Welcome to the New Journey, a program about real-life people 00:00:08.30\00:00:12.21 with real-life testimonies doing real-life ministry for Jesus 00:00:12.24\00:00:16.11 Christ. I'm your host, Pastor Marquis Johns. Join us on 00:00:16.14\00:00:20.42 The New Journey. 00:00:20.45\00:00:21.88 ¤ ¤ 00:00:21.92\00:00:54.02 In the book of Revelation Jesus warns that people will be called 00:00:54.05\00:00:57.92 or trying to be called something that they are not. How would you 00:00:57.95\00:01:01.82 feel to be falsely accused of a crime? Well, our guest today, 00:01:01.86\00:01:05.86 Wesley Shaw, had just such an experience. Wesley, how are you 00:01:05.89\00:01:09.86 doing today? Fine, thank you. 00:01:09.90\00:01:11.57 Great, great. Now tell me first and foremost tell us a little 00:01:11.60\00:01:15.54 bit about yourself. Just tell us who you are. I am Elder Wesley 00:01:15.57\00:01:19.47 A. Shaw from Jamaica. The Big Island? 00:01:19.51\00:01:22.94 Yes, call it the beautiful island of Jamaica. Almost 23 00:01:22.98\00:01:27.62 years ago. I presently serve as one of the elders of the Willow 00:01:27.68\00:01:34.39 Seventh-day Adventist Church. I also serve as the personal 00:01:34.42\00:01:40.10 ministry director. I serve as the chaplain for the men's 00:01:40.13\00:01:45.70 ministry for the Delaware Valley and I am a part of the men's 00:01:45.73\00:01:50.77 ministry. So you're wearing a lot of hats? 00:01:50.81\00:01:53.64 Yes. OK, so, that's who you are. 00:01:53.68\00:01:56.08 Let's talk about where you been 23 years ago. Twenty-three years 00:01:56.14\00:01:59.61 ago an incident happened that changed your life on the isle of 00:01:59.65\00:02:03.12 Jamaica. Tell us a little bit about that incident. 00:02:03.15\00:02:04.85 Well, it was really in my 20's when I was in my early 20s. 00:02:04.92\00:02:08.99 Well, let's just pretend that was 20 years ago. (laughs) 00:02:10.16\00:02:14.26 Yes, OK. I was driving and I was pulled over by the cop and 00:02:14.30\00:02:18.30 he took me to the station and I was falsely accused of something 00:02:18.33\00:02:24.17 that I was not guilty of. I guess he had some family problem 00:02:24.21\00:02:31.31 and because of that he treated me very bad. And after I went to 00:02:31.38\00:02:37.19 court and the court trial, it was thrown out. And because of 00:02:37.22\00:02:42.02 that, I don't know what was on his mind, he committed suicide. 00:02:42.06\00:02:45.49 Wait, wait, before you say that, now that's interesting, I like 00:02:45.53\00:02:49.70 to paint a picture. So, so we have a young man who's driving 00:02:49.73\00:02:53.34 the road in Jamaica, having a good time, enjoying his life. 00:02:53.37\00:02:56.91 Now were you Christian before this? Were you Christian 00:02:56.94\00:02:58.31 at that time. Yeah, I was a Christian. 00:02:58.34\00:02:59.67 OK, so you were already Christian. You're driving along 00:02:59.71\00:03:01.54 the road, you're having fun doing whatever you're doing 00:03:01.58\00:03:03.48 and you're pulled over and the police officer pulls you over 00:03:03.55\00:03:07.42 and falsely accuses you of a crime. And I don't know if this 00:03:07.45\00:03:10.62 is personal, what crime was that What did he accuse you of? 00:03:10.65\00:03:15.12 Well he said I was driving a truck and my license says car, 00:03:15.16\00:03:19.33 but it was a small truck which was equivalent to a car. 00:03:19.36\00:03:23.43 OK, so, the semantics is real? Yes. OK, so, you're driving the 00:03:23.47\00:03:27.57 car, you're falsely accused and how long did the trial last? 00:03:27.60\00:03:30.94 How long was it that you were walking around wearing the 00:03:30.97\00:03:34.28 clothes of a guilty man? Was it a significant amount of time or 00:03:34.31\00:03:36.98 just a short time. It was like two weeks. 