Sense of Soul - Drug Lord to Serving the Lord

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

It was such an honor to have Dr Hal Bradley on Sense of Soul Podcast. He shared his extraordinary journey of how he lost everything, went to prison and discovered his life’s purpose at the end of his sentence which was to help those in need.  He went from sinner to saint, now an author, pastor  and guiding light to many. In his newly book, Crisis Victory, Dr. Bradley reveals the true step-by-step system to thrive under the most horrific experiences and to emerge victoriously. Dr Bradley shares his unbelievable true life story of how he ended up in Mexico working with the cartel and even has stories of the notorious Elchapo. Dr. Hal Bradley was approached by the Department of Justice to serve as a contractor from 1998 to 2017 operational in Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica. He is responsible for capturing many criminals and paid back his debt to society by going on to become a Pastor with a Masters in Metaphysics and a Doctorate in Christian Pastoral Counseling, helping thousands of people to find peace in the greatest tragedies and crises. Join us and discover how this once drug lord became a minister in prison and today dedicates his life to God and to helping others and although he is currently recovering from an attack, allegedly ordered by a drug cartel, just  six months ago. He continues to face life with joy in his heart, and without hate or anger. He feels blessed that God has chosen a purpose for him and that he has survived such horrible things. He carries love wherever he goes and this extends to his work with the homeless and others whom many people choose to ignore.  Purchase this amazing book on Amazon and check Dr Bradley out at his website http://drhalbradley.com/ Also check out our many new workshops and online store at www.mysenseofsoul.com  

Welcome to the Sense of Soul podcast. We are your hosts, Shanna and Mandy. Grab your coffee, open your mind, heart and soul. It's time to awaken. Today on Sense of Soul, Dr. Hal Bradley is with us. He has lived one of the craziest lives I've ever heard of. But not only is it insane, it is incredibly inspiring. He is a true soul survivor. Dr. Bradley was recruited by the Mexican drug cartel as a teenager. He quickly moved up the ranks to become one of the top drug smugglers of narcotics in the United States. He then was approached by the Department of Justice to serve as a contractor from 1998 to 2017. He is responsible for capturing many criminals and pay back his debt to society by going on to become a pastor with a master's in

metaphysics and a doctrine in Christian pastoral counseling. He has helped thousands of people to find peace in the greatest tragedies and crises. In his book, Crisis Victory, Dr. Bradley reveals the true step-by-step system to thrive under the most horrific experiences. We are super excited to have Dr. Bradley. We also want to take the time to thank him for being of service to our country. Welcome. It was my honor to serve this great country, and thank you for recognizing all veterans, every one of us willing to put up whatever it was necessary to make sure that we could have what we have today. So thank you ladies very much. We appreciate that. Absolutely and thank you. Appreciate it. Can you tell us about Hal as a child? I grew up in a very normal lifestyle. I was a Cub Scout. My mother was

a Den mother. I was a Boy Scout. My father was a Den Mother. I was a Boy Scout. My father was an Assistant Scoutmaster. Grew up in the 1960s here in the Pacific Northwest and a very incredibly normal lifestyle. In 1969, I was at Edmonds High School, which is Seattle, in the bathroom smoking a cigarette. And back in 1969, when you got caught smoking a cigarette, they kicked you out of school for a half a year. So during that time, my mother had a friend that had a mining corporation in Durango, Mexico, and they said, well, let's not let him wander the streets and get in trouble. So they decided to sit me down to this mining camp to work in the mines for a year, a little bit longer, actually. But unknown to them, this was a cartel-controlled environment.

A village of about 200 people all were employed by this Mexican mafia family. So in the course of the 15 months that I was in country, my only transportation was a black and white spotted burrow. I used to ride it up in the mountain trails every day when I wasn't down on the mines working, and I would ride it along the poppy fields fields and I would go up to the Chihuahua Indian sites that were growing marijuana. And this is quite an exposure for a 15-year-old child. During this time, my brother had been wounded in action in Vietnam. I got the call. I was able to get information to that recall. So I immediately came back to the United States, went to the community college, got my GED. And on November 7th of 1971, I entered the United States Army to serve my country and to do my part as a patriot. Then I came out of the military in

1974. I took my GI Bill and went to a community college in Sacramento, California. But in the fall of the year, we had a winter break. So I decided to go down with a friend to Durango, Mexico, and visit the village that I had lived in for a little over a year. And upon my arrival, they threw this massive feast. They all knew I was there because they always said, And your heart pumps the blood of our village. And during the time that I was there, a friend of mine from the village told me to come down with a bigger car that we could put kilos of marijuana in the car and I could get it

stateside for transport and make a whole bunch of money. So because of my youth and my intemperance agreed to do it. And when I cleared the first load back into the United States, it was absolutely exhilarating. I loved it. And in the course, instead of making $368 a month on the GI bill, I made $80,000 in one week. And so I dropped out of college at that time and just started making runs. And for the next several years, I developed a very large smuggling network from Mexico and the United States. I started meeting other smugglers, other contact sources stateside that were operational in the distribution, moving of the product, developing safe houses, things to this

nature. By the end of the late 1970s, cocaine was introduced into the markets. By then, the cartels had a serious eye on me. For one, I spoke Spanish. I was blonde hair, blue eyed. I could move around easily in the United States. So they took me out of the smuggling operation end of it and started developing me to develop a distribution site stateside. And I'd also like to clear something up this time. At the moment that I walked in, I was not some snitch or informant going out there and walking into the U.S. Department of Justice to tell on all my friends and everybody. I had quite focused, specific purpose to go after those that were not going to release me, even after I paid them almost a million dollars that I didn't even owe them just to buy my way out of this whole situation.

