Death to Life podcast
A podcast that tells the stories of people that used to be one way, and now are completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Jesus.
Death to Life podcast
#210 Vinz: Finding Identity Beyond the Spiritual Checklist
Vinz, the editor behind Love Reality's podcasts and videos, shares his powerful journey from legalistic religion to gospel freedom and how discovering his identity in Christ changed everything for him.
• Growing up in a traditional Seventh-day Adventist home in the Philippines where religion felt like following rules
• Viewing God as a taskmaster checking off good and bad deeds
• Living with constant fear about not measuring up to God's standards
• Experiencing a transformational encounter with the gospel that felt like "chains falling off"
• Learning that salvation is based on Christ's finished work, not personal performance
• Going through a period of deconstruction and reconstruction of beliefs
• Finding true freedom and identity as God's beloved son
• Facing persecution from religious communities for embracing gospel freedom
• Discovering that being free from sin produces more genuine transformation than rule-following
We preach grace, we preach Jesus, we preach the truth. Because we have come face to face with the gospel, I'm learning to forgive and just move forward in my journey of faith. Live out the gospel, live out the truth that God has declared over me and experience the joy of being favored by God.
💰 DONATE & SUPPORT our Ministry: lovereality.org/give
👍 LIKE us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alovereality
📷 FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riyoung31/
📚 LEARN more at our site: lovereality.org
Download the Love Reality app. Available in the App Store & Google Play.
The world doesn't think that the gospel can change your life, but we know that it can and that's why we want you to hear these stories, stories of transformation, stories of freedom, people getting free from sin and healed from sin because of Jesus. This is Death to Life.
Speaker 2:And maybe that's the part where Paul just wrote like I'm not ashamed of the gospel. There are even times where I'm a video editor Like man. It's so easy to extract snippets from different sermons from other people I don't like and put them into a single video and release it anonymously. But that's not who we are, man, and because we have come face to face with the gospel man, I'm learning to forgive and just move forward in my journey of faith. Live out the gospel, live out the truth that God has declared over me and experience the joy of being favored by God.
Speaker 1:Yo, welcome to the Death of Life podcast. My name is Richard Young and today's episode is with the man behind the podcast and the videos and the editing, with our man in the Philippines, vince, and his story is beautiful and I love that. The guy that was editing our stuff was just able to receive the gospel and walk it out in freedom, and this guy is the salt of the earth. He loves the Lord and his story is just a testimony of someone who's been loved and has seen Jesus for who he is. So I think you're going to be super blessed by it, because you've already been blessed by Vince and all of his editing, but now you're going to be blessed by hearing how God has loved him and loved him well. So buckle up, strap in. This is Vince. Love y'all, appreciate y'all. Where were you born.
Speaker 2:I was born in the Northern Philippines, so it's, you know, far from from the city, although this is a city, but a small, a small one. And, uh, I've been here in the philippines all my life how far are you from uh manila? Well, currently I live close to manila now, just an hour away from Manila, so every time I need to do something in the big city I just take a one-hour drive back and forth real quick so I can easily go to the city and then back home where I live currently right now.
Speaker 1:Is it like a huge place?
Speaker 2:Manila Is it a huge place, Manila. Yeah, it's a fairly huge place Is it crowded. Right now it's not crowded Not as crowded as Manila, not as crowded as a big city, but I like it here. It's much more peaceful.
Speaker 1:I would say so. Did you grow up believing in God, Like were your parents religious? Tell me about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, man, my dad was Catholic and my mother was a Christian converted into the Seventh-day Adventist faith. And so when I was born into Adventism, I would say, because my father was also baptized in the Adventist church eventually. So yeah, I was born into the Seventh-day Adventist church and yeah, that's how it was for me, what is Seventh-day Adventism like in the Philippines?
Speaker 1:What's it like? Because the thing about Adventism it's a little different everywhere. It's not the same. It's different in Los Angeles than it is in Tennessee, than it is in England than it is in the Philippines. So what kind of brand? What's the brand of Adventism in the Philippines?
Speaker 2:Yes, I truly agree with what you said. I've been to different countries as well, like in India, in Africa, and I also observed Adventism in parts of the US. It's different here in the Philippines. It's mostly very conservative, I would say very traditional. When you go to a very traditional Seventh-day Adventist church here in the Philippines, very traditional Seventh-day Adventist church here in the Philippines, you get the usual. You know the music or the hymns. From what century?
Speaker 2:And you know, very strict, very formal when it comes to traditions, how the scripture, how spirit of prophecy is interpreted, is very, very conservative, I'd say. It builds out towards even how we approach diet, how we dress, all these things. It's very, very conservative, very strict.
Speaker 1:So did you grow up pretty much a vegetarian. Are you still a vegetarian?
