(flames crackle)
(metal clanks)
(water splashes)
(birds chirp)
- I know some of you out there
are lost.
(gentle music)
You don't know which way to go,
but you know why that is?
That's because the devil
keep you off track.
(horn blares)
(traffic roars)
Chaos, confusion,
demons.
(emotive music)
Or whatever you want to call them,
that's Satan.
(emotive music continues)
But a child of God,
all things through God is possible.
(emotive music continues)
So my name is Travis Peagler
from Dayton, Ohio, born and raised,
the youngest outta seven kids.
(upbeat music)
Even though Elzie's the oldest,
he's always been like a
mysterious figure in our family.
And also he could breakdance
really good too, like turbo.
Then my brother, Joey,
I always tell people he
built like Mike Tyson,
kind of talked like Mike Tyson,
wore his hair like Prince,
but danced like Michael Jackson.
My oldest sister Liz,
she was the oldest of all the girls.
Liz didn't think she was Black.
(Travis laughs)
She wasn't your typical
Black girl of the '80s.
Liz thought she was Cyndi Lauper.
She used to wear her hair
like punk rock style.
Rhonda has always been Rhonda,
she's blunt, always been blunt.
She don't bite her tongue.
Love her family, love candy.
And then my sister, Chekala,
Chekala was probably like
one of the funniest ones
in the family.
Loved to joke.
She a rival of Kevin
Hart and Eddie Murphy.
You know, like she was on the same level
as far as her comedic genius.
My brother Randy,
he's older than me about
two and a half years.
He was always a worker, always a hustler,
always trying to make some money.
Always loved cop shows.
The East Side of Dayton was
more of a multicultural
type of neighborhood
that we grew up in,
whereas the West Side of
Dayton during those times
growing up in the early '80s
was like in what I would call
a little bit more 'hood, 'hoodish,
a little bit more rough.
On the East Side of
Dayton was more relaxed
so I got to learn to appreciate everybody
and it really taught me that
we're all the same, man.
It's just about,
we really don't understand each other
because of segregation,
different 'hoods, Black
community, white community.
But when you have an integrated community,
you get to understand each other's culture
and a respect for each other's culture.
- It's a make and break town, you know?
We try to strive to be
successful, you know what I mean?
We look over
in low income, being poor,
to think positive of
what you wanna do in life
so you can get your,
you know, be successful,
be able to have what other people have.
- Like I said, it was a nice community,
but over time, fast forward
to today, it's all broke down.
It's all deserted.
It's like a ghost town.
It's like a shell of itself.
And it's just sad to see.
- If I had the chance to move,
out of Dayton, I would
probably take that opportunity.
Sirens all night long,
throughout the peak of the
day and through the nights.
I mean, you got your good spots
like the outer side of Dayton,
you know your suburbs
like Oakwood, Kettering,
stuff like that.
But Dayton itself, seriously?
Run down.
(projector whirs)
- [Travis] All I know is my
father was from Mobile, Alabama.
I know they was dirt poor,
him, his sister and two brothers.
I know they moved up here
as young, young kids.
My great-great Aunt Belle raised them.
- Randolph and I was married 16 years.
My sister and her husband knew him
before I even met him.
And he used to work
with my brother-in-law.
So we knew each other less than two weeks
and we got married.
- He was
fierce.
He walked across that parking lot.
Like I say, all the kids out here playing,
kids would run and run away.
"Your dad coming, your dad coming.
Why he look so mean?"
Where's he at?
Right there.
(Joey smacks fist)
First thing we thought
about is is our work done?
'Cause our work wasn't done, we get no,
he getting that belt
and the little kids run in the house too,
start doing their work.
(Joey laughs)
Even dogs, the vicious pit bull
would run from him.
He walked down that, he
walked down that alley.
- [Elzie] Didn't nobody mess with him.
- Quiet.
(Joey smacks hand)
Didn't nobody say *-word
or nothing to him.
- Nothing.
- Nothing,
- Nothing.
(Elzie hisses)
Yeah, tear your a*s out the frame.
- Aunt Belle told me
that something was wrong with him
and that she said
something would probably be
wrong with one of his kids.
The first couple years of our life,
his mental stability was cool.
I mean, there wasn't no
indication anything was wrong.
But then he started showing signs of,
ooh, something was
definitely wrong with him.
- And you know, he did serve in what?
The Army?
- [Terri] The Marines.
(g*nf*re bangs)
- The Marines, he was in the Marines.
So he had that, what's that?
That?
- PSD or what do you call it?
- PSD.
- Back then,
that really, you didn't talk about stuff.
I don't even think they
knew about that back then.
I had kids to take care of.
I couldn't sit there and like, oh my God,
he got a mental issue.
Oh my God, what am I gonna do next?
Oh dear me, what to do?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
We was at it cooking, cleaning,
laundry, hanging up clothes,
taking care of kids, fixing lunch.
You know what I'm talking about?
He even thought at one point
that if he spit on the concrete
that he had powers,
so if he spit on the concrete,
it turned to acid.
- [Person Off-Camera] I
believe he was diagnosed
with bipolar
and like a manic depressive.
And even schizophrenia too.
- Technically, when he was
there, he wasn't there.
He was off on his own, in his
own little world, you know?
'Cause his mind status.
But you know, back then as a kid
you don't know what mental health is
or mental illness, you know?
'Cause you not aware
of it, you don't know.
- One episode when he had
a couple of the kids inside the apartment.
(sirens wail)
And we had called the
police and everything
and it was like a hostage situation.
- It was a time when Mom and
Dad got into an altercation.
- I rang the police.
- And he went to call the police.
At the time I went to
the, get his cigarettes.
I come back
and that's the only, that's the time
that I felt that
he let me down in life.
That one, that one night.
- He had flipped out.
He had barricaded the front
door and the back door.
And I know it was a standoff
with the Dayton Police Department,
but at this time I'm like one
or two so I have no memories,
just them telling me.
And he had several of us
in the room
at gunpoint with a shotgun.
And I was told he was making the kids
that was able to read, whatever, read,
recite Bible scriptures.
- And then he had
my youngest daughter, Chekala,
he had her hanging out the window.
- It was crazy.
It was chaos out there, man.
I remember everybody
was out there looking.
I saw all the lights and
police cars out there, man.
But I'm not sure what the
heck he flipped out about.
I don't know if he was taking the meds
or not taking the meds.
I don't know, man.
But he, something happened.
I can't figure that part out, man.
- So he's yelling from time
to time out the window,
obscenities and whatever
crazy stuff he was saying.
At some point all I know is I think Elzie,
and I don't know if it was my cousin Mark
or his friend Ryan,
like went to the back
and was able to get in
through like a downstairs window
and moved the couches and
then they let the cops in.
And I think at that point
they was kind of able to
talk him down and get the kids released.
- [Terri] I think that's
when they had locked him up.
- [Rhonda] Yeah.
- [Terri] And took him to the,
what do you call the,
you don't call it insane
asylum anymore, I forget.
- Well back then it used to
be the psych ward, remember?
- Well, yeah.
When he was drinking,
whatever mental condition he had,
if he was drinking it
made it 100 times worse.
That's why it's not a good idea to get
sloppy, sloppy drunk
because you're not guarding your mind.
And I think that's the easy way
for them to get in,
control you, possess you.
One thing to help us get through
all the things we've experienced,
we've always believed
in God and the angels
and then Satan and his demons.
That's why it's a big question in my mind.
Mental illness and the spiritual world,
I mean are they related
to each other or not?
I don't know.
That I cannot answer.
- Well another thing with
me is when you down and out
and going through some things,
that's when he come in.
I don't like saying the word,
you know what I'm talking about.
Woo.
That's when he come in,
when you down
in your weakness.
- Down.
- Yeah, at your weakness
point, that's when he come.
