Our meeting was not to be for long; in about three or four hours we would part, possibly never to meet again. It, however, was to be the most important time that we would ever spend together. The location was the Lower Mainland Regional Correction Centre, better known as Okalla, a maximum security prison for 'breakers of the law' such as Wade and I.
I was serving my second day of a thirty day sentence for disobeying a Supreme Court Order. Wade was serving a twenty-three month sentence for a drug possession and trafficking charge. To say the least, I certainly was not thrilled with my pleasant plight!
I had just walked on to the tier with my Bible and towel in hand when I first noticed Wade standing by the last cell on the tier. Somewhat depressed I sauntered along the tier, found my cell and threw my few meager possessions on the bed and then attempted to leave the cell and get a cup of coffee from the urn nearby. Much to my surprise and chagrin Wade was standing directly beside my cell door.
Startled by his unexpected presence I stepped back into the cell, sat on the bed and sarcastically asked, "Can I be of any assistance to you?"
"You're a Christian, aren't you?" the young man asked cautiously. "At least," he continued, "I would assume that you're one because you have a Bible with you."
"Not everyone who carries a Bible is a Christian," I responded; "it takes more than carrying a Bible to make one a Christian."
Wade, appearing very disappointed with my callous, and somewhat uncaring response, left my cell and returned to a large central table where many of the other inmates were playing games of one sort or the other.
Nothing was said between Wade and I until shortly after supper when he appeared a second time, uninvited, at my cell door. Once more he inquired of me, "You're a Christian, aren't you?"
To this second probing question I responded in the affirmative . . . "Yes, yes, Wade I am a Christian, indeed, I am!"
Immediately after I had confided in him that I truly was a Christian a relaxed smile appeared on Wade's face. He proceeded to the end of my bed, candidly sat down, picked up my Bible and then said, "We have nothing to do but talk; why not tell me what a Christian is and how I might become one."
I was totally astonished by what was taking place right before me, but I knew better than to ignore Wade's apparent serious inquiry about my faith. "It's simple," Wade, I said, "a Christian is nothing more and nothing less than one who recognizes that he is a sinner, separated from God because of sin and then seeks God in sorrow of heart for forgiveness from those sins. Through a purposed faith in Christ, God's heaven sent Savior, and willful repentance from sin he becomes born again and, therefore, a Christian."
To further aid him understand what I was trying to say, I continued. "God created man. It was He who formed him out of the dust of the earth as a perfect creature with whom He wanted to have unending fellowship. Man, through an act of his own will, became deceived by Satan's cunning lies and disobeyed God's commandment not to eat 'of the fruit of the tree of good and evil' which was located in the middle of the garden where he lived as its care taker. Instantly man became engulfed by sin, separated from God, and a slave to Satan. God, because of man's willful decision, looked upon His creation and with heaviness of heart concluded that mankind, in his present condition had become depraved or spiritually dead, that he was alienated from all previous fellowship which he had known with God in his beginning and that he needed help . . . badly. God out of anger and as punishment for mankind's purposed act of rebellion against His command could have justly abandoned man in his dismal plight.
But God did not abandon man; in spite of his precarious dilemma, God still loved His creation and decided to remain man's friend. This love compelled God, before the foundation of the world, to send Christ, His only begotten Son, to come to earth and bring about salvation, the sole means whereby one can regain fellowship with God and become a Christian. Willingly Christ set aside His glory, left heaven, took on bodily form, and died on the cross at Calvary, "the just for the unjust so that He might bring man back to God." When "man was dead in his trespasses and sins, at enmity with God, and alienated from fellowship with Him, Christ who is rich in mercy" appeared at exactly the right time to reconcile creation back to God and reinstate him into the friendship Adam once knew in Eden. No one was to be excluded from Christ's mission of love. All had sinned . . . all needed a savior . . . all need to repent. To anyone who would place his trust in Christ, who would call upon Him for mercy and would say that he was sorry for his sins, salvation would be granted, for "whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved." Once a person exercises this faith in Christ through repentance, he immediately is accepted by God and is changed into a new creation; in many cases previous held values, old habits and life standards are quickly set aside. The Christian appreciates his new standards for living because he now has a better criteria by which he can measure the appropriateness of his actions - that being the holiness of God which has been shed abroad in his heart at the new birth."
About five minutes or so had passed since I had first started sharing my faith with Wade when suddenly he interrupted me.
"But", he said, "I have committed so many other crimes; there are still one or two outstanding charges against me with which I have yet to deal. Until everything else is settled," he added, "I could never approach a Holy and Righteous God and ask Him to accept me."
"It doesn't matter what your present situation is," I responded. God accepts people as they are at the moment they approach Him for salvation. You can come to Jesus right now without any fear of being rejected. As soon as you call on Him, regardless of how wicked you might consider yourself to be, you will know His full pardon for any sins you have committed - that, Wade, is God's sure promise to you."
Wade was ready . . . he wanted to set aside talking and take direct action towards becoming a Christian right then and there! In the quietness of that dark, dreary and unwelcoming prison cell Wade knelt beside the steel bunk where he and I together prayed that well known 'sinner's prayer'. Wade that day became the Christian that God had promised he would become. Seconds after saying his short 'prayer of repentance' a noticeable joy and peace was radiated from his face.
Wade wanted to take time to thank me for helping him become a Christian but our time for further discussion was ended when an announcement over the tier loud speaker interrupted our conversation, "'2 Right 4' pack all your bags, you're being moved to the hospital." Hurriedly I left the tier."
I have never seen Wade again since that day, but based upon the experience he and I had together I know for certain that he is a Christian in the truest sense of the word and I that know I shall greet him again in God's glorious kingdom which has been prepared for both of us.
Perhaps you too would like help in knowing what it means to be a Christian. Consider the message presented in this tract and if then if you need further help in making your decision for Christ contact a pastor of a local Bible believing church who will aid you in knowing Jesus Christ, God's heaven sent Saviour, in a personal way. |
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