I pray, Father, in
a very name of Christ,
00:01:01.48\00:01:03.75
so we might
come before You here.
00:01:03.76\00:01:06.67
I don't know who
these people are,
00:01:06.68\00:01:08.11
you know them by name.
00:01:08.12\00:01:09.11
You know the very
hairs on their head.
00:01:09.12\00:01:11.80
You know their needs.
00:01:11.81\00:01:12.80
You know their
burdens that they carry.
00:01:12.81\00:01:15.45
You know, where they
are in a spiritual journey.
00:01:15.46\00:01:17.47
You know where they are
00:01:17.48\00:01:19.19
in the prison
house of their own sin.
00:01:19.20\00:01:21.91
We pray tonight
that You will speak
00:01:21.92\00:01:23.24
through Your word
that in this testimony
00:01:23.25\00:01:24.88
that they might
realize that God saves
00:01:24.89\00:01:27.07
from the
'guttermost to the uttermost.'
00:01:27.08\00:01:30.08
And that we might
all find tonight hope
00:01:30.09\00:01:34.20
in the age of hopelessness.
00:01:34.21\00:01:36.54
I ask these favors in
the name of Christ our Lord.
00:01:36.55\00:01:40.37
Amen, and amen.
00:01:40.38\00:01:42.89
I've been asked tonight to give
00:01:42.90\00:01:44.34
and share with you my testimony
of how I came to know God.
00:01:44.35\00:01:48.18
It's call from 'Gangs to
God,' the story of a young man.
00:01:48.19\00:01:51.73
In the backstreets of
New York a gang leader
00:01:51.74\00:01:54.71
in the Brooklyn
Streets who found Jesus Christ.
00:01:54.72\00:01:56.70
And so I want to
share that testimony.
00:01:56.71\00:01:59.01
I want to share with you tonight
00:01:59.02\00:02:00.28
because I believe it
will help you to know Him.
00:02:00.29\00:02:03.00
And not only know him,
but to free in Jesus Christ.
00:02:03.01\00:02:07.34
You know, there's
a growing tendency
00:02:07.35\00:02:10.18
in our era in the 21st century,
00:02:10.19\00:02:12.11
especially even now
00:02:12.12\00:02:13.11
and the western
world toward agnosticism.
00:02:13.12\00:02:16.79
Everywhere I go
traveling around the world,
00:02:16.80\00:02:18.68
speaking for God, I
find many women that doubt.
00:02:18.69\00:02:24.47
They question the existence
and the reality of God.
00:02:24.48\00:02:30.16
They ask me in many
ways and different ways,
00:02:30.17\00:02:32.52
prove to me there is a God.
00:02:32.53\00:02:35.71
And I hear from others who say
00:02:35.72\00:02:36.72
that they don't even believe
00:02:36.73\00:02:39.01
in existence of
God in his atheism.
00:02:39.02\00:02:42.72
And if one word could sum up
00:02:42.73\00:02:44.14
the attitude
present in our generation
00:02:44.15\00:02:46.13
is no other time in all history.
00:02:46.14\00:02:48.35
It's that one word
and that word is 'doubt',
00:02:48.36\00:02:52.75
the word, 'doubt.'
00:02:52.76\00:02:55.45
I mean we hear this word again
00:02:55.46\00:02:58.57
and again and again everywhere.
00:02:58.58\00:02:59.96
We're reaping the results
by the way of this doubt.
00:02:59.97\00:03:05.12
A concentrated
effort of materialism
00:03:05.13\00:03:06.83
and humanism so
called intellectual
00:03:06.84\00:03:09.25
denial of the
existence and reality of God.
00:03:09.26\00:03:12.23
If any belief in God today,
its kind of a vague belief.
00:03:12.24\00:03:15.30
You know, the golfer,
00:03:15.31\00:03:16.51
the great golf
course up in heaven,
00:03:16.52\00:03:18.07
and you know, God is
kind of a absentee landlord
00:03:18.08\00:03:21.04
or God is a kind of Santa Claus
00:03:21.05\00:03:23.22
that if we do
so many good things
00:03:23.23\00:03:24.97
that He's gonna
give us good gifts.
00:03:24.98\00:03:26.27
And if He doesn't
give us good gifts,
00:03:26.28\00:03:28.18
we question His existence.
00:03:28.19\00:03:29.72
I mean it's a vague idea
00:03:29.73\00:03:31.14
that there is
some Supreme Being,
00:03:31.15\00:03:32.92
some kind of power.
00:03:32.93\00:03:34.21
But in most ways,
He's impersonal being,
00:03:34.22\00:03:36.44
He's an impersonal God.
00:03:36.45\00:03:39.86
Men like Robert
Ingersoll and other infidels
00:03:39.87\00:03:42.07
try to dismiss God
00:03:42.08\00:03:43.63
and the arguments
were on nonexistence.
00:03:43.64\00:03:46.00
And so they argued
until the day they died
00:03:46.01\00:03:48.72
that there was no God
00:03:48.73\00:03:49.72
and they went
darkness into the grave.
00:03:49.73\00:03:54.94
A Russian
cosmonaut some decades ago
00:03:54.95\00:03:57.35
flew round the
outskirts of God's heaven.
00:03:57.36\00:03:59.20
And they came
back with the message
00:03:59.21\00:04:00.44
to the world the
western world and all the world
00:04:00.45\00:04:03.18
that they didn't
encounter angels.
00:04:03.19\00:04:04.81
Therefore, there is no God
00:04:04.82\00:04:06.85
and so their message was
00:04:06.86\00:04:08.30
they never saw a
God even in the heavens.
00:04:08.31\00:04:13.68
We forgot that God is
found in peculiar places
00:04:13.69\00:04:17.57
like in a crib and on a cross
00:04:17.58\00:04:22.60
and in a heart
of a dieing thief.
00:04:22.61\00:04:25.63
We've listen to the
cries of radical theologians
00:04:25.64\00:04:27.98
even that said since
God really has no meaning
00:04:27.99\00:04:30.52
to this generation
really doesn't speak clearly
00:04:30.53\00:04:33.31
to our mind and to our needs
00:04:33.32\00:04:35.45
that since He does not have
a burden of touch our needs.
00:04:35.46\00:04:40.25
He doesn't really exist,
but if He exists He's dead.
00:04:40.26\00:04:45.61
And so the radical theologians
cried that God was dead.
00:04:45.62\00:04:48.27
Well the agnostics cried
that God we don't know we doubt
00:04:48.28\00:04:52.05
and the atheist
says there is no God.
00:04:52.06\00:04:55.71
If God does not
speak to the needs of man,
00:04:55.72\00:04:57.71
then he is relevant.
00:04:57.72\00:04:58.71
And if he is not
relevant, we don't need Him,
00:04:58.72\00:05:00.39
and so humanism
raised its ugly head
00:05:00.40\00:05:03.01
and it came even into
our public school systems,
00:05:03.02\00:05:05.11
and for three
decades we brainwashed
00:05:05.12\00:05:08.04
our this
generation to disbelief.
00:05:08.05\00:05:12.35
We've dismissed
God from the classroom.
00:05:12.36\00:05:14.00
We've dismissed the Bible
00:05:14.01\00:05:15.06
from the
classroom and from society.
00:05:15.07\00:05:17.50
And now we're
reaping the results of this.
00:05:17.51\00:05:19.89
We've taken the Ten Commandments
00:05:19.90\00:05:21.49
not only off the walls,
00:05:21.50\00:05:22.49
but we've taken the Ten
Commandments out of our hearts.
00:05:22.50\00:05:24.85
And we're seeing a generation
00:05:24.86\00:05:26.84
doomed damned
and bound for hell.
00:05:26.85\00:05:29.54
It was David the Psalmist
looking down the scan of time
00:05:32.16\00:05:34.65
and seeing the western
world in the 21st Century
00:05:34.66\00:05:37.59
and he was moved to
say with these words,
00:05:37.60\00:05:39.45
"The fool has said in
his heart there is no God."
00:05:39.46\00:05:42.06
And we hear from
our lot of fools today.
00:05:42.07\00:05:46.79
But tonight I wanted to
clear that God is alive.
00:05:46.80\00:05:50.50
I wanted to clear that God lives
00:05:50.51\00:05:52.27
and that God
loves and that God saves
00:05:52.28\00:05:54.22
and the Christ in
spite of Robert Ingersoll
00:05:54.23\00:05:56.61
and other
infidels, God is alive.
00:05:56.62\00:05:58.57
And in spite of
Marx's atheism God is alive.
00:05:58.58\00:06:01.37
In spite of liberal theologians,
00:06:01.38\00:06:03.00
He is not dead, He's alive.
00:06:03.01\00:06:05.99
In spite of
humanistic, materialistic,
00:06:06.00\00:06:07.89
and godless system of education,
00:06:07.90\00:06:10.23
God lives and God
loves and God saves.
00:06:10.24\00:06:12.80
The Christ, who lived
1,900 years ago in Judea,
00:06:12.81\00:06:16.36
lives now and
walks through His spirit
00:06:16.37\00:06:18.35
through the streets
of Spokane, Washington.
00:06:18.36\00:06:22.44
And the Christ who touched
lives then touches lives now
00:06:22.45\00:06:25.47
even the lives of
young men on the streets
00:06:25.48\00:06:28.17
of the great cities of America,
00:06:28.18\00:06:29.65
and the great
cities of the world.
00:06:29.66\00:06:33.97
The footsteps of
Jesus are reckoning
00:06:33.98\00:06:35.62
across this great nation
00:06:35.63\00:06:37.29
and reckoning
across the great cities.
00:06:37.30\00:06:39.01
I heard the footsteps of my Lord
00:06:39.02\00:06:40.96
in the asphalt
jungle of New York.
00:06:40.97\00:06:43.07
I felt the hand reach
out and touch the heart
00:06:43.08\00:06:45.24
and the heart of the young men
00:06:45.25\00:06:46.39
gone berserk living
in the world of hell.
00:06:46.40\00:06:49.01
A young man with no hope
00:06:49.02\00:06:50.32
and no future, no direction.
00:06:50.33\00:06:52.27
I can't prove God.
00:06:52.28\00:06:53.85
I can't prove God by
mathematical equation
00:06:53.86\00:06:56.32
or putting God into a test tube.
00:06:56.33\00:06:58.43
How can you put
something so majestic
00:06:58.44\00:07:00.59
and something so mighty
00:07:00.60\00:07:02.24
and something so
lofty in a test tube?
00:07:02.25\00:07:04.75
If your God can be
put in your test tube
00:07:04.76\00:07:07.11
your God is too small.
00:07:07.12\00:07:11.92
Your God is too small.
00:07:11.93\00:07:15.35
But I know God exists
because He exists within me.
00:07:15.36\00:07:18.02
I believe it,
because I felt His touch.
00:07:18.03\00:07:20.33
I mean I heard His voice.
00:07:20.34\00:07:21.82
I felt His
changing transforming power.
00:07:21.83\00:07:24.82
And I was free at last.
00:07:24.83\00:07:28.76
And by the power of
grace, the power of God's grace,
00:07:28.77\00:07:32.76
I found a way to life.
00:07:32.77\00:07:34.58
By the way that's
called in the Bible
00:07:34.59\00:07:36.23
and scripture
it's called belief,
00:07:36.24\00:07:37.83
it's called rebirth,
it's called conversion.
00:07:37.84\00:07:40.70
And by the way you
said you must be born again.
00:07:40.71\00:07:42.70
If you're gonna
see the kingdom of God
00:07:42.71\00:07:44.74
something has to be
born within your heart.
00:07:44.75\00:07:46.98
Something has to
be born in your mind
00:07:46.99\00:07:48.95
and it's the power of
grace that changes the life.
00:07:48.96\00:07:51.33
And you know, man can explain it
00:07:51.34\00:07:53.36
outside of the existence of God.
00:07:53.37\00:07:57.44
How do you explain a
young man that live by the gun?
00:07:57.45\00:08:00.04
How do you explain a young man
who lived by the switch blade?
