Sid Roth - I Was Facing 99 Years in Prison, But God Set Me Free
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth here. Welcome to my world where it's naturally supernatural. My guest had a visitation from God in his home that lasted nine months. The tangible Glory of God came into his home with everything that goes along with the tangible Glory of God and God instructed him principles how anyone can operate in that same manifest presence of God. That's why Jesus was able to do the miracle. He walked in that Glory and he wants to teach you. Anyone here interested? You know, I first met Shawn Morris, he came to one of our tours of Israel. It is so hard, the person and his wife that I had lunch with in Israel is the same person that I'm reading about. I mean, your family mostly drug addicts and murderers, and dealers. You were rejected by your birth dad. You were abused and ridiculed by your mother and your stepdad. At age 11, you were into drugs and alcohol. By 16, you were a full blown heroin addict.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: And as a teenager, life of crime.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: Murder, everything. In your early 20s, you're facing 99 years in prison.
Shawn Morris: Correct.
Sid Roth: So you go to prison and you bump into some Christians.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: What happened to that heroin addiction?
Shawn Morris: Well Sid, when I went into prison, this is my first Jesus encounter. They had these guys, they would pray and have Bible study in prison.
Sid Roth: Did you know much about Jesus before then?
Shawn Morris: No, I knew about church, but I didn't really know about Jesus. You know, I knew about going to church, I had heard of Jesus, but I never really had a relationship or knew anything about him. So I met these guys in prison, Sid, and these guys would have Bible studies and things of that nature. So they introduced me and they prayed for me to receive Jesus. Now I didn't feel anything miraculous. I didn't feel any supernatural feelings or anything. But I noticed something was different. The heroin addiction that I usually had, if I didn't have it in several days I would get sick. I would begin to get nauseated. I would begin to have cramps and different withdrawal symptoms. Sid, as soon as I said that prayer all the withdrawal symptoms left.
Sid Roth: Did you realize it was God that did that?
Shawn Morris: I knew it was God. You know, I was experiencing God, but you know, I wasn't trying to get free from sin. I was just trying to get free from prison.
Sid Roth: That's called jailhouse religion.
Shawn Morris: Exactly, definitely jailhouse religion. So in the midst of that, Sid, I was completely healed. I didn't need a 12-step program, only step, Jesus.
Sid Roth: Okay. You're facing a 99-year sentence.
Shawn Morris: Yes, sir.
Sid Roth: And you made a vow to God.
Shawn Morris: Yes, I made a vow to God. If he was to get me out of this situation I promise I was never going to touch drugs again.
Sid Roth: But that's even too big for God to get you out.
Shawn Morris: Exactly. When I got out of prison I stopped using drugs.
Sid Roth: So God honored that vow.
Shawn Morris: He honored the vow, Sid, but the thing is I did not honor my vow.
Sid Roth: How did God answer that prayer, facing 99 years in prison, but he answered it. How did he get you out?
Shawn Morris: Well basically, my mother thought because of her letter to the judge and they didn't have a witness and they didn't have enough evidence to prove that I was guilty, but I knew that it was the judge that lived up above that got me out of that sentence. So you know, the thing was is I've met Jesus in prison, but I also left him in prison. So it was very hard for me to really understand the changing of a lifestyle. I had the introduction, but I didn't have the relationship with Jesus.
Sid Roth: So you step back into that life of drugs and crime.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: And then a childhood friend comes to visit you one day.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: And he gave you a challenge that hit you like a two-by-four. What was it?
Shawn Morris: Yes. Well Sid, the thing is I knew my friend. I knew something was different. He had got saved and I didn't know what that really fully meant. So he came to my house one day and he read to me Second Timothy, Chapter 3, when it speaks about, "In the End Times there shall be perilous times and the last days there shall be boasters, braggers, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, etc". So he asked me, Sid, he said, "Show me in Scripture in that text what described you". All of a sudden, Sid, I kid you not, electrical currents came from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I began to weep uncontrollably and I was the whole Chapter 3. And I began to weep and shake on the floor for several hours and led to several days.
Sid Roth: And so you became a real believer.
