Ryan Ries interviews Special Guest

now I'm very excited to have Remy I got to have them on my radio show a while ago and I just you know those dudes you just meet and you just click and you're like just do it's like one of us legit just God loves God real Dale and the story's just powerful but um he has it I am second out too so go you can go to I am second calm if you want to you know this story will be available on our website obviously but if you want to share his story you could go ahead and actually you know you could send it out to your friends on I am second calm but you know you know he this flyer says he was a Navy SEAL and you know he was an actor in the new Transformers movie but we got to cure this story how this all came together because it you know it's gonna be a exciting night so let's all give it up for Remy [Applause] what would you like to sit see right here cool cool I thanks for coming out again man I'm excited it's always on and we had we had a right last song do it again we were gonna only do an interview for like 30 minutes you know it's gonna be a quick one and then I met him before and I was like we got to do that hour we might so sick man no one's I got a curfew tonight right all right well let's get in the story cuz we got we obviously have a lot to talk about but um so I know that you're obviously here in America now but where did where did you even start this whole would you grow up so I was uh I was pretty much born in western Africa and I lived in a place called Nigeria which is right on the west west coast of Africa and Nigeria there's a big big city named legos and it's one of the most prominent cities in Nigeria and so that's where I lived my father was a well known Nigerian engineer as well as a businessman he owned a bunch of a bunch of different businesses in Nigeria and because of his wealth and success we had a really good life we we didn't live in that house we lived on a compound we didn't have a car we had cars we had drivers we traveled the world we had cooks we had everything and my mom she was American and she met my dad in New York and then they got married and then my mom moved to Nigeria so not only was this something that was an amazing experience for me it was an amazing and new experience for her it was kind of like that coming to America type I don't know if you guys ever saw that movie was one of those things she meets the guy and then she goes to Africa and so we pretty much had it all and then in 1987 my father died and in the very next day after my father's death the Nigerian government essentially stripped our family of everything and my father had been in battles with the government for a while but it came ahead a game came to its head when my father passed away so we went from rich one day having absolutely everything to the very next day being for having nothing and my mom you know I give a lot of credit to my mom a lot of people ask me all the time like like how did you become resilient where did you get her from and and I say I learned it from my mom because my mom could've easily gave up and said you know what I had all these riches and now I don't have anything what am I gonna do but instead she picked herself up off the floor and moved me and my brother back to the States permanently and I we grew up in the Bronx yeah so what turn that time in the Bronx when you moved there what year was this that was 1987 so what was like what was the whole vibe cuz you know you're in the city dude you're in the Bronx you're in New York what was that whole vibe growing up you're single you know or you're being raised by a single parent mmm you're in the Bronx what's happening in the neighborhood what's the whole vibe there wow I mean it was a lot as New York you know so the Bronx I love the broth I love the Bronx for what it gave me you know it's it's not an easy environment to grow up in there was a lot of it was crime in the area I grew up in I grew up in the West Bronx there was some poverty out there we lived in like a somewhat of a middle-class co-op that we lived in so we had some form of stability but outside of that was just it was the Bronx there was a lot of drugs our apartment was robbed twice there were people I knew outside of the outside of a co-op where we lived who were killed a lot of people who are well I went to school where for I'm prison right now so it wasn't the easiest environment and and I had to learn how to adapt really quick so it was one of those things where I had to learn how to keep my mouth shut unless unless you know unless I wanted to get knocked out and I had to learn how to you know kind of fend for myself and my mom she did a good job trying to keep me and my brother out of the streets as much as possible my mom she was always big into the arts and so so she would take us you know out of the Bronx to Manhattan and we would go to we would go to art galleries and museums and and she expose us to plays and all of these different things that kind of so show us this other world instead of us being consumed by what we were in so you don't get caught up by because obviously there's a lot of the music that was coming out that era oh absolutely yeah in the late 80s and the early 90s hip-hop and rap began to blossom it was it massive and being a young african-american growing up in the Bronx in the inner-city you know I didn't have a father you know and so because I didn't have a father I wanted to find unbeknownst to me I looked for certain things to feel my paternal void I looked for a father and certain things and so one of the things one of the places where I found the father was in hip-hop because I was able to look at these men who look like me who came from the inner city just like I did who grew up a single-parent homes just like I did and say okay these guys made it and because they made it the way they did and with what they're talking about then that's my route that's the only way I can make it so I used their life to plant a paint of Brut blueprint for my life and so by the time I was you know 19 I had done it all I mean sold drugs on the hustle ran scams I was a play I did it all and and I had a tons of money by the time I was 19 I had I had a record company I started a record company so I had that that was one of the things that I wanted to do I wanted to funnel a lot of the legal money that I made into my record company what you doing sup my cellphones or something yeah so um I had this illegal cell phone scam where I was essentially stealing information and using that information to activate phones and pagers and the drug dealers like Barna buying them from me because they were staying on for 90 days and then after 90 days the company would cut them off and so I was selling them in the streets for like 300 to $500 a piece so at the end of the week I was making thousands of dollars so um any but it was really bad it was not that's - yeah so yeah so you're doing it 19 years old I mean you got the car you get the sure you had the girl and yeah the money on the record I mean you're starting a record label that's like you know that's like a big dollar stuff you don't yeah yeah I you know I wanted to be like P Diddy I wanted to be like jay-z I wanted to be like those guys or so so I really hit the streets hard to be able to funnel as much money as I could into my record company because my goal was to get a label deal and that's what was happening at the time you had guys like jay-z Rockefeller that was getting a label deal you know Rough Riders DMX they were getting label deals ja Rule so that's what I would that was my goal to develop a compilation album and I did we act we developed a compilation album and long story short I got involved in a deal with a drug deal and it went really really bad but it was by the grace of God God allowed it to happen and I thank God that he did because it was a huge wake-up call for me essentially I sold this guy a bunch of phones they were supposed to last 90 days they cut off in a week and he came to my mom's house and threatened me and my mom in my mom's house and so essentially he said if you don't have my money by tomorrow things are not gonna go too well for you and I knew that that meant that I was gonna possibly get killed so I went out into the streets made him the money I needed the next day and then I was like you know what that's enough I mean I've walked the fine line I grew up my mom spanked me growing up I know a lot of different people here that's me I got spankings and and even though I did a lot of bad things one things one thing