Participants: Ivor Myers, Atonte Myers
Series Code: BOF
Program Code: BOF000001
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00:16 Welcome to Battles of Faith!
00:18 I'm Atonte Myers and I'm Ivor Myers. 00:20 You know, through our earth history, there have been many 00:23 wars and battles, but one war that has always stood out 00:27 in my mind is the Civil War, especially the turning point. 00:30 On September 13th 1862, the North found 00:34 than battle plans of the South. 00:37 And because they found the battle plans, they were able to 00:40 know the next step of their enemy. 00:42 It's very important that you always know what 00:46 your enemy's next step is going to be if you goanna have victory 00:50 over your enemy. 00:51 And that's what we're going to be talking about throughout 00:54 all this whole entire series. 00:56 We're going to reveal the battle plans of Satan and how 00:58 he has a war against us. 01:00 That's right, Atonte. 01:02 A special order 191, that was the name of the paper that was 01:09 actually found in an envelope, with three cigarettes. 01:14 Can you imagine the joy of the Northern troops when they found 01:19 this envelope with the enemy's battle plans? 01:23 When I think about it, just imagine that the entire world, 01:27 many people, historians say that "this was indeed 01:30 the turning point of the entire war." 01:34 You know, in this program, we're not going to talk about 01:38 physical battles, we're talking about spiritual battles. 01:41 In the book of Ephesians 6:10, the Bible says here, 02:12 So there's a REAL war going on, even though we can't see it 02:15 with our own eyes. 02:17 That's right and that's why we'll call the program, 02:18 "B A T T L E S OF F A I T H" 02:20 because FAITH is seeing those things which are not VISIBLE 02:25 to the naked eye. 02:27 And in this battle we have an enemy and 02:30 it is not a physical enemy, it is a spiritual enemy. 02:34 We're dealing with invisible forces and 02:36 I believe that the battle plans, 02:39 the battle plans of the enemy are actually available to us. 02:43 You know, many people out there are attempting to fight 02:47 this good fight of faith, but you know what, 02:50 they're having a difficult time wondering why is it that 02:53 I'm not overcoming the way that I want to. 02:55 Why is it that I'm having all these troubles? Why is it that 02:58 my mind and my heart is not clean and we believe that 03:02 once you come into possession of the battle plans and 03:07 I rejoice to say it, Atonte, that we have the battle plans, 03:10 we didn't discover the battle plans, but we do have 03:13 the battle plans because Christ has given them to us in His Word 03:18 He has revealed to us what the enemy's plans are and 03:21 we're going to be looking at these, 03:23 especially in light of the entertainment industry. 03:27 That's right and we compare the entertainment industry to 03:31 something that is called, the Black Hole. 03:35 And the Black Hole is that place in space where 03:38 no light can escape from. 03:40 That's right. Let me read the definition, Atonte! 04:02 And it's amazing when you think about the entertainment industry 04:05 It indeed is a black hole, 04:07 because as you look at the way that it is drawing in 04:11 thousands and thousands of young people. 04:14 I would even dare say of the older generation. 04:17 The entertainment industry is this space in which millions 04:23 are being sought in and are being captivated and trapped 04:28 and this is one of the biggest devices, 04:31 one of the biggest weapons that the enemy is using to draw 04:37 people away from Jesus Christ. 04:39 But praise God some have escaped the black hole. 04:43 And Ivor, you happened to be one of them. 04:46 That's right. 04:47 It's amazing what God has done in my life, drawing me out 04:50 of the black hole. 04:53 For our listeners, my background is that 04:56 I used to be a hip hop musician. 04:58 I used to be a hip hop artist. 05:00 And myself, my younger brother and two best friends, 05:03 my younger brother's name is Shawn Myers. 05:09 We had come together and formed a hip hop group in college, 05:13 the name of the group was called the Boogie Monsters. 05:17 The reason behind the name was people were afraid of what 05:21 they didn't understand and we were supposed to be spooky 05:24 and scary and all those different things but anyway 05:27 we got a major recording contract with EMI Records for 05:30 eight consecutive albums and this contract was ranging 05:34 somewhere between 700,000- 800,000 dollars and so 05:38 from a long history, I finally ended up in 05:45 the center of the black hole. 05:46 And praise the Lord, He delivered both myself, 05:49 my younger brother out of that black hole. 05:52 And now we are doing the Lord's work and sharing 05:57 His good news and His gospel. 