Finding God on the Streets (Part 2 of 2)

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That's focusonthefamily.com slash careers. When I got back down to North Carolina, it was like I completely lost my mind. I started to see things in shades of red.

I mean, I was walking around the house trying to find a gun to kill myself, but part of me was trying to stop myself. Well, there's a description of life spinning out of control, and as we heard on the last Focus on the Family, Dimas Celeberios was a drug dealer and a drug user, and today we'll hear how his entire world dramatically changed. Your host is Focus President and author Jim Daly, and I'm John Fuller. This is an exciting story that we're sharing, and hey, if you missed part one of this presentation yesterday, please get in touch with us.

You can get the Focus on the Family app for your smartphone, and we can send the entire message on CD or audio download so that you can listen again or share it with a friend or family member, especially, I would think, older teenagers. This is a great story about the dark side of life and how God reached this man. Yeah, this is a redemption story, so call us today for further details about getting this in its entirety.

Our number is 800, the letter A in the word family, 800-232-6459, or find the details in the show notes. As I said at the start of the show last time, I met Dimas at a pastor's breakfast sponsored by Salem Radio in Philadelphia. Yes, this former drug dealer became a pastor, and I gotta tell you, I was just so impressed by his enthusiasm for the things of God and his desire to share Jesus Christ in urban areas around the world. He's written a book about his experiences called Street God, the Explosive True Story of a Former Drug Boss on the Run from the Hood and the Courageous Mission that Drove Him Back, and that's the story that you're going to hear today.

That's right, and you can get the book from us when you get in touch. Pastor Dimas is a faith leader, he's a film producer. After years of pastoring in New York City, he's turned to filmmaking to reveal the spiritual and the social needs of urban areas.

He's married to Tiffany, he's the father of three girls, and here now is Pastor Dimas Salaberios speaking at Harvest Fields Community Church in the Bronx on Focus on the Family, and we're going to share a brief recap to help you get caught up on his story. So the school took us on a trip to see the movie E.T. Y'all remember seeing that? E.T.

phone home, you know? But then when we came out of the theater, we started to walk, and there was a big sign of the movie that's coming out called Scarface. So at AIDS 10, I went in there, saw that movie, and it had a real negative impact on my life. I left out of there with a dream of becoming a street god. I left out of there with a dream of becoming one of the largest drug dealers in New York City at AIDS 10.

And, you know, by age 11, I finally went back to middle school, and I remember I was walking the halls, and I saw one of my friends pulled out this bag of these little dots of mescaline tabs, which looked like a tip of a number two pencil was broke, and he said, yo, man, he said, you want to buy these? I'm selling for three dollars. I said, yo, it will rock your whole day. You'll be laughing all day. I said, man, it's three dollars, man.

You fronting. I took it, I said, what do you do with these? He said, you got to swallow it. So I swallowed it. And then my friend said, why don't you help me sell it? And then I said, oh, yeah, I could do that. And then I became also a drug dealer at age 11. And I went down to McDonald's.

I never forget it. This guy who's from my neighborhood, he had this beautiful Cadillac, and he was only like 18. And I remember my friend said, yeah, man, he's a crack dealer. And then it went into my head, crack.

That's the way I could get a car. So I went and started working for them, hustling for them, learning, you know, the ropes, learning about jail and and how to not get busted and sell. And I started to get arrested from time to time.

But my father, since he was a captain of correction, he knew a lot of judges. So I was getting passes over and over again. And when I went to court and I had my lawyer, he came and he said, look, he said, he said, you've been arrested nine times already. You beat nine different drug cases. We're not beating this one.

He was like, this one is looking serious. So I was sent to Rikers Island. You know, I went in there for a year and Rikers Island was hard.

I ain't going to front. Then finally they put me into this thing called Shock. Got out, came out. I was so excited. I just, Shock was like awesome. It was this military thing. And I really came out with my mindset.

I could see somebody went to Shock in there. I came out with my mindset like, yo, I'm going to like go straight. I'm going to do the right thing. And the only job that was available to me was White Castle. And let me tell you, all my manpower for four bucks an hour, it did not work. And at the end of the week, they gave me $75. I was like, when I was used to sometimes clocking a G in an hour, because this era that I'm talking about, there was one block in Queens that was owned by Fat Cat Nichols that made $150,000 a day.

You're talking, I mean, real money. So when I got the $75, I was like, I tried it for another week and I was like, I can't do it. And I went back into the drug world. And then this one girl, I'll never forget, she gave me what I call the kiss of death. Now, I didn't date her.

