One thing you may find to be true is that a lot of people in the church are hypocrites. They sit in the pews and are spoon fed the gospel but their minds and activities are not open to what their ears hear. Often, if you don't look like them, talk like them or even dress like them they throw up barriers or cast about veiled or whispered criticisms. Parolees and ex-cons frequently face this kind of 'soft' discrimination even when we escort them to our church.
Recently, at a senior center, I gave a lesson about some really bad persons that later on converted to accept Christ as their Savior. One member of this Senior Bible study class was a black man of 68 years yet relatively young in his recent acceptance of Jesus. There were a couple of situations about Zeb (not his real name) that I'd like to share with you. He had trouble in his past life with alcohol addiction. Zeb, a truly homeless drunk, was living in a car after his relatives kicked him out. One night he woke up from a cold winter's sleep. Reaching down for his drink wrapped in the brown paper bag on the floorboard, some special spectral power stopped Zeb's hand. No matter what he tried, Zeb could not reach his booze bottle. But he really wanted that booze. So he sat back and smoked a cigarette and then tried again. The same thing happened, Zeb could not grasp the brown-paper bag no matter how hard he tried. In his own words, Zeb told me he knew God was stopping him. He's been off the booze ever since and that was in 2014.
But remember, there was more than one problem Zeb told me about. While Zeb was locked up in a city jail, his younger brother finagled the Chief of Police to temporarily release Zeb to take him to an attorney and sign some papers about their mother's insurance settlement. Trusting his brother, Zed signed. Later, Zed found out that his brother had tricked him into forgoing his share of the family properties. Let me also reveal his younger brother was and still professes to be an active Christian. What a hypocrite.
The problem Zeb now has is that he can't forgive his brother. He should. What happened decades ago can't be fixed by holding the hate in himself. Good people do bad things, just as bad people do a few good things. A few “bad” Christians, or even a zillion bad Christians, should never interfere with anyone's one-on-one relationship with Jesus. You don't have to go to Church to be saved. You do not have to be baptized by man to be saved because the Holy Spirit's Baptism is the one that wrap's God's loving and protective grace around you. But the more you allow God to work in your heart, the more you will want to show obedience unto the Lord.
For both his and his brother's sake, Zeb and I are working together on bible verses about forgiveness. If Zeb goes to his brother and forgives him, maybe Zeb's testimony will have a Christian effect on his brother's walk with the Lord. If Zeb can't forgive his brother, he should ask Jesus for forgiveness, for all sin is against God, not mankind.
Have you ever heard of Nick Cruz, “Tex” Watson, Jack Murphy, Charles Colson, Karla Tucker, Charles Manson, or Saul of Tarsus, better known as Apostle Paul? Are more than one of the names familiar to you? Can you guess what similarities those named persons share?
All were arrested and incarcerated. Some committed murder while some ordered others to commit murder for their campaigns of terror. Even though much of our Christian beliefs are based on Paul's New Testament writings, he admitted his responsibility for the deaths of many Christians. He might not have executed them personally, but gave the killing orders. In Acts 22, verse 4, we read, "And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women."
When it comes right down to it, were Paul's actions any better or worse than Charles Manson? Both were led by misguided ideology to kill innocent people. Neither man might have directly killed others, but by their authority, had innocent persons killed. If Charles Manson had converted to Christianity before he died in 2017, would most Church-goers forgive him enough to accept him as Christian? What do you think?
Conversions of so called “tough guys” have been the subject of many movies and books. Nicky Cruz was only 3-1/2 years old when his heart turned to stone. As one of 18 children born to witchcraft-practicing parents from Puerto Rico, bloodshed and crime were common occurrences in his young life. He suffered severe physical and mental abuse at their hands, at one time was declared the "Son of Satan" by his mother while she was in a spiritual trance. His story, The Cross and the Switchblade record the dramatic conversion of the 1950's New York City gang members. Cruz was witnessed to and converted to Christianity. Shortly after Cruz became the gang leader, David Wilkerson was preaching in the neighborhood when Cruz encountered him. The preacher told Cruz that "Jesus loved him and would never stop loving him". Cruz slapped Wilkerson and threatened to kill him. Wilkerson attempted again later to convert Cruz and received a similar response. Later, Wilkerson organized an evangelistic meeting in the neighborhood. When Cruz heard about it, he and members of his gang headed for the meeting place.
