• About MT
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • RSS Feeds

Get our issue, highlights, free stuff and more!

  • Blogs
  • News
  • Arts+Culture
  • Music
  • Watch
  • Eat
  • Sports
  • Best of
  • Calendar
  • Classifieds
  • Slideshows
  • Choice Picks
  • Free Stuff
  • Careers
  • Dating
  • Clubs
  • Archives
  • MMJ
  • Blowout
  • Adult Classifieds
  • Trending
    • Most Read
    • Latest Posts
    • Comments
    Most Read
    • Film Review: Man of Steel This latest Superman iteration is a visual feast but light on character development. | 6/14/2013
    • Hold On to Your Pawn Tickets Two Cheers for Detroit’s Dailies | 6/18/2013
    • From Motown to Coketown? Is keeping the petroleum byproduct known as “petcoke” stored, in the open, on the bank of the Detroit River a wise decision? | 6/12/2013
    • Summer Guide MT’s Definitive Guide to Summertime Awesomeness | 6/19/2013
    • Film Review: Before Midnight The Before series earns its hat trick with the release of Richard Linklater's third installment. | 6/13/2013
    • What’s next for Detroit? Suggestions for Kevyn Orr | 6/12/2013
    • Monk Beer Bar Mussel-bound | 6/19/2013
    • Urinal Cake Records – “UrineFested” 6/21-6/22
      Profile: Urinal Cake Records (on Metro Times Music Blahg – “Urinal Cake Records’ First Year + New Gardens (Grows)”) “Urinefested” Local Label Showcase -2 day Fest in Detroit June 21-22nd at P.J.’s Lager House (1254 Michigan Ave), Friday: The Clone Defects, Terrible Twos, Moonhairy, Obnox, Ritual Howls, Mountains and Rainbows – - Saturday: Johnny Ill Band, Protomartyr, Growwing Pains, Drugs Dragons, K9 Sniffles, Feelings, Guinea Worms, and the Keep On Trash DJs. — Visual artwork displays by Jeff Arcel, Thelonious Bone, Davin Brainard, Zak Bratto, Joe Casey, Luke Chapelle, Jimbo Easter, Andy Gabrysiak, Ben Lyon, Johnny Lzr, Kara Meister, Nai Sammon, Timmy Vulgar, and Matt 7 http://urinalcakerecords.com – pjslagerhouse.com  ~   There seems to be a lot of local DIY record labels, lately. But Johnny Ill nonchalantly shrugs that into perspective: “Shit, there could be no one to put out your music. I’m not dong it, so I’m glad guys like Eric are doing it…”   It’s still a rarity, says Ill (a.k.a. John Garcia of The Johnny Ill Band,) for someone (like Eric Love of Urinal Cake Records) willingly financing and spending time resources for local songwriters to produce, package and distribute their works.   “The worst thing that could happen [...]
    • City Slang: Battlecross post-Orion news
      Following their triumphant appearance at OrionFest, local metal heads Battlecross has announced that drummer Kevin Talley (formerly of Six Feet Under, Chimaira and Dying Fetus) will be staying on with the band for its forthcoming tour. See Battlecross performing Slayer’s “War Ensemble” at OrionFest here. The new album, War of Will, will be released via Metal Blade on July 9, and the first single will be “Force Fed Lies”. Battlecross will be on the Mayhem Festival with Rob Zombie throughout the summer. Follow @City_Slang
    • DIA ‘Courts’ New Diners
      Who says the Detroit Institute of Arts is only for art admirers? The addition of a Friday night music schedule has found some new converts. And now food lovers can rejoice as the museum unveils a new go-to place for visitors to eat, drink, relax and socialize. It’s the newly revamped Kresge Court. Combining an elegant atmosphere with competitive prices, visitors can enjoy an array of gourmet snacks, sandwiches, salads and desserts that use regional ingredients. Befitting a hip hangout, the dishes skew creative. If you’re stopping by for a quick lunch, you’ve got to try the fine ficelle salad. The stars of this show are prosciutto, black mission fig jam, wild arugula and European-style thin sourdough baguette. The green goddess salad features local greens, carrot ribbons, marinated summer squash, sunflower seeds and currants. Other offerings include DIA deviled eggs and wasabi tobiko caviar; artichokes, radish, black olive aioli and flatbread; toasted farro salad with shaved fennel; surryano dry-cured ham with hot pepper pickles and more. Desserts include Italian pudding with bittersweet chocolate, seasonal fruit croustade, and an alcoholic spin on a Detroit classic, a Boston rum cooler with Vernor’s ginger ale, French vanilla ice cream, Captain Morgan spiced rum, [...]
    • The 1943 Detroit Race Riot, 70 years later
      Mention “Detroit” and “riot” to most metro Detroiters today, and most people will think of the year 1967. Some will call it a “riot” and some will call it a “rebellion,” but chances are that nobody will talk about Detroit’s forgotten riot, the 1943 Detroit race riot. Most likely, that’s because the events of 1943 don’t neatly dovetail with our conventional narratives about the Greatest Generation, and they provide ugly examples of white racism that most area residents, if they remember them, would rather forget. And that’s a shame, because the 1943 riot offers a chance to look beyond  simplistic sociological assumptions about ’60s civil disorder and the ensuing urban disintegration. This is especially interesting at a time when historians such as Thomas Sugrue are re-examining Detroit and the roles played by whites and their institutions, often uncovering sweeping antecedents that transcend a passive white exodus. And for those whites who think the ramifications of institutional racism are overstated, those old photographs of white mobs rampaging up and down Woodward Avenue, beating and stabbing black Detroiters, might change a mind or two. And 1943 is also worth another look because it helps define the early civil rights movement. It saw African-Americans effectively [...]
    • Oh Criminals, Where Art Thou?
      I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with my Detroit experience so far. In the past 8 months, I have no gunshot wounds, stabbing scars, or even a stolen vehicle to show for it. I don’t even have a lower credit score! When I told everyone I was moving here, I got a wave of backlash and pleas to reconsider. It reminded me of the time I traveled to the Middle East and, as I was boarding my flight, received a hundred text messages and calls saying, “If you go, you are going to DIE!” Well, my time in the Middle East was just as disappointing and uneventful as my time here in Motown. Where have all the criminals gone? With a nice bout of insomnia, I used to walk to the YMCA at 5 a.m. to work out in total darkness. My Dad freaked out when I told him. What my father can’t understand is that, unless you live right downtown, and once the sun sets, the streets of Detroit are deserted. No cars. No homeless people. Even the pimps seem to take the night off. I could streak down Woodward (my apologies for the [...]
    • City Slang: Weekly music review roundup
      Send CDs, vinyl, cassettes, demos and 8-tracks to Brett Callwood, Metro Times, 733 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 46226. Email MP3s and streaming links to bcallwood@metrotimes.com. We had previously received a sampler CD from Funky D Records signees The Royal Blackbirds, and the full album Shot Down landed on our laps this week. Thanks to the presence of singer Rebecca Saad, there’s a cool, kinda Amy Gore-esque feel to the bluesy garage rock, perfectly highlighted by covers like “I Can Only Give You Everything” and the title track. The originals are cool too, and Tino Gross has dragged out the dust and grit from these youngsters. Great piece of work, all told. This week’s City Slang stars the Horse Cave Trio sent in the 2010 single “I Am the Sheik” (Funky D), and it’s worth another mention because it’s so damned gnarly, nasty and heavy. These guys are known for their rockabilly swagger, but they can let out an unholy roar when they want to. Detroit Frank DuMont loves his hometown so much, he put it in his name. His band is called the Drivin’ Wheels, and the logo was designed by Gary Grimshaw. Mind you, his new Let Me Be [...]
    Detroit Daily Deals powered by ReferLocal
    Calendar
    • CALENDAR
    • RESTAURANTS
    • CLUBS

