AFTER spending years using and selling drugs, Mark Meek found God.
Today, they 56-year-old is a pastor at Full Gospel Church in Bedfordview, Ekurhuleni, and helps addicts get off drugs.
Speaking to Daily Sun, Mark said he started making and selling drugs in Westbury, Joburg, when he was only 13 and continued into his 40s.
He said he had since chosen the Bible over bad deeds.
Mark, who served a sentence for murder at Leeuwkop Correctional Services between 1985 and 1993, said: “I was manufacturing cocaine and rock. When I took them myself, I felt like I owned Westbury. A sinful life of gangsters and drugs destroyed me.”
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Mark said as a child, he dreamt of becoming a lawyer but he ended up dropping out of school in grade 7.
He said he hit rock bottom in 2007 when he lived as a hobo, sleeping in abandoned buildings, parks and on the street. At the time, he was using cat and Mandrax.
Mark said in 2014, God appeared to him and told him to leave drugs and be a living testimony to help addicts.
“God’s voice told me I must stand as a father figure to drug dealers and addicts.
“I’ve done many bad things and I regret them,” he said.
Mark told the SunTeam he started the Spiritual Restoration Centre in 2015 to help drug addicts with shelter and food.
“I’ll never go back to drugs because they’re evil and wasted my time,” he said.
Mark’s message to drug dealers and addicts is that there’s always hope.
“I want to tell the world that crime does not pay,” he said.
Mark said he was helping addicts from his heart and appealed for donations as he didn’t have sponsors.