Shawn Morris: I became a real believer.
Sid Roth: And then your friend calls you up because you're a little short money.
Shawn Morris: Right.
Sid Roth: And says, "I have a gift for you. I want to give you a gift". So what are you thinking? Well all of a sudden I'm thinking, hey, he's about to bless me with some money. This Jesus stuff really works, you know. I'm used to being a hustler, drug dealer, so I'm thinking, hey, I'm going to get this guy off some money. So all of a sudden he took me to his house, and all of a sudden he began to pray for me. And I closed my eyes and he said, "Just receive". And he said, "Just receive". And as he kept saying "just receive", all of a sudden he said, I felt this overwhelming heat all over my body and I began to babble this verbiage that I had never heard before.
Sid Roth: Had you ever heard supernatural languages, tongues before?
Shawn Morris: I never heard of it. I grew up Baptist, Sid, so this was a whole brand new dynamic for me. So when I began to speak in these tongues, I'm like I didn't know what I had received. So when I got back home that night and fluent languages began to come out of my, out from me, Sid, and I began to pray in tongues, and every time I prayed this overwhelming heat would come upon me.
Sid Roth: Would it come upon your hands, your whole body?
Shawn Morris: It would come upon from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I mean, I would literally be shaking.
Sid Roth: Now I read in the Bible about the baptism of the Spirit, but I also read about the baptism of the Spirit and fire.
Shawn Morris: Yes, Sid. Yes, Sid. Well see, the thing is right after that encounter, Sid, everyone I would pray for would get instantly delivered, would get instantly saved. I mean, conviction would fall upon them.
Sid Roth: Before that, that degree wasn't happening.
Shawn Morris: It never happened to me before. I mean, people at my job was getting saved. My managers were afraid to write me up when I'm late because they were afraid God was gonna get them. That's how powerful the Anointing was at the time.
Sid Roth: Hold that thought. It started growing. And I mean, I have heard of people having words of knowledge, but he would literally read people's mail and people would just come in his presence and they'd be repenting and convicted of sin. We'll be right back.
Sid Roth: You know something that intrigues me is when you were in prison you were using God so to speak.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: To get out of prison, jailhouse religion. However, when you were confronted with the Word of God and it described you and you were genuinely born again.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: No one told you, but you just started repenting.
Shawn Morris: Yes. Sid, I began to repent for all the different strongholds, all the different generational curses that was upon my life from my father's side, from my mother's side, and I genuinely would repent. I would walk up to people as I prayed for them to get saved and literally begin to cry and weep for souls.
Sid Roth: That doesn't sound like you. You were one of those gangsters.
Shawn Morris: I was a gangster, but now I'm a gangster for God, Sid, and I mean I began to just come up to drug dealers and I would slap drugs out of their hand. I had a lot of zeal, but I had wisdom, so you know, I'm like, Holy Ghost, help me out. I just don't want to get hurt in the process.
Sid Roth: What did you do with all your supply of drugs and things you gained from the drug industry?
Shawn Morris: Sid, I was into soliciting women. I was into drugs, I was into drug trafficking, guns, and I got rid of all my guns. I gave away my Jaguar. I gave away my jewelry.
Sid Roth: You gave away a Jaguar?
Shawn Morris: I gave away a Jaguar to a local guy that's in Houston, Texas and I just gave away my van to a family. My jewelry, I got rid of it, my guns. I flushed the drugs down the toilet. I was totally set free, Sid.
Sid Roth: You could see the difference. When you opened your mouth, could people see you were a different man?
Shawn Morris: Sid, even my countenance changed. People literally saw me and I looked like a totally different person. I mean, people couldn't even recognize me because of the transformation that took place in my life during this experience.
Sid Roth: Okay. You go, you're getting really hungry for God. You go on a three-day dry fast. That means nothing to drink.
Shawn Morris: Nothing to drink.
Sid Roth: I did that. I was so weak when I did that. Did the same thing happen to you?
Shawn Morris: Yes. I was very weak, Sid. You know, I was so weak, but you know, I was strong at the same time if you kind of understand what I'm saying.
