My Memories of David Wilkerson

When I heard that David Wilkerson was killed in a car accident yesterday, my heart sank.  The world truly lost a great man of God.  Perhaps some people aren’t familiar with David Wilkerson.  He worked in New York amongst dangerous gang members to try and help them and get them out of that terrible lifestyle.  He brought many hardened hearts to the saving Truth and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  He wrote a book called The Cross and the Switchblade.  I read this book as a teenager, and I’ll never forget the courage and fortitude of David Wilkerson, as gang members continued to threaten his life to try and get him out of their turf and move away.  But he stood firm and never waivered and continued his ministry there.  He did other things too.  He began an organization called Teen Challenge, a place to help young men who struggle with drug addictions.   

But mostly what I remember about David Wilkerson is his incredible strong convictions about the Truth of God’s Word.  He never preached a “feel good” message to try and entertain people or please them.  He taught straight out of the Word of God as the Holy Spirit had convicted him.  I think that today we’ve lost that word “conviction,” because it sounds too harsh.  But when David Wilkerson spoke, people listened.  He had a gift of prophecy and predicted the 9-11 disaster in New York.  I’m not sure of the details as to how much he knew, but he had been warning people that something big was coming, and then it came.  His church in New York City, Times Square Church, ministered to many people after that tragic event. 

I had the privilege of being able to hear David Wilkerson speak in person.  He had been invited to a denominational anniversary wind-up in a large downtown hall in the city.  It was sometime in the early 80s.  I remember that he got up and said something to the effect, “I had a sermon all prepared, but while I was sitting here, the Lord gave me a different sermon.”  We all sat up and he had our full attention.  He gave a powerful message that day, and one that I’ll never forget.  This particular time, in the early 80s, we had a Liberal government and the interest rates were very high.  Yet we were somehow prospering because jobs were plentiful and paid well at that time.  I had a really good job and I had just went out and bought a brand new beautiful car (silver and maroon).  It was plush on the inside and very comfortable.  The roof came off, so I could cruise around with the sun shining in and listen to my favorite music of the 80s. 

So here I was sitting there with my beautiful car parked outside and he gave a stinging sermon on materialism.  This was his passage of Scripture: 

Jas 5:1  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Jas 5:2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

Jas 5:3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Jas 5:4  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Jas 5:5  Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Jas 5:6  Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.  

Wow!  What a powerful sermon.  Everyone listened. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet.  I know when I heard him preach, I repented of the pride I had taken in my possessions, especially that brand new car that was parked outside.  I knew it was an extravagance I didn’t really need.  I had a good job and I could make monthly payments, but the realization that my heart had been affected became crystal clear to me.  I’ll always be grateful to David Wilkerson for that sermon, and I’ll never forget the timeliness of it.

If you get a chance, listen to some of David Wilkerson’s sermons.  They are truly life-changing and insightful, timely for this hour.  And in memory of David Wilkerson and to keep his ministry alive, I would like to challenge all of us who know the Lord in a personal way, to live by our convictions and never be afraid to stand up and share what the Lord has laid on our heart.  David Wilkerson built his whole life on it and many people are saved today because of it.  But most important, we need to stand up and be counted for our Lord and not keep silent, for who knows when our time will come?