Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220040A
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00:01 ♪ ♪
00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:14 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:23 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:06 Hello friends. Welcome to 3ABN Today. I'm so thankful that you 01:10 are joining us at this time because we have a special hour 01:14 of testimony. (Ryan Day) I know we have a lot of testimonies 01:16 on 3ABN but I have to say spending time here with the 01:20 the VanOss's, which we will be hearing of their testimony in 01:24 just a few moments. It has truly inspired me. It's a wonderful 01:28 testimony. You're not going to want to go anywhere because 01:30 they're going to be telling their testimony of how they were 01:34 once a part of the Baptist church. They were Baptist 01:37 Christians but then the Lord led them to watch 3ABN and then God 01:41 took them on a journey of truth, seeking truth, and it changed 01:44 their life. You're not going to want to go anywhere so gather 01:47 your family around, your friends everyone in your neighborhood 01:49 your enemies, everyone! Because you're going to want to hear 01:52 this story. Before we jump right into the testimony and we also 01:55 introduce our guests today we do have a special musical number 01:59 that's going to be brought to us by my brother Mr. Layke Jones and 02:04 he's going to be singing for us the beautiful song, There's 02:07 Something About That Name. 02:10 ♪ ♪ 02:23 ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, There's just something about that name ♪ 02:45 ♪ Master, Savior, Jesus, Like the fragrance after the rain ♪ 03:07 ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let both heaven and earth proclaim ♪ 03:28 ♪ Kings and kingdoms will all pass away ♪ 03:39 ♪ But there's something about ♪ 03:47 ♪ You were the word at the beginning ♪ 03:53 ♪ One with God the Lord Most High ♪ 04:03 ♪ Your hidden glory in creation now revealed in you our Christ ♪ 04:13 ♪ What a beautiful name it is What a beautiful name it is ♪ 04:20 ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my King ♪ 04:27 ♪ What a beautiful name it is Nothing compares to this ♪ 04:34 ♪ What a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus ♪ 04:43 ♪ ♪ 04:48 ♪ You didn't want heaven without us ♪ 04:51 ♪ So Jesus you brought heaven down ♪ 05:00 ♪ My sin was great Your love was greater ♪ 05:05 ♪ What could separate us now ♪ 05:12 ♪ What a wonderful name it is What a wonderful name it is ♪ 05:18 ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my King ♪ 05:24 ♪ What a wonderful name it is Nothing compares to this ♪ 05:32 ♪ What a wonderful name it is The name of Jesus ♪ 05:46 ♪ Death could not hold you the veil tore before you ♪ 05:54 ♪ You silenced the boast of sin and grave ♪ 06:00 ♪ The heavens are roaring the praise of your glory ♪ 06:05 ♪ For you are raised to life again ♪ 06:12 ♪ You have no rival You have no equal ♪ 06:18 ♪ Now and forever God you reign ♪ 06:24 ♪ Yours is the kingdom Yours is the glory ♪ 06:33 ♪ Now and forever God you reign ♪ 06:40 ♪ What a powerful name it is what a powerful name it is ♪ 06:48 ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my King ♪ 06:54 ♪ What a powerful name it is Nothing compares to this ♪ 07:01 ♪ What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus ♪ 07:16 ♪ ♪ 07:21 ♪ Kings and kingdoms, oh they'll all pass away ♪ 07:33 ♪ But there's something about that name ♪ 07:51 ♪ ♪ 08:00 Oh yes, praise the Lord. I love that. Layke, man he has an 08:08 incredible voice and of course my good friend Tim Parton not 08:10 only has an incredible voice but that brother can play the piano 08:13 Oh I mean, my goodness. The Lord has blessed him so much. Thank 08:17 you brothers for that beautiful, beautiful song There's Something 08:20 About That Name and What a wonderful name of Jesus. I just 08:23 love that music, Manny and Debbie VanOss from well you tell me 08:30 you're from actually you were born and raised in other areas 08:32 We're going to talk about that in just a few moments but you're 08:35 currently living in Oklahoma, the great state of Oklahoma. 08:39 I actually just did some evangelistic meetings recently 08:42 in Oklahoma. I'm familiar with the area. How you guys doing? 08:44 We're doing great, we're doing wonderful. 08:46 Amen, praise the Lord. So I was able to read a little bit of 08:50 your story because when we invite guests to come to 3ABN 08:53 then we just have them to send a little bit of information to us 08:56 and so you guys gave us like a kind of juiced version of your 08:59 story in writing it as I was reading through it I thought wow 09:02 praise the Lord. I can't wait to hear the fullness of your story 09:06 today. Because the Lord has indeed taken you guys on a 09:10 journey and so I want to start with you Manny just for our 09:14 viewers at home you guys are brand new here. Nobody really 09:16 knows who you are. Tell us a little bit about who you are, 09:19 what your background is, where you're from and all that. 09:22 Go ahead. 09:23 Well, to kind of keep it short, (Manny and Debbie VanOss) the 09:26 backstory a little short I moved from Cheyenne, Wyoming to 09:29 Oklahoma and I wound up moving to basically central Oklahoma 09:35 up around El Reno and then had moved down to around Ratliff 09:42 City and we're pretty close to there. Our address is actually 09:46 Ratliff City but we live in County Line because we live on 09:50 the County Line Road and yet we're still like four miles from 09:53 town, so. 09:54 Yeah, gotcha. And you were telling me that you remember 09:58 that you were born and raised I guess or born into the Catholic 10:01 Church. Your family had a Catholic background but then you 10:05 kind of just broke away and wasn't really religious for a 10:08 little while or didn't have necessarily a church that you 10:10 attended. Am I correct? 