Sid Roth: Yes.
Shawn Morris: So I was laying on my floor doing this three-day dry fast. All of a sudden, Sid, I began to go into this vision and the clouds began to come before me. And when I came out of this vision, I heard a voice say, "Tonight revival is going to break out". So as soon as my wife walked in the door from coming from the grocery store.
Sid Roth: Did you say anything or did she know something was different?
Shawn Morris: She knew something was different, Sid, because she walked in the door. She woke me out of the vision because she said, "What is going on"? So when she came in the house, a literal visible cloud was all over our living room.
Sid Roth: Inside your home?
Shawn Morris: Inside of my home, Sid. It looked like someone took something off the stove, burnt it and just smoke was everywhere. So when I got up I said, "Dear, what's wrong"? So when I moved my hand like this my wife flew across the room, Sid. It was crazy. I didn't even know what was going on. I didn't have any kind of etiquette for this. I had never seen this in a church. So I didn't know what was going on. I thought someone was playing a joke on me because it was a literal visible cloud.
Sid Roth: So you used to have like a Bible study. People would come over to your house.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: And when they came over, could any of them see this cloud?
Shawn Morris: Everyone saw the cloud, Sid. It was so thick that people would walk through the door and they would literally fall forward on their face. Now I've heard people fall backwards before, but I had never seen people fall on marble floor, no catcher, Sid, no courtesy drops, but literally fall forward on the floor under the power of God, and be down there for hours. I mean, oil would drip from my feelings. Lumps would just dissolve off of people's body and fall on the floor and we would have to sweep it up, Sid. Blind eyes open, deaf ears open, even resurrections took place.
Sid Roth: You know, when I first because a believer like you I didn't have much of a paradigm on anything.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: But I read the New Testament and I thought that was normal. I was shocked.
Shawn Morris: Right.
Sid Roth: When things that were happening to you it wasn't normal, it wasn't happening to everyone else.
Shawn Morris: Yes. Right, right, right, exactly. Well Sid, this was the thing. I was a new believer, so I was asking the Lord, Lord give me some form of mentorship. So I began to look at television because I didn't have really no pastor or anyone to kind of show me. So I began to watch your show. I had the manifestation, but I didn't have the revelation. So when I began to watch the people on your show I began to even accelerate in the things of the Glory realm.
Sid Roth: You were called by God.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: To full time ministry.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: You were struggling, selling your rap music on the streets.
Shawn Morris: Yes. Yes I was.
Sid Roth: Making nothing and then God tells you to do what?
Shawn Morris: Well I was in front of a Walmart, Sid, and I was trying to pay my rent, and I only sold three dollars' worth of CDs that day. So all of a sudden, I heard this voice that I now know is the Holy Spirit, and he said, "Go to the restroom". So while I'm in the restroom I heard that same voice say, a guy walked in the door, he said, "I want you to pray for James". So I walk up to the guy. This is a very awkward situation. We're in a restroom and I said.
Sid Roth: That's very awkward.
Shawn Morris: That's very awkward, Sid. So all of a sudden I said, "I'm hearing the Lord saying I need, you need to pray for James". He said, "James? I am James". All of a sudden, Sid, I called out his mother name.
Sid Roth: Excuse me. When he said "I am James", I bet you were more shocked than him.
Shawn Morris: Sid, I felt the oil in my dreadlocks. I'm telling you, that's how glorious it was. It was very electrifying. So all of a sudden I called on his other name. I began to tell him about his situation what's going on with his fiancé. He fell on his knees right there in the restroom and he gave his life over to Jesus. So we both walked out the bathroom crying and hugging. I bet you that was more of an awkward situation to see two grown men come out of the bathroom crying.
Sid Roth: I would like you to pray for people, when we come back, that they have that same hunger for God that you have.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: You want that hunger, but you don't have it. But you want it and that's all God is looking for. I'll have him pray for you when we come back.
Sid Roth: Shawn, you had a life-changing visitation where you saw Jesus.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: And when you, you told me when you explain that similar things happen to people. Tell me about that life-changing experience.
