"Keep Your Post & Do Your Duty!" w/ Pastor Manny Mill

Episode Transcript
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Manny Mill (00:00):
Thank you for this podcast,

Omar (00:02):
Yes.
We're

Manny Mill (00:02):
from Wrong To Strong, uh, father.
And we pray in the name of JesusAnd the power of the holy spirit
that you may use, sir, father,to advance the kingdom of Jesus
Christ, To make the kingdom ofChrist that seems so invisible
to many father become visiblefather.
Father, open hearts.

(00:24):
Open the eyes of people's heart,father.
Illuminate minds, father.
And I pray that they will becomereceptive to receive and retain
your truth And your grace tothis podcast, use a father in a
way that we had never seen,heard, Dreamt or even pray
before, father.
Above and beyond, father, thatyou will, father, with this

(00:46):
podcast, you will, father,surprise us To see many come to
Christ, to see many, father, beencouraged and be uplifted.
And, father, I pray that youwill surprise us.
surprise us, father.
I say, good father that you are.
I say, good daddy that you are.
You are Abba.
You are Adonai, you are a daddy.

(01:07):
So we commit this time to younow.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Hallelujah.

Omar (01:12):
Amen.
Amen.
Hello, everyone, and and welcometo another episode of Wrong to

(01:33):
Strong Chicago.
I'm your host.
My name is Omar Calvillo.
And right now, we're doing thefirst ever Podcast basically on
the road.
You know?
So, uh, we're me and pastor.
Uh, this is first of all, let meintroduce my guest, pastor Manny
Mill from Koinonia HouseMinistries.
Uh, I was able to connect with,uh, pastor Manny through a
friend of ours.
His name's, uh, Dean Valera.

(01:53):
Wanna send a Shout out to Dean.
We're praying for you, prayingfor your family.
You know, stay strong and keepkeep doing the Lord's work
wherever you find yourself.
Uh, but, man, pastor Manny MillDoes focus on primarily, uh,
it's through prison ministrythat he'd be doing.
So, uh, I'll I'll let youintroduce yourself, pastor.
Maybe share a little bit.

Manny Mill (02:10):
Thank you.
Well, thank you, Omar, for thisblessing of being able to be
with you, with all of youraudience, on social media That
you have, and I'm prayingalready that this will truly
explode, that God the fatherwill bless this with the Plus
the grace of the father.
Amen.

(02:30):
So my name is Manny Mill, m I ll, Manuel.
I am from Cuba, but I told Omar,earlier that I am a Christian
that happens to be Cuban.
Amen.
I don't let my culture dictateto my faith in Christ, but I let
my Faith incredibly take to whoI am now.
Amen.
So I I am saved by the grace ofGod.

(02:53):
I am saved by the mercy of ourfather.
He he invaded me with his grace,and Jesus Christ arrested as I
was running from the FBI.
I escaped from the FBI.

Omar (03:08):
Yeah.
We'll get into that part of thestory in a little bit because,
eventually, we wanna start atthe beginning, pastor.
Like, Where did you grow up at,and how do you how do you how it
ended up happening?
So we'll

Manny Mill (03:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I am I am thankful that I wasrescued.
I was arrested.
And God the father through hismercy and through Jesus Christ
his son, Now my savior, my lord,and my older brother gave me a
new beginning, and that's why weare here today.
Hallelujah.

Omar (03:36):
Amen.
Yes.
Uh, right now, uh, we findourselves actually, uh, uh,
pastor Manny's house.
We're out here in Wheaton.
I wanna thank pastor for, man,treating me to a a great
breakfast before we got here.
We, man, we we

Manny Mill (03:47):
keep you strong.
I

Omar (03:48):
hey.
I I Strong.
I don't know if that's good orbad because I'm gonna start
falling to sleep over here, man.
I don't know either.
Hey.
That that was a hearty meal, youknow, that we ate, but, uh, man,
it's a good breakfast, goodconversation, uh, prayer,
praying.
We were praying earlier how wewe want this to go, and, uh, Uh,
I was telling him too.
Every every time we start apodcast, uh, interview, we pray
before we start, and we ask theHoly Spirit to have its way.

(04:10):
Uh, not our will be done, butGod's will be done, you know,
and, uh, man, may, uh, whateverstory needs to be shared, uh,
whatever it is that ourlisteners need to hear, may the
Holy Spirit just lead us guideus, uh, but, uh, yeah, there's
so much we're gonna get into,But let's go back.
Where did your story begin?
Where did you grow up at?
And tell us a little bit about,

Manny Mill (04:28):
Began in Cuba.

Omar (04:28):
Okay.
Yeah.
Let's talk about that a little

Manny Mill (04:30):
island of Cuba, you know, right below, uh, Key West
And I was born in 19 56 justbefore Castro came into power,
Fidel Castro.
And as you know, Cuba was a verybeautiful country, and people

(04:50):
got greedy.
You know?
Many, dictators that came there,and Castro took advantage of
that.
So in 19 59, he took over, Andhe promised many things, like,
we're gonna give you milkthrough your faucet in your Sink

(05:13):
in the kitchen.
We're gonna give you everythingthat you need.
We're gonna make everybodyequal, you know, so people
believed him.
I mean, he was a verycharismatic guy.
So he came from the mountain atage 33 just like Jesus With a
beard With a very charismaticfigure, so people believed him.

(05:34):
You People fell for what he wasSaying.
But then he declare, that he wasa communist, and he took over.
So he took People's homes away.
He took away their businesses.
My father was a butcher.
He took that away.
My mom was a beautician.

(05:54):
He he took that away.
So it took us 11 years to beable to leave Cuba As a refugee,
so my father had to spend 3years in prison because he
wanted to leave.
Finally, he got out.
So I was 14 years old and 2months.

(06:15):
If I would have been 15 yearsold, I had to serve in the Cuban
military,

Omar (06:21):
At 15.

Manny Mill (06:22):
not knowing god then because my mother was a witch.
My mom was a medium.
She was a.
So all these mediums wentthrough her.
So we left Cuba to Spain toSpain.
We're there for 2 years.
I didn't go to school.
So from 14 to 16, I had 2 jobsIn Spain.

(06:44):
We left without anything.
I mean, nothing.
Nothing.
And then we had to wait there tocome to America.
So I got to this country when Iwas 16 years old.
I went to school.
I took, uh, ESL.
You know?
And then I accomplished whatpeople call the American dream.

(07:06):
I had everything going for me.
I played baseball.
I went to school.
I went to college.
I became the mayor, aids for thecity of Union City, New Jersey
William v Mostow, who was a verypowerful mayor and very powerful
senator.

(07:27):
And the other aide It's BobMenendez, who today is a US
senator for New Jersey.
So I did that.
I was the first Hispanic ever toput together Latin shows and
Latin cruises.
I became a womanizer.
I was the number 1 salesman inthe country for a little company

(07:49):
called Prudential.
So I had the money.
I had the I had the feet todance.
I became addicted to sex, tofemales, And females could be
more expensive than drugs andalcohol put together.
Amen?
And, uh, I used to go to NewYork City because, that was not

(08:12):
too far to Vito's Cafe.
And I have my own table there.
It it was the best Cubanrestaurant in the world.
So I went to eat there Everynight with a different female
every night, I went to dance,and then I went to sex because,
you know, that's what we want.
We want power, We want sex, andwe want money.

(08:33):
Right?
Those are the 3 big sins.
Right?
And my mom, in the meantime,Became a Christian.
She was born from above.
A lady from the center that shewent to, Talk to her about
Jesus.
Now I don't wanna go to church.
So finally, she went to church,and she heard the gospel of

(08:55):
Jesus Christ, and she wentforward, And she trusted Jesus.
And she came home that night.
This is something that's soimportant.
She came home that night, and Iwas there.
And she got the whole houseclean.
My mom doing the whole house ofall the idols, of the coconut,

(09:15):
of the cigars, Or the which is aCuban drink for the idols of the
handkerchiefs.
She cleaned the whole houseclean, she became a true
Christian.
And she began to pray for me.
But the more that she prayed forme, the worse I got it.
Yeah.
You say it.

(09:35):
Yes.
And and and and but she did notgive up.
She persisted.
She kept praying.
Father, if you don't, it won't.
Father, save my son.
I give you him to you dowhatever it takes.
So it took for me to become moregreedy For more money I mean, I

(09:56):
have 4 cars.
I remember, I had an Audi 5000,brand new.
I had a Cadillac Seville, brandnew.
Uh, the Lincoln Towne car, brandnew.
I had a Mercedes 3 80 SL, brandnew.
But I wanted more.
I had Italian shoes.
I had suits.

(10:16):
I had gold.
I had my name on gold Anddiamonds I had a watch with my
name on it too.
I had a you know?
Pinky finger.

Omar (10:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Manny Mill (10:30):
I was gonna Forget my name.
You know?
Yeah.
I was full of self.
Yes.
I was selfish.
But god allow all that tohappen, So I broke the law, and
I thought that I was god.
Because you see, when you don'tknow Jesus, you become god
yourself.
And God used that, that wasevil, to turn that around for

(10:53):
the good.
So I heard that the The FBI waslooking for me because I
basically took money from a bankthat I was not supposed to, but
I had the People and the powerand the connections.
And when I heard that they werelooking for me, I began to run
because whenever you get intoTrouble, what do you do?

(11:17):
You with a fight or you run likea chicken?
So

Omar (11:20):
and hide.

Manny Mill (11:21):
I was hiding.
So I went from country tocountry, and I ended up in
Venezuela.
And it was there after 2 yearsthat Jesus found Arrested me,
brought me back to faith andmusic of the FBI, you know,
right here.
Face the music of the FBI.

Omar (11:41):
Now what happened?
You said you were on the run.
You're in Venezuela 2 yearshiding.
What did did they somebody grabyou to come here?
Did you decide to come?
Uh, what what happened in youthat made you come back?

Manny Mill (11:52):
I opened the best Cuban restaurant in Venezuela

Omar (11:56):
Okay.

Manny Mill (11:57):
In Caracas.
Title, meaning the corner fromHavana.
I had a restaurant on top, 5star.
On the bottom, I had a Cubancafeteria With Cuban sandwiches,
papa rellena, croquettes, youknow, everything.

(12:18):
On top, it was chef, happy hour,everything.
I was there every day 13, 14hours a And there, my addiction
became stronger.
So I was the Cuban in Venezuela,And the Cuban culture is very

(12:39):
similar to the Venezuelan.
So my mom kept praying for me.
So 1 day, the FBI went to see mydad at the store that he used to
own in Union City, New Jersey.

Omar (12:55):
Okay.

Manny Mill (12:56):
And And the FBI sent a Hispanic agent because my
parent never knew English.
You know?
Union City is the third Cuba.

Omar (13:06):
Oh,

Manny Mill (13:07):
Cuba, Cuba.
You know, Havana, Cuba.
Miami.
Right.
You know, Florida.
That's the second Cuba.
On the third Cuba is Union City,New Jersey.