10:12 Yes. My mother was a devout Catholic. She went to Catechism 10:18 She was from Germany. My Dad brought her over when he was 10:24 over there in the service and brought her back over here when 10:26 was 17 years old, 18 years old. You know and so when I was born 10:32 I was baptized but didn't know it. (Laughter) As I got older 10:44 I just kind of fell away from the faith. Matter of fact, I got 10:49 rebellious you know when I was really fighting to push things 10:55 away you know and trying to disconnect myself. 10:58 Right, you just didn't have an interest in God or spiritual 11:01 things at all. (Yeah) Wow, that's amazing. And so we'll 11:05 come back in just a moment to how you would meet Debbie. But 11:09 Debbie, we just want to get a little bit of your back story, 11:11 where you're from and what your religious affiliation was 11:14 growing up, all that. 11:15 Well, I was born in Checotah, Oklahoma and my grandmother was 11:19 a Baptist and every Sunday you know...I didn't know it was my 11:23 cousin, but my cousin would come by and pick us up and take us to 11:26 church. But when I was eight, nine years old we moved to 11:31 Colorado because my dad got a job for Gido Lingle. And mom was 11:39 a Sunday school teacher so we still continued to a church for 11:44 a little while. And then my mom fell away from the church and so 11:49 we did also. 11:51 Sure, sure and that was in the Baptist church as a young girl? 11:54 (Yes) So for the majority of your life your religious 11:58 affiliation was in the Baptist faith. (Yes) Okay so then 12:02 I'm guessing you know you moved back to Oklahoma. 12:04 Yeah that's what's so strange is that we were both...my father 12:08 had gotten sick. He had moved back to Oklahoma and he had 12:13 gotten sick, so I moved back to Oklahoma to take care of him 12:16 and after we got together found out that's why he moved from 12:21 (Yeah) That's how I went from Cheyenne to Oklahoma. My father 12:26 got sick. He was living in Oklahoma so I wound up in 12:30 Oklahoma. 12:31 Gotcha. All right. So then you both meet okay obviously you 12:34 dated, you get married, and then you come to the conclusion 12:37 together at some point, maybe we should try this church thing 12:42 again. Maybe we should become a little bit more of a religious 12:45 family because I know you had mentioned to me you wanted your 12:47 daughter involved in church. Tell us a little bit about that. 12:50 Yeah well like I said I was just pretty much doing my own thing 12:56 and one day someone knocked on the door. And usually, you know 13:03 I'd open the door you know and (gruffly) What do ya want? 13:08 (Laughter) You know make them feel like they don't want to be 13:10 here. (Laughter) Let's leave this house alone you know. But 13:14 anyway one day there was a knock on the door and I happened 13:19 to answer it and it was at the time when the Holy Spirit just 13:28 needed me to realize that there is a God. And it was a preacher 13:33 on the other side, there was a pastor on the other side, a 13:35 Baptist pastor and I wound up initially getting baptized... 13:41 well saved that day and then leading up to a baptism into the 13:48 Baptist church. 13:49 Gotcha. So you both started attending the Baptist church 13:51 for the majority of your marriage you've been Baptist and 13:55 but we're curious as to how in the world you became a Seventh- 14:00 day Adventist because you know it's not unheard of. I just want 14:03 to make that clear. I know that many of our viewers who watch 14:06 this program or who watch 3ABN in general, not all of our 14:08 viewers are Seventh-day Adventist. In fact, a large 14:11 chunk are from other denominations and so it's not 14:15 unheard of that someone again comes in contact with this 14:19 powerful message. They take another look at the gospel that 14:22 they've been reading or studying and know all of their life but 14:25 yet they see it in a different light and perhaps maybe it comes 14:28 via 3ABN or whatever you know study guides or it might be 14:34 Amazing Facts or whatever ministry but in your case this 14:38 happened when you had had a series of back surgeries. Tell 14:42 me about it. So talk us through that. Lead us up to how you came 14:45 in contact with this Adventist message. 14:47 Before I go there I think the Lord really wanted me and 14:53 Debbie to be together. Because like I said, she was in Colorado 14:58 Fort Collins, Colorado, and moved to Oklahoma and I was in 15:03 Cheyenne, Wyoming, and moved to Oklahoma. Well Fort Collins and 15:08 Cheyenne are only 14 miles apart (We never met) And we never met. 15:10 But we met in Oklahoma and we got married. So just that story 15:15 alone you know is how God can... 15:19 (Yes) Move people and bring us there for the same reason 15:22 you know. 15:24 Wow. So then obviously it was a Divine appointment for you guys 15:28 to meet (Yes) because God had a plan down the road that you 15:30 didn't know about. (That's right) All right. So then tell 15:33 us how you came into this truth through 3ABN. 15:38 Yeah, so I wound up getting... I've had several back surgeries 15:42 and I don't remember which number this one was but it was 15:47 a pretty serious one. You know it's called a 360 they basically 15:53 cut you in the front, push everything aside to get to your 15:57 spine and they put a metal cage there and then they flip you 16:02 over, cut you in the back and get to your spine there and put 16:09 basically screws and rods in your back. You know most people 16:14 think these screws are only about like this long. They're 16:16 not. They're like that long. They're like lag screws. 