Guided Back to God with the Gift of Interpreting Dreams: Tyler Christen's Story - Latter-Day Lights - LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Episode Transcript
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Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey there, as a Latter Day Lights listener, I
want to give you a very specialgift today.
My brand new book, Faith toStay.
This book is filled withinspiring stories, powerful
discoveries, and even freshinsights to help strengthen your
faith during the storms oflife.
So, if you're looking to beinspired, uplifted, and

(00:21):
spiritually recharged, justvisit faith2stay.com.
Now, let's get back to theshow.
Hey everyone, I'm ScottBranley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth,and inspire others.
On today's episode, we're goingto hear how a soldier who

(00:41):
struggled with addiction fellaway from the church multiple
times and had his life turnedupside down, but ultimately
found freedom in the savior'slove.
Welcome to Latter Day Lights.
Yeah, awesome, man.

(01:26):
So um glad you're here with us.
Um, usually we have Alisha onthe show, but she is um super
busy.
This is her busy season with umher event business.
So it's just the guys tonight,man.
You and me hanging out.
So um before we get thingskicked off, why don't you tell

(01:48):
us a little bit about yourself,Tyler?

Tyler Karl Christen (01:50):
Yeah, it's awesome.
So pretty simple for theaudience.
My Tyler Christen, 28 yearsold, currently engaged with my
fiance.
She's from Ecuador, servedabout seven years in the
military, months shy from sevenyears, but almost.
And I've kind of had a big inand out experience with the

(02:12):
church growing because I grew upas a member and kind of been an
in and out experience.
It's kind of like with today'sday and age and technology and
the way it is for the youngergeneration.
It's kind of hard, but it it'slike I don't feel like I was
traditional LDS because of whatI went through.
But then again, I startthinking about there's a lot of

(02:32):
people who may have similarcircum circumstances as mine.
And so yeah.

Okay.
So and I know we're gonna talkabout some of those experiences
on the episode today.
So where's home?
You said you're visiting Vegas.
Where are you from?

Yeah, I'm from Pleasant Grove, Utah.
Um, born and raised, Utah.
Born, you know, born Salt Lake,grew up in Utah County,
traditional Happy Valley, Utah,you know, heart of the LDS
church.
Everyone who grew up there kindand is pretty familiar with the
church.

So awesome.
Okay, well, um, yeah, we'reexcited to hear about your
story.
I mean, I've kind of I've readyour little um you you sent us a
little um intro about kind ofthe high-level stuff, but I'd
love to hear your take on it.
So why don't we turn the timeover to you and you can tell us
kind of where your story begins.

Yeah, so that's I would say it grew it
starts when like I grew up, itstarts with like the beginning
like everyone else.
So growing up as a we had likethe perfect little LDS family.
For me growing up, I was likein the perfect little LDS
family.
Everyone went to church, mywhole everyone in my family was
LDS.
You went to church on Sunday,you know.
My mom did primary children, itwas working with the primary

(03:46):
kids, and my dad went to eldersquorum.
You know, growing up, it wasjust how it is.
But as I was getting older, myfamily would go through
financial struggles, and myfamily went through bankruptcy
like twice.
And so it was actually, youknow, we'd get ham, we'd get my
aunt helping us out, giving ussome hand-me-downs.
And so we had some strugglingtimes when it came to money and
finance, especially in the 2008recession.

(04:08):
And I didn't realize this washaving impacting effects on my
parents because when I was about12 years old, 12 years old, I
got the priesthood, right?
And I was I I, you know, Ididn't I was still learning
about the church.
I never truly read the Book ofMormon or the New Testament or
the Bible.
You know, I was stillintroductory level when it comes

(04:30):
to like youth in the church.
And I was a little awkwardgrowing up, so kids were like
kind of mean back then.
But basically, my family, myone day, my family was like,
hey, we're done, we're done withthe church.
Like, if you're gonna go tochurch, you have to go by
yourself.
And that's kind of rough,that's kind of like a monumental

(04:51):
task asking a 12-year-old.
And so I was like, Okay, I'mnot going to church anymore
because I ain't doing that.
And so basically, I juststopped going to church.
We moved to Pleasant Grove andwe just kind of chilled there
for a while.
Occasionally, though, but youwould always have the Boy Scouts

(05:12):
with the church programreaching out to me and my
brothers, trying to get us tointeract with them.
They were using it as anopportunity to minister us
because I had some interestingexperiences.
The wards, like there were someboys who were pretty like, I
felt like who ostracized us whenwe when we left the church, but
then I had people who were likeinviting, so it was like a
battle.
You had people trying to in thein the communities trying to

(05:34):
get us to come back, and peopleI felt like were against us.
And so growing up in Utah, youkind of have this like there's a
Utah culture, and it's not thechurch that's the problem, it's
the culture that's the problem.
And that's what I felt growingup.
And I feel there's a lot ofpeople in my age group who feel
that way.
And so, you know, growing up,it was tough.
And I had a lot of friends whenI'm about growing up, I was

(05:56):
just going through a lot oftough times in this, and I've I
I just felt like something wasmissing in my life, but I didn't
know what it was, and I knewlike maybe I felt like it was
the church that needed to bebecause everything went wrong in
my family when we left thechurch, because then my parents,
they'd been starting to, youknow, make some questionable

(06:17):
life.
There was alcohol in the home,there was other things, and it
it led me to get addicted topornography.
And when I started gettingaddicted to pornography, I
started seeing some questionablethings in my home.
And I I felt like my house washaunted, you know.
I felt I would see spirits, andthere would be things that
would go on, and they would theywould personally haunt me.

(06:37):
And I felt like it was like Idon't know what it was like the
evil had enter into our house,if that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah.
And I we've had other guests onthat have kind of had similar
experiences when when you knowbad things start happening, um,
you know, like bad spirits andthings come in and and it
affects affects you as a person.

Exactly.
And I just felt this like goinginto my teenhood because I was
like, you know, trying to fitin, felt like an outcast, acted
out, you know, typical teenager.
And I ended up getting to apoint where I was at odds with
my mom and my dad because theywere I knew they were both wrong
in the way they were living atthat time.
And so it kind of turned meagainst them, and I would get

(07:22):
into these like intensearguments with my parents, and
then my mom and dad werefighting at the same time
because you know they were onthe they were going through a
nasty divorce, and so it waslike a almost like me against
them, them against each other.
It was like our house wasdivided, and so as I was like
standing out, I started going tochurch by myself when I was 16,
and I because my friend, I wasdoing it for a girl at the time,

(07:45):
you know, and but I startedgoing to church with my friend
Tyres, and we started going tochurch, and you know, my dad saw
that, and I don't think he saysit too much, but after that, my
brothers and me one day went tothe park with my dad, and he
was started doing this lifeleadership program, which really
changed him a lot.
But it was that day we werelike, we want to go back to

(08:07):
church because our family'sbreaking, right?
My sister already moved out ofthe house, she didn't care.
And my mom had at this pointwas moving out of the house,
right?
This is when they kind ofofficially separated, but you
know, and so when this kind ofhappened, my dad started taking
us back to church.
He's like, Started going withus, we started doing at this
point.
That was for me, that was whatI wanted just stability in the

(08:29):
house because I was done withwhat was going on.
And when this happened, I washaving these like personal
haunting attacks where I wouldsee spirits and they would try
to attack me at night around thehaunting hour.
And so, like, I never toldanyone my family because I felt
like you know, I told my mom,but she didn't really understand
it at the time.
And my brothers, David, and myother brothers, they they they

(08:53):
knew that was happening becauseI they lived next to the room
next to me.
But besides the point, afterthat, my parent my mom left the
house, everything kind ofchilled out, right?
It was like I had peace again.
I was like 17, 18, 19.
I was chilling.
And during this time, I when Iwas 18, uh 19, I got a job in
construction and I startedhanging out with all my friends,

(09:14):
and I kind of started fallingaway a little bit.
I started drinking beerssecretly on the job site, doing
what 18-year-olds and19-year-olds do, you know, and
just you know, doing whatfooling around, you know.
And then at around this time,because I I didn't have like I
really didn't understand thegospel.
That's the truth.

(09:35):
Because in the when I grew upin the church, I didn't feel
like I was truly taught whoJesus was.
Like they would emphasize he'sthe savior, and I didn't really
understand who Jesus was.
Like I didn't feel growing upin the church, I was truly
taught.
And also I had a big gap likewhen most of the kids were
learning in seminary and theywere also going to church on I
wasn't.
That was a huge gap for me.

(09:56):
And my brothers, I'm so gladwhen what happened in my house
happened because I opened thedoor for my brothers to go to
church and get that when Ididn't.
And so when I at this point inmy life, all my friends are
joining the military, and I'mlike, why not me?
Right.
So I joined the army, and whenI got to the army, like at this
point, my pornography addictionis bad.

(10:17):
And I joined the army, and likethey, you know, I was they took
away my phone, I couldn't lookat porn, and I was just kind of
focused on the army stuff.
And there was a mission goingon in the in the military at the
for it was at Fort Benning, orwe got Fort Jackson.
I was at Fort Jackson, and itwas 2017 in October.

(10:38):
And like I joined, so I wentthere and I started going to
this mission, right?
They were like getting thesoldiers, we were worshiping,
and the the the local bishopthere, he was like, Oh, you're a
deacon still?
Let's get you to a priest.
That was that's the first timeI kind of felt worthy because I
saw this undying shame from mypornography addiction.
And so I was like, Okay, Iguess I could do it.

(10:59):
I just felt weird, and so I youknow, I got they ordained me to
a priest, and I was like, okay,I'm doing good.
And I started becoming a littlepassionate at the moment.
And when training ended, likewhen I had to go to the next
phase of training, I went to myadvanced technical training,
right?
Because I was training to be amechanic, and I was told I
couldn't go to church anymore,and I needed to have a battle

(11:22):
buddy wherever I went, or youknow, battle partner, and so for
me, it was just like, oh, soand nobody was LDS, like in my
class there.
Nobody wanted to go with me tothe LDS church, and so I kind of
started just trying to fit inand I started becoming a jerk.
I'm gonna be honest.
I started becoming a jerk, likethe military attitude, it's

(11:42):
like eat or be eaten, you know,kind of mentality, like who's
the top dog?
You it was like be strict andfollow orders, like you they
kind of brainwash you in a way,you they want you to think in a
certain way, and I was like Iwas funneling down that way, and
so I just kind of started goingthrough all my training, went

(12:04):
to airborne school, you know, Iwas doing all the things that I
was there to do, and finallywhen I got to my unit, right?
People didn't even want toassociate with me.
They're like, oh, this is theawkward Mormon guy, and so for
me, I was just like, Oh, well, Iwant to fit in.
And right there would have beenthe perfect time for the church

(12:24):
to reach back out to me, but Iwasn't connected to anyone in
the church at that momentbecause I was in Florida down by
the beaches, and so I was justlike, and I'm telling right now,
Florida is a crazy placesometimes, like there's certain
parts, you know, like you gottabe like, and so the other
soldiers would start like, oh,let's go drink and party, and

(12:44):
then I started doing that withthem, and then one thing led to
another, and I eventually breakthe law of chastity, right?
And I started just being likeevery other guy, you know,
stereotypical military guy inthe army, and I just was doing
what everyone else was doing,and I'm really ashamed for those
things, don't get me wrong.
And it just kind of went likethat for the first two years I

(13:05):
was in, and I was just partying,I was drinking, I was on
Tinder, hooking up with girls.
That's like what you see a lotof people in my generation, is
like it's all online socialmedia, dating, hookup, partying.
And there's I hate to saythere's a lot of young people in
like my group of general whofall stray in the church like
that.
And I'm like, I'm one of them.
And I feel like I felt like itmade me feel more unworthy that

(13:29):
I couldn't come back.
I was like, my priesthood, itdoesn't matter at this point,
right?
I've already lost it.
That was my thinking, right?
Right.