So that being said, I went on to develop until arrested in 1986, I believe. I went to Folsom Prison, pulled out of there in 89, went to the Washington State, and at that point had got married, started having children, building a beautiful life. And one day I got contacted in my youth and intemperance. I knew because of what I had been around in those earlier years that you just don't say no to certain people. So I met up with them down in Vegas and they said, I owed them a whole bunch of money, which I did not, but that's their play. So I agreed to reestablish the network for them. And by this time, I was moving so much cocaine

that the Department of Justice had told me that I was the largest cocaine trafficker in the Pacific Northwest. What prompted me to walk in was I had finally made the money that they had requested. I did it in just a couple months. A half a million dollars at the level I was at is nothing at all. It's real easy to do it. So I flew to Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, walked in the door, had a car drive the money down. It was already there when I got there. And I said, okay, my debt is clear. I'll turn over and surrender to you all of my contacts, everything I built. And I'm walking away from this. And of course they give me hugs and great appreciation and said, yeah, no problem.

Well, when I got home, I pull into my driveway and I've got 350 kilos of cocaine and two soldiers out of Sinaloa sitting in my driveway. At that point, being a boss as I was and a respected boss, I told them that there was a heated up situation, get the load the hell out of here and get down south. I had a little over $3 million in cash on me in that moment. And I put the cash inside the vehicle to get it out of there also regarding a current load that still had merchandise out that I would have to be collecting in. The very next day, I walked into the U.S. Attorney's Office and I started going after the specific target that was not giving me my life back. Over the course of

19 months following, I worked almost all of it outside of the United States in very, very sensitive and high profile contracts. By the time the dust had settled, sentenced eight years, I just had a contract putting on my life and a wife that filed for divorce because she told me, well, I don't blame her. She said to me, she says, I didn't marry the mafia. I had an idea you were this person. So anyway, I went in and during the years that I was in prison was when I surrendered my life to Jesus, started working on my seminarial studies, became certified by the National Hospice Organization.

And my job was taking prisoners through the dying process, which I for a couple of the years that I did in there, I started getting notoriety from TV, from newspaper media. It was pretty amazing. In that moment and at that time, there were only 11 of us who were certified by the National Hospice Organization. So I started posting in Hospice Journal Magazine and stuff. It's like to be a hospice counselor in an environment where none of the family, none of the relatives can come in and, you know, go through their grieving process in association to the level one that they have there. So we become surrogate relative in a sense

and an amazing journey. But I was able to get my seminarial studies completed. There was a big feast thrown for me. Everybody knew this wasn't some Bible thumper hiding behind the Bible. They all knew, and I mean seriously knew, that I had become a minister of God through Christ. I was transferred to Leavenworth, and the last night I was in Leavenworth, I worked at the education department there, inmates to go through, get their GEDs. I plugged into Hospice at Leavenworth where they came in and we started training inmates to where we could give them certification in the caregiving instead of leaving a place feeling defeated and going back to an angry resolution to day-to-day survival. That was also at the time the concept of this book came into play. And we're talking,

I've been out of prison 21 years, long, long time. But the last night I was in Leavenworth, I was taken in the basement. On the lights, there was this magnificent pardon has been thrown for Pastor Bradley because they knew they had somebody that was going to be returned to society. That was a winner, not a loser. And I mean, we had people that were civilians there. We had all kinds of guards and staff, and it was amazing. It's never been done in history. I have a friend right here in the town that I live in who was actually at that party. It was amazing, and I thanked them for it, but upon my release, the bishop that I had been connected to in a Pentecostal order, him and his wife came and met me. Within two weeks, they moved me into the church sanctuary where I finished out my six months of required time when you're first released.

And during that time, the Department of Justice came to me. I was recruited by them to work in international cases. And they select people like me who are not rats that go and tell on all their friends, because how can an agent going undercover and operational with you on foreign soil be able to trust this man? So I had established and earned the respect of field agents from various agencies under the umbrella of the Department of Justice. And we went out there and we just, boy, I mean, we took down some real heavy targets, ended up ultimately getting a contract. And I was assassinated in June 7th of this year. I don't know how I revived and came back to life. I guess from the videotapes, it was about 40 to 50 minutes.

And the last strike into my head as I was laying there bleeding out and dying, it was an amazing moment because as a hospice counselor for, oh, 23 years now, you know, you're there and you're present in the moment of people and their dying experience. But now to have died myself and have come back and regained life myself, the moment of the death, when I accepted my death out there, as I was losing consciousness, I was so grateful and so peaceful and so happy because I knew where I was heading. There was no question whatsoever. I felt such a love around me. And even the hitman that was there to contract and take me out, I even had love for him. And it's an amazing thing to say that, to experience that, to fully believe that. But this is also confirmation of a Christian passage and a Christian right of acceptance to that which we become, resultant of His grace and His love for us.