Omar (13:15):
I didn't know that.

Manny Mill (13:16):
is the most condensed city in America.
So they send The agent, he askedto to talk to my father, and my
father talked to the,

Omar (13:28):
The agent?

Manny Mill (13:30):
And the agent said, we are looking for your son.
Why?
So they told him.
Why?
So my father became very muchashamed, Ashamed that his son
was doing So he called me, andmy father did not believe in
Jesus.
I mean, he was a good worker,worked 17 hours a day, 7 days a

(13:52):
week as a butcher.
On his feet every day to Providefor his family.

Omar (14:00):
And, uh, could I ask you this?
The shame came because

Manny Mill (14:03):
Of the embarrassment.
yeah.

Omar (14:04):
Because he's a hard worker.
His his family Earns the moneythe hard way.
Right?
Like, the

Manny Mill (14:09):
And his son is being looked after by the FBI.
But my mother was praying.
You see?
Yeah.
God's ways are not our ways.
His thoughts are not ourthoughts.
And it's so it's about knowingthe who who knows the how and
the when.
We don't have to worry about thehow Although when we we have to

(14:30):
be worried about the who.
Let's get to know the who.
And the who is god the fatherthrough his son Jesus.
Amen.
And to obey his word withoutdelay.
So my mother prayed.
I I guess, you know what?
We're gonna do it this way.
You know, we're gonna do it thisSo my dad called I was on my way

(14:52):
to having sex with a lady Atabout 2 o'clock PM in the I have
my guy who I used to take mehere and to take me there
waiting for me.
And when he called me with mymother too, with my mother too,
Mani, your father is callingyou, you know, from my so I
turned around.
You know, it's a reversal.

(15:13):
Turn around.
I got the phone call, and my dadsays to me, if I die tonight,
Could you come to my funeral?
And my mother was praying, Andthat broke me.
I never cried.
I was a stoic.

(15:33):
I was a black belt in judo inCuba, our stoic, you know,
that's what you learn to to beand and and to learn to do when
you are Cuba without any god,without anything, so you become
god yourself.
so.
So that broke me down.
Because you see, I lied to myfather.
I told my told to my father, I'mhere because I wanted to open a

(15:56):
Victor's Cafe, you know, kind ofVictor's Cafe.
You know, like, you're uh, butbut that was not true.
You see?
A half of truth is a full lie.
You know what I'm saying?
So when he told me that, I brokedown and my mother Began to
proclaim the gospel of JesusChrist to me on the phone.
He said, Manolito, you havesinned against the holy God.

(16:19):
she says, god loves you.
He sent Jesus to die on thecross for you, to give you The
opportunity to be forgiven andto be reconciled to the father.
God the father wants to be yourfather.
You need to repent.
she said, you know what I mean?
To repent is to live.
Uh, man, those those words justcut me through cut me through,

(16:43):
and I wept.
I wept.
I just I mean, I was weeping forabout 2 hours.
Wow.
And I repented from my sins.
And when I did, it's like,something lifted up From from
me, and I became a newborn fromabove Christian.
that.
So something had happened.
But then she said to me, well,no need.

(17:06):
When are you gonna come back?
I said, come back where?
To America.
I said, well, you're crazy.
They're gonna be looking for me.
They're gonna be waiting.
They're gonna meet me at thegate of the airport.
You say it?
Yes.
Let me so but she said but butshe gave me my first Verse.
She gave me Hebrew 13 5.
She said, Marlito, the word ofGod said that if you trust

(17:29):
Jesus, The father will neverleave you.
He will never forsake He will bewith you.
And that verse, Just 1 verse inthe bible gave me enough courage
to muster the courage that Ineeded it to leave everything
behind The restaurant, theladies, take my wife then.

Omar (17:53):
you had a wife down there?
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.

Manny Mill (17:56):
Cecilia.
And my son, Manny Junior, whowas 5 then, and my youngest
daughter, Ceci that I was bornin Venezuela.
I never forget.
1 day, I got mugged by 2 guysthat took my money And my
passport I said, man, don't takemy passport.

(18:17):
Take the money.
So they they took everything.
So so I had to go back to theembassy To get my new passport.
I said, man, if I go to theembassy, they're gonna get me.
Yeah.
So I had to go through thatfear, You know that I you know,
when I saw a a white guy orsomething, blonde guy, I I
thought that, you know, theywere looking for for me.

(18:39):
You know?
So I I was in fear.
I had no peace.
But when I trusted Christ, I gotthe peace that Philippians 4
Talks about an promises thatChrist purchased that peace for
us, that we cannot understand.
So that 1 verse that my motherGet me from Hebrew, you know,

(19:02):
think

Omar (19:03):
was it?
Yeah.

Manny Mill (19:04):
which is a quote from Joshua 1 5.
When God told Joshua I was withwith Moses, I'm gonna be with
you too.
Amen.
That's a promise that God hasgiven to So I held to that
verse.
I held strong to that verse, andI came back with my wife, with

(19:24):
my kids at the FBI.
Yeah.
They were waiting for me at theairport in New York City.
Uh, yes.
I was arrested.
Yes.
I I went to Prison?
Yes.
But I got mercy.
I didn't get what I deserved.
I was Supposed to have received55 years plus the 5 years for

(19:47):
the escape.
I got 3 I mean, that was amiracle.
And god used me when I waslocked up to turn the whole
prison upside down.
So I mean, I didn't wanna fakeit to make it.
I wanted to be for real.

(20:07):
So he gave me the ability Andthen I knew that when you become
a Christian, you have within youthe holy spirit Who comes not to
pay rent, he comes to own yourhouse.
So, I mean, it has been atremendous journey for 37 I
mean, I've been an an amazingride of the father just giving

(20:29):
me and giving me and giving meand Showing me that he's a good
father.
Just like he gave you to me.
I mean, I I have no idea thatyou existed.
But here we are today.
Yes.
Glory to god.
Giving a Testimony.

Omar (20:40):
Yeah.

Manny Mill (20:41):
Amen.

Omar (20:42):
Amen.
Alright.
So so you ended up doing the thetime.
You get out.
What what happens?
Basically, I guess, what roadleads to what you're doing now?
Yeah.
I know we talked about earlier.
You're doing prison ministry.
Can you can you take us throughthat journey?
Maybe the beginning stages ofthat.

Manny Mill (20:57):
Well, I told you earlier that 1 verse From Hebrew
13 5.
I mean, that's my life versebecause I've seen how how god
works.
He's a father that if you obeyhim without delay and you take
true to his word And you do notgo back to Egypt, meaning to the

(21:22):
same, you know, lifestyle that Iused to have.
So I began, number 1, by trulygetting a new beginning.
So all of my old friends, My oldpeople that I they no longer are
my I'm saying?
Now they know who I am.
So I could witness but I'm notgonna go into what they do.

(21:46):
I'm saying?
Into who they are.
So by the by the grace of God, Iwent to prison.
My wife then left me.
My kids, Cecia and Manny Junior,I didn't get to see for 5 and a
half years.

(22:06):
So that was hard.
Because now I felt kind ofabandoned.
So here I am coming back doingthe right thing, And I lose my
wife and I lose my kids, but Igained Christ.
I gained Christ.

Omar (22:23):
At any moment during that, Did you question God?
Like, God, I'm serving you.
I'm seeking you.
I'm trying to do the right

Manny Mill (22:30):
I was new in the faith Yeah.
But I was all in.
I was all in.
I'll never forget my mentor, thelate The late Kenneth t Wessner,
who helped me get into WheatonCollege.
I was their first ex convictAble to attend Wheaton College

(22:53):
on the Charles w Colsonscholarship.
And it's another miracle how heand I met At the Hilton in
Washington DC as an inmate,Chuck Colson took me out of
prison for 2 weeks Against allodds.
See, my life is a life ofsurprises.
I mean, in my book, which iscalled Radical Redemption.

(23:16):
I'm saying.
In the back of the book, Iwrote, I could have been dead so
many times.
I always spend more money than Ihad.
I was always in over my head,and I was always involved into
too many things at once time.
And here's the clincher.
Everything that I did was withme in mind.

(23:38):
In other words, I believe in thehuman trinity, Me, myself, and
I.

Omar (23:43):
Why not?

Manny Mill (23:44):
most people do.
Uh, but I wanna die to self.
You see what I'm saying?
So so so by the grace of God, Iwas denied because Chuck Colson
heard Heard, you know, what Iwas doing in the prison.
I don't know if you guys knowwho Chuck Colson

Omar (24:00):
Okay.
There you go.
I knew I heard that name.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
I remember that.
He

Manny Mill (24:10):
Chief counsel to work at the White House, age 34.
He was a marine, Captains to 1of my sons right now, he's a
major commander.
You know?
Marine so Chuck Colson Became aChristian before he went to
prison.

(24:32):
And then his first book that hewrote was called Born Again, And
then he wrote 30 books moreafter that.
God used him to be the founderof Prison Fellowship.

Omar (24:42):
There you go.
Prison.
Okay.

Manny Mill (24:44):
he was my mentor and my father.
So he told me, he said, MannyMill, 2 things.
Keep your post and do your duty.
That's it.
Keep your post at the cross.
Sounds

Omar (24:54):
like a direction for the

Manny Mill (24:55):
Direction for the marine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then my other mentor, Thelate Kenneth t Wesner, who was
the board chairman for a companycalled ServiceMaster, Who was
the board chairman for WheatonCollege, who I met at the Hilton
as an inmate in Washington, DC.

Omar (25:16):
this scene.
How how are you at the Hilton asan inmate, I guess?

Manny Mill (25:19):
Let me tell you.
Yeah.
God surprised me.
And that's how we began thisPodcast.
Right?
So so I want the audience toknow That when you know God the
father as Jesus does, he becomesyour father.
And, therefore, for his own sakeof his glory, he needs to
provide for you.
He wants to provide for you.
He wants to protect you becausehe's a good You, as a father,

(25:44):
want to provide for yourdaughter, don't you?
And for your son.
Right?
Yeah.
Not all that they want, But youwill make sure that they eat,
that they are fed, that theyhave a home.
Right?
Because if not, you are what?
You are what was on an infidel.
Right?
So if we being evil know how togive good gift to our children,
how much more, right, Is yourheavenly father gonna give you

(26:07):
when you're asking for the holyspirit?
Right?
When you ask a s k.
Right?
As, seek and knock.
So by the grace of God, I wasdenied, and God used me to begin
a church in prison With theelders and deacons, I began a 3

(26:27):
prayer meetings a day.
I started a Hispanic church.
The church went from 12 guys to1 70 on Sundays, And we only had
400 guys there.
So God used me to reallyevangelize and to disciple.
So that was my foundation, youAnd when Joe Coulson heard about

(26:49):
what I was doing in there, hewanted me to go to Washington DC
to participate in what is calledthe Washington Discipleship
seminar.
So I was chosen to go toWashington, DC.
There's a picture in the bookabout that.
So when

Omar (27:09):
a you're an inmate and they

Manny Mill (27:10):
And he may he took me out for 2 weeks, and the
counselor And the manager deniedbecause I escaped from the FBI.
Yes.
Right.
But we prayed.
We prayed with my chaplain whogod sent him to the prison to be
my chaplain.
Before he got there, There was adead chaplain that we asking God

(27:35):
to remove them, and God removedthat.
So I became the chaplain as aninmate of the whole prison.
As an inmate.
So God used me for that too.
And then we prayed, me and thenew chaplain prayed, and God
removed The counselor that sayno.
And the case manager that sayno.
We brought 2 new people in, andwe had just a couple days to

(27:58):
spare.
They say yes to me, and the daybefore I had to fly to
Washington, DC, my permit camesigned from From DC from
Washington, DC, for me to beable to go to Washington for 2
weeks and meet Chuck Colson,meet Ken Westner and meet Billy
Graham.