So as this is going on, like you've gone too
far, you can't be forgiven, likeit's too hard, right?

Exactly.
It's exactly what you'resaying.
And so on the it was the winterof 2019, going into 2020, that
Christmas holiday, I went to goon a Tinder date.
It was like a day before I flewback home for Christmas.
The the they had just say, besafe, don't do stupid stuff.
The commander said all thatstuff, and people were like

(14:05):
going off for the weekend.
So I went to go meet with adate, and it was raining that
night.
And as I was driving my truck,my tires were a little bit bald,
and I just started to hydroplane.
And I just next thing, I'mlike, my truck kind of swerves,
and then boom, I'm upside down.
Like just like that.
I'm upside down, and I'm justlike cussing up a storm.
I'm like beep, beep, beep,beep, you know, like I was like,

(14:28):
it was a it was bad.
And as I was doing this, it'slike time almost slowed down to
a stop.
It was like almost like as if Iwas like sitting in my truck
and like nothing was moving.
I'm like, look, it's likealmost as if I was like moving a
million miles per hour andeverything else was moving like
one mile per hour.
It was like it was a weirdexperience.

(14:48):
And I'm sitting there and Ilook, I had this feeling like
grab your leg.
And I look out to the left, andmy leg is hanging out the car,
my truck door is like swungopen, and my leg is just
chilling out there, and I justgrab your leg, grab your leg,
grab your leg, and I grab my legand I pull it in.
And then right when I did that,the door slammed shut like the

(15:09):
second I grabbed my leg.
It was a split second frombeing chopped off because at
that exact moment, the truck wasrolling on the ground, and I
had angels looking after me atthat moment.
I know I did.
Because after because I walkedaway from I that truck rolled
three times on a field, and thiswas like in a place in Florida
where a lot of people got intoaccidents, and I rolled three
times into a field, and I whenthe truck stopped rolling, I got

(15:32):
out and I had no injuries.
Like I went, they took me intothe hospital, they checked me
out, they said I was good to flyhome.
But yeah, I I would literallylike the pride I was having, the
Lord took my truck.
He was just like, mm-mm, youknow, time to wake up.
And so after that, I went home,I was like a mess, came back to
Florida, got a new truck, and Iwas just like, what happened to

(15:53):
me, you know?
And then a Bible study groupcame to my door, and they were
like the Protestant Christians,right?
It was like this guy namedVaughn, he was a super cool guy.
Love him.
And he's like, You wanna comeout for some pizza and some
Jesus?
And at this point in my life, Ifelt like I didn't know who
Jesus was.
Like I grew up in the church,and it was like, Jesus Christ is

(16:13):
the savior.
He I remember that he turned,he fed 5,000 people, he died on
the cross.
You know, the basic stories Icould remember, right?
He walked on water.
That's like all I knew.
It's like, okay, he's this guywho did miracles.
But he but at the same time, Iknew God was real because of my
haunting experiences.

(16:34):
And I was saying Jesus is theson of God because I didn't know
what else who I didn't knowwhat else to because I didn't
that's what I grew up with.
I was like, okay, I'm gonna sayJesus is the son of God because
that's the only thing I cantrust right now.
But at the same time, I'm like,I don't know much about him.
So I was like, why not?
So I started going out to theBible study.
I'm still drinking, I'm stillparting, I'm still messing with

(16:56):
people, like everyone else is,you know, being sinful of the
world.
But I'm out there starting tolearn, read, read about the
gospel of Matthew and have aprayer journal.
And this Vaughn and these someof these other guys in the
Bible, Will, super good guys,like, you need to watch the
chosen.
And I'm like, this is rightwhen the first season of the
chosen was being released, andit's like, and I'm like just
trying to like feeling it, butat the same time, I'm like, I

(17:19):
was kind of like somewhatpassionate because I almost died
in a car accident, so I'm like,Yeah, that this Jesus is good,
man.
I'm a little shooking.
And at this time, right, I wasjust living it, and about the
next Christmas season, I starteddating this little uh Hispanic
woman, and she was uh she wasMexican, and we started hitting

(17:41):
it off, and we got too frisky,and I ended up having we I ended
up having you know intimacywith her, and we it it I ended
up getting her pregnant, andthen she and me started arguing
about abortion, and I justcouldn't like she wanted me to

(18:02):
pay for it, and I was like, no,I don't believe this.
This is not what God wouldwant, right?
And me and her startedfighting, I was like, and it's
right, and this all came upafter I broke up with her, so I
was like, hey, let's get backtogether, let's make it work.
I just I can't do this, youknow?
And I want to be a dad, youknow.
And then one night she went outwhile I was at home in the
barracks, right?

(18:23):
And I have this vision.
Like, this is like my firstvision I've ever had.
And I see this girl with likemy eyes and red curly hair,
like, and she's like three yearsold holding my hand, and I'm
walking with her, and I'm likeconfused.
I'm like, what's going on?
And next thing you know, I'mnot holding her hand, she's
holding someone else's handwalking into the light.

(18:43):
Later on, I realized that wasJesus, but at that time I didn't
understand what was happening.
And then right after the visionended, I was confused.
It was a Friday night, and Iget a phone call.
I answer the phone, and it wasthe girl I was having relations
with, and she gave me a call,and she's like, Hey, I just had
a miscarriage.
Broke my heart at that moment.

(19:05):
I felt I I felt so bad at thatmoment, and I just the Bible
study group was there trying toyou know help me through it, but
in the end, I just startedpunishing myself after that I
was like, This is my fault.
I'm so sinful, right?
I just I I literally lost ahuman life because of my stupid
actions, and because she was ina situation because of our

(19:29):
arguing and our fighting and theway stuff it was what led her
to into the situation thatcaused the miscarriage, so
that's why I blame myself forthat.
And so it was just it it reallywas sticking in my mind about
that.
And during this time, I startedhaving some hauntings happen.
Like I saw a ghost of the 1800swoman appear in my barracks

(19:51):
room, and then we had awhiteboard that flew across the
room.
Me and my roommate were bothfreaked out because we were both
playing video games and we'rethe only ones in there.
Like weird stuff, right?
Weird stuff was happening.
So I was like, okay, I need toget away from the States.
So I it was right, and all thiswas happening right when it was
whether my reenlistment was tocome up because it's like a big
deal for soldiers.
Like, do you continue workingin the army or do you get out?

(20:12):
Right?
Or where's my next dutystation?
And what was gonna happen withthis kid was gonna determine if
I stayed or not, you know?
And that after that, I waslike, okay, I'm gonna continue
serving.
And I tried getting orders toJapan, but they also asked me
for like a backup place, and Iwas like, okay, Germany.

(20:33):
And then I got orders toGermany, right?
So I got sent over to like uh aduty station out in Germany,
and when I got there, it wasright before the Ukraine war
started, and so like everyNATO-related military base in
Europe at that moment was likefreaking out, ready to go to war
in Ukraine, basically.
And I'm like, bro, I just gothere and now I'm packing my bags

(20:57):
to go to Ukraine, bro.
I'm like, this is freaking meout.
And I just got into like arelationship with a German girl,
you know?
And she, me and her bothbelieved in spirits, but she was
like, we both would havearguments when it came to
religion because she would likeattack the church, even though I
was angry at the church, I hadpast feelings about the church,
right?
I was just like, I would defendthe church.

(21:19):
No, no, don't talk about mypeople about that.
That's through my people, onlyand I could talk bad about the
church.
It didn't make sense, but Iwould get upset.
I was just like, you can't talkabout them like that, you know.
And then we wouldn't talk aboutreligion because we both felt
like we would just come at odds,like because she was like, I
think, Catholic or Protestant, Idon't know, but then she wasn't
being religious either, so itwas just confusing, right?

(21:40):
So we didn't talk about it, andso I just started falling, and
this is about like after I'vebeen in the military for about
like three, I've been in themilitary for over three three
years.
I'm going to my fourth, I'm inGermany, new location, fresh
start.
And I start just kind ofpartying and drinking again,
hanging out with the Germans,traveling, you know, just doing
what I'm doing.

(22:01):
And you know, my life kind ofwent back to what it was before
the accident, the firstaccident.
And you know, it's just likeand I started having dreams
about my new truck crashing,right?
Crashing my new truck.
And I was like, uh-uh,uh-uh-nuh.
And I had dreams before I wentto Germany about like the end of
the world, and like if I youjust I knew God still spoke to
me, but I just didn't reallythink about it.

(22:23):
It's like you it's like youchoose to ignore, and because
you just don't think about it.
And so when I was by uh thefirst year I was in Germany,
after the first year, myex-girl, my German girlfriend,
she breaks up with me, and Ifall into this dark spiral
because it affected me so badly.
Because for me, it was like,oh, I'm alone, I don't talk to

(22:47):
my family anymore.
Because when I joined themilitary, I just grew distant
from my family, and we did Istopped talking to them really.
And so, and especially whenGermany, I was like, I want it's
like it's too expensive to flyback and forth to visit the
family, so I just didn't do it,and so I just kind of felt like
okay, yeah.
I just fell into a dark spiral.

(23:07):
My pornography addiction gotreally bad, where it was just
like it was a f like to thepoint where I had to look at it
three times a day, you know.
Like it's already bad enoughwhen you're doing it once a day,
and then you have to do itthree times a day.
It was bad.
I was drinking heavily, it wasI was in a and I was stressed
out because we were runningnonstop missions because of
what's going on in NATO andUkraine, you know.
Can't go into details, but it'slike uh it was very stressful.

(23:31):
And so for me, I'm being asupport mechanic, always fixing
stuff, always it's it's a it's astressful work environment, but
I also got the opportunity togo see the sites every now and
then, but it was slowly eatingat me.
And then basically, around Iwould say, uh I would say it was

(23:53):
like the summer of 2023, Idecided to go on a trip to Rome
with my friend.
And we go to Rome, we visit theVatican City and all that, and
I'm checking all these sites ofJesus, right?
I'm like, oh, this is cool,this is cool, you know.
And I felt like something washappening that the Lord was
doing something because soonafter my brother David, who
served a mission, right?
I hadn't seen him in fouryears, he reaches, and this is

(24:15):
right when I moved out of thebarracks and got because this is
what this is the crazy part.
So when I was living in thebarracks, there were multiple
people who started claiming theywere like seeing demons, they
were having mental breakdowns.
And so when I was walking thesebarracks, I knew the barracks
were haunted because when Iwould walk in these barracks, I
would see like a shadow personlike stalking me, and I'd be
like, Okay, that's obviously aspirit, there's a haunting this

(24:35):
this building's haunted, and Ifelt it.
And there were people who saythey heard German ghosts
speaking and stuff like that,because we're in Germany, right?
And so I knew the barracks washaunted, I lived it.
And one day I was walking downthe barracks hallway, I look
into the mirror reflection, andI see what looked like devil
horns on my head, and I chooseto ignore it.
I'm like, no, not gonna pretendI didn't see that.

