Stay tuned to meet a man
whose journey through hardship
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and abuse will inspire you,
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he is an overcomer
and you can be too.
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My name is Yvonne Lewis
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and you're
watching Urban Report.
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Hello and
welcome to Urban Report.
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My guest today is
Christian Berdahl,
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President and Founder of
Shepherd's Call Ministry.
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Shepherd's Call
Ministry is an Evangelistic,
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Singing, Speaking and
Video Production Ministry
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dedicated to sharing
the gospel of Jesus Christ
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throughout the world,
in ways that challenge
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and inspire souls
to connect with him.
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Welcome to Urban
Report Christian.
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Thank you... thank
you for having me...
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it's so good to be here.
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Oh, it's so great to have you,
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you know, I've
seen you on 3ABN before,
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I've heard some of your
music and I was in the D.C. area
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when you were there with
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Yolanda Palmer and
the Ten Commandments...
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what a beautiful project,
what an amazing project...
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It was a blessing
to be a part of it.
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Yes, yes, yes, yes, and
the testimony that you gave
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was mind-boggling...
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I had no idea that you had
gone through all of that...
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and I thought, "Wow, I really
want to have you on Urban Report
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to talk about your journey. "
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Sure...
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So let's talk
about your journey...
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tell us about your family,
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what kind of
upbringing did you have?
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were you born into
a Christian family?
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No, actually I was born
into the absolute opposite,
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my mother was 16 years old,
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my father... when
she got pregnant with me,
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my father was 18...
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and my mom just
turned 17 when she had me,
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by that time, my father was
already a daily drinker at 19,
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he was addicted to
prescription drugs...
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that he would steal from
his parents and neighbor adults
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and so, the
addiction started very early
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and my parents stayed
together, had two more children
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and when I was
about 7 years old,
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my mother got tired of moving
around from place to place...
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by the time I was seven, we
had moved 13 different times
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so an average of two
times a year we were moving out
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because when you don't pay
the rent, you get kicked out
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and so, my dad
wasn't coming home,
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he was an alcoholic, a
drug addict and unfortunately
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he was not faithful
in his vows to my mother
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and finally my mom had had
enough and she divorced him.
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And so... the
beginning start of our life
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was quite turbulent.
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Yeah, so, your mom
and your dad were kids...
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Yes...
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That's really the bottom line
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they had not been
developed, they had not...
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they were just kids
when they got together
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kind of putting the
cart before the horse
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right, and so, they got together
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and they weren't
ready to be parents.
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No, I mean, how does
a child raise a child?
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Exactly... babies
having babies, right?
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So, they were
together for awhile...
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but then, your mom just
couldn't deal with it anymore
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and she... they divorced.
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What really broke the...
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the straw that broke the camel's
back, to use a phrase, was...
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we were at a friend's house for
a Sunday cookout and barbeque
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and he got drunk
as he always would
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and it was time to go home
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and he wouldn't
give my mother the keys
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and he drove all of us home
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and he was just
all over the road
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and she was begging and
pleading for him to stop...
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and to pull over...
and when we got home,
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thank God... she said,
"That's it... I'm leaving"
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and she divorced him.
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And they never
reconciled, they never...
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No, I mean...
you can't reconcile
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when one party doesn't see
their issues and doesn't change.
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Hmmm... hmmm...
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And that was the state of
mind that my father was in.
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So, was your
family like many others
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when the father
and mother divorce,
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children are out
of the dad's life too
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or did you still
have contact with him?
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Well, we did
have contact with him,
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my mother was careful
that the contact we had
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was supervised and that
was Court ordered, in fact,
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because he was a danger to us.
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I remember one
of those weekends,
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when... he had been
doing pretty good...
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he was in the
Military, he thought,
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"I'll join the Military... I'll
get clean, I'll get sober there"
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he found drugs and alcohol
in the Military, unfortunately,
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and so, now, he's just partying
with his Commanding Officers
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and he just went
deeper into his addiction,
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on one weekend,
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he seemed like he was
doing better, so my mom said,
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"You can have the kids
over at your mom's house... "
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at my Nana's and unfortunately
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she didn't realize he
fell off the bandwagon
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and he was even deeper
into his addictions than ever
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and on my tenth birthday on
one of those visiting sessions
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his bright idea was
to give me my first beer
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and go to the store and rent
a couple of pornographic movies
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and we three little boys
sat there watching this...
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going... "What is this?"
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and
unfortunately, later that night
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my father, just being
jacked up on those drugs
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and on that alcohol...
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molested myself and my
middle brother Aaron so...
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And this was the first time
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that that had ever happened,
he hadn't molested you before?
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It's the first
time that I remember
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and I have no reason to
believe it happened before.
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Right... man! Christian...
I mean that is so...
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that's so painful... it
wasn't even your step-dad,
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it was your dad...
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Yeah, and it became
a big secret, frankly,
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and my brother and I...
we never talked about it..
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even when we were
little, we never...
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we just never said
anything until we were adults
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and we told my mother
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and, of course, my
mom just fell apart.
