A couple of weeks after coming to Death Row, Kyle was moved from the observation cell to the cell that would be his permanent cell. His new cell was also on the ground level of B section. Kyle’s cell was more than half way around the U near a corner of the U.
The cell on one side of him was empty. The cell on the other side was occupied by Joel Pinckney. Joel was a tall, handsome black man. There was an angle or corner between Kyle’s cell and Joel’s cell so that if Kyle looked out of the opened food hatch at his cell door, he could actually see Joel’s cell door. Because of this, it was easy for him to talk to him.
“Where are you from?” Kyle asked Joel.
“Charleston.”
“That’s pretty close. Do you get a lot of visitors?”
“My mom comes about once a month but my brother moved to Tennessee five years ago so he hardly ever comes.”
“That’s too bad but at least your mother comes.”
“What about you? Has anybody visited you yet?”
“No. My parents are both dead. I have a sister Sharon. She’s really stuck with me. I talked to her every week on the phone when I was at Hunter and she always gave me whatever money I needed for the canteen. She even wrote me regularly while I was at the super-max in Columbia but she lives in Atlanta and her youngest son is disabled so it’s hard for her to travel this far.”
“That’s too bad about your nephew but I’m glad you’ve got family anyway.”
Now that he was in a regular cell, Kyle was allowed to go out to recreation. The first time he went out to recreation, he was put in the rec cage with a couple of other guys. One of the guys introduced himself. “I’m Jordan Stevenson but you can call me Jack. I’m from Georgia.”
“Good to meet you, I’m Kyle Matthews.”
The other inmate in the rec cage introduced himself as Mark Kilgus. “Do you play chess?” Mark asked.
“Sure do.”
“How about a game right now?”
“Okay.”
Kyle set up the chessboard and they started to play. The time passed quickly and soon it was time to return to his cell.
That night, he called his sister Sharon on the phone. After listening to the recording, she pushed the button to accept the call.
“Kyle? How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. How’s everything there? Is Brandan doing okay in school? How is Owen?”
“He’s fine. I put $500.00 into your Cooper fund, you should be able to get what you need from the canteen.”
“Thanks. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help.”
Kyle and Sharon talked for almost fifteen minutes. When the recording warned that there was only one minute left, Sharon asked, “Can you call me back again so we can talk longer?”
“Sorry, but there are several guys here waiting for the phone. I’ll call you again tomorrow evening.”
“Okay. Take care. I love you.”
“I love you too. Goodbye.”
After they exchanged goodbyes, Kyle hung up the phone and an officer moved it to the cell of the next guy waiting for it.
The next day, Kyle went to the canteen. An officer walked him and a couple of other inmates there. He bought boxers, undershirts, dish detergent to clean his cell with, and some food items. He also ordered a coffee pot, a radio and a TV.
A week later, the TV, the radio and the coffeepot were delivered to his cell. The next morning, he decided to use the coffeepot to cook some food. Fixing your own food that way was called a “setup.” First he borrowed a resealable plastic bag that instant coffee came in from Joel, the guy in the next cell. He used a plastic spork to cut up some beef sausage and put it in the bag. Then he opened a can of pinto beans, poured it into the plastic bag and sealed it. He filled the coffeepot with water, placed the plastic bag in the water and turned it on.
That evening, when his food tray came for supper, he opened the plastic bag from the coffeepot and poured it over the rice on his tray. It was actually pretty good. After supper, he decided to wash his clothes. They had a washing machine and a dryer in one of the cells on A section that was used to wash their laundry but the washing machine was currently broken so he had to wash all his clothes out by hand.
Kyle watched the news that night on his new TV. Before his TV had arrived, the only option had been to watch the TVs that were on polls outside the cells. He had had to stand at the door to watch so it was too tiring to watch all day long. He was really glad to finally have a TV in his cell even if it was just a 7-inch screen.
