A U.S. Marshal’s Drug Raid And The God Who Sees Everything.

A reinforced door shouldn’t feel like a turning point in your faith, but sometimes it does. We sit down with former U.S. Marshal Michael Schroeder for part two of his testimony, and it takes us straight into a Bronx DEA takedown where everything that can go wrong nearly does. 

It’s an unfiltered look at law enforcement reality, high-risk warrants, and the mental load that follows you home. If you care about faith and work, spiritual warfare, or how Christians carry courage into dangerous places, this conversation will stick with you.

The second half pivots to intercessory prayer and the “network” we forget we’re part of. Michael shares how a friend told him he’d been on his heart all week, praying daily, right as the stress from that operation was still weighing on him. We talk about learning to pause, listen in prayer, and act when God brings someone to mind, plus a closing nod to end times themes like wars, rumors of wars, falling away, and revival.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s a moment where you felt prompted to pray and didn’t want to ignore it?

Transcript

Welcome And Part Two Setup

Speaker 0:11

Welcome everyone. This is Russ Scalzo, Chronicles of the End Times. Thank you for being with me today. Today we're going to continue with part two of Michael Schroeder, former U.S. Marshal, and his testimony. And you're gonna love this second part because it gets pretty interesting. So let's take a listen to part

Faith, Evil, And Showing Up

Speaker 0:31

two. As Christians and as people of faith, we want to clean everything up. The bottom line is the stuff that you saw where you have to run to the danger. You're the ones that have to put an end to whatever's going on that that's dangerous. But God sees that 24-7. He sees the most vile situations throughout the entire world. And he hasn't ended the world yet. You go in to see some of these situations and get into some of these situations and go face to face with men who have dedicated their lives to evil, given themselves over to it completely. And as a Christian, like you say, you can sense that, you can feel it. Uh I talked to many missionaries. The difference between them going to the country they're in, whatever the country that might be, and coming back to the US is day and night. You know, things aren't great here. There's a lot of things going on we'd love to change, but it's not that. You know, it's it's a different sense of evil. It's a different depth. I mean, there are many people in the US that are trying to bring us to those depths, but um we're not there yet, thank God. As holy, you know, impure as he is, he doesn't turn his face away from the world. No, he sees it, he observes it, and then beyond that, he can understand the thoughts in the mind, which is mind-blowing. Absolutely. You know, for those of you who are listening, you're understanding that we can't live in a bubble. You know, we have to be uh out there in the midst of it. God's not afraid of that, and he's not afraid of us doing that. And but I can relate to what you're doing because you're right there, that's where God is. Amen. You know, so I absolutely people have maybe have unrealistic expectations where somebody like in your position would have to be and act, and they're unrealistic. That's right, you know, to an extent. I mean, like you say, you're a witness, we are witness, so is God. I mean, God's a witness, he sees it all. He's gonna clean it up, but he has to clean it up. Yeah. Amen. You know, we knew we know we know that's coming. So I'm sure you've had many experiences that you could share with us today. But I'm interested, and I think our listeners would be interested in uh what was the most uh hair-raising, the most uh dangerous, or uh the one that just sticks in your mind above the rest? All right, great question, Russ.

