May 19, 2025 • 44 mins
In this emotional and transformative episode, Julio Mercado from New Life Community Church in Cicero shares his astonishing life story—from a tumultuous life of gang violence and near-death experiences to finding salvation through Jesus Christ. This testimonial was recorded at a "Radical Time Out" meeting which is hosted by "Koinonia House National Ministries" in Wheaton, IL.
Julio's journey is a testament to the power of faith, prayer, and the unconditional love of family and community. Hear his heartfelt gratitude for the spiritual mentors and brothers who helped him turn his life around, and the divine moments that led him to serve others in prison ministry. This testimony is a compelling reminder of the redeeming power of God's grace.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
From the city of Chicago, a citymost recently known for its
crime and violence.
From this podcast, we will besharing stories of redemption.
From individuals raised in thetough streets of Chicago and
from around the country.
Some of them were gang members,drug dealers, incarcerated
victims, and perpetrators ofviolence.
(00:36):
Listen to my guest as they sharetheir experiences, struggles,
trauma, but also the strength,hope, faith, and perseverance
these have developed in them tokeep pushing and moving forward
in life.
Tune in to hear how their liveshave gone from darkness to light
and from wrong to strong.
Omar (00:57):
Alright.
We we're gonna pray for, uh,Julio.
If you guys could close youreyes, just join us or maybe even
extend your hands towards him.
They, to
Arturo (01:03):
pray for him,
Omar (01:04):
right?
Many, many more.
Oh yeah.
Heavenly Father, we just come toyou this evening.
Father, we come to you in thename of your son, Jesus.
And I just.
Thank you Father for thisopportunity to gather here.
Father, it is evident, father,that, that I'm just, we're just
joined by living, walking,testimonies, miracles all
around, all around this place.
Father, what's what you've done?
(01:25):
Uh, as I was coming here, I wasthinking about the Apostle Paul
when he, when he saw anEphesians chapter six 19, after
he finished talking about thearmor of God.
He says, and pray for me also.
That whenever I speak, yes sir.
Whenever I speak, wherever wespeak, yes, that words may be
given me so that I may makeclearly known the mystery of the
gospel.
(01:45):
And that's what I pray over mybrother Julio right now.
Father, I pray father that evenas he shares his story, his
testimony.
It'd be evident that your handwas with him Father.
That his story, father, that,that the story, the greatest
story ever told of Jesus.
Yes, sir.
Is interwoven, interwoven fatherin his story and our our
stories.
Father.
Amen.
So I just pray, father, that yougive him the words.
(02:06):
I pray your anointing, your handupon Father.
And when it's all said and done,father, may you be glorified.
May you be exalted Father for,for what you have done, what you
are doing, and what you're gonnado in the life of our brother.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen.
Arturo (02:26):
Hallelujah.
Yes, Lord God, we come beforeyou Lord God.
And we thank you for thisevening.
We thank you this time, uh, tohonor you and glorify you, Lord
God.
So we lift up your banner.
Hi Father God.
And we want to, uh, bring praiseand honor to your name through
my brother's testimony, the, thework you've done in his life.
Father God, uh, we just pray,Lord God, that as.
You have worked in his life, uh,that as he shares right now,
Lord God, that he, as he sharesbeing led by your Holy Spirit,
(02:48):
that it would also, uh, grabhold of hearts, father God.
And so we just pray, Lord God,that your word comes through,
uh, through His, uh, uh, what,what he speaks tonight, Lord
God, uh, that he would justhumble himself before you right
now and just allow you to leadFather God.
And so we give you glory, honor,and praise in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
God
Omar (03:06):
bless you brother.
Thank.
Julio M (03:11):
Thank you, brother.
So I just wanna start out byintroducing myself.
My name's Julio Ricardo.
I attend New Life CommunityChurch in Cicero, part of the
Round and Strong Network, uh,the ministry.
I just want you to know, when Ilook out here today, all I see
is light.
I see the lights that shine intothe darkest places, the Ray of
Hope that.
(03:31):
That remember the forgotten andgo and visit them day in, day
out, day in, day out, givingthem hope and letting them know
they're not forgotten.
I'd like to thank all of you forcoming tonight.
I appreciate you all taking timeoutta your day to come and, and,
um, hear my story.
I hope that, you know, somethingI say could maybe help somebody
here.
(03:52):
If not, maybe you could pass itout to somebody, but much
gratitude and appreciation foreverybody showing up here today.
So today I'm gonna share my, uh,my story.
The name of my story is from theGang book to the Book of Eternal
Life.
What you guys are looking atright here today is, this is a
picture of me in the gang book.
(04:14):
This is about, I don't know,five or six years ago.
So it wasn't that long ago.
Um, I was at work one day and Igot a text message and somebody
decided to send me the picture.
Of me and the gang book, youcan't really see right now, but
there's a guy to the right of meright there today.
As I was coming home from worktoday, I seen on a big LED
(04:36):
billboard on the highway.
I seen that brother's face onthere.
It was the FBI's most wantedbillboard.
He's wanted for murder,conspiracy, and racketeering.
So when I say that God saved me,God truly did save me.
It's all glory to God.
(04:57):
It's all his glory.
Mm-hmm.
I'm from the Westtownneighborhood of Chicago.
I was born, I don't rememberwhere I was born.
I was so little.
We moved here when I was abouttwo years old though.
Um, my parents bought a homethere.
I come from a two family home.
I don't have no horror story ofmy life growing up.
I grew up in a great home withgreat parents.
(05:19):
I lived on a nice quiet blockwhere the kids came out.
They played every day.
Kickball kicked the can.
We all hung out.
It was a nice little block.
Nice growing up.
Nice little family was.
It was a great, it, it's a greatchildhood.
My block was in the middle of areal quiet, was a quiet block.
(05:39):
But on both sides of my blockwas a war zone Every night,
although we were kids, we didn'tknow, but there was people being
murdered on the blocks everyday.
You heard gunfire, erupting,nonstop.
I would end up there later on inmy life drawn for some reason to
that very thing, that very thingthat everybody was so scared of.
(06:01):
About when I was little, I justhad a normal childhood.
I would go to the park, like Iwas saying, play ball.
Everything was normal.
When I got to about 16, 17 yearsold, I found the Neighborhood
Boys Club.
I would go to the Boys club.
I loved it there.
We played ball, we didHandcrafts, um, played pool.
Drew, they had a rec center.
It was amazing.
(06:22):
Only problem was, was that thatrecreation center, that Boys and
Girls Club.
Was right on the borderline oftwo of the major gangs in
Chicago.
So every day as I would walk upthat street to go to that Boys
and Girls Club, I would walkthrough two, three
neighborhoods.
So the neighborhoods that wereby me, they knew who I was.
(06:44):
The ones right directly aroundme, they didn't gimme no no
trouble.
But once I passed AshlandAvenue, those guys only used to
see me walking towards the otherside.
So every time I would get upthere, these guys would be
stopping me, asking me, Hey,what you be about?
What you ride?
All this and that.
And you know, I was tell man, Idon't, I'm not in no gang man,
(07:05):
just going to the boys club.
I was, you know, pretty muchhonest.
But I also wasn't scared forsome reason.
I just, they didn't scare me.
When I would get to the Boys andGirls Club, those guys would see
me coming from the side where Iwas coming from and thought I
was from the gang on that side.
Them guys didn't know me.
They gave me a little morepushback.
(07:26):
But I was still okay.
I still made it there.
I made it back every day and itwas never no problems until one
day at the boys club.
The, the counselor, her name wasMeldy, she asked me, Hey, will
you walk me to the, to the busstop?
It was kind of dark, so I waslike, yeah, sure.
You know, I'll walk you to thebus stop.
So as I was walking her to thebus stop.
(07:47):
This is what we came up on, andthis is where my life changed
forever.
As we came past this place righthere, a bunch of gang bangers
were walking that way, and theystarted hassling me.
So of course I just told'emlike, Hey, you know, I don't be
about nothing, you know, I juststood in my ground.
I didn't have nothing to worryabout, but they weren't having
it.
They were looking for somethingand they weren't gonna leave
(08:08):
without it.
So they kept, they kept going.
They kept on going and kept ongoing and they ended up moving
on me right there.
And when they moved on me rightthere, I swore on that spot that
they were gonna pay for that.
And I dedicated my life fromthat day on to making them pay
for that.
And I just brought them war andmy life stood at war at 17.
(08:31):
So that was.
I was just barely turning 17when it happened.
By my 17th birthday, I waslocked up in jail.
I was in Cook County Jail for anattempted murder.
I got out of Cook County Jail.
Way worse than when I went in.
Yeah, and then this is where mylife became gangs, violence,
funerals, drugs.
(08:53):
Death watching people that Iknew, I loved that.
I woke up in the same house withthem.
I sat at the same table withthem.
We shared meals.
We even shared clothes like my,that either were my brothers to
me, and I would watch themliterally in front of my eyes,
lose their lives.
I would watch the life leavefrom their face.
(09:15):
I would watch them perish rightin front of me.
Not once, not twice just becamealmost regularly'cause people
were just dying.