So I'm still in recovery from my wounds, but I'm doing so much better today. And Crisis Victory, the book even explains a little bit of the assassination attempt, the recovery as a result of the attempt and where it has taken me and placed my life at this point. So again, I strongly urge. Yeah, it's an amazing story, isn't it? I'm sure that's like the short version. I can't even imagine if I had hours or days or weeks with you. I mean, I'm already mind blown. I had a friend who we had on last year. Unfortunately, he was wrongly accused when he was barely 18 years old. And he served 24 years and then was released once the guy who really had done the crime had come clean praise god i know he has used that to really help people in the prison

because you know obviously that was his the majority of his life more than half of his life was spent in jail but But I wanted to bring you back as like his age when he got thrown into the situation. It sounds like, you know, you kind of did too. It wasn't your choice necessarily to have gone there and got in the middle of this. And it sounds like they really welcomed you and loved you. And it was almost like a second family for you. Do you still like, are you still in contact with any of them? Were there any that remained your friends or? Oh, of course. Of course. I didn't burn all my bridges. I didn't go out there in a rampage,

taking down just anybody to look good. I went after a specific target and it wasn't even in that area. And I was laser focused on uh people that were you know I don't even know how much I brought in but I've been told I probably moved over 50 tons of cocaine up here by myself during that stint of in the industries and I think that's an honest and uh fair assessment I have to admit the addict in me was like damn I wish I knew him back in the day I can remember flying my my Cessna airplane in the Sonora desert with cocaine rails laid out on the cockpit dash and snorting coke while I had a plane full of kilos reckless and crazy some of that time was I look back at him with reflection and I think but we all at one point or another experience crisis events

hence the creation of my book, The Crisis Victory Book. We go through so many different parallel experiences, if you will, and where we're in critical phase like your friend. I mean, I really relate to him. I tried the faith and the temperance to take that down time of his life and convert it into something great, magnificent, and is now today helping many other people. And God love him for it. I mean that, and I respect him for it. I saw that you had to get permission to go into the military. You weren't even old enough. Is that right? No, that is correct. It was two weeks after I was 17, I was in Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic. From there, I went over to Fort Pocasiana for my advanced infantry school training. And during that time, they had a program there called Tigerland.

And this was a highly experienced special forces Green Beret people that were coming out of Vietnam. And they had them coming straight to this camp. And they were training us in escape and evasion tactics, prisoner of war training in the event of captivity. And as you guys know, I am a survivor from captivity. It was amazing. It was an excruciating training. And after we cycled in February of 1972, it's my understanding the program was immediately shut down. It was very brutal. But what was instilled a survival skill, like no other type of training I ever had that time in my life. And I do believe that it is what's gotten me

through multiple near-death experiences over the course of years leading up to June 7th of this year. I had trouble getting through it, but I did graduate. And I went right from there to Paratrooper School in Fort Benning, Georgia. And by the time I shipped out overseas, I was still 17 years old. It taught us a motivational discipline unlike other people are ever taught to where when events come in our life and later is an international smuggler, the many, many years I spent in that world, a lot of that stuff reflective when they attempted to kill me out here in June 7th, instead of pulling my head to my throat, he pushed my head forward to take out the base of the skull, which is a knife training technique that you're very familiar with. That's when I knew that I was going down by a

highly skilled trained assassin. It's like I said, even when I was fading out there in my final moment of life, I loved him. I loved him. And I understood I was nothing but a name on a piece of paper. It was nothing personal. Can you share those principles that you learned there? The 10 mistakes? Yes. That people make, yes. Well, of course, the first one is fear and panic. What happens when people end up in an immediate crisis event scenario? They will go right into a fear or panic mode because they have now entered a volatile or violent environment of which they have no understanding. And what we need to do in the event, and what I have done several times in my life facing death in those situations, is to be able to take yourself out of that moment. We were trained and taught and educated to not go

basic natural instinct, but to reintegrate another form of approaching the crisis event. And it's very, very important. Another thing is the assimilation of assets. What is in your immediate vicinity to survive such an event? And what can you do to obtain them? Another is the assimilation of people that are like yourself. You don't want to bring people into the immediate circle when you're trying to escape and evade or whatever your scenario may be. You want people that have a relative basic commonality to your experience level of life. Also, destination points. Say you escape in a situation, you have people that are chasing you, their whole intent is to torture you and to kill you drastically, violently, and publicly. You can't follow the path to where

you think you're going to be going. You need to divert. You need to change. You need to take yourself out of standard natural responsive action and implement a whole nother directive to accomplish your goal site, whether it's a destination, another way of life. As you guys know, I'm a hospice minister and I'm also a counselor, crisis counselor, 19 years now working with homeless camps, the homeless, the destitute, the afflicted. I have people that are dropped off on my doorstep, sometimes two or three in the morning, rape victims, beating victims, really, really volatile people going through a high level crisis event. To come from international drug smuggling and trafficking to becoming a true servant of God

like I have now for my 23rd year, 19 of them actively as a senior pastor installed. I had my own church for three years, but I was jumping off on missions at the same time that I was in the pastoral post. So I actually went to my bishop and took a four-year sabbatical because I thought combating the drug wars in that time of my life was more important than being up in a pulpit preaching to my 70 to 80 weekly regular congregants. They all loved their pastor. They understood the mission. 17 years as a contractor for the Department of Justice. I retired three years ago based on a near-death variance coming out of northern Mexico and having to