16:19 Yeah. It just hurt, it hurt. Man it took me a long time to a... 16:25 when I got home I was on the couch. You know, I couldn't lay 16:30 in bed. I couldn't lay on my back, couldn't lay on my side, 16:33 couldn't lay on my front so I wound up on the couch and the 16:38 TV we had previously put on the wall, all right. So when I'd lay 16:44 on the couch, kick the legs out and that way I could just sit 16:48 there and (pushing buttons) I'm telling you I spent many a day 16:52 on that couch because I couldn't to nowhere and so I'd be 16:56 flipping through the channels. Well we had previously put up a 17:01 digital antenna so we weren't paying for TV. I'm kind of like 17:07 that. If I got to pay for something I won't. I'll make it 17:10 or find the shortest way to that So anyway usually I was flipping 17:17 through the channels and usually to get a new channel in you have 17:24 to rescan... 17:25 Right I'm familiar with that. Yeah. 17:27 So this had been quite a while I'd say about seven months after 17:38 my surgery but I was still on the couch. It took me a whole 17:43 year to walk again. But I was laying on the couch and I was 17:49 flipping through channels and of course having that much pain 17:51 you're up constantly. You up. You can't sleep. And you know 17:57 in order to get these little naps in you know and the pain 18:00 wakes you back up but I was flipping through the channels 18:01 to find a new station and I did flip on one channel and usually 18:07 when you flip on a religious channel usually they're hey send 18:15 me $700 and in seven days you'll get seven blessings. And you 18:25 know I'm like click. I didn't even get to the seven days, 18:29 seven blessings. Send 700 bucks. Well so anyway I was clicking 18:34 and I came across a channel that I hadn't recognized before. So 18:39 I sat there and looked at it and it kind of caught my attention. 18:43 You know, like wow, these guys are...It didn't sound like your 18:53 typical religious channel. They weren't asking for anything. 18:58 They weren't trying to promise you anything and they were just 19:05 taking scripture from the Bible and explaining it to you in 19:09 clear, no shiny object, you know trying to get your attention. 19:15 Just clear messages. So we had been asking questions and we had 19:25 been searching. This surgery had taken us through you know a 19:34 little step back. And you kind of hurt through them step backs, not 19:38 just financially you know so you kind of reassess and reevaluate 19:44 your position. What's going on in your life. So we previously 19:50 had been kind of searching and you know... 19:55 I wanted to get into that before we move any further because you 19:59 just found this channel and I know you're eventually going to 20:02 you know you're waiting for the morning for your wife to wake up 20:05 so you can tell her about this. So we'll get to that in just a 20:07 moment. But I have to ask because this is what fascinates 20:10 me is that you know it's not unheard of like I said. There's 20:14 been many people who have converted from one particular 20:17 denomination to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. I'm one 20:20 of them, I'm one of them. I was not raised a Seventh-day 20:22 Adventist. I was raised primarily in the Pentecostal 20:25 church and I am familiar with the Baptist faith because I 20:28 spent nearly three years in a Baptist church studying and you 20:30 know going every Sunday, Sunday school, Sunday night, Wednesday 20:33 night and so I'm very familiar with the Baptist faith but if 20:36 you could just the both of you touch on what was it like, what 20:40 was your experience like in the Baptist church that ultimately 20:44 led you to do more search. Because you don't hear this 20:47 often, again it's not unheard of but you don't hear of it, many 20:50 people are just completely satisfied in their faith. Well 20:52 I'm a Baptist Christian. My mom and dad were raised Baptist, my 20:54 grandparents were raised Baptist and therefore I'm Baptist and 20:57 just how it's going to be. But it seems like maybe you guys 21:01 were a little uneasy or maybe just not satisfied so tell us a 21:04 little bit about what it was like for you as Baptist 21:06 Christians. 21:07 Well the day I remember when we made our decision about this 21:11 church was every Sunday you hear one verse and then you hear 21:16 a fishing story, a hunting story or working or old story 21:20 something (Somehow tying it into the lifestyle) Anyway, I don't 21:25 remember what it was that he said but he said the verse and 21:28 then something you know I just read my Bible as he talked so I 21:33 can go ahead and read. But he had said something and I look 21:36 up and I look over at my husband my husband looked at me and then 21:40 we kind of looked around the church and everybody's in a daze 21:44 and no one has even paid any attention to what he said. I'm 21:48 going Hm-mmm. 21:51 All eyes were forward and just like men, you know. 21:53 But what he had said startled you guys. 21:56 Yeah whatever it was it shouldn't have been said from 22:00 the pulpit. I don't remember. I wish I did. But yeah. 22:02 But you remember in that moment it was like ah something's off. 22:05 Something off. Yeah. And so we went home and we prayed for 22:10 understanding of the Bible and that's when all the old stories 22:16 that we heard came you know out We read about Matthew, John, 22:25 anyway it was about the Lazarus story. 22:27 Okay, John chapter 11. 22:29 Okay and the disciples you know He was talking about how Lazarus 22:35 had died and the disciples kept asking Him questions you know. 22:40 And they're thinking okay he's taking a nap and He goes no 22:43 Lazarus died and he had been dead for four days. And it just 22:48 touched my heart to think that Jesus loved Lazarus so much he 22:54 cried and I'm just going well how did I miss that story? 