They were locked down for a week with no recreation and no showers. Finally, it was announced that they would be allowed to take showers twice a week but they were required to wear handcuffs behind their backs while walking to and from the showers. Wearing only his boxers and carrying a towel, Kyle walked to the shower. When he got there, he stepped into the shower and held his hands behind him through the bars so the officers could take the cuffs off. He shaved and washed his hair and then the rest of him. Finally, he washed out his underwear, dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist. Holding the wet, clean underwear in his hands behind his back, he walked back to his cell wearing only a towel. As he hung the underwear on a plastic hanger and hooked the hanger on his top bunk, Kyle wondered when things would get back to normal.
The next day, he decided to clean his cell. He asked an officer to bring him the cleaning equipment. The officer brought him a broom, a toilet brush and a black piece of scrub pad from a floor-waxer. He used an old washcloth to dust the one-piece metal desk and chair, which was against the wall opposite the door. He also dusted the top bunk of his bed, which was in the back left corner of the room. He kept his books and extra clothes there. A small white porcelain sink was in the left front corner of the room and a porcelain toilet was located between the sink and the bed. He cleaned both with dish detergent purchased from the canteen. There were two windows on the back wall. Both were about four inches wide and six feet high. He didn’t clean the windows. Once he finished everything else, he swept the floor and then scrubbed it with the floor-waxer pad and rinsed and dried it with an old towel. Once he finished, he passed the broom, toilet brush and floor-waxer pad back through the food hatch to an officer.
Just then, he heard an inmate a couple of cells over ask to use the microwave. Each level had a microwave on a cart that could be moved to the different cells for the inmates to use. The inmate was told that they were not allowed to use the microwave because the microwave on A section had been destroyed and it wasn’t fair for them to have one if A section didn’t.
“You mean that, just because those dudes in A section tore up their own microwave, we can’t use ours?”
“I’m sorry but that’s how it is.”
The inmate said a few cuss words. Kyle felt like cussing too, it was pretty disgusting.
A week later, they were told that there would be no rec until the rec cages were redone. The cages would be partitioned into smaller cages so that each person would be in a separate cage. Also, from now on, they would not be allowed outside their cell without handcuffs and they were to be escorted at all times by two officers for each inmate and kept away from each other when there was no wall or fencing between them. The worst thing though was that, before going to rec, they would have to undergo a strip search. Some inmates hated the strip search so much that they decided not to go to rec. Everyone was pretty disgusted with the change in policy. Even the officers weren’t very happy about it since they would have to do work that the inmates previously did but then it was announced that all the officers currently working on death row would be transferred and new officers would be transferred in to replace them. Kyle wondered if these changes could be as a result of the prayer that he had prayed the day before the stabbing took place. He decided to read the Gospel of John as was suggested by the volunteer who gave him a Bible when he went to the Bible study. It made more sense than when he read it before when he was in the Max unit but there were still many parts that he didn’t understand.
Kyle was talking with Joel again the next day when they started talking about the policy changes that were coming down from the people in charge of the Department of Corrections in Columbia.
“You said that God gives people free will. If that’s the case, how can He be making them change the policy like this? There have been stabbings before and they never made all these changes before?”
‘I was just thinking about that yesterday and I found a verse that I think talks about that. It is Proverbs 21:1, “The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” God doesn’t force their wills but just like, if you dam up a river one place, it will have to go around the dam so you can make it go where you want it to, God orders things so that their free will choices accomplish His purposes.’
“If God is in control, why don’t you see Him controlling things in the World?”
“Actually, you do, you just have to know where to look. I’m reading a book now on Israel. Wait a minute, let me get it.”
Joel stepped back from the door for a moment to retrieve the book.
‘Listen to this, “And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” That’s from Amos 9:14, 15. This verse isn’t talking about the return to the land after the Babylonian captivity because Isaiah 11:11 says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” Notice it talks about a second time? Over a hundred years ago the land of Israel was sparsely inhabited and there weren’t very many Jews living there. Then they started to return to the land. During the holocaust in World War II, it seemed like they were going to be wiped out but then a few years after the war was over and Israel became a nation, there was a flood of immigrants from Europe to the land of Israel. The Bible has a prophecy that exactly fits this, Ezekiel 37:11-13, “Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.” Besides Europe, a lot of Jews moved to Israel from Arab countries and from because they were being persecuted. More recently, when the Soviet Union fell apart, a lot of Jews moved to Israel from there. There were also a number of Jews rescued from Ethiopia and brought to Israel. Isaiah 43:5 and 6 talks about that, “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up ; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” The Arabs have attacked the Jews a number of times but even though the Jews were outnumbered, God never has allowed them to be destroyed. We shouldn’t be surprised at all the argument in the world about who Jerusalem should belong to because, Zechariah 12:2, 3 says, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, ... And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Read the rest Zechariah starting in Chapter 12. It tells about how, when Jesus comes back, He’s going to seek to destroy those that are attacking Jerusalem. God is working in the world today getting things ready for when Jesus comes back.’
