Blood Money - Drug Dealing Entrepreneur, to Pastor who leads the Masses and beat Newsom... Pastor Che Ahn

Sept. 4, 2025 - Blood Money

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Drug Dealing Entrepreneur, to Pastor who leads the Masses and beat Newsom... Pastor Che Ahn

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	All right, viewers, thank you so much for coming to the latest blood money episode today.
	We have a very special guest, Pastor Cheon, who is running for California governor for 2026.
	How are you doing, sir?
	I'm doing very well.
	Thank you so much, fam.
	It's an honor to be on your podcast.
	And uh I'm eager to get into it.
	Awesome, awesome.
	Yeah, thank you so much.
	I was at your announcement actually in Pasadena uh a few uh a few weeks back.
	I think it was actually about a month ago.
	Uh, very impressed by you, sir, and your history.
	You know, first for the viewers, uh, you know, talk a little bit about yourself.
	Give us a little bit about your background and and your calling to run for governor.
	Well, I was born in Korea.
	I came to the United States at the age of five.
	My father was the first Korean Southern Baptist pastor in North America, and he got a special visa to immigrate because of that.
	And so uh I became a citizen.
	Uh, even though I was a pastor's kid, I didn't know God.
	Uh, I knew about him, but I didn't have a personal relationship with him.
	And unfortunately, I got involved with the wrong crowd.
	You know, my sister and I were the only two of Asian background in our own elementary school.
	I can't remember anyone of color, to be honest with you, until like the fifth grade.
	And uh, because I wanted to be accepted by my peers, eh?
	And I had a leadership gift, I started to lead people to do crazy things like steal alcohol from their parents' bar because my parents didn't drink, and then the whole hippie drug culture came in, and then we started to take drugs at a very young age.
	And so by the time I was 15, I had done everything that I could get at my hands on.
	And by the time I was 17, I was a drug addict and uh just taking drugs every single day.
	And then I started to sell drugs at the age of 16 so I could support my habit.
	And so I was really out of control.
	But in the midst of this, I was searching.
	I got into Eastern religion because the Beatles were into Easter religion, and I was dropping LSD and mescaline to go on these spiritual trips searching for God.
	And one day when I was doing my Zen chant, I was so disenchanted, I was so discouraged by uh Zen because I got nothing out of it, to be honest with you, and I think my parents' prayers shielded me from major deception.
	But I cried out to God.
	I said, God, I don't even know if you exist, but if you do exist, if what my parents told me is true, there is a heaven and a hell.
	Well, I don't want to go to hell.
	It was a very narcissistic, selfish prayer.
	But nevertheless, I said, if there's a heaven, I want to go there, but I just want to know the truth.
	And so I asked God to reveal himself to me.
	Now, honestly, I wasn't expecting anything right there and then I was on this spiritual journey.
	But you know, there's a beautiful verse in Ephesians 2, 4, and I just get um uh just emotional, even in quoting this.
	Uh God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he moved us.
	Even when we're dead in our trespasses and in our sins, he made us alive together with Christ.
	By grace, you have been saved through faith.
	And here I was a rebellious kid.
	And yet the moment I cried out to him, he showed mercy to me, revealed Jesus to me.
	I knew it was Jesus.
	And uh, couldn't stop weeping for the next three days, on and on throughout the day.
	I was just break down and weep, and I felt the love of God.
	No one witnessed to me.
	I didn't go to a service, I was not some youth camp.
	It was just at my friend's house when I had this encounter, and it just stayed with me as I went home.
	And so, long story short, man.
	I two weeks later at a deep purple concert.
	And so I hadn't repented.
	I was still doing drugs every day.
	Uh, but at the Deep Purple concert, I heard the voice of God, who was not an audible voice, was a small still voice.
	And he said, if you really want to follow me, throw away your drugs, leave this concert and follow me.
	And you're talking about Deep Purple was the number one band.
	We had the best scene in the house.
	I was up front, like fifth row from the front of the stage.
	And I threw away my water pipe.
	I had a pound of marijuana.
	Uh again, I was a drug seller.
	And I threw away my barbiturates, my quaulutes, and I had to fight through.
	Uh, I think there were 15,000 people at the concert was sold out.
	And I had to fight through a sea of people.
	And I walked out of the Baltimore Civic Center.
	And the moment I walked out, I was instantly delivered from drug addiction.
	Now we were in a revival called the Jesus People Movement.
	I didn't know that.
	But the power of God hit me and delivered me.
	And I've been drug free ever since.
	That was May uh 25th, uh, 1973.
	And I've been free ever since.
	So the grace of God.
	Well, that's a story you don't often hear from uh for from somebody running for political office.
	Usually they try to hide uh, you know, which was so amazing hearing hearing you talk uh so sincerely in front of your church, which we'll which we'll get to too, because that is uh uh very impressive what happened there.
	But I mean, you don't hear this story often that I was a drug addict and I did I did all these horrible things and I led used my leadership for the wrong things, uh, which was so impressive.
	Uh I mean, how do you in terms of running for office?
	How do you um your courage for even speaking about those topics?
	I mean, tell me a little bit about that.
	Why is it important for people to know the journeys that you've traveled and what you what's brought you here?
	Well, like I said, I gave my life at the age of uh 17.
	I was 50.
	It's been 52 years of walking with the Lord.
	I've been a pastor now for 46 years, and I know I knew I'm called to serve.
	And as pastors who are servant leaders, Jesus said, if you want to be great, you have to be a servant of all.
	And um, and again, I didn't, I'm not a politician.
	I didn't even ask.
	This was not on my radar, but April 28th of this year, 2025, the Lord woke me up at 2, 22 in the morning.
	I think it was a significant time, man.
	And I felt this incredible presence.
	Again, I didn't have a dream, I didn't hear a voice, but I had this presence of the Holy Spirit come upon me, and I knew he was calling me to run for governor.
	In fact, my reaction was, Lord, please, not this.
	I'll do anything for you, but don't call me to run.