22:58 Right, right, absolutely, yeah. So God was leading you guys. 23:02 What I hear you saying is you were hungering and thirsting for 23:06 truth. And my friends, that's normal, that's normal because 23:08 each and every one of us you know we have to be fed, we have 23:12 to be spiritually fed. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 23:14 chapter 4 verse 4 He says, Man shall not live by bread alone 23:18 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We can 23:21 eat our physical food all-day long but if we're not eating of 23:24 the word of God daily and we're not being fed we can become 23:28 spiritually malnourished and it kind of seems like where you 23:30 guys were. You were spiritually malnourished and just needed to 23:33 be fed. And I just want to say for the record here again not 23:37 bashing anyone's denomination or anyone's church because I 23:40 can tell I've met and I know very many Baptist Christians 23:43 who love the Lord with all their heart. You can see the 23:47 fruits of the Spirit in their life and there are great Baptist 23:50 ministers out there that are teaching the gospel, the truth 23:54 all that they know, all the light that they know and so but 23:57 in your guys' case, you're just hungering and thirsting... 24:01 Yeah, I want more. 24:02 Exactly and you just weren't getting it where you were. And 24:05 so now we go back. Let's go back to the story. You found this 24:08 channel and you just are just eating it up all night long. 24:12 Take us to what happens next. 24:13 Yeah, I'm as I'm watching it you know C.A. Murray Yeah Mm-huh 24:21 Yay, that's right. That's right. 24:26 I love Brother C.A. 24:27 Yeah so, yeah I mean I watched all night long and you know she 24:32 went to bed in the bedroom and as I was watching I'm like these 24:39 answers just came so fast that to the questions we were asking 24:48 about the 10 commandments, you know death, where do you go, 24:52 what happens? What else? Um. 24:58 I'm sure you saw some stuff on the rapture, lots of Bible 25:02 prophecy related to the Sabbath. 25:05 Oh yeah, the Sabbath yeah that was another one. You know all 25:09 these answers were just coming within like a nine-hour period. 25:14 You were getting like a fire hydrant, you were getting a 25:17 fire hydrant. 25:19 I couldn't have got any more if I plugged into the TV myself. 25:21 You know the answers...I was like a sponge soaking up more 25:27 water than it could take. Anyway I was so excited. It didn't even 25:34 make me, it didn't even make me feel my pain anymore. You know 25:39 I was just so engrossed into the TV. And I was chomping at 25:44 the bit, I mean I was chomping at the bit waiting for her to 25:47 wake up. You know I was waiting for that door to hear the (creak) 25:50 and hear the door knob rattling. You know I went...and eventually 25:55 it did. And I told her, I said Hon, you got to come see 25:59 these guys. You know 26:04 she came out of the door (rubbing eyes) and I'm just in 26:10 her (Multiple voices). Come here. come here 26:13 Like a kid that's just tasted the best candy (Multiple voices) 26:16 I love it. 26:18 I couldn't wait, I couldn't wait 26:19 So what was your response? He's coming out of the room hey you 26:22 got to...So what was your first reaction? 26:25 Well I sat down and I watched it with him for a little bit 26:26 and I'm going this is everything that we've been reading. I'm 26:30 going who are these people? He goes I don't know yet. (3ABN) 26:33 It was 3ABN. I didn't know. 26:38 But the natural question comes, you know, you got to be 26:41 affiliated with some church, right. (Yeah) You probably 26:43 wonder what denomination is this So when you found out that 3ABN 26:47 and obviously the Three Angels' Broadcasting Network is a 26:50 Seventh-day Adventist based network what came to your mind? 26:56 Did you know what a Seventh-day Adventist was? 26:58 No. I never even heard of a Seventh-day Adventist. Yeah. 27:03 Never even heard of Seventh-day Adventists. 27:07 Wow. And this was in 2015, right? 27:09 Yeah, yeah. 27:11 You're probably seventh-day what Who is this? 27:16 (Multiple voices) That's exactly it. Say what. Are they from a 27:18 different country or what because we didn't...You know I 27:21 thought I'd been around a little bit but you know I didn't know 27:24 anything about Seventh- day Adventists. 27:25 So then when you found out it was a Seventh-day Adventist 27:27 organization did you look it up, did you research it? So what 27:30 happened next when you guys had had this conversation. I'm sure 27:33 you watched it with him throughout the day now. You're 27:37 hooked. So now what happened from there. What sparked you... 27:40 What happened next? 27:42 Well I was still spending nights on the couch you know so I every 27:48 night every all day it didn't come off of 3ABN. I mean David 27:53 Asscherick, _ John Lomacang I mean, the works. 27:58 And Stephen Bohr, yeah. So anyway I watched it for a couple 28:07 months. Okay. But during that couple of months in my research 28:12 I found out about Ellen White. So then we started reading you 28:17 know Desire of Ages, Great Controversy and Patriarchs and 28:22 Prophets. 28:24 Oh so you ordered the books like you order... 28:26 No, I downloaded them. 28:27 You downloaded them digitally you're 28:29 reading through these books on your iPad. What was your 28:32 reaction? 