Editors note: Mike Long, a confessed Christian was the last man to be executed on Oklahona's Death Row. He asked Rev. Irvin Judd to be with him in his final hours. The following letter was written by Mike in his own hand with a request that it be read at his funeral. The letter is posted on the internet at www.testimonies.com. Whether or not you believe in capital punishment is not the issue here. The issue is do you believe in the forgiving love of Jesus. Will you be able to live in harmony with men like Mike Long. Hopefully this letter will make all of us stop and think about what it means to truly forgive another person because if we cannot we may have to explain it all to a loving savior. Let's not wait that long lets deal with it now.

Final Words of a Death Row Inmate
Hello to all my friends and family members. Thank you for coming and for loving me.
This sure is a strange situation. Not many people are able to share a message at their own funeral. I don't know what to say but I will give it a good try.

I suppose you think that I am dead. Not true. Don't believe it. At this moment I am more alive than I ever was. I was born of the flesh in 1962 and I was born in the spirit in 1987. That which is born of the flesh may die but that born of the spirit shall live forever. If you want to know where I am, look up, then smile.

The bible says that Jesus raised people from the dead. Jesus said He has the authority and if you believe on Him the works that He did, you shall do also. Wait! Sit down! Don't even think about it! Don't even think about laying hands on me, raising me up, and snatching me out of this fabulous place. Don't make me ask Jesus to ask an angel to put some noogies on your head.

I know most of you came today so you could pay your respects or say goodbye. The real deal is that you don't have to say goodbye. First of all, I am still with you inside your heart and your mind. Secondly, it is only a matter of time until we are together again. We will be together again, won't we? You are coming to Heaven, aren't you? It is not up to me. It's not up to God. It is up to you.

In Romans 14 the bible says, "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." To boil it down, what it is saying is that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ but does He belong to you? He is the Master but is He your Master?

The only way to be able to come to Heaven is for you to be holy, pure, righteous, and without sin. How do you do that or get that? You can't. You can't do anything. Jesus has done it all for you. He went to the cross in order to take your sin, your guilt, your punishment, your judgment. Jesus is your sacrifice. Only by faith in Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross can you be cleansed, justified, redeemed, and headed for Heaven. Only by faith and trust in Jesus. Sound too easy? Sound too hard? It's all in the Bible.

I pray that each and every one of you has invited Christ into your heart as Lord of your life and Savior of your soul. If you haven't, please don't delay. God has promised that you shall seek Him and find Him when you search for Him with all your heart. A wise person once said that we change when the misery of where we are is greater than the fear of change. Please do not be afraid of coming to Jesus or of becoming a Christian. It took a long time and a lot of pain before I finally realized that truth. Learn from my mistakes.

Many, many of us are waiting for you. This place is breathtakingly awesome. We'll see you soon. I close with these words:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the years, "Give me a light that I may walk safely into the unknown."

He said to me, "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God and He shall be to you brighter than a light and safer than a known way."
Mike Long, 1998
Permission to use granted by Don Holt & Mike Long's Family

This is the testimony of Martin K. Agwu who received his salvation in a Nigerian Prison cell.

To the unbelieving heart, it sounds hypocritical when one says "God, I thank Thee for my affliction," but to the saved, he knows that "in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thess 5:18).

I was a Roman Catholic by birth. I was well soaked with the Catholic doctrine and did all that I was asked to do in the name of worshipping God. It is needless going into the details but one thing was very certain, I was never a Christian. All they did for me was to baptise me, confirmed me and finally they "confused" me. The truth was far from me, not because I did not want to know it but because nobody taught me. It was through the bitterness of imprisonment, through affliction and agony, that I was forced to start asking questions as to the existence of God. It is in this difficult place that I discovered the sufficiency of His grace.

Till today, I am still convinced that I was not supposed to have been sent to prison. But by an act of God, I was convicted and I became a prisoner of circumstances. I wept bitterly as I was separated from my family, loved ones and friends. But from somewhere, I did not know, God was watching over me. I thought I had been rejected by Him. At one time, I felt hopeless without a sense of direction but He had His plans for me.