Later, Cruz reported that on arrival he "felt guilty about the things that he had done" and began to pray. After the sermon, Wilkerson asked the gang members to take up a collection. Cruz volunteered and led his group through the crowd and insisted people donate. Backstage they could have run off with the cash. Cruz saw the exit but convinced his gang to give the money to Wilkerson. Later, Wilkerson gave an altar call, and a large number of gang members responded. Wilkerson prayed with Cruz, and Cruz asked God to forgive him.
Afterward, Cruz and some of the gang members converted to Christ and went to the police to turn in their handguns and knives. The shocked station police officers stated, “that if they had seen the group approaching, they probably would have shot them down.” Cruz began to study the Bible and went off to Bible college. He became a full-fledged preacher and returned to the old neighborhood where he preached and converted more gang members to Christianity. Cruz soon became an evangelist, continuing to preach and share his testimony worldwide.
Charles Denton “Tex” Watson, in August of 1969, went with Charles Manson and other followers into a Benedict Canyon home in Los Angeles. Intending to start a race war, they murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other people. Watson shot Steven Parent four times and helped stabbed Abigail Folger seven times. The next night, Watson traveled to Los Feliz, Los Angeles and participated in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, as part of Manson's "Helter Skelter" vision.
Tex Watson has been serving a life sentence for murder since 1971 but became a born-again Christian in 1975, and later became an ordained minister. He once made the statement, “Jail-house religion”—the sudden desperate piety of an inmate who’s up against it and hopes that God will somehow bail him out.” Watson recognized that such conversions tend to be linked to inmates with absolutely no hope in themselves and turn to God as a last resort. Because these professions of faith are made out of sheer desperation, many people argue that the prisoner's new-found Christianity is not bonafide or truly heartfelt. Therefore, most jail-house conversions can be considered meaningless. Disparaging statements are often made when people speak of jail-house religion and inmates claiming to “find God” when they have hit rock bottom in a prison cell. Most people, even including prisoners themselves, view “jail-house religious conversions” with suspicious, uncomplimentary attitudes.
Furthermore, even if inmates finding God in prison really mean it, many observers profess serious doubts that such conversions will be lasting. Yes, one might think that dramatic conversions more likely represent the exception rather than the rule, however, many prisoners and there are thousands converted would assert the exact opposite. Facing physical death in the prison infirmary, Charles “Tex” Watson describes a spiritual turning point this way: “As I lay strapped on my back in the hospital, the words of the twenty-third Psalm—one memorized as a child and read again in the Bible my mother had sent—began to run through my head: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . .” I repeated the whole Psalm, over and over, with a sudden clarity of memory. First, it was a prayer; then it became the answer to the prayer. I was suddenly aware of another presence in the stark hospital cell, not exactly visible, but unmistakably, powerfully there. It was this Christ I’d been reading about. There was no doubt of it; this Son of God was saying: “Come to Me” and He was there. As the Psalm continued to flow through my mind it was as if He took me to Himself, held me, and filled me with a peace and a quiet that left me sure that everything was going to be all right, no matter what came next. Whether I lived or died, I had nothing to fear: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” He was with me; I knew it and could rest. It didn’t matter anymore what happened—He would not desert me.” Charles Watson spent more than approximately thirty-five years sharing his faith with other prisoners. Without the possibility of parole, it would seem that Watson would have little, if anything, to gain by dedicating his life to prison ministry.
Most of us have heard stories of drug addicts or alcoholics who overcome addictions as a result of a religious transformation. Likewise, we often hear stories of criminals and prisoners who have experienced dramatic turnarounds as a result of a spiritual conversion. As an example, the notorious jewel thief, Jack Murphy (aka Murph the Surf), stole the world’s largest sapphire in 1964, the 563-carat Star of India. In 1968, Murphy was convicted of the first-degree murder of Terry Rae Frank, a young California secretary, one of two women whose bodies were found in Whiskey Creek near Hollywood, Florida, in 1967. Murphy became a Christian in 1974 as a result of an evangelistic prison ministry. He subsequently held Bible studies and mentored other inmates until his release from prison in 1986. He has been involved in prison ministry since then. When asked about his prison cell conversion to Christianity, he recounted, “I didn’t get letters from the bartenders, the hoodlums and all the wise guys I hung around with. I got letters from Christians I didn’t even know.”
