My Grandfather Was a Mob Boss

When I was doing research on my new biography on the mightily used evangelist Sam Jones, I learned he was a direct descendant of Jonathan Edwards on his grandmother's side. My heritage is not as distinguished as that. As a matter of fact, my grandfather on my Italian mother's side was a Detroit mob boss.

In fact, I'm named after him for my middle name is Angelo, which means angel in Italian. But my grandfather, Angelo Caruso, was apparently no angel. You can pull it up all online, friends, and research it yourself because he was part of a nationally famous news photo and he made history on the cover of Time Magazine.

I'll give you the rundown. He was close to Henry Ford, the automotive maker. As a matter of fact, Henry Ford appointed my grandfather to be head of his Ford Motor Company servicemen in Dearborn, Michigan at the Ford Motor Plant.

What that really means is my grandfather, who was the mob boss of the Down River Gang, Henry Ford hired him to be his muscle to fight against the encroachment of the United Auto Workers' Unions. And all this came to a head and became history when a battle broke out between the two and became what was known as the Battle of the Overpass. As a matter of fact, you can Google that.

You'll see the famous photo that hit all the newspaper front pages all over America at the time. And there prominently in that photo is my grandfather grabbing a man. And the caption reads, Ford Motor Company servicemen beat Richard Frankenstein, a UAW organizer, during the Battle of the Overpass.

Pictured is Richard Frankenstein with his jacket over his head and Angelo Caruso. Like I said, I guess my grandfather was no angel. That's my heritage, friends.

My father wasn't agnostic, so he claimed. These men's genes are in me because they were born of the flesh in the likeness of their father and in the likeness of Adam. And I was born in the likeness of them in the natural birth as well.

Jesus was having a conversation with a lost religious ruler by the name of Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. And Jesus was trying to convince him that just his heritage in religious traditions and dogma and customs weren't enough to get into God's holy heaven. You see, this man, Nicodemus, thought his religious standing was good enough.

But the miracles Jesus did disturbed this man, and it disturbed him so much he sought out Jesus in the nighttime because he was too afraid to be seen with him during the day. And in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, we read, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And I guess this is where a lot of us get confused today, friends, about what conversion is. Are men saved as a result of a decision they make, or as the result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus said, Ye must be born again. And that was the cry of the great British evangelist, George Whitefield, who shook two continents in revival for God with the one theme of, Ye must be born again.

A minister in Boston asked Whitefield after he was preaching on Boston Common to 20,000 hearers, Mr. Whitefield, since you've been among us, you only preach one thing. Ye must be born again. When, sir, will you preach us a new message? To which Whitefield replied, When ye are born again.

And that's the great need of our hour today, friends, where society is in a moral downgrade and fast spinning out of control. And we foolishly believe we can fix things by electing the right senior citizen who can get things fixed. But man cannot fix the deceitfulness of the human heart and solve society's ills with new government legislation.

The only solution is, Ye must be born again. You know, I bet if we got enough people in this country to really be born again, that in itself would transform society because then there'd be a holy fear of God in the land again. Only a heaven sent revival can save us from ourselves.

I have a photo of me as a little child sitting in my grandfather's lap. I always loved my grandfather. And I didn't find out about his dark career and infamous no, no rotary.

No, right? No. I'm so thumbed up that I can't talk. Notoriety is what I'm trying to say.

Until just a couple of years ago when I was conducting research on him and I found that news story online and boy, was I surprised. It's a good thing. I don't have to rely on my genes and my paternal background to get me into heaven.

If I did, I'd be in bad shape for sure. My only hope is in Christ Jesus and his blood for the remission of sins. Regeneration is the great need of the church in America today because she can't rely just on her traditions.