God Changed a Violent Man | Pastor Raul Ries

Pastor Raul Ries joins Popeye Ray on Third Man in the Ring for a powerful conversation about his life, his testimony, and the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

In this episode, Pastor Raul shares about growing up in a violent home, the anger and bitterness that shaped his early life, his time serving in Vietnam, and the moment God began to change his heart. What started as a life marked by rage, pain, and violence became a testimony of redemption, ministry, and the grace of God.

Popeye Ray and Pastor Raul also talk about Calvary Chapel, the importance of preaching the truth, reaching people who feel too far gone, and how Christians should think biblically about Israel in today’s world.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:19

All right, hey guys, welcome to Third Man in the Ring. I'm your host, Popeye Ray. Today I have an awesome man of God that I've known for 15, 20 years now. I wasn't a Christian when I met him, but he's a powerful speaker, and today we I just want you to give him a warm welcome. My friend, your friend, Pastor Raw Reese. Hey, thank you so much for inviting me to be here. So cool to see what God's doing in your life. I finally meet you in person. I mean, I came a couple of times to the men's conference over the years, but to actually meet you, you know. Wow. And again, my my pastor is David Rosale, and he just loves you. Constantly clowning about you. Always messing with him. Yeah. And he's always saying something crazy about Rawl Reed. So I told him, hey, I need this interview, Pastor. He goes, wow, let me let me let me contact him. So they can't do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Yeah, when he called me, you know, it was really neat because, you know, I do a lot of speaking, but I don't like to do a lot of speaking because you know, people they look at you as somebody, you know, that's not even true. We're all the same. You know, and I tell people all the time, you know, we're we're supposed to be servants. You know, there's so many pastors that become movie stars. You know, and I know them, you know, and something happened when that took place.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

You know.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

But you know what, Pastor? What I really wanted to do is I wanted to touch those unbelievers, those those people that said I can't do it right, or or some of the Vietnam vets that I have interviewed. Yeah. And I really like to start with your testimony of where did you grow up at?

SPEAKER_03 1:49

I grew up in Mexico City in 19 uh August 30, 1947. And my mom was visiting from New York, she was born in New York City. She was born in uh Manhattan, and my grandparents were all Spaniards. So they came over from Spain to New York. They all lived in New York. So my mom was on vacation in Mexico City with her sister, and somehow my mom and dad met together. And so my dad, you know, I fell in love with her, he she fell in love with him. So they decided to get married. So they got married and then they had me. But my father had a real problem as I was growing up. I remember four or five years old going to the bars, sitting outside, you know, mixing you sit outside, and I would hear him inside drinking. He never missed work ever, but every day he sprang and then he got violent. So when they got married, about five years old, I used to hear them arguing, and my mom was really kind, and my dad was real mean, you know, and I could hear scream and stuff. Because they wouldn't allow us to see that. But as I continued to grow up, I began to see there was a real situation because he continued to take me on the weekends to the bars. And I had newspaper newspaper stands outside, so I would sit at the newspaper stand the whole time he drank. You know, and I could hear him inside and with women, you know, the whole thing. And so I was real hurt. So my goal was to kill my dad because of what he did. I thought, you know, when I get old enough, I'm gonna kill my dad. And let me ask you this was he abusive towards you? He made me up and stuff, you know. And when I do something, he put me in a room dark, and I hear my friends outside playing. And so that made my heart even harder and saying, you know, here I am in darkness, and they're outside playing, and yet, you know, he doesn't love me. And I don't love him. I hate him. And I think he saw that. You know, he saw that because I was, you know, he saw when I went out with him, I always complain to him, Dad, why don't you stop drinking? When are you gonna, you know, excuse me, um, change your heart, change your mind. And so I see, dear dad, I don't know if he really got it, but he got worse. And so when I would go home, he goes inside, he was already tipsy, you know, and he started slapping my mom around and saying things to her. And then my brother and I, he was put us in the other room, you know, and he would abuse her. And so as I was growing up and getting older, you know, I had that burning heart, you know, that, you know, you know about that. Your heart, you know, you want to hurt people. So I thought, you know what, as soon as I can, I'm gonna hurt him, and I'm gonna leave home. I was one day, I was probably uh about 15 years old in high school, and I had a German shepherd, you know, and my mom got rid of it. I was really mad. And then my dad began to abuse me physically. So I decided at night to run away to Mexico to go see my grandma. How old were you then? 15. Yeah, 15. Because I was yeah, I was real young. And Dale, you know, Pastor Dale, we grew up together. And so I went to his house and I said, Dale, I'm leaving. I was in a bicycle, you know, in the 60s, a bicycle. I didn't have any money. So I rode my bicycle from LA, from uh Ballon Park to LA. And in LA, I sold it and bought a ticket. You know, the great uh Gray had to go to Mexico, and I got to uh San Diego, and before crossing the border, I didn't have a parent. So this lady was walking across, and I asked her if I could cross with her and a kiss, and she did. So I crossed the border, and uh, they called tres estrellas. You know, it's a bus depot that goes to Mexico City all over. So I asked the guys if I could go with them to Mexico City, and I would on, you know, I take luggage in, luggage out, because I didn't have money. And they said, yeah, sure, no problem. So I got on the bus, and I got the bus, we left Tijuana, and we were going from Tijuana through Mexicali, and then when we got to uh Nother Murcio, Waimas, we had an accident. This I was like this on the bus, and there was a horse that came into the road and galloped up, and we hit it full power. And I was sitting at the staircase car, though, no? Yeah, yeah. And I that at that time I didn't know about God, you know. But the horse hit inside, and I sat down and I said, That's what's in my life. You know, because everybody came in, I was pinned right here. So they got me out of there, and from there they took me to Guadalajara to a hotel. They were taking care of me now, and uh they delivered me to Mexico City and uh to my grandmother, my dad's mother. So when I met my grandmother there, she kept me in her home. And she was always asking me, you know, you need to go home. I said, I'm never going back home, you know. In my mind, he said, I was a freshman, I wouldn't be a Marine Corps. You know, I wanted to go in the Marines, and so I was thinking about that all the time. And so at that time they made the Green Beret movie, remember? They made a movie called for the Green Beret. And so I watched it, and then, you know, I heard the advertisement, and I thought, you know what? I want to go become an Army Green Beret. So by the time I was 18, because I was uh eight seniors, 18, I was there and I thought, now I can kill my dad. You know, and so I got in trouble, almost killed a guy, and they sent me to court. They put me in jail, they sent me to court, and the judge gave me the opportunity to go to jail or to go into the service. So I decided I want to go in the Marine Corps. So he went ahead and wrote off, and they took me for the Marine Corps. So it was Monday, and I was in LA where you took the swore in. And I called my grandma and said, Hey grandma, tell my mom and dad I'm leaving. I just swore in the Marine Corps. I'm going to go.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Was it Vietnam era under? Yeah, Vietnam era.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

So yeah, so I went to the Marine Corps, MCRD. I was there for 13 weeks training, and then from there they sent me to Camp Penalty and another three months, you know, to learn the weapons. And then on December.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Is it fair to say teaching a killer to be a killer?

