Case 22: Rejected by Chruch Accepted by Christ | Edmar Elias

Summary

In this episode, Edmar Elias shares his journey from a non-traditional entry into music to becoming a Christian rapper. He discusses the challenges of navigating faith and music, the void he sees in Christian music, and the importance of emotional resilience. Edmar also shares his testimony of rejection, the power of prophetic insight, and the Kingdom secrets to success, emphasizing the need for honor and the pursuit of a personal relationship with God.

takeaways

• Edmar's journey into music began unexpectedly after high school.
• He found inspiration in artists like Big Sean and Sahai the Prince.
• His faith journey led him to create music that fills a void in Christian hip hop.
• Edmar emphasizes the importance of emotional resilience in spiritual growth.
• He believes that rejection can be a form of God's protection.
• The prophetic insight can guide one's life and decisions.
• Honor is crucial for spiritual elevation and success.
• God desires a personal relationship with each individual.
• The evidence of God can be found in everyday life experiences.
• Spiritual growth often comes through trials and tribulations.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Edmar Elias
• 3:30 The Journey into Music
• 6:24 Navigating Faith and Music
• 12:24 The Void in Christian Music
• 18:13 Spirituality and Music Creation
• 21:12 Emotional Resilience and Spiritual Growth
• 35:55 Testimony of Overcoming Adversity
• 38:46 Divine Encounters and Spiritual Revelations
• 41:38 Recognizing Prophetic Callings
• 47:47 Navigating Rejection and Church Hurt
• 53:11 The Importance of Honor in Spiritual Growth
• 1:07:32 The Journey of Faith: Seeking God and His Purpose

Transcript

Jethro Casie (00:00.946)
Welcome back to another episode of Case by Casie. Today I have a Christian music artist. He's also the co-founder of Academic Instict Tutoring with his wife. They're a private tutoring agency where students anywhere between ages two to 13 can approach learning in a non-traditional, fun and effective way for each student to express themselves. He's also a social media content creator and newlywed. I welcome Edmar Elias, the next biggest Christian rapper.

to case by case.

Edmar Elias (00:32.194)
Thank you, thank you man, appreciate you.

Jethro Casie (00:34.64)
Yeah, I wanted to start off before we were talking about just how you got into music. So yeah, what was your story of first getting into music? did the Lord lead you there?

Edmar Elias (00:43.992)
So I didn't get there how a lot of people get there, where it's like they grow up around it and then it just becomes like this ingrained passion that people have from like a young age. So in my case, like it actually happened where it wasn't until after high school. One particular, I guess, pivotal moment in high school was my senior year. We had to take a chorus class.

And in chorus class, you know, they'd make us sing songs and, you know, kind of have people separated into sections. And the teacher after a while started to kind of signal me for like most of the solos. And I'm just like, Mr. You keep picking on me. Like, what's going on? Like, you know, I'm paying attention. I'm here. And one day at the class, he just stopped me. He's just like, no, like you really have a good voice. Like you got something there. And then he proceeded to

mentioned that he was having a musical in the school and he wanted me to audition for it. And prior to this, I never considered music for anything. So I was just looking at him like, man, I don't know about that. I think you got the wrong guy. And he was like, he said, look, man, just I'm telling you, just audition and just let's see. So, you know, I prepped for the audition. do the audition. The judges, you got like my my principal, the guidance counselor, you know.

and blew them away and they're like, yo, we had no clue. You've been here for four years. We had zero idea. And went on to do that musical. was into the woods. That was the musical did that. And then even after that, considered music still just, you know, just like, just, you know, like a one time thing. And it wasn't till I was in my first year of college.

you know, and now you meet new people, people come from different regions in the world, in the country, and people are introducing you to like different types of music, different artists that you've never heard before. And there were, there was one artist that really, like I caught on, like this is back in, I want to say like 2009 or 2010, where,

Jethro Casie (03:02.631)
Mm.

Edmar Elias (03:05.646)
My friend in college put me on to an artist named Big Sean. when I first, this is the first time I'm hearing it. And was funny because he used to always like, dude, like we'll be in the car. He'd be like, yo dude, can I play this song by the, I'm like, man, I want to hear no Big Sean, you who that is, that sounds crazy. Like, and just kept writing it off. And then one day I heard one song from one of his mixtapes and I was like, this is, this is different. And I was really caught by like,

Jethro Casie (03:10.286)
Okay, right. Yeah.

Edmar Elias (03:35.148)
his style of lyricism where it was like a lot of punchlines, a lot of witty wordplay and stuff like that. So I was like, I became like captivated by it. And, but even still it wasn't this thing of like, want to rap. That actually happened with another artist and that artist was Sahai the Prince who signed to Good Music with Kanye West. When I heard Sahai the Prince rap, that was

Jethro Casie (03:50.01)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (03:56.187)
Okay.

Edmar Elias (04:04.658)
moment I was like okay I want to rap because he his punchlines his bars were crazy and I also liked how in his music there was like this Christian background seeping into his lyrics like you can tell like by some of like the experience like he grew up in the streets but like you could tell he grew up with a Christian family but he was in the street so like some of his bars were like these crazy Christian bars and I was like like I related to him

you know, in a way. So from then on, I think I wrote every day for like, like, I think like two years, I just like every day I wanted to write something, I wanted to record a little bit of this and that. And that's like more or less how the journey started from that, from that point.

Jethro Casie (04:55.059)
Hey man, that's deep. guess how did you, cause I know once I got saved, had not even sort of a conviction, but my girlfriend, she started like playing in scenes like, yo, like why are you listening to like music that is like cursing and not really glorifying God, but you're still listening to it. So how did you kind of, cause I know you're

Edmar Elias (05:10.414)
Right, Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Jethro Casie (05:15.228)
pretty much raised in the faith your whole life. So how do you kind of navigate that, especially as you got like, you start to draw closer and closer to God as well.

Edmar Elias (05:22.968)
So, so essentially I, I grew up in a Christian household when my mother took up the church. My father wasn't really a believer at the time, but, you know, it's like this war of like what mom's teaching you at home and what you're learning at church and then what you're going out and experiencing in school for eight hours a day and after school. but like, I guess, like, are you asking like my transition to like,

in my faith and how like my relationship with music changed.

Jethro Casie (05:56.434)
So yeah, more so, yeah, exactly. I used to listen to J. Cole, lot of just not necessarily bad music. Some of it was like money, know, yeah.

Edmar Elias (05:59.5)
Okay.

Yeah.

Edmar Elias (06:06.464)
Yeah, yeah. I got you. Nah, so I think for me, so it just, it lost his luster. Like the music, like, because even after I got saved, like I still listen to J. Cole, I still listen to, you know, Nipsey Hussle. Nipsey Hussle was one of my favorite artists at the time. And so as I started growing closer and closer with the Lord,

It just the music lost its luster. was like, I'll tell you like this. had I had an encounter in my apartment here.

Jethro Casie (06:41.34)
So how, you said when you got saved, how old were you when you gave your life to Chris?

Edmar Elias (06:45.134)
when I gave my life to the Lord, think I must've been, well, when I got baptized, sis, I was like 17. Yeah, I was like 17 when I got baptized. But again, I was going to a Christian non-denominational church from the age of five. And even from the age of five, my Sunday school teachers would tell my mom, your son knows the Bible, he's a grown man. He just understands it on a whole nother level. I'm like.

five years old in this non denomination church that also, mind you, they didn't practice things like healing and like things of that or deliverance. But at five, six years old, I'm hands on people praying for healing, praying for deliver as like five, six years old. And like, where am I getting this stuff? But from the Bible, you know, at that young age. But but anyway,

Jethro Casie (07:28.476)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (07:37.23)
I had an encounter back in, I want to say, 2021. This is when I actually started listening to Prophet Lovi. His ministry actually really changed my life. because prior to that, like, yeah, I was a Christian, but I was a very, I guess you say lukewarm Christian or very, you know, passive Christian. And so when I started listening to Prophet Lovi, it was just like, I

I was just locked in. I locked in. And then just one day in my apartment, just had like this, this breakdown, like the Holy Spirit just visited me in my living room. And I was just, it was like four in the morning. I'm crying my eyes out. And I'm just like, God, like I just want, I want to know you like intimately. And I, and I also have felt like I had this feeling of like feeling like robbed.