28:33 When I read The Desire of Ages I couldn't put it down. (Yeah) 28:41 Praise the Lord. 28:42 When you first look at the book you're like man this is like a 28:44 book of you know Love and War you know. Love and War you know. 28:49 It was just like a book of Love and War. That's what it is Love 28:53 and War in that book. 28:56 That's right. There's conflict and of course, there's the love 28:59 of God there as well. Yeah absolutely. So I have to ask 29:01 this though because in these couple of months that you're 29:04 watching 3ABN, you're hearing I mean if anybody's ever watched 29:08 3ABN all day long or for a long time you know it's just one 29:13 Bible program after another and all these powerful programs that 29:16 you know the purpose is teaching the gospel. We're sharing the 29:18 gospel. We're sharing the three angels' messages found in 29:21 Revelation 14. And so you're hearing all this truth but yet 29:24 you're still attending your Baptist church? (Yes) So now 29:27 what happens? At some point you're going to have some 29:29 conversation with your pastor, right? (Yeah, yeah) So tell us 29:31 about that. 29:32 Okay well always we were asking about the 10 commandments and 29:37 that one was every week it was something different and then 29:39 there was just guidelines. Those were just guidelines. They're no 29:43 longer relevant. 29:45 So he's telling you that those are just guidelines. 29:47 Basically, they're suggestions They're nailed to the cross 29:49 (Suggestions) They're just suggestions, yeah. 29:51 They were nailed to the cross you know and done away with. 29:55 Yeah, that's typical. 29:57 Jesus had fulfilled them. 29:58 Yeah. And then we're asking him about how the Sabbath got 30:03 changed, you know. Every week it was a different answer, a 30:08 different answer and then it got to the point that he'd see us 30:10 and he'd go the other way. (Multiple voices) 30:14 Those troublemakers. 30:17 Yeah so he started making it very uncomfortable in the church 30:21 so it was getting really hard for us to even attend there. 30:26 (Yeah) Oh, I understand. Wow. I get it, I get it, because I had 30:30 the exact same experience. When I learned all this truth myself 30:33 the first thing on my mind was I'm going to go back and talk to 30:35 all my Sunday school teachers and pastors that I had sat under 30:38 over the years and I want to ask questions and know what these 30:40 brothers think about it and some of the answers I got was just 30:43 like what!? 30:44 You know and as you're reading your Bible these things you know 30:49 when you're watching 3ABN and they're going through the 30:51 scripture you know tying scripture with it. So as you're 30:54 going through your Bible and you're going okay, yeah, that 30:57 lines up. How come nobody else told me that? 31:01 At some point, and again not to be critical or judgmental of 31:04 others, because I know God leads us all in different ways and 31:07 we're all on a different path in our relationship...We're on the 31:10 same path but we're all at different places on that path. 31:12 But to me when I learned it and you guys had the same experience 31:17 but I'm thinking to myself when I first heard this truth, number 31:21 one, how have I not heard this all my life, why haven't I seen 31:25 this. And then number two came to me. How has everybody else 31:28 not seen this also. 31:30 I have a story about that. Okay after you know we knew the truth 31:34 and I had went up and...I'm kind of skipping around...I had gone 31:42 up to have breakfast with her, my friend, yeah, that was local 31:47 and she was saying and I was telling her you know...she was 31:50 asking why I was going to church And I was telling her well do 31:54 you know how the Sabbath got changed? And so I was telling 31:57 her about how (Constantine) yeah and papal Rome and she goes 32:06 oh yeah my pastor preached about that last Sunday, yeah, and I'm 32:11 going and... Well you know yeah Wow. Yeah. 32:18 Yeah because that's the I mean that's the reaction I had as 32:21 well, how can you...People respond to truth differently 32:26 People measure truth differently In your case, you're seeing it 32:29 in the word of God and as Bible Christians, you're saying you 32:31 know what I want to formulate my life to what the Bible says. 32:34 Yeah. 32:35 And here's a you know and here's what I came up with is that I 32:41 can't blame him, I can't blame anybody else. He's speaking what 32:46 he knows. People go to church because they feel like that's 32:53 where they're supposed to be. But there's something else out 32:58 there and you're not going to find it till you start getting 33:01 serious, really want it, really want to know the meat you know. 33:07 You want to know why you're there. Why am I going to church 33:12 every day? You know, what am I doing. Am I there because my 33:17 friends are there? Am I there because my family goes there? 33:20 Am I there because you know that's where the social thing is 33:25 for the day? You know. You want to go to church because you want 33:32 to be fed. You want to get that relationship with Christ. Strike 33:37 that back up and once you fall in love with God, once you fall 33:41 in love with Christ, man you're on a totally separate path. 33:47 Amen. So there came a time, there had to come a moment where 33:50 you knew we can't continue to go here. (Yeah) God's clearly 33:55 showing us that this isn't where we belong anymore. But now that 33:58 you know that you're learning this truth from the Seventh-day 34:03 Adventist television network are you now going to look for a 34:06 Seventh-day Adventist church. What happens next in your story? 34:08 Yeah, we, we agree that we need to make a decision. We're 34:17 going to go to check out a 3ABN church, I mean not a 3ABN, an 34:23 Adventist church and so I was looking it up in the phone book 34:28 you know back when there was (motions flipping pages) I was 34:32 looking it up in the phone book and I found a Seventh-day 34:38 Adventist Church, one in Duncan, Oklahoma and one in Ardmore. 