Speaker 2:Oh no, my family was more flexible with diet, basically sticking to the dietary laws in the Book of Leviticus. Like you don't eat pork, you don't eat seafood Shrimp yeah you don. Like you don't eat pork, you don't eat seafood shrimp yeah you don't eat. We don't eat. Like those without fish without. We don't eat fish without scales and those kind of things. Right right. So there would be actual funny debates about oh we cannot eat this kind of fish because they got no scales. But if you look at microscopically there are scales.
Speaker 1:So you know this kind of things, uh what is the, the delicacy or the food in the philippines that people eat the most, that you are like oh no, I don't, I don't eat. Like for us, like in the united states, bacon is like a huge, huge thing. Everybody eats bacon on cheeseburgers. What, in the Philippines, was something growing up that everybody ate but you didn't eat.
Speaker 2:Same thing, man. Anything pork, anything from pig.
Speaker 1:Is that a popular thing in the?
Speaker 2:Philippines. Oh man, yeah, pork like the roast pig, they call it lechon. Or crispy pata like crispy cooked pork. And bacon as well. We never touched that and, being born into an Adventist family, I never had the desire to have it, just because it was ingrained in my mind that we don't touch that, we don't eat that. And eventually know, of course, when I was in, maybe in high school, I had my, my rebellious years as well. You know, I got to taste these things, but it really didn't, you know, like it didn't really.
Speaker 1:Uh, your rebellion was like I'm gonna eat a pepperoni, I'm gonna eat this. Was it good? Yeah?
Speaker 2:it was good. But, like you know, after that, like yeah, okay, that's it. And then, uh, I went on my merry way, my my adventist merry way, like yeah, it's a part of our lifestyle, we don't eat that thing. So, yeah, that's how I just tasted it and okay so who?
Speaker 1:who was god to you growing up? Like what was he? Like, this version of God that you believed in as you were growing up in the Philippines, in a pretty traditional background?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know God was this being up there looking at us. And you know, when you are in cradle role in your primary sabbath school, you know you get to sing these songs like, oh, be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear. You know you've got those kind of songs and you know there's a father up above who's looking down in love. But mostly the one that sticks in your brain is like here's this guy, here's this god, looking at every single thing you do.
Speaker 2:And because what's always being emphasized in church or in teaching is being obedient to the Ten Commandments regularly going to church on Sabbath, saturday Sabbath, adhering to the dietary laws do not eat this, do not eat that that was the spiritual journey for me. And God is looking at what I'm doing and for as long as I am obeying and adhering to these laws, what he's been telling us in the Bible, then we're good with Him. That's what I'm good with Him. That's what I perceived God to be growing up. And although there's yeah, god is love, yes, jesus loves me this kind of songs Growing up as a kid yeah, god is love. But the emphasis is more on what must I do? I must obey, I must do this, I must do that in order for God to look at me with favor.
Speaker 1:Is Santa Claus a big deal in the Philippines?
Speaker 2:You know what the funny thing? The Philippines is very much Western, as you might think.
Speaker 1:Who you're describing is Santa Claus. He's checking lists. Yeah, like who you're describing is santa claus that, yeah, exactly, checking list, checking it twice, it's gonna find out who's naughty or nice, and so you gotta like god it seems like is a little santa claus who's making sure you're you're doing things. Okay, he's kind of watching you, like that's kind of what it feels like. Is that what it felt like? Like god was kind of just making sure you're up to you're doing it right?
Speaker 2:yeah, basically that man, like even if I refuse to say that I don't believe in santa claus, and but the picture that, basically that picture of he's making a list, checking it twice and doing it nine, you know what? It's what I felt. Like God was like this taskmaster, just waiting for me to like, oh, okay, you're following, you're obeying my commandments. Okay, oh, you fail, you commit a mistake, one point off, so like one demerit, you know, like so it was like god being a task master, just watching every move, and then, if I fall, then oh, you commit the sin. And then you know, uh, you are not acceptable to the kingdom, something like that.
Speaker 1:If you are, if you commit sin do you feel like this is a uh, an idea that a lot of people around you have, or was this? You felt like this is an idea that a lot of people around you have, or you felt like this was just what you were believing.
Speaker 2:At first I thought that it was just me, you know thinking, you know believing this thing. I conversed with so many friends my age who grew up as well in the Adventist church, at least here in the Philippines. They have the same experience and I was pretty much surprised at first. But then I also got to meet friends from the United States and from other countries who were born and raised in the Adventist faith and they share the same sentiments, they share the same experience. Share the same experiences Because, you know, like growing up, more of the emphasis with what was being taught was the commandments, more on prophecies, the end times, and so like it was more of a work based, fear based orientation of presenting, you know, scripture to us. I thought it was just me, but well, I could say that yeah, I have some friends.