Like I didn't really know God the way I'm now learning about God. I almost felt like why didn't, why wasn't there anybody to teach me this? You know, so anyway, just to go back to your question. So after this encounter, it's just like the music didn't hit the same no more. So now like I'm listening to the music and in my mind, all I'm hearing is like, they're lying. Like they're lying. Like,

Like, you know, like they glorified the money is like all I'm feeling like it's a lie. It don't sound dope no more. Like, yeah, the beat's cool and like the flow's cool, but like what they're talking about is not resonating so much to the point where I'm not listening to music. Where I'm listening to music every day all the time. Like I was the kind of person I was. If I ran into an album or a mixtape that I really liked.

Jethro Casie (09:10.428)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (09:28.622)
I was probably listening to that mixtape nonstop on repeat all the time for months on end and primarily because I was studying it. So I'll be in the car and I'm playing and people get in my car and like, yo, why are you still playing this guy, bro? Like, and like, you were like, yo, bro, you don't like it, you know, bring your car next time. But I was just that was just how I was. Like, I would just listen to one artist and like, I like how he did this. Like, I just, you know, like I like how he flipped, you know, that wordplay like.

Jethro Casie (09:41.426)
You

Edmar Elias (09:57.794)
You know, so I was like that from, so from going from that to like, it's just, I'm just like, dang, like I can't, I can't listen to nothing because it just, I'm not, I'm not feeling it. And then even like Christian music, I listen to Christian music and like, like worship music, praise music. Yeah. But like Christian hip hop just wasn't connecting for me. And and I really didn't know why. Like it was like, I know the fundamentals of my faith. know.

fundamental beliefs but it just it wasn't it wasn't doing it for me so then it just became i gotta make the music that i need because for some reason you know you know these other christian artists they're just not doing it for me you know in all respect to them you know you know but it's just it was just it was almost like just god was telling me just making me aware of this void in christian music that

Jethro Casie (10:47.494)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (10:57.206)
was not being filled and God was just like putting a finger on it. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (10:58.719)
What would you feel like the void was that wasn't being filled for you? And that you feel like probably other people were dealing with the same feeling as well, I'm assuming.

Edmar Elias (11:08.288)
I think if I could put it, I guess in a biblical term, is like, I feel like a lot of Christian music because, okay, it's like, I'll put it like this. You know how you go to church and like, you ever go to a church where they never preach from the book of revelations? I've been to quite a few churches where like they'll never preach from that book. And the reality is that book is just very dense and it's...

Jethro Casie (11:24.496)
I think so.

Edmar Elias (11:36.174)
you gotta get it right, because that book even comes with a warning in the last chapter. That's like, don't add to these words. Don't, you know, essentially, you know, don't misinterpret, this out of context. There's a consequence that comes with this. So a lot of people kind of like, you know, play back on that, on that Bible, on that book. So when it comes to Christian rap, I felt like, you know, a lot of Christian rap was very like milk as opposed to me.

Jethro Casie (12:03.154)
Mm. Mm.

Edmar Elias (12:05.59)
And it's because a lot of the meat is like, it's hard to chew. So when I write music, you know, like I already know the music I write. Like you're going to get a lot of people that's like, that's not real Christian rap or it's not real Christian hip hop. Because, you know, one, here's how I look at it. When you start at a place, like, okay, you go to first grade.

and you learn addition, you learn subtraction. And then you go to second grade and you go to third grade, you go to fourth grade, and then you're learning things like division, you're learning fractions and things like that. And then it's like when it comes to Christian music, people always want you to talk about the foundational stuff, right? you've got to talk about repentance. If you don't talk about repentance, you're you're not a real you're false. You're false if you're not talking about these things. But it's like

If you go to first grade and you learn audition and stuff, they're not teaching audition again back in fifth grade. You already know this. This is already fundamental. know this. This is, you know, the root fundamentals of mathematics. So like now we're going to the advanced operations of mathematics. So that's how I looked at this music was like, you start at milk, but it's like, unless you are staying with the milk,

Jethro Casie (13:09.286)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (13:32.29)
they're not receiving or they don't want to receive like the meat that comes with the music. So, you know, that's kind of what I feel like is missing is like, how can music take me deeper into God? How can music take me into the mysteries, into the secrets, into, you know, the revelations, the deeper revelations, you know, of what's with God? Because like, I'll write and I can't tell you how many times I've written music and like,

I've gone over the lyrics this many times. I've recorded it this many times. After and then after like going through the mix or whatever, I'm listening again and I'm catching things that like I wrote down and I'm like, I didn't even realize like, like I wrote that or that it made sense like that. So it's like even in the music I'm getting revelation. So yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's crazy because

Jethro Casie (14:16.892)
Mm-hmm.

Jethro Casie (14:21.454)
Mmm. This is super interesting. Yeah, this is really, yeah.

Edmar Elias (14:32.042)
All it points to is, you know, revelation, the spiritual is all real, you know, and that goes for all music, not even just Christian, it's all spiritual. know, personally, I believe that, you know, as men, like we don't do anything apart from spiritual influence, whether it be godly or demonic, you know, so that's why, like, when I look at music,

I'm looking at it as though I'm being a vessel and I'm like taking like what I'm catching spiritually and I'm putting it down on a page. an example is you're writing a song and all of a sudden an entire line will pop up in your head. Like you didn't form it word by word, an entire line just came to you. That's spiritual. So

is even things like that. That's like, it's an indication like, okay, like I'm, I'm communing with the spirit. Like I'm communing with, you know, these angelic beings and the Holy Spirit and you know, the Lord is speaking to me, you know, and sometimes it's again, remember is your, is your earthly experience, right? So it's like, even when it comes to praising, God comes to worship that comes from your spirit and that comes from your earthly experience, your human experience. So

Jethro Casie (15:41.842)
Mm.

Edmar Elias (15:56.748)
You know, it's very interesting take on music when you include the earthly experience while not being ashamed that not every lyric is like, you know, I guess sanctified. Because like the music is clean, but it's like when you add just the human experience, like talking about the things that you even have, like you mentioned the things that you're going through, like from going from, you know, like I talk about sometimes in my music, going from driving.

Jethro Casie (15:59.579)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (16:25.646)
you know, my old like Nissan Versa to driving a BMW, like just to transition. And somebody might look at that like, but that's not Christian. that's gloating. you're bragging. And it's like, no, it's like I'm, I'm glorifying God. I'm bragging on God. And that's another thing is in my music, we're very big on, we glorify God by, you know, acknowledging what God has done through us.

So like, it might seem like, he's bragging on himself, but it's like, I'm, it seems like I'm bragging on myself, but it's like, I'm bragging on what God has done through me. You know what I'm saying? So it's also, so I guess the way I would put the music is just like, again, I no longer want to have this apprehension of like, I gotta be careful because of what people think. It's like the only voice, the only critic that matters to me is God's critique.

Jethro Casie (16:52.359)
that.