The book Born Again details the conversion of Charles Colson, Once known as President Nixon's "hatchet man" Charles gained notoriety at the height of the Watergate scandal, for being named as one of the Watergate Seven. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for defaming the source that leaked the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg. In 1974, he served seven months in the federal Maxwell Prison, Alabama, as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges. In Maxwell prison, he was witnessed to and converted. Many media reports, including those from Newsweek and Time, dismissed his conversion as nothing more than an attempt at an early release from prison. Soon after his release from prison, Charles founded Prison Fellowship Ministries, a faith-based organization dedicated to serving prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. In 1993, he received a $1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. He donated the money from the prize as he did all speaking fees and royalties, to further the work of Prison Fellowship. Charles Colson regularly ministered in prisons until he died in 2012.
Few people remember the story of Karla Faye Tucker. She received the death penalty for the brutal murder of her friend Jerry Dean in 1983. After fourteen years on death row, Tucker was executed in 1998, in Huntsville,Texas. She had become an evangelical Christian in prison and became a model inmate. Her acts of service became well known not only within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice but around the country. Many prominent and powerful people would come to her aid in trying to convince then-governor George W. Bush to intervene and stop the execution. During her incarceration, Tucker met her victim’s brother, Richard Thornton, and he would become a Christian as a result of her interaction with him. When asked if she had any last words before the lethal injection was administered, here is part of her statement: “Yes sir, I would like to say to all of you —the Thornton family and Jerry Dean’s family—that I am so sorry. I hope God will give you peace with this. . . . Everybody has been so good to me. I love all of you very much. I am going to be face to face with Jesus now. Warden, thank you, all of you so much. You've been so good to me. I love all of you very much. I will see you when you get there. I will wait for you.”
There are many examples of dramatic experiences of Christian and non-Christian transformations among incarcerated inmates, from Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer to countless lesser-known people. It is no surprise that a number of people and outside groups are dedicated to working with prisoners, offenders, and drug addicts.
From an evangelical perspective, a faith-based conversion is the only step necessary. When one accepts Jesus, then one’s needs have been met, not only from eternal but temporal human perspectives as well. Soul saving is the primary objective but who can deny that Christian conversions are not synonymous with reform and rehabilitation.
A prison Chaplain once shared, he had escorted many a man to the electric chair. Prior to the mid-1960s executions were quite common and received little news coverage. He related that many of the prisoners on death row became Christians. Because many remained on death row for years before being executed, he became a spiritual mentor to converts. The Clergyman asserted that the spiritual change observed was truly remarkable. He stated, “Invariably, it was the condemned prisoner that ministered to me on that walk to the electric chair—instead of me ministering to them. They were prepared to die, but I wasn’t prepared to see them die. I knew these prisoners were completely remorseful, that they had turned their lives over to God and were completely different people from the ones who had committed awful acts years earlier.” In essence, they were fully prepared to meet their maker.
The message is simple: accept Jesus and you can become a new person. Yet some are troubled about the validity of that statement. Obviously, one can not judge the sincerity of prisoners who make professions of faith. Numerous testimonials seem to indicate genuine Christian conversions, but it is difficult to know the individual sincerity of such religious experiences. Some evidence based statistics indicate born-again prisoners are just as likely to return to prison as other comparable prisoners. It is hard to understand how this is possible if the inmates really believed the Bible; especially Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Nay Sayers question how adverse study findings do not reconcile with scripture verses on the “new man” is created. Some secular groups will not admit that Christian religion services and Bible Studies have legitimate roles in prison institutions. To the detriment of society at large, these negative attitudes marginalize faith-based approaches. How could anyone reconcile Second Corinthians with published studies showing born-again inmates were just as likely to return to prison? The answer is that Christian inmates DO NOT return at the same rate. Not all published studies sort inmate data the same way. Most recidivism studies disclose a reincarnation rate of 60% within a three years span after release and 75% in five years. Since 1980, the number of USA incarcerated inmates has ballooned from 500,000 to more than 2.3 million inmates. The prison population exceeds the population of some major cities in the United States and countries in the world. But just because a person goes to on the wrong side of the tracks and gets into trouble, doesn't mean that he or she is destined to stay on the wrong side of society forever.
