Stay tuned to meet a young man that by the power of God 00:00:01.06\00:00:03.68 turned his passion into purity. 00:00:03.71\00:00:05.54 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching 00:00:05.58\00:00:08.15 Urban Report... 00:00:08.19\00:00:09.27 Hello and welcome to Urban Report... 00:00:31.69\00:00:34.09 My guest today is Jacques Laguerre 00:00:34.12\00:00:36.72 Founder and CEO of Genesis of Purity 00:00:36.75\00:00:39.28 a Program that helps others to practice sexual purity... 00:00:39.31\00:00:42.87 Welcome to Urban Report Jacques... 00:00:42.91\00:00:45.62 Thank you for having me Dr. Lewis... 00:00:45.66\00:00:48.28 Oh, it's great to have you here and feel free to call me Yvonne. 00:00:48.31\00:00:51.51 So, Jacques, give us a little bit of background 00:00:51.54\00:00:55.40 I just want to let our Viewers know that 00:00:55.43\00:00:58.91 I had heard about your testimony 00:00:58.94\00:01:01.78 through our mutual friend, Mike Carducci, 00:01:01.81\00:01:04.77 who is with 'Coming Out' Ministries 00:01:04.81\00:01:06.47 and he said, "You have to hear 00:01:06.50\00:01:08.82 Jacques Laguerre... you need to meet him... " 00:01:08.86\00:01:10.65 and he and his ministry did some work on 00:01:10.69\00:01:14.53 "Pure Choices" 00:01:14.57\00:01:16.40 and... so he said, "You need to have him on the Program... " 00:01:16.43\00:01:20.09 so, I thought, "Wow, I need to have him 00:01:20.13\00:01:21.80 on Urban Report as well... " 00:01:21.83\00:01:23.29 so, I'm so glad that you're with us... 00:01:23.32\00:01:25.23 thank you so much for being with us... 00:01:25.27\00:01:27.15 Thank you for having me... 00:01:27.18\00:01:29.40 So, give us a little bit about your background... 00:01:29.43\00:01:31.85 tell us a little bit about where you came from... 00:01:31.88\00:01:34.23 I'm the third and last child of a Seventh-day Adventist Pastor 00:01:34.27\00:01:40.45 he's been a pastor for about 35 years now... 00:01:40.49\00:01:43.86 You're a PK... Pastor's Kid... 00:01:43.89\00:01:45.63 PK, yeah, that's me... 00:01:45.67\00:01:47.16 Okay, and where did you grow up? 00:01:47.19\00:01:51.44 I grew up actually in 00:01:51.48\00:01:54.11 Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 00:01:54.14\00:01:56.07 in that area, you know, because my dad... being a pastor 00:01:56.11\00:01:59.48 kind of... moving churches... around... in those two states... 00:01:59.52\00:02:02.62 I think that people don't really understand 00:02:02.65\00:02:06.67 the demands on a pastor's child 00:02:06.71\00:02:10.30 or the pastor's family... the wife... the children... 00:02:10.33\00:02:13.46 I mean, it's got to be so difficult... 00:02:13.50\00:02:15.99 moving from place to place and meeting new people 00:02:16.02\00:02:19.47 tell us some of the challenges that you have as a PK... 00:02:19.51\00:02:22.25 I'd say, the moving around... it wasn't too bad... 00:02:22.29\00:02:28.59 for me personally... just because I had... 00:02:28.62\00:02:31.16 I didn't really have trouble making friends... 00:02:31.20\00:02:33.67 but I'd say the hardest part about being a pastor's kid 00:02:33.70\00:02:36.55 is the expectation... 00:02:36.59\00:02:37.74 you don't expect a doctor's kid to know how to perform surgery 00:02:37.77\00:02:43.01 but for some reason... people expect pastors' kids 00:02:43.05\00:02:46.05 to be perfect children that do everything in accordance 00:02:46.08\00:02:51.20 with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy... 00:02:51.24\00:02:52.54 and so, very early on... I felt like I had to choose... 00:02:52.58\00:02:56.30 whether I want to serve God fully... 00:02:56.33\00:02:58.56 or whether I wanted to live up to the stereotype of 00:02:58.60\00:03:01.29 "Pastors' kids are the worst". 00:03:01.32\00:03:02.79 Wow! that's an interesting place to be... 00:03:02.83\00:03:06.22 if you have to make a choice as to 00:03:06.26\00:03:08.43 whether you want to invest yourself totally into 00:03:08.46\00:03:12.30 the stereotype or into what God would have you do... 00:03:12.34\00:03:16.14 correct? Hmmm... hmmm... yes, yes, yes... 00:03:16.17\00:03:18.14 What did you decide? 00:03:18.18\00:03:19.38 Well, early on, I decided wrongly... 00:03:19.41\00:03:22.94 and I definitely fell to the stereotype of pastors' kids 00:03:22.97\00:03:27.15 being rebellious and not wanting to conform 00:03:27.19\00:03:31.01 to the Word of God... and so, I kind of chose 00:03:31.05\00:03:34.80 the path more frequently traveled by pastors' kids... 00:03:34.84\00:03:39.31 So, tell us what happened in your life... 00:03:39.35\00:03:44.07 how did you go from being that PK 00:03:44.11\00:03:47.29 and trying to do the right thing even though you were 00:03:47.33\00:03:51.16 kind of going to the "left" it sounds like... 00:03:51.20\00:03:54.53 how did you end up really falling into sin? 00:03:54.57\00:03:57.87 Well, it started when I was about 10 years old, actually, 00:03:57.91\00:04:05.87 and I was exposed to some explicit material 00:04:05.91\00:04:10.10 on the computer... 