00:03:37.01\00:03:39.45 OK, so, two weeks you're walking around and the world and the 00:03:39.48\00:03:42.98 people around you believe, based on the word of this man, that 00:03:43.02\00:03:46.49 you were a guilty man? Yes. 00:03:46.52\00:03:47.86 OK, so, now you go to court and you're exonerated. Tell us about 00:03:47.89\00:03:50.99 that feeling. Ah, it was a good feeling when I 00:03:51.03\00:03:55.00 was dismissed. In fact, the judge asked me if what I was 00:03:55.03\00:04:01.14 doing, if I was guilty. I say, your honor, I don't think so. He 00:04:01.17\00:04:06.34 said why didn't you check your road, your road code book, your 00:04:06.37\00:04:11.18 manual to see whether... and I say I checked it and he said OK, 00:04:11.21\00:04:15.95 first time you come in here, you are free to go, because he found 00:04:15.98\00:04:20.42 out that what he was telling me was not in the book. So he had 00:04:20.46\00:04:24.86 to free me. Right, right. So, you had lived 00:04:24.89\00:04:27.53 a life, a Christian life up to this point, which contributes 00:04:27.60\00:04:31.50 to the fact that when you go before the judge, he's able to 00:04:31.53\00:04:35.04 exonerate you for the simple fact that there was nothing 00:04:35.07\00:04:38.21 there before, there were no priors or anything like that. 00:04:38.27\00:04:41.38 No, nothing. Because had you had some priors 00:04:41.41\00:04:42.81 there might have been a different story. (laughs) 00:04:42.84\00:04:44.71 It might have been a different story, yes. 00:04:44.75\00:04:46.15 So after this, subsequently, the guy who accuses you, do you ever 00:04:46.18\00:04:51.65 see him again? No, he treated me very bad in 00:04:51.69\00:04:56.86 the station. And shortly after the dismissal of the court, he 00:04:56.89\00:05:04.40 committed suicide. And that is a big part of this 00:05:04.43\00:05:09.14 story. Let's delve a little deeper into what we consider bad 00:05:09.17\00:05:12.84 treatment. Bad treatment is relative. So, so what happened 00:05:12.87\00:05:15.98 in this altercation when you were taken down to the station? 00:05:16.01\00:05:19.11 Share with us, if you don't mind, a little about this bad 00:05:19.15\00:05:22.22 treatment that you refer to. 00:05:22.25\00:05:23.79 At first he asked me, do you have anyone to bail you, sir? 00:05:23.85\00:05:28.29 I said yes. I called my boss because I was on my way to work. 00:05:28.32\00:05:32.99 So my boss was asking me, what's wrong? He came and he took the 00:05:33.06\00:05:37.20 phone from me forcefully. Give me this phone. This belongs to 00:05:37.23\00:05:42.14 the government not you. So, you know, I felt very bad and at 00:05:42.17\00:05:46.64 that time he took my belt, my shoe laces, everything because 00:05:46.68\00:05:51.41 I was ready to be put in jail. And suddenly my boss turned up, 00:05:51.45\00:05:56.22 which he wasn't very far away. So he turned up and he posted 00:05:56.28\00:06:01.02 the bail and I was free, I didn't go in the cell. 00:06:01.06\00:06:04.69 (Laughs) This definitely tips your hand having not had any 00:06:04.73\00:06:08.96 experiences with the law before. One of the things I remember 00:06:09.00\00:06:12.30 one of the times when I was incarcerated, believe it or not, 00:06:12.33\00:06:15.64 the pastor was at one point not a pastor and had been 00:06:15.67\00:06:18.34 incarcerated. The first thing they did when they remanded me 00:06:18.37\00:06:21.41 into custody was they removed my shoe laces and they removed 00:06:21.44\00:06:24.35 my belt. Now at the time I was wondering, this is a strange 00:06:24.38\00:06:27.58 practice. Why are you taking my belt and my shoe laces. So I 00:06:27.62\00:06:30.39 asked the CO, the correctional officer, who was there at the 00:06:30.42\00:06:33.22 moment at the station with me. I said, why do you guys remove 00:06:33.25\00:06:36.02 the shoe strings and the belt? And you know what they said? 00:06:36.06\00:06:39.66 They said, the amount of people who commit suicide after being 00:06:39.69\00:06:43.10 remanded to custody was through the roof. So do ensure that no 