November 14, 2023 • 48 mins
What does spiritual warfare look like in the life of a world-class athlete?
In this inspiring episode of The Blind Exorcist, I talk with Brian Minto — a professional heavyweight boxer who rose from childhood chaos, abuse, and emotional trauma to stand in the ring with legends like Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. But Brian's true strength didn’t come from his fists—it came from his unshakable faith in Jesus Christ.
We discuss how his deep-rooted trauma opened the door to spiritual oppression, how his exorcism brought peace and clarity, and why humility was key in confronting demonic activity that followed him for years.
📌 What you’ll discover in this episode:
✅ How childhood trauma can create entry points for demonic oppression
✅ Brian’s rise from adversity to boxing fame through Christ
✅ The biblical foundation and reality of exorcism
✅ Why humility is required for true deliverance
✅ Signs of demonic influence—even in successful lives
✅ How exorcism helped Brian reclaim peace and spiritual clarity
✅ The power of prayer, discipline, and surrender in spiritual battles
Whether you’ve faced physical or spiritual fights, Brian’s story is proof that Jesus brings victory in every arena.
Disclaimer: Links to guest websites or social media are for reference only and do not imply endorsement. The views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Blind Exorcist podcast.
💪 Book Your Deliverance Appointment – Join the community of Christians who have kicked out their demons and taken their freedom back!
🛡️ Not sure if you need deliverance? Schedule a free 20-minute consultation.
📰 Get Inspiring Christian Teachings on deliverance – Sign up for my newsletter at www.justind.com. Scroll to the bottom of the home page to join!
📱 Connect With Me – Have questions or thoughts? Tap "Send me a text message" above. 🎙️ I’ll answer selected questions on the podcast!
📝 One-Way Anonymous Communication – This is a one-way text messaging system. I won’t be able to respond, but I’ll read your message.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Exposing the darkness , revealing the light.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I turned professional at the age of 28.
Here I am, this little boardkid out of the south side of
Butler Flew all over the world.
I've been to Russia, I've beento New Zealand, I've been to
Germany.
I retired with a record of 43and 11.
I gave my life to Jesus Christat the age of probably 15 at a
(00:28):
boxing gym and I think that'swhere God's favor came upon my
life.
To everything that's happened,I look back and I say man, this
is totally debauchery.
He really blessed me.
Philippians 4-13 says I can doall things through Christ, who
(00:49):
strengthens me.
I think that people need tobelieve in themselves and be
confident in the Lord and seekHim daily, and I believe that
he's going to guide and directyou.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Welcome, my friends, to Episode 16 of the Blind
Exorcist.
And you guessed it always,always, always.
This bald, blind guy is rightbehind the microphone.
I am Justin D, your host.
It is an honor to serve you.
It's a sincere pleasure tobring these stories of
(01:30):
encouragement and inspiration toeach of you.
By the way, thank you so muchfor tuning in.
Let me invite you to join thepodcast, subscribe to the
podcast and share this out tofamily and friends.
And a quick reminder do youknow that I write an article
each month titled Frontline, andin the Frontline articles I
(01:55):
offer you encouragement,motivation, inspiration and all
about spiritual warfare.
So if that's something you'reinterested in, go to my website,
wwwjustindcom, and if you want,click in the search box on the
website, type in Frontline andpull up the search results and
(02:16):
right there you'll see thearticles.
Read them, you're going to getinspired.
The other way of gettingnotified of them is you can
subscribe to my newsletter andyou can find that on the website
as well.
Now diving into our guest today,very special guest, brian Minto
.
He is a retired professionalheavyweight boxer.
(02:40):
He had an amazing career andhis story is extremely
inspirational.
If you know anybody in yourlife that needs inspired.
I would highly recommendsharing this out to those people
and, who knows, maybe they'llactually get a lot out of this
(03:01):
and be strengthened in theirChristianity or contemplate
perhaps becoming a Christian.
This is powerful.
This is good stuff.
So I'm going to let Brian shareabout his stats and his career.
So I'm not going to give a bigdissertation about it up front.
But he required an exorcism,and that's how I met Brian.
(03:25):
So we're going to go ahead anddive in here and begin to speak
with Brian.
Get ready, buckle up.
This is going to be an amazinginterview.
You're going to find tremendousinspiration behind us.
If you're having a bad day,you've tuned in to the correct
(03:45):
podcast.
So, without any further ado,brian, welcome to the Blind
Exorcist.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I'm excited to have you with us today.
I'm sure lots of people aretuning in because they're very
interested in your professionalboxing career and normally when
I start with anyone interviewing, I like to go back to our roots
.
I'd like to go back to ourchildhood and step through that,
because oftentimes demons enterthrough childhood trauma,
(04:24):
through home life, throughdysfunctional patterns passed on
from generation to generation.
First of all, let's talk aboutyour childhood and being raised
where you were raised in ButlerPennsylvania, and then
eventually we will get into yourcareer, how you got into boxing
(04:48):
, we'll talk about some of yourtraining and we'll also talk
about some of the matches thatyou had and flush all this out
for the listeners.
And at the very end, we'll talkabout how, at a certain point
in time, you realized that youneeded an exorcism.
So as a start, brian, let's goahead and just share your story.
(05:13):
Tell us a little bit about yourchildhood, your early life.
What was it like in your home,being raised in Butler
Pennsylvania?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I was born in 1975 and I was raised in Butler, pa.
My dad was in and out of mylife throughout my childhood.
I remember not seeing him for awhile and then my parents got
back together, probably when Iwas five years of age.
It was a very stressful homelife and uncertainty.
(05:46):
I think that was made me apost-traumatic child.
Like I was stressed out all thetime, not knowing what was
going to happen based upon thedrinking and the fighting
constantly.
I remember one point I alwaysrun into the neighbor lady who
was a great lady.
A lot of crazy stuff happenedwhen I was younger.
(06:08):
It was a pretty roughupbringing and very stressful
time, like going throughelementary school, your
kindergarten, your first throughfifth grade was really stressed
out.
Not knowing what was going onor what was going to happen
because of the drinking wascrazy.
So everything was unpredictableand I was just stressed out,
(06:28):
little kid.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I think a lot of people listening Brian can
relate to turmoil in the home.
You're a young child goingthrough elementary school.
Your family was broken up for awhile.
There was alcoholism in thefamily.
Were you a witness at all toany physical abuse?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
There was a lot of drinking and then the fights
would happen and then I wouldhear a lot about past wives and
past husbands and kids.
So my parents both were marrieda few times before they got
together and it would get reallyphysical at times.
(07:09):
I've seen some violence happenbefore.
My mom cracked my dad over thehead with a trophy Just one of
the instances I remember stickout into my head.
That was a very violent fight.
I even tried to help my mom atone point but yeah, it was
chaotic.
It was a scary time in my lifeat times.
(07:29):
A lot of trauma.
And then you just grow up inthat environment and I just my
trust issues with people I justshut down completely.
In my school I was so behind ina lot of things in learning
because I was just that big of astressed out kid.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, it's very sad.
How can you expect to do goodin school when you're living in
that type of environment?
It's hard enough for peoplethat are adults to live in that
environment and function, letalone a young child.
And to your point, theinsecurity, the instability.
Going to school, I'm sure youcame across kids who had a quote
(08:14):
, unquote functional family.
You probably could see a lot ofthe differences between how you
were being raised and how maybethey were being raised, and I
remember you mentioned to methat your father was from the
Ukraine.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
His grandfather was from the Ukraine and my
great-grandmother was also, Ibelieve, from Carpathian
Mountains.
So that was what I was told andI think we did some ancestral
stuff, that we looked back andseen where we originated from,
(08:54):
and it was interesting.
But yeah, he was UkrainianOrthodox and we were raised.
One good thing he did he raisedme in the church, taught me
about Jesus as a toddler I knewthat, so that was one of the
great things that he had donefor me as a child.
It was Orthodoxy, so it was alittle bit like being similar to
(09:17):
Catholicism, but it's not and Ilearned about the Lord and did
Sunday schools, started my firstHoly Communion, but never
finished that because my parentsended up getting divorced.
I think around I was eight yearsof age and at that time it was
really chaotic and stressful.
(09:38):
I remember we had to move inwith my grandmother for a while
and so it was a stressful timefor us and when my grandmother
was an important figure in mylife, she'd always try to help
out.
I know I went there a lot too.
She would feed me sometimes.
I think my mom at first wasn'tworking.
She was trying to do schoolingand that, and then she struggled
(10:02):
with her alcoholism, beingraised by a single mom.
At one point in time I just didwhat I wanted to do and was
very angry and not rebelledagainst every authority that I
had, like parent wise, teacherwise.
