This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Passion for Christ, a ministry of Utah Partnerships for Christ. In Acts 26, 18, Jesus said, Paul's purpose was to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light. and from the power of Satan unto God. That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
We hope you'll join us for today's testimony of lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now let's begin today's episode.
Well, welcome to this conversation. My name is Keith with Truth Network. We've got Val Johnson with us here on the air. Val, welcome. All right, thank you.
Well, Val, uh, you had a conversation recently with Russ. It was really exciting for him, I know, to be able to meet you and to discuss just your story about your life before Jesus, your life when you encountered Christ, and then where you're at now-not just your life, but also some ministry that God's given you and your wife as well. And so, we're going to talk about that today. If you could just start off by introducing yourself and then start sharing your story with us. Oh, yes, thanks, Keith.
I'm again, my name is Val Johnson. And I grew up in the the Salt Lake area. I was raised in a very devoted LDS family who loved the LDS church, they loved each other, and they loved God as they understood him. And I was raised in that environment. I was taught that we came to this earth from a pre-existent premortal life, that we were spirits in heaven before we came here.
Very different from what you'll hear in traditional Christianity. With that teaching was also the belief that we came here with certain characteristics that depicted how we lived when we were in that premortal state. I believed I was taught people with lighter complexions had lived more valiantly, and that people who were of African descent that were, if you will, black, that those people had been. Not valiant in a preexistent life.
So that was what I was, the context that I was raised in. At the age of 19, I was called to serve a mission in Paris, France. Which I did. I had never met a black person in my life when I got to France. And in France, there were a lot of people who were black.
Interestingly, When I got there, we were told when we go to doors, if they were not black, go in and teach them, baptize them. If they were black, we were to tell them that we were Christian missionaries and that they should go to the church of their choice and not tell them what church we were from. And turn around and walk away. And that just felt kind of weird, but I knew nothing different. I'd grown up with that teaching.
When I was there for only about three weeks, suddenly the church announced a revelation that the blacks now had the priesthood. and that it was o okay to go and teach them and baptize them.
Well, in France, people are not terribly interested in God. It's a very atheistic country. More communists per capita than there were in the old Soviet Union. And so, because of that, they weren't interested in God. They didn't want anything to do with God.
They didn't want anything to do with religion.
So, it was a very difficult place.
Well, once that revelation came, all of a sudden baptisms went through the roof, and guess what? They were almost all black. And I grew to love the black people. Did you find that Change confusing? To you?
Yes, and it was interesting because here I was told that they were not valiant. And I found that these were the kindest, most loving, give you the shirt off their back. Forgiving people. They were beautiful people. And I thought, how could these people be?
uh and be considered to be so-called less valiant. And so there there was a bit of of that uh a little contradiction in my head. But I went on with that and I Rayleigh fell in love with the black people in France, and there were a lot of them. And so I served a two-year mission. came home from that mission.
in May of 1980. In December of 1980, I went to what the LDS people call a fireside, which is basically church. for the young adults, generally single people.
So I went to this fireside. Usually they'd have 30 to 60 people there. This time, no, there were 300 people there. I got the last seat and I thought, wow, is the prophet here? Prophet of the Mormon church, what's going on?
No, it was the first black sister missionary. She had had a chance to at least she couldn't go on a mission they didn't allow before the priesthood was given to them in 1978. It couldn't serve missions.
So as soon as that was lifted, then she went on a mission.
Well, they only serve for 18 months. The women serve for 18. The men serve for 24. And so by December, she had been able to go out, serve her mission, come home. write a book and go on speaking tour, and she was literally at that point the rock star of the Mormon Church.
She had more people com coming to listen to her than any of their general authorities, apostles, etcetera. I was so taken by her message. I it was Stunning. Her message was just.
So faith promoting uh an amazing message that I waited 45 minutes in line. to just go up and shake her hand. And when I finally got up there, When I shook her hand, I just said her name was Mary. I said, Mary, I served in the Paris transmission. And I really grew to love the black people.
And she looked at me and she said, Will you call me? And I'm thinking, the rock star of the church wants the nobody to call her. Kind of weird, but he's sure, yeah.