re-enter into the United States. They had just taken El Chapo Guzman down, a man that I personally knew. And when they got off the head of the snake, it splintered the cartels. So it became territorial. And then moving from territory to territory, this is in Crisis Victory, the book, following our natural path to a destination point. Ladies, and I'm glad that you had a chance to see some of that because it gives you a better understanding of sin. And also, which is my primary mission point in this meeting today, anybody can convert. All you have to do is trust, have faith and strong belief. And what happens is it starts revealing itself to you. But the moment

of my conversion was October 19th, 1994. I was in a cell and I just fell to my knee and couldn't take another moment of it. And in that moment, my cell door was open and two prisoners came in. They heard me giving it to God and each one of them knelt on a side of me, put their hand on my shoulder and helped me pray all of that evil out of my system. All the anger left, every bit of that is forever gone. And I carry inside of myself now and have for over 20 years is a true love for each and every one of you, including the assassin that was here to kill me. These are not lightly said words. These are words that have been ingrained through a survivorship of many, many years, several decades, but I truly do care about each and every one of you. And I

certainly care about your audience. And I just want them to recognize that send a redemption, however hard it may be, is such a wonderful and loving and sharing experience we can overcome. Yeah. You know, you said you had to quiet yourself. You had to find that moment of calmness to quiet yourself. And I love that because a lot of times people kind of will take the word meditation as it's against religion or against Christianity. And for meditation for me is when I am able to quiet myself and listen to God. And then prayer is when I'm talking to God. So I love that because it's, it's about really just quieting yourself. And for once listening, we forget to do that. What happens

in the life that we live, you have to realize in the Bible, if you've studied the Bible, you would understand that the devil and several of his angels were cast down. He was granted dominion over the world, but he was not given control of our free mindset. Taking that into concept, many of us go through experiences and trials and tribulations. Meditation is not a religion or a faith. Meditation is a way of accepting life and calming your soul and your mind to where you can start listening instead of having interjecting thought brought that up because many many times it's been taking that moment to catch my breath clear the mind and be able to advance forward successfully and victoriously if you will that I know within myself

is the one that I need to be accomplishing. So very good. I'm glad you brought that up. Thank you. It was almost like you were blessed and correct me if I'm wrong, but to be put in a cell where you're forced to slow down your life and to listen. It was a blessing. Most of the two and a half years that I crammed while I was in there were in dying rooms. And this was my seminary school. And by the time I walked out of there, I did a bachelor's level, did my master's within the first year, had it done, completed my doctorate, and gone on to do nothing but serve. I've never taken to make a profit or a

dollar off my doctorate level degree, which I didn't do. I'd rather give it to God and give the glory to God and thank him. My base of income and how I've made it most through antiques, I've owned antique stores. I absolutely love the industry of saving history, preserving history, and then passing it on to people that have a similar like scenario as I do. We all find our little niche in life that gives us an opportunity to escape temptation, to escape fear and concern. We can change the environment by really transcending within our own selves the acceptance of where we are and the move from that to where we need to be. Yeah. And again, crisis victory, it just outlines all of that so incredibly. I'm really pleased. We now, we have an instrument smuggler and a pastor of 23 years that can give guidance and assistance. You know, Shannon, I did an episode on

soul versus ego, and that's the whole title of our podcast sense of soul, because we really like to teach people the difference between the two, because our world has really conditioned people into thinking success means materialistic things and money and cars and titles and labels. And really, we don't ever take the time to get to know our souls and to love ourselves and to teach self-love. And I believe that God is inside of each one of us. So we have to get, if we're not loving ourselves, we're not loving God to the capacity that we should. So we're, we're really all about that. And it sounds like at a young age, you were like, and I've been there. I used to sell drugs and, and Vegas and the strip clubs. Um, and I was young too. And I didn't even realize the harm I was putting myself in. I just did it. But you know, at the time I was, that was my God was money, the lifestyle, the adrenaline rush, the cars, the faith. You know, we are told and instructed

by the Lord in study and scripture to store our treasures up in the kingdom of heaven. Having antiques and collecting antiques and dealing in antiques is not an egotistical thing to me. One, it's a preservation of the history of humankind. And the other thing is I can make a living from it. And that is the bare essentials of my interest in that. It's not to surround myself with tons and tons of neat things and brag about them. That's not the direction at all. So I get where you're spearheading with how we need to be analytical with regard to our priorities in life. And I really like that a lot. My treasures are stored in the kingdom of heaven. And every single one of us carry the spirit of god within us and you're right we do when you feel something different but something good and something sacred is giving guidance in that moment we have to realize that's a finger of god imparting upon

our our soul and uh giving us the guidance and direction that he desires for his glory, never ours. And I can see that in you. I think for Mandy and I, that our lives really had a major shift when we were able to sense our souls, which is our podcast name. But when we found that God really wasn't outside of us, that this was inside of us, the love that we were seeking outside of us was already in us and once you can sense that and feel that you know that everything changes nothing in the world looks the same because you realize you don't have to seek anything outside of you you already have it it's already you to me that is confirmation that you do have it it is as a pastor working with thousands of people over the years you come to know those that under have an understanding revelation and an appreciation for the gift that god does give us