I just liked her. And she said, put your lips on mine and I will blow this smoke into you. And I kneeled down and what she blew into me was marijuana and crack cocaine. And I realized from those drugs, I lost all my self-esteem. And I remember I turned to my friend, I said, well, guess what we're going to do?

I said, we're going to hustle crack and this time we're not going to use it. And then one day, I mean, I felt like I was on top of the world. I had a parole officer I had to report to. I was getting a GED program stuff going down. And I remember I walked in there to see the parole officer and I was sitting there and she said, I want to talk to you. I said, how's it going? She said, it's going okay. I said, so what's up? She said, you're going back to jail. She got up and handcuffed me. I said, what? I said, for what?

I'm in a GED program. What's going on? She said, you have turned in three dirty urines of cocaine back to back. And I said, I don't even get high. And then I thought about it like the movie Breaking Bad. I was cooking the drugs and the cocaine was going in my pores.

And I didn't even know what pores were. Then she was like, okay, you're going to go to jail. It may be 90 days.

It may be six months. And I jumped and said, no, I'm not. And I grabbed the door and opened it. And now I'm running. And I was on the fifth floor. So I would hit the, I always had a lot of heart. So I would hit the steps and I just leap down the steps. I mean, heading with my face forward. So I'm running, jumping, boom, running, jumping, boom.

I'm running. Now I knew down at the bottom, it was always this officer there. And I said, I got to get around this dude. So when I came around the corner, he wasn't there.

I wasn't even a Christian. But I yelled, praise God, and ran outside. And on my route driving to New York, there was this other drug dealer whose girlfriend was well known as a witch. And I remember I woke up and looked and I saw the girl driving past me, like looking at me like this. And we all saw her and we were all like talking about the whole ride. Like how did she see us? And then we got all the way to New York and I was walking down the street and that girl popped out, grabbed my arm, and I remember I yanked my arm away from her and she did some like weird move and I just pulled it away.

And lo and behold, when I got back down to North Carolina, it was like I completely lost my mind. So I called up my mother and I said, Ma, I said, I'm struggling. I need help. I said, this is hard. And she said, what's going on? I said, it's like I'm losing my mind. I'm seeing everything in red.

Can you help me? She said, why don't you go to church? I said, Ma, I need real help. And I hung up the phone.

Bang! And God sent three women. Three women walked over to me and said, can we pray for you? And I said, why not?

Nothing else. But I didn't know what I was getting into. They took me into a room. One of them had oil. They started saying, come out. Another one said, in the name of Jesus.

I'm in there like, what is this? They started to pray for me. I felt the power of God. I hit the floor. They were praying for me. I remember I got up at that moment. I felt such a peace like never before.

I mean, this incredible peace. I took all the crack out of my pocket. I started dumping it in the garbage. I looked up to heaven. I said, God, I'm never going to sell crack again. I'm just going to sell weed because it's natural.

Some of you been there? I was a little confused. I'm making more money than ever before. I was walking with my Bible. I was like, yo, I was the Bible weed hustler. So I was there enjoying all the stuff that was going on. And then one day I went to church and I started to tithe into the church.

Amen. But I was tithing drug money. So that Bible verse, the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous.

That is real. And I remember the pastor got up and announced, he said, tithing has gone up by 70%. He was like, I'm doing a building fund. He said, this church is taking off.

He didn't realize it was all that drug money he was getting. And then this one woman, I'll never forget her. She got up. She said, I just want to tell you, church, I had a light bill for $80, for $80.

And I opened up an envelope and it was a check for $80. God has blessed me. Church was screaming and shouting. Oh, I was like, oh yeah. I said, pastor, I got a testimony.

Oh, it was on. I remember I got the mic. I said, let me tell you, I said, the Lord has blessed my business right outside in the parking lot.

I got a 535I BMW. Say amen, somebody. And it was quiet. And then the woman said, somebody better talk to this man. One of you men better talk to him. And I'm like, your little $80 light bill hating on me?

I'm talking about real money. And I remember, I didn't say that too, but that was going through my mind. Then the next week, the whole church changed. They said, we're going to have all the young men 20 and under.

We're going to have you meet downstairs and all the young ladies 20 and under. And they started to talk about drugs. And I asked the guy, so what's wrong with weed? And he said, in Galatians chapter five, there's a word called sorcery. Sorcery, the Greek word is pharmacia, which is where you get pharmaceuticals. Then this guy just broke this down. So when you're dealing with witchcraft and drugs, it was being used during the time. So drugs are not new.

It was actually found in the Bible. And I was one of these dudes. I mean, I was cut to my heart and I said, I'm done. I said, I'm finished. I said, all right. I gathered my whole team together. Now I was the supplier for multiple drug dealers. So I got them all together. I said, it's a wrap.

