One thing I want to say above all is something that I've realized really quick is that once you're saved
It doesn't mean that everything is hunky-dory
if anything it becomes harder because
that
Entity that I used to look to is now against me
The darker side of things that they're against me. No, they hate me and it took literally
About five seconds over there for me to raise my hand. I'll give it 30
to say a prayer
Accepting the fact that I am now
Sanctified and set apart and I am now saved as a Christian
BAM the tables returned and the thing that we need to realize is that
The devil will turn his back on you the second that your existence is no longer profitable
If he can't use you anymore
He hates you
But God is a complete opposite
If you were to become a Christian and turn around and
Do terrible things he is still waiting at the threshold with open arms trying to love you
I was a Satanist for about 10 years 15 years after I got him into introduced in high school and
actually developed a
adversion to
Christlike people and Christ himself
Now i'm here in a church and talking with you and it's it's a it's crazy how things just kind of
Not really how they come around
It's incredible to see somebody that was actually born
And raised more secular. Yes, my parents never pushed any religion on me
They always told me you can pick whatever religion you want
But evidently satanism was a little too far for them
My mom my mom didn't like it and that's kind of what like fueled the fire
Was just something like oh my mom doesn't like it and stuff like that and I felt like rebellious and cool
Everyone knows satan as the lord of lies and as a satanist looking back i'm like
Why am I thinking that we're gonna be the only ones he's gonna be honest with, you know
he's the only one and I and i'm not saying that like as a satanist I worship satan I just
It was more of a name
That we gave ourselves but I always was attracted to the darker side of things
You know the the demonic and things that go along with that
I find it interesting that most satanists today will claim not to believe in the existence of satan
but
What if I was to say i'm a christian, but I don't believe in jesus
That would make me a liar right when they say well we're satanists, but we don't really believe in the devil
Like you said, he's the lord of lies the essence of because I was what you would call a levian
satanist
And it was it wasn't about satan
but the funny part is
Is in the in the back of the satanic bible there is like incantations
about the nine gates of hell
And if there's no satan, why do you have incantations for hell, you know, and then you go back to you know, alister crowley
You know a pretty wicked man believed in satan worship satan
Until the end of his life
Satan is saying that they don't believe in satan. You're still
You're bound to him
By living the way that you're living
The satanic bible is just filled with so many
Lies, you know
One of the things that really drew me to it was the fact of you are your own god
Not the fact that you have powers and I believe some will take it that way
I took it as i'm the only person that's going to make anything happen in my life
And it literally says and i'm not going to be verbatim for this. It's been a long time since i've read it
You're your own god
And no prayer or anything else is going to make anything happen in your life
You are the only thing that's going to make anything happen in your life, and I took that and I ran with it
The way I took it was it gave me the freedom of power
And they gave me the freedom of pleasure
I could do what I want
When I wanted to do it
I developed a methamphetamine addiction because of that
um and other other reasons that I might get into a little bit later, but
It gave me like, okay, it feels good. I'm gonna do it
and then
It gave me when I say the freedom of power
I could tear down lie and cheat my way to
Different positions at work tearing other people down lying to my supervisors about things just to tear these people down
So that I could get
further ahead
and it's it's just it's something that the satanism that I was a part of incites in you it gives you a
false sense of
power
So lance what got you to leave the satanic religion?