The Bronx Stash House Raid

Speaker 1 2:58

Um I will say that there there was there's been a lot of those type of situations, but what immediately comes to my heart right now is when I was in New York, we work a lot with other agencies, uh like I said, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, ATF. One of the things that we assisted in is sometimes what we call them roundups, these big roundups, where uh a federal agency, and in this case was was the DEA going after targeting a large violent drug organization uh that was dealing drugs up in uh up in the Bronx. And distinctly what I remember obviously was kind of an all hands-on deck type thing. So the U.S. Marshals were there, NYPD was there, obviously assisting the DEA, and this was a very large takedown. Almost almost 20 gang members were being taken down at various different locations. So we're talking hundreds of officers and special agents and U.S. Marshals spread out through the city, or primarily up in the Bronx. And I remember uh distinctly we were meeting up at uh Yankee Stadium actually in the parking lot, and that's what we do. We usually brief uh before an operation like this or any type of operation. We'll meet very early in the morning, and uh this was particularly early because we had numerous locations to go after. The all the officers, agents, and marshals are broken up into teams. You could be going to again, there could be 20 different locations out there. You really don't know until you kind of get to the briefing of where you're going. So when we get there, we get tasked with um going after, I guess you could say the the short straw. We got pulled the shortstraw on this. They gave us the marshals here, gave us the um the stash house of where this drug organization keeps all their drugs, but not just their drugs and money, but their weapons as well. It was in a in the projects actually up in the Bronx housing uh area by informants that the DEA had had told us uh because they made numerous buys up there, they had a good uh lay of the land. The intel that we were getting was that hey, by the way, whoever's in there always has a gun on them, they always they have their weapons there, readily accessible, if not, they're carrying them all at all times. And secondly, it is a reinforced door, didn't know exactly how reinforced it was, but that's what was described to us. It was a hardened door and project doors primarily metal, and now this is going to be a reinforced one. So we we would take particular tools for breaching for making entry. Anyway, so we made our way up uh to the location and we quietly uh stood outside uh the doorway. I'm sure you and your listeners have seen on TV in the movies, you know, they you know, officers have these ballistic shields, we call them body bunkers. Basically, that's the tip of the spear, you know, you're the point man. So again, I got the short end of the stick there. I was given the task of being the shield guy. So I had the shield, and my partner was gonna be a D agent, and he had a machine gun. Um, so the we will be the first two people going through this door once it got opened. Um, and then the rest were the marshals and the D agents and NYPD detectives. Uh, we even have Port Authority detectives up there as well. So, anyway, um upon quietly getting to the door, because it was a stash house and because there's obviously these weapons in play, it's not like you want to knock on the door, say, hi, we're here uh and give them time to either you know throw out their drugs and money or God forbid them grabbing a weapon. Um so the DEA had secured what is called a no-knock warrant, whereas we can just without knocking, we can introduce ourselves, we can literally break the door down without knocking and giving them alarm. Yes, sure enough, it was a reinforced door. So what we had used was a hydraulic frame splitter. It kind of spreads, it's hydraulic pistons that you brace it inside the door frame and it will bend the uh door frame just enough so that all you got to do is just push the door open and any locking mechanisms and so forth gets separated obviously from the door frame. So, sure enough, uh they put it up there, they emplace it, it's all hydraulic. And wouldn't you know and you've heard the phrase Murphy's Law, it didn't work. Oh man. So now we've made enough noise that we're whoever's on the other side of that door, we woke them up and we can now start hearing rumblings on the other side of the door. I'm at this point. I am actually I'm waiting for those bullets to start coming through that door. I'm waiting for them to start shooting at us. When we all always do these type of operations, we also surround the area with folks on the outside. We create what's called a perimeter, a security, secure perimeter. So we had officers outside. Also, we were getting radio communication uh that they saw windows opening up and they saw objects falling out. So sure enough, they were throwing stuff out. Uh, didn't know what it was at the time, but they were throwing stuff out the window. At this point, we immediately took the uh hydraulic down, and at this point we had to go old-fashioned, and that is we use a ram. Again, you've seen this on movies or something. We used a ram, and I remember because I'm right at the door, and I look at my partner um who swings the ram, and that ram bounced off that door like it was a tennis ball. Wow, gave it a couple more swings, and then yelled out, it says, Hey, I need help on this. So a second officer got on with him. Um, so it was an NYPD detective, and my my partner, uh, a marshal that was swinging this ram, again, bouncing off like a you know, like a tennis ball. They started to, and it's taken forever. They now know we're here. All right, so again, I'm just waiting for a firefight to ensue. The door is crumbling. Usually they'll after you hit it with a ram, it flies open. It's so reinforced that it's staying within its frame and if but it's starting to crumble. You can see the what they use to reinforce it. At this point, there was enough daylight for me to now go push in there. So I kicked over the remainers of the door. Myself and the D-agent made our way in, and we don't go running in. We just as soon as we entered the threshold there. I just distinctively remember a bathroom to the left that the light was on, and the toilet was just flushed, and there was powder over there. So, sure enough, they were dumping some of the drugs down the toilet. And in the distance, again, these are this is an apartment, all right, in the projects. Uh, before us, steps away, it was very dark. I could I could remember seeing beyond that another little hallway, which we assumed was the bedroom. Uh, and there were people, there were guys on the couches fully clothed with with blankets over them. Obviously, what's going through your head is do they have weapons underneath those blankets, right? Um, so there's a lot of giving commands, you know, slowly let's see your hands. And again, I'm keeping my eye also on that hallway that went into the bedroom because I'm just waiting for a weapon to come come around the doorway and start blasting at us. Given the commands, given the commands, we're having the this the subjects crawl to us. We're not jumping on them. Again, we don't know what's in there because we got to be ready for what's in that bedroom. Start cuffing them up. We make our way down to that bedroom, pull out another person. Fortunately, everyone's secured. The outside officers, the officers that are on the perimeter outside, radio to us and says, Hey, by the way, what they were throwing out was the guns. So I was extremely thankful at this point, right? So, yes, it was a search warrant, right? So at that time, then the DEA case agents come in, the search agents, they'll come in and they literally tear the place apart. They're they're ripping open the rugs, they're ripping open all the floorboards. Sure enough, they had you know drugs and everything stored all over the place. We left. After a big operation like that, you have what's called a debrief, you know, what went wrong, what what went good, you know, that type of thing. And we usually do it over breakfast, you know, we always factor in food there for us, you know. But anyway, uh I remember going to the parking lot and I looked down and I was bleeding for my I felt my shoe was wet, you know, and I looked down and sure enough it was bleeding, my leg was bleeding, and I had I had to have cut it open when I kicked that door open. I didn't even feel it, I didn't even know it. And I had a pretty good gash. Fortunately, we had a medic with us and uh he kind of patched me up pretty good. And I remember calling uh my wife at the time, tell her, look, you may hear about this on the news. We took down a big drug organization, blah, blah, blah. We were there, but I'm fine. I hurt myself, but I'm good to go, you know, that type of thing. So grateful for the Lord, and he was clearly there, plus giving me the peace to deal with this stressful situation because you just don't know what was going to occur,

