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September 20, 2024 • 25 mins

This episode was released on September 17, 2024.

In this powerful episode, bestselling author Jennifer LeClaire shares her harrowing journey of being falsely arrested, imprisoned, and abandoned - only to find ultimate vindication through her unwavering faith in God. Hear how she overcame injustice, bitterness, and tragedy to emerge with a message of hope that will inspire you to trust in God's perfect timing and justice. Don't miss this captivating testimony of redemption.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever felt like someone did something to you that was so bad that it deserved justice?

(00:06):
You wanted to be vindicated
Well, you know there are things that happened to all of us that some are more dramatic than others and my guest today is
Jennifer Leclerc who actually was falsely
arrested went to prison
Just had some horrible things happen to her and it's resulted in her writing a brand new book that we're gonna talk about today called

(00:27):
Vindicated there's also a brand new movie about it
And if you stay till the end of the podcast today, we're gonna show a clip of the movie
Her story is very inspiring and I think it'll help you to understand
How you can put this into God's hands how you can forgive and how you too can be vindicated

(00:48):
Be sure to stay tuned today to the Strang report. I'm Stephen Strang
Welcome back and welcome Jennifer Leclerc you and I have worked together for many years
I'd have to count on my fingers how many

(01:10):
But one of the things I like to do with my podcast is to introduce my viewers and listeners
To leaders and people who are making a difference in the spirit field or sometimes we call it the spirit led or charismatic
Community and you certainly are that because you have not only a gift to write and you've written this new book called

(01:30):
Vindicated that we're gonna talk about today, but you also have a prophetic ministry and also a prayer ministry
So let me start by asking you
Why you wrote this book called vindicated?
Well, thanks for having me Steve. It's always a joy, you know vindicated I believe that every person

(01:52):
Wants to see God's justice of their life and we're in a time where you know, people are being betrayed
There's injustice everywhere and I believe
People need a blueprint for vindication people need to see that God is their vindicator and
How do we go about positioning ourselves rightly to see God's vindication in any and every area of our life?

(02:13):
I think there's material on that in the body of Christ is sorely lacking and there was an opportunity to use part of my story
To inspire people that if God can vindicate me he can vindicate anybody
Well because you and I are friends and we work together on charisma for so many years
I know your story and it's one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard

(02:34):
I can remember thinking that back when I first heard it, but you were in
Prison your husband abandoned you
You got saved
Tell us the story of what caused you to need to be vindicated and how did God vindicate you?
Yeah, you know vindication really the story of my life it goes back to you know, I wasn't saved

(02:59):
I married a mormon didn't know that mormonism was not Christianity
He had his own issues and he came home one day just in a rage and
Began to throw plates and dishes. I became afraid and called the police
This was actually steve back at during the oj simpson trial this how long ago it was people

(03:22):
Sometimes people think I have to give that context because they think this happened to me five years ago
No, this was this was 25 years ago and the police came and they arrested me
And him and the officer the police officer and I want to say I believe most cops are wonderful cops
But there are some bad eggs out there just like anything else this officer

(03:42):
Because I looked kind of wild. I had crazy hair and all these things
She took exception to me and she said that she was going to accuse me or essentially
She said she started beating me and I said, please stop and she said shut up or i'm going to say that you hit me
And I said I I didn't hit you. I I please stop hitting me and she long story short

(04:02):
She arrested me charged me with resisting arrest with violence and battery and a law enforcement officer
And I was facing 10 years in prison and a few years later
My husband ran off with a woman about half his age and started a whole new family in central america
Never saw him again. I haven't seen him in 25 years and you know one thing led to another

(04:25):
I mean it was just every area. I had no credit. I had no money. I had no career
I lost literally everything and when I went to jail the bill glass ministry was there
And they were giving testimonies women were giving testimonies of how god encountered their lives and
That pricked my heart and I said yes to jesus and immediately just started devouring the word of god

