From MS-13 Gang to Salvation in Jesus Christ | Michael Mata Testimony

Today, I am honored to be joined by Michael Mata. Michael’s journey is one of profound transformation he was once a member of the notorious MS13 gang, but through the grace of God, he found redemption. Born into the harsh realities of gang life, Michael’s early years were shaped by a path that seemed destined for destruction. His journey led him to prison. But in a story of unexpected grace, Michael shares how he came to Christ not by plan, but by divine intervention. Since his conversion, Michael has become a dedicated soldier in the ‘Gangsters for Jesus’ Ministry, living out his faith with passion and purpose.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

This October, we had a retreat, the Gangster Jesus retreat, and I kind of knew a lot of the brothers already. I went with no intention of giving myself to God. I went more with the intention of accompanying my wife and her not being by herself there. Man, was I mistaken? So Saturdays I spend my days, you know, drinking a couple beers, but I smoke weed every day, every single day I'd smoke weed. I went to this retreat and I, you know, I'm hearing from Pastor Isaiah, and uh they just start speaking. And you know, there was a couple a couple of instances in in that retreat that God was speaking to me. Now I know it was God, and it's like, you know, you need to let go because you need to forgive, you need to let go. And you know, the next day we had service, and at the end of service, they were kind of handing the microphone around to see if you know it was a QA, right, for the pastors and for leadership. And something just told me to grab that microphone and let loose and you know start telling a little bit about my life and that I was done with it, and I was done with feeling this pain, and I wanted nothing more than to go close to God. And that's exactly what I did.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Welcome back to another testimony. Today I'm honored to be joined by Michael Matak. He was once a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, but through the grace of God he found redemption. He was born into the harsh realities of game life. Michael's early years were straight by a path that seemed destined for destruction. His journey led him to prison, but in a story of unexpected grace. Michael shared how he came across not by plans, but by divine intervention. Since his conversion, Michael has become a dedicated soldier in the gangsters for Jesus ministry, living out his faith with passion and purpose. Please be sure to subscribe to my channel for more inspiring testimonies like Michael's. Without further ado, let's get into Michael's story. Welcome back, everyone, to another testimony. Today I got a new guest on today. Mike, thank you for coming on today, man. I do appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Thank you for having me. Very, very blessed to be here and uh and uh thank you for allowing me to to be on your platform to to share this.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, well, the feelings mutual, man. Um to let the audience know, we me and you connected through Isaiah Blancas once again for the people watching. They know I've interviewed quite a few people from your guys' ministry now. And uh, you know, it's always a good testimony when we hear from guys from your ministry. So I'm very excited to hear your testimony now and what you've been through and what God's done in your life, man. So uh you know, thank you again for coming on.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Thank you for having me again. And yeah, it's uh gangster for Jesus. You know, uh Pastor Isaiah, you know, he's my uh he's my senior pastor, and um, you know, he he he started the wheels on on this ride that we have. Um, like they say out here in out here in El Paso, they say Carucha. Um, you know, and this is this is our ride, and uh it's gangster for Jesus, and we're out here to to ride for Jesus 100%.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah, no doubt. Well, uh well if you how do you uh well I guess you've given your testimony about one time, so this you're fairly new to all this, like you're you know, giving your testimony kind of thing. So um I'll kind of you know start with your early life. I I suppose that'd probably be the best way to go about this and uh just feel whatever you're comfortable sharing, uh, you know, about your early life, and you know, we'll start there and then build up to your adult life and when you started to have encounters with God, you know, finding God. But you know, it we'll go to your life like that. You know, we we don't have to speed past a bunch of stuff, but uh you know what was it like for you growing up?

