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It has been very hard serving incarcerated Christian men here in the Northwest and not being able to spiritually father the sons I make among them beyond prison walls. Also, a frustration and regret is not being able to offer or direct releasing Christian inmates to much in the way of Christian run transitional housing and resources. As it concerns spiritually fathering the many men as sons I have served on lockdown, up until the present moment the Lord has commanded me to direct those that release to the churches and pastors they find (supposedly led by Him) to pick up where I left off as I have written is their responsibility1 in an attempt to build cooperation and avoid any conflict.2
Cooperating with willing churches when it is possible is important to this Ministry because the men are able to see a unity of Kingdom purpose and experience a consistency of biblical teaching they need to help them stay on track after prison. So sadly, there are not many churches I can enthusiastically recommend and of course, keeping it real, some released Christian men do not wish to continue growing in them. Nevertheless, for the incarcerated Christian men that would benefit from Bible teaching, Kingdom focused churches when they release, I wrote this edited 2013 Commentary to challenge these churches to step up to do more for them by way of intentional transitional ministry.
Originally Published July 2013
Concern for the eternal souls of men initially took our Ministry into the prisons to preach the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ and bring strong man of God instruction that many might be saved and taught especially from among the black American community.3 Over the years, however, we have painfully discovered that there is a shameful lack of transitional help from the Christian community and churches many of our incarcerated brethren from all hues must cope with upon release. While there are a number of excellent ministries laboring to turn this around, relatively few churches are interested in this admittedly at times messy and risky business.
I write to remind us all that our Lord’s messianic mandate which every real Christian also shares is not only “to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound,” but also to minister to Him by ministering to “the least of these” He calls “My brethren,” (Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 25:31-40, NKJV). Now, I know that some of the incarcerated brethren of Jesus are guilty of some serious and even repulsive crimes. They were guilty before God and man. In the case of our God, they have received forgiveness upon their heartfelt confession and repentance (Psalm 51:1-17; 1 John 1:9-2:2) and endure His punishment through man by way of prison.
Nevertheless, if God--who is the ultimate Judge--sees fit to release men who have served their punishment back into society (Psalm 146:7c), it becomes necessary particularly for the Body of Christ to do all that we can to help our brothers (and sisters) make a smooth transition. This does not mean that the churches replace the important role family and the larger community has in doing their respective parts. However, we in Christ have a unique role as spiritual family that embraces our brother in love and helps meet his basic spiritual and tangible needs until he is able to get on his feet to support himself. Churches are equipped by God for such a ministry as this (Acts 2:38-47).
Now, all of the reasons most churches do not want to get involved with jail, prison and transitional ministry readymade for them by the Lord, only He knows. Apparently, though, He is not accepting those reasons since many others in the work besides this Ministry continues here in the Northwest and nationally to appeal to churches on behalf of incarcerated Christians. Our Ministry still envisions one day bringing willing Portland, Oregon area churches together to raise up an ongoing transitional work that includes a residence for temporary housing after release, services, continuing basic Christian instruction, mentoring and accountability groups.4
We have the collective means to make transitional help available to our Christian brothers that are incarcerated. The issue is will our pastors led by God concerned for the incarcerated give visionary leadership to their congregations to get behind His will? When the Lord in His Word repeatedly stresses His heart for those in prison, Holy Spirit led believers cannot just ignore this. We cannot ignore or escape the fact either that before meeting Christ we were all imprisoned by sin until He set us free! How can we so easily forget or do we actually believe the lie that we are somehow better than those incarcerated?
I tell you the truth from history, present reality and God’s prophetic Word; American Christians are just a relatively short time from experiencing mass incarcerations for the faith! Arrest and imprisonment for the faith as persecution is prominent in the New Testament and to this hour around the earth! It continues until the Lord returns (Mark 13:9-13, 14:43-46; Acts 5:12-18, 16:16-24; Revelation 2:8-11, 13:1-10).5 Shouldn’t we begin to show a little more empathy for the incarcerated and especially those that are Christians now, since many of our number will one day be among them (Hebrews 13:3)? The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Read the March 3, 2019 post, The Need For Spiritual Fathering, under the category, The Cause.
2 While a man may have many godly men instruct and speak wisdom into his life, after his own father or seasoned Christian man that led him to Christ, a local church
pastor or his equipped and trusted designee ought to be among the very few authoritative spiritual fathers he has in Christ (1 Corinthians 4:14-17).
3 This Ministry has been conducting its evangelistic outreach, Strong Man Of God Rally since 2009 and through its Strong Man Institute, what became the published
2014 Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study since 2008 in Northwest prisons. Also, the Ministry is carrying out its Books To USA Prisons Project to place copies
of The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics in federal and state prison libraries chaplains maintain for inmates in all fifty states.
4 Visit the About Us Page on our Web Site.
5 I write about the reality of Christian suffering for the faith and the need to gear up for it as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Jesus Christ
in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It is available at all major internet booksellers, by order at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore or in the
Strong Man Store. Additionally, I h ave written many blogs discussing this prophetic reality; most recently, Standing In The Evil Day, posted on November 25, 2018,
under the category, Encouragement.
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