Angola Prison

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The below is an excerpt taken from a letter that I received from RZIM, written by Ravi Zacharias to the financial contributors of RZIM (yes, I contribute a monthly sum to RZIM):
Angola prison is on the Mississippi line, sixty miles north of the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It comprises 18,000 acres and covers some twenty two square miles. It is larger than Manhattan Island. The total prison population is about 5300, 85% of whom are on life without parole. They will never see freedom again. Among these are about forty-five on death row. Escape is almost impossible: a large pack of dogs, some part wolf and part dog, with a heightened sense of smell are used to track a prisoner down should any date try. Until a few short years ago, it was known as the bloodiest prison in the country. When a prisoner was brought in, he was given a knife to protect himself while within the prison. Imagine that! Blood stains were visible on the prison floors and walls. The place was brutal and survival in the world of criminals was itself a battle. IT is a place that takes days to process in one's thinking. It is a place where crime has opened the door and hope shuts it. But then came a deeply committed Christian warden who wanted to change the place and Angola Prison is now where "Amazing Grace" can be and has been sung many times. How did this change come about? The new warden believed he had a call from God and his mission was to make a difference. Around this mission, he built his team. Now, instead of blood on the walls Scripture verses can be read on many walls and there are Bibles in many cells. Now one of the safest prisons in the country, no profanity is allowed by either staff or inmates. The power of gospel to transform is so visible that even the secular state representatives recognise what has happened there. Listening to prisoners leaves deeply overwhelmed by how only God has changed these hearts. One of the men on our team remarked, "If they would allow Bibles in our schools again, maybe we wouldn't need so many cells in our prisons." - Ravi Zacharias
I was reading the news about the killings in Newton, Connecticut. Exactly the same sentiment. I was just thinking, all the laws in this world enacted were unable to change the hearts of men. It seems plausible to say that only Jesus, the blood of the Lamb, can really transform hearts and renew minds. If we have not systematically gotten rid of God in our academia, and have allowed Jesus Christ to enter into the conscience of the nations, then perhaps a lot of tragedies would not have occurred. Such is the good news of the gospel of Christ, but such is the blindness too of us who hate the light and love darkness.

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