Sid Roth - How to Hear God Talk to You
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth. Welcome to my world where it's naturally supernatural. I was talking to my friend Jesse Duplantis, and Jesse said, "You know, how would your people like to be sitting in the seat like you guys are doing or you guys are doing at home and Jesus were to walk up, and answer every question you have? What would be that worth to you"? Well he says that's what happens to him and he says he wants to teach you to do it. Anyone interested?
Sid Roth: Jesse, I am so intrigued by your background. I don't think many people know about it.
Jesse Duplantis: That's right.
Sid Roth: And also I'm intrigued by the humor. You tell me, before you became a believer in the Messiah, you weren't a funny man.
Jesse Duplantis: No, I was not funny. In fact, when God saved me, the first time I ever preached, people were falling out the pews. And I was so mad, I went home and told Cathy, and said, "What's wrong with these crazy people"? And she said, "You're funny". I said, "This is serious business. What are you talking about being funny"? I mean, I told a joke every once in a while like everybody else. But when the Lord came in my life, I got so happy, Sid. I'm so full of joy, which is the fruit of the Spirit, and I'm so happy, which is an emotional feeling, I'm just a dangerous individual.
Sid Roth: Tell me about you. I can't even picture this long-haired, rock and roll singer that has a bottle of Scotch every day.
Jesse Duplantis: Every day.
Sid Roth: That does everything a rock and roll singer is notorious for doing. How in the world did you get saved?
Jesse Duplantis: Well I'll tell you. It's a miracle. I drank a fifth of whisky a day, smoked a little dope a week, snorted cocaine, PCP, crystal meth, took trips and never left my house. You understand what I'm saying. Now I'm sitting there, but what happened was Cathy, she was watching Billy Graham. God made Cathy tell me something that got my attention. Now I worked on the same circuit as Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk, KISS, Alice Cooper. I mean, let me tell you something, you young people, girls screaming, and that was your mama or your grandma, one or the other who was doing that. But anyway, I was ready to do a rock show in Boston, Massachusetts. I'll never forget it, Sid. Quickly, Cathy said, "Jesse, Billy Graham is coming on". And I thought, "Okay, what do I want to watch him for"? And she said this: "He pulls more people than you do". And it caught my attention. I said, "You know, the guy does fill up stadiums". So I decided to watch him to get Cathy off my back. I was sitting in a hotel just like this. You know how Billy Graham says at the end, "If you'd like to get saved, write me and I'll send you the same literature that I send, and go to church next Sunday". I jumped. I got off that bed. You got to understand how I looked, long, dark, chocolate-brown hair, makeup. I had a good body in those days. You got to believe it by faith, but I did. I had a six-pack. I got a keg now. I had a six-pack, you know what I'm saying. And I got up, I immediately left and went into the bathroom, but I couldn't close that door fast enough. God got in that bathroom with me.
Sid Roth: Why did you go in the bathroom?
Jesse Duplantis: Because I was told never to cry. I was raised with a bunch of Sicilians. You do what I got to do. My grandfather said, "If somebody mess with you, we don't fight in this family. That's what the Mississippi River is for". I'm serious. When you're raised on the streets of New Orleans, you do what you got to do. Now what happened was I didn't know how to pray. I said this: If there's such a thing as a God, whatever Billy said, then you do that. I got born again. Something supernatural, now I didn't hear thunder and lightning, and I had to go do a rock show. Are you ready for this Sid? I come out of there, my three-year-old daughter looked at me and said this, Jodi, she said, "Daddy not going to hell no more". And I said, "Cathy, did you tell her I was going to hell"? She said, "No, she just saw it". I went down, did that show. Now I walked in there, the night before it was fun. When I walked in, it was an upholstered sewer now. I saw sin for the first time in my life. And I opened up that show with Sly and the Family Stone, "I Want to Take you Higher". Real quickly dah, dah, dah... And I'm supposed to sing, Feel it getting stronger. But what came out of me blew me away. I went, "Everybody in this place is going to hell"! That's a true story. And people smoking dope. They went, wow, babe, we're going to hell. That's a true story. And the drummer, he told the lead guitar, "Grab him. He's tripping. He's on some bad drugs". So anyway, I closed out that session, I mean that set, and Jimmy said, "What happened, man"? I said, "I met Jesus". He went, "Wow, man". You know, that kind of stuff. From that day I knew something had happened, but I couldn't explain it because when you're not taught you don't know.