06:01 And not only has He helped you escape from the black hole, 06:05 but He's helped keep you from going back to that black hole, 06:09 because there're other rap artists, I think of M.A.C. who 06:12 was the largest rap artist in the 1997 and he became 06:16 a Christian and was very convicted, but he needed 06:19 to leave the entertainment industry, the hip hop industry 06:22 and became a minister of the gospel. 06:25 And he's become very popular as a Christian minister but 06:29 recently has gone back into the entertainment field even though 06:33 he says he won't do dirty rap, if you will. 06:38 Using curse words like that. 06:40 But he's back into the rap 06:43 music. God has been able to keep you out and that's amazing! 06:48 That's right. You know, one of the things about the black hole, 06:52 you've got to get used to that term, because we're going to 06:55 be mentioning it quite often, when we say that, 06:58 just think of the entertainment industry. 07:00 If you do not cut all your ties to the black hole 07:03 once you leave out, once the Lord pulls you out 07:06 by His mighty arm, you will be drawn back in. 07:09 And just to tell you the story briefly, we had 07:12 about 30 or 20 of us that ended up getting baptized, 07:17 becoming Christians once we were introduced to the gospel. 07:22 But out of all those people only myself and my brother and 07:27 one other individual Mando remained Christians today, 07:31 because we were the only ones that stepped aside, that cut off 07:34 that cut our connections with the black hole completely. 07:38 Now, Atonte, this issue is a large issue, 07:43 it is a big issue right now, because we're talking about 07:46 across the board, we're talking about the churches, 07:49 it doesn't matter what denomination it is, 07:51 the entertainment industry is pulling our young people away 07:54 from the churches. 07:56 We have read a definition of what the black hole is and 08:00 we saw that it is believed that stars that have lost their fuel, 08:06 once they have burnt out begin to draw light to themselves. 08:09 What I want to suggest is that the Bible says that 08:14 Satan was cast out of heaven. 08:17 He was a star but he lost his fuel. 08:19 And he has become the center of this black hole. 08:22 And throughout this series we're goanna be revealing how 08:26 he has become the center and how through his battle plans, 08:30 he's revealed his plans to the Word of God we're goanna see, 08:33 "Oh, this is why I'm struggling so much, this is why 08:36 I can't keep my mind focused on God, 08:39 this is how the enemy is going to be moving and 08:41 praise God once we begin to see that then we'll get to know how 08:44 to fight this good fight of faith. 08:47 Now some of our viewers may be asking or thinking and wanting 08:51 to ask the question, "Was it really that easy to come out 08:55 of the black hole?" I mean once you were in the hip hop industry 08:59 you were on your second album, 09:01 you were to sign another contract where you were 09:03 be making 800,000 dollars which is quite a lot of money for 09:06 a 21-year old young man. 09:09 Was it really that easy or what did it try to stop you? 09:13 Of course, Satan doesn't want anyone to be 09:17 free from his bondage and when the Bible's introduced to me 09:21 and I began to study it, the devil came with everything 09:25 he possibly could to keep me in the black hole. 09:29 And I entitle my testimony "Escape from the Black Hole". 09:35 Because it is possible, though the definition says, 09:38 "No likely escape from it", 09:40 it is possible to escape from the black hole. 09:43 It is difficult because it requires sacrifice and surrender 09:48 and it's nothing in your power that causes you to escape, 09:52 but it is only by the grace of Jesus Christ that we can escape. 09:55 But it takes surrender and a willingness to do 09:59 what the Lord Jesus asks. 10:01 You know, sometimes young people are drawn to the black hole 10:05 because they see all the glamour and the glitter and the money 10:08 and the beautiful women and the handsome men and everyone 10:11 seem so happy, is it really like that? 10:13 I mean you've been behind the scenes, 10:15 what's it like behind the scenes? 