the one church I went to was called the Los Angeles Church of Christ this guy sits me down guy named Edward never forget I'm sitting there with my girlfriend who's an actress in Hollywood and a beautiful girl and uh he said so when's the last time you guys had sex I

said right before this meeting he says you can't come to church if you're not going to commit to you have to drop sex I said brother we're good yeah are we good and I walked away we were uh at at your I guess compound in Florida you

told me kind of your testimony too about becoming a Christian that you were an atheist and um it it was almost George Foreman esque as far as your conversion it wasn't like ah I guess I'll be a Christian um tell me kind of what that's

because I think a lot of people may not necessarily know that uh about you they Pro they know you're a Christian um they know that you're more conservative in your values but they may not know what that transition was like yeah so when you live in Iran you have a hard time

believing in God I I would always get kicked out of Bible study my my dad and mom would come in and say why can't you just sit there I'm like I I I don't believe this stuff I said why is it were

your parents Christians they're Christians both of us I said why is it that if we're getting bombed in Iran the parks I'm going to that building we used to go to the whistling sound t t Al attention attention the sign of red

means that planes have crossed the border and boom, so all of these thoughts that stay with you. Yeah, I don't believe in God, we go to Germany, my parents get a divorce, I even get less, you know, desire to want to have any kind of closeness to

God. 12 to 18, zero Church, zero anything. You couldn't get... How was a guy at church making fun of the pastor and I go to the Army, I'm in boot camp, and in boot camp in an AIT, uh, I had one of the higher PT

scores, so they gave me and a few other guys the opportunity to go spend time at this one camp for two days and this guy had a swing from trees into the lake and a pool table. I'm like, this is great to get away from all the stuff we're doing.

But with one caveat, every night we had to listen to him do Bible study and by the way, even then that's 97, the military 20, 26 years ago, so I was sitting in the back and I would play with the billiard balls in the back. I would just kind of

do my... I think, and he's doing this thing and then at the end of it he comes up to me, says, 'Hey son, my parents gave me uh this Bible as a gift in 1974. December 24th of 1974. I'll never forget, I have it

till today,' he says, 'I think you need this more than I need this.' I said, 'I'm telling you, I'm the wrong guy to give this to. It's a waste. It's your parents' gift.' He says, 'Son, I've been watching you.'

I've been listening to you, you need this, just take it from me, trust me. So I finally take it. I leave. Why is this guy giving it to me? I don't read the Bible, but I sit there and started praying three times a day. My prayer started like, 

this God, I don't believe in you. I think it's fake. I think it's for weak people, but if you're out there, great, I want to know something. But if not, I'm talking anyways. Here's what's on my mind today. I start going on a journey and I start 

going to everything I can. I knew Muslim because I grew up in Iran, so I understood Hezbollah Muslim, their beliefs, Prophet Muhammad. I've gone through that route. I started looking at Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, Diane, you know what he believes in, what their ideas are. 

I started looking at you, test your seating levels. I went through a lot of it by the way, I, the assist and all these things you got to do. Very interesting. It reminded me of a Freemason model, like you can go up and move up and all this 

stuff plus a few other ancillary stuff. Yeah, anyways. And then eventually, uh, I became a Christian at 25 years old, January 21st or some date like that in '04. I become a Christian. I go to this church, Shepherd of the Hills, 27 

churches I went to. One church I went to was called the Los Angeles Church of Christ. This guy sits me down, a guy named Edward, never forget. I'm sitting there with my girlfriend, who's an actress in Hollywood and a beautiful girl, and uh, he said, "So when's the last time you guys 

had sex I said right before this meeting he says you can't come to church if you're not going to commit to you have to drop sex I said brother we're good yeah are we good and I walked away did he shake your hand or did he actually

wash well I mean he shook my hand whether he believed what I did with my hand that's up to him that's his risk not my risk exactly all right so I walked away and I'm like no not going to happen anyways this girl and I who we

about we're about to get married I love her I want to marry her is this the same one you were sleeping with absolutely and I say listen I want to test something with you and I because if we're going to get married I want to know if this is more than sex she says

okay what do you want to do I said I want to go one month no sex she said you're serious I said yeah says do you have someone else on your life I said no I just want to know what we're going to do on a Friday night when we're in the

Expedition without having sex and she says you're sure about this I said yes great first night Friday we're going out by the way you kind of undale that like it makes it easier to say yeah one month no sex in the Expedition you weren't

necessarily romancing the situation listen yeah when you're broke Expedition is a bedroom that's true it is yes it's a full three best part is when the police puts the lights on you it's like stop get out of here in the steam it's

like oh we're out of here thank you so much officer appreciate you for not every time you hear a siren you get flushed that's bad conditioning but okay so anyway so she thinks I'm weird we go to church she's uncomfortable and then