Jethro Casie (17:01.98)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (17:21.806)
And men of God that I respect and that I hold to us, that I look at and I go, wow, they're really doing it in the kingdom. And I look at someone like that, like, know what? They tell me something, I consider it. But if you've got just anybody listening, this is what I think, and this is what my mom told me, you know what saying? Would all do respect, that's nice. But it is what it is.

Jethro Casie (17:48.498)
you

Yeah, this is probably one of the most interesting conversations that I've had so far on the podcast because there's no form of like you can go to church and receive like me if you go to like a deep ministry, like a ministry that's actually like teaching like revelation from God. But it's like, why should that stop there? What about like when we put our headphones on? Because so many people

Edmar Elias (17:57.393)
well.

Edmar Elias (18:04.366)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jethro Casie (18:11.442)
I music and I love that's what you're saying is like even the bars itself, they're going to like require a certain level of like spiritual understanding in the way like I'm imagining it. It's like somebody might listen. It's like I know for me, it's like I would listen to a song and I wouldn't catch something the first time. I'd have to like listen to it a few more times to catch the bar. And it's like the same thing with your music. Like they're going to listen a few times. It's going to be like layers of revelation. So I love that.

Edmar Elias (18:19.118)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (18:26.123)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm, exactly.

Edmar Elias (18:34.415)
Yeah, no, it's it's a very deep thing, you know, it's a very deep thing I You know sometimes I I look at it even like just the imagery the imagery itself You know, the Bible is rich full of imagery You know, so like and again, the Bible is Holy Spirit inspired so like you have these men of God that through the different eras of time who are coming up with these very

in their time, very complex ideas and visuals that they're coming up with and these, you know, these visions that they're seeing. You know, I think even, I think it's Ezekiel that has visions from heaven that he's seeing these complex beings. You know, we, know, in pop culture, we have these images of cherubim angels that look like little children with wings. But then like you see in the Bible that they're totally not that.

Jethro Casie (19:15.964)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (19:27.217)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (19:31.682)
They're like these kind of, they're scary. They're scary beings, things that are very, very otherworldly. And so, you know, for someone to think that music that's about God should be in a box is, it doesn't make sense. You know, it's very contradictory of like what we experience just reading our Bible.

Jethro Casie (19:35.336)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (19:55.39)
Yeah, that's super interesting because there's like this idea of I feel like there's different churches in the like body of Christ. There's like those that are maybe not even spiritual at all. They're just like in the flesh. There's those who like milk and then obviously there's me and I think the same thing applies to I love that. That's the content like going to like the inspiration part.

Edmar Elias (20:02.52)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jethro Casie (20:17.234)
I was reminded of David when he's writing the Psalms, that's probably how he felt. And he was somebody who resonated well with music as well. So it's curious to see, because people would say, God doesn't speak. The Bible is really written how you're talking about, yeah, that's it. You're just flowing, and God starts speaking to you, and then you read what you said. And you're like, I wrote that? So I want to talk about your testimony, but first, I want to

Edmar Elias (20:19.918)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (20:25.889)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (20:33.206)
And that's it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Edmar Elias (20:45.346)
Yeah, yeah.

Jethro Casie (20:45.924)
Where have you where has God brought you to now? Like what is the like how can you boast to the Lord now? What are some of the amazing things God has done for you? And then you could dive into your like your testimony and everything that led up to there

Edmar Elias (20:57.708)
Okay, so where I'm at now, I'm gonna tell you something. We live in a generation. It's funny because Jesus, when they asked him, they said, you know, what would be the signs that we're in the end? We're in the end times. And one of the things Jesus said that a lot of people overlook is that he said that we would be among the most offended generation.

That's what Jesus, those are Jesus' words. Said we would be in, I'm saying that so many words, but he basically said that we would be among the most offended generation. And it's like, you look around like, my goodness, like that's exactly where we're at. Like everything's offensive. You can't say nothing right in this world. You're gonna upset somebody. so the reason why I bring that up is cause like, I feel like where I'm at is like,

Jethro Casie (21:42.844)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (21:50.638)
God has brought me to a place of emotional resilience like like you know

I have like, for example, like my wife and my family, her family, and you just, you just observe what people go through and you observe how people like still like whether they're in their twenties or in their forties or in their sixties or, and you just see how people deal with offense on such a personal level and such a, where like they re it's hard for them to control their angers or it's hard for them to control like, you hurt my feelings.

And I'm just at a place where by the grace of God, I don't care what people think about me. I don't care, you know. At the same time, I do want to be respectful. I do want to be considerate of people. So it's never like, forget your feelings. But it's just a place where it's like, yo, I can really care less how people feel about me. And it's a beautiful place to be.

Jethro Casie (22:41.874)
you

Edmar Elias (22:55.406)
Especially when you have that resolve when it comes to even family, because family knows how to push your buttons. Family knows the things to say to like hit you and like, you hurt me. And so it's good to be in a place where it's like, yo, mom said this, mama's a little angry, mom said this, and your sister. Sometimes my brother, he'll come here like, know.

Jethro Casie (23:02.201)
you

Yeah.

Edmar Elias (23:24.448)
Our sister was talking to me and she said this about you and I'm like, it's all right, you know, like it's all right and it's it'll be terrible things It's just like, you know, like they don't understand, you know things like that. But I think that's the beautiful place is like having a place being a place of emotional resilience because it's not until And it's not until you have complete lordship over your emotions That you can finally really dive into the spirit because as long as

Jethro Casie (23:34.62)
Yeah. And I'm assuming. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (23:52.402)
Well, why do you say that?

Edmar Elias (23:53.876)
Because as long as your emotions dictate your movements, like, you know, as long as your emotions dictate your movement, it's like things like forgiveness harder to come by things like bitterness easier to come by, you know, so when, when you have, when you have zero control over your emotions or when like just anybody can just say a comment and all of a sudden it changes your mood and everything, that's a lot of power to give other people, let alone people that you don't know.

Jethro Casie (24:08.178)
That's it.

Jethro Casie (24:21.372)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (24:24.002)
Because we live in this world of social media where you have all these celebrities that are like... You see these celebrities crying on the internet, crying on camera. All you people are bullying me. And it's like, to give people that power, how can you ever think that you can dive into spiritual things? It's like Jesus said, right? How don't you understand if I tell you of earthly things?

then when would you understand if I told you of heavenly things? So if you want to take your life from your soul and go into your spirit, that's that emotional, that's like, you know, like the final boss level, like, you know what saying? Like you got to find a way and beat that and beat just your emotions as a submission, right? Because there's a part of your flesh essentially, right? Where your desires and your will and stuff like that.

Jethro Casie (24:55.438)
Mm-mm-mm.

Edmar Elias (25:19.906)
So once you've gone to that place where like you've died to self including your own emotions where you like, you know what? It don't matter how I feel. This is the truth of God. This is the truth of my life. And this is what actually matters, not what I feel. So until you get to that point of emotional resolve, you know, like you're really limited as a spiritual person, you're really limited.

Jethro Casie (25:50.104)
And you're speaking to me as well, because it's not just like emotions in terms of like anger or sadness, but also in terms of like, you know, like, don't feel like doing this right now. And I feel like that's a barrier. And that's like literally what discipline is. like, and that's what's going to limit you if you can, if you never feel like doing things, you don't have the discipline to do what the Lord's leading you to do.

Edmar Elias (25:55.979)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (26:00.233)
Exactly, exactly, it's true.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jethro Casie (26:12.316)
then you're never gonna like have that next level. It's not always what I'm realizing. Spiritual things aren't necessarily always in like the visions or the prophecy, but spiritual things are also in like the small like day to day things. I was just reading it in Isaiah where the Lord talks about like precepts onto precept. And it's like, I forgot the other word that he said, but basically my interpretation or understanding of it was like a little by a little is the way I'll teach you. Like he's not gonna.

