Creflo Dollar - It's Never Too Late
Today's program is exactly what I designed "Your World" to be. Every morning, so many married couples wake up and put on a show. They may appear happy and successful, but behind closed doors they are hanging on for dear life. These relationships are being crushed under the weight of tragedy, financial loss, mistrust, and a whole host of other issues, but they continue to put on the act until the breaking point comes and they realize something has to change, or their family, their kids, and their future together will be lost. I'm going to introduce you to a couple that has arrived at the breaking point. They're here together to find hope or ultimately decide if they've reached the point of no return.
Creflo Dollar: My first guest today became a Christian as a teenager, leaving behind his life on the streets. He spent years fully committed to his faith, but recently the stress and chaos of his life became so overwhelming that he turned back to his old ways. Now, the dysfunction of his family has become so bad that his wife has threatened to move out. He's ready to turn his life back around but isn't sure how to save his marriage and his relationship with his children. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Tim to "Your World" today.
You know, we call this "Your World" because we're gonna take a journey. We're gonna put together a ministry that's gonna help people who are watching today. There are gonna be people who are immediately going to be able to relate with you what you're going through, and we're gonna change a lot of lives today as a result it. So, first of all, thank you for being here. Let's start with this question: who are you and what was life like before you met your wife?
Tim Johnson: The life before I met my wife, I got saved at 17. I came from a family of about 16 brothers and sisters, pretty big family. At the age of 15, I was introduced to a fast life. I found myself in the clubs, 19 years and older. I was in the clubs at 15 dancing, drinking, doing everything. So, at the age of 16 I was then introduced to a major gang in that city. I enlisted in the gang, and from that moment on it just became a real fast life. I found myself drug trafficking, moving kilos of cocaine at a very young age. Had more money than I could probably spend.
Creflo Dollar: Grew up real fast in the streets, huh?
Tim Johnson: Real fast. Lived that lifestyle for quite a while, and I remember I was about 17, getting ready to turn 18. I was at a skating rink. The music went off, SWAT came in, and of course everybody is looking and wondering, and they grabbed me and a couple others and hauled us off to the county detention center, held us, and come to find out that they were pinning me and a couple other people for murder because of the gang activity. So, I was just turning 18. They brought me over to the county jail, and they said I was looking at 27 to life, and the only thing I knew was the things that my mom used to talk about. My mother was a Christian and trying to do the best she can. I kneeled down in the cell and prayed, and I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life at that time.
Creflo Dollar: You know, it is something how we may not pay attention to our parents until we have those traumatic experiences, and that's the first thing we go back to, and it's like the grace and the mercy of God that says... you know what? I believe parents, I told one of my kids this, I said, "I'm praying for you long enough until you can learn how to take care of yourself and stay alive. I'm keeping you alive through my prayers". And so, would you say that was the turning point in your life?
Tim Johnson: It was. It was. It was. It was supernatural. It was supernatural. My life completely changed.
Creflo Dollar: Yeah, and so how long, you know, when did you and Amber meet?
Tim Johnson: So, fast-forward, I ended up going to Bible college and all those wonderful things, began preaching, traveling. So, I was traveling as an evangelist.
Creflo Dollar: So, you got born again, accepted a call into the ministry.
Tim Johnson: Accepted a call and didn't go to prison. They gave me 5 years of probation.
Creflo Dollar: Yeah, so you really were under the grace of God.
Tim Johnson: It had to be. It had to be.
Creflo Dollar: That's what that was, you know?
Tim Johnson: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, got in the ministry and started traveling. A friend of mine introduced me to Amber. I was already praying that "you know, Lord, I need to get a wife and, you know, do the things that, you know, a man is supposed to do. Can't be out here like this, you know? Can't touch nothing. I'm trying to do right". So, we met. The first time we were on the phone, she called me up, and she said, "Hey, you know, how you doing"? Dah-dah-dah. We didn't really physically meet for about 2 weeks. We were just talking on the phone. First time on the phone we were about to get off, and she says, "Okay, you wanna do this"? And I'm thinking, "O Lord, the devil is a liar". I thought this woman was saved, you know? And I said, "Do what? I'm not coming over there". She said, "No, I want you to pray". Oh, right then and there I said, "That's God. Come on now, that's God. That's God right here". And I prayed. I prayed. Oh, I prayed everything.
Creflo Dollar: I prayed a prayer.