So she wrote down her. Her name and phone number. Handed it to me. Few days go by and there was a A family, a couple that I was Friends with, and I was trying to get them into the church.
So I called her and I said, Mary, what if we go on a quote skiing date? But really what we're doing is missionary work. And she said, that sounds like a blast. Let's do it.
So we did. And we went to Sundance. Uh a ski resort. Robert Redford's ski resort. We got up there, there was three feet of snow on the ground, and she looked out.
She says, I don't know what that stuff is, but I ain't getting out of the car. She was from Chattanooga, Tennessee. She'd never seen snow in her life. We finally talked her out of the car. We got her on some skis.
She fell down quite a bit. She's very athletic. just our first time on skis. By the time we were done, we just had such a good time, laughed a lot. And I took that couple home, took her home.
It was such a successful date. It was just fun. By the time I dropped Mary off, I was thinking, Wow. This is the most amazing person I have ever known in my life. I dropped her off.
I took my parents to listen to her speak. They thought she was amazing. and everything was going incredibly well until I walked in the door at home. and announced I'm getting married. And they said, oh, great.
Who are you getting married to? This black sister missionary. And I had fallen head over heels. I mean, I was so in love with her. My dad pulled me aside and he said, Val.
If you marry her, you will deny yourself the celestial kingdom.
Now, for those that don't know much about Mormon doctrine, the celestial kingdom is where God is. Then lower kingdoms below that. are places where people go who Didn't achieve the celestial kingdom. It's a very weird theology. Interesting.
But anyway, it terrified me to think that I was. And I said, wait a minute, how can I be denied that? They have the priesthood. And he said, no, but the Prophet has said that you should not marry interracially.
Now I could marry Japanese, I could marry a South American, I could marry someone from India, but black is marrying a different race. How that works, I don't know. But You know, at that point, I mean, I was devastated, just absolutely turned upside down. My world was falling apart. The most wonderful person in the world, I was being told that I couldn't marry her, even though we both wanted to.
And it took me a few weeks. I went to visit my brother in St. Louis to get out from under the pressure, trying to figure out what I should do. When I came home. I was so fearful of that threat.
that I called it off. And with that, I almost committed suicide. I was looking for a bridge. I was looking for any way to end the pain. That was the rough moment in my life.
She ended up meeting another guy, they married. I just was devastated and for five years I felt like I would never love again.
Well I ended up finally meeting a gal that I did. Fall in love with and we married. In the Mormon temple? And St. George.
And out of that, we started a little We'll be right back for the rest of today's testimony. Please know we at Utah Partnerships for Christ have been planting seeds of the gospel in Utah for over 24 years. We welcome any questions you may have and invite you to visit our website to obtain a list of words and definitions that would help you understand how Mormons think and how to be able to better witness to your friends who belong to the Mormon Church. That website is www.upfc.org. That's upfc.org.
We'll be right back. Welcome to Passion for Christ, a ministry of Utah Partnerships for Christ. In Acts 26, 18, Jesus said, Paul's purpose was to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light. and from the power of Satan unto God. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
We hope you'll join us for today's testimony of lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now let's begin today's episode.
We moved back into a home that I had sold to my brother years before. And when we moved back in, she went out and was cleaning the shed.
Now we've been divided, and I need to mention this. I should say this part first. Christian Radio brought me to a Relationship with the living God. With Christ my Saviour. But he didn't do the same thing with my family.
And my family has remained. A devoutly Mormon to this day. All of my family, my brothers, sisters, my wife, my children. are all very much LDS. And that has been a schism for us.
Not one that we would talk about, but it was just kind of uh there. They didn't like it when they'd sit down and want to read the Book of Mormon, and I didn't want to sit there.
So there were things like that that that created a very strong divide.
So about seven years ago. We moved into back into this home that I had Sold to my brother. And within a week my wife came in, she'd been cleaning the shed. And she said, Val, I was out in the shed cleaning, and she said, I felt like I was being attacked, but there was nothing there. And I thought, well, that's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard.