	And uh the president then leave me, and finally I just said, okay, Lord, I I will obey, but I'm weak.
	I need a major confirmation.
	I have to know this is your will because he was asking me to lay down everything.
	Uh, my pastorate, I lead a seminary, I also lead a network of churches.
	And so it was really, really costly.
	And uh again, I I'm married with four adult children, ten grandchildren.
	I love what I'm doing.
	Uh, we've been married 46 years, and and I knew it would bring my family into a major sacrifice to run for governor because you just don't run as an individual.
	It impacts your whole family.
	And so I said, Lord, anything but this, and I said, I'm gonna throw out a fleece.
	Uh it was crazy.
	I said, Lord, I've met Donald Trump twice, President Trump twice.
	But if I get invited by President Trump to the White House to meet with him, then I know this will be a sign.
	So I threw a crazy fleece like Gideon did uh in the Bible.
	And um, and around four hours later, I get an email from President Trump.
	Of course, it wasn't from him directly, but from the White House inviting me to the National Day of Prayer at the Rose Garden in the White House.
	And they gave me all the security questions, my passport, uh, my social security, and I had uh uh instruction which entrance to enter into the White House or I could go through the metal detector and be vetted.
	And uh it was just so surreal, and I said, Oh God, I mean you can't make this up.
	I I threw out a crazy fleece, and I've never been invited to the White House before, and I get this invitation.
	And so um three days later, I'm at the White House, I'm three feet away from President Trump as he signs the executive order for the religious freedom commission, and he had asked a number of key pastors in America to come.
	And I think the only reason why I was invited, um, and I've been uh privileged to meet him several times before I was asked to pray for him uh in Atlanta at one of his rallies.
	There are 300 pastors there, but again, by God's grace, he sovereignly chose me to lay hands on him and to pray a blessing over him.
	And then I met him at his hotel, Mar Largo with a group of around 12 people.
	And that was a real honor as well.
	But but the reason why is because I think he knows that I sued Governor Newsom or someone told him during the lockdown in 2020.
	As a pastor, uh we locked down the church the first month.
	We didn't know what we're getting into.
	We never heard of COVID-19.
	And so we mitigated, and President Trump said mitigate for the first month.
	And just let's see how uh this uh pandemic uh goes.
	And we mitigated.
	But when I saw Governor Newsom, my governor in the state of California open marijuana uh dispensaries, abortion clinics, uh when he opened up strip club in uh San Diego and a casino uh in a native reservation.
	I just said, wait a minute, this is really, really arbitrary.
	And uh, and uh of course the big uh corporations like Costco's were open, but he shut down the the uh small stores, the businesses, the restaurant, and of course the churches were shut down.
	And um, and I just felt like the church needs to be open.
	We're the most essential institution in society because when people are depressed, when people are lonely and they're isolated.
	I mean, the worst kind of punishment in in the penitentiaries is solitary confinement.
	And here he was isolating us into our homes.
	And I just said, you know what?
	I need to open up the church.
	And the Lord gave me a verse, uh Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, where it says, to not forsake the assembling of the saints, which is the habit of sun, especially as you see the day drawing near.
	So the Bible warns us as uh we draw closer to the second coming, there will be a temptation not to attend services, but to open up.
	And so I called my attorney, because I knew I was gonna get in trouble living in California and Pasadena.
	Uh, we're talking about a very liberal state, a very woke state.
	And um, and uh sure enough, I got a letter from the district attorney saying they were gonna arrest me for opening up the church.
	It wasn't even a threat.
	Uh they laid out the terms.
	They said there are which district of attorney this was?
	Yeah, this return of Pasadena.
	Pasadena.
	Yeah, because the neighbors were calling, people are coming to our church.
	Uh they had a police uh there watching people come in.
	And by the way, uh the police uh were sitting there for like three hours because we're talking about people going to service and waiting for us to come out of service.
	And my daughter uh went up to them and said, Hey, we know that you've been out here.
	Can we get you a cup of coffee?
	Just want to bless them and serve them because they were doing their job.
	It's not like they were being mean or anything.
	And um, and he said something to my daughter, and he said, you know, we've been watching the people and the neighbors have been lying to us, they have not been honest.
	Uh, we've seen every person walk into the building wearing a mask.
	They're saying people walking without a mask.
	And here's the reason why we we mitigated.
	We said we're gonna open up, we're gonna wear our mask to the service.
	Now, if you want to take it off to worship, we did say that we want you to have the freedom to do this, but we social distance in the building.
	Uh, we used to have two services.
	We just went with one service, and we told everyone else to watch online.
	If you are a high-risk person, we want you to watch online.
	We we say we feel as adults and as a pastor, uh, we have enough common sense, enough wisdom uh to mitigate and not put our people in danger.
	But we want to uh to bring the positive aspects of the church of worship, the sense of community and preaching of God's word and prayer, uh, so that they would be alleviated from the oppression and the depression and the anxiety they were experiencing.
	And by the way, we never had an outbreak of COVID from our service ever since we opened because we did open, and uh and they didn't put us down because I was in a lawsuit at that point uh with Governor Newsom.
	And uh they I was waiting to be arrested, actually, because of the letter, but I found out they can't arrest me until the lawsuit is is finally settled.
	If I lost, then I would be arrested.
	But by God's grace, he went all the way to the Supreme Court.
	Now we didn't pick the Supreme Court, Supreme Court has to pick you.
	And by February 2021, Now, February the 5th, they sided with us 6-3.
	It was unanimous almost, you know, uh, that our First Amendment rights were being violated, which is a right to gather, right to worship, and uh, and the state is not to interfere with the free exercise thereof.
	And they were interfering with us all along the way.
	Even when that we were open just for a month, he said, no singing, no chanting, which is interfering with worship.
	I mean, how why are we going to gather?
	I mean, the whole purpose is to worship Jesus.
	So, anyway, by God's grace, we won, and uh, we won a 1.3 million settlement, uh, which we uh joyfully gave to our attorney because he was serving us pro bono.
	It was Matt Staver with Liberty Council.