But one thing I did excel atwas sports.
That was like an outlet for meto get the frustrations.
(10:26):
I loved playing football and Iloved to tackle, because that
made me feel good when I wouldhit somebody and got all my
anger out.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
With the background, the anger, the turmoil, you
turned towards sports as a wayof coping.
Was there any point in time inhigh school where you started
that anger may have led you alittle bit into drugs, drinking
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yes, I was in actually a treatment facility
two times as an adolescent in, Ithink, 10th grade.
I actually went in 12th gradebecause I struggled with alcohol
addiction.
I was using marijuana back thenand we were getting high on
that and drinking alcohol.
(11:12):
I found all the kids that werein the same boat as me.
We were looking for somethingto make us feel better and take
the pain away.
It was a challenge for me as ateenager because I was really
confused and just had a lot ofhatred in my heart and didn't
(11:36):
trust anybody.
It was tough, but I got intodrugs and alcohol.
To be honest, I used LSD andother things and I was looking
for something to fulfill myheart and things were just more
tormenting me than anything.
I gave my life to Jesus Christat the age of probably 15, at a
(11:57):
boxing gym.
My coach was a minister and Ialready believed in Jesus
because I was raised in a church, but I recommitted.
He was like, hey, do you wantto accept the Lord as your
savior today?
I went into his office and Iaccepted the Lord.
I repented.
I think that's where God'sfavor came upon my life,
(12:19):
everything that's happened.
I look back and I say, man,this is totally divine.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
That's awesome that a boxing trainer was a Christian.
That was a divine intersectionthere to prevent you from going
down the path of destruction andkilling yourself.
And first you recognize thatyou're gifted athletically.
Second, you realize that you'redabbling in and out of things
(12:47):
that are not good, like thedrugs, drinking and so forth,
trying to find relief from yourpain.
So you become a Christian andat that point in time, I'm
imagining, something started tochange.
It's always a process.
When was it that you decided orperhaps I would say maybe God
(13:11):
led you to professional boxing?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I started boxing in the amateurs at the age of, I
want to say I was 22 to 23.
And then, throughout thatperiod of time, I turned
professional at the age of 28.
And that was my first fight.
I was married with two kids.
We were living in the trailer,so at that point I had some
(13:37):
urgency.
I was like I can't raise thesechildren here like this.
I got to do something.
So it all worked out.
I got up I was 18 and three asan amateur and I was doing
pretty well at a regional finalin the Golden Gloves.
And then a few months latersomeone asked me hey, do you
want to fight professionally?
(13:59):
And I said, sure, why not?
It was like a four round fightwas $400.
And I was like, man, that'sextra Christmas money.
I'm going to do it, notthinking anything about how far
I was going to go with it or howmuch the Lord was going to
bless me with it.
But I just went with it and Ijumped out of job from I was
(14:21):
working as a lineman, I wentinto the labor union and was
carrying brick and block and wewould get laid off in the
wintertime.
So I was able to train morethan and then in a year and a
half I ended up getting hookedup with a matchmaker who he
moved me really fast.
(14:42):
I had 18 fights in a year andfive months.
I believe it was totally of Godwhat happened in my life.
I was blessed and everythingwas in a line the way it worked
out.
So if I look back on my careerI could say man, he really
blessed me because of my firstTV fight I think I was 18 and 0
(15:05):
on ESPN.
So everything came surreal tome.
I was like wow, because there'sa point in time throughout my
professional fights to my 10thfight.
I was sometimes dialing myselfLike man, maybe I should just go
back to work.
But I ended up getting amanager and things worked out to
(15:28):
where I could just train forboxing and I really dedicated my
whole life to it because I justfelt like this was my only
chance.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And during your training, who was the actual
person that trained you?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I started out with a local boxing gym and the one
trainer was named was Steve Six,who was the pastor that got me
to commit my life to Christ, andanother guy by the name of Don
Spanetti.
So there was a few guys here,but I ended up training with
Tommy and Kello when I firststarted my professional fights.
(16:05):
I got with him when I was likethree and I believe it was, and
he was out of ambridge, and thenI just started learning.
I learned through sparring withan Olympian who was he might
have been 10 or 12 and I was atthe time, but he was a pro and
his name was Calvin Brock.
So I started sparring with himand I was learning a lot by
(16:28):
sparring with guys like that,who had experience, and I had
experience, but I wasn't ontheir level.
But it made me more determinedto push myself and learn and I
did everything that I possiblycould to get to that place where
I had to go, and it wasn't easy.
I remember driving down.
So it took me about an hour toget down to the gym every day
(16:51):
and an hour to get back home.
So that was after an eight hourshift of doing masonry work,
which was hard.
So I was carrying mud and blockevery day at first and then I
ended up getting hooked up witha manager and boxing it is a
very hard sport at times becauseof the financial side of it can
(17:15):
be really rough for likemanagers and all that and money,
because money is the root ofall evil for people like
everybody wants money out ofsomething, and so it took turns
for worse and then thingsstraightened out.
But it was a tough time hereand there we made it through it.
I was totally blessed just toget to see the world.
(17:36):
Here I am, this little poor kidout of the South Side of Butler
flew all over the world.
I've been to Russia, I've beento New Zealand, I've been to
Germany.
I've been in a lot of places.
So I'm truly blessed to lookback and say what boxing has
done for me and what the Lordhas done for me, because without
him I wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
This is amazing to come from such a traumatic
broken home living in poverty,and I remember we spoke briefly
one time about how a lot of thepeople you hung out with are
still sitting at the same bars.
They're still stuck in thepoverty and praise God through
(18:20):
Jesus Christ.
You broke that cycle.
You broke that cycle ofdysfunction.
God blessed you in this sport.
He gifted you with yourathletic abilities.
Like you said, you were able totravel all around the world
Russia, I remember you saidyou've been to Poland.
(18:41):
Can you tell the audience maybesome of the people you bumped
elbows with and also what yourstats were when you retired?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I retired with a record of 43 and 11.
I never won a major title but Iwon some junior titles.
I did really well for theweight class.
I was fighting and I wasfighting as a heavyweight.
I was really.
If I really am honest, I'veprobably been a world-class
light heavyweight because theseguys I'm like five, 10 and a
(19:13):
half, maybe two, 15, and theseguys were huge.
I was like six, four, two, 70,something like that.
There were some big guys that Ifought and I beat a few of them
, but at the world-class levelit was really hard for me.
I got to meet a lot of peoplethroughout boxing.
(19:34):
I've been in so many places.
I remember when I fought inTampa.
I fought in HBO.
I fought Vinny Madeline, whichwe had two fights together.
Our first fight was the onewhere I know God helped me out
of that stool in that last roundbecause I was dead.
I was thinking about quitting.
In the eighth and ninth round Igot knocked down in the first.
(19:55):
I got this energy in the tenthround.
Everybody said, man, you gotyour energy back.
But I had a fan who wrote me acard and a letter At that moment
.
He said he prayed for me in theeighth and ninth round, which I
was dead.
I thought I was going to quit.
(20:15):
I was sitting there in thestool, things were going through
my head and I was likesomething told me don't do it.
So I didn't quit and I go outthere in the tenth round and I
knock him out.
But in that time everythingslowed down.
When I threw that hook I seeneverything just slow and slow
motion.
As soon as I hit him he wentdown and everybody the crowd
(20:39):
erupted.
When I read that card that thisguy sent me from Butler, I was
like, wow, so that was how Godrevealed himself to me.
I didn't do that.
That wasn't me who did that.
It was an amazing win.
It basically started my careerto where I ended up getting
bigger fights.
(20:59):
I was truly blessed.
I threw out that period of time.
I got to meet a lot of peoplethrough it.
I've met big names.
Actually, that fight that I gotto meet was Michael Jordan.
He put a bet on me so I got tomeet him in the locker room.
He actually come up and shookmy hand.
I signed a picture for him.
(21:22):
So I thought that was reallycool to meet somebody that as a
child I loved to watch him playbasketball.
He was an amazing guy and toget to meet him that was the
icing on the cake for me.
I did meet a lot of peoplethroughout my boxing career.
It was an interesting time andperiod in a lot of people that
(21:44):
I've met were close to the Lordand a lot of fighters are
because of the uncertainty thetime when you're walking down
the aisle, you're going into thering, you don't know what's
going to happen.
You're going to war and combatand I always I prayed before
every fight, so a lot of peopleshared their faith through
(22:04):
boxing, which was great.
There's a lot of Christiansthat are fighters and just to
see all these people that I'vebeen around, it's been amazing.
Been around Mike Tyson I'veseen him a few times and Roy
Jones Jr I know him personally.