You see what I'm saying?
- [Terri] Try to claim you.
- [Rhonda] Yeah.
- Pops, I remember him, man,
his hands was like probably two
to two and a half of my hand size.
He had some big old fat, meaty hands.
I wish I had his hands, but I didn't.
When he put 'em on, like he had a,
he was wearing a boxing
glove, but he wasn't.
- He tried to rob a bank.
I think he ended up doing
like 12, 14 years in prison.
When I was 15, me and my
brother Joey went to go visit.
And that was my first time
seeing him face to face
because I don't think
nobody had pictures of him
that we knew of.
Because I think there was
some type of fire incident
where he burnt a lot of family
photos and things like that.
So all those memories and stuff like that
got burnt up in a fire.
Aunt Belle was
my dad's great-great-aunt.
- I was born, I was born
not Black but white.
(Joey laughs)
My skin was all white.
My dad thought that mom
cheated on him 'cause I was,
wasn't of color yet.
Aunt Belle, her people
were sl*ves.
And she took a liking toward me
and then she made me her number one
out of all the kids.
- [Travis] My brother Joey
would help care for her
and really her husband, Uncle Henry,
he had diabetes, he had no legs.
And I think he was either
blind at that point
or going blind.
And I remember being like a
hospital bed in their bedroom.
So Joey would like change the sheets.
He would get him and you
know, put him in the tub
and help, you know, bathe him.
And, 'cause my Aunt Belle was
like in her '80s already at that point.
- It was me always there.
Her house was a,
it was a strange house.
Many times, he'd come there.
- Mm-hmm.
- And he was scared.
Rhonda would come, they'd be scared
and you could hear him in the dark
whispering
multitude of something.
The demons.
- It was just always
really something dark,
very dark about that house.
Just always terrified to be
alone in that house by myself.
- One night I had a TV in my room.
That's when the news
just go on and go off.
You know when you, back in the
day, the news used to go off.
(door creaks)
I see something.
It looked like a man, but it wasn't a man,
it was a beast.
Walked in, he was muscle bound.
He had a body of a man, head of a bull.
And he, his back wasn't normal legs.
Legs of a calf.
And he looked at me and
man, chills within my body.
It was like ice cold.
I'm staring at this thing.
This thing is staring at me.
I'm eight years old.
The strangest thing is he
reached down on her dresser
and he was putting earrings in his ear.
I just thought that was kind of odd.
Started coming out down the stairs
where Aunt Belle was.
It was different than
any other human walk,
as if the leg was like 100 pounds each.
A slow walk, a dead walk.
I heard Aunt Belle talking to it.
Oh, how you doing today, you okay?
And that thing never spoke back.
She said, "You still look amazing"
and Aunt Belle was talking
to this thing, man.
- A lot of people follow me of a spirit.
They hate us with a passion.
They never was on our side.
The devil always want you to worship him.
He's trying to get you.
- But I'm not.
- Away from God and worship him
and be his sl*ve.
- Mm-mm.
- When I was about eight or nine,
my mom got married to my stepdad
and they had a house
built in Trotwood, Ohio.
Trotwood was like a suburbs of the city.
It was nice out there.
Nice homes, nice schools,
a bustling, like a Black community
where people took care of the yards,
took care of their property.
- Little Ty used to live right there.
Yep and our old house, it's.
- We were looking at it, man.
- I kind of feel like
you still live there.
- I know.
Look at how big that tree,
I remember when Mom planted
that tree right there.
- That one right there?
- Mm-hmm.
- That was a mosquito, didn't it?
- Yep.
- I do remember that one now.
- Wow.
- Hey man,
this is crazy.
- Good old Trotwood.
I say Randy's always been
like kind of his own person.
Sometimes in life,
and sometimes you can be really tight
and close to your friends
more so than your own family.
But as you get older, people change.
People move away after high school,
everybody's living their life.
Some of his friends that he
was real tight with used,
you know, kind of dispersed out.
And I think he really
realized like, you know,
at the end of the day,
man, it's all about family.
It's about me and my brother.
- And then the time when
me, you, Joey and Liz was
in our apartment at the
time in Greenfield Station.
We got there probably about
like in the evening time.
We didn't leave till about
like early in the morning time.
- I remember that, yeah.
- We was talking about the Bible,
we was talking about
movies, our childhood,
we was talking about all kind of stuff.
We moved to the living
room, to her bedroom.
We was out reading scripture of the Bible.
We held hands, we were in a
circle and we was praying.
So after the prayer, man,
Liz was reading more
scriptures, I saw light.
It came from her shoulder to her elbow.
Then it went all around her
body, outlining her body.
One on her, one on you, one on Joey.
I was like, well sh**t,
I'm seeing this light, man.
And she had a mirror in the room.
I looked, I was like, is there one on me?
There was one on me.
So I'm like, "Look at this light"
and Joey blew my mind.
Joey laying down, he said,
"You looking at that light, ain't you?"
I said, "Dog, you see it too?"
He said, "Yeah, but I
don't wanna say nothing.
I don't wanna say nothing,
I don't wanna say nothing."
- Thought you was tripping,
thought you was the only one.
- I thought I was losing
my dang mind, man.
I thought I was losing my mind.
When Joey said that, I said, "My God."
I said, "I'm glad I'm not crazy",
because I'm telling you, man.
But ever since that day, man,
I seen the world totally different.
- Like eye-opening experience.
- [Randy] Yes, because like I say,
after that time I wasn't
the same no more, man.
Seemed like
God took off some,
a certain type of lens off my eyes.
It just blew my mind, man.
- Because see, I didn't see that light.
- Mm.
- So that's interesting
how
God reveals certain
things to certain people.
'Cause I didn't see the light
and I don't think Liz seen
it either, I can't remember.
But I know I didn't see it.
But by you and Joey saying
it, I mean obviously,
I mean, I believed it
'cause I believe all
that stuff anyway, so.
- Yeah, when Joey said that to me,
without me saying nothing to
him, man, that blew my mind.
I was like, dang man, this is
really real, what I'm seeing.
- [Travis] It was some
scary, crazy stuff, man.
- [Randy] I was seeing crazy
images everywhere, man.
It was like demonic looking faces, man.
It was like either at a,
it could be any type of
carpet, I could see 'em
like in trees and the grass.
- Whatever it was, it looked evil.
- [Randy] Yeah it looked evil.
- Right.
- Demonic, crazy as hell.
So I tried my best to shook it, man,
shake it, shake it, shake it.
And now
I don't see it as much anymore.
I kind of prayed on that a little bit, man
'cause I got tired of looking at those.
I'm like, I don't wanna
keep seeing this stuff, man.
Like, this stuff look crazy as heck.
- My brother Randy,
me and him is both filled in the spirit.
We have the gift of what's
called speaking in tongues.
And really what that is
is that's one of the gifts
that the Holy Spirit can give you.
You can speak in other people's languages
without even knowing their language.
You can communicate directly to God.
Or sometimes I can just
minding my own business
and the Holy Spirit will manifest in me
and start speaking directly to God.
Or it could be a message for me.
- Oh, Mr. Jones.
(doorbell rings)
(knocks on door)
- Press a lot louder, man,
he probably can't hear us.
- Right.
Hey, hey.
- Hey Mr. Jones.
How you doing man?
- What's up, what's up?
What's up?
- Good to see you.
- How you doing?
- Mr. Jones.
- All right, all right.
- It's because of guys like
you and you specifically, like,
you know that we turned
out the way we did.
Always supported us growing up.
We give you your flowers,
man, while you still here.
Hey, we appreciate that.
And I know Randy got some
things he wanna tell you
that he's thankful for as well.
- I told God many times, I'm like, man,
this should be our dad.
(Randy laughs)
I know that's kind of deep,
but kind of bad though.