I've seen more death than I'veseen births.
I've been to way more funeralsand I've been to weddings.
As I was out there watching allof this, I was seeing guys
(09:35):
getting locked up all the time.
I would see guys get locked up,get sentenced to 90 years like
it was nothing.
There's still guys from when Iwas a young kid that are still
in prison right now.
Sentenced to 90 years at ahundred percent.
They're never coming home.
That's where they're gonna dieout of appeals, unless they find
(09:56):
God, they don't have a chance.
Only God gives'em the chancethat they need.
I watch guys go through prison.
20 years, 30 years, come home,come back to the neighborhood
and get killed.
Where does it end?
What?
How much do you give?
I remember there was times whenI felt almost guilty.
(10:18):
Christmas would come.
Thanksgiving would come, I wouldbe with my family.
I'd be with watching my kids,and I remember the lives that
were lost in the streets and Iwould cry sometimes just
thinking about them and theirkids.
Sometimes you just cry thinkingabout what you did.
(10:39):
And just thinking, man,sometimes you look at yourself.
I get up in the morning, I'mgetting ready to go outside and
I'm just putting on clothes andI'm literally wondering like,
are these the clothes I'm gonnadie in today?
That's how, that was the lifethat we lived.
But then you would go outsideand you would start drinking and
you would just, you would, youwould hide the pain.
You would get rid of the painone way or another.
(11:01):
I remember getting shot timeafter time.
God nudging me.
Every single time trying to getmy attention.
First time I got shot, I gotshot in the hand.
That was like my little slap onthe hand.
The second time I got shot, Igot shot through the leg.
You would think it's just a legshot, but it wasn't'cause it hit
the, hit The artery hit theartery and it hit the nerve.
(11:24):
So it left my foot paralyzed andleft me dead in an ambulance.
The third time I got shot, I gotshot in the arm and in the
chest.
I felt the bullet pass.
Riding across my chest plateover my heart.
I remember sitting in the carthinking about my friends that
had got shot, getting up,running a block, and then
(11:44):
falling dead because a bulletpassed their heart.
And I was thinking, I remembersitting there thinking like, is
that what's going on with meright now?
I'm driving myself to thehospital wondering, am I gonna
make it there?
Am I gonna get there?
I remember.
All the money spent on lawyers,bonds all the time in jail.
(12:05):
Every summer I was at thatlittle stupid jail man every
summer, walking, getting nakedat that yellow line every summer
for a gun or some drugs or.
I didn't like to go to court, soI just have a little, you know,
some silly little misdemeanor.
I don't go to court now.
I gotta go see the judge, so I'mgonna go to the county for a
(12:26):
week.
House arrest.
So much time, money, resourceswasted, not just mine.
My family too, that was just, itwas just a waste from beginning
to end.
This went on for decades.
This was not no little coupleyears little phase that I was
going through and the years thatI was in that street, I probably
(12:49):
went to about 40 funerals.
I spent 30 years on that block,30 years.
I dedicated to that more than myfamily, more than anything.
I watched people go to prisonand come home from prison.
When they left to prison, therewasn't even cell phones.
Now they're home.
(13:10):
They're trying to figure stuffout.
Yep.
They're trying to catch up withtechnology.
Yep.
You know what I mean?
What?
What is Bluetooth?
I remember one time being inPontiac and the guy in the cell
next to me had been locked upfor 27 years, and I was talking
to him through the cell and hetelling me, he said, what's
Bluetooth?
And I was explaining to him whatBluetooth was and he is like,
(13:30):
yeah, but I know that.
They got that stuff now wherethey be like, pausing live
television.
Come on, man.
That's crazy.
He had no idea what digital waswhatsoever.
I didn't even possess theintelligence to explain it to
him.
All I knew was you could pausethe TV and then you could let it
go.
I didn't even, I couldn't eventhink of how to explain to this
(13:51):
guy, like how that worked.
'cause I, truthfully, I didn'teven know myself.
So this was, that's what, that'swhat life was.
Prison, gangs, drugs, hospitals.
It never ended.
It never ended.
And you know what?
Here you can see a picture.
This is just a couple of yearsago.
Those are grown men.
(14:12):
Some of those guys are 50 yearsold in this picture.
Some of these guys are in theirlate forties, all right?
They're still doing this.
They take the till death throughus part route,
Omar (14:24):
like a marriage.
Julio M (14:27):
Some of them lost.
Family members still out theredoing that.
They'll never stop.
If God doesn't come and touchthem, they won't stop.
So this went on for, like Isaid, for decades and decades
and decades until everybody wentto jail.
Actually, almost everybody,except for like about eight of
(14:48):
us, went to jail.
Now?
We'll fast forward to 2022.
This is my cousin Chris.
love this guy.
This is like, like my brotherfound out he was sick, said he
had cancer.
He said, you guys need to comeand see me.
(15:10):
He lives in Atlanta, lives downin Georgia.
You need to come and see me.
He wants to say his goodbyes.
So we got in the car, we droveout there or we, we planned a
trip and then we drove outthere.
Right.
So that's us.
We're there drinking, partying.
Right.
You know, it's a party of yourlife, right?
(15:30):
You think it's the last one?
The last hoorah.
So we get out there, we startpartying.
He tells us, man, I got somegreat news.
They can't detect, they can'tdetect, uh, cancer in my lungs
anymore.
But I got a little bit in mybrain.
But this cancer, that's how itworks.
They were already expecting itto do that, so we're already got
(15:51):
ahead of it.
You know, I think I'm gonna beall right.
It looks like we're gonna makeit through this.
So we partied, man.
We were so happy.
We had a, it's a time of ourlife.
Then the next year, well itwasn't even a year later, it was
about in, in March, my cousincalls me up, his sister.
(16:15):
It's back and it's back worsethan ever.
We get in the car, we go back.
This time it really was ourgoodbye.
Uh, Chris had declineddramatically.
The cancer had spreadeverywhere.
No treatment was helping.
He was just, it was just gettingworse and worse.
They just abandoned thetreatment.
It was making him worse.
(16:37):
Went out there, we hung out withhim for a few days.
I remember I left and I wasthere.
I was gone for an hour.
We were one hour on the road,and his wife called me to tell
me my cousin passed away.
It's like he was waiting forthat last visit, that last
goodbye.
An hour after we left.
He passed away.
And he passed away and it was,that's Chris.
That's my cousin, Chris V, andthat's the little baby Pato.
(17:05):
We went back after that trip, wehad to go back to bury, to bury
my cousin.
While we were there, I was gonnabe a pallbearer, so we made all
the arrangements.
We got another Airbnb.
Pastor Carlos Garcia, I don'tthink he ever is gonna know the
(17:26):
words that he said.
The change that he made.
Come on.
That's awesome.
It was a seed that he plantedand, and the Lord says some, we
planted seeds.
We don't get to always watch'em,but when they come, it comes
true.
They come to fruition.
They, they grow, they bloom.
So he was up there giving the,you know, doing the service for
(17:46):
my cousin.
And the crazy thing is he don'tspeak English and I don't speak
Spanish.
I'm barely keeping up with whathe's saying.
But I was in the front sittingand my wife was sitting in the
back.
I was sitting in the frontbecause I was a pa bearer.
So I asked Pastor Garciaspeaking for the first time in
my life, I felt the spirit.
(18:06):
I didn't know what it was.
But I know it was weird.
It was weird and it was deep.
I remember feeling this.
I kind of just shake it off.
We go ahead and we finish up andwe go back to the room and we're
drinking and, and my wife, shecalls me to the, she calls me to
the room.
She tells me she's crying now.
(18:28):
Babe, I don't know what wasgoing on, but when the, that
pastor, when he was speaking, Ihad this feeling, I'm telling
her, what are you talking about?
What, what are you feeling?
She's explaining the same exactthing I was feeling.
Now I'm no, I'm no stranger toreligion.
Like I said, I, I came from agood home.
My father preached the word toeverybody.
(18:50):
He could see, he would come bywhile we were sitting down,
eating in the house, whatever,just to remind us, there's no
rice and beans in, in, in, in,um, in hell.
There's no TV in hell.
He was a Baptist.
He preached hell, like hepreached heaven, and he wanted
us to know that none of thatstuff was gonna exist if we
(19:12):
didn't find God.
So I knew about God, but I neverreally knew.
I didn't know God.
So we started talking and whenwe, uh, when my wife was
talking, we talked about it andshe's like, man, I feel like we
need to make a change.
We need to change our lives likethis.
This can't, we can't keep doingthis.
And I remember feeling it tooand being like, yeah, yeah.
(19:33):
So when we came home, and ofcourse when we came home,
nothing changed.
We just kept doing the samething that we were doing before.
But then one day it was maybejust a couple of weeks later, it
was a Sunday morning and I wokeup early in the morning.
I don't know why, but inside,and it was a spirit.
(19:55):
I know that now.
I told me, go to church today.
You're gonna go to church.
So I got up and I found a newlife by me.
And I started getting ready forchurch and my wife woke up and
said, well, where are you going?
What are you, what are youdoing?
I told her, I'm going to churchtoday.
I need to go to church.