and you know you become as two as one in his sight like when i marry couples i always tell them that now you have completed one another and you, I always tell them that. Now you've completed one another, and you're in this holy trinity of God himself. You've just entered into a contract agreement. And whenever we bring the spirit of God within the life or relationship or whatever the situation may be, you will notice that you're not walking through it alone, such as the combative circumstances of people that are addicted with drugs or other immoral or other forms of that which inside their soul tells them they shouldn't be in that zone doing those type of things once the spirit came in like what you just explained so perfectly this is confirmation and as people

start developing and building more confirmation the trek the journey becomes a whole lot easier and it truly does and other people bear witness to that and it starts uh giving salvation to trek the journey becomes a whole lot easier. And it truly does. And other people bear witness to that. And it starts giving salvation to other souls. Yeah, that's how we do it. That was beautifully said. Thank you. This is kind of like super off topic, but I have to know you're really putting yourself out there. I feel like you're almost sacrificing your safety. I mean, you were just recently attacked. Are you scared to put yourself out there with this book? I mean, is this, is this your real name? When I went to the strip clubs, we had stage names to cover our identity. So is it your real name?

Not only is it my real name, but I lived in the same place for 14 years and I don't hide that at all. I don't have, like I was trying to explain in the earlier part of this I did it in honorable intent I didn't go out there and just start ratting off a bunch of people to try to establish my gateway out of the prison sentence that was up and coming I was very specific I didn't care I was ready for whatever when the uh was put on me and they got me in that moment of letting go of my life. The hardest part, my friend, is when something jump-started me back to life almost an hour later. And I realized I was back here. And I'm still dealing with that to this day, even though that happened in June.

Because I was so comfortable where I had landed that I didn't want to come back to this struggle. But getting back to your, you know, your question about am I afraid? I'm afraid of nothing. I never have been my entire life because I have an inner confidence in myself. But bear in mind, I am also a highly trained individual. I can sense, detect or spot now any another approach or attempt. And there have been two more since June. They're well aware of where I am. I'm well aware that they're aware of that. But I also have other resources to preserve my life. I had two near-death experiences in my life.

And I was blessed to see what's on the other side as well. And I think when you do experience something like that, you really don't fear anything anymore. Of course, I mean, I'm not going to say anymore because there's times where, you know, I fear for my children. I mean, that's just that, you know, love I feel for them. But for the most part, like I am not scared of death because like you, I got to see and I'm curious, what did you see and what did you experience?

Because I know for me, one thing that was really beautiful that I love sharing is when I was, you know, down on the ground, I had an asthma attack and I had quit breathing. I was protected. Like I, before I was even dead, I was, I was like protected. I wasn't experiencing the pain. I didn't know what was happening. I was just fully protected by the light. Yes. I've taken over 60 people through the dying process. So I have a lot of exposure to the last seconds of life with so many. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross gave us five stages to the dying process when she instituted the hospice organization in the United States. And once you hit the phase of acceptance, then you

become enshrouded in something far more superior than normal mindset understanding and this is where what you felt of your love and comfort and what I felt in that moment of the dying experience too but coming back did you not feel as I did that you didn't want to leave where we had just been and I didn't see the tunnel of light I didn't see none of that what I did was say the tunnel of light. I didn't see none of that. What I did was say, okay, I accepted God. I'm on my way. Thank you for bringing me home. And literally that was the last thought I had before I lost consciousness. Yes, exactly the same. I didn't see the tunnel. I've read tons of near-death experience books.

I've joined support groups. There was no light. The first time I had an outer body experience, the second time I actually crossed over. But I will tell you, I didn't want to come back either. And I get really excited when I enrolls because I'm like, Oh my God, I'm so excited that they get to go to the other side. And people are looking at me like, she's freaking crazy. Like, why is she all like excited? And we're over here crying. And I'm like, because it's just, I know, I know the love, the oneness that you feel. Yes. Yes. This is very true. It gave me clarity to the many people that I've taken through the dying experience as a hospice chaplain to have them look me in the eye and say, thank you, or I love you or God bless or whatever, but it's always a positive moment. And within two or three or five or 10 seconds,

they take their last breath pupils spread out and you just know the soul separated and i always take a very powerful moment i was with my dad when he died and i and i never experienced such a spiritual process before it was truly like surreal you know it absolutely is in many occasions especially in the federal prison hospital where I was at they would be talking names of people's names so I'd write the names down and I'd take it to the nurse's station after my session with them and the nurses would call the family and every single time I'm, guys. Every time it was somebody that in their family that had already passed away. Wow. And they yeah, they do come and escort the soul to where this lands, which is, of course, the kingdom of God.

So, yes, it's really amazing. Yeah. Isn't that cool? You know, I'm not someone who can do that. It's, it's, I'd be crying. I'd be depressed. So what helps you stay uplifted? Is it the fact that you have the faith of where they're going? I think it's more than that. It's a shared experience with the decedent and their family, because after they pass, you have to deal with all the grief of the people that are going to be missing them or didn't close enough doors with them or all of these other case scenarios that come into play to me it's an honor it's a privilege to be in representation of extending god's love to somebody in that final moment of the crisis of the separation from life and for them to have a blessed assurance within and you can see it in their faces

one acceptance phase one phases of the dying process acceptance is everything because then we have clear understanding we know that our path is now designated and it's not going to change or differentiate so uh and all the people i've taken through the process it's been an honor every single time they're in jail it reminds me of how like some of the covid patients are alone without the love and support of their families and for uh covid uh bedside last rights over a computer screen with family members that would hand me the screen and put me on there to do last rights i did last rights over a very dear friend of mine his wife passed three days ago and the four days ago when i was able to be there for the entire family and do the experience it was