But you was always encouraged,
like Travis said,
always encouraged us and
you know, to keep going,
you know, just looking out for us, man.
Just, you know, being
on the level with us,
keeping the level headed.
And I'm like, Lord, you sure
you didn't make a mistake?
But you know, God, don't
make mistakes, man.
But He put you in the right
place where you needed to be
though for us and I really,
really appreciate that, man.
- Well, I appreciate you too, man.
You guys, you guys, you don't,
I mean, here I am.
I was a GI,
had four girls, four
daughters that I raised.
No sons.
- Mm.
- You guys were like sons to me.
And I'm proud of both of you, man.
You guys have done,
you guys have done
really well for yourself.
You've done really well
and I'm proud.
At least I can have you
here in the living room.
And we ain't gotta be in no sitting room
in the prison somewhere.
(group laughs)
- Right.
(pensive music)
Mr. Jones was my mom and stepdad's friend.
Him and his wife and
them would get together.
They would drink, party, hang out
'cause they just stayed like
maybe four or five houses down
from us up the road.
Like over time, Wendell started to notice
how our stepdad would talk
to us, how he would treat us.
And he didn't like it.
Every time he had a chance,
he would pull us aside.
Like, Hey man, you know,
if you ever want somebody
to talk to, I'm here.
Come down to the house, you know,
you can have lunch, you can watch a movie.
Just, you know, whenever
you want to get away.
I couldn't do that at our house.
So Jones became my father figure.
He was the one saying, "You can do it.
You can do anything you
put your mind to, man.
I believe in you, man," you know?
Yeah, I never got that from my stepdad,
encouragement or things like that.
- Being in Trotwood, we have,
I haven't been here in years.
- [Mr. Jones] Yeah, yeah.
- It's a big difference.
- [Mr. Jones] Yeah, it's changed,
it's changed quite a bit.
I had to laugh 'cause I bought
all this candy and I didn't have
not one trick or treater come past.
- Oh really?
So I guess all the kids grew
up and just left, I guess.
- Well they, yeah.
We just don't have a lot of
kids in the neighborhood now.
Bunch of old retirees
with like me, you know?
Old retirees, man.
(pensive music continues)
- The devil is where
God is not.
(birds chirp)
With our family, meaning all my siblings,
we all believed in God.
That's how we was raised.
So with Kela, she was
really smart and gifted
as far as, you know, academic-wise,
straight As, she had the chance
to be an exchange student.
But with Kela, Kela was always thirsty
and addicted to street guys
and that street life.
When we moved to Trotwood,
that was the suburbs.
It wasn't ghetto, wasn't
ghetto kids around there.
It was all pleasant and nice.
But she would still always
find a way to manage
to get to the West Side.
The West Side of Dayton is
where your th*gs was at,
a lot of your street cats was at.
And she was just attracted to that.
So she started skipping
school, drinking, smoking weed.
She was hard to handle.
And I think that slowly
became her downfall is
because I saw her slowly
starting to get away
from the word of God.
And she started to adopt a mentality of,
I can do this, I can do that.
I can commit these sins
because God knows my heart.
God will forgive me.
He'll forgive me, though.
I used to say, "Kela,
but that's not a get outta jail free card.
This ain't Monopoly.
This is real life."
(Terri sighs)
- You know what?
I think I know when it happened,
when I think when she was
four months pregnant.
- Mm.
- And she got an ab*rtion.
I think that really affected her.
Yeah.
'Cause the kid's father,
she already had two kids by the guy
and this would've been her third baby.
And he told her that
if she got an ab*rtion,
that they would be
together and get married.
And she was really in love
with him, totally in love.
So she did it.
And he did not marry her.
They wasn't even boyfriend and girlfriend.
They didn't even date.
Matter of fact, he didn't
even talk to her after that.
So I think that what happened,
I think she had a nervous breakdown
because yeah, she had a
hard, hard time with that.
Matter of fact, I don't
think she ever got over it.
(somber, distorted music)
- Everything took place down
Rochelle and Dewi house, man.
See Rochelle, them, they had ghosts too.
They, their place was extremely haunted.
Kela, she would go down there,
it'd be like a sitcom
down there for her, man.
She'd go down there cracking laughing
and joke about the ghost
they had in their house.
And then we don't know the
evil spirit went into her,
made her the way she is.
It'd be many nights, I had to go get her.
She told me, I said,
"What's so, why you keep
going out with demons?"
Oh they funny and this and that.
I said, "You gotta be careful."
It's the ending point
when they cut you off,
but you don't even see it coming.
The demons,
they cut you off.
Then next thing I know,
Kela start having problems.
- [Travis] The enemy's
gonna always trick you
and lead you astray.
He's gonna make you think it's
all good in the beginning.
Look, I got all these gifts for you.
He has whatever you want,
whatever your little hearts desire.
What about this?
I can get you with meth.
I can get you a little
cocaine, a little heroin.
- Because every night it was,
"I need", she was like, "I
need drugs, I need drugs."
And go in the bathroom and tear it up.
And we got into it in the hallway.
I'm like, "I can't take it no more."
- I know when Dante, because
you know, she had three kids,
the youngest boy,
she was sitting in my family room
and my steps went down
like five, six steps.
And she was sitting on the floor
right in front of the
steps and she had the baby
sitting in her lap.
I think he was eight or nine months old.
I kept hearing her screaming.
So I came to the steps,
see what was going on.
She said, "Get away from him.
Get away from him.
No, you can't bother him.
You can't have him.
Get away, get away, get away."
I'm like, "Kela?"
Wasn't nobody downstairs
but her and the baby.
I said, "Who are you talking to?"
I didn't see anything.
I said, "Who are you talking to?"
She said, "No, they trying to get him.
They can't have him, they can't have him.
I won't let them have,"
that boy, he was shaking.
Tears were streaming down his face.
He was petrified.
He was so scared of his mom.
- This one particular night,
I'm thinking like 15 or 16 years old,
Mom gets a call from my older sister, Liz.
(phone rings)
Crying on her phone saying,
"There's something wrong with Kela."
- She looked like Kela but it wasn't her.
I said, "Liz,"
I said, "Something wrong with Kela."
She said, "No, nothing ain't wrong."
I said, "Liz, I'm trying to tell you."
I said, "Something is wrong with Kela."
We was laughing about something,
but she thought that
we was laughing at her.
And my sister had put braids in her hair.
She went upstairs and
cut out all the braids.
So I asked her, like,
"What's wrong with you?"
And it wasn't her.
She was like, "Well,
what's wrong with you?
What's wrong with you?"
But her, you know, her head
was moving like a little snake.
Like, "What's wrong with
you, what's wrong with you?"
(door bangs)
- I think it all started, but
she wouldn't open the door.
And we knew she was home.
Taylor was four months old.
I kept bamming on the door.
We called the police
and they said that they couldn't
just break into her house
without probable cause.
She might just be in there,
not want any company.
You didn't wanna, you know, see anybody.
But we said, "No, we
think something's wrong."
You know how you just get that gut feeling
that something's wrong?
- We had to take matters
into our own hands.
So at this point, it's
almost like coming to rescue.
We drove over there, me,
Randy, and my mom.
In back of the apartment,
there was a space where we
could pull the car around.
And I was telling Randy like, "Man,
if one of us stand on the hood of his car
and just jump a little bit,
I think we could manage to reach the patio
and pull ourself up and
check that patio door
or if not, break that
glass and try to get in."
So we was debating on who was gonna do it,
who was gonna do it.
You know, I've always been
kind of beefy, you know,
always worked out or whatever.
At that point, I'm weighing about 190.
Randy's only about 145.
That's a big weight difference.
So I'm like, "Hey man, you up."
Randy finally got on the hood of the car.