SPEAKER_03 3:27

So um it was tough. It was it was really, really tough. Um, I mean the odds were set against me at a at a really young early age. Um my parents were very young um and gang affiliated. I was I was born in California. Um my mom is originally from El Salvador, but um, but she was brought to the states at a young early age when you know they were going through through the civil war out there. And um my father, um, he was the only only kid out of uh out of nine that was born here in the U.S. He was born in here in El Paso, but they were shortly taken to to California. And um my grandfather and my grandmother uh they made Paquoima their home in the San Fernando Valley. Uh my dad was uh he was from the Paquoima Flats gang. And uh my mom used to roam around with Diamond Street and uh in LA, she lived around the Hollywood area or whatnot. And um, you know, they they found each other through my grandfather. My my mom used to work at a I guess like at a social services office and kind of played matchmaker with my parents, and um, you know, they got together and I think my dad and my mom I think is a little older than my dad. She's she was 18, my dad was 17 when I was uh when I was born. And you know, um they had a lot of problems, you know. They had a lot of problems at three months old. I believe uh my mom kidnapped me and uh she took me to Torino, Nevada, where uh she was running uh um kind of like a prostitution scheme out there where she'd lured people into hotels and she'd robbed them, her and she had a couple of partners doing it with. And um she got busted and um they found me and they brought me back to California with my dad. And uh my mom got an eight-year sentence in federal prison um for grand larceny and some other charges. So uh I didn't really know who my mom was until uh I was eight years old, and um, you know, between that time, um I went to go live with my grandfather here in El Paso, Texas. I I came to uh to elementary school, um not elementary school, but kindergarten. I'm sorry, uh went to kindergarten here, and then um once I was about six years old or so, uh my aunt Terry uh she came down and she kind of told uh my grandfather that you know he was a little too old to be raising kids still. So uh she convinced him to uh to allow her to bring me back to California, and I was under her roof and my Uncle Bob along with uh some of my cousins. And it was great, I tell you, uh, that was some of the the highlights uh of my childhood. That was about the only childhood I had was uh during that during that time where it was, I guess you can say uh normalized uh you know, riding bikes and doing what kids do. Um and then um I went to go live with my dad. Uh, I believe I was about a little bit after seven. He got with his with his girl, and um it was tough. She started abusing me uh physically, started smacking me around or whatnot. And uh my dad was never home. He was uh he worked security for Warner Brothers and you know, and a couple of other studios and uh Pasadena Art College um over there. And um he was never home. He was um, you know, he worked uh all day and uh he would get home real late and I would never see him. So um one day um his girlfriend, um my one of my little brother's moms, uh you know, um she didn't really know how to cook, and I don't know if you know what Vienna sausages are, right? The little sausage that come in the can. So she gave me that for dinner and I didn't want to eat it. And um, I was really, you know, little and fragile, very skinny, you know, and that's I was real small. And um, you know, she she said, you know, eat your food, and she smacked me behind my head. My head hit the table and she knocked a tooth out of my mouth. And um, you know, uh that tooth is still crooked. That front tooth grew out grew out kind of crooked. But um, you know, um the you know, I told my my dad and he didn't believe me, you know, he was um he said that I was lying. She said that I fell and hit my my face on the table, that I slipped, that I was lying and trying to cause problems. Um so um about a week after our grades came in and they were a bit low, and you know, I got scared. I I was scared that you know she was gonna hit me. And Ma and Terry lived right down the street from the school, you know, probably about I might be wrong, but about five houses away from the school, maybe less, right up the block. Um, this was uh Canoga Park Elementary and uh in the San Fernando Valley in California. And um I ran away. I ran away, you know, um seven years old. I took off and went to my auntary and I told her what happened, and you know, she got angry at my dad and took me back in. And um my mom got out of prison when I was eight. And uh when my mom got out of prison, you know, um I was missing that motherly love, you know. Although my aunt Terry showed me all the love in the world, and I wouldn't know the manners that I that I know today if it wasn't for my Uncle Bob, you know, simple stuff like, you know, no elbows on the table, eat with your mouth closed, you know, and things like that. You know, I I I learned it, you know, how to work for for uh for your money. Um, he'd have us do chores and he'd come up with um Bart Simpson dollars, he'd print out little Bart Simpson dollars, and uh, you know, they'd come in fives and tens, and depending on what we would do, and we would when we would accumulate enough, um, we'd go to KB toy stores and we were allowed to, you know, get a toy of our choice. Back then it was Ninja Turtles, right? We me and my cousin were all about ninja turtles and you know, and um things like that. So um, you know, when my mom got out of prison, I'll never forget, I was uh I was at a soccer game. I was playing soccer, and um, I used to play baseball as well. And um my aunt told me, she's like, hey, see that, see that lady over there, she was posted up on the tree, kind of like like that. And um, and I looked and she's like, That's your mom. And my first reaction, I immediately ran to her because it's something that I was missing. Like I said, my aunt Terry showed me all the love in the world, but during Christmas time, you know, um I I I I just you can feel the difference. And um I would run to the room sometimes and you know, I I I'd cry myself to sleep, you know, just wishing I had my mom um with me. Um, and uh so I I it wasn't I didn't hesitate at all. Right away I ran to my mom and I gave her a hug. I mean, I didn't even know