Statistics from the Justice Quarterly details that Bible study participation at the rate of 10 or more sessions per year significantly lowers the likelihood of arrest during the follow-up period compared to non-participating prisoners. With Bible study sessions of 25 or more per year, none of the released were arrested during the follow-up year. A more recent study, tracking these same prisoners for an additional seven years, found that regular participation in volunteer-led Bible studies remained significantly linked to lower rates of recidivism for two and even three years post-release.
In response, we wholeheartedly agree with scripture for all scripture is true. But that does not change the fact that prisoners face almost insurmountable challenges when they return to society. When an inmate professes faith in prison that does not change the struggles of stable employment, acceptable housing, adequate transportation, and supportive family members. Because of these and other reentry difficulties, it is only a matter of time before many ex-prisoners return to prison. Many inmates, who experience religious conversions in prison, are either unable or unwilling once released from prison to connect with a local congregation.
Because reentry is so difficult, the decision to bypass the church is a recipe for disaster—effectively separating former prisoners from the support they would absolutely have to have in order to live a law-abiding and productive life in the free world. Without connections to the church, ex-prisoners do not have mentors to hold them accountable. They have no access to the necessary networks of social support. Networks that support inmates in the areas that they must overcome for positive reentry back to society.
Indeed, unless ex-prisoners who are newly converted Christians get the social and spiritual support necessary to develop a deep and lasting religious commitment—mainly via congregations—they will likely fail to transition back into society. To deny this, one must be naive or unwilling to examine the facts. Yet even when small doses of in-prison Christian programs have such positive effect on released prisoners, might not extend in-church programs prove even more effective? My hypothesis is; if faith-based ministries do more before inmates become ex-prisoners, there would be even better results for the overall good of the community. Any additional support we provide our incarcerated Brothers and Sisters in Christ during their release transitions should continue to drop the overall recidivism rate. Producing results all should certainly perceive as beneficial.
Let's clarify different viewpoints of religious conversions in prison. Conversion experiences—no matter how impressive or melodramatic, are not the single answer to prisoner reform, or for that matter, a host of other crime-related problems. However, “accepting Jesus” plays a very critical role as a starting point in the process of long-term improvement and ex-inmate reform. Religious conversions play a necessary role, but these conversions, in isolation, are insufficient in reforming offenders and bringing about lasting change. That is to say, the key to sustainable behavioral change is the continuing process of spiritual transformation.
The Christen conversion experience itself is not sufficient to protect ex-prisoners from stumbles taken after release from prison. In-prison programs that provide structured instruction and mentoring are important but they prove to be only a piece of the puzzle for ex-prisoners. Some Christian prisoners who are not the beneficiaries of after-release support will be re-arrested and returned to prison but with a significant difference Thus, these born-again ex-prisoners, new creations they may be, when returned to prison bring Jesus with them when they return. In other words, many more steps may be necessary to stay out of prison, but a non-negotiable first step is a faith in Jesus. A key step is to get ex-prisoners in churches after their release. If not, God may well send them back to prison for the additional support and religious training they did not avail themselves to on the outside when they were released.
The re-incarcerated, when asked about their faith background, many individuals indicated they became Christian during their second or even third prison commitment. Many inmates simply strayed from the truth and abandoned the commitments they made in prison and intended to keep after release. If those of us on the outside of the prisons are honest, how often have we strayed from our own commitments and intentions? Researchers suggest that Bible Study can be viewed as a positive beginning to an individual’s conduct and provide a new, meaningful, blueprint for change. This process of change is facilitated by faith practiced in prison or in congregations. This process makes possible the development of a new and more favorable identity to replace the old associations of failure, violence, abuse, addiction, and crime.
Unless many faith-based ministries, on the outside of prisons, are willing to work with ex-prisoners, new converts have a hard time merging into free society. A conversion experience is only the first step in a much longer journey. Spiritual transformation is an ongoing process that cannot be starved off once an inmate leaves prison.
Repentance and forgiveness are also key elements. For instance, a church minister as a volunteer in a Texas prison was asked by one of his in-church members if he ever met an inmate named Ron Flowers. “That’s the name of the man who killed my daughter fourteen years ago.” The pastor replied tentatively, “Ron is in prison my group—would you like to meet him?” Since Texas holds more than 100,000 inmates in more than 100 prisons I doubt either the pastor or Mrs. Washington realized the mathematical long shot of Ron Flowers being in this small faith-based prison group. The upshot was that the widow Mrs. Washington did want to meet Ron Flowers, the very person she hated for devastating her family. Though a devout Christian, Mrs. Washington was resentful and even wrote letters to the Texas parole board in an effort keep Flowers in prison. She finally had an opportunity to meet him and ask the question she had been struggling with for fourteen years.