00:04:10.14\00:04:11.91 and I don't really remember 00:04:11.95\00:04:14.30 where my parents were... or where my family was... 00:04:14.34\00:04:16.39 our computer was in the main room 00:04:16.42\00:04:18.53 it was in the family room... 00:04:18.57\00:04:19.67 but while I was just surfing the internet... I came across 00:04:19.70\00:04:23.89 nothing that would incite any sort of 00:04:23.93\00:04:28.53 concern by most people... 00:04:28.56\00:04:31.15 it was just a woman in a bikini... 00:04:31.19\00:04:32.51 and to a 10-year-old mind... it just... 00:04:32.55\00:04:34.59 my mind just gravitated to that image... 00:04:34.62\00:04:36.60 and so, from there, I then got introduced to pornography 00:04:36.63\00:04:42.05 by my friend... we went over to his house 00:04:42.08\00:04:44.79 to work on a project... 00:04:44.82\00:04:45.85 and that was kind of the catalyst that began 00:04:45.89\00:04:48.76 my slide into sin... sexual sin to be more specific. 00:04:48.80\00:04:52.50 So, you were about 10... when... 00:04:52.54\00:04:56.14 when it started... 00:04:56.17\00:04:57.36 Yes, yes, I was around 10 years old... 00:04:57.40\00:05:00.74 You know, it's interesting Jacques because 00:05:00.77\00:05:03.81 so often, we as parents aren't monitoring... 00:05:03.84\00:05:06.60 and this is not an indictment of your parents, 00:05:06.64\00:05:08.51 I'm saying... in general... 00:05:08.55\00:05:09.74 we often don't know 00:05:09.78\00:05:11.50 what our children are looking at on the computer... 00:05:11.54\00:05:14.11 we kind of let them go and play on the computer 00:05:14.14\00:05:16.68 and we think that everything is all good... 00:05:16.72\00:05:19.30 Hmmm... hmmm... but there are so many images 00:05:19.34\00:05:21.86 that, as you just stated, it was just a woman in a bikini 00:05:21.89\00:05:25.89 which by all intents and purposes 00:05:25.92\00:05:28.90 maybe might not have stimulated someone else... but for you... 00:05:28.94\00:05:31.88 it was the beginning of that descent... 00:05:31.91\00:05:34.30 It was the beginning... hmmm... hmmm... 00:05:34.33\00:05:36.69 so, my point is that... as parents 00:05:36.72\00:05:40.36 we have to really monitor our children 00:05:40.39\00:05:43.86 and really make sure that... 00:05:43.90\00:05:45.54 maybe put some safeguards on the computer or something 00:05:45.58\00:05:48.94 that kind of avoid these forays into pornography 00:05:48.97\00:05:53.49 because it happens and it happens gradually... 00:05:53.52\00:05:58.01 and it happens insidiously 00:05:58.04\00:06:00.02 and then our children are hung up with images 00:06:00.06\00:06:03.40 that they cannot get rid of... 00:06:03.44\00:06:05.00 I guess the interesting thing about protecting the children is 00:06:05.03\00:06:12.64 that... they've done studies where they've shown 00:06:12.67\00:06:15.35 grown men above the age of 25... 00:06:15.39\00:06:17.43 that had never been exposed to pornography... 00:06:17.47\00:06:19.37 sexually, explicit material... and they were disgusted by it... 00:06:19.41\00:06:23.53 and so there's something that happens with the brain 00:06:23.57\00:06:26.25 that... during your childhood years 00:06:26.29\00:06:28.45 when your brain is still forming you see pornography... 00:06:28.49\00:06:31.45 and it's instantly addictive... 00:06:31.48\00:06:33.06 but if you've had the chance to develop mentally, 00:06:33.10\00:06:36.39 spiritually and cognitively... 00:06:36.42\00:06:37.73 then, even if you're exposed to it later on in life... 00:06:37.76\00:06:40.77 it's not going to take you by surprise... 00:06:40.80\00:06:42.46 you're going to be disgusted by it... 00:06:42.49\00:06:44.12 That's a very interesting point, 00:06:44.15\00:06:47.66 so the young mind that's not fully formed yet... 00:06:47.70\00:06:51.39 is much more susceptible to the impact of it... 00:06:51.43\00:06:55.09 than the adult mind that can say... 00:06:55.12\00:06:58.18 "Oh, this is disgusting... " Hmmm... hmmm... 00:06:58.21\00:07:00.89 that's a very interesting point, 00:07:00.92\00:07:02.53 that's one of the reasons why 00:07:02.56\00:07:04.02 using Marijuana in the teen years 00:07:04.05\00:07:07.67 also is so detrimental because the frontal lobes 00:07:07.70\00:07:10.99 just aren't fully developed yet 00:07:11.03\00:07:13.16 the frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed 00:07:13.19\00:07:15.45 and all kinds of problems ensue... 