very very very heartwarming to be able to be there because their grief was developing and some hours later she went on to be at the lord but it's kind of pandemics that we come into. These ladies are what we talk about in crisis events, crisis victory. How do you handle in the moment a change, a critical change in life? How do we approach that moment and how do we successfully and victoriously come out of that moment? to all of you, please, please, please get the, get the word of this book out to people. You guys have read it. You understand what I'm trying to say because it connects with every one of us that have gone through some pretty heavy duty life experiences. Well, what about the people that are losing their home right now? And they don't have, they have total economic collapse. Where do they go for guidance, if you will, or how to crawl out of the web of disparity that they find themselves in for the very first time in their life. And we together, all of us right now in this interview, clearly understand that because of the damaged paths that we have successfully

crawled ourselves out of. I'm very proud to know both of you and your history that you shared, because it's not an easy journey and anything worth having in life doesn't come easily. Whenever I'm in a dark place or whenever things really bad are happening, as hard as it is, and trust me, I am not perfect at this, but I try to remember to just throw up my hands and say, all right, this is a opportunity to evolve, to learn from God. So I'm throwing up my hands and you use the word surrender. Let's talk about that. What does that word surrender mean to you? Acceptance of the scenario that I find myself implanted in, in the moment, people that are of the earth and not going in a spiritual walk or direction, it's cataclysmic to them, as you would well understand based on what you shared with me

about your Las Vegas experiences. So you get it. Once we find greater focus on something bigger than we are that we truly believe in, all of a sudden, all of these things tend to unveil and unwrap and the answers come to us because we're no longer the one seeking the answer. We are sharing that with something greater than us that will give us the guidance. So, I mean, I think that my son and most of the people who I shared a little bit would probably freak out if I didn't ask you a little bit about El Chapo. You know, what's interesting is, I believe, is he here in Colorado? Is that where his sentences serve? Some things I'm not really at liberty to discuss, but I can tell you this much. The first

time that I met El Chapo, I was invited down to Culiacan to a major mafia wedding of a high-ranking official in the family. So I took my wife down there with me at their request. And this was the first time my wife actually found out what I really was in Trillium. So they take my wife under armed escort and set her with the other wives, respectively, across from me in this plaza. And they put me at the table of the bosses. I was seated with the other lords. The wedding couple were in front in the middle, and a very famous Mexican band was playing that night, cartel-owned, but I'm not going to say their name. Anyway, within a short time, we noticed, we call them soldiers, but they're civilians that are walking around with automatic weapons that protect people like El Chapo surrounded the wedding site and made sure

everything's cleared and El Chapo walked in he came straight to the wedding table presented the family with the feast and then he came over to the table of bosses respectively and at that point I was first introduced to El Chapo as our trusted friend from the Pacific Northwest. I was down in country about three to four months after that event. They were moving 6,000 kilos of cocaine north. It was already in transit, and they wanted me down there with regard to taking possession of a ton and a half of that coke. It was too much for me to take on within a window of time they wanted it distributed. So yeah, I flew down to Culiacan, up at the airport under guard, armed guard escort, and taken out to a ranch site. And at the ranch

site, the man I was with got a phone call, and it was El Chapo on the other end. He happened to say I was there. So Chapo said, oh, bring him up. I got to talk to him. So I was taken up to La Junta, up to a private ranch in St. Louis, where I was escorted into the house and taken right into the office room that El Chapo was in. And he was very gracious to me, shook my hand, thanked me for taking the time to come and be with him. Sat me down and started wanting to know about the Canadian marijuana market. Now, this is 30 years ago, almost 30 years ago. So at that time, pounds of marijuana in Chicago were flipping for $6,000 a pound. And what he wanted to do was trade cocaine for marijuana

because cocaine cost you almost nothing. And it was an interest. And I was already moving as a cocaine in that market, obviously. So I had the gateway in, but he was a fascinating strategist. He really, really understood all layers and layers of the business industry because he created much of it. The Arellano Felix crime family that controlled Tijuana, you've probably heard of them. When I was in 1969 in that mountain village, Ramon Arellano Felix was six years old and he used to ride the burros beside me. And his uncle was a drug lord that would come up and visit the man responsible for my safety. Ramon Arellano Felix was six years old and he used to ride the burros beside me. And his uncle was a drug lord that would come up and visit the man responsible for my safety. I had my own guards assigned to me and everything when I was 15 years old.

