# Who was this Christian speaker I saw as a kid? (ex-con, more details inside)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 6, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152 "2018-08-06T03:06:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/1 "2018-08-06T03:06:48Z")
OK, so this is a long shot. I remember seeing a series of sermons/messages on video(actually projected film) by a very memorable guy. Not memorable enough that I remember his name, but a really memorable guy. I remember several moments in his messages and I’ll share those moments with you to see if you know who he is:
- Ex-prisoner
- Went to prison because he drove a car as a youth for some friends. Friends went in and robbed a drug store, shooting and killing the employee. He says they all blamed him and said he was the shooter.
- When his “friend” came out of the drug store he yelled, “Drive, drive, I shot a man! Drive, drive, I shot a man!” (this phrase still plays in my mind).
- He told a funny anecdote about getting drugs for other guys in prison. One time, he got a bunch of birth control pills and instead of ditching them, he sold them to another prisoner. That prisoner loved the drugs, so speaker-man told him, “Good news, you aren’t pregnant!”
- After being released from prison, he had a very rare disorder where his throat sometimes closes up on him. He has to insert a rubber tube down his throat to keep it open. He literally does this in the video.
I know, this all sounds nuts when put together, but now you know why I remember him!
Who was that guy???
No, I remember zero about the guy’s in-prison conversion to Christianity. I guess…that part flew by me.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/2 "2018-08-06T11:58:19Z")
It wasn’t [Sam Kinison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Kinison), was it? A friend told me he remembers going to a revival when he was a kid and Kinison delivered a fire and brimstone sermon.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/3 "2018-08-06T12:36:34Z")
Not an answer, but…
> [@](#):
>
> He says they all blamed him and said he was the shooter.
Irrelevant. Even if he never touched the gun, if he drove getaway for the robbers and one of them shot the clerk, that makes him guilty of felony murder.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/4 "2018-08-06T12:41:17Z")
There are various semi-similar men:
[https://www.biography.com/people/jack-rowland-murphy-17169618](https://www.biography.com/people/jack-rowland-murphy-17169618)
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/5 "2018-08-06T14:05:23Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#):
>
> It wasn’t [Sam Kinison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Kinison), was it? A friend told me he remembers going to a revival when he was a kid and Kinison delivered a fire and brimstone sermon.
Nope. It is true that Sam Kinison preached, though.
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Not an answer, but…
>
> Irrelevant. Even if he never touched the gun, if he drove getaway for the robbers and one of them shot the clerk, that makes him guilty of felony murder.
Yes, he accepted responsibility. He was just explaining what happened.
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> There are various semi-similar men:
>
> [https://www.biography.com/people/jack-rowland-murphy-17169618](https://www.biography.com/people/jack-rowland-murphy-17169618)
I don’t think that is him, but he was white. I keep finding black ex-con Christians speaking.
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### Author:  [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/6 "2018-08-06T15:01:40Z")
[Gene Mcguire](https://genemcguire.org/gene/)was involved in a murder during a robbery of a bar. No mention of the throat part.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/7 "2018-08-06T16:11:41Z")
> [@puddleglum](#):
>
> [Gene Mcguire](https://genemcguire.org/gene/)was involved in a murder during a robbery of a bar. No mention of the throat part.
I failed to state that the videos I’m talking about were in the late 80’s, 86-89.
Gene Mcguire only got out in 2012 it looks like.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/8 "2018-08-08T02:29:54Z")
Jeff Thaxton?
[https://www.google.com/search?q=jeff+thaxton+love+your+parents+not+drugs&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirwYuNtNzcAhXiFzQIHVEUAbUQ\_AUICSgA&biw=1920&bih=938&dpr=1](https://www.google.com/search?q=jeff+thaxton+love+your+parents+not+drugs&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirwYuNtNzcAhXiFzQIHVEUAbUQ_AUICSgA&biw=1920&bih=938&dpr=1)
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/9 "2018-08-08T03:42:33Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> Jeff Thaxton?