I said, it's over. And many of them were mad. You know, they're like, yo man, that's how I'm paying for my car. I'm paying for my, my crib, all this stuff.

How are you going to do this? And I said, I quit. So I left. Little did I know one of the guys in that meeting had planned to murder me. So I was in my apartment chilling and I heard this knock on the door. Now, have you ever just felt evil?

Like you could just sense something is not right. I walked down, opened the door, locked it behind me and stepped out. And it was dude, I knew his name was mental.

And I said, I mean, I put it together quickly. Oh man, they're going to murder me. They're going to take all my drugs. And, uh, he said, yo man, I want to talk to you.

Come on the side of the house. When I walked on the side of the house, it was this other dude there named job who hated me. And I was like, it's going to go down. And I just said, God, you got to get me through this.

His job is mental. I said, Oh, it's about to happen. He just thrust at me with the gun and the thing went tink. He clicked it and went tink. He clicked it and went tink tink. And I'm standing there and by the power of God, no bullets came out of that gun.

By the power of Jesus, no bullets came out of that gun. And I'm standing there looking, he looked at each other. They looked cause they knew I was a fighter.

They both looked and they jetted, got in the car and took off. I just looked up to heaven. I was like, God, wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to do, I belong to you God. And I totally at that point surrendered. I went to church.

I started to learn about you have to obey the laws of the land. I stood up in the church and I said, listen, I got to confess. I said, I'm on the run in the whole church broke out laughing.

And I said, I don't understand what's so funny. They said, don't you know, we know every New Yorker down here is usually on the run. And then cops in the church started to stand up and said, Hey, Daylight, we've been watching your life.

A correction officer stood up. Daylight, this is what we're going to do. We're going to write letters for you.

I was there like, what in the world? I drove back to New York, went to my mother's house. My mother said, just stay three days. Let's get things together.

Get the lawyer, get all the stuff together. And I said, you know what? Ma said, I'm gonna head out.

I'm just gonna get something from the store. I'll be back. And when I went out, I mean, satan gave me one last temptation. I'm walking and I'll never forget it. This car pulled up and it was my connection that used to bring all the weight from Texas. He rolled down his window. He was like, Yo, Daylight. I'm like, Yo, what's up? He's like, Yo, take my number. He's like, It's not the same.

He's like, Yo, if you want to kick it off again, give me a call. And I remember I was looking at that number like Rikers Island, Street God, Rikers Island, Truck Boss. And I just grabbed the number. I said, Jesus, I just ripped it up and threw it. I went home, turned myself in.

They gave me a court date 56 days later. During that time, I ministered the gospel as best I could. I didn't know how to preach. It was.

It was pretty good. I'd knock on cell cell doors all over the place, and I'd be like, Come out Bible study in the day room. All these dudes will come out. And I remember I'd stand there not open the Bible. I'd say, Look at that. Look at this. It says in Joelle Moses Bones. Do you know what that means? It means all you need. Jesus. Everybody here needs Jesus. You need to get safe.

Dudes would just be like word and it gets saved off of Moses Bones. And then finally, the day came where I went before the judge and the judge said, Tell me, why did you turn yourself in? I said, I turned myself in because I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. And whether I follow him in jail or out of jail, I'm gonna follow him. That's what I told her.

She said, Get this young man out my court. They grabbed me and I walked. They put me in a cell. I was there like I mean, I started praying God what I do wrong. I was like, God, you know, I mean, you start running off your list. I didn't use drugs in jail.

I didn't look at any bad magazines. I'm like, God, I need you. Then she brought me back out and she said, I'm going to do something I never did before. She said, I'm gonna release you. She said, Rikers Allen would make you back to the person that you were.

But I want to release you and keep doing what you're doing. And God allowed me to be released from that jail. And I came out on fire after Jesus. I mean, going after him with all my heart, all my soul, everything, just total commitment to Jesus started bringing all his people to church. And then, you know, I got plugged into a church in Queens, started dating my wife, Tiffany, and she found a flight to China.

And she found this organization that could smuggle bibles. I got hiked. I was like, I could smuggle for Jesus. You had no idea how excited I was.

So I flew to China and I changed their whole game. They were put in this bag. I showed them how to put it all over your body.

I could hardly walk, but I got a lot of bibles through. And then one down to the last trip, it was this one guy who was like a submission psycho. That's all I can call him.

You know, he started getting in my face. You need to submit. You need to do it my way. He said, you've got to put it in a bag. I said, I can get 66 bibles on my body through.

In the bag, you can only do 40. He said, you need to submit. And I said, you know what?