00:06:43.13\00:06:46.50 one commits suicide the first thing they do when they put you 00:06:46.53\00:06:49.70 into custody is they remove your shoe strings, your belt and 00:06:49.77\00:06:52.87 anything that you could possibly hang yourself with. And so, here 00:06:52.91\00:06:56.78 the officer is forcibly removing your shoe strings and forcibly 00:06:56.81\00:07:00.68 removing your belt from you and in his mind he's probably 00:07:00.72\00:07:03.52 thinking he's doing the right thing, but he's not doing it in 00:07:03.55\00:07:07.72 the right way, because, again he has you pegged as a guilty 00:07:07.76\00:07:12.06 man. Right. And so, after you're exonerated, you're let out of 00:07:12.09\00:07:15.53 jail you say you don't see him again. When did you find out 00:07:15.56\00:07:18.97 about this suicide? When did you find out about that? 00:07:19.00\00:07:21.57 Ah, a couple weeks later my boss took the paper to me and showed 00:07:21.60\00:07:26.98 it to me because it was in the newspaper, that this same man, 00:07:27.01\00:07:31.38 and he said you remember that guy that was treating you so 00:07:31.41\00:07:36.05 bad? Here is his picture. In fact, he went on the roof of the 00:07:36.08\00:07:40.72 station and shot himself up there. Oh wow! On the roof 00:07:40.76\00:07:46.43 of the same station. So you know I felt so bad that it's a 00:07:46.46\00:07:51.07 possibility that innocent people might be in jail there. 00:07:51.10\00:07:56.07 OK so, when you heard and your boss showed you that indeed 00:07:56.10\00:08:01.01 the officer who pulled you over and falsely accused you had now 00:08:01.04\00:08:05.41 committed suicide on the roof of the police station, 00:08:05.45\00:08:09.68 internally, us a little bit about what you were experiencing 00:08:09.72\00:08:12.62 internally. As a young man, you're feeling guilty because 00:08:12.65\00:08:15.32 maybe some how, some way, he's done this because of his poor 00:08:15.36\00:08:18.09 treatment of you. Tell us a little bit about what you were 00:08:18.13\00:08:20.86 feeling at that moment. 00:08:20.90\00:08:22.23 I felt very bad because I said to myself, maybe I could witness 00:08:22.26\00:08:28.40 to him _ because I started witnessing from a very 00:08:28.44\00:08:33.44 early age. So that was inside of me. So I say I wish I have 00:08:33.48\00:08:38.25 the opportunity to just get a moment to tell him something 00:08:38.28\00:08:43.22 about Christ and that's not all bad. And it can be fixed, 00:08:43.25\00:08:48.12 whatever is there that's messed up it can be fixed. But I felt 00:08:48.16\00:08:51.63 very bad. OK, OK and so then you feel bad 00:08:51.66\00:08:55.23 and what is your first action after you come to some sort of 00:08:55.26\00:08:59.93 grips and understanding that wow, this may have happened as a 00:08:59.97\00:09:03.87 result of me. And not only that but also there may be some other 00:09:03.91\00:09:07.78 young men in prison, in jail who are there but they're 00:09:07.81\00:09:11.88 falsely accused. What were your first actions? 00:09:11.91\00:09:13.62 My first action? I tried to get in the prison ministry because I 00:09:13.65\00:09:18.75 want to see what's happening in there. I thought you know 00:09:18.79\00:09:24.29 I've heard so many different things but you want to 00:09:24.33\00:09:27.46 experience it for yourself by going in there. I tried, but it 00:09:27.50\00:09:34.10 did not work. So what I set out to do was to do some evangelism. 00:09:34.14\00:09:40.48 So I went to my church elder and I asked him how can I get in 00:09:40.51\00:09:48.18 this evangelistic program. So I was sent to a ministry. I was 00:09:48.22\00:09:54.69 sent to this institute where you would get some training and you 00:09:54.72\00:10:01.16 could become a layman evangelist. 00:10:01.20\00:10:04.33 A lay evangelist. Yeah, a lay evangelist. So I 00:10:04.40\00:10:08.77 took up the challenge and I went and not very many weeks 00:10:08.80\00:10:15.64 after, I started to preach. In fact, I did my first crusade 00:10:15.68\00:10:21.75 because I went to this church and I was asked to speak at the 00:10:21.78\00:10:26.92 church. But the elder that invited me did not know that the 00:10:26.96\00:10:31.99 pastor was coming there that day because he had several other 00:10:32.03\00:10:37.23 churches. So he turned up too. So he came to me and said I 00:10:37.27\00:10:42.44 heard you were invited here to preach, but I'm here. Can we 00:10:42.47\00:10:47.04 work this thing out. I say yeah you're the pastor, you preach. 00:10:47.08\00:10:51.48 I could do the prayer for you. He said, OK, we'll do it like 00:10:51.51\00:10:55.85 that. So I went up and I did the opening prayer. After the prayer 00:10:55.88\00:11:00.49 after the sermon and all that he called the other elders of the 00:11:00.52\00:11:04.99 church. Of course, I was just visiting. And he called me in 00:11:05.06\00:11:10.03 the pastor's study and he said I have to confess something 00:11:10.07\00:11:15.60 to you guys. The prayer that this man prayed reaches the 00:11:15.64\00:11:20.28 audience more that the sermon that I preach. How would you 00:11:20.31\00:11:24.95 like to be a crusade in this church. 00:11:24.98\00:11:27.82 Wow, wow! And this is another aspect of your testimony that 00:11:27.85\00:11:33.05 resonates with me. I too, after becoming a Christian, someone 00:11:33.09\00:11:37.46 approached me about going off to be trained and I was trained 00:11:37.49\00:11:41.86 for a short period of time working at the Amazing Facts 00:11:41.90\00:11:45.37 Center of Evangelism and from there the Lord led me into a 00:11:45.40\00:11:49.87 life of ministry and so again the point that is very, very 00:11:49.90\00:11:54.04 important, that I don't think anyone should miss is here you 00:11:54.08\00:11:57.71 were falsely accused. Now I know a lot of young men who they're 00:11:57.75\00:12:01.12 pulled over by the police. They are falsely accused. They know 00:12:01.15\00:12:04.19 they're not guilty of whatever they're being accused of and 00:12:04.22\00:12:07.09 instead of doing what you did, which is going on the right 00:12:07.12\00:12:10.13 track, they take that as an opportunity in the charge to do 00:12:10.16\00:12:14.10 the wrong thing even more. So here we have in your story, 00:12:14.13\00:12:17.57 Elder Shaw, a beautiful illustration of what to do even 00:12:17.60\00:12:21.00 when you're falsely accused. You don't wear the guilty man's 00:12:21.04\00:12:25.14 clothes. No. You don't wear the guilty man's clothes. So you 00:12:25.17\00:12:28.61 made the decision at that moment not to behave, act and think 00:12:28.64\00:12:32.48 like a guilty man. But rather to walk in a new life and a new 00:12:32.51\00:12:36.28 path where now... Tell us what you're doing now. 00:12:36.32\00:12:38.15 Well, right now I did not get the opportunity to go into 00:12:38.19\00:12:43.99 prison ministry in Jamaica. So when I got here, shortly after 00:12:44.03\00:12:47.96 I got here, I was a member of the Germantown Seventh-day 00:12:48.00\00:12:52.53 Adventist church in Philadelphia They have this prison ministry 00:12:52.57\00:12:56.54 thing going. Right away I join in. So I'm in this prison 00:12:56.57\00:13:01.68 ministry over 22 years now. And I have gone to the prison many 00:13:01.71\00:13:07.98 times. Going there I have seen pastors there in prison, deacons 00:13:08.05\00:13:14.69 elders in prison and I mean this thing shocked the... it was very 00:13:14.72\00:13:21.33 amazing and shocking. I say what these people are doing in 00:13:21.36\00:13:24.87 here. Because being the first time going to the prison, I 00:13:24.90\00:13:29.44 didn't know about elders and pastors and deacons were in 00:13:29.47\00:13:34.81 prison. So this was an opportunity for me to share good 00:13:34.84\00:13:40.15 news to people even behind bars. 00:13:40.18\00:13:45.12 So you're going into