00:08:00.05\00:08:02.77
How do you
explain to the young man
00:08:02.78\00:08:04.25
who lives in a world
of hate and violence,
00:08:04.26\00:08:06.91
was touched by His grace
00:08:06.92\00:08:08.19
and was changed to
become a child of God?
00:08:08.20\00:08:10.74
How do you explain that
but the existence of God?
00:08:10.75\00:08:13.11
Psychologists can't
explain it you with psychology.
00:08:13.12\00:08:15.74
Sociologists don't
know how to explain.
00:08:15.75\00:08:18.04
How a man living on the street,
00:08:18.05\00:08:19.40
living without hope
00:08:19.41\00:08:20.40
and then coming in
contact with the Judean.
00:08:20.41\00:08:22.73
Coming in contact with the
Man who lived 1,900 years ago
00:08:22.74\00:08:26.10
and was resurrected.
00:08:26.11\00:08:27.60
How He could resurrect
the new hope in your heart,
00:08:27.61\00:08:29.89
a new future for their lives.
00:08:29.90\00:08:31.82
They can't explain it
outside the word of God.
00:08:31.83\00:08:37.97
That this power is
available to everyone.
00:08:37.98\00:08:41.65
Saul was on road to Damascus.
00:08:41.66\00:08:44.11
Everywhere you look,
you find conversions.
00:08:44.12\00:08:46.19
Saul was on the
road to Damascus,
00:08:46.20\00:08:47.98
he was a rebel without a cause.
00:08:47.99\00:08:49.76
He was working in the street.
00:08:49.77\00:08:51.06
I mean he was there
to bring the Christians
00:08:51.07\00:08:52.80
bound to
Jerusalem to persecute them,
00:08:52.81\00:08:55.05
to snuff out their life
as if he could kill them.
00:08:55.06\00:08:57.56
As if he could imprison them.
00:08:57.57\00:08:59.26
And when he came upon that road,
00:08:59.27\00:09:00.95
there was a light from heaven
and it fell on his face Saul.
00:09:00.96\00:09:03.78
And the word of
God says, Jesus said,
00:09:03.79\00:09:05.87
'Saul, Saul, why
do you persecute me?'
00:09:05.88\00:09:08.81
It happened for
him on the roadway.
00:09:08.82\00:09:10.94
There on the
roadway to Damascus.
00:09:10.95\00:09:13.64
Everywhere you read it.
00:09:13.65\00:09:15.93
There was Peter by the turquoise
00:09:15.94\00:09:17.22
blue waters of Galilee
00:09:17.23\00:09:18.28
and there was a
shadow of Christ.
00:09:18.29\00:09:19.66
And Peter looked
into the face of Christ
00:09:19.67\00:09:21.42
and He said, Peter follow me,
00:09:21.43\00:09:23.56
I will make you
become a fisher of men,
00:09:23.57\00:09:25.35
and that drunken
brawling fighting fisherman,
00:09:25.36\00:09:30.44
that tough
stinking fighting fisherman,
00:09:30.45\00:09:32.65
his life was changed.
00:09:32.66\00:09:34.88
And he began to follow Christ,
00:09:34.89\00:09:36.21
little did he know
where it would lead him.
00:09:36.22\00:09:39.11
It would lead him to a cross,
00:09:39.12\00:09:40.77
and he said I am not
worthy to die like my Lord.
00:09:40.78\00:09:43.20
Crucify me upside down,
00:09:43.21\00:09:44.89
and so they
turned him upside down
00:09:44.90\00:09:46.95
then his world
was right side up.
00:09:46.96\00:09:51.16
There was a thief dying
on the cross for his crimes.
00:09:51.17\00:09:56.09
Three thieves on the cross,
00:09:56.10\00:09:57.50
two thieves on the
cross and the Savior.
00:09:57.51\00:10:00.93
And one lifts
himself up on the cross
00:10:00.94\00:10:02.51
and says, if
you're the Son of God,
00:10:02.52\00:10:04.14
take us down from the
cross and we'll believe you.
00:10:04.15\00:10:06.63
He says, if you
can take away my pain
00:10:06.64\00:10:08.65
and take away my suffering
00:10:08.66\00:10:10.27
and take away my fear,
then I will believe you.
00:10:10.28\00:10:13.12
And the other thief
lifts himself on the cross
00:10:13.13\00:10:15.63
and he says, Lord remember me
00:10:15.64\00:10:17.05
when you come in your kingdom.
00:10:17.06\00:10:18.48
And he says,
friend with every drop
00:10:18.49\00:10:20.28
of blood I'll remember you.
00:10:20.29\00:10:21.50
You will be with
me in the kingdom.
00:10:21.51\00:10:24.25
But you know wonderfully,
00:10:24.26\00:10:25.40
their lives were
dramatically changed.
00:10:25.41\00:10:27.95
It happened for
Peter by the turquoise
00:10:27.96\00:10:29.48
blue waters of Galilee.
00:10:29.49\00:10:31.64
It happened for Saul
on the road to Damascus.
00:10:31.65\00:10:34.71
It happened for thieves,
00:10:34.72\00:10:36.73
it happened for thieves
00:10:36.74\00:10:37.92
on a cross
outside Jerusalem's walls.
00:10:37.93\00:10:40.07
It happened for me
in Brooklyn New York.
00:10:40.08\00:10:43.36
It happened to me in
the great city of New York.
00:10:43.37\00:10:45.62
How many of you
been in New York.
00:10:45.63\00:10:46.62
Let me see your hands.
00:10:46.63\00:10:48.45
Well some of you have lived.
00:10:48.46\00:10:52.93
Lot of people said me
you are from New York,
00:10:52.94\00:10:54.65
you are from Brooklyn,
that's a good place to be from.
00:10:54.66\00:10:59.61
But I was born in New York
00:10:59.62\00:11:00.65
and New York is
a fascinating city.
00:11:00.66\00:11:02.03
By the way I have been in
the great cities of the world.
00:11:02.04\00:11:03.71
I've traveled on every
continent in the world.
00:11:03.72\00:11:05.54
And been in to the great cities
00:11:05.55\00:11:06.60
and preached in
these great cities
00:11:06.61\00:11:08.03
and worked in the inner cities,
00:11:08.04\00:11:09.76
the great cities of
this country in this world.
00:11:09.77\00:11:12.08
And let me tell you
it is an exciting city,
00:11:12.09\00:11:14.13
I mean bright
lights and skyscrapers
00:11:14.14\00:11:16.11
and I mean we go
higher up than you go out.
00:11:16.12\00:11:19.38
And people are
fascinated by New York.
00:11:22.40\00:11:24.13
They come to the bright lights
00:11:24.14\00:11:25.48
and the hunky
tongs and fete is in,
00:11:25.49\00:11:27.54
the strip joints and
they come to universities
00:11:27.55\00:11:30.05
and the museums, but there
is another side of the city.
00:11:30.06\00:11:33.58
There is a dark
side of the city,
00:11:33.59\00:11:35.03
not in the bright
lights of the neon signs,
00:11:35.04\00:11:37.13
but behind the bright lights
00:11:37.14\00:11:38.51
in the shadow of the skyscrapers
00:11:38.52\00:11:40.33
there in the back
alleys of that city,
00:11:40.34\00:11:42.46
there is another world.
00:11:42.47\00:11:43.64
Even as there is in even a
city behind the bright lights
00:11:43.65\00:11:46.78
and behind the suburban homes.
00:11:46.79\00:11:48.58
There's another
story, there's another life,
00:11:48.59\00:11:51.08
there's another type of living.
00:11:51.09\00:11:52.57
I mean it was where
death rated in my city.
00:11:52.58\00:11:57.84
A knife in the
ribs that was my world,
00:11:57.85\00:12:01.80
you see, a needle in
the vein that was my world.
00:12:01.81\00:12:07.18
You see a bullet in
the brain that was--
00:12:07.19\00:12:09.02
I was born in that city.
00:12:09.03\00:12:10.11
And by the grace of God,
00:12:10.12\00:12:11.11
I will be born
again in that city.
00:12:11.12\00:12:12.99
You see there in Coney Island,
00:12:13.00\00:12:15.35
I was brought up in
the section of Brooklyn
00:12:15.36\00:12:16.66
called Coney Island.
00:12:16.67\00:12:17.82
It was the amusement centre.
00:12:17.83\00:12:22.39
But it was also
the crime centre.
00:12:22.40\00:12:23.71
By the way murder
incorporated function there.
00:12:23.72\00:12:26.82
You heard of the Galloway
Boys, the mafia the godfather.
00:12:26.83\00:12:30.79
It was there in Coney Island,
00:12:30.80\00:12:31.93
that murder incorporated
in for so much money,
00:12:31.94\00:12:33.96
you got someone
murdered in my neighborhood.
00:12:33.97\00:12:35.85
As a child growing up
and as young boy growing up
00:12:35.86\00:12:38.74
many times I would
see the cop come around
00:12:38.75\00:12:41.04
and the corner
of the door opened
00:12:41.05\00:12:42.15
and some dead body
thrown out in the street.
00:12:42.16\00:12:48.89
One day I was going
to school little child
00:12:48.90\00:12:50.58
and there laying in the
gutter was a man in newspapers.
00:12:50.59\00:12:53.37
And the newspaper blew away
00:12:53.38\00:12:54.80
and there was
hatchet in his head.
00:12:54.81\00:12:56.58
Someone have
taken revenge on him.
00:12:56.59\00:13:00.70
And everyday, and every week
00:13:00.71\00:13:02.05
in that neighborhood someone,
00:13:02.06\00:13:03.33
someone was shot or stabbed
00:13:03.34\00:13:05.15
or murdered
that was my neighbor,
00:13:05.16\00:13:06.70
that was my world
that was world of violence,
00:13:06.71\00:13:08.65
it was the world of crime.
00:13:08.66\00:13:09.85
Murder incorporated function,
crime in the organized level.
00:13:09.86\00:13:14.40
By the way the largest
still in America was that.
00:13:14.41\00:13:19.06
The head witness against
murder incorporate was thrown
00:13:19.07\00:13:21.13
in Half Moon
Hotel in Connie Island.
00:13:21.14\00:13:23.14
So that he couldn't
witness against the mafia,
00:13:23.15\00:13:24.91
the godfather.
00:13:24.92\00:13:27.05
And as children growing up,
00:13:27.06\00:13:28.20
we knew the mafia
we knew the godfather.
00:13:28.21\00:13:30.27
We knew and we
respect we looked at them
00:13:30.28\00:13:32.33
and said wow I had
like to be like that.
00:13:32.34\00:13:35.69
Our model would not the models
00:13:35.70\00:13:37.36
that you may have in
your Christian church
00:13:37.37\00:13:38.99
or models that you
may have in your own home.
00:13:39.00\00:13:40.84
Not like us not
in our neighborhoods,
00:13:40.85\00:13:42.95
they were all models.
00:13:42.96\00:13:45.71
I was brought up in the tenement
00:13:45.72\00:13:47.20
Brooklyn Connie Island.
00:13:47.21\00:13:49.39
I can't describe it I mean,
00:13:49.40\00:13:50.91
in fact my tenement was so ugly
00:13:50.92\00:13:53.09
and so bad that
even in the ghetto
00:13:53.10\00:13:55.43
they put it behind all
the other tenements hidden,
00:13:55.44\00:13:58.73
they were ashamed of it.
00:13:58.74\00:14:00.63
When my dad and I
00:14:00.64\00:14:01.63
and family moved
first into they've not,
00:14:01.64\00:14:03.56
they've no
sheetrock on the walls.
00:14:03.57\00:14:06.18
My mamma kind of
hung up blankets,
00:14:06.19\00:14:08.70
so that they separate so
you had rooms from rooms.
00:14:08.71\00:14:13.04
And all the time I'm growing up,
00:14:13.05\00:14:14.18
I'm hating this. I
am blaming my parents.
00:14:14.19\00:14:19.57
I see everybody
else having things
00:14:19.58\00:14:21.02
and I have
nothing, and so I want
00:14:21.03\00:14:22.79
and I can't have and I'm told
00:14:22.80\00:14:24.50
that I can't have and
I don't understand that.
