Get The Hell Out of Your Life
This show embraces faith and freedom by sharing stories of individuals who encountered Jesus outside of traditional church settings. We welcome those who have felt judged by conventional Christianity. Our focus is on love, grace, and acceptance. It’s all about Jesus!
Get The Hell Out of Your Life
Beyond the High: How God Transformed an Addict into a Pastor
What happens when a cocaine smuggler finds Jesus through a mysterious picture that neither he nor his wife remember owning? Pastor Mike McLeod's journey from addiction to redemption showcases the transformative power of grace in even the darkest circumstances.
Mike's story begins with teenage experimentation that spiraled into a dangerous double life. By his twenties, he was transporting hundreds of pounds of cocaine across state lines while maintaining a respectable job at Chevron and hiding his addiction from his family. "I love the high better than I love my wife. I love the high better than I love my daughter," Mike confesses about his former mindset, a painful truth that eventually cost him his marriage.
The turning point came after a night of heavy substance abuse when Mike woke up stuck to his carpet from his own vomit, bloodied fists from punching walls, and a loaded shotgun nearby—evidence of contemplated suicide. While cleaning his house, he discovered an unrecognized framed picture of Jesus with sheep by a river. This unexpected find broke him completely, leading to a sincere cry for help that marked the beginning of his salvation journey. Within three months, his ex-wife also found faith, and remarkably, they remarried with Christ at the center of their relationship.
Today, Mike pastors Magnolia Springs Assembly of God in Hurley, Mississippi, and works closely with Mercy House rehabilitation program. His past has become his greatest ministry asset, allowing him to connect authentically with those battling similar demons. "God is not against you; God is for you," he assures those still struggling, emphasizing that transformation begins with submission to God and resistance to destructive patterns. If you're feeling beyond redemption, Mike's testimony stands as powerful evidence that no one is too far gone for divine intervention. Your darkest chapters might just be preparation for your greatest purpose.
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I am Mike McLeod and I do pastor in Hurley, mississippi, magnolia Springs, assembly of God. But my story began at an early age of trying different things, following the wrong crowds. At around 13, 14 years old, my first try of marijuana and that's the gateway drug they call to other things, and of course it led me down a pretty dark path. I'd be knowing that it was dark. You know, the Bible teaches there's pleasure in sin for a season, and I would lie to you and to all the listeners if I didn't say that there was joy in some of that lifestyle that I lived and, throughout the years of growing up in high school, started trying other types of drugs, started drinking real, real heavily.
Speaker 1:In my high school years, about the 11th grade, I tried cocaine and enjoyed it. I liked the feeling. Of course you know you have to to keep doing it and so I become an addict. I would snort it, shoot it, smoke it. However, to get high and in my I guess, around 20, I started running drugs out of another state through a father and son that hid behind a construction business and literally would take flatbed trucks that looked like would haul welding machines on it, would have a false bottom in it and I would run 100, 200 pounds of cocaine across state lines delivering. It Got married. I married to my wife and we had a daughter, did she?
Speaker 2:know you were doing this.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely not.
Speaker 1:You know, I worked a job, a full-time job, at Chevron oil refinery in Pascagoula and worked every day with the help of drugs kept me going and she would find things around the house that would cause her to question and of course I would lie and convince her. I guess I would convince her somewhat that I wouldn't do anything. Like I said, I lived practically a normal life and I started really making lots of money running the drugs, some money running the drugs, the coke, some marijuana. And our lives spiraled out of control my marriage, I was more focused on my pleasures, my desire, than my wife and daughter. I started a book sometime back.
Speaker 1:The title of it was I Love the High Better, and it's sad now looking back, but the reality of it is that I love the high better than I love my wife. I love the high better than I love my daughter. Because I put it before them. It causes me to choke up now to think that I was so selfish, it was all about me and never about them, and so we divorced. She left me and she divorced me and I ended up in some pretty bad, dark situations.
Speaker 1:Neither was criminals, you know, and I was a criminal and I was hauling quite a bit of drugs across state line and I was in Louisiana and got pulled over. The cops run my license and my license was suspended, a few other charges, so they took me to jail in Louisiana and I had 100-plus pounds of cocaine in this vehicle. I called the guys that connected with and in my mind the phones were bugged, I would think in the jail, and I wouldn't let them say that. I just told them that I got called over. I'm in jail. This is the address. I need somebody to bring fine money, bond money and get the truck and get me out of jail so I can. You know, my thing was because it looked like a welding truck, because I know we need this welding truck on the job to haul some welding machines. And they came. Two guys came in the in the compound that held the truck was right next door to the jailhouse and they drove. The cop drove the truck out and and we were walking out and two cops come out behind us and hollered hold up. And uh, we spun around. My heart, oh, wow, completely stopped, spun around and they said make sure he don't drive because his license is still suspended. And we drove away with over 100-something pounds of coke in our truck.