Omar (28:18):
Wow.

Manny Mill (28:19):
There's 3 big ones.

Omar (28:20):
Yes.

Manny Mill (28:22):
So God used that Opportunity.
And then I met at the Hilton inWashington, the DC with about
800 people.
The speaker was Billy Graham.
I mean, where have you heard,you know, Billy Graham speak at
a banquet?
Never.
Right.
Always speaks to massive ofpeople.
Right?
But at that day, by thesovereignty of god, god put next

(28:46):
to me Ken Wesner, And he servedon the board of Wheaton College
and on the board of prisonfellowship.
So he was there.
Um, by the sovereignty you'vegot, I got right next to him of
all the people.
So he knew who I was.
So he said to me, uh, Manny, Uh,what are you gonna do when you

(29:07):
leave prison?
I said, sir, by faith, I'm goingto Wheaton Bible College.
I said, well, It is not WheatonBible.
It is just Wheaton College.
I said, sir, I know what I'mtalking about.
I just applied for thescholarship to Wheaton Bible
College.
So I kept going with that story,and he tells me finally, he said

(29:32):
to me, my name is Ken Wesner,And I'm the board chairman of
Wheaton College.
So I didn't know I didn't knowwhat to hide.
But we became good friends, Andhe got the influence on the
clout to be able to help me.
So by the grace of God, I wasreleased early from prison.

Omar (29:49):
But you you know what?
Let let let me ask you this.
You're this is in DC.
You're having this conversationwith him, but but Wheaton
college is out here.
Yes.
Illinois.
And you already you're inprison.
And and and what in what stateare you in prison?

Manny Mill (30:02):
In Pennsylvania.

Omar (30:03):
So you're in you're in prison in Pennsylvania.
You're applying you're applyingto a school in Wheaton, which is
outside of Chicago, Illinois,and you meet right next to you.
So

Manny Mill (30:12):
At the Hilton, at a banquet, only God.
Right.
Only God.
Oh,

Omar (30:17):
Yeah.

Manny Mill (30:18):
And I so I had no idea when I was gonna be out,
but God released me just on hesurprised me.
So this is something that I wantevery person that is locked up
or is gonna be locked up orlocked up, that when I left
prison by By a surprise.
With no money, With no place togo because I lost my wife and my

(30:41):
kids.
I look back.
I took a stop.
You know, where did it go?
Time out.
Right?
And I look back, and I said,man, where Where did it just
come from?
I came from prison.
So I came from Cuba, from a bigprison to another prison.
Why is that?
That's crazy, isn't it?

(31:03):
I mean, lost everything.
I had everything.
I lost my cars.
I I lost everything.
I lost my family.
I mean, what did I just do?
So the holy spirit said to me,say this.
He said to me, Say this afterme.
He said, Manny Mill, you willalways be an ex convict.

(31:26):
But by the grace of God, youwill never be an inmate again.

Omar (31:29):
Praise

Manny Mill (31:30):
Grace.
Grace is equal to power plusability.
When we pray, we partake fromthe grace of God to empower us
with the power that we don'thave.
See what I'm saying?
And that Grace is sufficient.
That grace is unlimited.
And second Peter 1 3 to 4 saysthat Prayer is when we become a

(31:54):
radical partaker of that grace.
As we enter into the inner gloryof God, the father, And we
partake from the holy throne ofgrace.
So that was something that Ilearned.
Now to To to develop it.
So so so when I met my goodfriend, Ken Westlake, he told

(32:19):
me, I'm gonna help you get intoWheaton, but you you have no
room to fail.
I said no room to fail.
What What do you mean by that?
I said, well, Manny, in life,you don't become a loser when
you fail.
You become a loser when youquit.
So he gave me good Good advicethat I stuck with me, which I've
been able to transfer and stop,like, I will always be an

(32:42):
ex-convict.
I cannot change that.
I mean, I have a number.
You too.
Yes.
Okay?
But by the grace of God, I willnever be an inmate again.
And you and I have seen So manyguys in prison come back again.
Right?
Why is that?
Do they like the C.O.'S?
Do they like the food and theand the celly?
I don't think so.
But they couldn't helpthemselves.

(33:04):
So we need to get our help fromChrist.
Christ has everything that weneed because it is he who shows
the father.
And the father gave even Jesuson the cross the holy spirit.
On the Holy Spirit, resurrectedChrist from the dead.
So he wants to make us who usedto be dead, We need to be

(33:29):
resurrected again by ChristJesus.
And to stay alive and toexperience life.
Life means what?
L.I.F.E.
Mean living in freedom every dayWith no fear.
Fear of what?
I mean, what can men do to me?

(33:50):
Nothing.
So that was the beginning Oh,the holy spirit is showing me
that the sky is the limit, thatI can do all things Through
Christ.
Yes.
So I've been to the mountaintop, Omar.
Uh, I mean but but guess what?
There's more There's much morecoming.

(34:11):
The best is yet to come.
I don't I'm just saying that.
I know that.
I believe that.
I believe that because you knowwhat?
God told me in his in his word.
So through all of thatexperience, I was released
early.
I came to Wheaton on May first88 on parole.

(34:31):
I had to ask my PO To give me apermit to come to Wheaton to be
interview.
Then I had to get approved bythe scholarship, Approved by the
college and approved by thepossible new PO here in
Illinois.
So I prayed.

(34:51):
And not to pray for theimpossible is to offend God.
can you

Omar (34:56):
say that again?

Manny Mill (34:57):
Yes.
Not to pray for the impossibleis to offend God.
You see?
If we only pray for a cold or aflu or And ear pain or whatever,
that might be resolved, youknow, naturally.
But when you pray For theimpossible, You know that God

(35:18):
did it.
Yeah.
You know that God that that onlyGod could do that, you're
saying?
And I think that we don't knowyet the size of our god.
So the sizes of your prayers Itspeaks of the size of your God.
And therefore, we need to prayin such a way that everything

(35:40):
that we pray.
In the back of my book, it'scalled Radical Prayer.
In the back of my book, Wewrote, when you pray, hallowed
be thy name, big things happen.
Now you tell me, Who does notneed something big to happen?
We all do.
Right?
We all do in all kinds of ways.

(36:01):
Right?
Because, you know, we haveissues, But our faith is weak.
Our belief is feeble, and it'sshallow.
And sometimes we don't believewhat we're supposed to believe
Because we listen to too manyvoices out there.
But what we have to believe thatwe need to Listen to the voice

(36:22):
of the Holy Spirit who is thereto reveal to us more of Christ,
of the mystery of Christ.
But Christ is the fullness oftruth and the fullness of grace,
and our objective is to be ableto learn to to live as a
Christian In the healthy tensionof grace and truth.

(36:45):
Not to deviate to the left norto the I as Joshua says, but to
stay in the path ofrighteousness, And we want your
audience to be able to learn Howto experience truth by knowing
the word, worshiping the fatherthrough Jesus Christ, and to be

(37:06):
able to pray.
Prayer is the engine.
The word is a fuel.
If we don't put the right fuelin the engine, then we cannot
move forward, you say.
And we're supposed to moveforward because we are walking
where?
Towards the promised land, e dat the end.

(37:28):
And we need to take the honeyand the milk.
And when you taste the honey,it's sweet.
When you think get the milk,it's delicious and nutritious.
We don't wanna drink Syntheticmilk.
We don't wanna eat Mickey Mouse,uh, honey.
We wanna eat I'm doing the realthing because Christ is the real

(37:50):
deal.
So I come to school at Wheaton,finally got worked it out.
God worked it out.
I I got accepted on thescholarship.
I got accepted on the school.
And by a miracle of God, againstall odds, I was transferring my

(38:10):
PO, allowing me to stay here.

Omar (38:14):
This was in New Jersey?
Were you paroled to or where?

Manny Mill (38:16):
Union City, New Jersey.
So I came here.
Yeah.
And both PO told me, ain't noway we can do this.
I said, okay.
Wanna pray?
God will make a way.
God the father will Make a way Idon't know.
Do we believe that?
You see?
Do we do we believe that God thefather can do a reversal?

(38:39):
Kindly think things about yousee, prayer is not just 1 thing
we do.
Prayer is what we do.
Prayer is who we are.
Jesus said, my house shall be ahouse of prayer for the nation,
you see, including their prisonnation, The jail nation because
the That's a nation.
You see?
So they gave me A big test.

(39:01):
So, yes, I got accepted.
I got transferred, but then Ihad to go through 1 test.
It's called High Road.
Think about that word, highroad.
Life is a high road.
Life has many turns and twist,Have any mountains.
Right?
So, I mean, they I never been Inmy life, camping.

(39:24):
I don't even know what campingmeans.
But part of the test that theygave me is called High Road.
So before they gave me the finalblessing, I had to go through 18
days on the woods, in the woods,In the woods.

Omar (39:40):
Is that by yourself or somebody else?
How did that look?

Manny Mill (39:42):
We had 8 people Okay.
In adult high road.
They sent me to Wisconsin and toMichigan 18 days outside.
I mean, to me, camping Was goingto the Hilton or to the Holiday
Inn Express.
I never knew camping outsidewhere you have tent, you have to

(40:04):
eat the food and cook the foodand don't take a shower for I
wanted to quit so many timesbecause I had to do rappelling.
I had to do climbing.
I had to bike in the woods.
I mean, my butt was so sore.
I mean and it was a drought.

(40:26):
It was July of 19 80.
It was a drought.
We couldn't even find water.
Wow.
It was crazy.
But I remember the words of mymentor, Manny, You have no no
room to fail.
That just kept ringing in my thewords of my other mentor, Manny,
keep your post and do your duty.

(40:47):
Manny, move forward.
Right?
So that was ringing in my ears.
But by god's grace, I madeAlright.
I I remember sleeping by therock without a mosquito net In
Michigan, by Lake Superior.

(41:08):
I never forget that.
Never never never forget that.
And the mosquitoes ate me up.
They found out that I was Cuban.