He jumps up, he pulls himself
up, everyone's terrified.
So he pulls on the door
end of the sliding door
and it just happened to be unlocked.
- And it was dark except for the light
over the kitchen stove was on.
She had the oven on
and the oven open
and it was hot as hell in that house.
It was blazing up in there.
But she had all the meat
in the sink,
in the kitchen sink for whatever reason.
And I was trying my best,
man, not to make any sound
because again, all the stories I'm hearing
from everybody what they're
saying was going on.
- Yeah, we didn't know where she was at
in the apartment (indistinct).
- We did not know where she was at.
I could just picture her coming down
that doggone hallway, man, with a knife
or something like that,
screaming, yelling, whatever, man.
Lord knows what I would've done.
But when I got to that
hallway, I didn't see nothing.
I saw the coast was
clear down that hallway.
I ran my a*s straight to
that door, unlocked it, man.
Got my a*s out that house.
- So me and Mom make
our way to her bedroom.
She's already sitting up
in the bed in the dark.
(baby cries)
Rocking back and forth
with the baby in her arms, Taylor.
I stayed in the hallway and
Mom tried to talk to her.
I don't think she was really responsive.
And so Mom's, "Okay, go
ahead and gimme the baby."
So Mom had walked up,
tried to take the baby from her arms
and
that was a big mistake, man.
(baby cries)
She just lost it.
Started cussing her out and she said,
"All y'all ain't my family.
All y'all are demons, y'all
some damn demons, y'all demons."
My Mom came to us, she
backed off and she said,
"If your faith ain't strong,
don't come in this room."
I wasn't going in there anyway.
So I think that's when
Mom started calling people
and that's when she
called my Uncle Ronnie.
(dramatic music)
That, time Uncle Ronnie was like a pastor,
trying to be a pastor like that.
We knew he was deep into the word.
So Mom had called Uncle Ronnie to come in
and to pray over Kela
and try to deliver her.
Catholic Church calls it exorcism.
But it's all the same thing.
When you say somebody
needs to be delivered,
they're really saying exorcism.
- We used to listen to like,
A. A. Allen and Leroy Jenkins
and Branham
and all these different preachers
and they used to be casting out demons
'cause A. A. Allen had a album
on
where he would speak to the person
that was demon possessed
and the devil would speak through him.
You know, tell him he don't have the power
to cast him out and stuff.
'Cause if you go against that demon,
you gotta know what you're doing.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know?
Because if you don't,
then that spirit can get on you.
- Do you remember getting that call?
Was it Mom that called you about Kela?
- Yeah, when I walked in, it
startled me, really, you know?
- [Travis] That's a
frightening thing, yeah.
- Yeah, you dealing with a power
that you really don't
know that much about.
But now you in, you knowing God.
And we got the power, you know?
Because we used to talk about
it all the time in the church,
you know, because He
said He gives us power
to tread upon serpents and scorpions,
He give us powers over all
the powers of the enemy.
And He said nothing by any
means shall be able to harm us.
But if we got the power,
we can't show fear.
Because if you show fear,
the enemy feeds off of you.
- [Travis] Right.
- Our fear, you know,
and it could be frightening
because you know,
what kind of control do
you have over that spirit?
- When fear takes over you,
even if you are strong,
fear make you weak, man.
Fear break you down.
- You really wanted somebody
with you to fight that spirit.
I don't even think I had the courage
really
to go up against that
spirit that was in her.
Really, my faith wasn't
where I thought it was,
as strong as I thought it
was at that particular time.
- And I just felt in
my heart at that time,
God was just telling me like,
y'all need to go get Joey.
So we're banging on the door,
throwing rocks at the window,
banging on the door.
He finally comes down.
I could only imagine what he was thinking,
being woke up in the morning,
5:00, 6:00 AM in the morning,
his two brothers crying, terrified,
telling him that your
little sister's possessed.
But Joey's always been a soldier.
Joey's always been fearless.
So he's okay.
He wasn't worried about anything.
He act like we didn't even tell him
what we just told him.
So we get in the car, we go over there.
As soon as we get in there,
she was still had the baby clenched
and couldn't nobody get the baby.
So Joey goes in the room.
I forget exactly what
he said to Uncle Ronnie.
After that, Joey went right for her.
- She said, "I'll k*ll her, I'll k*ll her.
I'll k*ll her before I
let anybody take her."
She said that.
And that's when she bit
down on her jaw real hard.
(baby screams)
- She bit Taylor on the cheek, yeah.
She clamped down and tried
to bite her face off.
So she's tearing into her face
and of course the baby's
screaming and crying.
(baby cries)
And Joey's trying to break Kela's grip.
It's like a pit bull, man, she locked on
and he's trying to break
her grip, her mouth,
trying to break that bite
but he couldn't do it.
So he had to punch her.
I just remember him like
punching her a few times.
And then finally,
he was able to kind of break her bite.
- I held her down and she couldn't move.
And I was praying over
her and then she stopped.
She said, "Joey, I'm hot.
I need to take a shower,
would you let me go?"
I said, "Would you act right?"
She says, "Yeah."
She went to the bathroom
and I watched her.
She walked into that tub.
(water splashes)
She only turned on cold water, man.
And when that water hit her,
the whole bathroom filled with steam
like he was putting out a fire.
That's when the firemen came
and the police officers,
it took nine guys to hold her.
She was throwing 'em off like
left and right, throwing 'em.
It took nine guys to bring her down.
- I know she bit one of the
police officer in the leg
and drew blood.
They did take her to the mental hospital
but I forget how long she was there.
- She's missed
deeply.
I mean, I understand the
things she went through.
(tranquil music)
Wow man, she went through some things.
That's who I used to dance with
and laugh with back in the day.
You know what I mean?
But she still be missed.
- [Rhonda] That was my little sister.
- She had a battle, ongoing battle.
Now that mental illness, see, I ask again,
is that mental illness or is that
something spiritual?
- Last time I saw my Mom was
June, 2017.
She was
okay.
She was stressed, though.
But she was okay for the
most part, she was okay.
I was about three or four
years old, I'm not sure.
But I remember she had on
a big, white t-shirt and
she was just burning it.
And my older brother,
she asked us, she like,
"Y'all wanna go to hell,
y'all wanna go to hell?"
Like, she just kept
saying, and I was a kid.
I didn't really know.
I don't want to go and like, you know,
so it happened again when I was about,
it always about four
or five years or three.
It was always years in the gaps.
I just say we was protected.
You know, like we was so
young or I was so young,
I didn't really understood
what was going on.
But I didn't know how I got this mark
until I was in high school.
I was like in, yeah, I was 15, I believe.
And it just something that happened.
I was getting ready for school.
Me and my mom, we was very close
and I was getting ready
for school one morning.
I was just, you know,
I'm just doing what I do,
getting dressed and I'm in
the mirror listening to music
and she come in the bathroom with me
and she using the restroom.
So I'm in the mirror, doing my hair
and she just out the blue, she like,
"Tay, we gotta get some
(indistinct) for that."
Like, facial cream.
And I'm just like, (indistinct)?
I'm in the mirror and I'm just
like, "For what, you know?"
So she like, "That mark on your face."
And I'm like, yeah, I'm like,
"I had this mark my whole life."
I'm just in the mirror and I'm just like,
"Yeah," I'm like, "I
had this my whole life."
And I'm like, "I don't know what it is."
I'm like, "It look like a bite mark."
Or I was just talking.
And from there she just busted
out crying and she just like,
"I did it."
And I'm like, "What you
mean you did it, Ma?"
And she like, "I did it."
She's like, "I didn't mean to."
And she finally told me the
story and I'm just like, wow.
Like, 'cause I never knew.
And I'm just like, "Ma, it's okay."
I believe
we're all tested.
Anybody can get attacked
once he know your heart.
