Helen’s Testimony

Artist: Helen Baylor

Album: The Live Experience (1994)

Length: 7:37

Appears on: WOW Gospel 1998 album and video and WOW Gospel #1s (album)

Transcript
Hallelujah, hallelujah. You know, when I think about it, I started in the church, as a little girl, seven years old. Grandmother used to take me to church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I used to sing for the Lord and I used to sing in the adult choir. I loved the Lord with all my heart. By the time I was nine years old, I was gung-ho and my grandmother even said to me, she said, "You know, baby, God's gonna use you one day." And I didn't know what she meant, but I knew I liked the sound of God using me. By the time I was eleven years old, my mother and father and my five brothers and little sister, we moved from Tulsa to California. My Dad's job had transferred him out here. By the time I was twelve years old, I found myself in the nightclubs in Los Angeles. My Mom and Dad used to go to the clubs on the weekends. They didn't know the Lord Jesus and Grandma wasn't around anymore, so we just quit going to church. Was in the nightclubs at twelve years old and that was the worst place and the last place that I needed to be, [sings] But I had a prayin' grandmother! [speaks] By the time I was thirteen years old, I had recorded my first single and began to open up for people like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, BB King, Bill Cosby, and I remember opening up for him one time and things began to happen. Hallelujah. Things began to happen all around me. The Devil had a trap, see? He was gonna set me up because, see, I liked -- I liked the money. I was making a lot of money and I liked th glamor and I liked the applause, because that said, "I love you." [sings] We all want to be loved! Hallelujah! [speaks] I didn't know that Jesus loved me. I didn't know it then. When I was sixteen years old, I had a baby out of wedlock and, by the time I was seventeen years old, I left home and joined the cast of "Hair" and I began to travel all across the country. I was making more money than my Mom and Dad put together. By then, things were looking pretty good. Then I was introduced to marijuana. Devil had a trap set. Next thing I know, it was pills. Pills to get up in the morning and pills to go to bed at night. Then, it was the alcohol. Then I became very promiscuous and ran around with a lot of people I had no business being with and, one day, I was introduced to cocaine and I know all drugs are a spirit, but this cocaine became my best friend and I began to hang out with the Devil and I did everything that I was big and bad enough to do. And I'm not glorifying him, I'm just letting him know that [sings] I don't belong to you! Hallelujah! I've been set free! Hallelujah! Glory to God! [speaks] I went on for about twelve years of my life and I traveled with people and I worked with Chaka Khan and Rufus and I worked with Captain and Tenille and all the people in the studios and I was good at my job and I was quick and I could demand double, triple scale and I went to work and I was high every day. [sings] The Devil was tryin' to kill me, but I had a prayin' grandmother, never turned her back on me! Hallelujah! [speaks] One time, when I was in Houston, Texas, I met a man there and I was getting ready to go on the road with Chaka Khan and there was a group going on the road with us, Heatwave, and they had a man working with them and he was doing their lights and I didn't know this, but I met him on the road and he was a nice guy you never would know it to look at him, but he was also, not only was their light director, but he was a cocaine dealer. Devil knows how to really do it. So, we began to be friends and we began to date and, you know, I began to get all the cocaine I wanted for free. How many of you know it wasn't for free? But we came home, me and this young man, and we began to live together and he was still selling drugs and I began to make drops for him. I was dropping off cocaine and making a lot of foolish turns in my life and my life began to do this spiral, downward spiral. I was going to Hell. Then, I began to watch Christian television. I began to watch Dr. Frederick K.C. Price. No matter what time it was Saturday night, whether it was 3:30, 4:30 in the morning, somehow, our eyes popped open at 8:30. [sings] Evidence! [chuckles] And I have to be honest with you. I used to sit there with my pre-rolled joints from the night before and I used to fire up a joint and watch Dr. Price. And I used to, kind of, you know, Dr. Price, you know, you know how I am. I used to make fun of Dr. Price. I'd say, "Just look at him, talking about 'Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God'!" But faith came. Hallelujah! Glory! Praise to God tonight! Hallelujah! [sings] He's worthy! Yes, He is! [speaks] You see, for two years, I watched Christian television. I was in and out and I bought a Bible and I would throw away all of the paraphernalia to smoke crack with and to smoke freebase and we used to make it and make our own. I threw it all in the trash and I'd go get it again and we'd get high. One night, as I was getting loaded I began to pass out. Then, my head hit the wall. Pow! Then, I began to slide down the wall and, as I began to come to, all of my bodily fluids were doing their own thing and I was dying [sings] but I had a prayin' grandmother and I knew enough to call on the name of Jesus! [speaks] Wasn't a couple of days later that I was watching Christian television and Grandma tells me she was layin' on her face during this time and she had been fasting for two weeks of just calling on the name of Jesus. [sings] "Save my granddaughter! Save my granddaughter, Jesus!" [speaks] I watched Christian TV and it was as if God Himself said, "That's enough!" and He rebuked the Devil long enough for me to make an intelligent decision and I said, [sings] "Jesus, if You take me back...I wanna come home, if You take me back..." [speaks] I said "Jesus, I know You're real. If You'll just take all this away from me, take all the drugs, take them away, I'm tired." And I want you to know that, instantly, I was set free. Instantly, I was delivered! Hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! This was on a Friday night and I want you to know that, not only did He save me, He saved that drug dealer and he's my husband tonight, James Baylor. [sings] Hallelujah! Faith comes by hearing, yes it does! Glory! [speaks] And I don't know about you, but I feel like lifting up the name of Jesus!