Omar (41:16):
Had a had a

Manny Mill (41:17):
they found out.
Forever.
The honey

Omar (41:19):
They they never had Cuban

Manny Mill (41:20):
The sweet blood the the sweet blood from the sugar
cane.
Right?
With the sugar cane.
Right?
They ate me up.
I said, wow, man.
That's crazy.
So I went through some and thenon the last day, said, oh, thank
you, father.
I made it.
So we get into this van, Droveus to the camp and they stopped.

(41:41):
Say, get out.
Say, get out.
Get out.
So I got out.
Run to the camp.
10 miles, I had to run to thecamp.
So it was a tough test.
But that was a big lesson.
So I've been on a high roadsince that day because God gave
us a difficult ministry.
And then I get to school.

(42:04):
Man, I didn't even know how tospeak English.
And I'm going to school.
I was in college Well, I had todo everything in English, in a
white culture.
In a white culture.
I'm Cuban.
You know, Christian, Abraham,and you.
So I had to learn to adapt tothe white collection in Wheaton.
It was crazy.

(42:25):
Write 18 papers for 1 class.
I had to read so many books.
I had to work 18 hours a day,send this a week.
I couldn't fail.
I just couldn't fail.
Um, and I was able to make theDean's list.
I mean,

Omar (42:40):
Yeah.

Manny Mill (42:41):
In the meantime, I have an opportunity to go to
Israel.
But but it was on parole.
I mean, how do you go to Israelon parole?
Right?

Omar (42:52):
Tell us.
I

Manny Mill (42:54):
how do you go to Israel, to Egypt, to Holland,
And to Greece, 4 countries withno money and on parole.
Think about that.
God made a way.
To talking about God giving me asurprise, he did.

(43:18):
He introduced me to my wifetoday, Barbara, of almost 35
years.
On parole in Mount Zion,Jerusalem at 10 30 at night.
And I was sleeping.
I can tell you stories afterstories.
They are here Okay.
In the book.

(43:38):
You know, not all of them.
Right.
But but that's a wonderful thatis chapter 9 Okay.
On my book, you know, RadicalRedemption, where I met my wife,
and She became my wife.
And she's a white woman, as youknow, from Philadelphia.

Omar (43:55):
Okay.

Manny Mill (43:56):
And she got to the school that I was going to From
Philadelphia at 10 30 at night.
And, usually, the the the littlebus That goes from the school to
the plaza to pick up people thatcome from out of town with the
luggages.
But only that night, Julythirteenth 89, only that night

(44:19):
only that night, the little busbroke down.
So they were knocking on ourdoors to get out of the bed and
to go and help these People thatjust came, you know, from
Philadelphia.
I didn't wanna get I didn'twanna get up.
I was sleeping Yes.
Because I had to get up earlythis morning To do a digging of

(44:40):
Roman tombs in our theology.
So I had to be up early.
So I wanna get up, but they theykept knocking.
So I got up.
And Barbara, my wife now, wasthe last lady or the last person
To to be helped because she wasThe leader of the group from

(45:04):
Philadelphia Bible College.
And she was going there to begina master's In Bible geography
and Bible typography.
But I distracted her.
So we met.
I was half asleep.
But when I saw her, I becameawake.
And I took her luggages, andI've been doing down now for 35

Omar (45:28):
Praise god.

Manny Mill (45:29):
her luggage to her room, And, uh, here we are.
Amen.
And she is what I call my humanholy spirit.

Omar (45:37):
Yeah.

Manny Mill (45:37):
Because without her, I cannot do much.
So she's the she is my liferight now.
We have 2 boys.
Together, we have 5 kids, Butshe's the mother of my kids.
So god reconciled me to Ceciaand to Manny Junior.
They're both Christians now.
amen.
And then God introduced me toSasha, to my fifth child.

(46:01):
I told you I was a womanizer.

Omar (46:02):
womanizer.
Oh, okay.

Manny Mill (46:03):
a womanizer, I want you womanizer, you don't know
what's going on.
Yeah.
I mean, you could be surprised.
Yeah.
You're you're exactly.
But Sasha is in this book.
She's on chapter, 10.
Okay.
So she found me, uh, some 20years ago, And now she's a
Christian too.

Omar (46:21):
Man, look at that.

Manny Mill (46:22):
her mother, who was my mistress, who was a singer We
with 1 of the big bands, uh, shebecame a Christian too Through
Satya.
And my 2 other kids, MannyJunior and Cessia witnessed to
Sasha, and through them, shebecame a Christian.
She got baptized, now she's aleader, in her church.

Omar (46:43):
Look at God.

Manny Mill (46:44):
meetings, alpha groups.
She witnessed to her mother.
And her mother is now aChristian baptized, have gone to
Africa, and now she wants to beinvolved in prison ministry.
Only God.
Yeah.
Tell so a little taste Yeah.
For the audience to see thatnothing is impossible for God.

(47:06):
You know, there's a verse thatreally has impacted me.
It's in the book of Jeremiahchapter 32 verse 27.
So talking about Prisons.
Right?
Jeremiah is in prison.
He's locked up underneathJerusalem About to be destroyed.

(47:27):
About to be wiped out.
And God asks Jeremiah.
So Jeremiah tell me, Jeremiah,is there anything too hard for
me to do?
Is there anything too hard forme to do?

(47:49):
And Jeremiah said no.
And that is 1 of my favorite,you know, verses.
Nothing is impossible for God.
Amen.

Omar (47:58):
Amen.
Amen.
So so, pastor Manny, you meetyour wife, married.
How did you end up KoinoniaHouse Ministries?

Manny Mill (48:08):
in 5 and a half months Wow.
For the day that we met.
She was in Philadelphia.
I was in Wheaton.
I was a poor student.
I'm still poor, but I'm wealthyin Christ.

Omar (48:20):
poor teacher.

Manny Mill (48:23):
So so so we got married on the sixth of January,
3 Kings Day.
Right there.
So we got Mary on that day, on abeautiful day, 50 degrees, sunny
day, You know, in Philadelphia.
we came to Wheaton, and Icompleted With her, my master's

(48:43):
degree so so I got a BA.
You got a master's degree.
So and I was ordained 35 yearsago As a minister, I had to do
my thesis and to defend it, youknow, publicly and everything.
So God the father prepared mefor the ministry.
And my goal, my my goal Okay.

(49:05):
My goal was to become a federalprison chaplain To follow on the
footsteps of my other chaplain,My chaplain's name was Manny
Cordero.

Omar (49:17):
Okay.

Manny Mill (49:18):
And he was so good to me.
He was my mentor, my teacher.
He helped me out in so manyways.
Through him, I was able to getto Wheaton College too.
So so he became a wonderfulfriend.
So At that time, there was only2 bilingual chaplains in the
country for the feds, For the,uh, BOP.

(49:40):
So so I went to be the third.
So I got to get my BA Degree andmy master's degree and be
ordained and all of that.
So I did all of that.
And then god said to me, no.
You are too proud.
I'm gonna have to humble yousome more.
You see, humility is to aChristian, like garlic is to
Cuban black beans is the mainingredient.

(50:04):
You cannot be a Christian, aneffective Christian, without
humility.
We have to Anchor, our consciouson the cross.
Christ humble himself.
Therefore, we must as well.
Christ washed his disciples'feet.
Therefore, we must do the sameas well.

(50:25):
John 13, you So God said to me,no.
You're not yeah.
You got the degrees now.
That's okay.
You got the degrees right now.
That that's all good.
All that and all that that youhave, but you're too proud.
So he told me, we're gonna begetting a house.
A house for what?
For ex-convicts.
So we began to search if therewas something like that in the

(50:49):
country.
We couldn't find We couldn'tfind it.
So we became the pioneers inpost prison ministry.
Because if I say to you or toyour audience, I love you, what
do you mean by that?
So As we look at society todayand even now more than then, you

(51:10):
know, when we began almost 35years ago, the family is broken.
The devil is not playing games.
He's demons are not playinggames.
They want to kill Christians.
They want to steal our joy, andthey want to destroy the family.

(51:31):
And they're doing a good job.
They're doing a very good job.
Gangers I mean, gangsters, gangbang.
What is it?
A gang is a Mickey Mouse family.
A gang is a pseudo family, Wherethey get you in there, in this
gang, and they tell you thatyou're a family.

(51:52):
Right?
But you're not.
But you're not.
They're lying to you.
So so we have to recreate whatthey never had.
Uh, most people in prison neverhad a family, never had a
healthy family.
They had Chaos.
They have messes.
Right?

(52:12):
But god the father want to takeyour mess and give you his
message.
Right?
So we said, you know what?
If we're really gonna love thesethese neighbors, we need to
create a model that Introducethe family.
A house in a neighborhood thatthey never had.
So so my wife and I, We had noidea where we were doing, but we

(52:37):
knew that if we're going to saywith the with integrity, I love
you.
I have to love you with what youneed.
So God gave us the grace and theability to be able to put
together A gospel driven familypost prison ministry model.

(52:58):
And that is That Christ camefrom heaven as god and became
man.
Right?
And he came to tabernacle withus.
But he came equipped.
He came with what you cametoday.
You you came with yourmicrophones.
You came with your camera.
You came with your cables.
You came with your knowledge.

(53:20):
You came with your headphone.
Right?
You came equipped.
Right?
Yeah.
Well, if we're gonna serveothers As Christ did, we have to
be equipped, right, with whatthey need, not not with what we
want.
People say, well, I'm gonna giveyou Jesus.
Well, what what kind of Jesusare you gonna give know, what
you're gonna do for me?

(53:40):
You know, what do I get when Iget Jesus?
Right.
So my wife and I began thisministry.
And, Omar, The the moment thatwe announce it, the devil
declare war on us.
I was now prepared for it, butmy mentor told me, Manny, you

(54:03):
have no room to fail.
Colson told me, Manny, keep yourpost and do your duty.
So those words, those thosestatements, They're ringing my
head every single day.
And now I have a new mission.
I don't wanna bring my fatherany shame Any shame.

(54:25):
You know why?
Because Christ took our shame sowe would not be ashamed.

Omar (54:32):
Amen.

Manny Mill (54:33):
Meaning, we are no fear, but we have to have
humility, and we have to beteachable Yes.
Unaccessible.
and willing.
Right?
So we began this house inWheaton, Illinois Well, we have
so many Christian churches,well, we have Wheaton College,
well, we have this all theseChristians.

(54:56):
But then I was surprised becausethe moment that we got this
house and we checked with thecity of Wheaton And you met
today at the restaurant, theformer city manager, Dan Rose,
who gave me nothing but hell.

Omar (55:13):
You know what?
The that's that's not acoincidence.
Right?
That you you wanna you you wannatalk about that that part of it?

Manny Mill (55:20):
I mean, he was right next to us.
Yeah.