(04:47):
So that's it. That's it in a nutshell
It's we go into it a lot more in the book and people's jaws will drop when they hear about the columbian drug lords
The the murder plots all of the things that I endured all the things I walked through and god is my vindicator
Well, I happen to know bill glass
We covered him in charisma. I
Spent some time with him got to know him had a lot of respect for his ministry and to think that it was his ministry

(05:12):
That impacted you and hopefully this book will be a little bit more
Will impact many other people
Before we get into talking about the book just walk through a little bit because here you you were so low
But the lord used you the lord raised you up because by the time you started working with us

(05:32):
At charisma magazine you were already in the prophetic. I can remember that
that's one of the things we liked about you because you you
understood the prophetic you understood the different ministries
And you could use your journalistic skill and you were a journalist. Tell us a little bit about your background
And you could help us cover it because charisma magazine is not just covering things like normal journalists

(05:56):
We're doing it from a spiritual perspective
So just walk us through a little bit and then I want to go through the book
It's got 30 easy to read chapters and I want people to be motivated to get your book
Yeah, you know I got saved in 2001 and I was very successful
I was very successful journalist at the time. I was actually working with cbs with a property called office.com

(06:18):
I was a project manager and I had about 30 writers who reported to me. I was very young
And I was very successful and when I got saved all I wanted to do was write for jesus
I thought this is my gift. This is what I want to do
But when I got saved, of course, I had no word in me had no root in me. And so I didn't have

(06:39):
Any experience I couldn't write I tried to write for joyce meyer ministries charles stanley
I was looking for someplace to write so
Over the years, I just kept doing my journalism thing and I ended up at the top
1% earners in my field as a freelance journalist in my realm. I wrote for real estate magazines technology magazines
As a single mother and was very very prosperous

(07:00):
and around about 2010 I had left a
abusive church a spiritually abusive church and I had been a freelancer with with charisma and
Um marcus yours actually and one of your editors actually sent me a blank email
You've never heard this story and the email was blank and I wrote back and I said, you know
Did you guys need something they said well our news editor has been reassigned and we're looking for a new news editor

(07:24):
Are you interested in the position and I said?
Yes, and it's not like it's a right for the lord. This is my dream come true right being a
Even writing for charisma magazine much less being on the editorial staff
Dream come true. It was the total hand of god and we started working together and over the years. I think we did some significant work
it was some of the
best years of my life in my career before I entered full-time ministry one of the thrills of my life and so

(07:49):
We did a lot of great things together and god, you know
You never knew this but you were actually part and your platform of charisma was part of of my dream
And i'll be forever grateful to you for that
And you were part of our dream too because you helped us to make the leap from
just print into online and

(08:09):
Got us on facebook and a whole lot of other things. I remember back in that era. We
You know, everything's happening so fast. It's almost like one or two lifetimes ago, isn't it?
Everything is happening. But let's get back to vindicated you god vindicated you there's a lot of people
Who have things in their lives where they want justice from god now?

(08:31):
Very few people would have the odyssey that you had exactly
But it in a way it doesn't matter because everyone's got problems and we can all get attitudes
We can let it affect us spiritually. We can uh, let it get depressed over it even fall away from the lord
So why does it in your book that you help will hope will connect with people?

(08:52):
I think one of the biggest things is
Not to try to vindicate yourself
Um, that's the temptation. It's the immediate temptation. That's what the enemy wants us to do because once we take vengeance into our own hands
Then we have forfeited god's vindication and one of the things I had to learn early on was forgiveness

(09:12):
You and my husband left
I mean I hated him hated him and not so much for my sake
I was we were having marriage troubles already. I was happy to see him go but not that way because it affected my daughter
You know, she then had no father that wasn't how I imagined the separation and I was so bitter
Steve that I he was a freelance photographer and I would handle his bookings and I would write my screenplays do different things