> [jeff thaxton love your parents not drugs - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=jeff+thaxton+love+your+parents+not+drugs&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirwYuNtNzcAhXiFzQIHVEUAbUQ_AUICSgA&biw=1920&bih=938&dpr=1)
“Thaxton is not a recovering or reformed alcohol or drug user or abuser.”
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### Author:  [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/10 "2018-08-08T04:08:16Z")
I hope it wasn’t [this piece of shit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Warnke).
His lies were just one of the fucked up fundie Christian things in the 70’s/80’s that really screwed with my head when I was in that world.
I have no doubt he is the worst sort of con man out there. I hope Hell exists just so his lying ass burns for eternity.
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/11 "2018-08-08T18:05:18Z")
Could it be [Nicky Cruz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Cruz)?
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2018, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/12 "2018-08-09T04:03:05Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#):
>
> I hope it wasn’t [this piece of shit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Warnke).
>
> His lies were just one of the fucked up fundie Christian things in the 70’s/80’s that really screwed with my head when I was in that world.
>
> I have no doubt he is the worst sort of con man out there. I hope Hell exists just so his lying ass burns for eternity.
I actually went to see Mike Warnke when he was at the height of his success; he gave a free performance at a large church in the city where I was living at the time. It was hilarious - until he started talking about his “compound” where he kept ex-satanists about whom he claimed “we’re trying to keep them alive until they can accept Christ.” That sounded awfully strange to me, and I wasn’t surprised when he was exposed a few years later.
He should have stuck to PG-rated bodily-humor comedy.
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### Author:  [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/13 "2018-08-09T05:07:52Z")
Wouldn’t it be interesting if telling too many fart jokes really DID lead to satanism?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/14 "2018-08-16T01:07:42Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#):
>
> I hope it wasn’t [this piece of shit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Warnke).
>
> His lies were just one of the fucked up fundie Christian things in the 70’s/80’s that really screwed with my head when I was in that world.
>
> I have no doubt he is the worst sort of con man out there. I hope Hell exists just so his lying ass burns for eternity.
Nope, not him.
> [@griffin1977](#):
>
> Could it be [Nicky Cruz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Cruz)?
Nope, not him.
---
### Author:  [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/15 "2018-08-16T01:37:24Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Nope, not him.
>
> Nope, not him.
Maybe when you heard his presentation he was lying about everything. Maybe the story you were told doesn’t correspond to a real man.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/16 "2018-08-16T02:06:08Z")
Was it David Wilkerson, the author of [The Cross and the Switchblade?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cross_and_the_Switchblade)
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/17 "2018-08-16T02:14:11Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Was it David Wilkerson, the author of [The Cross and the Switchblade?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cross_and_the_Switchblade)
Besides being a preacher, David Wilkerson doesn’t fit the description given in the OP at _all_.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/18 "2018-08-16T03:33:54Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#):
>
> Maybe when you heard his presentation he was lying about everything. Maybe the story you were told doesn’t correspond to a real man.
Well, the video of him speaking had him demonstrate the esophageal/tracheal tube thing.
Call me naive, but I believed his story. It was literally a video of him speaking at a pulpit/podium.
---
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/19 "2018-08-16T03:35:02Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Was it David Wilkerson, the author of [The Cross and the Switchblade?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cross_and_the_Switchblade)
No.
---
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2018, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152/20 "2018-08-16T07:50:49Z")
Mahaloth, the problem is not that “this all sounds nuts when put together”. Far from it. The problem is that various aspects of the life you’re describing are so similar to many other prisoner/Christians that it’s too hard to search on what you’ve told us. Tell us more. Give us the most complete physical description of this person you can and anything else about him. Tell us everything you can about how you saw this film. Tell us when you saw this film. Tell us who made this film. Tell us anything that would allow us to distinguish him from other prisoner/Christians. There are hundreds of people vaguely like this guy, and we can’t figure out who you’re talking about with this little information.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-this-christian-speaker-i-saw-as-a-kid-ex-con-more-details-inside/819152.md?page=2)