So as funny and as silly as it is and I I still I think it's funny but it's actually a tv show
It was actually the show duck dynasties because ever since i've seen the show and I became a christian and i've researched them
I've learned that their whole reason why they made the show was to enter the homes of the secular world
to
Share christ
And get people thinking about christ and that's exactly what it did
I saw these people day in day out. Yes, they're silly. They're they're they're you know, sometimes foolish and you know
Some of it is scripted some of it isn't
But it was something i'm like man, I want what they have it was the the kindness
of them that I saw
that was like
People really are like that
And yes, it's a reality tv show like, you know, i've never believed something that hook line and singer but there was just something different
And it got me thinking but it actually jaded my heart even more
because I was like that's not true and I started really disliking christians wanting to like
Just anything to do with them, you know, I used to tell i've actually told my kids, you know
I was like people who believe in god just believe in an imaginary friend
And I I mean I regret that so much to this day my kids my kids get a test of that
And my kids had faith before I did, you know, they weren't saved yet, but they had faith before me
But what really got me is is I actually started working at a job
I had to sign a waiver to work there and it was a waiver of basically practice of religion
That I couldn't sue them for practicing religion. I was like, I don't care just leave me out of it
You know and I signed the waiver and I was there for maybe a month
And I got asked you want to come in for a bible study I was like no
No, I don't
And so they're like, okay, no problem. And I went out and I did my job and I was the only one out there
Doing my job. I'm like what is going I was like, okay, whatever
So the next week they asked me again. Nope
But they got me they got me because they actually went out and the the girl that was doing the bible study
The Lord put on her heart not to start the bible study until I was in that room
And she didn't she listened to the Lord and I praised the Lord for Courtney for that
That she never started that bible study until I was there
Because if she would have started that bible study and would have not listened to the Lord now follow what the Lord put on her
Heart, I would not be sitting here right now
But they they lured me in with food
And this is just recently this is just a few years ago, yeah
It was uh, 2019 is when I started I went to the bible study
I really started thinking and then I started downloading bible apps on my phone. I started listening to
Sermons from across the board some I like some I didn't
Um, I got into some different preachers that they told me to get into and I just was just consuming
Consuming consuming bible knowledge. That's all I was doing. I was I was infatuated with it
But then I we actually bought a house
And when we moved there was a church right down the road this church here
We came here then we had fourth of july and the funny part is i'm gonna be i'm a transparent person
I was drunk on the fourth of july
And I came in here july 5th and I got saved
The the day the day after I got july 5th 2020 is when I got saved
and it's been
I looked back there's there's no looking back. It's just looking forward, you know, you stumble
you fall you sometimes you fall flat in your face, but
God picks you up by your
Suspenders and picks you back up and you keep going
So you got saved by placing all your faith and trust in jesus christ alone. Yeah, that's
That's that's the route to salvation. This is the only way
And that's you know, I I sat right back over there
Made my wife and I both my wife was saved
Um, I guess someone didn't really hit on is my wife was saved and I I kept
She wasn't she wasn't a devout christian, but I was always trying to talk her out of it
You know, i'm like that's dumb that bible is full of contradictions. I never read a page, you know
People like what contradictions in there? Well, uh
There's it's full, you know, like you can't you like the bible is not full of contradictions and if you think that i'm sorry
Read there is no salvation through church of satan like there's no
You are you like you're basically it separates you and makes you alone
in this vast world
and you happen to get with these other people and like the thing is is what you don't realize until
You're so far down this road. Is that like the only thing that you're looking for
is fulfillment
And it's all about fulfillment and if you say it's not
You're lying to yourself because
Why do you go to parties? Why do you drink and get drunk because it's fun
Yeah, because you're trying to fulfill a part of your your heart or your brain that's saying
I want to do this for fun. You want to try this go try it, you know
There it literally in the satanic bible it says that you know, you can do basically whatever you want
I remember looking at that and going
but what if like
What you want to do is
Gonna end up putting you in jail. Is it still okay?
You know and I actually came to the end conclusion of yeah, it's fine
As long as I don't get caught right
It says that you can do what you want as long as you don't hurt or infringe on somebody else
but we don't realize is that when you're
running down these, you know when you're running down these avenues of
Of sexual like, you know fornication and and and drugs and things like that
You are hurting people
You're passively hurting people because like you never know that this this girl that you meet at a party and you ended up
You know
Being with her
She catches feelings, but you're not ready yet, you know
And they end up getting hurt. You just hurt somebody
You're going down the road of doing drugs and alcohol. You know, I I was you know, I I was
I was I was a meth addict. I was hurting myself physically and
mentally because I'm doing drugs my brains being warped and I'm not sleeping and
But what I'm really hurting is the family I had at home
you know and
It took my wife
Which was my girlfriend at the time which you know, I we were living in the secular world
We were living together for almost eight years at that point in my mind
I was like, I've been the good guy. What's a little drugs gonna hurt?