00:14:24.51\00:14:26.45
And I am
rebelling against my parents
00:14:26.46\00:14:28.41
and I blame my
parents for the poverty.
00:14:28.42\00:14:30.86
I blamed my
parents for all the things
00:14:30.87\00:14:32.83
that were happening and then I,
00:14:32.84\00:14:34.00
then I started
to blame my teachers
00:14:34.01\00:14:35.59
once I got in the school.
00:14:35.60\00:14:36.90
Blame the teachers
and blame my parents
00:14:36.91\00:14:38.79
and then I blamed the law
00:14:38.80\00:14:40.15
when I go get in
trouble and put away.
00:14:40.16\00:14:42.07
I kept blaming the law.
00:14:42.08\00:14:43.54
They were the
reason for where I was.
00:14:43.55\00:14:47.91
And the blink big blame augment.
00:14:47.92\00:14:52.16
Blaming everyone, but myself
00:14:52.17\00:14:55.50
and there I was
turning further away deeper
00:14:55.51\00:14:59.13
and deeper in the
darkness into that abyss.
00:14:59.14\00:15:03.59
The hatred grew in my heart.
00:15:03.60\00:15:06.67
I was what
sociologists called sadistic.
00:15:06.68\00:15:11.08
I got pleasure out of sticking
someone with a switchblade.
00:15:11.09\00:15:13.68
I got pleasure to
bring someone down
00:15:13.69\00:15:14.98
the brick wall
face down a brick wall
00:15:14.99\00:15:16.71
stomping him into the pavement.
00:15:16.72\00:15:18.35
I got pleasure at hurting.
00:15:18.36\00:15:23.40
Growing up in a neighborhood,
00:15:23.41\00:15:24.40
my dad was a
professional fighter.
00:15:24.41\00:15:26.38
He is a professional boxer.
00:15:26.39\00:15:27.47
He had nine fights
he won eight, drew one.
00:15:27.48\00:15:29.48
My mother said
quit the ring or else.
00:15:29.49\00:15:31.12
He had five boys.
00:15:31.13\00:15:32.58
Mamma said quit the ring
or else, so he quit the ring.
00:15:32.59\00:15:34.76
But like every father
who wants to be someone,
00:15:34.77\00:15:37.96
they get their children to
be someone, so my dad said.
00:15:37.97\00:15:40.97
One of my boys are
gonna be professional fighter.
00:15:40.98\00:15:43.06
Once gonna be a
light heavyweight
00:15:43.07\00:15:44.47
champion of the world.
00:15:44.48\00:15:45.47
And so since I
was born big and ugly,
00:15:45.48\00:15:50.72
my dad said you're
gonna be the fighter
00:15:50.73\00:15:52.46
and so as soon as
I could wear sneakers
00:15:52.47\00:15:55.37
and he had me running.
00:15:55.38\00:15:56.78
And we had a big bag down
in the tenement in the basement
00:15:56.79\00:15:59.42
and I hit the big
bag and hit the light bag
00:15:59.43\00:16:01.85
and my dad was training me.
00:16:01.86\00:16:03.72
I was to be light heavyweight
champion in the world
00:16:03.73\00:16:05.77
that became my consuming desire.
00:16:05.78\00:16:08.20
During those years in Brooklyn,
00:16:09.87\00:16:11.43
New York and
Manhattan, and the five boroughs
00:16:11.44\00:16:14.03
they had boxing
clubs all over the city.
00:16:14.04\00:16:16.01
And so I joined the
Ocean Avenue Boxing Club.
00:16:18.14\00:16:20.18
By the way great
fighters have come out of there.
00:16:20.19\00:16:22.46
Floyd Patterson
world heavyweight champion
00:16:22.47\00:16:24.78
came out of my boxing club
there in Brooklyn, New York.
00:16:24.79\00:16:29.47
Murray Glacier, one of
the great middleweights
00:16:29.48\00:16:31.02
came about of
the same boxing club.
00:16:31.03\00:16:33.08
And so I began to
train three hours a night,
00:16:33.09\00:16:35.51
five nights a week.
00:16:35.52\00:16:36.83
I started in
the P.V. Boxing Club
00:16:36.84\00:16:39.15
and then I went
further and further
00:16:39.16\00:16:40.92
and further into boxing.
00:16:40.93\00:16:41.95
And I was really
wanting to get into it,
00:16:41.96\00:16:43.69
and I want to really
make a name for myself.
00:16:43.70\00:16:46.61
I remember I
kept bugging my coach,
00:16:47.92\00:16:49.78
I got to get in the ring man.
00:16:49.79\00:16:50.78
I got to make
something, so I got a,
00:16:50.79\00:16:52.44
you know, I got to fight in.
00:16:52.45\00:16:54.43
You see the police thought
00:16:54.44\00:16:55.43
if you could only get
boxing clubs all over the city,
00:16:55.44\00:16:57.80
we could get the
kids in the boxing clubs,
00:16:57.81\00:16:59.30
and they stop
fighting in the streets.
00:16:59.31\00:17:01.99
Little did they know the
better you were in a ring,
00:17:02.00\00:17:03.84
the better you
were in the street.
00:17:03.85\00:17:07.46
So I was in Ocean
Avenue Boxing Club.
00:17:07.47\00:17:08.76
It wasn't a-- we
weren't a rich boxing club.
00:17:08.77\00:17:11.13
I mean, I remember
when I was a little kid
00:17:11.14\00:17:13.26
I was wanting to fight
00:17:13.27\00:17:15.02
and get my first
tournament fighting.
00:17:15.03\00:17:16.53
All the boxing clubs
would come once a year
00:17:16.54\00:17:19.28
to Coney Island
for the great arena
00:17:19.29\00:17:20.72
there in Coney Island
00:17:20.73\00:17:21.89
and they would fight to see
00:17:21.90\00:17:22.89
which boxing
club was the toughest
00:17:22.90\00:17:24.59
boxing club in New York.
00:17:24.60\00:17:27.62
And I was--by then I
was a light heavyweight.
00:17:27.63\00:17:29.34
I was under 16-years-old
00:17:29.35\00:17:32.14
when I first fought
my first amateur fight.
00:17:32.15\00:17:34.43
In fact I was too young to fight
00:17:34.44\00:17:36.61
in the golden gloves
my first amateur fight.
00:17:36.62\00:17:41.12
And I stepped into the ring,
00:17:41.13\00:17:42.17
I remember even now
I stepped in the ring.
00:17:42.18\00:17:44.69
And by the way my
ring name was get this.
00:17:44.70\00:17:47.05
New York News, New York Mirror,
00:17:47.06\00:17:48.59
New York Times called
me in the sports section
00:17:48.60\00:17:51.23
up and coming Killer Halvorsen.
00:17:51.24\00:17:53.98
That's hard to
believe this pretty face,
00:17:53.99\00:17:56.17
Killer Halvorsen.
00:17:58.07\00:18:00.13
I remember my
first tournament fight
00:18:00.14\00:18:03.00
and you know it
wasn't very rich boxing club.
00:18:03.01\00:18:04.94
We didn't have
this fancy boxing shoes
00:18:04.95\00:18:06.80
and boxing trunks and you know
00:18:06.81\00:18:08.72
I had kind of a bathing suit on.
00:18:08.73\00:18:10.66
We have one
mouthpiece in our boxing club.
00:18:10.67\00:18:17.15
Someone get
knocked out, they drew,
00:18:17.16\00:18:18.51
doom out and dipped in
alcohol and you're next.
00:18:18.52\00:18:22.44
I remember I stood
in a ring first time
00:18:22.45\00:18:24.20
and in that ring
00:18:24.21\00:18:25.70
and I was
fighting a boy from CYO,
00:18:25.71\00:18:27.40
the Catholic Youth Organization.
00:18:27.41\00:18:28.61
A wonderful
boxing club in New York.
00:18:28.62\00:18:30.45
And he got down in the corner,
00:18:30.46\00:18:31.69
he said a
little prayer you know,
00:18:31.70\00:18:33.16
I knew he had
something going for him
00:18:33.17\00:18:34.61
than I had going for me,
00:18:34.62\00:18:35.76
because I didn't believe in God.
00:18:35.77\00:18:38.97
And the bell rang and I came out
00:18:38.98\00:18:40.57
and here I'm growing up
in the Brooklyn streets.
00:18:40.58\00:18:42.84
I had not thought for God,
I had no thought for anyone.
00:18:42.85\00:18:45.29
I have no
thought for any person.
00:18:45.30\00:18:46.96
I just want to hurt
00:18:46.97\00:18:49.65
and I come out the first round,
00:18:49.66\00:18:51.44
I felt like Paul
the apostle fight.
00:18:51.45\00:18:53.44
You ever read
about him in the Bible,
00:18:53.45\00:18:54.68
he says he beat at the air.
00:18:54.69\00:18:57.65
Well, that's what I fought,
00:18:57.66\00:18:58.65
because here I
was beating the air,
00:18:58.66\00:19:01.80
he was beating up on my head.
00:19:01.81\00:19:04.35
Finally the bell rang
00:19:04.36\00:19:05.35
and I found my way
to the corner sat on,
00:19:05.36\00:19:07.14
my manager he was
a great optimistic,
00:19:07.15\00:19:08.55
he looked and he said,
hey man you're doing great.
00:19:08.56\00:19:11.87
I said no, you're
looking at the wrong man
00:19:11.88\00:19:14.21
he is in the purple trunks.
00:19:14.22\00:19:16.34
He is looking
great, I am looking bad.
00:19:16.35\00:19:19.71
By then my eyes swollen up
00:19:19.72\00:19:21.00
and I'm hurting in
places I didn't even know I had.
00:19:21.01\00:19:24.87
Second round I
went out and I'm looking
00:19:24.88\00:19:26.38
and I'm fighting like
Paul the apostle fighting.
00:19:26.39\00:19:28.23
He hit me with
the left, left hooker,
00:19:28.24\00:19:30.51
doesn't matter when
you're hit you're hit.
00:19:30.52\00:19:32.35
I mean, one leg goes
one way the other way
00:19:32.36\00:19:34.99
and you're going the other way
00:19:35.00\00:19:36.41
and everything is turning around
00:19:36.42\00:19:38.02
and I'm flat on my
back, Killer Halvorsen.
00:19:38.03\00:19:41.65
Then this guy one.
00:19:41.66\00:19:46.40
You know you talk
about the fast count,
00:19:46.41\00:19:47.94
I never had a fast count.
00:19:47.95\00:19:50.96
Two almost as long as
Brother Philips holds his nose.
00:19:50.97\00:19:57.52
Whooo. I ran out of breathe
00:19:57.53\00:20:00.49
almost fainted
back in the back stage.
00:20:00.50\00:20:05.51
So here I'm Killer
Halvorsen, nine bell rang.
00:20:05.52\00:20:10.49
Now in those days they called it
00:20:10.50\00:20:11.80
saved by the bell.
00:20:11.81\00:20:14.27
I didn't want to
get saved, believe me.
00:20:14.28\00:20:16.37
I mean I want to get home
00:20:16.38\00:20:18.54
but they lifted me
up brought me to corner
00:20:18.55\00:20:20.91
took out the smelling
salts, waved it under my nose
00:20:20.92\00:20:23.32
and then he asked
the dump questions.
00:20:23.33\00:20:24.95
How many fingers on my hand.
00:20:24.96\00:20:26.32
Guy I had ten
fingers on one hand.
00:20:26.33\00:20:31.67
I remember he said this.
00:20:31.68\00:20:34.92
He said, you want me
to throw in the towel.
00:20:34.93\00:20:38.17
You know what that means.
00:20:38.18\00:20:40.96
You want to give up.
00:20:40.97\00:20:42.49
Hey I said no man,
I'm bleeding in my mouth.
00:20:42.50\00:20:44.90
I said no man, I've taken
enough punishment from him.
00:20:44.91\00:20:47.43
I'm not gonna give up,
don't throw in the towel.
00:20:47.44\00:20:49.47
Went out the third round
knocked him through the ropes.