The Prayer That Tracked The Week

Speaker 1 11:08

right? Sure enough, it was like a Tuesday. Um, that whole morning stuck with me the rest of the week. Here comes Sunday morning. So now I'm going to church, and it still stuck with me. I remember going through the front door of the in the church. I'm in the vestibule. I just got there just at the end of first service, and they're transitioning to Sunday school. I just entered into the vestibule. Jim Bova had just come out of the uh sanctuary, and he sees me, and he, you know, there's a sea of people there, and uh he uh I'm sorry. Um, this is great. He comes walking up to me, he likes seeks me out. He sees me, walks in, and he brightens up and he comes right up to me. And I usually, you know, always give him a hug whenever I see him, and he immediately grabs me and gives me a hug and says, Mike, hey, I just how's everything going? I just, you know, the Lord put you on my heart this whole week, you know, since the beginning of the week. And and I was praying for you every morning, blah, blah, blah. And I just, you know, and I couldn't even talk at this point, you know, because immediately I went right back to that morning up in the Bronx at that apartment. And he then uh gave me another hug and proceeded to go to, you know, he teaches Sunday school. And I was standing there in the vestibule, I was just frozen, and the Lord just again impressed upon me that his hand was upon me and he put me on Jim Bova's heart. Okay. Um, Jim Bova's a special person, don't get me wrong, but the fact that he puts puts us on people's hearts to pray for us, to make you know, to intercede, you know, and that's and I look back because this was a stash house. They could have battled it out with us very easily. The machine didn't work, the hydraulic didn't work, they had the advantage. Surprise was removed, they had the advantage, but there were angels on the other side that were taking those guns and making sure they're getting thrown out the window, you know, and that we had no resistance whatsoever. And again, it just goes back to you know, intercessor, repair, and the grace of God. And you know, and I put this out to your listeners, you know, when you get prompted to pray for somebody, you don't know what that person's, you know, going through. So um immediately pause, take a pause in your life, and whoever that person's on your heart that the Lord put on your heart, you need to pray and get on him.