For the next couple of days, he spent a lot of time reading. There was a cell down on the first level that was used as a library. It had a number of books. On death row, inmates could have both paperback and hardback books. They could only receive books by mail from a bookstore or publisher though; books couldn’t be received from an individual. The only exception was approved Bibles which volunteers were allowed to give out. They were only allowed to keep ten books at a time in their cell so when an inmate finished reading a book, if it wasn’t one he wanted to keep and nobody else had asked for it, he would typically send it to their library downstairs. There were quite a few good books down there.
A few days later, Kyle was standing at the door to his cell, talking with Joel when Joel invited him to come to the Bible study the next day.
“You go to the Bible study? Does that mean that you’re a Christian?”
“Yes, I got saved about a year ago, right after I got here.”
“Well let me ask you this, if someone told you they would kill you if you kept talking about Jesus, would you keep doing it anyway?”
“I don’t know. I hope I would.”
“Why?”
“Well, because it’s what God would want me to do. God commands Christians to be witnesses and He tells us not to be afraid of those who can kill us. We’re supposed to fear God instead of man.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. If somebody is threatening to kill me, I’m supposed to ignore it because of my religious belief?”
“God is in control. He controls who lives and who dies. He also will judge you after you die. This life isn’t all there is. After you die, you either spend eternity in heaven or in hell.”
“I don’t believe that but I might come to the Bible study tomorrow just to get out of this cell for a while.”
The next day, when it was time for the Bible study to begin, an officer opened Kyle’s door and then Joel’s door. As they walked onto the Rock, Kyle wondered why he was going to a Bible study. “I guess this place is really getting to me,” he thought to himself. A volunteer was sitting at one of the tables and he and the other inmates who had chosen to participate in the Bible study sat down at the table with the volunteer. The volunteer began the Bible study.
“What is God like? What does the Bible have to say about Who God is?” the volunteer asked the inmates.
“God is everywhere”, said Joel.
“That’s right, turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah 23:24. Everyone started looking for Jeremiah. Kyle didn’t have a Bible of his own so he looked on with Joel. Joel found the verse quickly but some of the other inmates needed help from the volunteer to find it. Once everybody had the verse, the volunteer read, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”
“What else do we know about God?” asked the volunteer.
No one had any suggestions.
“God is eternal. He never had a beginning, He wasn’t born and He will never die or cease to exist. He lives by His own power. How do we know this? Turn to Psalm 90 verse 2.” Again, everyone flipped the pages of their Bibles. Kyle looked on with Joel as the volunteer read, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
The Bible study continued on in this fashion. They learned that God is holy and righteous, that God is a Spirit, that God doesn’t chan
ge and that God is in control of everything. They also talked about how God is a trinity and that there are three persons Who make up one God. Some of what they talked about was familiar to Kyle but he had never spent much time thinking about it.
Then someone asked, “But isn’t the Bible unscientific?”
‘No, over three thousand years ago, the book of Job was written. In it we read, “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” That’s Job 26:7. That was written thousands of years before scientist understood that the earth hangs in the emptiness of outer space or how the northern polar cap stretches out over empty sea rather than land. But God knew then because He made it all. A few hundred years ago, doctors were still bleeding their patients to death in an effort to cure them but, thousands of years ago, the Bible said in Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” When the New Testament was written, nearly two thousand years ago, God knew that there would be people in our day who would look at creation and refuse to see His handiwork. Turn to Romans chapter one. Follow along with me starting in verse eighteen, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest [or made clear] in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” Listen to what Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20 and 21, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” Just because evolution is taught by scientists does not mean that it is true science. Listen to what Peter had to say, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:” That’s 2 Peter 3: 3 through 6. According to these verses, in the last days, there will be people who will refuse to be believe that God created the World or that the Great Flood of Noah happened. They will think instead that all change is the result of slow gradual processes. Evolutionists today look at millions of layers of fossils and think that they took millions of years to be deposited. But actually, there are scientific examples to the contrary. After Mount St. Helens erupted, Spirit Lake deposited similar layers of earth and then a channel was later cut through it as the water drained, forming a miniature Grand Canyon. This newly created “Grand Canyon” had millions of tiny layers just like the real Grand Canyon. Most of today’s scientist claim that the Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years of slow processes but this similar but smaller canyon was formed in my lifetime. Also, the trees, which were washed into Spirit Lake during the volcanic eruption, floated there for months and then gradually sunk, often with their trunks upright. The result was very similar to the way trees are positioned in so called petrified forests. Also, if evolution were true, you would expect to find a gradual continuum between different animals. You wouldn’t expect to find distinct kinds. Darwin expected that all the missing links would be found in the fossil record but that hasn’t happened. In Genesis chapter one, the Bible talks about seed yielding seed according to its kind. Each different kind can adapt and adjust to different environments by making small changes over time. Foxes that live in deserts have thinner bodies, long ears and relatively light fur so they can stay cool. Artic foxes have compact bodies and thick fur to protect them from the cold. But both are still foxes. There is a limit to how much they can change. People also have adapted to different environments. That’s why some people have dark skin to protect them from the harsh sun of tropical regions while others have fair skin to allow as much vitamin D absorption as possible. Even though we come in different colors because of the different environments our ancestors lived in we are all one kind. We are all human beings created in the image of God. Acts 17:26 says, “[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” The Bible may contradict scientist but it does not contradict true science.’