- [Travis] When you get away from God,
this crazy life that we
live in can break you down.
(tense music)
We used to meet in here.
- In the basement down there.
- Yeah, we used to (indistinct).
Oh wow, this space has not changed.
- [Person Off-Camera]
That little Teen Center.
- Yep.
- Little Teen Center.
- Little pizzas, the
kitchen still the same.
- [Person Off-Camera] Right?
Yeah, this is definitely
the hangout spot after school for sure.
- That's not the original floor.
- Oh yeah.
- This was the Teen Center.
This space right here, believe it or not,
this little space was the Teen Center.
So we used to have
slumber parties here and,
or sleepovers.
And we used to sleep on these floors.
Probably why my back still hurt.
(group laughs)
- I wasn't fully aware
that it was a church
probably till a year or
so after I had been going
'cause I didn't know, I had moved
and everybody here was
already living in the projects
before I got there.
So I met everybody when I got there.
Actually, I remember the first,
one of the first people I met was Randy.
I don't even remember how I
ended up coming over here.
I think I just followed
the crowd and I just,
it was just a place to hang out at.
You know what I'm saying?
It was all my friends was there.
I met a lot of kids that
did live in the neighborhood
or the projects came here.
- And it was always the Teen Center.
- Yes.
- Right.
- The Teen Center was not, you
know, Hope Lutheran Church.
- Yeah.
- We're going
to the Teen Center.
- [Travis] Right.
And this part was normally was closed off.
We was supposed to be stay downstairs.
- [Person Off-Camera] Yeah.
- But we always reaching
out to explore a little bit.
- It was guidance because look at us now.
I mean, we weren't out there in trouble.
We wasn't nowhere stealing,
you know what I'm saying?
We was here.
- I don't think we at that time,
and I don't, I won't speak for everybody.
I don't think that we
understood the significance.
It was somewhere kind of we,
our friends were there
and that's where we hung out at.
And I guess looking back at it now,
it was kind of a safe
space for a lot of us.
Amongst us living in that project
that we grew up in for so many years,
it was a sense of like family,
I call them my mom.
- It was bad.
And I mean it was a
place to get a warm meal.
I mean,
and it was just to have things
that we didn't have at home.
And not to say that we
just grew up dirt poor,
but just things that we didn't
have at home, it was here.
- And some of the counselors
even opened up their homes
to us and allowed us to stay
the night at their houses.
- [Person Off-Camera] Yeah.
- Allowed us, took us to the movies.
That's why I saw "Rocky
IV" for the first time.
- [Person Off-Camera] Yeah, yeah.
- That's why I saw "The
Goonies" for the first time
at the movies.
- It's time away that you were taken away
from wherever you may be going
through at home or missing.
Because that's an experience
that my mother couldn't afford,
for me to go to the movies
to see "The Goonies".
- One thing for me that
stuck out for me was
they afforded the opportunity
for me to go to camp
and they paid for our clothing.
And I remember it sticks out in my head,
Burger King on Woodman.
The lady stopped there and
that was my very first Whopper.
So you just imagine the excitement.
- [Person Off-Camera]
And I still can't believe
the church is still here.
- [Person Off-Camera] If
weren't for the Teen Center,
boy, I don't know.
- And despite the racism
that was going on.
(group chatters indistinctly)
- [Person Off-Camera] When
we got here, was no racism.
- I had, I remember
when I first moved over,
I had, 'cause like I said,
I moved from West Dayton
and I had never been called
the *-word ever in my life.
And I remember vividly,
me and my sister walking to the store.
We had, like I said,
we had maybe been over
like 30 days or so, a month.
And young kid,
he couldn't have been
more than 17 years old,
start yelling, "N-words on the
block, N-words on the block,
N-words on the block."
- Mm.
- And I remember being,
I'm like looking around
like who's he talking about?
Like, where they at?
You know what I mean?
Like, I didn't know what
he was talking about.
- Where are they?
- That was so foreign to me.
- Well, well I mean you
talking about racism.
Yeah. I mean,
me and Lucas have experienced some things
like that back in the day.
Just walking down the street,
getting called out your name,
just being disrespected.
And me, the type of guy I was,
I take the matters in
my own hands, you know?
So
yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
I really don't like thinking
about it 'cause it's
open up old wounds, you
know what I'm saying?
So yeah, I just leave it alone.
Just, you know, put it alone.
- See when, one time when my uncle,
he was Downtown on a drug charge,
I think it was '58,
the county jail was on Main Street
and on the side, there was a little alley
that you could pull in.
And so she would pull in there
and pull up there and
then he would be up high
and she would be talking to him.
She wanted to know what he wanted to wear
to court and everything
'cause she would bring
whatever he needed to wear to court,
she would bring it to him.
And so while we were
sitting up there talking,
she was talking to him.
Then I heard this sound
go pitty-pat, pitty-pat,
pitty-pat, pitty-pat.
And then there was two sheriffs,
two deputy sheriffs running where we were,
where we was in the alley.
And police, then he took
a g*n, put it to my head,
c*ck the hammer.
(g*n c*ck)
And they told me, he said,
if I make the wrong move,
he gonna blow my GD brains out.
You know?
- [Travis] And you was how old again?
- I was 16 then.
And when they was interrogating me,
smacked me upside the head, you know,
trying to get a confession out of me.
So, and then what happened was
the next day,
they got us outta jail.
And so one of the police,
one of the sheriff deputies
that worked down there, he
was a friend of the family,
you know, but he didn't
know all this was going on.
And so, but when we told him what happened
then my grandmother and them
when they got the NAACP
and they came in and brought
charges against them.
So I think they got suspended for a while,
but they didn't get fired, you know?
(somber music)
- [Person Off-Camera] I'll tell you this,
Indianapolis, Indiana, back in the '50s,
I hear a lot of people say
that it was really prejudiced back then.
But I'd never experienced any of it.
And that's the truth.
- Nobody loves me.
Nobody cares about me.
That's what I thought.
Well, that's what the
devil wanted me to think.
I don't exist, I don't count.
You're nothing.
Why are you even here?
This message goes out to those
who are struggling.
You're not alone.
It's gonna be a long road.
There's gonna be times where
you gonna want to give up.
There gonna be times where
you want to commit suicide
'cause you can't handle it no more.
Been there,
done that.
God touched my heart
and told me
I'm not done yet.
I never took into consideration
that God above, the ruler, man,
told me that.
Luckily He did not dismiss me
the way I dismissed Him.
- Travis, would it be all right
if we prayed before we start?
- Sure.
Most definitely, yeah.
So my dad,
was a former Marine.
At some point when I was like a baby,
he started showing
signs of mental illness.
He started showing signs of being bipolar
and manic depression
and even some type of
schizophrenia.
But you know, back in those days,
in the late '70s and early '80s,
there really wasn't a lot
of help like that back then.
Especially for African American males,
especially just coming back
home from the w*r or whatnot.
There was a time where he kind of,
he took the family hostage at gunpoint,
barricaded the doors
where the police couldn't get in.
And it was a big standoff,
a hostage situation.
You know what, I believe you know this,
the secular world caused
like a mental breakdown.
But to me, it was more of
like demonic in nature.
If my dad was your patient
or came to you for help,
how would you help someone like that?
- So I think there's a very good chance
that I wouldn't end up being
the person to help your dad.
And I say that because I'm
an outpatient therapist.
- Okay.
- And I think
for me, the very first
thing I'm gonna do is
make sure that this is the right fit.
- Mm, okay.
- And if somebody is a danger
to themselves or others,
that is not a good fit for me.
Like, an immediate danger.
- Right.
It's kinda, and this is
just coming to me now,
it's kind of ironic because
it's like my dad had
his breakdown.
They had to rescue us.