“Well, that sounds interesting. Can you write down those verses for me so I can look them up?”
“Sure. You can even borrow my book on Israel if you like, once I finish reading it. I should be done tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
The next day, the regular laundry man was sick so Kyle volunteered to do the laundry. With his hands cuffed behind his back he walked across to A section. The laundry room was the first cell in A section. It had a washer and dryer. Everyone hung their laundry bags filled with dirty laundry on the
food hatch door of their cell and an officer brought the dirty laundry bags to the laundry room. Kyle washed a few bags of laundry at a time. While he was folding clothes, he kept thinking about what had happened with all the changes on Death Row and about all the stuff that Joel had told him about Israel. Was God real? When Joel finished with the book on Israel, he got an officer to pass it to Kyle. Kyle was able to read through it in a few days. How could all of those prophecies have been fulfilled just by chance Kyle wondered?
The church services and Bible studies were no longer allowed because they couldn’t go out of their cells onto the Rock anymore. Instead, the chaplain arranged for a singing group to come. The group sang on the Rock and the men listened from their cells. In B section, a few people had objected that they didn’t want to hear a Christian group but they were told that they could shut their food hatch doors while the group was singing. Because so many people in A section objected to the group, they only sang in B section. The first song they sang was called Christ Died For All. Kyle listened to the words as they sang:
When Jesus hung upon the cross, He wasn’t there alone.
On either side a robber hung for sin that was his own.
One cried, “If you’re the Son of God, please take us down from here.”
The other, though, called on the Lord for God he’d learned to fear.
For the guiltiest of sinners, upon the cross Christ died.
For the robber and the murderer our Lord was crucified.
Among the chosen bride of Christ are those once deep in sin,
But blood washed by the Lamb of God they now are born again.
Paul Persecuted Christians, he caused a great outcry.
When Stephen preached and then was stoned, Paul wanted him to die.
But then Paul had a meeting with the Christ he’d hated so.
From that day on he served the Lord the grace of God to show.
For the guiltiest of sinners, upon the cross Christ died.
For the robber and the murderer our Lord was crucified.
Among the chosen bride of Christ are those once deep in sin,
But blood washed by the Lamb of God they now are born again.
Kyle thought about the words he was hearing. Maybe it wasn’t too late even for him. The group continued to sing but Kyle hardly heard the next few songs for thinking about the first one. Finally, he started paying attention again. The last song that the group sang was called Revival Fire.
They watched the resurrected Christ rise up into the air,
Tarried in Jerusalem, sought the Lord in earnest pray'r;
As rushing wind with tongues like fire the Holy Spirit came;
Then Spirit lead, they all went forth and preached in Jesus name.
America, in early days when men's hearts became cold,
Saw revivals come from God, sinners added to God’s fold.
Men gathered on their knees to pray for sinners bound for hell.
'Til even on sin hardened men, revival fire fell.
Can God still send revival as He did in days of old?
Never changing God's the same, might and pow'r He won't withhold.
If humbly we will seek God's face, and turn from wicked ways,
To God we'll pray, His fire will fall, His name we then will praise.
Can great revival come about behind a prison wall?
Prayers of inmates God will hear, when upon God’s name they call.
No prison wall can hold Him back, Almighty God is He.
Revival pow’r He still can send, from sin to set men free.
After the song was over, one of the singers talked for a moment about how God loved them and sent His Son Jesus Christ to die in their place to pay for their sins. Kyle knew that he was a sinner. If God was real then, since he had stabbed a Christian to death, he was going to hell. That night, he dreamt that he was in hell. He woke himself up and finally fell back asleep only to have the same dream again. When morning finally came, he decided that he didn’t want to go on like this.
“Joel, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure. What’s on your mind?”
“I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. I know now that God is real. I don’t want to go to hell. Is there any hope for me?”
“Yes! God loves you. Jesus died to pay for all your sin. If you’re willing to repent of your sin and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, He will save you.”
They talked for a few more minutes and then Kyle bowed his head and prayed, asking Jesus to come into his heart and save him.
The seed is the word of God. - Luke 8:11
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. - 1 Peter 1:23
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. - Galatians 3:16
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. - Tertullian
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