Interview on February 7, 2023 with Devin, who is studying musical composition, on the Mall at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Do you consider yourself religious?
Devin: Yes. Structure, functionality, just a way of finding truth and certainty in everything I do. I grew up with my mother teaching me about Catholicism and those roots served me through high school when I didn’t believe in God. It very much impacted my life later on because I was lost, I dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts. Even throughout drug use and everything I still would go with my mom to church.

My dad’s side of the family is Christian and I found truth in that word, as well. I’ve done a lot of drugs, I’ve done psychedelics. The last time I did it, I had a moment with Jesus and it showed me the error of my ways. I had an ego death and throughout that I felt like the Virgin Mary was also in my presence, trying to guide me. I feel like a part of me was lost because I’m also confused about my sexuality. I was traumatized as a kid by someone and I grew up clashing with that, clashing with my dad, my mom, and that came with hatred towards myself.

So after taking that psychedelic, or LSD, I wanted to become healthier and work out, also meditate every night. Meditating every night helped a lot, just finding a moment of silence, whether it was fifteen minutes or an hour. Also affirmations. Every meditation I always had the intention of speaking to God because I knew He was in my presence, I knew He was guiding me to where I want to be, which is influencing the youth through my music and influencing humanity with a different sound and a new way of speaking through things. Now more than ever we need Him, we need direction, and we need guidance and clarity.

People are lost. That’s why I call myself Kin as an artist because it means connected to and I want to connect to everyone who is lost, afraid, and feels like their soul is lost because I was at that point in my life dealing with psychosis and hearing voices. I’m 19 right now and it happened to me when I was 18. Music has always been a part of my life, so has Jesus, so has God, and I’ll read the Bible. There are times where I feel a presence calling me to the Bible, there are times when I feel a presence calling me to worship in a random moment because that’s what served me as clarity and served me as a way of feeling happiness in my heart.

I very much still go to church and everything. Even though I also believe in chakras, I believe in energy and that’s what started me off reading the Master Key System. It talks about omnipotence and that’s what I needed to hear from them. At times of meditation I always felt intrusive thoughts, I could never clear my mind, and one of them was, “I am God.” I don’t believe in that. I don’t want to put myself on that pedestal when I want one God and one true Savior.

I wasn’t praying to a Buddha, but I was praying to God and hoping he would listen to me through the universe and through everything around me. Everything I do is His step, His actions, His word, His influence. If I can allow His influence into my life then I can bring it to others that are in pain, even if it’s not through Jesus Christ Himself, because they might believe a whole other thing. But I can only say that God of the universe would do what He does.

Do you think it is true that there is one God?
Devin: Yes, I believe it’s true. Because this is my life. I’m not living through your eyes, I’m living through my own eyes. Everyone has their own soul, but we all go to God and I won’t believe someone who tells me I’ll just reincarnate. I’ll live again, I’ll live in an eternal kingdom of God. I’ll live in His city. But if the other person is rejecting me and rejecting me, we can only come to mutual understanding and respect each other’s wishes. I will help you in everything you want to do, but you have respect for my Father.

If a classmate of yours believes there are multiple gods, does he believe something that is untrue?
Devin: If we believe in Jesus’ presence and God’s divine timing and planning, every one of us has that plan. I was believing that I can manifest me, as myself. I knew my intention was always with God, I knew that I was called one night to meditate and feel His presence but my understanding was maybe through a Buddhist outlook. My understanding was maybe through just energy in general.

If that’s what that person believes in right now, I can’t interfere, I can only support. I can only support and reassure that the confusion will dissipate as God re-enters one’s life. Because he reentered in mine and I’ve done, not atrocious things, but I’ve felt disgusting for what I’ve done to my own body and that’s because I’m not confident with my sexuality. I’m bisexual or I could just be gay. But I don’t know enough about that part, because it has roots in hatred and trauma and that whole situation that happened when I was small. But it was for a reason. I can only pray to God that He can give me a life that He wants me to have because that’ll bring me the most happiness.

Paul was a sinner. He killed a lot of believers. He could very well be in hell but he decided to change his life and follow God and follow what he felt was right despite his sin. It says in Peter that Paul is still in chains and that we must pray for Paul. That’s his sin to bear. I know that I have a cross to bear. That’s what gives my life substance. That’s what reminds me I’m strong. That’s what reminds me that I’m going the right direction

When you go to church with your mom or your dad’s family, do you ever talk to a pastor or are you working this out on your own?
Devin: I work a lot of it on my own, but I still go to Mass. I go to service. A father from the Catholic side talks about manifesting Jesus in our everyday lives. And during service, in my time of need, they said to continue this path of God and also talked about the kingdom of the world versus the kingdom of God and that we can’t be in both worlds. Similarly, in the Catholic Bible it says that we can’t be seated on the side of God and the devil. So I found the synthesis there. I understand that God and Jesus are one.

I believe the reason Jesus came down here was to show us miseriacordia. It’s a Latin word. I believe miseriacordia is forgiveness. That is love in itself. Anyone could be like, “I could do wrong my whole life and I won’t get to hell if I just pray that last minute.” That’s horrible to think about when you think about, say, that person who did what they did to me.

Carlos Santana said, “I can continue to condemn this person to hell, but I’d go to hell with them.” That’s a testament to forgiveness and without Jesus we wouldn’t have that love in our life. Without God we wouldn’t have direction, we wouldn’t have structure. But Jesus brought forgiveness. He brought sinners to speak His word throughout His world.

 

Click here to see an excerpt of Devin’s interview.