Billy Graham comes to Pasadena and he gives a talk in November of 2003 I go to every single one of his services this is after her uh except for Saturday I missed the service I went to 3 of them not on the one on Saturday cuz I had

training but so we go for a month doesn't happen afterwards I say it's not going to work out she found another guy we had a bad breakup but we're civil we're good we move on and and I'm like you know what I don't know what I'm

doing here So eventually I get baptized I become a Christian and then I start doing Bible studies Friday nights at Pasadena from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 in the morning every other Friday night we're doing Bible study from 6 to 2:00

a.m. and we're talking on philosophy debate all this stuff eventually the crazy thing most people won't even believe this if I say this I was the guy in Old Pasadena in front of nightclubs at 1:00 in the morning holding a John

3:16 sign at 25 years old that was me so I just got on fire I went 17 months I said I'm not touching any sex nothing that was my thing I was in Vegas all the time I was very good guy to party with six days a week I was that

guy So eventually I changed my habits and uh that's very typical of Iranians if they're not Muslim it's like either they're Muslim or they just love to party and like when I went to your house I was not surprised at the amount of

marble but that was it and then eventually uh one of the nights that maybe it's the story you want to know is my girl and I uh were at Universal Studios CityWalk she'll remember this vividly we're in the car we're having a

big fight I don't have any money I feel like I'm like dude I can't have $449,000 and I can't even afford to pay 10 bucks for movies for this girl I felt like I was just I was not a man at that

my dad would always say when men don't have money they're not good for society so you have to be able to contribute to have your manliness we're in the car we get into a big fight and then we break it off and she leaves I'm in the car

Expedition this is 1:30 in the morning at this point we finished the movie and I said God I haven't spoken to my mom for 5 years but if you exist I would love to talk to my mom 30 seconds later

my next call I get a call from a blocked number brother this is like a I've told the story it's a very weird moment in my scariest moment for me I don't want to answer the phone and it's one of those next tells well you know the the flip

phones yeah and I flip it and it's my mom crying so why are you crying she says I got the feeling you were in pain how'd you get this number she says you know I just got it 6 months ago I said but do you know what I'm going through

right now what are you going through I said no nothing but I don't know how to talk to her I hang up the phone I sat in that car that night top of the hills chills all over my body I'm like oh my God either this is ironic or this is real

but the level of coincidence is a little too real I could have chosen to say it's ironic I chose to believe it was God and he has my back and he's had my back from day one that level of confidence I got from from that moment that somebody was

watching me and had my back is the reason why I am where I'm at today I make my decisions purely knowing he has my back and if you ask me what's one of my biggest fears one of my biggest fears in my life is losing his favor I can't tell you how

much that scares the hell out of me because to me in life when you get a person that has your back and they have your back like you've seen endless times they've had your back you take that for granted and you lose it you're a fool so you've had my back

you've given me this life the four kids my wife my dad now living with me my biggest fear at the time when I was not a Christian was my kids never meeting my dad cuz I never met his dad my grandpa they are best friends with him now they love him my

someplace violent with him. My 2-year-old daughter's best friend is my dad, where they're together all the time. And now she goes to school, she was going 5 days. We took her out 2 days so she can be around my dad all the time and my

nanny, who's been such an amazing woman in our lives for 14 years, her mom is 85 years old. She was worried about her mom, so she wanted to retire, go to Mexico. I said, bring your mom with us. She lives with us, it we got a nice place in the

house. And man, I'm the luckiest man alive, but because I have that favor. So imagine you have that kind of an Untouchable favor, you want to compromise that favor. So, so it's such a it's it's a unique, that's that's your biggest fear. Oh, I

can't even describe it to you. Mine's bull sharks. Yeah, yours is bull sharks. I swim in fresh water. Watch Latter with Crowder live Monday through Thursday 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

From Atheist to Christian Patrick Bet-David Talks Religious Conversion

CrowderBits

Negative encounter with a church leader in Los Angeles regarding premarital sex.

Discussion about the speaker's conversion to Christianity from atheism.

Growing up in Iran and struggling with faith amidst conflict and family issues.

Further distancing from religion during adolescence and early adulthood.

A pivotal moment in the Army involving a Bible gifted by a fellow soldier.

Initial skepticism and unconventional prayers after receiving the Bible.

Exploration of various religions and belief systems.

Conversion to Christianity at age 25 and subsequent experiences with different churches.

Another negative encounter with a church leader concerning his relationship.

A month-long experiment of abstaining from sex with his girlfriend to test their relationship.

Attending Billy Graham's services and the subsequent breakup with his girlfriend.

Deepening faith through Bible studies and public evangelism.

A significant fight with his girlfriend and a subsequent prayer that led to a call from his mother.

Interpreting the phone call from his mother as a divine intervention.

Gratitude for his family, improved relationships, and current life circumstances.

Positive changes in family dynamics and support system.