SPEAKER_03 8:17

Well, yeah, what you do is you learn, yeah, you learn it in the Marine Corps. They train you for weapons and all that, because they tell you, you know, you're training here, but you can apply it in Vietnam. It's not gonna be plain war, it's gonna be real. For real. So when I went to Camp Pendleton, it was in December. I just finished four months training. And my uh my dad and my best friend took me to Camp Pendleton. And I saw my dad, I said, you know what, if I don't see you again, you know that we went through. You know, so I left, and then I got uh the next day and they packed us up. And at San Diego, the U.S. Gaffey was a ship that took Marines to Vietnam, and there was 5,000 of us in the ship. So when we went back 1966, you know, 1966, I graduated 66. Oh yeah, it was real hard. Really hard, deep. It was deep at the time. Yeah, so we knew that. So when I got on that ship, you know, we were going through Hawaii to Waimas, no, we were going to um Okinawa. And in Okinawa, we stopped there for one day, you know, to get rest. And from Okinawa, it was just a couple on one day to get to Vietnam. But what's incredible is that when we were in that ship, we could hear the dropping, you know, the bombs and stuff. We were going to Dunang. And so they got up and I said, okay, you guys, we're gonna unload, get all your stuff, you're going down. So we got off the ship. They put us on the side, you know, all of us, they broke us up into units. And they put me on Alpha 17, going to Chulai. Chulai was going from the north a little bit down south, but it was still the north where the Marines were. And then I got there on December the 21st, the 21st, and Christmas coming up. So on Christmas, there was a ceasefire for one day, you know. So when I got there, they put them in my platoon, you know, who I was gonna be with, the guys who were gonna fight with, and they put us on a special platoon called the Bounty Hunters, which was, I didn't even expect that to happen, but they did. So after the 25th, first operation, I go out and we have casualties. And I go, oh man, this is real now. You know, this is where I have to save my life. So we put them in the choppers, you know, they took them out. We went back to the headquarters, and now they're telling me that we're gonna be going on helicopters and we're gonna get dropped off in the highlights, up in the wounds. And so we get right off the. That's not deep in the action, deep in action. Oh, yeah, deep in action. And we have a platoon, and we're going to spy out the area, and we're gonna get ready to do combat with these guys, because there was a lot. In one place it was 5,000 Viet Cong, you know. Yeah, they were there. Yeah, we ran the whole time. And so what we did is we there for a week, there were five of us that went, and we went to check out the whole area for a week. So to see who walked through there, how many people were there, what kind of weapons they had. So we did that. I went back, we gave information. Nada said we want your platoon, you're gonna get dropped off, you're gonna go there. So I thought, this is it. We're gonna have to fight. So I got in the helicopters and they dropped us off, and then we had to hike up in the highlights, get up in the height. So we got down and we started hiding, you know, hiking up, and all of a sudden we get our first comedy fight. Huge. Guys are dropping, they're getting wounded, and I thought, oh maybe this is it. So for the first time, this guy was running, and uh I took my uh rifle and I shot him behind the head. And my first kill, and um, I went up to him, turned him over, there was no face left. We started with M14s, and we ended up with M16s. And so that point on my life changed. I got bitter. I got more angry than ever before.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Was it was it towards God or just bitter and general?

SPEAKER_03 12:29

No, towards towards everything, everything. Everything. The Viet Cong, you know, Vietnam, the women, you see, you went to a village, you didn't see uh teenagers, you saw young cheaters because the Viet Cong would take them up north and train them to fight against us. That's why in the in the North Hanoi, that's where they trained these guys into companies, women and men, young kids, and then they would fight against the Marine Corps, they fight against us. So when that happened, and I came back after three weeks, they told us we're gonna leave again. So we were there for a week resting, you know, and getting ourselves ready. And then we go again up into the highlights, you know, elephant elephant grass, a whole thing, and we're walking through, and at night we have ambushes. So at night, you know, there's big old rats there. And in that going out, we would uh, you know, we pack out, and at night we would choose a place where we're gonna be in the road where they're gonna come down, excuse me, and then we take turns sleeping, you know, just in case. You know, a guy would watch in the front one in the rear, and we spin the middle. So what happened the first time we were kind of laying down, and we hear this walking through the bush. And we all say, they're coming. And so we got ready, and then all of a sudden, man, we're face to face, you know, fighting the whole thing. And a couple friends dropped on, and then what happens is these guys are trying to overrun us and we're holding them, and then all of a sudden, we see them running. They're going back. And we call in and say, hey, we just got hit, man. And you know, a couple guys that are shot, you know, can you come and pick us up? So what happens is they come back and we're on the planes now, we're gonna come down. And the helicopters come and they pick us up and they take us back home. And so when we get there, you know, it's been a real hard situation. Because you gotta sleep. Yeah, and you can't sleep because in your mind it's totally brainwashed now. You know, you're seeing blood, you're seeing pieces of flesh, you're seeing all these things that it gave me even harder in my heart. That it made me angry. I need to kill my enemy. No compassion, no love. And that was the beginning of my life. Then I got messed up.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Messed up. No God at this time, no. Pardon me? No God at this time, no, did you ever think about it? Did you ever pray? You know what?