the prison system and you're able to 00:13:45.15\00:13:48.36 witness to people who some may have been falsely accused, but 00:13:48.39\00:13:51.53 others have been rightly accused Yes, yes. 00:13:51.56\00:13:53.13 What has that experience been like? Tell us some of the things 00:13:53.16\00:13:57.00 that you've seen in your tenure in prison ministries, tell us 00:13:57.03\00:14:00.44 some of the things that you've seen behind bars and you're back 00:14:00.47\00:14:04.24 there ministering to people who maybe have been falsely accused 00:14:04.27\00:14:07.21 but others who have been rightly accused? Tell us some of the 00:14:07.24\00:14:09.88 things that you've seen. 00:14:09.91\00:14:11.25 Well, there was one remarkable thing that happened. It was 00:14:11.28\00:14:15.58 during the month of February, which America celebrates as 00:14:15.62\00:14:20.49 black history month. OK. So when I went in there that night, 00:14:20.52\00:14:24.46 there were some other people which were supposed to be there 00:14:24.49\00:14:29.00 but for some reason they did not turn up. I guess because of the 00:14:29.03\00:14:32.87 bad weather and all that, they did not turn up. So I ended up 00:14:32.90\00:14:38.47 being in the prison with 123 inmates, sitting before, I being 00:14:38.51\00:14:44.01 the only person present to minister to them. And that night 00:14:44.05\00:14:49.88 I decided that, in fact, I had this already planned to preach 00:14:49.95\00:14:55.76 about Shem, Ham and Japheth, about the story of what happened 00:14:55.79\00:15:01.56 there. And to cut a long story short, when I finished 00:15:01.60\00:15:07.44 presenting that story, because people have it all twisted up at 00:15:07.47\00:15:12.97 times about what happened there and who people become black and 00:15:13.01\00:15:18.51 all that. So when I finished presenting that, the story of 00:15:18.55\00:15:22.55 Shem, Ham and Japheth and Noah with the grape and the 00:15:22.58\00:15:27.59 curse and all that, I have those men, I'm talking about all 00:15:27.66\00:15:33.90 different race, color and creed line up and came to me and shook 00:15:33.93\00:15:38.93 me, some hugged me and said for the first time we really 00:15:38.97\00:15:44.17 understand what those illustration or what the three 00:15:44.21\00:15:49.34 boys there meant. For the first time we understood it clearly. 00:15:49.38\00:15:53.92 Because we were having it a different way and all that. So 00:15:53.95\00:15:58.42 you know I was very surprised the way they acted but when God 00:15:58.45\00:16:04.63 is in the lead in there, there is absolutely no fear because he 00:16:04.69\00:16:10.83 takes over. Yes, yes. So you've seen prison 00:16:10.87\00:16:15.64 inmates. You've see their eyes open to the beauty of the gospel 00:16:15.67\00:16:20.01 You've see them get a new take and a new spin on an old story. 00:16:20.04\00:16:24.35 How has this affected some lives. Can you tell us about 00:16:24.38\00:16:26.61 maybe a life that you have touched and impacted 00:16:26.65\00:16:29.18 individually that you have seen or that you have found yourself 00:16:29.22\00:16:32.02 going back to and having some... Have you had those 00:16:32.05\00:16:35.29 experiences? Well from that group, from that 00:16:35.32\00:16:39.36 group a lot of them decided that they wanted to take their step, 00:16:39.39\00:16:43.53 the stand, rather, for Christ. We had a baptism there, this 00:16:43.57\00:16:49.60 was in Philadelphia. We had a baptism... 00:16:49.64\00:16:54.04 Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you telling me that you went 00:16:54.08\00:16:58.11 into the prison, you preached to some people in prison and then 00:16:58.18\00:17:02.68 they requested Bible studies? Yes. And then requested baptism? 00:17:02.72\00:17:07.22 Yes. And so, Elder Shaw, you are in 00:17:07.26\00:17:09.19 the prison system. I want to make sure that we have this 00:17:09.22\00:17:11.66 clear. Yes. You're in the prison preaching? Uh huh. Doing Bible 00:17:11.69\00:17:16.60 studies? Yes. And even baptizing? 