Edmar Elias (26:12.482)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (26:21.518)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (26:38.189)
Mm-hmm.

Jethro Casie (26:39.238)
just throw you into like all the supernatural things at once. And I think that's something I've been a flaw of like, Lord, why am I not having like visions right now? Like I'm hearing about everybody else having visions, like Lord, I've been desiring and all that. So I think that's even like a lot of like spiritual wisdom right there. And on the piece about like your sister, and I'm assuming this is where it was coming from. And we could talk about it as well, like the prophetic piece of like being rejected by your family because you're called to do something that's.

Edmar Elias (26:42.339)
Mm.

Edmar Elias (27:00.844)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (27:04.781)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (27:08.326)
Like you're the black sheep are abnormal in your family because of it. So yeah, tell me a little bit about your testimony. I know the title of the yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Edmar Elias (27:10.07)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, seriously.

Edmar Elias (27:14.99)
So actually, so I'll get into that, but I actually just wanted to like add on to something you said as far as like the precept by precept. Again, going back to the emotions is not like you defeat all your emotions at once and then you open this door, you know, you walk through the door of Christ into spirituality. It's again, until you deal with the feelings of anger.

that you'll actually experience the highest levels of joy or you overcome the feelings of sadness where you'll actually experience hope in a new way. So it's like, it's level by level. it's like exactly what you just said as far as, I don't feel like doing this. That's still something I struggle with. having a, like, man, know, like that could be done tomorrow.

or like, and tomorrow never comes and you know, like even this look. And I, and I gotta thank you for this because like even like getting on this interview, I've been telling myself for a long time, yeah, I want to do a podcast. want to do a podcast. And like, again, you see my equipment, you see like, I, I, I more or less got, you know, but, but it was always something like, you know, but I don't got this camera or I don't got this thing. So it was always like the feelings came in the form of that, like, you don't have this though. So you can't, you know, you can't really do it.

Jethro Casie (28:09.91)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (28:25.638)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (28:34.674)
Mmm.

Edmar Elias (28:38.2)
But then when you told me, we got an interview, and I'm like, yo, I got two hours to set up for an interview. And look, I made it happen. Well, my wife helped me make it happen. I got to give her the credit. But yeah, so it's deep. OK, so as far as my testimony, my god, where do you start? I'll say it like this.

Jethro Casie (28:45.774)
Amen.

Jethro Casie (28:49.582)
Emma.

Edmar Elias (29:05.64)
Even my birth was a very deep thing in hindsight. My mother, when she was pregnant with me, she fell several times on her stomach. And like I came out like healthy. Even I was actually breached. even on the day of delivery, I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck.

So there was a lot of complication to like even me being born, let alone being born completely healthy. Like Satan was really after my life and my destiny from, you know, from beyond the womb, so to speak. So, but then even growing up, you know, I grew up seeing things very different. I grew up in the hood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And I just grew up seeing things very differently.

The law of God was very much like written on my heart. You know, I remember growing up and you hear people talk about like, you know, they stole $20 out of their mom's purse or they stole $20 out of like the drawer in their house. Like I lived in a house where like you could have left a dollar somewhere. And if no one picked, and if my parents didn't pick it up, it would stay there for like weeks. Nobody would touch it. Like we just, it was just something innate in us that got put in us. was like,

Jethro Casie (30:24.05)
Yeah, man.

Edmar Elias (30:30.106)
This is not you don't you don't rob you. You don't steal it from your parents things like that So like but no one told us no one told us these things like like don't do that. I don't take it was not yours like in terms of money So it was things like that. It's just like it was just like God put it in us but But no for me. I experienced rejection very early in my life. and from

Jethro Casie (30:43.004)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (30:58.818)
Wow, such an influential figure in my life, my father. My father, my father, I was really rejected by my father. My interests didn't align with my father. Like I wasn't someone who could sit down and like watch sports. Meanwhile, my younger brother, he was someone that can enjoy sports with my father. So like they were able to connect in that way. So yes, I'm the oldest. And then I have my brother who's

Jethro Casie (31:20.25)
Are you the oldest in your family?

Edmar Elias (31:25.902)
five years younger and then my sister who's seven years younger than me. So they're two years apart. But yeah, my father was someone man of very few words. It was also a very dysfunctional house. Like everything looked nice. He would have came to my house like, my God, you guys got money. It wasn't really like that. It's just God was good to us. We lived in a hood, but we had a duplex. We had three bedrooms. We had a dining room, a living room.

Kitchen to one and a half bathrooms a backyard people didn't have that so people will come by thinking like yo Yeah, yeah, what do y'all do it? I was like nah that works for MTA and you know what else so God was very good to us and My mother didn't even work. You know so it was it was just like God's grace over our household and

Jethro Casie (31:59.494)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (32:21.656)
But yeah, so me and my father, we were very disconnected. My father at that age was very physically and verbally abusive, particularly toward me. I don't ever remember my father really raising an abusive hand toward my siblings. So it was like, it ultimately taught my siblings how to treat me because my siblings always looked at me like the problem kid as well, but because I was treated like one.

So, so, know, like getting blamed for things that I never did that happened, you know, being looked at a kind of way by my siblings or by my father, you know, things like that. Like that was like commonplace. so now going out into the world, you're going to school and like, you know, you're also ostracized by people and you don't understand why you're a kid. You just like, you want to be accepted by people. You're not understanding that.

the anointing of God and the calling of your life and the grace of God over your life brings, like it attracts hardship to in order to define and build character. So, you know, a lot of my life was like that. And I only really had like one, maybe two really solid close friends that I grew up with where it was like, you know, like, yo, like we understood each other more or less.

Jethro Casie (33:28.54)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (33:51.682)
but you know, and you grew up that way. I grew up for many years. It wasn't until, my school, about eighth grade, my school found out about the abuse that was happening at home. And basically they confronted my father about it and that was it. From that day on, my father never like laid a hand on that, that kind of a deal. now even still growing up.

going to church, there was always that attraction to rebel, being attracted to rebel and looking at ways to just even get out of going to church. Your mom dropped you off on Friday night for the youth night and then you skip out on church and go to the park with your friends and things like that. But even in those things, God, man, God kept me.

But when my love for God started to just increase because again mind you throughout all this I always I couldn't get away from acknowledging God in my life. I couldn't get away from like, you know, even if 90 % of my day was spent away from God and spent living in sin. It was still like

I couldn't get away from that 10 % of acknowledging God in my day. At no point in my life was I ever like, I don't believe in God. And it never happened. And of course, in your darkest moments, you run to God, like a lot of people do. But that was my case too. But I also have an experience where I was never a person that

Jethro Casie (35:37.266)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (35:48.728)
Like, you know how there's a lot of people that you talk to them about God and they're like, I've like, God's never answered my prayers. Like I pray and pray and pray and God's never asked. Like that's, I'm the opposite. Like I feel like anything I've asked God, God has given me, you know, from a young age. I'll give you one example, one cool example. I have a, you've probably seen it on me too. I've worn a brown leather jacket that I have, but I have a friend.

Jethro Casie (35:56.487)
Yeah, yeah.

Jethro Casie (36:07.399)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (36:17.914)
I had a friend and this is like around high school. no, I'm sorry. This is after high school. So this is probably like 2012 or something like that. And I used to hang out with this friend a lot and he had gotten this brown leather jacket. And he was showing me in my heart, I was like, wow, that's a beautiful jacket. Like I would like a jacket like that. Like not coveting his, but man, like I would like a jacket. Like that's nice. But I was happy for him.

Jethro Casie (36:42.332)
Yeah, yeah.

