STORIES OF FAITH from a HISTORIC PRISON

Finding Forgiveness

Another memorable experience  was that of James. He had been one of Jehovah's Witnesses but had allowed himself to grow weak spiritually. He succumbed to temptation and committed bank fraud. He was dis-fellowshipped from the Christian congregation and imprisoned in the Atlanta  federal penitentiary. He later told us:  "It was by far the lowest point in my life."

Life in prison was hard.  "I suffered terrible feelings of isolation and despair," James recalled. However, his incarceration in a cramped prison cell led him to do some serious soul-searching. He described it this way: "What hurt me most in prison was not my personal discomfort but the way I had let my heavenly Father down."  After several months one of the inmates who was studying the Bible with the Witness volunteers approached James and invited him to attend the Bible study classes. Ashamed, James refused at first. But the young man persisted, and eventually James attended a Sunday meeting.

He was deeply moved to see the loving concern for the student shown by the Witnesses conducting the class.  Later something else struck him. Because of prior experiences, James has assumed that all religious volunteers  were well paid for their work with inmates. But to his surprise  he learned that the Witnesses  submitted no invoices and received no cash payments for their services. -Matthew 10:8. 

James began to look forward to the meetings. He found the brothers who conducted  those meetings to be kind and encouraging. One elder in particular impressed him.  "I counted the days until his next visit," James recalls, "because he made the truth of God's Word come alive; his spirit was infectious. He impressed on me the need to read the Bible analytically in order to get the true sense of the message-to make it truly my own and, more important to develop the mind of Christ.

James had a hard tome believing that God could forgive his mistakes. What helped him?  "God's forgiveness was reflected in the treatment we received  from faithful and self-sacrificing men.  One thing became very clear:  In spite of my terrible sins, the brother never gave even the slightest impression that God could not forgive me. Jehovah never let me go. He saw my heartfelt repentance and my repudiation of such a foolish and fraudulent course; and he has richly blessed me."  Indeed, James was reinstated into the Christian congregation. Released from prison about a decade ago, he has remained active and zealous. To the delight of his wife and family, he is now a ministerial servant and recently gave his first public talk.

Next time: STORIES OF FAITH from a HISTORIC PRISON/Finding the Way

From the jw.org publications