34:42 The Duncan one was a little closer by about 10 miles but we 34:48 usually did most of our shopping in Ardmore. So we figured we'd 34:54 go, we're more familiar with that town anyway even though 34:57 it's 45 minutes away. And we decided once I was well enough 35:01 once I could get around we'd go check it out. So I called the 35:08 church down there in Ardmore and says oh yeah, yeah, we'd love to 35:13 have you. You know, we'd love for you to come visit us but 35:18 we're going to be having a new pastor. We're kind of 35:20 transitioning in between pastors so we'll be getting a new one. I 35:24 don't know if he'll be here yet by the time you know you visit 35:28 but come on down anytime. 35:30 All right, so then by the time you visited did they have a new 35:35 pastor? (Yeah, yeah) Okay. What was your first experience like? 35:39 It was wonderful because, okay, Baptists dress differently you 35:45 know. Your shoes have to match you had earrings, you have 35:51 bangles, you have wrists, you have rings you know so I'm 35:56 bangled up. As we walk in Mavis she was so sweet and she gave me 36:05 the bulletin and she walked us down and told her husband you're 36:09 going to take care of these two. Yeah okay. But yeah, we were 36:12 loved from the moment we walked in that door all the way, so... 36:16 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord 36:19 Yeah and it was Brother Rich Konstoniski's first day. So we 36:22 was both our first day. 36:24 He was there first just like you were. Wow, what a first day. 36:27 Amazing. Praise the Lord. So now I have to ask you've made this 36:32 decision, now you've visited, you're falling in love with the 36:34 church, you were received with love and it's kind of becoming a 36:36 confirmation, this is where we belong. (Yes, yes) What was it 36:40 like in regards to now the people that you used to go to 36:43 church for. Was there any type of backlash, persecution, trials 36:47 or anything that you experienced now because you've transitioned 36:51 into this newer faith. 36:53 It didn't take us long, it didn't take us long to transfer. 36:57 Our first day, the first time we went and visited Ardmore on the 37:02 way home, we looked at each other. We just kind of do that. 37:04 We look at each other and go what'd you think? And we're both 37:08 like yeah! We ain't going back. We ain't going back to that 37:12 other church. This is it. 37:13 It was like the next Sabbath and I had gotten a phone call from 37:18 one of our neighbors and said are you taking your Bible on a 37:23 different day. And I said, yes. I said we're starting to worship 37:27 on Saturday with the Seventh-day Adventists (Oh-oh) Yeah 37:31 We live in a small town, very small. 37:35 Everybody knows this. 37:37 And it didn't take long at all that we no longer got phone 37:40 calls, we no longer got visitors You know we would call, they 37:45 wouldn't answer our phone calls. 37:48 Yeah we were shunned to not like a month. 37:51 But on Sunday... 37:53 So no one even came like to visit you and try to have Bible 37:57 studies with you. (No! no.) Really (No) Okay 38:01 Yeah it wasn't just a month, it wasn't two months, it wasn't six 38:05 months this was a year. (Wow!) 38:08 But they would drive by every Sunday, drive by real slow and 38:11 just go...And we would wave you know. And it took them that long 38:16 to figure out will they haven't changed and they're not doing 38:18 anything different and he finally got a phone call from 38:24 one, in fact, it was the same lady that asked me about my 38:28 Bible. She called and asked Manny if he would work on her 38:32 lawn mower. And he goes, well sure sister. Bring it on over. 38:35 Amazing. Wow, Praise the Lord. So you were able to even witness 38:39 at that point. Show them that you're still the same Christian 38:42 guy. 38:43 Yeah, and we still love the Lord. So, yeah 38:46 Yeah, that's amazing to me because you know if somebody in 38:49 my church, one of my brothers or sisters, I felt like they were 38:54 drifting or going in a different direction I would be after them 38:57 right? And try and have Bible studies (multiple voices) 39:00 I'd say what's going on with you this is out of character for you 39:02 what's going on? 39:04 That is amazing, that is amazing So now you've learned this new 39:08 faith, you've been going to the Adventist church now for about 39:10 a year. What lifestyle changes have now occurred in your life? 39:14 Was the lifestyle changes, were they difficult for you were 39:19 they challenging? So tell us a little bit about the changes 39:22 that occurred in your life now transitioning into the Adventist 39:24 lifestyle? 39:25 Yeah well we took the focus off of ourselves. None of this hey 39:31 look at me. We wanted to portray the character of Christ you know 39:38 portray His character so we took all the focus off of ourselves 39:41 and quit you know being all gaudy. (Yeah) Sometimes you know 39:52 you just want people to notice you. Well we don't want people 39:55 to notice us. 39:57 He must increase and I must decrease. There you go. 40:00 Yeah eventually more and more people, they say you know a 40:07 small town, so once they came over and worked on their mower 40:11 you know the next thing more people started calling, more 40:14 people started calling and coming by and said, Hey we 40:18 don't have that old pastor any more. You want to come back? 40:22 No, I'll tell you, how about you come with me. 40:26 There you go, there you go. All right. 40:28 They were knocking on the door for like three days trying to 40:34 get us to go back to that church 40:35 Oh, I see, I see. Well but you know you guys you know you had 40:40 you know from the point that you'd started watching 3ABN 40:44 until like I guess you decided to join the church that was 40:46 about you said it has about a year, a year? Okay. So now there 40:50 came that moment for you to make the decision to formally join 40:52 the church because you're convinced and now I'm sure comes 40:54 that conversation you're going to have with the pastor on 40:56 whether or not you're baptized. Were you baptized. In your case, 41:01 you had been sprinkled I guess by the Catholic Church 41:05 but then you 41:06 were baptized into the Baptist Church (Yeah) and then you had 41:08 been baptized into the Baptist church and so now in this case 41:11 I'm sure that conversation came up so were you rebaptized? 