Tim Johnson: I prayed. I prayed. I gotta show her how spiritual I am, and long story short, we ended up connecting and got married within 3 months. So, as soon as we got married, she entered into my world, and I was traveling, preaching, and doing all the things that I was taught and all the things I thought a young preacher should do: follow God, give up everything, don't even work a job.
Creflo Dollar: Yeah, what do you think about that now, because I can really relate with you. I can really relate with you when I was told, "Forget your family. God will take care of 'em. Everything will be all right". Then, 20 years passed, and the harvest that came up from that, nobody told me about that harvest, and it took a while to win them back into my life. You feel similar to that advice?
Tim Johnson: I'm beginning to see the harvest of all of those bad decisions, I would say, and it's sad to say that because, you know, you live as a believer, and that's what a vast majority of believers believe. That we are to disconnect ourselves from the place that we live in and that God is going to provide everything.
Creflo Dollar: And we didn't know any better. We were just hungry to do God's will. We trusted what was happening and the preachers that told us that, you know? We figured that these preachers should know, I didn't know anything, and we accepted it hungry to see God do whatever needed to be done. There was always a little check in our spirit, but the prophet said do this, and the pastor said do this, and the evangelist said do this, and, hey, what do I know, man? I'm just a young kid, just got into ministry, just ready to do what needs to be done. And so, as you began to do that, something happened in 2005 with one of the kids. Tell us about that.
Tim Johnson: 2005, you know, of course, when I met my wife, she had a great career, had her own home, and was doing quite well. I said, "You're quitting that job. You're gonna stay home and raise my babies. We're gonna have some babies, and I'm gonna preach, and the Lord is gonna take care of us. The Lord is gonna take care of us". Not me. I didn't say me. 2005, we were actually doing very well. We went on the road to preach, and we had a nanny, which was a family member that watched all of our children from birth. We traveled to Florida and left our children at the sitter's. We went, spoke, was heading on our way back to Ohio. We was driving, it was storming, tornado, and we said, "We gotta hurry up and get back". Called. Checked on the kids. Kids was doing well. Awesome. Ended up getting to Atlanta, poured off, got a hotel. Five o'clock in the morning, I got a call, "Hello, is this Tim Johnson"? "Yes". "This is the Columbus police department. We're calling from the coroner's office. We have such and such here, who is a relative of the family, and she couldn't call you to tell you this, but one of your children passed away".
It was our son Israel, 4 months old, had prophetic words all over his life, and none of my children have ever been sick or anything, healthy. And so, we rushed, got up, told my wife, and, you know, of course, you can only imagine there. Got in our car. We began to drive from Atlanta to Ohio, and we're praying and just believing God, "God, you said that, you know, you'd give us power, and you said in your Word this, and I'm preaching, and I'm doing all these things for you, Lord. This can't be. Is this an opportunity for you to demonstrate your power? 'Cause when we get there, we're gonna lay hands on our son, God, just"... And so, the whole time there she's quiet, and she's crying, and we came back into Ohio, to a coroner's office, where they rolled out and we had to identify our son.
Creflo Dollar: Do you remember, at that particular point, of course, you know, you can't imagine really what was going on inside of the both of you. Was that a point where the marriage between you and your wife began to change? Of course, you both were, it was, you're going through.
Tim Johnson: You know, again, it was one of those things that all the things that I believed and began to preach and teach to my family, "This is how you live a Christian life. This is how you view God". And when that happened, and it just happened to be that we were out preaching, the result of that in your mental mind is, "Well, hold on, I need to question everything he's ever told me, because we're out doing the Lord's will, and we lose a son". The other three children were there, saw it, witnessed it there while we were driving, and so the imprint that it left on them, again, today. From that moment on, the economy changed, she lost all of the accounts, had to shut the business down. I began to get calls from ministry after ministry, "Hey, the economy is bad. We're gonna change the conference. Don't need you to come down". I mean, everything dried up, everything. We were building our dream home, but we didn't have any more money. We had just sold the house because we thought we were closing. Literally, we lost our son, within 30 days became homeless.
Creflo Dollar: Think with me for a moment, because what you're saying, to some people it's revealing, it's shocking, it's painful, it's hurtful, it's all those emotions at one time. What happened with the marriage? What drained the life of this marriage to put us where we are today?