00:07:15.48\00:07:19.14 so, it's really important to guard the avenues of the soul 00:07:19.17\00:07:25.42 basically... because if we don't all these images and things 00:07:25.45\00:07:31.67 really can take control of the young mind... 00:07:31.70\00:07:34.71 and the older mind too... but the young mind particularly. 00:07:34.74\00:07:38.16 So, you found yourself with your friend... 00:07:38.20\00:07:42.84 you got into pornography, and how old were you... 00:07:42.87\00:07:46.71 when you really were at your peak of addiction 00:07:46.74\00:07:50.55 with pornography? 00:07:50.58\00:07:51.64 Well, I can't really say that that there was a peak 00:07:51.68\00:07:57.95 just because of the nature of any addiction... 00:07:57.98\00:08:00.04 it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse... 00:08:00.07\00:08:01.81 and so, I'd say I was at my peak in my 20s... 00:08:01.85\00:08:05.84 by this time I had been watching pornography for over a decade 00:08:05.88\00:08:10.63 and so, just like with any other of drug... you need something 00:08:10.66\00:08:15.37 we need more usage... and just need things 00:08:15.41\00:08:19.39 that are a little less conventional 00:08:19.42\00:08:21.15 to get the same response... physically and mentally 00:08:21.18\00:08:24.64 and so, I'd say, 00:08:24.67\00:08:26.16 right before I gave my life to Christ 00:08:26.20\00:08:27.80 it was my midnight hour... 00:08:27.84\00:08:29.45 I could see the effects of pornography 00:08:29.49\00:08:34.53 killing me in ways that I could not... when I just began. 00:08:34.57\00:08:37.39 Such as... unpack it a little bit for us... 00:08:37.43\00:08:41.97 To unpack it a little bit... just... 00:08:42.00\00:08:43.75 my view of women in general 00:08:43.78\00:08:47.39 my idea for why God created sex 00:08:47.42\00:08:51.00 because I think we forget that sometimes 00:08:51.03\00:08:53.03 that pornography and all these things are just the perversion 00:08:53.07\00:08:56.53 of something beautiful that God created... and so, 00:08:56.56\00:08:58.96 I had been so educated by pornography and by the media 00:08:59.00\00:09:05.35 and by the music that I didn't even really understand 00:09:05.38\00:09:08.56 God's beautiful, initial intention for sex... 00:09:08.60\00:09:11.70 I couldn't really connect 00:09:11.73\00:09:14.32 with people because you're always hiding something 00:09:14.36\00:09:17.91 so you really can't be open, you can't be honest, 00:09:17.94\00:09:20.51 I could never have a relationship with a woman 00:09:20.55\00:09:23.04 I had tried several times but things just kind of collapsed 00:09:23.08\00:09:26.80 just because I wasn't emotionally available... 00:09:26.84\00:09:30.61 I wasn't all there... 00:09:30.65\00:09:31.73 it was just killing me emotionally... 00:09:31.77\00:09:35.09 and like I said, 00:09:35.12\00:09:36.74 I couldn't see that "beginning" because I had just begun 00:09:36.78\00:09:40.07 but as I had continued to indulge, indulge, indulge... 00:09:40.10\00:09:42.73 and to put things into my brain 00:09:42.77\00:09:46.56 that were more bizarre and more crazy 00:09:46.60\00:09:48.95 it began to change me a lot more 00:09:48.99\00:09:51.27 and I was beginning to see the effects... 00:09:51.30\00:09:52.90 To me, it's so fascinating how the enemy works... 00:09:52.94\00:09:59.33 he starts you off with one little picture 00:09:59.37\00:10:02.19 and then... there's this... just downward spiral 00:10:02.23\00:10:06.89 you take in more and more and more... 00:10:06.93\00:10:10.96 and it's more depravity 00:10:11.00\00:10:14.00 just consistently going downward that's his plan... 00:10:14.04\00:10:18.70 just as God has a plan to prosper us 00:10:18.74\00:10:21.05 and to give us a future and a hope... 00:10:21.08\00:10:23.28 Satan's plan is to destroy us and to use our weaknesses 00:10:23.32\00:10:27.51 against us... so, he started with you 00:10:27.54\00:10:31.14 with that one image and then, 00:10:31.17\00:10:32.51 little by little over time you found that you were just 00:10:32.55\00:10:37.80 being more and more drawn to it 00:10:37.83\00:10:39.48 and it was changing your perception of women, 00:10:39.51\00:10:42.91 changing your perception of sex... 00:10:42.95\00:10:45.12 because sex is a holy thing when in the context of marriage 00:10:45.15\00:10:49.56 It is... 00:10:49.60\00:10:50.71 but outside of the context of marriage... 00:10:50.75\00:10:52.31 it's not meant to be outside of the context of marriage 00:10:52.34\00:10:57.23 so it's amazing to me how the enemy just chips away 00:10:57.26\00:11:01.96 chips away at you... and finds ways to draw you into 00:11:01.99\00:11:06.57 further away from God and isolate you 00:11:06.61\00:11:11.67 because it sounds to me as though you became 00:11:11.71\00:11:14.23 rather isolated... 00:11:14.27\00:11:15.40 were you introverted as a result of the addiction? 