(24:57):
But I didn't see that.
Keep walking, yeah.
I'm gonna pretend I didn't seethat.
And my ex-girlfriend was alwaysuncomfortable when she was in
the barracks, she felt like itwas haunted too.
And so soon after, like rightafter that Vatican trip, the
barracks manager's like, hey,you can move off base.
So I was like, Cool, moved offbase.
I was like, I'm out of thathaunted barracks, I'm gonna be

(25:20):
chilling.
Started throwing parties at myown new place.
I was, you know, having blasts.
And then out of the blue, likeall my friends stopped messing
with me.
It was like everyone got busy,people were upset with me, or
people didn't want to hang outwith me.
And I was just like, okay.
It's like everyone in my life,I was like, I just got isolated
out of the blue.
And then at that moment,David's my brother, he started

(25:42):
reaching out to me.
He served a mission in likeNevada, I think it was Rio
Nevada or something like that,and he did a Spanish-speaking
mission.
But anyway, he had recentlycame back from his mission and
he got a new intersect job, andhe was like getting paid really
good.
And we were talking, I waslike, David, you should come
out.
He's like, I haven't seen youin forever, Tyler.
We connected on DD, we kind ofnerds, we're talking, and he's

(26:06):
like, I want to see you.
And I was like, and this is thefirst time I felt like my
family cared about me, so tospeak, because I just felt
distant from them.
And I was like, someone caresenough to want to come see me?
Bet I was like, come come stayat my place.
I got a guest room now, I havemy own place.
You can actually stay here.
Come out for the Vosen, whichis like a big German festival,
like the state fair for Germany,and it's Germans, right?
Okay, like you know, like abeer fest almost, but with rides

(26:30):
everywhere.
And so I'm like, come out forthe Vosen, come see me, you
know.
I'm like, it'll be fun.
So David's like, yeah, withouta hesitation, bought a ticket.
And his boss gave him, it was anew job, and the boss's like,
Yeah, you could take a vacation.
It was like, how many new jobslet you take a vacation right
after you start working there?

Right, yeah, yes, that doesn't happen.

So he comes out to Germany, right?
And when he fly, his flight gotredirected to Frankfurt, and
the only temple out there forour area was in Frankfurt, and
that was like three hours awayor two and a half.
I was in Stuttgart.
And so I was like, okay, Igotta drive all the way there to
get him.
So I go out all the way toFrankfurt to pick him up.
And on the way back, he's like,hey, I want to go to church

(27:14):
while I'm here.
And I was like, okay, look, outof respect to you, David, I
ain't I ain't I'm not going tothe LDS church anymore, right?
I don't, I don't want to, Idon't believe it.
I believe there's I know Ibelieve there's a God and Jesus,
but you know, I'm I'm not I'mnot about it.
You know, like I'll take youthis one time, but I'm not
coming back to the faith, right?
And he was like, Yeah, I'm okaywith that.

(27:35):
You know, getting that that'swhat David wanted.
And I was like, okay.
And so we get to my place andwe start talking, and it's
almost like one or two, it'slike two in the morning at this
rate, right?
And I was like, okay, we decidewe don't want to go to bed.
I send him to my guest room,and I walk into my room.
And see, I've when I walkedinto my room, I turned up, I

(27:56):
have like a it was a big room,right?
Where I had a glass balcony, Ihad a balcony, and there's like
big glass doors and windows nextto it.
Then I have my king-size bed,and then it's kind of when you
lay down, you can just see allthese windows, right?
I usually have all the theblinds closed so the street
lights don't get in therebecause it's I'm in a city,
right?
And so I walk in there, I turnoff the lights, I sit down on my

(28:18):
bed, and before I laid down, Ilooked towards the windows, and
I see what was the scariestthing in my life, I feel, at
that time.
Because I've I've had a lot of,I've seen, I've like, I felt
like I've seen spirits before,right?
But this is like the scariestthing I've ever seen.
And this was like, it was likea six foot, seven-tall person
standing in my room.
He was like shadowy black.
He was like, he was like astarved-looking person.

(28:40):
Like it was like almost likethis guy was starved.
Third world, like he was justlike aneurystic, starving, you
know?
And he was wearing a loincloth,and half his head was like
dreadlocks and balding.
It was almost like if you wereto take a really messy dreadlock
and like just rip out a bunchof the guy's hair, basically.
And it was like no face, it waslike a shadowy, soulless face.

(29:01):
There was no face, and it wasjust sitting there staring at
me.
And me, like I've hadexperiences in my past, and I
just ignore them.
Like, if I ignore it, it goesaway.
Right?
And for me at that moment, Iwas just like, not tonight.
I'm like, nope, and just laidright down and went to sleep.
I was like, I ain't dealingwith that tonight.
Probably that's not how youdeal with things.

(29:22):
No, because I an hour later, Iwoke back, I woke up, and I was
flat on my back.
And I'm I wake up and I'm like,he's still there, it's still
there.
And then I really and it's likestaring at me, and this, but
I'm paralyzed.
I've never been paralyzed, butit's like sleep paralysis, they
call it.
But I was like, I'm awake, andI'm paralyzed, and I can't do
anything.
And I'm like terrified at thismoment.

(29:43):
I'm like, okay, this is weird.
I've never had this happen tome before.
And David's in the other room,and I couldn't even call out to
him.
My mouth couldn't move, my eyeswere locked in place.
I couldn't, I I I knew I wasawake, but I was completely
helpless.
And so in my heart, I was like,okay, I need help.
I need help.
David can't hear me.
What do I do?

(30:03):
What do I do?
What do I do?
And at that moment, I was like,the only thing that could come
to my mind, the only thing thatcame to my mind was Jesus
Christ.
I was like, why not?
And I was like, and I justscreamed and like I was like
screaming in my own mind.
I was like, Jesus Christ,please save me.
And nothing happened.
And I felt this like entity,like I it was like scary or
angry or something.

(30:23):
I was like, okay, this isSatan.
I'm about to be possessed by ademon, right?
And so I'm just like, I gotterrified, and I was like, I
screamed it again in my mind,Jesus Christ, please save me.
Nothing happened.
At this point, I'm freakingout.
I'm like, this is the end.
This is the end.
I'm about to be possessed.
And so in my mind, I'm like,for a third and final time, I
screamed, Jesus Christ, pleasesave me.

(30:44):
And at that exact moment, Iregained control of my entire
body.
I was like, I jumped out ofbed, I slammed the light switch,
and it was gone.
And I was so spooked.
And so I just started listeningto like I put on primary songs
I had listened to when I was achild.
I just started listening tothat, like, I'm a child of God.
That's what I put on, I'm achild of God.
And I just started listening toI'm a child of God, and I

(31:05):
didn't really sleep that night.
I didn't want to wake David up.
But the next morning when Davidwoke up, I say, Hey, David, you
have that what Melchizedek,what Melchizedek priesthood,
whatever you call it, you're apriest.
You serve a missionary.
I was like, Melchizedekpriesthood?
Yeah, that that priesthood.
And he's like, Yeah, I have it.
What about it?
It's like, well, well, you see,last night I saw a demon.

(31:26):
And David, I told him the wholething, and he was so spooked.
He was like, you know?
And so he goes into my room andhe does a blessing, and he's
like, he basically it was abouthe put a blessing to cast out
all evil, right?
Based off of my faith and hisfaith, both of our faith.
It was very specific what thespirit said, because this plays

(31:49):
on later in the story.
And so after it was done, Davidsaw this as an opportunity, and
he was like, okay, I'm gonnatell him about my mission.
You know, he's like, he getsready to tell me all about it.
So we sit down, he startstelling about his mission.
He's like, bro, he's like, youshould, you know, I knew a guy
who almost died in COVID whocould see spirits like you.
Like, there's certain people inthe church who can see spirits

(32:10):
as a gift, Tyler.
The Lord's calling out to you.
And I'm like, yeah, I knowJesus really just saved me.
So um I believe in loving oneanother and doing good, but I
don't believe the LDS church isthe way, you know.
I was like, I was like, I'm notgonna give up drinking, I'm not
gonna give up coffee, I'm notgonna, you know, be I had a view

(32:31):
that the the the church wasoppressive and it was super rule
strict.
You know, that's how I wasthinking about the church.
Like, why would I I'm not gonnado that?
Like, Jesus broke drank wine,dude.
Why are you trying to tell methis?
Right?
And so then David, this is whatreally got sparked my curiosity
about the Book of Mormon.
We were sitting there, David'slike, have you ever heard of the

(32:53):
grave of Nahum?
You've probably heard of it.
And he started telling me aboutthe Nephi Trail and how there's
an actual grave, like how theNephi Trail went across the
Arabian coast, and it wassupposed to be an eight-year
trail, and the Arabian Coast isthe perfect walking path where
desert travelers would go, andthere's a perfect little two
different areas that are perfectfor shipbuilding up there,

(33:13):
described like in the Book ofMormon.
And halfway from Jerusalemthere, there's this place called
Nahom.
They found an archaeologicalsite.
And what's crazy, I laterlooked at the ocean current
maps, and the ocean currents goover the Cape of Africa, which
matches the stormy region in theBook of Mormon, where Nephi and
his brothers probably wouldhave been like super stormy, and

(33:34):
then those ocean curts pushesup to Brazil.
It matches perfectly what wouldbe described in the Book of
Mormon.
And so, me, I'm like seeingthis, I'm like, bro, this is
interesting.
And I was like, and I at thatmoment was like, maybe I don't
know everything about the Bookof Mormon.
Because I was going off ofmemory when I was in church,
like, oh, there's Nephi, there'sthe Laman Knights, the Sthous

(33:56):
and Tripling Warriors.
These are the things I couldremember, right?
And I'm like, Right, yeah, andI'm like Joseph Smith, and then
so I was like, I don't know theBook of Mormon, apparently.
It's like maybe I do need toread it.
Because I thought I could justsummarize it.
I was like, you know, becausethat's what I did.
Like a lot of people who go inact, like, oh, I could summarize

(34:16):
the Book of Mormon.
People who you know I mean,that's how I was.
And so at that moment, I waslike, I don't know it.
Maybe I should read it.
And but I'm like, I'm not soldyet.
And so then after that, Davidjust focused on hanging out with
me.
We were chilling, and we wentto the the Vosen Festival, and
on the way back on the trainstation, because we we took the

(34:38):
train, on the way back, we getoff the train, and there's two
sister missionaries lost at thetrain station looking for
directions.
And at that moment, and theywere the sisters who are meant
to administer military members,and I am a military member,
right?
You see, you see, it's not acoincidence that that happened,
but David, like, he sees thesisters and he's like, he lay

(34:58):
it, it's the missionaries, it'sthe missionaries, can we go talk
to him?
And in my mind, I'm like, okay,it's a little weird, but at the
same time, after what justhappened with me and Satan in my
home and Jesus, like, eh, andalso I was like, they're cute,
they're from Utah, they're notAmerican soldiers, they're not

(35:20):
Germans.
I'm sick of talking to theGermans and the American
soldiers.
I want someone who's justregular from the States to talk
to, and they're from Utah,possibly.
Yeah, go talk about Utah, butI'm not gonna tell them I'm
inactive.
That's why I told myself.
So we go up there, we starttalking to them, and I'm
thinking they're cute.
And David he turns to me, andthis big grin just comes on his

(35:42):
face.
He goes to him, he's like,Tyler doesn't go to church,
throws me right under the bus.
And I'm just like, and then thesisters they just light up,
they're like, and they're like,Can we get your number?
And then my mind, I'm like,they're cute, okay.
Gave him my number at thatmoment, and I was like, the Lord
knew what he was doing, and soI gave him my number and then we

(36:04):
parted ways, right?
And then I was like, I wastelling myself, like, they
invited us to go to stateconference, so we went to church
that but it was stateconference and we missed it, and
so we didn't really end upgoing to church that Sunday.
So I was like, I didn't evenfit my church clothes at the
time, so it was I was okay withthat.
But then I after my brotherleft, I was like, I'm not going
back to church, bro.
I'm not like unless thesesisters really make it look like

(36:25):
they want me there, I'm notgoing, right?
And then they started hittingme up.
You want to come to game night?
You want to come to game night?
You want to come to church?
And I was like, oh, fine, yeah,I'll come.
So I shut, I decided to go.
And that first Sunday I went, Iwas just like, Lord forgive me,
I'm a sinner, I do a lot of badstuff.
I'm going, I know this is achurch, so I'm going in, right?