Speaker 13:20

I mean, that's an amazing story. Yes, sir. And you know, we don't think about that as much as we should.

Learning To Pause And Intercede

Speaker 13:28

Lots of times we go to prayer, we're praying for what our needs are, you know, which the Lord wants to hear, but we don't take a breath to hear from God. Amen. And in your situation, that's how God works. He's a partner. God is so caring and so sharing. Eventually we know from the scriptures that he wants to share the whole universe with us. You're gonna sit on my throne with me as I sit on my father's throne with him, which is staggering when you think about it. I mean, who are we, right? We're cute. We're here today, gone tomorrow. Uh but this is the way God feels about us. He we're his children. If you love the Lord and you're born again, uh you're a child of God. A privilege that is given to you by our Father in heaven. And he takes that literally. So he wants to share all that he has, which is endless and eternal. Amen. It just brings us back to how much God wants to share his burden with us in prayer. Yes, that's it. You know, that's good. So Jim, who's like uh my best friend in the world, he uh was attuned to that.

Speaker 1 14:40

Yeah, amen to that.

Speaker 14:41

And uh so when we go to prayer in the morning, yeah, we need to clear our brains out a little bit. Yes, there's a lot going on in our lives. We have family that we love, friends that we care about, uh financial things, uh stress at the job, all these things God wants to hear about. But He also wants to be able to speak with us, preach it, yes, and say, Okay, this is all good. I got you covered, but to somebody I want you to pray for. Amen. Yes. And it's part of the sharing. That's it. It's a part of the network, and we need to be part of the network. And I think that is one of the broken pieces in the church today. Preach it. It is good, yes. Yes. There's Amen to that. There is always uh a remnant of people that will do that. Yes, but it's too small. You know, it needs to be everybody. Amen. That needs to feel like I'm praying, and you know, I haven't prayed for a so-and-so in a couple of years, all of a sudden this person's back on my heart this morning. That's it. So don't scoff it off. That's correct. Yes. Just pray. That's correct. Lord touch them, bless them, keep them, whatever their situation is. Send your angels around about them. Simple, you know. Uh so that's really important. That is just an absolutely amazing story. Yeah. Because it could have gone, like you said, a thousand different ways. Yes, that would have been, you know, tragic. That's correct. And uh so many, many times, you know, God intervenes on our life. Amen to that. Try to make it a purpose. Say, Lord, thank you for the things that we see and the things that we don't see. Yeah, that's right. Because there's a lot more things that we don't see that God does for us while we're moaning and groaning about others, you know. And we all do it, nobody you know is exempt from being human. Uh, but God wants to teach us all along

Final Thanks And End Times Note

Speaker 16:33

the way. I'll tell you, Mike, it's been great having you here. Testimony is powerful, your life is powerful, love your family, and uh all that God is doing and he never stops doing, which is crazy. So I just want to thank you for being here and uh hope to have you back. Be glad to. A lot more stuff we could talk about to do with the what's going on in the world today. Yes, and uh the wars and the rumors of wars, and oh yes, uh the falling away and the revival, and uh folks, if you're listening today, you know that God is not just interested in one thing, God is the master of being able to juggle everything all at once. Amen. And so he is doing everything at once for one reason to glorify his son, who his coronation is coming. Well, he will rule and reign over this earth in the flesh, but not the blood, because he spilt that for you and me. This is Russ Scalzo for Chronicles of the End Times. God bless. Keep looking up. The king is coming.