SPEAKER_03 15:05

I I I I went through, I did uh 11 months, okay in Vietnam. And by the time I was getting ready to leave, I was better. I was so messed up, messed up with the way I thought everything. And what happens is they go ahead, the captain writes my uh my uh departure, you know, to go to Oakland hospital. And so they called me and they said, we're sending you. But before that, I got shot. And I was in the Philippines for about 20 days, you know, to get ripped in a recoup. And then from that I came back three months later, I got stepped in a they the guy stepped in. This 18-year-old, we're going at the night, just got there. I said, he's walking point, I'm training him. I said, go slow. You go to the villages, they put trip wires with hand grenades. Be careful. It's nighttime. So I said, when you get to a gate, you go from the bottom and you go real slow like this to feel the wire. Because if I hit it, it pulls it, and then you get blown. So we're walking along, and what does he do? He walks real fast, the hang, boom. He gets blown out, I get brought up on top. We go up to him, his arm is gone, both of his legs are gone, and he's messed up. And then I got blown out, I got shrubbed all my back and stuff. So the choppers come, they pick him up, they pick me up, and they take me to the U.S. sanctuary, which is a hospital ship. Okay. And what happens in the U.S. sanctuary, I'm there for about 20 days recouping. They blew me away, man. It was walking that ship. Those that were burned by an APAM, those that got shot, those that lost limbs, and those that you don't have dead people that when they die, they take you somewhere else. Pastor Dale picked up all the dead. He was in the Air Force. And so I'm there and thinking, man, these feel bitter. They say, You're going back. No problem. I'm going back to my platoon to see my friends. I go back, and about three months later, I go into, and a sniper trying to shoot me. You know, and I have flag gear. So what it does is when you get shot, it hits a flag here, and what it did is it didn't go through and burn my back. So I was, you know, I didn't get killed, you know, I got wounded. And so they took me again to look at my back and to see what took place. And then they sent me to recoup for about maybe 10 days. I had jungle rut. Your jungle rut from walking to the paddies all the time in the rivers. I got, I was for about a week recouping on that. So what takes place now, it's already September. I've been a long time. And I said, you know what, to the psychologist, I'm not going anywhere. I said, I'm done. I said, I'm done. I said, already my mind's so messed up, and I said, my heart is so messed up, and I've done enough what I need to do. I said, I can't live with myself. I was so hard out in care. So they said, Well, we're gonna send you to Oakland Naval Hospital. And so they gave me an 1C-31, they tie me up, they put me inside, from there I go to Oakland Naval Hospital. I where they land in a uh Travis Air Force Base. They pick me up and they take me to Oakland Hospital and they put me on Project 49A. And Project 49A is a program where they take you in where you're flipped out, you're done. I went there. So the psychology. Did you know that? That they were labeling you that? No. And then I found out they were doing that. Because I said, well, where's everybody? And there was all these guys who are flipping, you know. And so what happens, I'm there, and they have Project 49, they have for the first time a program, they call 49A, where they set you down in a group. You know, they try to talk to you about what they need today. And I just say, you know, screw you guys, man. I'm not gonna talk to you guys. So I got pretty messed up. They locked me up. Six months going through this, not yielding, not giving up. So they say, we're gonna send you out of here. I said, where to go, Kim Pendleton. You're gonna be one of those guys that are gonna get a dishonorable discharge. I said, you know, I mean, I thought I kill for my country, and you're gonna give me a dishonorable discharge. So they wrote it up, you know, the Navy guys, they send me back. When I get there, they put me in the fifth div in the fifth Marine Division, you know, to be there waiting for my discharge. And as I'm waiting there, my wife Sharon, you know, she'd been up to see me in Oakland Level High School. We were not, we went to school together, and she was my girlfriend. And so what happens is while I'm in uh in Camp Pendleton waiting for my discharge, I sneaked out at night to go see her. Okay. That's me. Just I sneak out. I went to see her. So I used, you know, so I was gone like for a week and then that was done. Then I came back there and they put me in jail. And then one of the captains, you know, he got to know me. He said, no, no, we're gonna we're gonna keep you, but you're gonna go never out again. Okay, so my wife, in that situation, she gets pregnant. So now I'm waiting for my discharge. And so my dishart comes with an honorable discharge. And the reason it happens is that a lot of these guys that lie, you have a discharge paper, and it says how many operations you've been in. So there's no lying, and how many purple hearts you have. So they gave me, I had uh 11 uh operations, you know, and uh by name they name them, and the two purple hearts. And so they gave me an annual discharge. Amen. And I got out two years, sir. That was a four-year man. You got out, you know, and I was out of. That was a heavy four years. Yes, very heavy, man. And that's what happened. Those four years, my wife got abused. I was out with women, I would did everything you could imagine and not be convicted. You know what you don't believe, you don't get convicted. Yeah, yeah. You do whatever you want to do. I would come home in. I mean, I never I always worked. It brought an income, but I was very abusive, like my dad with my mom. And now I don't take drugs, never took drugs, never drank.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

But violence was my but during that time, Pastor, did you like say, I'm my dad? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

Right, and and I saw that, but I didn't care. I said, you know what? I don't drink. Yeah, I don't drink. Uh what I do is abuse my wife verbally, physically. My dad did, but I have no conviction I don't care. So you pretty much thought you were a little bit better than that. I'm done. I'm working, I'm coming home. She loves me. We're going together. She gets praying. We have children. But at the same time, you know, I got these girlfriends. And the thing that happened, one of the girls called my house when I was with my wife. And that was the end. She would have said, you know what? You're not going to do that. She stayed with me because she grew up in a Christian. She was a there were missionaries. She's a believer. Yeah, missionaries in South America. They were in Chile, they were in Colombia. In Colombia, we build this huge place for kids. And we go there all the time. So I rebuild the whole things because they burned it down, you know, and so we built it. But at that time with Sharon, you know, she had she had a job for two years, you know, our income. And then she quit. I told her to quit because I had a good income then. I was working for Lucky Soprano Markets, you know, and then I opened my Kung Fu school, and then I did that for forever, you know, income is really good. And I thought, you know, nothing's gonna happen. Well, all of a sudden, you know, in the film, you see me, you know, packing, gripping my whole house down, totally diminishing my house. And got my rifle. And she was at home, my kids were hurt at church. And I hit the TV, and Pastor Chuck Smith came out. I don't know who Chuck Smith was. My mother-in-law wanted me to go to Orange County to go to this place, but you know, they had teaching, and they were happy people. I said, I don't care. So what happens is I hit the TV, and here's Chuck with Catherine Kuhlman. You ever know her? Catherine Kuhlman was a lady in LA. There was, and he she was a miracle worker. Miracle worker. And she got it, Chuck got invited because of the Jesus People Movement. It was on TV Channel 13. And so what happened is the hippies are What year was that, Pastor? 1960, let's see. 1960, no, 1972. 1972. And so in 1972, Chuck was there with the Jesus people, and all of a sudden she says, Do you have anything to say, Chuck? And Chuck looks to the screen, he says, if you don't know Christ, for God so loved the world that he gave, and I'm just this whole thing, man. I'm going, ah. I can't believe, Lord, that you're speaking to me. Because the last two years I was convicted. I didn't know the Lord. But something happened. And I started getting convicted. I said, you know what? I didn't see angels or fire or anything. I got on my knee, I said, Lord, if you're real, come into my life. And I got up, I prayed a simple prayer, got up, and I got in my car, went to look for my wife, and I got to the church, and she saw me. She got up and got my kiss and she went home. Because she knew, you know, she knew how I was. So she got home, and when she got home, she was getting ready to give herself at least. So I got there, I knocked on the door, and she said, I'm not going to open the door. She was crying. I said, I can knock the door open. Open the door. I said, I went to church, I accepted Christ here, I got to home. She opens the door. I go inside. I don't say anything. I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and she looks at my life. And she looks at my life for six months. And she begins to see a change. She says, I went to Calvary Chapel with her and my kids, and I started learning the Bible. And then the Lord calls me to go back to my old high school. Palm Park High School. Palm Park. Yeah. And I had my Kung Fu school, so I do demonstrations, you know, and share the gospel. And I went back to my old high school, Dr. Van Cleveland Hollenbeck, you know, Dr. Hollenbeck and Dr. what was the other name? Barnhold. They uh they were there. And they saw me, this is years later, and they said, you can't come in here. I said, listen, you guys, I know I was, I'm not like that. I said, I've accepted Christ. But at that time the cops were there. And they exored me out of the high school and said, you can't be on the campus ever again. I left. I was bombed out, man. I was bombed out. I said, Lord, you told me to go, and here I am, and now you tell me not to go. And so I prayed. And as I was praying, I was asking the Lord, Lord, how can I go back to the high school? Well, God had a plan. Two weeks later, I went back. And Dr. Barncole and Hollow, we're gonna let you in. It was the G spent, well, you can go to high schools. I said, thank you so much. So I went to the flagpole, which is the center camp in the cafeteria, and I started sitting there. And people started looking at me. I went to the sitting on the bench, and all of a sudden, milk gartons. I said, these guys, man, they're not gonna do that to me. You know, I'm just a new Christian. And the Lord says, I want you to take it. So I went every day, and every day the Lord would bring one person, another person. I didn't know the Bible, I was learning the Bible. So I gave my testimony, and then I would read God so loved the world, whatever. And all of a sudden, a month later, I have 25 people, and then 35 people, and then the Lord says, I'm gonna take it to other high schools. Landora High School, Bassett High School, uh, Northview High School, and Azusa High School. And because I have my business, Kung Fu, I'm going there at lunchtime, so I'm jumping. You know, I go one day, one day, one week, whatever. And the Lord began to get all these groups, and I began to see the fruit. So I started Bible study in my Kung Fu studio on Friday nights, like a musical concerts. Man, at first night we packed it out. And then I said, I'm gonna start a Bible study Wednesday nights.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Never through this time you thought about being a pastor?