(09:39):
And they called me on the phone. They said hey, we'd like to book your husband to come shoot this, you know
Job and I said, oh, you know, he's he's dead
You know, I was so bitter. I said he's dead and they said oh my gosh. I'm so sorry to hear that and I said well
He had it coming to him and they were they were just shocked and silent. That's how bitter I was

(09:59):
And when we stay bitter, we can never get better and I had to
Really have an encounter with lord if I hadn't gotten saved
I probably would have been a very miserable person for the rest of my life
But god when he encountered me in that jail, I immediately forgave my ex-husband
And not only that when I got out of jail after the 40 days

(10:21):
When I got out of jail after god overturned all of the charges against me. I actually tracked him down in another nation
Because I was so concerned for his soul and I preached the gospel to him and he didn't receive it
But I was free and I was cleared and if you don't forgive you king
Get vindicated and I think that's a big issue in the body of christ with unforgiveness what you don't know what they did to me

(10:43):
Well, I might not know what they did to you
But I know what people did to me and I really truly believe i've got some wisdom from the lord on how to walk through this process
in a way
That positions you for double for your trouble
Triple for your trial for payback and that's what we're looking for the people the people can't pay us back
But god can pay us back if you'd ever told me I'd never pay us back

(11:05):
But god can pay us back if you'd ever told me I'd have been
The you know editor charisma magazine at what at one point that I would have a prayer movement in 100 nations
That I would travel the world
I never would have believed it god has repaid me far more than I ever lost and I believe this book really does hold the keys
And if you'll put them in place and turn them you will see god's justice in every area of your life

(11:28):
Well, I have interviewed many people over the years as you would know
Uh, not very often do I get to interview people who used to work for me in a matter of speaking
Even though you were literally a freelancer
But you were certainly part of our team for seven or eight years
And to be able to say I knew you back then and I remembered as I just

(11:50):
Heard about your story not from a book, but just from knowing you I was amazed jennifer
That you did
Your spirit seemed clear. Maybe i'm not saying it too well
Usually when people are bitter and have unforgiveness
Everybody around them knows it
But you weren't like that. In fact, it almost made your story hard to believe

(12:15):
As if you were exaggerating somehow, but I know you weren't
But let me ask you a question that I meant to ask you earlier
A lot of people might not literally know the definition of the word
vindicated
so
Why don't you tell us exactly what you mean and how it relates to the book?

(12:36):
Yeah, vindicated vindication is promised first of all throughout the bible. We have so many instances joseph david again and again
Vindicated vindication is when god takes up your case and rules in your favor. God is a judge, right?
He's not just the bridegroom the king. He's the judge not just the creator. He is the judge and

(12:56):
And when we say yes to his heart, he has a covenant with us and part of that covenant includes protection
You know, it's not just salvation. He's our judge. He is our defender. He is our protector
He has all of those things and he wants to make the crooked places straight
He wants to make the wrong things right and so when we

(13:17):
Roll that burden that care over on him and say lord, you know
What they did to me was I mean even as christians all of us all of you are watching
There people still do wrong things. Sometimes it's other christians that do wrong things to us
And when we when we say lord, you are a just judge righteousness and justice are are the foundation of your throne and I believe

(13:38):
That when you say vengeance is mine
I'll repay when you say that you will give me double for my trouble when you say you will you will you give me a two full
recompense
I choose to believe you and everything by with god is by faith
So what pleases his heart when we say i'm going to take my hands off
And i'm going to let you do what you do in due time and when we do that we're positioning ourselves

(13:59):
You know, sometimes it's speedy we get i've seen an indication in 24 hours other times it's been 24 years. So
Or in some cases, isn't it true jennifer that some people are not really
Vindicated until after their death
So they never really know about it
So have you seen people that have tried to take?
Vindication into their own hands and if so what happened?