00:17:16.63\00:17:19.43 Yeah, we baptized 24 people... 00:17:19.47\00:17:22.17 Twenty-four people!? ... people on Sunday morning. 00:17:22.20\00:17:23.87 My lord, my lord. So 24 inmates are able to walk in newness of 00:17:23.91\00:17:27.51 life? Yes. Even though they're in prison, they can see the 00:17:27.54\00:17:30.75 light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They can see 00:17:30.78\00:17:33.92 that in the prison system because the Lord is using you 00:17:33.95\00:17:37.15 behind bars and 24 inmates come to Christ. How did that make you 00:17:37.19\00:17:41.99 feel? You feel like you were elevated, 00:17:42.02\00:17:46.53 like you are going like on a different level. But this was 00:17:46.59\00:17:50.87 not about me really. This was about the man, Christ Jesus. 00:17:50.90\00:17:55.10 That's it, that's it. 00:17:55.14\00:17:56.47 Because we have it sometimes twisted. Nothing is really about 00:17:56.50\00:18:00.74 us, it's about Christ. Yes. Because he was the one that came 00:18:00.78\00:18:04.91 and bridged that gap so that we could walk to the other side. 00:18:04.95\00:18:09.05 Yeah, yeah. And because of his stripes we 00:18:09.08\00:18:12.62 are healed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:18:12.65\00:18:13.99 So, of the 24, have you established any personal 00:18:14.02\00:18:17.63 relationships and maintained contact with any of those 24 00:18:17.66\00:18:22.30 inmates? Unfortunately no, because I have 00:18:22.33\00:18:25.60 moved to a different area. This was in Philadelphia, but now I'm 00:18:25.63\00:18:30.47 in Willow Grove, which is the Montgomery County so I go to the 00:18:30.51\00:18:35.34 Montgomery County prison. 00:18:35.38\00:18:37.21 So everywhere you go you're going to the prison looking 00:18:37.25\00:18:42.18 for... looking amongst the possibly rightly accused, the 00:18:42.22\00:18:46.15 falsely accused, but showing them that irrespective of what 00:18:46.19\00:18:49.42 they've been accused of, whether rightly or falsely, that there 00:18:49.49\00:18:52.63 is a Man that died for them on Calvary. Yes. So, tell us about 00:18:52.66\00:18:55.80 some of your experiences in the Montgomery County jail. 00:18:55.83\00:19:00.80 Well, I love to go there. Occasionally my wife, she 00:19:00.84\00:19:05.77 accompanies me to the prison. She don't like it very much, but 00:19:05.81\00:19:11.15 sometimes. She hates to hear those gates, you know, slam as 00:19:11.18\00:19:16.22 you go out or coming in. So occasionally she would go with 00:19:16.25\00:19:21.59 me to the prison and we sing together. We sing duets every 00:19:21.62\00:19:26.36 where we go. So whenever she comes she does the song service 00:19:26.39\00:19:31.53 for me and she would do other stuff like the testimonies and 00:19:31.57\00:19:36.67 all that and we would sing together. So it's a blessing 00:19:36.71\00:19:41.14 to have her coming to the prison with me whenever she can. 00:19:41.18\00:19:46.25 And those people like good singing and we organized choir 00:19:46.28\00:19:51.89 in there. We organize people that write poems. We give them 00:19:51.92\00:19:57.19 the opportunity to do what they want to do. So we get them 00:19:57.23\00:20:02.46 involved, organize them. 00:20:02.50\00:20:06.23 Right, right. So you had... And this is incredible and I 00:20:06.30\00:20:09.34 think that our audience needs to know this. Because Jesus 00:20:09.37\00:20:11.87 warns us, Jesus warns... and I may harp on this a little bit 00:20:11.91\00:20:14.64 on this show, but Jesus warns us that one of the things that 00:20:14.68\00:20:17.41 will qualify us for eternal damnation, if you will, or 00:20:17.45\00:20:22.52 damnation and eternal separation excuse me, from Jesus Christ 00:20:22.58\00:20:27.69 is our inability to recognize the needs of others. He said 00:20:27.72\00:20:30.53 