And so Ramon would come up three or four days and we would be out burrow back riding along the poppy fields or wherever. You know, we were always under constant eye guard and protection. And lo and behold, 30 years later, he is this massively large drug lord, moving about 20 metric tons of cocaine a month through Tijuana into the United States. He's unfortunately he's been shot and killed. He was killed in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, where I think you guys have a picture of my restaurant nightclub in Mazatatlan i had a business on the beach down there during those years and but you know as the time ticks on almost everybody i've known that were truly large narco traffic companies they're all dead you know we're at the end of several smugglers that i grew up with and worked with have crashed planes in the mountains,

suspiciously got blown up in cars, things like that. They're all gone. It's almost a loneliness, but it's also part of the healing and separation from that existence that I had survived in those years. How has telling your story offered you healing? That's a good question. The telling of my story through Crisis Victory is to benefit other people, not so much myself anymore. I have accepted that which I came from, and I am totally in acceptance to that which I've been for well over 20 years now in serious ministry, a departmental contractor for the DOJ. All of these things that I've gone through and

acquired wisdom as a result of survivorship and being able to have an ability to pass this on to people like yourselves that are survivors that have made it, that are going to get the word out about it. That's how I take on my interpretation, if you will, of where we feel within ourselves today as a result of those experiences. It's not about us. It's everything is about God and everything is about serving God and everything is being real about it and we must be real. Everything I've ever shared I have pieces of paper to prove that I went through and existed in these experiential times. I think it's very important because a lot of people tend to fantasize to some extent an experience and then what that does is that takes out a lack

of trust and confidence from the person presenting the conversation and we certainly don't want to do that because what we're doing we're giving god the glory everything we do giving god the glory and if you're not in that path of servitude and then you should consider either finding a way to get to that path or find another path it's not about us we're not we're not looking for attention guys what we're looking for is salvation for other souls well i'm very i'm very confident that our souls are saved based on what we are sharing together in wholeness right now but salvation comes at the sacrifice look at jesus the greatest sacrifice on the world yet what did he do in his moment of death he turned to the thief decimus and the cross beside him and said hey brother this very day we're going to paradise i mean it wasn't a negative down of course he

feared it for a moment in the beginning what have you forsaken me but in his final moment what did he do he loved another brother and lifted that brother up and assured him of where they were heading and i just love that i love that in this world today as it is with the lessons and the wisdom that you've learned through all of your amazing stories and your very adventurous life what advice would you give to the world today to those of all races, all political parties, religions, and sexes? What would be the wisdom and advice you would offer to mankind? What a wonderful question. I would ask them to just take focus on the only two commandments that Jesus Christ gave us. I'm not talking about the 10 commandments that were given to Moses,

but the first one is to love God first. So now we have a focusing point of goodness that helps us through our daily trek. But the other one is to love one another. And as a guest pastor in many, many churches, these are the two that I constantly bring up in the pulpit and share. And how hard is it? And why is it so hard for us to simply love one another? And that's my answer. To love one another, but to mean it. Yeah. And show it by example, sister. Thank you.

I think so many people sometimes forget that it's just not about you. You know, it's about us. Absolutely. It's not. It's about us. Very well said. I think that what you guys are doing here with this podcast is going to be an amazing recognition if you will for god himself coming through us and i thank you

guys for this wonderful and i will be praying for you our podcast wouldn't be what it is without wonderful guests like you so thank you there's a reason we are on here today together there's a reason we cross paths, right? Nothing's coincidence. There is. So if there's someone out there right now who is part of a gang and feels like they can't get out, they're worried they're going to be killed. Or if there's someone out there that is in a dark place of dealing drugs or addiction

and can't find their way out or is homeless and can't find their way out. How can we help? And what can we do? What's that first step? That's a very good question, ladies. The first thing to do is to allow yourself to be open to being used to them, first and foremost. The second thing to do is to listen to their story because we don't learn as we're talking.

We learn as we're talking. We learn as we're listening. And once they assimilate into you what it is that they are dealing with, the destructive force, that you have a true compassion and understanding to want to hear and have clarity in, you don't make a decision in the moment. I always take at least 24 hours

and I pray and I reflect. Now, there are circumstances where I'll have a rape victim dropped off or someone that's beaten real bad or an overdose in one of the homeless camps that I just went into. There are certain times, ladies, where we have to act in the moment. But for the most part, we don't. And the main thing to do is hear the story, take time to go to God with it, reflect on

it, meditate on it, and then you will have clarity. Because every single exposed moment with someone going through such a tragic event in their life, where you realize this, that is not a tragic event in your life. What we have to do is to be able to come close with their necessary moment that they are honorable enough to share with us. And we need to honor that information and act on it only after we've had time to assimilate it into our thinking process. I mean, I've sat around fires and watched three people share the same needle while a young girl sticks her arm out of a tent ready to trade her for just a $20 shot. And I've had to sit there and not judge, but show them through love

and understanding that they are lost in that moment. We can take them out of that moment, but we can't, if we start judging that moment, or if we start entering into conflict, put an arm around that person, give them a comfort and assurance that somebody out there actually not only says they care, but they become the example of caring. And this is how we proceed forward. And God gets the glory. We certainly don't, we don't want it. It doesn't belong to us. Stop pretending it's not there. You know, we're so easily turning our heads to the pain because it hurts too much to actually know. Nothing changes unless you actually can acknowledge that pain. The beautiful thing about it is when we feel pain and painful in the moment

of being exposed to that environment and someone going through that, we have a place to where we know we can give that pain and we can shake it off. That person that we leave, we need to figure out a way to come back to that person and teach them how to shake it off. This is done by example. Salvation is shown. Salvation is shown. When you know know you have it i see it in both of you ladies i can feel information that you are truly saved this is something that they need to feel coming from us and then they can share that i recently had a lady a rape victim that came by and saw me here oh not even 10 days ago nine or ten days ago and she came by she's now married three years ago the event happened

to her. They've got a little child, both working full-time jobs. He was a prostitute living in homeless camps, slamming drugs in her arm and letting anybody do whatever they needed to do. This is a story relative to all of us, but her boyfriend overdosed in that camp. I was there. I took my Norcam kid out, blasted it up his nose. I got him back to life. And they came by here not even two weeks ago, showing me their new life. And it was an amazing, amazing moment. And it gave God the glory, not Pastor Hal, God. But you know, because I didn't judge them, because I didn't respond to what I saw that I didn't agree with, it opened a door. And that rewarded 10 days ago when they showed up here and just gave me hugs and tears and crying and all the love.