SPEAKER_03 28:09

I hated pastors. I hated pastors. I said, I'm gonna be a Kung Fu master. That's it. So I told Chuck, Chuck, I'm getting this call on my life. I don't know what it is, you know. So you stood in contact with Oh, yeah, no, yeah. You know, what happened? I said in contact, I became part of his board. God already spoke to him in great glory. And Chuck and all of us, God chose eight people. Eight people. When he took us up to uh Twin Peaks with him and our wives and his wife to pray for us on a Friday night all night. The next day they lay answer and says, You guys are gonna be a board for the future when Calvary Chapels will begin to grow. And they were later on came over. Did he have Calvary Chapel at that time? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's always had Calvary Chapel. Before that, he was, you know, Four Square, you know. So Was my pastor involved? Huh? Was my pastor involved, David? Later on, yeah. Later on he got on the board. He was the middle great guy, yeah. Yeah. It was the first board. You know, I went to the shepherd school, there was eight of us, and uh my uh Bill from Hawaii, uh Jimmy Kemper, uh Jeff Johnson, and the others are not walking with God anymore. And so these other guys, you know, they have big churches. And so from that point on, I said, okay, you know, in one week I went to seminary. And in one week I learned more than I ever learned anybody. And so I took that and I said, okay, Lord, I'll be a pastor if you want me to. The Lord says, You're not gonna be kicking into pastor. Yeah, you're not gonna be a pastor, you're gonna be an evangelist and a pastor. So you know the story. Yeah, I started being a pastor, teaching the Bible, and then the Lord told me to start, you know, evangelism. So what I did, they at first the evangelists the actual things that we had, you know, the services, they were called Exodus. And then from Exodus, somebody loves you. And what happened, I don't ask for money ever. So the money that we had, I used it for, I mean, I did, I have a document you have to see, Damascus Road. It shows all my comfort, everything I did. So all these crusades that I was doing everywhere, overseas everywhere. Before Great Glory, I was doing this. But when I had no more money, I quit. I said, I'm not asking for money. And so the Lord knew what he was doing because he took me to my church to become a full-time pastor and to teach. Yeah, the Lord blessed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Lord blessed. Never thought Was your first church the one on Puente Avenue? Was it Puente Avenue?

SPEAKER_03 30:49

No, the first one was my home with eight people. Yeah. Eight people. Pastor Dale and my other friends. But most of my friends come here for the last 30, 40 years. Because I, you know, they saw my life and they came to know the Lord. You know, and that's what happens. You know, when you really have a conversion, like you, people, what happens? You change. And people are not attracted, they're attracted to the Holy Spirit. Amen. So what happens is here I am now in my home. From my home, we go over to Balm Park and rent a little place. Well, that grows. And then we go to a church that we rent, that grows. I go back to the Kung Fu Studio, it blows up. I go to the Fox Theater. Remember on Asusa Avenue, there was a theater there called the Fox Theater. I go there, I said, hey, I'd like to see if I can rent, you know, one of the auditoriums because I have three. They say, I said, what time do you start your shows? He said, about one o'clock. I say, okay, we're gonna rent you one place. So you sit about 800 people. So I start Sunday mornings there, started probably with about 50, and then 200, and then 300, and then 600, and then 800 within six months. I said, okay, Lord, now what? So I go to West Cavina and there's a safe way store, empty. You remember that? The safeway store. So Joyce from Safeway came to show us the building. The whole place was two and a half acres, you know, the property. And the building was like uh, I think 20 or 20. Well, it was enough for 1,200 people. So I go see the building. She says, okay. So I gave her $10. Okay, that time. She took it. She went and asked Safeway, you know, that if they wanted to sell it and they called me back and say, yes, we have any money. So I go up to the mountains with my board and we pray. I come back and I see this envelope in my Kung Fu studio, and we had $1,500 in the back. They weren't a $5,000 deposit. I opened the envelope, $3,500, $1,500, $5,000 from that. But I said, I'm not asking for money ever. And I gave them the $5,000. And from the $5,000, the Lord blew up to say if we saw I had four Sunday mornings, two Wednesday nights, and remember, and two Sunday nights. And I didn't know what to do. We had, I mean, the the about 10,000 people. And then I said, okay, Lord, now what? One day I told Pastor Dell, because Pastor Dell was back there for 12 years. He left. He was my assistant pastor. Well, what happens is he comes back. Check this miracle out. It's a Saturday night. I'm teaching Sunday morning, and something tells me to go to the church. So I drive to the church and I see this little blue pickup truck at a Chevy, and it's Dale. It's all o'clock minute. The Lord told me to go there. And I got out of the play, I got out of my car, he gets out, we looked at each other, we get on our knees, we pray, and from that point on he says three, he becomes my assistant pastor again. But see how God works? Yeah. And then when God works that way, you know, I told Dale, now we gotta pray to see what happens. And every month the Lord would provide. So I paid out the Selfway store. Now comes the bigger thing. Because from there, one day the Lord told me, I want you to leave. From here, I got all these people. I want you to leave. And Rich from In N Out, we got to know him. Excuse me. He's there and he comes in and he says, Hey, there's a place over in uh Diamond Bar, you know, a big building that wants you guys to see the property. So I go over there and Dale and I go there. So let me interrupt real quick. So the In N Out guy was really a believer then, huh? Oh yeah. Rich was a real believer. Yeah. Nice brother. He was a real believer and he helped people, you know. So what happens? I go there, Dale and I, and we see Chuck is gonna meet us there, Greg Laura is gonna meet us there, Dale and myself to look at this building. So we go there and the property is 35 square, actually 30 squares. Like what they call acres. 35. So they open the door to the building and we start walking through the building, but we were lost. You know, we lost, it was they turned the lights on, we couldn't believe what we were watching. What year was that, Pastor? Huh? What year was that? That was um in the 82, I think. We've been here almost 40 years, you know, 82. So we're walking through and we're leaving now, and Chuck's outside in the front, he's looking up to the building. Look at this building. I said, What are you looking at, Chuck yourself? Look at this building. Say God's so great. Look how God did it. He gets up and he leaves. That's it. He calls me and he says, Oh well, first of all, he calls me, he says, you know, two days later, he says, I'm gonna lend you the money to buy the building. 2.5 million. We don't have any money. He says, You can pay me 8% interest. I go, are you kidding me? Faith. He says, faith. Okay, so we get it, we start building, and then in a year, in two months, the Lord gives me the money to pay it back. Without asking. Without asking.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