10:16 We'll be talking about this in all our coming programs, 10:18 but let me tell you behind the scenes, it is not cracked up, 10:22 it is just an illusion, I might say it illusion, 10:26 because what is on the screen is not reality. 10:30 And when I got back there, when I saw what was going on behind 10:33 the scenes and I thought 'people are supposed to be happy when 10:37 they get into the screen, they're supposed to have money', 10:40 but you look at the divorce rate into the entertainment 10:42 industry that I'll tell you there's no real joy there, 10:45 there's no real peace there. 10:47 We're goanna be talking about rock music, rap music, 10:52 how it's affecting people today in their Christian walk. 10:55 We're goanna be talking about movies and video games, 10:58 all these things that the youth are facing today, 11:01 things that we've had hands on experiencing because 11:03 I've been a part of it. 11:05 We've been a part of it. 11:07 And God has a special purpose for those of you 11:09 who are watching this program, 11:10 because many of you may be trapped in the black hole and 11:13 wondering 'how on the world do I escape?' 11:16 Did you find that most people that you came in contact with 11:19 were on drugs? 11:23 I mean drugs is a natural thing in the entertainment industry, 11:26 drugs, alcohol and there's really no joy there. 11:30 These are things that people use to try to feel that black hole. 11:34 And that's my point. 11:36 If so many people in this entertainment industry 11:38 are doing drugs, I mean you do drugs because you have a void 11:42 and something is missing, if most of the people in 11:44 the industry are doing this, 11:46 then there's no real joy and peace and happiness there. 11:49 That's right. 11:50 Young people don't go there because 11:53 there's really no happiness there. 11:56 That's right. 11:57 I think of a story in the book of Matthew, chapter 2, 11:59 because I hear a lot of people say often that 12:02 we shouldn't bother the young people with this truth, 12:07 because the Devil is not after them anyway. 12:10 Give them some time. 12:11 When I read in Matthew 2 that Jesus at the age of 2 years old 12:16 that Herod sent an army to wipe out all the children 12:20 under 2 years old because he didn't know which one Jesus was, 12:23 but he just said "Let's just kill them all". 12:25 We need to realize that behind that command 12:27 there was an invisible foe which was the Devil. 12:31 And Satan does not care about the youth. 12:34 He doesn't care about how young you are, he doesn't say, 12:37 "Well, you're young right now, so we're goanna hold off on you 12:40 until you become of age and then we're goanna attack you." 12:43 No way! He starts from birth and as we can see especially through 12:48 the entertainment industry with the way that young people 12:50 are being bombarded, we see that the enemy is out 12:55 to destroy their souls. 12:58 Now when you became a Christian, was it difficult to let 13:02 the things go that are in the black hole? 13:05 One of the things that happened, Atonte, is 13:09 as I became a Christian, the devil came and said, 13:12 "You can be a Christian and still hold on to these things." 13:14 The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, 13:19 "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 13:25 Atonte, you said this before, as you met me when I was in the 13:30 entertainment industry, you said you'd never have married me. 13:36 That's right. 13:37 Because he had dreadlocks and I don't like dreadlocks. 13:39 She doesn't like dreadlocks and she didn't like 13:42 the rough look that I had. 13:44 I'd like to show. We have some pictures here. 13:46 I'd like to show these pictures 13:48 and just can get an idea why Atonte wouldn't marry me. 13:51 But this who I was some years back and this is how 13:53 the Lord has brought me out of that black hole. 13:56 So we're goanna take a look at these pictures. 13:58 The first one you see on your screen is a picture of me 14:00 and my brother Shawn and my cousin in the middle. 14:04 This is in the midst of our recording contract. 14:08 We've got another picture here of me and my friends. 14:12 This is we're all kind of hanging out here. 14:17 We got another picture here. 14:19 My group with another popular group at that time. 14:23 Here we've got a picture of me doing an autographing and 14:28 there're those dreadlocks, 14:30 the ones that Atonte wouldn't have married me with. 14:33 We've got another picture here of me rhyming on stage. 