00:11:15.43\00:11:17.98 Well, I'm naturally introverted. Okay... 00:11:18.02\00:11:22.00 And so the pornography addiction 00:11:22.04\00:11:25.94 made it that much worse 00:11:25.97\00:11:27.71 we can read in an amazing book I had a chance to read... 00:11:27.74\00:11:31.35 on the psychological effects of pornography... 00:11:31.38\00:11:33.43 "Wired for Intimacy" 00:11:33.46\00:11:34.81 that pornography is even that much more dangerous 00:11:34.84\00:11:38.37 for people that are highly introverted... like myself 00:11:38.41\00:11:40.78 because naturally you don't like putting yourself out there 00:11:40.81\00:11:44.09 for the awkwardness... 00:11:44.13\00:11:46.44 sometimes the nervousness of meeting women in real life 00:11:46.47\00:11:49.74 and so pornography even attaches to your brain even more 00:11:49.78\00:11:53.02 and it's some place where you feel safe... 00:11:53.05\00:11:56.01 secure... even though it's a false "safe" 00:11:56.04\00:11:58.97 it's a false security... 00:11:59.01\00:12:00.09 that's something that kind of draws... 00:12:00.13\00:12:03.03 kind of draws at your personality a little bit more 00:12:03.06\00:12:07.57 than someone who is highly extroverted... 00:12:07.60\00:12:09.47 That's very interesting... you also mentioned the music... 00:12:09.50\00:12:15.06 the music also was having a detrimental effect on you... 00:12:15.10\00:12:20.84 tell us a little bit about that... 00:12:20.87\00:12:22.20 what kind of music were you listening to? 00:12:22.24\00:12:23.89 Well, some of my friends have called me a "cosmopolin" 00:12:23.92\00:12:29.13 I don't feel bound by culture, by nationality, 00:12:29.17\00:12:32.91 by skin color or by anything... and so, I like all music... 00:12:32.94\00:12:36.12 I used to listened to hip hop... 00:12:36.16\00:12:38.96 R and B... I used to listened to Salsa... 00:12:39.00\00:12:40.93 Merengue... I used to listen to some Country 00:12:40.96\00:12:42.90 I used to listen to Techno... 00:12:42.93\00:12:44.72 I used to listen to music across all genres... 00:12:44.76\00:12:48.33 and the theme of a woman being an object... 00:12:48.36\00:12:51.42 even though it might be presented 00:12:51.45\00:12:53.23 a little bit more harshly... in hip hop and R and B 00:12:53.26\00:12:56.81 and things of that nature... the image that God has for women 00:12:56.84\00:13:03.65 is not present in any of those genres... 00:13:03.68\00:13:06.18 if you to listen to them... 00:13:06.21\00:13:07.28 and so I was just getting different doses of sin... 00:13:07.32\00:13:09.91 depending on what genre I decided to listen to... 00:13:09.94\00:13:12.46 and you know, the lyrics, the way that women are presented 00:13:12.49\00:13:18.96 just the words that are used to describe them... 00:13:18.99\00:13:21.10 it's just not something that was holy and uplifting... 00:13:21.14\00:13:25.56 and even if the song wasn't degrading 00:13:25.60\00:13:27.77 and it was just presenting sex in a beautiful light... 00:13:27.80\00:13:30.39 that's not something that I needed to be hearing 00:13:30.53\00:13:32.83 as a single man... a teenager... with my hormones raging... 00:13:32.86\00:13:37.49 I didn't need to throw any gasoline... on a fire... 00:13:37.53\00:13:39.87 so that's why I've kind of had to cut 00:13:39.91\00:13:43.25 all that music out of my life... when I gave my life to Christ 00:13:43.28\00:13:46.95 He gave me the power to do it because, if I had held on... 00:13:46.99\00:13:50.62 to that music... 00:13:50.66\00:13:52.30 and I'm trying to search the Bible... 00:13:52.34\00:13:54.99 I'm trying to search the Spirit of Prophecy... 00:13:55.03\00:13:57.24 I would have been pulled in two directions... 00:13:57.27\00:14:00.29 and usually when someone is having that fight 00:14:00.32\00:14:03.27 where they are feeling both the Spirit and the flesh 00:14:03.30\00:14:06.42 the flesh tends to win 00:14:06.46\00:14:07.79 because that's our natural disposition... 00:14:07.83\00:14:09.31 That's right... And so God... God has shown me 00:14:09.34\00:14:12.92 in numerous ways... whether it was... 00:14:12.96\00:14:15.29 watching sermons on audioverse 00:14:15.32\00:14:17.71 or YouTube or whether I was watching something on 3ABN 00:14:17.74\00:14:20.91 that everything had to pass the 00:14:20.95\00:14:24.23 Philippians 4 verse 8 test... if it's not pure... 00:14:24.27\00:14:26.42 if it's not true... if it's not holy... 00:14:26.45\00:14:27.89 if it's not bringing me closer to Christ... 00:14:27.92\00:14:30.24 then it had to go... 00:14:30.27\00:14:32.41 and that's a decision I had to make... 00:14:32.44\00:14:33.83 it was a hard one... and the devil definitely knew 00:14:33.87\00:14:37.67 what he was doing... because one week, I believe, 00:14:37.70\00:14:41.46 after I decided to make that commitment... 