So I go, guy, Laura, you're too much, you know. So we're building again. And we get finally done with it. Gotta pay for the whole thing, right? But we had to borrow money now because we have a full payment. I pay Chuck off, whatever, and we have a huge interest, $145,000 a month.

unknown 36:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

Now you tell me that's not big. We're not making that money, right? So we have to get it. So they give us money, so we go ahead and we start making payments every month. We are 16 years, 145,000 a month, and every time God provided for us. One day, I'm here. And Rich Snyder, not Rich Snyder, but um uh what's his name, they're Jewish. And they have uh uh actually a company of homes. They buy properties called this whole thing, Lewis homes. And so Lewis, you know, Lewis came to see me. And Lewis says, hey Raw, you know, I want to buy your property over here because that was taxable. We have to pay taxes, not this, because it's a church. So I said, Well, how much you want to give me? He says, I'm gonna give you my prop, our our debt was $16 million, 16 million. I'm gonna give you 15 cash, okay, so you can pay. I said, where do I sign? He goes, You're not gonna sign. I know your integrity, man. Sharing hands with me. Next day he sends me a million dollars. Then he takes me and sends me the money to pay off my debt. That's gone, man. It's gone. Then the parking lot, it's not done well. I call his grandson because his grandson knows me. He tells his dad, and he says, go ahead and call them and do it for free. Make this route so people can go in up for free. Do bad care for free. Go and take half of the water, and then the other half they can pay for it. They were mad. Mad. You know. So at that point, I told the Lord, I said, Lord, I'm never ever gonna have a debt. Ever. I don't care. If we can't make it, we can't make it, I'll quit. I'll do whatever you want me to, but I'm not gonna ask for money. So what takes place now is that we have a payment. You know, that no more. But we're not getting enough enough cash for you know to pay for the license, free for everything right now. So one guy comes up, he says, for the water, he says, I want to put panels up there. One million dollars, I'm gonna give it for free. And then, you know, we need other things, well, for free. And then, you know, since that time, you know, we've barely made it, and I thank Jesus for it. You know what? It keeps me on my knees. It keeps me on my niece, man. I don't want a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

I want to be grace is sufficient, yes, it comes right when you by faith. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Like you, by faith. And what takes place when there's faith, which I've had for a long time, about four years ago, I told the people, I'm not taking more offerings. No more. If you want to give, you give through the internet. Even though we aren't making any money here through the internet, I don't make a lot of money. I get exactly what we need for that month. I love it. It's been like that. It's been like that. And I thank God for that because it's kept me on my niece, and it's kept me from people criticizing me, then I'm asking for money. And I'm doing that. And I'll never do that.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

And I don't know. But there there's there's been some bumps, bumps on the way, you know. Yeah. I mean, with all due respect, Mrs. Reese went home to be with the Lord. Yes. I I can only imagine. I've been married to my wife almost 30 years, and if I go one day without seeing her, I I get, you know. So I I'm sure that was hard, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

Yeah, you know, we were married for 55 years. And I'll tell you a little story about that. She had cancer for 18 years. Yeah, I remember. Stage four. Seven tumors in her liver. And one of the doctors says three years she's done, you know, she lasted 18 years. And one of the hardest things, uh I hate this. My life, they had I couldn't study it here. I take her to the city of hope. And she got chemo. And in the park, and I'm doing my service, man, you know, to make sure that I get to teach about it. And then she came out of, she was real sick. And you know what she did in the morning? She was here for ten hours with a women's ministry. It's a woman of God. She was a real servant. She she never asked for anything. She was a real woman of God. She went to Columbia on her knees scrubbing the floors. I got pigs for her. And what I did is I said, sure, let's go. You go this way, I'll go this way, because we're both in ministry. You go and reveal your parents' place for missions. And I'll stay here and I'll go do pastors' conferences. And I we did that for a long time. And then I began to see that she was getting skinnier. You know, you could see she was getting skinnier. And she still came here all the time. And uh for about uh two months I began to see that the end was coming.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

And so how do you even as a believer, Pastor, how do you how do you prepare for something like that, you know? I I mean you know I know, you know, when I when I don't pray, I said, man, be with my one day at a time, man.

