| October 24, 1999 |
Vol. II, No. 26
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[Editor's Note: The following article is somewhat dated in its details, yet it is a story that is repeated over and over with different names and places. Please read and benefit.]
I saw Jack for the first time in a Sunday morning Bible class in the Bronx, New York City. From the beginning, there was something engaging about the 12-year-old. Perhaps it was his shy grin or the fact that he wanted so much to please me by reading the Scriptures and answering questions with enthusiasm while many of his older companions played the typical teenage game of trying to look bored and disinterested.
The last time I saw Jack, about two weeks ago, he was in the New York State maximum security prison in Elmira, New York beginning a six year sentence. At 17, he still has the same shy grin that he had when he was 12. As we studied the Bible together, he demonstrated the same enthusiasm in reading and answering questions that he exhibited in the teenage Bible class. But so much has changed! Jack's boyish innocence is gone forever. The years that he should spend in studying, dating, growing and enjoying his youth will be spent instead behind bars trying to protect himself from some of the most hardened criminals in the country. His grief and sincere repentance cannot erase many of the consequences of what he has done, nor pay his debt to society.
Why is this young man in prison? Drugs! When Jack was 15 years old, he allowed himself to be influenced by the wrong crowd and began using drugs, mainly cocaine and beer. One night he held up a taxi driver for money to support his addiction and, for no apparent reason, stabbed him. Fortunately, the man did not die, but he is crippled, perhaps for life. Jack is crippled for life, too -- emotionally. His conscience tortures him as he tries to think of ways to compensate his victim, though it will be impossible to fully do so.
I knew Jack as a shy, but friendly, youngster who seemed much more interested in my ham radio than in inner city vices. Therefore, it is hard for me to imagine his usually smiling face transformed into the desperate, menacing countenance of a savage criminal in the moment that he committed his crime. His experience is frightening testimony to the power of addicting drugs and their ability to bring out the worst kind of malevolence in seemingly kind people.
Perhaps such evil power makes it possible to see in addicting drugs a graphic representation of the enslaving power of sin in general. They entice with promises of pleasure, but later entangle victims in increasingly strong webs of dependence. They destroy good judgment, bring on ruinous and irrational behavior and take away the capability of enjoying the truly good things in life. Most importantly, they can take away the hope of heaven. In a less dramatic, and yet very real, way selfishness, pride, presumption, sexual immorality and other sins can do the same thing, destroying seemingly kind people by leading them in their own deadly and downward spirals to doom.
Jack is currently struggling to break away from his addiction and from sin in general. He knows what it is like to be brought under the power of an alien, destructive force, 2 Cor. 6:12, but breaking away from it isn't easy. He wants desperately to be baptized into Christ, but is being held up by restrictive prison regulations and uncomprehending chaplains. Charles Spence, a dedicated young evangelist from Owego, New York, is conducting weekly Bible studies with him. We are confident that God's word will eventually help Jack to triumph in his battle.
Pray for Jack, his sisters and his godly mother. But most of all, pray for other innocent 12-year-olds in Bible classes throughout the world who soon will be tempted to follow the same tragic road that has led Jack to the brink of the abyss. Hate the evil that works to enslave them.
--Gardner Hall, Christianity Magazine, June 1990.
When the road of life is steep
and slippery,
prayer in action gives us
traction.
In Matt. 12:33-35, Jesus said, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bring forth evil things."
The proverbial statement that a tree is known by its fruit is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament. John the Baptist had preached that "Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 3:10). In the sermon on the mount, Jesus had said of false prophets, "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matt. 7:16-20). James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, "Can a fig tree, my brethren bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?" (James 2:12).
In none of these settings were the inspired speakers really teaching the subject of horticulture. John was showing that unless the Jewish nation repented of its sins against God, a severe judgment loomed on their horizon. It was to be their deeds, not their ancestry that would determine whether they were truly God's people. "By their fruits you will know them."
In James 2:12, James was showing the inconsistency of claiming to be devoted to God while at the same time abusing our brethren. Our deeds sometimes tell more about what is in our hearts than we want folks to know. "By their fruits you will know them."
In Matt. 12:33-35, we need to keep the context in mind. The scribes and Pharisees had accused Jesus of being in league with the devil. They could not deny His power in casting out demons, but they were not willing to admit He came from God. As Jesus cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, etc., the Pharisees were making long pretentious prayers, but beating poor widows out of house and home, Matt. 23:14. Who were the true servants of God? Jesus was willing to have His deeds compared with those of the Pharisees. "By their fruits you will know them."
--CRJ