Shawn Morris: Well Sid, I had a visitation to where Jesus, I was standing in front of a hospital and in the visitation I had two suitcases. Now the hospital represented where sick people were. This was all in the vision and the suitcases represented where I was going. So this big bus pulled up, Sid. All of a sudden I got on this bus and I was the only person on this bus. So the driver kept driving and I asked the driver, "Where are we going"? And he would not answer me. He would just ignore me. So I started to get kind of afraid, Sid. I didn't know what was going on. I asked him, I said, "Sir, please tell me where you're taking me". As soon as that guy said that, Sid, he took off his hat and he had a halo over his head and blood was dripping down his face. It was Jesus and I saw his eyes, and I came out of the vision. A week later, I was at a prayer meeting and this prophet passed me, and he said, "God is giving you his eyes". I fell out and I went back into that vision. And from that point, Sid, every person that I told that vision about would fall out and go into visitations from Heaven.
Sid Roth: Now the Holy Spirit taught you step by step on how to tap into the Glory of God and now you're teaching other people how to tap into this Glory.
Shawn Morris: Yes.
Sid Roth: Can everyone that is watching us that is a believer in the Messiah tap into this same Glory and get the same results as you?
Shawn Morris: Sid, I believe, I'm going to speak to someone right now. You're probably asking, hey, I'm just like this guy. I want to know what did he do and what did he say to receive this type of blessing. You may be a drug dealer. A matter of fact, you are a drug dealer and God is saying that he can give you a substitution when you come to him. You can begin to do the things that the Lord wants you to do. You can receive supernatural impartation. God will change your life. He changed my life. He turned me from Saul to Paul and I believe that he's going to touch your life right now. So I just want you to raise your hand right now and I want to pray for you. Father God, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that those who are watching right now, you may be depressed, you may need deliverance, you may be stuck in bondage from drugs. I release a supernatural impartation for you to be free from every drug addiction, every sin and every lustful spirit be broken in the name of Jesus the Messiah. I speak it now over your life in Jesus' name.
Sid Roth: You're seeing creative miracles.
Shawn Morris: Yes, sir.
Sid Roth: You're seeing things that actually Jesus said we'd see greater miracles. Tell me one miracle, one creative miracle, briefly.
Shawn Morris: They had this woman, we were in New Orleans, Louisiana, and this lady's husband hit her outside of the church. He ran over her with a car.
Sid Roth: That's more than hitting.
Shawn Morris: Yes, that's more than hitting. So all of a sudden, the pastor dragged the lady in and we were just finishing up the service. And he called me, he said, "Prophet, come over here. This lady has just been hit by a car". Now Sid, her arm was dislocated, her bone was sticking out. Her skin was all the way to the white part of her meat and blood was there. All of a sudden she began to look at me, Sid, and said, "Jesus, I know you love me because you always love me". All of a sudden, Sid, her bone popped back into place, her skin grew back into baby skin. She began to speak in fluent tongues and the drug smell that was on her, Sid, disappeared. It was crazy.
Sid Roth: Did everyone in the congregation see this?
Shawn Morris: Everyone, even some of my family members were there and they got afraid after that. They didn't know what was going on, Sid. But the crazy thing about it, Sid, it brought the husband in. He came in and he received Jesus as Lord and Savior, and him and his wife mended back their marriage.
Sid Roth: Now I want you to pray for a hunger to be a Glory chaser and I want you to pray to release the Glory. I believe that miracles, life-changing encounters are about ready to happen. Do that.
Shawn Morris: Right now I release the fire of God and I release the zeal of the Holy Spirit to be upon your life. I pray that you become a Glory chaser, that you have the endurance, that you have the desire, that you have the stamina to move in the realm of God's Spirit. I release that cloud of Glory over you right now in the name of Jesus Christ. Right now I release the power and the fire of God to touch every home, every person that's listening to the sound of my voice that you will never be the same and that you will run after God with everything you have in Jesus' holy name we pray.
Sid Roth: There's only way to be free. You may not be in prison, but you're in a prison and Jesus said, "I have come to set the captives free". You call out to him in your way and everyone who asks receives.