(20:16):
She said, well, can I go?
I wanna go too.
So I'm like, of course.
So my wife gets up, we get thekids up, everybody, we go to
church, and that was the end ofit.
That was the second change in mylife.
I remember spiritual warfarebegan almost immediately.
The devil was not gonna let mego.
(20:37):
Not that, not like that.
He wasn't letting go without afight, but the spirit really had
a hold of my wife more than me.
As much as I want to say it wasme, the spirit was in my wife,
and she would pray over me.
She would pray for our marriage.
I remember there was a woman'sretreat coming up and when that,
(20:58):
for that retreat coming up.
Spiritual warfare was alive andwell.
Arguments fights every day overnothing insanity.
These fights were crazy, butthey were deep because they were
spiritual.
And my wife would come and shewould pray over me and she would
pray and pray and pray.
And I remember she was going toher woman's retreat and it was
(21:19):
raining and she came and shesaid, I want to pray over you.
I want to pray over you.
And she grabbed my hand and Ididn't want to, I didn't want
to.
And she prayed over me anyway,and she went to her woman's
retreat.
Then I had a, I had a men'sretreat with Brother Omar.
I remember it was out of town.
It was in Michigan and it wasovernight.
(21:41):
It was for the weekend.
So we went to the retreat and Iremember walking in and the, the
spiritual warfare, even leadingup to that retreat was crazy.
Crazy again.
I remember walking into thisretreat, into this law cabin.
We got there kind of late andeverybody was worshiping, and I
(22:03):
remember walking in, made it tothe front and I remember just
falling on my knees and justworshiping God and had never did
that.
It was like almost like I, I wastoo proud to do something like
that, but that day I just fellon my knees and I was just.
Through the whole thing, justcrying.
(22:23):
I was weeping, just weeping andjust praising God and just
worshiping him with everythingthat I had.
I came back from the retreat it,I was a different man plugged
into the church.
When they say iron sharpensiron, it's not just a saying.
I found a strong group of men,men of God, that.
(22:48):
Changed my life.
That made a man of me, that mademe hold myself accountable.
Yes sir.
Yes sir.
You gonna start, man, that gaveme something to look up to that
they didn't even have to tellme.
Just by looking at them, I wouldbecome ashamed of my actions and
what I was doing.
I knew what I was supposed to bethrough that circle.
(23:10):
I became a better man.
I became a better father.
I became a better husband.
I became a better son, but mostof all, I became a man.
Mm-hmm.
I became a man.
I became a man of God that day.
Man, those brothers are heretoo, by the way.
(23:31):
These brothers are all here.
I go sharpen my ax with allthese guys every week.
So then when I had, um.
So after retreat, one day I was,I was going downtown and I had
to do a job.
And again, it's raining.
This stuff always happens in therain.
I don't know what's going on,but it was raining, it was
pouring down rain, and Iremember I was under attack, but
(23:52):
it was, I don't know if I wasunder attack or if I was coming
out of it.
And I was starting to get mysenses and I was starting to see
everything that was wrong, but Iwas complaining that day.
I was so angry.
I was driving and it was pouringdown rain.
And I was so mad abouteverything in the world.
I was sick of my wife.
I was sick of my job.
I was sick of my car.
(24:14):
I would, I was just sick ofeverything in the world.
I was not happy about nothing.
I was so sick about everything.
Mind you, it was just a year ortwo before that when I prayed
for everything that I had that Iwas complaining about when I
prayed to have a job like I havewhere I just go and work at a
desk.
When I would pray to have, youknow, a nice car when I would
pray to have nice things and anice place to live and a and a
(24:38):
family and all.
I prayed for those things andnow here I was ungrateful
cursing them.
I got to the job where I wasgonna go, to go.
I was so irritated.
I didn't even do it.
I just went back home.
On my way back home I put onsome music and I was just
listening to some music I wasworshiping.
On the way back, angry.
(25:00):
Still so angry, but worshiping.
I still put on the music and Iwas still worshiping, and I had
my first full blown encounterwith the spirit that day.
All of a sudden, as angry as Iwas, the spirit just descended
on me from the top of my head tothe bottom of my toes.
I felt it.
(25:20):
I felt everything go away.
All of a sudden it's like, ifthis like just smacked me into
reality, I realized everythingthat I had, I realized that I
was complaining about everythingthat I prayed for.
I realized all of my dreamscoming true and me not
recognizing me, not acceptingthem.
Yeah.
(25:41):
All of a sudden I could see thetricks of the enemy just so
clear.
Like if.
Like he was just right in there.
Like the spirit was right thereletting me know like, this is
what's going on.
This is what he's doing.
Telling me this is the job thatyou asked for.
I got all that stuff when Ididn't deserve it.
I was not following Christ whenI got that job.
(26:04):
I was not following Christ whenmy life started to come
together.
I was still in a world justbeing ungrateful piece of
garbage to be honest.
But God still was blessing me.
He was setting me up.
To put me where I needed to bebecause he's the greatest
planner.
Yeah.
That's why anything, don't prayfor what you want.
(26:24):
No.
Just pray for what God wants foryou.
Promise you it's way better thanwhat you want it.
It will blow your mind.
Amen.
Yes sir.
So of course the enemy, in trueform, he keeps on.
Yep.
My wife was planning on gettingbaptized.
When she got baptized.
I ended up.
(26:44):
Out of nowhere with with AFib,all of a sudden my heart would
just start going bananas.
Never had problems with my heartin my whole life.
All of a sudden now I'm in thehospital.
I get a surgery, I come back, itgoes crazy.
I gotta go back.
I gotta get a second surgery.
I'm in the hospital.
My wife has to cancel herbaptism.
(27:05):
We praise God, we don't give up.
Get out the hospital.
The Lord delivers me once againfrom the jaws of death.
He never stops.
He's faithful.
You can always depend on him.
Yes, he is.
His grace is never ending.
We get out, my wife ends upgetting baptized.
After all, then I want to getbaptized.
So when I start scheduling my,my, my baptism, we get an
(27:29):
incredible rainforest thatfloods our church completely and
knocks out all the electricityin our church.
Wow.
Saint Full.
I wanna get church.
I want to get baptized at mychurch.
I want to get baptized inCicero.
That's where I'm, I'm from NewLife, Cicero.
I want to be baptized in mychurch.
I'm gonna wait.
(27:49):
I say I'm gonna wait.
I'll wait until it's back andthen I'll wait and then I'll get
baptized in my church.
Man.
Months pass.
Everything's, I'm back ordered.
There's fires in Florida.
I mean, there's fires inCalifornia.
Covid depleted, everythingstuffed months and months
behind.
I finally say, you know what?
I'm not gonna wait anymore.
(28:10):
I'm not gonna wait anymore.
I need to be obedient.
And I don't follow a church.
I don't follow a building.
I praise God and I need to beobedient to God.
So I go ahead and I schedule my,my, um, my baptism, and I wanna
share this verse with you.
Second Corinthians two five.
He reads this means that anyonewho belongs to Christ has become
(28:33):
a new person.
The old life is gone.
A new life has begun.
Praise God.
I got baptized at Berwyn Church.
I wasn't waiting no more.
Those are my two mentors.
I was honored to be mentored bythose brothers, for them to put
(28:55):
me in the water.
It was a gift.
It was a gift from God.
And it was a new life.
The old has gone away.
The new is here.
I stopped smoking.
I stopped drinking.
I started going to church two,three days a week.
(29:17):
I was fighting with, I wasaddicted to weed.
I couldn't stop smoking.
I would smoke on my way tochurch, on my way to Bible study
of smoking weed.
I'm getting out.
I'm getting in my car andsmoking as soon as I get in
there.
I'm so sick of the guilt ofdoing this.
(29:38):
One day I asked, said, brothers,man, will you?
I let them know.
I confess I'm smoking weed on myway here and I'm smoking weed
when I leave from here.
I need prayer.
So the brothers come around me,they put their arm, they put
their hands on me, and they allpray over me.
After they pray over me.
I get out, I go into my car andI start smoking some weed on my
(29:59):
way home.
Smoke for the whole week.
It's win next Wednesday.
Now I'm on my way to church,smoking weed.
I pull out my, I pull out myvape.
I'm getting ready to smoke.
And all of a sudden it happened.
Amen.
The deliverance just fell on me.
Amen.
(30:21):
I took my pipe, I went to hitit, and instead I rolled down my
window.
I threw it out the window.
And never smoked again.
Amen.
I'll delivered from that.
My wife was delivered.
Our family, our home became ahouse of God.
Our house serves the Lord.
(30:41):
Amen.
I watched my 6-year-old pray.
She prays over our meals.
She has church and her room withher babies.
Come on.
That's what she does.
That's, that's our home now.
That's nothing I did.
That's the power of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit did that for us.
There's nothing that the spiritcan't do.
There's nothing he can't fix.
(31:03):
There's no predicament that youcould be in.
We go to, we go to the prisons,we talk to the brothers in the
jails.
We've seen people that werenever supposed to get out of
prison.
Get out and walk for free thatare out there preaching.
God's word in the world.
Never should have been there.