Speaker 1:I know some fellow Adventist friends who shared the same experience so by the time you were, let's say, 15, do you think that you knew like? Did you have assurance of salvation? Time you were, let's say, 15, do you think that you knew like? Did you have assurance of salvation?
Speaker 2:No, man, no, you know. Here's one thing Like I went to Adventist school when I was in first grade and second grade. But after that my parents moved me to a non-sectarian school, probably because the teaching is much more advanced outside our church school, in the local church school where I grew up. So they moved me to another school and so I got to mingle with so many different friends who had different beliefs. So others were Catholic, a lot were Catholic, a lot were of other Protestant beliefs, denominations and, moving up to high school, 15, 16, 17 years old, same thing. And then when I moved up to college, I went to State University. And then when I moved up to college, I went to State University, not our Adventist church university here in the Philippines. So the more I was exposed to different, more diverse beliefs, I got to have friends who were atheists, muslims, catholics, protestants, of different denominations. So that time, all the while, even if I was studying in non-sectarian schools, I was still the seven-day Adventist who would just regularly go to church, regularly go to church, and the mindset was just like for as long as I kept the Sabbath, went to church on Sabbath regularly, was actively participating from the pulpit maybe you know, presiding over programs of the church, sometimes invited to preach or teach on certain topics from the Bible, sharing Bible stories.
Speaker 2:What else? For as long as I obey the Ten Commandments, I'm a good Christian and that's where my salvation is based. For as long as I'm obedient, then I'm good with God. And so was there assurance of salvation, bro. Every time the church would and this always happens right the preaching of the prophecies and the end times, I always wondered how am I going to measure up? I always sin, I always commit mistakes. How am I going to make it to the kingdom? How am I going to measure up? I always sin, I always commit mistakes. How am I going to make it to the kingdom? How am I going to be saved? The second coming always was something I was afraid of. The end times was something I was always afraid of because I never believed that I was assured of salvation, even at that age.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, if anyone's listening, they're not an Adventist. The Adventist movement started in 1844, and they really thought Jesus was going to come in 1844, and then they changed their mind when he didn't come. Oh, he's going to come in 1851, and it was always about Jesus coming really soon and that should be a good thing. Right, we should be excited about Jesus coming really soon and that should be a good thing, right, we should be excited about Jesus coming. But it seemed like that isn't good news a lot of the time, because if we don't understand where, or actually who, our salvation is, then Jesus coming is not a good idea. That's bad news if you haven't been living up or doing it right, or something like. That's bad news if you have been, haven't been living up or doing doing it right, or something like that. So what was your plan to get it right? What was your plan to do it? What was your mindset? Were you like how am I gonna? Was it more bible study? Was it more going to church? What did you think?
Speaker 2:More going to church, more spending on, you know, devotionals in the morning, you know Bible study. As long as I'm trying to be, you know the same thing I need to be obedient. I must be this certain kind of person for God to accept me. That was how it was for me growing up. Maybe it's just what was being fed to me Local churches from where I've been part of. Maybe Assurance of Salvation may be preached in some places on some churches I've been to, but it was not the focal point of of what's been being downloaded to my to make to me. So it's the plan. What was the? What is the plan? Just working? Just trying to work out my own salvation?
Speaker 2:by doing good works, yeah right, right, right.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, you went to a public university. What did you go to study? Or I don't know how it works out there. Do you just study, uh, everything? Or did you have, like I'm gonna be this, or like, what did you want to do with your life?
Speaker 2:well, I, I wanted to be part, I wanted to be a journalist. Walking into college, but I took up a degree in communication and, uh well, even when I was in college, man, uh, same thing. There was no assurance of salvation for me. I never even had this. I never knew what legalism was at that time. I never knew what. I didn't have any background of. Everything was just like. Salvation was work-based. I have to be a good person, I need to do good works, and that's what's going to get me entrance into heaven.
Speaker 1:The thing about legalism is that no real legalist knows that they're legalistic. Nobody knows it, but it's a mindset that you have and it's exactly that that you do something to earn favor with God like a thing that you do. It's kind of thinking about your legal standing with God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's very understandable because in all areas of life, man, even corporate school, you have to earn good grades in order to achieve this. If you want to earn a promotion, you have to work hard in order for you to earn that promotion. That led us well into my spiritual journey. You know what, if I have to be over there in the kingdom with God in heaven, I have to be obedient to the Ten Commandments. I have to be obedient to the Ten Commandments. I have to be, I have to follow all of these things. One, two, three. The Ten Commandments to me appeared like a checklist. The Sabbath keeping to me was like it became a platform for me to be able to prove my loyalty to God by not doing certain things and just doing the things that are allowed on the Sabbath. That was what Sabbath looked like, did you?