(36:47):
So I go in and I try to hide inthe back like everyone does,
and the sisters wouldn't let medo that.
They just they they they theythey scout you down like
bloodhounds, and they sit rightnext to you.
And so they basically afterthat first Sunday, I was just
like, okay, whatever, went home,didn't think much about it.

(37:07):
A few days later, I was like,you know, I went to bed one
night, right?
Just a few days later.
I closed all the doors and Iturned off all the lights in my
home and I went to sleep.
And then when I woke up thenext morning, all the doors and
all the lights were open and on,and I was kind of freaked out
because I was like, somethingwent through my home.
And I I thought it was Satan ora demon came back because I

(37:28):
think because of that, I startedthinking about that blessing.
It's based off both of ourfaith.
My faith isn't good enough.
I'm the reason why Satan'scoming back, you know what I
mean?
And I feel differently nowabout it because I feel like the
spirit told me that I was likean angel that came through to do
that, but little little anyway.
But basically at that moment, Iwas just like spooked out.

(37:50):
So I go into my room and Istarted to pray, and I'm like,
Lord, and this is like the mosthumble prayer I've ever prayed
in my life.
I'm like, Lord, I can't do itno more.
I can't keep the evil out of mylife.
I just can't do it.
I'll do what you want, I'll goto church, I'll do the things
you asked me, just please keepthe evil in my life.
I can't do it.
And I was crying in thisprayer.
I was like an absolute mess.
And after the prayer was done,I I kind of start, I just

(38:14):
started watching Facebookvideos.
And I came across this video ofthe utopian experiment, mice
experiment, where they put micein the perfect society and it
falls apart because they haveeverything they need and they
just turn against each other andthey get depressed and die.
And I just had this weird, Ihad like I started feeling the
spirit, bro, at that momentbecause I didn't understand what
the spirit, how the spiritspoke, but I felt like uh I felt

(38:38):
like this feeling, and I justfelt like these thoughts like
you need to write, you need towrite.
Grab your old prayer journaland write.
So I grabbed my old prayerjournal and I started to like
write, and I was like, mice arelike men, hard times create
strong men, strong men createweak times, weak times, uh
sorry, hard times create strongmen, strong men create good

(38:59):
times, good times create uh weakmen, and weak men create back
bad times.
And it's the cycle that alwaysrepeats itself, the pride cycle,
right?
And I was writing the only wayto break this through Jesus
Christ.
And I just started writingabout Jesus.
I was like, I've never donethis before.
I just started writing aboutJesus, right?
And at that moment, I just feltlike something came over me.

(39:20):
And I felt like I had my thearm that I was using the right
with something took control.
I had no control over my rightarm.
And that exact moment I feltlike words come directly into my
mind, and it was the same wordsthat were coming onto the
paper, and I was like, do notsorrow, my son.
I'm like, is this real?
And I was like, do not sorrow,my son, for I love you.
And I was like, is this real?
Is this yes, this is Jesus?

(39:41):
Get your blessings.
And I was just like, at thatmoment, I was like freaking mind
blown, right?
I was like, oh freaking mindblown.
I was just like, I was justspoken to by Jesus Christ,
right?
I was just spoken to, but likeit was like he did it through
me.
And I was just like, I didn'tunderstand it, but I was like, I
knew it was real at thatmoment.
And I was so like, I was like,what just happened?

(40:04):
And so that next Sunday, I waslike excited to go to church,
right?
I was like, what's gonna happennow?
So I go to church and I'msitting there in sacrament
meeting, you know, and likehalfway through the spirit of
God, like the entire time I'veexperienced the church, I've
never seen people stand up andsing in sacrifice.
They've always been sitting,and that so this was like

(40:25):
bizarre to me.
Halfway through the song,everyone just stood up.
And at that exact moment, Iheard the voice again.
It was like, but it was likeloud.
It was like the eye of theLord's upon you.
I started looking around andI'm like, who said that?
You know?
And everyone's singing, they'relike they're singing the words,
and they're like, Okay.
And then so I get up and Istarted singing.

(40:46):
And when I started drivinghome, I was driving home and my
passenger seat was empty.
But then I started like I couldfeel like the presence of
someone sitting there, and Iheard a voice speak to me, like
the Lord's waiting for you inyour home.
I'm like, and I couldn't seeanyone sitting there, but I
heard it, and like, and I couldfeel it.
It's like there's someonethere, and I'm like, okay.

(41:07):
I'm like, am I gonna see Jesusor something?
So I get in my when I get to myapartment, I'm expecting to see
Jesus Christ there.
I get into my my apartment, Idon't see anyone in there.
I'm like, what's going on?
Right?
What's going on?
And I started walking in thereand I hear this voice, pray.
I'm like, so I go to my kitchentable and I begin to pray.

(41:27):
And that moment, I just have afull-blown vision.
Like it was like I was in it.
And I'm in I'm in the eye of ahurricane, and I'm looking down,
I see the old city ofJerusalem, and there's like a
vortex of sand consuming thiscity.
As it's sinking down, I hearthe voice of the Lord, like I
hear the Lord speak to me inthis moment.
He's like, Tyler, there's astorm coming.

(41:49):
Half of my people are notready.
Will you be a warrior of thesun?
Will you fight for me?
At that moment, I'm like, Godis speaking to me.
Like, I'm like, I'm a I'mtaking a like I'm hearing him
speak to me.
And I'm just like, yes, I'llfight for you.
I'll I'll I'll I'll be asoldier, I'll fight for you, you
know what I mean?
And then after that divisionended, and I was like, I was in

(42:11):
awe.
I was like, whoa, you know, andI'm like, I don't know who to
talk to about this, right?
I'm like, this is somethingI've never experienced before.
And so I'm like, well, I don'tknow.
I go to bed that night and Ihave a dream.
This is like the this is whereit gets starts.
This is where the this getsgood.
So I'm in this dream and I seea fiery city, it's in ruins,

(42:34):
right?
It's old, eight Metzopotaniaold, and I'm sitting there and
hear a voice, Sodom.
I look around, I'm like lookingfor, and I hear sodom again.
And I look around, I just seefire and ruin.
And then I hear sodom for likea third time, and I turn, and
then I see an ocean.
I w I I walk over to this oceanand I realize it was the Dead

(42:56):
Sea after I woke up, but I walkinto it, and when I became
submerged, the dream changed.
And then I was in like a glassboxed room.
And this dream, I was likeswitching from first person to
third person, and then in thisglass boxed room, it starts
filling up, and there's no wayout.
There's no way out.
And there's a man sitting inthe corner, completely calm and

(43:18):
cross flagged.
He's just like he's likechilling with his legs like
this, you know, he's justchilling, completely calm.
And this room starts filling upwith water.
And it goes above his head, andhe's he's he's breathing just
fine.
And me, I have a fear ofdrowning, right?
I've always had a fear ofdrowning.
I grew up in the deserts ofUtah.
And so it started raising up,and I'm just like freaking out.

(43:39):
And when the room got aboutone-third of the way full, I
heard the voice, Tyler, why didwe train?
As a soldier, we trained forthe coming battle to be prepared
for what's gonna happen, youknow?
Be ready for what's what weneed to be ready for.
And that's what training's allabout.
And so the water continued torise at that point.
This time I'm freaking out.

(43:59):
I'm like swimming and swimming.
I'm like, I'm freaking out.
And the water got two-thirds ofthe way full, and I heard the
voice even louder.
Tyler, why did we train?
I'm like, you know, from I'mlike, this dream was like almost
feeling real at this point,right?
And then the water continued torise, and it got to the point
where I had about this much airleft, like uh just a head full

(44:21):
of air.
And I like take my last gasp ofair, and the water goes above
my head.
At this point, the box is full.
And I look down at the man whowas sitting at the very bottom
of the box, the one who was justchilling, and nothing wrong
with him.
It zooms into his face, and Isee it's the face of Jesus
Christ.
And he opens his mouth and witha loud, thunderous voice, he's

(44:41):
like, Tyler, why did we train?
In that moment, I woke up.
And when I woke up, I felt likeextreme peace on my chest.
I was like calm and peaceful.
It was like the most peaceful Iever felt in my entire life.
And I'm laying there, I'm justlike, oh, and I looked, and I'm
where that spot where I sawSatan standing in my room.

(45:01):
I literally saw two whitefigures, like glowing white
figures, like shapeless people,soft glowing white lights,
standing in my room.
And I was like, it was likeit's almost like I felt love
itself at this moment.
It was like so peaceful andmajestic.
And I was just like, huh.

(45:22):
In my mind, I was like, is thatthe father and the son?
Because that's how I that's theonly thing I could feel at the
time.
That's what I thought.
And I heard yes, I heard like ayes in my mind, go to sleep.
And I just fell right back andknocked out.
I was awake.
I know when I'm awake when itcompared to when I'm asleep.
I just knocked out after that.
And when I fell back asleep, Istarted having dreams right out

(45:43):
of the book of Revelation.
So I was like seeing likerevelations, like symbolic
dreams, right?
Or destruction, wars, and allkinds of stuff, right?
And then I see a fiery field.
Jesus Christ walks up to me inthe fiery field and he's like,
Tyler, I'm coming back.
You need to get people ready.

(46:03):
And I was like, after that, Istart, it was mind-blowing
because I start having dreamsevery night after that.
Because I was like going fromnot barely having dreams to
having dreams like every night.
And at this point, this isright before the October attacks
in Israel, when you know howOctober had the big uh the when
the Palestine attacked Israel.

(46:24):
This is right before this isall happening, and so I'm like
mind blown, right?
And at this point, I'm like,okay, I'm done drinking, I'm
done with pornography, like I'mgonna try to stop.
So I try to stop, right?
And I go, I'm like strugglingbecause I went to the shower one
day and I just like I need todo it.
I need to do it.

(46:45):
And I was sort of thinkingabout some stuff, and I was
like, I was I was you know, andthen I felt like this
overwhelming sadness come overme.
And then I felt a hand come tomy chest, and I heard Jesus
speak to me.
He was like, Tyler, you don'tneed this anymore.
And at that moment I didn'thave the urge to look at porn.
It was like he took it from me.