Edmar Elias (36:46.61)
But it wasn't a prayer. It wasn't, God, I want one. It was just a thought in my heart. Like, I would like a jacket like that. And that was it. It was like passing. And like a week later, probably not even a week. It was probably like days later. I go to work. I used to work for this company installing and repairing like CCTV systems, intercoms, and alarm systems. And one day we had to go. It was a job on Park Avenue. And somebody's

their intercom line got cut so they're not getting no ring to their apartment. So the technician I'm working with, he's tracing the line up, right? Or down and he's trying to find it and he's just like, hey, stay in the apartment with the tracer and just like hang out until I call you and tell you what you got to do next. So I'm like, cool. So I'm hanging out in the ladies' apartment just waiting for this guy to call me.

And the owner of the apartment, she comes to me and she goes, she was, hey, can you come with me really quickly over here to this room? I said, sure. So I follow her to the room. And when we go in the room, she goes wait right here. And she goes into this closet. It's like a walk-in closet. So I'm waiting. She comes out of this closet with this brown leather jacket. so, but mind you, I'm not connecting.

my friend, the toy, I'm not connecting none of it. I'm just like, okay. And she goes, can you try this on for me really quick? I'm like, all right, sure. I put it on, beautiful jacket. I'm like, are you looking to like, like, do I look like somebody who you're giving it to that fit their frame? Do you want it to see? And she goes, yeah, yeah. And she looks at the jacket on me and she goes, I kid you not, she just says.

Jethro Casie (38:14.386)
Mmm.

Edmar Elias (38:40.684)
Wow, it's like that jacket was made for you. And I was like, wow. Thank you. You know, I took the compliment again, not thinking nothing of it. And I, and then she goes, that jacket is yours. And I'm like, I'm like, for real? Like, and she's like, yes, that jacket is yours. Take it. And so it's funny after, after that, my partner called me that I were good. Like you can come down and come see me with this jacket. Like, yo, what are doing with that jacket? I'm like, yo, like this lady just.

Jethro Casie (38:44.242)
Wow.

Jethro Casie (38:48.014)
You

Edmar Elias (39:11.02)
bless me with a jacket, come to find out the jacket's worth almost $700. And it was just inside of a week of me just having that thought, I like a brown jacket like that. And it was brown leather just like, it was crazy. So I've had experiences like that. And it shaped how I viewed God, because it happened all the time. Go on. What were you going to say?

Jethro Casie (39:27.761)
everyone.

Jethro Casie (39:37.4)
yeah, I was gonna say like with the jacket. like, I'm not sure if she was Christian or whatever, obviously like something was questionnaire to. Yeah, yeah.

Edmar Elias (39:43.756)
Yeah, I don't even know. Because she didn't indicate that. But you know what? It's like, gotta send a message to anybody.

Jethro Casie (39:50.32)
Amen. Yeah. It reminded me of just like, I'm not sure if after that thing started to change your life, but like the idea of like a new garment or like put it.

Edmar Elias (39:59.206)
that's crazy. Yeah, that was what day two of our fast we were praying about that. Yeah, yeah. About the new raiment, the new garment. Yeah, yeah. But that's funny. You know funny? That revelation actually came to me about that jacket, probably like a year ago. And I thought about it. like, you know, it like popped in my head. But, no, yeah, like it's all spiritual. It's like, you know, like you think it's just

Jethro Casie (40:03.854)
Okay, okay. Of what?

Okay, okay, okay.

Edmar Elias (40:28.202)
of, yeah, I'm just giving you a brown jacket, but it's never just that shallow, you know, with God. Even the littlest things God gives you that you think is little, there's something more that came with it. You're just seeing a tiny physical manifestation of what God gave you.

Jethro Casie (40:32.177)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (40:43.842)
So now in your walk, do you think you would be more hesitant to, I guess, take a jacket from a stranger? Because obviously there's the idea of like, they don't know, yeah.

Edmar Elias (40:53.294)
Yeah, Yeah, I mean with all things you got to use discernment You know or not use the sermon you just got to discern You know, you got to discern and know like what you're taking from people like there's certain things that my wife has received from people and like she'll show me like what she was given and i'll be like Nah, they got thrown out of the way or like i'll tell her put that on the altar overnight and you know, and and let's pray over it and

and you're good. So there's certain things you just have to discern and know, you know, and there's some things you got to know like, can't take this, I don't want this. And there's other things where it's like, you know, God can redeem it, you know, in the spirit. so yeah, definitely.

Jethro Casie (41:35.204)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (41:38.61)
And so going back to before we go back to your testimony, but like the because I know we spoke about this like when we maybe like when we first met about how you were very prophetic and you mentioned it like about like you were doing healings and like you just had like an understanding that other people didn't have around you. If somebody's listening and maybe they've had similar experiences like in terms of like spiritual things happening when they were a kid, but they never acclimated to being like they just thought like.

Edmar Elias (41:45.358)
Mm.

Jethro Casie (42:05.148)
who they were. I guess can you describe like how somebody might kind of know if they're called to be morphed in the prophetic from like a young age?

Edmar Elias (42:17.294)
Okay. So like.

there's always gonna be evidence of God's hand on you, right? That God's marked you. I mean, I have stories for days. I'll give you one example. You have, okay, and I think this happens to a lot of prophetic people. I believe this. You've ever gone out, right? Gone out into the city or anything like that and...

All of a sudden you just get this feeling you're about to run into somebody you know. Has that ever happened to you?

Jethro Casie (42:52.236)
I don't know. I don't know if that's happened to me.

Edmar Elias (42:55.288)
That happens to me a lot and nine times out of ten it happens. That's one of my experiences and it's happened all my life. I'll be out and I'll either either I'll think I'm gonna run into somebody I know or a specific person. One time this was

Jethro Casie (42:59.346)
Mm.

Yeah.

Edmar Elias (43:18.666)
say this was in my in high school I was doing like these internships in the summer and one day I was coming home from my internship and I was on the L train about to get off at my stop on Beford and I get off the train at my stop and all of a sudden in my mind's eye I saw my ex-girlfriend from high school like I saw her

just in my imagination. And all of a sudden I just had this heightened awareness and I was just looking for her because now remember I'm getting off at the train so everyone's coming out of the train carts and I'm looking for her, I'm looking for her because I just can't stop thinking about her now. Mind you at this time I think I haven't spoken to her for like two years.

or something like that because she had changed schools so she was there for like something like that I can't all the way remember but I just haven't spoke to her in like two years and I'm looking and looking and I don't see her so I start to brush it off like well that's weird it was just a weird feeling so whatever I'm walking up the stairs exiting the subway

And as soon as I get up to surface level and I turn around to go to the corner to go like in the direction of my house, I see her walking across the street looking at her phone while she's crossing the street. And I was like, what? And so I walk up to her.

And mind you, she's not paying attention. She's walking, looking at her phone and I tapped her shoulder. And when she looks at me, she's like deer in headlights. And she goes, my God. And she showed me her phone and it's my number. And she goes, I was about to text you. And I hadn't, and I haven't heard from her in two years. It was the weirdest thing. So.

Jethro Casie (45:09.65)
Wow, that's deep.

Edmar Elias (45:16.652)
You know, anytime, so to answer your question, anytime you experience things where like you're speaking like, like wisdom that you've never known to have, that you've never known yourself to have, if you, if you say things and they happen, if you, you know, in my case, if you're seeing that you're going to run into people, see people and it happens,

That's all spiritual transaction. Like somebody's talking to you and you're hearing it. So, you know, when you see stuff like that in your life and those are your experiences, you know, like you have to start questioning, okay, why? You know, like why do I have these senses that I can't understand or like, or nothing other than spiritual?

Jethro Casie (45:46.236)
Mm-mm-mm.