that the spankings did for me was it instilled in me this idea that there are consequences for actions so when that drug dealer came to my house and and threatened my life that was like a spanking to me that was like okay if I don't stop things are gonna get a lot worse so I kind of gave up the auslan thing and I ran out of money to fund the record company and so what I ended up doing was I ended up going to Def Jam I met with for an executive at Def Jam named Kevin Laos and I tried to shop him my my label deal my compilation album in hopes that he would pick it up and sign my son my label to a deal but that ended up not happening and then I pretty much ran out of money I'm right I didn't have anything for music and I just sat home for six months and did nothing so okay so that's that's kind of getting a little dark in your life what's what happens next from there so uh so June 2002 I was laying in my bed and I just heard this voice speak to me at the time I thought it was my subconscious when the retrospect I truly believed that it was the voice of God I didn't know God and then believe in God I flipped I flush waited between an atheist and agnostic for the majority of our life so I didn't believe in God and also at that time I would say was my subconscious but in retrospect I truly believe it was the voice of God and what that voice said to me was you need to leave and you need to join in military and I remember laying in bed and it was just one of those things where joining the military was contrary to who I was I didn't like Authority I didn't like anyone in a uniform i associated anybody in the uniform with the police and i hated the police I like my clothes back I like my hats backwards in my clothes baggy so I didn't want to be put in the uniform and so it was totally contrary to who I was but years earlier I had seen a movie by Michael Bay named the rock and in that movie that's why I learned about Navy SEALs so so at the same time even though it was contrary to who I was I kind of eventually capitulated and said okay if I joined the military I'm gonna join the be a seal so I got out of bed and I walked down the street I grew up on Fordham Road I went to the Marine Corps recruiters office first for some reason and I sat down in there and when I sat down in there there was no one in the office the office was open there was coffee on the table you know somebody had obviously been in there but they must have went to the bathroom and I sat there for like 15 minutes and no one showed up again I truly believe that that was God's godness so I got up I walked next door to the Navy recruiters office and I when I walked into the neighbor recruiters office it was this gorgeous Puerto Rican Navy recruiter and in my mind my father mind I'm like I'm gonna get in the Navy and I'm gonna get this girl you know I was and so she looked at me like I'm gonna get this fool in the Navy and she did but she she ran my background and she found out that I had two warrants out for my arrest and you're not allowed to join the military with anything let alone two warrants out for your arrest but she saw something in me that I didn't see in myself 1 & 2 god strategically woke me up that morning and put that in my spirit so that I could get to that recruiters office when I did because any other recruiter would have never took a chance on me I've taken people to recruiters for the past since I've been in the military guys have come up to me and said hey I've made a mistake in my life and I want to join the military can you help me not taking them the recruiters and no recruiter won't touch them so this woman saw something to me she took me to the judge in New Jersey where I had a warrant and she explained to the judge hey listen his kids trying to turn his life around 9/11 took place he's made some mistakes but can you clear up his record so that he could join the military can you expand your or seal his record and the judge in Jersey said if this guy's serious about turning his life around it yes I will do that how common is it that's uncommon is unheard doesn't happen that's the thing it doesn't happen it doesn't happen and I'm sure I get I got messages last week from a guy who's like who told me for three years I've been trying to join the military no recruiter won't touch me that map's won't touch me and it's the same song because I hear it all the time so so then she took me to the judge in New York and she said the same thing to the judge in New York and the judge said well if this guy serious 911 just took place how clear his record he just has to pay the court fees and court fines so that he could join the military I didn't have the money my mom didn't have the money it was like eight hundred dollars but my aunt dokey she's 99 she's still alive right now she's not the most godly woman I have ever met in my entire life I mean she's holy man for real she really is she's holy and she loves Jesus she loves people and she came up to me she said I know you need this money here I don't ever want you to ask me for this money back I don't want you to question it I just want you to be somebody special it's amazing and she gives me the money and um and that's what allowed me to join the Navy all right just a little side note on this whole thing God God pursues you he pursues you he starts doing the supernatural in the natural realm and you just think it's by coincidence or you got good luck God is in all the details of our life and as the story goes on you're gonna see more and more things happen and there's a lot of stuff I haven't even touched on cuz of the sake of time where you could really see God's finger print on every aspect of that part of my life leading up to me joining the military so I joined the Navy and I get to boot camp and here's a funny thing before I went to boot camp my recruiter told me she said Remmy when you get to boot camp there's gonna be this this this event called moment of truth anybody here serve in the military go to boot camp how many people here know about moment of truth raise your hand if you do okay so there's a few people who know about moment sure so what moment of truth is but also don't know is that's when all the drills instructors they bring you in and they say if your recruiter told you to lie if you had absolutely anything on your record anything we don't care what it is you better tell us now doing extensive background check are you gonna go to jail like they tried to scare you right and my recruiter told me don't say anything so I didn't say anything but for the two months I was in boot camp I was scared to death I'm serious every day I was like man they gonna find out they go dragging out of here but you know being in boot camp I really wanted to I really wanted to do the right thing I didn't want to I didn't want to be disrespectful to my driller Sarge sergeant's I didn't want to I didn't want to get in fights I wanted to do the right thing because I knew that this recruiter had stuck out her neck for me so I wanted to essentially stick on my neck for her so when I got to when I got to boot camp there was a besides moment of truth there was a presentation as Navy SEAL came and he did this presentation on what seals do he showed this video and Navy SEALs jumper from playing scuba dive and shooting guns doing all this cool stuff and he said they get paid to do it and I was like what they get paid to do all that yeah I'm in sign me up but the issue was I couldn't swim I'm black and I grew up in the Bronx jinan I didn't have the academic scores contrary to popular belief you can't be an idiot and be a seal you have to score really high on an academic and now it wasn't that I was stupid I just didn't apply myself when I took the test and then three I was skinny I was like I couldn't do a push-up and so after that after that that a presentation that's when it was really cemented in my mind and that's what I want to do but I need to fit and to get somewhere so that I could prepare for it so after boot camp I went to my first command which was Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and that's where I really started training every single day and I had this hm3 whoo and this is another guide point this hm3 who was in charge of me and she treated me like trash I mean she was so condescending to me she was she would just belittle me she would embarrass me in front of people and and and I never hit a woman that I have no desire date alone but man she pushed me to that point of time but I never had it right and but but what that did for me was