Speaker 2:enjoy the Sabbath. Then, Growing up, no man Straight up I would say I would want sunset to come right away, because we observe Sabbath from sunset to sunset right. Growing up as a kid I can't watch my cartoons. I had to wait for the Sabbath to come down so that I can play with my friends and all that. I can talk sports with my friends in high school after sunset. I have to be a certain person on the Sabbath and be another person on the rest of the six days. It was like a compartmentalization of my life. It was wild man, like it was pre-gospel in my life.
Speaker 2:This is what it was back then, and it was wild. It was crazy looking back at it now yeah, the it's not that wild.
Speaker 1:I think that it's actually kind of difficult to not be legalistic if you grow up in a world that's everything is legal, a meritocracy, like you do this right and then you'll get this yeah, and so then, if we don't understand that the kingdom of heaven operates completely different than the kingdom of, you know, the world, then, yeah, we have to change the way our thinking and that the kingdom of heaven does operate much differently than the way the world operates.
Speaker 1:That's true, so we culture yeah yeah, we have to think about it differently. So you, you did. You graduate with a communications degree yeah, I did how long?
Speaker 2:does it take was?
Speaker 1:it four years, three years. How long does it take in school there?
Speaker 2:four years, man for college. Four years depends on the course that you take here in the philippines. Other courses take longer, like five or six years, especially the depends on the course that you take here in the Philippines. Other courses take longer, like five or six years, especially the bigger ones like engineering medicine, but for the course it took just four years. So just continuing the story, man like okay, I was just this faithful Seventh-day Adventist just attending church every Sabbath and so I felt like, yeah, I'm a good Adventist because I keep the Sabbath, go to church on Sabbath, yeah, and that was it. I was obedient, I don't steal, I don't steal, I don't kill.
Speaker 1:What did you like to learn about when it came to the Scripture, like, what were you interested in, or were you interested in things when it came to Scripture?
Speaker 2:Back then, man, I wasn't that interested, I just like attended the church and you know prophecies though. Like, yeah, prophecies, I was fascinated because like, oh, this is history, the book of Daniel, like that. And then you go to Revelation and oh, this is being revealed, all that. Okay, and you?
Speaker 2:know that's what. Yeah, that most of the time, man, it just brought deep in my heart. It brought fear, like how am I going to measure up? Because when the happiest time of trouble, jacob's trouble, how am I going to survive that they're going to torture us, they're going to run after us, us who are Sabbath keepers, we keep a Sabbath on Saturday. It gave me so much fear Because I didn't even believe in the assurance of salvation. Then I was even more afraid. I don't show it externally, but deep inside I know I will never measure up because I always fall into sin, I commit sin, I do these things, do those things, and I don't think God's going to look me in favor. That was it. Yeah, mostly that.
Speaker 2:The usual stuff that Adventists teach during, the things that we focus on, very often like prophecies. Yeah, then. Well then, eventually, as you journey as I journeyed through life, you know, getting older, my mid-20s, as I journeyed through life, you know getting older my mid-20s and then early 30s I came across these guys David Dashrick, ty Gibson, and, you know, got to get back to the narrative of Scripture through a different lens. God is love through the lens of grace, and that's when the gear started to roll for me, did you?
Speaker 1:run across the sermon series or did you just? How did you come across?
Speaker 2:them Sermon series, and I also got to enroll in the online Arise class. And so things started to unfold right there. I got a better appreciation of Jesus. I got a better appreciation of Jesus. I got a better appreciation of Scripture, the entire narrative of Scripture. This is the story, and the gospel slowly started to unravel to me.
Speaker 2:And then, in my local church, a big church I used to be a member of when I was still in the big city in Manila, I was actually one of the elders in the church because I was already progressing, was growing, and I was nominated to be one of the elders of the church. I was one of the youngest elders in the church and there was this program, a lecture series during Sabbath afternoons, and there was this one lecturer, one speaker, who was teaching us about the gospel. And, bro, that was the very first time. That was the very first time that Jesus was lifted up, what he has done for me, what the cross meant and what has been won for me at the cross, and that salvation was not of my works or whatever good thing I do. Hi Papa.
Speaker 2:What's up, girl, sorry? And that salvation was not because of what I do, but because of what Jesus has done. It was all Jesus, it's all Christ, bro. That moment I heard that, the moment I heard that, bro, I felt like a huge load was lifted from my back. I felt like a huge load was lifted from my back. Wow.
Speaker 2:And I felt like you know, like chains just fell off my hands, wow, and I felt like I was floating on clouds the first time I heard that man. Like in so much beautiful detail how this guy presented it to me. Do you remember who was?