Lord you didn't feed me, you didn't clothe me, you didn't 00:20:30.56\00:20:33.93 give me water to drink, you didn't shelter me, you didn't 00:20:33.96\00:20:37.80 visit me in prison. And they say Master when did we see these 00:20:37.83\00:20:40.87 things and he says as much as you did it not to the least of 00:20:40.90\00:20:44.04 these my brethren shows you didn't do it unto me. And many 00:20:44.07\00:20:46.98 of us because of the way we are organized as a denomination 00:20:47.01\00:20:50.18 we're looking for the Elder Shaws to go inside the prisons 00:20:50.21\00:20:53.31 for us and bring us back the testimonies. There is a charge 00:20:53.35\00:20:55.98 that's been laid on each and every one of us that we should 00:20:56.02\00:20:58.59 visit Christ as often as we can wherever we can find him and not 00:20:58.62\00:21:02.59 just depend on the Elder Shaws to do the prison ministry. 00:21:02.62\00:21:05.63 And so what would you say... Say for instance right now 00:21:05.66\00:21:08.63 you're looking and this is being broadcast in a church or in many 00:21:08.66\00:21:12.43 churches across the division and across the world even. 00:21:12.47\00:21:16.00 What would you say if you could look into the camera right here 00:21:16.04\00:21:18.87 and speak to the church, speak to the body of Christ, about the 00:21:18.91\00:21:21.74 importance of going into the 00:21:21.78\00:21:27.78 prisons where you have seen men take Bible studies, where you 00:21:27.82\00:21:30.89 have seen men baptized, where you have seen people organize 00:21:30.92\00:21:34.52 into choirs, what would you say to a church? I want you to look 00:21:34.56\00:21:38.13 in this camera over my shoulder and I want you to now speak 00:21:38.16\00:21:41.33 your heart to the church and tell them the importance of 00:21:41.36\00:21:44.47 prison ministries. What I need to explain to 00:21:44.50\00:21:47.34 everyone across this nation. The last time I checked, on this 00:21:47.40\00:21:54.91 planet we have approximately 6.8 billion people and every 42 00:21:54.94\00:22:02.22 people on this planet one is in prison. In America alone we have 00:22:02.25\00:22:10.16 approximately 2.3 million people behind bars. When we check it, 00:22:10.19\00:22:18.07 a lot of those people are innocent. And I'm just saying 00:22:18.10\00:22:23.44 to America, I'm just saying to the whole world, God loves 00:22:23.47\00:22:28.71 people wherever they are. If you are behind the bar iron curtain, 00:22:28.74\00:22:33.82 if you are... wherever, if you rich or poor, God specializes 00:22:33.85\00:22:39.22 in people. Not so much your qualification or your status, 00:22:39.25\00:22:44.03 or what you have, but in people. And people right now are in 00:22:44.06\00:22:48.30 prison waiting for you to come and visit them. They need to 00:22:48.33\00:22:52.90 see you. They need to see people and often times I go in prison 00:22:52.93\00:22:58.31 because I was there the other day and this lady, I went to the 00:22:58.34\00:23:03.38 female section. Not every often but for some reason they asked 00:23:03.41\00:23:08.55 me to go there this time. This lady was crying her soul out 00:23:08.58\00:23:13.92 because she wanted to call her daughter which was celebrating 00:23:13.96\00:23:19.03 her birthday out there, and she could not because she had to 00:23:19.06\00:23:24.77 give some special benefits to the wardens in order for her to 00:23:24.80\00:23:29.80 call her daughter and she was crying and we went on. So I was 00:23:29.84\00:23:35.31 telling those people that some of us that are out here is that 00:23:35.34\00:23:40.52 because we don't get caught yet why we are not in there with 00:23:40.55\00:23:46.05 you. So don't feel bad that you are the worst and in God's 00:23:46.09\00:23:51.49 domain there is no step children and in God's domain there is no 00:23:51.53\00:23:56.90 illegitimate child. God loves us all. God loves us equally and 