My sister Chekala, she had a breakdown
and we had to break in to rescue
her three month, year old daughter.
- [Therapist] Hmm.
- The good thing is,
thank God that my dad
didn't harm any of us.
But in this situation with her,
she did end up harming her baby.
She bit down and tried to
bite the baby's face off.
So isn't that kind of crazy?
It's like thinking about it
now, my dad had an issue.
She had an issue and it's both
situations where, you know,
there was kids involved.
- Right.
(suspenseful music)
We do see in the Bible
evidence that sin can,
its impact can go from
generation to generation.
And I guess we could debate
about why that happens,
or is that just a natural progression?
Because you know, we are
nurtured by these folks and
it what they do impacts us.
I would feel most comfortable
looking at it from that perspective.
- Right?
- But I guess I couldn't say
for sure because I'm
not in the mind of God.
I've definitely heard of that.
You know, these sorts of,
particularly this type
of spiritual affliction
that to the point where there might be
demon possession,
that carrying through generations.
We could definitely say there is
reason to believe that what we see
impacts
the next generation.
And it's not just what's seen,
sometimes it's what's done.
There's a more direct impact.
And so that could transcend
from generation to generation.
But it absolutely doesn't have to,.
- [Travis] Right.
- And I think
there are those, and I think
of my own family members,
some of them have seen things growing up
that they didn't appreciate
and that were really hard for them,
abuse and things like this.
And they,
you know, it sometimes impacts
different siblings differently.
And you can be a person who
stops the trend.
- [Travis] Right?
- [Therapist] By the power of God.
- [Travis] Oh yeah.
- [Therapist] To say no, not here.
- So for me, I started off drinking.
I'm just gonna put it all out there.
I started out drinking about
the age of five or six.
My mom had a boyfriend named Doc
after her and my dad got divorced.
He always used to keep his
Colt 45 in the freezer,
so to get cold during the summer.
So I would open it up, take a few swigs,
put it back.
Even as a teenager, I
would sneak and drink.
There'd be times I'd go to school drunk.
For me as a person, if I
had to judge my own self,
I would say my downfall was drinking.
I didn't do drugs, they
couldn't get me to smoke weed.
I get into working out a
lot, lost a lot of weight,
started feeling myself.
I think I'm a pretty handsome guy.
(Travis laughs)
At this point, probably like
about 2021, I'm selling cars.
I went from detailing
cars to selling cars.
Always dressed nice, always liked fashion
and always kept myself well groomed.
So I had a lot of women approaching me
and it became addicting.
It became a drug, man.
I was on crack,
woman crack, sex crack.
I think one day I had sex in one day,
I had sex with like three or four women.
It is what it is.
I'm not the only one.
My brother Randy noticed
that something was
wrong with me one day
'cause I just came up
on all these girls in the club, you know.
(indistinct) to get somebody's number.
Again, it really wasn't
cell phones like that.
Yeah, we had phones a little
bit, but it wasn't no texting
I don't think back then.
So I got all these numbers or whatever
and we're passing a gas
station about to go home.
And I see this beautiful
girl get outta the car
about to pump her gas.
Hey man, pull up, pull over,
I gotta talk to her, pull up.
He like, "Man, you just talked
to three or four girls in the club,
like what are you doing?"
I said, "Come on man,
I gotta get her number.
I gotta get her number."
And he like, "Man,
something wrong with you."
And I'm like, "Oh man,
you just hating on me.
You just mad 'cause you didn't get
no girls' numbers tonight."
And I never forget that though.
But he pulled over and I got a number.
That always stuck in the back of my mind.
And I started to realize
like, you know what?
I think I got a problem
and now I'm starting
to drink more and more
early in the day now.
Now when I wake up, I
don't want a cup of coffee.
I'm ready to do some shots.
I want it to be party time all the time.
I didn't want the party to end.
My finances started to get all messed up
and started getting in debt.
So as these things started happening
and I'm getting deeper and deeper,
I'm getting more and more
and more outta control,
one day I knew,
I felt in my soul something
was about to happen to me.
I felt like death was
coming to me somehow.
I didn't know how, but it scared me.
And so I got on my knees and I prayed.
And so the last prayer I said,
before I really gave
my life to God, I said,
I'm praying in the room,
in the dark on my knees.
And I said, "God, I give my life to You."
I said, "I knock all the chess
pieces off my board of life
and You arrange them as You wish."
I felt the love of God descend on me, man,
like a warm,
comforting shower.
Like, I was just being baptized
in the spirit at that point.
I never felt love like that before.
I never felt peace like that before.
I had tears and snot and
anything just pouring.
It's like I was just being drained,
just washed clean.
After that, I just knew I was
gonna be going somewhere soon.
I didn't know where, I just
knew I was going somewhere.
And so one night, as I'm jogging,
I started working out again,
caring about my body again
and you know, cutting out
a lot of that drinking
I was doing.
And so one night while I'm
jogging in the neighborhood,
it's like a broadcast system
turned inside of my head.
The Holy Spirit said,
"You're going into the military."
And when he told me that,
I was like, cool.
(militaristic percussion music)
(airplane engine roars)
- [Ronnie] If you look at the young,
the young is pushing
the church to the side
because you know, they,
I guess they fed up with the
ruckus in the church, the.
- [Person Off-Camera] The
politics and everything.
- Yeah, mm-hmm.
The young people is the
ones that is our future.
And those are the ones that we need
to help to bring 'em about,
out of this situation.
Because you know, what do
they have to look forward to?
You know, a lot of 'em, they
don't know who they are.
You know, the young people,
they don't have no jobs, you know,
don't have nothing to do.
They don't have anything to do.
But the streets is
telling them what to do.
So, but they don't realize
where we come from.
You know, we come from a
rich heritage, you know?
So when we come from Africa,
they tell us to go back to Africa.
In Africa, there are
54 countries in Africa.
So when you say go back to Africa,
what, which country are you talking about?
When we came over here and
they called us Negroes,
but they called us Negroes is
because that's the area that we came,
we came from a place called Negroland.
I don't know if you've
ever heard of it before.
Negroland is over there where Ghana is.
And this is where the
tribe of Judah came out of.
And then that's the reason why you see
a lot of preachers
saying that, letting them
know that the Negroes today,
they are the
lost tribe of Israel.
You know, they from the tribe of Judah.
But our kids, they
don't know who they are.
They think they th*gs and hoodlums,
you know, we k*lling up each other.
They put us in the ghetto.
They put us in the 'hood.
They got us
fighting against one another.
You know,
as long as we k*lling one another,
they're not gonna bother us.
But if we move outside of our culture,
then that's when the problem starts.
You know, when you're dealing
with us as Black people,
the media got us cast out as th*gs,
hoodlums, you know, everything we do,
we are the poster boys for crime.
We know how to get along with people,
but people don't know
how to get along with us.
Because if you look at us as a people,
in reality we the most
loving people there is
because we accept anybody in.
But if you kick a dog long
enough, he going to bite you.
- [Travis] A lot of people
aren't used to people like us
because we're everything wrapped in one.
We're the total package.
I can be polite to you, how you doing?
Shake your hand, open
the door for old lady,
carry your groceries for you.
But at the same time,
even though they was girls,
we had three sisters,
Liz, Kela and Rhonda still here.
Joey taught them how to fight like men.
Most girls in the age
used to see 'em get into
cat fight at school.
You just see 'em swinging like
little cat fights, not them.
They would square up and would box
and that's how they won all their fights.
There was a lot of fights
in the '80s growing up.
We don't look for trouble.
Like I said, we joke and we laugh,
but every Peagler, we got
what I call a k*ll switch.
I can joke with you, laugh with you.
And if it comes down to it,
I can also knock your a*s out.
(water splashes)
The barracks I stayed in was
like a old World w*r II
barracks, small room.
