Wrestling with the Devil

by Lex Luger

  I repeated the words that Steve prayed. “God, I’m a sinner.” With those first words, I broke down. “Jesus, please forgive me. Come into my heart and take over my life.”

  And then an incredible thing happened. The same brilliant light that I had seen in my dream—that tiny speck that had pulled me out of the muck and darkness—I felt it inside of me. It purged me from the inside out with such power that I thought I was going to spontaneously combust! It was like being power-washed by light, scoured clean of the darkness inside of me; I had never felt anything like it before.

  As I stood up, it dawned on me: I had been kneeling over the very same spot on the couch where I had overdosed nearly ten months earlier. Only God could have orchestrated that—for me to be raised to new life with Him in the exact place where I had nearly died. There was no doubt in my mind that something supernatural had just happened.

  I was immediately aware that I was embarking on a brand-new journey. I felt completely different from the inside out. I realized I wasn’t alone anymore. I sensed God was going to guide me from now on, which gave me incredible peace and relief. Instead of isolating myself, I became more outgoing and was excited to be around people again.

  When I asked Steve what was happening to me, he said it was the Holy Spirit living inside of me and working through me. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sure felt good!

  Everything in life became fascinating to me, and I wanted to take it all in. I was like a kid in a candy store.

  I started bugging Steve. “What’s next? Do I go to church with you every Sunday? What should I do?” Suddenly, I was hungry to learn new things instead of being a know-it-all. That was a big change for me.

  “Lex, it’s a great idea to go to church regularly. But even before that happens, I want you to read the Bible, because God will speak into your life through it. It is holy and inspired, the living Word of God.”

  Steve brought me a brand-new black leather Bible with the words Holy Bible in gold letters on the front. He had written my name on the inside. He added his signature and dated it so neither of us would forget when I had accepted Jesus into my life in that hotel room. Even though I had owned many expensive things in my life, this Bible meant more to me than all of them put together. I was very touched. I marveled at this precious gift, the second Bible Steve had given me. This one would never be carelessly tossed on the floor like the first one had been.

  “Where do I start reading?” I asked Steve.

  “Start with one of the Gospels.”

  “What are those?” I asked.

  “Gospel means ‘good news.’ In the Bible, a Gospel is a book that tells about Jesus’ life on earth. There are four Gospels in the Bible—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Many people recommend you begin with John, but I prefer Matthew, myself.”

  I started with the book of Matthew, along with an easy-to-follow study guide that Steve gave me to help me understand it better. I found it all so exciting, especially when I came to the verses in Matthew 7 that Dr. Frady had quoted. I read them over and over again. These were the words of truth that had convicted me at the back of Dr. Frady’s church.

  When I began bugging Steve about going to church, he first wanted to explain why we went to church. “It’s a place to praise and worship God through hymns and songs that will often speak to your heart. It’s a chance to gather together and hear God’s message. You’ll also find that we encourage each other with our stories. Over time, you’ll begin to recognize the gifts that you can give to others in the church and the community to make a difference in people’s lives.”

  One day I said to Steve, “I sure wish I could pray like you. I feel awkward when I try to do it. How do I learn to pray like you?”

  “Don’t worry about learning how to pray. The Holy Spirit will guide you over time. The key question is why we pray—it’s to praise God for what He is doing in our lives and to give thanks to Him. And it’s also intercession.”

  “What is that?”

  “Praying for other people’s needs. We can ask God for things in prayer. He already knows everything we need and want, but He wants us to come to Him anyway. When you pray, He’ll give you divine guidance.”

  It was time to make another change.

  “Lex, have you ever thought of moving out of this place?” Steve asked, looking around my hotel room. “If I had an extra room, would you consider moving in with me for a while?”

  I thought it was one of the best offers I had heard in a long time. It was a whole new life for me, like a breath of fresh air.

  My friendship with Sting had instantly taken on a new meaning. I understood everything that had taken place in his life because now I was experiencing it myself. We were like two brothers being reunited. He asked me to appear with him along with Nikita Koloff on Praise the Lord, airing on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. It was incredible for the three of us to be together, hanging out at Steve’s house in California. Nikita and I had been adversaries in the ring, but now we were spiritual brothers.

  Everything was happening so quickly. Even though I was reunited with old friends and was spending time with a new family of believers, I would often get extremely emotional thinking about what I had done in the past. It would come in waves and would bring me to tears. I had such regret for what I had put my entire family through. It was a deep pain and heaviness I carried in my heart. For the first time, I was feeling godly remorse. But I didn’t know what to do about it.

  On Memorial Day weekend I was invited to a holiday picnic at Dr. Frady’s house that turned out to be a surprise birthday party for me. Halfway through the party, Dr. Frady’s wife, Jan, pulled me aside and said that her husband wanted to see me in his study.

  My mind momentarily flashed back to the times I had been summoned to the principal’s office at school. Did I do something wrong already?

  I cautiously entered his study. When Dr. Frady asked me to have a seat in his chair, I knew he had something serious to say to me.