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Yeah... yeah... so...
you saw your dad this time
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and that happened...
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were you put back into his care
ever again, did it happen again?
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It was never without
my grandparents around...
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and that's just because it
naturally happened that way,
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there's a weird thing that
happens in a little boy's mind
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when you want your dad...
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and so I was
afraid if I told anybody,
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I'd never be
able to see him again
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and I just had this deep desire
to have my father in my life.
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Sure, well, it's
natural... that's your daddy...
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Yeah, that's right...
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And... and the
confusion that must ensue
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as a result of that
because it's something
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that... it's an intimate
act... but you know it's not...
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Christian: No, you
know it's not right.
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Yvonne: There's something wrong
with it, when it's your dad...
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and you don't want
to get him in trouble.
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Right.
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Because you
want to see him again
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because that's your dad
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so it's got to give
you a lot of confusion.
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Yeah, and it did... for
both myself and my brother.
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Hmmm... hmmm... so,
what happened after...
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after that happened,
did you have any confusion
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when you went to High School
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did you have any kind of
confusion... sexual confusion
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when you went to High School?
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Yeah, I didn't
have any necessarily...
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I do remember wondering
why I never said anything
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and then several
other things began to happen
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unfortunately,
when my mother divorced,
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when I was seven years
old, she put us in daycare
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and I had a
babysitter's teenage son...
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when it was time for naptime,
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he was molesting
about six of us little boys,
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so this wasn't the
first time it happened,
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it happened at
seven and then at ten...
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and so, I've got
these two massive secrets
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and you do start to wonder,
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"Maybe I didn't tell
because I like boys... "
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maybe... so you start
wondering about this...
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and indeed there wasn't
anything there about that
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but why didn't you say
anything, why didn't you tell?
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See the
victimization of children
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is so impactful... it's like...
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the child takes it on
himself, like, "What did I do?"
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Like... because I've heard
this story time after time,
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and to me it bespeaks
of the great controversy
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because God... Satan
is trying to destroy you.
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He sees the
potential that you have
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and he wants to destroy you,
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so he plants that seed in
you through that molestation
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and the confusion begins, not...
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you're a victim
and you don't even know
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like, how does
it happen to me here
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and then here and then here?
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So, oh... my heart just goes
out to kids who are victimized
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who, thank God... you grew up
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and the healing power of God
has taken over your life, but...
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Amen...
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So, so... how did
you deal with that?
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The molestation
attempt, were you able to tell
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did you... what did you do?
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I didn't... we
never told anybody,
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both my brother and myself
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and so we just
kept these secrets
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but you have to understand
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a year after my mother
divorced my biological father,
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she married my step-father
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who turned out to
be our worst nightmare,
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I mean, he was physically
abusive, mentally abusive,
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had emotionally...
and he was just...
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he was... just a very evil man,
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I don't know any
other way to describe it
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than "he was just an evil man"
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and we learned how
to put on this facade
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and act like everything was okay
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when everything was
absolutely falling apart
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and a disaster in the
privacy of our own home
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or at my step-father's business
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so, I had learned how
to basically live a lie...
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Hmmm...
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And so, that was
just one more lie
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I had to live that
everything was fine,
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and if I told anybody
then we'd be in trouble,
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I'd be in trouble, my
step-dad held it against us
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and said that if we
ever said anything to anybody
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he'd kill our mother
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and if my mother
ever said anything,
00:10:15.08\00:10:17.38
he would kill
her children and so,
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we were all stuck
and we were all trapped
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so, you just don't tell anybody
and that was part of that,
00:10:21.48\00:10:25.19
you just don't tell anybody.
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And that's part of
the whole survival thing,
00:10:26.59\00:10:29.79
like, "I can't
survive... if I tell... "
00:10:29.82\00:10:33.09
or "my mom won't
survive if I tell. "
00:10:33.13\00:10:35.86
Right... so you have
to do what you have to do.
00:10:35.93\00:10:37.27
Right, right, so
how did you negotiate
00:10:37.30\00:10:40.74
through all of that and
what was happening to you...
00:10:40.77\00:10:44.07
spiritually... did you
realize that there was a need,
00:10:44.11\00:10:47.41
did you not realize it yet?
00:10:47.44\00:10:49.31
No, when you're raised in
such an oppressive environment,
00:10:49.34\00:10:53.85
it's like, "Kill or
be killed" almost...
00:10:53.92\00:10:56.89
it's like... you have
this survival instinct
00:10:56.92\00:10:58.52
and you learn... kind of
where the parameters are,
00:10:58.55\00:11:01.62
and how to operate
within that and unfortunately,
00:11:01.66\00:11:04.33
as demonic and as inappropriate
and unhealthy as it was,
00:11:04.36\00:11:08.26
that's just your "normal. "
00:11:08.30\00:11:10.30
Yes, yes, that's right.
00:11:10.33\00:11:12.13
That's just what
it is... you know...
