The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson & John Sherrill

Author:David Wilkerson & John Sherrill
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Religion, Christian Life, General, Spirituality, Personal Memoirs, Inspirational, Biography & Autobiography, Religious, Biography
ISBN: 9780800794460
Publisher: Jove
Published: 1963-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.

“ ‘Now,’ the preacher said, ‘I’m going to talk to you about “Whosoever.” “Whosoever” means Negroes and Puerto Ricans, and especially it means gang members. Do you know that when they crucified Jesus they crucified gang members, too? One on each side of Him ...’

“I’d had enough. I said, ‘Come on you guys, we got business.’

“Not one of them moved. It was the first time they didn’t follow me. Then I got scared and I called that preacher every filthy name I knew. He paid no attention, just kept on talking, a long time.

“And the next thing you knew the President of the Chaplains flopped down on his knees, right on Edward Street, and started crying. The Vice-President and two War Lords got down beside him and they cried. One thing I couldn’t stand was crying. I was glad when the Chaplains left. I figured we would go too.

“But then this preacher comes up to Israel—he was President of the Mau Maus—and starts shaking his hand. I figured he was trying to bust us up and I went up and shoved the preacher. Israel stared at me like he’d never seen me before.

“So that preacher heads for me. ‘Nicky,’ he says, ‘I love you.’

“No one in my life ever told me that. I didn’t know what to do. ‘You come near me, preacher,’ I said, ‘I’ll kill you!’ And I meant it. Well, Israel and the preacher talked some more, but at last he left and I thought it was over. Only we never went after the Dragons.

“But later this preacher came back and he talked about this big meeting for gangs they were going to have up in Manhattan, and how we should come. ‘We’d like to come, Preach,’ says Israel, ‘but how we going to get through Chink town?’ ‘I’ll send a bus for you,’ says the preacher. So then Israel said we’ll come.

“Well, I said, not me. I felt like I’d rather die than go to that meeting. But when the gang went it turned out I was with them. I was scared not to be with the gang. I figured I would fix his little prayer-meeting for him. When we got there here were three rows of seats right down front roped off for us. That surprised me some. The preacher said he’d save us seats but I never figured he’d do it.

“A lady was playing the organ and I got the guys stamping and shouting for action. Then a little girl came out on the stage and began to sing. I whistled at her and everyone laughed. It was all going my way and I was feeling good.

“Finally the preacher came out and he said, ‘Before the message tonight we’re going to take up a collection.’

“Well I figured I saw his angle. I’d been wondering all along what was in this for him. Now I saw he was a money-grabber like everyone else.

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