(47:07):
He took it, he took it from me.
It was like he freed me at thatmoment because I could not stop
doing it, and I didn't want todo it no more.
And he he took it from me.
And I was I was I was amazed,right?
And after this, I startedreading my scriptures.
I was reading the Book ofMormon, and I was still angry at

(47:28):
the church, and I was like, I'dpray to the Lord, like, why
this church?
Why this church?
There's so many churches, whythis one?
You know, I I'd literally belike screaming at him, asking
this, because I just didn't wantto accept the LDS church.
And literally, he gave me avision of Joseph Smith in the
woods, and I have a I literallydrew out this vision I had.

(47:49):
It's like the painting almost.
And I see Joseph Smith on hisback, like the young Joseph
Smith on his back with his handout, and I see like the Father,
this I see Jesus Christ likevisible, but the Heavenly
Father's face, he's likeobscured.
He won't like, I don't get tosee his face.
But I can see like the white,the light, and it's the whole
scene that you see in the firstvision.
I'm seeing this, and I'm like,okay.

(48:11):
And then he starts showing mevisions of us going to like
different worlds, like like anarmy of white soldiers, like
different rivers or streamsgoing throughout the galaxy, and
all these worlds start fillingwith light, and then the Lord's
hand gathers them all, and thenthey brings the whole universe
into his scepter, and he'ssitting on his throne.
I'm just like, and I start, youknow, like and then when I end

(48:32):
up when I talk to my brotherslater about this, like, bro,
that's like from the Doctrine ofCovenants.
I'm like, I haven't read theDoctrine Covenants, I don't even
know that was in the DoctrineCovenants.
Like, stuff I you know, I'msaying, like, and so he's like,
we're just talking about thisstuff.
But one day, right, you know,the day Russell Ballard died,
basically I heard the Lord'sspeech, but hey, a prophet's

(48:53):
gonna die tomorrow.
And I didn't understand that weconsidered the the apostles as
prophets at the time.
I was like, President Nelson'sgonna die tomorrow.
I'm like, I don't know if thisis true.
So I called David up.
Hey, David, something's gonnahappen in the church tomorrow.
Watch the news, right?
And literally, like the day heuh Russell Ballard died, they

(49:15):
didn't announce it, theyannounced it the day after.
And so my brother was like,nothing happened, right?
He was kind of like pissed offat me.
And then the day after theyannounced it, and he calls me
back up.
He's like, dude, how did youknow?
I was like, the Lord told me.
And he was kind of confusedafter that point.
And so during the this is whenstuff started getting weird

(49:36):
because I started readingscriptures and I would read it
outward out loud, and I wouldstart speaking in a language I
didn't understand, and I wouldtry to speak English, and it was
like nothing would come outthat was English.
I didn't understand it, and I'dbe like, What am I speaking?
And it was right at the partwhen I was reading like in the
Bible about Paul speaking intongues.
Like, this is like it was likeit was blind, I was like

(49:56):
experiencing the Holy Ghost onlike full blast at this point in
my life, right?
But at the same time, though,Satan came back, and at this
point I heard Satan startedcoming, I'm God, I'm Jesus.
And he started trying to getme.
This is right when the Octoberattack happened with the
Palestine, and the entire USArmy is like up in arms, right?
Everyone's freaking out, right?

(50:18):
And and I I have Jesus tryingto speak to me and I have Satan
trying to speak to me at thesame time.
I didn't know how to turnbetween spirits at that moment,
and he's like, This is World WarIII, bro, this is the battle of
Armageddon, get ready.
That's what Satan was saying.
And I'm like, Jesus, like,uh-uh-uh-uh.
You know, I'm like, I didn'tknow who was going on.
And so, and then this startedhappening when I was at work,

(50:39):
and literally it got so bad thatI was like, I couldn't even
think straight.
And so, like, I wanted to gohome and I went to the chapel
and said, Hey, can I go home?
And you're like, no.
They thought I was talkingabout going home to Utah.
Eventually I just get into mytruck and I start driving, and I
lose control and I get into anaccident on base.
And I end up going off a hill.
And there's these, when I wasgoing off this hill, there's

(51:01):
like two cement barriers thatwould like kill me if I would
have made contact with them.
And this is the second accidentwhere I lose my second truck.
And so as I go off this hill, Ifeel I'm like, Jesus, take the
wheel.
And it's like the truck droveitself at that moment.
I didn't even have and it likedodged the pillars.
And then I basically, when I,after that accident ended,

(51:21):
right, the I heard the saviorspun to the church, run to the
church, right?
And after the MPs showed up,military police, you know, the
German police, they theyarrested me and they took me to
the hospital.
And they're like, What's goingon?
And they're trying to figureout what's going on with me,
right?
And they, you know, it's justkind of I was there, right?

(51:44):
And then they sent me to amental ward and they started
doing brain scans on me, andthey did a brain scan.
And when the doctor, like whenI was sitting there, they were
putting me on all thesedifferent medications, they're
like testing, experimenting onme, trying to see what worked,
see what get the voices to stop.
And I'm sitting there, and thedoctor pulls me aside and say,
Hey, we did your brain scans,and we don't know what's wrong

(52:04):
with you.
People who have schizophreniaor psychosis or any of these
mental disorders, right?
Usually you could see somethingon their brain that shows us
what's going on.
We can't see anything with you.
Like, we don't know what'sgoing on with you.
We're like, hmm.
So eventually, right?
And they they realize none ofthe medication they were giving
me was working.
And so finally they're like,they gave me this mild stuff,

(52:25):
right?
Something that they could saythey're prescribing with, and
then they released me.
They're like, okay, he'sstable, let him go.
Because all I was telling themwas like, I hear Satan, I saw
Jesus, I saw Satan, I'm like,the second coming, I'm having
dreams of revelations.
Like I was telling them becauseall I could hear at that moment
was the savior say, Tell thetruth.
So I'm like telling the truth,like what I'm experiencing,

(52:45):
right?
And nobody believes me.
Nobody believes me.
And so like they release me,and when I get back to my unit,
there's like an investigationgoing against me, there's
charges, and I'm just like, Youkidding me, right?
Like, they're like the whole mywhole life was falling apart at
that moment, and I was scared.
I was like, what's gonnahappen?

(53:06):
Am I gonna go to jail?
Am I gonna get locked up?
Like I got from this accidentbecause the you know, Germany,
different rules and stuff likethat.
And at that moment, I juststarted going and seeing the
therapists, and I was justtalking with them, and nothing
was really connecting.
And then during that firstmonth, I got super sick.
And I was and they just told meto take them, take a couple

(53:26):
months off.
So I'm like taking a couplemonths off, and my family's
worried, everyone's worried, themissionaries are coming, giving
me blessings.
I just get super sick.
And during that time, I startedseeing like spirits all around
my house, like tons of spirits,like Satan spirits, right?
And they're like wanting tocome in my house, but they're
all like outside, right?

(53:47):
I can see them through thewindows, and I'm like freaked
out.
I'm like, okay.
This point I stopped playingand I stopped playing violent
video games.
I had, you know, I startedfollowing the word of wisdom.
I was praying five times a day.
Like, I was doing everything Icould to keep these spirits out.
And then literally, my dad hadhis own little podcast called
Three Dad Bods.
It was kind of like a you knowold man's podcast.

(54:10):
And he got so Vinny, I knowVinny uh he was a guy who you
interviewed on your podcast,actually.

Yeah, we've met him on a couple times, Vinnie
Tolman.

Yeah, Vid Tolman.
And so my dad got me in touchwith Vid Tolman, and Vid Tolman
started coaching me when it cameto spiritual matters because he
was like, bro, you're you'retalking to demons and you're
talking to angels right now.
You don't know who you'retalking to right now, you don't
know how to discern.
Like, I'm reading the Bible,I'm reading the Book of Mormon,
but I don't know what to do.
So he starts teaching, like,you need to discern, bro, you

(54:42):
need to use the priesthood, youneed to because at this moment,
I remember hearing Jesus one daytell me, like, one day I was
like, the priesthood's beenrestored to you.
And I was like, that reallylike hit me home.
So Vinny's telling me aboutthis stuff, right?
And I start getting visited bysome angels.
And I told you about mydaughter back in like when I was

(55:04):
in Florida.
She came back and visited me.
And I knew it was her becausethe way she spoke, the way she
was, and I was like, and then isit did Jesus send you?
Jesus, Jesus Christ send you,because Satan will claim to be
Jesus, but he can't be claimedto be Jesus Christ, right?
And so I had to be like, I hadto be like in the name of Jesus
Christ, the priesthood,authority of the Melchizedek, or

(55:26):
at the time I had the Ronicpriesthood, I was like, Who are
you, you know?
And she's like, I'm yourdaughter, who didn't get to
live, you know.
Like, I I'm on the other side,and she came to minister to me,
right?
She's like, I love you, dad,but you need to forgive
yourself.
Now, like that was like a hugeturning moment for me.
So I had to forgive myself atthat moment.

(55:48):
And and this is right when thethe the senior missionaries,
they were like grandparents tome in Germany, like they were so
kind to me, and they were liketrying to get me ready to go to
the temple because I had neverbeen in the temple, never been,
because it was just likesomething I just didn't ever
thought.
I never thought I would go tothe temple in my life, and I
used to tell myself God wouldnever pick me.

(56:09):
Like these are the things Iwould tell myself, and yeah,
they were getting me ready to goto the temple, and so
eventually I go to the templeand it was amazing, right?
And I and I started havingdreams about my ancestors as I
would go to the temple, and westart doing this like temple
trip every month, and I wouldhave dreams about the Apostle
Peter, I would have likevisions, and I would start

(56:31):
seeing things like I would havevisions of Jesus and the wars.
I just and I'd have visions ofstuff that would happen in the
future of that day.
I remember I had to go to theGerman DMV to do some paperwork
from the truck I just lost.
And as I was driving there,that morning before it had a
vision of storm clouds comingacross the city.
And when I was driving therelater that day, I saw that exact
same scene happen.
I was like, the Lord is showingme the future.

(56:52):
Like it everything they werethough they say about the spirit
of prophecy, this of thefuture, the gift of tongues, and
all that's all true.
And literally, I started havingall my dreams I was pissed off
about because I couldn'tunderstand them, right?
And I was like, and then nextthing you know, I heard Jesus
start speaking to me.
He's like, Who's the greatinterpreter?

(57:13):
I was like, Who?
He's like, Jesus Christ.
And that moment I start prayingto the Lord, like in how like
in the scriptures of Dan ofJoseph of Egypt, and then Daniel
and Lion's Den, and these oldtestament prophets who would
just like, you know, would turnto the Lord to interpret dreams.
I start doing that.
And then I started the Lordstarted telling me what my

(57:34):
dreams meant.
And around and so as this Istart going through these
changes, Vinny stopped talkingto me because he kind of he has
a lot of people he was talkingto.
But you know, he told me that Iwould come home at the end of
the summer, which was funnyenough, I did, but we'll get to
that later.
But so as I'm having theseexperiences, I'm like, I'm like,

(57:55):
I'm having like atransformation.
Like the Holy Ghost would helpme stop cursing.
I used to curse like a sailor,but he told me stop drinking
caffeine, right?
So I stopped drinking caffeine,and also he told me like he
helped me stop swearing.
Like I would have times whereI'm about to say the F word, or
I'm about to say the, you know,I was like, and then the Holy
Ghost would shut my mouth.
I'd be like, thank you, Jesus,thank you, Jesus.

