By Brian Davidson Longoria
If you’re familiar with me at all now, it may be incredible for you to believe that I used to be a completely different person.
Do you know that passage in 1 Timothy, where Paul refers to himself as the foremost of sinners? That was me. And even as someone who doesn’t hold to the reformed doctrine of total depravity… I was totally depraved; evil at heart. But God broke me. He turned my life entirely around.
Of course my family’s story begins long before I was born…
Javier and Brandie Longoria
My parents met in the Vineyard Church in California. My father, Javier, was a worship leader there and my mom, Brandie, was romantically drawn to him. The problem was, however, that he did not share her feelings.
After continuously trying to get his attention to no avail, Brandie had a dream from the Lord.
Around this time they would attend the Vineyard Prophetic Conferences where people such as the Kansas City Prophets would come and speak. One of these speakers was named James Ryle, whose teaching on prophetic dreams had been an encouragement to Brandie.
So, she had a prophetic dream. In this dream her pastor was speaking to her but she understood that she was hearing from God. He promised her that if she let go of trying to impress my dad and would just trust Him, then she would be married within a year.
So Brandie decided to “let go and let God” as they say.
Choosing to place full trust in the Lord is a powerful way of walking in love for Him. He’s worthy of our full trust and dependency.
It was when she made this decision that Javier started being interested in her (while they would go country line dancing with their friend group).
And just as God had promised, they were married within a year.
During the wedding ceremony, which was held in a Methodist Church filled with Easter Lilies, something incredible happened: at the very moment when Javier kissed Brandie, the cross which was on the back wall miraculously lit up brightly.
I’m happy to tell you that it was captured on camera.
The two of them continued to serve in the Vineyard Movement as Worship Leaders and also as Deliverance Ministers.
My mother described her first time witnessing someone being delivered from demons as the moment when she knew beyond a doubt that the Bible is true.
Eventually, Brandie, Javier, and my older sister moved to Marietta Georgia, where they found a home Church that would eventually be known as RiverStone. This is the church that I am a part of today.
At this time Brandie had been praying for another child but, sadly, she was not able to conceive. While she was in her women’s prayer group she felt that the Lord was asking her to surrender her desire for more children to Him. Just as Hannah wept in total surrender before the Lord, in tears my mother gave up that dream to God. It was then that she discovered she was pregnant with me. And just as Hannah dedicated her son Samuel to God’s service, the Lord promised that I would do great things for Him.
When I was born, I would actually attend those same prayer meetings with my mom. There as well, were two of the fiercest most powerful prayer warriors I’ve ever met: Margaret Kirkland and Lynn Sanders. They would all take turns passing me around, and to this day they still call me their intercessor baby.
I’m the baby on the bottom left
The Rough Part
Here’s where it starts taking a dark turn.
God had given my mother a promise for my life, that I would do great things for the Lord, but the devil did everything he could to oppose that word and when I was little I was tormented by demons.
One of RiverStone’s pastors, Terry Cantrell, had to come and anoint my home with oil and pray over me to keep me safe from demonic attack.
Sadly it didn’t end there.
There were a number of traumatic events in my childhood, including multiple physical confrontations with family members, long hours with therapists, and being attacked by a pit bull which killed and gutted the small dog I had been walking.
Additionally, when I was 8 years old something terrible happened and the innocence that a child should have became a thing of the past.
The devil kept throwing everything he had to take me away from Christ.
At 10 years of age I started getting involved in witchcraft, visiting websites to learn about the Occult, and in turn started teaching others about New Age practices.
This just kept getting deeper and darker. By the time I was 15 I was deep into Witchcraft, the Occult, New Age, Wicca, Paganism, and Luciferianism. I would openly invite demonic possession and it got to the point where paranormal activity became something I was used to and I knew and accepted without hesitation the fact that I had demons.
When I was 15, I was expelled from school for a various many reasons, including pulling a knife on someone the year before. After having the police called on me for suicidal behavior, I was sent as an outpatient to Ridgeview Mental Hospital.
Sadly, Ridgeview only made things worse; while I was there, I was pulled deeper into the drug culture of the late 2010s.
I gave myself my first tattoo at 15 and started smoking weed, which soon escalated to pain pills and cough syrup. I was in love with that culture, and I was completely destroying myself and hurting everyone around me as a result.
At 16, it just kept getting worse. My heart was full of hatred and evil. I reiterate, I was the worst of sinners.