	We had an outstanding attorney representing us, beautiful Christian, and um, and so uh the Lord uh did this, and we give him all the praise and all the glory.
	So I am more known for um seeing uh a Supreme Court decision that a president, not just for California, for all the United States.
	There was another pastor named Martin Hodges, who at the same time sued, and he also won.
	And so together we uh uh somehow uh got on the radar to President Trump, at least my did, and uh he invited me to the White House uh for the National Day of Prayer.
	That that is amazing.
	Let's talk a little bit about uh, you know, when you're when you're doing your uh speech for uh running for governor, you were in front of your amazing beautiful church.
	Tell us a little bit about the history behind that and how you got his God established Pasadena.
	Well, that's uh that's a great question.
	Uh, then because you know, people said uh, you know, who are you?
	You're a nobody.
	And uh I asked the Lord to give me a scripture on this, and I was listening to a John Maxwell Auto book, and uh he was talking about David and Goliath from 1 Samuel chapter 17.
	It was really interesting that David was also a shepherd.
	I'm a shepherd, I'm a pastor.
	He was no one, no one knew him.
	He was not a warrior for sure.
	And even among his brothers, he was the one that was the uh obscured child.
	They they uh according to biblical historians, he was illegitimate, and so he was not among the ones that uh Saul saw until they brought him out and he anointed him uh with oil to be a future king of Israel.
	But David said something when his uh brothers rebuked him for showing up to fight uh Goliath.
	He said, Is there not a history?
	And that's in 1 Samuel 17, 29.
	I've been meditating on this because uh he was saying basically there's a history, there's there not a cause.
	And he said, I killed a bear, I killed a lion, and so who's this uncircumcised full sing?
	Because God gave me victory over that.
	And uh one of the things people say is that what qualifications do you have?
	And um, and one of the things I I feel is that I raised $13 million in four and a half months to buy our building when we had nothing.
	The door opened up for us to have this beautiful building.
	It's worth today 45 million dollars.
	But at that time was 28 million dollars.
	And the person who sold it to me became a Christian, he became a follower of Jesus.
	Uh, he was praying with me and other pastors in Pasadena, and he knew we're looking for a building.
	And the Lord told him to sell us a building, but we had to do it through an attorney because he wanted me to sign a non-disclosure statement that I wouldn't tell anyone what I was buying and how much I was buying it for, because if I couldn't come up with a security deposit, could not come up with the money, then he would sell it to someone at the original price.
	And so he didn't want that price to leak, because others would ask for that price, and I understood that.
	So I signed this document.
	But here's the problem.
	I couldn't tell our church how much money I needed.
	I I just uh I mean, I couldn't even tell them what we're buying.
	And so I just said to my congregation, I said, You know me as your pastor, you love me, I love you.
	You have trusted me all along, but we found a building, but I need a million dollars security deposit.
	I can't even show you the building, and I need 12 million by the end of four and a half months when we close the NESCRO.
	And it turned out to be 13 million I had to raise because we had to renovate the building before we moved in.
	And by God's grace, uh again, I give him all the glory.
	The people gave sacrificially and generously.
	And why do I say that?
	That would be like my lion, you know, and uh uh taking out uh that line as a shepherd boy, because in order to run for governor, you need to raise millions of dollars.
	And by God's grace, I know how to raise money, and that's what I'm doing right now, you know.
	And by the way, those who are watching, if you want to support me, go to Che4 California number four, CA dot com and support uh my candidacy.
	And so uh my my bear taking down the bear would be showing Governor Newsom.
	So I have this history of having victories, and one of them is getting this amazing performance arts buildings called the Crown Joe of Pasadena, the ambassador auditorium.
	And so I feel there's a prophetic picture of a blessing and prosperity that I want to bring to California because California, although we're the fourth largest economy, it's a mess.
	Everyone knows that, even the Democrats understand it's a mess.
	Uh, just take the energy issue right now.
	We're paying the highest gas prices, highest electricity, we're 20 billion dollars in debt because of the energy crisis we're facing.
	We have two major refineries that are moving out.
	They already said we're moving out in 2026.
	And as a result of that, gas prices are going to soar even higher because we have to now import uh the gas that the refiners are producing right now.
	By the way, we will lose 150,000 jobs and hundreds of other subsidiary jobs as a result of these refineries leaving the impact of this.
	And it's because, again, I believe in uh caring for our climate because I believe in uh creation care, uh, because as a believer, God created the earth and he's given us stewardship over it.
	So I am in a Christian sense, uh, an environmentalist, but not to the issue of hurting people.
	So when he created the earth, he said it is good, it is good on every day.
	But when he created man, he said it is very good.
	People are made in the image and likeness of God.
	And I am representing all the people.
	I want to serve all of California, not just the Republicans, not just uh those who are conservatives.
	Um I want to especially I want to just say uh out loud that as a pastor, I have pastured people from different uh parties, different ethnic groups.
	I became a pastor to everyone because you are to lay down your life for your sheep.
	And I want to pastor California.
	And the number one issue I see right now is the extreme environmental loss that has caused our wells to stop pumping.
	Uh, our energy crisis is hit such a major catastrophe that we're losing these refineries.
	And right now we can't even afford uh the kind of uh the mandate that uh newsome uh wants net zero emission by 2045.
	And everyone, including the Democrats and those who are scientists are saying it's not realistic.
	We don't have the energy for that, we don't have the electric grid for it.
	Everything they think will be electric.
	We just don't have that uh power.
	We don't have the electricity even for that, yet alone.
	Uh the fact is that oil is not going to go away.
	We have 38 million cars in California.
	Every day we consume 30 million gallons, million gallons of gasoline.
	We're the number one consumer of jet fuel.
	They're airplanes that fly out of LAX and San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, and all the other small airports.
	We're the number one consumer of it, and you need the kind of heavy oil that was produced in California that makes for diesel fuel, but jet fuel.
	And what's crazy is that we have it right underneath our feet.
	And yet we're not opening up the wells.
	We're now importing, and I heard this, and I want to get verification.