Four months after my imprisonment a wonderful change took place in my life. The effect will, remain in me as long as I live. Praise the Lord. It was a Saturday afternoon after I had smoked my last cigarette. It seemed to me as if somebody was speaking to me. There was an inner urge, very forceful, asking me to move to where some prisoners were studying the Bible. I had never been used to such things, being a Catholic, and I resisted. I had been a defender of the Catholic faith. What will people say when they see and hear that I had made an about turn? So many thoughts crossed my mind. Later, I bowed to the dictates of the inner urge. I took an old Bible which had the whole of the books of Genesis and Revelation torn off. It was a gift from a friend who was regaining his freedorn. I had unconsciously kept it and never opened it. I got to the Prison Chapel and joined in the worship. Many were surprised at seeing me. Many had witnessed to me, but I had never given in. As a Catholic I had been taught to reject anything that was anti-Catholic. I was not to read anything that was not pro-Catholic.

The message came from a visiting preacher. It seemed as if it was just meant for me. As he was speaking, something was happening within me. A battle raged heavily in my heart. A call to confession of sins was made. It seemed as if my spiritual eyes were opened and I saw dearly my spiritual wretchedness and surrendered to Christ there and then. I invited Him into my heart He came in immediately, forgave me my sins and saved me. I was saved and I knew it I began to realise the love of God. I then understood that my imprisonment has been a blessing in disguise; for what I refused when I was free, I have received in bondage.
The change in me was quiet, dramatic and instantaneous. The new change in me was noticed by many of my friends. Many old friends mocked, jeered and made derogatory remarks about my new found faith. I lost many of these friends, they felt that they could not cope with my new way of life. Everything about God started to take priority in my life. The Bible became the most valuable asset to me. Within the next two months I started to witness to other inmates.

I communicated the news of my salvation to my family and some friends outside the prison. To my beloved wife, my salvation was an answer to her prayer. She has been a believer and a protestant, but by marriage she was made a Catholic. My parents could not believe their ears and some friends said I had taken the decision bemuse I found myself in a tight corner. They expected I would decamp or retreat after a few months. But the grace of God has been sufficient to me. There is no turning back. May the Lord be my strength. I realise that God did not mean to hurt me but through affliction, He revealed Himself to me I joined the psalmist and affirm that "It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes" (Ps 119:71).

In a few months' time, I will regain my physical freedom. My spiritual freedom has been settled here once and for all the day I surrendered to Christ Lord, I thank Thee for my affliction, I have no regrets on being a prisoner. I am ready and willing to be used by Thee, Lord, in any capacity, not only here in prison but outside the prison where many Nigerians have continued to live as if there is no God. Like a coin, Lord spend me to the glory of Thy name.

My parents did a great job in raising us, (my two sisters and myself) so I couldn't blame them. Both of my parents encouraged us to go to Sunday school and church, in fact they took us there themselves. My father was chairman of the trustee board for many years. He was a Sunday school teacher and sang in the Male Chorus at church. My mum was diligent in teaching us at home about right and wrong, and the importance of biblical principles being applied to our lives. Additionally, they seemed to have a great marriage, my dad modeled being a caring husband and my mum was a loving wife to him. I did extremely well in both elementary and high school, and my parents encouraged me. However, when it came to spiritual things I never got any answers to questions that were important to me.

You see, as a young African-American in the late 1960's, I really wondered if the GOD my parents served was just and righteous as HE claimed to be. The stories told to me by my grandfather and father or white injustice and mistreatment of "the Negro" became vivid pictures of GOD's obvious disinterest. The graphic television displays of extreme violence to peaceful marchers, convinced me of the bankruptcy of those white people who called themselves "Christian" and would maim or kill others for even complaining about being treated as second class citizens.
My solution for all of this was to fight back. My thoughts were, "Why were we just sitting there while fire hoses and dogs were let loose on us?" "Don't the leaders of the black civil rights movement see that this is getting us nowhere?" "Even in the Bible it said somewhere "eye for an eye", we need to get these guys back for 200 years of murders, rapes and indignity." With these thoughts in mind, I went to Howard University in Washington DC., the hotbed of the new developing "black power" movement.

Howard University opened up a whole new vista of ideas and thoughts. Most of them new to me, in fact if I had have even talked about some of them at home, I would have been thrown out of the house. One important thing to me was that I was finally getting a real answer to my religious questions, but, from a strange source-my zoology class. I had always been intrigued by the concept of evolution, but I could never figure out how Adam and Eve, and the Neanderthal Man fitted together. Whenever I asked anyone at home or church that question, they either didn't know, or most of the time they would ignore me altogether. Evolution boldly proclaimed that GOD did not exist. We all came to be humans, according to the theory, through the slow gradual change of lower forms of life. You see, in my mind, if GOD was not the creator, then all the stuff and stories in the Bible MUST be just mythology, superstition, or perhaps it could be, (as some of my associates declared), a clever tool used by white people, to help mentally enslave black people. Black nationalism, the concept that black people in America should have their own nation in America, became the only reasonable goal, in my eyes, for black people. Having been freed from the concept of any reprisals or punishments from GOD, achieving this by any means necessary was the way to go.