(31:26):
My new game, that's my new gangright there.
I wanna share another Bibleverse with you.
That being with these brothers,following God has brought onto
me when things get hard andthey're always hard.
(31:48):
Deuteronomy 31, 6 says, bestrong and of good courage.
Do not fear nor be afraid ofthem.
For the Lord your God.
He's the one who goes with you.
He will not leave you or forsakeyou.
Arturo (32:04):
Hall.
Julio M (32:05):
That's what I do now when I need it.
My life is way different now.
I'm involved in prison ministryand I love it.
I fight every week to go intothat jail.
That enemy fights with me everyweek to go to that jail.
I sometimes dread it.
I don't want to go.
I'm fighting.
(32:26):
To get into that place, just toget my mind to walk into that
place, to get in my car, to go,to commit myself to go is an
insane battle.
But the second I get in my carand I'm headed that way, the
spirit always lands on me.
And it takes it all the way.
That's right.
And when I go inside thosejails, it's not, I used to think
(32:46):
when I first started doing that,that I was doing a good deed for
somebody.
I'm gonna go and visit them andno, no, that's not what
happened.
I go inside that place and thesebrothers are a blessing.
These brothers are anencouragement to see them come
with their Bibles readyquestions, ready, knowing their
(33:06):
scripture, following God.
You know, in the world, if youdon't want to deal with
something, you could just split.
These brothers are inside thesecells.
Right, locked down.
There is no split.
There's stand and trust in yourfaith in God.
That's it.
You can't just leave.
They gotta stay there and faceit.
(33:27):
Those brothers are anencouragement every single day.
Every time I go in there,they're an encouragement.
Those twice a week, I didn'teven want to go twice a week.
Now I want to go three days aweek.
I three days a month.
I want to increase it because Iknow that I need it because I'm
not giving anything.
Right.
I'm getting, these brothers areencouraging me now.
(33:50):
We do volunteer work.
Actually, this picture righthere, we're feeding the starving
children right here.
Amen.
That's us two.
This life has changed my life somuch.
It's given me the opportunity togive back after everything I've
taken, after so much destructionthat I've wreaked havoc on this
world to have the opportunity togive back to something I owe so
(34:14):
much.
I have so little to give, but somuch to pay for.
It's a blessing to, to just bearound the these men of God and
be able to go.
And now I'm part of, um, thewrong to strong ministry.
We do bible studies, dotestimonies, we do devotionals.
(34:38):
I wanna say that my testimonhelps people, but their
testimonies help me.
So many times I've heardtestimonies and been convicted
hearing about, I remember I wasstruggling with tithing.
And getting that and turningthat around, hearing somebody
else talk about it, convictingme on it.
I wasn't qualified to do this,but God doesn't qualify.
(35:01):
Call the call qualified.
He qualifies the called I wasnot ready for this.
I'm not ready for this now.
It's not by my strength that anyof this gets done.
It's only through God'sstrength.
Right.
It's only through him that wewalk through these, through
those doors every day.
We went to to East Moline.
Prison and we walked through thefront door with boxes of
(35:23):
pamphlets and flyers.
Like we were, C.O.'S God throwsopen doors.
I'm not even supposed to be ableto visit somebody in a prison.
I was on a, a lifetime blockfrom the warden of, of the
prisons for some gang activityat Stateville Prison.
And here I am walking throughthe front doors of this prison
(35:44):
with boxes of stuff.
They're not searching the box,they're not searching us.
We're walking right throughthere.
That's God.
That's, that's the power of God.
That is literally the definitionof God opening doors.
This room is filled with men,that God has opened the doors.
It's nothing but men of God andwomen of God in this room.
(36:06):
My time is up, but I want to letyou all know that I appreciate
everybody here.
I appreciate the opportunity toshare.
And I appreciate this man righthere.
Manny Mill (36:20):
Hallelujah.
Julio M (36:21):
Bless you.
Manny Mill (36:28):
No, no, no.
You stay right here.
You stay right here becausewhenever you give your
testimony, you declare war tothe devil.
Amen.
So we're gonna pray for Julioright now.
I wanna tell you that.
All the men, or I would say mostof the men that you used to be
(36:51):
around with for the gangs, theyhad no fathers.
Most people in jail have nodeath either.
You are a father, you see, and Ibelieve that your father was the
one that really planted the seedin you.
Amen?
Absolutely.
Because he told you the truth.
Julio M (37:12):
Yes.
Manny Mill (37:13):
About heaven.
And hell, which is only twochoices.
You either go to heaven or go tohell and they're both real
places.
But the moment that you meetJesus face to face like you did
right, uh, you are now inheaven.
(37:35):
Amen.
I mean, heaven is not just aplace, although it is.
I'm going to prepare right.
A place for you, a honeymoonsuite for you, right?
But the moment that you meetChrist, he's heaven because you
are secure.
Because with Jesus you get toknow your real father.
So that pastor there from Utah,he was able to.
(37:59):
Bring that seed back to life.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
And that's when your wife, so Ilike to call your wife over
here.
Come over here please, becauseshe your human Holy Spirit, by
the way.
And, and I also want to say thatnot only your father, but also
your wife.
(38:21):
Continue to plant that seed foryou.
So I want to come before thefather right now.
Thank God for the brothers thathave been there for him.
And as you know in here, webelieve about a face of love.
So they are face of law becausethere will be days that you want
(38:42):
to jump the fence.
And go back to Egypt.
Egypt meaning imprisonment,slavery, uh, gang banging.
So I want to thank you tonightfor your transparency.
Yeah.
That you even confess publiclyhere tonight.
And now's on video here now,event that we used to smoke
(39:03):
weed.
Is anybody here smoking weed?
Time to confess.
Uhhuh.
Time to confess.
No more weed, no more smokingcigarettes.
No more smoke doing cocaine orheroin once a week or once a
(39:23):
month for your No, no, no, no.
We are not clean.
Amen.
We are clear.
This is the holy temple of theHoly Spirit, right?
Julio M (39:32):
Amen.
Manny Mill (39:33):
And the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and it's the
gift from a Holy Father for usto represent a holy Jesus and to
live a holy life.
One Peter uh, one 15 says thatwe must be holy in all of our
conduct the way we think we can.
(39:54):
Now, I believe that you got itnow in your home with your wife.
You know, I say son.
Brother to your wonderful sisterover there that I just met,
amen.
Mm-hmm.
To their brothers.
So we wanna encourage youtonight.
So you keep doing it.
Amen.
So he goes with us into the jailnow, into Cook County Jail.
(40:17):
So we are very thankful that youget to go because you are a
testimony.
So God used you in a mighty way.
Julio M (40:25):
Amen.
Manny Mill (40:26):
So, so what did God did for you?
He surprised you.
Julio M (40:31):
Thank you.
Jesus
Manny Mill (40:32):
surprised you.
So we're gonna pray right nowthat he will continue to
surprise you.
Amen.
All amen.
So we're gonna pray.
So thank you for the God forholy mecal.
We thank you for the Father who.
Was able to proclaim the truth,although he didn't understood
it, then he did not do any workthen, but he was already working
(40:53):
inside himself, although hedeviated and he departed.
Father, that child right here,this is a good testimony to
parents, was brought back and wethank you for the God that
although he got shot.
Uh, three or four times, even inthe heart, he didn't die and
(41:14):
went to hell.
But your father heard the cry ofhis dad, of his mom, of his
wife, and he was able to liveand live for Christ.
So we thank you for the God thatit is true.
Thank you Lord, that whensomebody that care for
somebody's praying, father, youwill hear that prayer.
(41:38):
And Father your ways and not ourways, not our thoughts are our
thoughts.
And Father, you use a verypeculiar way to be able to bring
Julio to Christ.
So Father, we thank you.
We pray now that he will be ableto anchor his conscious on the
cross that you were given thedesire, father to proclaim
(42:00):
Christ.
Crucify Christ resurrectedChrist coming back, the hope of
glory that he will never beashamed of the gospel.
So we pray for the God that youwill protect his marriage, his
home, his children.
We thank you that this coupleright here, just a few weeks
ago, they got reconciled again.
(42:23):
They got, they went to churchtogether.
They were.
Uh, be able to be dedicatedagain to you Father publicly.
They are love for you and theyare love for each other.
So we pray that this cup ofFather will be sealed with the
Holy Spirit and that they willbe able to shine for Jesus.
Father God, that this will bethe beginning of many more times
(42:46):
when Holy will be able to sharethe testimony of his gospel
driven conversion.
So we pray that you will rebukethe devil Father.
Against any plans or skinsagainst this family and that you
will father give them thedesires of their hearts.
As we say in your word in Psalm20, verse four, and I ask that
(43:09):
there will be cover Father withChrist's blood and that your
angels father will protect themnot only their home, but their
vehicles and their work andtheir church, and that you will
father continue to bless hisministry in the jail, prison,
church, neighborhood, family,and anybody else that you will
(43:30):
bring his way.
Father, so thank you that holyis not ashamed of the gospel
anymore.
So Father, give him boldness.
Give him courage.
Give him consistency.
I pray in Jesus name and Godpeople say
Arturo (43:45):
amen.
