Angola: He declined a knife, relied on ‘sword of the Spirit,’ in bloodiest prison

By Robel Yohannes –

Norman Dozier was sentenced to a life in the Angola Prison of Louisiana, “the bloodiest prison of the South.” God let him out.

“I was one of the biggest drug dealers in central Louisiana,” he says.

Norman Dozier grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, with loving, concerned parents. But the neighborhood shifted his views on life because he was “lured into darkness.”

Out of high school, he joined the National Guards and drifted further away from his parents’ values in the streets of South Carolina during training.

“In a 19-year-old guy’s mind, it was the ungodly things that I started to gravitate towards,” he says.

When he arrived home from Advanced Individual Training, he was wowed by friends who were “big time drug dealers with fame, vehicles, homes and females,” he explains. “I was blown away by all of the fame and fashion my friends had.”

So in the 1990s, he followed his friends into darkness and became a big time drug dealer. Eventually, he got caught, tried and sentence – for life.

And to which prison? To the most fearsome of all, the Angola State Prison, a former 8,000-acre slave plantation that became one of the biggest, most violent prisons in America. The vast complex was named after the place of origin of most of the slaves who worked the land before the Civil War.

As soon as he got there, a friend found him and offered help.

“I got something for you, I got a knife that you’re going to need,” he told Norman.

But Norman had already determined to return to the values of his parents and had come to God, so he said no.

“All I need is the sword of the Spirit,” Norman declined the gift. “I begin to declare to him that the word of God is quick and is powerful, it’s sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the center of both soul and spirit, joint and marrow, able to discern both thoughts and intentions of the heart.

“I told him that that’s what I was going to stand on here on these 8,000 acres,” he adds. “God used me to evangelize thousands of these guys that you see right now.”

He became a minister to inmates. He led Bible studies and started rehabilitation programs for guy who would eventually lead prison and re-enter society so that they wouldn’t fall back into crime.

“God began to shape me into a man of purpose, and his extending hand of love and compassion met him where he was, and he was never the same,” Norman says.

He started a hospital ministry. One paralyzed man named “Cotton” was healed through prayer.

For 27 years and three months, Norma was a faithful man of God.

Then, incredibly, his life sentence was lifted and he was released.

“In Louisiana, there’s no probation, no lifted of sentence,” he says. “But I’ve learned that with men things are impossible, but with God all things are possible, to them that believe.”

Norman today preaches in the Mike Barber Ministry in Central Louisiana, runs a podcast called The Keys of the Kingdom on Facebook, and has a YouTube channel that testifies that the power of the Lord will overcome any situation that anyone is in.

About this writer: Robel Yohannes is a student at the Lighthouse Church School in Santa Monica.