14:37 This picture, I've just been actually introduced to 14:43 Christianity and Bible prophecy being my favorite subject, 14:47 I was explaining to this group around me about 14:50 the mark of the beast and so that's an interesting picture. 14:55 I began to discuss these things within my sphere of influence. 15:00 Here's a picture of me and Little Shawn around the studio 15:04 in a studio video shoot. 15:07 There's a fun picture of me. My brother's up there in 15:10 the background, you can't really see him there. 15:14 But this is who I was prior to meeting Jesus Christ and 15:19 when Christ came in, this text became a reality. 15:22 "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. 15:25 All things are passed away and all things are become new." 15:28 And that includes being drawn out from the black hole. 15:32 Now, when you were redoing your secular music, 15:35 you became a Christian but you continued to do music. 15:40 So what kind of music were you doing? 15:41 That's right. 15:42 We had now God involved in what was called Christian hip hop. 15:46 We're going to be talking about that in some upcoming programs, 15:50 because that's the really big thing today but 15:53 we were so excited, Atonte, that when we became Christians, 15:57 we were so excited about the gospel message that we began to 16:02 take literature, popular books like 'The Great Controversy', 16:07 we would just start throwing them out on stage because 16:09 they held all these truths of the Word of God and 16:13 we were so excited about them. 16:15 We were going to the clubs and we asked questions like, 16:17 'Who wants to know this or that about Bible prophecy?' 16:19 And all the hands would go up and 16:21 we'd just start throwing these books out. 16:22 Our lyrics changed from secular lyrics to spiritual lyrics and 16:28 we were honest, we were sincere in the work that we were doing 16:34 but then we came to a crossroads and the Lord began to show me 16:39 in particular and my brother as well some things that 16:42 really shook us up. 16:45 And we came to the place where we had to make a decision as to 16:48 whether we were going to continue in this path 16:51 and say we're goanna struggle, Lord, how we choose to serve Him 16:55 or whether we're goanna say, "Lord we can no longer serve You 16:58 in this way because it's not pleasing to You and 17:02 my brother and I made a decision to come out of the entertainment 17:05 industry and in fact, Atonte, I went to work at target, 17:09 my brother went to work for the government, 17:11 we both were making around somewhere between $6-$7 an hour. 17:16 So from an $800,000 contract to work in target, 17:19 my brother working on the street holding stop signs, 17:23 people driving by would see him and they'd say, 17:26 "Isn't that..? What's he doing holding stop signs? 17:29 He had no chance to explain, but praise the Lord, 17:32 neither of us were embarrassed. 17:35 Neither of us was saying, hiding our faces, we were joyful, 17:38 we took the opportunity to say, when people would ask, 17:42 "What are you doing here in target?" 17:45 "I'd say, you know what, I'm here because of Jesus Christ!" 17:48 "I gave up this contract because that was what 17:51 Christ wanted me to do." And I was perfectly at peace with 17:55 being drawn out of the black hole. There was a heavy weight 17:58 that was upon me that was taken away when I escaped 18:02 the black hole through the grace of Christ. 18:05 Now, were you and your brother seeking, looking for God, 18:09 even though you were doing secular music, we never even 18:12 explain how did you become a Christian? 18:16 Well, that's another interesting story because when we got 18:19 our recording contract, the four of us plus most of our friends 18:24 all dropped out of college to go up to New York City to begin to 18:29 "LIVE the LIFE" that which we'd have seen on TV and 18:32 while we were there in New York, we met an individual who 18:36 had dreadlocks just like us and he was doing all the things that 18:40 we were doing and... he was an Adventist and we had no clue, 18:44 we had never heard the term Seventh-Day Adventist before. 18:49 But he wasn't living up to all what the Bible has said. 18:53 But at any rate, we were all around 19, 20, 21 at this time 18:57 and he saw that we had an interest in Bible prophecy and 19:01 I remember one night we were all downstairs in our den and 19:05 we were all just having a good time hanging out and 19:09 he asked the question, we just began to talk about 19:12 Bible prophecy, the subject just came up while we were smoking 19:16 and drinking alcohol and stuff and he asked a question that 19:19 blurred our minds and it had to do with the Sabbath issue. 