Omar (55:21):
Yeah.
So I'm I'm I'm there.
I'm I'm at the restaurantwaiting for Manny, and there was
a a man, like, on the on themove yeah.
Yeah.
2 men.
They were right on the side ofus.
And you had your conversationwith them.
And afterwards, you shared thehistory.
So you wanna share that?

Manny Mill (55:33):
Well, um, we had to sue the city of Wheaton.

Omar (55:38):
And I even got to see the letter they sent you.
He wants to talk about theletter.
You still got it framed in youroffice.

Manny Mill (55:43):
I have it be because hell broke loose.
Um, every church in Wheaton,every neighbor in Wheaton,
didn't want us Not not

Omar (55:54):
you, but the people you were bringing in.
Right?

Manny Mill (55:55):
Exactly.
It's it's it's who yourepresent.
They don't want they they mightthey might want you, but they
don't want you to bring Christwith you.
what are you gonna do?
Are you gonna take a stand?

Omar (56:11):
Can't leave Christ behind.
Right?
Hey.

Manny Mill (56:13):
It it can't.
But we do because we compromise.
We compromise too much.
In America, we compromise toomuch.
We no longer mention sin becausewe don't wanna offend people.
No longer do we proclaim thecross.
No.
No longer do we declare that wehave a Jesus that came once

(56:34):
already.
We're gonna come back again Forthe holy bride, we don't
proclaim that.
I mean, you can live any waythat you want.
And we proclaim a Christ, youknow, many times, who wants to
Just follow you.
No.
No.
No.
You follow him.
mean, I mean, he didn't come.
I didn't come to take the monkeyfrom you back so you can do

(56:56):
whatever you want.
No.
It's about becoming like Christ.
It's about carrying the crossand walking forward and dying to
self and becoming humble, you SoGod had to humble me.
Be I still had too much self inme.
And, unfortunately, today, manyof the people that are, You

(57:16):
know, proclaiming the gospelfrom the pulpit, but it's too
much self in the gospel.
Too much of self in the gospel,So when we opened this house,
the city of Wheaton went crazy.
And let me tell you, I have noidea what to So I adopted second
Chronicles 20.

(57:37):
That's the story of kingJehoshaphat Well, when he was
being attacked by everybody, youknow, Egypt, Jordan, All the
Arabs country in saying, comecoming against the king, you
know, Jehoshaphat.
And he gathered everybody, andhe they fasted and they prayed.

(57:59):
And they sought the Lord.
They sought the father, Yahweh.
And God said to him, I got this.
Prepare for war, but you youwon't have to fight.
I wanna fight for So soJehoshaphat said to him, I have
no idea what to do, but my eyesare fixed on

Omar (58:21):
Yes.

Manny Mill (58:23):
And that was the victory that god gave us that
for 5 years, we had to fight infederal court.
I mean, just to pay for thelawyers in the middle of the
fight, but we never we nevergave up.
And they shut the house down,but we gotta open again.

(58:44):
God gave me lawyers Um, peoplehe provided for me.
God surprised me with the rightpeople.
And for the first 5 years, meand my wife, never took a day
off because we were on thepapers every single Day.
I'll never forget ThanksgivingDay 19 91.

(59:06):
First page, headlines, ChicagoTribune.
Halfway from prison, but no wayin Wheaton.
I had no idea.
And the neighbors said to us,we're gonna kill you.
So okay.
You know, make my day.

(59:27):
Yeah.
So so, I mean, it was a real warRight.
In Wheaton.
But God gave us the victory, andthen we were we're able to
create this model for the gloryof God that has been Copy all
over the country.
Because you see, if we made thebaby in prison or in jail and we

(59:50):
don't take Care of the baby whenthe baby comes home from the
hospital.
That's not a gospel.
Yeah.
There's no hope in that.

Omar (59:59):
You you know, you wanna talk about making the baby.
What what does that mean?
What what what do you

Manny Mill (01:00:02):
means well, that's a big topic be because today, we
wanna be evangelist.
Look how many people came toChrist because of of my sermon.
Really?
Is it your sermon?
No.
You didn't give any sermon.
We don't come to Christ bebecause we made the choice or
because we made it happen.
No.
We've been chosen.

(01:00:23):
The bible says, I chose you.
You didn't choose me.
Yes.
Right?
You know what?
You know, in John 15, I gave youmy life.
You didn't give me your life.
He gave us his life.
So when you become a Christian,you become a stewart, you become
a keeper Of the life of Christin you, and that will make you

(01:00:44):
think twice before you sin.
Yeah.
So to make the baby is toevangelize, but then when the
baby is born again, right, then,you you know, Then you have to
take care of the baby.
You have to disciple.
Right?
Because we have been given, as ababy Christian, as a mature

(01:01:05):
Christian, we've been givenwhat?
To fulfill what?
The great commission.
To teach him to obey everythinghe has commanded.
Right?
You know, where's everything?
The entire word of God.
And therefore, we better knowwhat God's word said.
I mean, you just cannot keepteaching the same thing every

(01:01:25):
day.
And you cannot keep givingpeople the story That happened
10 years ago.
That won't do anything.
We we must have a new testimonytoday.
You you don't wanna eat old foodfrom the freezer.
You want for your wife when youget home today to cook you a
fresh meal.

(01:01:46):
Right?
Well, we need to give people afresh meal today from the word
of God.
And John 6 says That Jesus isthe bread of life.
And he's delicious.
K?
He's better than than the blackblack beans and rice, Better
than Tostones and Maduros andRoba Vieja and Flanko and Coco.

(01:02:09):
He is Delicious.
You see?
But we have to serve it forpeople.
And when they eat from thatbread, man, they want more.
When you drink for that milk,they want more.
When you drink for that honey,they want more.
But we have to provide themJesus honey.

(01:02:29):
So we cannot deviate from thetruth and the grace of the
gospel.
You see?
So we have We could neverdivorce that that we don't
today.
Evangelism from discipleship.
And the most beautiful thing onthat verse, 20 from Matthew 28
is that It says, I'll be withDon't worry.

(01:02:54):
I'm with you.
So It is about what?
It's about God's presence, 1 ofthe guys that you know, Rodney
Massey, Say this.
I quote, he said he said,production Minus presence is
equal to pride.

Omar (01:03:16):
My my Minus God's presence.
Right?
Right.
Yes.

Yeah.
Yeah.
You know?
So so so we wanna make sure thatwe don't know all this
production that we have in thechurch today.
The smoke and the and the lightsand the music and all this
stuff, like, looks like theworld.
No.
We we we are serving a holy God.

Omar (01:03:37):
Reminds me of Moses when he said, lord, if you don't go
with us, do not send us up fromhere.
Right?

Right?
Chapter 33 and 34 from Exodus.
Yes, sir.
Because you see, we the devilThe devil's gonna give you
everything that you want, but hewas in a change of your soul, of
your soul.
And, unfortunately, many peopleare serving the devil in Jesus'

(01:04:07):
Many people today, uh, givingthemselves to the devil,
thinking that they are servingJesus when in fact, they are
Making idols of people and idolsof themselves.
An idolatry, God will not allowit.
I mean, Moses got fired.

Omar (01:04:23):
Yeah.

He got fired because he failed to get the name of the
father hallowed.
In other words, he became godfor the moment when When when
the people were angry, you know,asking for water.
Yeah.
I said, you want water?
You want water?
So he hit that rock 3 times.
you cannot You cannot do that.

(01:04:45):
You're not So we cannot becomeGod.
I'm saying.
So god used that house for 10years to begin to prepare me for
ministry.
So we have been very, veryblessed to be able to help many,
many, many, the country andaround the world.
I'm saying.
And then but you see, even evenwhen you see god's glory,

(01:05:11):
Sometimes we forget.
If if I have to tell you 1 wordthat That's gonna bring the
whole Bible together in summary.
It's 1 word, remember, becausewe forget too quickly.
That's why we have to doCommunion the right way.
To remember the sacrifice thatGod did for us through his son

(01:05:32):
Jesus, that he crushed his sonon the cross for us.
And what we believe in thesacrament also of what of
baptism.
Right?
Because we have to die and liveagain.
Right?
But sometimes, we getdistracted, and we get too busy.
And that happened to me.
That happened to me.

(01:05:53):
So that's why this book, RadicalPrayer, because Even with my
testimonies, even with myblessings, even with everything
that I saw, I forgot.
And I began to say, oh, maybeit's me doing it.
Maybe.
I don't need God too much.

(01:06:15):
So I began unconsciously.
I mean, It happened so quickly.
I mean, so fast.
I mean, it happened so withouteven thinking about You know?
Because there's so muchdistraction from the world.
There's a magnet out there thatis trying to to to To distract

(01:06:37):
you and to take you away fromthe cross and begin to exalt the
flesh.
say it?
So I began to treat god thefather, Omar, like a paramedic,
Like a paramedic.
In other words, I came only tohim with a 9 1 1 And god said,

(01:07:02):
really?
I bless you so much.
And you're gonna treat me like aparamedic?
You don't want for your daughteror your son to come to you for
the 20 dollars Or for the keysof the car.
You wanted to be with you justbecause you are their father.

(01:07:23):
Just to be with you.
Right?
But sometimes we come to thefather not for who he is, but
for what he has.
And that's wrong.
That's sin, isn't it?
Yeah.
Right.
Because that means I'm going tomisuse my father.
That's not right.
Right?
So that's what I did.

(01:07:43):
Yeah.
I was preaching.
I was going to prisons.
I was writing everything else,but I was too busy doing
nothing.
It's like when you shoot 3points.
And look at me.
10 of them in a row.
Shoo.
Shoo.
Shoo.
But your foot was on the whiteline.
don't don't count.

(01:08:05):
Don't count.

Omar (01:08:06):
Wow.

Don't count.
And then you don't even hear thewhistle.
You don't even hear the whistlethat you are so deaf that you
don't hear the whistle.
Can't do that.
That's prohibited it's notcounting.
But didn't I serve, didn't Iknew you, no.
I never knew you depart from me.
That's scary, isn't So God, inhis mercy, though, we were

(01:08:32):
eating A restaurant that you andI wear to today on the other
room with 6 people, I just comeback from speaking At a at a
reentry summit packed with allthe chief of the prison system,
all the Wardens, everything wasa big deal.
I came back late that night.
The next morning, I had a guythat came from Angola, Louisiana

(01:08:55):
to to the Koinonia House.
I wanted to To meet with him andwe had a few other people that
came to the to the meeting, Iwas 87 pounds heavier than I am
now.
We only had 1 car then, So mywife had to go to the post
office and then back to theoffice.
That was 3 weeks before a bigBanquet to raise money for the

(01:09:15):
ministry.
And so I had 1 of my guys cameto pick me up here to my house,
and we went to the meeting.
And my wife passed by therestaurant, so she saw me.
I didn't see her.
And, uh, I had a phone call But11 20 in the morning.
What was was the police?