Tim Johnson: You know, Dr. Dollar, you know, this is tough today 'cause, you know, it's been a long time and so many things have happened. Becoming homeless for 3 months, living in a van. My family is there, my children is there, parked on a McDonald's parking lot, 'cause they're open 24 hours. Dragging my family from state to state, preaching, and chasing something that I was taught call this place, call it there, your destiny. And I believe that at a point where... the marriage, she just got tired. She just got tired. We're losing, we're not winning. The reality is, is that I never obtained any of it.
When I was single, yeah, I was just a single guy. I could do all that stuff, but to bring a family in that world, to believe that God is gonna take care. I don't need no job. God is gonna do this. Run out to the mailbox. There should be a check there. So, I think the marriage just got... because of life's journey, just beat the marriage down to no end, to the point where trust began to go out the window. The things that were pertaining to the Lord, nobody really wanted to hear that anymore. "I don't wanna hear that". "You're going to church". "We ain't going to church".
And it began to be cold in my home, toward my marriage. Everything stopped: communication, sexual, nothing. My relationship with my children got really bad. They stopped talking to me. I got angry, began to get mad, mad at God. Things just began to get worse, and I said, "Lord, I gave my whole life to you. I could have went to college. I went to a Bible college 'cause I thought I was gonna be a preacher. I thought I was gonna be this Creflo Dollar or these people that you see on TV. That's what I was taught, and I'm losing everything. I'm not seeing anything. I'm a complete failure. I've brought this family into this world, and I've done nothing but made mistake after mistake, decision after decision". That nothing never materialized, and I remember shaking my hand at God, saying, "If I wouldn't have been following you, this wouldn't have happened. I should have just been a normal Christian".
Creflo Dollar: Huh, I'll tell you what. Number one, thank you for being so brutally honest. People need to hear what you just said and what you're saying, because so many times we miss out on understanding what this relationship with God is all about, and it becomes the mistress that the wife has to compete with. It becomes the giant that the children have to compete with, because this mistress not only is challenging my relationship with my wife, but it's challenging the time with my children, and I'm supposed to love this God that takes my daddy away all the time, that I can't see him, and it's supposed to be all right with me. I'm supposed to be these things, and yet the Bible makes it so clear that the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and that to discover what a rest is all about, versus working and laboring, trying to get something that Jesus has already done. Self-occupied versus God occupied.
And so, without you saying it, probably a lot of things, that, you know, you now had to search for some way to, "How do I find relief? How do I deal with this stuff? I feel like I'm losing it". At times suicidal thoughts and stuff come to your mind, and you're like, "You know, how do I get out of this particular thing"? And the biggest thing that comes to the mind is shame. How do I deal with the shame? And so, you know, my heart, listen, there is nothing you said that I can't relate to, and I went before God, and I said, "Lord, well, we did everything, didn't we? We did everything you said, and they still died. We did everything you said, and they didn't get healed". And I said, "Lord, I can't do this anymore. I cannot serve a God that doesn't work, so I might as well go ahead and practice full-time or do something else, but I can't serve a God where it doesn't work".
And I'll never forget that night, and I was walking out of my office, and he asked me a question: "Will you become a student of grace"? I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought I was a student of grace, but what I found out is that under grace it is not having faith in what you can do to get it to happen. It's having faith in what Jesus has already done, and you receive it and rest in the finished works of Jesus Christ. What I was doing, well, I was under the law trying to make something happen, because I realized that under the law I had to do good in order to get good. I had to do this. I had to fast a hundred days in order for that to happen. I had to do all of these things. I had to make sure I confessed every last one of my sins, whether I remembered them or not. I had to do all of these things, and I would go to church and get more law to practice, and I developed a compulsive Christianity disorder where enough was never enough, and the question came, when is enough, enough?
But when I found out grace and who Jesus was, I found out that Jesus was enough. That I no longer had to search to get the answer to what is enough. Jesus is enough, and I began to have more faith in what he has done for me, and I learned how to rest. I learned how to rest. I learned how to rest in the finished works of Jesus Christ, 'cause what you're talking about, that's pressure on anybody. That's pressure on human beings. That's pressure on people, who are saying, "I'm supposed to do this", but that's what living under the law by Moses is about. It's pressure, but then, you know, because under the law it's demands, demands, demands, but under the grace of God it's supply, supply, supply, and God is saying, "Come and rest. Come and fellowship with me and let me show you what I've already done for you".