And the next day she said, I'm not feeling well. And the next day it was like, I'm getting really sick. And the next day it was like, whoa, this is serious. And it kept getting worse and worse. About a week or two later, we decided to go see a movie.
And I was sitting by my wife, and my daughter was sitting on the other side of her. And about halfway through the movie, my daughter turned to her and she said, Mom, I feel like I'm being attacked, but nothing's there. And then she started getting sick. And she got sicker and sicker and sicker. We didn't know what we were going to do.
Uh, it it came to a point one night where She called me, I was at work, and she said, Val, I'm I'm I'm taking her to Instacare. I'll meet you there. I went to Instacare. Doctor said, well, I can treat her for psychosis. She was spitting up worms in a cup.
I'm sorry, but that's not psychotic. And so we walked out of there. I I was supposed to go get some food for us. Drove by a little place that sells herbal things. And and I felt the spirit say, Val, go in there.
But I kept driving. I got about a block further and I got this strong, overwhelming impression that said, Val, go back. And so I did. And I walked in and here was a nineteen year old girl and a twenty five year old guy. And I thought, they're not going to know anything.
And at that point, we'd researched enough we knew it was something called Morgallons, which is the ugly stepsister of Lyme disease. I said, yeah, you haven't heard of Morgellens, have you? And the guy, wide-eyed, he said, yes, I've been studying it. It's really rare. You guys have that?
And I said, well, my wife and daughter do. I went around the room with him, got six bottles that we collected. He says, this will help. took them home.
Now think about how Russian roulette works. Six chambers, one bullet. This is Russian roulette in reverse. We had six bottles, and when I got home, my daughter was so bad I thought she was going to die that night. And I thought she's got all the luck.
She managed, she hadn't been able to keep anything down for three days. She managed to swallow one pill that she just happened to open of the six bottles. I had thought I was going to wake up to a corpse the next day. And when I woke up the next morning, I turned she turned over. Smile, first time I'd seen a smile on her face for three weeks.
Wow. God had pulled her back from death. But he didn't heal her. And we ended up having to I had I had had to send them away. I paid for two homes ever since.
And I was going under financially. At that point, I was so desperate that I said, God, I'm Job. I've lost my wife. I've lost my family, I've lost my home, I've lost my finances. I'm Job.
I got up the next morning, turned on. Uh the car and I my car is tuned to AM820. And I turned it on, and here was Dr. David Jeremiah. And his first, the first words that he spoke out of on that radio, he said.
you may be at your lowest point. You may have lost your wife, you may have lost your family, you may have lost your home, you may have lost your finances. In the order I prayed at the night before. Broadcast worldwide. Who knows when it was recorded?
God was speaking to me. I knew. Right then. that he was he was well aware of my circumstances. And then Dr.
Jeremiah said something really important. He said, when these things happen, Don't pray that God change your circumstances. Pray that he change you in your circumstances. Wow. As a result of that.
I Realized that God has really divided my family. Had made it. I could never, my wife said that I would never be able to live. In the same house with them, they become hypersensitized to me, and so finally. we came to the conclusion that divorce was an option and never thought that could ever be an option.
But it was an option we had to take to survive. And so we did, we filed for divorce. Shortly after that. Uh online I ended up meeting A gal from Courtlane, Idaho. Her name is was Susie Cowan.
Her name is Susie Johnson today. We married six months later. She had been doing Christian single ministry for over 20 years. I joined her in that. I had been f seven five years alone at that point.
And I knew what loneliness was like. Mother Teresa, though I don't necessarily agree with her theology, Mother Teresa said the greatest crisis in the world. is loneliness. Yes. Not disease, not poverty.
Loneliness And so I devoted myself and I've devoted decided that I would devote the rest of my life with my wife. Two serving singles. We now have a ministry that we call Christian Singles Tribe. That we're doing here in this in the Utah area. And we do a retreat every year up in Glacier Park.
In Montana. that we do on Memorial Day. We are going to do everything possible. to alleviate the loneliness. that single people deal with on a daily basis.