Sid Roth: But what happened with that bottle every day? What happened with the drugs? What happened with the womanizing?
Jesse Duplantis: Instantly delivery, completely. I mean, I shut down. I told Cathy, I said "Let's go to church tomorrow". This was on Saturday night, Labor Day weekend, 1974. She thought, my God, you're going to church?
Sid Roth: You have such a childlike, simplistic faith.
Jesse Duplantis: Yes.
Sid Roth: You sit down. You have conversations with God.
Jesse Duplantis: Yes.
Sid Roth: Not necessarily, we understand, not necessarily the audible voice, but you know God's voice, and so many with love to be able to hear God's voice.
Jesse Duplantis: Oh yes.
Sid Roth: But the problems that you have, do you remember, how do I know that you have problems? I'm a member of the same race. It's called the human race. Of course, you have problems. But if you knew you could sit down and have a one-on-one with Jesus you wouldn't have a problem. Am I right? I want to find out how he hears God's voice and he says what the Bible says. God is not a respecter of persons. So Jesse says anything that God does for him, you can do. You can do it better. Be right back.
Sid Roth: By the way, something else happened in addition to getting rid of all those vices when you came to know the Messiah. You didn't really have much of a love for people. What happened?
Jesse Duplantis: No, I didn't. I loved myself too much. I was raised very poor and I didn't have time to love people. You do what you got to do. I was going somewhere. I was raised very poor and I didn't care who I hurt to get what I was gonna get. You see what I'm saying? And you know, you said before the break, I'm like a child. I really am because children are born believers and they believe everything you say until you teach them to doubt. So when God tells me to do something impossible, I go, okay. So simple that you need a good theologian to help you misunderstand it.
Sid Roth: Jesse, I asked you, beyond coming to know the Lord, the thing that pops in your head is the most supernatural thing that happened to you was.
Jesse Duplantis: I was just fascinated with Scripture. I mean, I was fascinated. I said, look at this. They thought I couldn't understand this? I can understand this. Well anyway, I saw how God showed himself to people and I thought, why don't he show himself to me? And then that scripture, "He's no respecter of persons". So I began to hound God, for lack of a better way to say it, I want to see you. I want to talk to you.
Sid Roth: How often did you say that to him?
Jesse Duplantis: I'm going to say, this is conservative, at least 200 times during this period. I was irritated. I said, listen, I stayed up last night and you didn't come. I mean it. I thought he had to come at night. I don't know. I just thought he did. You know, crazy. And I went to a revival and there was a preacher. He said, "Young man". I was young in those days. I was 25 years old. And to make a long story short, he says, "The Lord told me you've been asking to see him". And I thought to myself, okay, come on buddy, come on. He said, "The Lord is coming to see you. You'll be sleeping and your maid, he called Cathy the maid. She didn't like that, but anyway, "The maid, she will not wake up". Now this is the most supernatural thing that happened to me other than my salvation. So I stayed up all that night, nothing happened. Two weeks, nothing happened. I was so frustrated. I didn't call the man that he missed God. I didn't know that, how do you miss God. I didn't know nothing about that. Then one night I went to bed, I always sleep on my stomach, and I'm about ready to go to sleep, all of a sudden, wind began to blow, Sid. When I say wind, I'm talking wind. It blew the curtains up on top of the rods. It was blowing through, I'm getting goosebumps, thank you, Jesus, blowing through my skin, coming up under my nails, blowing onto my face. I was on the bed and I was like pinned, and I went, my God! And the Lord, I heard him, this is audible. This is not vision. This is all physical. I'm seeing the curtain flying up. He said, "You asked to see me. Turn around". And went like this, "Oh gee! Whoa"! I wasn't scared. I was freaking out, is about the best way. And he asked me three times. The second time, he said, "You asked to see me. Turn around". And I went, "God"! I was pinned. I thought, Cathy will see him. I start hitting Cathy with my fist. I said, "Get up"!
Sid Roth: Wait. Did you really hit her?
Jesse Duplantis: Put a bruise on her this big.
Sid Roth: Okay.