that was so much motivation it was like God was using that to really push me out of that place to really push me to train harder and so I would spend four hours a day either working out or studying my academics and that's all I did and and long story short within a year I was accepted in a SEAL training which is which is you know which meant I was able I had met the swimming requirements I met the physical requirements and I met the academic requirements all in less than a year and I was accepted into the program yeah well there was the time though like when you were going through this stuff that you uh you were kind of like wiling out while you were in the school oh yeah yeah absolutely because you were kind of getting off track for a while yeah I made it through hell week so so hell week is a part of training where they keep you up for six days straight it starts on Sunday and it ends on Friday and it's literally torture I mean you lose a lot of guys a lot of guys quit during hell week and after I made it through hell week after I made it through first phase which before you even get to hell when you go through three weeks of training and the three weeks of training before hell week is horrible and then you get through hell week so after I made it through a hell week in my mind I was just like my pride was through the roof it was just one of those things for me I made it through the Bronx I couldn't swim I didn't have the academic scores I made it in the seal training I'm one of the only african-americans in my class and then on top of that I made it through hell week no one can't tell me anything no one can't tell me anything so so I was my pride was pride pride was my big sin at the time and not just pride but the way I treated women you know I was out every weekend clubbing doing the player thing lying girls telling girls I'm their boyfriend when I got another girl over here and all that I was a mess I was a mess but that was normal to me and I enjoyed it and I heard a lot of people I heard a lot of people and there's a you know I thank God that God's grace is sufficient because if his grace was a sufficient to clean up a lot of the stuff that I did I probably would have lost my mind because I heard a lot of people and so because of the way I acted I didn't spend a lot of time after I made it through hell we got to spend a lot of time working one of the things I needed to work on so Constance eventually I ended up getting kicked out of seal training so I was humbled in the sense I got sent back to Camp Pendleton and I would stay as a medical station a battalion 1/4 and the infantry were Marines and then I trained for like a year and a half and I got accepted back of the SEAL training and then I went back to SEAL training now when I went back to SEAL training this is when God really began to get a hold of me and this is where my salvation story comes into play like a week before I go back to Sioux training my roommate at the time I was living in Mission Valley in San Diego and my roommate at the time was dating his girl and and this girl had a friend and his friend was when I met her for the first time I fell head-over-heels in love with her she came over to the house and and I was just like man I really really like this girl I think this is the one girl that could keep me straight they can keep me honest that I could be faithful to and and we end up getting into a relationship and I was willing to go anywhere she wanted to go I don't care she wanted to go to the Himalayas I was there and she wants to go in the water I was anywhere and she wanted to go to church every Sunday and I didn't want to go to church but I was I just wanted to be close to her and so I remember going to church with her and we went to pass the Sergio's church Cornerstone Church down to San Diego and I just remember sitting there and just mocking everything everything I was looking at the people as they were raising their hands and crying I was like look at these idiots look at them worshipping this fake God they can't see because they don't have the strength to get out and make something of their lives they have to depend on his fate God right I was looking at the pastor and my mom is saying look at this guy stealing everybody's money he said he's a all that stuff he saw I mean these are all of the things that's going on in my mom but then when I would look at her and I would see her crying as she worshiped God I was like wow that's beautiful is that's beautiful something do you I don't know but that's what I was like that's just something beautiful about there's something and what I mean by that not just not just on a superficial level I meant that it was it was almost like it was something sacred about it because it was it was like she was intentionally liked because I knew her I didn't know the people but I knew her and to see her the way she was and the presence god that really kind of touched me in a sense even though I still didn't believe during that time to when you were dating there where you cheat on her at the time or anything like that at first I wasn't so so so shortly after that we didn't really break up but we weren't really exclusive at that time either because she had just got out of like a seven-year relationship and so we were just friends and I was just that's why I was going to church because I was trying to spend more time with her my mind I was like okay more time equals eventually we'll get into a serious relationship so I say okay 10-week three weeks four weeks for five weeks after five weeks then I could make my pitch and make my pitch and we'll be in a relationship type thing that was stupid it didn't make any sense again my mind was I was crazy back then and so anyway she ends up approaching me one day while I was in still training she says Remy I got to give this guy a chance again because we've been together for so many years and I was like cool it's no drama and I wasn't really hurt I was just like cool whatever and I continued on with still training and then when I get to the end of SEAL training I get rolled off the island I get like three weeks before graduation training out Fela tests and I get sent back home to start not all the SEAL training over again but to start up with the next class once they got to that final point of training and when I got back I was just really really hurt and and she had just broke up with that guy again this is like a five five six month period and so that's when like we really got into an exclusive relationship and she was like I'm here for you I love you I'll do anything for you and her family didn't want her to do anything her family didn't want her to be with me because her family you know her family didn't believe in her date and African Americans they like how dare you tell me what did my mom's told me she's gonna die because I'm dating a black guy but she she kind of gave all of that up for me and um three months later after we got serious I was in static line jump school and I ended up jumping out of the plane long story short I ended up breaking I break my medial malleolus the wind hit my parachute the wrong way I come not burning in but I just come towards the ground really really fast and they're breaking my ankle I do my last two jumps the next day cuz I didn't want to go to the hospitai wanted to get my jumps over so I can graduate from that program and then after I did my last two jumps the next day I went to the hospital and I couldn't walk for four months but in those four months this woman like poured out the love of God I mean she exemplified what it meant to be a Christian I mean she cooked she cleaned my house she had a little Yorkie that she would just bring to my house and leave with me so that would have company I mean she she really she served me she just like served me and even in the midst of that I treated her like that's when I began to treat her really really bad because I was angry and it was a lot of bitterness within me and I projected my bitterness onto her and that's what happens at times when you when you don't have that strong relationship with God all of that anger all of that frustration all that bitterness all that crap within us will spew out on the ones that we love and I had no reason to do that to her but I would just talk down to her I would tell her get out of my house if don't want you and just and then I started cheating on her uh and and and I remember she told me she said Remy like if you ever cheat on me that's the one thing I will leave you for if you ever cheat you talk you