I would hurt myself, cutting my arms with broken lightbulbs and knives, pouring alcohol on the wounds, just to make the pain as intense as possible. This wasn’t even from a place of emotion, but rather spite and hate for myself and others.
I remember very clearly, being kicked out of the car, my sisters crying in the backseat, while I shouted “F*** you!” at my mother.
I was a heartless demon possessed addict at 16 years old, and the drugs kept getting worse. I was snorting pain pills, smoking weed, drinking lean, robitussin, and huffing Freon until I was blacked out on my lawn at night.
In order to pay for these drugs I would steal money from my family, as well as break into people’s houses and cars. In fact I came close to being killed while nearly getting caught breaking into my drug dealer’s car.
As I said before,
I was the foremost of sinners, depraved at heart, full of evil and wickedness. I cannot overstate just how evil I was. There was no goodness in my heart. I was seriously the most wicked and depraved, diabolical, vile wretch to have ever walked the face of the earth. I’m fully convinced of it.
I could spend ages covering the extent of sin in my pre-salvation spirit, but that monster is dead. I am a new creation in Christ. The sins of my past are not the focus of this testimony. After all, “testimony” in the Bible means “do it again”. I want God to rescue others again. Those past sins are not my testimony. My deliverance is my testimony.
God Wasn’t Done With Me
On December 27th 2019, I was handcuffed and dragged out of my home at 5 AM by transportation officers and taken to Teen Challenge PMBA in Meansville GA.
I found out right away that there was not any chance that I was leaving that place and that I would be there for a minimum of 15 months.
After having my head shaved, I was told I would not be allowed to talk for five months but I disregarded all the rules and immediately cliqued up with other people there.
As stupid as I was, I started teaching witchcraft to the other students at TC and, at my fourth month, I was found out and punished.
I was instructed to wear an orange jumpsuit, had to stand all day until 8:30 PM, was fed tasteless meals of plain ramen with beans, did physical exercise on the hill and the gravel driveway for 6 hours on weekdays and 8 hours on weekends, and had to sleep on the cold hard floor in the hallway with no pillow or blanket.
As a result of this punishment I lost around 30 pounds in just a couple weeks.
That last part about sleeping on the floor was for a specific reason. I had been brought down to my lowest, and in April of 2020 I attempted suicide by self asphyxiation. After waiting for everyone to fall asleep, I tied my pillowcase around my neck and pulled as hard as I could. I knew that I could do it, because I’d almost gotten to that point before while attempting to get high by cutting off oxygen to my head.
But this time it wasn’t working. I thought that maybe it was because I was sitting down. So I got up and tried again but to no avail. I wasn’t even able to get light headed and my face and neck felt hot and stiff as I pulled. I finally gave up trying.
The next chapel service that we had, I prayed and told God. “I hate myself. I can’t do anything about it, but if You can actually change me, You can have me.” Although I was half hearted about my commitment, God wasn’t half hearted. He took that and ran with it.
In that moment after receiving prayer, the love I’d had for witchcraft was cut out of my heart. To this day it has been replaced with a disgust for it. I want nothing to do with it at all, praise the Lord.
But something else happened which was very surprising to me.
I was given a conscience. It had been many, many years since I had possessed a moral compass. I started feeling bad about breaking the rules, not because I didn’t want to get in trouble, but because it wasn’t the right thing. So, about a month later, I made a commitment to Jesus that I would start living for Him, and obeying all the rules of the program, doing the best I could because it was right.
God gave me a boldness, while my surroundings continued to be difficult and very painful. Every second in that place was filled with fear and anxiety. I was tested in multiple ways, including being woken up at 3 AM to do nonstop physical exercise until noon, in order to see if I would complain or not.
Another test was having me stay in a plank position for 30 minutes with my head facing toward the wall, and other punishments I had not earned.
One test I cannot forget is when a staff member had been instructed to lie about me, to see if I would maintain my integrity and call him a liar, risking severe punishment, or if I would cave under the pressure and fear, and admit to something trivial which I had not done.
I was reminded during this time, that my standing before the Lord is far more important than my standing before men. By the grace of God, I passed all of my tests, entering the rank of leadership on October 31st of that year, placed in charge of the other students, and working alongside the staff of PMBA.
Then something really incredible happened that changed my life completely forever.
Filled With Fire
It was a Sunday morning and we were attending church at Griffin First Assembly of God. While we were singing worship songs, I had my hands lifted, and then all of a sudden… It happened.