So I'm doing drugs and then I'm catching an addiction and then she's looking at me going I need you need to stop
I can see that you're you know, what's going on here? I'm like, I'm fine. I only do it at work
But then it turned into an issue where my wife's like, I can't even let you touch our
Our newborn baby because it's it's coming out in your pores. I
Couldn't touch my youngest son my my youngest son for over a month
And she was like you need to stop or I'm leaving you like I will leave right now and go to North Carolina
and I was like
Okay, so I
Quit I quit I left my job and that was that
It was rough, but it I had to I'm glad I did. I'm glad I did
in the Bible John 14 6 says Jesus says that I am the way the truth and the life no one come unto the father but
by me and
What he's saying is that like you can do whatever you want to try to obtain
Salvation you're always gonna be left to center
Salvation is one of the easiest things you could ever do but it is the most important thing that you could ever do
Salvation is simply accepting the fact that you're a sinner. I don't care if you say I'm a good person
I've given to charities. I have helped old the old lady across the street
I've held over a thousand doors for people
That's fine and wonderful. I'm glad that you already have
Christian like values, but let's get let's make you a Christian
Being a Christian is not doing those things. There have been many
Sermons that have been preached you can look them up on YouTube
Just type in
Good people go to hell
Because they do every day because they are falling short of the glory of God
But to be able to obtain your salvation it is simply accepting the fact that you're a sinner no matter who you are
You have done something. That is a sin no matter what accepting the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross
for your future sins your past sins and your present sins and
The fact that he died he rose three days later. That's that's
That is it
Once you ask him into your heart and you accept those things you're saved. That's that easy
a
What's your message to those who are in the satanic church or in even the satanic temple in my own experience
And I can't say for everyone
But I think I have a pretty good grasp on a lot of the people out there
I've met a lot of people who maybe aren't exactly Satanists, but they live that sort of lifestyle a
Lot of them are depressed a lot of them are seeking
Something there's these voids. They're angry. They're hateful
What I would say to you is
Give Jesus a chance
Because you can take all the depression meds you want you can turn yourself into a
downright drone I
Don't know what kind of life that is for you. I was there. I was diagnosed with severe anxiety
If I had severe anxiety, I would not be sitting in this chair right now
That's something I always was seeking was love. I would just want to be loved. I want to be able to love
Love is something you can't explain
And I didn't know it until I found Christ if you're seeking love find Christ first
The voids the anger will always be there the the depression will always be there the
The hatred towards whatever it is that you hate you could hate me for making this video. That's fine
I still love you
But that's always gonna be there
until
You surrender?
To be free which sounds insane
But I'm gonna I would like to take a second to break it down if you're if you're living that satanic way
You're living under these constraints of I'm living in the world I can do whatever I want
But there's guilt
There's fear. There's
all these things that are
shackles you're literally shackled to the world and
The only way to break those shackles
The only way to be free is to submit under Christ if you get into your Bible you pray you get yourself plugged into a
local church
Your whole life will change
My whole life changed am I still angry sometimes?
Yes, probably more than I should be am I do I still mess up every single day?
One thing I can say too is that coming into this church house?
It took me
Probably a good year
To actually realize is these people who were genuine that they cared about you and they loved you and they wanted the best for you and
They were on your side. They were your advocate. They were I
thought
Please if anybody from the church watches this I don't feel this way anymore, but I thought I was like they got to be fake
Because you live in the secular world and you have an entire congregation of people that just want to shower you with love
You're like, all right, what's your angle? Where are you coming from? And these people a
Lot of them may not even be able to show that love unless they were saved
Unless they were shown that love by Christ and what they're doing is is they are showing that love that Christ had for them
To you and that's one that's our tenant. Like the commandment that Jesus gave us was love your neighbor as yourself and
You mentioned something earlier too about Jesus going through all these things and being the enemy like not only what it's that
But like you said about the smiting on the cheek turn the other cheek people like oh, that's weak
I'd beat the crap out of that person if they were to do that to me
You know what you you can do that
You can pretend that you're a big person by doing that
But I tell you what what takes strength is being haves have someone spit in your face or punch you in the face
And you do nothing
You have somebody that is always there that always loves you that will never let you down
No matter what you do. He will never ever let you down
You may think well, why is your religion right?
Well, I just have one question name another religion. That's so unanimously hated around the world
Why?
Because we're right
Why is every other religion?
Allowed and is tolerated and is okay, but if you're a Christian it's like whoa
I I don't want you here because
Satan has devised a way
To either pull you away
Or to push you away
He pulls you away with other religions and he pushes away with you away when you find the faith don't base your interactions
With Christians and Christianity on a few people because there are bad Christians
But for every bad Christian, I believe there is more good Christians out there give us a chance
You