could keep talking to me like I'm crap you could keep doing all that stuff but if you I'm sorry I'm sorry but but she said never cheat on me and but I Chih doing her and I hid it from her in that time in retrospect what I believed God was doing was God was showing me you through her God was showing me I'll throughout my entire life he has loved me he is poured out his love on me he's protected me he's kept me from death he's kept me from AIDS he's kept me from being murdered he's kept me from but despite the way he's treated me I'm forsaken him I've rebuked him I've made fun of him I've done all of these things so it was like almost like God was using her to show me how I treated him and as soon as I was able to walk I broke up with her and I remember when I broke up with her she was in my apartment and she put her back up against the wall and she slid down the wall and she just cried and she said how can you do this to me I've done so much for you I've given up so much for you why are you doing this to me you know I have issues with what happened to me my boy why this can't be happening like this can't be real and I said get out of my apartment that's all I said get out of my apartment I mean I don't need your sob story you know so crazy is when you're not walking with God you just have like that anger and that bitterness yeah you don't care no I don't care about relationships of different people you'll just burn you just keep moving on to the next next girl or the next place and all this people are just objects people are just objects so three months later no actually a month later after we had broken up I went back I'm back in training I'm doing well in training towards the end of training at this point and I'm able to walk so I'm back in the clubs and party in them hooking up with girls doing all that kind of stuff and then I'm laying in bed and this is June now this is June 2008 six years to the month when I heard the voice of God telling me to join in military I'm laying in bed and I hear this voice say to me you need to take her back and I'm like take a back what do you mean take her back and his voice and it wasn't I can't really describe I don't think it was an audible voice it was just like this presence just pushing me to take her back and I was like no I got these girls over here I got money I'm I'm the steel train I got this nice apartment no I'm fine the way things are things are fine I don't want to get backward but I had tickets to a roots concert so finally I said I'll take on a date and see how that goes so I took her to the owner date to the roots concert and then after that concert that's when I was like I we can get back into a relationship we got back into a relationship I still treated her bad and then in August I got sent sent to a cold-weather survival training in Alaska now this is when I went when God really captured my heart when I get out to Alaska a lot we won't why I don't want to nickname the place but we were in this place where it was it wasn't there weren't a lot of people we were in the wilderness it was just a lot of ice a lot of cold a lot of bears and being from New York it wasn't my type of place I was already miserable as I was because we have to do these land navigation hikes with but for days you would just hike around this massive wilderness in order to find these points because you had to learn how to do land navigation in that type of environment so as a seal you could do it anywhere else and so they picked one of the worst environments to do it in Alaska and so I'm out there and I'm just miserable but I'm alone and as I'm alone walking through the wilderness and he's tall trees and just worried about bears I begin that God really begins to get a hold of me and I be and it was like God was held up a mirror a proverbial mirror and showed me what I had become and as I'm walking down the world and is reflecting on my life reflecting how I treated this girl reflecting how I treated my mom reflected how I treated my brother reflect the how treated people and and I didn't like what I saw and I came to the realization out there nobody preached to me this was God all by himself dealing with me I realized Remy you are a dirtbag and you need to change your life or you are not going to survive that was the word that came to me and so when I got out of the wilderness I was still in Alaska but we would go back and we would live on this little base before we went back out I made a decision I'm gonna change myself I'm gonna change my life I'm gonna fix me because I don't like what I see there's a problem and I'm gonna fix it and so I tried meditating I was into New Age stuff so I started all I've tried all this New Age stuff I tried all these things to fix myself and nothing I tried worked and it really began to frustrate me but here's the god thing and here's why God had me take her back at the at the weak the weak I'm out in the wilderness having this epiphany and what's going on my girlfriend goes to this party right she's at this party and this woman comes up to her who's married to a seal and she says hey so so I heard that you're dating a guy who's who's a seal and she's like yeah I'm dating this guy Remy she's like how's it going she's like it's okay she said can I be honest with you you shouldn't stay with him you should leave him she said because your life is not gonna be good she was like I'm married to seal and trust me he's gonna be gone all the time he might not be faithful to you like she starts telling all of these things and the light finally goes off in her head and she's just like you know what you're right and so she had never had the strength to lead me but it was through that one conversation that she finally got the strength fast-forward I finally get back to base and I'm excited because I realize I need to change and I call her up I get a hold of her and I'm like Natalie guess what before she says anything she's like what I said you know I realized that I've been an idiot and I've treated you so bad when I get back I want to marry you when I get back I want to be a good man to you my life has changed I'm born again by Carlito Brigante regenerated rehabilitated right I'm saying all of these things to her and and she's silent on the phone and I'm like what's going on like he's supposed to be happy she said I'm done with you I'm leaving I was like what she said yeah I'm leaving you she said running you treat me bad and I don't want this life anymore I said no no I'm not saying all of this stuff because they literally I realized this before you hit this before you telling me this I know what she said no it's over and then she hung up the phone and I felt like I was in the twilight zone I was like what is going on and that's when I really began to cry out to God and my brother he was a Christian and I would make fun of my brother because he was a key I've been a Christian for years and I would make so much fun of him and but my brother would always tell me Remy if you ever hit low get robbed on time just call out the Jesus I know you think it's a joke it's a game all the qualities Jesus and that situation along with some other things that I was dealing with in my mind not just her but all other issues now remember you're saying when you were out there there was there was some like some depression there was depression anxiety different things started happening yeah I had never experienced depression like this I can't even recall experiencing depression before this point but I experienced depression on a level I've never experienced before I mean effect of my appetite I couldn't really sleep I couldn't really eat I begin to have suicidal thoughts yeah this is crazy yeah that's why I know we're out of nowhere never did I had this experience and and and for the spiritual people in this room will really understand the Word of God and things of God you'll kind of get this when you're with the devil he'll he'll he'll protect you he'll protect you because he wants to use you he'll protect you to a certain extent eventually he's gonna come knocking on your door for his money back but he'll protect you but when he sees you're getting ready to turn to the light of Christ he will send every demonic force in hell after you and I think that the devil is a very intelligent and in Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 12 through 17 God says to the prophet Ezekiel you would a model perfection full of wisdom and exquisite and beauty you were in the Garden of God now I'm a backup I know that whole verse but I'm a backup