Soldier Man Street Preacher, Mid-City/Downtown New Orleans 09/13/05

I lived in New Orleans all my life. I’m just 46. I’m come from Ursuline and Claiborne. How I got through the storm and flood was not by my power; it was by the power of the Lord that I made it through. I kept my love alive. Looking out, holding on, and I got out. Well, I tell you, at sometime I thought there wasn’t no hope. I can’t believe, lived and born in America all my life, I can’t believe how wicked people could be. I know there’s a time coming for a change in this world because the people in America was racist, sir. We waited a mighty long time for a helicopter to come and pick us up. They was flying around.

I served my country all my life. I never was a racist man. I love everybody. I work all my life in New Orleans, help anybody…white, black, Chinese, Filipino, Jew, because God had told us to love, and that’s how I got the name of the Soldier Man.

Everybody gonna weep at this show: we reap what we sow. God want us to love everybody, and whoever had hate will never see the light. They better check themselves, because if they don’t check themselves, they gonna wreck themselves. The time is winding down for every soul upon this earth.

We waited long on the helicopter, sitting in squalor, maybe about a week, or two weeks. God allowed me to walk through the water, you know, and, I had my dad with me. I had my old lady with me. My dad a crippled man. My old lady a handicapped lady. At times I didn’t know if I was gonna make it through, sir. But I kept hearing the voice, I kept hearing the voice saying, “Soldier, I didn’t brought you this forward to leave. I will not leave you and I will not forsake you. All you do is hang on. Hold on and keep moving on! I will take care of the rest.”

And, we had gotten coffee, but we didn’t have a coffee pot, and I just wanted to motivate some people, so I thought, you know, tell them that the coffee will be on it’s way, that we will make it, no problem. Sure enough, we had a can with food in it. We ate that up, then I took a cold drink can, after I cleaned the can, wash it out, I had some filter, so I made a coffee pot! With the cold drink can under it, and I start a fire. Whew! The people was happy to smell that coffee!

But God was telling me about survival, when you believing in the Lord, o, days of fortune! And then I learned, also, who at the bottom will rise to the top. And who at the top will fall down. How long? Not long. You know these dreams and whatever God our Father say will come to be reality! Not long! You living in the last days, sir. The last day, my Father, my God told me, money and gold won’t save our soul…so no matter how much an individual have, they rich, or what they own, if they don’t do the right…see it’s about helping the poor and needy.

God was telling me that you can run, but you sure can’t hide. If you don’t love the one you see in front of you, how can you love him?

I kept on seeing the helicopter flying around and around in circles…just looking. Like a foreign field, while people was dying. They kept riding around. Now I have to tell the truth—they really didn’t care if we lived or died. But you see, God make a way. It was God’s doing! Remember Moses? When some powerful individual and say, “Hey, save my people. Save my children.”

You do understand, like we going to the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s behind us, and God told me, “Hey, take the stick. Take this stick and bring it to the sea, and the sea is gonna open.” Now if my enemy continued to follow me, they gonna be swallowed up.

By the sea! That ain’t no difference from what they went through and what we went through.

And I’m telling you the truth. And then somebody gonna have to pay for all the deaths! Unnecessary deaths! Like I say, God said high, and he look low. He already know who they are in high places. Whoever he is in high places, sir. If it’s the President, if it’s the Mayor, if it’s the government—somebody gonna pay. They gonna reap what they sow for the unnecessary death. Do you understand, sir? This racist stuff got to end!

We are loving people, we are caring people, we have ability, we have authority.

We’re all on this planet together. Yes! I see it that way. Old people see it that way. But do the rich people see it that way? I have to say once again, sir, we’re living in the last days—it will not be long! Before judgment day come upon this earth. Won’t be long, won’t be war, be fire!

Fire. Lord you can run but you sure can’t hide. It’s gonna be hot. You can’t run this time Money won’t do no good anymore. And all them buildings that could’ve help somebody and brought them in there, whatever, et cetera, et cetera, and they didn’t and wanna wait till the last moment when thousands of people died, then you make a decision to save individuals now. That’s sad.

I come from New Orleans, and that’s the reason that son-of-a-gun went under the water, because of the racist, hating, wickedness, homosexual, lesbian…there just wasn’t no justice. And somebody gonna pay.

I always did want to run a helicopter and God let that happen. I rode in a helicopter. I always did want to ride in a nice big jet plane. He allowed that to happen. See that was fate, making things happen, sir. Was fate, fate.