Jethro Casie (46:04.465)
Mm.

Edmar Elias (46:12.692)
you know, so I would just question those things and God's gonna give you an answer. If you're, if you're truly going through that, God is doing that to get your attention. So the moment you just start asking the questions, God's gonna answer. Cause it's like Samuel, Samuel is, you know, serving under Eli, the high priest. And when God was pretty much done with Eli, he starts talking to Samuel as a boy.

Jethro Casie (46:23.205)
Amen.

Yeah.

Edmar Elias (46:40.15)
So Samuel's in bed and God calls him, Samuel, Samuel runs out out of his bed and he goes to Eli. He goes, you called me. What happened? Samuel's like, I didn't call you. Go back to bed. Don't, I didn't call you. He goes back to bed. Samuel, Samuel.

He's not saying nothing else. He's just saying his name. So he goes back to Eli. He's like, you called me. And he's like, I know you called me. He's like, no, I didn't call you. Like, go back to bed. Came a third time. This time Eli understands now, God is speaking to him. But it's just funny because, you know, he's hearing Eli's voice, but is God speaking to him? That's a whole nother conversation. yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Jethro Casie (47:00.882)
You

Jethro Casie (47:22.022)
That's deep though, because I think like people, that's a revelation in itself, like God will speak to you, but to get more of what he's trying to tell you, you have to respond back.

Edmar Elias (47:33.064)
Exactly, because what happens after that is Eli tells him, go back to bed and when you hear the voice again, say, Lord, your servant is here and I'm listening. And so when he heard God called his name again, he responded, then God proceeded to talk to him. So ultimately, all these things that you're going through as a prophetic person, as a spiritual person that God is getting your attention, he's waiting for you to respond.

so that he can now continue the conversation. Because he also wants you to know who's talking to you. You know, he wants you to know it's me. You know, so yeah, go on.

Jethro Casie (48:08.432)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (48:12.242)
Mm.

And then that's how you begin to know when it's the Lord speaking. I'm taking this in as well, because how many times have I questioned, Lord, is this you? But I haven't told them, hey, I'm here and I'm listening. Rather than doubting the voice, or just saying, I'm here. Because Sam, you never doubted the voice. It's just you didn't know what to do after. So I guess in the wrapping up, tell me or tell the audience about how you.

Edmar Elias (48:19.351)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (48:30.862)
Mm.

Jethro Casie (48:39.666)
experience like rejection by the church because something that I never experienced but I realized is pretty I guess prevalent in the church-ish like church hurt and being rejected by those who who claim to be Christian or maybe who are Christian maybe they just went into their flesh yeah

Edmar Elias (48:46.904)
Yeah.

Yeah. man. My story is crazy. My story is crazy with that one. I've never gone to a church where I wasn't at least initially rejected. And I've been to quite a few churches. My home church where...

I essentially grew up in was Christ Tabernacle. Formerly Christ Tabernacle is now called Saints Church. But even at that church, even having grown up there, I was very misunderstood.

Edmar Elias (49:32.462)
There was always like one thing that happened a lot in my teenage years was like people would spread rumors about me that were like completely, completely false, like complete lies. And it was always like, you know, like why is this happening to me? Like, it's like, you know, I'm relatively unproblematic. don't, you know, I don't look for trouble. I'm not a mean person or anything like that. So was like, it was always like just.

Jethro Casie (49:50.342)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (50:01.366)
Why am I going through this? And in those times, man, I was a highly offendable person. was like, forget about it. I was like wet paper, you know, like seriously. And, you know, and again, it's one of, it's just that thing. It's just, you know, a lot of people say, you know, man's rejection is God's protection. And like people look at that

that statement like it's so cliche but it's so true it's so true because you know what the reality is when you're rejected it's just that people just don't see your value and you and you know when you're young and you live in this society and you want people to see your value you don't understand it as God's protection because in reality you don't understand it but you don't want everyone to see your value you don't

You want your value to be hidden and only seen by the people that should see it So because what's gonna happen people gonna use you? People gonna you know, try to manipulate you and use you and try to get things out of you You know if they see the value because and it's happened like I've I've I've had friendships where people saw Maybe they didn't understand it as the grace or the anointing over my life, but they saw something that

they could tap into and they did. so, you know, while a lot of people reject you and it's ultimately God protecting you from those people, you just don't see it that way. God also allows even like, that, you know, bad intention people to see the value. Cause then you got to grow. There's no other way to learn from it. You know, you got, you got to go through the experience of people like,

Jethro Casie (51:51.312)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (51:54.84)
backbiting and you know backstabbing betrayal manipulating gaslighting you because they see something in you and You know, they think they can get something out of you that benefits them and a lot of times they can You know if they know how to push those buttons because I don't remember the where exactly the scripture is but it's a scripture where Paul is addressing one of the churches and he says

because of how I feel about you, you are partakers of my grace. So you see like the transaction of having somebody partake of your grace has a lot to do how you feel about them. It has nothing to do with how they feel about you. if, like if I have a relationship with you and you know, you may not necessarily love me or less, you may not necessarily have any good intentions.

But if I have a heart and I've opened my heart to you by reason of me opening my heart to you, you'll be a partaker of the grace that I have in my life. And so, so you see that with Paul saying that because of how I feel for you, you are partakers of my grace. So because people get close to you, people, and you love people, right? They're partaking of your grace, even though they don't have good intentions. So,

Jethro Casie (53:17.35)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (53:22.438)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (53:25.238)
so, so, so you go through that in life and ultimately is because you got to learn, you know, you have, you have to learn it. And also like, you know, going through betrayal, that's, that's another, you know, it's elevation, you know, God is taking you to a new place, you know, like God, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ couldn't get to the cross until he was betrayed by someone close. It's, it's a level of, of, is, of the exaltation by God.

That's why when you see these men of God going through these trials and tribulations and these scandals, some of it is to expose the darkness, but for some of them, it's to elevate them. it's like, you gotta pay attention to that. So it's like, the sooner someone can get that, as young as they can possibly understand that, how you'll grow spiritually is immeasurable.

So, yeah, so it's important to pay attention to people that you interact with, people that you talk with, like me. It's funny.

Edmar Elias (54:36.864)
We just went to a wedding on my wife's side. And you know, sometimes she looks at me after these engagements and she's like, you know, like, you don't really come off like approachable or friendly and blah, blah, blah. And it's funny because, you know, there was a time that she was struggling with like having friends or like, and it was a struggle for her because she was someone who for a long time.

Jethro Casie (54:57.884)
Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (55:02.542)
She always had, you know, an abundance of friends and there was always somebody, you know, waiting to like hang out and do stuff, you know. So now that God has called her into this life of like setting her apart, a lot of people fell away. And so it was hard for her to deal with it it wasn't something she was used to for most of her life. So, you know, one of the things I would always tell her is that, if you want to make friends, show yourself friendly. And so...

We went to this wedding and after she's like, you know, you always tell me to show myself friendly. said, yeah, but I don't complain about having friends. You know what saying? Like, I don't complain about having friends. Like, I'm cool. Like, I can have my two friends and I'm cool. You know, like, I'd rather have four quarters than a hundred pennies. You know, I'm more so, I want a quality person. If I got two quality people, that's way better to me than having 20, you know, like, people. And I also had to explain to her,

Jethro Casie (55:40.05)
You

Jethro Casie (55:44.721)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (55:49.382)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (55:59.324)
Yeah, for sure.

Edmar Elias (56:02.604)
I said it's not that I'm not approachable. Cause if you actually, you know, get past like that, I guess the wall of intimidation of, you know, he don't got a smile on his face or whatever it is, you know, I'll talk, you know, I'll talk. have got, I have conversation. I'm not like nah bro, know what I'm saying? Can be, can be associating with you son. Like it ain't like that, you know, like I'll talk, but you know, if that's enough to scare you away, you know, just me just.