for a second when God said you were full of wisdom the Hebrew word that's used there is male which means abundant wisdom okay so what God is saying in that scripture in his description of Satan is that Satan was and is intelligent he's a brainiac he knows more about you and the demons know more about you and us they've studied us our entire life they know what pushes your buttons they know how to get you to sin they know how to destroy your life they know absolutely everything about you okay and so when Satan and his wisdom saw what was happening as I was beginning to turn to the things of God he was like I gotta kill this do right now because he's been extreme for me and I know that if he turns to Christ he's gonna be extreme for Christ and so that's when the wave of depression and the suicidal thoughts and all of these things began to envelopment envelop me and long story short I got back from Alaska and I immediately I called up Natalie my ex and I said hey listen I said I'm in a dark place right now I said I know you won't take me back but can you at least take me to church and she said okay I won't take you back but I'll take you to church and she took me to church the next day and I can't tell you anything that the preacher preached but I can tell you that when he said does anybody want to surrender their life to Christ something within me in my finite understanding even though I didn't even know what was gonna happen something within me knew that I needed to at least surrender to Christ in this moment to see what was gonna happen and I know I don't look it was just that a little bit of faith it was that little bit of faith that little seed that said nothing is working nothing is working this new age stuff from trying is not working meditation isn't working trying to be a big bad tough Navy SEAL and tough it out in front like everything is good on the outside which a lot of people do when they're on the inside I'm dying that's not working so I need to at least give this Jesus to try that my brother's been telling me about and and and I went and when the pastor said this anybody want to give their life to Christ I said I sprinted to the altar and I said Jesus I give you everything and and and I know for some people that's not immediate but for me it was immediate it was immediate the presence of God and bail up my life I was filled with the Holy Spirit and then I began to change like my thoughts begin to change and I'm gonna tell you something after I gave my life to Christ the worst three months of my life wasn't the three months before I got saved the worst three months of my life was the three months after I got saved but the blessing in that was it was in those three months that I learned how to pray and I learned how I learned the importance of the word of God because when you hurtin you you're not gonna get all proper what's your prayer life you're just gonna say Jesus help me Jesus got me you're gonna learn to just converse with God and in that time I just learned when I was to just have conversations with God I just wouldn't memorize scriptures like Hebrews 4:12 which says the Word of God is alive and powerful to sharpen in the sharpest to wedge a soil come between soul and spirit between joy and marrow and as I began to cling to the Word of God and in prayer and surround myself around the body of Christ I begin to grow and when I came out of that three-month months which was my my spiritual seal training couldn't no devil and hell touch me because when the enemy comes in he messes with our mind any and he comes after us and the only thing that we could fight him off with is the Word of God absolutely because it's those promises cuz he's the liar he's gonna get your mind so off focus and to see that the only that's why you have to memorize the scriptures to say no that's what you put in my mind but the Bible says this yeah so this is truth what I'm thinking is not true don't believe everything you think because the enemy likes to play mind games and let me let me touch on something that I feel like the spirit wants me to share I touched on earlier how intelligence Satan is very intelligent let's think about this for a second and revelations it alludes to Satan deceiving a third of the Angels to fall right we got to think about this for a second these are angels that are already in heaven okay and Joe it says in job 38 when Joe questions God God says where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth where were you who set them its foundations and and gave it its cornerstone when the morning angels shouted for joy and all the angels sang so we got to think about the for a second if when God was creating the universe and the moon and the stars every time God created something angel shouted and some saying when God said let there be light whom angels sang when God said brought the mountains out of the waters boom Angels shouted these some of these angels were the same angels that were deceived by Satan okay so if if Satan can deceive a third of the angels who saw God and saw God's power how easy do you think is it for demonic forces to deceive us and to believe in God ain't real and all that stuff that dudes saying up there is craziest oooh yeah I don't know why I can't body be here tonight he's intelligent he's intelligent and so and so I just wanted to touch on that for a second because the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he doesn't exist and he does because he's smarter than we are he's been on earth way longer than any of us have yeah that's that's 100% amazing so now here you are you're having this gave your life to God you're diggin and these are the fundamentals of Christianity meeting praying getting around your friends you know the brothers in Christ sisters in Christ because all the other friends that are all partying where you came from they're all gonna take you back away but these ones were all we're all in it together we're all we're all desperate for a savior and we want God to show up so now you got that Brotherhood sisterhood you're following God what was going on next what you decide to do Wow so while I'm in the teams at this point and when God's radically saved me he put a passion in me to see other people like he put this evangelism gifting within me and I just started sharing the gospel like not like not like beating people up against a head but I just preached first through the way I live my life because the most powerful sermon a person could ever preach is not with word but in deed in the way you live your life and so I tried to live my life in a way that exemplify Christ and and and I begin to see fruits of that and deployed in my deployments on my foot on my first deployment my team leader before we left he pulled me aside he said Remy I know you're a Christian he said where we going to deploy to there's not gonna be any chaplains we're gonna be on a self-sustaining base we're gonna have to do everything ourselves would you like to be the lay leader and I said sure so if we weren't on missions on Sunday nights because all of our missions were at night I was leaving church service and if we weren't on missions on Wednesday evening then I was leading Bible studies and so and it was cool like that was like my little seminary book he wasn't even a Christian this guy no he wasn't a Christian you just don't read you the chapel yeah he was just like hey cuz he saw me he saw how's it in my life he saw me reading the Bible and and that's where I got into ministry and I really began to study the Greek and the Hebrew and endtime prophecy in apologetics and then when I got back from that deployment that's when I get I was beginning to get asked to speak and teach at different places and then I went on another deployment and before I went on that deployment I met my wife we got married and then five months after we met and yeah kids way to close deals I agree with you yeah just find the one God bring shut it down we know you yeah oh you know for people that are trying to wait for their wife or husband or they're trying to date just wait forgot to bring the one it's like he brought yours brought mine you just closed the deal yeah yeah my wife is awesome man she's so okay so you got all this amazing things going on and then obviously you you know you got into acting how this whole thing happened yeah that's another whole God story so when I got off the active duty there was a woman who she's worked in Hollywood she's worked with with Jerry Bruckheimer actually he just put out a movie recently called 12 strong but