While at Howard I was involved in a couple of demonstrations, but my most enduring memory was the riots of April 8, 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. It was at that time that GOD began HIS process of proving HIS power to me. On that warm night in DC. I found myself adrift in the spirit of chaos. Fires, gunshots, and total disorder reigned supreme. The police, in trying to regain order, beat anyone near them, while some citizens jumped on them in retaliation. Everyone was stealing, including me, from shops and stores which had just a few hours ago had beautiful displays. As I felt the push of the paddy wagon that sideswiped me I dropped the clothes that were in my hand. I found myself pinned between the alley wall and the police paddy wagon. My friend who was with me was being beaten by two large white police officers. As I watched the secretary type up the charges against me, I felt I had sorely underestimated the power of the police. I was still very sore from the rough treatment we had received. However their racial slurs and profanities against blacks during our arrest, assured me that part of the rough treatment was indicative of their hatred for me and my people.

The next three days were filled with profound experiences for me. Howard University had sent over a officer to free all of us from jail. Due to an oversight, I was left in the jail. A bus transferring hardened criminals from one prison to another broke down and they had to be temporarily held in the same holding area I was being held. I watched as they tried to sexually assault one of the individuals in the holding area with me. Fortunately, they were forcibly stopped by the marshal before anything actually happened, but just the thought of it BLEW MY MIND.

I was finally isolated away from everybody else and it seemed I had no way out. Well, I couldn't think of anything else and thought, "You know, I know what my folks would say now, You better call on GOD boy." "How can I call on some one who doesn't exist?" "Well I'll give it a shot -- GOD if you are real, show me so by getting me out of this place. And if you do I won't do this thing (stealing) anymore. Approximately an hour and a half later, as I looked out of the cell bars, a well dressed gentleman approached me asking, "What are you in jail for?" and "How long have you been in there?" I asked him, "Who are you?" He stated that he was a law student and had been seeing if those jailed during the riots were getting legal counsel. I quickly told him that I needed counsel badly. I told him my name and he went to check out the charges against me. About an hour later, he returned and excitedly stated, "Look, they have your name on a sheet but there are NO charges listed under your name. They are not supposed to hold you more than 24 hours without charges. You know you might have grounds for a law suit against the city." My response was "Look man all I want to do is get out of here." They quickly prepared to take me before the judge. His first question was, "Mr. Garvin, how did you get into this jail?" Before I could lie, my counsel told me I didn't have to tell him anything. So I said nothing. With that, the judge declared," Mr. Garvin, I don't know how you got here but your name has been ringing around this courtroom all this morning, if your name ever comes up again in my courtroom I will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Case dismissed."

As I rode back to the dormitory I thought, "How in the world did I get out of that with no charges, no police record, no nothing! Was it really an answer to my prayer or was it coincidence? If it was really GOD what about my promise? Well anyway, let me put this GOD stuff out of my mind for now and just enjoy being out of that jail." You know, I did just that, in fact, as the days past I just forgot about GOD and what he had done for me. Although now I was not so quick to say there was no GOD, only that He has little to do with our lives today. GOD was for emotional women who needed a reason to shout in church, relieving their frustrations. The black problem in America still existed and it needed cold calculating solutions to solve it.

YOU SEE, I DIDN'T REALLY KNOW GOD, BUT HE WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE ALL THAT.

The miracle of the deliverance from the jail cell, changed my thinking about God. You see, I now figured that God must be out there somewhere, but He really didn't have any impact on your everyday life; in an extreme emergency, maybe He would listen. At any rate, I didn't know--so I guess I classified myself as an agnostic.

Two years after the jail incident, Bev and I had decided to marry. I couldn't wait to see her daily, so I made sure my schedule included time to pick her up fro the South Shore train station at 6:30 p.m. I usually would arrive about a half hour early and would turn on the local radio station which played rhythm and blues at 6:30 p.m. While waiting for my programs to come on, a new show came on the station talking about the Bible and evolution. My ears pricked up, to my surprise this program presented some sane arguments against evolution. They showed the impossibility of design without a designer, the errors of science in evolutionary reasoning, and even showed by examples why it was impossible for the universe & earth to be as old as many scientist claim. I found myself listening regularly for about three weeks. However, as time past, their white conservative agenda began to Turn Me Off. I began to conclude that although they had some good answers, they were still using religion to enforce the white system of injustice. In my mind, anything supporting White America was inherently against Black people. I knew that White America hated my guts, and the feeling was mutual!
After Bev and I married I began to get to know Bev's brother Charles Beavers better. Beavers had been a Sergeant in the Marines during the early years of the Vietnam Conflict. His experiences with whites in warfare and racism had hardened his attitudes against racial integration. His suggestions of bringing terrorism against white areas here in the USA was music to my ears. Here was a man trained by the government as a specialist in jungle warfare; why couldn't we take those principles to our asphalt jungles and disrupt this system so much that black revolution could possibly result.

Beavers even knew others who had similar training right where we lived. All we had to do is get weapons and ammunition. I believed, through my college connections, I knew of people who had knowledge of how to get some weapons. Additionally I had access through my job, to order the necessary chemicals and apparatus to make pipe bombs and other incendiary devices. man, I really believed we could do this!

We began our training--we established our initial targets, laid out our escape routes and entry ways. Beavers trained me in techniques in quietly getting in an out of an area without being noticed. Our plans included disrupting travel routes and planting incendiary bombs in white business areas and getting out before they went off.

We all held respectable jobs in the community. Therefore, as long as we continued to work and look harmless we had a cover. We wanted it secret, so we didn't even tell our wives what our plans were.

When it seemed we were just about ready to get started, Beavers came by my house dressed strangely--in fact he looked like something out of the Arabian nights novel. I hadn't seen him for about two weeks and wondered where he had been. It seemed that he had run into a group of black people that believed the America black people were actually the descendants of the Israeli people of the Bible. We had reaped the result of our sins as depicted in the Book of Deuteronomy. That explained (at least to him) the depression, poverty and economic stagnation that characterized many urban black communities. It was God's curse on a disobedient people.

My reaction was utter amazement! I reminded him of how we had both concluded that the Bible was written by the White Man to mentally, morally and economically enslave Black people by the "Turn the other cheek" philosophy. It was the chief reason that the majority of black people were willing to sit by in peace with the white enemy, while we should be in a state of perpetual war. Even though my thoughts were racing, I was able to control myself enough to say, "Are you trying to say you believe this?" He said, "Yes I do, in fact I want to show you where this can be found!" My pride immediately stopped me from even considering it. However, seeing that our well laid plans of revolution were going out the door, I said "Look, I'm going to read it myself--give me a few weeks, I believe I can show you that that's not the way to go". So he left, immediately I resolved "Well I've got to go buy a Bible!"
That very evening my study began. I read through the first six chapters of Genesis and was surprised at how the narrative was extremely interesting, in fact it was downright entertaining. As I completed the reading for the night, I thought, "I must admit this is good reading, but it's all mythology." Suddenly the thought came to me that said, "Suppose THIS IS TRUE!"

As I continued to read, I couldn't shake the thought of "Suppose this is true!" I finally read until I got to the Book of Exodus, chapter 20, where the ten commandments were given. The 2nd commandment read, "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes His Name in vain." I could not continue to read. I became totally convicted--after all my mouth had been full of profanity and blasphemy. I thought maybe if I go to another section of the Bible, perhaps I would feel better, so by chance I turned to the Book of Isaiah.

Well, it didn't get much better, Isaiah 7:16 talked about "Cease to do evil, Learn to do good." But what really caught my attention was Isaiah 1:18-20 "Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, thy will be white as snow, though they are like crimson they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient you will eat the Good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword for the Mouth of the Lord has spoken it." It seemed as if it was Talking Directly to Me!

I couldn't stand it any longer, things from the past came to my mind--my parents statements about God, the evolution radio program, the deliverance from jail. Tremendous conviction overwhelmed me so I laid prostrate on the floor and stated "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if you are the True God, deal with me, show me the right way. I felt a release, but also an insatiable desire to read more of the Bible.
My brother-in law came back after about a month, and all I could say was, "Well, it looks like you were right about the Bible." I then assumed that he knew more about the Bible than I did and believed him when he said, "Well you know you need to prepare yourself to go to Israel, so you can live in the Land."