I read verses on humility. I said, okay, I'll submit. So we're going through. We're walking. He gets through.

Other person gets through. I walked through. They said, you stop. Not to act like I ain't here. I just kept walking. Then the next thing I know, I'm surrounded by all these Chinese people, these cops. And they said, put the bag on the scanner. So I took off the little small base and not that back this bad.

So I put it on the skin. I'm believing for a miracle. I'm like, let the hand of God make the bibles disappear.

I mean, I heard all kinds of missionary stories. The thing went through all your bing, bing, bing. Now more of the cops came.

They zipped it open. They said, whose books are these? I said, they're all mine. They said, you read man. I said, no, but they're mine. Then the guy got angry.

He took a book and nudged it in my face. I said, I'm in trouble, man. I was there. And the guy looked and then one of them asked, he said, how tall are you? I got New York slick mouth. I said, I'm as tall as Michael Jordan.

He looked Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan. I just smile, started shaking hands. I just walked out of that place. I said, I got in a car. I said, Jesus, you are awesome.

I just share that to share. God can deliver you from anything. God can help you with any situation. When you come to God, don't make a mild adjustment in your life.

Dive fully in, go all in, give up everything for him. In your life will never be the same ever. Pastor Dimas Salaberios on today's episode of Focus on the Family. And Jim, what an example of how God can work in one person's life. That's right, John, from notorious drug dealer to a bold missionary for the Lord.

What an amazing testimony. And the rest of the story is that God sent Dimas back to New York City to work in ministry and to reach out to drug dealers and juvenile delinquents in his old neighborhood. Dimas was able to plant churches and conduct prayer walks in various areas of the Bronx and even received a commendation from police commissioner Ray Kelly for lowering crime in the Bronx River neighborhood. And as you said at the top of the show, John, Dimas has recently turned to filmmaking to reach a wider audience and to reveal the heartfelt needs of urban communities. It seems like the Lord really has him on kind of a new mission. It's so true. And I pray that this message from Pastor Dimas has given hope to anyone who has a friend or family member who's living a life that's not pleasing to the Lord. And if that's your situation, I hope you'll call us. I think I can safely say we've heard everything.

Here's just a few examples of the calls that we receive. Alex said our 30-year-old son has always been a responsible godly person. Over the past year, he has completely changed. He has stopped going to church, and we just discovered that he's been using drugs.

I want to intervene and give him some ultimatums, but my wife is afraid that if we are too tough on him, he'll quit talking to us, and then we'll lose any influence we might have with him. My heart goes out to that couple. Here's another one. Julia called because she didn't know where else to go for help. She said, we have neighbors who are doing drugs, and their kids are trying to get my eight-year-old son to take drugs too. Eight years old. That is awful.

Just horrible. And we're seeing the results of a lot of different things, including the opioid crisis as drugs are becoming so common, so accessible, and so many are impacted by it. And the fallout is taking place in families and marriages that are being torn apart.

Right, but you know what? Focus on the family offers hope to these families. Our friendly staff is here every weekday to take your calls and to help you work through problems that are too big for you to handle alone. And if needed, we can have one of our Caring Christian Counselors give you a call back. So if there's someone in your life that you're concerned about, please give us a call, and we'll do what we can to help. And let me encourage all of you to lend a hand to the work we do here at Focus on the Family, ministering to hurting families every day.

We're listener supported, and we rely on your donations to make resources available to everyone who needs them. And if you can make a donation of any amount today, I'd like to send you the book Street God by Dimas Salaberios as our way of saying thank you. And remember, whenever you are shopping for books by Christian authors and other Bible-related resources, check our online store. We only stock items that have earned a seal of approval from Focus, a ministry you already know and trust. We also offer top-notch customer service, and you'll have the peace of mind of knowing that your hard-earned dollars are benefiting a ministry you believe in rather than going to a secular corporation.

I hope you'll shop with us first. And you can do that when you call 800 the letter A in the word family, 800-232-6459, or follow the link in the episode notes to donate to the work of Focus on the Family and request your book. And I'll encourage you to visit the website where we have some free, helpful resources for parents who have prodigals, kids who are wandering. Have a great weekend with your family and your church family, and then be with us on Monday as we share one mom's experiences raising a child with Down syndrome. Sarah has enriched my life and the lives of others in wonderful ways. Her life is meaningful and full of purpose. The hundreds of other special needs parents I've met along the way, they tell me they feel the same. The world is a better place because of our children. Well, please take a moment and leave a rating in your podcast app or online and share about this episode with a friend, won't you? On behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team here, thanks for joining us for this Focus on the Family podcast. I'm John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.