Even if they had wanted us all to drown, it wasn’t gonna happen. A lot of people was Christian folks believing in God: we had dreams, destiny and God had missions for us. Missions. We won’t stop, we will rise to the top again. We will rise to the top. If it ain’t God’s time for you, you ain’t going nowhere.

Now it’s my time to tell the people in Texas that Jesus lives. He brought me to Texas to tell people that Jesus lives! I been around so far, telling people about the Lord, brother!

One brother said, “Man, you’re a preacher.” And I know I touched his heart, sir. He been telling me about his family, about how good he treat his family, but his family don’t see in him for who he is. I told him give his life to Jesus and leave it there! He’s gonna work it out! See, two wrongs don’t make a right. If your wife wanna argue with you and all that, you give yourself to Jesus and continue to love your wife! And sooner or later your wife, she’s gonna begin to see Jesus in your life more, too, because, that’s all you’re about is Jesus and love! And sooner or later your wife can do one thing…leave or love Jesus, too.

My wife is here with me now and she’s feeling fine, so happy, excited. My wife had told me I’m her hero. I ain’t never had heared my wife say those kind of things, now. What I’m saying, you gotta understand, she’s saying that I’m her everything. I’m her shining armor. I’m a man of God, which I am. Also saying if it weren’t for God in me, she don’t know if she would have made it. I motivated her to go on. Had God to throw a line to me, talking to me to go on, I got to tell her, have faith to go on. That it gonna be alright. People was panicking, sir! Water up to your neck! When people panic, well, people drown. In a situation of a storm and water rising, it’s not the time for panicking, sir. It’s a time for holding your head up. It’s a time for faith. It’s a time for prayer. Time to call Jesus, for Jesus to be with ‘you…you followed me this far, sir, I know you won’t let me down.

Some people probably say, “I served you, Lord.” There are things you say to the Lord and he’ll hear you! There was one time they had a man…three guys. They were saying they believing in Jesus, and the king, see, he threw them in the fire because they would not fall down to any king because they had their king in heaven. Jesus! They would not bow down, sir! They throw the three mans in the fire. The three guys that believing in Jesus, Jesus met them in the fire. And say it gonna be all right! I see four people in there…and they ain’t burning! The door came open, sir, and those three guys came out, untouched by the fire. Untouched. There is a God. And I feel sorry for those that do not believe, man. Without the Lord, every individual is finished! All you got to do is die. And you got somebody gonna meet you down below and take you to hell.

How’re they treating me in there? Oh, excellent. I felt the Lord in this place. When I first came in, it was the Lord in the place. Jesus made me feel so welcome, so warm, so help me God. A lot of people are getting much love. It wasn’t them; it was the love of God. When somebody be treated so wrong and so unjust, the Lord will make a way…outta nowhere. I feel a lot of love in there. I’m seeing my own kind of people smiling and being happy, that bring joy to me. Because they came through…they been through so much!

Coming to Texas, it’s opened my eyes to a new world, a new beginning. I met people here in Texas, so wonderful, so loving, so kind, so gentle. These three words I say unto you, man. It’s plain and simple that what God wants us to do is just love.

We can’t stop loving, he want us to love white, he wants us to love the black, the Jew, the Japanese, don’t matter what nation you are. He want us to teach our children about him, because if we don’t teach our children about loving God, they gonna perish. They gonna be wicked, they gonna be evil. Children need to be taught, ah, the black man is all right, he need to be taught that the white man all right, the Chinaman all right, the Filipino all right. Kids don’t need to be taught hate. So you live, so you die. We all gonna reap what we sow. If we give hate, hate will come back unto us, and we gonna be sorry that we ever hate. If we give love, God will shower us with love. The Bible say knock and the door opens. So, you know, the only one we need to lean on is the lord. The Lord has never let me down, and I been through the storm and the water. There was never a day on my mind…my mission was just to help someone, to motivate someone, to let them know that they can do it! If they can do it, don’t look back! Don’t look back, but look straight ahead. Keep talking to Jesus, and Lord have mercy.

I love New Orleans, I been born and raised. I love Texas; like I say, I don’t know too much about Texas, you know what I’m saying. I know that they showering us with a little love right now, but I do feel Texas is a whole new different from New Orleans. I know that what shine like gold ain’t necessarily gold. Everybody should help somebody if there’s a big bomb dropped somewhere and people need help, volunteers come up, well now that’s natural thing, but are it that way after it’s all over, or it’s just a smile that’s turned upside down. I ask myself that. Well, I’m not the one to pass on judgment, but like I say I think it’s just a little bit like New Orleans, but just a little bit better.