I was now sure that I must do whatever the Bible said, and dutifully informed my wife of our destination. She Blew UP! (As well you can imagine) However, I was intent on making up for all the wrong I had done against God, so I declared, in spite of her tears, that we were going anyway -- BUT GOD WAS STILL IN THE PICTURE.

I continued to read, absorbing the Old Testament like a sponge. I finally got to the New Testament and "Lo and Behold", I truly found the Messiah. In my opinion, anyone with common sense could see from the gospels that Jesus was the Messiah. He fulfilled all the scriptures about the Messiah that I had recently read. In the Book of Acts I saw this small band of believers become empowered by God--I wanted that!
The New Testament had a great influence in reducing the Black Hebrew prospective in my view of the scriptures. In addition, God had been working with other members of my family. My sister had come in contact with an Evangelist and had received Christ. upon her hearing about my change in thinking and talking about God wanting my family to go to Israel, she invited Beverly and I to several meeting. In one of those meetings the preacher asked for those who really wanted God to rule their lives, to come down. I went forward and confessed with my mouth Jesus as Lord and believed with all my heart that He was the living God. That was the day I received Christ as my Savior. After I returned to my seat the thought thundered in my heart, "You don't have to HATE anymore." Suddenly it felt like a ton of bricks just fell of me. Man, I felt freed! Hallelujah!

That was over twenty-two years ago, and the Lord had kept me, delivered me and held me close to His bosom ever since.
Perhaps God is dealing with you as He did with me. Maybe He has been drawing you to Himself by degrees and now it is time to make your total commitment to HIM. Today, Yes, even right now, Please pray with me:
"Lord, forgive me for my sins, come into My life and change me into a true child of God. I confess Jesus as both Lord and Savior of My life and I know HE is alive forevermore.
In Jesus' Name I Pray - Amen."

I was born in Grant, Oklahoma on March 15, 1940. My parents were poor, honest, hard-working people. They raised nine sons and one daughter and were married fifty-eight years. My family moved to Oklahoma City in 1947 to an area called Mulligan Flats a couple of miles North of the stockyards. My father worked for Wilson packing company for twenty-two years.

My younger days were spent much like any normal well adjusted child. I made good grades in school and was active in sports, hunting, and fishing. At the age of sixteen I was a sophomore at Central High School. This was the same year that I started taking drugs. My friends and I discovered that we could get high taking a nose inhaler that could be purchased at a local drugstore for sixty-nine cents. This inhaler contained 250 milligrams of Methylamphetamine, one of the strongest of the amphetamines. At first we would take the amphetamine soaked cotton orally by cutting it into small pieces and washing it down with a drink of soda pop. Soon after we graduated to injecting it into our veins with a homemade syringe. This inhaler has since been removed from the market because of the potent amount of narcotic it contained.

'Me next twenty-one years of my life were filled with drugs. Drugs became my god. I lost interest in natural things. My life became devoted to fulfilling my passion for drugs. Taking drugs made me feel important. What I didn't realize was that I was using them as an escape from the responsibilities of life. During this time I was in prison four times for crimes ranging from possession of narcotics, possession of stolen property, burglary, and finally armed robbery. However, each time I went to prison I would vow that it would be my last. Upon being released I would work for a living usually for a year or two. Then I would become bored and begin taking drugs again. Usually breaking into a drugstore and stealing all the hard narcotics (Morphine, Dilaudid). This would soon lead me back to prison. At times I would pray and ask for God's help. When I did this with my whole heart, unusual circumstances would lead to my release. I had good intentions, but no lasting commitment. I did not realize I had to follow God's Holy Spirit and obey Him in all things. I wanted to strike a bargain with God and keep part of my old life. However, the Scripture says that the old life must die with Christ on the cross. ("Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" Romans 6:6.)

On the nineteenth day of December 1974, I rode in a car with two other men to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We stole a car, robbed a pharmacy, and a short time later were captured with the evidence in our car. I prayed for God to get me out of this situation. I was not ready for what happened next. ("For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord" Isaiah 55:8.) I was tried and convicted and sentenced to five hundred years in the state prison at McAlester, Oklahoma. I was in more trouble than I had ever been in my entire life.