Amen.
I
Manny Mill (43:46):
love you, my brother.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Matthew four 16 reads, thepeople who sat in darkness have
seen a great light and uponthose who sat in the region and
shadow of death light has Dawn,I will be your host.
(44:07):
My name is Omar Calvio, and Iam.
Wrong.
Too strong.
From the city of Chicago, a citymost recently known for its
crime and violence.
From this podcast, we will besharing stories of redemption.
From individuals raised in thetough streets of Chicago and
from around the country.
Some of them were gang members,drug dealers, incarcerated
victims, and perpetrators ofviolence.
(00:36):
Listen to my guest as they sharetheir experiences, struggles,
trauma, but also the strength,hope, faith, and perseverance
these have developed in them tokeep pushing and moving forward
in life.
Tune in to hear how their liveshave gone from darkness to light
and from wrong to strong.
Omar (00:57):
Alright.
We we're gonna pray for, uh,Julio.
If you guys could close youreyes, just join us or maybe even
extend your hands towards him.
They, to
Arturo (01:03):
pray for him,
Omar (01:04):
right?
Many, many more.
Oh yeah.
Heavenly Father, we just come toyou this evening.
Father, we come to you in thename of your son, Jesus.
And I just.
Thank you Father for thisopportunity to gather here.
Father, it is evident, father,that, that I'm just, we're just
joined by living, walking,testimonies, miracles all
around, all around this place.
Father, what's what you've done?
(01:25):
Uh, as I was coming here, I wasthinking about the Apostle Paul
when he, when he saw anEphesians chapter six 19, after
he finished talking about thearmor of God.
He says, and pray for me also.
That whenever I speak, yes sir.
Whenever I speak, wherever wespeak, yes, that words may be
given me so that I may makeclearly known the mystery of the
gospel.
(01:45):
And that's what I pray over mybrother Julio right now.
Father, I pray father that evenas he shares his story, his
testimony.
It'd be evident that your handwas with him Father.
That his story, father, that,that the story, the greatest
story ever told of Jesus.
Yes, sir.
Is interwoven, interwoven fatherin his story and our our
stories.
Father.
Amen.
So I just pray, father, that yougive him the words.
(02:06):
I pray your anointing, your handupon Father.
And when it's all said and done,father, may you be glorified.
May you be exalted Father for,for what you have done, what you
are doing, and what you're gonnado in the life of our brother.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen.
Arturo (02:26):
Hallelujah.
Yes, Lord God, we come beforeyou Lord God.
And we thank you for thisevening.
We thank you this time, uh, tohonor you and glorify you, Lord
God.
So we lift up your banner.
Hi Father God.
And we want to, uh, bring praiseand honor to your name through
my brother's testimony, the, thework you've done in his life.
Father God, uh, we just pray,Lord God, that as.
You have worked in his life, uh,that as he shares right now,
Lord God, that he, as he sharesbeing led by your Holy Spirit,
(02:48):
that it would also, uh, grabhold of hearts, father God.
And so we just pray, Lord God,that your word comes through,
uh, through His, uh, uh, what,what he speaks tonight, Lord
God, uh, that he would justhumble himself before you right
now and just allow you to leadFather God.
And so we give you glory, honor,and praise in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
God
Omar (03:06):
bless you brother.
Thank.
Julio M (03:11):
Thank you, brother.
So I just wanna start out byintroducing myself.
My name's Julio Ricardo.
I attend New Life CommunityChurch in Cicero, part of the
Round and Strong Network, uh,the ministry.
I just want you to know, when Ilook out here today, all I see
is light.
I see the lights that shine intothe darkest places, the Ray of
Hope that.
(03:31):
That remember the forgotten andgo and visit them day in, day
out, day in, day out, givingthem hope and letting them know
they're not forgotten.
I'd like to thank all of you forcoming tonight.
I appreciate you all taking timeoutta your day to come and, and,
um, hear my story.
I hope that, you know, somethingI say could maybe help somebody
here.
(03:52):
If not, maybe you could pass itout to somebody, but much
gratitude and appreciation foreverybody showing up here today.
So today I'm gonna share my, uh,my story.
The name of my story is from theGang book to the Book of Eternal
Life.
What you guys are looking atright here today is, this is a
picture of me in the gang book.
(04:14):
This is about, I don't know,five or six years ago.
So it wasn't that long ago.
Um, I was at work one day and Igot a text message and somebody
decided to send me the picture.
Of me and the gang book, youcan't really see right now, but
there's a guy to the right of meright there today.
As I was coming home from worktoday, I seen on a big LED
(04:36):
billboard on the highway.
I seen that brother's face onthere.
It was the FBI's most wantedbillboard.
He's wanted for murder,conspiracy, and racketeering.
So when I say that God saved me,God truly did save me.
It's all glory to God.
(04:57):
It's all his glory.
Mm-hmm.
I'm from the Westtownneighborhood of Chicago.
I was born, I don't rememberwhere I was born.
I was so little.
We moved here when I was abouttwo years old though.
Um, my parents bought a homethere.
I come from a two family home.
I don't have no horror story ofmy life growing up.
I grew up in a great home withgreat parents.
(05:19):
I lived on a nice quiet blockwhere the kids came out.
They played every day.
Kickball kicked the can.
We all hung out.
It was a nice little block.
Nice growing up.
Nice little family was.
It was a great, it, it's a greatchildhood.
My block was in the middle of areal quiet, was a quiet block.
(05:39):
But on both sides of my blockwas a war zone Every night,
although we were kids, we didn'tknow, but there was people being
murdered on the blocks everyday.
You heard gunfire, erupting,nonstop.
I would end up there later on inmy life drawn for some reason to
that very thing, that very thingthat everybody was so scared of.
(06:01):
About when I was little, I justhad a normal childhood.
I would go to the park, like Iwas saying, play ball.
Everything was normal.
When I got to about 16, 17 yearsold, I found the Neighborhood
Boys Club.
I would go to the Boys club.
I loved it there.
We played ball, we didHandcrafts, um, played pool.
Drew, they had a rec center.
It was amazing.
(06:22):
Only problem was, was that thatrecreation center, that Boys and
Girls Club.
Was right on the borderline oftwo of the major gangs in
Chicago.
So every day as I would walk upthat street to go to that Boys
and Girls Club, I would walkthrough two, three
neighborhoods.
So the neighborhoods that wereby me, they knew who I was.
(06:44):
The ones right directly aroundme, they didn't gimme no no
trouble.
But once I passed AshlandAvenue, those guys only used to
see me walking towards the otherside.
So every time I would get upthere, these guys would be
stopping me, asking me, Hey,what you be about?
What you ride?
All this and that.
And you know, I was tell man, Idon't, I'm not in no gang man,
(07:05):
just going to the boys club.
I was, you know, pretty muchhonest.
But I also wasn't scared forsome reason.
I just, they didn't scare me.
When I would get to the Boys andGirls Club, those guys would see
me coming from the side where Iwas coming from and thought I
was from the gang on that side.
Them guys didn't know me.
They gave me a little morepushback.
(07:26):
But I was still okay.
I still made it there.
I made it back every day and itwas never no problems until one
day at the boys club.
The, the counselor, her name wasMeldy, she asked me, Hey, will
you walk me to the, to the busstop?
It was kind of dark, so I waslike, yeah, sure.
You know, I'll walk you to thebus stop.
So as I was walking her to thebus stop.
(07:47):
This is what we came up on, andthis is where my life changed
forever.
As we came past this place righthere, a bunch of gang bangers
were walking that way, and theystarted hassling me.
So of course I just told'emlike, Hey, you know, I don't be
about nothing, you know, I juststood in my ground.
I didn't have nothing to worryabout, but they weren't having
it.
They were looking for somethingand they weren't gonna leave
(08:08):
without it.
So they kept, they kept going.
They kept on going and kept ongoing and they ended up moving
on me right there.
And when they moved on me rightthere, I swore on that spot that
they were gonna pay for that.
And I dedicated my life fromthat day on to making them pay
for that.
And I just brought them war andmy life stood at war at 17.
(08:31):
So that was.
I was just barely turning 17when it happened.
By my 17th birthday, I waslocked up in jail.
I was in Cook County Jail for anattempted murder.
I got out of Cook County Jail.
Way worse than when I went in.
Yeah, and then this is where mylife became gangs, violence,
funerals, drugs.
(08:53):
Death watching people that Iknew, I loved that.
I woke up in the same house withthem.
I sat at the same table withthem.
We shared meals.
We even shared clothes like my,that either were my brothers to
me, and I would watch themliterally in front of my eyes,
lose their lives.
I would watch the life leavefrom their face.
(09:15):
I would watch them perish rightin front of me.
Not once, not twice just becamealmost regularly'cause people
were just dying.
I've seen more death than I'veseen births.
I've been to way more funeralsand I've been to weddings.
As I was out there watching allof this, I was seeing guys
(09:35):
getting locked up all the time.
I would see guys get locked up,get sentenced to 90 years like
it was nothing.
There's still guys from when Iwas a young kid that are still
in prison right now.
Sentenced to 90 years at ahundred percent.