It's just been quite an amazingjourney for me and I was truly
(22:27):
blessed.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
There was a certain match you were in in Germany and
you wound up in the hospital.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that match?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, I was fighting Marco Hawk for the Cruiserweight
World title and it didn't workout for me.
I got there two days before thefight, actually flying out of
LA.
I trained at the wildcard gymat that for that fight.
I ended up getting there.
I'm not making excuses, but itwas pretty bad and I knew when I
(23:00):
was getting my hands wrappedfor that fight.
It was a World WBO title fightand I just knew I wasn't in the
right frame of mind for me toget in the ring and be
successful.
I was so jet lagged, my flightgot delayed out of Philadelphia
overnight and it just didn'twork out.
(23:20):
World champion, he was tough,he hit me with some good shots
and then it did 11th round.
I believe it was the 11th round.
My corner was like hey, youguys, you're not going to win
the fight, I'm just going tostop it right now.
And I was getting banged up andended up after the fight.
I had a doctor with my personaldoctor and he was my fight
(23:44):
doctor.
He actually had them look meover and then I ended up going
to the hospital.
I'm not even sure what the nameof it was, but they said that I
had a concussion and they keptme overnight there.
It was a pretty scary placebecause they put me in the
intensive care unit, which Idon't believe I needed to be
(24:05):
there, but it was pretty scary.
But I definitely prayed a lotthat night and things didn't
work out.
But that's just the sport andwe all fall short times and that
was one of them.
Could I beat him?
Maybe I'm not going to say noIf I was at my best and I was
really rested and not jet laggedand everything wasn't going my
(24:30):
way at that time because ofgetting there two days before a
fight, trying to six hour timedifference, trying to just catch
up on the time that I missed,and it was just wasn't working
out for me.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So I would imagine during your career you have
probably suffered quite a fewphysical traumas to your body
outside of a concussion.
What else have you experiencedduring your career related to
like physical injury?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right now I feel a lot of the aches and pains.
I could say that I retired atthe age of 40.
I started late 28 and then Iwent to the age of 40.
There's other people that havegone to age 50, like Bernard
Hopkins very talented, specialguy there.
But yeah, I got some aches andpains and a lot of stitches in
(25:23):
the eyes and a lot ofconcussions that I know of.
But my last MRI scan, the doctorat the Cleveland Clinic was
going over it with me rightafter it and he was like man.
He said you look like youweren't even a fighter.
He's your brain looks good.
So I truly just think I wasblessed there, because a lot of
(25:46):
times people get out and theycan't even speak really well and
they're they call it punchy orpunch-drung, and I don't suffer
from anything like that.
I have just aches and pains nowwith my neck.
My neck is really the thingthat bothers me, because I
played football basically up toI was in my 20s in college and
(26:09):
then I boxed till I was 40.
So I definitely can feel a lotof pain right now and the only
thing I could really do is justkeep moving, exercising and
keeping everything stable.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I remember you mentioned to me at one point you
had broke your thumb.
Another time you had some ribsbroken, so you really had been
through it.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Let me back up.
I missed on touching aboutbreaking my thumb, and this was
a fight that I got to glorifythe Lord on, because without him
I would have never won thisfight.
Because it was 18 days outbefore I fought Axel Schultz.
And this is this.
Come on my spirits, I had to dothis and talk about the fight.
(26:56):
So I broke my thumb and it was18 days prior to the fight and
all of these mental games atthat point because it was the
biggest payday I was going tohave in my entire career, so I
couldn't pass it off and mythumb was a Bennett's fracture.
I just looked at my wife and Isaid I got to do something.
(27:17):
So I was thinking about justhow I was going to take a knee
or get hit with a body shot.
But that forget that, becausethe Lord had other plans for me.
I couldn't put a glove on myright hand till two days before
the fight and when I was warmingup right there before we went
out in front of 15,000 people, Iwas punching it full steam.
(27:41):
So that healing that wasprovided there it was amazing.
That whole night before thefight I didn't sleep.
I was in my Bible, I wasreading scripture, reading
through John.
I just was.
I was so much anxiety.
But I believe that the HolySpirit gave me peace throughout
that whole day.
(28:01):
I didn't sleep all night.
So the whole day I was just.
I had this peace over me and Iwas amped up.
But I remember walking downthrough that crowd that night,
there was 15,000 peoplewhistling at me that's what they
do and they were Germany toheck with you.
And I was fighting their, theiricon over their axle Schultz.
(28:22):
At the time he made a comeback,but from going from one mindset
to the other, but through theblessing that the Lord gave me
and getting in that ring thatnight, I ended up knocking them
out in the seventh round.
It was totally amazing that Iwas blessed to go through this
point in my life.
It really showed me that myfaith got me through that fight
(28:46):
and, through that point, me notbelieving it first and, when it
happened, to sit there andquestion it.
So at that point I was given itto the Lord.
I said, lord, this is your will, whatever you want me to do.
And it was amazing that heblessed me to win by knockout.
And that, basically, wasanother fight in my life that he
(29:09):
revealed himself to me throughboxing.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
At a certain point in time you're retired and you're
with your wife, your childrenand you came to the realization
as a Christian, as a born againChristian, that you had demons
and you needed an exorcism.
(29:35):
This is one of the main reasonsthat I started the Blind
Exorcist podcast is so thatpeople can understand that
normal, functional people inlife can have demons.
And I think it's a terriblemistake in Western culture, in
America and all the Westerncultured countries, to think
(29:58):
that number one people can'thave demons.
I think that's an absolutemistake and number two
Christians can never have demons.
That's a mistake because everysingle client that I work with
is a born again Christian andthey come because they have
demons.
I just wanted to mention thisagain to the audience that the
(30:21):
idea, Like in Brian's case, withthe background he had, the
traumas, the alcoholism, thephysical abuse between the
parents, the insecurity, aneighborhood lady helping raise
him here and there, thegrandmother, the anger in and
out of drugs and all of thisstuff demons enter through.
(30:43):
And then the assumption, or Idare say the ignorance, that
when somebody becomes born againin a Christian that somehow all
of that just goes away, All ofit goes away and you live
happily ever after, and that Iwish it was that easy.
But demons enter through trauma, they enter through neglect,
(31:07):
they enter through anger andrage.
They enter through having sexwith multiple partners.
They enter many ways into usand oftentimes people are born
with demons.
The Bible talks about how, whenpeople practice witchcraft,
sorcery, divination, all thesedifferent practices, these
(31:28):
different sins, murder, allthese things that God has, that
curse go on to the third andfourth generation, and so it
just keeps repeating andrepeating and, and so children
can be born under curses fromtheir ancestors and born with
demons, and those demons are whonudge people toward whatever
(31:53):
those demons are bent toward.
So if you're born with a spiritof witchcraft, you're going to
be drawn to the occult, you'regoing to be drawn toward
anything to do with that area ofsupernatural existence psychics
, tarot card reading, all ofthese sorts of things, right.
Or if someone's born withmurder and rage from their
(32:16):
ancestry and they grow up in aviolent home, they become
rage-filled.
The demons are there andthey're fighting and you can
think of people in your life oreven through your high school
years that they were possessedin their mind.
The rage and anger was tangiblebecause it was demonic.
They were always in fights,they were always in trouble with
the police because they wereborn with them.
(32:39):
Curses, and then, to make thingsmore challenging for people,
was this the family dynamics.
Yeah, I just wanted to recapthat for people so that they can
understand that many of thethings that you are dealing with
in your life as an adult couldbe from demons.
(32:59):
They absolutely could be.
And in fact, Brian, at acertain point in time you
realized that you had demons.
You reached out for help for anexorcism with Tom and Margaret
Painter, who I've interviewed onhere before.
You can listen to their story.
They are exorcists, certifiedand trained, as am I, Tom and
(33:22):
Margaret.
You reached out to them.
Tom got a hold of me, said canyou come sit in on this one?
I said absolutely and youproceeded through for an
exorcism.
Can you explain to thelisteners, as a born-again
Christian, what was it thatcaused you to believe that you
had demons and that you neededto go through an exorcism to get
(33:44):
rid of these things?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I just started hanging around Tom and Margaret
I got to meet them through afriend, don Orlowski, and I
would listen to some of thestuff and the work that he was
doing and I questioned it atfirst and I'm like I don't know
if I really believe that, andI've had many people tell me
that if you're filled with theHoly Spirit, how could you have
(34:09):
demons in you, which makes sense, right?
And so I believe it was on aTuesday night, so I basically I
just pray about it and ask theLord what he wants me to do.
And I believe that he led me tothis because I went to a church
service some type of servicethroughout the week or I'm not
(34:33):
sure what, the exact reason whythey were all getting together
and the vice president startedgiving his sermon and then he
started to talk aboutdeliverances and that smacked me
right in the forehead.