  “I don’t know all the details of your life,” he said, “but I’ve read the headlines. I know a lot of bad stuff has happened. But there is one thing you need to understand, Lex. God has forgiven you for all that. That also means you have to be able to forgive yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be totally useless to the Kingdom. You’ve got to be able to move forward with your life. What’s happened in the past is like a bell that has been rung, and you can’t unring it. Carrying around things from the past will only weigh you down. You have to let it go. If you keep holding on to unforgiveness for yourself and others, it will become a cancer; it will fester and grow inside of you.

  “But you don’t have to have that cancer inside of you; God has given you a clean slate. You’ve got to get out there and share your story with others. God commands us to do that, to share the good news of the gospel.

  “That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for your past. You can apologize; some people may accept your apology, and some may not. That’s just the way it is.”

  He encouraged me to continue spending time with godly people, to read the Bible, and to share my story as much as possible. As I left, I was thankful that God had brought people like the Fradys and Steve Baskin into my life at just the right time.

  In June, Sting invited me to take part in an Athletes in Action conference in Phoenix. It was encouraging for me to interact with so many other athletes who were putting God first in their lives. That same weekend, Sting and I were scheduled to appear at a high-security youth detention center, along with some of the other Christian athletes.

  It was certainly déjà vu for me to walk in there. We met beforehand with the person who had arranged everything and talked about the order of events. One of the other athletes said to me, “How about you, Lex? Would you like to give your testimony?”

  “Testimony? What is that?” The only testimony I was aware of took place in a courtroom.

  “It’s just telling your story.”

  “No way,” I said,
“you guys have got this covered.”

  Sting was an old hand at this. After he shared how God had changed his life, I suddenly asked him if I could have the microphone for a moment. Sting looked surprised.

  “The only reason I am here today is because I received permission from my probation officer to come. I’m a convicted felon.” That got the audience’s attention.

  You could have heard a pin drop in the room. All eyes were on me. I understood exactly where they were, because I had been there. I began to share from my heart. The Holy Spirit took over. “My pursuit of what seemed cool brought only emptiness into my life. But God gave me a second chance. He can give you a second chance as well. What do you want to stand on—the sand or the rock? You’ve been lied to and let down by people all your lives. Jesus won’t let you down, no matter what.” I had given my very first testimony.

  God broke down many young men’s hearts that day, and it was a humbling experience to be part of it. And then to cap things off, I was part of a big baptism party at the hotel. Sting baptized me in the swimming pool that night, a very special moment for both of us.

  The next morning, I went with Sting and a group of athletes to Phoenix First Assembly of God, the megachurch pastored by Tommy Barnett. We were introduced onstage as a group and waved at the congregation. As I was exiting offstage, the man holding the microphone snagged me and announced to the crowd that I had just been saved. Everyone cheered. Then he said, “Lex, why don’t you give us your testimony?” I was horrified, frozen in fear. If I could have disappeared right then, I would have. I had certainly been in front of large crowds before in my life, but not in this kind of situation. I wondered how long I needed to talk. I spotted Pastor Tommy in the front row, flashing his fingers at me, giving me instructions. Borrowing from my wrestling days, I did a five-minute promo for Jesus. Then Tommy Barnett ran up onstage and gave me a big hug. I had just given testimony number two.

  It turned out to be two power-packed months for me. No matter what I did from that point on, I had to share my story with others.

  Dr. Frady and Steve Baskin are dedicated men of faith who serve and follow Jesus. Living with Steve gave me the opportunity to observe firsthand what that means. Every morning I watched Steve get up early for his devotional time. My first inclination was to give him space and go to the gym for a workout.

  But it wasn’t long before I was right there beside him. He really rubbed off on me. A first-thing-in-the-morning devotional became second nature to me. What had once been my bedtime sleep-it-off hour during my wrestling days had now become my wake-up-with-God hour—another prime example of the 180-degree changes that were happening in my life.

  My Christian family was growing too. I was around people of faith all the time, and I was having a blast—going out to eat, exploring new local places like Stone Mountain, doing ordinary things with my new friends, and laughing the whole time. There was another dramatic change: before I realized it, I began doing things for other people! It was exciting and enjoyable to give without expecting anything in return.

  I followed Dr. Frady’s advice to capitalize on what I was passionate about and began writing about fitness and nutrition for a magazine called Christian Living. I wanted to reach regular folks, not just elite athletes, with the message of a healthy lifestyle. God broadened my perspective about the master plan I had always had. Making a profit wasn’t my driving force anymore. I just wanted to help people.

  I was definitely headed in a new direction with Jesus at my side.

  Everything about me was changing, even more than I realized. People who knew me from the past would say, “Lex, you’re really different. You’re being nice now. Your body language, your mannerisms, your facial expressions—nothing’s the same.”

  Around this time, I was interviewed on a popular local radio sports show that I had been on many times before. At the first break, the show’s host—who had known me for years—stepped out of the studio. “Who is that guy in there?” he said half-seriously to the friend who had come with me. “Is that really Lex?” He couldn’t believe how different I was.