    Calendar

    Search thousands of events in our database.

    Restaurants

    Search hundreds of restaurants in our database.

    Nightlife

    Search hundreds of clubs in our database.

    MT on Twitter
    Tweets by @metrotimes
    MT on Facebook

    Print Email

    Cover Story

    The devil inside

    The people who attend this church swear they see miracles. Who's to argue?

    Photo: Justin Rose, License: N/A

    Justin Rose

    Photo: Detroitblogger John, License: N/A

    Detroitblogger John

    Minister Gloria Hawkins, Apostle Daryl Davis and Minister Denise Neumann with the tools of their trade at Triumph


    View Image Gallery for The devil inside Image Gallery for The devil inside Image Gallery for The devil inside Lightbox link Lightbox link Lightbox link

    By Detroitblogger John

    Published: May 2, 2012

    The theology behind deliverance says Satan works to disrupt the world to spite God for throwing him out of heaven, says Bishop Terrence Joyce who, like Hawkins, is a guest minister here tonight. "God is everywhere but Satan can't be everywhere, he doesn't have that power and authority," he says. "He's not God. So what he does, he has demons that he uses. And what he's after, he's after God's creation, which is us." 

    Believers say those demons are responsible for many of life's ills. You might not be overweight simply for lack of will power; it could be a demon causing your obesity. Your nervousness isn't necessarily just your nature; a demon might be fueling your anxiety and shyness. Some curses are even generational, like when alcoholism runs in the family, like when a pedophile turns out to have been molested as a child too. As Triumph's website notes, "It is a shame and a disgrace that so many Christians are going to psychologists and psychiatrists who don't even recognize that their symptoms are caused by demons."

    Deliverance is free here, no charge. What money comes in, Davis says, is through small, voluntary donations. And unlike exorcism in the Catholic Church, a priest isn't required to cast demons out. Anyone with faith can be taught how to do it. But for it to work, a person has to seek help themselves and believe in the reality of deliverance. It can't be imposed on someone.

    "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," Davis says. "If they don't want it, forget about it. It's not going to happen."