he's done movies for years I think GI Jane and Armageddon and the rock he's a big producer she's this woman she's worked with Jerry for years and her husband is a former seal and they do what's called tech advisors and consulting on films so when there's gonna be a military movie or movie with guns they get hired to show people how to really act with the guns and the military language and all that kind of stuff so so she found out about me she found out I was out so she called me up one day and she said hey I'm shooting this TV show called the last ship are you available to do a day of filming and I said no because acting wasn't my thing I didn't want to do acting my thing was ministry and she said listen it's gonna be a good opportunity I said no that's not my things so that finally she eventually convinced me and I went down I did a day of filming hated it didn't like it at all and I decided well this definitely isn't for me well fast forward three weeks later this lady in my church finds out that I did a day of filming one scene on a TV show and she gets this bright idea that I need to audition for this play play for a play yeah this is displayed at the like'em theater which is a which is a well-known theater in San Diego and I was just like no TVs cool but getting onstage in front of people and memorizing the whole play note she chased me down for like three weeks and then finally I capitulated and I said okay I'll do it and I went to go audition and as I was going in I went with the mindset that I'm gonna just totally bomb this thing I'm going to mess it up I'm gonna make sure I don't get picked for this thing but then as I got closer Holy Spirit spoke to me you know and and a few scriptures you know one was Ephesians six seven which is you know whatever you do do it for the Lord work with enthusiasm as though you're working for the Lord rather than for people going and do it with excellence and so I get there and and and I do my audition long story short I get the part in the play and I do the play the play has a good run that ends and then fast-forward a year later the same lady reached out to me to do a commercial I said no I don't want to do the commercial I'm done with this whole acting thing fast forward another year later she calls a buddy of mine dies and the team she dies on deployment I go to his memorial service and the seal approaches me he's like hey there's some people in Hollywood that are looking for you and I'm like what looking for me who's looking for me in Hollywood he said yeah he said you got your interested in doing acting and at this point I was like well what's going on he said I'm gonna get you in contact with somebody I was like Roger that I don't even give him my number he gets my number from somebody else and he called and and and he gives the number to this lady who had called me two years earlier and a lady was like Remy I've been trying to get in contact with you for four months where have you been I was like I've been here she had been emailing an old email that I had but you know through circumstances she was able to get my contact information to get back in conscious and I'm starting a movie tomorrow I'm like what she says transformers she said are you interested I'm like sure I don't have anything I was in graduate school at the time so I was like I don't I just got most of my papers don't have to show up for a day filming so I said anyway she's like send me some pictures I don't think that Han shot headshots I just sent her random pictures on my computer she emails me Michael Bay likes you he wants you to show up on set tomorrow I'll show up to set a film a day of filming she calls him back two weeks later Michael Bay want you to film three more weeks can you are you available sure I fly to Arizona I film a week in Arizona come back home fly to Israel because I was doing some ministry work out of Israel get back from Israel and then I fly to fly to Detroit film for two weeks in Detroit when I at the end of the two weeks one of the staff from set approaches me and she's like hey Michael Bay wants to keep you on the film until it ends he wants to upgrade you to a principal role in the film can you stay on and I was like sure and so and then that's how it kind of got to active but here's a god thing in all of this it was Michael Bay's first two films and inspired me to be a seal bad boys because that was the first time I saw two african-american men who were who looked like me and they had swag but they weren't playing thugs they were playing heroes in a sense and then the rock because that was my first time I was exposed to Navy SEALs so it was those first tunes that first took those first two films that inspired me to be a seal and then out of the blue the first movie I ever get cast in is by a director whose first two movies inspired me to be a seal like come on they're like you can't make that up right it's all it's all guys I like to say that you either got really good luck and you belong in Las Vegas gambling I go hey you know what you bring up an amazing point I signed a book deal with I signed a book deal and I'm writing a book right now the book comes out and this is all God the book comes out next year today January 21st 2019 amazing and and and I'm gonna give you guys a sneak peek into the title of the book the title of the book is transformed a Navy SEALs journey from the throne of Africa to the streets of the Bronx to defying all odds now here's a crazy thing about this book and crazy the point that you brought up which Holy Spirit is all in this at the end of some of the chapters we're gonna be we're gonna be literally looking at some of the odds of these things happening in my life and towards the end of the book we're gonna ask the question is this guy really really that lucky or is there a divine hand and all it is and so the goal is to really show people that there's no way I could have had this much luck no person on the planet has that much luck it's Jesus it's Jesus you know God you could clap for that yes and God has a plan for every single one of you he's in all the details you guys he's in all the details of all of our lives we all have a story this is just his story you've heard my story you have a story but when you're being led by the Holy Spirit God is just moving you just push what's the best way says directing you by a spear pushing you into the doors you want you to walk through shut the doors he doesn't want to walk want you to walk through and you save a lot of time and you live that purpose of the destiny but you were created for that's it's that simple do you have any last words that you'd want to say mean I know there's a lot of people here you know there's there's people that have been brought by friends there's people that are not Christian atheists maybe different religions maybe people that are just once had the faith but fell away because they just lost lots of faith in they don't believe anymore I don't know Jimmy last words say WOW you know what I'm gonna do it this way because the spirit always moves when I do it this way three questions anybody three questions anybody have a question as it relates to my faith journey anything or a question about anything make me come down here yes that's right here we go is it hard to serve the Lord Jesus Christ through acting because seeing all the actors and so forth the how they fall short of the Lord and they fall into drugs and alcohol and so forth in your behalf is it hard for you to serve the Lord as an actor well the answer for me it's not and here's why it's because and I got another question for after God has brought me through so much it's almost like God has always been preparing me for the next thing and-and-and-and there's a scripture Jeremiah 1 1927 when God speaks through Jeremiah he says get up and prepare for action go out and tell them everything I tell you to say do not be afraid of them or I will make you look foolish in front of them for see today I have made you strong like a fortified city that could not be captured like an iron pillar or bronze wall you will stand against a whole land the King's officials freeze the people of Judah they will fight you but they will fail flying with you and I will take care of you I the LORD have spoken and so through that scripture when I look back on my life and really guys look into your testimony because everybody here has a testimony and I truly believe that that's one of the things as God's trying to tell you I don't care if you don't believe in Jesus or not you all have a story and Christ has strategically allowed your story to be what it is and when you all really take the time to sit down and write out your story whether you believe in Christ or not you will see elements of God's moving in your life and not just elements but you will see elements of God preparing you for the next thing every single person who's here right now you're alive God allows for you to be alive because there's a whole lot of people we all know who are not alive now there are a whole lot of people who things have happened too and those same things could have happened to us but God kept you here to prepare you to strengthen you for the next step the next step maybe you took maybe you turning to the Lord it may not be but I guarantee you that next step has a purpose and that next step has a purpose and eventually all roads lead to the Lord and so for me that's why it's not hard for me for two reasons one because I know that God's prepared me and - I've had God do so many radical crazy things in my life then I'm scared to turn to the other side I'm just like wait I got Ivan with the mic for the other question what was it that was right there I'm scared I mean I because he's been too good to me he's been too good to me you're mentioning that when you went to Alaska and I know that you've been going through these trials and they're all this with that one lady uh-huh but I know by you hearing the word as you were going to church but really when did you really start listening to his word and what you're at now today when did I start listening to his word yes when I got back from Alaska and I hit bottom one and two I began to see the fruits of me listening to his word because well not just listening obeying his words right because we know that we know that what's his name the guy who John herb was arrested by John the Baptist I had a brain freeze who's Herod Herod listen to John we know in the scriptures it says that that Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he heard what John had to say but even so he didn't listen he didn't obey Him so so when I began to change as not just in the listening but it was in obedience everybody hear demons listen to God but they don't obey God the power comes in obedience and that's something and I always try to teach the body of Christ walk in obedience to God Romans 1:20 says no Rome is to know is it Romans to know put whatever Romans Paul says I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you let them be a living and Holy Sacrifice the car he will find acceptable this is truly the way to worship God sometimes we see worship as coming and praising and worshiping God now that's worship but the most powerful type of worship we can ever give God is through our obedience it's through those little things it's through you really want a park in a handicapped spot cuz you late for that lunch meeting or whatever but you just like this ain't the right thing to do that's worship worship is when when you when when there's a guy who's been on you for a long period of time and he's been treating you bad he's maybe even doing some player player stuff and he's a smooth talker and he's trying to get you in bed with him and he looks good he looks good he's a handsome guy and all your girls are like man girl you should hook up with him that dude fine what you ain't getting none yet obedience is one you like he's fine but God wants me to walk in purity that's worship that's worship and that's when the angels are like wow holy holy holy is the Lord Almighty that's where the power is being holy you know we live in obedience all right we're gonna take one last one what is two over there oh they're two I could do this all night [Laughter] that's why I asked you early and got curfews cuz first of all I say thank you and God bless you for coming up here and giving your testimony thank your brother amongst all these people here thank you so that they would be edified and then just for one really quick the scripture I believe you were looking for was Romans chapter 12 it says some of your life as a sacrifice yes sir then a a question in my wife had for you but I believe so but she liked to touch and maybe elaborate on your experience of witnessing to other celebrity or actors and how was they received with that one thing I learned I'll just say this I've been able to build some really great relationships and so I want to kind of honor those relationships the best I can and so I'll just say God is just moving God is moving and and and and and going back to the whole preparation thing God strategically allowed for me to be a seal because when I show up to said whether it's a commercial TV and I've done I've done commercial I've done TV I've done a film I don't get treated like the new actor and the reason why I don't is because they know I'm a seal so it's just that respect the lead actors have come up to me or lead people on the shows a projects or whatever and they'll have conversations with me well I asked me about my life they asked me about certain things why because they intrigued by my background so I say all I have to say God is God has allowed me to be a seal that's part of the preparation because it breeds curiosity and there's a lot of times and what I do not just in the entertainment industry because I own a corporation I work with I work what millionaires and billionaires doing coaching and and and and and mental toughness training and all kinds of different stuff and they get curious when they find out I'm a Christian and they want to asked about they have faith questions I never have to preach to anybody because because they'll find out that I love Jesus and they'll just be like wow like you like Jesus you're from the Bronx and you a Navy SEAL and I want to know more how does that work and so so just to answer your question in respecting and honoring some of the other people that I work with without I don't want to mention names and and stuff I'll just say that God has prepared me and then God is using my life and everything he's given me for his glory and he's moving in that is don't love that all right here's here it is go for it okay yeah I'm very curious you know when you said that the you heard this voice it was inaudible that you felt like a pressie yeah you didn't believe in God at all no I'm curious to know no I you listened what made you actually get up and go to that recruiting office and the second time you heard it why you listen I'm curious you know if you didn't believe you didn't know what that voice was or that press scene I don't know second question really quick is also in case you know when you said you changed your life when you when you gave your life to Christ yeah how long did it take for you to actually get rid of the anger and all that resentment or whatever you had you know going on inside how long did that take further change for you to see the change yeah so first question was oh you avoid the voice thing um the Word of God the Word of God is powerful that's my only explanation because like I said I did not believe in God I didn't well another thing too I thought it was my conscious at the time in retrospect but in retrospect I believed that it was the voice of God but and answer your question from the perspective I have now being Christian I know that when God said let there be life there was life I know that when God said Let there be man and he formed man it just happened I know that when God speaks a word his word cannot be taken back his word does not fall void however God needed for me to rationalize it in my mind God used whatever ration out whether it was my subconscious whether it was whatever God uses if God just spoke the word and it just happened because that's the power of God's Word and God says this keyboard right here is pink you can't lie guess what's gonna happen that thing's gonna turn pink because that's the power of his word and so that's the only way I can explain it in retrospect is that God spoke I didn't know who it was I may rationalize it as my subconscious and it was just something within me that pushed me in that direction what was your second question or how long did it take some things were immediate some things were mediate the the one of the biggest issues that I had personally speaking was was sexual morality because if it wasn't relationships and sleeping around at that it was pornography so I was addicted to porn I was addicted to women I was I was that was my drug crack was never my drug weed was never my thing alcohol I drank herring in but that wasn't my thing that was women