They're never coming home.
That's where they're gonna dieout of appeals, unless they find
(09:56):
God, they don't have a chance.
Only God gives'em the chancethat they need.
I watch guys go through prison.
20 years, 30 years, come home,come back to the neighborhood
and get killed.
Where does it end?
What?
How much do you give?
I remember there was times whenI felt almost guilty.
(10:18):
Christmas would come.
Thanksgiving would come, I wouldbe with my family.
I'd be with watching my kids,and I remember the lives that
were lost in the streets and Iwould cry sometimes just
thinking about them and theirkids.
Sometimes you just cry thinkingabout what you did.
(10:39):
And just thinking, man,sometimes you look at yourself.
I get up in the morning, I'mgetting ready to go outside and
I'm just putting on clothes andI'm literally wondering like,
are these the clothes I'm gonnadie in today?
That's how, that was the lifethat we lived.
But then you would go outsideand you would start drinking and
you would just, you would, youwould hide the pain.
You would get rid of the painone way or another.
(11:01):
I remember getting shot timeafter time.
God nudging me.
Every single time trying to getmy attention.
First time I got shot, I gotshot in the hand.
That was like my little slap onthe hand.
The second time I got shot, Igot shot through the leg.
You would think it's just a legshot, but it wasn't'cause it hit
the, hit The artery hit theartery and it hit the nerve.
(11:24):
So it left my foot paralyzed andleft me dead in an ambulance.
The third time I got shot, I gotshot in the arm and in the
chest.
I felt the bullet pass.
Riding across my chest plateover my heart.
I remember sitting in the carthinking about my friends that
had got shot, getting up,running a block, and then
(11:44):
falling dead because a bulletpassed their heart.
And I was thinking, I remembersitting there thinking like, is
that what's going on with meright now?
I'm driving myself to thehospital wondering, am I gonna
make it there?
Am I gonna get there?
I remember.
All the money spent on lawyers,bonds all the time in jail.
(12:05):
Every summer I was at thatlittle stupid jail man every
summer, walking, getting nakedat that yellow line every summer
for a gun or some drugs or.
I didn't like to go to court, soI just have a little, you know,
some silly little misdemeanor.
I don't go to court now.
I gotta go see the judge, so I'mgonna go to the county for a
(12:26):
week.
House arrest.
So much time, money, resourceswasted, not just mine.
My family too, that was just, itwas just a waste from beginning
to end.
This went on for decades.
This was not no little coupleyears little phase that I was
going through and the years thatI was in that street, I probably
(12:49):
went to about 40 funerals.
I spent 30 years on that block,30 years.
I dedicated to that more than myfamily, more than anything.
I watched people go to prisonand come home from prison.
When they left to prison, therewasn't even cell phones.
Now they're home.
(13:10):
They're trying to figure stuffout.
Yep.
They're trying to catch up withtechnology.
Yep.
You know what I mean?
What?
What is Bluetooth?
I remember one time being inPontiac and the guy in the cell
next to me had been locked upfor 27 years, and I was talking
to him through the cell and hetelling me, he said, what's
Bluetooth?
And I was explaining to him whatBluetooth was and he is like,
(13:30):
yeah, but I know that.
They got that stuff now wherethey be like, pausing live
television.
Come on, man.
That's crazy.
He had no idea what digital waswhatsoever.
I didn't even possess theintelligence to explain it to
him.
All I knew was you could pausethe TV and then you could let it
go.
I didn't even, I couldn't eventhink of how to explain to this
(13:51):
guy, like how that worked.
'cause I, truthfully, I didn'teven know myself.
So this was, that's what, that'swhat life was.
Prison, gangs, drugs, hospitals.
It never ended.
It never ended.
And you know what?
Here you can see a picture.
This is just a couple of yearsago.
Those are grown men.
(14:12):
Some of those guys are 50 yearsold in this picture.
Some of these guys are in theirlate forties, all right?
They're still doing this.
They take the till death throughus part route,
Omar (14:24):
like a marriage.
Julio M (14:27):
Some of them lost.
Family members still out theredoing that.
They'll never stop.
If God doesn't come and touchthem, they won't stop.
So this went on for, like Isaid, for decades and decades
and decades until everybody wentto jail.
Actually, almost everybody,except for like about eight of
(14:48):
us, went to jail.
Now?
We'll fast forward to 2022.
This is my cousin Chris.
love this guy.
This is like, like my brotherfound out he was sick, said he
had cancer.
He said, you guys need to comeand see me.
(15:10):
He lives in Atlanta, lives downin Georgia.
You need to come and see me.
He wants to say his goodbyes.
So we got in the car, we droveout there or we, we planned a
trip and then we drove outthere.
Right.
So that's us.
We're there drinking, partying.
Right.
You know, it's a party of yourlife, right?
(15:30):
You think it's the last one?
The last hoorah.
So we get out there, we startpartying.
He tells us, man, I got somegreat news.
They can't detect, they can'tdetect, uh, cancer in my lungs
anymore.
But I got a little bit in mybrain.
But this cancer, that's how itworks.
They were already expecting itto do that, so we're already got
(15:51):
ahead of it.
You know, I think I'm gonna beall right.
It looks like we're gonna makeit through this.
So we partied, man.
We were so happy.
We had a, it's a time of ourlife.
Then the next year, well itwasn't even a year later, it was
about in, in March, my cousincalls me up, his sister.
(16:15):
It's back and it's back worsethan ever.
We get in the car, we go back.
This time it really was ourgoodbye.
Uh, Chris had declineddramatically.
The cancer had spreadeverywhere.
No treatment was helping.
He was just, it was just gettingworse and worse.
They just abandoned thetreatment.
It was making him worse.
(16:37):
Went out there, we hung out withhim for a few days.
I remember I left and I wasthere.
I was gone for an hour.
We were one hour on the road,and his wife called me to tell
me my cousin passed away.
It's like he was waiting forthat last visit, that last
goodbye.
An hour after we left.
He passed away.
And he passed away and it was,that's Chris.
That's my cousin, Chris V, andthat's the little baby Pato.
(17:05):
We went back after that trip, wehad to go back to bury, to bury
my cousin.
While we were there, I was gonnabe a pallbearer, so we made all
the arrangements.
We got another Airbnb.
Pastor Carlos Garcia, I don'tthink he ever is gonna know the
(17:26):
words that he said.
The change that he made.
Come on.
That's awesome.
It was a seed that he plantedand, and the Lord says some, we
planted seeds.
We don't get to always watch'em,but when they come, it comes
true.
They come to fruition.
They, they grow, they bloom.
So he was up there giving the,you know, doing the service for
(17:46):
my cousin.
And the crazy thing is he don'tspeak English and I don't speak
Spanish.
I'm barely keeping up with whathe's saying.
But I was in the front sittingand my wife was sitting in the
back.
I was sitting in the frontbecause I was a pa bearer.
So I asked Pastor Garciaspeaking for the first time in
my life, I felt the spirit.
(18:06):
I didn't know what it was.
But I know it was weird.
It was weird and it was deep.
I remember feeling this.
I kind of just shake it off.
We go ahead and we finish up andwe go back to the room and we're
drinking and, and my wife, shecalls me to the, she calls me to
the room.
She tells me she's crying now.
(18:28):
Babe, I don't know what wasgoing on, but when the, that
pastor, when he was speaking, Ihad this feeling, I'm telling
her, what are you talking about?
What, what are you feeling?
She's explaining the same exactthing I was feeling.
Now I'm no, I'm no stranger toreligion.
Like I said, I, I came from agood home.
My father preached the word toeverybody.
(18:50):
He could see, he would come bywhile we were sitting down,
eating in the house, whatever,just to remind us, there's no
rice and beans in, in, in, in,um, in hell.
There's no TV in hell.
He was a Baptist.
He preached hell, like hepreached heaven, and he wanted
us to know that none of thatstuff was gonna exist if we
(19:12):
didn't find God.
So I knew about God, but I neverreally knew.
I didn't know God.
So we started talking and whenwe, uh, when my wife was
talking, we talked about it andshe's like, man, I feel like we
need to make a change.
We need to change our lives likethis.
This can't, we can't keep doingthis.
And I remember feeling it tooand being like, yeah, yeah.
(19:33):
So when we came home, and ofcourse when we came home,
nothing changed.
We just kept doing the samething that we were doing before.
But then one day it was maybejust a couple of weeks later, it
was a Sunday morning and I wokeup early in the morning.
I don't know why, but inside,and it was a spirit.
(19:55):
I know that now.
I told me, go to church today.
You're gonna go to church.
So I got up and I found a newlife by me.
And I started getting ready forchurch and my wife woke up and
said, well, where are you going?
What are you, what are youdoing?
I told her, I'm going to churchtoday.
I need to go to church.
(20:16):
She said, well, can I go?
I wanna go too.
So I'm like, of course.
So my wife gets up, we get thekids up, everybody, we go to
church, and that was the end ofit.
That was the second change in mylife.
I remember spiritual warfarebegan almost immediately.
The devil was not gonna let mego.
(20:37):
Not that, not like that.