00:11:12.17\00:11:14.20
I would see other people
00:11:14.24\00:11:15.94
who were being
affectionate with their children
00:11:15.97\00:11:18.31
and my heart would
go out and I'd think,
00:11:18.34\00:11:20.48
"Oh, I just want
that too... " and then,
00:11:20.54\00:11:22.78
the next thought would come,
00:11:22.81\00:11:24.15
"I wonder if
he's molesting him?"
00:11:24.18\00:11:25.51
you know, so there
was this massive...
00:11:25.55\00:11:27.15
like you say, great controversy
going on inside of my...
00:11:27.18\00:11:29.78
my mind and in my heart and so,
00:11:29.82\00:11:32.22
I just wanted to be
a healthy, obedient son
00:11:32.25\00:11:36.06
and have a great healthy father
00:11:36.09\00:11:38.09
and that just was
not what I was dealt.
00:11:38.13\00:11:39.79
Yvonne: Right...
00:11:39.83\00:11:41.16
And how do I negotiate it?
00:11:41.20\00:11:42.53
You just... you just pack
it down and you pack it down...
00:11:42.56\00:11:45.53
that's not what I recommend now
but that's what I was doing then
00:11:45.57\00:11:48.60
and I didn't feel like I
had anybody I could go to...
00:11:48.67\00:11:52.54
that I could trust
because I knew they weren't...
00:11:52.57\00:11:55.78
I didn't know these terms...
they weren't "equipped,"
00:11:55.84\00:11:59.08
they didn't have the tools
in their toolbox to help me.
00:11:59.11\00:12:02.35
Right, right, so at school,
there wasn't a Counselor?
00:12:02.38\00:12:05.45
Eventually, at...
00:12:05.49\00:12:07.56
in my Sophomore
year of High School,
00:12:07.59\00:12:09.19
so, this is almost ten years now
00:12:09.22\00:12:11.33
that we lived
through this tyranny
00:12:11.36\00:12:13.36
and the oppression and...
00:12:13.40\00:12:15.03
I mean...
horrible physical abuse,
00:12:15.06\00:12:17.83
for my mother and for
us boys, we've been beaten,
00:12:17.87\00:12:21.74
we've been whipped,
we've been tied up...
00:12:21.77\00:12:24.01
my mother covered her
black-and-blue bruising
00:12:24.07\00:12:26.14
with her clothing
and it was just horrible
00:12:26.17\00:12:28.58
you know, so,
finally, I went to a Counselor
00:12:28.61\00:12:30.95
and I started
talking about my neighbor
00:12:30.98\00:12:33.92
that has these problems
and how can we help him,
00:12:33.95\00:12:36.69
what would happen
and... I was just sending up
00:12:36.72\00:12:38.92
like a weather balloon
and just finding out...
00:12:38.95\00:12:41.09
what... the last
thing I needed was,
00:12:41.12\00:12:42.99
her to call my step-dad and say,
00:12:43.02\00:12:44.83
"Hey, Christian's telling
us some stories here... "
00:12:44.86\00:12:46.80
Exactly...
00:12:46.83\00:12:48.16
And then I knew
we'd really be in trouble
00:12:48.20\00:12:51.23
so, basically, we
came up with a plan
00:12:51.27\00:12:54.27
and I sat my parents down...
00:12:54.30\00:12:56.71
they do it a lot
differently today but, you know,
00:12:56.74\00:12:58.87
30-something
years... 35 years ago...
00:12:58.91\00:13:02.14
and I sat them both
down and I told them,
00:13:02.18\00:13:04.48
"I've been talking
to a Counselor at school
00:13:04.51\00:13:06.82
and I have a phone number
00:13:06.85\00:13:09.48
and if you touch any hair
on any of our heads again...
00:13:09.52\00:13:13.62
there will be investigations
00:13:13.66\00:13:15.79
and there'll be convictions...
there'll be jail time. "
00:13:15.82\00:13:18.86
Now, I didn't say it like
I was so amazing and strong,
00:13:18.89\00:13:21.90
that type of
thing, I mean, I was...
00:13:21.93\00:13:23.77
I was just a teenager.
00:13:23.80\00:13:25.13
Yvonne: I'd be scared to death.
00:13:25.17\00:13:26.50
I was absolutely
scared... I am meeting
00:13:26.53\00:13:29.10
and I'm looking at the
man that held us captive
00:13:29.17\00:13:32.14
for all those
years and finally saying,
00:13:32.17\00:13:34.71
not what he wants to hear...
00:13:34.74\00:13:36.78
he lights up like
a... like a missile,
00:13:36.81\00:13:38.65
he goes back to
the back of the house
00:13:38.71\00:13:40.75
just yelling and
screaming expletives...
00:13:40.78\00:13:42.82
that was our
normal way of life...
00:13:42.85\00:13:44.22
and my mother... I'm
sitting here thinking,
00:13:44.29\00:13:46.72
"I did it... I did
it... " and I was like...
00:13:46.76\00:13:49.19
"Oh... " inside
I'm still shaking...
00:13:49.22\00:13:51.53
I'm sick to my
stomach and I look at my mom
00:13:51.56\00:13:53.93
and I'm like... I
know... my mom... and...