Jesse Duplantis: That's the only time I ever hit my wife. I'm hitting her and she's going... I mean, she's a very light sleeper. Finally, the last time, he said, "You asked to see me". Wind blowing. My God, I'll never forget that as long as I ever live. "Turn around"! And I said, "Lord, forgive me". I didn't know what to do. All of a sudden the wind stopped and went like this, and I was so mad at myself. I said, "You stupid, stupid. You asked God to see you, you wouldn't turn around". And I hit Cathy again. And she goes, "What"? I said, "You missed it. You missed it". She said, "What do you mean"? I said, "God was in the room, but no, you got to sleep all the time". You understand? And Sid, to make a long story short, I got up, went into my living room and I sat down. I was so frustrated with myself. God had come to my house. He had blew the curtains up on the rods, man. I mean, wind went through my skin. You don't have to believe it, but it's true. You know it's true. You can tell. You hear it now. To make a long story short, then I heard him in my spirit like you normally do. I said, "God, I'm sorry I didn't turn around". He said, "I'm glad you didn't. It's better that you believed me and not see me". That is probably the most fantastic supernatural thing to happen to me other than my salvation.
Sid Roth: How can we get to know that?
Jesse Duplantis: You see, you come as a child. You become childlike, not childish. You see, Christianity has become childish instead of childlike. I said, "Lord, I want more than a relationship". That's called being born again. "I want a fellowship". He said, "Well talk to me". You know why God don't get to talk to people? Because you're praying. I'm going to shock you when I say this. You're praying so much, you don't give him time to talk. You go, oh Jesus, you want a come to Jesus meeting. Oh Lord. And then you stop praying, he's about ready to talk to you and you get up and you walk off. And he goes like this, he goes. So I have conversations, Sid. I said, "Lord, I want to know some things".
Sid Roth: Yes, but what happens if he's not answering you? Do you continue the conversation?
Jesse Duplantis: Oh, he does answer. He wants to talk to you more than you want to talk to him. I'm not exaggerating. Every time I've always said, "Lord, he says, "What"? He says, "Let's talk. What do you want to talk about"? I said, "I need to know some things. What about this, what about that"? And Cathy has heard me, I'll be laughing in my study. He's actually very funny. And I'll tell you what, you're looking at one of the happiest men that ever walked the face of this earth. That doesn't mean trouble don't come. I just don't pay no attention to the devil. I ain't got time for that fool. I don't pay no attention to him. He's defeated, restricted and rejected, and he's awaiting confinement. I'm going to tell you something you never heard before. You know why sometimes things go real good. I asked the Lord about that. I say, "You know, Lord, things have been going real good with the ministry. Everything is good". I said, "Where's the devil". He said, "He's putting out fires". Now these are my conversations. He's what? I said, "He's putting out fires"? I said, "What do you mean"? He sowed rebellion in Heaven, he's got rebellion in his camp. Listen to me.
Sid Roth: I like that.
Jesse Duplantis: Listen to me. You see, the Bible says what you sow, you reap. That includes angels. He has to put them down. He has to get them back in line. That's why everything is so good. But now he's going to come back because all he's got, the only way he can hurt God is try to hurt you.
Sid Roth: I want you to answer this question. Someone does not believe they have that relationship that you have with God. They've been a believer 20 years. They have prayed. They've done every method and system they know. Give them some advice.
Jesse Duplantis: You've been religiously brainwashed instead of New Testament taught. See, you're going through the rigmarole of religiosity. God isn't interested. You know, God never created Christianity. Man did that. God created Christ. God sowed Christ so he could have Christians. See, Jesus was a seed, so we could be his family. And I love telling that to Jewish people. They say, "You Jewish"? I say, "I'm adopted". You're adopted? I say yeah. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse. You understand?
Sid Roth: Okay. When we come back, I have to tell you, I've been doing this a long time, I've heard a lot of supernatural stories, but your mom takes the cake. I want you to tell me what happened. He's in a bar, as unsaved as a human can be. He's down in Mexico and this is without a doubt the most supernatural thing. You had some mother. We'll be right back.
Sid Roth: Tell me about the time you were in a bar in Mexico. Now, you weren't in the bar preaching.
Jesse Duplantis: No. What happened was, you know, I was a rock entertainer. This is in, we were in McAllen, Texas and were going to go across the border to Reynosa, Mexico to Boy's Town. We were going to change the red light district. Don't look at me weird. I was a sinner. That's what you do. So we went in, there's no way my mother knew where I was. I was playing rock music. So we're in there. All of a sudden, in this bar, in Reynosa, Mexico, in Boy's Town, this guy says, "Is there a Jesse Duplantis here"? And I listened. And then he said, "Is there a Jesse Duplantis here"? And Jimmy Spencer was my drummer, he said, "That's your real name". I said, "Yeah, but Jimmy, there ain't nobody who know we, who knows my name". Who knew my name? He said, "You know anybody"? "No". "Is there a Jesse Duplantis here"? I said, "Yeah". And I got up and walked to the phone, and I went, "Hello"? And my mother said, "I see you, you little devil from hell in that terrible place. You better get outta there. God's gonna kill every one of you". And I went, "Okay, Mama".