Speaker 2:preaching yeah, it was a good friend of mine within that local church. And, bro, that night man, me and my wife, we were in bed, bro, I can't sleep. I was crying the whole night, man, until midnight. Oh wow, and right there, man, I was like I came face to face, bro, with my very legalist self In my mind. I was shouting like all of these good things for what? All of this church going on Sabbath, for what? And then I it came. That was where I came to realize that I was doing it all wrong. I was looking at things all wrong. Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Even the Sabbath, man, like, as beautiful the gift of the Sabbath is, I was seeing it differently and experiencing it differently. Like I said a while ago, growing up it was a platform for me to prove my loyalty to God, by keeping it perfectly, you know. But when I received the gospel from this lecturer, from this friend, from one of the pastors over at the local church, that was that. That was that moment, bro, like I said, man, literally I felt like a huge weight of burden got lifted on my shoulders, like a chain fell off my hands and I felt like I was floating on clouds. That felt like for me the first time I heard it like that. And so, man, like I continued to grow from there. Man it is, and as I.
Speaker 1:How long ago was that, would you say?
Speaker 2:uh, maybe 10 years ago, eight, ten years ago.
Speaker 1:I'm getting older like a little thing started shifting around around yeah, from there shifting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, how old are you?
Speaker 1:you mind me asking how old you are I'm almost in my mid-40s bro you're in your mid-40s, almost man what year were you born? Yo man 81 okay, you're not that much older than me. We're, we're. You're as old as my brother. You're two years older than me. When's your birthday?
Speaker 2:oh, july, july, man, so like mid. Oh yeah, you're, not.
Speaker 1:We're still kids, man. We're still kids, man yeah we're youngsters. Don't worry, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I was in my mid-30s then, when I first encountered the gospel like that, how it was presented to me that way. And so, like you know what, and as I progressed through my Christian journey, my Adventist experience, I would say it was getting easier and easier to notice so much bits and pieces of legalism here and there and how we practice Adventism. I have nothing against the written 28 fundamental beliefs beliefs, man, no, no, I still fully believe in those things. But in how it is being practiced, that's where I got to start to notice like, oh man, this is how we used to practice it, even if it's what's being said, even if it's what's being, you know what was written as a relief. As Adventists, this is not how we practice it. We are doing it. We are keeping these things. We are doing these things in order to earn God's favor. And you know because, maybe because it's how we've been hyper-focusing, maybe because it's how we've been hyper-focusing on some certain things where the gospel or grace has become overshadowed, where salvation sounded like something to be earned rather than a gift that is to be received. You know what?
Speaker 2:Just to share a story, my wife and I we visited one of her relatives. It was just a couple of years back and she was regularly attending church, faithfully attending church, sabbath, keeper, and all that. And she's been sharing to us how, you know, they've been running their business. They have this small store over at the public market. They live, and she would share to us how they closed the business during Sabbath and how they regularly attended programs in church.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing that she said that struck me the most. She said I hope what we're doing, with what we're doing, with what we're doing, god will accept us. Man, like in my heart, I was just hoping that we had more time to spend with them but we had to leave because we just dropped by. We were on a trip man like this. I was crying inside because this is where I was some years back, you know, living like there's a big weight on my back, that I have to earn God's favor by doing good works. I understand now earn God's favor by doing good works. I understand now that it's not just me who has been experiencing this. Like I said earlier, bro, I've been in conversation with lots of friends and we share the same experience.
Speaker 2:Especially, you know, I've got friends who still, you know, are still struggling with this. I got friends who have seen the gospel and are living in the abundance of what the gospel freely offers. So, you know, it's such a big burden for me to see loved ones, especially who are still struggling. Absolutely who still don't understand, especially like who are still struggling with not having the assurance of salvation because they haven't still fully appreciated what the gospel really means. Yeah, man.
Speaker 1:So you're growing, you're hearing all these things. What happened next?
Speaker 2:It's still been a struggle for me, bro, as I continued to you know more, as the Holy Spirit has been continually revealing to me, helping me progress in my journey, you know, of understanding the beauty of the gospel. You know I fell, bro. I fell in a I would say I fell in a deep pit of depression in the journey. In that journey, because I had to deconstruct and construct, I had to unlearn a lot of things and then learn new things that was being revealed to me by what was depressing about that?