00:13:54.00\00:13:56.20
and then... she
gets up and I'm thinking,
00:13:56.23\00:13:57.93
she's going to come
over and go, "Okay... "
00:13:58.00\00:14:00.70
and she goes after
him... and she... I mean...
00:14:00.74\00:14:03.37
she went after him... and
a couple of moments later,
00:14:03.41\00:14:06.64
she comes out and she's like,
all crying and all upset...
00:14:06.68\00:14:09.64
he had just flipped
her little brain again,
00:14:09.68\00:14:11.91
and she comes out and says,
00:14:11.95\00:14:14.18
"Why are you doing this to us?
00:14:14.22\00:14:16.35
I spank you too, I'll
be in trouble too... "
00:14:16.38\00:14:19.52
and the reality was, my
mother didn't beat us...
00:14:19.55\00:14:22.69
she didn't use torture... she...
00:14:22.72\00:14:24.99
the things he would do was...
00:14:25.03\00:14:27.26
it's things you
would see in a bad movie,
00:14:27.30\00:14:30.67
you know, and...
and... fortunately though
00:14:30.70\00:14:33.94
it finally started a process
where she began to wake up
00:14:34.00\00:14:37.31
and she... it was
at a class at her job
00:14:37.34\00:14:40.88
and at this point,
she was involved in
00:14:40.91\00:14:44.41
Human Resources at her Bank
00:14:44.45\00:14:45.78
and they invited a
guest speaker to come in
00:14:45.81\00:14:49.25
and they asked a question,
"What's important in your life?"
00:14:49.28\00:14:53.42
Yvonne: Hmmm...
00:14:53.46\00:14:54.79
And my mom had
to stop and think...
00:14:54.82\00:14:56.16
which I don't think she
had done for almost ten years,
00:14:56.19\00:14:59.13
"my children... " was the one...
00:14:59.16\00:15:03.00
and then number
two... "my children... "
00:15:03.03\00:15:06.20
and number three as
she just broke down,
00:15:06.23\00:15:09.37
she wrote, "my children... "
00:15:09.40\00:15:11.21
and she realized we were no...
00:15:11.24\00:15:13.34
we were not in
a safe place again
00:15:13.38\00:15:15.48
and she had put
us there... again,
00:15:15.51\00:15:17.55
she woke up... and she
went to the Police Department
00:15:17.58\00:15:22.45
and said, "I'm
living with a dangerous man,
00:15:22.48\00:15:25.12
how do we get out
because we have guns
00:15:25.15\00:15:28.96
and rifles and shot
guns in the house... "
00:15:28.99\00:15:32.73
we were
hunters... and they said,
00:15:32.76\00:15:36.26
"You need to get all the
ammunition out of the guns
00:15:36.30\00:15:39.43
and when do you
want to do this?"
00:15:39.47\00:15:41.24
She said, "Let's
do it on Saturday... "
00:15:41.27\00:15:43.30
and she had
arranged for her family
00:15:43.34\00:15:45.31
to come with moving
trucks to move us out,
00:15:45.34\00:15:47.04
the police were
there, and she told him...
00:15:47.08\00:15:50.15
and the police
said, "You need to go... "
00:15:50.18\00:15:53.21
Yvonne: She told him while
the police were still there?
00:15:53.25\00:15:55.92
Christian: Oh yeah, yeah,
00:15:55.95\00:15:57.29
we weren't going
to take any chances,
00:15:57.32\00:15:59.32
he just didn't
have everything together
00:15:59.35\00:16:01.56
emotionally and mentally and so,
00:16:01.62\00:16:06.06
we escaped... we were free...
00:16:06.09\00:16:10.47
Yes... yes... you
know... the whole mentality
00:16:10.50\00:16:14.44
of the "battered
woman" people will say,
00:16:14.47\00:16:16.77
"Why didn't she
just leave, why did...?"
00:16:16.81\00:16:19.07
it's not that simple.
00:16:19.11\00:16:21.04
Christian: It's not that simple.
00:16:21.08\00:16:22.41
Yvonne: It's so complicated.
00:16:22.44\00:16:23.78
Christian: Because I
asked my mom that for years,
00:16:23.81\00:16:25.45
"Why did you stay so long,
00:16:25.48\00:16:27.42
didn't you see what
we were going through?"
00:16:27.45\00:16:29.48
And she knew it... and
many times she would step in
00:16:29.52\00:16:32.39
and take the
brunt... when we were younger
00:16:32.42\00:16:34.89
but as we got
older... it landed all on us
00:16:34.92\00:16:37.36
and so she... she...
00:16:37.39\00:16:40.40
I have a DVD Series that
we did on the whole story,
00:16:40.43\00:16:44.13
a three-hour
documentary on this story
00:16:44.17\00:16:46.67
and I interviewed
my mother and I said,
00:16:46.70\00:16:49.14
"Why did you stay so long?"
00:16:49.17\00:16:50.67
I asked her the question again,
and she... you see her eyes...
00:16:50.71\00:16:53.78
she was like... "I
thought I was going to die"
00:16:53.81\00:16:55.91
and you can just
see it in her eyes...
