There’s a passage in the New Testament, Romans 1:16, that says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek,” which testifies to the fact that message of redemption through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has the power to rescue even the worst of sinners. It’s a truth that gives hope to those of us who have made shipwreck of our lives and have indulged the impulses of our darker sides.
Andy “Rebirth” Pellerano is a prime example of the power of the gospel in action. Pellerano used to be a member of the infamous and deadly Latin Kings, a violent street gang. However, while serving a number of years in prison in connection with the gang activity he participated in during his time with the Latin Kings and surviving a nearly fatal drug overdose, Pellerano ended up turning his life around by repenting of His sins and turning to Jesus Christ.
He is now a minister of the Lord and a Christian rap artist who is using his gifts, skills, and testimony to help people who are lost just like he was to come to Jesus and experience a true transformation.
Check out more about Pellerano’s story via The Christian Tribune:
Such is what he spoke to Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters about, describing both his former life of crime and how he managed to change his life for the better by adopting the Christian faith and salvation in it. “It was just the wrong influences, listening to the wrong voices, just gravitating to the wrong things and being out there,” he told Watters, describing how his life took a turn toward the criminal side of things early on.
Continuing, he explained how he got involved with the group as a young teen, saying, “I was around 14, 15 years old and I let five grown men jump me so I could be their friend, as I like to put it. So what would I have to do to keep that friendship? And it led to a first-degree attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated criminal damage. It was gang-related. I was 16, I made 17. I was charged as an adult.”
Continuing, he described how he remained committed to the gang in prison, rising through the ranks: “They used to call me Paco. When I basically got out of the gang — when I went to prison — we started an outlaw King Blood Nation, where we joined the Latin Kings with the Bloods and I was holding the flag in that prison. I was the president and they called me Paco, and ironically it was ‘Paco the Pope of the Streets.’”
Pellerano then shared that things began to change when he realized how his life was negatively impacting the life of his family even while he was in prison.
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“Watching my kids grow up in pictures; watching my kids, you know, not being able to come visit me because I’m going to maximum security. But this one time, it’s etched in my heart.” He continued, “I’m fully restrained, I have the belt with the handcuffs with shackles, and my little girl… she was almost 2 years old when I first got incarcerated. By this time, she was about 6 years old. She was about 5 or 6 years old… So I go and visit, I’m holding my beautiful little girl, and she starts asking me all these questions,” the former gang member said.
He then described the highly emotional scene, going on to say, “She grabs my handcuffs and she says, ‘Daddy, daddy, what is this?’ And it was brand-new handcuffs… and I said, ‘Oh, that’s my bracelets. You don’t see daddy shining over here?’ And she looks at me. She said, ‘Well, what is this?’ And she grabs my shackles and I started making the shackles jump like a jump rope. I said, ‘Oh, that’s my jump rope.’ She looks at me again and she says, ‘You look stuck. You look stuck.’ And then she asks me again, she’s like, ‘Daddy, what is this?’ I said handcuffs. She said, ‘Daddy, what is this?’ I said shackles. She said, ‘Why they got you like this daddy?’ I said, ‘Because daddy was being bad and this is daddy’s punishment.’ And she looks at me and she says, ‘Well, daddy, promise me you’re not going to be bad anymore because I need you home with me, daddy. I need you home with me, daddy.’ It killed me. But I’m looking at her, and then she starts asking me questions. She was like, ‘Well, daddy,’ — because she’s mixed, so she said, ‘Daddy, what color are you? What color is mom? Well, what color am I?’ It killed me because my daughter didn’t know her identity because her father wasn’t in her life. And that’s what I look at going on in society today. People do not know their identity because they’re not in their father’s life.”
Not long after that, when he was taken to the hospital after overdosing on drugs, that he met the Lord Jesus Christ. Pellerano said he was in bed, pretending to be asleep, just waiting for the right opportunity to escape because he wasn’t handcuffed.
“So the minute the police officer left to help some of the nurses with another guy that came in real belligerent that was intoxicated, as soon as I seen him move, I jumped up. I ripped the IVs from my arm, and I broke out running. I made it through one door, but the other door, they have to buzz you out. And it brings me to the scripture that God will close doors no man can open and open doors that no man can close, and I thank God for that closed door because I needed to get caught,” he recounted.
Once he was introduced to God, things in his life began to change. Pellerano said his new life in Christ is dedicated to helping others who are in the place he was at before Jesus.