Speaker 2:revealed to me by what was depressing about that. Like you know, like it's just, it's very difficult when, like there's a there's a major, there's a major shift in in your, in your primary beliefs, and so, like I, would fall into bouts of, you know, the, what we see now is the lies of the enemy, which they really are. Like am I? Why am I Like? Why am I failing at everything in life? Why am I failing at being a good father or being a good husband? Why am I failing at being a good friend? Why am I not performing well at work? So it's like you know, all these stones of you know it's just bearing down on me. Like you know, when you don't have the correct, you don't have the understanding of the identity that God has declared on you, it's going to drive you into a very bad place. And yeah, and so it was the gospel that actually healed me from this. Knowing who I really are, who I really am in Christ. It changed the game for me, man. It's a game, sinner, to a son, to a child of God, who is greatly favored, who is fully loved, fully seen, fully accepted for who you truly are in Him, really changed the game for me, I feel more appreciated, which I actually truly am.
Speaker 2:I thought that I was not being appreciated by my family, by friends, but when I spoke out about my struggles, I felt love, I felt acceptance, I felt the embrace of community and I would say, man, like the community, the church community that we have we started a church plant, bro, you know, yeah, we're all Seventh-day Adventists.
Speaker 2:We started a church plant just near our place and it is this church community, bro, this community that helped me, you know, overcome this lies of the enemy, that helped me overcome these lies of the enemy, and it is such a beautiful experience. It's such a great joy for me to see the gospel being actually lived, not just an idea, but actually being lived out. It was my first time, bro, when I got to be part of this community that we have right now, you know, just to be able to do life together. You know, just to be part of this group, like not the kind of group that just gathers every weekend on a Sabbath and that's church. No, this is like every single area of our lives. We're able to get to live it together and be able to do life together. It's such a wonderful experience. Yeah, just saying.
Speaker 1:Okay, real quick, before you guys go, don't, don't skip this. I need to read this. This is the message we got recently and it says dude, I had to reach out. God has had me on a wild journey these past few years and for so long I felt pretty darn alone in what God was taking me through. I grew up in an SDA church, poured my life into ministry, was a graduate of Mission College of Evangelism, worked as a Bible worker for years. When I say I loved and breathed to share Jesus, I mean it. But fast forward to meeting my now husband, who was the purest, untainted relationship with God.
Speaker 1:With no church background, I was smacked with the reality that I did not actually believe the things I'd been taught to preach. I could take people through all the 28 fundamental beliefs but deep in my heart I knew God was so much more and so much less at the same time. I hate the term deconstructing, but honestly that's what started to happen. Your ministry God has used to soothe my soul and continue to open my eyes. To think I would have to open my eyes, to think I would have kept them tightly shut before. I feel more lost yet more found than I ever have. Thank you, guys so much for being faithful to God's call in your heart to share. It's speaking to people like me.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is so powerful, and it's the reason why we do the podcast. It's the reason why we do Internet Church. It's the reason why we do Internet Church. It's the reason why we do ministry. We want people to see who Jesus really is and what he's actually done, and in order to do this, we need people like you to partner with us so that we can get this out there. So, please, I'm urging you, wwwloverealityorg slash. Give, partner with us so we can get this thing out there, so people can see they're free from and dead to sin and we get more and more stories of victory and life in Jesus. But, yeah, we want to see it. So let's get back to the episode. So how did you come across the the gospel? Like you, 10 years ago or eight years ago, you got this. Where did you come across the, the gospel of the gospel, of all this other stuff?
Speaker 2:oh, um, I would say I would say, like the first time I met the gospel, I came face to face with the gospel, like I told you. But you know, the progression is really beautiful for me. I enjoy it, just looking back and still being in the journey, like climbing a mountain. I was there and I'm still learning, still progressing, and then eventually, man, like you know, when I met because when I got to meet you guys, justin first because, yeah, how did you come across?
Speaker 1:Justin. Like I don't know this story. I'm really curious because one day they told me oh, we got a guy his name's Vince and he's going to be there. And I'm like, oh, who's that? I had no idea who you were. How did you get a hold of Justin? Or Justin get a hold of you. How did you get a hold of Justin? Or Justin get a hold of you.
Speaker 2:Well, during the pandemic man, like it was my brother at first, my brother who was, you know, referred to Justin to do, to help him with his videos, you know, with his.
Speaker 1:Your brother's a videographer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a videographer, filmmaker, editor. Yeah, they still get my brother. We do the same thing.
Speaker 1:What's his name on Instagram?
Speaker 2:BJ, I think I have heard of him, yeah, yeah yeah, okay. I believe he's the more popular brother. Well yeah, he was the one he first got to work with you guys, with Justin first, because you know he's a digital missionary ministry, and then eventually, love Reality and eventually, just a few years ago, he passed on the task to me, my brother passed on the task to me. I got to meet Justin. And then eventually I got to meet you guys Love Reality. I got to meet Eddie Online, jonathan, and then you.
Speaker 1:Did you know what we were about? What were you like? Oh, is this just a ministry, just like an Adventist ministry? What did you think when you were starting to get a hold of who we were?
