- Welcome back to "The 700 Club."

Herman Mendoza felt invincible

and he had a good reason.

He worked his way up froma street-corner drug dealer

to become a cocaine kingpin,

but as Herman wasrapidly rising to the top

the Feds were slowly closing in.

- [Reporter] In his early 20s,

Herman Mendoza made hisfortune selling cocaine

along the eastern seaboard.

Herman's kingdom crumbledwhen he was arrested

and faced life in prison.

It was there that Herman came face-to-face

with the love of God.

He knew he would never be the same.

In his book "Shifting Shadows",Herman shares his story,

showing how far God will goto bring a troubled soul home.

- Herman Mendoza joins usnow for the rest of the story

and we welcome you to "The700 Club" via Skype Herman.

- Thank you for having me.

- Well you started dealingdrugs at a very young age.

How old were you and why did you start?

- I started at the age of 13 pretty much.

I got sort of involvedwith the trend at the time.

People were involved inthe sales of narcotics

and I started to consume drugs

and sort of got hookedinto consuming drugs

and so I was doin' itmore to sustain the habit.

And then eventually gotarrested as a young person,

13, 14 years old, and my later years, 21,

was when I was involved againin the sales of narcotics

with my brothers, distributinghundreds of kilos of cocaine.

And I was unemployed at the time,

and I didn't wanna go backinto that kinda lifestyle,

knowing the fact that it haddestroyed me as a juvenile.

But I was unemployed and Ithought, hey fast money, quick.

I can make a quick buck andeventually got arrested.

- Yeah I was reading

that you were actually counting

your brother's money and itwas like over a million dollars

and you were like, I want some of that.

- Exactly, I saw $1.2 million in cash.

I was only 21 years old, andseeing that kind of money

kinda lured me back intothis kind of business.

And got so hooked on it,

I thought I was on top of the world.

I had so much money, party life,

thinking that would sustain me,

you know give me the kindapleasures I was looking after

and eventually led me down aroad of destruction and prison.

- Herman you were arrestedin a drug bust so big

it made the papers in New York.

What happened?

- Yeah, so I got arrestedwith 31 kilos of cocaine

and my car was pulled over by the police.

We were under investigation.

And when they sent to the prison,

I remember the next dayI picked up the newspaper

and it said, two brothers busted

with $3.8 million of cocaine,facing life in prison.

And at that point Iwas just so distraught.

I was like wow, I'm reallyfacing life in prison

as a young man.

But I was still not reallygiving my life to the Lord,

or thinkin' about God, Iwas really thinkin' about

my situation at the time.

And eventually, gotsentenced three to nine years

of incarceration, we workedout with my attorneys

and the prosecutor.

Went to a program called Shock,

and then went to a chapel that same day

and said, Lord if you allowme to get out of prison

I promise you I would notdrink alcohol for six months.

I mean what kind of petition was that?

It was just ignorance on my part.

And eventually was releasedafter serving that time

in that particular military camp.

And as the scripturesays in Proverbs 26:11,

as the dog returns to its vomit,

so fools return to their folly.

And that's what I did.

I went right back after six months

to celebrate my sobriety,and started to drink

and went right back into the business

of distribution of cocaine.

And eventually got arrestedagain on a federal level.

- All right, so you vowed that you'd,

when you got arrested again,

you vowed that you'drather take your own life

than go to prison.

- What happened?- Exactly.

So eventually I decided to go home one day

after drinking and partying,and I wanted to see my family.

And so when I got to myhome the cops obviously,

were surrounding the property.

And the very next day,they contacted my wife,

and they said look, wehave the house surrounded,

tell your husband to give himself in.

And the very first reactionwas to jump out the window.

And when I seen all the cops,state police, DEA agents,

marshals, I told my wife, my life is over.

Open the door.

And so as they hauled meinto the adjacent car there,

on the way to the prison,I told the marshals,

I wanna end my life right here.

It's worth nothing.

'Cause I was confrontinga lotta time in prison.

Little did I know that my brother,

that got arrested with me, hadgiven his life to the Lord.

And was praying that God wouldsend me to the same facility

and same prison cell, so hecan preach the gospel to me.

- That's amazing 'causethe chances were slim.

But you ended up in the same prison,

right there with your brother,

and you became a Christian.

- And I became a Christian.

He shared the gospelwith me and I just felt

that my life was just void at the time,

I was looking for answers,tryin' to find solace,

tryin' to find the peace thatthe scripture so describes.

And I went to the chapel

and the sermon was pretty much for me

and saying that there's aperson in here that's so broken,

looking for answers, had triedeverything, money, women,

party life, and I knew it was for me.

He says look, you can receive Jesus

and have your life fulfilled.

And I went up to the altarand extended my hands,

and I said, Lord forgive me of my sins.

And God saved me rightthere in that prison chapel.

And my life was just, youknow I felt this warmth

that enveloped me.

I felt convicted of the sinsthat I've done in the past

and I wanted to make amendswith the people that I hurt.

And I sort of saw likea vision of the people

that I was spewing drugs to and hurting.

And perhaps women thatwere selling their bodies

to consume the verydrugs that I was selling.

And people that were killing for drugs.

And I wanted to make things right.

So I contacted my motherand said I was sorry,

that I was born again,that I was a Christian.

She didn't knew about this new conversion.

But she was so happy for me.

And my life was just--- Well Herman,

I just wanna point outthat you were sentenced

to a fraction of the time thatyou were originally facing.

Since then you've beenout, you've been preaching.

You and your wife arein ministry together.

And you have written about it in your book

called "Shifting Shadows."

This is an incrediblestory, an incredible book,

incredible testimony,of an incredible life.

Herman thank you so muchfor being on the show

and sharing your story.

- Thank you for having me on.

God bless.- All right God bless you.