41:15 (Yes, yes) How was that experience for you. 41:17 It was wonderful just to know you know that you're going from 41:23 all the things that you didn't know to all the things that you 41:28 did know. And Brother Rich was such a wonderful pastor that 41:33 leads us down that path. You know I didn't realize that the 41:37 Old Testament reveals the New Testament. So he had to show 41:40 us...I mean he oh! that was amazing. It was just amazing. 41:45 That's amazing. Praise the Lord. Manny you guys' stories 41:48 incredible and you know I just commend you for it because it 41:54 goes to show that if you truly, truly love truth you know... 41:57 We had to...we knew...we had talked about it you know. Being 42:03 baptized isn't something you just do every day you know like 42:06 putting on socks. You know it's a serious decision but we had 42:15 talked about it and we had come to the conclusion that you know 42:20 now we know more about Christ now we feel more about Christ 42:25 Our walk has changed, our talk has changed, our understanding 42:32 of His word has changed, so we needed to be baptized into that 42:37 new truth. 42:38 Sure, absolutely. You know I want to make a point about that 42:41 because there's a lot of people you know that they have this 42:45 idea that well you know I was baptized years ago into this 42:49 particular church and they'll come to an evangelistic series 42:51 you know the ones that I might conduct, a Seventh-day Adventist 42:55 evangelistic series and they'll learn all this truth and then 42:57 when it comes time to make that decision for baptism some people 43:00 struggle with that because they think that rebaptism is only if 43:04 you've fallen away from God. That's not necessarily the case 43:08 because we have an example in Acts chapter 19 where Paul came 43:11 across these 12 Ephesian disciples. They had been 43:14 baptized by John the Baptist the same guy that baptized 43:17 Jesus and so they were baptized by John the Baptist by water 43:21 baptism for repentance and for the remission of their sins but 43:24 yet when they had learned the newness of the truth of the Holy 43:27 Spirit. Again, they had not fallen away but they had learned 43:31 this new life-changing powerful truth and they wanted to be 43:34 rededicated under this new experience, this new knowledge 43:39 of the truth, they had learned. So it's not unheard of, it's not 43:42 unbiblical for someone to be rebaptized like you were in this 43:45 case. It's not like you had necessarily fallen away but you 43:48 had learned all of this new amazing, powerful truth and it's 43:52 like Lord I want to be rededicated fully to you under 43:54 all this new powerful truth that I've learned. That's amazing. 43:58 Praise God. 43:59 We had read many texts in scripture that we couldn't 44:06 realize how did we miss it? Like how did we miss the word sleep? 44:11 How did we miss so many other things you know; the ordinances 44:18 written by hand the things that weren't nailed to the cross 44:22 except for Christ that was nailed there for us. 44:25 That is so true. You know as you were speaking this text came to 44:29 my mind. And I can see exactly this is the truth for you guys 44:33 for sure and it can be everyone's truth if they just 44:36 allow it. This is Jeremiah Chapter 29 and one of my 44:37 favorite texts here. Verse 11 it starts with here: For I know 44:42 thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace 44:45 and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. And then it 44:49 says here in verse 12: Then you will call upon me and go and 44:52 pray to me and I will listen to you and you will seek me and 44:56 find me when you search for me with all your heart. When you 45:01 search for the truth, you search for God with all your heart God 45:06 can take and apply that plan that He has for your life if we 45:10 just surrender our will to Him. And I want to say one more thing 45:12 which is powerful and you guys are the perfect example of this. 45:14 I think the Holy Spirit works on everyone. Evidently, I think 45:21 that's clear. Atheists, I think the Holy Spirit works on 45:23 Atheists to draw them to Christ. And we want the Holy Spirit to 45:25 also, work in us and through us. And so in this case you know you 45:31 guys are the perfect example because in 2 Thessalonians 45:33 chapter 2 it says here in verse 10. It says: And with all 45:39 unrighteous deception among those who perish because they 45:43 did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved 45:48 and for this cause, God will send them a strong delusion that they 45:51 should believe a lie that they may all be condemned who did 45:53 not believe the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness. 45:56 The key there is the love of the truth. When you love truth, when 46:01 love truth...It may not be easy to hear at first but like you 46:06 said you going during this whole time how did I not see this? 46:08 You may not have seen it at that time but you know what God 46:10 was bringing you to a point where you were ready to receive 46:13 it and He knew that based on your character, your personality 46:16 and your heart that you guys loved truth and when He showed 46:20 you that light you received it, you received that truth and you 46:24 were ready to apply it to your life which is powerful. (Yeah) 46:26 That's what God wants us all to do. 46:28 We took it to the nth level. You know when you understand a truth 46:36 and you just keep digging and you just keep digging for them 46:40 gold nuggets man. 46:41 That's right brother. Amen. Amen. So you guys when you... 46:45 I have to kind of go back and ask this question again because 46:47 I just wanted a little bit more details from you guys. You know 46:50 when you're learning about you know the health message. I know 46:55 being a Pentecostal and also being in the Baptist church I 46:57 mean my goodness we can eat just about anything that walks across 46:59 the table right? And so when you first heard like that message 47:02 was it a difficult transition for you or did you just like you 47:05 you know what, hey we're going to just do this. 47:07 (Yeah) Most of it, most of everything was yeah we're just 47:11 this is it you know. That is one area that we haven't quite fully 47:18 been converted to. We're not fully vegetarian. 