this lady, you know, and uh and um just by pictures or whatnot. And um my mom and my dad tried to work things out, you know, they they got back together and they ended up getting a house in North Hollywood, and um it was very problematic. It was a very toxic environment. There was a lot of there was a lot of fighting uh going on. My dad um he's battled addictions his and you know, most of his life. Uh he's cocaine and um I remember seeing the garage door cracked open a little bit. And I remember seeing like burnt cans and stuff like that. I never understood what they what it was though at that at that age. And um my mom, you know, she was trying her best. Uh she was trying her best. Uh she had a she had a good job, and you know, she was trying her best to to do good, but unfortunately, she would interact with um with a lot of her past. Um, you know, she would still interact with people that she knew from her past. And um, you know, one day my my mom got home from work and she was making she was making dinner. I was sitting down watching TV with my dad. Um might have been my dad's an avid fisherman, so he would watch a lot of you know fishing shows or whatnot. So it might have been a fishing show, and um and he started talking about you know an incident with um that they had with my grandparents on my mom's side about money. And uh my mom kind of told him, like, hey, I don't, you know, I don't want to hear that right now. Um, you know, um, let's talk about something else. I'm making dinner, and my dad just kept on poking. And my mom was one of those bears you do not poke. Uh my mom has a temper, very bad temper. Um and uh next thing I knew, I saw a ping pong paddle fly through the middle of the air and crack my dad in the head and cracked his head open. Um, he started convulsing. And back, you know, back in those days, um tiger tiger striped sofas were were in style. You know, there were white sofas with black tiger black tiger stripes on them, and my mom was more concerned about him staining the sofas and him convulsing on the floor. And I had seen him fight so much, I kind of just you know looked at them and I was like, I kept on watching TV, and um, and then I noticed the blood, you know, was kind of seeping out a lot and told her, I was like, Mom, I go, he's bleeding. He was still out, and uh she got scared. And I helped I helped my mom drag my dad to a little little fold-up bed that we had that I used to use when I used to fall asleep in the living room watching TV or whatnot. Um so um once he woke up, you know, he got up and he was freaked out. You know, he told my mom to get away from him and she was cycled that he was gonna call her her parole officer. And um, you know, the next day, um, when my mom was pretty much like, okay, well, you know, we need to separate or whatnot, you know, um my mom's best friend was my cousin Rosa. My cousin Rosa was about my mom's age, so I used to call her Tia. Um, you know, it's a it's a custom a lot in in our culture, you know, that we have older cousins, we end up calling them Tia until we make them feel, then they say, No, I'm I'm your cousin. But um, but yeah, so um at that time she was she was uh you know um she was Thea Rose, or um we'd call her Roach, you know, Aunt Roach or and um she was there visiting my mom and my dad came out with a gun to his head and you know he was trying to kill himself and he didn't pull the trigger but he left and um that was that that was that with that relationship. Um ultimately we ended up leaving the house. The the house got affected by some floods that we had in California in those years, some bad floods, and our house ended up uh specifically my room, the roof caved in in my room, and I had no room no more. And mold started developing and you know, and we ended up losing it. And um, you know, so that's when kind of bad things started happening for my mom. Um we were hopping around, you know, apartment to apartment, going around, you know, um city to city within Los Angeles, hopping between LA and the San Fernando Valley, and you know, she was dating, you know, um various men, and these weren't the best men, you know. A lot of them were ex-convicts, a lot of them were you know, Mexican mafia members. Um that's who she associated herself with, you know, she associated her that's who she hung around with. And um so uh she she ended up um we ended up living in some duplexes um that were my grandparents lived in those duplexes, and um one day um I got home from school and um I walk in and my mom's laid out on the floor, you know, staring at the ceiling, and she has a bunch of track marks all over her arms. And um I think I was I don't know, I was about 10 years old or so. Um and um I started smacking her around to wake her up and she got up and you know and I was like, man, you know, that's when you know I I knew things were were bad, you know, for her. And um not too long after that I get home from school again and my mom never shows up again. Um one day led to two, two days left to three. On the third day I went to my grandparents and they're like, Well, what's wrong? And I was like, my mom never came back. It's like so what have you been doing? Like, I've been making myself food, you know, and uh I've been going to school myself and dressing myself, and I was you know, they kind of got angry at me that I didn't go right away. And um yeah, my mom didn't come back. Um she was out on the street strung out, and uh she ended up getting arrested and she got a almost a two-year violation, I think it was about an 18-month violation or so. And um, you know, I went I went back with my dad, and at that time my dad was dating um my other brother's mom, Patty. Uh rest in peace. She passed away uh uh a few years ago. Um she was um very kind kind hearted. She showed me um a lot of love. She was young, she was younger than my dad. Um so she wasn't used to taking care of, you know, um an older kid. I was still young myself, but you know, um pre-teen or whatnot, you know. Um, but she tried her best. You know, we would rollerblade and she'd go out and take me to the mall. And she was um she was awesome. You know, I I love Patty. And um my little brother was born, you know, he was my little shadow. I was so happy to to have a little brother, he followed me everywhere. Um I taught him his first words, and at that time, um, I'm not sure if you're familiar with West Side Connection, right? With the Rap group. So they