That's powerful, Val. Thank you so much for sharing your story. As you and your wife have been Working with singles through Christian Singles tribe. Would you just explain b briefly how God has used Your story in the message of the gospel in this specific ministry. Yeah, that's an interesting one.
So last year was the year that we struggled the hardest. We couldn't get a pastor who would come and speak. That had never happened before. In all the years that she did it, we always were able to get a pastor to come. We couldn't find one.
And it had dwindled quite a bit. The size had dwindled uh a fair amount. And so it was a small group. We didn't have a pastor. I I like to harmonize, but I don't play an instrument.
I lost a middle finger and so I couldn't play guitar. I used to sing on worship teams, and so a friend of mine that was on that I was on a worship team with. Can you And he and I did the worship music, and I, who am not a pastor. did all of the uh the sessions. It's interesting because I I was terrified.
And I thought I'm not schooled in doing this kind of thing. I got up in fact, when I did it, I wrote up what I was gonna say. And then God gave him the message, no. That's not what you're going to say. Tear it up.
And I did. And I got up there and I had no idea what I was gonna do. Because God was going to show. that he was the one doing it not me. It's amazing.
And he did show. And we had people that came away.
So this year when we were trying to decide do we do we try to do the retreat again this year? And we're praying about it. We suddenly get a message from a gal that came for the first time last year. The only shit thing she'd experienced was the one that I had done. And when we said we're thinking about shutting it down, we don't know if we can do it this year.
We don't have the finances to carry it. She said, You can't do that? She said, What do you need? We said, We need at least 100 people.
Well, I'll go get 100 people. She wasn't off the phone with us for three hours, and she calls back, and she said. I've already got ten. Wow. She called back an hour later.
She says, I'm up to 15. And then doors just started opening, and the door to talk to you. And to be able to share this message again. This was within a week of us trying to determine whether we should continue the. The retreat.
Not the ministry. We would continue the ministry. But do we continue the retreat and in Montana. And the answer is an overwhelming yes. That's amazing.
And that is the Northwest Christian Singles Retreat, correct? That's correct. And that's going to be taking place uh towards the end of May of this year. Yes. And the the man that's speaking, he was a never married uh Christian pastor.
uh who came and spoke several years ago and by far was the best speaker they've ever had. When they when they do uh the reviews at the end and they had people mark one through five how they felt, you know, how many stars do you give this pastor? There were people that were marking ten that he was He was just off the charts. He's spoken at the White House. He's spoken.
Uh, to Chick-fil-A, he's been on. Uh t be on. When Susie first uh reached out to him years ago, They said, oh, here's what his fee is. And she said, oh, you know, ours is a little tiny self-funded ministry. We can't afford that.
And that man, his name is David Edwards. He called Susie just a few years ago and he said, God told me that I am supposed to do your retreat and I will do it for a love offering and for travel expenses. Wow. That's excellent. Excellent.
It had a tremendous impact. We will have him back. We will be honored to have him speak in May this year.
So Val, where can they go to find out more about Christian Singles Tribe and register for this upcoming Singles retreat in May? Yes, the best place for them to go is our website. And that website is Christian Singles Tribe.org. They can get to know more about our ministry as well as the retreat. Both from that site.
And and can uh people contact you through that website as well if they need somebody to talk to and pray with? Absolutely.
Okay. 24 hours a day to anyone who wants to reach out to us. Excellent, Val.
Well, thank you so much for sharing your story and what God has been doing in your life and your ministry. I want to encourage those who are listening right now again to go to Christian SinglesTribe.org. To connect with Val Johnson and with his wife Susie, especially if you're a Christian single and you're looking to build biblical relationships and make connections even on a local level. Val, we would love to have you back another time soon to share more of your story. But I just want to say thank you so much.
For sharing what God has done for you in your life. All right, awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks for the privilege of being able to do this. Before we sign off for today, please know that all of us here at Utah Partnerships for Christ appreciate your prayers and support.
We are also available to do Zoom call workshops or personal coaching on reaching Mormons for Christ. Contact us today at upfc.org. That's upfc.org. Thanks so much for joining us on another edition of Passion for Christ.
