Sid: Now my guest his name is Tommy Almonte and he’s already starting off by provoking me to jealousy. I said “Tommy did the Holy Spirit tell you what He wants you to emphasis this week on the radio?” And Tommy said to me “Yes, He wants you to know how simple it is to have a relationship with Him and to know Him. My guest Tommy Almonte; I’m speaking to him at his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Now Tommy was born in the Dominican Republic. His Mom was an Assistant Pastor at a Assembly of God Church and as a young boy he saw miracles taking place. Give me an example Tommy of one miracle that had an impact on you.
Tommy: Sid I remember one of those services that we used to have once a month and people would come from the area just to come for healing. And people would come and this man in particular he was limping out of one leg and he was I believe it was his left leg it was shorter by maybe 2 or 3 inches. And as this person was walking down the aisle every eye was on him and the pastor that was praying prayed for him, And as he was praying for him his leg right in front of everyone was growing; and as you can imagine…
Sid: Well, how was he able to walk with one leg so much shorter than the other?
Tommy: You know he had he couldn’t afford to buy the shoes that he needed but they created and put a piece of wood on the end of the shoes that he could at lease walk without having being incapacitated by this shortness of his leg. But he was just watching that Sid and seeing the power of God.
Sid: You mean that while he was walking you saw his leg grow out?
Tommy: It was growing and this man…
Sid: Well, how did he do that I mean if one leg had a shoe that had something improvised on it; did he have to take his shoe off to walk right?
Tommy: He took it off once he saw what was taking place that he and in his mind you know in a way he still was believing that he had the limp. But once his mind caught up with what took place in the physical then he realized that “Key I don’t have that anymore.” He took the shoes off and I remember he was running out from the church.
Sid: Hm.
Tommy: And I remember him running from the church and just people watching the power of God just in way that you cannot deny it.
Sid: Now when you were nine years of age you had really your first major encounter with the Holy Spirit in which you had a dream in which the Holy Spirit showed you details concerning each member of your family. Were you shocked about this dream; were they shocked about this dream?
Tommy: Well, you know as a young boy even though I grew up in the church not having a relationship with the Holy Spirit when you have a dream or you know that it’s from God there’s something inside of you that says “This is from God.” So I remember going to my Mom and saying “Mom, you know I had this dream and I need to share this with you.” And she said “You know you need to share this with the rest of the family this is something that is from God.” And I did and it literally changed our family; it not only changed our family at that time but today were living every sort from that dream that I had when I was just a young boy.
Sid: So it birthed a vision in the whole family in other words.
Tommy: Yeah, and I believe Sid that it was a way of reminding my parents at that time through me as the Lord gave me that dream reminding them that God had a plan for our family. And for them that dream it was it was a conformation to move forward even though it didn’t make any sense in the physical but to move forward because God had a plan for a family.
Sid: And you as a family did move to the United States to Michigan when you were 10 years of age. But then when you were a teenager a close friend of yours who you knew from the Dominican Republic he committed suicide.
Tommy: Sid that was one of the most tragic experiences that I have experienced in my life. You know as a teenager having to lose someone so close to you and I was moving in a way in a direction that was…even though I was going to church as a teenager but my heart was away from God and I didn’t want to do anything with God.
Sid: So as a result of your friends tragic suicide did you blame God?
Tommy: I did and it’s something we do all the time huh, but I did. My first reaction was “How can a God..” you know that my parents always said to me when I was growing up. “He’s a loving God; how can a loving God allow this to happen?” What I did is I was away out of the house and I was attending college and I was free to make my own decisions. And I made a decision it was to walk away from God as far as I could; that was my decision that I made.
Sid: But now you knew too much, and besides that you had praying parents. I bet you were very uncomfortable even though you walked away from God.
Tommy: You know it’s funny you mention that even though I was away from God in my mind I wanted to do anything and everything that could make Him angry as possible with me so that He didn’t want to do anything with me. In my mind I wanted to commit the worst sin.
Sid: My goodness you were acting as crazy as the one who took your friends life; that’s the devil but go ahead.
Tommy: Something inside of me I wanted to go as far as possible from God but even though that I was out there and I was going as far as possible. And so in my mind I was going away from God something inside of me and now I know it was the voice of the Holy Spirit constantly remind me that you are not where you are supposed to be. Even though I was out there I was not enjoying life. Yes when I was with my friends I would fake it and pretend that I was enjoying what I was doing. But when I was alone and no one else was watching there was that sense of loss inside of me and that sense of “I’m in a place where I don’t belong and not knowing where to go that was the only place that I knew you know.
Sid: Well, one day you decided to make a deal with God; why?
Tommy: You know I came to a place where I was not satisfied going to church and I didn’t want to do anything with God but I was not satisfied away from church. And I found myself in a place where I was dying by the second. And here my parents would remind me daily that “God is a loving God.” But He’s a God that I didn’t know even though I grew up in the church. And I knew that there’s a God and He sent His Son but I didn’t know Him and not knowing Him; I was not willing to give my life and to pursue Him. But even though that I was sinning and doing everything that I wanted I came to that place and it was a place that I said “I would rather die then living a life where I’m not satisfied; I’m not enjoying sinning and I’m not enjoying going to church.”
Sid: You were living in between two worlds and frustrated totally.
Tommy: Yes, yeah totally and I made a deal with God I laugh now because I remember I said to God I said “I’m going to give You one chance. I’m going to pursue You with all I have and if I don’t find You then You have to remove this feeling inside of me that just keep reminding me that I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. And so I made that deal you know but in the back of my mind Sid I wanted…I made that deal thinking that it wasn’t going to work; in the back of my mind I knew that I wasn’t going to find this God He’s somewhere out there and He’s not interested in having a relationship with me.
Sid: So what did you do to honor your part even though you thought God would not honor His? What were you doing to pursue God?
Tommy: It was funny because the first thing He said to me was “Okay, if you are going to give me a chance your going to have to do it my way. (Laughing) And He said “I want you to give Me one day of your week completely from the beginning of the day until the end of the day. I want you to give Me that day where you are going to walk to my presence; you are going to go away from everything else and you are going to lock yourself into a room for one day. And I don’t want you to go in there thinking “I don’t want you to ask me for anything, I don’t want you to pray for anybody else I just want you to go there.” I thought that that was just crazy I was like “What am I going to do for…
Sid: I was wondering what in the world do you do for a full day if you don’t ask for anything, you don’t pray what are you going to do?
Tommy: That’s the same thing that crossed my mind; what am I going to do a whole day locked in a room; am I losing my mind you know. But I did it because I wanted to prove to myself that there is no way that I can establish a relationship with God and I was going to do everything just so I could walk away from this in between this two world that I was living. And I was willing to do do anything.
Sid: Now, what day did you pick?
Tommy: Saturday, my only day to do it was Saturday.
Sid: Now you realize that that’s the day that Jewish people pick to spend time with God; it’s called the Sabbath.
Tommy: You know even though I knew that but I didn’t know that.
Sid: (Laughing)
Tommy: He asked me that and I didn’t know that you know but I remember getting up and the funny thing is that He would wake me up at 5:00 in the morning and say “It’s Saturday get up.” And I would go in that room.
Sid: You didn’t roller over you actually got up?
Tommy: You know what, the honestly I would crawl into that room because I was not used to get up at 5:00 in the morning.
Sid: Tommy, listen Mishpochah come on back because he’s going to so provoke you to jealousy; and what’s even better you then can provoke other people to jealousy.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth