Hello once again, my friends, in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. I pray this edition finds you well and blessed. I now have a volunteer who is learning to do the newsletter and I thank God for that provision. His name is Dan and he will, within a couple of editions, be taking over the compiling of the newsletter, thus freeing me a little more to travel with God's message of love and hope. The previous edition was already almost finished when the WTC disaster occurred so not much was put in about it. WE DEDICATE THIS EDITION TO THOSE AFFECTED BY THAT TERRIBLE ACT OF TERRORISM......................................................................................In His Love, Rev. Bunnie
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The path of the godly leads away from evil; he who follows that path is safe. Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall. Better poor and humble than proud and rich. God blesses those who obey him; happy the man who puts his trust in the Lord......................................................................................Proverbs 16: 17-20.
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TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
Submitted by Several Inmates and by E-mail
This, from a Canadian newspaper is worth sharing.
AMERICA: THE GOOD NEIGHBOR
"Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television and radio Commentator. He can be heard daily on CJAD 800 AM radio. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the Earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.
None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10?
If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon.? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once, but several times - and safeely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian Laws, are getting dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America! Wear it proudly!!"
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Air travel will be much safer when they eliminate the automobile ride between the city and the airport.
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MY CHRISTMAS WISH FOR YOU
By Brian Polley
(inmate)
This year I want to give you some gifts, that will be perfect for you. Not something that can be found wrapped, under the Christmas tree but something you can tuck in your heart and use forever; gifts that bless you every minute of every day.
The first thing I want you to have is love - perfect wonderful unconditional Love which is the greatest thing you can ever have. This gift is most effective when given away. Next I want you to take heart-filled joy in everything you do. Look for the Loveliness in Life. Then comes Peace - a peace which passes our understandingg and takes us to a place of untenable calm.
Patience now. I wish Godly patience so that your life will not be filled with endless frustration and anxiety. Softly comes kindness. In everything you do and say, practice kindness. See how gently it lands right back on you! Goodness and kindness are so close together they hold hands. I give you goodness in everything you do.
Gentleness will earn you a tender place in the hearts of those with whom you share this gift. Faithfulness - the one thing that will supply all the right answers for whatever life gives; the thing which will increase your joys and soften your sadness.
And now, self-control. This gift will give you the certain knowledge that you are making the right decisions and will keep you focused on what GOD wants for you in your life.
You know these gifts as the fruits of the spirit. These are gifts given to us by Jesus - all we need to live life His way - in Him, through Him, for Him. What greater gift could we give Him on His birthday than to accept His gifts to us! May God bless you in every desire of your faithful heart. Lovingly, in the name of that most perfect baby, Jesus.
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DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE ADVERSARIES MIRAGE
Submitted by Lawrence Cottle
(inmate)
Many trials and tribulations I faced each day,
And only because I wanted to have it my way.
The desires of the world seemed to glisten and glow,
But who was behind it all, I really didn't know.
There were days that seemed I had it all,
Then there were days in my life I felt two feet tall.
Materialistic pleasures seemed so much to me,
I was blind to it all, but now I can see.
I can see the mirage the adversary possesses for us,
From the beginning of time - till man came from dust.
But God already had a master plan for me,
He sent His only Son to die on the cross, and that set me free.
Free from mirages of the adversaries' snares,
Free from bondage, knowing Christ is always there.
Free from desiring the things of this world,
Free from being tossed about, as a disc being hurled.
Yes, I thank you Lord for having patience with me,
You even sent your son to die, so that I could be set free.
Now if that isn't love that my Father has for me,
Then let me stay blind and live a life of misery.
what is happening to the world of today,
They rather stay blind and have things their way.
will have to answer to the True One in charge,
And this will not be one of the adversaries' mirage.
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A DEVOTION
Submitted by David Gonzales
(inmate)
Have you read Ezekiel 47:1-12 lately? In verse one and two there is water. Well, it's sort of dropping down like tears...it's dropping out....in verse 3 the water is increasing. You can get up to your ankles in it. Go further up into verse 4 and he's up to his knees and then his loins. Then verse 5 it's too deep to wade in. It's water to swim in. The water was abundantly welling up from in the sanctuary. Wherever the water flowed; it brought life, trees on both sides, waters were healed, fish in the waters, and fishermen. Where there was no water it was a desert, but where there was water, great blessing. Trees produced leaves, fruits and healing...a great vision , but what does it mean? A picture of Israel? Possibly like the spread of the Gospel. And maybe a thought about God's heavenly blessing. [Psalm 36:8, Psalm 46:4, Isaiah 33:21, Revelations 22:1] The vision of Ezekiel has many pictures. A heavy stream of refreshment and power. A life of increasing blessing and influence. We are in the stream, in the water. We are saved. We are in the flow of God's Spirit. [Romans 8:14] We might ask ourselves, "How deep are we in the water?" How deep are we in the things of God? It's all up to us. We decide how deep we'll go. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."(James 4:8)
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THE UNBROKEN SPIRIT
Submitted by David Gonzalez
(inmate)
If you focus on your vision, God will bring you through every situation and the devil cannot break your spirit. If you can keep your spirit from being broken and hold on till the VICTORY comes; you will surpass and surmount any circumstance.
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EDITORS NOTE: The following article was sent to me via e-mail. I contacted the brpther who wrote this testimony and received his permission to print it here. He will remain unidentified due to the fact that his life is in danger for becoming a Christian. He still lives in a persecuted country. Though it is quite long, I have reprinted it in its entirety. GOD CAN CHANGE HEARTS AND LIVES.
FROM JIHAD TO CHRIST
I was born in Bethlehem, Israel. The day I was born was one of the holiest days of Islam. It was the birthday of the Muslim prophet Mohammad (Al-Mauled Al-Nabawi). This was an honor to my father, so he named me (Walid) which is related to the Arabic word (Mauled) in English (The Birth), to always remember the birthday of the Muslim prophet.
My father was a Palestinian Muslim who taught English and Islamic studies in the Holy Land. My mother was an American who married my father during his studies in the United States in the year of 1956.
Fearing the American way of life with two children, while my mother was pregnant with me, my parents left to live in Israel in 1960 which was called Jordan at that time, and when they arrived in Bethlehem I was born. As my father changed jobs we moved to Saudi Arabia then back to the Holy Land, this time to the lowest place on Earth, Jericho.
I did not forget the first song I learned in school just before the Six Day War titled "Arabs our Beloved and Jews our Dogs." At that time I wondered who the Jews were, but repeated with the rest of the kids the words, without any knowledge of the meaning.
As I grew up in the Holy Land I lived through several battles between the Arabs and Jew. The first battle (while we lived in Jericho), was the Six Day War when the Jews captured old Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine. This was a great disappointment to Arabs and Muslims worldwide.
The American Council in Jerusalem came just before the war to evacuate all the Americans in the area. My mother was an American, but my father turned them down because he loved his country. I still remember many things during the war; the noise of the bombing and shelling that went on day and night for six days, the looting of stores and houses by the Arabs in Jericho and people running to cross the Jordan river from fear of the Israelis.
The war was called the Six Day War because it was won in six days and on the seventh day a Rabbi by the name of Goren blew the ram's horn on the wailing wall in Jerusalem declaring the victory. Many Jews claim that this was a parallel to Joshua when he went around the walls of Jericho six times, then on the seventh day seven times, and on that day the priests blew the trumpets and everyone shouted with one voice and took the city. To my father in Jericho it seemed that the walls had crumbled on him. During the war he was always listening to the Jordanian radio station, he used to say that the Arabs were winning, but he was listening to the wrong station. The Israeli station announced the truth of their soon coming victory. Instead my father chose to believe the Arabs who claimed that the Israelis were promoting propaganda.
Later on we moved back to Bethlehem and my father enrolled us in an Anglican-Lutheran school as they had a better English course. My brother, sister and myself were the only Muslims in the school and, being half American, teachers would beat us and students would laugh at us. When the Bible class started I would usually leave the class and remain outside waiting. One day I walked in the Bible class and the class 'bully' stood up to fight. He shouted, "We don't want this half American and Muslim to be here." I refused to get out and the lady who was teaching the class asked me to sit down. Since then I changed the schools policy and for the first time the school allowed a Muslim to study the Bible, and for the next three years I studied it despite all the mocking.
Later, my father transferred me to the Government school where I grew in the faith of Islam, in which I was fed the idea that one day a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy by the Muslim prophet Mohammed would come to pass, this prophecy foretold a battle in which the Holy Land would be recaptured and the elimination of the Jews would take place in a massive slaughter.
This prophecy in fact is documented in Mohammed's Book of Traditions which states the following:
"The day of judgement shall not come to pass until a tribe of Muslims defeat a tribe of Jews."
When Mohammed was asked of the place this would take place he said: "In Jerusalem and the surrounding nations."
During my youth, like my father, I was always tuned to Islam and what our Muslim teachers taught. Believing in Mohammed's prophecy I offered my life to 'Jihad' or 'Holy War' as the only means to obtain either victory or martyrdom. In Islam martyrdom is the only way you can ensure salvation and entry to heaven, especially since Allah and his prophet Mohammed promised it, as the Quran states:
"Do not think of whom are killed for the cause of Allah (in a Holy War), to be dead but living with their Lord receiving his blessing."
During school riots against what we called the Israeli occupation I would prepare speeches, slogans, and write anti-Israeli graffiti in an effort to provoke students to throw rocks at the armed Israeli soldiers. We shouted "No peace or negotiations with the enemy", "Our blood and our souls we sacrifice to Arafat", "Our blood and our souls we sacrifice to Palestine", "Death to the Zionists" etc...
I vowed to fight my Jewish enemy believing that I was doing God's will on earth, and was true to my word as I participated in many riots against the Israeli army, always trying to inflict harm to them by all means and methods I could come up with. I would start, and participate in, any riot I could make. In schools, streets, and even on the holiest place (the Temple mount site) in Jerusalem called by Arabs (Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa). All through high school I would always be one of the first to provoke a riot.
Many others got involved in terror tactics against the Jews, using bombs and armed assaults to force them to leave Israel, but they never could pluck them out.
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I remember one time in Bethlehem all viewers clapped their hands with joy in a jam packed theater watching the movie "21 Days in Munich". The moment we saw the Palestinians throwing grenades in the helicopter, killing the Israeli athletes, hundreds of viewers yelled "Allahu akbar" (Allah is the greatest). This is the slogan of joy used by Muslims for victorious events.
I remember students used to ask the teacher during our Islamic studies in Bethlehem High school, if it was permitted for Muslims to rape the Jewish women after we defeat them, his response was "The women captured in battle have no choice in this matter, they are concubines and they need to obey their masters, having sex with slave captives is not a 'matter of choice for slaves.'" This in fact was written in the Koran, for it says:
"Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hand as slaves, this is the law of Allah for you."-Sura: The Women (al-Nisa, verse 20)
And in a different verse the Koran says:
"O prophet; we allowed thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowries, and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth out of the booty which Allah hath granted thee, and the daughters of thy uncle, and of thy maternal aunt, who fled with thee to Medina, and any believing woman who hath given herself up to the prophet, if the prophet desired to wed her, a privilege to thee above the rest of the faithful".-Sura: Confederates (al-Ahzab verse 50)
We had no problem with Mohammed taking advantage of this privilege as he married 14 wives for himself and several slave girls from the booty he collected as a result of his victorious battles. We really never knew how many wives he had and that question was always a debatable issue to us. One of these wives was taken from his own adopted son, 'Zaid', as Allah declared that she was given to the prophet. Others were Jewish captives forced into slavery after Mohammed beheaded their husbands and families.
In an attempt to change the hearts of Palestinians, the Israeli T.V. station would show Holocaust documentaries on T.V., I would sit and watch, cheering the Germans while I chewed on food. It was impossible for me to change my mind or heart concerning Jews -- only a "heart transplant" would do that job.
They took our school once to a Jewish camp on the coast of Eshdod for a week to mingle us with other Jewish schools. That didn't work. On the contrary, every teacher who spoke to a Jew was mocked.
My mother, on the other hand, tried to teach me a different idea at home. She called it 'God's plan'. She spoke to me about Bible prophecy. She said that the return of the Jews was pre-planned by God and was fulfilled. This to her was God's miracle in our generation, for the World to see that "His will shall be done." She also told me about many future events to be fulfilled in our generation which are surfacing every day now. She told me of false Messiahs and counterfeits; but all that had little effect, for my heart was set on fighting against the Jews. (Cont'd on page 7 )
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NO TEARS TODAY
by Brian Polley
(inmate)
Please Dear God, no tears today.
Let us spread love along the way.
Healing the lonely, lifting the sad,
Let us show people how to be glad.