It was like this is real.
I've seen in the Bible whereJesus cast many demons out of
(34:54):
people and I just believe that Iwas led to the place where I
had to be delivered from certainthings that seemed like that
they were still there.
But I just wanted to reassuremyself that that was the right
thing to do, because I believethat I was being led by the Lord
(35:15):
to do this and I feel that itlifted a weight off my shoulders
and I know that we talked aboutit.
It wasn't like I was sizzlingon the ground like bacon and
there was stuff coming out of me, but it was definitely.
It was calm and I felt like Iwas getting stuff off my chest
that I needed to do andespecially like the soul ties
(35:37):
that you were talking about.
So everything, just totally itwas like a weight lifted off my
shoulders.
We were announced a lot ofthings and it just was like a
weight lifted off my shoulders.
So a lot of people don't believein it and a lot of people, I
think, just don't really know.
It's in scripture and there's alot of people that think that,
(35:59):
oh, that's crazy, what are youtalking about?
It doesn't happen like that,but I see it a lot and it talks
about Jesus cast and demons outof people and I truly believe
that we can be entered.
It doesn't mean that you'regoing to be like I want to say,
like you see, some severe cases,but I don't think I was at that
(36:20):
point, but I just thought itwas like a weight lifted off my
shoulders.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I think that's some really valid points that you're
bringing out.
One thing that stuck out to meis that your particular exorcism
was very calm, and really themajority of people that I work
with they are calm.
It is a gentle process.
There are some where there'spowerful demonic manifestations
(36:48):
and yours wasn't, and that'sokay.
It still worked.
You felt a weight off of youand feeling better.
But I remember one of thereasons and we don't have to get
into the specifics of this, butI remember one of the things
that really caused you to reachout was you did have some
(37:11):
paranormal phenomena happen toyou, and so these sorts of
things happen and I mentionedthis often.
People just tend to ignore themor they just say that strange
and then just move on, andinstead of that, they should pay
attention to it, because it'slike the demons are showing
(37:35):
their hand.
If you have somethingparanormal happen in your life,
you should be like look, ma'am,this is demonic and if I'm
experiencing this, I must havedemons.
So that's just someencouragement to people.
When you see something happenaround, you that is not based in
(37:58):
what we call reality.
Right, it's paranormalphenomena.
I work with people that havebite and scratch marks on their
bodies and they don't even havepets.
Or things are moved in the homeand they did not move them.
Or they walk into the bedroomand doors, drawers, are opened,
(38:19):
on their dresser were closedthrough, everywhere, thrown
everywhere and they weren't evenin there and no one was in the
home.
So it's things like this.
Or lights going off and for norhyme or reason, the fuse box is
fine.
When you have demons come aroundyou and at a certain point in
time you have to ask yourself amI willing to deal with this, to
(38:41):
get freed up, so I can beunrestricted?
Instead of walking around witha thousand pounds on your back,
you can go through an exorcismit is a general process for the
most part and get freed up.
It's not a big deal.
It just requires humility, andI think that's the two main
reasons people are reluctant todo this.
The first is fear.
(39:02):
They're afraid of it, butthey're actually afraid to admit
it.
So instead of saying I'mterrified about this, that I
could have demons, I'm juststraight up gonna deny it and
say there's no way Christianscan have demons and that's that
Because the root of that formany people not all, but the
root of that for many people isfear.
They're afraid of the devil,they're afraid of Satan, they're
(39:23):
afraid of demons becausethey've never been taught about
it.
So that's the first reason inmy experience that a lot of
people are not open to exorcism.
And the second reason is pride.
They don't wanna humblethemselves and admit that they
have a problem, that they havedemons, and part of working with
people is going into theirtraumas, going into their
(39:45):
shortcomings.
So there are people who arevery prideful.
They don't want to admit, forexample, that they've had
affairs.
They don't wanna humblethemselves and confess that sin
and work through that and getrid of the demons behind it, or
that they have a secretaddiction of some sort.
They don't want.
They wanna be the perfectChristian and not humble
themselves and admit, hey, I gota problem.
(40:07):
So I think the second elementof people not being open to
exorcism is pride, because youhave to humble yourself, go to
work with somebody and stepthrough the things that are
hidden and secret.
Those have to be exposed sothat you actually can be freed
(40:27):
up.
Brian, any thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I believe it takes a lot of humility to do that, and
I agree with it.
Everybody might get the samemindset that I had at first is
nah, I don't know about that,that seems crazy, but I just
felt that I was being led there,and that's where I ended up,
(40:52):
and I think it's a big weightlifted off my shoulders.
And one thing that I noticed,though, when I read scripture
daily, that I feel like I'm in abetter place.
I truly think it's a verynecessary thing for people to
admit.
Which is the hardest thing is,admit their sin and be delivered
(41:12):
from everything that's weighingyou down.
Don't be deceived by the enemy,because he's gonna try to fill
your heads with lies and hewants you to not be in that
place of deliverance.
He don't want you to renouncehim, he just wants to keep you
in deception.
So I believe that I think it'sa it was a great thing for me to
(41:36):
do and to realize that there'sa battle between evil every day.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
And the thing to mention also about exorcism is
that it is healing.
Like Brian saying he feelsbetter, I know for me personally
and the clients that I workwith that after they've been
through a handful of sessionsgetting rid of these demons,
that they actually begin to feelbetter emotionally and
(42:02):
physically.
Sleep deprivation can be a signof demonic torment.
How many clients I work with,and myself included, I
experienced this where I'll wakeup at 3 am for no reason and
can't go back to sleep.
That's a type of demonictorment At times.
I'm not saying every time youwake up at 3 am and can't go to
(42:23):
sleep that it's demons, but ifit is a reoccurring pattern,
you've tried everything you canmedically, psychologically, to
try to help that and nothinghelps.
There's a strong probabilitythat that is demonic as well.
So imagine that having a betternight's sleep, feeling better
emotionally, physically becausedemons make you feel utterly
(42:46):
exhausted and they're justfilthy, they're compulsive, they
entice, they get people intoaddictions and make them feel
exhausted.
The shame, the guilt, thedepression all this stuff comes
from these demons just trying tokill you.
That's really what it boilsdown to.
So all of this was just andthank you, brian, for sharing
your experience with everyone.
(43:07):
Catch this, guys.
We're talking about aprofessional heavyweight fighter
who's a born-again Christian.
Initially he was like I don'tknow about this.
And then, after spending timewith the Lord, hearing it at his
church, he was like, yeah, Ithink I need to do this.
Plus, he had some paranormalphenomena surface in his life
and it was like, okay, we needto do this.
(43:27):
All of this just shared withyou guys as food for thought.
And, brian, at the end of everyepisode, I always ask my guest
to share words of encouragementwith the listening audience.
Your background there are a lotof people, brian, that have
(43:49):
came from abusive homes,alcoholic homes, that are stuck
in poverty or are trying to getout, or that are under the
influence of demons.
They have demons and maybethey're afraid to admit it or
maybe they don't want to humblethemselves.
Can you share some words ofencouragement if you were
(44:10):
sitting across from people whohad some of the similar
background?
Maybe they were beat as a child.
Maybe they were shipped fromhouse to house.
Maybe they were in and out offoster care.
Maybe they come from a veryrough background.
Maybe they are Christians, butthey just suffer tremendously
because of their pain in thedemons, as a professional
(44:33):
heavyweight boxer, as aborn-again Christian, as someone
who's been through an exorcism,can you please take a couple
minutes and, just from yourheart, share some encouragement
with these people?
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Philippians 4.13 says I can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me.
That's a very important verseand I believe that we all gotta
believe that there is a higherpower out there that's gonna get
us, which is Jesus Christ, getus to the point or the place
that we wanna be, and it's byfaith and not quitting.
(45:09):
I think quitting is.
Everybody just gives up onthings and they believe the lie
from the deceiver.
That's what he wants you tobelieve at.
You're not good enough, youcan't make it, you're not gonna
do it.
So I think that people need tobelieve in themselves and be
confident in the Lord and seekHim daily, and I believe that
(45:32):
he's gonna guide and direct youand give you the knowledge and
wisdom that you need to pushthrough these strong, and He'll
lead you to the place that youneed to be.
And that's where I trulybelieve he's led me to do the
things that I've donespiritually and to get rid of a
(45:52):
certain baggage that you have inyour life.
And I think everybody needs toreally examine that and humble
themselves and say, look, I havethese things going on in my
life and I'm not really surewhat to do about it.
And that's some of the thingsthat had happened to me.
So you gotta have faith, yougotta seek Jesus daily and you
(46:16):
gotta have a belief that you'regonna get through this time if
you're struggling or whateveryour addiction is.