were they were very popular. They had just came out at that time, and um, my brother's first words were West Side. Those were his first words. He'd say he'd say, West and ramen with egg in it, right? Um, he'd say soup. Right away, he'd look at me and I was like, You hungry? He's like, soup, soup, and I'd make him his top ramen with an egg in it, right? To this day, you know, he's he's grown, and to this day he still eats top ramen with egg in it, and um, you know, it was great. But I was around 12 years old or so, and I started um I started hanging around party crews and stuff like that. That was really big at that time in LA, and um started hanging around the wrong crowd, and I started ditching school. And again, my dad was battled addiction, so he wasn't he was there, but he wasn't. The only time we'd have close interaction was when we'd go fishing. Besides that, he wasn't interested on what I liked, on you know, um, if I liked any sports, if I wanted to play any sports. Um, I was really big. I love hockey, right? Uh, believe it or not, I know how to ice skate ice skate really well. Um and uh he wasn't interested in that stuff. It was all Patty that would um that would take me out rollerblading at night, and you know, and she'd buy me my hockey sticks and you know, pucks and stuff like that. And um, I had a really good friend of mine that that I knew from from school. Um, he was into ice hockey, so I'd go with him. But um, you know, I started to ditch a lot. It was becoming uh a problem where I was going to school, you know, three days out of the week, and the rest of the time I was ditching. And it's just not going to like a friend's house. Like we'd go to Universal Studios, we ditched school, and you know, we'd find our way to Universal Studios and sneak in. And uh, we got caught one time, and uh my dad had to pick me up from the police station, right? There, there's a police station adjoining to uh to the city walk right there next to Universal Studios Hollywood. And um, you know, my grandfather was mentioning, and my dad was mentioning to my grandfather on my mother's side that um that he was having problems, and my grandfather um convinced him to send me to El Salvador with him. Um at that time, El Salvador was dealing with the mass influx of deportations of a lot of um a lot of bad guys that were going through a a transformation, a really, really bad transformation, um, a very violent transformation. And um, so there I go at 12 years old to El Salvador with my grandfather. I was supposed to go to school. Um, and at first it was great because my Aunt Wendy was out there, my my that's my mom's little sister, and she she was like a sister to me because we weren't that far in age. We're only you know about three or four years difference um in in age. So I didn't look at her like an aunt, I looked at her more like a sister. So I was happy she was out there, and um things were good. Things were good. We were we were working for um for my grandfather. My grandfather had a a rental video store, so we'd go help out with the with the store, and um, you know, it was okay, it wasn't it wasn't bad uh at all. You know, had some good friends there. And then my aunt Wendy, um, she came back to the States, and my grandfather went and took me with um one of my aunts out there, and I didn't really know my family out there. I didn't grow up on my mom's side of the family. I knew my my grandparents and um you know a couple of cousins that were in California, but that was it. Um I grew up majority, you know, the time with my dad's side of the family. I consider my cousins my my brothers and my sisters my close cousins. I got about four cousins that I grew up with, and I consider them more, you know, brother and sister than anything. Um so I went with uh my aunt and my uncle and had some cousins there and they were kind of involved and uh some gang stuff and you know um I was always intrigued by it. I guess it was you know being that I was around it so much with my mom um I I liked it you know I was I gravitated towards it and um maybe it was the maybe it was the the family aspect of it right that they consider themselves like a family or whatnot and I was missing that so maybe it was that but um you know it I I I gravitated towards it and then um I had a fallout with my uncle and my uncle told me he's like you know your dad gave me um he gave me uh permission to discipline you if I needed to and that got me angry and just like my mom you know I unfortunately I had those generational court uh curses where um I inherited her temper a really bad temper where I'd go from zero to a hundred and you know flick of a switch and on that moment I hit a switch and I told him I go I'm not your kid I go if you lay your hands on me you you're gonna expect me to swing back at you like because I am gonna swing back at you if not worse and um so we had a big argument and I ran away that night and the first group of guys that I met on the corner I I heard them speaking English. So right away I went and I started talking to them and they're tripping out like who's this kid like just comes out of nowhere talking English and I told him I was like well yeah I'm from California and um these guys were were from the Mara Salvatrucha they were from the the MS gang and um it was this guy uh they called goat they call him Chivo and uh he's like well what are you doing I was like ah go you know I ran away he's like you need a place to stay he goes you know I was like well yeah and he's like are you part of a gang and I was like no I was like I just hung around party crews in California and he's like well we're from MS he's like you know um he goes you can go and stay with me so um I left complete stranger um you know I went but like I said I was I gravitated to to to that life and um things happened very quickly after that um I I got jumped in uh to MS and um I started doing drugs um and I was I wasn't even 13 years old yet and you know I was already smoking I was already smoking cocaine and uh doing rock and um I was doing embalming fluids smoking shrim sticks uh smoking a lot of marijuana um you know having intercourse with older girls that were a lot older than me um and I liked it and I wanted nothing more than to be feared I I I fed off of it um so this was in a town called uh for short they call it Sacate it has a long name but it's called Sacate Coluca and that's where that's where my mom's side of the family is