00:20:49.48\00:20:51.96
I became a light
heavyweight champion
00:20:51.97\00:20:53.75
in the city of
New York, 1952, 1953.
00:20:53.76\00:20:57.03
I knocked out the
Eastern Golden Glove Champion.
00:20:57.04\00:20:58.90
I was 15-years-old.
00:20:58.91\00:20:59.95
I couldn't fight
the Golden Gloves
00:20:59.96\00:21:01.04
he was 27-years-old because
you fight by weight not by age.
00:21:01.05\00:21:07.24
And everywhere you
would read in a sports page
00:21:07.25\00:21:09.17
in that day Ron
Halvorsen, Killer Halvorsen.
00:21:09.18\00:21:12.50
And so I'm making a
name for myself in the ring.
00:21:12.51\00:21:14.56
And I'm making a name
for myself in the street,
00:21:14.57\00:21:16.53
but you see a person,
00:21:16.54\00:21:17.84
but you know I
learned a lesson there.
00:21:17.85\00:21:19.52
And I tell young
people wherever I go.
00:21:19.53\00:21:21.27
You know,
sometimes you're knock down.
00:21:21.28\00:21:22.74
Satan knocks you down
and I mean you're flat out,
00:21:22.75\00:21:25.28
you think well, I
might as well give up.
00:21:25.29\00:21:26.61
What's use being a Christian
00:21:26.62\00:21:28.28
and then the manager
comes through the ropes
00:21:28.29\00:21:29.83
lifts you up, that's Christ.
00:21:29.84\00:21:31.21
He puts you in the corner
00:21:31.22\00:21:32.21
takes out the
smelling salts, that's grace.
00:21:32.22\00:21:34.27
And he revives you. I
tell you never give up.
00:21:34.28\00:21:38.10
Could you say
amen, I don't know,
00:21:38.11\00:21:39.97
you're strange to me yeah.
00:21:39.98\00:21:41.16
So you say out amen.
00:21:41.17\00:21:42.25
I mean never give up.
00:21:42.26\00:21:44.93
You may be in hell today,
00:21:44.94\00:21:46.30
but you can be
in heaven tomorrow.
00:21:46.31\00:21:47.72
Hey, listen to me,
you may be down today,
00:21:47.73\00:21:49.96
but you can be up tomorrow,
00:21:49.97\00:21:51.18
because His grace is
sufficient for a soul.
00:21:51.19\00:21:53.33
He sang about that tonight.
00:21:53.34\00:21:58.09
There I was Killer
Halvorsen in the ring
00:21:58.10\00:21:59.59
made my name in hour
00:21:59.60\00:22:00.75
but a person that had really
achieved in my neighborhood,
00:22:00.76\00:22:02.76
they will become a
member of the gang.
00:22:02.77\00:22:05.36
Now I'm not talking
about a bunch of boys
00:22:05.37\00:22:06.72
staying out at street
corners looking for trouble.
00:22:06.73\00:22:08.71
They were
organized gangs in New York.
00:22:08.72\00:22:12.63
They were over
200 fighting gangs.
00:22:12.64\00:22:15.97
Upwards to 400
fighting members in one gang.
00:22:15.98\00:22:20.40
They were organized,
they had a president,
00:22:20.41\00:22:22.01
vice president, light up man,
00:22:22.02\00:22:23.25
he took care of the weapons.
00:22:23.26\00:22:26.02
There was council of war
00:22:26.03\00:22:27.14
and there was the council of war
00:22:27.15\00:22:28.70
and there was a
treasure of the gang.
00:22:28.71\00:22:30.37
And every time you would
go against the other gang
00:22:30.38\00:22:33.72
the council of war
and the weaponry expert,
00:22:33.73\00:22:37.52
they would go and they would
set the rules for the rumble.
00:22:37.53\00:22:42.39
And so being Killer Halvorsen
00:22:42.40\00:22:43.54
and hating law and hating myself
00:22:43.55\00:22:45.86
and hating my parents
and hating everything.
00:22:45.87\00:22:48.56
Man I wanted to show that hate.
00:22:48.57\00:22:49.86
I wanted to bring
that hate out and violence.
00:22:49.87\00:22:51.45
I want to be cool man.
I want to be in the gang.
00:22:51.46\00:22:57.00
Now you don't
just join the gang.
00:22:57.01\00:22:59.30
You're initiated into the gang.
00:22:59.31\00:23:01.59
And since we lived on
the beaches at Coney Island,
00:23:01.60\00:23:03.84
they took me
down the Coney Island
00:23:03.85\00:23:05.40
ripped off my t-shirt
rolled me in the saltwater
00:23:05.41\00:23:07.48
in the sand tied me to a piling
00:23:07.49\00:23:09.03
took out the big
garrison belt with the buckle.
00:23:09.04\00:23:11.29
And was whipping me
00:23:11.30\00:23:12.36
and there was a
soldier on one side.
00:23:12.37\00:23:13.70
They called them soldiers
00:23:13.71\00:23:14.76
on the other side
with switchblade out,
00:23:14.77\00:23:16.38
if you cried they'd
come up under your arm pit
00:23:16.39\00:23:18.52
or they carve a seal on
your forehead, in your back.
00:23:18.53\00:23:21.29
And so I was
beaten in the submission,
00:23:23.57\00:23:24.97
I would not cry out.
00:23:24.98\00:23:26.90
And I was initiated
into the Beachcombers.
00:23:26.91\00:23:28.66
By the way there were many gangs
00:23:28.67\00:23:31.02
there in Brooklyn New York,
00:23:31.03\00:23:32.29
the Mau Maus, the
Bishops the Swords,
00:23:32.30\00:23:33.91
the Gay Blades.
00:23:33.92\00:23:35.90
There was the gang
called the Chaplains.
00:23:35.91\00:23:37.39
They were 800 strong,
00:23:37.40\00:23:39.14
the largest gang in the city.
00:23:39.15\00:23:40.60
And don't let
Chaplains fool you.
00:23:40.61\00:23:42.31
They were notorious.
00:23:42.32\00:23:44.55
But I was
initiated in Beachcombers.
00:23:44.56\00:23:46.66
And by the way every
gang flew its colors up
00:23:46.67\00:23:48.87
what they called
flying their colors
00:23:48.88\00:23:50.28
in black
leather jacket and skull
00:23:50.29\00:23:52.11
in blood
dripping over the skull.
00:23:52.12\00:23:53.89
And it read letters Beachcombers
00:23:56.87\00:23:58.40
and I was brought in
00:23:58.41\00:23:59.40
as a soldier
into the Beachcombers.
00:23:59.41\00:24:00.75
And I fought my way
up, I began vice president.
00:24:00.76\00:24:05.00
I was vice president for
one of the most notorious gangs
00:24:05.01\00:24:06.97
in the city of New York.
00:24:06.98\00:24:09.90
We saw the Mau Maus
coming, we fought the Mau Maus,
00:24:09.91\00:24:12.02
they buried them in
the sands of Coney Island.
00:24:12.03\00:24:15.71
I can't describe for you
00:24:15.72\00:24:16.75
when 400 guys go to
war in a great open lot,
00:24:16.76\00:24:20.24
or come together
in an athletic field.
00:24:20.25\00:24:22.45
And they come together
with baseball bat steel
00:24:22.46\00:24:24.58
filled with led
with steel led blades
00:24:24.59\00:24:26.37
pushbutton blade
come out go through
00:24:26.38\00:24:27.83
three quarter inch
of piece of plywood.
00:24:27.84\00:24:29.81
I made my first zip gun
when I was 14-years-old.
00:24:29.82\00:24:33.15
I was breaking
entering by the time I was 15.
00:24:33.16\00:24:35.52
I was stealing cars,
00:24:35.53\00:24:36.76
ripping off cars
by the time I was 15.
00:24:36.77\00:24:39.13
I committed almost every crime
00:24:39.14\00:24:40.51
except rape and
murder by the time I was 16.
00:24:40.52\00:24:47.19
And I was now vice
president of the Beachcombers.
00:24:47.20\00:24:49.47
We went to
rumble, we went to war.
00:24:49.48\00:24:51.20
And my best friend
one night in the rumble
00:24:51.21\00:24:52.91
he has his head
blown off his shoulders,
00:24:52.92\00:24:54.81
he died in the pool of
blood with the shot of shotgun.
00:24:54.82\00:24:57.57
And I was running away,
00:24:57.58\00:24:58.57
I said Johnny, it was good
knowing to Johnny he's gone.
00:24:58.58\00:25:00.94
He's blown away, he's no more.
00:25:00.95\00:25:04.07
They found my friends in
trunks with eyes blown out.
00:25:04.08\00:25:07.51
They crossed the other
gang and when the Mau Maus came,
00:25:07.52\00:25:10.48
you saw them with their blazers,
00:25:10.49\00:25:13.42
athletic blazer or red blazer
00:25:13.43\00:25:15.05
and they're on the back
2 m's in gold the Mau Maus.
00:25:15.06\00:25:17.60
And they carried a cane
and they pull apart the cane
00:25:17.61\00:25:19.96
there was eighteen inch blade.
00:25:19.97\00:25:21.14
So every time we saw a Mau Maus,
00:25:21.15\00:25:22.47
he lifted his
cane we smashed him,
00:25:22.48\00:25:23.97
struck him, struck
him, struck him on his head,
00:25:23.98\00:25:27.01
pushed them into the street.
00:25:27.02\00:25:28.55
Seeing young boys with
their stomach slit open
00:25:30.34\00:25:32.33
crying for their
mothers in the Brooklyn Street.
00:25:32.34\00:25:34.30
Seeing young boys,
their eyes shut out,
00:25:34.31\00:25:36.23
listen to me, slit open
and their stomach slit open
00:25:36.24\00:25:39.74
feeling a
switchblade in your back
00:25:39.75\00:25:41.08
as I did one night
there in the Brooklyn street.
00:25:41.09\00:25:43.50
There was no hope
from there I was lost.
00:25:43.51\00:25:45.86
With every
scar, with every hate,
00:25:50.79\00:25:52.70
with every fight, I
became more hateful.
00:25:52.71\00:25:55.19
I went through a
high school by the way
00:25:57.13\00:25:59.25
they wrote the book
called "The Blackboard Jungle"
00:25:59.26\00:26:01.39
that's a school I
went to, it was a jungle
00:26:01.40\00:26:02.88
went up the
upside up down staircase
00:26:02.89\00:26:05.93
and you will find young men
00:26:05.94\00:26:07.25
with switchblades
stuck in their stomach,
00:26:07.26\00:26:08.74
someone robbed them
for their cookie money.
00:26:08.75\00:26:10.83
Well they stay overdose.
00:26:10.84\00:26:12.04
By the way there's no
honor among drug addicts.
00:26:12.05\00:26:14.41
They're overdosing
and they take him up
00:26:14.42\00:26:16.11
on the roof of the school.
00:26:16.12\00:26:17.21
And they take his, the
best clothes they could get,
00:26:17.22\00:26:19.42
so they could sell it,
00:26:19.43\00:26:20.43
and throw his
body off into the yard.
00:26:20.44\00:26:24.61
On every card of that
school, the Blackboard Jungle,
00:26:28.03\00:26:30.58
William E Grady
Vocational High School,
00:26:30.59\00:26:32.26
Brooklyn, New York.
00:26:32.27\00:26:33.30
Every corner there
was policemen stationed.
00:26:33.31\00:26:35.95
We went on strike
for a minimal for lunch.
00:26:35.96\00:26:38.87
Thousand boys would go
out stand stomping around.
00:26:38.88\00:26:41.77
When I played
basketball for William E Grady
00:26:41.78\00:26:43.90
and the other teams came in,
00:26:43.91\00:26:45.30
their cheerleaders came
in the whole 60th Precinct
00:26:45.31\00:26:49.24
would be
standing in a row blocking
00:26:49.25\00:26:52.73
the
cheerleaders to protect them.
00:26:52.74\00:26:55.48
One day the first day
at school in high school
00:26:55.49\00:26:57.19
I took the teacher on
the fifth floor hung him out
00:26:57.20\00:26:59.83
from the
window, the fifth floor.