And another thing too is theHoly Spirit can help you through
anything.
And I know that, not putting alot of emphasis on the power of
these demons, but the power ofthe Holy Spirit is way more
(46:38):
powerful than any demon andthere's nothing else that we
need to do is but to believe,confess and humble ourselves and
do the right thing to get us tothe place that we need to go to
.
And it's very, it's humblingand it's definitely
(46:59):
weightlifting off of you.
The deceiver Wants us to betormented, wants us to believe
we can't make it.
We can't do things that wewanna do and achieve things we
wanna achieve.
I'm living proof of it, towhere I began and where I ended.
I think it's a totally divineblessing in my life that I had.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
You may be demon possessed and this is the first
time you're coming to therealization of it.
If that's you, I'd like toinvite you right now to go to my
website, justindeedcom, andbook a session with me.
Until next time, god bless.
Exposing the darkness , revealing the light.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I turned professional at the age of 28.
Here I am, this little boardkid out of the south side of
Butler Flew all over the world.
I've been to Russia, I've beento New Zealand, I've been to
Germany.
I retired with a record of 43and 11.
I gave my life to Jesus Christat the age of probably 15 at a
(00:28):
boxing gym and I think that'swhere God's favor came upon my
life.
To everything that's happened,I look back and I say man, this
is totally debauchery.
He really blessed me.
Philippians 4-13 says I can doall things through Christ, who
(00:49):
strengthens me.
I think that people need tobelieve in themselves and be
confident in the Lord and seekHim daily, and I believe that
he's going to guide and directyou.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Welcome, my friends, to Episode 16 of the Blind
Exorcist.
And you guessed it always,always, always.
This bald, blind guy is rightbehind the microphone.
I am Justin D, your host.
It is an honor to serve you.
It's a sincere pleasure tobring these stories of
(01:30):
encouragement and inspiration toeach of you.
By the way, thank you so muchfor tuning in.
Let me invite you to join thepodcast, subscribe to the
podcast and share this out tofamily and friends.
And a quick reminder do youknow that I write an article
each month titled Frontline, andin the Frontline articles I
(01:55):
offer you encouragement,motivation, inspiration and all
about spiritual warfare.
So if that's something you'reinterested in, go to my website,
wwwjustindcom, and if you want,click in the search box on the
website, type in Frontline andpull up the search results and
(02:16):
right there you'll see thearticles.
Read them, you're going to getinspired.
The other way of gettingnotified of them is you can
subscribe to my newsletter andyou can find that on the website
as well.
Now diving into our guest today,very special guest, brian Minto
.
He is a retired professionalheavyweight boxer.
(02:40):
He had an amazing career andhis story is extremely
inspirational.
If you know anybody in yourlife that needs inspired.
I would highly recommendsharing this out to those people
and, who knows, maybe they'llactually get a lot out of this
(03:01):
and be strengthened in theirChristianity or contemplate
perhaps becoming a Christian.
This is powerful.
This is good stuff.
So I'm going to let Brian shareabout his stats and his career.
So I'm not going to give a bigdissertation about it up front.
But he required an exorcism,and that's how I met Brian.
(03:25):
So we're going to go ahead anddive in here and begin to speak
with Brian.
Get ready, buckle up.
This is going to be an amazinginterview.
You're going to find tremendousinspiration behind us.
If you're having a bad day,you've tuned in to the correct
(03:45):
podcast.
So, without any further ado,brian, welcome to the Blind
Exorcist.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I'm excited to have you with us today.
I'm sure lots of people aretuning in because they're very
interested in your professionalboxing career and normally when
I start with anyone interviewing, I like to go back to our roots
.
I'd like to go back to ourchildhood and step through that,
because oftentimes demons enterthrough childhood trauma,
(04:24):
through home life, throughdysfunctional patterns passed on
from generation to generation.
First of all, let's talk aboutyour childhood and being raised
where you were raised in ButlerPennsylvania, and then
eventually we will get into yourcareer, how you got into boxing
(04:48):
, we'll talk about some of yourtraining and we'll also talk
about some of the matches thatyou had and flush all this out
for the listeners.
And at the very end, we'll talkabout how, at a certain point
in time, you realized that youneeded an exorcism.
So as a start, brian, let's goahead and just share your story.
(05:13):
Tell us a little bit about yourchildhood, your early life.
What was it like in your home,being raised in Butler
Pennsylvania?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I was born in 1975 and I was raised in Butler, pa.
My dad was in and out of mylife throughout my childhood.
I remember not seeing him for awhile and then my parents got
back together, probably when Iwas five years of age.
It was a very stressful homelife and uncertainty.
(05:46):
I think that was made me apost-traumatic child.
Like I was stressed out all thetime, not knowing what was
going to happen based upon thedrinking and the fighting
constantly.
I remember one point I alwaysrun into the neighbor lady who
was a great lady.
A lot of crazy stuff happenedwhen I was younger.
(06:08):
It was a pretty roughupbringing and very stressful
time, like going throughelementary school, your
kindergarten, your first throughfifth grade was really stressed
out.
Not knowing what was going onor what was going to happen
because of the drinking wascrazy.
So everything was unpredictableand I was just stressed out,
(06:28):
little kid.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I think a lot of people listening Brian can
relate to turmoil in the home.
You're a young child goingthrough elementary school.
Your family was broken up for awhile.
There was alcoholism in thefamily.
Were you a witness at all toany physical abuse?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
There was a lot of drinking and then the fights
would happen and then I wouldhear a lot about past wives and
past husbands and kids.
So my parents both were marrieda few times before they got
together and it would get reallyphysical at times.
(07:09):
I've seen some violence happenbefore.
My mom cracked my dad over thehead with a trophy Just one of
the instances I remember stickout into my head.
That was a very violent fight.
I even tried to help my mom atone point but yeah, it was
chaotic.
It was a scary time in my lifeat times.
(07:29):
A lot of trauma.
And then you just grow up inthat environment and I just my
trust issues with people I justshut down completely.
In my school I was so behind ina lot of things in learning
because I was just that big of astressed out kid.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, it's very sad.
How can you expect to do goodin school when you're living in
that type of environment?
It's hard enough for peoplethat are adults to live in that
environment and function, letalone a young child.
And to your point, theinsecurity, the instability.
Going to school, I'm sure youcame across kids who had a quote
(08:14):
, unquote functional family.
You probably could see a lot ofthe differences between how you
were being raised and how maybethey were being raised, and I
remember you mentioned to methat your father was from the
Ukraine.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
His grandfather was from the Ukraine and my
great-grandmother was also, Ibelieve, from Carpathian
Mountains.
So that was what I was told andI think we did some ancestral
stuff, that we looked back andseen where we originated from,
(08:54):
and it was interesting.
But yeah, he was UkrainianOrthodox and we were raised.
One good thing he did he raisedme in the church, taught me
about Jesus as a toddler I knewthat, so that was one of the
great things that he had donefor me as a child.
It was Orthodoxy, so it was alittle bit like being similar to
(09:17):
Catholicism, but it's not and Ilearned about the Lord and did
Sunday schools, started my firstHoly Communion, but never
finished that because my parentsended up getting divorced.
I think around I was eight yearsof age and at that time it was
really chaotic and stressful.
(09:38):
I remember we had to move inwith my grandmother for a while
and so it was a stressful timefor us and when my grandmother
was an important figure in mylife, she'd always try to help
out.
I know I went there a lot too.
She would feed me sometimes.
I think my mom at first wasn'tworking.
She was trying to do schoolingand that, and then she struggled
(10:02):
with her alcoholism, beingraised by a single mom.
At one point in time I just didwhat I wanted to do and was
very angry and not rebelledagainst every authority that I
had, like parent wise, teacherwise.
But one thing I did excel atwas sports.
That was like an outlet for meto get the frustrations.
(10:26):
I loved playing football and Iloved to tackle, because that
made me feel good when I wouldhit somebody and got all my
anger out.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
With the background, the anger, the turmoil, you
turned towards sports as a wayof coping.
Was there any point in time inhigh school where you started
that anger may have led you alittle bit into drugs, drinking
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yes, I was in actually a treatment facility
two times as an adolescent in, Ithink, 10th grade.
I actually went in 12th gradebecause I struggled with alcohol
addiction.
I was using marijuana back thenand we were getting high on
that and drinking alcohol.
(11:12):
I found all the kids that werein the same boat as me.
We were looking for somethingto make us feel better and take
the pain away.
It was a challenge for me as ateenager because I was really
confused and just had a lot ofhatred in my heart and didn't
(11:36):
trust anybody.
It was tough, but I got intodrugs and alcohol.