SPEAKER_03 42:42

And I would come home and I would talk to her and I would pray with her, you know, 10 o'clock at night, we get up. We live here more than that, we live at home.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

You know, because God, I love this place. I love what God has done. You know, I don't want to be, I have a nice house. So what? You know, this is my home. This is where I get this is where I live. A lot of pastors, they live somewhere else, you know. They worship their homes, they worship their cars, they worship everything. But God has called us to be servants, servants, not movie stars. That's right. And I have a movie that I didn't pay for. Chuck wanted to make a movie in my life, me and my wife, man. They gave me royalties, $300,000, I gave it back because we got sued, Chuck and I by a company. I said, Chuck, take my money and pay it off. That's the way it works. And God has never ever left me in debt. And my wife, the last week, they I mean, uh, Ryan was at home with us. Just he was checking all time. So he came, and my wife was in bed already, and she was getting real skinny, and I knew it was time. So a week later, I'm here at six o'clock. I don't have a license. They took my license for two years, two years because I got in a wreck, I hit five. Cars with my C shifts. And so I lost my last. So I became a Mormon. I bought a bike. That's why you look so good. So I rode my bike. So I wrote my bike. So what happens is that here's the. Listen, that's a Mormon joke. My white shirt, my tire joke. So I'm gonna take a picture like that. I'm gonna put it there. So what happens is, you know, Riot said, Riot, stay because your mom. So he calls me. I gave her six in the morning. He says, Dad, mom's leaving. I said, I'll be home right now. I went home. I got in the house, went upstairs, and she's gone. Five minutes before I got there. I was so happy Ryan was there. Because Ryan back there for 70 years. And he was a bad time, you know, with his drugs and all that. And he was there to be with her when she went to be with her. Then another trial. I have to remember I I I bury the dead. I ramp my friends, pick up pieces. And now I gotta pick her up and wrap her. They take her down to the ambulance. I pick her up, I carry her down, they put her in one of those beds, they take her out, and then Ryan, myself, my other kids were all messed up. Messed up. Because their mom. You know, they love their mom. And so we went ahead, we took her, we bought, you know, a place for her. She had with her mom and dad. And she didn't want to be cremated, so I buried her with her parents. I'm going to be cremated, but I'm going to be buried with her. And what happens is that we go to the funeral, and we didn't know these people were going to be there. Here, you know, it's back down, you know. We didn't know that. And we went there with our family and friends, and we're a mess, man. My kids and myself. We're looking around, walking back and forth. And then they look at her for one time. They don't open, but they go, I, you know, and then they they leave, and my boys are here, and I'm over here, and um, I can't do nothing about it, you know. This is my wild. And the Lord reminds me, that's not her. The spirit's with her, up with Jesus. And it brought comfort to my life to remind me. To remind me when I do funerals too, hey, that's not that person. Because people come up to me, see, you know, the guy was on drugs, and that's on drugs, and they say, Hey, can you say something good? I say, you know, I gotta preach the gospel. I don't condemn people that will preach the gospel. They know what they did. You know, they know that if they were drinking or taking drugs, whatever, they know that. And when they see that, it's important because when they see that, they know what their family was like. Some will come to know Christ, some will know Christ. They'll be mad at me because you know things that I say, biblical things. So now, as I look at my life, I'll be 79 in August. You look good. You look good, Pastor. 79. I mean, it's funny. I I can't wait. I'm gonna be eight, I said, you know. And it's been neat because, you know, I do my martial arts all these years, and I walk a lot, you know, for my heart. Yeah. And I hear all the time, you know, doing my sermons on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, and with watching your day, I do the uh the staff on Mondays for the last 40 years. I meet with them, I teach them, I pray with them, and we're together, so they have the same mind, the same heart, the same vision. Otherwise, you can't have people like that. They give you problems. You know? Exactly. With me, I have that Marine Corps training. I like things done well, and even my home, I feel my home, I'm perfect, you know? And so if they complain, then we don't want them here. Yeah, exactly. You know, they gotta be their heart has to love the church, love the people, you know. And they're being taught by me in leadership so they can become the same heart that I have that have the same heart. I don't want them to be like me. They don't want to be like Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 48:20

Yes. Of his church, and it needs to be run by the shepherd. If not, then that's when the devil can creep in in any little hole.

SPEAKER_03 48:28

Well, just like you, your ministry, you know. God gave it to you, not somebody else. And he gives you the wisdom, the knowledge. You know, if whatever finances you have, whatever it is, you don't have to have to doubt the Lord, man. Ever, because of who God called you. And I want to I want you to know that I'm just glad to be here with you, you know, that that the Lord uses you, and that the Lord has done a tremendous work in your life, because you have a testimony too. And look what God has done in your life.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

I mean, it's funny you say that not to change the subject. No, go ahead. I've been a professional boxing MMA reference. That's what they were telling me. And when I'm in the ring, this is like 10 years, 10, 15 years ago. I always say God bless. Yeah. I don't say good luck. And this is the commission before they said, you know what? You gotta stop that. I go, you know what? Take my license. I will never stop that. And and you know what, I'll be honest, uh, that's my little outlet. I love refereeing professional boxing in MMA. And I said, Lord, don't let them take this. And they didn't take it. To this day, I still God bless. You have a wife, how many kids? I have seven children, seven wife for 30 years. She's a nurse. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

I have nine raggers and one coming away like great great licks.

SPEAKER_02 49:49

Yeah. There you go. Then you know you're old. Yeah, I'm gonna be uh 63 in July. But you know, I have some questions, Pastor. Yes, you know, go ahead. First of all, the one of the biggest questions, you know, I'm I have this social media, and and on and with that, I always tell everybody that's a believer, if you have a social, if you have a platform, a social media platform, if you're gonna go that route, make sure you you glorify God with it. You know tell me if I'm wrong, shame on you if you're a believer and you don't even speak on God's name. Oh yeah. You know what I mean? We're called. Because we're called to do that, to share. Yeah, you know, I people here. One thing I always love about your preaching is you you don't sugarcoat it, you know what I mean? Sometimes you walk out of the church with my nose bleeding. My nose bleeding black eyes, your ears, colourflower ears. That's right, you know. That's funny, man. So same with my pastor David, you know? Yeah. He when you walk out of a church, tell me if I'm wrong or right. When you you want to walk out of a church saying, I want to get closer to God. Yeah. If you walk out saying, I'm good, man. Yeah, nothing happened. Sums up there, bro. You know what I mean? Yeah. This is Ray Corona saying it. Go to Joel, watch Joel Steen then. You know what I mean? Yeah. Watching, because that's that's just uh yeah. You know what I mean? He just tells you everything's gonna be alright, everything's good, don't change nothing, everything. Can't do that, man. If you want to get right with God, if you want to serve God, you gotta come out of that church saying, How long you been a Christian? 15 years. 15 years. How did you come to grace? Uh I was, you know, 13. I've been state raised from county camp, youth authority to prison, two terms. Um, I wasn't a killer, yeah. I was a boxer. Yeah. But my older brother did 35 years straight. He was a member of the Metzkin Mafia. And he finally got out, he's serving God, you know. So I grew up in that culture, yeah. That culture, you know. This is why when I would make that turn and went to Avenue, I would see your church. Oh 1981, I was paroled from that. And I would see it, and you know what? I was like, I gotta go in there. One time I did go in there. I did go in there, and it never left my mind. And I seen you up there preaching, and through the years, I would listen to you on 107.9. And I said, Man, that dude is bad, bro. You know what I mean? They're just the way you preach, you know what I mean? I just dig your style, you know. As well as my pastor David, I love him, you know. Yeah. But uh one of my questions, though, um uh pastor, is with the war right now, yeah. We're obviously in a war. Yeah, my Bible tells me those who bless my people be blessed. Right now, I have other Christians even saying, yeah, but those are the Jews of then, you know, that's Israel then. And I know what what Israel's leader just said a couple weeks back. Jesus has nothing to do with this, he can't be. Yeah. I like, oh, is this is this who I'm supposed to support?