When the meeting took place, several unexpected things happened. The moment they met face-to-face, Flowers, to his surprise, for the first time, confessed to the murder. Mrs. Washington then asked the question she had been waiting to ask: “Why did you shoot and kill my daughter?”
Flowers explained he had been a crazed young teenager who was strung out on drugs, and he just started shooting and she happened to get shot. His demeanor indicated he wasn't just making excuses but stating the actual circumstances that influenced his crimes and misbehavior.
He went to say, “I don’t know if you can forgive me, but I’m sorry for what I have done to you and you daughter.” To Mrs. Washington’s surprise, she heard herself saying, “I forgive you.” Reflecting on that day, Mrs. Washington later said, “That was the moment I got my life back. A huge load was lifted the instant I forgave him.” The story continues to unfold, Mrs. Washington developed a strong, lasting relationship with Ron Flowers. Ron got out of prison in 1998 and sat with her in church on Sundays. Until her 2007 death, she played a crucial role in Ron's successful transition. Out of prison for more than a decade and happily married, Ron has been employed continuously and he and his wife are raising their son. Ron often states that his spiritual transformation is one that will always remain a work in progress, but it is something he continually seeks to deepen and developed.
Though there are a number of significant aspects to this compelling story, perhaps the most significant was the impromptu admittance of guilt by Flowers. One could argue that his surprising admission of guilt, coupled with Mrs. Washington’s decision to forgive him, represented a powerful turning point that changed two lives. God does amazing things. This critical turning point, however, may not have happened had Ron not become a Christian through a faith-based prison program. For this reason, religious conversions are important. Becoming a born-again Christian in prison often puts forth motions and events that dramatically change a person’s path. The conversion itself is not necessarily enough, but it provides a bridge to church congregations and other outside resources that can prove instrumental in changing the remaining lives of ex-prisoners.
Every year hundreds of thousands of prisoners participate in religious services and interact with faith-motivated volunteers and mentors. Many of these offenders have had religious conversions. In and of itself, this may not mean a great deal to the Police force, criminologists, correctional practitioners, or policy makers. However, faith-based prison programs and, more importantly, faith-based reentry and church congregational aftercare programs have the potential to strengthen these Christian conversions. Jail-house conversions should not be viewed cynically, but as the opportunity to connect these converts to church volunteers and faith-based networks that can facilitate and nurture spiritual transformation.
The most effective programs, helping offenders, are those that deliberately link spiritual transformation to societies support networks. Not necessarily the Government programs but what you and I can do. Relying only on faith-based prison programs to reform prisoners and reduce crime would be misguided endeavors. However, faith-based organizations, governmental agencies, and other social service providers need to think of combining, mentors, partnerships, and mutual accountability in order to reduce recidivism and protect the public safety. Remember, ex-prisoners are, and will continue to be, camouflaged participants in our society. Rather than being fearful, remember, every soul you seed with the Word and kindness will increase your rewards in heaven. Hence, you should go forth and make disciples of inmates of all nations.
Significant portions of this lesson were paraphrased from 'Jail-house Religion', 'Spiritual Transformation', and 'Long Term Change' by Byron Johnson, as he, himself has quoted others.
Congratulations! You have reached the end of this lesson! The choice is now yours to make!
It is your faith and your loyal actions that matters to our Lord God.
Please feel free to contact me, Chaplain Dennis King, at DoJ@mail.com if you have questions, comments or just wish to share your thoughts, troubles or testimonies. Also visit TOSS.iWARP.COM to see an eight-suited 'Christian' card deck that plays all known card games like Spades, Hearts, Pinochle, Spoons and Old Maid. Besides the 'normal' four suits, the additional suits are the Cross, Angel, Shield and Castle and their colors are gold and blue, respectively. You may review this Toss Double Deluxe Card Deck and order from T or at Amazon's search bar type in "TDDCD". A substantial portion of every purchase price will be donated to the crucial undertaking of a Disciples of Jesus Halfway House project viewable at www.DoJ-HH.com. Help us if you can.