Speaker 1:Wow, about three or four weeks later. Of course I'm divorced now and I'd done a lot of coke one night, drank a lot of alcohol right by myself and woke up the next morning stuck to the carpet where I'd vomited. And woke up the next morning stuck to the carpet where I'd vomit I hate to sound like that but where I'd throw up and threw up and laid in it all night long. My fists were all swollen, busted, blood on my hands. I looked and blood was on the door facing between the living room and kitchen area. Where I undoubtedly stood and punched the wall, there was a shotgun loaded with buckshot, laying on the floor where I contemplated committing suicide and I got up and went to the bathroom, got sick again, got a towel wet, it went in the living room, went to clean the floor up.
Speaker 1:And I'm sitting there, ron, and this is the thought I had in my mind Not quit drugs, not quit alcohol, but quit drinking so much and quit doing drugs so much. You know, that was the thought in my mind. You know, kind of back off, and my little girl I never. When my wife left, I locked my daughter's door in her bedroom because it was just too hard for me to go in there and see, you know, her room, her toys, some of her toys were left and I went in our bedroom and I said I'm going to clean the house up. You know, I'm going to start doing better. And I had shoe boxes in the floor of the bedroom and I stacked them up by the closet door. We had a big closet and I sat down in the door facing so the closet went, stacking shoe boxes in the closet, and at the end of the closet was a picture about I don't know, two foot by two foot framed, facing the wall, and I didn't recognize the frame and I crawled down and grabbed it, crawled back out and spun it around. It was a picture of jesus holding a sheep and a flock of sheep following him by the river. To this day my wife or I, either one, know where that picture came from and I broke down right there and said God, I need help. Wow, and that's where I prayed through to salvation, started going to church and about three months later my wife got saved and God restored our marriage. We got remarried and we started that journey.
Speaker 1:I will say this you know, to me I don't have a testimony. I know people may think that I do, but to me you know what a great testimony is Ron. It's someone that can say I got saved when I was 10, 11, 12, 13 years old and hung on all those years and faithfully lived for God, because they wasn't weak, they didn't give in like I did. They stood the test of time and they lived for the Lord. But when me and my wife was divorced and this is what I'd like for people to hear because it's important she got saved and we just started talking casually talking, because I put Christ first in my life. I didn't put her or my child, I put him first. She asked me one day. She said do you think we'll ever get remarried. And I said, terry, not until I know Jesus Christ is your best friend, he's my best friend and second to that, I'm your best friend and you're my best friend. You know, we talk about love and love. The agape love is the greatest love of all. That's the Jesus love. But then we talk about love, but true love is never really created unless there's a true friendship first. And we began to work on that and 33 years later I can honestly tell you, besides Jesus Christ, she's my best friend and I'm hers, and God just radically turned our lives around.
Speaker 1:A year later, after being saved, the Lord called me to evangelize One of the scariest moments in my life. I started to evangelize and then pastor along the way. I pastored some churches along the way, of course, the one that you spoke at up in Lousetown years ago. But now I'm in Hurley, pastor Magnus Springs. To me it's the greatest church in the world. We own a restaurant in Tanner Williams. It's out in the country and God has just amazingly blessed our business. We pastor a great church. Every day I wake up I realize that if it had not been for the Lord who was on my side, where would I have been?
Speaker 2:So, mike, do you regret the past?
Speaker 1:There's certain things, ron, that you look back, that you regret. I mean, everybody has things in their past that they regret that they've done. I regret hurting my family, putting them through the things that I did in my early childhood my mom, then, of course, my wife and my child. But I'll say this out of that past that I lived, I did make connections with people that I wouldn't have if I hadn't lived that lifestyle. And one particular story is a guy that I had met growing up, that we endorsed in a lot of wrong, a lot of sin.
Speaker 1:That after I got saved and was ministering, pastoring, I got a phone call from him one day and he was crying. He owned a company and he was crying on the phone. He was crying so hard that I couldn't hardly understand what he was saying and he asked me what I was doing. And I told him what I was doing. I was at home and he said I want to come see you. So I invited him and a few hours later he showed up at my house and walked in tears running down his face and I said you know what's going on, what's wrong? And he looked at me and he said, with tears in his eyes.
Speaker 1:He said I want what you've got. He said I've been watching, I've seen how the Lord's radically changed you. And he said I want what you got. So we made the coffee table out of an altar and knelt down and said the sinner's prayer with this guy. So to say I regret everything. I can't say that because there's a lot of things that I lived through that when God changed my life and I began to be a Jesus follower and people seemed to change that. The Lord, because when I lived in sin I was one of the best changed at. The Lord.
Speaker 2:Because when I lived in sin I was one of the best, amen.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, there's things that I regret, but there's things that I don't regret because I see how God used it for his glory. God does not, does not have a plan. God has a perfect plan, amen. We make plans, we make plans, our plans succeed and our plans fail. God's perfect plan does not Get in the will of his perfect plan and life will be great.
Speaker 2:You know what? And that's why I wanted to ask you that I had a feeling that would be your answer, because I tell people that a lot of people that have this walk and they're going through things they think because of their past that God could never use them. They're just terrible. And I try to tell them that, hey, I had a shady past too, but God takes that old and when we come to him, we have a relatable story now to other people that are going through the same thing and we can say he did it for me, he'll do it for you and it's you know. If there's somebody that walked into your church on Sunday morning and said, hey, I'm an addict, I'm doing drugs and I need help, man, you're the one that could help him and talk to him, because you're going to talk his language Right, we have a rehab.
