Strong Man Of God Blog

            Lest anyone should believe my chief motive in obeying God to preach the Gospel, teach His Word and conduct our Books To USA Prisons Project¹ among incarcerated men is of some misguided human sentimentality, I write to declare such ones are greatly mistaken.  I am completely aware there are men on lockdown that have committed some of the most heinous crimes in the world, not the least of which is mass murder expressly forbidden by God in His Ten Commandments.  Oh, by the way, forbidden also is dishonoring God, parents, adultery, stealing from, lying on and coveting what belongs to a neighbor (Exodus 20:1-17; Mark 12:28-34)! 

            In God’s eyes, having violated one of His commandments, a man becomes just as guilty as if he had violated them all (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10).  In their Jewish context, the Ten Commandments were to be enforced by the community in accord with the judgments, statutes and ordinances God also gave through Moses to guide them.  However, the Lord left Himself a role in dispensing justice and judgment and gave that warning through Moses as well (see as one example, Exodus 22:22-24).  Even a casual reading of the Old Testament makes it clear God was not soft on crime back then nor is He today if one interprets the New Testament accurately.

            Indeed, for while the grace of God has come to the whole world through Jesus Christ, it did not come without a demand for repentance from sin and righteous living, a onetime cost or a continuation of divine hostility toward sin (Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-4, 3:7-19).  Sinners experience the grace of God leading to forgiveness and salvation from the divine wrath to come only through repentance from sin and faith in the once and for all atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, His burial and resurrection from the dead (Hebrews 9:22-10:18)!  Without repentance and faith in Christ and His sacrifice there is no other remedy for sin guilt (John 3:16-21, 36, 8:21-24, 14:6; Acts 4:8-12).

            In graciously offering salvation to sinners, God is not looking the other way on our sins, but only at the finished atoning work of Christ on Calvary (1 John 2:1-2).  In Christ, all sins save one knowingly committed by the hardest of hearts (many that never see the inside of an earthly prison) are forgivable (Matthew 12:31-32; 1 John 5:14-17).  Thus, as the preaching of the Gospel has gone out to all of the nations attended by the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit, both the grace of God leading to salvation for the repentant who trust in Christ has been displayed and also the severity of God toward active sinners even in the community of faith (Acts 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, 11:27-34).

            So, while the Lord has duly ordained and holds human governments accountable to mete out punishment in keeping order (Romans 13:1-7), He remains such an active participant in human affairs the Psalmist calls the incarcerated, “His prisoners,” (Psalm 69:33, NKJV).  This should put great fear into the hearts of every man contemplating doing a crime, practicing criminality and now on lockdown especially if you claim to be of God’s household through faith in Christ.  Think about it; God is not only the source and cause of every criminal’s eventual capture, but He is also the sentencing Judge and ultimate Warden of every earthly prison (Psalm 7:11-16)!  But that is not all.

            God also has another prison under the earth (Numbers 16:28-35; Luke 16:19-31) where He is the exclusive Warden and from which there is absolutely no release now apart from His will until Judgment Day when judged by works, mankind outside of Christ will experience final sentencing to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-15)!  So, even if a criminal is not brought to justice in this life, he will not elude capture and confinement in Hades or eternal punishment in Hell by God!  In case you were wondering, Jesus Christ led out the one and only human release from Hades to freedom through pardon upon His death, resurrection and ascension (Psalm 16:8-11, 24:7-10, 68:17-20; Matthew 27:50-53; Acts 2:22-35; Ephesians 4:7-10; Hebrews 12:18-24). 

            We do not naively look past the crimes the men we minister to have committed!  But those of us sent into the prisons plead with men there as we do with all on the outside to repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ that regardless of how long they justly remain in the custody of mortal authorities, they may experience the forgiveness, eternal life and freedom of God through His Son (John 8:31-36)! 

            The incarcerated are seen as those caught in God’s net of grace (Psalm 103:10) and given the extraordinary opportunity to get it right like all of the rest of us that have violated God’s Law (Romans 13:8-10) before finally and for some suddenly, the opportunity closes forever with their eyes in death (Proverbs 29:1; Romans 6:23).  Soon, it will be plain to all only God’s gracious longsuffering has held back the full display of His wrath upon unrepentant, sinful men (2 Peter 3:1-9; Revelation 6:12-17)!

1 Please make a pledge to help fund the Books To USA Prisons Project at
   https://www.thestrongmanofgod.org/web/Donate/tabid/1239/Default.aspx.