(14:22):
It's always messy, you know, you can get a measure of vindication
The one way that people take vindication into their own hands is they when they're wronged they want to go tell everybody
What that person did to them thereby they have acted as judge and executioner they have
You know
Put their mouth on people they have demonstrated to god that I don't trust you as my vindicator

(14:44):
I want to do it my way and it's it's gotta be god's way or it's no way
Whatever measure of vindication you get by slander
It's not even slander if it's true. Technically you can tell everybody what they did to you
You can expose their faults and flaws. You can gossip and turn other people against them
That's the vindication you're going to get that's all you're going to get because once you take it into your hands

(15:08):
You've tied god's hand and he's he said okay if you're satisfied with that, but I can do so much better and i'm so grateful
By the grace of god that my grandmother told me on the day of her death
But great grandmother she said never hate anyone and I remembered that I remembered that I remembered that over and over that echoed in my heart
Never hate anybody because when there's hate in your heart

(15:28):
God can't do much with that. He still loves you go to heaven. You know, I mean, I'm not judging your salvation
But I am judging your vindication. You cannot get vindicated unless you do it god's way. It's the only way
Well, you know, this is good advice and you're talking pretty generally but I know in the book you get very specific
With steps to take and so forth. So as we wrap up this short podcast

(15:48):
What are if somebody's watching this and this applies to them?
There's something in their life that where they need vindication of some kind or they need to be able to
Deal with it like you were just talking about what steps can someone take to get from where they are to where they need to be

(16:09):
It's very simple. It's first of all forgiveness. The second thing you have to do is what jesus said pray for them
Why because they're going to reap if they do not repent and we want to be like jesus
We want to see people walking in freedom walking in joy
So we pray for them not get them god see what they know. We pray that they'll be blessed

(16:32):
So we forgive we pray for them. We bless them
and and and then we wait on god and see when you when you pray for somebody
It keeps your heart clean. So it's not it's it's not completely
Unselfish it's it keeps your heart. You cannot pray for someone consistently
And hold bitterness in your heart. So god has given us a great plan. You forgive

(16:54):
You pray even if you don't feel like it you bless them, which is to speak well of them
You don't tell anybody what they did
You know, this is the first time that somebody's been able to do this
You don't tell anybody what they did. You know, this is what joseph did if you read the story of joseph
He really modeled this
And he's a great example of how to walk through that process
And I do believe in the season that god is bringing justice swiftly

(17:17):
I just came through a season where it was one after another after another after another bam bam bam things
I've been waiting on for you know
You know years they just came in a flood of indication
It was right before we put out the the book and I do believe that god really wants to vindicate you
Even as much as you want vindication
But if you grab this book, you're going to see you're going to learn how to wait on vindication god's way you're going to learn

(17:40):
Vindication of the courts of heaven vindication from slander insults just about everything is covered
I've walked through it and I believe that by the holy spirit
I could lead you through that and when you grab this I believe with all my heart that you're going to feel inspired
And you're going to feel grateful because you're going to have hope and faith and that's what I hope it does

(18:00):
I hope that stirs it in you. I know it will
Well, I want people to get the book
It's actually being released on october 1st. I realized that on youtube many people
Watch this after october 1st. And of course, it'll be in bookstores
But until then you can pre-order it many places barnesandnoble.com christianbook.com

(18:21):
And so forth but amazon is probably the quickest way that most people would do it and I would encourage you to do that
And I want to wrap up
By asking you about a film that was made that actually predated the book
and after the interview is over we're going to show a little trailer of how people can see the

(18:42):
the movie that you started in
2020 so it's taken several years to come out and just briefly tell my viewers what you told me on how
the
Video actually led to the book coming out and what you hope to accomplish with the video and how and the obvious how people can watch it

(19:04):
So we did the video as my
It's essentially like an iam second style testimony and it tells the story of how it was kidnapped by columbian drug lords abused beaten
Almost sent to prison for 10 years
They wanted to murder my husband. I had to escape
Under darkness of night all that's in there. I've never shared these things before it's in the movie and I did this as an evangelism tool