	I heard two stats.
	We're importing now 80% of our petroleum.
	And what's crazy about that, and the other percentage I heard was 60%.
	And so I want to do a fact checked, and um, I don't have the exact answer, but I know that we're importing a lot of oil, more than what uh uh we obviously can produce all that here.
	But what's crazy about it is that we want to uh preserve the environment, but the tankers that bring the massive oil, and by the way, we're getting it from Saudi Arabia, we're getting from Iraq and Kuwait and Ecuador.
	It's just like that takes 40 days for those tankers to come.
	And the amount of diesel fuel they're uh emitting into the atmosphere of one person who is a Democrat did a study and saying we're polluting the air more by importing oil with the tankers, and which by the way, our ports aren't even able to handle all of that, and especially the increase of that with a refineries going away.
	And so the irony of the whole thing is we're causing more pollution with a view towards now a California, we could check off.
	Oh, yeah, we've reduced carbon dioxide.
	Uh, we we are an example, but that's pride.
	Pride goes before fall, and I see us falling here.
	And I feel that we need to come to a sense of humility and say that goal was noble, good motives.
	I I don't judge them at all for the motives, but I feel that it's wrong that when you realize that now 30% of California are living on poverty level because of the energy crisis, that it becomes uh an uh emergency.
	And so when I become governor as uh as a governor, I have authority to have executive orders based on emergency, and my number one thing I'm gonna do is open up the wells.
	I'm gonna ask the refineries to stay.
	I'm gonna beg them to come back, and that we will reduce the regulation to make them profitable so that they can stay, because I feel that this is impacting the poor in our state, the middle class in our state.
	And so that's one of the first things I want to do as governor.
	So on that topic, you know, we have a similar issue in Nevada where environmentalism is often used to uh really chop away at our traditional lifestyle choices.
	For example, uh BLM, which stands for the Bureau of Land Management, not the Marxist group, uh, has gone after Nevada and farmers, saying that, oh, we have this uh endangered turtle on this land, Hansen, therefore you can't graze your cattle.
	And the result is that now cattle grazing goes from these family farms to factory farming and then other agendas like having us eat bugs and that sort of thing, with environmentalism used as a guise.
	Uh how much of the issues do you think that we have are based upon these almost delusions, false perceptions, propaganda that makes us think, hey, it's better to bring oil from you know 8,000 miles away from Saudi Arabia as opposed to dig right here.
	How much of this is delusion in life?
	Oh, it's a major it's systemic throughout California.
	Uh we are uh run by ideology, by politics instead of good sound policy, common sense policy.
	Uh it's the government's in control, it's not about the government, it's not even about me running or any of the candidates, it's all about we the people, what is best for the citizens of California, and every governor, mayor, president has to have that as in mind that the people are the first priority.
	I will swear on the constitution and the Bible to uphold the constitution, which is to protect the people from enemies from abroad as well as within.
	And right now we are the enemy within.
	We're hurting our people.
	You know, just think of the homeless situation.
	We spend five billion a year.
	Uh for the last uh five years, it's been 24 billion.
	And here's the problem: the homelessness is increased by 40 percent.
	And um, it should never have been a government program, it should have gone to the private sector, should go to nonprofit organizations.
	Uh Data shows that they're more effective in handling it.
	And obviously, we're not solving the problem.
	Someone defined insanity, whether it's Einstein or someone else is doing the same things we've always done before, expecting new results.
	And the results are getting worse, not better.
	And here's the point I want to make is that I don't think the government wants that problem to go away because so many people are being paid for the homeless problem.
	The bureaucracy, the people who are getting money, I don't know where $5 billion is going.
	It's definitely not going to the homeless.
	And so I feel that when I become governor, day one, I want to doge the government.
	I want to do line by line, uh audit.
	For example, I want to audit the bullet train.
	We passed that in 2008, you know, 40 billion dollars to have this bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
	We have nothing to show for the bills run up to almost 100 billion.
	Where did that money go?
	This is dollars.
	Sure, it's a question on that topic because it seems as though the logical response would be that it went into people's pockets, that they literally robbed the government, because I don't know where it would go.
	Now, uh what is the importance of finding that sort of thing out?
	What is the importance of?
	I mean, it would seem criminal if people are stealing our taxpayer dollars and doing nothing.
	Where do you think this all leads?
	And what Brown willing to do as a governor to hold these people accountable.
	Well, let me tell you what the Bible says that the foundation of heaven's throne, heaven's government, it's Psalm 89, verse 14, is righteousness and biblical justice, truth and mercy proceeds from his presence.
	Those four pillars, we have to have biblical justice, we have to be righteous, we have to do what's right.
	We have to speak the truth.
	We can't just lie and have fake news, and we have to have compassion because this is hurting people, hurting, especially the middle class and the poor.
	And so what I want to do is that if there's corruption, then justice has to be upheld.
	And I will I will you know prosecute to the fullest extent of the law for anyone who has stolen taxpayers' money and lining their pockets from these projects that we've had, and we've had one debacle project after another.
	For example, we passed a measure to have four dams built years ago, and we've built none of them.
	We need the water because the water we have, which is amazing.
	I'm so grateful for the aqueduct system that was created.
	Uh, but that was created for 20 million people.
	We now have 39 million.
	By the way, you used to have 40, but we're losing all these people because of such a mess that California has uh produced with their politics, not policy, politics that has ruined good policy.
	And so we've had good policy, we just not acted upon them.
	Uh, they have money for uh water uh and infrastructure.
	Uh, like for example, you know, we have uh millions of gallons of underground water, but because of the environmental issue uh of the smelt fish and salmon, uh, we will dump all that water in the Pacific Ocean and use it because we don't want to endanger these uh these uh two fish.
	And and I feel like, okay, I I get it.
	I I I I'm uh I'm an avid fisherman.
	I I go to the Sears and to trout fishing with my son, and we've done it ever since it was uh we first moved to California in 1984.
	And uh now we go up to Alaska to do uh salmon fishing.