(58:19):
I would literally have momentslike that, and I just felt like
this great change come over me.
And I then I start had like Istarted walking the streets with
the missionaries, and I'd go tothe game nights, I would start
spending time and hanging outwith the missionaries, and I
would start giving out Book ofMormons with them.
And then I got called to be theYSA rep and be a Sunday teacher
for the for the 11-year-olds.

(58:39):
And I was working with the oldbishop, and we were like, the
Lord paired me with the oldbishop so I could, you know,
grow with him, and he can kindof be there to teach me stuff.
And it was just super cool whatI was going through at that
moment.
And I started doing, I starteddoing, I felt, and I started
seeing so many homeless peoplethat the German people were
ignoring in Stuttgart and therefugees and all that stuff.

(59:00):
And I just the Lord put on myheart do a food drive.
And so I started doing fooddrives for the homeless, and I
started giving out food.
I would ask the missionarieshelp to help pass this stuff
out, right?
And so I would just like startpassing out food to the homeless
people out there, and I wasjust feeling, I was feeling
alive with the Holy Ghost thatmoment.
And then around this sameperiod of time, I was able, I

(59:22):
gave my first talk.
The, you know, I got called tobe an elder.
And I was how I was I wasfeeling, and then I heard the
spirit say, You need to startdating.
The Lord's like, you need tostart dating.
I was like, There's no girlsout here to date.
I told myself I would stopdating because I can't, I don't
trust myself around womenanymore.
Like I I I proved that I'm notworthy of a woman of God.

(59:43):
Like, and the Lord's like,dude, you've changed.
You need to start dating.
I was like, how?
He's like, get on mutual, getonline, you know?
And so I got on mutual and Istarted talking to girls, right?
And during this time, I startedhaving dreams of going to South
America.
Like I'd climb this likeancient temples.
I'm like in there in SouthAmerica.
America, right?
And I'm looking for something.
And I start, I'd climb thetemple, and there'd be a woman

(01:00:05):
in a wedding dress waiting forme there, right?
And literally, I would starthaving dreams of going to like a
wedding banquet, and then we itwas like a big party, and we go
to like the olive tree theater,and it was all symbolic, right?
And I had a dream where myfiancee approaches me, and I had
thrown a croissant into thetrash, half eaten, and she pulls
it out and she's like, Don'tever throw this away.

(01:00:28):
And this is before I realizedwho was because I later had a
vision of that dream later onwhen I met her later on, and I
recognized it was hers.
It'll be cool when I get tothat part.
But basically, I dreamed aboutmy fiance before I met her.
Because what happened later wasI got the priesthood, the med
board came in and they saidwe're gonna retire you, there's

(01:00:50):
no charges, and I was on myprocess of coming home at this
point.
And it was at the end of thesummer, I came home, like Vinny
said.
And so I'm coming home, right?
And literally in generalconference, that like you know,
like the next generalconference, like I'll get to
that point, but President Nelsontalks about how the parable of
the 10, this last generalconference, right?

(01:01:11):
President Nelson talks aboutthe parable of the 10th version,
and it matches that firstvision the Lord gave me, telling
me how half the church, halfhis people weren't ready.
It's like it all matches up.
And so like I come home, and onthe third day I came home, I
have this vision where I see abig earthquake hit Utah and like
the Provo Dam break, and I seelike all this destruction, but

(01:01:32):
then the only thing that isn'tbeing touched is the church.
The temples, the thesteakhouses, like the church is
completely fine when all thisand I see the mountain coming
down, killing all the richhouses and stuff, and I hear the
voice of the Lord say, Utahneeds to repent.
I was like scared because itwas like the most realistic
vision I've ever had in my life.
And then after that ended, I'mlike, what's going on?

(01:01:53):
Lord's like, you gotministering work to do here in
Utah, right?
You gotta bring people back tothe church.
Like, there's so many people inUtah who've gone astray.
I'm like, you're right, youknow?
It's like you're Tyler, Ibrought you back so you can
teach people that even peoplewho've done all this evil can
still you can come back, right?
And so that's what I felt likeI need to do.

(01:02:15):
And so as I'm like coming homeand adjusting and being home,
I'm doing like because I wasn'tbecause what's interesting is
when I was in Germany inJanuary, I put in to get my
patriarchal blessing, like thatfirst message that was written
to me by the savior said.
And every time the patriarchsaid I had to wait until October
because there was only oneEnglish-speaking patriarch.
So when I got home to Utah, thepatriarch said, I'm not

(01:02:39):
available till October.
My local patriarch.
And so I was like, okay, I'llwait for October.
I thought I could get itsooner, but I guess I gotta wait
until October.
And when I when October camealong, that's when I matched
with Vivi on Mutual.
This is really funny, actually,because at that point, like in
September, I matched with Vivi,my fiance, and literally, like,

(01:03:01):
she left me unread for a monthon the app, like on typical
online dating.
We matched, she left me unreadfor a month.
I messaged her and I was like,whatever, moved on, right?
Month later, she and shemessaged me, like, hey, I'm
like, she messaged me back, andI was like, ah no, she's one of
those women, stuck up, doesn'tgive men attention.

(01:03:22):
She probably got, you know, Iwas like, nah, I ain't gonna
deal with it, right?
And at that moment, when I wasabout to just shoe it away, the
this the spirit spoke.
And it's like, hey, she's cute.
I'm like, yeah, but she's oneof the she's pretty.
Fine, I'll text her.
And I texted her back, and thenafter that, we started texting
back and forth, and we starthitting it off, and we start

(01:03:44):
sharing our testimonies, and wehad very similar experiences,
and I was like, Whoa, thisgirl's different.
And I had prayed to the Lord tobring me to a woman who would
put Jesus Christ first and wouldaccept me for who I am.
You know what I mean?
And so I was mind-blown becauseI was like, this girl is great.
But I was talking, you know, Iwas trying to figure out if she

(01:04:06):
was the one.
And at this point, I get mypatriarchal blessing, and I
found out I'm not part of thelike the rest of my family.
I got put into a differenttribe, and I was just like,
What?
And then I in this blessing,this is the part I'm gonna
share, is he said, you will soonmeet a woman who completes
who's here her weaknesses is youknow, complement your

(01:04:26):
strengths, right?
And I was mind blown, andbecause that it was exactly when
I started talking to Vivi, andas me and Vivi started talking,
it was like it was paying out,right?
It was it was playing out.
Her she had a friend who had adream about me that she was
talking to a blonde guy in Utah,and she had a dream about a guy
with a dog tag or like anecklace with the letter C on

(01:04:47):
it, and my last name wasKristen, that I was wearing a
dog tag with the cross on it,and like I was praying the Lord
was like, take a hint, take ahint, Tyler, take a hint, and I
was just like, it's all addingup.
So I ended up just buying aticket and going down there and
asking her to be my girlfriend,and then at that moment I knew I
wanted to marry her.
I just knew it.
And then so after that, ourrelationship just blossomed, and

(01:05:08):
I had a dream when I came homefrom from Ecuador about the ring
I was supposed to get her, andso I ended up buying it because
she likes blue, and I got her ablue sapphire uh ring, and then
our blue we just we starttalking every pretty much we
talk every day, and I just knewlike Henley Father brought me to
the perfect woman.

(01:05:29):
And right now we're in theprocess of working through
immigration so she can be herewith me, and but it's been hard,
but his I have it's it has thethe most beautiful thing about
it is every time we have aproblem, we we we pre we bring
up Jesus, right?
And we turn to Jesus to help ussolve our problems and it helps
us get through the challenges,and it's she's just been amazing

(01:05:52):
to me because of that, and I'vebeen trying to be doing my best
to be for her.
And literally, when you putJesus in the center of your
relationship, it even along-distant relationship with a
woman in a different country,right?
It makes it so much easier.
Every long-distant relationshipI had before this didn't work.
And this one was working,right?
This one was the one that wasworking, and it just was working
too well, and they always say,like, in long-distance

(01:06:15):
relationships, it forces you tocommunicate and get to know the
person over your intimacy andphysical touch.
A lot of people get distractedby those things, and then they
get will, it's like they getdistracted by the flesh, and
that's what I used to do, right?
I had no access to that here,right?
It was just like get to knowher, and that's what I was

(01:06:36):
doing, and it was just like itwas amazing, and I just started
feeling like everythingexpanding, and then the gift of
interpreting dreams.
I literally start understandother people's dreams when
people would tell me theirdreams, and I'd be like, dude,
that's what it means.
And then I like that's fromJesus, and then you know, my
friend Jordan here, the one I'min Las Vegas with, we met up, we

(01:06:57):
became friends, and he startedit kind of we started I started
teaching him stuff, he startedteaching me stuff, and we just
started vibing with each other,and then we came here to Las
Vegas basically to you know hangout with some of his friends
and family, but also to sharethe Book of Mormon, right?
We bought a bunch of bags ofBook of Mormons, and now we're
out here preaching the gospel topeople and sharing the Book of

(01:07:20):
Mormon, and like he literallyhad a dream that came true
because like he had a dream.
He told me about it, and likethat's a warning.
And then literally the othernight it happened, and we're
just like, what?
You know, because like becausewe're both learning how to
understand our dreams fromJesus, and because he's been
talking to us through ourdreams, and he does speak the
dream.
I tell everyone this if youever get a dream that you don't
understand, write it down andthen pray to Jesus, like what

(01:07:43):
does this mean?
And then write it down again.
The spirit will help youunderstand what it means.
You'll you'll you will havedifferent, you'll you'll hear
him speak differently.
It'll be like, it actuallymeans this dude.
But it doesn't happen likeright, you have to be willing to
do the work to understand.
Like you have to you have asense, for example, a car means
the church, right?
At the beginning I didn'tunderstand it because usually

(01:08:04):
it's like in the in the days ofthe Hebrews, ships used to be
symbolic of the church, right?
But then the Lord would speakto me with modern symbols, like
I see myself driving a truck,and I started realizing that was
the church, my journey in thechurch.
And so the spirit startedmaking me understand what my
dreams meant.
And it was so cool, like tounderstand what my dreams were.
And so basically, I've beenwanting to get my story out to

(01:08:27):
share this, because I'meventually trying to start my
own podcast someday to hear, soI could start helping people my
age group, right?
Because I feel like my biggestissue is trying to get to a
podcast, but take my story toshare this, and so I was like
reaching out, reaching out,reaching out.
Nobody was giving me the secondof time, not even the daylight,
to like share it becauseeveryone's like busy, because

(01:08:47):
either because it was eitherpeople were having kids or
they're busy, or they just werenever getting back to me.
And I just like I want to doit, but it's it's it's
appropriate now that it'sactually I feel like this is
going on the Lord's time, notmine.
That's the reason whyeverything happens for a reason.
And so I just yeah, a lot ofthings happened for me, and it's

(01:09:12):
it's it was like oh, like aroller coaster of events that
happened, and it's just like somany things, and I just I do
believe like when PresidentElson said, and this still
sticks with me, is that thisgeneration was like a chosen
generation.
We're gonna experience miraclesthat we've never seen before.
Where we were held in thereserve for a reason.
He and I feel Jesus is callingback his people because there's

(01:09:33):
so much wickedness going on inthe earth right now.
Like when I look like that'swhat really helped me drive it
to a nail to come back, too.
Like Jesus was showing me whatwas a good, he showed me how he
taught me how to discern betweengood and evil in the spirits,
and he's like, This entireexperience was Jesus teaching
me, and I felt like I had thispersonal, like I can hear him
speak to me.
That's what people don'trealize is everyone can hear

(01:09:56):
Jesus speak to them if theybelieve it can happen.
I would ask Jesus, like, hey,Jesus, I can hear you speak to
me.
Can everyone else hear youspeak like that?
He's like, Yes, they have tobelieve that it can happen,
right?
And I was like, that's cool,and that's why I like to sharing
it's like because it's likethis is like the same things
that the apostles like try topreach to people like the in the
LDS church, like they'll say,Hey, I hear I hear the savior

(01:10:21):
speak.
You gotta be willing to listen.
I remember I was in the templeone day, like this one of the
temple workers when I wasworking in the temple for a
short period of time in theTippenogos, because I had dreams
about going to MountTipponogas, like the mountain,
and I was with my fiance, yeah.
I realized it meant to go workin the temple, and so I worked
there for a short period of timebefore I moved.

