Back From the Dead, Former Drug Addict Brings the Gospel With a Vengeance

So you believe you’re so far gone that God cannot save you? Derrick Gates begs to differ.

Gates, an apostle, revivalist, author and American filmmaker, was raised by bikers and drug addicts. He says he started having sex and smoking marijuana at the age of 9; he’s been a criminal boss and has been arrested more than 30 times in his lifetime.

And to top it all off, he’s come back from the dead in what doctors termed as a “medical miracle” so he can spend the rest of his life preaching the gospel of Jesus to the lost. Yes, it’s been an incredible life and testimony for Gates, host of the Unleashed podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, and he’s making a huge difference for the kingdom.

“I had become a horrible drug addict. I was doing anywhere from $2,000 a day worth of cocaine and meth a day,” Gates told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “At that time, I really just wanted to die. I wanted out. I never thought I’d make it to 21 years old, let alone 22 or 23. We were kicking in doors with machine guns and robbing people. We had shootouts on the side of the road with rival gangs. It was an environment you never expect to make it out of.

“I had done a whole lot of drugs, a shot called a speedball, and what that does is that it stops your heart. … I was pronounced dead (from a drug overdose), 100% dead. The coroner pronounced me dead. It was 15 to 20 minutes before after they pronounced me until the time that I rose up. I was standing over my body looking at myself. I felt the enemy come into the room. Anything that was ever good in me was being sucked out of my body.

“The only way I could describe it is that maybe that’s what Jesus felt like when He died on the cross and He said, ‘Why have You forsaken Me?’ The Father had to leave. He couldn’t stand to be in that much sin. I wonder if that’s what it feels like to go to hell. It felt like anything that was ever Him was being pulled out of me and that terrified me. It terrified me to know that I had screwed up that bad, and I could feel God leaving. And then Jesus walked into the room, and everything changed.”

For the rest of this phenomenal story, listen to this entire podcast and make sure to tune into the Unleashed podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network.