	We love it.
	But this is just common sense.
	People are priority, water is absolutely crucial.
	We need water for the farms, we need water for San Diego for Southern California, and uh, and I feel that if we would just do some practical things that won't hurt the environment, okay?
	I I'm all for it.
	But let's have a balanced approach.
	Come, this let's collaborate.
	Let's talk together.
	Come, let's reason together.
	I believe that we can find uh middle ground.
	And so I'm willing to work with the Democratic Assembly and Senate to say we are facing a crisis here.
	And I feel that as a pastor, I'm a reconciler.
	I bring people together.
	Marriage, I bring people together.
	I have the privilege of bringing the African-American community and the Korean community together with the rights of 92.
	A lot of people don't know this.
	This was not in the press, but I brought the largest past uh the churches, the uh pastors of the largest churches.
	I'm talking about Bishop Blake, Bishop Ken Ulmer.
	And then I brought the pastors of the largest Korean churches, uh, Pastor Dr. Heeman Park of the Unknock Presbyterian Church and other churches.
	And we I hosted a lunch.
	This was me.
	I hosted a lunch.
	I paid for the lunch, and I coached them to ask for forgiveness.
	And Bishop Leigh, God bless him.
	He led.
	He said, Will you forgive us with the carnage recommitted?
	Because a lot of people don't know the rights of 92, uh, a billion dollars uh uh uh of uh property was damaged with the fires and the rioting.
	Ms. Most of it was in Korea town.
	So he said, Will you forgive us for what we did in Korea town?
	He was he didn't do it.
	It's called identification repentance.
	And the moment he said that all these Korean pastors just start to weep.
	And then I coached Dr. Heeman Park and I said, Dr. Park, would you ask forgiveness for racism on the Korean part?
	And he said, Will you forgive us for our races?
	Because we don't hire people of color.
	We buy the stores and shops and restaurants and the dry cleaning uh uh uh liquor stores, uh the convenience stores in South Central that we hire, and then really, and he he explained this.
	He said, We just hire our own family members so we can keep the money with them.
	It's not really racism, but we will make a promise that we will start hiring the people in the community.
	Ever since then, there's been a tremendous reconciliation, and I brokered that and I give God the glory for it because the Lord moved my heart to do that.
	A lot of people don't know that, but I I I want to say that because I feel that I am a peacemaker.
	Jesus said this, Matthew chapter five, verse nine.
	Blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the sons of God.
	And one thing I do believe as a pastor, that I can't say with my opponents or other Republicans, I think they're fine people.
	I believe they love California, they have the best interests in California, but I want to bring my pastoral tools to bring about reconciliation and communication and dialogue.
	I want to listen to the environmentalists.
	I want to listen to their side, but I also want to share uh the data.
	I want to go with science, I want to go with the experts, because that's the language that they understand.
	I don't want to just go with some professor in his ivory tower quoting that we gotta save these endangered species, and he's never been out there to see what was going on.
	I'm gonna talk to him about the person who's a farmer who works in the land and knows uh what uh his farm is going to do to the environment.
	And they've already gone through environmental impact report, they've already been vetted with uh the uh California um environmental uh quality act.
	Uh, you can't get anything done with uh sequab.
	Uh and so, but I want to be able to talk to uh my party and just say, look, we're all in this together.
	We want to make California glorious again.
	We want to make it a better California.
	We are for the people, people voted you into position.
	Keep that in mind, and they could vote you out.
	And so come, let's reason together, says the Lord.
	And that's for my exam.
	Uh, and so I want to bring the parties together.
	I want to talk to them, I want to communicate with them.
	And I feel that by God's grace, as a pastor, I am uh qualified and capable and experienced to do that because I've been doing that for 46 years.
	Yeah, yeah, I could definitely sense that.
	Uh, Pastor On, like I'm curious.
	There was uh few guests we had that were talking about the original 13th Amendment to our constitution, which uh I don't think made it fully through, but the essence of it was that uh in the legislature, uh our founders wanted to have a lot of pastors, a lot of business people, a lot of uh farmers, uh, and void of lawyers because the judiciary has plenty of lawyers.
	They found that that was that was the reason why we was initially proposed to have a proper checks and bounces to make sure that people like you that are experienced in life that have uh gone through your own journeys, bring that experience to Congress as opposed to what we've become what has become known as career politicians.
	I I would love to hear your thoughts on that topic.
	Yeah, no, I believe that.
	One of the things I feel is actually a nasty.
	People say, well, you know, you're you're you have no experience, you know.
	I've been a lifelong uh sheriff, uh took 25 years or whatever, and I've been involved with the government, and that's true.
	I want to confess right now, I have not been a politician.
	I've not been involved uh in uh a political arena as a career.
	I have been as a as a citizen.
	Uh I have encouraged our people to register and vote.
	I feel that's something that we have to steward.
	Of course, I've encouraged people to run for office, and one of our church members became a city council member.
	One other one uh in our network became mayor of Walnut.
	And so I've encouraged that.
	I I'm shocked to be honest with you that God would call me to run.
	But but again, but I feel as an asset that I'm a pastor, though.
	And I feel that I we need to have uh pastors' heart because we uh we uh fear God, we we're not gonna lie.
	I'm not gonna lie to the people.
	If I do, I'm gonna repent.
	I'm gonna confess I misled you, I I lied to you.
	Uh so because why?
	Because it's one of the Ten Commandments.
	You should not bear false witness.
	Not only that, Proverbs 616, it's really interesting.
	He said there's six things the Lord hates, seven, which is an abomination, two out of the seven is about lying, a lying tongue and a false witness that utters lie.
	Number two and number six on that list.
	And so I am not gonna lie, so but and yet I am called to love.
	I'm called to be compassionate.
	That's what Jesus was constantly moved to compassion.
	And so I'm motivated by love.
	But love has to be biblically defined.
	First Corinthians chapter 13 defines love is patient, love is kind, it doesn't say nice, it's kind, it's not jealous, it's not boastful, that's not proud.