19:23 And he asked us, "What day do you think 19:25 the Sabbath is on?" 19:27 We were looking at him. "That's a stupid question." 19:29 "That's on Sunday. Everyone knows that." 19:33 And from memory he begins to quote Scripture. 19:36 That night turned from a den full of smoke and alcohol 19:44 into a Bible study. 19:47 And from that Bible study over the next few months, 19:51 the Holy Spirit just penetrated into the devil's den and just 19:58 grabbed the hold of us. 20:00 And we all began to study the Word of God, studying the Bible 20:03 and within, I believe, 3 to 4 months we were 20:06 all baptized into the church. 20:09 Two mass baptisms. 20:11 And he remembered all of this by memory. 20:14 That's right. 20:15 That should encourage some parents out there 20:18 who have raised their children as Christians and 20:21 they might be doing things that you're not pleased with and 20:24 you're not sure what's goanna happen to them and 20:26 here's this young man who was raised as a Christian and yet 20:29 he has backslidden and he was doing things that he shouldn't, 20:32 but it was still all in his mind 20:34 everything that his mother and father had taught him, 20:36 everything that he had learned at church, 20:38 he was able to share with a group of 30 people, 20:42 so I think parents should be encouraged as they're raising 20:44 their children to be Christians. 20:46 Sometimes it may seem that they're going astray, 20:49 but I believe if you keep praying for them that 20:51 the Lord is going to bring them back onto the right track. 20:55 Now was it difficult to keep the Sabbath once you learned about 20:59 the Sabbath and you stayed in the entertainment industry, 21:03 was it difficult to keep the Sabbath? 21:05 Well, that was a challenge because Friday night was 21:08 the biggest night, is the biggest night 21:11 in the entertainment industry and Saturdays as well. 21:13 And so, we had a real struggle, a real issue on what we were 21:19 going to do and once we saw that we could not really survive in 21:24 the black hole and keep the law of God. 21:28 But didn't God do something so that you guys can know for sure 21:32 without a doubt that He didn't want you working on the Sabbath? 21:35 Right. When we were on New York at this time and we had a trip 21:38 out at California, so we were going out to California, 21:44 we were really wrestling over the Sabbath issue and 21:50 the group of us, we were there praying saying, 21:53 "Oh, Lord, if You don't want us to perform on Sabbath..." 21:57 we had 4 appointments that night between radio interviews and 22:00 performances. 22:01 It was a Friday night? 22:02 It was a Friday night. 22:03 And we prayed and said, 22:04 "Lord, if You don't want us to break the Sabbath, 22:07 if You don't want us to perform on the Sabbath, because we felt 22:11 we were doing the Lord's work, but people were still paying to 22:15 come and see us and buying their alcohol and 22:18 when we prayed this prayer, 22:22 I remember we thought, "what are the odds of all our 4 meetings 22:25 to be cancelled?" 22:27 We prayed "Lord, You cancel them 22:30 if You're trying to speak to us!" 22:32 Well, we went to Radio Station 1 22:34 "Oh, I'm sorry, something happened and we got to cancel." 22:37 We thought we'd got our odds and everyone thought 22:40 "that was really OK." 22:41 So we went to our second radio program, 22:44 "Oh, sorry, something happened and we're goanna to reschedule." 22:48 I started wondering, "What is this?" 22:51 Third radio program, we went, the same thing. 22:54 We thought, "This is absolutely incredible!" 22:58 Well, we know, this is Friday night and now we're going to 23:01 the actual performance here in California, 23:04 so we know there's no way, 23:07 because they flew you out all the way from New York, 23:10 that's right, we got there on Friday night and 23:12 that Friday night the performance was cancelled. 23:15 And we were in awe. We said, 23:17 "Lord, this is Your sign." 23:18 And we took that sign very seriously. 23:20 It's interesting, Atonte, that when we signed our contract and 23:25 after we became Christians, 23:27 this is half-way through our first album, 23:31 we now became a Christian recording hip hop group, 23:37 that the people who were closest around us that were now pushing 23:40 our Christian hip hop, one was a witch, one was an atheist, 23:45 one was a pagan and this is by profession. 