<Picture: Don Sentenced to 500 years>I was committed to the state prison on June 10, 1975. I felt a pain that no drug could quench. I felt I had to be free or be killed trying. For the next ten months I was continually scheming a way to escape. Finally on a dark, rainy night in April along with two other men I went over the wall. A guard took us to the east gate shakedown area on a small tug with scaffolding on top. I was driving the tug under two guard towers. It had been their practice that if the tug needed gas, the guard would step off the tug and allow us to drive it to the gas pumps near the last fence and wait for us to return on foot. This time we did not return. We drove the tug up against the fence, climbed the scaffolding, and vaulted over the fence. Since I was driving the tug, I was the last one over. When I vaulted to the ground, my glove caught in the barbed-wire fence and I fell and broke my leg. I had to run into the night or be shot. I heard only one shot as I vanished behind a building. I later learned that in the excitement the tower guard dropped all of his shells except the one in the gun chamber. The broken leg slowed me down and I was recaptured the next day. I realized that God preserved my life, yet allowed me to be captured for His own plans.
After my leg was put in a cast I was placed in a maximum security cell. It was during this time that I knew that my best efforts to solve the problems of my life had failed miserably. I felt very guilty for the life that I had led. I realized that I was hopelessly lost and deserved to die. While on maximum security I received a memorandum from the administration that "a Reverend I. M. Judd called and requested permission to visit or to talk to you on the phone. Regulations, however, do not permit this, but if you care to write, you may." His address was on the memorandum. This man was a stranger to me. I learned that he met my brother on a plane flight to California and learned of my plight. I was very interested to meet this person. He claimed to be a minister of God. I could not understand why he would go to so much trouble to keep his word to a stranger unless he was sent from God.

After writing him for several months he came to visit me, and had me read John 3:8 from his Bible. ("The wind bloweth were it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.") I had never before heard words like these; they seemed to be alive. I was now willing to try anything. He visited me several times and each time something supernatural would happen. He told me that I should say grace over my food in the mess hall. I never heard of such a thing and thought he was crazy to think that anyone would have enough courage to pray amongst all those hardened criminals. I imagined that entire mess hall would stand up and scoff me for such an act. I realized that Jesus suffered much more shame than that for me. I prayed. No one laughed. I was at last moving toward salvation. I swore not to take any more drugs, but how could I prove it? Didn't I still smoke cigarettes? Were they a drug? I decided to quit smoking. My plan was not to tell anyone that I was trying to quit. Therefore if I failed, no one would know how weak I was. I did quit for approximately one night and part of the next day. However, at ten o'clock the next day, I was smoking again. It was my birthday, yet I received no mail.

At about eight o'clock that night, March 15, 1977, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to me in a still and peaceful voice in my lonely cell. It was the best birthday gift that I had ever received. I no longer wanted to live. I looked at the half-smoked cigarette in my hand and asked myself the question: "If my life depended upon it would I throw the cigarette away?" I could not answer the question. My heart broke as I realized what a weak, miserable being l was. I also realized that all the other men in that prison with me were in the same boat. No one cared if I quit smoking. Now no one even cared if I lived or died. No one but Jesus. I threw the half-smoked cigarette in the commode. I gave my life to Jesus.

I spent the next five years in prison witnessing for the Lord. I was not sure if I would ever be released. But I was. In spite of stiff opposition from doubtful prison officials, God raised up people to help secure my release. I was paroled in February 1982. After spending ten months at a community treatment center the Governor signed my parole and I was a free man on January 19, 1983. While I was in prison I learned the value of Christian fellowship. I knew that if I did not gain the trust of Christians on the outside I would sink back to the old crowd. Forrest Jones, a Christian brother that I did time with, was released about a year before I was. He introduced me to a good Bible-believing group of Christians who would be able to give me counseling. I shared this brother's burden to help other prisoners.

Since my release I have learned the trade of cabinet making and window building. I worked at these occupations for seven years. While employed I used my extra money to travel to prisons in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas, telling prisoners about the hope of a new life in Christ. In January 1989, 1 was given a pardon by the Governor of Oklahoma, on eleven felonies and state misdemeanors. In the fall of 1990 I began classes at Wheaton College. Only by an act of a merciful, and forgiving God could these things happen.

Let me close by telling you three things I have learned. These three things sum up the entire reason for my conversion. They are found in I Corinthians 15:1-4 and are the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins that you also might have a new life. If you are willing to be a partaker of His death and burial you can certainly share in His resurrection.