that was my thing and so God worked that out of me pretty quickly like it was within three weeks where I was like okay god I believe your word I see why you want me to walk in purity so that I'm not confused because I don't really understand the difference between love and lust it's a big difference as a whole message I won't preach it right now and so God really worked that out of me pretty quick and I stayed I walked in purity for til I got married I don't have sex until I got married I'd have sex dog I'm a fourth which is which is a miracle and another self because from the time I was 16 to the time I was 28 26 I was sleeping around with different women or pornography so forgot to kind of take that out of me and and that was a miracle so some things happen quick other things it was a process it was a process and we are always in process so I don't want to even stand up here and say I have arrived and you know because I haven't there's still things that God works on me one thing I'll be honest with you right because that's one thing that we have to do we have to be honest one thing that God is working on with me right now is patience that's the sin being impatient I think is a sin I'm a patient I get frustrated when I when I see things should be a certain way and and it's not being done that way you know so God is still working some things out of me I'm not I haven't arrived I'm not perfect and I'll be honest with you guys do I got a I got a verse give it up for that that's amazing [Applause] God gave me this earlier today and I'm like God if you want me to say just remind me when I'm up on stage that's how you know it's so with everything that was said and this his whole story it just reminds me of that verse in John first John 2:15 it says do not love the things of the world nor the things that offers you for when you love the world you do not have the love of the Father in you for the world offers you only cravings of physical pleasure a craving of for everything we see and the pride of achievements and possessions these are not from the father but are from this world and the world is fading away along with everything that people crave but anyone who does what pleases God will live forever anyone that submits their will to God will live forever that's where the power comes and if you want that tonight maybe you need to come back to the Lord maybe you need to give your life to the Lord for the first time you heard this story he either got really good luck or God is in the details and God is in the details he doesn't have this kind of luck I can tell you that no man does but God is in every detail in your life and he wants to reveal himself to you he wants to forgive you he wants to wash you white as snow he wants implant the power from heaven which is the Holy Ghost inside of you so your life could be transformed all the old things in your life will pass away and everything will become new you will be a new creation in Christ and it starts now some it's gonna hit instantly and then God so starts transforming you second-by-second it's that simple you dig into the Word of God because the Word of God is the DNA of Jesus Christ it's the Word of God God says I my word above my name and there's power in the name of Jesus God wants to set you free and show you the life that you were created for you wanna do an altar call yeah yeah hey listen can we have the band come up I'm sorry band can we have the band come up I wanna here's what I'm gonna do we're gonna close this out I'm not gonna preach anymore I'm sorry we're gonna bring you back to preach don't worry I'll come back and preach I will say this last thing I want to challenge everybody here and I'm gonna pray with you so this is not gonna be a thing where one wants to come on bow your head close you know this is gonna be if I'm gonna pray with you you guys can start one thing that Jesus said and I'll say this before I get to my point when Jesus went into the temple he looked over the tables and the money changes in all those things you know what he said he said my father's house be a house is a house of prayer it's not a house of preaching it's not a house of interviews it's not a house of music those are all part of it but jesus said my house is a house of prayer everything that we did so far is to lead us to this part of a prayer so I'm have everyone stand up [Music] and everybody just close your eyes and just a lot of spirit to speak to you as I'm speaking and if the spirits fall to you at any point of this message and said you know what that's you and I want to have a relationship with you forget religion I want a relationship with you I want to change you I want to grow you I want to move in your life I want you to come down so I can pray with you and so my brother Ryan can pray with you I'm gonna call out a few groups and we're not gonna play this game all night because we out of time come on down if the lit Spirit spoke to you if God spoke to you and you're struggling god bless you and you're struggling in relationships with the people around you you could tell a lot about a person's relationship with God by the way they treat the people around them and if you're here because your relationships with people are messed up you treating your wife bad you're treating your husband bad you're angry as bitterness it's all in this junk that's inside of you and you know you've never given it to God so he could work it out and God wants to work it out cuz you know what when God looks from heaven and sees every single one of you you know what he sees he sees a king he sees a queen disease power he sees greatness [Music] care what your parents spoke over me I don't care what your heart is local I don't [Music] if you [Music] greatness [Music] call before I pray for everybody here two more points lon if you're here and you just stuck in religion you're stuck in the church there's no real change in your life second Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation old things have passed away behold all things I've become new you've been in church for a long time and it's been nothing but religion and ritual you don't even really like one church sometime there's one of days like I do this again and God wants to break that in you because he has a relationship [Music] my final point if you hear you still don't believe anything and you're just like man I don't care that dude was entertaining that story was cool Jesus God all that stuff I don't believe it fine I respect that here's what I want you to pray when you go home tonight laying your bed I just want you to say God everything that dude up there said is real if everything you show me reveal it to me because I don't believe it move show them something I guarantee you my hands I'm afraid God I thank you for every single person is here today God every single person who's come forward why the guy God take this in take their issues everything that mean they're bringing to this altar today God Lord I ask that you take it you pick it up [Music] I pray for every single person here God before that life just say God all you up here to say God forgive me God cleanse me God allow me to enter into a relationship with you fill me with your Holy Spirit Lord not Lord you heard their words and want it wasn't mine it was theirs God so lord I pray that your Holy Spirit fall on every person here God let your Holy Spirit fill them Jesus let your Holy Spirit moving them Jesus God don't let them be the same person that they were before they stepped up here from the here on floor father God God let them go out into this world God and let them be on fire for you Jesus let them do what the Apostles did 12 turn the 505 turn the thousands and now there's billions of followers of Christ God move them into the in the lives of them in the lives of their husbands use them in the lives of his siblings if family members and co-workers father God shower them with their great with your grace God and Lord alive in the sea you wrote for them [Music] amazing chapter today God and more we give you the and the praise and you are awesome in jeez we pray eight god bless you guys go out there one which allow Jesus to move I love you guys and I can't wait to hear what God has done and everybody's like god bless you guys you

Channel: Ryan Ries

Views: 4,084

Rating: 4.9515152 out of 5

Keywords: The Whosoevers, Ryan Ries, Calvary Chapel Golden Springs, Calvary Chapel, The Movement, Bible, Truth, The Word

Id: 92Ie8Xz2ad0

Length: 70min 21sec (4221 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 30 2018