Unlock

As we begin this week leading up to a day of Thanksgiving, we can reflect on that for which we are thankful, including our salvation through Christ and the freedom that He offers to us. 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 states:
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Sin weighs us down, but Jesus lifts us up - He brings hope to our hearts and helps us to realize that through his death and resurrection, we can walk in victory over the sin that keeps us back, that corrupts our lives and holds us in bondage.  The same Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us - He will give us life and liberty: the strength to overcome and to grow daily into whom God desires for us to be in Christ.  We have the capacity, the new identity; now we have to appropriate what He has made possible!

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The 4th chapter of the book of Luke describes the event in which Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth and began to teach:
(17) He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

We know that our Savior delights in changing lives from the inside - He came to earth and gave His life so that we might experience the new birth.

And, across our nation, people who are physically in prison are experiencing the spiritual freedom, the breaking of chains and opening of prison doors through a relationship with Christ and growing in their knowledge.

A recent article in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette highlighted the growth of faith-based educational programs in prisons nationwide and specifically covered the groundbreaking for a new Christian work in an Arkansas facility.  It stated:

Michael Hallett, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of North Florida, said faith-based prison education programs have expanded in recent years.

"They're literally all over the country," said Hallett, author of "Angola Prison Seminary: Effects of Faith-Based Ministry on Identity Transformation, Desistance, and Rehabilitation."

When properly run and monitored, these voluntary programs "provide great value, both personally to the prisoners as well as to the state prison systems in which they operate," he said.

"The American prison system is struggling mightily to retain staff and provide programming for prisoners, and when volunteers are willing to come into prisons and work with inmates for the purpose of education, that is a win for everyone, including the state but most especially the prisoners," he said.

The former warden at Angola prison in Louisiana is a man named Burl Cain, who was on hand for the recent ceremony in Arkansas at the "high-security Varner Unit." The article notes:

While overseeing the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, he advocated for similar faith-based educational opportunities, pressing on despite resistance.

With help from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, his dream became a reality.

Later faced with a chaplain shortage at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Cain eventually hired ex-Angola graduates to fill vacancies.

Cain believes prisons can improve people, not just warehouse them.

"Corrections means correcting deviant behavior, not lock and feed, torture and torment," he said.

The Arkansas program has been in existence since 2019, and, as the article states, "enables inmates with lengthy sentences to earn a four-year bachelor of arts degree in Christian studies from the College at Mid-America, part of the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis."  The Arkansas Baptist State Convention was on board early on.  The article notes: 

Thus far, they have been held in small classrooms above the lockup's gymnasium.

Once the new building is complete, the school will have a place of its own, with a library, four classrooms and enough space to handle 100 students.

While these individuals may be physically "locked up" in prison, they are experiencing the unlocking of the prison doors of their hearts by the One who came to earth, gave His life, and rose from the dead in order to break the chains of sin and death.  What a tremendous potential impact is possible when hungry hearts meet the satisfying Savior!

Burl Cain is currently the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections - he was, thankfully, obedient to the Lord and followed His direction in getting the Word of God into the hearts of prisoners.  He even brought Christian radio into the prison!  Through the efforts of our dear brother, Wayne Dozier, and the "Radios of Faith" project, radios pre-tuned to Faith Radio are penetrating the walls and the hearts of those who are imprisoned.

Fact is, God doesn't write anybody off.  Prison ministries are taking the gospel behind those prison walls, and in the midst of desperation, God is bringing hope, light, and new life into the hearts of the incarcerated.  We can rejoice, we can be very thankful, that God doesn't give up on us.