from from my grandmother's side so eventually I ended up meeting you know other members from across the country and um I ended up making my way to San Salvador which is the capital and pretty much um started hanging out in a place called Plaza Surita. It was a very very bad place in El Salvador um and I became a very very numb ruthless little boy um by this time I was 13 years old um I had gotten my tat my forehead tattooed I had MS on my forehead and I had a had a big hand all over my chin all right here I had MS on my back um I wanted to be the worst of the worst so um I got tested we um so um so we were um we were hanging out um on a water tower one night we were smoking weed with a group of us and uh we start um we start hearing like this little ping noise like rocks hitting the water tower and um we look over and there's a guy with a slingshot they use slingshots a lot out there they use everything machetes slingshots m16s grenades um well this guy was trying to trying to get us with the slingshot and it's not you know they they use ball bearings and those things will kill you um so we said you know we got to get down and see who this is so we started getting down and they were hitting right next to us you know and I think a couple hit hit a few of my friends and uh we made it to the bottom and once we got about a quarter way down the down the ladder um it was like this steel ladder um the guy started running and you know a lot of us we we jumped from a from uh you know being kind of high to try to catch him and we caught up to him about two blocks away and um we started beating him and um I grabbed the rock and um man I grabbed the rock big rock that was on the side of the street back then El Salvador wasn't the city that is there isn't the country that it is today. They still had cobblestone roads and there was a lot of rocks on the side of the highways and stuff and so this is big rock on the side of the sidewalk where we were beating them up and um I smashed his head wide open with that rock. So it opened like a watermelon sorry so um so that's when things uh changed for me. Um you know um my mentality I got what I asked for I wanted to be ruthless and um that I became um I was very ruthless and did a lot of things um I became accustomed to the smell of burnt flesh um I learned how to use a machete very well I learned how to make grenades out of electrical tape um some lead or some nails and and some firework powder they had some pretty powerful fireworks out there and uh I learned how to make shotguns out of you know just combining a couple pipes and welding a nail to the back um I learned how to make a lot of things and I was 13 years old um I remember another instance where um I was I was being looked for already because um I I only had a six month visa so um my my family had no idea um where I was at this point um the US embassy was looking for me and um I didn't want to be found um I was living on the streets over there in El Salvador and um and um you know um I was happy I was happy living that violent life um and um one day um we're we're walking and um a lot of the a lot of the members from from from El Salvador um you know they they um they would collect money on the corners and um so uh we had just seen um this girl that had just gotten jumped into the into the into the gang and she was about my age and we had just seen her she was collecting money on the corner and we're about half a block um away and um we heard a big boom. The guys from the rival neighborhood 18th street they were right a few blocks up they passed by on a bus and threw a grenade at her and um we went back and she was in bad shape her jaw was hanging and I mean it was she was in bad shape she she died instantly um I got to witness a lot of stuff like that you know um bullets just passing by when you're running and you throw rocks at each other seeing people get hit with rocks and um it was tough and one day I got approached by some members and uh they knew it you know they knew I knew English very well and uh they're like hey like what do you feel about taking a trip back to California and I was like yeah I was like I'm down and they're like well it's like we're planning to take the truck out there um you know if you want to go let's go so I hopped on to this vehicle and they were already following us um we got you know to to the border and um of uh guat guatemala and el salvador and they they stopped us and uh and yeah I got arrested um I was in possession of weapons of war that was my that was my charge so I came out on the news and my grandpa saw me on the TV he immediately um called my dad and my dad called the U.S. Embassy and I was visited by them about a couple of days after I was in jail and uh they told me you know they asked me my name and where I was born and they kind of told me like you know you're gonna have to be here for about three months until you go to court. But once you go to court you know um you'll be on a plane probably the next day back to the states he said not to worry and he whispered in my ear and he goes they don't want to mess with us that's what he told me um so just like he said you know I was in I was in a uh kind of a juvenile uh juvenile hall setting over there and um I tried to escape about three times and I failed um and then um I ended up going to court I stayed overnight at the U.S. Embassy and uh next day I was in the plane back to California with my face tattooed a completely different different person by this time um I was about to turn 14 years old and um my dad saw me and his mouth kind of dropped he couldn't believe what what was in front of him and um you know um uh I kind of try to still follow that that life um um I was with my dad for a little bit after that and then my mom got out of prison again and uh I went back to live with my mom and things were good you know she uh she started a business she had a she had a um um uh it was like a housekeeper agency where people would go to her to to get housekeepers and nannies and uh she'd assign them to to them and things were really good uh we're renting a house we're renting a room out of this house and this was in North Hollywood and um you know it was okay but I would still gravitate you know towards going out and hanging out with the wrong crowd and um one day um it happened again um my mom didn't come back um one day turned to two just like the first time then the the lady that we're