I had one roommate, Schutz
was deployed at the time.
He was deployed to Afghanistan.
We shared a bunk bed.
Mine was the bottom bunk.
Turned off the lights.
(insects chirp)
There was a little moonlight
coming through the blinds.
To be clear, I was not asleep.
(tense music)
I didn't have any drinks,
I didn't take any drugs.
I'm laying there just thinking,
looking up at the, you know,
the bed, you know, above me.
The bed compressed with weight.
(Travis groans)
And then is there somebody
roll over on their side.
(Travis groans)
There's certain times in life
you gotta have a sanity
check with yourself.
No one's in the room with me, empty bunk.
And I said to myself,
"Self, ain't nobody in this room with me."
As soon as I said that,
that's when I seen it.
So this thing grabs me.
I have never in my life
felt power like that before,
physical power.
This is the strongest
thing I have ever felt.
I couldn't move an inch.
It started crushing me.
I felt like I had a whole house
sitting on my chest in my abdomen area.
The pressure was so intense,
I thought I was just going to explode.
I start calling out in the name of Jesus,
anything unholy has to flee in Jesus' name
'cause that's the power
and the demons know that,
in the name of Jesus, name
of Jesus, name of Jesus.
But I can feel it lean over
and when I say the name of
Jesus, it whispered in my ear.
And that's the first time
I heard a demon speak.
It started mocking me.
It time me.
Every time I say Jesus,
it would say another name
in the name of Jesus.
(Travis growls)
It was throwing me off,
like you ever had your
equilibrium thrown off?
It's like I was being tested.
When you gonna give up?
Jesus ain't gonna save you
this time, that a*s is mine.
I started to lose hope, man.
I said, "I guess this is it."
As soon as I was about to give up,
that's when the Holy Spirit
started talking to me.
So in the middle of that battle,
the Holy Spirit said,
"Fear not, this thing cannot k*ll you.
This thing cannot destroy you
because I'm in you."
When the Holy Spirit told me that,
I started smiling, man,
from ear to freaking ear.
I just started smiling, like, ah.
I just started smiling, man.
(Travis exhales loudly)
(Travis sobs)
(Travis breathes deeply)
I smiled because I felt
the authority of God.
And then I said, "In the
name of Jesus" one more time,
before I was scared, I was being crushed.
I could feel the pain and the
weight of this thing on me.
I didn't feel anything anymore.
And the demon just, it broke up off of me.
It is just like it just one of God.
It just went away.
I felt the power of the Lord.
I felt the love of the Lord.
I always knew
that God is the Almighty,
He is the all powerful.
God is the creator.
Lucifer is the created being.
Don't get it twisted.
He is not the creator.
(contemplative music)
- So the devil is a spiritual being.
He's been given dominion at
this time over the Earth.
So we could say that this is his realm.
Genesis 3,
we see three characters at
play in the beginning of this.
And then a fourth character enters.
So the three characters at play are
the serpent,
they're Adam and they're Eve.
Many people minimize
this moment in the Garden
because they say all that Adam
and Eve did was eat a fruit.
But the reality is,
Adam and Eve lived in a perfect garden
and they had one rule.
Don't eat of the fruit
of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil.
You can eat of all the other trees.
- [Travis] Right.
- [Therapist] But not
this tree.
And so they chose to eat
from that tree anyway.
They broke their one rule
and look at the result, we're living it.
So if there's sin from
generation to generation,
this is proof right here
because Adam and Eve broke their one rule.
They ate a fruit.
Now we live in sin today.
That was it.
- [Travis] Mm.
- There was no second chance.
The world was forever changed.
Death came into the world.
The very Earth was marked
because of this change.
So yes, generation to
generation from that,
that was a direct result.
That's where evil came from.
The only power higher is God's power.
And we absolutely need to be equipped,
maybe put on the full armor of God.
- Right.
- To be able to defeat
the flaming arrows,
arrows of the evil one.
- If sex was my drug, I
would say I relapsed on that.
I was what you call a solo artist.
When it was time to hunt,
I liked to hunt alone.
So I would go to the club.
I always do two shots of tequila,
two Long Island ice teas.
And then after that, I would
top it off with two Budweisers.
I would walk around the
club with two Budweisers,
you know, feeling the music,
feeling myself walking around
and I'm looking for women,
beautiful woman.
I'm like, oh, look at her.
Yeah, she's, do I want
something petite tonight?
I think I might want
something a little thicc,
where the thicc girls at?
And I see this girl dancing
with some guy, whatever.
But she's looking at me
and I was like, huh.
So I did a Prince move.
She was trying to find
me in a crowd like, man,
where'd this guy go?
Where does handsome guy go?
And the next thing you know,
I tapped her on the shoulder.
You know, we started dancing or whatever.
And then she forgot all about the guy
that she was just dancing with.
And I was like all eyes on me.
So long story short,
that's how I met my wife.
This is bad.
(Travis laughs)
But I will say that with
her, it was different.
I wasn't trying to get in her pants.
We stayed up all night till six
o'clock in the morning, man,
just talking.
And while I'm sitting there talking to her
in her mom's living room,
the Holy Spirit said, "This is your wife."
And so that night before
I left her apartment,
she told me that she loved me
and I told her that I love her.
And this is all in just the several hours
of meeting someone.
- [Mr. Jones] And Travis you
got what, teenagers, don't you?
- [Travis] Yep, yeah,
Trin turned 13 in March
and then Trais turned
17 back in September.
- You gotta be kidding, Trais is 17?
- Well, yeah, it's gone by so quick.
So it's his junior year this year.
And he'll graduate next year.
- [Mr. Jones] When I was 17,
that's when I joined the
military, at 17 years old.
I joined the Air Force at 17.
I had me a salt and pepper
herring bone top coat
and had my little velour hat,
my little velour hat with the
brush on the side and all.
And went down there,
got down there to Texas
and that
TI grabbed me in my chest said,
"Boy, where you think you at?"
(group laughs)
You know, "You think you with
your daddy and your mama?
I'm your daddy now."
(group laughs)
(uplifting music)
- I pray for peace and
I just pray like to stay strong
'cause I know the devil's
trying to break me down
and like, there's been times
where like I would cry,
but I know like I just can't
let the devil get to me
in that type of way.
So I'll just be praying for like strength
and not to like let him get to me
'cause all he's saying is lies.
Drawing is just very fun
for me 'cause I don't know,
I just feel like God
like made me to do that.
- I like making like a
lot of creative stuff.
I like making music,
dubstep, art, tons of stuff,
video games, programming.
I'm into like a lot of creative things.
One of the reasons why I think
the demons are targeting us is
'cause we're meant for a greater purpose
or God might have a plan for us
that we aren't necessarily
like fully aware of.
So they're trying to hinder us,
mess with us and disturb us
and make us scared and just
kind of like live in fear.
I think my family needs protection.
(uplifting music continues)
- The people need help
and the church is not
really helping people,
but they draining.
And the people, you know,
they gimme, gimme, gimme.
Even the Bible says help your brother.
The church is.
(ominous music)
Seem like they lost its power.
You don't see 'em casting
out demons anymore, you know?
- [Travis] Right.
- [Ronnie] Coming up
against that spirit.
- [Travis] I feel like
a lot of churches are
not really helping out
families the way they should.
- [Ronnie] Right.
- Like you were saying,
if somebody's struggling
with a bill to pay,
a life bill or they rent,
name a church where you can
go to and get help for that.
- [Ronnie] Right.
- I don't know any, I don't
know all the churches,
but I, you don't hear those stories.
- [Ronnie] Right, yeah.
- [Travis] You know what I mean?
You hear stories of a pastor's anniversary
and they give extra donation
for the pastor's anniversary.
To me, I just think they got it twisted
and they're really not about
serving a community and serving the Lord
like they're meant to.