  At the gym, I began going around and helping the younger guys, giving them tips and encouragement. Before, I had always made it clear by my body language that I wanted to be left alone. Now the other guys began to flock to me to get on the Lex plan—following my workout routine. A lot of them asked me how much it cost. “It doesn’t cost anything,” I said, “but there’s one condition. You need to find other guys in the gym who you can teach the plan to.” That put big smiles on their faces. As the weeks passed, just like Pastor Steve, they began getting great results.

  I found that I was really enjoying coaching others. It was also a great opportunity to let these guys know that with proper training and nutrition, they could become as big and strong as they wanted to be, without resorting to PEDs. Great results spoke much louder than a lecture about staying off drugs. Yes, they were impressed with my physique, but I’d joke with them, saying, “If I can do this at my age without steroids and drugs, just think what you can do at your age.” After a great workout, we’d all go to the Golden Corral buffet. I used it as a training table to instruct the young men on how to eat properly. It was also a chance to hang out and have fun with each other.

  The regulars at the gym certainly noticed a change in me too, especially my vocabulary. “Hey, Lex,” they’d say, “you don’t swear anymore.” At first I thought, Yeah, I do, and then I realized, Well, I guess I don’t.

  When guys would ask, “Hey, Lex, who’s that woman I saw you with?” and I’d say, “She’s a friend,” they’d snicker at my comment. To be honest, for the first time in my life, I could enjoy the company of a woman without thinking we were going to end up in bed together. It was a great feeling to have that pressure gone.

  When Steve and I would go out to grab a steak, I could relax at the bar, sipping on ice water, instead of having cocktails and popping pills. So many of the things that had once consumed me, I didn’t care about anymore. This lifestyle change wasn’t something I had been doing consciously; it was just who I was becoming.

  As great as everything was going, I was really struggling with the pain in my hip. It was becoming constant and agonizing. I thought going to the chiropractor, getting massages, and doing long stretches after my workouts would remedy the situation, but it was only getting worse. Taking a couple of Advil and putting ice on my hip wasn’t doing the trick either. I was beginning to realize that sooner rather than later, I needed to see an orthopedic doctor.

  My nephew, Greg, came to visit me in the spring of 2007. Greg is a personal trainer, so I wasn’t surprised when he wanted to stop by a local bodybuilding show. We ended up sitting with a female pro bodybuilder named Liza, whom I knew from the Gold’s Gym I went to. As we talked, I learned that Liza was a physician’s assistant. A few days after the show, one of my friends asked if he could give my contact information to Liza. “Sure,” I said, not thinking much of it.

  When Liza called me, she got right to the point. “At the show I noticed how you were really favoring that right hip. I want you to get that checked out. If it’s okay with you, I want to make an appointment for you with a friend of mine, Dr. Terrell, at Pinnacle Orthopaedics.”

  I really appreciated her concern. I was feeling pretty gimpy by that point, trying more and more not to be seen limping around. I was in so much pain that I realized I shouldn’t put it off any longer. I would get Dr. Terrell’s professional opinion, even though I still thought my problem was with my L5 vertebra and I’d be able to work it out.

  When I arrived at his office, I had X-rays done, then waited for his assessment. When Dr. Terrell came into the examination room with his assistant, he put up two sets of X-rays and illuminated them—one was of my hips, and the other was of a normal pair of hips. He didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he asked, “How on earth were you able to walk from your car upstairs to this office?”

  His question caught me off guard. “I
don’t know. I just did. Why are you asking me that?”

  Dr. Terrell showed me the difference between my hips and the healthy set of hips. “Here’s a normal set of hips. Yours don’t look like that. If you want any quality of life, if you just want to be able to get around, you need to get both hips replaced. Take a look at your left hip. It definitely needs to be done. But that’s not the first priority. You don’t even have a right hip anymore. Your femur is resting on your pelvic bone because your right hip has basically emulsified itself; it is completely gone. There aren’t any other options. We’ll do the right one first, then we can do the left hip a year later.”

  He paused. “I can’t imagine the constant pain you must be in. You’ll feel 100 percent better immediately afterward.”

  Now it was my turn to be silent. My body is breaking down. I’m not the invincible Cyborg. It was a harsh reality to face. This news meant two major surgeries with almost two years of downtime—not exactly what I had in mind for my fitness and nutrition game plan.

  My response took Dr. Terrell by surprise. “To minimize the downtime, can you do both hips at once?”

  “To be honest with you, Lex, I don’t know. We’ve never done bilateral hip replacement surgery before. But I’ll check with our hip specialist, Dr. Swayze, and get back to you.”

  After extensive consultation, I finally got the good news—they were giving it the green light. These were my kind of guys!

  The seven-hour surgery was scheduled for the second week of November at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Georgia. Things were progressing nicely into the fall. I was working hard on a new company called “Total Package Fitness” that I was putting together for a January launch.

  I had gotten an invitation to an autograph show in San Francisco for late October, which I accepted. It would be my last out-of-town trip for a while.

  Going into my surgery, I wanted to be in the best shape of my life, especially my upper body. I knew I would have to back off a little bit when I was in rehab. So while I could, I pushed myself with heavy, intense two-a-day workouts.