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From Suicide to Salvation
By Ken Horn | April 14, 2008
Correctional Chaplain Richard E. Cawthon recently sent this thrilling report of salvation and transformation to our national chaplaincy department:
I was asked by one of our correctional officers to visit with an inmate who had attempted to commit suicide two days prior. When I saw him, he was a broken, defeated person. The officer told me that the man had been crying uncontrollably all day long. He said he felt like a complete failure who could not even succeed at suicide.
I was not able to take any items into “the bubble” (an all glass cell) with me, due to his suicide status. I spent quite a bit of time just listening to him. I shared some scriptures with him and then I prayed with him. After that I left. He was still crying when I left.
Two days later I went back to see him. He had been moved from “the bubble” to an adjacent cell in “processing.” When I saw him, he looked completely different. His countenance had changed and he was smiling. I asked him what had been happening with him. He said that when he was moved an officer “gave me this.” (He pointed to the TPE that was on his bed. The officers couldn’t find a Bible laying around processing, but they found a TPE that I distribute.) He said that he flipped through the magazine, scanning the pages. He said that when he turned the magazine over he saw the “ABCs of Salvation.” The following were his exact words. “I read and did what it said. When I did, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of me. I have been so happy since then and I have been dancing around my cell.”
I explained to him that the weight he felt lift off of him was the weight of sin that had been pressing down on him. It was awesome to watch the transformation that Jesus had done in this new child of God. We serve an awesome God who reaches into prison cells to set captives free. Praise His Name!
Just this morning, the TPE staff prayed for the 51 people we heard from last week who committed their lives to the Lord by following the ABCs of Salvation that we put in every issue. Every Monday morning our staff prays for those who responded to the ABCs the previous week. Many of them are inmates. This makes it all worthwhile!
Topics: U.S. Missions, salvation |