00:16:55.94\00:16:58.21
that is what she
believed to her core
00:16:58.25\00:17:00.45
and she was protecting us...
00:17:00.52\00:17:02.18
this is... a
strange way of thinking...
00:17:02.22\00:17:04.35
she was
protecting us by staying...
00:17:04.42\00:17:06.82
because she was
afraid of our lives
00:17:06.86\00:17:09.22
being in danger as well
00:17:09.29\00:17:10.63
and he had said
that that would happen.
00:17:10.66\00:17:12.03
Yes, I... it's to me...
00:17:12.06\00:17:15.10
when you're involved in
that whole chaotic thing...
00:17:15.13\00:17:18.67
you can't... sometimes
you can't think clearly...
00:17:18.70\00:17:22.17
and praise God that... that
Speaker came to the job that day
00:17:22.20\00:17:26.91
Christian: Absolutely.
00:17:26.94\00:17:28.28
And something triggered
in her brain and she realized
00:17:28.31\00:17:31.58
she had put her
children in jeopardy...
00:17:31.61\00:17:33.98
well, what an amazing story
and how can people get that...
00:17:34.02\00:17:37.42
how can people... because
this documentary sounds amazing.
00:17:37.45\00:17:40.66
It is truly amazing...
00:17:40.69\00:17:42.26
I believe God really
put His fingerprint on it
00:17:42.29\00:17:45.43
and we go over the
story but not only that...
00:17:45.46\00:17:48.53
but learning points...
00:17:48.56\00:17:49.90
what should children do
if they have been touched
00:17:49.93\00:17:52.70
and those things are happening
00:17:52.73\00:17:54.64
because I don't want to
just talk about my story
00:17:54.70\00:17:56.04
if we don't give them some tools
00:17:56.07\00:17:57.41
so, it's entitled,
"Broken to Breakthrough"
00:17:57.44\00:17:59.77
and it's a journey of
faith, hope and forgiveness.
00:17:59.81\00:18:04.01
Yvonne: Hmmm...
00:18:04.05\00:18:05.38
And it's available at our
website: shepherdscall. com
00:18:05.41\00:18:09.92
and our goal,
frankly, is to... to use this
00:18:09.95\00:18:14.29
and have people use
this in their churches...
00:18:14.32\00:18:19.19
in Christian Schools...
to where they can create
00:18:19.23\00:18:24.07
an environment
of safety and trust
00:18:24.10\00:18:26.43
that perhaps a
young person could say,
00:18:26.47\00:18:28.74
"Perhaps I really
need to talk to somebody. "
00:18:28.77\00:18:31.27
Oh, that's so good
because people need to know
00:18:31.31\00:18:33.78
that there is a way out.
00:18:33.81\00:18:35.84
And there is...
amen... there is...
00:18:35.91\00:18:38.45
There is a way out,
how did you find the Lord?
00:18:38.48\00:18:41.05
That's an amazing
story, it really is,
00:18:41.08\00:18:43.79
it started out with my...
00:18:43.82\00:18:48.32
actually I would like to say
this first, if you don't mind.
00:18:48.36\00:18:49.69
Yvonne: Yeah... yeah.
00:18:49.72\00:18:51.06
Christian: My brothers went from
00:18:51.09\00:18:52.96
us escaping... and following
in my father's footsteps,
00:18:52.99\00:18:57.93
they got involved
in drugs and alcohol,
00:18:57.97\00:19:00.24
drug manufacturing,
jail, prison... you name it...
00:19:00.27\00:19:03.54
and I went a different
way, I just... I decided...
00:19:03.57\00:19:06.44
I made a choice and there's
a lot of power in a choice
00:19:06.47\00:19:09.81
and I made this choice
to put the past behind me...
00:19:09.84\00:19:13.18
I didn't do it
healthfully in the sense of...
00:19:13.21\00:19:14.82
I learned how to deal with
this and how to give it to God
00:19:14.85\00:19:17.55
and let God start to
fix my heart and my life
00:19:17.59\00:19:20.22
but I got involved in Theatre
00:19:20.26\00:19:22.92
and I got involved in
singing, dancing and acting,
00:19:22.96\00:19:26.19
and that was my way of escape...
00:19:26.23\00:19:28.66
my brothers' way of escape
00:19:28.70\00:19:30.03
was through the
drugs and alcohol.
00:19:30.07\00:19:31.40
Fast forward a long time...
00:19:31.43\00:19:33.60
I'm in TV Production
00:19:33.64\00:19:37.44
and I had started
Companies with some friends
00:19:37.47\00:19:41.21
and we were wildly successful
and then one of my Partners
00:19:41.24\00:19:44.78
had just destroyed
the Companies financially,
00:19:44.81\00:19:47.32
embezzling from the
Company and I lost everything
00:19:47.35\00:19:49.78
so I got my foot
back into TV Production
00:19:49.82\00:19:52.55
and I let every
Producer I knew out there,
00:19:52.59\00:19:55.12
"I'm going to work as
a freelance Director...