00:26:59.84\00:27:01.36
His head towards the concrete
00:27:01.37\00:27:02.74
I said we gonna have
no homework this year.
00:27:02.75\00:27:04.83
And we had no homework.
00:27:04.84\00:27:06.61
I was 17-years-old and
I couldn't read or write,
00:27:11.46\00:27:13.93
I was going through high school.
00:27:13.94\00:27:18.14
But God began to
move in my neighborhood
00:27:18.15\00:27:21.84
and there was Beachcomber
fighting the Mau Maus,
00:27:21.85\00:27:24.40
and the Swords and the Bishops.
00:27:24.41\00:27:27.05
Losing my friends to prison,
00:27:27.06\00:27:28.41
losing my friends to the street.
00:27:28.42\00:27:31.11
Losing my friends to drugs.
00:27:31.12\00:27:34.27
And here is Ron Halvorsen,
00:27:34.28\00:27:37.54
he is lost, hopeless.
00:27:37.55\00:27:41.12
My mother had given up on me,
00:27:41.13\00:27:42.31
I mean the teachers had given up
00:27:42.32\00:27:44.20
and the cops had given up on me.
00:27:44.21\00:27:46.47
I mean all they wanted to do
is lock me up, get rid of me.
00:27:46.48\00:27:51.92
I remember one day, my mother
called in the principal's office
00:27:51.93\00:27:54.29
and I came in, and
there was black leather jacket
00:27:54.30\00:27:56.07
skull blood,
switchblade in my pocket.
00:27:56.08\00:27:58.83
And he said Mrs.
Halvorsen, your boy's a bump.
00:28:01.78\00:28:03.70
He's no good, he'd
never amount to anything.
00:28:03.71\00:28:07.22
And on the way
home my mother cried.
00:28:07.23\00:28:08.95
She said "Ronnie, I don't know
what I am gonna do with you."
00:28:08.96\00:28:11.00
And I didn't know anything then
00:28:11.01\00:28:12.45
I said "Well mom, just don't
worry about it, man. Be cool."
00:28:12.46\00:28:17.12
Hey, listen to me, my
mother couldn't help me.
00:28:17.13\00:28:19.89
The law couldn't help me.
The teachers couldn't help me.
00:28:19.90\00:28:23.64
Only Jesus Christ could
help me, but I didn't know that.
00:28:23.65\00:28:27.23
God began to move
in my neighborhood,
00:28:27.24\00:28:28.90
His spirit moved
in my neighborhood.
00:28:28.91\00:28:32.00
One young teenage boy
was converted to Christ.
00:28:32.01\00:28:36.65
He received Christ into his
life personally, as a Savior.
00:28:36.66\00:28:41.31
And right away
when he received Christ,
00:28:41.32\00:28:42.81
he wanted to share Christ.
00:28:42.82\00:28:44.19
He wanted to tell
others about Christ.
00:28:44.20\00:28:45.71
Have you met people
like that? Are you like that?
00:28:45.72\00:28:49.22
You can't help it to tell
others about Jesus Christ.
00:28:49.23\00:28:51.66
And so I remember he
had a Bible in his hand
00:28:51.67\00:28:54.23
and there I was standing in
street corner looking cool man.
00:28:54.24\00:28:56.80
You think the finals was cool,
he wasn't cool, I was cool.
00:28:56.81\00:29:02.24
And he came up says "Hey, Ron."
00:29:02.25\00:29:05.09
I said to him, "Hey
man, we gonna steal this car.
00:29:05.10\00:29:07.31
Why don't you come we gonna
for joyride down Bell Parkway.
00:29:07.32\00:29:09.85
We're gonna up into
the Bishop's clubhouse.
00:29:09.86\00:29:12.97
We gonna throw a fire bomb
00:29:12.98\00:29:14.32
and hey man, we gonna have fun."
00:29:14.33\00:29:16.86
He looked at me strange,
00:29:16.87\00:29:17.98
he says, "No, I
am a Christian now."
00:29:17.99\00:29:19.99
I laughed at him.
00:29:20.00\00:29:21.58
I said you?
Remember last week, you know,
00:29:21.59\00:29:26.14
it's wonderful to know tonight
that God forgets last week.
00:29:26.15\00:29:31.18
You know God has
a shortest memory
00:29:31.19\00:29:34.63
when it comes to our sin.
00:29:34.64\00:29:37.30
And the longest memory
when it comes to our need.
00:29:37.31\00:29:44.89
And I said, man, I
don't believe in God,
00:29:44.90\00:29:47.90
I mean religion
is for old people.
00:29:47.91\00:29:50.52
You have one foot in the casket,
00:29:50.53\00:29:52.26
the other on the banana peel,
00:29:52.27\00:29:53.68
that's when you get religion.
But I wanna live it up,
00:29:53.69\00:29:56.95
forgetting someday I
have to live it down.
00:29:56.96\00:29:59.26
I played hooky. I don't know
if they call it hooky out here,
00:30:02.00\00:30:04.75
that's when you're
supposed to be in school or not.
00:30:04.76\00:30:06.09
I played hooky so much I
had my own trune officer.
00:30:06.10\00:30:10.11
My mother spent more time
in high school than I did.
00:30:10.12\00:30:14.88
And one day I was playing hooky,
00:30:14.89\00:30:16.00
I was going down the path,
00:30:16.01\00:30:17.51
I got as close to
the front door school
00:30:17.52\00:30:19.26
and I turned around started back
00:30:19.27\00:30:20.49
and I noticed a
friend of mine Richard Kelly,
00:30:20.50\00:30:24.02
just coming down the
street towards school.
00:30:24.03\00:30:25.72
I said, "Hey, Rich,
where have you been?"
00:30:25.73\00:30:27.07
He was up at reform
school just got out.
00:30:27.08\00:30:29.92
He's breathing the fresh air.
00:30:29.93\00:30:31.35
It's fresh in Brooklyn
when you've been in from school.
00:30:31.36\00:30:35.19
So he says, hey,
man I'm going to school.
00:30:35.20\00:30:36.36
I said you don't wanna
go to school same teachers.
00:30:36.37\00:30:39.85
I said let's play hooky.
00:30:39.86\00:30:41.49
He said no man. He says,
they catch me, I'm in trouble.
00:30:41.50\00:30:44.36
They know where we
go into the board walk
00:30:44.37\00:30:45.94
we go down shoot dice.
We go down the pool hall.
00:30:45.95\00:30:48.50
I mean and just then I
thought about this Christian
00:30:48.51\00:30:51.16
who was sharing faith and
trying to witness for Christ
00:30:51.17\00:30:53.29
because you see this
young man left the high school.
00:30:53.30\00:30:56.05
He went out to
a Christian school
00:30:56.06\00:30:57.41
and he was going to
Christian high school in Queens
00:30:57.42\00:31:00.17
and I thought about him.
00:31:00.18\00:31:02.26
And I said hey man,
we used to call him,
00:31:02.27\00:31:04.26
we used to call him Isaiah.
00:31:04.27\00:31:07.20
I used to laugh at that little
00:31:07.21\00:31:08.60
did I know when I got converted
they called me Jeremiah.
00:31:08.61\00:31:13.74
And whether we
say I said remember
00:31:13.75\00:31:15.09
Isaiah, he said yeah, man.
00:31:15.10\00:31:16.49
I said lets' go out to that
school the Christian school.
00:31:16.50\00:31:18.68
Who will look for you
and me? Richard Kelly,
00:31:18.69\00:31:20.51
who would look for you
and me in a Christian school?
00:31:20.52\00:31:22.37
And that was
logic even for Richard.
00:31:22.38\00:31:24.42
Now in Brooklyn, New York,
00:31:24.43\00:31:25.79
the subway becomes an elevated
train in lower Brooklyn.
00:31:25.80\00:31:30.95
And what we used to do,
00:31:30.96\00:31:32.10
we used to kind of
climb up over the stairs
00:31:32.11\00:31:33.57
and run up over the
third rail jump over the tracks
00:31:33.58\00:31:35.91
you couldn't hit
third rail you fly
00:31:35.92\00:31:37.33
you run between a
train you get crushed
00:31:37.34\00:31:38.85
and save fifteen
cents in those days token.
00:31:38.86\00:31:42.86
And then I got to
this Christian school
00:31:42.87\00:31:44.27
can you imagine,
Richard, just at reform school
00:31:44.28\00:31:45.97
there I was
black leather jackets
00:31:45.98\00:31:47.33
skull blood dripping,
scars on my hands, in my heart.
00:31:47.34\00:31:54.49
And I walk into the
school looking cool.
00:31:54.50\00:32:00.23
And it seems so quite
man, I wasn't used to a school,
00:32:00.24\00:32:02.74
I mean I'm telling
this school was bad.
00:32:02.75\00:32:06.10
I mean they will be shooting out
00:32:06.11\00:32:07.24
with the cops from the rooftops.
00:32:07.25\00:32:09.80
I mean that school,
00:32:09.81\00:32:11.04
all of sudden, the
police would surround the class
00:32:11.05\00:32:12.78
and come in drag someone off,
00:32:12.79\00:32:14.45
wouldn't see him
six months or year.
00:32:14.46\00:32:17.41
Overdosing and dying on
a hallways of the school
00:32:17.42\00:32:21.34
and this was my
school and now I come in here
00:32:21.35\00:32:23.02
it's quite say, hey,
I turned to my friend
00:32:23.03\00:32:24.44
I laughed I said this can't
be a school this is a morgue.
00:32:24.45\00:32:27.38
It's too quite.
00:32:27.39\00:32:29.34
Just then a woman
teacher came down the center
00:32:29.35\00:32:31.26
and she says, "Can I help you!
00:32:31.27\00:32:34.48
You're having trouble
with kids in neighborhood?"
00:32:34.49\00:32:36.45
I said yeah, man.
00:32:36.46\00:32:37.89
Now we knew the
difference, but that was cool.
00:32:37.90\00:32:40.96
I said yeah man, we're looking
for Isaiah, I mean Jim Landers.
00:32:40.97\00:32:45.78
He go to school here. She
said, "Yes, he's up in chapel."
00:32:45.79\00:32:47.67
I've never been in
the chapel in my life,
00:32:47.68\00:32:50.38
or what a chapel was.
I looked at her strange
00:32:50.39\00:32:52.92
She says, "Well that's
like assembly in public school."
00:32:52.93\00:32:55.27
But in a Christian
school they call it chapel.
00:32:55.28\00:32:57.40
So she said would
you like to go up?
00:32:57.41\00:32:58.78
I said yeah, don't wanna go out.
00:32:58.79\00:33:03.13
As I put my hand on
the door to a chapel.
00:33:03.14\00:33:05.59
Listen to this,
never before in a chapel.
00:33:05.60\00:33:07.47
I mean here I hate
God if there was a God.
00:33:07.48\00:33:12.94
And she said this, I'll never
forget, I even remember now.
00:33:12.95\00:33:16.39
She said, oh, by the
way it's week of prayer.
00:33:16.40\00:33:20.25
I mean I broke out I
just I mean I collapsed.
00:33:20.26\00:33:24.25
I laughed, I mean
I turned to my friend
00:33:24.26\00:33:25.94
I said, Richard, man,
I can't pray ten seconds.
00:33:25.95\00:33:27.81
How will they
pray for a whole week?
00:33:27.82\00:33:32.62
And that was my
first encounter with God.
00:33:32.63\00:33:36.11
I went to this chapel and sat
in the last row in last seat.
00:33:36.12\00:33:39.71
Black leather
jacket looking cool man.
00:33:39.72\00:33:41.76
Blood dripping over
the skull, Beachcombers.
00:33:41.77\00:33:47.73
Ron Halvorsen.
00:33:47.74\00:33:49.94
Light heavyweight champion
in the city of New York.
00:33:49.95\00:33:51.59
Ron Halvorsen, vice
president of the Beachcombers,
00:33:51.60\00:33:53.62
Ron Halvorsen,
lived with a switchblade.