Sid Roth: Okay, wait, Jesse.
Jesse Duplantis: That's a true story.
Sid Roth: How did she have the phone number? How did she know where you were?
Jesse Duplantis: After it was all said and done, I went home. I said, "How did you know that? There's no way you could know that bar in Reynosa". She said, "The Lord spoke to me. Your boy, he," the Lord showed her where I was. I came back and I said, "Jimmy, we got to get outta here 'cause God's gonna kill us".
Sid Roth: Jesse, I have an idea that there is, you are creating, with humor and with your stories, just a hunger for people that have the same relationship with God that you do. Is there a prayer that you can pray to jump start us?
Jesse Duplantis: What it is, is that you just sit down and try to, and get out of the religious way of thinking. Sit on your couch, wherever you are in your house, and just say, "Lord, I need to talk to you. I want to be your friend". See, that's another thing I read, that Abraham was a friend of God. Wait a minute. If Abraham can be a friend, how come I can't be a friend? You know what the Lord told me? He said, "I need friends, Jesse". See, most people pray to him and never talk to him. Now I want to tell you something, what's going to happen, you're going to feel foolish, you're going to feel silly because your intellectual activity, your range of research, your induction and reason, that's all in the mind. But see, you're getting out of your mind. You say, "Lord," all of a sudden you're going to hear something, First, you'll sense the presence. He'll come in that room. I mean, you're going to get some goosebumps. You'll go, whoa. Because see, the body can't handle anything spiritual. It just reacts. It doesn't know what to do. But that spirit goes... It will pull real quick. Your spirit is in 100 percent contact with God if you're born again. What your problem is, is that your soul is real. You want me to prove it to you? If you go to a mall today, you see somebody in a wheelchair, ready for this, your spirit says, go over there, grab him, pull him out. In the name of Jesus, rise and walk. Your spirit goes, yes! Your mind says, control yourself, fool, you're crazy. You're gonna get a lawsuit here if you don't watch yourself. You see, that's the intellectual activity.
Sid Roth: Jesse, you got to tell me this story because it's so amazing. God calls him into ministry.
Jesse Duplantis: Yes.
Sid Roth: And for a year he doesn't get a speaking assignment.
Jesse Duplantis: Yes, that's right.
Sid Roth: And then he gets angry and starts talking to his telephone. Tell me about that.
Jesse Duplantis: Yes. The Lord, I was at a church, he said, Sunday morning, this is when I got out of the music business. He said, "You walk down there and ask them for a ministry". I said, "I ain't even in Bible school. I'm no preacher". He said, "You go down there and you ask them for a ministry". And I just, I said, I ain't do this. I ain't doing that. Finally, a couple of weeks went by. Finally, I went down and I said, "Lord, forgive me. Forgive me". No, it was a year. "Forgive me. I want this ministry". Now before when he told me to do that, I was getting people writing me, you know, those Gospel businessmen and all that kind of stuff, confessing and all because I was in the rock world.
Sid Roth: Right.
Jesse Duplantis: I thought I should submit. I didn't get one invitation for a solid year. And in my frustration, that would be January of '76, that year, and I said, "Lord, I went down in January of '75 and asked for a ministry, and you, why didn't I get any invitations"? He said, "You made me wait". Just like that. He said, "How do you like it? You like it"? I said, "No". He said, "Never make me wait again". I said, "I'm yours to command, sir". I went into the ministry. I came home. I quit my job. I don't tell you to do that just because Jesse did it. Got home, looked at the phone, I said, "Ring"! And Jesus was there, it rang. It was a yellow phone, an old yellow phone, and I thought this must be my daddy. I picked it up and there was a man, Sabine, Calcasieu Tabernacle in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He said, "I was praying and the Lord said for you to come preach. Can you come tomorrow night"? This was a Thursday afternoon. I went there Friday night. And ladies and gentlemen, from that day forward, I have been preaching almost every day. I have over 9000 requests I can't even get to. I'm trying. I'll get all of them if I can. And I mean, from that point, but you know what, I'm not making God wait no more. And he told me to go on Sid Roth, so I did.
Sid Roth: I'm so glad you did. Aren't you glad he did?