" ...The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound..." Isaiah 61:1
SO, there are various Bible verses about prisoners, the above being just one of them, and of course it must be taken into CONTEXT for today...we are not so "pollyanish" to believe that we can just open the prison doors to all and think that they will all be good citizens, but we can be AWARE of our prisoners, and certainly SOME could be released without harm to society. Some have been wrongly convicted. Others are victims of society as well. We hope and pray that the justice system gets it right in most cases, but we also know there are problems. I myself have seen corruption in the "justice system" and so I am well aware that in some cases, the justice system is unjust, to put it mildly.
And as Christians we have a responsibility to CARE for ALL prisoners, from petty thieves to mass murderers and everything in between, despite our abhorrence of some of their behavior. And we must always ask ourselves if we could have done anything to help prevent a person from becoming "criminal"? I am NOT a "bleeding heart liberal' , in fact I am a "compassionate conservative", and an evangelical Christian and therefore I try to be "Biblical' in my worldview and how I live my life, including care & prayer for our prisoners.
There are entire ministries that are specifically devoted to prisoners, which do it MUCH better than I do, and one of them is "prison fellowship" at http://www.prisonfellowship.org/ . Another is "metanoia ministries" at http://pcamna.org/metanoia-ministries/ (note: I have not thoroughly researched either of the above, but just glanced at their websites, both of which look good. Prison fellowship is a recognized name, and metanoia ministries is part of the presbyterian church.)
This blog will be devoted to the topic of prisoner care & prayer, and I will be posting items of interest, or words of encouragement, etc, periodically. If a prisoner happens to see and read this, please know that myself and others are thinking about and praying for you, and some of our chaplains et al are coming into the prisons to do pastoral care with and for you. KEEP the HOPE ! -vk-
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; [and] them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body..."
Hebrews 13:3
" For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not His prisoners..." Psalms 69:33
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” Hebrews 13:3
" If u declare with your mouth,
“Jesus is Lord,” &
believe in your
HEART
that God
raised Him
from the dead,
u will be saved."
GREETINGS ! I INVITE U2 accept JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD & SAVIOR TODAY, RIGHT NOW, OR ANYTIME, & BE SAVED ! Don't wait until it is TOO LATE. Don't Hesitate. The consequences are TOO GREAT.! Humble yourself. You CANNOT do it alone. None of us can. Guaranteed 100% FAILURE RATE for those who try to GO IT ALONE. Kneel down now and say to Jesus, "Sorry & Thank you, I surrender to YOU, LORD, & Commit my LIFE 2 U, now & forever"