00:19:55.16\00:19:57.66
I'm good to go... "
00:19:57.69\00:19:59.66
I had already done professional
sports, Nickelodeon, PBS, ESPN,
00:19:59.69\00:20:02.96
so, I was ready to go... I...
00:20:03.00\00:20:04.63
Yvonne: Right, you had a résumé.
00:20:04.67\00:20:06.27
Yeah, and I'm comfortable
at the Switcher frankly,
00:20:06.30\00:20:08.47
I'm much more comfortable
back there than up here
00:20:08.50\00:20:10.67
and so, I was
hired by a Producer
00:20:10.71\00:20:14.28
to go and shoot a
Camping Meeting...
00:20:14.31\00:20:17.81
and so, I said, "Okay,
great, what's it about?"
00:20:17.85\00:20:20.68
he goes, "I
don't know Camping... "
00:20:20.72\00:20:22.05
so, I went to Lodi
Grape Festival Grounds
00:20:22.08\00:20:25.62
there in California looking
for a man named Danny Vierra...
00:20:25.65\00:20:29.09
who is a health teacher in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
00:20:29.12\00:20:32.56
I didn't know all
this... but little did I know
00:20:32.59\00:20:35.66
that I was going to be shooting
four days of religious material
00:20:35.70\00:20:38.73
and I was just
hating my life, I thought,
00:20:38.77\00:20:41.90
"How much lower can my
Production career get?"
00:20:41.94\00:20:44.77
I mean seriously...
I was... I was like,
00:20:44.81\00:20:48.38
"Whatever... I guess my
whole life is ending now... "
00:20:48.41\00:20:51.55
but the reality is...
as I was sitting there
00:20:51.58\00:20:55.28
learning more and
more, I was realizing...
00:20:55.32\00:20:58.92
at first I'm switching...
"okay, ready one... take one...
00:20:58.95\00:21:01.66
one... you're
live... two... go... "
00:21:01.72\00:21:03.12
but you know... I'm doing
all the stuff that I would do
00:21:03.16\00:21:05.79
and then I'm starting to
get drawn in as I'm listening
00:21:05.83\00:21:08.40
and I'm like, "Wow!
I never knew that...
00:21:08.43\00:21:11.03
now, I never knew that... "
00:21:11.07\00:21:12.73
and so, that was the beginning
00:21:12.77\00:21:14.40
but it would be a
process of a number of years,
00:21:14.44\00:21:19.57
Danny befriended me
and my fiancé and myself...
00:21:19.61\00:21:24.78
we had moved away... I
was going to go to Film School
00:21:24.81\00:21:27.02
to become a
Hollywood Film Director,
00:21:27.05\00:21:28.48
is really what I wanted
to do and I got her pregnant,
00:21:28.52\00:21:32.45
kind of following in
the tracks of my parents,
00:21:32.49\00:21:35.39
I was much older but nonetheless
I was not prepared and ready
00:21:35.42\00:21:39.16
long story short... we lose
the baby at 4 and 1/2 months,
00:21:39.19\00:21:42.80
it's a trying time,
00:21:42.83\00:21:44.30
life's spiraling out of control
00:21:44.33\00:21:47.54
we moved to Arizona to
be where her parents were,
00:21:47.60\00:21:49.90
I couldn't find
a job in Production
00:21:49.94\00:21:51.47
which had never happened before,
00:21:51.51\00:21:52.94
but God said, "Okay
Angels... watch this... "
00:21:52.97\00:21:55.98
Yvonne: Yes, yes,
yes, come on... come on...
00:21:56.01\00:21:58.11
Christian: Yes,
amen, So all of a sudden,
00:21:58.15\00:22:00.15
I'm sitting here and I
have this overwhelming desire
00:22:00.22\00:22:03.18
to go see my friend, Danny,
00:22:03.22\00:22:04.55
well, my whole
life is falling apart
00:22:04.59\00:22:06.05
and as I'm sitting there
telling him what's going on,
00:22:06.09\00:22:08.49
he's like... "This is great... "
00:22:08.52\00:22:09.86
and I was like,
"This is not great,
00:22:09.89\00:22:12.06
I'm no longer intimate
with my girlfriend... "
00:22:12.09\00:22:13.70
because God had
impressed me not to be...
00:22:13.73\00:22:16.67
I was already a
healthy guy because I was...
00:22:16.73\00:22:20.10
I embraced his
health laws that he taught,
00:22:20.14\00:22:23.17
because I was a
pretty sick guy and so,
00:22:23.20\00:22:26.17
it was a lot of things, I
can't say, "It happened here"
00:22:26.21\00:22:29.74
it took me like... three
solid years to finally go,
00:22:29.78\00:22:33.25
"I give up Uncle... "
00:22:33.28\00:22:35.48
Yvonne: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it's interesting to me that
00:22:35.52\00:22:39.52
you had begun this journey like,
00:22:39.55\00:22:43.22
people in the world are
not thinking about abstinence,
00:22:43.26\00:22:47.06
Christian: No... not at all.
00:22:47.10\00:22:48.43
Yvonne: They're not...
some are thinking about...