00:33:53.63\00:33:55.63
Lived by the order of the gun.
00:33:55.64\00:33:58.97
And there is a preacher
upfront talking about God.
00:33:58.98\00:34:01.28
So I kind of slipped
my seat forgot, you know,
00:34:04.23\00:34:06.28
I mean looking cool,
looking at the chicks.
00:34:06.29\00:34:12.29
Hey, don't ever slide down
in your seat when I am here.
00:34:12.30\00:34:15.27
I will send the Holy
Spirit after you, you hear me.
00:34:15.28\00:34:18.60
Yeah, I'll send the
Holy Spirit after you.
00:34:18.61\00:34:20.88
I kind of slide down in this
preach, I didn't hear a word.
00:34:20.89\00:34:23.60
That afternoon we stole a boat.
00:34:23.61\00:34:27.16
My brother and I, my
friend we want to go fishing,
00:34:27.17\00:34:29.13
I love fishing even now.
00:34:29.14\00:34:30.91
My wife every time I come home
from fishing, says catch any?
00:34:30.92\00:34:33.31
I said no honey I went fishing,
catching is another sport.
00:34:33.32\00:34:38.80
But I stole this
boat and my brother
00:34:38.81\00:34:41.42
and my friend, we rode
out in the Gravesend Bay.
00:34:41.43\00:34:43.61
If you ever go to
Brooklyn, New York
00:34:43.62\00:34:44.72
and you come from Jersey.
00:34:44.73\00:34:46.04
You come on over
the Stat mountain,
00:34:46.05\00:34:47.44
go over the Verizontal Bridge,
00:34:47.45\00:34:48.50
you go through
right that's Coney Island.
00:34:48.51\00:34:50.21
Now they have big tall,
00:34:50.22\00:34:51.45
they have these big
tall apartment buildings.
00:34:51.46\00:34:53.63
It was old tenement
buildings when I grew up
00:34:53.64\00:34:55.64
and I mean that's Coney Island
00:34:55.65\00:34:57.40
and one time it was an
island, now it's a peninsula,
00:34:57.41\00:34:59.77
it kind of covered up in.
00:34:59.78\00:35:01.61
But we stole a boat, we rode
out--they call Gravesend Bay,
00:35:01.62\00:35:04.84
and that's where East
river and Hudson River
00:35:04.85\00:35:06.58
come together narrows and
in rush out along the beach
00:35:06.59\00:35:09.19
and then out into
the Atlantic Ocean.
00:35:09.20\00:35:11.19
We're out their
fishing, and the storm came up,
00:35:11.20\00:35:13.07
and by the way the
storm was getting fearsome.
00:35:13.08\00:35:15.33
My brother said, hey, man
you row in. Lets get going.
00:35:15.34\00:35:17.72
The water is
coming over the boat.
00:35:17.73\00:35:19.16
No, no first you see,
you bail and I would row.
00:35:19.17\00:35:21.77
I said okay, man, you
row and I will bail in.
00:35:21.78\00:35:24.35
So I took off my motorcycle boot
00:35:24.36\00:35:25.84
I am trying to get
the water out of the boat.
00:35:25.85\00:35:27.26
The boat is filling up.
00:35:27.27\00:35:28.33
Hey, by the way there's
no atheist in sinking boats.
00:35:28.34\00:35:33.05
Do you hear me?
Baling this boat out,
00:35:33.06\00:35:38.57
and the water is coming
over faster in the boat.
00:35:38.58\00:35:41.08
Hey, man,
00:35:41.09\00:35:42.11
and then my brother
says, hey, you're not baling.
00:35:42.12\00:35:43.54
I said, yeah I'm baling,
you bail in, I will row in.
00:35:43.55\00:35:46.36
Then the tide changed, two
feet forward six feet back.
00:35:46.37\00:35:49.92
Prayed my first
prayer in a stolen boat
00:35:52.13\00:35:54.49
in Brooklyn, New York.
00:35:54.50\00:35:56.81
By the way you don't
have to be good to pray.
00:35:56.82\00:35:58.50
If that's the
case no one would pray.
00:35:58.51\00:36:01.54
Now some of you
think you're good,
00:36:01.55\00:36:02.78
but I mean--
00:36:02.79\00:36:07.59
I fell on my
knees and I said God.
00:36:07.60\00:36:10.46
Yeah, interesting I
didn't believe in God
00:36:10.47\00:36:11.86
till that moment.
00:36:11.87\00:36:12.94
God, get me in
and I will be good.
00:36:12.95\00:36:17.92
Yeah, yeah, come on,
00:36:17.93\00:36:23.98
get me in and I will be good.
00:36:23.99\00:36:31.47
You know, God hears
the prayers of bad people.
00:36:31.48\00:36:38.46
God hears the prayers
of down and out people.
00:36:38.47\00:36:43.39
God hears their prayers.
00:36:43.40\00:36:44.90
There was a rift in the cloud,
have you ever been in a storm
00:36:44.91\00:36:46.74
and kind of the
clouds are rift apart
00:36:46.75\00:36:48.84
and sun comes
through right on that boat.
00:36:48.85\00:36:50.74
Listen, I don't
know why you're here
00:36:50.75\00:36:52.51
but I know why I am here.
00:36:52.52\00:36:55.85
A speedboat is coming
by hooked up took us in
00:36:55.86\00:36:58.68
I got my feet on the
ground I forgot to pray.
00:36:58.69\00:37:00.97
Have you ever done that?
00:37:00.98\00:37:03.14
Come on, have
you ever done that?
00:37:03.15\00:37:05.49
Doctor comes in
serious, it looks bad.
00:37:05.50\00:37:08.78
Oh, Lord, I'll be good,
please heal me get me well
00:37:08.79\00:37:11.40
I will be-- Hey come on,
00:37:11.41\00:37:14.22
hey you, the
Lord's almost on your case
00:37:14.23\00:37:16.37
and you said oh, God get me
out of this and I will be good
00:37:16.38\00:37:18.95
I will turn a leaf on. Come
on now, God understands that.
00:37:18.96\00:37:24.48
Next day, I played hooky.
I went out to this chapel.
00:37:24.49\00:37:28.79
Preacher was
there talking about God.
00:37:28.80\00:37:31.46
God, I didn't believe
in. God, I didn't believe in.
00:37:31.47\00:37:35.91
That evening we were
gonna have a block party.
00:37:35.92\00:37:37.69
Hey man, we used to have
great block parties in Brooklyn.
00:37:37.70\00:37:40.21
What we do we
take the ash barrels
00:37:40.22\00:37:41.77
and would put it
across the road here,
00:37:41.78\00:37:43.40
so the street here. So,
no cars could come in there.
00:37:43.41\00:37:45.68
Then we put it off
this corner of the street.
00:37:45.69\00:37:48.09
Cars couldn't come in here.
00:37:48.10\00:37:49.28
We get the ghetto
blaster to blast in away
00:37:49.29\00:37:51.42
and then we have cool party.
00:37:51.43\00:37:52.48
I mean chicks would be there.
00:37:52.49\00:37:53.73
You know rock n
roll. I use to rock n roll.
00:37:53.74\00:37:57.27
I mean, all the chick,
00:37:57.28\00:38:01.75
I mean we're
gonna have a good party.
00:38:01.76\00:38:02.98
And the president of
gang, listen the president.
00:38:02.99\00:38:05.00
You see, the president of gang,
00:38:05.01\00:38:06.31
he would give us
a slip of paper say.
00:38:06.32\00:38:07.77
This is what you're
going to bring to the party.
00:38:07.78\00:38:10.28
I had no money, I was
taking all those things around
00:38:10.29\00:38:12.73
good for you now but
be good for you in heaven.
00:38:12.74\00:38:14.52
Eclairs, Lemon Meringue pies,
I mean cakes, pies, pastries.
00:38:14.53\00:38:20.29
And so I broke in the
Brighton Beach Bakery,
00:38:20.30\00:38:24.23
Second Street, Neptune
Avenue and I got a white pie.
00:38:24.24\00:38:28.77
You know those boxes,
bakery boxes in New York
00:38:28.78\00:38:30.71
you know, they kind of
put over these cream pestle,
00:38:30.72\00:38:32.49
this good thing.
Hey, someone said,
00:38:32.50\00:38:34.25
hey, you can have an
apple tree in heaven.
00:38:34.26\00:38:36.04
I am gonna have a éclair tree.
00:38:36.05\00:38:40.96
I am going to
have a éclair tree.
00:38:40.97\00:38:43.25
But anyway I break in, I
fill up all these boxes man,
00:38:43.26\00:38:47.36
we gonna have a
great party tonight.
00:38:47.37\00:38:48.55
And if I go out the backdoor
I go out the front door,
00:38:48.56\00:38:50.74
so I breakout the front door.
00:38:50.75\00:38:52.20
I get out on Neptune
Avenue Second Street Brighton.
00:38:52.21\00:38:54.86
And all of sudden a
police car 60th Precinct,
00:38:54.87\00:38:58.28
six blocks up comes
around on the avenue
00:38:58.29\00:39:00.48
and there I am and right away
you see we're all theological.
00:39:00.49\00:39:05.50
We're all theological.
We're all spiritual.
00:39:05.51\00:39:09.97
I dropped the
creampuffs and started to run.
00:39:09.98\00:39:14.27
Come on, that's in
your nature, isn't it?
00:39:14.28\00:39:16.31
Come on, you're
cool with the boys, man.
00:39:16.32\00:39:19.98
Shove it down, you
know, get rid of it.
00:39:19.99\00:39:23.25
In your car, all of
a sudden lights go on
00:39:23.26\00:39:25.27
and you got
something in that car,
00:39:25.28\00:39:26.30
you don't want, hey, come on.
00:39:26.31\00:39:29.22
I know what the fear is.
00:39:29.23\00:39:32.67
I know what it is when you
hear the door slam behind you.
00:39:32.68\00:39:35.16
The bars, so looking cool man.
00:39:35.17\00:39:39.82
I have a cool top
too much I started run,
00:39:42.39\00:39:45.23
you--it's hard to get
traction in creampuffs.
00:39:45.24\00:39:47.38
I mean, so I'm
running down in Neptune Avenue
00:39:47.39\00:39:49.86
and I ducked down in alleyway
in all the other streets
00:39:49.87\00:39:52.29
of these alleyways
between the tenements.
00:39:52.30\00:39:53.89
And I am running down, I
mean I have run, they knew me.
00:39:53.90\00:39:57.29
And they knew how fast I was.
00:39:57.30\00:39:59.03
I had to be fast to survive
00:39:59.04\00:40:00.73
and I'm running
down this alleyway.
00:40:00.74\00:40:02.36
I think I get to a
end, there'd be a big fence.
00:40:02.37\00:40:04.53
I'll be up over it man, I
am gone you will never find me.
00:40:04.54\00:40:06.80
I come to end its dead end boom,
00:40:06.81\00:40:08.86
another building, at
the back of the building.
00:40:08.87\00:40:10.89
So being a theologian,
00:40:12.11\00:40:13.20
I tried to get away
from my sin, my crime.
00:40:14.80\00:40:16.57
Now I'm gonna to
try to rationalize.
00:40:16.58\00:40:18.95
Well, officer I was
walking around Neptune Avenue
00:40:18.96\00:40:22.02
and stepped in these creampuffs.
00:40:22.03\00:40:23.63
Just then I looked in
there was a fire escape.
00:40:25.57\00:40:27.34
You've ever seen the
fire escapes on the buildings.
00:40:27.35\00:40:29.72
Ah, you see those fire escapes,
00:40:29.73\00:40:31.02
they don't know if I'm here.
00:40:31.03\00:40:32.25
These are fire
escapes, so I jumped up
00:40:32.26\00:40:34.42
pulled the ladder down
started up the fire escape.
00:40:34.43\00:40:36.51
I am running fast I could run.
00:40:36.52\00:40:37.76
I mean, our
neighborhood was so bad
00:40:37.77\00:40:39.99
that the police even
today walk in threes.
00:40:40.00\00:40:42.97
They were taught in my day
don't you leave your patrol car
00:40:44.96\00:40:47.88
because what we used to
do get them to chase us.