00:14:41.50\00:14:43.55 one of my favorite artists came out... with his new album... 00:14:43.58\00:14:47.55 I had been waiting for... for over 6 months... 00:14:47.58\00:14:50.38 and so, I had to make a decision... one weekend... 00:14:50.42\00:14:53.14 whether I'd make an exception for an artist that I appreciated 00:14:53.18\00:14:56.66 and luckily... Christ gave me the strength... 00:14:56.69\00:14:59.92 to not download that album 00:14:59.95\00:15:02.76 and that was one of the best decisions 00:15:02.79\00:15:05.02 that I've ever made... and I've never looked back... 00:15:05.06\00:15:07.02 Amen... that is awesome... 00:15:07.06\00:15:09.85 What was it that made you decide to come to Christ... 00:15:09.88\00:15:15.82 to turn your life over to Him... 00:15:15.85\00:15:17.77 what happened in your life that made you... 00:15:17.80\00:15:20.76 that influenced you... in making that decision? 00:15:20.79\00:15:23.72 Well, that's kind of a 00:15:23.75\00:15:25.63 complicated question... 00:15:25.67\00:15:27.49 I may have to back up a couple of years... 00:15:27.52\00:15:29.25 if that's okay... Sure... sure... 00:15:29.29\00:15:33.00 So I spent 2 years at Andrews... 00:15:33.04\00:15:36.69 and I did relatively okay scholastically... 00:15:36.72\00:15:40.05 I didn't get the grades that I could have gotten... 00:15:40.08\00:15:42.35 because I was distracted... you know... 00:15:42.39\00:15:44.10 by sexual sin and by alcohol... 00:15:44.13\00:15:47.75 and by... a good time... 00:15:47.78\00:15:49.19 I heard about Marijuana that's when I got introduced to 00:15:49.22\00:15:52.03 to Marijuana and Tobacco and all these different things... 00:15:52.07\00:15:54.69 but I didn't do that terribly 00:15:54.73\00:15:58.05 that I could see the effect that it had... on my life... 00:15:58.09\00:15:59.84 it was only when I transferred to another Adventist Institution 00:15:59.87\00:16:04.39 where I didn't know anyone because my friends... 00:16:04.43\00:16:07.03 I had a really good group of friends... at Andrews... 00:16:07.06\00:16:10.25 that were really spiritual... 00:16:10.28\00:16:12.50 and so they kind of kept me in line... 00:16:12.54\00:16:14.89 but I hung out behind closed doors 00:16:14.93\00:16:17.24 with a bad crowd as well... 00:16:17.28\00:16:18.67 and so, my good friends kind of kept me at bay... 00:16:18.70\00:16:23.64 but when I transferred to Southern... 00:16:23.67\00:16:26.03 I didn't know anyone there... 00:16:26.06\00:16:27.11 and so, I just met all the other rebels 00:16:27.15\00:16:29.68 that were upset that they had to be at an Adventist School 00:16:29.72\00:16:32.74 and I got into so many different things at Southern... 00:16:32.78\00:16:35.77 because of my lifestyle... 00:16:35.80\00:16:37.73 I was arrested twice that semester... 00:16:37.77\00:16:41.03 I failed every single class... 00:16:41.06\00:16:43.95 except for Snowboarding, I believe... 00:16:43.98\00:16:46.66 and Horseback Riding... 00:16:46.69\00:16:48.65 That's not funny but... 00:16:48.68\00:16:50.57 I'm sure your parents didn't send you to Southern 00:16:50.61\00:16:54.11 for Snowboarding and Horseback Riding alone... 00:16:54.15\00:16:56.91 No, that's not what they sent me for at all... 00:16:56.94\00:17:00.38 I was just being bad... yeah, yeah, yeah... 00:17:00.41\00:17:03.78 I can laugh about it now, I can laugh about it now... 00:17:03.81\00:17:06.94 Yeah... And so after all that... 00:17:06.98\00:17:10.19 I then decided... 00:17:10.23\00:17:12.62 after Southern asked me not to come back... 00:17:12.66\00:17:14.48 because I failed about every single class like I said earlier 00:17:14.52\00:17:17.15 I decided to join the army... 00:17:17.18\00:17:19.69 and so I enlisted in the United States Army 00:17:19.73\00:17:23.38 and I joined on November 16, 2011... 00:17:23.41\00:17:27.12 and so, I was... you know, 00:17:27.16\00:17:29.86 I was just living the typical life... 00:17:29.89\00:17:31.86 and the things that made me a rebel... 00:17:31.89\00:17:33.62 at Andrews and Southern... just made me normal in the army 00:17:33.66\00:17:38.23 I was now a small fish in a big pond... 00:17:38.27\00:17:42.26 where the latter had been true at an Adventist Institution... 00:17:42.29\00:17:46.26 and so, I began to even get further and further into sin... 00:17:46.29\00:17:50.71 more alcohol, pornography was something that was joked about 00:17:50.74\00:17:54.80 in the Adventist culture at both Schools... 00:17:54.84\00:17:57.58 it wasn't something that you would talk about 00:17:57.62\00:18:00.29 even though you knew your friends might be watching it... 00:18:00.32\00:18:02.95 sometimes, you might find something on the computer 00:18:02.99\00:18:05.76 and you would just have to close it... 00:18:05.79\00:18:07.52 so that you guys wouldn't have to have the awkward conversation 00:18:07.56\00:18:10.73 but in the Military... I was Combat Arms... 00:18:10.76\00:18:14.54 and so there were no females... 