And I'll tell you what. He rearranged my insides. I'll tell you he restored everything that was shaken, and I'm telling you in the name of Jesus that's why I've committed to preach this gospel of grace for the rest of my life. And, you know, it's amazing that I can get someone like you on the show who would be willing to open up like this, because that's what this show is all about. It's about showing people that under the law it's torment, me trying to do something. God's not good to me because I'm good. That's under the law. Under grace God's good to me because he's good to me, and it is okay to spend time with your family. It's okay to have fun with your kids and wife. It's okay to say no to a speaking engagement 'cause I gotta go spend time to go to my kid's basketball game, and God's not gonna condemn me, beat me up. Somebody says, "God gonna get you". If God wanted to get you, he'd have got you. You'd have been got. So, if we looked at what was going on in your marriage, what is it that you need from your wife in order for this marriage to be what you want it to be?
Tim Johnson: Trust factor to be restored.
Creflo Dollar: But you do know trust got to be earned.
Tim Johnson: Yes, sir.
Creflo Dollar: And you're willing to earn that trust?
Tim Johnson: I am.
Creflo Dollar: So, let me ask you this. Is it anything that you're not willing to do to see the restoration you wanna see in your marriage?
Tim Johnson: I'm willing to do whatever it takes. That's why I'm here today, to tell the world my mistakes. You know, there's a whole lot, Dr. Dollar, that transpired in that marriage, 17 years, that we're not discussing right now and time wouldn't allow us, but for me the failure, the shame, I said to myself at some point in this, "It's too late. I started at 17, I'm whatever, 40-something, or whatever it was. It's too late. I'm too low now. I don't have the things that I had and this and that, so therefore I don't trust God and believe God anymore, so I'm walking away from it, because if I can't do what I thought I was gonna do, then I might as well go back and do what I know I'm good at". And I'm telling you, I went back to the drug life, the preacher. I went back to what I know. I went back to that life, dealing, dabbling, and eventually began using the very product that I was distributing to others.
Creflo Dollar: And of course that added more to the marriage.
Tim Johnson: That added even more, because I thought I was hiding it from my family, but somehow it was exposed. Not just to my wife, but to my children.
Creflo Dollar: And I think it being exposed is the mercy of God. Yeah, see, because if it weren't exposed and you ended up dead somewhere. It's God's mercy. When God put Adam and Eve out of the garden, that was his mercy. What would have happened if they stayed? What would have happened if they'd ate of that tree of life to do that? I wanna take a break for a moment. Tim's wife, Amber, opens up about the effects that his choices have had on her, their children, and her faith in God. Please help me welcome Amber to "Your World" today. Hey, Amber.
Amber Johnson: Pleasure.
Creflo Dollar: I wanna give you an opportunity to tell us about who you are and how you've been impacted by this marriage, and then we're gonna talk about what do you need from Tim in order for this thing to work. Let me give you, and if it makes you guys feel better, nobody has sat on this couch without shedding tears. I don't know what it is about the couch. We tried to buy a new one, and it's still the same thing, you know? Amber, talk to us.
Amber Johnson: I met Tim in 2000. I was with a friend looking for a car, and I walked on the lot, and the guy came out, and he said, "I think you're my friend's wife". I was like, "How is that"? He goes, "I just know". I met him, talked to him on the phone for a couple of weeks. I was a youth pastor and so was he, so we had that connection there, and I was recently saved. And when you're a young Christian, that's what you look for, a woman looks for, is a preacher, so he was a preacher. I was like, "Well, maybe this is God". I didn't know too much about religion, came out of a Catholic background. He ended up coming to the church, bringing some flyers for a youth event that he was doing, and so I met him, and I was like, "Okay, he might be the one", because we used to talk, we talked on the phone for 2 weeks, and I used to always ask him at the end, "Let's pray", 'cause we wanted to make sure that this is God. If it's not, close it, don't wanna go any further.
So, we met in May and some things happened with him, and our pastor told us not to get married. He said it's not time, so with me being a new Christian and him being an older Christian, I followed him and said, "Nobody wants us to be together. Let's just do it". So, we didn't have no wedding. We went to the Justice of Peace, and he ends up going to jail. But I knew that it was God. I just didn't know really because I was a new Christian. As soon as he got out, we went straight to the Justice of Peace and got married. I know that spiritually that it is God, but naturally I'm like, "There is no way", because we've been through some things, you know, through his financial situation.