Out of nowhere some unknown heavenly language started coming out of my mouth as I praised the Lord. I was shocked and taken aback.
I went to my counselor to ask him questions and he gave me a wonderful book to read, called The Gifts And Ministries of the Holy Spirit by Lester Sumrall.
After reading it and learning about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and Fire, I decided I wanted it to happen to me. And I truly believe that God letting me speak in tongues during worship was Him calling me towards this baptism by fire.
So I made up my mind that the next time we were in church I would go up to receive prayer to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
On January 10th 2021 I went up front to the altar after service at Griffin First and asked one of the pastors, Mike Freeman, to pray that I would be baptized in fire.
He asked me if I had given my life to Jesus and had been baptized. I replied that I had.
He then told me that because I was already saved this was not inviting Holy Spirit to live inside me, because He already did. But, rather, this was inviting Him to fill me and empower me. He told me that he would start praying for me in English then he would switch over to praying in tongues. He instructed me that when I felt it bubbling up inside, not to hold it in and not to control it, but to let Holy Spirit have His way.
I knew it was time. Pastor Mike put his hand on my head and instantly everything changed.
My eyes were closed but I could see bright light all around as the heavens opened above me. Warm electricity rushed through my body, causing me to shake and tremble. An unknown heavenly language came from my lips, as I spoke out in tongues, and my face was soaked from tears of joy as I encountered the presence of the Lord God Almighty. I can only describe it as a violent peace and a raging fire of His mighty love.
When I finally opened my eyes, I found myself surround by a group of elderly Pentecostal ladies, who were all praying over me in tongues. I was filled with a new joy and boldness. I then made my way back to my seat, with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face.
That was the moment.
That was the moment I knew without doubt that everything in the Word of God is completely true.
Thankfully it doesn’t even stop there.
A Still Small Voice
A short while after I was filled with fire, I woke up on a Sunday morning with the song Promises by Joe L Barnes in my head. It was new at the time and it’s a really great song, so I was singing it to myself all morning.
Something interesting happened, though. As we were riding in the vans to church, I had this thought run across my mind to write down that song in my sermon notes before we even got to the church.
See, I liked writing down the song names we would sing in church, so that I could remember to listen to them when I eventually went home.
But in this moment the thought crossed my mind to write down the song Promises ahead of time. I thought, “there’s no way! they’re definitely not going to play that at church today.”
It was a new song and we had never sang it before.
But when we got to the church I had that loud thought again, telling me to write down Promises in my sermon notes ahead of time. I eventually gave in and decided to hope that maybe, just maybe, I was really hearing from God.
Like Samuel, who ran first to Eli many times, before finally responding to the Lord, I chose to listen to His voice.
I wrote it down.
During worship after a song or two, the worship leader, David Rosenblum, said “today we’re going to teach you a new song.” Suddenly they started playing Promises and I sobbed, realizing I had just heard the voice of God for the first time.
Oh, to have that first awe again. Lord, truly, let me be forever in awe of You, and forever cling to the preciousness of Your voice, and of the priceless communion I have with You. Let my love for You burn with more intensity than in any past season, and may my heart’s cry be continually pleasing to You.
Epilogue
I left Teen Challenge after 16 months, finally coming home on April 26th 2021, eventually making my way back to RiverStone, the church I’d been born into. I also started attending a ministry school in Dawsonville Georgia called Kineo MTC at the North Georgia Revival.
At that time I met some really amazing people who invited me to join them at a monthly gathering called Worship Nights Marietta.
I’ve been continuously getting closer and closer with the Lord, hearing His voice, being His friend, and being His hands and feet in ministry. It is so wholly undeserved, but may the Lamb receive the full reward for His suffering!
God has put incredible people in my life who have corrected and instructed me, encouraged me, stood by my side during rough times, and celebrated with me during great times.
There’s a song called “You Keep On Getting Better.” And the bridge of that song is one of my favorite things ever. It goes: “Every day gets sweeter. Every day gets better.”
And it truly does.
“The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
in Christ
Invitation
RiverStone
We would love for you to join us at RiverStone Church. Services are at 10 AM on Sunday mornings.
2005 Stilesboro Rd NW Kennesaw, GA 30152
Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask questions! We look forward to meeting you!
Worship Nights Marietta
We are a multi-church worship gathering once a month, held at RiverStone Church in Kennesaw Georgia.
We would love for you to join us!
For information follow @worship.nights.marietta on Instagram or text ‘Join’ to
+1 833-206-5476
Mount Beriyth 
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