renting the room from she approached me and she's like you know do you have anyone you can call she's like I don't think your mom's coming back so I I literally seen her take out all her stuff from our room and throw it on the side of the house and instead of going back to my dad's um I went out to the street and I knew some people in Poquoima and I knew some people in Echo Park um over the years and um I was kind of hopping back back and forth um I would hang around with the guys from uh from Poquema Brownstone and uh I really developed a really good friendship with some of the OGs from there and um I met some people in Echo Park and um you know met some of the OGs from there and I was there for a little bit and um you know um we went out clubbing one day they had a teen club out there club uh club carnaval out of the Alexandria Hotel and um every time we'd get out of this club we go to Tommy's Tommy burger is a staple in LA uh they start chili burgers and it's one of those late night places where you go and eat and um we were out there and um a drive-by happened and I ended up getting shot in my leg I got shot in my left leg down here by my ankle and um shortly after it was a it was a superficial wound I thank God that it wasn't it wasn't bad. I you know I was um you know it could have been a lot worse could have been a lot worse um but once I healed up you know I kind of got tired of just waking up and doing the same thing over and over and um called my grandpa and my grandpa was like um you know uh come to Texas so um so I came to Texas I came to Texas and um you know I didn't really um get into trouble right away but I started hanging around the wrong crowd again and you know dating the wrong the wrong girls and and um I ended up getting in trouble out here um I picked up an aggravated assault with the deadly weapon charge and um I got put on probation and uh 10 years probation and then shortly after um I picked up a theft of a firearm charge and um I got sent to to prison for a year. They didn't violate my my 10 year probation though they they said you know you're gonna get out and you're gonna continue that but they were going to put me on a monitor. So when I got out of prison um I got put on a monitor and um I cut it off I violated my probation and I got five years in uh state prison here. They gave me a year credit for that year that I did. So I went to prison again for four years and um I ended up at Middleton at the Middleton unit first in Abilene Texas and um I got into a fight and uh they reclassified me and they usually don't send people five years or less to to the big prisons they usually send you to these smaller prisons closer to where you live but I got sent to the Beatle 1 unit in Tennessee Colony Texas it's a gladiator farm what they call it's uh it's a rock and roll prison it's on lockdown probably about nine months out of a 12 month calendar uh year when I got to the unit it was on lockdown mostly racial um and um yeah you know we had our we had our riots and I kind of stuck to myself for the most part um I did my four years I I thought I was gonna be able to make parole but first time I made first time I went up to the parole board they gave me what's called a serval and is basically telling you you're gonna do your day your time day for day you're not gonna see the pro board anymore so I kind of do it uh started doing some illegal things within the prison system uh um started bringing in contraband via guards and stuff like that and I got in trouble ended up in medium custody and um would only go out two hours a a day you know an hour in the morning an hour in the evening rest of the time was in my cell with the cell and um I got out of prison in 2004 uh in August and um I met my wife uh shortly after and um she got pregnant uh pretty quickly and um that kind of started changing uh my life I started I stopped hanging around um the crowd I was hanging out with and uh we made a family you know we had two daughters uh my other daughter was born 11 months after and um we have four girls now um we just celebrated our 20 year anniversary um but about two years ago um you know I I I got some news and you know I've I've buried this deeply into the ground and um but I almost took my life and um my wife turned to God shortly after that I didn't I was kind of battling if I was still gonna stay home or if I was gonna leave or if we were even going to continue our marriage um and um you know thing we we'd have a lot of issues and then things would go good and then we'd have some issues and you know the enemy just trying to drag me back um to that violent person I was and trying to disrupt my mind and um so um this October we had a retreat the Gangster Jesus retreat and I kind of knew all a lot of the brothers already um and um I went with no intention of uh of you know giving myself to God I went more with the intention of accompanying my wife and her not being by herself there um man was I mistaken so I and and mind you like at this time I'm still drinking um I've never been a big alcoholic but Saturdays I'm a big college football guy so Saturdays I'd spend my days you know drinking a couple beers but I'd smoke weed every day every single day I'd smoke weed um and I went to this retreat and I you know I'm hearing from Pastor Isaiah and uh and Pastor Sal who runs the Victory Outreach uh ministry in Tucson Arizona he was a guest of ours and um they just start speaking and you know there was a couple couple of instances in in that retreat that you know God was speaking to me and now I know it was God and it's like you know you need to let go because you need to forgive you need to let go and they had this situation where they were within a fire pit and um everyone was kind of throwing their the the things that they wanted uh to get rid of um in their lives into this fire pit and I wanted to so bad and I didn't and I immediately regretted it when we got back to our bunk. My wife and I they were kind of like these uh these can't uh these little studios I guess that they have for guests and um I I regretted it I regretted it and then um you know the next day we had service and at the end of service they were kind of handing the microphone around to see you know it was a QA right for the pastors and for leadership and something just told me to grab that microphone and let loose and you know start telling a little bit about my life and that I was done with it and I was