As a kid, I remember my grandpa telling me, “Now, I know your mom and dad are into religion, but boy, if a man gets in your face, knock him down and repent later. Bust him in the head if he messes with you.”
My grandpa used to tell me that. He would say, “Look, boy, don’t take nothing off no one. Just knock his head off.”
“But it’s a sin,” I would say.
“Well, repent later.”
My mamma found out that my grandpa was telling me stuff like that, and she said, “Daddy, don’t you tell Jesse to do that!”
“I don’t want nobody beating up my grandson,” he told her.
Grandpa came over to me after she left and said, “I’ll tell you something, boy. If you get whipped, I’m going to whip you when you get home.”
“Okay, Paw-paw,” I said. “I ain’t letting nobody whip me.”
Sure enough, the next day some guy got in my face, and I hit him with a baseball bat. Whack! Down he went, Jack. I was fired up. When the teachers came to get me, I said, “You all want some of this? Come on! My Paw-paw said I’m supposed to repent in a few minutes, but right now I’m going to knock some heads.”
I was in the seventh grade, and I got suspended for doing that. Well, why did I do it? I told everybody it was Paw-paw’s fault.
My mamma beat the fire out of me. She went down there and begged the school to let me back in. My dad, on the other hand, was worried about how much it was going to cost. “What’s the matter with you, boy!” he said. “Who’s going to pay for this? I ain’t paying for this, son.” Then he turned to me and kind of smiled. He said, “Yeah, boy, you hit ’em with a bat! You knocked him down on one leg, didn’t you? Yeah, I bet he went out like a light. That’s my boy!”
“Don’t glorify that,” my mamma said.
“You shouldn’t have done that, son,” he said. My dad changed his mind.
When my grandpa heard what I had done at school that I’d been suspended for, he took me into the backyard because he didn’t want to say anything in front of Mamma. He told me he’d have done the same thing.
“Well, why didn’t you stand up for me?” I asked him.
“I did, man,” he said. “But you know I don’t want to get involved in your family business.”
“You almost got me killed, Paw-paw.”
“Oh, you’ll make it,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”
I always believed what my grandpa told me. Hey, if grandpa said do it, we did it. It’s amazing how much influence your relatives can have over you. I had to be careful which one of my family members I listened to. All of them were telling me different things, and I had to figure out which was the right one.
That’s why the Bible says in Mark 4:24 to take heed what you hear. Just like all those different people in my family telling me what to do, there are different voices in the world that will try to influence what you do.
Only the godly voices are the right ones. You’ve got to be sure that you’re building your life on the wisdom of God; otherwise you can get into trouble, just like I did as a kid.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Jesse Duplantis, minister of the Gospel, motivational speaker, television personality, and best-selling author, has been in full-time ministry since 1976 and is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, located in the Greater New Orleans area of south Louisiana in the United States of America. With over four decades of sharing his unique blend of humor and faith around the world, generations of believers have been inspired by his messages and countless numbers have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior through his ministry.
Known for his unflinching, status-quo-breaking messages and humorous take on experiences in the life of the believer, Jesse continues to draw large audiences of believers through social media, television, and meetings held around the world. With speaking engagements booked years in advance, Jesse Duplantis continues to keep an intense traveling schedule, flying throughout the United States and the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With no booking agents pursuing meetings for him and no set fees imposed upon churches for speaking engagements, Jesse chooses his outreach meetings based on the same two criteria he always has: invitations that come in and prayer over each one. This uncommon way of scheduling in today’s world means Jesse’s many followers may find him speaking in some of the largest churches and venues in America and the world, as well as a great many small and growing congregations, too. No church is too big or small for the Holy Spirit, as he says.
Side by side with his wife Cathy Duplantis, the co-founder and chief of staff of Jesse Duplantis Ministries and the senior pastor of Covenant Church in Destrehan, Louisiana, Jesse continues to fulfill his life’s calling by daily taking up the Great Commission of Jesus Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Through social media, television broadcasts, books, and other ministry products, as well as through many evangelistic meetings, the JDM website, the JDM app, and Voice of the Covenant magazine, Jesse Duplantis continues to see growth in his ministry and expand each year while maintaining his roots. Jesus is the center of his life. The salvation of lost people and the growth of believers is the purpose of his ministry. And for both he and his wife, every day is another day to “Reach People and Change Lives, One Soul at a Time.”