>> Hi, I'm Todd Coconato,
and I want to share with you a story,
the story of my testimony.
How I was stabbed nine times, one in the heart,
and I literally died, but God spared my life
and turned it into a completely different direction.
So let me get started, because I know that sounds crazy.
How does this guy get stabbed nine times?
Well, I was actually a child actor in Hollywood,
and so from about eight years old,
I was on a bunch of different shows
and I was very much in young Hollywood.
And that went all the way til I was about 16 years old,
and I knew a lot of people that are very famous
and, you know, was kind of involved in that crowd
and started getting involved in drugs and alcohol
at the age of 16.
And that was just from the influence of that community.
But I told my mom, I said,
you know, I don't want to do this anymore.
And because I was on the set all the time
and I was getting schooled on the set
and I wanted to be around my friends.
And so at 16 years old, she said, okay, Todd, you know,
if you don't want to do it any more, you don't have to.
And so I went back into regular school at that time,
and I really believe it was God protecting me
because a lot of my friends
were dealing with uncomfortable situations.
I had a friend that was molested in Hollywood, you know,
different things that I had witnessed as a young actor.
And so I really believe it was God's protection.
But I never stopped hanging around the Hollywood crowd
because those were my friends.
So I started going to clubs at a young age.
I became a club kid.
I got involved in the underground scene
out in LA, which was a very, you know,
pretty deep club scene out there.
Lots of young people would go out to clubs
and it almost was like a church for me.
I would literally go to the club almost religiously every week
or even sometimes during the week,
and got totally caught up, totally caught up.
And there's even a criminal element
in the Hollywood club community.
So I saw, you know, drug deals and different crimes
that were being committed around me, you know,
and just pretty crazy stuff. I could have died.
I had friends that I knew that were dying from overdoses
and different things that were happening.
Ecstasy, you know, all different types of drugs,
cocaine, were around me, designer drugs.
And so really difficult environment,
especially for a young kid.
So this literally happened all the way
til I was about 21 years old.
And my parents who were actually in the ministry,
believe it or not, and I lived in a, in a nice community,
but, you know, got pulled up into all this stuff.
And they said to me, they said, Todd,
you want to come to a retreat in Honolulu, Hawaii?
And I said, Well, I don't know. And they said,
It's a free trip and all you have to do is go to one meeting.
The rest of the time you can hang out on the beach.
So I was living with my girlfriend at the time,
had a beautiful condo, was making a bunch of money
doing all kinds of nefarious things.
Somehow I go on this trip. So I'm out in Hawaii
and I'm in this four square pastors conference
and I remember the gentleman was speaking
and all of a sudden I felt the presence of God
so thick in that room and I didn't know what to do.
I literally thought a lightning bolt was going to strike me
because I was so caught up in the world
and just, you know, church was like the last place
I thought I'd find myself. But I ended up going out
into this disconsolate garden out there
at the Honolulu Convention Center,
beautiful disconsolate garden.
And the spirit of God fell upon me.
And I started weeping and I got on my knees.
And this was my first time, really,
where I gave my heart to the Lord at that moment.
And I went back to the rest of the meetings on that trip,
I didn't even spend time on the beach.
I ended up spending time in that conference
and just getting fed and getting loved on
by a bunch of pastors and evangelists
and people of God that were praying for me.
And I also reconciled with my dad on that trip,
which was a really big thing in my life.
Actually, it was huge because we were estranged.
We had, we didn't have a good relationship
and God restored it on that trip.
So I go home, I tell my girlfriend
who I was living with, I say, I got saved in Hawaii.
She says, What does that even mean?
I said, Well, it means
I'm probably not going to be able to live with you anymore,
because that's not something that we're supposed to be doing.
And so I moved home with my parents
and started going to church.
But I had a tough time because I had come from the club scene
and I was from young Hollywood and going into the church
I went to a very conservative church
and, you know, just didn't really feel like
I fit in at the time. I would stand in the foyer
and no one would even talk to me.
And so it was really hard
to make Christian friends in this period.
And I started getting discouraged.
So I started kind of going back to some of my worldly friends
because those are the only friends I knew.
And I was, I was lonely, and so the enemy was using that.
And one night, this is probably about two years
in, just about 23 years old,
I go into this apartment complex in Granada Hills, California,
and, you know, just getting out of the gym,
I was pretty buff at the time,
you know, I used to work out every day.
That's part of the whole thing of being in Hollywood.
Walking through this apartment complex in Granada Hills
and going up to this door
and this guy, the door just flings open.
And this guy who was on, I believe, some type of drugs,
I think it was meth, totally messed up in his mind,
just start stabbing me with a kitchen knife
that's about this big
and just precedes, the first stab was in the heart,
and so it went to the outer membrane of my heart.
And then, you know, I was trying to fight back.
