David Wilkerson: The Cross, The Switchblade and The Man Who Believed
There are certain people in the world who have a profound
effect on your life, whether you knew them personally or not, and for me one of
those people was David Wilkerson. For those of us whose personal struggle with
drug addiction ultimately led them to Jesus Christ, we can thank David
Wilkerson for paving the way, by listening to the Holy Spirit and stepping out
in faith, way back in the late 1950’s, where he opened the hearts of
evangelists and pastors to reach out to us. My mother gave me a copy of The
Cross and The Switchblade when she was praying and searching for a way to get
me out of the drug world.
In this biography, his son Gary Wilkerson presents a well
rounded look into the man, who I would list in the company of Mother (Saint)
Theresa, and Billy Graham. David wasn’t perfect; he didn’t come from a perfect
family life; even though generations of his family members have been
Christians. He was a person who had doubts, and struggled like we all do with
relationships. But he prayed and sought God, and listened for guidance everyday
and then he acted on what he was shown. Out of his obedience we have Teen
Challenge turning young lives around and giving hope to families. We also have
worldwide ministries that reach the poor and overlooked and there are new
pastors and evangelists being sent out to give witness to the power of Jesus
Christ to break addictions. I would highly recommend this book to people of
faith who need encouragement in their walk, I know it changed my feelings about
the hopeless mess our world is in and encouraged me to keep praying and
reaching out. This book is a five star keeper.