- [Ronnie] Right, yeah.
- To me it's
like more of taking than giving.
(ominous music continues)
- I feel where I'm from is
challenging,
but
life is what you make
it so I just keep going.
I didn't want to be a young teenage mom.
And my mom, she used to
always like say little stuff
and like she is like, "Tay,"
she never once judged me
even though she didn't
like me being a l*sbian.
Like, she didn't at all.
And you know, 'cause I know,
I know how I was raised
and I know so it,
like she didn't judge
me, but she did kind of.
But it was mainly 'cause of the girl.
Like, she flat-out told me like,
"Tay, she not for you, get rid."
Like she just always says stuff
and I'm like, "Ma, whatever",
da, da, da, da, da.
She cheated on me the whole
time we were together.
She was still dealing with men.
Once she got pregnant and
she said she was gonna stop
and, but she didn't.
I told her multiple times,
F you, I don't care about you.
I care about this baby.
Like, you can do what you
do, I don't care about you.
I told her that over and over and over.
I told her that all the time.
That's why I had to
really go to counseling
'cause I blame me 'cause
I told her all the time,
like, "I don't care about you,
I care about that baby."
And she knew that.
So she k*lled that baby to
get back at me, you know?
So
she suffocated
a four month old
and
I guess she,
you know,
yeah, she did that
and a year later,
yeah, she was in the
closet and she was wrapping
and wrapping and wrapping
the cord around her neck.
I guess it ate her up so bad, you know?
Like, she knew what she did, like.
Yeah and she,
yeah, she strangled herself.
And when I was trying to go in there
to release the cord
from, or just anything,
it was like a voice and
it was like, "Move."
And once I heard that,
I'm just like, whoa.
I backed up, you know?
I ain't been that way since.
I've been praying, praying all day.
I repented for all that
'cause I had to wake up
and yeah, I changed my whole thing.
After that, I had my mom still
and like my mom, she helped me out a lot
'cause I was messed up.
I was so messed up.
(ominous music)
- [Person Off-Camera] I think
that the devil is everywhere.
Evil is everywhere.
- There's demons around us right now.
You can't see 'em.
There are also angels around us.
We're in a spiritual warfare.
We always been in a spiritual warfare.
We should be, all of us should be
preachers, testimony of
what we went through.
There's a lot of people are
gonna take that number, 666,
that haven't already.
We have a choice to make.
You could do this.
You could do good, bad and evil.
No one's checked you
and we got the Holy Spirit on our body.
Whatever you do, the
Holy Spirit will witness,
whether it's good or bad.
It's in all of us.
There ain't no escape.
Everything you do is
being recorded and filmed.
Not only He got books,
but the devil got books.
They want your soul.
They want you tormented.
They don't want you living in heaven,
in a new world, new place God created.
(ominous music continues)
(flames crackle)
(ominous music continues)
- Do the damned still dream of heaven?
The problem is,
some people think they're
just gonna go in the ground
or they think they're gonna have a party
in hell with their friends.
And that's so far off.
That's a lie.
It's not a party.
That's why it's hell.
It's the embodiment of evil.
It's the burning lake of fire.
And so even if they didn't
dream of it beforehand,
or think it was a real thing,
when they get to hell,
they see that it's real.
And so I'm certain
that they long for something better
because it's such torment.
And it's a place that I
wouldn't want anybody to go.
And I think that's why God tells us
to pray for our enemies.
Because this is such a horrible thing
that He doesn't wish
that any should perish,
but that all should be
called to repentance.
So if that's God's wishes,
the one who created hell,
then we ought to be
wishing that so much harder
because we're the imperfect sinners.
I am afraid of God.
I could say that.
And I mean, I know the
God of the Old Testament.
He swallowed people up in the Earth.
He is a God to be afraid of.
- Yeah, He's no joke, yeah.
- Because I think people
wanna minimize the fear of God
as just respect.
But it's so much more than that.
I actually fear God
and I don't need to fear
anyone or anything else.
So if you had seen me in
my day before I got here,
you would've seen
like various points where I was praying,
like I'm waking up and I'm praying
and I am on the drive here
and I turn off the sound
in my car and I'm praying.
And when I'm in here, I'm on the floor
and I'm praying.
(tranquil music)
Because I'm not called
to be a person of fear.
I'm called to shine the light of God.
- [Travis] Right.
(tranquil music continues)
- I pray every day.
I wake up and say a prayer,
go to sleep saying a prayer.
I say a prayer all during the day.
I say a prayer on my way
to work, while I'm at work.
You know what I'm saying?
To let Him know I'm there.
But with me, if I see it
and I know it ain't natural
or nothing from up above,
oh honey, look.
- Go on.
- You can have it, I'm outta here.
- [Travis] Our story is
a lot of people's story.
They just don't wanna talk about it.
As a parent, the only
thing I worry about is
just making sure they
never get away from God.
I don't care about them
growing up to be successful,
to get a good career and all that.
If you instill that word in your kids,
God is gonna provide to them,
they're gonna have good careers.
All those things that's gonna
come off of that one thing.
So for me as a parent,
that's always been my job.
I taught my son Trais how to pray
when he was only 17 months
because I knew what he was
gonna be facing in this world.
I knew what dark forces he was
gonna be coming up against this world.
And I knew if it ever came a
time where they was gonna be,
have to confront demons,
I wanted to make sure
they was prepared, man,
in how to wield the word of God
and how to use it as a sword.
'Cause when you experience
everything that I've
experienced with my sisters,
my dad, my brother Joey, myself,
can't nobody tell me nothing, man.
- Somebody need help
spiritually.
Somebody out there needs help.
And the crazy part about it is
they will not even ask
for help theirself.
Why?
Too ashamed,
too embarrassed,
whatever.
But I'm here to let you know,
kick all that out the window.
God is not on that.
That's not God's way.
Satan,
get thee behind me.
You're not welcome here
and you know that.
(tranquil music continues)
- [Travis] My Lord God, we thank You.
My Lord God, I thank You for
all that You have done for us.
My Lord God, I thank You
for the power of laughter
and the gifts You have given us, Father.
Father God, we thank You God
for bringing us together,
all the craziness we experience, Father,
I know that You're with us.
And my Lord God, I give You all the glory
and the honor and the praise, my Lord.
We lift Your name above our name
because Lord, we nothing without You.
I'm glad that You live in
each and every one of us,
Father God.
And then I pray that we activate You
because we know for such a time as this,
Father God, You calling us
and that we're here, Father God,
in Jesus' holy name.
(Travis speaks in tongues)
I am that I am, your Lord thy God.
There is none before me.
There is none after me.
(Travis speaks in tongues)
I am all power, all glory, I am that I am.
- [All] Amen.
- [Travis] In Jesus' name.
- [All] Amen.
- [Person Off-Camera] Hallelujah,
hallelujah, hallelujah.
- [Person Off-Camera 2] Amen.
(group applauds)
- [Person Off-Camera 3]
Through you, brother,
speaking in tongues.
(static crackles)
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Lord, it's good enough for me
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Lord, it's good enough for me
It was good for our mothers
It was good for our mothers
It was good for our mothers
It's good enough for me
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Lord, it's good enough for me
It was good for our fathers
It was good for our fathers
It was good for our fathers
It's good enough for me
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Lord, it's good enough for me
It was good for Paul and Silas
It was good for Paul and Silas
It was good for Paul and Silas
It's good enough for me
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Lord, it's good enough for me
It will take you home to glory
It will take you home to glory
It will take you home to glory
It's good enough for me
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Lord, it's good enough for me
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
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Satan, Get Thee Behind Me (2025)
Moderators: Maskath3, GabrielAlejo2341, sidolanters, Maskath3, GabrielAlejo2341, sidolanters