I Would Take You Out

Two African Americans in a big convertible were trying to park it outside the Compton Courthouse. One was standing at the back of the car and trying to guide the driver. He said “Back up. It don’t matter if you hit it.” The vehicle car behind him was a police car, and the reason it didn’t matter if he hit it was because it had a large black steel bumper added to the front of it, perhaps for such a time as this.

I called out, “You guys want to be on TV?” The driver looked up at me with a pained expression and said, “I can’t be on TV.” I had a stack of Million Dollar bill tracts in my hand, so I said, “I will give you a million dollars!” That got some attention. The gentleman outside of the car came around the front of the vehicle, took a bill and said, “Man, I would take you out for this!” I knew he wasn’t meaning on a date, and I hoped that he knew the bill wasn’t real.

I said, “I co-host a TV show that goes to 70 countries and is on 20 Networks. It will only take three minutes.” It was hard to tell his age; maybe 30. He was cool. Very cool. He wore very large sunglasses that if I donned I would get laughed out of town, but they looked good on him. His hair was cool. He had a Bluetooth phone in his ear, and he acted like he looked; very cool.

He said, “I ain’t got time.” I asked for his name. “Ike.” “Come on Ike. Three minutes.” “What’s it about?” I told him I would ask for his thoughts on the afterlife. Was there a Heaven, a Hell, nothing? What did he think? He said, “I could talk for two hours on that. Can you wait until I get out of court?” I told him that I couldn't, and pushed again. Suddenly, he conceded.

I quickly switched on my hand-held HD camera and got his permission to use the interview, then asked him for his thoughts. He said that there was a Heaven and a Hell. “Where are you going?” He said “Hell.” “Why?” “Because I have done some pretty bad things.” I asked him if he got mad very often. He said that's something he did, so I told him to hold on because I was going to see how “bad” he was by putting him in the hot-seat, and examining him under the light of God’s Law.

Ike readily admitted that he violated the Commandments. He said that he knew why Jesus died on the cross. I asked him to put it in his words, but something wasn’t quite right about his understanding, so I labored that Jesus paid the fine in His life’s blood, for the Law that we had violated. Then I told him of the necessity of repentance and faith.

“Ike, if you were to die right now, where would you go?” “Probably Hell.” I said, “Definitely,” and asked what he was going to do about it. He said, “Repent and trust God.” I asked when he was going to do that. He said, “I’m doin' it right now . . . as we speak.” I asked if he wanted to pray when the camera was turned off. He said that I didn’t have to turn it off, so I told him to pray. And he did. It was a short, child-like, humble prayer of repentance . . . that he didn’t know how to end. He said, “And, and, and…God bless the world.” It was a beautiful thing.

Then I prayed for him, gave him a book called, Hollywood Be Thy Name, and a CD. We shook hands and parted. God only knows if Ike was genuine. I think he was. Only time will tell.