00:22:48.46\00:22:50.37
Christian: And that was
nowhere in my mind either.
00:22:50.40\00:22:52.67
Yvonne: Yeah, but the fact
that the Lord impressed you
00:22:52.70\00:22:54.90
with that... even when you were
out there... that's amazing.
00:22:54.94\00:22:59.17
Christian: That
is amazing... yeah.
00:22:59.21\00:23:00.54
Yvonne: And then... He
had brought you to Danny...
00:23:00.58\00:23:03.08
Danny Vierra and of course,
Danny is saying, "This is great"
00:23:03.11\00:23:06.85
you're like, "What?
Like, how could this be great?"
00:23:06.88\00:23:09.88
Because he saw what
God was doing in your life.
00:23:09.92\00:23:12.49
Christian: He saw it
because spiritual things
00:23:12.52\00:23:14.19
are spiritually
discerned. Yvonne: Yes.
00:23:14.22\00:23:15.62
Christian: And so I went
on this journey with Danny
00:23:15.66\00:23:17.99
and we started
studying and before you know it,
00:23:18.03\00:23:19.89
I said to him, "Is
everything you believe
00:23:19.93\00:23:22.76
that clear in the Bible?"
00:23:22.83\00:23:24.17
When we studied
about the Sabbath truth.
00:23:24.20\00:23:25.63
And he was
like, "Everything... "
00:23:25.67\00:23:27.60
and I went,
"I'll probably become
00:23:27.64\00:23:30.01
a Seventh-day
Adventist, huh... "
00:23:30.04\00:23:32.47
he goes, "You
will... " seriously...
00:23:32.51\00:23:34.91
and here's what I discovered
was... if you study the Bible
00:23:34.94\00:23:38.05
and the Bible alone...
let the Bible interpret itself
00:23:38.08\00:23:40.08
and you start to see prophecy
and you can tell that God knew
00:23:40.12\00:23:43.82
the end from the beginning
00:23:43.85\00:23:45.19
and He tells you all these
things that are going to happen,
00:23:45.22\00:23:47.36
I didn't even know
that there was such a thing
00:23:47.39\00:23:48.72
as prophecy in the Bible,
00:23:48.76\00:23:50.09
and I'm sitting
here... learning...
00:23:50.13\00:23:51.46
and if you let the
Bible interpret itself...
00:23:51.49\00:23:52.83
not tradition,
not what you think,
00:23:52.86\00:23:54.30
not your preconceived ideas
00:23:54.33\00:23:55.66
but let the
Bible be your teacher,
00:23:55.70\00:23:57.53
with the Holy
Spirit teaching you,
00:23:57.57\00:23:59.47
I think the most
logical thing to become
00:23:59.50\00:24:01.50
is Seventh-day
Adventist... I honestly... I do.
00:24:01.54\00:24:03.71
Yvonne: Well, I agree.
00:24:03.74\00:24:05.07
Christian: Yeah, at least
if you're an honest skeptic.
00:24:05.11\00:24:07.14
Yvonne: And if it weren't...
what are we doing here?
00:24:07.18\00:24:09.54
Christian: Yeah,
what's this all about?
00:24:09.58\00:24:11.58
Right, right, yeah,
so, how old were you
00:24:11.61\00:24:13.58
when you decided to
surrender your life to Christ?
00:24:13.62\00:24:16.69
Yeah, I finally surrendered
when I was about 26 years old.
00:24:16.72\00:24:18.79
Yvonne: Okay...
00:24:18.82\00:24:20.16
And I went on
that studying quest,
00:24:20.19\00:24:21.52
I couldn't get
enough, before you know it,
00:24:21.56\00:24:23.63
I'm asking Danny, "I want to
give my heart to Jesus Christ"
00:24:23.66\00:24:26.29
and here's the key for me,
00:24:26.33\00:24:27.76
when my picture got
big enough of Jesus Christ,
00:24:27.80\00:24:33.03
when I really saw who He
was and what He wanted for me
00:24:33.07\00:24:36.24
and God the Father...
00:24:36.27\00:24:38.37
you see, I never
trusted a father before.
00:24:38.41\00:24:41.14
Hmmm...
00:24:41.18\00:24:42.51
I never trusted
a father before...
00:24:42.54\00:24:44.35
and now I have God
the Father and... and I...
00:24:44.38\00:24:47.52
my picture of Him is
big enough to where I saw
00:24:47.55\00:24:50.62
He could help me
with my big problems.
00:24:50.65\00:24:53.02
Hmmm...
00:24:53.05\00:24:54.39
And He began to help
me and I began to break,
00:24:54.42\00:24:58.06
and I began to weep
like I had never wept before
00:24:58.09\00:25:01.70
and it's like this...
it was like this purging
00:25:01.73\00:25:05.30
that began to happen in me
00:25:05.33\00:25:06.67
and then God gave me these gifts
eventually, over the years,
00:25:06.70\00:25:09.50
it didn't happen quickly
but where I started to see my...