47:24 Oh, oh yeah. The point I was getting at is the clean and 47:27 unclean like when you don't eat the pork you know catfish and 47:31 the shrimp, the things that you and I probably grew up eating 47:33 Those things we don't eat no more. 47:35 There's still a lot of Seventh- day Adventists that have not 47:37 made that transition to vegetarianism but I commend you 47:42 though because that still had to be a big step to go now wait I 47:44 can't have my pig anymore. I can't have my pork meat and my 47:47 garlic buttered shrimp. 47:49 That's the only... 47:51 Yeah I used to eat a lot of mudbugs. 47:53 Wow. Now what's a mudbug again 47:56 Crawdad. (laughter) I should have known that. 47:59 Crawfish. That's good. Absolutely wow. But you guys 48:04 learned that truth and you said well, this is what the word of 48:07 the Lord says. 48:08 Yeah, we used to eat catfish. No scales. So we got to quit. 48:13 What was it like when you were learning for instance that 48:15 particular truth. I mean was your eyes open, like whoa 48:20 It made sense. Yeah I never even thought about that you know and 48:26 we ate a lot of catfish and then we find out that they're bottom 48:30 feeders Ugh. 48:35 When you start thinking that way it's not too hard to switch. 48:37 That's amazing, that's amazing. And so when you kept your first 48:39 Sabbath what was that like? (Oh!) Did it feel weird? 48:44 Nooo. In fact, it made the whole week go by so much easier... 48:51 Yeah so much more relaxed throughout the rest of the 48:53 week. When you 48:55 have that, when you have that day of communion with God you 48:59 know, when you make that day a special day not as other 49:06 denominations where you know they do other things throughout 49:10 the day when they worship. You know this Sabbath we're going to 49:15 go walk around. We get out in nature, we walk around, talk 49:19 with God, walk with God you know Go to church you know spend the 49:26 whole day. We get there at church at eight o'clock in the 49:30 morning. We open it up. Okay. And we don't get sometimes till 49:34 like four or five. 49:35 Yeah because all day long we're with family members so. 49:39 We have fellowship lunch every Sabbath. Okay so that brings me 49:44 we've got about two and a half minutes before we take a break 49:46 but I just got to ask you this kind of in closing here. God has 49:49 opened up opportunities now to use you guys and so you're no 49:52 longer I think you're no longer at Ardmore but where are you 49:55 where are you guys now? What's your home church. 49:57 We're in Paul's Valley 49:58 Paul's Valley, Okla... 50:00 Paul's Valley, Oklahoma 50:02 Okay, all right. So what kind of work are you guys doing in the 50:05 church now. What kind of ministry opportunities has the 50:08 Lord... 50:10 Oh yes. There are so many opportunities there. Our little 50:13 church we have Celebrating Life in Recovery. That has been going 50:21 on for about a year. Kenny and Chrystal McAllister which they 50:25 had just been married here last week, have been doing it for a 50:31 year, this ministry. We started it up for them and they're doing 50:35 a great job, an awesome job in that. Yeah. 50:39 Praise God. Praise God. 50:40 And our little church we started off with like four members. Now 50:44 we're up to like 20 members. (All right, praise the Lord) 50:47 and we go out and we help other people in the community. We 50:52 built this lady, Dana...Her husband had passed away suddenly 50:56 and he hadn't finished their shed. She was missing some 51:00 utensils and stuff and so we had went...People said oh yeah we'll 51:06 come help you, we'll come help you. But all of our church we 51:08 put on our TMI shirt, yeah. 51:11 Total member involvement. 51:13 Yes so we all come in our blue shirts and her tears just 51:17 started because she was just so surprised. 51:19 She was so passionate about getting her shed you know 51:23 finished. 51:25 Absolutely, absolutely. So you guys are doing exactly what 51:27 Jesus did. He didn't just sit and preach all the time or stand 51:29 from a distance or have people to come to the church. He went 51:31 out into the community and mingled and served the people. 51:35 Then we have another couple that Anna and Travis Hunt they do 51:44 ministry with Messiah's mansion and they know a lot about 51:49 the sanctuary message which is awesome. 51:54 God is just blessing you guys so much. I can just see it coming 51:58 from you, I can hear it in your voices. 52:00 Yeah, it's powerful. 52:02 The Lord has blessed your guys so much. We have come almost to 52:05 the end. We're going to take a short break in just a moment but 52:08 my friends I just want to remind you, the Bible teaches us that 52:11 you know Jesus says sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is 52:14 truth. That's evidently what has happened here in Manny and 52:18 Debbie's life and I just want to thank both of you for being here 52:21 We're going to take a short break. Don't go anywhere because 52:23 we're going to come back for some final thoughts from Manny 52:25 and Debbie in just a moment. Be right back |
Revised 2023-04-20