"Most of the world has no clue. They have no idea what this place feels like. If you've never been in prison, you can't understand the sinking feeling. ... The free world thinks we all belong here, and they hope we stay here. ... The longer we're stuck in this place, the more we hear voices in our heads telling us to get used to those sinking feelings."
So begins The Voice You Can Trust: Encouragement for the Incarcerated, a new Project Connect booklet written by Rev. Tim Carter. He is associate pastor and director of Life Care ministry at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Columbus, Indiana. Before that, he was involved in the execution of more than 150 inmates on the Texas State Penitentiary death squad.
The Voice You Can Trust speaks to the difficult, pressurized environment of prison life. Sadly, scores of inmates never come to trust in Jesus and remain stuck in the deadly pit the hellish voices in their heads have dug. "This booklet written for prisoners urges them to remember that God won't leave them stuck in that pit. It encourages them to spend time with Him daily, diligently seeking Him in His Word, and following Him-as hard as that might be-day by day," says Suzie Sallee, LHM's community facilitator for congregations.
"This booklet is written in a style that aims to break through an inmate's distrust of most people, including 'church people,'" Carter says. "Satan uses life inside a prison to break down an inmate's hope of a future and even their will to live. If we are ever going to lift up inmates that Satan has torn down, we need to dismantle the lies he has used to harden their hearts.
"My hope is that inmates will realize that coming to faith, believing in, and following Christ is the only pathway out of the predicament they have fallen into. I pray that the almost impenetrable shell around the hearts of most inmates will be penetrated by God's Word, replacing desperation with hope, rejection with acceptance, darkness with light, and condemnation with redemption," Carter says.
The Voice You Can Trust is a timely resource for the incarcerated. "We want everyone, including those who are imprisoned, to know that it is by God's grace that we are saved in Jesus. It's an important message for us all," says Ashley Bayless, vice president of global content at LHM.
To order copies, go to lhm.org/projectconnect.