(01:09:35):
So when the owner called me,Manny, a phone call who?
The police.
I said, I wanna talk to the No.
You have to go.
So I did.
The lady officer says to me, isyour name Manny Mill?
I said, yes.
He said, well, Your wife wasjust involved in a car crash.

(01:09:58):
My heart, whoo, went to my To mythroat.
said, where?
So she told me Willow and May.
I said, Willow and May.
Where's Willow and May?
We're just 4 blocks away.
So my friend Bill took me 1 ofthe and I went to the scene of
the crash, And there was a carthat we just received from a

(01:10:19):
donor, brand new car, tilted, onthe street, on the middle of
Main Street, a lady took a redlight and got my wife hit in the
middle of the 2 doors.
The the car flipped, and thereshe was trapped in the car for
90 minutes bleeding.
But yet, she was singing hymns.

Omar (01:10:41):
singing

You see, as a husband, as a Christian husband,
We are the mantle of our wives.
We are the covering of our Sohow do we do that?
By praying for her.
I had forgotten to pray for mySo my wife, as you know, lost 3
fingers.
She almost died.

(01:11:03):
She didn't die for my benefitand the benefit of my kids and
for God to teach me a lesson andto awaken me So that was the
first of 3 stories in this bookthat God show me, And he gave me
an awakening.
And then the third story is Iwas in a cabin because I was at

(01:11:28):
this conference with 2000pastors, and I was not gonna go,
but my wife forced me to gobecause she knew that God was
beginning to work in me in a newway, in a first way.
He was awaken And I went to thisconference about prayer For
pastors.

(01:11:49):
And for 4 days, we talked aboutprayer, but we never prayed.
So I came home The stress.
And I asked my wife if I couldgo to a cabin that 1 of the
members of the board had.
So I was there a few days.
But the first hour that I gotthere, God's God said to me Said

(01:12:11):
to me, kneel down.
I wanna talk to And he showed mewhen he fired Moses in
Deuteronomy 32.
And he asked me, tell me 1reason why I should not fire you
I had no reasons, I began toweep again.

(01:12:32):
I never wept until the firsttime.
This is the second time that Ireally And I asked him for
mercy.
He did not give Moses a do over,but he gave me a do over.
And he told me, lose the weight.
Write the book.
And I want every sermon that youget from now on is about prayer.

(01:12:55):
Every book on the Bible, you'regonna but you're gonna speak
about Prayer and what it means.
So now we do prayer conferences,So so we wrote the book and
Moody published it.
I mean, You know, what is aCuban refugee doing a book on
prayer?
That's crazy, isn't it?
But God in his mercy, He askedme to do the book, and now it's

(01:13:20):
also in Spanish, so we've beenall over the world.

Omar (01:13:22):
Amen.
Praise God.

teaching people in prison and out of prison to
pray.
Because if we don't pray,nothing happens.
Nothing happens.
You know So God gave me an A doover.
I I can tell you, don't you doit again.
Don't you ever treat me againlike a paramedic.
So when you come on a Thursdaynight To R.T.O.

(01:13:45):
You know, radical time out isbasically a unique prayer
meeting, you know, Because wepray to love, and we love to
pray.
Be because, really, I cannot doanything for you.
Yeah.
But but I know the father

Omar (01:14:00):
Yeah.
Know someone who could.
Right?

Right?
Who could.
Yeah.
And who wants to.
Yeah.
Because he wants to save us.
He wants to bless us because he,along with the Holy Spirit and
Jesus, he made us into the imageand likeness So we can bring him
glory.
And if you become a Christian,you wanna be filled with the

(01:14:25):
glory of Of God.
So I see his mercy.
I see his grace.
I have experienced it.
I experience his his love andhis new beginning.
So anybody here today can have anew beginning.
I don't care who you are.
I don't care what you've done.
Every sin that we have committedwas paid for by Christ Jesus.

(01:14:51):
Past sins, Present sins, futuresins, his blood that he shed on
the blood, every drop wasefficacious.
In other words, it was effectiveto make the payment that the
father required for us to besafe from the justifiable wrath
of God, So I am glad that we'redoing this

Omar (01:15:14):
Oh, yeah.
Not

only to give a testimony, but to educate Yes.
The church, To equip the, youknow, the church because people
are asking questions.
People need to receive the rightanswers to their question.
You know?
The the the there are 5 basicquestions that we all have To

(01:15:37):
And only the Bible gives acohesive answer, meaning It puts
it together.
Only only Christianity doesthat.
Not the Hindus, not the Muslims,not the Bahad religion.
Only the Bible, new and oldtestament.
Only the Bible.

(01:15:57):
Number number 1, origin.
Where did that come From number2, purpose.
Why am I Number 3, morality.
You know, what's right andwhat's wrong.
And today, even people in thechurch, they're doing the wrong
thing.
Number 4, destiny.

(01:16:20):
I mean, we're all gonna die.

Omar (01:16:23):
But where are we heading afterwards?

Exactly.
And number 5, justice.
So Mark, Macy, and I wanna doour third book.

Omar (01:16:32):
Oh, no way.
You guys are working on it?

It's called Radical Justice.
So we had, you know, radicalredemption and radical prayer,
radical Because at the cross,God's justice and mercy kiss.
The gospel is a love affair.
And god the father wants toinvite us to enter into into the

(01:16:58):
same love that Jesus and thefather have together without
interruption or destruction.
That's the And, usually, we getinterrupted by our sin.
My dear friend and my dearmentor, John Piper, says this, I
quote, that Sin is the suicidalabandonment of joy, end of

(01:17:24):
quote.
Sin is coming to god and saying,no.
Thanks.
I can handle And if we're onlywith each other, if we're honest
with each other today, not onlydo we need to repent Because we
come to the father many times asa paramedic.

(01:17:45):
I'm saying.
We must repent, you know, fromBut, also, the fact that we
don't bring God the glory thathe deserves.
And Many times, we tell God wedon't need then

Omar (01:18:05):
we might not say it, but by the things we do or by the
things we don't do, we'rebasically saying it.
Right?

Well, look at the condition of our society.
As the church goes, societygoes.
When I go to Chick fil A I wasjust there.
I just came back from GrandRapids, Michigan.
So my wife and I had a quickdinner, and And we went to a

(01:18:34):
Chic Fil A in Michigan Yeah.
In Grand Rapids.
Have the same menu, the sameuniform, the same sauces, The
same service is our pleasure.

Omar (01:18:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.

The same language.
Right?
Yeah.
The same restaurant, the samecolors.
Right?
We go to a church today inChicago or in Wheaton or in
Grand Rapids, and you don't knowwhat you're getting.
In a Chick fil A, you know whatyou're getting.
You know what you're getting.
You know the menu.

(01:19:11):
Well, what is our menu in thegospel?
What is our menu?
What is that we're proclaiming?
You know, what message are wesending people?
What hope are we giving them?
You see what I'm So we have toproclaim the same message.
I'm going to call sin sin Amen.
We are not to be afraid toproclaim the gospel.

(01:19:32):
But for me, To live is Christ,and to die is gain.
You know, Philippians 1 21.
And so we want this podcast notonly to get people encouraged,
but to get people equipped to Tobecome hungry to go after God

(01:19:53):
and his word and to worship Andto adore and to hallow his and
to pray.
Prayer is a relationship.
Prayer is a lifestyle.
Father, I want to pray all thetime.
Yeah.
I wanna be like Paul.
You're gonna pray withoutceasing.

Omar (01:20:13):
Right?
Yeah.

And I want to pray.
Why?
Because I wanna get the name ofthe father hallowed.

Omar (01:20:21):
Yes.

I wanna make him happy.
Your biggest gift every day isfor your daughter and your son
to make you happy.
If they make you happy, ifthey're going to school, getting
good grades, if they arerespectful to you and to your
Wife to all the people, uh, theydon't give you headaches.

(01:20:43):
You would do anything forAnything for those father too.
The father will bless The morethat you bless him, the more
that you open, He will open thegates of And I said, what do you
What do you And you said, Idon't want I just want your And

(01:21:06):
when you want the father and youfeel and sense his presence And
you're filled with his glory?
You are complete.
We don't need to be seekingPeople today are seeking Christ
and then some.
No.
No.
No.
It is not Jesus plus.

(01:21:26):
It is Jesus period.
exclamation point.
Jesus is our all in all.
He's not first.
He's not at the center.
I said To you before that, ourfaith in Christ does not go
against logic, reason, norreality.
It makes sense when you become aChristian.

(01:21:48):
And then you become your ownliving apologetics.
In other words, You don't needto use all these scholastic,
defensive tools to defend yourfaith.
No.
I was blind, but now I see.
I was lost, but I've been found.
I was dead now.
I'm alive.
I gave those 3 evidence.

(01:22:09):
There's no argument, isn't it?
So we wanna be a walking gospel.
We wanna be a walking bible.
We wanna be a credible witness.
Right?
Remember the 5 c's?

Omar (01:22:21):
I remember some of them.

percent.
Most

Omar (01:22:24):
courageous, consistent, uh, commited?
it?

Committed.
yeah.

Omar (01:22:31):
Uh, I would yeah.
I I got 3 out of 5.
Not bad.
Right?
Credible, wasn't it?
Christian.
Oh, credit.
Okay.
Got it.
Can you can you say him againthe way you say him in that

We have to become credible, committed, Courageous
Christian.
And let me define for youraudience the word courageous.
Courage means, according toJoshua, Is doing what is right

(01:23:00):
in the eyes of the LordRegardless of the consequences.
That means that we have totrust.

Omar (01:23:09):
you you gotta say that 1 again.
That

Courage is courage is doing what is right.
Doing what is right In the eyesof the Lord, of Yahweh, of the
father, of Adonai, It doesn'tmatter What the consequences
It's about having the rightbelief With the right conviction

(01:23:36):
to be compelled that no matterwhat, wanna stand firm for And
he promised to be with I mean,Stephen Stephen was the first
what?
The first martyr.
And who was there?
The apostle Paul a serialkiller.

(01:23:57):
But that was, I believe, thebeginning of the conversion For
the apostle Paul.
Because he saw a real Christian.
He saw a real man of God.
So that blood That was shed by amartyr was not shared in vain.
And your testimony and mytestimony to be credible, have

(01:24:23):
to be have to be committed tothe Christ crucified.
Christ resurrected him comingCannot And to be prepared At the
bread of Christ because he wentto prepare what?
A honeymoon suite.
He went to prepare a honeymoonsuite Because he's the groom.

(01:24:47):
We are the bride.
He's coming back for us, and wehave to be ready with the with
the dress.
Like, when You married your yourwife?
That dress was white.
Had no wrinkle.
Had no stain.
Nobody could touch it.
No fingers.