(19:28):
So I was really hoping that my story would reach the lost and I still do and I believe it will
Um, and then I thought well, maybe write a small book to go with it
And then as that book developed I said, I think I have a lot more to say on this and it needs to go through a publisher
That will appreciate the message and and I chose to of course, you know charisma house
You know charisma house being my longtime publisher chose to you know approach you with this

(19:53):
And you guys grab it so we can you can watch the film the film is my story in depth and we've already got feedback
We've released it to a limited audience. It is inspiring people people were at sydney jacobs watched it. She said i'm in tears
and to see what god did and
You can find the film at jennifer leclerc dot org slash vindicated film
It is free to watch and we hope that many of you who watch it will donate so that we can get it translated to different

(20:17):
Languages and to really push it out there
We all have people in our families that don't know the lord and this story I believe will prick their heart
They will see god as a vindicator
And jennifer, I know you to be a woman of prayer and I want to end the podcast that way
So we're going to end this part of the podcast
And then afterwards i'll come back with a few comments and we'll show the trailer

(20:38):
for
The movie and so people want to stay tuned, but I think it's important that you pray
You know god is not limited by time and space like we are and even though you and I are praying today
You in south florida me in central florida. We're not even in the same room
That doesn't limit god does it and even though people are going to watch this wherever they are

(21:02):
Through streaming around the world
I just believe that something very special can happen and that's why I want to ask you to pray
Be my honor so father the name of jesus. I thank you for all those who are listening to the son of my voice
Those who need vindication now and those who will need vindication in the future
And I ask you father to help us to keep our hearts set upon you our mind stayed on you when we are wronged

(21:28):
Help us to cast those cares on you and to truly believe that you are a vindicator
Lord help us to renew our mind to your goodness to your grace to your ability to make the wrong things
Right the crooked place is straight help us lord to to press into your justice your way and resist every temptation
To self-vindicate take on victim mindsets

(21:48):
We break those victim mindsets in the name of jesus and I thank you lord for what you're doing because we know that our ladder
Shall be greater than our past and we give you all the glory in jesus name. Amen
That was a powerful prayer and thank you for staying tuned because I want you to see the trailer for this movie
The jennifer did actually as you just heard the the movie actually preceded the book

(22:12):
And I think it'll inspire you you can actually go on her ministry website and watch it
Get out the word share this with others. You know, there are a lot of people that need the story of
Vindicated they need to be vindicated. They want god's
Justice and jennifer leclerc's story will help them. So buy the book. It's available

(22:33):
October 1st, you can pre-order it on amazon.com
and again
Share this video and if you like the string report be sure to subscribe our subscriptions are going up every single week
Hits a little bell so, you know when we're on live every tuesday and thursday at 4 pm eastern time until you're done
God bless you. He came home and he was just in a

(22:57):
a rage
He started yelling he started screaming and I was afraid because I never knew him to be violent
I've never known him to act this way and he wouldn't stop. He was throwing bowls throwing dishes
And I ran into the room and I slammed the door and I locked it
And I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna die
But I ran into the room and I slammed the door and I locked it

(23:22):
I locked the door
And he broke it open
Now what happened next
I was completely unprepared for
Best-selling author jennifer leclerc shares her harrowing story of battling injustice

(23:44):
And walking through soul-crushing the trails
Her traumatic journey will captivate your heart and move you to tears
Before I knew it she put handcuffs on me put me in the back of the car I was thrown in jail

(24:08):
And they charged me with resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer
And her triumphant comeback against all odds will inspire your soul and build your faith to never give up

(24:32):
Jennifer gets real and raw with intimate details of addiction
Abandonment incarceration and ultimate vindication and a victorious life
A story of redemption that's filling people around the world with hope and courage

(24:53):
Vindicated jennifer leclerc's testimony from trauma and tragedy to triumph
Watch the vindicated film at jennifer leclerc.org slash vindicated film
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