Prisoner Rescue Mission Update
Thanks to your generous response to our request for financial support, we were able to cover the expense of mailing out all pending back orders of the Heaven Speaks to Prisoners booklets! You are the best! Together we are making a difference in the lives of many prisoners. Below is a report from Justin Sofio and below that is a video of Ryan with a Good News Update. The letters keep coming. Prisoners are being blessed and healed so we have to keep working.
-Sincere Gratitude from the Prison Ministry Team
__________________________
DFOT Lebanon County Prison visit
By Justin Sofio
On April 29th, a rainy and
overcast day, Father Darragh, Anne and myself visited with inmates at
the Lebanon County Prison in Pennsylvania. A few months back I was
contacted by a volunteer, John Siar, who visits the prison regularly,
about obtaining the Heaven Speaks and Volumes for the inmates. DFOT will
always make these books available to prisoners so we immediately sent
him the requested materials. Over the next few months he continually ran
out of DFOT materials and I could see Jesus opening a door for us at
this prison…It was a steel bar, buzzer sounding, alarmed door…but still,
it was opening and we paid attention.
The Chaplain of the prison, Rev. Marilyn
had picked up one of our Heaven Speaks booklets providentially back in
2011 and liked it. So she was familiar with these books. This led to us
spending 2.5 hours with three different groups of inmates.
Anne spoke honestly and lovingly and
highlighted that we are all imperfect. She reassured the prisoners that
in the eyes of heaven they do not stand out at all and explained to them
that many people understand that there is a lot of injustice in our
justice system.
So many of the prisoners were suffering
from a temptation to despair. Anne spoke about hope, the spiritual life,
heaven and understanding that while we are on earth each of us will
feel condemned and betrayed and experience injustice and obviously
suffer. This is the human experience. It happens to each of us. On the
flip side Anne asked if we had ever participated in these things against
another person? Every hand went up. My hand went up. Again, we are
imperfect.
So many of the prisoners have had people
label them as “bad”. We watched a look of relief come over them as Anne
explained the danger of dualistic thinking and how this is not what
Jesus wants from us. Dualistic thinking is the idea that people are
either all bad or all good. The truth is we each do bad things and we
each do good things and we are all somewhere in the middle. It is
inaccurate and unfair to label someone as all good or all bad.
What struck me the most was how honest some
of the prisoners were. “I don’t want to make excuses for my actions”
said one prisoner as Anne spoke about understanding our humanity. Anne
agreed and said while we do not want to make excuses, we need to be able
to understand why we committed certain actions so that we do not do so
again. Anne went on in explaining how you should not separate your
humanity from your sins: I was afraid and then I did this, I was tired
and then I did this. I was abused and I did this. I was hurt emotionally
and addicted and then I committed this action and some other actions.
Make sense?
The day wrapped up with prison guards
yelling, doors buzzing and slamming and the prisoners being herded out;
but Jesus had reached them and we were thankful. We continue to make any
needed materials available to prisoners and thank each of you for your
financial contribution to make that possible. The prison door opening is
just the beginning so stay tuned for our updates. Jesus is doing big
things. Lives are being changed and we get a steady stream of letters
from prisoners here at our office.
Direction For Our Times relies on donations
to supplement the cost of publishing the messages. Currently, only 40%
of the publishing cost is covered by the sale of the books. Thank you
for your prayerful consideration.
Direction for Our Times (DFOT) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to spreading God's messages as revealed in the Volumes.
Direction for Our Times (DFOT) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to spreading God's messages as revealed in the Volumes.
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