00:25:09.54\00:25:12.51
my parents through God's eyes,
00:25:12.54\00:25:14.54
as sinners and as His children
00:25:14.58\00:25:16.54
who had been not treated
with and dealt with properly
00:25:16.58\00:25:18.65
when they were young
00:25:18.68\00:25:20.02
and all these things and
God gave me this new perspective
00:25:20.05\00:25:23.15
where I could say, "Wow!
I hate what happened to me
00:25:23.18\00:25:27.72
it doesn't excuse it but it
explained why things happened"
00:25:27.76\00:25:31.49
and eventually what began
to well up in my heart was
00:25:31.53\00:25:34.86
this amazing thing
called forgiveness.
00:25:34.90\00:25:37.60
I was going to ask you that.
00:25:37.63\00:25:39.17
And even empathy...
00:25:39.20\00:25:40.54
You were able to forgive
your dad and your step-father.
00:25:40.57\00:25:43.34
Yeah, absolutely,
the hardest things for me
00:25:43.37\00:25:45.21
were to forgive my
mother and my biological father,
00:25:45.24\00:25:48.61
it was even easier
to forgive my step-dad
00:25:48.64\00:25:50.58
on all the evil things
that he did... than those two
00:25:50.61\00:25:52.91
because my mother kept us there
and every time she'd apologize,
00:25:52.95\00:25:57.32
I'm like, "Okay, how many
times do you have to apologize,
00:25:57.35\00:26:00.32
five, ten, twenty and then
finally... you believe it?"
00:26:00.36\00:26:03.26
What I didn't realize was
00:26:03.29\00:26:04.99
the apology doesn't
fix anything in the past,
00:26:05.03\00:26:07.20
it creates an opportunity
00:26:07.23\00:26:09.56
to perhaps go
forward in the future.
00:26:09.60\00:26:11.37
Hmmm...
00:26:11.40\00:26:12.73
And my mom had
repented and said she was sorry
00:26:12.77\00:26:15.40
and so we built this
beautiful relationship,
00:26:15.44\00:26:17.94
she is a Christian...
she now ministers to...
00:26:17.97\00:26:20.98
to ladies that are
abused with their children.
00:26:21.04\00:26:23.45
Hmmm...
00:26:23.48\00:26:24.85
My brothers got clean
and they've been clean...
00:26:24.88\00:26:27.92
my youngest
brother for eight years,
00:26:27.98\00:26:29.82
my brother... my middle
brother that was abused with me,
00:26:29.85\00:26:34.09
he's been clean five years,
00:26:34.12\00:26:36.12
they both have
ministries of their own now.
00:26:36.16\00:26:37.79
Oh... praise God.
00:26:37.83\00:26:39.73
And so, God gave us all
forgiveness in our hearts
00:26:39.76\00:26:42.16
and it's something
that only comes from heaven
00:26:42.20\00:26:44.70
because I can
literally, honestly say today,
00:26:44.73\00:26:47.14
"If my evil step-father were
to be in heaven as my neighbor,
00:26:47.17\00:26:53.78
I'd be okay with that. "
00:26:53.81\00:26:55.14
And my biological
father found Christ...
00:26:55.18\00:26:57.28
in fact, through a 3ABN Program
and I wish I could tell you that
00:26:57.35\00:27:01.48
but we're running out of time.
00:27:01.52\00:27:02.85
I can't believe this!
00:27:02.88\00:27:04.32
It's amazing... it's
absolutely amazing...
00:27:04.35\00:27:05.69
and he's now a Christian and
our relationship has been healed
00:27:05.72\00:27:10.16
so everybody in my
family are now Christians,
00:27:10.19\00:27:12.63
we're all healed,
and there is hope,
00:27:12.69\00:27:14.96
no question, there's hope.
00:27:15.03\00:27:16.36
Praise God, what a
beautiful ending, even though,
00:27:16.40\00:27:20.10
your life is still
evolving, so to speak,
00:27:20.14\00:27:23.34
but what a beautiful ending
to such a tragic beginning!
00:27:23.37\00:27:27.18
Yeah, and you know
what? I wouldn't change it
00:27:27.21\00:27:29.84
because it gave me
some tools that I have
00:27:29.91\00:27:32.51
resilience... and in God's
work you need to have that,
00:27:32.55\00:27:34.65
and just stick-to-itivness...
and all those types of things.
00:27:34.68\00:27:36.79
Yes...
00:27:36.82\00:27:38.15
And so, I change it
00:27:38.19\00:27:39.52
but I wouldn't wish
it on anybody either.
00:27:39.55\00:27:40.96
Exactly, exactly, I know...
I know what you're saying
00:27:40.99\00:27:43.46
you... you...
yeah... it's been a journey
00:27:43.49\00:27:46.03
but you're thankful
that God brought you through
00:27:46.06\00:27:49.33
and we're thankful for you.
00:27:49.36\00:27:51.00
Thank you so much
for being with us.
00:27:51.03\00:27:53.10
Well, we've reached
the end of another Program,
00:27:53.13\00:27:55.90
join us next time
because you know what?
00:27:55.94\00:27:57.87
It just wouldn't be
the same... without you.
00:27:57.91\00:27:59.81