Jethro Casie (56:16.816)
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Jethro Casie (56:23.747)
it.

Edmar Elias (56:31.202)
being like, hey, what's up? And not doing much more, then maybe it's better that we don't interact. And I told it like this. I said, you want to know the truth? If I was friendly with everybody I met, I would end up with more enemies than friends. Because a lot of people, to people who know who they are, especially when you know who you are in Christ, people who are not there yet, they

are offended by people like that. So if I meet anybody and they're unsure of themselves and they meet you and you could be the nicest person, but you're confident and you know who you are, they take issue with you. it's like, so it's like you think me not coming off approachable is like, I'm actually doing them a favor. You know I'm saying? Like I don't want to, I don't want, I don't need nobody to have no issue with me. You know, so yeah.

Jethro Casie (57:29.031)
Yeah, I was gonna say this is funny because I feel like I can come off like that at my job sometimes because it's like I kind of I'm not as bold as I as I used to be in terms of like I feel like I had a Yeah, I'd like a boldness that would offend people like I'll just say things on my mind too much but now am I at my job like if I'll talk about spiritual things like I'm bold about like my my faith in Jesus and like for some people it's

Edmar Elias (57:33.986)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (57:40.62)
I'm with you. Yeah, yeah. I'm with you.

Edmar Elias (57:47.662)
Mm.

Jethro Casie (57:54.438)
Definitely, they're just like, what the heck? Why? That's weird. Why are you so, why do you believe so much? How are you so confident type of thing? So that's funny.

Edmar Elias (57:58.978)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's, it's, the same way that there's peace that transcends all understanding is not just transcending your understanding. It transcends other people's understanding. So you have something in you that is like, is just incomprehensible to a carnal person.

or to the natural man, it's incomprehensible. you know, when you have that in you, and again, this is why the emotional resolve is important, because most people, they're just not going to get you and they're going to have take issue with you. That's why, you know, people look at some men of God, you see he's arrogant, or he calls himself this type of prophet and he calls himself a prince of the heavens. he just knows his identity and it just...

It bothers you because you know, you don't feel that way about yourself. You don't see yourself in a similar light. So, you know, but even that confidence in itself, that's the confidence that the devil doesn't want you to have. The devil doesn't want you to have that confidence. That's why the devil is going to look for ways to make you insecure, make you feel insecure, like have people. That's why everyone, you know, again,

Jethro Casie (58:57.49)
for sure.

Edmar Elias (59:23.53)
Every test of God is always like a temptation and also like it's almost like a collaboration I look at because I look at the book of Job and like God testing Job but also Satan making Job to suffer. It was a collaboration of God and Satan right because you know like God pretty much set Satan up to bring on the testing for Job. So it's like

For people that they attract the animosity and they attract the bitterness and the hatred from people, again, it's because God is just trying to take you somewhere different. you know, the faster you come from that place of like wondering why, in terms of like, why are they treating me that way versus as opposed to like, okay,

What why is God allowing me to go through is what is God trying to tell me and you want to know I'll tell you a story Where I saw a man do that and they actually looked at their misfortune as God trying to communicate something to him and I was like, that's interesting like and it made me look at things differently. this was I want to say

somewhere around like 2015 or 16 something like no no like yeah like 2014 2015 there was a i have a big brother in the lord his name is willy goose man amazing brother and he this is this is somebody that the lord brought to me when i was looking for a mentor but i was looking for a mentor like in music and the person i asked originally to mentor me

Jethro Casie (01:01:03.313)
Amen.

Edmar Elias (01:01:19.31)
Basie was like, nah, I can't do it because I don't want to over commit because I got a lot of things going on. But, know, holla at this brother, know, Willie Guzman. And I was like, Willie Guzman, who's that? Like, you know, I wrote him off just off his name, but I met him and this man was easily one of the biggest blessings of my life. He still is a big blessing in my life.

Edmar Elias (01:01:48.438)
It was like, he treated me like no one ever treated me in the church. And like, he really, really treated me like a little brother. It was crazy. So he was, at the time, I think he was like either in his late 30s or like, 40s, something like that. And I was in my 20s. And I remember he would just call me, because he was big into like home improvement and like DIY projects in his home. So he was that person like,

he wants to put in a new window, he won't hire somebody for that. He would like get a textbook, slash out the pages, put it in his pocket, read it on the train on the way to work and like learn how to put a window pane together and like put up a window. So he was that kind of person. So one day he calls me and he's like, you know, he wants to build a countertop like from scratch, like made the mold, poured the concrete, polished it, all this stuff and put the countertop and he, and

Jethro Casie (01:02:23.221)
Yeah.

Jethro Casie (01:02:32.107)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (01:02:46.72)
In the midst of these projects, he would like share these spiritual nuggets of wisdom with me. He would ask me questions like, what do think about this? What do you think about that? Like, and it was just weird because, you know, as a young person, you know, encountering someone who's older in the faith, a lot of times you see people that they try to impart to you, but it was also like, he wanted to see what I would impart to him. It was so odd.

And but it was cool because it was always this exchange of ideas and revelations in our relationship with God. So one day this brother called me and so he at the time he worked as a foreman for MTA. So he was basically the guy who led the trench guys to go in the trench and dig up the rails, put in the new ones and all that stuff.

And so one day he calls me and he's like, hey, see, you know, I just threw out my back. I threw out my back at work and he goes, and I know God speaks to you different. And I just wanted to know, can you come over to the house and pray and just see what the Lord is trying to tell me? When he tells me this, I'm like, what are you, what is he talking about? God talks to me special. What's he talking about? And I'm like, well, you know, but again, I had.

Jethro Casie (01:04:04.903)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (01:04:08.086)
I have this immense respect for this man of God and I'm just like, yeah, of course, yeah, I'll go over there. I don't know what you think is going to happen, but I'll go over there. So I shoot over there and it was like he said, he was just laid up on the couch. His wife had like with the heating pad, he couldn't move. He was just stuck on the couch. And so we got to talking and then he's like, he's like, just, you know, so I kind of just asked him again, like,

Jethro Casie (01:04:16.146)
you

Edmar Elias (01:04:36.974)
So what do want me to do?" And he's like, look, I know God speaks to you different. God speaks to you in a special way. I just want you to inquire of God and pray and just tell me what God communicates to you. And I'm like, I don't know what he's talking about. Like at this time, the idea of the prophetic ministry is non-existent. Like there's no, yeah, I've heard about this. Nothing like that. So I'm like, it's just totally weird. So I start praying.

And I go from praying and at time I didn't know it, but I go from praying to prophesying. So I start prophesying to him and I told him and I said, look, where the Lord is trying to take you in your life is that you've been leading troops at the front line and you fight with them on the front line, but God no longer wants you to fight on the front line. God wants you to lead from the rear like a general. And, but mind you, this is, don't even,

really know what I'm saying. This is just like the bubbling up of the spirit in me. And I'm telling him this not even knowing what I'm saying. But he knew what I was saying. That was the crazy part. He knew exactly he said. And so we started talking about his job and he was like, you know, but I like, you know, leading my guys and doing the work with them. Because he was like, you know, I don't like to

tell people I don't like to order or command people to do things I'm not willing to do. I like to do it with them. And I say, yeah, but you know, but this is where God is calling you in your elevation. God wants you to teach and to delegate and to send people out to do it. And so he received it. was like, you know, I received that. don't, you know, I don't know what that looks like for me right now, but I received that. And.