Thank you for what you do. Thank you for being a beacon of light. I know I was in a place in my life where I didn't feel like I was worthy of God. If I was going to be real honest, I pushed the source God out of my life because if I invited a man, then I would be forced to change and look at myself in the mirror and I wasn't ready. But I didn't feel like I was worthy. You offer a very warm welcoming. Unfortunately, there are a lot of pastors and a lot of churches out there where people do feel judged. They do feel like they're not welcome to walk through that door. I can't even explain like the love I feel coming from you. Thank you. It's real. It's God. In your intention. So what would you say to those people that have had a bad experience at those churches? Felt like they

weren't worthy because religion has put these very strict rules on them that they feel like they've broken. What would your advice be to them? I so love that question. You have no idea because over the many years of being in pulpits as a guest pastor in several churches, I've had people come up to me and say, this is not a living church. It's a dead church. But I would tell them because they would sit there and question about God. And I'd say, well, that's okay. You go ahead and question because he's not questioning you. God loves you. Even if you deny him or you don't believe in him, he still believes in you. And the main thing is, is getting back to the two commandments Jesus gave us. Love God, give it to God, like I did that day

in that prison cell so many years ago, and allow God to do his wondrous works through us. And then we start loving one another. You feel the love I have for you. I know you do because it's so real and it's truthful and it's honest. The people that the homeless camp that came by here not two weeks ago after three years ago when he was dying from a drug overdose just to show me that they had a great home, a great job, a great family and life was good. This is what we do. We plant a seed and someone else comes along and waters the seed but if it's not genuine like you said then what you do is you go to another one of the many mansions God has. You seek until you find that which is adaptable to your understanding. But let me be very clear.

When a pastor takes his ordination vows, there is a responsibility. The book of Galatians even talks about government responsibility. So we got to answer to God the Father, whatever we do, whatever we say, in a different way, because we have taken a holy sacrament to be in representation of him. And I pray for pastors like that. I don't judge those pastors. I pray that they will become enlightened and heralded by the experience of the trueness between our relationship to God once we get that impartation of the Holy Spirit, which all of us here have.

I feel it completely. A shepherd recognizes the flock, ladies, as the flock recognizes a true shepherd. You know, it is done by example. Yeah, and it's so true. You know, I've gone to churches where I have felt that, but I don't criticize the pastor. I'll go up and give him a hug and thank him for his service, and on down the road to the next thing with about 20 or 30 people following me out of the church going pastor where can I come in and hang out with you buddy you know hell we'll sit there and smoke a cigarette and have a cup of coffee and who am I to judge the judgment is what that's what you ladies have brought up throughout this entire thing how do we do this or how you know what that is because you have been victimized by judgment take your

experience and your wisdom overcome that judgment judgment feeling, express not only confidence, but be the example of what real love is. Real love is an absolute clear understanding of how we need to be treating one another as we want to be treated. We know the scripture. So I'm sure you've gathered by now. Shanna and I sometimes cuss, unfortunately. Not my place to judge you, sister. We have this thing on our podcast called Break That Shit Down.

Okay. And now it's time for Break That Shit Down. for break that shit down father as we come boldly to your throne of grace we plead the intercessory blood of your child jesus christ sacrificed on that cross that day that his shed blood would spill upon the earth and it would be the sim to redemption that mankind truly needed and lord as we enter into this prayer we want to lift up each and every person on this planet that you have endowed us with, O Lord. We ask that you impart your Holy Spirit upon them. And we ask in great magnitude, Lord, that they not only become blessed, they become aware. And Father, we want to lift up the homeless, the destitute, the distraught, the many, Lord, that are going through the trials and travails of that

which is encamped upon this planet this very day. And we would ask in the holy name of Jesus, Lord, that you would bless and impart each and every one of them. So, Father, we close out in prayer today in love and dedication. We do rededicate our lives to Jesus Christ every single moment and every single day, O Lord. We become the witnesses to the many that are confused and lost. But they see that we walk in another way with another spiritual guidance. And they approach us wanting to know how this in their life. In that moment, oh Lord, may you receive the glory. And we would ask of these things in the blessed name of Jesus.

Amen. Thank you. You're welcome. It did feel good. It does, doesn't it? Isn't that a beautiful feeling? You know, we truly know that God was with us in that moment. And I love you both very much.

And I truly mean that when I say that. Right back up. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Love and light. And to you ladies too, be safe on your journey. Give God the glory and the journey will be successful. There's some place that everybody should go to, to get your book.

Yes. Crisisvictory.com. Just look it up online at Amazon. It's an incredible handbook. I strongly recommend it. Awesome. I really enjoyed meeting you guys. Thanks for being with us today. We hope you will come back next week. I really enjoyed meeting you guys. You too. Thanks for being with us today. We hope you will come back next week.

If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate, like, and subscribe. Thank you. We rise to lift you up. Thanks for listening.