You Ain’t Got To Lie Craig! From Mexican Mafia Soldier To Soldier for Christ

Any of ya’ll remember that movie “Friday” with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker? You know you do! Remember that scene where Craig’s girlfriend accused him of being with another girl? She said, “You ain’t got to lie Craig!!!” and honestly, that phrase has been coming up more and more as I see some of the stuff people are posting, stories people are telling, and exaggerated brag-a-monies about their previous lives.

Why am I even talking about this? I know it may sound petty and even childish, but would you be able to sit by and listen to someone lie, or lead you to believe something that really isn’t true, in order to make it seem like they were something they really weren’t, and in a fake way give glory to God? If you can play possum, you’re a stronger willed person than me… now, I won’t make a scene, but they know who they are… they know we know some of the same people… they know that I know that all they say ain’t true… normally, I wouldn’t give 2 cents of a dang… but when they wanna include my Jesus… that’s another story, one they’ll have to take up with Him one day, Matthew 12:36 tells us that one day we’ll give an account for every careless word we say.

I know some pretty crazy individuals that have come to faith in Christ, dudes that have done hard time, life sentences, SHU terms, I know because I was right there with them in prison, and people that have walked in our shoes, well, we just don’t go throwin’ that stuff out there like that. I mean, sure we talk about the past at the right time and in the right context, but truth be told, we actually try to tone it down, and not let that be the thing we’re known for, but instead let it be known for who we are now in Christ, and that it was only by His saving grace, and transformative power of Christ through the Holy Spirit that we are alive and serving Him and His people.

So why is this important to me? Because God does NOT need us to lie about our testimony in order to make him look bigger or stronger. It’s important because people aren’t stupid, we’ve all got a built in BS reader, and when folks know you’re not legit, they then begin to question you, your God, and is He really as great as you make Him out to be… feel me? We need to be real, keep it 100, God doesn’t need our help in making Him out to be more than what He is, and to keep it even more real, His Word tells us to not lie, to be honest, and stop doing the stuff we used to do like lying, Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

I’m gonna share something here I’ve not mentioned to many people, because there’s not been a need for it, but in order that Christ might be exalted to show that He is still in the business of healing, raising the dead, and doing miracles… peep game and continue to read so you’ll know just what I’m talking about. I, and many of you too, was sick… I was spiritually dead… and Christ healed me within, He gave me a heart transplant, He took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), Jesus literally raised me from being spiritually dead and raised me to life in Himself… those are miracles, maybe not like what you were imagining, but I know what my life was like before Christ entered it and I know where I am now.

I was released from the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi on October 20, 2010 and on June 6th, 2012 a confiscated letter was published in the Los Angeles Times from a Mexican Mafia member in Federal Prison that was giving instructions to another Mexican Mafia member to contact me so that I could help them out with some issues they were having, the letter listed my gang name, my real name, address and phone number blacked out, and when I heard about this I was like, “What the….???” I’m a Christian now, I’m not involved with that stuff anymore, the only one I serve now is Christ, to Him alone is my allegiance, to Him alone am I committed… He is the only One that calls the shots in my life… oh, and my wife too! (But please don’t tell her I said that). But I was still being recruited into their affairs and didn’t even know it until one of my homies called me to tell me about the article they read in the L.A. Times.

I was petrified, I immediately thought I’d be going back to prison, and having to prove that I had nothing to do with this letter, what it was ordering, the killing of a lawyer, collecting street taxes, and a host of other things. My life was changed, I was serving Christ faithfully, but you see, the world still didn’t believe it, folks still thought it wasn’t real, that it was a phase, that I’d eventually get past it all. But no, I’m still here, in the palm of Christ’s hand (John 10:29). Just a few weeks ago, I was honored to lead my good friend’s mom’s memorial service, God had blessed me with the privilege of sharing the Gospel with her the very day before she passed on.

At this funeral, I was extremely nervous, because I knew that many of my homeboys from my old neighborhood would be there, they all knew that I was a Christian, a Pastor, but how would I be received? Deep down, I questioned whether or not it still mattered to me what they thought. I know many of them were upset with me, they felt let down by me for having walked away from the gang. Some of these guys are people I’d known since I was 13, fought with, fought over, got shot with, shot at others, drank with, got high with, cried with, committed crimes with, celebrated victories with, mourned deaths and losses with… and even done time with. Yet here we were, again together, and I was standing before them, sharing the Gospel of Christ, encouraging them to believe in this Jesus! After some awkward looks, and handshakes, it seemed as if we’d been teleported back in time, like nothing had changed, based on some of our conversations, it was 10-15 years ago once again, but our gray hairs, wrinkled faces, and different lives reminded us how time in fact had passed by. They are all very aware of my previous EME connections, affiliated with them as a soldier, but now… now I was a soldier for Christ, boldly heralding His Gospel of salvation to any and all.

This is a lot to say, I know it, but in the same way I had enemies back when I was involved with the gang, so now I have enemies, one in particular who is waiting outside my door every day (Gen. 4:7) in hopes of tripping me up, disqualifying me, and causing folks to not trust or believe what I say. Back then, I knew exactly who my enemies were, I knew what they looked like, where they were from, what cars they drove, etc… but now, it’s hard to discern, hard to identify who Satan tries to use against us. Some times it’s the obvious, other times not so much, it comes from within our church, amongst our leaders, other pastors and church planters… yes, other Christians. Hard to believe? It shouldn’t, we’re all sinners, we’re all broken, to some level or degree more than others. But when these situations come about, they are still hard and hurtful! I can honestly say to you that gang banging has nothing on church planting. I’ve probably experienced more let downs, hurt, betrayals, and abandonment in 2 years than I did in 25 years on the streets. What does that tell you? The enemy is mad, so we must be doing something right! The Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:10 said, “This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” and I’ll try and do the same.

“I’ve probably experienced more let downs, hurt, betrayals, and abandonment in 2 years than I did in 25 years on the streets.”

As a church planter, I need to do much more than a pastor of an established church, you see, we’re not established, still trying to get there, so we have to work 10 times as much, twice as hard, for much less money, and with only a fraction of the resources… and people still complain about that. People are still offended when they are encouraged to get up and get to church on Sunday morning via social media video posts, people will bring accusations of showboating, being prideful, money hungry, or anything… you name it, everything under the sun. So let me back track to where I started… “You ain’t got to lie Craig!!!” Let us always keep it real, with God and ourselves… if we can do that then we’ll be real with others, and if folks know we’re being real with them, they just might believe what we say, and our story should be the Gospel of Christ and His truth, not ours.

Ministry is rough and church planting is not for the faint hearted!

Church planter, CORE Team/ launch team, financial supporters of church plants, church planting families, prayer partners of planters, please never stop grinding for the Lord, He deserves nothing less than our absolute best. He deserves we take the extra step, that we go the extra mile… we shouldn’t try to cut corners on Him because He didn’t cut corners for us, He endured it all… to the very end, right? Be real with who you are, don’t feel the need to impress folks, but instead be more concerned with impressing Christ, after all, what He thinks about us is all that really matters. Thanks for reading this blog, and thanks for the shout outs, I keep hearing about the Bumble Bee family video from my last post. Be reminded that your pastors need you, please never stop praying for them, and when everything is alright, reach out to bless them, don’t wait for life to be falling apart.