David Berkowitz made a pact with the devil.
The devil chained him under the third basement floor of Hell. Then David read the Psalm, where
it says, "this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles."
David was in trouble. He had followed the devil's orders. He believed the devil had called him to
kill, and he went about killing. He got mixed up in a devil-worshipping cult that was all to eager to aid and
abet him in carrying out the work of the devil. He worshipped the Halloween demonic diety called Samhain.
So he called himself the "son of sam". He taunted the police, as he terrorized the streets of
New York City for over a year. The police and the media called him the "44 caliber killer". When he was
finally captured, there were six dead and seven injured for life.
He was sentenced to six consecutive life terms in a maximum security prison.
Ten
years into his life sentence, he was given a New Testament by a friend, and began to read the Psalms. One lonely
night in his prison cell, the words of the Lord came alive, and the Light of Jesus shone in his heart.
"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles."
David knelt by his bunk in his cell, all alone. There were no Christians singing and encouraging him. There was
no exorcist to drive the demons of murder from his soul.
He
was just a lost soul, bound by the devil, all alone, calling on the Saviour for mercy.
Jesus heard, and Jesus answered.
The chains of the devil in David's mind broke. The chains of the devil in David's soul broke. Jesus Christ washed
him clean of all of his sins. Jesus freely forgave even the sin of the horrible senseless murders he had committed.
Jesus
forgave him of all of his sins, and made him a new creation, in the power of Jesus
Christ and His Name.
The
man who was chained under the basement floor of Hell, doing the devils bidding, is now walking in heavenly places with Jesus
Christ, the King of Glory.
The Lord has sent David's voice all the way around the world. Wherever the horror of his crimes is known, so also
is known the glory and completeness of Christ's redemption and forgiveness and gift of everlasting life to those who
will call, and believe, and lay down their sins, as David did.
David's life in
a maximum security prison is very regimented.
But one of the
things he is free to do is communicate. He can write letters to his friends. He can tell of the trials and tragedies
of the lives of broken hearted men serving long prison sentences for
their crimes.
But mostly, he
tells of the peace and the joy and the victory of walking with Jesus. Even while enduring the hardships and deprivations
of prison life. Even knowing that in this life, he will never be allowed beyond that stone wall, he lives in the
peace and strength and glorious triumph of a soul set free by the power of the redemption that only Jesus Christ can give.
David has been
writing "letters to his friends" for several years. His letters to his friends on the other side of that stone
wall tell the glorious testimony of what Jesus Christ has done in David's life, and what Jesus Christ is continually
doing in David's life. They are freely given to be freely shared.
The same Jesus Who died for
David, and forgave David's sin, died for you too, and will forgive your sins, too, if you will only call on Him and receive
His forgiveness, like David did.
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for Journal Entries
Beginning Autumn 2006 Through 2007 and to the Present