Omar (01:25:07):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Choose prepare.
Then on top of that, we have tohave a lamp A lamp full of oil
he may come at night, like thiefIn the night and you have to be
looking.
You have to be vigilant andalert because The Bible says

(01:25:28):
that we have to be holy in allof our conduct, free of first
Peter 1 15.
And we have to prepare thebride.
Well, we have to be equipped.
Because if you don't see thelight if if you don't have the
light, you won't see him comingback.
And he wants to rescue you Toyour honeymoon suite with your

(01:25:48):
future husband.
Right?
So that's the kind of mentalitythat we need to have.
And that's why we have to havethe meet me at the gate.

Omar (01:25:57):
Love is creative.
Love is creative.
In other words, We cannot lovepeople with a cookie cutter.
We have to love people with whatthey need.
Like like, my wife says to me,Manny Mill, you used to be good
looking no more.
To me, the the way that I wantyou to love me It's by listening

(01:26:23):
to me 20 minutes a day withoutsaying anything back because you
cannot solve any of my issues.
But if you listen to me, half ofthe battle is already And god
the father sees and he listens.

(01:26:44):
And therefore, RTO is a newministry that we started about
13 years Where anybody can come,and it's for the forgotten for
the unwanted.
And, unfortunately, people inprison and getting out of prison

(01:27:06):
are the unwanted, especiallyWhen there's an offense that
people don't think that God canchange, The people don't think
that Christ made made a paymentfor that.
But I remind people that kingDavid was a rapist.
He was a killer.

(01:27:28):
a cheater.
was a liar.
deceiver.
This is king David now.
This is this is God's man afterhis own heart.
Right?
But yet, He wrote Psalm 23.
He he wrote many of the Psalms.
And he's mentioned in the NewTestament too, like, for

(01:27:48):
example, Romans 4.
He's right there.
So We began this new ministrybecause when somebody goes to
prison, Omar, Your family goesto prison in a different way,
but they are also locked up.
And it's not just to impact Withthe gospel, the person in prison

(01:28:13):
or in jail, for us to reach outtheir family because The gospel
is about 1 word.
It's about reconciliation.
Vertical with the father, butalso horizontal with our
neighbors.
Right?
And the family is the fabric ofsociety.

(01:28:34):
So, therefore, we want to unifythat family.
So we started also what's calledMalachi Dads, is a ministry Out
of Malachi 4 6 where godpromised it that he's gonna turn
the hearts of their father totheir children their children to
their fathers.
So we began that 18 years ago inAngola prison in Louisiana, and
it had expanded all over thecountry with our ministries.

(01:28:58):
So the RTO ministry as anextension of that as well
because We want the familymembers of inmates To be loved
and to be cared for.
If every pastor of everyevangelical church, a bible
believing church will take Twicea year.

(01:29:21):
Take 2 minutes, like I said toyou earlier.
And just before he'll preachfrom the pulpit, it says
something like this.
Is anybody in this congregationtoday impacted by the prison?
Do do do you have anybody inprison Who you love, a son or a

(01:29:41):
daughter Or a father or a motherMost people are impacted by
their prison Most people have afamily member that have been
locked And if we will providethat opportunity for them to
come forth and leave the shameat the door and go to the altar

(01:30:07):
and feel loved.
Love is an amazing thing.
The reason that Christ came, andyou're not you're not gonna hear
this too often.
The reason that Christ came It'sbecause he was secure in his
father's love When you aresecure In your wife's love, when

(01:30:31):
you are secure in your mother'swhen you're secure and affirmed
by your father, You would doanything You would do anything
for your wife, won't yeah.
Anything.
Right?
You even would die for thatBecause you're secure in that
love.
Right?
Christ is is and was And we'llbe secure in his father's love.

(01:30:58):
So so when his father said tohim, go and rescue my other
children, And you're the onlyhope that they have.
You're the only way that theyhave.
He came knowing that he wascoming to a difficult mission,
Knowing that he was gonna comeout, substitute on the cross
that was hours to take and todie on, knowing that he had the

(01:31:22):
equipment of the sinless blood,amen, to make the payment that
was necessary by the father thathe required To appease his wrath
so we will be safe from hiswrath.
So he came out of love.
He didn't come so much for us.

(01:31:43):
He came because his objective,his goal, he was motivated To
make sure that he made hisfather happy, that he defended
his father reputation.
You don't hear this either.
And, therefore, we must keepthat in mind when we are

(01:32:05):
involved in the church, when weare involved in ministry In
ministry, you see.
And the most neglected people inAmerica, Omar, are People that
have been impacted by the prisonsystem.
Not only people in prison,people at risk, but also people
on parole, people on probation,people on home monitor, on

(01:32:30):
anchor monitor, on home arrest,on Go into the justice system,
people who are on bail.
Right?
Because, you know, when you'reon bail, you're in limbo.
You you you are in limbo.
You you don't know what's comingor going.
You don't know if you're gonnago in or out.
I mean, you're thinking aboutprison.
You're thinking about yourfamily.
You're thinking about, you know,how am I gonna support my family

(01:32:50):
from I mean, there are so manyquestions.
Right?
We have the responsibility as achurch To step in.
We have to be a family.
That's why God gave us the nameit.
Which which means belonging inthe Greek.
It means belonging together inmutual partnership.

(01:33:12):
In other words, we are in chainstogether.
I cannot leave you.
You cannot leave me.
this thing together.
We are family.
We are the body of Christ.
Is that right?
Right?
So we began this ministry ofRadical Timeout For anybody
who's hungry for grace, who'shungry for mercy, who wants to

(01:33:36):
be who wants to be prayed for,Who wants to belong, who wants
to to to to put the shame on thealtar at the across who who who
wants to come and not feel thatyou are being marked, that you
are being looked You just comeas I mean, really come as you

(01:33:59):
are.
You're not gonna be judged.
You you you are Going to beloved.
Uh, I know what we do.
So we have pre a meeting topray, you know, before we meet
for the RTO.
You know, the RTO is the word,worship, it.

(01:34:20):
Prayer.
And then after RTO, we havepeople that also spend time
praying for you, and then westay until people work.
No.
Go home.
Yeah.

You you know what?
Could could you share, um, whatday of the week you

Omar (01:34:32):
We meet on a Thursday On a Thursday night, Once a month,
usually, on their first Thursdayof the month, uh, we have a meal
that we give the people, homecooked meal.
So their first third of themonth, we give them a, home
cooked meal.
But check on the website becausesometimes it changes.

(01:34:56):
That would be www.khnm.net.
And we meet when it's a meal at5 15.
When there's no meal, it.
6 o'clock.
And it goes to about 7 15, 7 20.
Okay?
And the slogan that we have isWe pray radically because we

(01:35:18):
want to love radically.
Because, really, I cannot doanything for you, but I know the
who, who know

Yes.
Amen.

Omar (01:35:26):
So

um, and and and where do you guys meet at?
If you could share that.

Omar (01:35:29):
we meet at the Compass Church of Wheaton.
Okay.
That's 5 20 East Roosevelt Roadin Wheaton, and it's in the gym
in the east door, east part ofthe church under the canopy into
the gym.
And when you get there, you'regonna feel loved.
You're gonna feel welcome.

You you you know what, Pastor?
If if we know we're talkingright before we started again.
Uh, can you share about thediversity of of the people that
gathered there?
Because I was telling them, I'vebeen involved in ministry.
I got saved in 2 2004, and Ijust recently heard about this
ministry.
And it's so amazing That youguys are are showing love to the
prisoners, to their familieslike you mentioned, and and

(01:36:10):
there's so many that areimpacted.
But when I went there, it's justa It's not just ex convicts or
people that got out of prisonthat go there.
Could you share, like, thediversity of people that gather
that have a heart for

Omar (01:36:20):
It's a diversity of class.
People with money, peoplewithout money.
Last night, for example, we gotPaul.
Paul showed up last Paul waslocked up for 35 years.
Just out of prison.
Yeah.
Broke.
Well, he came last last night,God surprised me.

(01:36:41):
God blessed us.
He was in heaven.
I was too.
So we have people that just outof prison or out of jail, people
that have never gone into prisonBecause, you know, they may got
caught.
And

Exactly.
Right.

Omar (01:36:58):
so so

Or they or they had good lawyers.

Omar (01:37:01):
It.
PhDs, PhDs, professors, businesspeople, white people, African
American, Asian, Hispanics, youknow Indians, you know, Native
America.

And and here's another thing that stands out to
me, different churches too.
There's people that come fromall type of churches.
Right?

Omar (01:37:20):
So I told people I'm a biblicist.
No.
No.
In other words, I don't have adenomination.
Yes.
I'm a Baptist by conviction.
I'll reform in my Doctrine, I'ma charismatic in how I display
my faith, but I believe in deepI love to dig in God's word.

(01:37:42):
I love to preach text andcontext, not just a theme or
topic.
I want to preach what the wordof god has to say.
Let let the word do it.
Yes.
I mean, the word to me is Jesusincarnate.
The word became flesh, right,and dwelled among us.

(01:38:03):
Right?
So and it's an Equalopportunity.
You know, RTO is an equalopportunity.
And on the cross, the ground islevel.
So when you come to RTO, you'regoing to level ground, and we
are equal.
You know?
Last week, I was not in town,And we had doctor Ken Chase.

(01:38:25):
He spoke.
He has a PhD.
He's been teaching at Wheatonfor 30 years.
Uh, very smart man.
I mean, we have all kinds ofpeople that come to RTO, and we
are thankful for them, includingyou.
Yes.
You know?

You you know, if I could share real quick on on
that connection because, uh, Iconnected obviously through
Dean.
That's how it started.

Omar (01:38:47):
Our friend, Dean?

Michael Buhrman, who who is part of the RTO,

Omar (01:38:51):
who met at the gate.

a similar story like you on the run-in Venezuela.
So So if you guys get a chance,go listen to his testimony

Omar (01:38:58):
Yeah.
Michael Buhrman.

Mills here and how they connected.
Is this a long story?
But, uh, Michael Burman and, uh,Sarah Gonzalez, my wife had the
opportunity to to interview her.
Yeah.
And now now through through yourministry, Koinonia House,
through the RTO, It awakenedsomething in me.
Like, uh, like

Omar (01:39:16):
you're ministering in Cook County jail.

know, and even, uh, like, the connection Before
coming to, uh, um, RTO and thenmeeting you guys, God has
started to bring old friends ofmine that we were incarcerated
together.
So it's only like, you mentionedgoing back to God.
God you know, when God moves ishe does what what what he wills.
Right?
Yes.