00:40:47.89\00:40:50.03
Get out in there patrol
car chase us then two or three
00:40:50.04\00:40:52.45
of our gang members
jump in the patrol car
00:40:52.46\00:40:54.00
drive it off the
blockade into ocean.
00:40:54.01\00:40:55.92
They were losing patrol cars.
00:40:56.51\00:40:57.88
We get them up the
coming up to stairs
00:40:57.89\00:40:59.68
we throw ash barrels of
the cover or we would shoot
00:40:59.69\00:41:01.76
at them from
the top of the roof.
00:41:01.77\00:41:02.96
I mean this was bad
place and I'm running down,
00:41:02.97\00:41:07.84
and as figuring when they're
gonna come in this alley,
00:41:07.85\00:41:09.65
and I'm running up the stair.
00:41:09.66\00:41:10.72
I mean, I'm
going up you can't go
00:41:10.73\00:41:11.95
up the fire escape quietly.
00:41:11.96\00:41:14.56
Got to roof by then
the police got in there
00:41:15.92\00:41:17.91
and they said, stop
or I will shoot man.
00:41:17.92\00:41:19.66
Hey, I was running so
fast would outran his bullet.
00:41:19.67\00:41:22.15
Up over the building
up over the next building,
00:41:23.95\00:41:25.85
next building man,
whole that night, I am gone.
00:41:25.86\00:41:28.30
Next day, I play hooky
I'm out of that school.
00:41:29.42\00:41:31.26
He talked about God,
how hooked this infinite
00:41:33.42\00:41:35.02
God in order to touch man
00:41:35.03\00:41:36.72
this God had to
come into this world.
00:41:36.73\00:41:38.47
He had to enter this world
00:41:40.46\00:41:41.49
and so he talks
about this God coming down
00:41:41.50\00:41:43.88
as a seed in a womb of a virgin.
00:41:43.89\00:41:45.46
I can't believe this man.
00:41:45.47\00:41:47.50
What I'm hearing here.
00:41:47.51\00:41:48.54
So that he could close to us.
00:41:49.95\00:41:51.58
So that we might
see love close to up.
00:41:51.59\00:41:54.44
He's talking about this
and it's going over my head
00:41:54.45\00:41:58.45
and yet these
things are hitting me on.
00:41:58.46\00:41:59.97
Trying to figure this thing out.
00:41:59.98\00:42:01.52
That evening I was
broken man, I needed money bad.
00:42:03.22\00:42:05.40
By the way,
sometimes when I need money
00:42:05.41\00:42:07.14
bad I snatch pocketbooks.
00:42:07.15\00:42:08.74
What I do is
I'll hide in alleyway
00:42:10.29\00:42:11.73
and between the
Van Siclen station
00:42:11.74\00:42:14.45
and the Brighton Beach projects
and some old lady come by
00:42:14.46\00:42:16.70
and I run out and
grab the pocketbook
00:42:16.71\00:42:18.60
and she yelled out that
kind of knock it down and run,
00:42:18.61\00:42:21.30
that's what sin does to you.
00:42:21.31\00:42:22.40
So I need the money bad
that night and so I waited in,
00:42:23.99\00:42:26.45
she was walking
along this little lady,
00:42:26.46\00:42:28.37
I ran out grab the
pocketbook but she held on.
00:42:28.38\00:42:30.38
She was hanging on.
00:42:32.20\00:42:34.71
Now in the past I all
do is boom, knock it down.
00:42:34.72\00:42:37.41
But all of a sudden
something came over my heart.
00:42:39.16\00:42:41.10
I mean I started to cry.
00:42:45.14\00:42:46.15
Hey, man I never cried
00:42:47.50\00:42:48.68
and in fact my dad
said boys don't cry.
00:42:48.69\00:42:51.26
I didn't learn until later that,
00:42:51.27\00:42:53.89
men cry not boys.
00:42:53.90\00:42:55.63
I started crying and I
let go with the pocketbook
00:42:57.50\00:42:59.72
and I started
running down the streets
00:42:59.73\00:43:01.14
and up over the
alleyway mid the ash barrels,
00:43:01.15\00:43:03.36
I sat there all
night and I cried.
00:43:03.37\00:43:04.80
I didn't know what it was
then, but I know what it is now,
00:43:04.81\00:43:06.80
was the Holy Spirit.
How do you explain it?
00:43:06.81\00:43:09.97
Kid that lived
by the switchblade,
00:43:11.84\00:43:13.01
lived by the law of
hurting and killing.
00:43:14.44\00:43:16.66
We're not killing but hurting
so bad, leaving that law.
00:43:16.67\00:43:21.16
How do you explain
it? Next day I went out
00:43:22.98\00:43:25.77
and listened to this
preacher, he talked about
00:43:25.78\00:43:27.02
this Christ who was
crucified down on the cross.
00:43:27.03\00:43:32.09
I thought well that evening
I was supposed to steal a car
00:43:34.74\00:43:38.70
we already cased
it, we knew what,
00:43:38.71\00:43:40.46
it was Cadillac there in
Brighton Beach in 4th street.
00:43:40.47\00:43:42.93
My brother Billy was
going and my other friend,
00:43:43.92\00:43:45.38
another friend so
it was getting dark
00:43:45.39\00:43:48.15
and that's when we gonna go out
00:43:48.16\00:43:49.23
and I was just about
ready to go out the door,
00:43:49.24\00:43:51.09
my brother and my friend
there was a knock on the door
00:43:51.10\00:43:52.75
next to this boy,
Isaiah, this Christian.
00:43:52.76\00:43:55.55
He came with his
Bible in his hand he said,
00:43:55.56\00:43:57.26
I come to study
the Bible with you.
00:43:57.27\00:43:58.65
And I said all right I want
to know something about God.
00:43:58.66\00:44:01.63
My brother
laughed at me my friend.
00:44:02.55\00:44:04.10
They went out that night.
00:44:04.11\00:44:06.17
Hey, by the way that
night my brother was caught
00:44:06.18\00:44:09.03
and my friend was caught
they were send away to prison.
00:44:09.04\00:44:10.91
If I would have gone
out with them that night,
00:44:12.64\00:44:13.70
I'd have been
sent away to prison.
00:44:13.71\00:44:14.70
Who knows where
I would be today?
00:44:14.71\00:44:16.13
Hey, listen the
majority of my friends
00:44:19.38\00:44:20.96
growing up in that neighborhood,
00:44:20.97\00:44:22.14
70, 65 to 70 percent of
them spend their time in prison.
00:44:22.15\00:44:25.95
The other percent are dead.
00:44:28.84\00:44:30.00
And very few have
come out even alive.
00:44:31.41\00:44:34.47
And here I'm a boy knocking
at my door Bible in his hand.
00:44:35.84\00:44:38.81
I heard about
Christ for the first time
00:44:38.82\00:44:40.84
that night and God
could accept in my heart
00:44:40.85\00:44:43.44
Next day I would
play hooky my friend
00:44:45.75\00:44:47.35
Richard Kelly came with me.
00:44:47.36\00:44:48.57
Now I told you about by
Richard, he's coming with me.
00:44:48.58\00:44:50.44
Hey, listen to me
carefully forget everything
00:44:51.56\00:44:54.05
I say listen to me tonight.
00:44:54.06\00:44:55.38
The preacher talked
about Christ dying on the cross
00:44:58.03\00:45:00.00
for the salvation and
there's a thief on the cross
00:45:00.01\00:45:01.77
and he says, I'll
remember you in paradise.
00:45:01.78\00:45:04.09
I thought to
myself if God could die
00:45:04.10\00:45:05.69
for a thief at a Jerusalem war,
00:45:05.70\00:45:07.40
why couldn't He die for a
thief in a Brooklyn Street.
00:45:08.92\00:45:11.30
For the first
time in my life hope,
00:45:14.23\00:45:15.64
for the first time in my life,
00:45:17.36\00:45:19.00
light broke into my dark heart.
00:45:20.40\00:45:22.12
I stood up to
give my life to Christ.
00:45:23.63\00:45:24.86
I turned to my friend
Richard listen carefully.
00:45:24.87\00:45:26.66
I said Richard come
on man he said no man
00:45:26.67\00:45:29.62
I can't he says
its right, but I can't.
00:45:29.63\00:45:31.56
It cost too much
to be a Christian.
00:45:31.57\00:45:33.40
And by the way
00:45:36.02\00:45:37.14
Richard spends his
life in prison for murder
00:45:38.44\00:45:41.94
and I traveled around the world,
00:45:41.95\00:45:44.96
the Bible in my hand,
the love of God in my heart,
00:45:46.92\00:45:50.25
sharing the good
news of salvation.
00:45:51.43\00:45:53.17
Can you say amen
here in this place?
00:45:53.18\00:45:55.44
That day I gave my
life fully to Christ.
00:45:56.05\00:45:59.63
I was a little teenager.
00:45:59.64\00:46:02.10
He took a switchblade
and gun out of my pocket.
00:46:02.11\00:46:04.16
He took a
bottle out of my mouth.
00:46:06.95\00:46:08.74
And by the way I said, I
got to know more about him,
00:46:13.32\00:46:15.28
so I have to learn to read.
00:46:15.29\00:46:16.45
Seventeen-years-old I
couldn't read or write.
00:46:17.36\00:46:19.09
I went to public high, I
went to the public library
00:46:20.87\00:46:23.62
and got these little
books, you know, about
00:46:23.63\00:46:25.02
spark running in hide them
into my black leather jacket
00:46:25.03\00:46:28.03
and came home and trying
one day my mother saw me,
00:46:28.04\00:46:30.35
she says what's
wrong son you can't read.
00:46:30.36\00:46:32.54
I said, no momma
would you help me.
00:46:33.95\00:46:35.40
So she helped me read my Bible.
00:46:35.41\00:46:37.23
And by the way the first person
00:46:37.24\00:46:38.46
I led to Christ was my mother.
00:46:38.47\00:46:40.14
Now you should say amen.
00:46:42.27\00:46:43.79
The first person I ever
led to Christ was my mother.
00:46:44.74\00:46:47.49
I tell you I
learned something there,
00:46:47.50\00:46:49.24
I learned it's more wonderful
00:46:49.25\00:46:50.48
to serve Christ
than to serve this world.
00:46:50.49\00:46:52.26
I discovered there's more
joy in Jesus and than in Jazz.
00:46:52.27\00:46:55.27
Hey, listen I found
out that life has meaning.
00:46:55.28\00:46:57.95
That there is
purpose for every human being
00:46:57.96\00:47:01.15
and by the way there's normally
00:47:02.05\00:47:03.21
purpose for every human being.
00:47:03.22\00:47:04.43
There is hope
for every human being
00:47:04.44\00:47:07.80
and that hope
is in Jesus Christ.
00:47:07.81\00:47:09.64
Father, which ought in
heaven, I thank you tonight
00:47:11.19\00:47:12.85
that I could bear my
testimony from gangs to God.
00:47:12.86\00:47:15.38
I don't know who
these people are.
00:47:18.51\00:47:20.23
I wish I could get
to know each of them
00:47:21.67\00:47:23.83
bit better but you know them.
00:47:23.84\00:47:27.87
And Lord, you know
every hair on their head.
00:47:29.53\00:47:32.41
You know, every
tattoo on their body.
00:47:32.42\00:47:34.42
You know everything about them,
00:47:34.43\00:47:35.97
the good things
and the bad things.
00:47:35.98\00:47:37.42
But the greatest
thing of all to know
00:47:42.29\00:47:43.61
is that You love
them every one of them.
00:47:43.62\00:47:45.17
You don't love them,
because they're good.
00:47:48.21\00:47:49.56
You love them,
because they're your children.
00:47:49.57\00:47:51.39
God tonight I pray for them.
00:47:53.93\00:47:55.05
There may be men and women here,
00:47:57.33\00:47:58.50
there may be children
here young people here tonight.