Years later come to find out he became a teacher for the mta where now he teaches people who became foreman's and they work in the in the trenches of the subway and yeah, and it was just like it was it was crazy and And i'll tell you another little tidbit about him because He's just awesome So it wasn't until I started to

Jethro Casie (01:06:40.722)
prophesy.

Edmar Elias (01:06:58.624)
It wasn't until I became aware of the prophetic ministry before I became aware of like, they are modern day prophets where one day I shared a testimony on Facebook, you know, talking about this experience I had with this certain brother who I used to be friends with and basically like just how God taught me through that friendship that it ultimately wasn't good for me. It was one of those like what I was telling you, like we they got close because they wanted to

get something imparted from you. But in reality, they had a lot of bad intention. It was like a story like that. And he ended up commenting on that testimony and basically saying, like, I've known since I've met you that you are prophet. And I was like, no one, and I was just like, like kind of taken aback, like what? And.

Remember seeing him in person like at some point after that I asked him about I said what are you talking about? He goes when I met you God showed me that you're a prophet I Said really he goes. Yes. He said I I knew when I met you God showed me that you were a prophet and that's why like whenever we'd have our conversation I asked you things is because I know God was gonna speak to you because I you know how to okay You know how the Bible says if you look at

If you receive a righteous man as a righteous man, you'll receive a righteous man's reward. And if you receive a prophet as a prophet, you'll receive a prophet's reward. So the entire time that we interacted, he always viewed me and received me as a prophet. That's why he was able to, that's why he was able to say, Hey, can you come to the house and pray and see what God's saying to me? Even though I didn't know what he was talking about, but because he received me as a prophet, God used me as a prophet for him. So

Jethro Casie (01:08:47.098)
Wow. Amen.

Edmar Elias (01:08:50.336)
you know, that's another like, big part of my testimony because he was pivotal in like, really helping me understand my walk with God. So yes, I'm telling you, the story is deep, is really deep.

Jethro Casie (01:09:05.15)
Amen. So these are some final questions that I ask people to understand because the purpose of the show is Kingdom Secrets to Success. So to receive or to reveal some of the secrets that God has shared with the different guests. So what is the Kingdom Secret to Success that you've learned so far on this walk with Christ?

Edmar Elias (01:09:08.642)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (01:09:13.549)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Edmar Elias (01:09:24.526)
Mm-hmm kingdom secret to success So it's a lot of principles, but if I had a pick one or two

Edmar Elias (01:09:37.324)
Honor you have to honor you have to honor people above you and I say this because When I was younger, I struggled with honoring people that got made as authority in my life Like I struggled to honor my father because of how he treated me. I struggled to honor you know my mom because that's okay your rebellious and I you know, I struggled to honor men of god If I didn't feel like I could

You know, I didn't, in my own estimation, if I didn't think they were righteous or whatever it was, like, you know, but, what God told me is anybody I put in front of you as a, as a spiritual authority or any kind of authority, you honor them. It doesn't matter if they're wrong. It doesn't matter if they have, you know, inappropriate behavior. You honor them regardless. You never, you know, you always cover them.

It doesn't mean that the things they do are justified by God. It just means that you understand the chain of command in the kingdom and you honor that. Because if you don't honor the chain of command that God has put in your life, you can't elevate. know, like, it's like when... Who says it? I'm thinking of a quote in the Bible.

I believe it Jesus who says, you you hypocrites, you think, you you say that you love God, but you don't even love God who you don't see, but you hate the brother who you do see. So even, you know, that applies to everything. So like, I remember someone telling me, you know, I don't want to work for a man. I don't want to get a job. I just want to work for God. Well, how can you work for a God who you can't see, but you don't even want to work for a man who you can?

So if you don't know how to submit and you don't know how to honor somebody who God has placed in front of you that has a higher authority, who's at a different level of life, regardless of, you know, the nuances of their character, you know, like you'll never grow. So that's like, that's kingdom principle. You have to honor people that got his set ahead of you.

Jethro Casie (01:11:59.938)
And that reminds me of like the story of Noah and we won't dive into it too deeply but like what we saw what happened to the children he did honor him versus the ones who did it. Yeah, and then if someone is listening and they haven't given their life to Christ yet, why should they?

Edmar Elias (01:12:08.691)
Mm-hmm. Yep, his sons. Yep.

Edmar Elias (01:12:18.904)
Listen, you're missing out. You know, look, in reality, I'll tell you this.

When it when it comes this is the most exciting walk of your life you know because because Everything is encapsulated in it. You know, like the the good the bad the ugly like everything is part of this walk This is why like in psalm 23 it says, you know That god leads you on to paths of righteousness and then like a verse later says yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death why because the

the path of righteousness leads through the valley of the shadow of death. that is the righteous path. And that's why it is also a path of righteousness, because to the left and to the right, you're going to see desolation, you're going to see struggle, you're going to see pain, you're going to see suffering. So those things are a part of life, because we live in a broken world.

But don't ever let that deter you from knowing God because there's suffering in the world. It's not the way God wanted it to be. So if you've lost a loved one, you've lost a parent, you've lost a sibling or anything like that, and you look at God as the reason and the one at fault, you're ultimately just playing yourself. These are things that happen in our lives, unfortunately, that people get sick and they don't run into

They don't meet somebody with the grace of healing and they die and it's something that we carry with us. know, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that brings the comfort when those things happen. is the one that brings understanding to situations that otherwise you could never understand or even just the peace that comes from, you know what, it's just something I'm not going to understand. But you know what, I just trust God.

Edmar Elias (01:14:20.462)
It's you miss you missing out don't miss out because at the end of the day Don't be that person on your deathbed out that gets out that lot that squeezes out that last prayer to just make it and Then it's like man. I missed out my whole life to find out that because you're gonna find out in the end. What's real so And I also say this Don't take it from me. Don't take it from Jethro

Do the research. The evidence of God is in everything. The evidence of God is out there. Like don't just take it from me. Look for it. That's why the Lord says, Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. Ask and it will be given to you. You just have to be persistent. The same way that you're persistent to get a certain job, the same way that you're persistent to get into a certain kind of relationship, you gotta be persistent with God. Cause God wants to be

Jethro Casie (01:14:50.119)
Yeah.

Edmar Elias (01:15:18.038)
God wants to be desired by you the same way He desires you. So it's something you got to be desperate for. So Jesus Christ, look, has changed my life in so many different ways that I can't even, I couldn't even lay them all out for you. And even the people in my life have been impacted by Jesus in my life.

So even people that haven't accepted Jesus in my life, they've benefited from my accepting of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Jethro Casie (01:15:55.73)
And then the last part is just the Korean, the clear blessing over the audience or prayer, whatever, however the Holy Spirit leads you.

Edmar Elias (01:16:05.146)
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your people, Lord, that are watching, are either stumbling upon this days or even months or years later. Lord, I pray this blessing will be potent to the end of time. Lord, that you will give your people fresh revelation of you, fresh knowledge of who you are. Lord, that you will open their eyes to the destiny that you have set before them. Lord, that you will answer

the wants and the needs, the desires, the questions that they have about life and about you and about what they're going through. Father, I pray for relief. I pray for resolution to their biggest obstacles, Lord. Lord, reveal yourself onto your people in a new way. Encounter your people in a powerful way, Lord. Lord, change their lives like never before. And Lord, let their dreams

come true in Christ. And Father, just pray that, Lord, that the blessing I want to bestow and give that you've given me is the blessing of resilience, Lord, that these people will become unashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That these people will become unashamed of what you have tasked them to do. And Lord, that they will go full steam ahead and chase after

their destiny for the sake of your glory, Lord. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Jethro Casie (01:17:40.336)
Amen. Edmar, Elias, everybody.