SPEAKER_03 52:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:54

What are your thoughts on that? What is our our Bible teaching us?

SPEAKER_03 52:57

I'm teaching Ezekiel 36, 37, 33. Say that one more time. Ezekiel, what? 36, 37, 30. This is 37 this week, and 38, 39 next week. And the thing about Israel, no matter who they are, I still support them. Amen. Because they're God's people. Amen. And uh we were at one time saying there's no God. You know, and when you go back in history, from the time of Moses, when he established the atonement, when he established the law, when he not only affected five books, you know, Genesis X, Leviticus, number, Deuteronomy, and from there other people came to know the Lord, right? God had the law. That's why he said Jesus for the grace of God. And Israel today, I've been there 30 something times. I love Israel. I love the people. No matter what they would do in this war, I still would love them, still pray for them. You see, I can do that because I'm a Christian. They're Jews, they're God's people. Without them, I would never be a Christian. That's right. Jesus came to do what? To die for the Jews and to die for us. We become Christians. Why? Because of them. Jesus was a Jew.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

And is it fair to say if they're doing wrong in God's life, God will deal with them? God's gonna deal with them. God has been. Yes, unconfessed. He doesn't say except my people.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

Yeah, they don't get right until the after the seven years of tribulation. But they have the same God. That's right. And right now they're blinded, the Bible says that. And they've never really, what does the Bible say? And I'm doing this the Sunday, you know, they went into idolatry and worship of Molech, Ashrad, all these gods that the Canaanites were doing, and they copied him instead of copying the Lord. And what did the Lord do? Chasen them. The book of Judges, in second chapter, verse 10. Once Joshua died in that generation, they came out of the wilderness, because Moses was in it, the others died. What happened? He came into the promised land, and the Lord spoke to his heart to continue to teach. And what happened after that in Judges? The people became wicked. Their kids, the next generation in chapter 2 of Judges, verse 10, it says, and there arose another generation that did not know the Lord but worship other gods. From that point on, man, it went like this. It went like this. Even to the present time. But one day, we're gonna be watching them in the Lord that they're gonna know Jesus. So for me, I know they're in a war. America's helping them. I know they say they don't believe in God, which the Bible says they don't believe in God. But the Lord believes in them and believes in us, right? I didn't believe in God. You didn't believe in God. And what happened? Look where we are. And there's there's Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. I know them. You know, and they're praying for their own people. You know, but they don't force people either. And you can't force a person that has no Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one, you myself, every did what, convict us. So the Holy Spirit's not working in their lives right now.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

So if you had to speak to another Christian that proclaims, oh well, we don't need to support them, tell them to read those verses?

SPEAKER_03 56:30

I tell them the same thing as told you. Exactly. Amen. Without fearing. I said, if you don't want to believe in that, then you know what? You shouldn't even be preaching the gospel. Amen. Because they're God's people. Exactly. They're God's people. Exactly. And God loved them even when they were sinners.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

And God loved you. I always say, if God took away all evil, would me and you be here? You know what I mean? And at the same time, I have seven children. I tell my kids, I might not like you at times, but there's nothing you could do to make me stop loving you. And you know what? Those are God's people. And you know what? It doesn't say again, uh, every knee shall bow, every tongue accept Israel, the Jew. No, it says everybody.

SPEAKER_03 57:10

And you know what else he says? In Genesis chapter 12, he says, He who loves me, I love him. But he who what curses me, I'm gonna curse them. And that's in Genesis chapter 12. Yeah, I will love them, they love thee, and I will curse those that curses thee. Just in one verse, but you have to read the rest of the thing what he says. So right now the Jews are rejecting him, right? So that's happening. What else?

SPEAKER_02 57:39

Yeah, just um, but uh I got my notes here. Okay, don't worry about it. And you preach on this, and when I again, when I come out of your church, I'm like, Bray, you're getting your done. Why do you think these are the end times?

SPEAKER_03 58:02

I believe in the end times because we've been talking a long time about it, but you have to remember scriptures are being fulfilled.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

Can you just give me one good right now if you're really saying? Well, right now the war going on in uh Russia, I mean Russia with uh Iran and Israel and America. It always has a question why is America there? You know, because we read in Ezekiel Iran, Iraq, I mean China, Korea, all these nations, you know, that are going to be involved in the times. So right now, what God is doing, he's trying to tell people, wake up, wake up. Maybe Israel's not doing the right thing, but they have the same God we have. I mean, they're his people. Yes. They want to get pushed into the ocean. And Israel's not gonna do that. Who will who put that in their hearts? You go back and read the Old Testament. Ezekiel, you're gonna go back because I'm giving you back the land. And you're gonna do this in the last days. And we're coming to that.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

And in Israel's uh, how can I say their their right to fight for? Yes, these other countries, they're not happy with giving more. They're only gonna be happy when they're annihilated. So, how do you do that? You gotta fight. And that that's my next question. Does God okay war? Does God okay war? You know what?

SPEAKER_03 59:37

I mean, it calls for us to protect our family. Of course. Self-defense, yes. Yeah, there's no problem with that. And I think that when things like this happen, you have to understand also we have wicked leaders, you know, and we have good leaders. And good leaders are not gonna take advantage of what's given to them. You know, and there are people that hate, you know, and they'll do anything to look behind their backs, and then they'll lose something. And God knows that. And in the last days, there's gonna be war. You know, the Bible says there's gonna be war. I mean, Ezekiel 30, 39, Russia, you know, Armageddon. Well, that's China. All these nations that are becoming against. And when he says in Ezekiel, as Russia is fighting, these other nations will come along to help, and God's gonna wipe out who? Russia. And the dead moes, the the actual valley with their dead bones. I mean, that's this this Sunday. What happened to those bones? They begin to take flesh. Israel's nation began to take power and become a nation. Right now, it's already happened. Why? Because it says they're coming back to the land. Well, they came back May 14, 1948.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

And there was only a few. Now there's six million Jews and keep coming from Russia, from China, from Mexico, from all over the world. And remember, he says, I scatter them all over the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