00:47:58.51\00:48:00.72
Mothers and
fathers, husbands, wives,
00:48:00.73\00:48:02.48
that have
bitterness in their heart,
00:48:05.95\00:48:07.07
that have loneliness, I mean
they're suffering with pain.
00:48:07.08\00:48:10.99
I mean the pain that hurt.
Some Father may be fighting out
00:48:12.59\00:48:17.75
at you right now but I
pray like Saul of Damascus
00:48:17.76\00:48:20.25
that you will touch them
00:48:20.26\00:48:21.53
and those change
will make him a poem.
00:48:21.54\00:48:23.13
With every head
bowed and every eye closed
00:48:25.36\00:48:26.99
to here tonight I
wonder if it's not someone here
00:48:27.00\00:48:32.26
that may be You've gone
through this with yourself.
00:48:32.27\00:48:34.68
And you wanna
say God I need help.
00:48:37.56\00:48:40.74
Will you help me? Would you
just lift up your hand quietly
00:48:43.07\00:48:46.62
and let me pray for
you, you say God I need help.
00:48:46.63\00:48:48.86
He'll know what it is.
00:48:48.87\00:48:50.17
I don't have to know what it is.
00:48:50.18\00:48:51.41
God bless you, God bless you.
00:48:51.42\00:48:52.65
Just hold your hand up,
don't be ashamed of Him.
00:48:52.66\00:48:54.66
He is not of you.
00:48:54.67\00:48:55.66
Hold up your
hand and say, hey God
00:48:55.67\00:48:57.15
I do need help with this.
00:48:57.16\00:48:58.68
And God bless you
and God bless you there
00:48:59.67\00:49:01.32
and God bless you there.
00:49:01.33\00:49:03.86
They are obviously here.
00:49:03.87\00:49:04.97
Father, hey if
Jesus speaking your heart
00:49:04.98\00:49:07.11
through the Holy Spirit.
He wants to help you now.
00:49:07.12\00:49:09.28
You say I can't
straighten my life.
00:49:09.29\00:49:10.70
No don't straighten it up.
00:49:10.71\00:49:11.75
Let God just take
you and touch you now.
00:49:11.76\00:49:15.04
Would you just lift
up your hand and show him
00:49:15.05\00:49:16.58
and that say Lord I need it.
00:49:16.59\00:49:17.95
God bless you young
man. God bless you there.
00:49:17.96\00:49:20.49
Hands here hold it up
keep it up, don't be ashamed
00:49:20.50\00:49:23.19
I want to keep you in
this prayer, God bless you
00:49:23.20\00:49:25.65
and God bless you there
all over this auditorium.
00:49:25.66\00:49:29.42
Lord touch with their need.
00:49:29.43\00:49:30.58
Satisfy them with their
need and give them the gift
00:49:32.75\00:49:36.50
we pray of eternal
life in Christ name, amen.
00:49:36.51\00:49:41.59
I am gonna ask
the ushers to come.
00:49:41.60\00:49:43.84
And I am gonna ask
my dear brother Philips,
00:49:43.85\00:49:48.10
to come, Wintley.
00:49:48.11\00:49:49.66
I want you to
pass this out quickly.
00:49:50.51\00:49:51.98
Man, I want you to
be down the isles quick.
00:49:51.99\00:49:53.49
We don't want to take time here.
00:49:53.50\00:49:54.93
By the way you
should keep it right there
00:49:54.94\00:49:57.31
in the front row, so
you can pass it, I want.
00:49:57.32\00:49:59.17
This is a prayer request card.
00:49:59.18\00:50:00.49
I want every person to have
it because I believe in power
00:50:00.50\00:50:03.14
Prayer, all right now
listen to this, I want you
00:50:03.15\00:50:05.27
take it, it says
I would like to have
00:50:05.28\00:50:06.72
the assurance of eternal life.
00:50:06.73\00:50:08.42
When you like to go home tonight
00:50:08.43\00:50:09.65
and have
assurance of eternal life.
00:50:09.66\00:50:11.47
The Bible says that
you can have that assurance
00:50:12.42\00:50:14.37
and we can share that with you.
00:50:14.38\00:50:15.82
How you may have the
assurance of eternal life.
00:50:15.83\00:50:17.47
If that's your
Desire, pray for me
00:50:17.48\00:50:19.66
that I might have assurance
in eternal life just check that.
00:50:19.67\00:50:22.06
And when I bring you before God
00:50:22.07\00:50:23.42
I am gonna bring
this name before God.
00:50:23.43\00:50:25.39
I'm going to, by the
way I pray over every name.
00:50:25.40\00:50:27.45
I have already
told the leaders here,
00:50:27.46\00:50:29.49
I said I want you to put it in,
00:50:29.50\00:50:30.60
I want you to get in a computer.
00:50:30.61\00:50:32.24
I want you to make me a printout
00:50:32.25\00:50:33.35
and I am going to take it home.
00:50:33.36\00:50:34.35
I have thousands
of prayer warriors.
00:50:34.36\00:50:35.95
We gonna keep you
in prayer before God.
00:50:35.96\00:50:37.69
I would like to give my heart
completely to Jesus Christ,
00:50:39.02\00:50:41.34
may be even playing
the game of religion.
00:50:41.35\00:50:43.22
But you need to give
your life completely to him.
00:50:43.23\00:50:45.54
Just check that.
00:50:45.55\00:50:46.72
I like to be baptized soon,
some of you need to be baptized
00:50:47.65\00:50:50.32
by emersion. You
haven't been born again.
00:50:50.33\00:50:51.95
You haven't been born with
the spirit, born of the water.
00:50:51.96\00:50:54.02
The Bible says unless
you're born of the water
00:50:54.03\00:50:55.78
and the spirit, you
cannot see the kingdom of God.
00:50:55.79\00:50:58.13
So that's important.
You say Ron pray for me
00:50:58.14\00:51:00.10
that God will
provide a way for me
00:51:00.11\00:51:01.79
I might be
baptized with the water
00:51:01.80\00:51:03.73
and baptized with
the spirit right there.
00:51:03.74\00:51:05.74
And then it says, l like
to know more about God's will
00:51:05.75\00:51:08.27
for my life by
receiving Bible study.
00:51:08.28\00:51:10.23
By the way at every
table along this wall,
00:51:10.24\00:51:12.95
there are Bible
studies that you can
00:51:12.96\00:51:14.37
get involved and they're free.
00:51:14.38\00:51:15.44
They're absolutely
Free, no cost obligation.
00:51:15.45\00:51:17.65
One is a beginning Bible
course, the other is advance,
00:51:17.66\00:51:20.14
It's on prophecy.
Don't fail to stop there
00:51:20.15\00:51:23.15
at those tables as you got out.
00:51:23.16\00:51:25.02
So I want you to fill
this out, put your name,
00:51:25.03\00:51:27.06
your address. And now Brother
00:51:27.07\00:51:29.08
Wintley, if you'll lead
us to the throne of grace.
00:51:29.09\00:51:31.13
And then I'm gonna ask
the ushers to come back
00:51:31.14\00:51:33.04
and they will pass it through
and you will put that in there
00:51:33.05\00:51:35.41
so I can get the
card in prayer, right.
00:51:35.42\00:51:37.26
God bless you, so nice
to have you here tonight.
00:51:37.55\00:51:40.16
Tomorrow night, I'm gonna speak
on Jesus unique Son of God.
00:51:40.17\00:51:43.00
We're gonna have
micro card with us tomorrow
00:51:43.01\00:51:45.02
Night, you want
to be here for that.
00:51:45.03\00:51:46.66
Wonderful concert and wonderful
message from God's holy word.
00:51:46.67\00:51:50.62
God bless you now
and God will bless you
00:51:50.63\00:51:53.00
I know as He always has.
00:51:53.01\00:51:54.35
This song will tell you
now what's really important.
00:52:03.35\00:52:05.91
Praise his name.
00:52:08.12\00:52:09.29
Day in and day out
00:52:18.85\00:52:22.16
Working hard and learning how to
00:52:22.17\00:52:27.98
Play the ruthless games
00:52:29.07\00:52:32.84
All the while your heart becomes
00:52:33.26\00:52:37.32
so cold
00:52:37.33\00:52:42.48
You're sailing on your soul
00:52:42.49\00:52:47.04
Reaching for
00:52:48.40\00:52:50.01
a temporary goal
00:52:50.02\00:52:55.38
But when you reach
00:52:55.39\00:52:59.60
that final sunset
00:52:59.61\00:53:02.24
And you look into his eyes
00:53:02.25\00:53:07.37
Will the feeling
in your heart be joy?
00:53:08.20\00:53:12.83
Or will it be your last goodbye.
00:53:12.84\00:53:17.78
It would be the greatest tragedy
00:53:17.79\00:53:23.65
If you never realize
00:53:24.70\00:53:28.46
That all you own and not compare
00:53:29.34\00:53:35.27
To eternal life
00:53:36.23\00:53:41.50
So you finally arrived
00:53:48.40\00:53:53.47
Making love serve money
00:53:54.07\00:53:57.36
But there's
00:53:57.37\00:53:59.83
emptiness inside
00:53:59.84\00:54:03.73
Spending more
00:54:03.74\00:54:05.56
your time
00:54:05.57\00:54:10.51
Trying to own the very best
00:54:10.52\00:54:15.54
As if somehow the rest
00:54:16.47\00:54:19.60
will fall in prayers
00:54:19.61\00:54:24.41
But when you reach
00:54:24.42\00:54:28.41
that final sunset
00:54:28.42\00:54:30.70
And you look into his eyes
00:54:30.71\00:54:35.85
Will the feeling
in your heart be joy?
00:54:35.86\00:54:41.02
Or will it be your last goodbye
00:54:41.03\00:54:46.04
It would be the greatest tragedy
00:54:46.05\00:54:51.46
if you never realize
00:54:51.47\00:54:56.53
That all you own
00:54:56.54\00:54:59.16
cannot compare
00:54:59.17\00:55:04.46
But when you reach
00:55:04.47\00:55:08.83
that final sunset
00:55:08.84\00:55:11.63
And you look into his eyes.
00:55:11.64\00:55:16.57
Will the feeling
in your heart be joy?
00:55:16.58\00:55:21.46
Or will it be your last goodbye
00:55:21.47\00:55:26.62
It would be the greatest tragedy
00:55:26.63\00:55:31.56
If you never realize
00:55:31.57\00:55:37.44
That all you own
00:55:37.45\00:55:40.47
cannot compare
00:55:40.48\00:55:44.79
To eternal life
00:55:44.80\00:55:50.43
To eternal life
00:55:56.25\00:56:00.32
To eternal
00:56:05.51\00:56:08.56
life
00:56:08.57\00:56:14.32
Praise the Lord.
00:56:14.33\00:56:17.75
Oh come
00:56:20.13\00:56:21.65
let us adore him
00:56:21.66\00:56:27.17
Oh come
00:56:27.18\00:56:29.74
let us adore him
00:56:29.75\00:56:35.54
Oh come
00:56:35.55\00:56:38.84
let us
00:56:38.85\00:56:40.68
adore him
00:56:40.69\00:56:46.66
Christ
00:56:47.04\00:56:50.65
the Lord
00:56:50.66\00:56:54.56
For He alone
00:56:54.57\00:56:58.36
is worthy
00:56:58.37\00:57:02.86
For He alone
00:57:02.87\00:57:07.11
is worthy
00:57:07.12\00:57:12.03
For He alone
00:57:12.04\00:57:16.19
is worthy
00:57:16.20\00:57:21.92
Christ
00:57:21.93\00:57:25.72
the Lord
00:57:25.73\00:57:26.73
We'll give him all the glory
00:57:26.74\00:57:29.30
We'll give him
00:57:29.31\00:57:32.60
all the glory
00:57:32.61\00:57:38.05
We'll give him
00:57:38.06\00:57:41.40
all the glory
00:57:41.41\00:57:47.24
We'll give him
00:57:47.25\00:57:51.57
all the glory
00:57:51.58\00:57:58.91
Christ
00:57:58.92\00:58:04.79
the Lord
00:58:04.80\00:58:09.98
Amen.
00:58:09.99\00:58:13.72