Speaker 1:It's called the Mercy House here in the community. It houses men that are going through bad past drugs, alcohol abuse, whatever criminal charges. They come every Wednesday night to our services and there's 20, 35 men every Wednesday night that show up here and you know, every now and then I'll interject a little bit of my past in those services to let them know that they're not looking at an angel. Amen, he's got his wings, they open up. There's these guys. You know they'll come in after service and just thank me for being real with them. Transparent. Our past can be used for the glory of God, I agree.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And you know, you said something a minute ago and I'm finding this because I talk to everybody when I'm out and about people that don't go to a church or they are turned off by a church. They said well, we just, we want some authentic Jesus, we want some real Jesus. It seems like we go to church and we're signing up for committees and we're doing all this kind of stuff, but you know, I need to know more about Jesus. They want that real. You know, because they've already scared to go into church. I think the roof's going to fall in on them and when we can be just authentic and real and transparent that's the whole point of this show is to show people to let all people we all have issues to show people to let all people we all have issues. All of us have problems. That's why Jesus came to this world and we can come to him and have a new heart, a new life. And now look at this. I remember the Mercy House. Now, I'm so glad you brought that up. Yeah, the Mercy.
Speaker 2:House that's an incredible program over in Jackson. Is that Jackson County or George County?
Speaker 1:Jackson County. Yeah, Right here in Hurley. Yes, I remember that's where I think I came and spoke at the Mercy House.
Speaker 2:There are a lot of people listening right now and I buy time on non-Christian radio and they're saying, man, that man sounds like me, but you know, god just loved him more. What would you tell that person that thinks that, well, you know, first just loved him more. What would you tell that person that thinks that?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, first of all, god's no respecter person. When he looks at us, he sees something that he created, not man. Man didn't create no one God created. Just Easter Sunday stood in the pulpit by the worship team. I stopped the worship team from singing and I stood in the pulpit the worship team. I stopped the worship team from singing and I stood in the pulpit and I said somebody needs to hear this that God is not against you, god is for you, no matter where you're at in life's walk. God's for you and God's not throwing you away. You may be throwing yourself away, but God stands with open arms, with love and passion and mercy and grace, ready to help you, ready to turn your life around, ready to show you that agape love, that God love, the same love that he showed me.
Speaker 1:I'm counseling a 20-year-old young guy right now. He's really growing in the Lord. But you know a 20-year-old young man. He struggles and just met with him yesterday and carried him out to eat at Bozo's I'll give them a plug and we set out and I just I told him the same thing I said you know, the Bible says the righteous man falls seven times, but he keeps getting back up. The key to him not being declared a cripple is he keeps getting back up, and that's the key to success in our walk with Christ is when we do fail, because we will fail. All is sin and come short of the glory of God. Just get back up, dust yourself off, forgive yourself, forgive yourself.
Speaker 2:I'm going to ask you one other thing. I always like to ask my guests this the title of this show is called Get the Hell Out of your Life. So, Pastor, how do you get the hell out?
Speaker 1:of your life. Number one by submitting. The Bible says in James 4 and 7,. It says submit yourself, therefore, unto God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Submit, submit to the Lord, surrender. That's one of the hardest things for people to do, because we're so self-sufficient, we think we know it all, we can do it all, but at the end everyone was created to rely on God. Amen, trust God. And so, submitting to the Lord and put up a resistance that I'm not going to live like this, no more. I'm not going to walk this path, no more.
Speaker 2:I'm going to find that path in Christ and I'm going to walk, that your congregation is a very blessed congregation to have a leader like you, your past, your authenticity and your just love for the fellow human out there. And God bless you. And before we go, will you pray for our listeners?
Speaker 1:Amen, father, in the name of Jesus, I come to you as humbly as I know how, as Paul made the statement, that I feel that I'm the least among the least. But I am so blessed and so thankful to be able to worship you, to have a relationship with you, and I send up the highest praise that's ever been given to you. Hallelujah, lord. I just pray for all those that are listening right now by radio, by whatever means that they have, lord, there's one that don't know you as Lord and Savior? Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit touch their heart and life right now and let them know that that did happen upon the cross. The life that was given, the blood that was shed through Jesus Christ, is able to wash their sins away. Lord, that they can walk in the newness of life. Lord, through your Holy Spirit, god, lord, have that resurrection power enter into their life and one day, lord, at the end of this life, they'll hear you say well done thou, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joys of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Lord, for that individual that's struggling with drugs, alcohol and addictions, lord, I pray that you break those addictions from their life, god, that you transform their mind, their spirit, god into the newness of life. Lord, I pray, god, that you help them. Lord, that family that's dealing with marital problems, children problems. God, I pray that the that you help them. Lord, that family that's dealing with marital problems, children problems. God, I pray that the love and the grace and the mercy of God come down and intervene in their lives. Lord, we give you praise and glory in advance for what you're going to do. In Jesus' mighty name, we pray Amen, thank you.