150116 Of Hebrews 4:12

Three decades ago, I was on a year long Bible outreach program. For two weeks, we posted an ad on the ‘church’ page, which ran in the local newspaper on Saturdays. On the second Saturday, we received a phone call from a man who declined to visit our Christian fellowships. He called every night with Bible questions. Why would he not visit? For the sake of clarity, I’ll call him “J”.

After a couple of weeks of daily calls, J revealed why he could not visit. He told us an amazing story, and it shows why Hebrews 4:12 lives for me and should imprint itself on every believer’s mind. Never devalue the power of God’s Word! J was in federal prison.

J was born and raised in East LA. He was quite intelligent, and quickly discovered that the way to get money was to sell drugs, but not to use them. He enjoyed violence. By the time he was a young adult, he was taken down in a sting and went to federal prison for twenty-five years. He didn’t like that, so escaped. They caught him and tacked five years onto his sentence. They moved him to another location where he escaped again and got another five years. He was moved to yet another prison, where he escaped again, so the judge tacked another five years onto his sentence. He got fifteen years just for attempting to escape. He pushed the envelope as often as he could, so one by one he lost every privilege he had. He was confined to solitary. Finally, he demanded a Bible, simply because they could not deny him that. Alone and bored, he started reading.

He told us that several times he grew frustrated and threw the book against the wall and called God a liar. He screamed and yelled, but boredom drew him into reading some more. One day, something stuck in his brain: God really existed. People really followed Him. Miracles really happened. He believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and believed that God had raised him from the dead. All the need for violence left him, and he was released from solitary. He had access to the newspaper, so searched for a church to answer his questions. He found our ad. It was the only one that listed ‘research’ and ‘teaching’. He knew that we would have answers and called. We were planning to run a Bible class. With special permission, he took it over the phone. For three hours a night for twelve nights, he sat on the phone, listening.

Would this work again? I don’t know. Ask God. Our ad appeared only twice, and to this day, I have not heard of another that has received this kind of response. As far as I know, this man is still in prison. Because of his history, he had been moved to other federal prisons frequently and without warning. Last I heard, he had changed locations twice, and is not scheduled for release until 2017. He quit writing me several years ago.

All hell can’t stop this man from being with the Lord in paradise. We will meet again.

120625 Back

Current Location:

home

Current Mood:

accomplished

Current Music:

ACDC

I was gone for two weeks. I did not post the actual physical departure, because it was not necessary for the world to know that my teens were home alone. The 18yo had her job, and the 14yo had a mature guardian, but the entire Internet community didn't need to know that Mom had left the building. Mom has returned.



For two weeks, I have been taking a class known as The Advanced Class on the Way of Abundance and Power. It was the final portion of a three part series that took years to complete. Jesus Christ said that he was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one came to the Father, but by him. Kind of puts a kink in the 'many roads' interpretation of salvation. Well, believe what you will. We'll all find out in the end.

What I really like about this class series is how one is shown principles from God's Word. We have power. We don't have to be doormats. We can be confident, polite, loving, and most of all: completely sure of what God says. God gave us power, more power than most Christians will admit. Evil trembles as the one who believes approaches. Who can be stronger than the True God?

The first night, a man from Togo, in Africa, ministered healing to my knee. I no longer walk with a cane. This wasn't one of the showy fake healings that one can see on TV. No. After the first teaching, which was on the subject of the accuracy of the Word, he asked me in private why I used a cane. Then, he prayed and asked God to fulfill His promise of healing for me.

I was ready. The pain completely disappeared. The swelling left. The muscles and ligaments worked again. Many were blessed. There were many more stories of deliverance. The most impressive to me were the sad people who learned to smile. Two girls in particular came looking like waifs, and left as confident women. One claimed a physical healing, but did not elaborate

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I don't care who believes me, (that's between you and God), but I know that signs, wonders, and miracles followed us. My life has moved up a notch.