He wasn't letting go without afight, but the spirit really had
a hold of my wife more than me.
As much as I want to say it wasme, the spirit was in my wife,
and she would pray over me.
She would pray for our marriage.
I remember there was a woman'sretreat coming up and when that,
(20:58):
for that retreat coming up.
Spiritual warfare was alive andwell.
Arguments fights every day overnothing insanity.
These fights were crazy, butthey were deep because they were
spiritual.
And my wife would come and shewould pray over me and she would
pray and pray and pray.
And I remember she was going toher woman's retreat and it was
(21:19):
raining and she came and shesaid, I want to pray over you.
I want to pray over you.
And she grabbed my hand and Ididn't want to, I didn't want
to.
And she prayed over me anyway,and she went to her woman's
retreat.
Then I had a, I had a men'sretreat with Brother Omar.
I remember it was out of town.
It was in Michigan and it wasovernight.
(21:41):
It was for the weekend.
So we went to the retreat and Iremember walking in and the, the
spiritual warfare, even leadingup to that retreat was crazy.
Crazy again.
I remember walking into thisretreat, into this law cabin.
We got there kind of late andeverybody was worshiping, and I
(22:03):
remember walking in, made it tothe front and I remember just
falling on my knees and justworshiping God and had never did
that.
It was like almost like I, I wastoo proud to do something like
that, but that day I just fellon my knees and I was just.
Through the whole thing, justcrying.
(22:23):
I was weeping, just weeping andjust praising God and just
worshiping him with everythingthat I had.
I came back from the retreat it,I was a different man plugged
into the church.
When they say iron sharpensiron, it's not just a saying.
I found a strong group of men,men of God, that.
(22:48):
Changed my life.
That made a man of me, that mademe hold myself accountable.
Yes sir.
Yes sir.
You gonna start, man, that gaveme something to look up to that
they didn't even have to tellme.
Just by looking at them, I wouldbecome ashamed of my actions and
what I was doing.
I knew what I was supposed to bethrough that circle.
(23:10):
I became a better man.
I became a better father.
I became a better husband.
I became a better son, but mostof all, I became a man.
Mm-hmm.
I became a man.
I became a man of God that day.
Man, those brothers are heretoo, by the way.
(23:31):
These brothers are all here.
I go sharpen my ax with allthese guys every week.
So then when I had, um.
So after retreat, one day I was,I was going downtown and I had
to do a job.
And again, it's raining.
This stuff always happens in therain.
I don't know what's going on,but it was raining, it was
pouring down rain, and Iremember I was under attack, but
(23:52):
it was, I don't know if I wasunder attack or if I was coming
out of it.
And I was starting to get mysenses and I was starting to see
everything that was wrong, but Iwas complaining that day.
I was so angry.
I was driving and it was pouringdown rain.
And I was so mad abouteverything in the world.
I was sick of my wife.
I was sick of my job.
I was sick of my car.
(24:14):
I would, I was just sick ofeverything in the world.
I was not happy about nothing.
I was so sick about everything.
Mind you, it was just a year ortwo before that when I prayed
for everything that I had that Iwas complaining about when I
prayed to have a job like I havewhere I just go and work at a
desk.
When I would pray to have, youknow, a nice car when I would
pray to have nice things and anice place to live and a and a
(24:38):
family and all.
I prayed for those things andnow here I was ungrateful
cursing them.
I got to the job where I wasgonna go, to go.
I was so irritated.
I didn't even do it.
I just went back home.
On my way back home I put onsome music and I was just
listening to some music I wasworshiping.
On the way back, angry.
(25:00):
Still so angry, but worshiping.
I still put on the music and Iwas still worshiping, and I had
my first full blown encounterwith the spirit that day.
All of a sudden, as angry as Iwas, the spirit just descended
on me from the top of my head tothe bottom of my toes.
I felt it.
(25:20):
I felt everything go away.
All of a sudden it's like, ifthis like just smacked me into
reality, I realized everythingthat I had, I realized that I
was complaining about everythingthat I prayed for.
I realized all of my dreamscoming true and me not
recognizing me, not acceptingthem.
Yeah.
(25:41):
All of a sudden I could see thetricks of the enemy just so
clear.
Like if.
Like he was just right in there.
Like the spirit was right thereletting me know like, this is
what's going on.
This is what he's doing.
Telling me this is the job thatyou asked for.
I got all that stuff when Ididn't deserve it.
I was not following Christ whenI got that job.
(26:04):
I was not following Christ whenmy life started to come
together.
I was still in a world justbeing ungrateful piece of
garbage to be honest.
But God still was blessing me.
He was setting me up.
To put me where I needed to bebecause he's the greatest
planner.
Yeah.
That's why anything, don't prayfor what you want.
(26:24):
No.
Just pray for what God wants foryou.
Promise you it's way better thanwhat you want it.
It will blow your mind.
Amen.
Yes sir.
So of course the enemy, in trueform, he keeps on.
Yep.
My wife was planning on gettingbaptized.
When she got baptized.
I ended up.
(26:44):
Out of nowhere with with AFib,all of a sudden my heart would
just start going bananas.
Never had problems with my heartin my whole life.
All of a sudden now I'm in thehospital.
I get a surgery, I come back, itgoes crazy.
I gotta go back.
I gotta get a second surgery.
I'm in the hospital.
My wife has to cancel herbaptism.
(27:05):
We praise God, we don't give up.
Get out the hospital.
The Lord delivers me once againfrom the jaws of death.
He never stops.
He's faithful.
You can always depend on him.
Yes, he is.
His grace is never ending.
We get out, my wife ends upgetting baptized.
After all, then I want to getbaptized.
So when I start scheduling my,my, my baptism, we get an
(27:29):
incredible rainforest thatfloods our church completely and
knocks out all the electricityin our church.
Wow.
Saint Full.
I wanna get church.
I want to get baptized at mychurch.
I want to get baptized inCicero.
That's where I'm, I'm from NewLife, Cicero.
I want to be baptized in mychurch.
I'm gonna wait.
(27:49):
I say I'm gonna wait.
I'll wait until it's back andthen I'll wait and then I'll get
baptized in my church.
Man.
Months pass.
Everything's, I'm back ordered.
There's fires in Florida.
I mean, there's fires inCalifornia.
Covid depleted, everythingstuffed months and months
behind.
I finally say, you know what?
I'm not gonna wait anymore.
(28:10):
I'm not gonna wait anymore.
I need to be obedient.
And I don't follow a church.
I don't follow a building.
I praise God and I need to beobedient to God.
So I go ahead and I schedule my,my, um, my baptism, and I wanna
share this verse with you.
Second Corinthians two five.
He reads this means that anyonewho belongs to Christ has become
(28:33):
a new person.
The old life is gone.
A new life has begun.
Praise God.
I got baptized at Berwyn Church.
I wasn't waiting no more.
Those are my two mentors.
I was honored to be mentored bythose brothers, for them to put
(28:55):
me in the water.
It was a gift.
It was a gift from God.
And it was a new life.
The old has gone away.
The new is here.
I stopped smoking.
I stopped drinking.
I started going to church two,three days a week.
(29:17):
I was fighting with, I wasaddicted to weed.
I couldn't stop smoking.
I would smoke on my way tochurch, on my way to Bible study
of smoking weed.
I'm getting out.
I'm getting in my car andsmoking as soon as I get in
there.
I'm so sick of the guilt ofdoing this.
(29:38):
One day I asked, said, brothers,man, will you?
I let them know.
I confess I'm smoking weed on myway here and I'm smoking weed
when I leave from here.
I need prayer.
So the brothers come around me,they put their arm, they put
their hands on me, and they allpray over me.
After they pray over me.
I get out, I go into my car andI start smoking some weed on my
(29:59):
way home.
Smoke for the whole week.
It's win next Wednesday.
Now I'm on my way to church,smoking weed.
I pull out my, I pull out myvape.
I'm getting ready to smoke.
And all of a sudden it happened.
Amen.
The deliverance just fell on me.
Amen.
(30:21):
I took my pipe, I went to hitit, and instead I rolled down my
window.
I threw it out the window.
And never smoked again.
Amen.
I'll delivered from that.
My wife was delivered.
Our family, our home became ahouse of God.
Our house serves the Lord.
(30:41):
Amen.
I watched my 6-year-old pray.
She prays over our meals.
She has church and her room withher babies.
Come on.
That's what she does.
That's, that's our home now.
That's nothing I did.
That's the power of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit did that for us.
There's nothing that the spiritcan't do.
There's nothing he can't fix.
(31:03):
There's no predicament that youcould be in.
We go to, we go to the prisons,we talk to the brothers in the
jails.
We've seen people that werenever supposed to get out of
prison.
Get out and walk for free thatare out there preaching.
God's word in the world.
Never should have been there.
(31:26):
My new game, that's my new gangright there.
I wanna share another Bibleverse with you.
That being with these brothers,following God has brought onto
me when things get hard andthey're always hard.
(31:48):
Deuteronomy 31, 6 says, bestrong and of good courage.
Do not fear nor be afraid ofthem.
For the Lord your God.
He's the one who goes with you.