So that's what's happening. Here's my other question, and this goes back to this goes to the sports. How do you feel about uh God, because of like MMA and boxing? There's a lot of fighters that, hey, I want to thank God, you know. I I I personally think uh as long as you're right, it doesn't necessarily mean you're always gonna win your fight. Right. But as long as you glorify him, he will be with you. You know? So are you okay with with mixed martial arts? Obviously, you are. You know, I know the answer, but how is us as men gonna defend ourselves if we don't know how to defend? Oh no, you have to.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:36

I mean, I and I tell people somebody broke into my house with a weapon, I'm gonna kill him. That's right. You know, and that's not thinking about I know I'm gonna do it. Somebody hurts one of my family. Well, first of all, I go to the police, and then I'm gonna pray that he'll play the penalty, right? Yes. But at the same time, I want to take care of that person. That's right. And that's where the Holy Spirit comes in and tells you, you know, if you do that, you're gonna lose this. So we have to really listen to the voice of God. Fighting is not wrong if it's the right fighting. That's right. You know, self-defense. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:06

And for me. Us, excuse me, us as Christians doesn't mean that we're to be put hands on. No, no. If we're doing the right thing, you're not gonna put hands on you. No, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:17

If they put your hands on you, what are you gonna do? Defend yourself, right? That's right. For sure. You know, I stay in shape. I'm gonna bite you, I have to do whatever I have to about.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:26

Yeah. A lot of people disagree with that. Uh there was an incident, I don't know if Pastor Dave told you, like five months ago, some guy in Calvary Chapel, Chino Valley, he stood up in the middle of service. And you know what? Uh, to toot my own horn, I didn't hesitate. Yeah. I went straight to him. Yeah. You know? We've had to happen here. Yeah. Yeah. And about 10 of us went straight to the past. That's what we have here. Yeah. And uh, and I go, Ain't nobody gonna hurt my pastor, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:52

He was coming up to me, you know, you see in the front. He was getting him out, and I was ready to come up to kick him, put him out. Yeah. And then that's just came right away.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

My well, my pastor was a hippie. I don't know if he knows how to fight. Yes, I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:04

He was a lover.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:06

I always cow about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:08

Yeah, ask him this if Pastor Ross said, Do you see a wear flowers?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

With no with sandals. Sandals, yeah. That was his era. No bottoms, you know, yeah. That was my era, too. You were the rougher side of that hippie. That's when the Lord came. Yeah. So before we close, I want to ask some what do you say to that unbeliever? And I'm sure you heard that. You know, I I talked to a lot of gang members.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:35

You know, Ray, when I know I can do it right, I'm gonna start serving God.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:39

Yeah. I would say in any ethnic group, you know, in gangs, violence, not just a violent person, that it's important to understand that Jesus loves them and that he has a Holy Spirit to convict them. As long as they have no conviction, the devil's on their lives. Every person that a Christian, their father is a devil. The devil. You look at when I accepted Christ, the light came out. My eyes, my ears, my mouth, my body saw things differently. I start reading, feeding. As I'm feeding, I'm growing and being convicted. You have missing the mark, and then you have transgression, which is willfully know the right thing, and yet doing that, what is it? You get spanked by the Lord. So, people, like you said, people that don't know, gang members, whoever they mean, we're all the same. We're all the same. We all need Jesus. And I would say to the gang members, you guys surrender, man. Give your life to them. You don't know what you're missing. Get rid of your weapons, you know, they're gonna make fun of you. Who cares? They took Jesus, made fun of him, and they whipped him. Well, he could, he was, you'd even know it was a man. And then they took what nails on his hands, his feet. They took a spear with a crown of thorus on his head, Palestinian thorough, about this big, right in his skull. And the scripture says there was no beauty to desire him. So what do you want in life? You want hell, you want heaven. And heaven is there for you. How? You need to repent. You might not see angels, you might not see it, but by faith, I did that. Lord, forgive me for my sins, cleanse me, wash me, and then get up the next day or next Sunday and go to church. Okay, go to church and just sit there and listen. And then when you listen, you're gonna hear, you want to know about me? Then get a book. Get the Bible. And when you get the Bible, get a Bible you can understand. The New Living Bible is good to read. To teach, we use the New King James Bible. You know, understandable to check to also use that. But like he said, the Lord's raised him up. The Lord's look at the ministry here for you guys. For all you guys out there, you don't have to be a gang member. Out there, me or him, we got the gospel of Jesus Christ. We got the light. You guys have the darkness. Help us to turn on the light. No, we're gonna give you the actual chain. You pull it, and then the Lord comes into your life. That's the whole thing. So I want to pray right now for them. Okay? Lord, I come before you, Jesus, to ask you for my brother here, Lord God, and his ministry. Blessed Lord. Anoint him. Lord, for every person watching this program, Lord God, through his testimony, my testimony. Lord, we're not trying to impress. Lord, we're trying to give the message God gives to us, Lord. And the reason is because we want to see you come to know his love, his grace, his mercy, and for their families. And so, Lord, I thank you for my brother's ministry, Lord God. Continue to open doors, provide for him, Lord, be with his family, and be with him, Lord God. In Jesus' name I pray, Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

Amen. With that said, Pastor. Pray for me. Yes. With that said, before we get off, can give can you give your service times? Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:07

In case somebody wants to visit your Sunday mornings we have eight o'clock, ten o'clock, and twelve o'clock. And then free services, huh? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it's perfect. And then on Wednesdays, we have uh Wednesday at 7 o'clock, the midweeks we're teaching the Bible. On Sundays, I took the liberty to teach different topics, like a series, so people can learn about series like this one. I'm doing four or five studies on Ezekiel, but I'm doing the life of Christ on Sunday mornings, which is really cool. His miracles, his parables, all that thing. And you you know your address off the top of your head? Uh 22324 Golden Springs Drive. Beautiful, guys. Diamond Bar Boulevard here in Diamond Bar. You'll blow your mind. Yes, come and visit. Yeah. But there's also David's church. You know, you can go to David's church. You can go to any Calvary chapel, they'll teach the Word of God. Amen. Make sure when you go, they're teaching the Word of God. The Word of God, the philosophy of Calvary Chapel, and then spreading out the gospel and see if people come to know Christ. Amen. With that said, thank you, Pastor. Thank you so much. Let me pray for you. Yes, sir. Go ahead. Again. You know, you have a kind of an incredible ministry, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:19

You know, a lot of times people understand that not just praying once or twice or three times. You know, because I know the devil comes after you. Oh, yeah. You know, totally. And I want to just hold your hands, and we're going to pray, amen. Lord, be with my brother, touching him, anointing him, Lord. Lord, heal him of any problems that he has for his beautiful wife, for his children, later for his grandchildren. And for every person he comes in contact with, Lord God, touch him and use him. In Jesus' name. Amen. Awesome, brother. God bless you guys. Thank you.