April 1, 2021 – Click here to listen
We had dinner with some new friends last night and we discussed the time I accepted Christ as my personal Savior. I related to them that my transformation was immediate and I felt the Holy Spirit fill me with His presence literally from head to toe. My entire mindset changed in a moment and I no longer wanted to do the former things which were evil through and through.
Several years later I became involved with prison ministry. I visited death row and we were assigned to speak with every inmate that had a date set for execution. I was talking to a young man whom I believe was demon possessed. I felt sick and thought I might fall down for a moment. He wouldn’t let me say anything and just kept talking really fast. His eyes were penetrating and I almost felt as though I was being hypnotized.
I was startled when the correctional officer that was in charge of the unit grabbed me by the shoulder. He told me, “Bob you need to go upstairs I believe that there is a man up there who is ready to accept Jesus.” He didn’t have to tell me twice and I beat it out of there and left the other man babbling away in his cell.
He took me upstairs and I saw an ebony black face peering at me through the four inch wide thick glass window. I offered my testimony and he seemed genuinely moved. I asked him if he wanted the peace of Jesus and he said he did. So I told him he needed to confess his sins and ask Jesus for forgiveness and follow Christ for whatever time he had left. I asked if I could pray with him and take care of business and he said, “Man I’m just not ready.”
I replied that he just had a few days left and he needed to make his decision. He looked at me with a wistful stare as though he was thinking about being led through the door that led to the execution chamber located just down the hall from where I stood and he said, “I know it man, but I just can’t do it right now.”
I visited many more inmates that day and some accepted Christ and some did not. I returned home and a couple of days later I got a call from the corrections officer. He told me that they put in a call to him that the inmate wanted to talk to him. So he made the forty mile trip and ended up with the same result I received. He told me another day or two passed and the guy called again. Exasperated he told him he would come back but this time he better be serious because he wasn’t making that drive again. It turns out that he was indeed serious because this time he said yes to Jesus’ invitation.
The story didn’t end there. He told the corrections officer he had another request. “I want to be baptized,” he said.
Wat?
No one had ever been baptized on death row, but somehow my friend arranged for a cattle trough to be brought in and it was filled with water and placed a mere few steps from the door leading to the execution chamber. So the inmate was brought out of his cell in chains and placed in the tub. Suddenly he said, “Wait – Wait!”
My buddy was really perturbed now and asked, “What is it now?”
He said when I go under the water, I want you to hold me there for a long time. I want to enjoy it!!!” My friend smiled and agreed and baptized him right there. When he emerged from the water, he had one of the most beautiful smiles imaginable with his white teeth making his ebony black face contrast look all the more glorious.
A few days later I was watching the news and I saw across the bottom of the screen where my new brother in Christ had been executed. A tear formed, but then I smiled as I thought of him walking through his new home in paradise with Jesus and finally knowing peace in his violent life. As an 8 year old this inmate’s father would routinely sell him to pedophile men so they could rape him. One day his father was trying to trade him to three men for a bottle of wine and when his mother tried to intervene, he cut her head off with a machete in front of the little boy. This child later went on to become a vicious criminal leading a life of crime and was allegedly responsible for some forty deaths as a leader of a cartel.
I was studying Psalm 32 this morning and most scholars agree that King David wrote it right after his Bathsheba moment. He speaks to confession of sin and make no mistake his sins were dark including adultery and murder. But it shows how merciful God is to forgive even the most heinous of sins when someone confesses. David had reached a point of physical sickness due to his conscience, but his sorrow was turned to joy, (after he confessed and God forgave him.) It is what this Holy week is all about. Jesus died for our sins – ALL OF THEM. If you have not accepted Christ as your Savior, don’t delay another minute. Start living the joyous life today! And then follow in baptism and enjoy the moment!
Psalm 32:1
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered . . .
Verse 10 – Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.