Jesus Christ" 00:24:19.15\00:24:22.42 Bam! there is... Jesus Christ is that... 00:24:22.46\00:24:25.79 that offence... to the world, Yeah, yeah... 00:24:25.83\00:24:29.13 and so... it's an amazing thing they don't... 00:24:29.16\00:24:33.20 be a little spiritual... but don't be too spiritual, 00:24:33.23\00:24:36.94 and certainly, don't profess to be Christian and to live by 00:24:36.97\00:24:40.78 the Bible... then you're really looked at as "Strange" 00:24:40.81\00:24:44.18 Absolutely... and as Adventists, you know, 00:24:44.21\00:24:47.18 we have a very specific message, Yes... 00:24:47.22\00:24:50.09 and you cannot preach that message... share that message, 00:24:50.12\00:24:54.79 you know... some people talk about Daniel, 00:24:54.82\00:24:56.16 how Daniel was in Babylon but he was still a witness, 00:24:56.19\00:24:59.09 you know, a couple of things Daniel was there by force... 00:24:59.13\00:25:01.83 not by choice... he was taken captive... 00:25:01.86\00:25:05.47 and Daniel's... you can see how the Babylonians 00:25:05.50\00:25:09.10 treated Daniel... just look... they threw him 00:25:09.14\00:25:12.07 in the Lion's Den... they tried to get him to stop 00:25:12.11\00:25:15.08 doing... in other words, 00:25:15.11\00:25:16.08 they did not like... they didn't praise Daniel 00:25:16.11\00:25:19.05 in any way, shape or form, because of what he stood for... 00:25:19.08\00:25:22.58 they hated him, they wanted to get rid of him... 00:25:22.62\00:25:25.12 That's right... They did not embrace him... 00:25:25.15\00:25:27.56 and Daniel was such a powerful witness in Babylon, 00:25:27.59\00:25:31.39 against his will of being captive there... 00:25:31.43\00:25:34.03 he actually converted the King of Babylon... 00:25:34.10\00:25:39.07 Isn't that awesome? So, I mean, if, if, yeah, 00:25:39.10\00:25:44.07 if we are actually doing what God's wanting us to do, 00:25:44.11\00:25:47.44 then, there's going to be conversions taking place, 00:25:47.48\00:25:50.78 and you're not going to be liked you're going to be persecuted, 00:25:50.81\00:25:55.92 and not embraced and so... I realized that, you know, 00:25:55.95\00:26:00.26 the Lord did not want me to voluntarily put myself 00:26:00.29\00:26:03.76 in Babylon... in that Industry and He called me out 00:26:03.79\00:26:07.23 and has, I believe, blessed my ministry, 00:26:07.30\00:26:13.00 which I didn't even know I was going to have, 00:26:13.03\00:26:15.17 but He blessed that ministry, above and beyond what I could 00:26:15.20\00:26:20.21 have possibly imagined... He would have done for me. 00:26:20.24\00:26:23.11 Praise the Lord... Praise the Lord... 00:26:23.14\00:26:25.88 Tell us briefly, because we only have about a minute... 00:26:25.91\00:26:28.28 Wow! 00:26:28.32\00:26:29.32 Tell us... I know... the time has just flown by... 00:26:29.35\00:26:31.45 there's so much more I could ask you, 00:26:31.49\00:26:32.95 but, tell us about... I keep getting it confused, 00:26:32.99\00:26:35.62 Bible Arme Camp or Arme Bible Camp? 00:26:35.66\00:26:37.99 Arme Bible Camp... What is that? 00:26:38.03\00:26:40.26 Arme Bible Camp is one of the ministries that God has 00:26:40.30\00:26:43.60 blessed me with... and has given me a team 00:26:43.63\00:26:49.44 of people that have pulled this together, essentially, that 00:26:49.47\00:26:53.54 that the ministry is about teaching people how to get 00:26:53.58\00:26:56.95 into the Word of God for themselves... 00:26:56.98\00:26:59.31 how to get into the deeper things of the Bible... 00:26:59.35\00:27:01.78 and how to equip themselves and arm themselves... 00:27:01.82\00:27:04.19 hence the name: Arm Me... Oh... Arm Me... 00:27:04.22\00:27:08.66 Absolutely... Oh, thank you... 00:27:08.69\00:27:11.66 And we've traveled around the world and we put on camps 00:27:11.69\00:27:13.83 around the world so... that's what we are... 00:27:13.86\00:27:15.96 we are a traveling school... teaching people how to be 00:27:16.00\00:27:18.53 armed with the Word of God... That's incredible... 00:27:18.57\00:27:21.14 that's incredible... Thank you so much for being with 00:27:21.17\00:27:23.71 us today... You are such a blessing... 00:27:23.74\00:27:26.14 Thank you Yvonne, thank you for having me and 00:27:26.17\00:27:28.48 I wish we could have had more time to talk but praise God... 00:27:28.51\00:27:32.95 Praise God... and so when you come to 3abn 00:27:32.98\00:27:36.22 to do some more taping, you have to let me interview you 00:27:36.25\00:27:39.45 in person again... Absolutely... 00:27:39.49\00:27:41.39 Praise the Lord... Thank you... 00:27:41.42\00:27:43.22 Thank you... Well, once again, our time has 00:27:43.26\00:27:46.23 slipped away from us... where does it go? 00:27:46.26\00:27:48.86 Thanks so much for tuning in... Join us next time... 00:27:48.90\00:27:52.10 You know, we really, really, really want to bring you 00:27:52.13\00:27:55.70 programs that will bless you... so join us next time... 00:27:55.74\00:27:59.27 because... it just wouldn't be the same without you... 00:27:59.31\00:28:02.88