	But verse six is what I want to get at.
	Love doesn't rejoice at evil, but rejoices with the truth.
	And so I can't condone the transgender nonsense being shoved down our kids' throat because I feel it's evil.
	I feel that the school should be teaching the basics and not ideology of transgenderism or LGBT issues.
	Uh, you know, again, this is something that we're seeing in California driven by ideology instead of good sound policy.
	I I don't think it's an accident that our schools we spend more money per student than any other state, and yet we're in the bottom.
	I heard 48 out of 50 states and test scores.
	I've heard other stats like 40 out of 50, but nevertheless, it's really it's it's absolutely a travesty with all the money we spend.
	And so I want to end all that.
	So I can't just say, okay, I just well be nice.
	And no, we got to speak the truth.
	And one of the things I believe in, God created them male and female.
	They're two genders, as President Trump said on his inauguration day.
	And so I I will speak the truth in love, but I'm not going to compromise.
	I I will not do this or being political, just win an election to uh, you know, just uh play uh politics and just try to please people.
	Uh the Lord gave me a verse years ago when I became pastor, Galatians 1.10.
	He says, if you're trying to please people, you're not a true servant of Christ.
	Think about it.
	If you're trying to please people, you're not a true servant of Christ.
	A lot of pastors, we just try to please people.
	We're not really serving Christ.
	We want to make sure we have our titers and people don't leave the church, we want to grow our church.
	There's nothing wrong with that.
	As long as you put God first and you fear him and you obey his commandments.
	And so I'm gonna be the best pastor I can be.
	And I know I fall woefully short.
	I I'm not in any way a perfect father, a husband, or pastor, but I do believe that by God's grace that he's given me a healthy marriage, 46 years of marriage, healthy family.
	We're not perfect, but we all love Jesus.
	Two of them are pastors, 10 beautiful grandkids, of course, I'm biased.
	And um, and we have a healthy church financially.
	We're able to buy that building.
	And uh, we now have five campuses in uh and we're ready to launch our sixth campus uh in downtown LA.
	And so it's not only that, but I lead a network of churches.
	We have planted churches in 73 nations.
	And I say we, I didn't plant them.
	I have raised up leaders who have planted them.
	And uh, and so I feel that God's giving me a grace uh to manage a large network, one of the largest networks in America, and to uh to pastor leaders and raise up leaders and empower them and make sure that they're strong and cared for because I will have the privilege of appointing 3,000 employees right off the bat.
	And I want to make sure that I have really good, solid, righteous, wise, common sense uh people who love the state, who wants what's best for the citizens of California.
	And uh, and then the last thing I want to just say is I think it's interesting that I'm in 73 nations because we have over 200 languages spoken in LA.
	One of the things I want to do is I want to represent all the people of color as a nation, as a Korean American, there's over a million Koreans just in LA alone, and I want to be their voice, but I want to be the voice of the Hispanics.
	I want to be the voice of the Filipinos.
	My wife, by the way, is Filipina.
	She was born in New York City, but she comes from parents who uh were medical doctors and that their residency in New York and became citizens of the United States.
	And I want to represent all the people of every color.
	51% of California, by the way, is of color.
	And I feel that's what I bring to this candidacy that I don't see with my Republican uh friends that I mean, they're not friends, I don't know them, but you know, they're wonderful people.
	I I watched them on YouTube and they're really good people, but but um I feel that I can represent the people of uh the majority in California.
	You know, I have to ask a question about parental rights because you brought up uh, you know, the importance of family.
	You have some amazing kids, seems like you, you know, you're a great father, you know, father, grandfather.
	You know, we've had these recurring stories on our podcasts with um, you know, individuals that are parents, a lot of the time male parents, and they are treated in California and some other, you know, I guess woke states like they have no rights to their children.
	One of the examples being a gentleman by the name of Adam Vina, uh, I actually believe he might have even been at your uh announcement where you know he can't have any access to his kid because he will not do essentially affirm that the mother thinks that boy was born a boy in a girl's body, hence the mother wants to transition the child, and this child hasn't even hit puberty yet.
	You know, I think he's like eight, nine, ten years old.
	Adam can't see his kids a kid at all because he will not go along with the woke politics, the woke judges, literally until the kids are 18, and the mom could pretty much do whatever she wants with uh you know, chemical castration, eventual castration, which by the way, this isn't the only story.
	There's another gentleman by the name of Jeff Younger and dozens of such stories where parental rights, especially in terms of fathers, are completely disregarded in states like California.
	What do you think about that topic, sir?
	Well, I think it's evil.
	I think the Bible, but also our constitution gives us parental rights over our children pertaining to their education.
	You know, it says in Proverbs 22, 7 that parents, you're to train up your child the way he or she should go and when they're old, they won't depart from it.
	The reason why I'm quoting that verse is that even for pastors and churches, it's not our primary responsibility.
	We are to support the parents is the parents' responsibility.
	It's not the state's responsibility, but the state has made it.
	It's a Marxist playbook where they want to control everything and everyone, including your children.
	And so we start to see that with the SB 107, where we're transgender sanctuary state of a minor who wants to have uh hormonal change in parents and the state that they're from, um, won't allow it.
	We'll take care of it, and we will not uh bring them into job.
	We'll take state custody.
	It's just so evil.
	And we see it with all these bills that we're passing.
	Uh, and so on day one.
	See, the reason why I'm gonna call this an emergency act, because the suicide rate uh for transgenders, the transitioning, is like 50% of them have suicide rate.
	Unfortunately, many of them end up committing suicide.
	So I feel that lives are at risk here.
	And so I want to on day one stop the transgender indoctrination in our schools.
	Let's just get back to the basics of math, reading, writing, and just and even civics.
	I wanted to see civics incorporated into our education.
	And so I want to also give school choice where our tax dollars will go to parents who want to send them to a private school, but they couldn't afford it in the past.
	I want to give tax breaks to homeschoolers.
	We homeschooled our four children.
	And they all graduated from top Christian colleges and went on to graduate school at Pepperdine and places like that.