Speaker 2:I got to get to know who you guys were and what you teach, based on what the material I was passed, the material that was given to me to work on what was the material at first?
Speaker 1:yeah, the free from sin series, the podcasts, death to life, um and so like, yep this is so the original, like the vlogs with Justin or with Jonathan and Tyler in Hawaii. You edited those.
Speaker 2:Vijay was the one who edited those, my brother and then I carried on from there. Yeah, internet church videos, all this. It's like when I was listening, bro, as I go through the material, I felt no pushback from my end, because this is the gospel that I have encountered. There was no pushback from me. If anything, it got even more amplified, my appreciation got even more amplified, the appreciation of the gospel got even broader. It got more amplified because of, you know, the focus of love, reality and freedom from sin.
Speaker 2:At first I didn't hear this. When you read through it, the Romans, galatians, everywhere, corinthians that we are free from that. We indeed are freed from sin because of Jesus in Christ, by faith, we are free from sin. When you say this, bro, to you know, when you say free from sin, some people would immediately react differently because you'd say, oh, so we're saved, so we are free to sin. No, that's not what we're saying. We are freed from the condemnation of sin, we are freed from the slavery of sin because of Jesus, man, and for me, man, it's been so freeing, so liberating.
Speaker 1:So we were talking earlier and you said that when you started to come across us, this is when you were in a pretty dark place, that you were like not doing well at all. What was it that you were seeing in the material? And if you can go into as much or as little of that as you want to, but what were you seeing in the material that was giving you life?
Speaker 2:More on the identity bro, Our identity in Christ man, Because the enemy will just continue to push lies on you. It would bear so much weight on your self-esteem.
Speaker 2:So you were feeling pretty low then pretty low man, like not just in, I would say, not just in my spiritual journey.
Speaker 2:I would say like I, I would see myself as the worst sinner, and that bled into every area of my life, as a husband, as a father, as a friend, as a member of the family, and I felt like, even professionally, I felt like I was failing in everything because of that mindset.
Speaker 2:But how the gospel healed, that was when I came face to face with the identity that Christ has declared over me that I am His son, I am His child, always son, and that in Christ there's so much freedom to live out who he has declared me to be. And I don't have to try so hard to look at the commandments like a checklist. I just come to realize that in Christ I am obedient to the commandments because it is what the Holy Spirit is working out in my life and because I am living in the Spirit right now, the fruits of the Spirit. I don't have to push so hard to do it. It is what's being, it's a fruit, it's what's being produced in my life, and so there's so much joy, man, in coming to know what the gospel is and being able to live it out. That's what I would say.
Speaker 1:So, as you're editing this stuff, was there any story that stood out? Like I don't remember when you started? So you there, there's nobody who's probably heard more love reality material than you. You're the number one guy. You've heard more of it. As you were editing the podcast, was there a story that stood out or was it just the themes that consistently?
Speaker 2:were shown up, I would say the themes consistently, but there are those that stand out. I would say you know, as a husband, the story of Eddie and Jayla man really made a huge impact with me about you know and also the very recent episode from Justin about you know. From Justin, about you know, because I would say, man, like I also receive a great deal of you know being persecuted. Yeah, Is there.
Speaker 2:Pushback of unloved reality in the Philippines. Ah man, you know what? Because you know there's this video, of whom we don't know who made it, just floating around.
Speaker 1:We know who made it. We're not going to say who made it, but we know who made it. But it's out there, yeah, and people have seen that over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some people. I don't even need to know who made it, don't worry about it, I don't need to but yeah, it bled into social media circles here, the Adventist circles here in the Philippines. It got passed around, it got viral here in the Philippines and it hurts because there's been friends who are very dear to us who just came to know that we are friends Just because I'm friends with Justin, to know that we are just because I'm friends with justin, and then, just by association, we're already starting to spread lies about me, my family and my community that, uh, we are teaching heresy or whatnot. Bro, I'm just silently sitting inside my very small room working on the computer, editing and videos and like did you uh watch that video?
Speaker 1:did you watch the whole thing?
Speaker 2:I did, man, and it's not just one video, I think there's even a few more. And you know, and when I hear, when I listen to the videos, man like, bro, this is not what the guys teach. I can fully say because I've come across so much material man like this is not what the guys teach. I can fully say, because I've come across so much material man Like this is not what we teach, it's not. Where are the guys being accused of something that they don't actually teach?
