In a slum, “barrio” in Mexico City, there is a building used as a church. When it rains the roof leaks dripping water onto the rough concrete floor. At night it is dimly lit. It was built to function as a church but it does not look like a church judging by the building. Judge it by the people who gather there to worship, to praise and thank God for demonstrating His love and power in the Gospel; it is a church. Some months ago, the church embraced the Bible League evangelism and church planting strategy plan and today it is growing as week by week they reach people for Christ. Among the many who are able to testify how they were reached by this church for Christ, the pastor has asked Jose Antonio Uribe, aged 37, to tell his testimony.
“At age thirteen I started taking drugs because of the peer pressure to belong to a gang in the barrio. Life in a barrio is tough and those who don’t belong are attacked to show they are not wanted. I began my journey into drugs by smoking marijuana. At first nothing happened to me in the way of expected pleasure. I kept smoking it just for something to do and thought how much I wanted to experience the pleasure I was told could be mine from drugs. Someone gave me LSD. Then I experienced a sensational feeling like walking on air in vivid moving colors. All my senses were heightened. It was great. That was what I wanted to have again and again.
Now I had a problem; where and how was I to get the money I needed to buy the drugs I wanted. My solution was to join a gang of robbers and rob houses of the things we could sell. My next problem was the risk I was taking of getting caught in a house while robbing it. My answer was to buy a handgun. At first it was just to protect myself if I got caught. Then I thought having a gun in my hand gave me great power. What would be the best way to use that power. A plan came to me; I watched people leaving a bank, target a prospect, follow, then at a certain place rob them at gun point.
I was arrested by the police several times, convicted and sent to jail. My godfather was a powerful influential man who had contacts and friends in high places. He saw to it that I was in jail only for a short time. After several times of being in jail, I thought that robbing to get money was not worth it. A more profitable way to have money was to become a drug dealer and sell drugs.
One incident in my life had a strong affect on me. I went into a bar one night and saw a man smoking marijuana and I asked him to sell me a joint. He first wanted money to be paid. I took out a wad of money and as I was peeling out some notes he pulled out a knife and demanded I hand over all my money. I refused. He said he would kill me if I did not give him all the money. I had enough, turned away from him and walked out into the street. He followed. I turned and faced him. He wave his knife at me and demanded shouting that I hand over to him my money. I pulled out my gun and shot him dead. It was strange because I didn’t feel any guilt – in fact I felt rather pleased that I had done something useful, by getting rid of a bad man. I was arrested by the police and a judge sent me to jail. Once again my powerful godfather was able to have me released. This time only forty days was spent serving my sentence.
I went back to the gang. They welcomed me as tough guy and I could see I had impressed them by shooting a man dead. I saw I had authority among them. To further show how tough I had become, when someone in our code needed to be punished I would shoot the man a bullet in the leg. I became the leader of the gang. To buy our supply of drugs we went to another part of Mexico City. Sometimes a gunfight would break out with members from each gang getting killed. My reputation grew in the criminal world and with the police. It came as no surprise to me when a Mafia drug supplier offered me a partnership in the drug trade. The deal was for him to supply and I was to sell, the money split between us.
One day my gang and I were up in the mountain checking on our marijuana crop when our lookout saw some police coming. We ambushed them and killed every one of them. As a result of the police investigation, my drug trade partner was arrested and sent to jail. Among drug criminals there is a code of silence – my partner did not tell the police about me. Because he had a great deal of money and contacts with powerful men, he was let out of jail. Someone in the drug trade was not pleased that he was let out of jail so soon, so he informed the police that I was his partner. I was put in jail. On my release, I found out who this person was and went and shot up his house. Life seemed prosperous. I had money, cars, trucks, women, clothes, food and so on. But inside of me nothing seemed to satisfy.
Nine years ago I heard a man preaching from the Bible. I said to myself that’s not for me. I’m strong. I have money and I’m in charge of my life, to do as I please. A year ago, I came across a drug dealer I know and he said ‘Christ loves you’. What I didn’t know was he had become a Christian. Those words ‘Christ loves you’ struck me. I began to think about my life and as I did so I realised how tired and sick I was of a life of drugs and drink. I desperately wanted to stop and change, but I found no power inside of me to do that. It came as a shock to realise how weak I really was. Feelings of loneliness and anger surged through me. Everybody seemed to be against me. No longer did I trust anybody. No longer were drugs, drink and women giving any lasting pleasure. I had become disgusted with life. Moods of depression would come over me.
Those words of depression grew so bad that several times I tried to kill myself with my magnum 357 gun by a single bullet in the chamber, spinning the chamber then putting the gun to my head and pulling the trigger. In the times I did this before member of my gang. They believed I was showing off just to prove how brave I was to risk shooting myself. All the while what I really was doing was to take a chance to kill myself. Every time I did this the gun didn’t fire. ‘Christ loves you’ kept repeating in my mind. Did Christ really exist and if He did why would He love me? How was I to find the answer? All my life I had been searching for love.
Finally, I just had to know, so I went to the house of the drug dealer who told me ‘Christ loves you’ to ask him, why? He opened his Bible and explained to me the Gospel in a simple way. But why, I asked, should Christ love me a drug dealer and a killer? He turned to Isaiah 1:18 [Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.] From the Bible he showed me that no matter what I had become or done, God through Christ would forgive me the moment I put my trust in Christ as my Savior. Three days later in my home I prayed for Christ to enter my life. I then experienced the most incredible feeling that I’ve ever had before. I was filled with God’s love. It lasted for days and days. This far exceeded any drug experience. I felt clean, free, forgiven. Radical changes came in my attitude and behaviour to people. Coming to Christ was one thing, but coming off drugs was another. Drug addiction is irresistible and powerful. I fought the craving not to shoot myself with drugs and when I did, I went to my pastor of this church who would help me by praying for me. Then he would show me verses from the Bible. My pastor talked to me strong and straight as to what God through Christ had done in my life.
Shortly after becoming a Christian, I went to the International Italian Mafia Boss here in Mexico City to tell him I was leaving my life of drug crime because of my new life in Christ. He was not pleased and reminded me that often the penalty for leaving was death by a hit man. After we had talked some more he told me to go home and he would think about my going to leave the drug trade. I immediately went to the church, told them what I had done and the probable consequence of my visit – death. For a week the church and I fasted and prayed. A the end of the week, the International Italian Mafia Boss phoned me and said “You have seen nothing, you know nothing, you are free.” This news confirmed to me the importance of prayer and the power of God. It was also proof to me that Christ did love me.
Today I live as one who Christ has delivered from drugs, drink and crime. Every day I read my Bible. I am learning the truths of the Bible at the Discovery Group Bible study that I go to each week. It is my prayer that the Lord will soon allow me to join with those who will be trained by the Bible League of Mexico to do the work of door to door evangelism and church planting.”
Source: Bible League, Rev. Graeme Johnstone
[Conversion testimony, ex-mafia, Mexico]