I haven't posted in a while either and only thought of the blog to my shame, when reading another..
Yet before I post, to avoid the risk of being taken as overly zealous or indeed offensive, I would add that there are two conclusions you may come to, in response to the following. The first, is that God is a crutch for the weak and the lost and its nothing new, OR God is real and he transforms lives. Simple
I quote, Matty Hawthorne who is a friend of mine who works for Reflex, a Christian charity that work in prisons. Check out his blog post here, or below:
One of my favourite chapters of the Bible is Isaiah 61, which starts off:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners
In the North West Reflex team, we are seeing the Holy Spirit transform many broken young men and women, giving them internal freedom and releasing them from darkness. More than ever before, we are seeing signs and wonders, with people being miraculously healed, words of knowledge, addictions broken, young men and women who were intent on suicide, discovering new hope and many young offenders being set free as they step into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Below is Craig’s story, one of the many inmates who have been impacted recently by God through the work of Reflex:
Craig is from Manchester, and is the son of a father who was a career criminal, and founder of one of the city’s notorious gangs, and a mum who was a drug addict. After a tough start in life, Craig was taken into care aged 10.
In care Craig found it very hard to behave, get on with other children and any foster parents, and refused to go to school. After just a year of being in care, Craig started drinking with older residents, and committing small crimes to try to fit in, and get attention.
At the age of 14, Craig got back in touch with his Dad, who recruited him to run errands for him, and in return gave him drugs. Throughout the rest of his teens, Craig was in and out of different foster homes, secure units, and living on the street.
When he was 18, Craig was deeply involved in the gang lifestyle, violence and selling and taking drugs. Eventually he got charged with kidnapping and attempted murder, and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Craig used this first prison sentence to start getting into music, but also used his reputation and contacts while in prison for more devious activities. After getting released, he started getting back into crime, but on a higher level, with people working for him rather than directly dealing etc. Craig also got into music, and recorded several tracks and performed around the Manchester club scene.
10 years later, after making a lot of money from his criminal activities, and not being in trouble with the law since being released, Craig was arrested following a police investigation into his gang, and found himself back in prison.
In prison, Craig met the Reflex team, who were running detached sessions on his wing. They invited him to come onto a music course that the team were running in the prison, and Craig was really keen to use his music skills in prison. Craig was amazing on the music course, and recorded a track about his future and changing his ways.
At the end of the course, Craig asked for a Bible, as he had so many conversations about it with the team, and what they believe about Christianity. Over the weekend, without being lead to them by anyone, he read three very significant passages: Isaiah 53 (prophecy of Jesus in OT), Psalm 139 (About how God knows you & made you), and the account of Jesus’ trial in Luke.
Craig was invited to perform at a Reflex showcase to some of the prison staff and other inmates the following Tuesday, and told the Reflex team the parts of the Bible he had read. That afternoon, Matty and Nick from Reflex prayed with Craig, and without prompting, Craig prayed a prayer committing his life to God, and repenting for his old lifestyle.
Since then, over the past month, Craig has been coming to the Reflex groups, started reading the Bible, and sharing his new-found faith with fellow inmates, who can’t believe the transformation in him. Craig is being supported by the Reflex team while in prison, and has a local church who he has been linked up with for when he is released.
Here is one of the lyrics that Craig has written since becoming a Christian:
Hailing from a real troubled life when I was young,
seeing all around the effects of drugs and guns,
hearing the cry of mothers who’ve lost sons,
made me realise something must be done,
politicians chat what they’re doing in the slums,
but how many live there while it happens well none,
its left to the parents to resolve the problems,
living on handouts scrabbling for crumbs,
police alienating the blacks and the muslims,
then on the rare occasions they stop the white ones,
and there aint no places for the kids to have fun,
they’d rather lick you down blaze bud an get drunk,
back in the day we’d pump music from the trunk,
and we never used guns it was settled with a punch,
there’s a moral i’m to teach to young ones,
you’ll be never alone once you walk in God’s love.