done with feeling this pain and I wanted nothing more than to get closer to God. And that's exactly what I did and my wife kind of got surprised because she had no idea and that I was going to do this and I snatched the mic from one of our brothers and I just went off and my tears started flowing and and um that's when I decided that that I was giving my all to the to the Lord not 90% not 95 I was willing to give 100% of my life to my Lord and Savior and he flew through me and um that night um it's like I told you earlier like the saying goes he comes as a thief in the night and takes and takes away you know your addiction or whatnot he did just that I woke up enlightened my spiritual eyes were open my ears were open um I didn't want alcohol no more um I actually deleted my entire playlist of the music that I would listen to um on our way back and started listening just to you know worship music and I listened to a lot of kingdom music Brian Trejo and um you know that's that's all I listen to now and um I don't I haven't touched marijuana anymore um and I live to to serve um my king um and um I enjoy it and it changed my life And since then it's it's just things have gone so well in my professional life, my marriage, my relationship with my kids, and just the overall way I look at things now. Um it's entirely different. Um I live to serve and to make change and to spread the word. Um I want I want nothing more than to help lift those that are at the very bottom, that find themselves uh battling with the enemy day in and day out, that think that they have no hope. Um I find myself now living to to to uh serve the Lord for them and to bring them in. And I've already seen a tremendous tremendous amount of change in in some people. Um you know, and just to just be able to to know that you that God used me as an instrument for those people, um, really it doesn't matter if it was just one. And that it was it's all well worth it. Um you know, a lot of I used to question my wife a lot because when she's been in this a lot longer than I have, and I used to question her a lot because um she stopped watching football with me, and uh and I kind of get angry and I go, man, I go, that's all you do, and you spend more time with the ministry than you do with me. And and it's funny because this past weekend, you know, we had uh one of actually brother Richard Montes that was on your show, he just got married, and um we had a Gangster for Jesus wedding. And um that morning, that Saturday morning, we were playing handball, and you know, um it was all about the ministry, and then Sunday comes and I was able to bring a good friend of mine to come to church in the alley, he's from LA as well, and uh battling some things, and and he's like, Hey, what you think about Georgia beating Texas? And I kind of I was like, Man, I go, you know what? I completely forgot about college football. And then I thought about my wife, and I understood. I understood why those those um those superficial things did not matter, they weren't a priority to her anymore. Um, I understood, because it wasn't a priority to me anymore. Um I understood why she spent so much time with the ministry, and I understood why she would read the word so much. It's very important that we reinforce our our armor, our spiritual armor daily, because the enemy will try to pick at it if we don't. And um uh and you become addicted to the word because of that, because you don't want to go back to to the person you were, and um the word will keep you focused and in tune uh with God. And the more you are in tune with God, um the more um the more the enemy is is rebuked and reflected and and cast away from from you. Um but as soon as you give him an inch, he's gonna take it. He's gonna take it. If you leave any holes in that armor, he's gonna he's gonna try to find those holes. Um, you know, and um, so it's very important that we stay in tune with with God, and um, you know, in order for for us to to uh to be able to stay focused on our mission, on on what we're supposed to do uh daily. You know, reading the verse, starting our day off with it, um is I think it's it's kind of like they said, like it's breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well, I think that's one of the most important things that of the day you need to start your day with. It's kind of like brushing. I I tell people it's like brushing your teeth. You know, you stop brushing your teeth, what happens? Um, your teeth start rotting out, your breath starts stinking. Um, you know, it's kind of the same. You know, you don't you don't read the word and you don't stay in tune with God daily. The enemy is gonna try to find one way or another to to make to get into your head and start bringing those old intuitions and those old thoughts that you used to have uh back to you. And no one's perfect, you know. We we strive to be, but we are not perfect by long shot. And um, but there's a big difference between living in sin and falling into sin. And um we'll we'll fall into sin. It's you know, it happens either by our language or by our temper or you know, whatever the case may be. But you know, as long as you stay in tune with God um and you ask for forgiveness uh daily, and you know, he'll bring you back onto that road you're supposed to be on. And um, you know, and I I I would I wouldn't have it any other way. I I love it. I love my ministry. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'll take off the shirt off my back in an instant for any of them. And ironically enough, most of them were my enemies back in the days. They were my enemies, and now I cry with them, I hug with them, and it's it's a genuine, it's a genuine connection that we have. You know, it's a it's true, it's real, it's not fake. Um, you know, they're not, you know, when when you're involved in gangs and stuff, people might, you know, especially prison gangs, um, yeah, they'll call you brother and cognal and all this stuff, but in an instant they will take your life if they're told to. Um, you know, what we have here, it's it's genuine love. And they know they can call me at whatever hour, and I know I can call them at whatever hour if I ever need them. And um, you know, we're out here on a mission to to serve God and not to not to just go on Sundays and you know live in sin throughout the week and then feel good about ourselves on Sundays by going to church every now and then or whatnot. No, we we breathe and live this every single day. Um Sundays when we go out, we're an army and we go out and hit those streets, and you know, um it's very fulfilling and you know it's a purpose that we all have, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