When I met him, he didn't have anything, but I wasn't looking at that. Things started spiraling with the so-called demons, but they were things that he was dealing with. That he hasn't been, you know, healed yet which I found out a few years. I actually came down here to go to a Taffi Dollar conference, and then I got a phone call from someone saying that he was out drinking. I'm like, "Drinking? He's a pastor". How can you drink? You're supposed to be this spiritual being, and you don't have sin, so that's when it first started. I believe that I wasn't judging him. I didn't wanna judge him or anything, and so I stuck with him through everything, through the drug abuse, through him missing, me losing my home because of his issues, and I just stuck with it, and I just... I mean, to this day I know it's God, but naturally it's just eaten me up. Like, there's no way that I'm still here.
Creflo Dollar: Yeah, so let's talk naturally just for a moment. What do you need naturally? 'Cause it's okay. Sometimes we focus so much on spiritual things, we act like natural things aren't real. It's the same thing with being Christian. Sometimes Christians are so spiritual, they don't even know how to live life. They don't understand... yeah, I understand that we're born-again people. I'm a human, I'm a born-again human, but I'm still a human, and as people we need to learn how to do natural things because we're in this natural realm. So, if we look at it just for a moment from that perspective, could you say to me and Tim what is it that you need in the natural from him, from this marriage in order for it to work?
Amber Johnson: My husband, actually, you know? Not spiritually 'cause I know he's got that, but the natural, the love of a husband, the love of a father, compassion.
Creflo Dollar: Is it time?
Amber Johnson: It's not really time, because he'll give me the time, but it's not like... it's like we're more friends.
Creflo Dollar: Okay, so I want you to be specific. What do you need from him as your husband?
Amber Johnson: To treat me affectionately, you know, affection.
Creflo Dollar: Which is the number-one need for a woman, yeah.
Amber Johnson: Yeah, number one, you know, because, you know, with him doing the things that he does, it's like, "Well, maybe it's me. Maybe he doesn't love me. He's just here", you know? And support. Support me in the things that I wanna do, my dreams, you know? I had my own company a few years ago, and when I met him shut it down to follow him, so it's just, you know, I want him to support me in the things that I wanna do.
Creflo Dollar: It sounds to me that I could put those two things into one word: value. Do you feel like over the years you've been devalued?
Amber Johnson: Yes.
Creflo Dollar: We have to learn how to value people. You know, Taffi and I believe in biblical equality. We believe that marriage is a partnership. We don't believe that one person, the man, gets to dominate and the woman gets to just do whatever. We believe that submission is both of our responsibilities, submitting yourself one to another, and that I want to submit to her dreams, visions, and her abilities to do things, as well, because a lot of women are suffering today. They have anointings and abilities to do things, but it's just not respected, nobody wants to submit to it, and it devalues you, as if the only place in your life is to be there for that man and support him. But it is a equal partnership, no more male and female, but in Christ there is equality.
And so, in this partnership we're talking about from a man's perspective being willing to add value and to bring value to your wife. Nobody wants to continue to be with anybody and feel devalued. I think that's so important to realize, and so sometimes we search to try to discover those things and the little secret answer to making it happen. I can tell you right now nobody, and eventually the man, too, nobody wants to be in a situation where they feel constantly devalued, and so if you start right there, Tim, with the commitment of everything I do, I will do it to add value to my wife. It is not just you have a call on your life. She has one, too, and the beautiful thing about it is the call on her life and the call on your life, if it's respected in a partnership, it's gonna create an awesome call together without all of it not being on your shoulder and all of it not being on her shoulder.
I thought it was ridiculous for me to leave my family for almost a month when my wife was pregnant with my first daughter because somebody said that's what you do in the ministry. I would never recommend for people to do that right now. If I had to do that all over again, I would say, "I apologize, but I can't do that". I value my wife enough to be around just in case she needs me to be there for her, to walk through her with that situation, and you know what? I think heaven applauds that kind of thing, and we've got to be careful of the laws that are put on us through ministry as if that is an excuse to avoid valuing the people that you say you love. For example, she is very talented to run a business. She should have never closed that business so she can do what you want her to do and not have a say-so about what she wanted to do.