The morning sun, if it be grey,
Let us show people a beautiful day.
To share a smile, or wipe a tear,
Let us show everyone that You are near.
Let us bring peace along the way,
Till each one can say, No Tears Today!.
May the Lord Direct your hearts into the Love of God. (II Thess. 3:5) For love does not come to an end. Love is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.
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I'VE NEVER SEEN GOD
By Dale Sloss
(inmate)
I've never seen God,
But I know how I feel.
It's people like you, Jeannine
Who make Him so real.
God doesn't ask me
To weep when I pray.
It seems that I pass Him
So often each day.
In the faces of people
I meet on my way.
He's the stars in the heaven,
A smile on some face,
A leaf on a tree,
Or a rose in a vase.
He's winter and autumn
And summer and spring,
In short God is every
Real and wonderful thing.
I wish I might meet Him
Much more than I do.
I would if there were
More people like you.
For Jeannine M.,
the angel who touches
my life in so many ways.
Love, Dale
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LET GO AND LET GOD
by Simon Gibbs
(inmate)
Have you ever heard the sayings, "Life's too short", or "don't sweat the small stuff"? Are you in a constant spiritual battle with yourself? Maybe your worried about making ends meet economically, or that your children are receiving the proper education. If you did not worry about such matters you could be accused of being uncaring and dispassionate. The Christian philosophy, however, offers a different perspective in how we should approach these circumstances. Let go and let God. While we may not be thankful for all things, we should be thankful for all circumstances.
And so, as long as our lives are running smoothly, we give our thanks to God. However, should we also thank Him when our lives do not run so smoothly? The answer, of course, is YES. God wants us to be totally dependent upon Him and so, to strengthen our dependence, He purposely places obstacles in our path in the hope that we may realize this need and come to rely entirely on His wisdom. A belief that invariably involves not just an intellectual agreement with a set of creeds, but an actual commitment of the will, a moving of the deepest part of our heart.
Christ himself, preached that the road of faith is long and narrow, being made rough and strewn with obstacles. He humbly admitted that he did absolutely nothing by himself. Again and again He declared His utter dependency on the Father. "Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." (John 14:10)
Certainly we all lack wisdom in all areas of our lives; whether we are succeeding or failing. The fact is we are not adept to deal with problems if we rely on ourselves to solve them, but we should never become despondent or discouraged. Some problems in life are never removed, so we should never say "What's the use.", "What's going to be is going to be." Instead we turn it over to God. It's His job to see us through our misfortunes and our crisis.
This principle of spiritual wisdom is available to us all and this is entirely what God wants. The Apostle James clearly exemplified this principle when he wrote, "But let patience have her perfect work." When we exercise patience we are, in fact, making ourselves available to God and He, in turn, makes Himself available to us. We must continue steadfast in our relationship with God, approaching him through prayer, in faith, never doubting His goodness and His power.
This being said, applying His adequacy by faith to every situation as it arises will leave us with no alternative but to obey the injunction found in Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." God knows the way, give Him room to maneuver. Learn to be still and know that he is God.
May Christ Jesus anoint you with his blood.
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Editors Note: Sylvia asked that her name and address be printed with this testimony. You will find it on the pen-pal pages
MY TESTIMONY
By Sylvia Roy
(inmate)
I was arrested a little over eight years ago. Almost as soon as I reached the tank and got my hearings, I prayed to the Lord to be with me and get me through each day and to be able to accept things as they came. I spent almost a year in county before arriving here at the state unit. I have been here just over seven years. I can honestly say that He did, and has, been with me ever since.
About 2 � years ago, after much struggle, I asked Him to come into my life, to forgive my sins, to give me peace, and He has. I was baptized almost 2 years ago, at the age of 56 �. I am white. It may seem odd for this happening so late in life, but better late than never.
I thought I had been saved at age 13, but decided I had not been sincere. I was raised in the Christian and Baptist Church all my life, but that didn't make me a member of God's family.
After several years of turmoil and now here with a life sentence, I am freer than I have ever felt before. I am proud to be a child of God.
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A man walked into the tax collector's office and sat down and smiled at everyone
May I help you?" said the clerk in charge
"No," said the man. "I just wanted to meet the people I have been working for all these
years."
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Sunday school teacher: What are the Epistles?
Student: I guess they are the wives of the Apostles.
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