23:48 As I look back now, I thought, 23:52 "How could these people be pushing, 23:56 was it really about the message, was it about money?" 23:58 "Of course, it was about money." 24:00 So when we're talking about the black hole, 24:02 we're goanna be unveiling some things that may be uncomfortable 24:06 but we want to let you know that 24:08 we love you and that God loves you. 24:11 God causes to expose the works of darkness, 24:14 but He also causes us to lift up Jesus Christ. 24:18 And we want to do both in a loving, kind and understanding 24:21 way because we know that different people are in 24:24 different places but we want to put the truth out there and 24:27 allow you to be able to make a decision for yourself. 24:30 I'm still amazed that God cancelled all 4 of 24:33 your appointments on Sabbath and that means how serious God takes 24:37 His Sabbath and if you earnestly seek Him, they were earnestly 24:42 seeking Him saying "Lord, if You don't want us to perform 24:45 on Sabbath You need to show us, because they were new believers, 24:48 they weren't sure and God will do any supernatural things that 24:52 He has to do to get His point across to let you know that 24:55 He is serious about these things. 24:57 That's right. 24:58 Now, Atonte, we have travelled a lot and we've spoken to 25:01 a lot of youth groups and we've spoken to a lot of churches and 25:04 a lot of adults and one thing that has been consistent in 25:08 a lot of places where we've gone is this issue of the black hole. 25:14 Because there're so many people, we're talking about in 25:17 the churches, so many people that are trapped in 25:21 this black hole, again this issue is a mega issue. 25:25 We're seeing this all over and the more we're seeing young 25:29 people that are becoming immersed in the culture 25:33 around them and we believe that this is by design by the enemy. 25:39 And that's why again we're glad to say that 25:41 we have the battle plans. 25:42 This may be the turning point in your fight, 25:46 in the good fight of faith. 25:48 You may be saying, "I don't understand why I'm not getting 25:50 the victory and why the Bible is boring to me and 25:53 why I can't pray longer and all these different things and 25:57 I believe that you've got to find that envelope as it were. 26:00 No cigars, praise the Lord! 26:04 But the battle plans are in that envelope. 26:07 Spiritually speaking Christ wants to show us the moves of 26:10 the enemy and how he is getting the victory over us 26:14 so that we can turn it around. 26:16 I believe that if Satan's battle plans were actually written on 26:21 paper, they would say 'Let's make sure that 26:23 you concentrate mostly on the young people, because they're 26:26 the next generation, they're the ones we want.' 26:29 But God's battle plan also says, 26:32 'Let's concentrate on the young people, let's draw them to Us, 26:35 let's win them to Us.' 26:37 But you have to realize that and see it for yourself so 26:41 you could surrender and accept His drawing into your life. 26:45 That's right. 26:46 God has a plan, a battle plan for us. 26:49 The reason we've called this program BATTLES OF FAITH, 26:52 because there's a battle, there're two. 26:54 That's right. 26:55 Satan is battling and God is battling. 26:56 That's right. There is a war going on over the souls of 26:59 every person on this planet and we want to see how 27:03 we can get the victory, 27:05 how we can escape from the enemy's clutches and 27:08 how we can begin to take the battle to the enemy. 27:11 We are not talking about casting out demons and all those 27:14 kind of things, we are talking about getting the victory over 27:17 our own hearts and over our own minds and over our own desires. 27:20 That's where the battle resides and that's why 27:23 it's a battle of faith because it can be won by no other means, 27:27 but through FAITH. 27:29 May we praise God that you answered His call, 27:33 that your brother answered His call, that the other members in 27:37 the group that answered His call because now God is using them 27:41 to pull other people out and 27:43 He wants to use YOU to do the same thing! 27:47 He wants young people to be His soldiers. 27:51 And when young people are His soldiers, 27:55 they're mighty warriors! 27:57 That's right, Atonte! 27:58 God is making an appeal and we are making an appeal because 28:02 God wants you to join this fight of faith and we pray that 28:05 that it is your desire that you would prepare your hearts. 28:08 God bless you and we'll see you. |
Revised 2014-12-17