In a marriage relationship, it works because we're partners. We're equal partners. We've made the decision to value one another. Submission is both of our parts, and how she treats you is none of your business. Your business is how you treat her. And how he treats you is none of your business. Your business is how you treat him. It is staying out of the center. That helps you not to develop the very root of self-centeredness, which is bitterness, and self-centeredness will create bitterness. And if you're the only one that's concerned about you and what about your ministry and now all of a sudden nobody matters in life except you, what happens is the wife grows devalued, the children are devalued.
And as the marriage goes on and the children get older, you become despised, and you're someone that carry the Bible, carrying the Word, and you preach it because this is what you thought you were supposed to do. But you've got to be the man of God in the house and with your wife, and that is the first assignment. That is the first church. And when that is taken care of, then when it's time to go out, you go out with the support and the cheers of the family that says, "That's my dad. That's my husband. He makes me feel good and valued. I wanna make him feel good and valued". And that's so important, so important.
People that feel devalued, in a sense, they feel out of breath, they feel hopeless, or that can all turn into anger. It's a situation that children with single parents go through. Husbands go through it, wives go through it, but it's something that can be repaired, because devaluing someone also means you don't take into consideration that what you do impacts them. I don't wanna do something that's gonna negatively impact my family. I wanna make sure that I protect them, that I always do something to make them feel valued.
Somebody says, "But what about me, then? Because that was my concern. What about me? Here I am. I'm out here doing this. I'm doing this all for y'all". No, I wasn't. I was doing it for me, 'cause if I was doing it for them, I would have allowed them to have a say-so in it, to have a part in it so that as partners we're coming together in partnership to do this thing together, and so we can both together give glory to God. I didn't know any better. I just did what I thought was the right thing to do at the time, and I can't blame anybody for it. But you know what? Now you do know better, and there are some things you can do better.
And, see, what she said, I want to make sure you heard it. She said, "This is what I need in order for this marriage to work. This is what I need", and that may mean coming together, and it sounds corny, but coming together and both of you writing down what you need in order for this marriage to work. And you don't have to agree with it. It's not, well, you know, she says what she needs and then there is an argument and there is a debate over it. Oh, there's no debate about it. It's just real simple. In order for this marriage to work, this is what I need. You're either gonna do it or not. And when you do that, you take away the emotional fight that is struggling to figure out exactly what is this thing, and you just make your mind up, "I am going to be a real man", and a real man is a man who will sacrificially serve. A real man sacrificially serves.
Now, it seems like, "You know, well, dude, you're just telling me everything I need to do, but what about her"? See, here is the awesome thing. This woman, a natural seed is planted on the inside of her, but also these other seeds are planted on the inside of her and out of her will come the harvest of what you plant. You don't have to worry about it coming. It becomes the harvest of what you plant, and then what you just, you guys remind yourself, "We're equal partners". And ask yourself, "All right, is this equal partnership or is it me trying to dominate"? God allowed us to dominate the world and all animals in it, but never one another. What he wants to know is can you keep yourself out of the center and keep each other in the center so that bitterness can never be a part of this marriage.
Tim, it's not too late. God knows how to reach down in a pit and pull you up out of a pit and put you on a solid ground and guarantee you that everything that you ever wanted to see come to pass will come to pass, and you'll have a greater testimony, you'll have a greater ministry, and he doesn't mind you doing the things you want to do. Please understand God puts the desire in your heart. He'll take away the old want-tos and give you a new want-to. It's okay to go to Florida, have a vacation, spend time with the kids. It's okay to play some cards, man, and have a good time and laugh. It's okay to dance and listen to Lou Rawls in your bedroom. It's okay for all of that kinda stuff. It's learning how to live life, and it's okay with God.
These relationships can work. I believe in going in the nitty-gritty of it. She just said what she need. You don't even have to go home and wonder about that anymore. All you have to do is look. You can see the areas where it was devaluing. You can go back 17 years and see the areas where it devalued. You can go and look at, you know, even though the kids say it's all right, then mommy has to be devalued to figure out how to take care of the kids, the kids want you. It's a time that you'll never be able to get back if you don't do it right. It was the grace of God that gave me another opportunity with my girls. I just thought that was it, I lost 'em, that was it, and I got 'em back. I got my babies back. Now, they're grown women now, but I got my babies back. I'm in love with them and they're in love with me because I had to realize that I have to value them enough to give them my time versus giving it somewhere else. Ministry will be there, people will be there, but my family I get one shot to make them feel like who they are.