(01:10:41):
But there's a man in the templewho's like, You're a seeker.
I'm like, What?
A seeker?
What do you mean?
It's like someone who seeksknowledge.
I was like, Oh, so I'm seekingthe truth through Jesus.
And it's like my favoritescripture, Matthew 7, 7.
Ask, you shall receive, knock,and the door will be open to
you, right?
And the heavens will be likeit's just like that is like the
truth there.

(01:11:01):
Too many people don't seek it.
And it's when I started seekingJesus in my seventh, and it was
crazy, it was my seventh yearin the army.
The seventh of the perfectnumber of completion.
That's when I came back, right?
And then my sixth years ofservice, I was like enslaved, I
was in servitude, the years ofman, I was working, I was, and
I've never been so happy since Icame back to the church.

(01:11:22):
It was like when I was in themilitary, when I was away, there
was always something dead inme.
I always felt dark.
I would have dreams where I'mlike, I would have these dreams
where I'm a zombie, and thensomeone like heals me, and I'm
no longer a zombie, and I'mawake, and I see the infection,
the apocalypse around me, andI'm like, oh no, there's only a
few of us who are awake and notzombies.
And I feel that that's likewith the world right now.

(01:11:44):
And I feel so happy and alivenow.
Like I never could, even whenthings are going wrong and I'm
miserable and I'm angry.
I know I have Jesus becauseI'll have times where I'm angry
and I just want to be angry.
I feel Jesus, hey Tyler, he'llyou literally start speaking,
hey Tyler, forgive Vivi orforgive David, forgive Eric.
Don't be angry right now, it'snot gonna fix this.

(01:12:05):
He'll start like, even thoughI'm like, leave me alone, Jesus.
Like, Tyler, you asked me to bein your every day of every
second of your life.
Didn't you ask for that?
It's like I did.
It's like let me be here foryou.
I'm like, fine.
And then also start havingJesus like he'll he'll I don't
feel alone because my biggestproblem is I always felt alone.
He's like, Tyler, I made youdifferent.

(01:12:26):
You always felt outside, youalways felt like an outcast, an
outsider gram.
You were bullied as a kid, youhad all these things going on
because I needed you to need me.
They need you to teach, theyneed you because you need to
teach them about me.
And I was just like, So it'sjust Jesus is awesome.
Like, yeah, when you really getto know him, he's awesome.

Scott Brandley (01:12:49):
Yeah, the your story is interesting.
I mean, we've had more and morepeople that have that are that
have unique gifts of the spiritthat have been on the show,
especially recently, and andyou're like, this is really
interesting because we, I mean,I don't know, like I don't feel

(01:13:09):
a lot of those things, but andyou read the scriptures and and
it talks about the gifts of thespirit, and you want them,
right?
Like as members of the church,you're like, I want to have
that, and then you think, well,maybe it maybe there's something
wrong with me that I don't havethose things, but I think every
one of us has different gifts,and you obviously have some

(01:13:30):
unique gifts that a lot ofpeople don't have, right?
But God uses us all indifferent ways, and he uses the
gifts that we do have in to hisadvantage to help move the work
forward, right?
So the the things that you'vegone through are unique to you
because they had to be in orderfor you to be where you are now.

Tyler Karl Christen (01:13:54):
I totally agree with that.
Like right, I've had therapiststell me I'm crazy, and I've had
therapists tell you this isfrom God, right?
It's like it's it's it's a it'sa journey.

But would but you wouldn't be where you are
now, you wouldn't have thetestimony you have now if you
wouldn't have gone through whatyou uniquely went through to get
to this place, right?
And so that's what had tohappen.
And because of you, because youhave those unique gifts, you're
able to recognize them now asyou're as you're older, as
you've seen the dark side of theworld, as you've seen the good

(01:14:28):
in the world, you now have aunique perspective that you can
look at the world through thegifts that you have to do
something great for God.

Yeah, I have something I forgot to
share, and I think this isreally cool.
Okay, um, one thing it remindsme of Joseph Smith.
This is me testifying JosephSmith is a real prophet because
one of the things I feel likeback when I was in Germany, the
Lord wanted to let me understandhow Joseph Smith was a true
prophet.
I was fasting for 40 hours andI had some cool experiences, and
I fasted again for 34 hours,right?

(01:14:58):
And on the last day of my fast,I woke up one one morning and I
had writing on my hand.
Like on the sear stones thatJoseph Smith had when he
translated the plates, wordswould appear on a stone, and he
would have to like, you know, hewould translate that way.
And literally, I saw a writingon my hand said angel on my
hand.
And I was like, middle, I justwoke up and I'm like, I'm like,

(01:15:20):
what?
And I'm like, is this real?
I blinked and then it said yes.
And I was like, I blinkedagain.
Is this from is this Satan?
And it was like, no.
It was like this someone wrotewith a Sharpie on my hand, but
it the words would disappear andchange.
And I was blank, okay, who'sthe angel?
I blinked and it said, you.
And I was like, what?
And it's like, I blinked again,is this real?
And then I rubbed my eyes andit was gone.

(01:15:42):
Right?
And then I had this happenagain where I had a dream where
I felt like the Lord was tryingto speak to me, and it was like
a lot of stuff happened, and Iwoke up, my phone screen here,
right?
And I I drew a lot of visionsof these dreams and visions I
had, because right on here onthis phone screen, you can't
really see it, but that's avision I had, right?
Or I had me and my daughterrunning into heaven to the tree

(01:16:05):
of life.
But basically, I'll send youthe picture so you you can show
it on the screen for everyonewho wants to see it.
But on my screen, right, itjust shows like that.
That's all it shows.
I woke up that morning and itwas that screen you saw on my
phone, but it was like someonewrote with Sharpie on my screen
saying heaven was real, and Ikind of like had to check it

(01:16:28):
again, you know, and it it wasit was nothing there.
But the Lord showed me that hecan appear, like he will show
this the spirit will write, likehe will write words with the
spirit to show you the truth,and then he could take it away
in an instant.
Like, and that just proved tome the way Joseph Smith
translated the pro the thegolden plates was true.

(01:16:49):
Like, I will testify.
I will I on my life I swearthat it's true because I
personally experienced that withmy hand and with my cell phone,
right?
And I I didn't have a stone todo it, but the stone was a tool
because it was symbolic of JesusChrist as a rock, right?
And so for me, that was justlike mind-blowing.
Like, God can do anything.

Yeah.
Wow.
Man, this is this has been aunique podcast, Tyler.

I'm sorry, but it might happen to a lot.

No, it's that's that's fine.
Like the the reason why thereason why I I started this
podcast was so people couldshare their stories, right?
We don't get to hear thingslike this.
Um, I mean, stories typicallyhappen inside our wards, right?
People, when they give a talk,they might share some personal
experiences or maybe in a class,but you don't get outside of

(01:17:42):
that and your family, you don'tget to hear other members'
experiences, and especially liketheir life experience, right?
You don't get to hear theirwhole story from when they're
young to what to where they arenow, right?
And so this is good.
Like it's good to get differentperspectives to hear different
people's stories because eachone of us is unique, each one of
us has special gifts, and Godspeaks to us in in unique ways

(01:18:06):
and through different events andand things that we go through
in life.
So I'm I'm glad that youreached out.
I think this is good.
I think it gives people adifferent perspective.
Um, because we are told thatthere are going to be more
miracles, there are going to bemore um, you know, God's going
to reveal Himself in unique waysas we get closer to the end.

(01:18:29):
And your story is is an exampleof some of those things that
that I think are starting tohappen.

It's like in the book of Acts, the young
and the old will have dreams andvisions and prophesies, right?
And I believe like this is atestament to the young people
right now is that like people myage and younger, like this can
happen to you too.
It's not just exclusive to ourfathers or our mothers, you
know.

Yeah.
So um, as we start to kind ofwrap up here, do you have any
any last thoughts or things thatyou'd like to share with people
that are that are watching?

I would say it all started for me when I
chose to call on the name ofJesus Christ, plain simple.
When I chose to take a leap offaith, it was like I'm gonna
call on Jesus and believe thatwhen I needed him most, right?
I was like, Jesus, I don't knowif you're gonna come through,
but I need you.
It was a small grain of faith,right?

(01:19:34):
And it turned it was like amustard seed of faith, and it
turned into a freaking tree,like a mu a a mountain, like in
the smallest, it's like the samesaid, the smallest amount of
faith, the smallest amount ofbelief can move mountains,
right?
For me, that's what happened inmy life.
And I and my faith has beengrowing every day.
And the more I testify, and themore I choose to seek the truth

(01:19:55):
and the belief, the more itgrows, and the more I
experience.
I saw I forgot the Mentioned, Isaw a guy wake up from a coma
because, like, her hisgirlfriend said, We know we're
not from the same church.
This is back when I was aGermany, but can you get your
church to pray for me?
And I went to a YSA conferenceand asked everyone to pray for
him.
And then when I went to thetemple, I heard the spirit say,
Kevin's okay.
And when I came back, hisgirlfriend said it was a

(01:20:16):
miracle.
He woke up without braindamage, like the doctor said he
was gonna do.
And so, like, stuff like thathappens for people like us.
And you just have to have faiththat Jesus still does miracles.
And that's just you just it'slike be a seeker and seek the
heaven.
And sometimes when we wantthings to happen, it won't
happen when we want it, but ithappens how we need it.

(01:20:38):
And we just have to learn howto listen to Jesus.
Like, like I said, he speaksthrough our dreams, he'll speak
through people, he'll speak.
Like I've had times when I'mreading the scripture and I felt
my finger guided to certainwords in the script.
He will speak to us in so manydifferent ways, but we have to
be receptive for him.
And sometimes we have to bebroken to receive it.
And that's how it was for me.

(01:20:59):
I had to be broken to receivebecause our pride's the biggest
blocker.
When we believe those thingscan't happen to us, you're
challenging God.
And that's what I did andunknowingly, but I did that.
And God was like, Bro, youreally you really want to try
me.
I'm gonna show you, and you'regonna believe after that.

(01:21:21):
And I'm like, and now you'regonna go share it.
I'm like, Yep, gave my lifeafter that, you know?
And so truly, like, that's whenI like I watched the Passion of
the Christ, and I I totallycried like a little baby, and I
watched the chosen.
Like, I recommend watch thechosen, watch the Passion of the
Christ, read the Book of Mormonall the way through.

(01:21:42):
That's what really because Imade a commitment to read it all
the way through, and prayed ifthe truth, the truth, the church
was true.
Like Joseph Smith said when hestarted church, read the book of
Mormon, pray if it's true.
That's what I did, andblatantly the savior is like,
here's a vision, dude.
Like, he gives you what youneed, and you have to be willing

(01:22:05):
to accept it, you have to seekit, you have to want it.
If you don't want it, you'renot gonna get it.