Omar (01:39:38):
That no man can

And he'll close others where he don't want you
to go in

Omar (01:39:42):
you don't need to go through.
Yeah.
I'm saying?
So And he's a good father whowants to surprise us.
Right?
Yes.
I I want to do the impossible.
Right?
Not to pray for the impossible,but to offend God.
Right?
So I am and then you came withus and you shared your it.
Your story,

Yes.
Uh, uh, Stateville.
Yes.
So that that's it's man, I justwanted to share that.
It's been a blessing.
So for anybody that's watchingthis or listening to this
Podcast.
Maybe you're serving the Lord,and and maybe you have a past.
Maybe you you, you know, you'veyou've been incarcerated.
And like me, I had gotten saved,and to be honest, I had left

(01:40:18):
that part of my life behind in asense.
You know?
And then I did.
I'm just being honest.
Uh, I I left it behind, and itwasn't until God started
reconnecting me with with my oldfriends.
It's almost like I think likeMoses when he left.
Right?
He was out in the wilderness,you know, where we when he left.
He was gone for, uh, what, 40years before the Lord sent him
back to Egypt.
And I feel in a sense, like, Godsent me away, you know, worked

(01:40:40):
on me, and now okay.
Now it's time to go back.
Now yes.
Now it's time to reach thosethat were just like

Omar (01:40:47):
I remember when you went to Stateville, there was a very
impacting testimony that yougave there.
And now you're going into theCook County jail.
And now you're doing thispodcast, and you're using guys
that have been in prison to dothis podcast.
So that's gonna bless this.
It's

No.
Yes.

Omar (01:41:03):
like a wildfire.

Amen.
So so, yeah, I just wanna shareit to anybody that, uh, maybe
that's been part of your past.
You don't know what to do withit.
Man, come to R.T.O..
Yes.

Omar (01:41:11):
Well, that would be the beginning.
Yeah.
You know?
And we would love to meet themand for them to be part and we
want this this ministry of RTOTo come to your churches too,
like, I would like to see yourchurch be be able to because,
you know, many people in In jailor from, they're gonna get out
To Chicago.

(01:41:31):
So when when I have a net tocatch them You know, the big
fish Amen.
From Chicago.
Because you see, revival ishappening already in the
prisons.
It's brewing already.
And who better to bring changeas a vessel of mercy, right, To

(01:41:53):
the people of Chicago, to thegang banger, the people like
you, people like Dean it.
Who have been there, done that,that you understand the culture
of the gangs.
And that is now opening doorsfor you to be able to meet those
Ex gangbangers.
Like, I just gave you a fewnames Yes.
That you're gonna call.

(01:42:13):
Right.
And they are gonna bring thechange to Chicago because we
know that the police Cannot doWe we know that the the the
mayor cannot do it either.
They can try all they want.
Not about throwing money at theproblem.
It's about a person.
Yes.
The name is Jesus.
And he's the 1 that cantransform and redeem radically

(01:42:35):
anybody.
I don't care what you done orwhat you came from.
we need to pray.
Somebody had to be praying forSaul

Yes.

Omar (01:42:47):
who Who who became Paul?

Yeah.
I was just reading that, uh, wehad a a a a Bible study in my
house on Wednesday.
We're talking about, uh, not Notonly Saul, you know, before he
became Paul, but Ananias.
When when Jesus told him, I wantyou to go to this

Omar (01:43:02):
afraid.
He afraid.

And he said, go because Saul is praying to me
right now.

Omar (01:43:07):
And he went.

Yeah.
But he was scared in thebeginning.
But, you know, like, a prisonministry is scary, but

Omar (01:43:14):
need courage.
But guess what?
Prisons are the safest placebecause when you go in, the guys
know Who's for real and who'snot?
And they are grateful.
2 things.

Yeah.

Omar (01:43:31):
As a Christian, we have We we must have 2 qualities.
We have to be teachable, and wehave to be grateful.
We have to have the sameattitude of Christ.
A grateful it.
Attitude.
What I give you altitude.
So we need to be grateful,teachable To give you the

(01:43:55):
attitude that you need with thefather.
Amen?
Man, we've been here for almost2

2 hours.
So

Omar (01:44:01):
HalleluYah.
love it.

been it's been a blessing, uh, pastor Manny.
I I've been wanting to tointerview pastor Manny, man, for
some months now, and We've we weyeah.
We're finally able to do it, andlook it.
You you're you're

Omar (01:44:12):
guinea pigs

yeah.
Yeah.
So he's the first, uh, a victimon the On the traveling podcast,
it was we'll we'll see how itcomes out and to hear it.

Omar (01:44:21):
see it.

know what?
Real quick, uh, pastor Manny, Ibet I was I was telling you
earlier.
I gotta share with you the storyhow I got this

Omar (01:44:26):
equipment.
Please.

wanna, uh, give a shout out to my coworker.
You know, okay.
But, uh, right before Christmas,I'm at work.
It's lunchtime, and I'm sittingby my desk, And he walks up to
me, hands me an envelope.
He's like, here, man.
I just been been wanting to giveyou this.
Uh, I've been wanting to giveyou this for a while.
Like, what's this, man?
He's like, I'm I'm thankful forwhat you're doing.
He's like, you're you'respreading a positive message

(01:44:48):
through the podcast.
And he's like,

Omar (01:44:50):
you were a witness?

Yeah.
And he said, uh, here, uh, Iwant you to invest this into
into what you're doing.

Omar (01:44:57):
Wow.

I opened the envelope.
It was 400 dollars that hehanded me.
I went over there to look forhim.
Like, man, you sure, man?
You sure you wanna give me thisamount?
And he's like, you know what?
I I wanted to give you more, butthe ATM only allowed me to

Omar (01:45:10):
Yeah,

Hello, man.
Darn you, ATM.

Omar (01:45:14):
But,

but, uh, you know what?
He he told me this.
He's, like, invested into whatyou're doing.
And no lie, Pastor Manny.
I took out my phone and Ialready had some, uh, some, uh,
equipment on my Amazon wishlistThat I was hoping, man, once I
get some money, I'm gonna buy itand here we are.
Much.
Uh, yes.
So, uh,

Omar (01:45:34):
Wow.

wanted to send a shout out, you know,

Omar (01:45:37):
So you got all these

yeah.
The the the recorder, yes,cables and extensions.

Omar (01:45:42):
Wow.

I'm gonna be able to do this.
So I just wanted to, you know,um, you know, give a shout out
to my coworker for doing thatand, uh, to show him that, hey.
His money got invested into towhat he

Omar (01:45:51):
do?
He surprised you.

Yes.
And he he met a need.
You know, like, uh

Omar (01:45:55):
And he surprised me too because you you you came to me

Yeah.

Omar (01:45:59):
To Wheaton, and then to be with me.
Amen.
So thank you, father, forsurprising my brother, Omar.
So it'll be many more like this.
Many more

gonna keep sharing it.
And each story, something

Omar (01:46:12):
that they take you out to it first.

Hey.
Yeah.
We'll we'll make that as

Omar (01:46:17):
that Alright.
Hey, guys.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank You I'll do it first Uh,do it, Uh, do

Okay.
5 or 4 at least.
No.
No.
Hey, pastor.
But, no, this has been a bless ablessing, man.
And, uh, usually, I ask, like,my guest Yeah.
Um, 2 things is, uh, any finalwords you wanna share, maybe a
message, uh, with the audience,those that are listening, and
close us out in

Omar (01:46:39):
prayer.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, The the main thing that Iwant the people to do is to keep
the main is to keep the mainthing.
And the main thing is Prayer.
I know exactly what I want in mytombstone.

(01:47:00):
I want the simple words, MannyMill was a man of because that
is the summary of a Christianman or a Christian That he
didn't wasted his time no Thathe was able to invest in the

(01:47:23):
father.
Uh, the father invests and to befor real.
So, man, be real.
Keep it real.
Don't be 2 different persons.
Be the same all the time.
Be credible.

(01:47:44):
Be consistent.
Be committed.
Be courageous.
Don't bring the father any moreshame.
When we fail to pray, we bringthe father shame.

(01:48:04):
When we Fail to pray to thefather, that mean that we pray
into self.
self will always give you thewrong When we turn our backs to
god, we give our faith to thedevil.
Don't do that Let's become aconqueror.

(01:48:25):
Let's not allow the world andthe culture And the devil to
conquer Let's become aconqueror.
And Christ came already toconquer our sin That we may be
free and free indeed.
And we have to maintainourselves in Christ, and it's
gonna come through prayerThrough the word, Through

(01:48:48):
worship, prayer.
Amen.
Amen,

Break them chains.
Right?

Omar (01:48:53):
And when you When those chains are broken, they are
broken indeed.
Never be locked up again And puta face of love around you and
embrace the cross.
Embrace Christ With the cross.
They are together they aretogether what I call God the

(01:49:16):
Father's Precise primaryPrescription.
We must take that prescriptionevery single I remember what I
said at the very beginning.
The father promised that he willnever leave you.
He will never forsake Rememberwhat I said, keep your post and

(01:49:38):
you do and your duty.
Remember what I what what what Iwhat I said?
You have no no room to fail.
Because your victory comes whenyou keep yourself positioned in
Christ and in Christ alone.
Not on the sun, But on the rock,he's giving you a new song, and
he wants to give you moretestimonies that are fresh So

(01:50:02):
you can bring the god, thefather that is your father, more
glory.
Amen?
So thank you, father, for thispodcast.
And once again, father, we praythat the viewers of this
podcast, father, will beencouraged, will be Uplift,
father, would be invigorated,father.
I pray that you will bless theirsouls, That you will encourage

(01:50:26):
their hearts.
I pray Father god that you willall live their spirits and that
they will know for the god thatyou're a good father.
And I'll be able to declare,father god, that you're a good
father.
So I pray Father god that theywill feel and sense your
presence even in this podcast.
Thank you again for Omar.
Thank you for his coworkerfather who blessed him with this

(01:50:49):
equipment.
And I pray Father god that thisWeekend will be a joyful weekend
for Omar, for his beautifulbride and his 2 children father.
And that this podcast, fathergod, will be 1, not only because
he's a pioneer, their firstpodcast out of his house, But,

(01:51:09):
father, that the that that thispodcast, uh, you will give him
the ability, the wisdom, thediscernment, father, to him and
to his team To know how to editit, father, that will be used,
father, to equip the church andto equip those in prison and
those getting out of prison Andtheir family members, father

(01:51:29):
god, to be able to includefather, the prisoner, because
you, Christ, yourself became Andhe made yourself.
And you did not die betweenJames and John, but you died
between 2 convicted felons, And1 made it to heaven.

(01:51:50):
But today, you will be with mein paradise.
So, father, I pray The the thepeople will also experience
heaven to this podcast becauseheaven is not just A place is
also a person.
His name is Jesus.
So we yield ourself to you.
We humble ourself to you.

(01:52:10):
Thank you so much, father, forthis opportunity that you have
given to us to share the gospeland to share What you can do
with a man or with a woman whenhe or she surrenders and yields
to Christ.
And it's in Christ's name that Ipray.
Amen.

(01:52:30):
Hallelujah.
you

pastor Manny.
Man, it's been almost like awhole day with him out here.
But, uh, man, thank you guys forjoining us on another episode of
Wrong 2 Strong.
Matthew 4 16 reads, the peoplewho sat in darkness have seen a
great light, and upon those whosat in the region and shadow of
death, Light has dawned.
Alongside pastor Manny Mill, myname is Omar Calvillo, and we

(01:52:53):
are Wrong to Strong.

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