Right now my wife does her own business, and I wanna support it. I wanna support her ministry. I'm no longer the senior pastor of World Changers Ministry, Creflo Dollar. It is senior pastors Creflo and Taffi Dollar. She's just as much the senior pastor of World Changers Ministry that I am, and she makes decisions without my permission. She has a right to do that, capable of doing it, and trust her to do that, and trust her to do the other things that she need to do, as well, and support whatever business venture she in, whatever she does, because I want her to value me, because she has supported me for all these years.
I don't mind decreasing so she can increase, and then she lets me do what I wanna do. You know, as long as I'm valuing her, I get to go to the football game on Sundays, getting to do those things. But, you know, there is another thing. Any time you wanna see a game and you wanna hang out with the girls, I give you the tickets. You got 'em. Ain't no arguing with that. This is workable. This can be put together and give you a testimony and a ministry to help other people who have gone through the same hurt, the abusing of one another, the pain, the devaluing, and you can become a champion to see lives restored in the grace of God for Jesus Christ. Y'all love each other.
Amber Johnson: Yeah, we do.
Creflo Dollar: And you heard what she said she needed. Okay, this is what she needs for this marriage to work. You figure it out. You figure out you need to do. She's the number-one priority in your life, and I'm telling you God will endorse it, and you don't have to work hard to try to do things. That was my biggest problem: working hard trying to do what Jesus had already done. I had to learn how to enter into his rest and labor to stay at rest versus laboring to try to do something, and I had to come to the point where I was satisfied with Creflo Dollar, whatever God wanted to do. I'm satisfied with who I am. I'm not comparing myself with somebody else. I don't feel bad, feel like I got to be as sharp as the next guy.
That's one of the reason why I changed my dress a little bit, just to demonstrate to the world that I am all right with being who I am, and I don't have to imitate anybody else. I'm okay. Those of you who are watching this broadcast, be all right with who God made you. God made you the authentic you. There is only one person in the world that has your fingerprint. Be okay with who you are. Learn how to be happy with who you are. Learn how to live life. Go on a beach, get a Blow Pop, have a good time, and learn how to enjoy life with your family, and quit all of this stuff. Everything is going to be all right.
Tim Johnson: Dr. Dollar, can I say something to my wife?
Creflo Dollar: Sure.
Tim Johnson: I want you to know I'm sorry. I love you more than anything. I love my children. I love the family that God has given me. I know right now, in this season, I feel like I don't deserve you guys, but I'm willing to do whatever to make this work. And I want you to know I will value you for the rest of my days, and I love you more than anything, other than the Lord, and thank you for sticking it in, staying there with me and praying me through all of that junk, because I know that you were praying at home. I just wanted you to know that publicly.
Amber Johnson: Thank you. I love you, too.
Creflo Dollar: Right here on "Your World", and that's a strong, radical commitment you just made, because if you've had any issues with drugs, one of the things that would be good is to go through The Zone. It's a program that we just got recently introduced to for yourself. Just check yourself out. Make sure that you don't have the first stages of the disease of addiction. You wanna do everything to make everybody feel good, because as a minister people have to first of all deal with the fact, "Well, that's a preacher. Now I'm picking up the wrong thing". And if they move the preacher out of the way, they can see a whole lot of signs.
Don't come into a commitment with the unwillingness to do just what you committed. Anything that it takes, anything that it takes, because that sounds awesome when our emotions are there, but when the challenges are there again, you have to be honest enough to deal with anything that all of the pain and the stress has caused. The Zone is a program that's like no other program. It's a checkup. We don't want to get into a marriage or any kind of situation where there may be an addictive behavior that should not be there, and you wanna make sure that that never has the opportunity to ever, ever, ever enter into this relationship or family to devalue it, not another day in your life.
I believe you, and you have a beautiful wife, beautiful children. You can be a testimony to a lot of people who have turned their back on God for this very same reason, but let me say this. His grace is sufficient, and Jesus is enough, amen? Jesus is enough. You guys are amazing, to come on this show and to open yourselves up. Only God knows the millions of people that will be impacted, because there are lots of people practicing and perfecting phoniness, and I think you helped to pull the cover off today, and I release the blessing over you. That you'll be blessed in every area, and everything that was lost, that it be restored, but that God can teach you how to be you and to appreciate you and to enjoy you and to have a good time. God wants you to enjoy this life.
Tim Johnson: Yes, sir.
Creflo Dollar: Learn how to enjoy it. Learn how to have a lot of fun. That's your assignment from me.