He will not leave you or forsakeyou.
Arturo (32:04):
Hall.
Julio M (32:05):
That's what I do now when I need it.
My life is way different now.
I'm involved in prison ministryand I love it.
I fight every week to go intothat jail.
That enemy fights with me everyweek to go to that jail.
I sometimes dread it.
I don't want to go.
I'm fighting.
(32:26):
To get into that place, just toget my mind to walk into that
place, to get in my car, to go,to commit myself to go is an
insane battle.
But the second I get in my carand I'm headed that way, the
spirit always lands on me.
And it takes it all the way.
That's right.
And when I go inside thosejails, it's not, I used to think
(32:46):
when I first started doing that,that I was doing a good deed for
somebody.
I'm gonna go and visit them andno, no, that's not what
happened.
I go inside that place and thesebrothers are a blessing.
These brothers are anencouragement to see them come
with their Bibles readyquestions, ready, knowing their
(33:06):
scripture, following God.
You know, in the world, if youdon't want to deal with
something, you could just split.
These brothers are inside thesecells.
Right, locked down.
There is no split.
There's stand and trust in yourfaith in God.
That's it.
You can't just leave.
They gotta stay there and faceit.
(33:27):
Those brothers are anencouragement every single day.
Every time I go in there,they're an encouragement.
Those twice a week, I didn'teven want to go twice a week.
Now I want to go three days aweek.
I three days a month.
I want to increase it because Iknow that I need it because I'm
not giving anything.
Right.
I'm getting, these brothers areencouraging me now.
(33:50):
We do volunteer work.
Actually, this picture righthere, we're feeding the starving
children right here.
Amen.
That's us two.
This life has changed my life somuch.
It's given me the opportunity togive back after everything I've
taken, after so much destructionthat I've wreaked havoc on this
world to have the opportunity togive back to something I owe so
(34:14):
much.
I have so little to give, but somuch to pay for.
It's a blessing to, to just bearound the these men of God and
be able to go.
And now I'm part of, um, thewrong to strong ministry.
We do bible studies, dotestimonies, we do devotionals.
(34:38):
I wanna say that my testimonhelps people, but their
testimonies help me.
So many times I've heardtestimonies and been convicted
hearing about, I remember I wasstruggling with tithing.
And getting that and turningthat around, hearing somebody
else talk about it, convictingme on it.
I wasn't qualified to do this,but God doesn't qualify.
(35:01):
Call the call qualified.
He qualifies the called I wasnot ready for this.
I'm not ready for this now.
It's not by my strength that anyof this gets done.
It's only through God'sstrength.
Right.
It's only through him that wewalk through these, through
those doors every day.
We went to to East Moline.
Prison and we walked through thefront door with boxes of
(35:23):
pamphlets and flyers.
Like we were, C.O.'S God throwsopen doors.
I'm not even supposed to be ableto visit somebody in a prison.
I was on a, a lifetime blockfrom the warden of, of the
prisons for some gang activityat Stateville Prison.
And here I am walking throughthe front doors of this prison
(35:44):
with boxes of stuff.
They're not searching the box,they're not searching us.
We're walking right throughthere.
That's God.
That's, that's the power of God.
That is literally the definitionof God opening doors.
This room is filled with men,that God has opened the doors.
It's nothing but men of God andwomen of God in this room.
(36:06):
My time is up, but I want to letyou all know that I appreciate
everybody here.
I appreciate the opportunity toshare.
And I appreciate this man righthere.
Manny Mill (36:20):
Hallelujah.
Julio M (36:21):
Bless you.
Manny Mill (36:28):
No, no, no.
You stay right here.
You stay right here becausewhenever you give your
testimony, you declare war tothe devil.
Amen.
So we're gonna pray for Julioright now.
I wanna tell you that.
All the men, or I would say mostof the men that you used to be
(36:51):
around with for the gangs, theyhad no fathers.
Most people in jail have nodeath either.
You are a father, you see, and Ibelieve that your father was the
one that really planted the seedin you.
Amen?
Absolutely.
Because he told you the truth.
Julio M (37:12):
Yes.
Manny Mill (37:13):
About heaven.
And hell, which is only twochoices.
You either go to heaven or go tohell and they're both real
places.
But the moment that you meetJesus face to face like you did
right, uh, you are now inheaven.
(37:35):
Amen.
I mean, heaven is not just aplace, although it is.
I'm going to prepare right.
A place for you, a honeymoonsuite for you, right?
But the moment that you meetChrist, he's heaven because you
are secure.
Because with Jesus you get toknow your real father.
So that pastor there from Utah,he was able to.
(37:59):
Bring that seed back to life.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
And that's when your wife, so Ilike to call your wife over
here.
Come over here please, becauseshe your human Holy Spirit, by
the way.
And, and I also want to say thatnot only your father, but also
your wife.
(38:21):
Continue to plant that seed foryou.
So I want to come before thefather right now.
Thank God for the brothers thathave been there for him.
And as you know in here, webelieve about a face of love.
So they are face of law becausethere will be days that you want
(38:42):
to jump the fence.
And go back to Egypt.
Egypt meaning imprisonment,slavery, uh, gang banging.
So I want to thank you tonightfor your transparency.
Yeah.
That you even confess publiclyhere tonight.
And now's on video here now,event that we used to smoke
(39:03):
weed.
Is anybody here smoking weed?
Time to confess.
Uhhuh.
Time to confess.
No more weed, no more smokingcigarettes.
No more smoke doing cocaine orheroin once a week or once a
(39:23):
month for your No, no, no, no.
We are not clean.
Amen.
We are clear.
This is the holy temple of theHoly Spirit, right?
Julio M (39:32):
Amen.
Manny Mill (39:33):
And the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and it's the
gift from a Holy Father for usto represent a holy Jesus and to
live a holy life.
One Peter uh, one 15 says thatwe must be holy in all of our
conduct the way we think we can.
(39:54):
Now, I believe that you got itnow in your home with your wife.
You know, I say son.
Brother to your wonderful sisterover there that I just met,
amen.
Mm-hmm.
To their brothers.
So we wanna encourage youtonight.
So you keep doing it.
Amen.
So he goes with us into the jailnow, into Cook County Jail.
(40:17):
So we are very thankful that youget to go because you are a
testimony.
So God used you in a mighty way.
Julio M (40:25):
Amen.
Manny Mill (40:26):
So, so what did God did for you?
He surprised you.
Julio M (40:31):
Thank you.
Jesus
Manny Mill (40:32):
surprised you.
So we're gonna pray right nowthat he will continue to
surprise you.
Amen.
All amen.
So we're gonna pray.
So thank you for the God forholy mecal.
We thank you for the Father who.
Was able to proclaim the truth,although he didn't understood
it, then he did not do any workthen, but he was already working
(40:53):
inside himself, although hedeviated and he departed.
Father, that child right here,this is a good testimony to
parents, was brought back and wethank you for the God that
although he got shot.
Uh, three or four times, even inthe heart, he didn't die and
(41:14):
went to hell.
But your father heard the cry ofhis dad, of his mom, of his
wife, and he was able to liveand live for Christ.
So we thank you for the God thatit is true.
Thank you Lord, that whensomebody that care for
somebody's praying, father, youwill hear that prayer.
(41:38):
And Father your ways and not ourways, not our thoughts are our
thoughts.
And Father, you use a verypeculiar way to be able to bring
Julio to Christ.
So Father, we thank you.
We pray now that he will be ableto anchor his conscious on the
cross that you were given thedesire, father to proclaim
(42:00):
Christ.
Crucify Christ resurrectedChrist coming back, the hope of
glory that he will never beashamed of the gospel.
So we pray for the God that youwill protect his marriage, his
home, his children.
We thank you that this coupleright here, just a few weeks
ago, they got reconciled again.
(42:23):
They got, they went to churchtogether.
They were.
Uh, be able to be dedicatedagain to you Father publicly.
They are love for you and theyare love for each other.
So we pray that this cup ofFather will be sealed with the
Holy Spirit and that they willbe able to shine for Jesus.
Father God, that this will bethe beginning of many more times
(42:46):
when Holy will be able to sharethe testimony of his gospel
driven conversion.
So we pray that you will rebukethe devil Father.
Against any plans or skinsagainst this family and that you
will father give them thedesires of their hearts.
As we say in your word in Psalm20, verse four, and I ask that
(43:09):
there will be cover Father withChrist's blood and that your
angels father will protect themnot only their home, but their
vehicles and their work andtheir church, and that you will
father continue to bless hisministry in the jail, prison,
church, neighborhood, family,and anybody else that you will
(43:30):
bring his way.
Father, so thank you that holyis not ashamed of the gospel
anymore.
So Father, give him boldness.
Give him courage.
Give him consistency.
I pray in Jesus name and Godpeople say
Arturo (43:45):
amen.
Amen.
I
Manny Mill (43:46):
love you, my brother.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Matthew four 16 reads, thepeople who sat in darkness have
seen a great light and uponthose who sat in the region and
shadow of death light has Dawn,I will be your host.
(44:07):
My name is Omar Calvio, and Iam.
Wrong.
Too strong.
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