To be honest, I used LSD andother things and I was looking
for something to fulfill myheart and things were just more
tormenting me than anything.
I gave my life to Jesus Christat the age of probably 15, at a
(11:57):
boxing gym.
My coach was a minister and Ialready believed in Jesus
because I was raised in a church, but I recommitted.
He was like, hey, do you wantto accept the Lord as your
savior today?
I went into his office and Iaccepted the Lord.
I repented.
I think that's where God'sfavor came upon my life,
(12:19):
everything that's happened.
I look back and I say, man,this is totally divine.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
That's awesome that a boxing trainer was a Christian.
That was a divine intersectionthere to prevent you from going
down the path of destruction andkilling yourself.
And first you recognize thatyou're gifted athletically.
Second, you realize that you'redabbling in and out of things
(12:47):
that are not good, like thedrugs, drinking and so forth,
trying to find relief from yourpain.
So you become a Christian andat that point in time, I'm
imagining, something started tochange.
It's always a process.
When was it that you decided orperhaps I would say maybe God
(13:11):
led you to professional boxing?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I started boxing in the amateurs at the age of, I
want to say I was 22 to 23.
And then, throughout thatperiod of time, I turned
professional at the age of 28.
And that was my first fight.
I was married with two kids.
We were living in the trailer,so at that point I had some
(13:37):
urgency.
I was like I can't raise thesechildren here like this.
I got to do something.
So it all worked out.
I got up I was 18 and three asan amateur and I was doing
pretty well at a regional finalin the Golden Gloves.
And then a few months latersomeone asked me hey, do you
want to fight professionally?
(13:59):
And I said, sure, why not?
It was like a four round fightwas $400.
And I was like, man, that'sextra Christmas money.
I'm going to do it, notthinking anything about how far
I was going to go with it or howmuch the Lord was going to
bless me with it.
But I just went with it and Ijumped out of job from I was
(14:21):
working as a lineman, I wentinto the labor union and was
carrying brick and block and wewould get laid off in the
wintertime.
So I was able to train morethan and then in a year and a
half I ended up getting hookedup with a matchmaker who he
moved me really fast.
(14:42):
I had 18 fights in a year andfive months.
I believe it was totally of Godwhat happened in my life.
I was blessed and everythingwas in a line the way it worked
out.
So if I look back on my careerI could say man, he really
blessed me because of my firstTV fight I think I was 18 and 0
(15:05):
on ESPN.
So everything came surreal tome.
I was like wow, because there'sa point in time throughout my
professional fights to my 10thfight.
I was sometimes dialing myselfLike man, maybe I should just go
back to work.
But I ended up getting amanager and things worked out to
(15:28):
where I could just train forboxing and I really dedicated my
whole life to it because I justfelt like this was my only
chance.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And during your training, who was the actual
person that trained you?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I started out with a local boxing gym and the one
trainer was named was Steve Six,who was the pastor that got me
to commit my life to Christ, andanother guy by the name of Don
Spanetti.
So there was a few guys here,but I ended up training with
Tommy and Kello when I firststarted my professional fights.
(16:05):
I got with him when I was likethree and I believe it was, and
he was out of ambridge, and thenI just started learning.
I learned through sparring withan Olympian who was he might
have been 10 or 12 and I was atthe time, but he was a pro and
his name was Calvin Brock.
So I started sparring with himand I was learning a lot by
(16:28):
sparring with guys like that,who had experience, and I had
experience, but I wasn't ontheir level.
But it made me more determinedto push myself and learn and I
did everything that I possiblycould to get to that place where
I had to go, and it wasn't easy.
I remember driving down.
So it took me about an hour toget down to the gym every day
(16:51):
and an hour to get back home.
So that was after an eight hourshift of doing masonry work,
which was hard.
So I was carrying mud and blockevery day at first and then I
ended up getting hooked up witha manager and boxing it is a
very hard sport at times becauseof the financial side of it can
(17:15):
be really rough for likemanagers and all that and money,
because money is the root ofall evil for people like
everybody wants money out ofsomething, and so it took turns
for worse and then thingsstraightened out.
But it was a tough time hereand there we made it through it.
I was totally blessed just toget to see the world.
(17:36):
Here I am, this little poor kidout of the South Side of Butler
flew all over the world.
I've been to Russia, I've beento New Zealand, I've been to
Germany.
I've been in a lot of places.
So I'm truly blessed to lookback and say what boxing has
done for me and what the Lordhas done for me, because without
him I wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
This is amazing to come from such a traumatic
broken home living in poverty,and I remember we spoke briefly
one time about how a lot of thepeople you hung out with are
still sitting at the same bars.
They're still stuck in thepoverty and praise God through
(18:20):
Jesus Christ.
You broke that cycle.
You broke that cycle ofdysfunction.
God blessed you in this sport.
He gifted you with yourathletic abilities.
Like you said, you were able totravel all around the world
Russia, I remember you saidyou've been to Poland.
(18:41):
Can you tell the audience maybesome of the people you bumped
elbows with and also what yourstats were when you retired?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I retired with a record of 43 and 11.
I never won a major title but Iwon some junior titles.
I did really well for theweight class.
I was fighting and I wasfighting as a heavyweight.
I was really.
If I really am honest, I'veprobably been a world-class
light heavyweight because theseguys I'm like five, 10 and a
(19:13):
half, maybe two, 15, and theseguys were huge.
I was like six, four, two, 70,something like that.
There were some big guys that Ifought and I beat a few of them
, but at the world-class levelit was really hard for me.
I got to meet a lot of peoplethroughout boxing.
(19:34):
I've been in so many places.
I remember when I fought inTampa.
I fought in HBO.
I fought Vinny Madeline, whichwe had two fights together.
Our first fight was the onewhere I know God helped me out
of that stool in that last roundbecause I was dead.
I was thinking about quitting.
In the eighth and ninth round Igot knocked down in the first.
(19:55):
I got this energy in the tenthround.
Everybody said, man, you gotyour energy back.
But I had a fan who wrote me acard and a letter At that moment
.
He said he prayed for me in theeighth and ninth round, which I
was dead.
I thought I was going to quit.
(20:15):
I was sitting there in thestool, things were going through
my head and I was likesomething told me don't do it.
So I didn't quit and I go outthere in the tenth round and I
knock him out.
But in that time everythingslowed down.
When I threw that hook I seeneverything just slow and slow
motion.
As soon as I hit him he wentdown and everybody the crowd
(20:39):
erupted.
When I read that card that thisguy sent me from Butler, I was
like, wow, so that was how Godrevealed himself to me.
I didn't do that.
That wasn't me who did that.
It was an amazing win.
It basically started my careerto where I ended up getting
bigger fights.
(20:59):
I was truly blessed.
I threw out that period of time.
I got to meet a lot of peoplethrough it.
I've met big names.
Actually, that fight that I gotto meet was Michael Jordan.
He put a bet on me so I got tomeet him in the locker room.
He actually come up and shookmy hand.
I signed a picture for him.
(21:22):
So I thought that was reallycool to meet somebody that as a
child I loved to watch him playbasketball.
He was an amazing guy and toget to meet him that was the
icing on the cake for me.
I did meet a lot of peoplethroughout my boxing career.
It was an interesting time andperiod in a lot of people that
(21:44):
I've met were close to the Lordand a lot of fighters are
because of the uncertainty thetime when you're walking down
the aisle, you're going into thering, you don't know what's
going to happen.
You're going to war and combatand I always I prayed before
every fight, so a lot of peopleshared their faith through
(22:04):
boxing, which was great.
There's a lot of Christiansthat are fighters and just to
see all these people that I'vebeen around, it's been amazing.
Been around Mike Tyson I'veseen him a few times and Roy
Jones Jr I know him personally.
It's just been quite an amazingjourney for me and I was truly
(22:27):
blessed.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
There was a certain match you were in in Germany and
you wound up in the hospital.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that match?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, I was fighting Marco Hawk for the Cruiserweight
World title and it didn't workout for me.
I got there two days before thefight, actually flying out of
LA.
I trained at the wildcard gymat that for that fight.
I ended up getting there.
I'm not making excuses, but itwas pretty bad and I knew when I
(23:00):
was getting my hands wrappedfor that fight.
It was a World WBO title fightand I just knew I wasn't in the
right frame of mind for me toget in the ring and be
successful.
I was so jet lagged, my flightgot delayed out of Philadelphia
overnight and it just didn'twork out.
(23:20):
World champion, he was tough,he hit me with some good shots
and then it did 11th round.
I believe it was the 11th round.
My corner was like hey, youguys, you're not going to win
the fight, I'm just going tostop it right now.
And I was getting banged up andended up after the fight.