When the Bible study was over and they went back to their cells, Kyle decided to ask Joel a question or two about what they had studied.
“So you really believe all that stuff about God being in control?” Kyle asked Joel.
“Yes.”
“I don’t. If God even exists, He’s sure not in control. Going to church or reading your Bible might make you feel better but God can’t do anything real.”
“You’re wrong. God controls every aspect of your life.”
“Oh yeah, I don’t think so!”
“God could change things around here completely if He wanted to.”
“Yeah? Okay, God, if you’re real, make things get a lot worse. Do something to change things drastically!”
“Lord. You heard what Kyle just prayed. I don’t really want things a lot worse but it would be worth it if it got him saved so, Lord, I’m asking you to answer Kyle’s prayer and make things here a lot worse.”
“Nothing’s going to happen. I told you God can’t do anything.”
“God can if He wants to. I guess we’re going to find out if He wants to.”
The next morning Joel went outside to Rec but Kyle decided to stay inside because it was too cold outside. An hour later, he heard yelling coming from A section. He heard a pop sound like a gun going off several times and a few minutes later he also smelled a faint odor of tear gas. What was going on? There were no officers in sight; they had all hurried over to A section. After a while, he heard sirens and then everything got quiet. He was hoping that Joel would know something but before Joel came back, an officer closed and locked the food hatch on his cell door.
That night, when he watched the evening news on his TV, he found out that there had been an officer stabbed on death row.
The next day they opened the food hatches back up and he was able to talk to Joel.
“What happened yesterday? Did you see anything?”
“Yes,” said Joel. “I was locked in one of the rec cages when it happened with a couple of other guys. Two of the guys from A section stabbed the officer that had rec duty. For no reason at all! He was a really nice guy, they had no reason to be mad at him. After they stabbed him, they left him and went back to the dorm, then, once they were gone, he went in too.”
“They stabbed him and then went back into the dorm? What were they trying to do?”
“I don’t know. They weren’t trying to escape! It really makes no sense. I think they must be crazy or something. When he got stabbed I felt really bad for him. Before I got saved, I wouldn’t have cared but my heart is different now. I just hope he’s going to be okay.”
“What was the siren for yesterday and all the shots?”
“I’m not sure about the shots, maybe rubber bullets or tear gas, but they had two ambulances here. I guess that was the sirens.”
“Since I prayed and asked God to make things worse, do you think that God made the inmates stab the officer?”
"No, they did so of their own free will. God allowed it to happen but He didn’t cause it. God never does or causes evil but He allows evil to happen because If He didn't, we wouldn't have free
will. But He causes even evil things to work for His purposes. Nothing happens unless God either causes it or allows it. Hold on a minute and let me get my Bible. I want to read you some verses.”
‘After Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph said, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” That’s from Genesis 50:20. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Psalm 76:10 says, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.”’