00:18:14.58\00:18:16.05 it was just a male-dominated culture 00:18:16.08\00:18:18.40 and so people would joke about pornography 00:18:18.44\00:18:20.69 and all these different things, sleeping around and alcohol... 00:18:20.72\00:18:23.67 and drug use... 00:18:23.70\00:18:24.92 and so I got even deeper into that lifestyle 00:18:24.96\00:18:27.50 even to the point where I began soliciting prostitutes 00:18:27.54\00:18:31.11 and all these different things were going on in my life 00:18:31.15\00:18:34.74 and I just kind of saw as a 00:18:34.77\00:18:36.71 natural progression of growing up... 00:18:36.75\00:18:38.34 but the devil was roping me in more and more and more... 00:18:38.37\00:18:42.54 and so, it was kind of looking back 00:18:42.57\00:18:45.35 and seeing how I had destroyed my life 00:18:45.38\00:18:48.13 and how far I had gone... 00:18:48.17\00:18:49.90 but there was one night in particular 00:18:49.93\00:18:53.40 that kind of awakened me to my spiritual lethargy 00:18:53.44\00:18:57.00 it was the Super Bowl I think 2012... 00:18:57.03\00:19:01.36 and my friend... we had been at his house 00:19:01.40\00:19:04.81 we were all drinking... 00:19:04.84\00:19:05.95 we were all having, what we thought, was a good time 00:19:05.98\00:19:09.10 and my friend's wife... after the Super Bowl was over... 00:19:09.14\00:19:12.16 she asked that we play a game, 00:19:12.19\00:19:15.16 and we had been, you know, drinking a lot of alcohol 00:19:15.19\00:19:18.31 and just finding 00:19:18.35\00:19:20.29 interesting ways to destroy our bodies with alcohol 00:19:20.33\00:19:23.06 and so I thought that she was going to come up with some new 00:19:23.10\00:19:27.40 innovative way... to drink... 00:19:27.43\00:19:29.64 and she suggested that we play a game 00:19:29.68\00:19:31.96 where you conjure up a spirit... 00:19:31.99\00:19:35.08 Wow! and, yes, yes, yes... and 00:19:35.11\00:19:38.25 up unto this point, like I told you earlier, 00:19:38.29\00:19:40.24 I had done a lot of things that I knew to be wrong... 00:19:40.28\00:19:43.49 I might not be able to quote a verse... 00:19:43.52\00:19:47.84 but I knew it was wrong... 00:19:47.88\00:19:48.95 but me being from a Haitian background... 00:19:48.99\00:19:52.09 I was very familiar with... with occult 00:19:52.13\00:19:55.33 and my father tells me stories 00:19:55.36\00:19:56.92 about different voodoo priests 00:19:56.95\00:19:58.59 in Haiti and all these different things... 00:19:58.63\00:20:00.18 and so, when she said that... 00:20:00.22\00:20:02.38 I kind of got serious really quickly... 00:20:02.42\00:20:04.55 and my friend who I hung out with all the time... 00:20:04.59\00:20:08.87 because we were really close, 00:20:08.90\00:20:10.27 he had never seen me take a moral stand on anything... 00:20:10.30\00:20:14.15 and so, when he saw that... he started talking to me 00:20:14.19\00:20:18.17 and I began to tell him certain texts that Adventists... 00:20:18.20\00:20:22.15 we love to use... like, 00:20:22.19\00:20:23.40 "The living know that they shall die but the dead know nothing" 00:20:23.44\00:20:26.15 and I began to tell him, 00:20:26.19\00:20:28.00 "Don't you know what she's trying to do... 00:20:28.03\00:20:29.58 she's trying to invite demons" 00:20:29.61\00:20:31.11 and I started telling him that there are angels 00:20:31.14\00:20:34.31 and the great controversy 00:20:34.35\00:20:35.67 and this is all while I'm drunk, mind you, 00:20:35.71\00:20:38.24 looks like... Proverbs knew what it was talking about... 00:20:38.28\00:20:40.90 when it said, "Train up a child in the way he should go: 00:20:40.93\00:20:43.26 and when he is old, he will not depart from it" 00:20:43.30\00:20:44.41 Yes... and so I began to explain to him 00:20:44.45\00:20:46.17 the great controversy and all these different things 00:20:46.21\00:20:49.68 and I was supposed to sleep at that house... 00:20:49.72\00:20:51.61 she brought it up again, and again, and again... 00:20:51.65\00:20:54.88 she brought it up 3 times, 00:20:54.91\00:20:56.00 and eventually, she looked at the clock 00:20:56.04\00:20:58.20 and the time that you had to start the game had passed... 00:20:58.23\00:21:01.36 and so, she kind of dropped it, 00:21:01.40\00:21:03.00 and so we stayed up for a little bit longer... 00:21:03.04\00:21:05.62 and then, everybody goes to sleep... 00:21:05.66\00:21:08.90 now, I had been in the Military for over a year, at this point, 00:21:08.93\00:21:13.52 and I had slept in so many different places... 00:21:13.56\00:21:15.85 I have slept in the beds of trucks... 