    Davis and his flock have heard people say this belief system is crazy, but for some truly despondent people, sometimes an addiction is so enslaving, a craving or a passion is so strong, a phobia is so paralyzing, it seems to have a life of its own, like a demon that invaded their body. 

    Regardless of whether it's objectively real, people come here because they have faith that it will work for them.

    "If somebody already has a preconceived idea that they don't believe in this, we don't waste time arguing," Davis says. "But people want to be set free. We get people from all these different churches — Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist. Because it gets to the point where the person knows, 'I need to be set free. I'm bound. I don't care. I'm going.'"

    Davis grew up in a nice home in Detroit's Boston-Edison neighborhood, which his father paid for by working two jobs to feed his eight kids. By his 20s, Davis himself had a high-paying career as a millwright and later an electrician at Chrysler's Warren Stamping Plant. "I was making money hand over fist," he says. "But I wasn't happy."

    He's 56, stout, married with four kids, and he strides briskly despite using a metal cane to temper a limp. He's always been drawn to the down-and-out, and while still at the auto plant he got a side job as a Detroit Police Reserves officer so he could see that life up close.

    But his religious instincts got in the way of the work. "Where many times officers will try to get parties to calm down, by me being a Christian officer I always tried to find a way, without trying to get into trouble, to interject Jesus," he says. "So many times a lot of the people who I talked to about the Lord, when there were domestic fights and all that, they'd start crying, my partner would be amazed — 'You're talking about Jesus and got them crying over there, I'm trying to get things together here.'"

    Davis eventually found a better outlet for his mission — driving a cab in the inner city, where he'd give rides to prostitutes, junkies, criminals and drunks. "Not because I needed the money," he says. "It was just for the intrigue, just to have some fun. It was wild and crazy."

    He remembers several other drivers getting shot on the job in his time there, but he always left his sliding window partition between him and his passengers open. The Holy Spirit told him to, he says.

    "I had many pull weapons out on me," he says. "I seen the little Israeli Uzis; I seen shotguns, 9 mms; I had guns pointed to the back of my head, guns pointed to the front of my head, and I never gave up a single dime," he says. He had a survival technique — he would start talking to his assailant about Jesus, and sometimes would even reach back to try to lay hands on the gunman who had his life in their hands. It freaked them out. 

    "They're ducking me, they got the gun in their hand and they're ducking me — 'You're crazy!' Or they find out I'm a preacher — 'Oh, no, a preacher man, let me out!' The prevailing attitude is that if you shoot a preacher, if you ever need God to get you out of a mix, you can cancel Christmas."

    But some would open up to him. Some cried and confessed their sins. Others swore God must've sent him to help them. He'd been ordained a preacher as a teenager, and believed in the power of deliverance, yet all his prayer, all his laying on of hands, wasn't working at all. Most people would politely listen and nod, but then ignored him once they walked away, like the prostitute he'd wasted hours talking with in his cab. "She jumped right back out and went back to selling her body like nothing ever happened," he says. Despite his ambition, he was just another true believer lecturing people. 

    Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page

    > Email Detroitblogger John

    We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

    To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

    Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.
    comments powered by Disqus


    Metro Times

    733 St Antoine

    Detroit, MI 48226

    Main: (313) 961-4060

    Advertising: (313) 961-4060

    Classified: (313) 962-5277

    Contact MT | Advertise | National Advertising | Work Here

    All parts of this site Copyright © 2013 Detroit Metro Times.

    News

    News+Views

    Politics & Prejudices

    News Hits

    Stir It Up

    Higher Ground

    Blogs

    Music Blahg

    News Blawg

    Reckless Eyeballing

    The B-Roll

    Eat Blog

    Best of Detroit

    Best of Detroit

    Music

    Music Homepage

    Album Reviews

    Add Music Event

    Search Music Events

    Arts

    Arts Homepage

    Book Reviews

    Culture

    Culture Homepage

    Savage Love

    Motor City Cribs & Rides

    Watch

    Watch Homepage

    Film Reviews

    Sports

    Sports Homepage

    Events

    Calendar

    Search Calendar Events

    Enter Calendar Event

    Art

    Auditions

    Comedy

    Community

    Dance

    Film

    Fun for all

    Holiday

    Issues And Learning

    Music

    Shopping

    Sports

    Theater

    Food

    Food Homepage

    Find a Restaurant

    Clubs

    Find a Club

    Classified

    Classified Home

    Place Ad

    Jobs

    Services

    Stuff For Sale

    Massage

    Personals

    Adult

    Automotive

    Cars, Trucks+More

    Services

    Real Estate

    Real Estate

    For Rent

    Roommates

    Archives

    Search Archives

    Search Authors

    Search Issues

    Latest Comments

    Get Our Newsletters

    Enter your email address to get our weekly emails.

     

    Metro Times Stuff

    Win Free Stuff

    Slideshows

    Velvet Rope Photos

    Event Photos

    Social Media

    Facebook

    MySpace

    Flickr

    Twitter

    Youtube

    RSS Feed

     Full Feed