Yeah, well, that's uh yeah, great, great
words of encouragement and andadvice.

So I'm passing.
I get fired up.
I'm sorry.

No, I no, it's that was really good.
And I I really appreciate youhaving the courage to come and
share this because I mean a lotof the things you've shared are
outside of uh I think what mostmembers um experience, right?
But it's happening, like Isaid, it's happening more
frequently.

And it's not just happening in our
church, too.
When I was talking to Vinnie,who's talking to guys of
different Catholic Protestants,and they're all experiencing
similar stuff, like it'shappening to people who are
seeking Jesus.
And us as members, we got toremember the most important part
is seeking Jesus.
We we got to put Jesus as thecenter of our faith and
religion.

(01:23:04):
Yes, we have the prophets andthe apostles, but they're not
Jesus, like they're speaking forJesus, they're trying to point
you to Jesus.
If you're not seeking Jesus,what are you seeking?

Yeah, I got one.
So that brings me to a questionthat I have for you.
I mean, you talk about seekingJesus a lot.
I know as members of thechurch, we talk to God a lot,
but we very rarely ever talk toJesus.
At least I don't.
The way you gotta seems likeyou like you do, so like share
some of that.

Like, what do you think about that?
I want to know Henry Father, Iwant to have a relationship, but
you cannot go to the fatherwithout going to the son.
Jesus paid the price for oursins, and he took responsibility
for us.
He's our he's our lazy, he'sour lawyer, right?
He's our representative, he isour administrator, he's our

(01:23:59):
king, he is our brother who tookresponsibility for us, so we
can be with the father.
We have to turn to the Jesus,we we can't do it alone.
We need Jesus' help.
We can't.
We need Jesus.
We don't ask Jesus for help.
It's gonna be harder becauseHeavenly Father wants us to rely
through Jesus.
Because if we have Jesus, wehave his grace, and then we can

(01:24:20):
receive what the Lord wants togive us.
Heavenly Father wants us to gothrough Jesus because Jesus died
on the cross for us.
That's the atonement.
The atonement doesn't workwithout Jesus.
Miracles don't work withoutJesus.
The priesthood, like all thesethings that we were given, it's
in the name of Jesus Christ.
The church is in the name ofJesus Christ.

(01:24:42):
Why do we have all the thetemples?
You see them on the temple.
Everything we do in this churchis literally to share the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Father in heaven said, Thisgospel is on the foundation of
Jesus Christ.
I remember one day, literally,when I was struggling, the
Lord's like, Tyler, your lifeisn't set in stone.
You can still do what you want,you have free will.

(01:25:05):
Jesus Christ was the stone, hislife was the one that was cut
into the rock, he was the onethat went the path that no one
wanted to walk.
So you can be free.
And people, you have tounderstand what Jesus went
through to truly understand whythe father wants us to go

(01:25:28):
through him.
He literally is like ouradoptive father.
Like he is like, think aboutHell and Father's the patriarch,
right?
But you if like you have agrandparent, right?
And they're the patriarch ofthe family.
Then you have your mom and dad,and they're responsible for
raising you, and you fight withthem a lot.

(01:25:49):
You're disrespectful to them.
They have to be like that's howwe are with Jesus.
Like, Helen Father, like Iain't gonna take that
disrespect, right?
But you need to come to my son,and he's gonna bring you to me.
He's gonna, he's gonna, he'sgonna help you get better.
And so it's like he's ourfamily, right?
And Heavenly Father wants us towork with family, and we all

(01:26:12):
have this ideology where we cando it alone and we can please
God.
We can't do it alone, we cannotplease God by our own works.
That's never gonna get you toheaven.
You need the grace of JesusChrist and his help to do the
work, and with his help, you cando miracles greater than the
savior, because the savior seesus doing miracles greater than

(01:26:34):
him doing it himself.
He wants to do it with us, hewants us to be a part of it, he
wants us to be part of the one,he wants us to be part of
sharing the gospel.
Jesus wants us to be a part ofit.
This is his church, this is whyit works through Jesus.
Like, Heavenly Father is likeJesus is in charge of the world,
but you guys gotta go throughhim before you come to me.

(01:26:56):
Like, if you startunderstanding everything is
connected with Jesus Christ,every ancient culture, like
there are signs that point toJesus.
If you go look at everyreligion, every ancient culture
through the history books, thereare so many signs that point to
Jesus.
You just have to recognize likeJesus is the Son of God, He is
part of the Godhead, right?

(01:27:17):
He literally is who we say Heis, He has He shares the power
with the Father and the HolyGhost.
Like, that's why we have to gothrough him.
Our Father is our Father, theHoly Ghost is our our spiritual
brother, right?
But so is Jesus.
But Jesus is the the king now,right?
He has been brought to histhrone, he is the guy.

(01:27:39):
Like, if you if you seek him,because we the goal is to get to
the father, but we need Jesusto do it.
We should, and the best way toseek the father is to also seek
Jesus, because we want you needyou need Jesus, and you have to
want to Jesus.
Jesus doesn't want to be inyour life if you don't want him.
He wants you, he wants to be inyour life if you want him, but

(01:28:01):
he wants to be in your life allthe time.
And it's like if you reallywant Jesus, Heavenly Father
wants you.
Because Heavenly Father wantsyou, but he doesn't want to deal
with you if you don't wantJesus.
It's like I'll be there, butlike, dude, he died for you.
You don't leave a brother whodied for you.
Don't the homie who protectedyou, man.

(01:28:22):
You don't just abandon him.
Like he here, he did theultimate, you know.
It's like if you start thinkingabout it, it makes sense.

Yeah, that's that's you've taught me
something, Tyler.
I'm 50 and you've taught mesomething tonight.
So really because honestly,like as a member of the church,
like I feel like I need toalways pray to God.
And I thank God for Jesus.
I thank God for Jesus, but Inever actually thank Jesus.

(01:28:54):
I never I never talk to Jesus,I never like ask Jesus for help.

He wants a relationship with you.

Right.
I don't really have one.
That's that's the crazy thing.
Like, I'm grateful for Jesusand I say in the name of Jesus
Christ for everything, right?
Like I talk about him, I, but Inever actually like thank him
personally or or or try to havesome like some kind of a
relationship with Jesus.

(01:29:22):
So that you've really opened mymind to um to something that I
may have been missing.

And I I promise you, if you start
building that relationship withJesus, you'll start building
that relationship with HeavenlyFather too, because Heavenly
Father is gonna see you.
He's like, I'm pleased, I'mhappy.
I see my sons working together.
I want I want I want I want toshow you stuff now.
Like that's how it happens.
I want to show you stuff nowbecause you're you you you're

(01:29:54):
being a family again.
It's like that's how you makethem happy.
It's like it's how you you youcan only you can only truly
bring light unless you bringlight together.
It's like you have to acceptlight to share light, and it's
just you obviously we pray tothe Father and we seek the

(01:30:16):
Father, but we also need to seekJesus and the Holy Ghost
because after you start seekingJesus, you start to seek the
Holy Ghost, right?
It's literally connect youstart building the relationship
with all three of them if youstart building a relationship
with Jesus.

Yeah.
Well, thanks, man.
I really appreciate thatinsight.
That's I'm really gonna think alot about that on how I can
have a better relationship withJesus.

Oh, yeah, it's I really appreciate it,
man.
It's phenomenal.
Like that's the thing thatpeople don't realize.
Sometimes, like, and this islike from a journey of taking a
little bit from the Catholics,the Protestants, and our own
church, and then free-thinkingChristians off the internet,
right?
And I just kind of take alittle because this is one thing
I believe is true.
We have a big piece of thepuzzle, but they all also have a

(01:31:03):
portion of the truth.
And in the end, it doesn'tmatter if you're Latter-day
Saint, Catholic, Protestant,Methodist, in the end, when
Jesus comes back for themillennium, it ain't gonna be
the Latter-day Saints of JesusChrist.
That's gonna be the church ofJesus Christ.
Everyone's gonna be under JesusChrist, and I'm just like, this
is what I know.
I'm like, because like in thebook of Mormon, it's gonna be he

(01:31:24):
said, if it says the church ofJesus Christ, it's of me, right?
And so I'm just like, bro, he'sgonna bring us all together,
whether we like it or not.
We're all gonna be one churchin the millennium, so it's gonna
be like, are we ready?
Like, what's gonna unite us?
What's gonna unite us?
Jesus.
And if we focus on Jesus, ourfreaking differences go away.

(01:31:45):
And so many Christians in ourchurch, another church like who
accuse us of not beingChristians, or we accuse them
not having the truth.
And it's like, why are we sofocused on the negatives, right?
And why don't we come togetheron Jesus?
Because if we stop arguing andwe start focusing on Jesus, bro,
we might find a connection, andthen they might see what our

(01:32:05):
truths, and then we might seetheir truth, and then we might
be able to come together, andthey may it's it's like, why are
we so focused on what brings usdifferently?
Like, why we we we focus on thedifferences, right?
And we should focus on Jesusand what he taught and the
Savior.
Like, it's the whole stormconcept when Jesus walked in the
water, focus on Jesus, and thestorm will come.
It's like most of the peoplewho persecute our church,

(01:32:29):
they're like, Oh, this prophetsaid this, this prophet said
that.
That's true, but what did howdid Jesus live, right?
Do we live like heathens?
It's it's like I've been here'scrazy.
We're in here in Vegas with meand Jordan.
We're talking, we have he has abunch of Catholic friends,
right?
We're talking, we're and he letus stay at his home.

(01:32:50):
We're there's no differences,he's open-minded, it's like it's
all about Jesus.
Like he he is like it's it'sliterally like you can get along
with people from other faithsif Jesus is in the center of it.
Like, there is no walls.
Jesus isn't building a kingdomwith walls, he's building a
kingdom with no walls, so allhis people may return to his his

(01:33:11):
wedding feast.
The only prisons that are builtare the prisons we meet
ourselves.
Hell doesn't exist until webuild the wall and separate
ourselves from God.
This judgment that's coming,it's because of our own actions,
our own faith and our ownbeliefs and our own thoughts.
It's our pride, it's our priderock, our pride wall that keeps
us away from Jesus and keeps usaway from God.

(01:33:31):
It's literally like you canclaim to do miracles and good
works, but in the end it doesn'tmatter if you don't have Jesus.

Wow.
Great words of advice, man.
I really appreciate that.

I was like, I'm gonna keep talking and keep
I'll keep talking if you keepasking me questions.
I'm sorry.

Dude, I really appreciate it.
Um, thanks for being on theshow.
And thanks everyone for tuningin to hear Tyler um share some
of his experiences and histhoughts.
And if you have a story thatyou'd like to share, like Tyler,
go to latterdaylights.com andlet's have you on the show.
Let's let's share some light.

(01:34:14):
And if you like Tyler's storyand it's inspired you tonight,
go do your five-secondmissionary work, hit that share
button, and let's let's getTyler's story out there so we
can enlighten and inspireothers.
So, with that, thanks again,Tyler.
And thanks everyone for tuningin, and we'll talk to you next
week with another episode ofLatter Day Lights.

(01:34:36):
Take care.
Bye.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Guided Back to God with the Gift of Interpreting Dreams: Tyler Christen's Story - Latter-Day Lights