00:21:15.88\00:21:20.01 I've slept in parking lots... I've slept in dirt holes... 00:21:20.04\00:21:23.36 I've slept everywhere... 00:21:23.40\00:21:24.90 and now, I'm on a really nice soft couch and I can't sleep... 00:21:24.94\00:21:31.86 and I felt like... someone was watching me... 00:21:31.90\00:21:34.85 or something was watching me, and so, that night, 00:21:34.88\00:21:40.33 I just decided to take my chances 00:21:40.37\00:21:42.58 and just drive back to my barracks room... 00:21:42.61\00:21:44.60 and from there... 00:21:44.63\00:21:46.53 my brother... he sent me the link 00:21:46.56\00:21:48.75 to Roger Morneau's documentary, "A Trip into the Supernatural" 00:21:48.79\00:21:52.58 and after watching that documentary... 00:21:52.62\00:21:55.37 I think it was maybe an hour and a half or two hours 00:21:55.41\00:21:57.81 the spiritual world and 00:21:57.84\00:22:00.96 my passions became really, really apparent... 00:22:01.00\00:22:04.67 and that's when the Holy Spirit started to reach me... 00:22:04.70\00:22:06.99 and so, a couple of days later, 00:22:07.02\00:22:09.43 I officially surrendered my life to Christ... 00:22:09.46\00:22:14.62 Wow! that is amazing... God is a friend... 00:22:14.65\00:22:19.24 that is amazing... that God... you know... 00:22:19.27\00:22:23.39 God keeps His hand on us Jacques doesn't He? 00:22:23.43\00:22:27.21 He does... He does... 00:22:27.25\00:22:28.41 He didn't let you get... but so far... 00:22:28.44\00:22:30.95 and then... somebody said, 00:22:30.98\00:22:32.41 one of my friends who is a pastor said... 00:22:32.45\00:22:34.37 God is like a giant fisherman, you know, 00:22:34.40\00:22:36.25 He lets you kind of go out... and then he reels you back in... 00:22:36.29\00:22:39.12 and it seems like... I mean, we have to respond... 00:22:39.15\00:22:41.83 you know, it's our choice... 00:22:41.86\00:22:43.01 but He knows how to reel us back in 00:22:43.04\00:22:46.45 and that idea... that your friend's wife had 00:22:46.48\00:22:50.93 about conjuring up spirits... she crossed the line with you... 00:22:50.97\00:22:54.20 That's what it sounds like... she crossed the line... 00:22:54.23\00:22:57.43 and the Holy Spirit was showing you... this is how it gets... 00:22:57.47\00:23:02.18 this is how low you can get... if you get away from me... 00:23:02.21\00:23:06.89 and so, you gave your life to the Lord... 00:23:06.92\00:23:11.30 and you're now doing... "Genesis of Purity" 00:23:11.33\00:23:15.64 tell us about your ministry, what is that about? 00:23:15.68\00:23:18.06 Okay, well, it actually came about 00:23:18.10\00:23:21.48 rather spontaneously... it kind of came by in 2 parts 00:23:21.52\00:23:24.49 I forgot who the author of this book is... 00:23:24.53\00:23:27.78 but it's called "Correlated Bible Readings" 00:23:27.82\00:23:31.01 and it pairs the Bible with the Spirit of Prophecy 00:23:31.04\00:23:33.87 through the whole Conflict of the Ages series... 00:23:33.91\00:23:36.71 and so, it's a really bright pink book... 00:23:36.74\00:23:40.12 you really can't miss it 00:23:40.15\00:23:41.21 and they have three plans inside of this book 00:23:41.24\00:23:44.77 one-year, two-years and four-years 00:23:44.80\00:23:46.38 where you can read the Bible 00:23:46.42\00:23:48.19 in conjunction 00:23:48.23\00:23:49.85 with the corresponding books from the Spirit of Prophecy 00:23:49.88\00:23:52.58 and so, I decided to do that... and so, of course, 00:23:52.61\00:23:56.81 I started in the book of Genesis 00:23:56.85\00:23:58.07 and as I was reading the book of Genesis... 00:23:58.11\00:24:01.49 I saw that there were so many stories 00:24:01.52\00:24:04.87 of people's relationships 00:24:04.91\00:24:06.30 both healthy and unhealthy, and like... Adam and Eve... 00:24:06.33\00:24:09.77 and then you have Cain and Abel... 00:24:09.80\00:24:11.12 and then you have 00:24:11.15\00:24:12.29 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... 00:24:12.32\00:24:14.29 and their 3 wives... and all the drama... 00:24:14.33\00:24:16.45 that ensued... 00:24:16.48\00:24:17.69 and then you have the sons of Jacob 00:24:17.72\00:24:20.39 which have all sorts of relationship drama... as well 00:24:20.42\00:24:23.63 and as I was reading... and studying this book in-depth 00:24:23.67\00:24:26.84 along with the Spirit of Prophecy, 00:24:26.88\00:24:28.12 I saw men... even men of faith and even people who have... 00:24:28.15\00:24:35.33 tribes named after them and who will have their names 00:24:35.36\00:24:39.06 etched on all the gates of the New Jerusalem... 00:24:39.09\00:24:41.98 when it came to opposite-sex relations... 00:24:42.02\00:24:44.62 they just seemed to not really have any guidance... 00:24:44.65\00:24:48.20 Hmmm... and so... 00:24:48.24\00:24:51.10 I've always loved giving people relationship advice... 