I had a doctor with my personaldoctor and he was my fight
(23:44):
doctor.
He actually had them look meover and then I ended up going
to the hospital.
I'm not even sure what the nameof it was, but they said that I
had a concussion and they keptme overnight there.
It was a pretty scary placebecause they put me in the
intensive care unit, which Idon't believe I needed to be
(24:05):
there, but it was pretty scary.
But I definitely prayed a lotthat night and things didn't
work out.
But that's just the sport andwe all fall short times and that
was one of them.
Could I beat him?
Maybe I'm not going to say noIf I was at my best and I was
really rested and not jet laggedand everything wasn't going my
(24:30):
way at that time because ofgetting there two days before a
fight, trying to six hour timedifference, trying to just catch
up on the time that I missed,and it was just wasn't working
out for me.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So I would imagine during your career you have
probably suffered quite a fewphysical traumas to your body
outside of a concussion.
What else have you experiencedduring your career related to
like physical injury?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right now I feel a lot of the aches and pains.
I could say that I retired atthe age of 40.
I started late 28 and then Iwent to the age of 40.
There's other people that havegone to age 50, like Bernard
Hopkins very talented, specialguy there.
But yeah, I got some aches andpains and a lot of stitches in
(25:23):
the eyes and a lot ofconcussions that I know of.
But my last MRI scan, the doctorat the Cleveland Clinic was
going over it with me rightafter it and he was like man.
He said you look like youweren't even a fighter.
He's your brain looks good.
So I truly just think I wasblessed there, because a lot of
(25:46):
times people get out and theycan't even speak really well and
they're they call it punchy orpunch-drung, and I don't suffer
from anything like that.
I have just aches and pains nowwith my neck.
My neck is really the thingthat bothers me, because I
played football basically up toI was in my 20s in college and
(26:09):
then I boxed till I was 40.
So I definitely can feel a lotof pain right now and the only
thing I could really do is justkeep moving, exercising and
keeping everything stable.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I remember you mentioned to me at one point you
had broke your thumb.
Another time you had some ribsbroken, so you really had been
through it.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Let me back up.
I missed on touching aboutbreaking my thumb, and this was
a fight that I got to glorifythe Lord on, because without him
I would have never won thisfight.
Because it was 18 days outbefore I fought Axel Schultz.
And this is this.
Come on my spirits, I had to dothis and talk about the fight.
(26:56):
So I broke my thumb and it was18 days prior to the fight and
all of these mental games atthat point because it was the
biggest payday I was going tohave in my entire career, so I
couldn't pass it off and mythumb was a Bennett's fracture.
I just looked at my wife and Isaid I got to do something.
(27:17):
So I was thinking about justhow I was going to take a knee
or get hit with a body shot.
But that forget that, becausethe Lord had other plans for me.
I couldn't put a glove on myright hand till two days before
the fight and when I was warmingup right there before we went
out in front of 15,000 people, Iwas punching it full steam.
(27:41):
So that healing that wasprovided there it was amazing.
That whole night before thefight I didn't sleep.
I was in my Bible, I wasreading scripture, reading
through John.
I just was.
I was so much anxiety.
But I believe that the HolySpirit gave me peace throughout
that whole day.
(28:01):
I didn't sleep all night.
So the whole day I was just.
I had this peace over me and Iwas amped up.
But I remember walking downthrough that crowd that night,
there was 15,000 peoplewhistling at me that's what they
do and they were Germany toheck with you.
And I was fighting their, theiricon over their axle Schultz.
(28:22):
At the time he made a comeback,but from going from one mindset
to the other, but through theblessing that the Lord gave me
and getting in that ring thatnight, I ended up knocking them
out in the seventh round.
It was totally amazing that Iwas blessed to go through this
point in my life.
It really showed me that myfaith got me through that fight
(28:46):
and, through that point, me notbelieving it first and, when it
happened, to sit there andquestion it.
So at that point I was given itto the Lord.
I said, lord, this is your will, whatever you want me to do.
And it was amazing that heblessed me to win by knockout.
And that, basically, wasanother fight in my life that he
(29:09):
revealed himself to me throughboxing.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
At a certain point in time you're retired and you're
with your wife, your childrenand you came to the realization
as a Christian, as a born againChristian, that you had demons
and you needed an exorcism.
(29:35):
This is one of the main reasonsthat I started the Blind
Exorcist podcast is so thatpeople can understand that
normal, functional people inlife can have demons.
And I think it's a terriblemistake in Western culture, in
America and all the Westerncultured countries, to think
(29:58):
that number one people can'thave demons.
I think that's an absolutemistake and number two
Christians can never have demons.
That's a mistake because everysingle client that I work with
is a born again Christian andthey come because they have
demons.
I just wanted to mention thisagain to the audience that the
(30:21):
idea, Like in Brian's case, withthe background he had, the
traumas, the alcoholism, thephysical abuse between the
parents, the insecurity, aneighborhood lady helping raise
him here and there, thegrandmother, the anger in and
out of drugs and all of thisstuff demons enter through.
(30:43):
And then the assumption, or Idare say the ignorance, that
when somebody becomes born againin a Christian that somehow all
of that just goes away, All ofit goes away and you live
happily ever after, and that Iwish it was that easy.
But demons enter through trauma, they enter through neglect,
(31:07):
they enter through anger andrage.
They enter through having sexwith multiple partners.
They enter many ways into usand oftentimes people are born
with demons.
The Bible talks about how, whenpeople practice witchcraft,
sorcery, divination, all thesedifferent practices, these
(31:28):
different sins, murder, allthese things that God has, that
curse go on to the third andfourth generation, and so it
just keeps repeating andrepeating and, and so children
can be born under curses fromtheir ancestors and born with
demons, and those demons are whonudge people toward whatever
(31:53):
those demons are bent toward.
So if you're born with a spiritof witchcraft, you're going to
be drawn to the occult, you'regoing to be drawn toward
anything to do with that area ofsupernatural existence psychics
, tarot card reading, all ofthese sorts of things, right.
Or if someone's born withmurder and rage from their
(32:16):
ancestry and they grow up in aviolent home, they become
rage-filled.
The demons are there andthey're fighting and you can
think of people in your life oreven through your high school
years that they were possessedin their mind.
The rage and anger was tangiblebecause it was demonic.
They were always in fights,they were always in trouble with
the police because they wereborn with them.
(32:39):
Curses, and then, to make thingsmore challenging for people,
was this the family dynamics.
Yeah, I just wanted to recapthat for people so that they can
understand that many of thethings that you are dealing with
in your life as an adult couldbe from demons.
(32:59):
They absolutely could be.
And in fact, Brian, at acertain point in time you
realized that you had demons.
You reached out for help for anexorcism with Tom and Margaret
Painter, who I've interviewed onhere before.
You can listen to their story.
They are exorcists, certifiedand trained, as am I, Tom and
(33:22):
Margaret.
You reached out to them.
Tom got a hold of me, said canyou come sit in on this one?
I said absolutely and youproceeded through for an
exorcism.
Can you explain to thelisteners, as a born-again
Christian, what was it thatcaused you to believe that you
had demons and that you neededto go through an exorcism to get
(33:44):
rid of these things?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I just started hanging around Tom and Margaret
I got to meet them through afriend, don Orlowski, and I
would listen to some of thestuff and the work that he was
doing and I questioned it atfirst and I'm like I don't know
if I really believe that, andI've had many people tell me
that if you're filled with theHoly Spirit, how could you have
(34:09):
demons in you, which makes sense, right?
And so I believe it was on aTuesday night, so I basically I
just pray about it and ask theLord what he wants me to do.
And I believe that he led me tothis because I went to a church
service some type of servicethroughout the week or I'm not
(34:33):
sure what, the exact reason whythey were all getting together
and the vice president startedgiving his sermon and then he
started to talk aboutdeliverances and that smacked me
right in the forehead.
It was like this is real.
I've seen in the Bible whereJesus cast many demons out of
(34:54):
people and I just believe that Iwas led to the place where I
had to be delivered from certainthings that seemed like that
they were still there.
But I just wanted to reassuremyself that that was the right
thing to do, because I believethat I was being led by the Lord
(35:15):
to do this and I feel that itlifted a weight off my shoulders
and I know that we talked aboutit.
It wasn't like I was sizzlingon the ground like bacon and
there was stuff coming out of me, but it was definitely.
It was calm and I felt like Iwas getting stuff off my chest
that I needed to do andespecially like the soul ties
(35:37):
that you were talking about.
So everything, just totally itwas like a weight lifted off my
shoulders.
We were announced a lot ofthings and it just was like a
weight lifted off my shoulders.
So a lot of people don't believein it and a lot of people, I
think, just don't really know.