Yeah, well, Mike, that was uh amazing testimony. I think you have a phenomenal story that you have to share, and I think you did great. I really do the way you structured your story, you really opened up about some things that you um that were definitely um hard for you to talk about, you know, your early life, just the dysfunctional family, you know, growing up and the you know, the the love that you lacked and stuff from family, and just really trying to find a family, and then you end up finding a gang, and it led to you know, a lot of destruction, and then eventually getting locked up, going to prison, and then after all these years, you know, you uh eventually found God, right? I mean it just uh it's amazing how that works and and how you've been on this path now for I don't know, like four or five months now about October. October, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

October.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

And we're in December.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Yeah, yeah. So I mean you have a really good testimony, and I think um you and as long you keep doing what you're doing, you stick to what you're gonna do, you're gonna continue to grow and you're gonna continue to help people out with you know, other people that may have been to prison that or just struggled with a background of um a broken home. Because there is a lot of people that grow up in situations like that, and it just leads to a lot of destruction. It kind of sets up for failure in the future. So, and there's sometimes there's no coming back from that. But you you did find some some hope, you know, through the Lord. So that is that that is pretty that's a blessing in itself, you know. A big one.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Absolutely, absolutely. He can he can do it for anyone. It's you know, our a lot of people say, well, it's hard to leave addiction, it's hard to leave, you know, certain habits. The hardest thing is giving your complete trust to God. That's the hardest thing. Once you give 100% of your trust in Him, He'll take care of everything else, and that's what a lot of people don't understand. They they they think it's like, oh man, like I'm gonna have the urge to do this. He'll take those urges away, but you can't have one foot in and one foot out or half a foot, you know, um out. You need to trust 100% in order for him to do that, and um, once you do that, um he'll do it, he'll do it. You won't want those things, and it's not just talk it happened to me. I mean, I've smoked weed smoke um for a very long time. I mean, very long time. And I, you know, it went to the point where I'd use the excuse where it's like, oh well, I need you know, it's I just use it to sleep for medicinal purposes, I don't even smoke it no more. I use it in a vaporizer. That's nonsense. It's nonsense. God will take it away from you 100%. Well, you know, my wife um we went on a date and we go to this place called Animal Draft House, and they serve beer there, right? Um, they serve food in the movie theater while you're watching the movie, and she's like, Are you sure you want to go there? Um and I was like, Why? She's like, Well, you know, I don't want you, you know, to to I guess um to be enticed. And I was like, Don't even worry about that. I was like, I don't want it. And even for my wife, it's been a little bit of a like wow, like she was like, This was quick. Like God, God worked fast with with you, you know, and um it was like that, and um, and you know, but you gotta give 100% uh to to him. Um, and you do that, I promise, um, you know, things will be better and and you won't have to worry about leaving those things. He'll take them, he'll take them from you, but you have to trust. That's the hardest part.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

Well, and you want to pray us out, pray for the people that may be struggling with the things that just kind of like what you went through in your early life.

SPEAKER_03 54:59

Absolutely. So, Lord, again, I thank you. I thank you for giving us another day, Lord, and again, I thank you for for allowing me to use this wonderful platform to reach out to folks. And Lord, I ask that you rebuke anything that is not of you to those that are trying to find your way, Lord, and just open up their eyes and their ears and soften up those hearts of stone that they have and know that that you are the way, Lord, and and you will show them their path. They've had a path since they were born, Lord, and they've always had this road to you. They've found different avenues and alleys to stir away from you, Lord. But I pray that you open their eyes, Lord, and get into their hearts and use me as an instrument to find them and for them to find the inspiration, the courage to give it all to you, Lord. Just to rely on you, Lord, and give 100% trust in you, Lord, for that is the way, and they will find their purpose, Lord. They'll find their purpose, and I know that you will take everything that is not of you away from them. In your mighty name I pray, Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Amen. Thank you, Mike.

SPEAKER_03 56:07

Thank you. Thank you for having me. God bless you. God bless.

SPEAKER_01 56:11

Michael's testimony is truly remarkable. He made the incredible transformation from being deeply involved in a violent gang to embracing the Christian faith. His story speaks volumes to anyone who may be struggling, just as Michael once did. It serves as a powerful reminder that there is always hope. No one is beyond redemption. You can leave behind a life of crime and embrace a life dedicated to the Lord. Please comment anything that you got out of this podcast. Me and Michael would love to hear it. Please share this testimony with anyone else that you think needs to hear this. Hit the like button if you enjoyed today's testimony. Don't forget to hit the notification bell to stay updated. And of course, please subscribe to my channel. At the end of this video, a testimony playlist will pop up of all the other testimonies I've got to cover. Thank you again so much for watching, and of course, we'll see everyone on the next one.