So it was, it was wild. Every time I would fight back,
I'd get another stab wound. And finally I fell to the ground
and literally, you know, was bleeding there.
And this man that stabbed me, ended up, and his girlfriend
that he was with, ended up picking me up
and putting me in my own car
and taking me to a hospital in Granada Hills,
which, by the way, this hospital was literally set to close down
and it would have been closed in probably a couple of weeks.
And so if that hospital would have been closed,
the next hospital was in Northridge,
it would have been too far and I would have died.
So here I am in this car on the way to the hospital
that's literally about to close down.
All of a sudden, I'm looking at the guy who's driving,
I'm looking at the girl in the front seat,
I'm in the middle, and I go into the presence of God.
I really believe I died at this moment.
All of a sudden I'm in this white presence.
And I knew that it was not, I wasn't alive.
I said, What's going on?
And I heard the voice of the Lord, and the Lord said,
Do you want to live or do you want to die?
And I said, Lord, I want to live.
I've always desired to have a family.
I've always desired to be married.
And I knew my life wasn't, wasn't done at that point.
So I said, Lord, I want to live. He says,
Well, if you live, you've got to tell people that I'm real
and you've got to be on fire for me
for the rest of your life. He said,
Are you willing to do that? I said, Yes, Lord.
It was almost like my Isaiah six moment,
You know, where you're, you're in the glory of the Lord.
And what else can you say? Send me. I'll go.
Right. So I said, Yes, Lord. And when I said yes, Lord,
I woke up and I was in that Granada Hills hospital
and people were all around me looking at me and they said,
You should not be alive. And I knew I shouldn't be alive.
But God gave me that opportunity,
restored my life, and I had lost so much blood,
and there was somebody that was in there
that was stabbed two times. They died.
I was stabbed nine times, one in the heart.
But God spared my life.
So you would think that'd be the end of the story, right.
But, you know, I was an actor. I was a model in Hollywood.
And so I went home from that hospital.
I was in ICU for ten days.
I was in the hospital for 30 days.
But when I went home, I started getting discouraged.
I said, You know what, Lord?
I was in Hollywood. I was partying.
I was having this great life caught in the world.
I get saved. Now here I am, stabbed nine times.
I got stab wounds all over my body.
And here's the interesting thing.
I would go out and I'd be in public somewhere
and God would send somebody to come up to me
and give me a prophetic word, just strangers, three of them.
So the first one was in Macy's in Burbank.
And this woman comes up and she says,
I have a word for you. I'm like
You have a word for me? She says,
Don't let discouragement grow a root in your heart.
God's got a calling on your life.
He's going to use you.
You know, so everybody's weeping around me
as they're hearing this word and the presence of God is moving.
The next day I'm in a coffee shop, same thing.
Somebody comes up to me,
gives me almost the identical word,
God's going to use you. He's got a call in your life.
Don't let discouragement take root.
You're going to soar with wings of eagles.
So then I'm like, Okay, this is kind of weird.
Two times. Then I go back to the gym
because I'm determined to get back in the gym.
And sure enough, this guy turns around and says,
I have a word for you.
Don't let discouragement grow a root in your heart.
You have a calling on your life. God's going to use you.
Almost identical to the other two prophetic words.
And at that point, I just left the gym.
I went into my car,
I started weeping and I said, Lord, I want you to use me.
And I know that you have a call in my life,
and I know that you've allowed me to have a second chance
so that I can be about your business.
And so after that, there wasn't much more to do other
than go to Bible College. And that's what I did.
I went to the King's College in seminary,
became a pastor and evangelist,
and God has just done so much in the 20 years since then.
I mean, just unbelievable things that he's done in my life,
but he's spared my life.
And I'll never forget what he did.
And let me just tell you this, because I made him the promise.
He is real. He's moving.
He hears our prayers. Hallelujah.
And so I want to just pray for you right now.
Hopefully this story blesses you.
It's very near and dear to my heart
to share this story because I lived it.
But I hope it encourages you.
Let me pray for you right now. Father, in Jesus name,
I just thank you for those that are listening to this story.
And this is a true story, Lord God,
and it's what you did in giving me a second chance.
And you are the God of second chances, Lord God,
and you were real and you're living
and you're moving right now, no matter what the situation,
no matter how discouraged somebody may feel today,
I pray that they would hear the message that you are real,
that you died on the cross for their sin,
and that, Lord,
you're willing to give them a second chance too,
that you're not done with their story,
that you have amazing things ahead, Lord God,
that you're going to move in their life.
And so we just thank you, Lord God,
that you spare our lives,
that we're able to breathe and get up today
and give you the glory for yet another day,
because this is the day that you've made
and we're going to rejoice and be glad in it.
And so I just thank you, God,
that you're touching people right now,
as we share this, of your love in the name of Jesus.
Amen. Thank you so much for listening to my story.
God bless you.