It's in scripture and there's alot of people that think that,
(35:59):
oh, that's crazy, what are youtalking about?
It doesn't happen like that,but I see it a lot and it talks
about Jesus cast and demons outof people and I truly believe
that we can be entered.
It doesn't mean that you'regoing to be like I want to say,
like you see, some severe cases,but I don't think I was at that
(36:20):
point, but I just thought itwas like a weight lifted off my
shoulders.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I think that's some really valid points that you're
bringing out.
One thing that stuck out to meis that your particular exorcism
was very calm, and really themajority of people that I work
with they are calm.
It is a gentle process.
There are some where there'spowerful demonic manifestations
(36:48):
and yours wasn't, and that'sokay.
It still worked.
You felt a weight off of youand feeling better.
But I remember one of thereasons and we don't have to get
into the specifics of this, butI remember one of the things
that really caused you to reachout was you did have some
(37:11):
paranormal phenomena happen toyou, and so these sorts of
things happen and I mentionedthis often.
People just tend to ignore themor they just say that strange
and then just move on, andinstead of that, they should pay
attention to it, because it'slike the demons are showing
(37:35):
their hand.
If you have somethingparanormal happen in your life,
you should be like look, ma'am,this is demonic and if I'm
experiencing this, I must havedemons.
So that's just someencouragement to people.
When you see something happenaround, you that is not based in
(37:58):
what we call reality.
Right, it's paranormalphenomena.
I work with people that havebite and scratch marks on their
bodies and they don't even havepets.
Or things are moved in the homeand they did not move them.
Or they walk into the bedroomand doors, drawers, are opened,
(38:19):
on their dresser were closedthrough, everywhere, thrown
everywhere and they weren't evenin there and no one was in the
home.
So it's things like this.
Or lights going off and for norhyme or reason, the fuse box is
fine.
When you have demons come aroundyou and at a certain point in
time you have to ask yourself amI willing to deal with this, to
(38:41):
get freed up, so I can beunrestricted?
Instead of walking around witha thousand pounds on your back,
you can go through an exorcismit is a general process for the
most part and get freed up.
It's not a big deal.
It just requires humility, andI think that's the two main
reasons people are reluctant todo this.
The first is fear.
(39:02):
They're afraid of it, butthey're actually afraid to admit
it.
So instead of saying I'mterrified about this, that I
could have demons, I'm juststraight up gonna deny it and
say there's no way Christianscan have demons and that's that
Because the root of that formany people not all, but the
root of that for many people isfear.
They're afraid of the devil,they're afraid of Satan, they're
(39:23):
afraid of demons becausethey've never been taught about
it.
So that's the first reason inmy experience that a lot of
people are not open to exorcism.
And the second reason is pride.
They don't wanna humblethemselves and admit that they
have a problem, that they havedemons, and part of working with
people is going into theirtraumas, going into their
(39:45):
shortcomings.
So there are people who arevery prideful.
They don't want to admit, forexample, that they've had
affairs.
They don't wanna humblethemselves and confess that sin
and work through that and getrid of the demons behind it, or
that they have a secretaddiction of some sort.
They don't want.
They wanna be the perfectChristian and not humble
themselves and admit, hey, I gota problem.
(40:07):
So I think the second elementof people not being open to
exorcism is pride, because youhave to humble yourself, go to
work with somebody and stepthrough the things that are
hidden and secret.
Those have to be exposed sothat you actually can be freed
(40:27):
up.
Brian, any thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I believe it takes a lot of humility to do that, and
I agree with it.
Everybody might get the samemindset that I had at first is
nah, I don't know about that,that seems crazy, but I just
felt that I was being led there,and that's where I ended up,
(40:52):
and I think it's a big weightlifted off my shoulders.
And one thing that I noticed,though, when I read scripture
daily, that I feel like I'm in abetter place.
I truly think it's a verynecessary thing for people to
admit.
Which is the hardest thing is,admit their sin and be delivered
(41:12):
from everything that's weighingyou down.
Don't be deceived by the enemy,because he's gonna try to fill
your heads with lies and hewants you to not be in that
place of deliverance.
He don't want you to renouncehim, he just wants to keep you
in deception.
So I believe that I think it'sa it was a great thing for me to
(41:36):
do and to realize that there'sa battle between evil every day.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
And the thing to mention also about exorcism is
that it is healing.
Like Brian saying he feelsbetter, I know for me personally
and the clients that I workwith that after they've been
through a handful of sessionsgetting rid of these demons,
that they actually begin to feelbetter emotionally and
(42:02):
physically.
Sleep deprivation can be a signof demonic torment.
How many clients I work with,and myself included, I
experienced this where I'll wakeup at 3 am for no reason and
can't go back to sleep.
That's a type of demonictorment At times.
I'm not saying every time youwake up at 3 am and can't go to
(42:23):
sleep that it's demons, but ifit is a reoccurring pattern,
you've tried everything you canmedically, psychologically, to
try to help that and nothinghelps.
There's a strong probabilitythat that is demonic as well.
So imagine that having a betternight's sleep, feeling better
emotionally, physically becausedemons make you feel utterly
(42:46):
exhausted and they're justfilthy, they're compulsive, they
entice, they get people intoaddictions and make them feel
exhausted.
The shame, the guilt, thedepression all this stuff comes
from these demons just trying tokill you.
That's really what it boilsdown to.
So all of this was just andthank you, brian, for sharing
your experience with everyone.
(43:07):
Catch this, guys.
We're talking about aprofessional heavyweight fighter
who's a born-again Christian.
Initially he was like I don'tknow about this.
And then, after spending timewith the Lord, hearing it at his
church, he was like, yeah, Ithink I need to do this.
Plus, he had some paranormalphenomena surface in his life
and it was like, okay, we needto do this.
(43:27):
All of this just shared withyou guys as food for thought.
And, brian, at the end of everyepisode, I always ask my guest
to share words of encouragementwith the listening audience.
Your background there are a lotof people, brian, that have
(43:49):
came from abusive homes,alcoholic homes, that are stuck
in poverty or are trying to getout, or that are under the
influence of demons.
They have demons and maybethey're afraid to admit it or
maybe they don't want to humblethemselves.
Can you share some words ofencouragement if you were
(44:10):
sitting across from people whohad some of the similar
background?
Maybe they were beat as a child.
Maybe they were shipped fromhouse to house.
Maybe they were in and out offoster care.
Maybe they come from a veryrough background.
Maybe they are Christians, butthey just suffer tremendously
because of their pain in thedemons, as a professional
(44:33):
heavyweight boxer, as aborn-again Christian, as someone
who's been through an exorcism,can you please take a couple
minutes and, just from yourheart, share some encouragement
with these people?
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Philippians 4.13 says I can do all things through
Christ, who strengthens me.
That's a very important verseand I believe that we all gotta
believe that there is a higherpower out there that's gonna get
us, which is Jesus Christ, getus to the point or the place
that we wanna be, and it's byfaith and not quitting.
(45:09):
I think quitting is.
Everybody just gives up onthings and they believe the lie
from the deceiver.
That's what he wants you tobelieve at.
You're not good enough, youcan't make it, you're not gonna
do it.
So I think that people need tobelieve in themselves and be
confident in the Lord and seekHim daily, and I believe that
(45:32):
he's gonna guide and direct youand give you the knowledge and
wisdom that you need to pushthrough these strong, and He'll
lead you to the place that youneed to be.
And that's where I trulybelieve he's led me to do the
things that I've donespiritually and to get rid of a
(45:52):
certain baggage that you have inyour life.
And I think everybody needs toreally examine that and humble
themselves and say, look, I havethese things going on in my
life and I'm not really surewhat to do about it.
And that's some of the thingsthat had happened to me.
So you gotta have faith, yougotta seek Jesus daily and you
(46:16):
gotta have a belief that you'regonna get through this time if
you're struggling or whateveryour addiction is.
And another thing too is theHoly Spirit can help you through
anything.
And I know that, not putting alot of emphasis on the power of
these demons, but the power ofthe Holy Spirit is way more
(46:38):
powerful than any demon andthere's nothing else that we
need to do is but to believe,confess and humble ourselves and
do the right thing to get us tothe place that we need to go to
.
And it's very, it's humblingand it's definitely
(46:59):
weightlifting off of you.
The deceiver Wants us to betormented, wants us to believe
we can't make it.
We can't do things that wewanna do and achieve things we
wanna achieve.
I'm living proof of it, towhere I began and where I ended.
I think it's a totally divineblessing in my life that I had.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
You may be demon possessed and this is the first
time you're coming to therealization of it.
If that's you, I'd like toinvite you right now to go to my
website, justindeedcom, andbook a session with me.
Until next time, god bless.
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