Speaker 1:Man. When I saw it man, it hit me hard. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because you know, it's been a while since love reality has been getting people be frustrated with us. But when I saw my face come on there, I've never seen my face on like one of these videos. So I saw my face on there and like it hit like my heart, like my chest got tight, yeah, and I was like, oh, I, and there was like fear, oh, I, I, and there was like fear and I didn't like the feeling at all and so I had to calm down because I was like what? What am I afraid of? What's going on? Why do I feel this way? But I can't lie, I can't say oh, and I had to relax and stop and just understand the truth. Like that had nothing to be afraid of, but those things don't, they don't feel good. Nothing to be afraid of, but those things don't, they don't feel good, they don't feel good at all. Um, so, when justin was going through his experience and you're just resonating because you have felt the same thing right when you're watching those videos- so much so much.
Speaker 2:How do you how?
Speaker 1:do you? How do you walk through that?
Speaker 2:you know, at first, just like you man, I got so frustrated and, bro, I believe it's even more worse than bro, I believe it's even more worse than you guys, because it's even more worse for you guys because you got, you see your faces there and you guys are being quoted there like you're being edited into a certain video, and you know. But you know I being also at the receiving end of some folks around here, and, like, at first, I got frustrated. It was very, I was very angry inside and very sad at the same time. But then, yeah, I just had to calm myself down.
Speaker 2:Why am I afraid? Am I afraid of backlash, or am I just being afraid of being rejected or whatnot? Then I come to realize, man, why am I afraid I should not be, or whatnot. But I've come to realize, man, like, why am I afraid I should not be? And maybe that's the part where Paul just wrote, like, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. So there are even times where I'm a video editor, like man, it's so easy to extract snippets from different sermons from other people I don't like, and put them into a single video and release it anonymously. But that's not who we are, man. We preach grace, we preach Jesus, we preach the truth and you know, I just, and because we have come face to face with the gospel man, I just, I'm learning to forgive and just move forward in my journey of faith. Live out the gospel, live out the truth that God has declared over me and experience the joy of being favored by God.
Speaker 1:That's the hook right there 47 to 57. That's the hook You're going to. That's how you do it. That's so beautiful, bro? No, think about it. You said we've come face to face Like how can we go back, man? How can we treat people any differently? Like we've been loved so much, why would we? And that's the truth.
Speaker 2:That's true. Just to look back on who I was back then, you know what. I see people I see friends as well who still struggle in their journey, like having no assurance of salvation and sometimes even being aggressive about no. It's work plus grace and things like that. You know what? Sometimes, even if I get frustrated, I see myself in them. I was that kind of person several years back and boy I'm just stunned and so amazed about how the gospel has just shifted everything for me. When I came face to face with it, like I said, man, I felt like a huge sack of rice was lifted off my back. That weight, man, the shackles just fell off my hands, felt like floating on clouds. First I heard it.
Speaker 1:Is this understanding of freedom from sin and that you're always a son that you are forgiven. Has it given license for you to sin? Has it made sin okay? Have you been living worse than you were before? Now that you understood this?
Speaker 2:All the more, no man, all the more you live out who Christ declared you to be. You don't want to be a slave to sin anymore, because you're no longer a slave to it. So if you're going to ask me what's your relationship to sin? There's none. Because of what Jesus has done, man, we're freed from it already. We're not under its condemnation anymore. We're no longer in the flesh, we are freed from it already. We're not under its condemnation anymore. We're no longer in the flesh, we're already in the spirit. So, being free from sin is not a license to sin. You are freed from it, yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's say you got to go back and talk to Vince Vince, who is this legalistic guy who wanted to be a good husband, wanted to be a good son, wanted to be a good father, but wasn't really able to do it, and you got to put your arm around this guy and give him a pep talk. What would you say to old Vince?
Speaker 2:I would say, man, like all these things that you've been, all of these things that you're worried about, all these things that you are, that bear weight on your shoulders, are a lie caused by the enemy for you to be blinded from the beauty of the gospel. And so, man, like I said, my identity in Christ, it's a game changer for me when it was revealed to me what has been declared about me. And so my life right now is living out who God has declared about me and living out in the joy and abundance of what the gospel is able to give us. It's been amazing Sucks and downs. Obviously we still live this life, we still have this earth, but with a different lens. I get to have greater appreciation of this life that has been given to us, to be able to share it with community, to be able to participate in, in sharing what I've come to realize and got to experience.
Speaker 1:Bro, when I heard that you were down to do an episode, I was pumped because I did. You know we haven't spent too much time and I was super pumped, yeah. And then you came on and you shared a little bit with Justin and Eddie and Jonathan and I, and you're such a blessing to us, man. You're amazing at editing videos. You've been in the background this whole time and people see just as much of your work as they see our work because you're putting it all together. So you've been such a blessing to us. But just hearing the story is such an encouragement to me, man, and so, uh, man, we're praying for you and we're praying for just a deeper revelation that we all get to see what's ours in Christ, man. So thank you for coming on, man. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Thanks bro, appreciate you guys as well, Absolutely.