Psalm 14:1 says: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” As I was waiting for sentencing to go up state for my heinous felony, the chaplain at the county prison told me, “You can fool others and me, but you can’t fool God.” Then I asked him if I could fool myself and he said, “Yes.” Hebrews 4:13 says, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
For thirty-eight years I had been fooling others and myself that I was a Christian, but God was not fooled. My parents made sure I heard the gospel from childhood (2 Tim. 3:15) and kept praying for me and entrusting me to the Lord.
I had always attended church while growing up; at age five I raised my hand for salvation in Sunday School. I went forward for salvation at Bible camp, and once prayed with my mom to ask Jesus into my heart, but I never had assurance of salvation. I did not believe I was a bad sinner and even tried to follow the golden rule. I participated in every position of leadership in church. I attended Bible college for a year, memorized many Scriptures and evangelized, giving out hundreds of gospel tracts. Later, while in prison, I did Emmaus Bible Correspondence courses and even led someone to Christ while awaiting sentencing. Yet I was not saved because being from a Christian home or doing good works does not save you. It is only through faith in Christ.
God removed all that I had pride in, my marriage, family, job, home and reputation. That is because of my crime which sent me to state prison for ten years, followed by five years’ probation. It was only when my dad died during my first year in state prison that God got through to me that I was a sinner. God’s goodness led me to repentance (Rom. 2:4). My sister had sent me a tract called “Missing Heaven By Eighteen Inches, From My Head To My Heart.” I discovered that I had many Bible facts in my head, yet I did not truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ from my heart. Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
I knelt in my prison cell by my bunk, arguing with myself that I was already saved and what would others now think. God showed me through His Word that the only way to be saved was by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). John 14:6 reads, “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life, No one come to the Father except through Me.” Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved…”
On November 29, 1992, I acknowledged that I was a sinner, repented of my sin, and admitted that I had never really trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
There in prison, my new life in Christ began. John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” I asked the Lord to give me assurance from His Word that I was eternally secure and He answered my prayer. John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 10: 28-29 says, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” First Corinthians 1:8 says, “who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Finally, the Lord Jesus told the criminal on the cross next to Him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Along with many other promises, God has kept assuring me of His salvation.
God then gave me an opportunity to share the gospel with someone in the next cell who was in the Jehovah’s Witness cult. I asked the Lord to show me in His Word that Jesus was God and he did from both the Old and New Testaments. Hebrews 1:8-9 says, “But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.’” John 14:9 says, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
Then on November 24, 1996, the Lord made it possible for me to be baptized by the prison chaplain. I publicly declared that Christ had saved me and quoted John 1:12-13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Hebrews 13:5 says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The Lord Jesus Christ never left me during incarceration, giving me good fellowship with Himself in His Word and with other Christians both inside and out of prison. He protected me and gave me strength while in prison and was with me even after my release when I had to return twice to county prison for technical violations of my probation. Having divorced my wife and failed to provide support for my children, at times not respecting my Christian employers, the Lord began disciplining and changing my heart. I praise and thank my Savior the Lord Jesus Christ for saving me, keeping me, and changing me. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
God loved us and gave His One and Only Son to die in our place. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He saved me and He will save you if you trust in Him alone for salvation.