00:24:51.13\00:24:53.92 before I gave my life to Christ it was terrible advice 00:24:53.96\00:24:58.00 but I always enjoyed giving people advice on relationships 00:24:58.03\00:25:01.79 and so, I started to jot down some notes... 00:25:01.82\00:25:05.20 on different topics... and different seminars 00:25:05.23\00:25:08.54 I could potentially give... when I got out of the Military, 00:25:08.57\00:25:11.73 and as I started to do this... my notebook became 00:25:11.77\00:25:16.04 more full and full and full and full... 00:25:16.08\00:25:18.48 to where I now I probably have maybe 50 or 60 presentations... 00:25:18.52\00:25:22.87 that I still need to work on but I have all the ideas... 00:25:22.90\00:25:26.43 I've worked on maybe 20 so far... 00:25:26.47\00:25:27.99 and so, I thought of the name "Genesis of Purity" 00:25:28.02\00:25:31.07 just because of where God had taken me 00:25:31.11\00:25:33.52 and I kind of felt like Paul in a way... 00:25:33.56\00:25:36.18 1 Timothy 4 verse 9... when he says, 00:25:36.22\00:25:38.78 "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation 00:25:38.81\00:25:42.36 Christ Jesus came to save sinners of which I am chief... " 00:25:42.40\00:25:46.15 and so, Christ wanted to show the extent of His grace... 00:25:46.19\00:25:49.91 through Paul... and I think that Christ wanted to show 00:25:49.94\00:25:53.87 the world the extent of His grace 00:25:53.90\00:25:55.50 when it comes to sexual sin through me... 00:25:55.54\00:25:57.23 and so, I wanted to be able to share that with people... 00:25:57.27\00:26:00.17 and so, I just went online and I checked if 00:26:00.21\00:26:03.16 Genesisofpurity. org was taken and I just bought the URL... 00:26:03.19\00:26:07.04 Let's put your website up by-the-way... 00:26:07.07\00:26:09.64 go ahead... Okay... and I just bought 00:26:09.68\00:26:12.22 the URL... without even knowing 00:26:12.25\00:26:14.17 when I was going to be out of the Military... 00:26:14.20\00:26:16.55 that this thing was even going to take off... 00:26:16.58\00:26:18.90 I kind of just acted in faith... 00:26:18.93\00:26:20.69 and so, now I go to schools and churches 00:26:20.72\00:26:24.57 and I share my testimony but then... 00:26:24.60\00:26:28.38 I don't want to only tell them only about how the devil 00:26:28.42\00:26:30.58 was able to drag me... into the mud... 00:26:30.61\00:26:32.67 I want to tell them of how Christ was able to take me out 00:26:32.71\00:26:36.10 and to clean me... 00:26:36.14\00:26:37.58 and I want to be able to share with people 00:26:37.62\00:26:39.77 different principles... 00:26:39.81\00:26:41.29 that if you haven't fallen into that life... 00:26:41.33\00:26:43.32 that you can use to prevent that 00:26:43.36\00:26:45.38 and different things on relationships 00:26:45.42\00:26:47.15 and courtship and seeking parental guidance 00:26:47.19\00:26:51.58 and all these different things that seem so old-fashioned... 00:26:51.61\00:26:55.49 but what I always tell young people... 00:26:55.52\00:26:58.22 especially young women... 00:26:58.25\00:26:59.56 I say, "Do you want to be married for a long time?" 00:26:59.59\00:27:02.41 and they say, "Yeah, I want to be married for life... " 00:27:02.44\00:27:05.22 I say, "Well that's old-fashioned... " 00:27:05.25\00:27:08.03 because people get married for 6 months... 00:27:08.07\00:27:10.82 a year... two years... three years... 00:27:10.85\00:27:12.28 and if you want old-fashioned results... 00:27:12.31\00:27:15.10 you have to use old-fashioned methods 00:27:15.14\00:27:18.94 and so... Genesis of Purity is all about 00:27:18.97\00:27:20.77 just going back to the book of Genesis... where it all began... 00:27:20.81\00:27:23.19 showing people the principles 00:27:23.22\00:27:25.16 that can guide your relationships 00:27:25.20\00:27:27.43 so that their picture of what they're supposed to be... 00:27:27.47\00:27:30.95 you know, Ellen White says that, 00:27:30.99\00:27:32.34 "Marriage is supposed to be a foretaste of heaven" 00:27:32.38\00:27:34.87 Hmmm... hmmm... and it is... 00:27:34.91\00:27:37.22 it is just the opposite for most people... 00:27:37.26\00:27:40.29 I know... because they don't apply 00:27:40.33\00:27:41.58 the principles found in the Scripture... 00:27:41.61\00:27:43.23 and that's what Genesis of Purity is all about. 00:27:43.27\00:27:46.04 That is awesome... I don't know where our time went 00:27:46.08\00:27:48.76 but thank you so much for being with us... 00:27:48.80\00:27:51.71 we want the Lord to just continue to bless you 00:27:51.75\00:27:54.63 and thank you Viewer, for tuning in... 00:27:54.67\00:27:57.43 Make sure to tune in next time because, you know what? 00:27:57.46\00:28:00.01 It just wouldn't be the same without you... 00:28:00.05\00:28:02.59