	And so I'm very, very proud of my uh homeschooling.
	Uh my wife has done a tremendous job.
	Uh, she is a certified school teacher.
	Now, you don't have to be a certified school teacher at home school because I was also involved, and I led devotions every day.
	I was the chaplain of our school, so to speak.
	And we started out with a Bible reading and we were taught the word.
	And then uh my wife then would take them through a curriculum we had for homeschoolers.
	And it was just wonderful.
	And by the way, uh, they were at the top of their class when they graduated.
	They were straight A students all the way through college.
	And so we didn't in any way skip a beat.
	I wish I said they had my DNA.
	I think they had my wife's DNA because she's extremely smart.
	And so I just want to just say that homeschooling uh is a fashion school thing that's going on, not just in California, but in the United States.
	And I feel that we need to use the tax money that you're paying for the education system and give you at least a tax break, if not some actual credits, so that you can continue to do what you're doing.
	And why I do that, I I feel it would open up the it would be a free market, and all of a sudden the teachers' union will say, we're losing students, we're losing money.
	We got to improve our schools so we can compete with the private schools and homeschoolers.
	And I think that's gonna be healthy for us to have some good competition instead of this Marxist one-way, our way, or the highway.
	Yes, yes.
	Um just one or two more questions, sir.
	What have you learned in your run for office?
	I'm sure there's been a lot of enlightening things throughout this process.
	What are you learning as you run for office and experiencing this for the first time?
	I'm learning a lot.
	You know, I just uh made the announcement a month ago, and I as she said in August the second, and my first week of campaigning was just two weeks ago because I had international commitments with the network of churches I lead, and I felt in integrity I could not uh uh cancel those um commitments I made.
	Again, uh, you know, I really believe in uh keeping my promises, and when I say these promises to those who are watching, by God's grace, I'm gonna keep them on day one.
	But anyway, what I've learned is uh is that um uh I can see why people don't like politics uh because uh it could be uh kind of mean spirited.
	I've already gone emails asking me to step down and to uh not run because um you know I'm competition for their person that they're running.
	And I bless them.
	Um I didn't even respond to the email.
	I just said, you know, it's just one person, but it's just a sentiment that I pick up.
	Um and uh, and then I've had consultants that oh they just want to charge an RNA lake.
	This it becomes a big industry.
	I realize is that people are making a lot of money off of elections.
	And on the other side, the lobbyists are making a lot of money.
	And I just see how the love of money is the root of all evil, it just corrupts things.
	Now, by God's grace, I'm a businessman as well.
	I started my own, my wife and I started our own S Corp, LLC, in 2010.
	And the reason why I can so literally thousands of dollars of my own money into uh my own campaign is because we have a very successful business.
	In fact, I make more money with my small corporation than I do as a pastor, though I turn in my salary as a pastor.
	I've done that for 15 years, and then some uh we are one of the largest givers as a result of my company.
	And I feel that as a microcosmos of a macro, that if I'm done faithful, I've been prospering with my business.
	And by the way, I get that from my parents.
	My dad was a pastor, but he was a dental technician.
	He had on dental laboratory.
	They bought a restaurant with the money they made from the laboratory.
	They invested in real estate.
	They had four houses on the nation's capital.
	They were very, very wealthy.
	And the same things happened to me.
	I bought houses for all my kids in Southern California.
	God so bless me financially that I'm able to sow my finances into this election.
	And so uh I I want to implement that.
	But I just see how people are motivated by money and so much of this, and it brings darkness.
	It brings uh evil, in fact, corruption.
	And so I I feel by God's grace, uh, I'm untouchable as a result of my success as a business person.
	Wow.
	Wow.
	And then that's the kind of experience you want.
	You know, this is what I was trying to get out with the original 13th Amendment.
	And you're saying that, oh, well, I'm not, you know, as experienced, but that's the kind of experience I think people want nowadays.
	They don't want an experienced politician that's going to rob us blind and not care about the will of the people.
	We want somebody that's been out there that's fought the fight, that has had their church shut down and threatened to be arrested, but nonetheless fight the fought the righteous fight.
	Because if you can't fight that fight, you're not going to be able to win in Sacramento with some of the stuff that's going on down there.
	Absolutely.
	It's going to take tremendous courage.
	And um someone said this when you fear God, you don't fear anyone.
	I feel that's true with me, because I fear the Lord.
	I'm not afraid of the environmentalists, I have the left-wing uh Marxist socialists.
	Um, I just say, well, you know what?
	I have the greatest weapon, and that's the love of Jesus Christ.
	I'm going to just love them and share the good news with them and pray that they will be converted.
	If not, that's okay.
	We can disagree without being disagreeable, or we can walk away from it.
	But I'm at least make the attempt to communicate, to reach out, and to earn the right to be heard, to be honest with you, because uh I want to demonstrate uh that I'm not their enemy at all.
	We're all for the same thing.
	I believe that majority of people I will be working with love California.
	They love the people.
	They want what's best for California.
	We have the same objective, same goal, but different ideology, different policies to get there.
	So that's why I'm saying, come let us reason together.
	Maybe we can bring it together into a unity that would be a win situation for everyone in California.
	And I believe that California will be glorious again, uh, great again, golden, whatever you want to use as an adjective, but I believe that would be uh a much better place than it is right now.
	Excellent, excellent.
	Last question, and then I'd love a closing statement from you, sir.
	Um, regarding, you know, there's a there's been people talking about the frustration of I guess the rural Californians, it often feels as though San Francisco, San Diego, and San Francisco, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles are calling the shots.
	And there's a there's this new idea floating around of a new California, I guess separating the state where those cities get to run their politics where, but whereas a rural is not uh often you know bowled over by the politics of the bigger cities.
	I mean, what do you think about that sort of a concept?
	Well, just my opinion, I could be absolutely wrong, but I I think a house divided against itself would not stand.
	And I think divided California would be much weaker.
	We need Silicon Valley, we need Hollywood, we need uh San Francisco.
