I’m currently writing the memoir of a friend whom I met in prison ministry. It is one of those rare life stories that can be both hilariously funny and terribly sad. The book begins with him being in a straitjacket in a padded cell on death watch after unsuccessfully attempting to commit suicide by diving headfirst over the railing of a tier located three floors up while incarcerated in Atlanta Georgia.
It then goes back to the beginning of his life and recounts the circumstances which led him to attempt suicide and end up in a padded cell. The book then takes you from there, right on through today.
His early life was not a pretty picture. He was given up by his parents when just a baby, and was severely abused and beaten by those who took him in. It was so severe he was removed from the home and he ended up on the street as a young boy.
He didn’t do a very good job raising himself and ended up on the wrong side of the law so many times that by the time he reached 30 years old he’d already spent 10 years, (1/3 of his life) incarcerated. During this time, he was heavily influenced by Malcolm X and he became a Muslim and a member of the Nation of Islam. (Many inmates become Muslims in order to obtain protection from other members while inside prison.)
I won’t reveal the entire book, but it does have a happy ending and today he is a born-again Christian who devotes much of his life to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ especially to those inmates who have turned to the Muslim faith; (a dangerous undertaking that could take his very life.)
It is a heartening story of God’s unconditional love and the transformational power that lies within it which is demonstrated in courage to witness to others.
The last thing I needed in life was another project, but the Lord led me to write this book and I know that it will encourage many hopeless people. Candidly, I got the feeling that God didn’t like my “I’m already overloaded with work” reasoning for not writing the book and was kind of telling me to shut up with the complaining and having too much to do already, and I should get to work. Before you send the nasty letters, I realize that He is far too much of a gentleman to say something like that and instead gently guided me there.
A friend told me that delving into such evil darkness in writing this book plus researching the horrific depravity associated with human trafficking and child rape was not healthy for me. In fact, it is indeed incredibly difficult and heartbreaking to watch the hundreds of videos of victims and read the accounts of the most heinous acts of all of humanity day after day. Friends have also told me how dangerous it is to bring this darkness to the light of day and how things could end badly for me if I threatened their money supply. These are murderous wicked people who are making billions of dollars at the expense of our children.
Bah! Either I trust in the Lord, or I don’t, and I do!
If there was ever a Christian who practiced what he preached, it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a theologian who decried the “cheap grace” of the German church, Bonhoeffer heralded “costly grace” — a grace that might cost a Christian his or her very life. His fight against the injustice of Hitler’s regime did cost him his very life. He was martyred and died a gruesome death being hung with a piano string.
I’m reminded of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
He also famously said, “Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.”
And this one is especially embedded in my heart, “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
And last, but not least, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” ―
Our faith is under fire from every turn and it seems hopeless. It’s not! All things are possible through Christ. I’m reminded of what Martin Luther King Jr. faced in segregated America when he boldly stepped out on faith and protested the status quo with truth. Do you remember what he said?
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
I say all this to encourage you to ACT out your faith. Don’t just believe in the silence of your closet. When you consider the cost always remember the gain. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther king Jr, the Apostles, and others throughout history will reign with the King of all Kings forever in a very special place in God’s heart and hands.
If you were to die would anyone know that you loved Jesus? If not, then make today your day to boldly speak out for the Lord Jesus Christ who stepped out of heaven to die for you.
John 14:23
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.
April 26 2017 – Click here to listen