I still think there’s something going on there. You know, the rich is still getting richer and the poor still getting poorer. With that picture alone that ought to tell you something. If the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, there’s something wrong with it. It’s not balancing itself. And the world is money-hungry people. Gimme the money, gimme the money, gimme the money, gimme the money, and they will step on you to get it. They will kill you to get it. They will put you in poverty to get it. Any means necessary to get the money. The Bible say the rich man has little chance to enter into heaven. Because he ain’t doing nothing but filling his own pockets.”

Going up to beat slaves, using, abusing’, that ain’t right. We got family. We got family to take care and love, but me, before I’ll be a slave again, I’ll be buried in my grave, and go on to the lord, man. Just to say I’m free at last. Yes I’ll be free at last one day, bro. Even though I have to go through this pain and suffering, man. Freedom coming for me one day. It’s not the time yet for me, to die, because if it was I’d have been gone. I got me on a mission soldier.”

I never had a church to preach at. I’m a walking preacher. Because, you know, I know sometimes, by getting a building, then you know I don’t want to be like the Antichrist. They will take some of God’s words and they words, and twist it…for cash. The church is in me. The building they go into, it’s just a building. They got all kind of buildings. This here, the Convention Center, could be the church. But it just a building. If your heart is right, you the church. You are the church. But the church won’t save you. The building won’t save you. It’s in your heart, sir. Heart, mind, and soul.

And I really appreciate that you taken the time to listen, and I pray to God that something I said – the words that I said, brother, you can look it up in the Bible and find it. It’s gonna be true.

In Texas, I’m hoping and praying now that God can send me in a peaceful area where I got peace, quiet. I pray that God send me around neighbors that feel the same way like I feel. I’m some tired of racist stuff, so help me Jesus. I’m so tired of hating. I don’t want to be seeing no homosexual, lesbian, I’m tired of seeing that type of stuff also too. It’s time for a change. I feel that I’m tired, I know the man up above tired all this foolishness. And all he wants us to do is love, it’s so plain and simple, but the government gonna be in big trouble. The president gonna be in big trouble. I wouldn’t want they job because it’s hard job but if they don’t want to do the things that the Lord tells them to do, they leaning to their own understanding. They are leaning to their own understanding. I think that they putting drugs out there for the individual, they keeping the people addicted …

If a man passed by my door, “Hey, buddy, looks like you need a shave.” He don’t have nowhere to go to shave. “Sit down there, sir. Wait a minute, let me get a seat.” Go get a seat for him, ask him if he hungry, bring my razor and my soap out, shave him, line him up, give him something to eat, and send him on his way. You see, that’s what God wanted us to do. There was a time when people passed by sad and I get to talking to them and find out how their spirit was, they had God in them but needed a night of sleep somewhere. I would take them in my house. Draw them some water, little bubbles in there, and allow them to take a bath in my house, allow them to sleep there, feed them. And the one thing I tell you, too, is I got one thing out of that: Love. Blessing. What you can do for others, the Lord will do for you.

I really feel happy, man. Just talking with you, seeing the sun that’s shining, knowing that my future gonna be all right here in Texas. Nothing’s gonna be able to stop me. If I die even in Texas, I’m dying with the truth. Everybody have they time.

Sometime I get tired. When I look at the world, I get tired. I get tired because this world can be a better place than it is. We ought to be talking on little children, we ought to be talking on trying to stop the alcohol, we ought to be talking on stopping the drugs that floating in the city. Somebody gonna be charged for that. Somebody gonna be responsible for this trickery, psych-out game that they playing because it’s a trickery. It’s a twilight zone we’re living in. This world become to be a twilight zone, and when you tell the truth and lift your head up to the sky, you may get blasted, killed, shot. But the Bible said if you’re ashamed of me, I’ll be ashamed of you. So, in other words, what he’s saying, keep your head up and keep preaching. Don’t be surprised one day you see me on television. Don’t be surprised if you hear me on the radio. I’m ready to tell the honest truth, sir. I ain’t gonna hold nothing back. If it’s my time to go, it’s all right. 

Please explore our new digital archive of oral histories. We encourage you to read, reflect, and respond to these stories. Click here to open a separate window.