	I love uh to be honest with you with you, uh, I'm a foodies.
	I love Chinatown, Fisherman's Warfare.
	That's one of the reasons why my wife and I frequently visited until the homeless problem uh prevented us from bringing our children up to San Francisco.
	Uh, because last time we went, we're just walking over bodies, to be honest with you.
	And so I want to deal with that.
	I want to bring law and order.
	I feel I have a solution for the homeless situation because I was a drug addict.
	I know majority of them ever since uh we passed the proposition allowing what was once a felony to be a misdemeanor.
	We put all these criminals out on the streets and um and they need help, uh, but we're not giving them the right help.
	We're not putting the axe to the root of the issue.
	And I believe that through uh nonprofit organizations that have been really, really effective, like the Dream Center with my good friend Pastor Matt Arnett.
	They've helped all these homeless people, and they have come sober, delivered from drug addiction, got healed up, trained, they're now disciples and back into workplace.
	And that's what I want to accomplish.
	I want to see the homeless become productive citizens in America.
	But I also know that uh some of them need to be incarcerated because they're criminals out there, they're breaking the law, they're causing a lot of crime because of their addiction.
	They will kill, they will rob.
	And news and close down four penitentiaries.
	When I'm governor, I'm gonna open up those prisons and I'm gonna build more prisons because I believe this is a great way for people to be reformed.
	I'm gonna make sure there's a Christian chaplain or a religious chaplain there to really help these uh inmates to really uh come to peace with God with others, and uh I'm hoping to reform them.
	And the reason why is because I know I was in jail when I was 15.
	I know that God reformed me uh through the good news of Jesus Christ, and that's what I want to do with those inmates, is if you just give me a chance to do that.
	Now I know it's not popular.
	I know people are saying, well, you know, uh separation of church and state, but that's not in our constitution.
	I feel that we need to bring uh the gospel into the prisons to the homeless.
	Uh that's what they need.
	They need good news.
	Jesus himself said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
	He has anointed me, preach good news to the poor, the gospel is for the poor.
	He sent me to uh proclaim release to the captives, uh, proclaim liberty to those who are downtrodden to open eyes that are blind and to proclaim the year of God's favor.
	And I want to do all that because all the people he highlights are the marginalized, those who are discriminated against, uh, those who are in prison and those who are poor.
	And so uh as a pastor, I'm bringing that paradigm, that world view into my candidacy.
	And I want to be the pastor of the poor as well as uh the rich in Silicon Valley.
	Again, I'm coming as governor for all people.
	That's amazing, Pastor.
	Uh is there anything in closing you want to share with the people?
	The mic is all yours.
	Yeah, I just wanted to say and appeal to the Democrats how bad do you want things to get before you will switch parties and do something that's good for California?
	And I really am not really talking about party, but those who will share your values.
	I feel that I reflect our values.
	I think your values are for parental rights and safeguarding our children.
	I share those values.
	I believe that you want streets to be safe.
	I share that.
	You want common sense with when it comes to energy and the environmental laws.
	We all want good environment.
	I thank God that I could see the San Gabriel Mountains.
	When I first moved out in 84, smog alerts every day, and I couldn't even see the mountains.
	So I'm grateful for that.
	That's good stewardship.
	But we can't have it so extreme that is hurting people, jobs are being lost, the economy is in shambles.
	30% of California are living now in poverty.
	I want to make California glorious again.
	And I'm asking your help.
	I want you to vote for me.
	I want to go to my website to see the 22 promises I'm gonna do on day one.
	It's Chay4ca, California.com.
	I want you to support me financially because even though I'm sowing my money, the people have been very gracious and showing I'm gonna need millions in order to win.
	I'm just gonna be honest.
	It's gonna take millions to reach the 39 million.
	If it was a small state, it would be one thing.
	I could do town hall meetings, but I don't have time to reach 39 people personally.
	I have to use media.
	And then I'm going to ask you to volunteer.
	If you can volunteer, there's a link on the uh website that you could volunteer and uh support us, make phone calls for us, canvas for us.
	And then lastly, if you are also someone of influence and you have a podcast, you have social media, or you have just a following, I want you to take this recording and forward it forward.
	And just say that, and only if we could do this integrity, I am supporting Pastor Cheon for governor.
	And I want you to watch this and see what you think and let them decide.
	Again, we're not gonna the one thing I love about this country is the freedom we have to choose.
	And uh what amazing uh thing that uh Asian immigrant, can I add legal immigrant that came at the age of five, uh is living the American dream, was able to buy a house in Los Angeles, but not only for himself, but for his children.
	And by God's grace, I am pastoring with the greatest church, uh leading a network of churches that's doing missions and twenty seventy-three nations, and now I'm running for governor.
	I want to be your governor, and so I pray for your vote and your support.
	Above all, please pray for me.
	I mean that's really with all my heart.
	God bless you.
	Thank you for allowing me to share with you.
	Amazing, sir.
	Amazing.
	Thank you so much for uh putting yourself in this fight and really all the things leading up to it, because there were so many pastors that just went along and ignored our constitution.
	And I think you've shown, you know, trial by fire, that when push comes to shove, you're gonna fight for our rights, even if you even if it means going out of pocket.
	Yeah, I'm willing to go back to the Supreme Court.
	You know, I know I'm gonna be sued by some of my policies, and uh, but so be it.
	I I will fight for Californians, I will fight for them.
	I'm basically uh uh I was willing to go to jail for our freedom, and I'm willing to uh take a bullet really for California.
	I'm laying down my life basically uh to serve California.
	Amazing, sir.
	Amazing.
	Thank you so much for your service.
	Thank you every for everything you've done thus far.
	And I wish you the best of luck in this race.
	Thank you, Vim.
	I really appreciate the honor to be on your show.
	Thank you so much.
	Thank you, thank you.
	And uh for the viewers out there, thank you very much for joining us for this episode.
	Make sure you check out America Happens.com where we have all of our featured episodes.
	Make sure you follow me at Not Vem Miller on X. And I will see you all on the next episode.

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