00:23:56.93\00:24:02.24 let me just advise you out there that we need to take time out of 00:24:02.27\00:24:06.91 our busy schedule and realize that God loves people. God's 00:24:06.94\00:24:13.78 people are in the prison and we need to sometimes get up from 00:24:13.82\00:24:20.02 watching the television. We need to sometimes get up from 00:24:20.06\00:24:25.59 watching all those things on television because people are 00:24:25.63\00:24:31.03 dying out there and I just admonishing you to take time 00:24:31.07\00:24:36.71 out and visit the prison and one day when Jesus Christ will 00:24:36.74\00:24:42.28 ride on the clouds in his skies and gravity will lose its power 00:24:42.31\00:24:48.25 and we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, somebody's 00:24:48.28\00:24:54.19 gonna look and say it was because of your visit to the 00:24:54.22\00:24:57.93 prison why I'm here today. So do it and you will love it. 00:24:57.96\00:25:01.40 My lord, my lord. So we have gotten our message across to 00:25:01.43\00:25:04.80 the people that we think should be going to the prison. Just in 00:25:04.83\00:25:09.40 one minute, one minute, one minute, right now someone in 00:25:09.44\00:25:14.44 prison is watching this show. Right now someone in prison. 00:25:14.48\00:25:18.48 And you said a lot. But I want you in one minute, right now, 00:25:18.51\00:25:22.55 just to speak to the heart of the person who may be watching 00:25:22.58\00:25:26.55 this in prison. I'm just saying to you, my 00:25:26.59\00:25:33.93 brothers, my sisters, God loves you and his love is everlasting. 00:25:33.96\00:25:39.73 The Bible says past finding out. And what you need to do is to 00:25:39.80\00:25:46.01 pray, pray without ceasing and ask God to direct your path and 00:25:46.04\00:25:52.25 remember yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but 00:25:52.28\00:26:01.82 remember today is a gift. That's why we call it the "present. " 00:26:01.86\00:26:07.13 So do what you're supposed to do because remember that his eyes 00:26:07.16\00:26:12.07 is still on the sparrows and he watches over you and he watches 00:26:12.10\00:26:17.47 over us right here. So do it God's way and God will take care 00:26:17.51\00:26:22.88 of you. And even they can Dare to Dream. 00:26:22.91\00:26:24.61 Hallelujah. Amen. So the reality is again here we 00:26:24.65\00:26:29.32 have in Elder Sharp a young man, enjoying life. One day 00:26:29.35\00:26:34.69 interrupted, interrupted it would seem, at that moment, 00:26:34.72\00:26:40.43 by the enemy. Pulled over in your car. Police officer pulls 00:26:40.46\00:26:44.97 you out and accuses you of a crime that you're not guilty 00:26:45.00\00:26:49.20 of. He takes you down to the station, roughhouses you, gives 00:26:49.24\00:26:54.21 a hard time and you're let out and for two weeks you're walking 00:26:54.24\00:26:58.65 around wondering will the court believe his word over mine. 00:26:58.68\00:27:03.42 Will they believe him, will my freedom be compromised. And sure 00:27:03.49\00:27:08.19 enough, because there was nothing in your past that could 00:27:08.22\00:27:11.96 be held against you the judge let you go free. At that moment, 00:27:11.99\00:27:15.43 you determine that what you're going to do is walk the straight 00:27:15.46\00:27:18.87 and narrow. You're going to forget those things which are 00:27:18.90\00:27:21.80 behind and you're going to press toward the mark of the high 00:27:21.87\00:27:24.71 calling that is in Christ Jesus. Yes. You're going to go into the 00:27:24.74\00:27:27.31 prisons. You going to look for people like yourself that were 00:27:27.34\00:27:29.84 falsely accused, but while you're there you're going to 00:27:29.88\00:27:32.85 speak to those who have been rightly accused. And God has 00:27:32.88\00:27:35.62 blessed in such a way that you've seen people come to 00:27:35.65\00:27:38.29 Christ in baptism through Bible studies. Men who are criminals, 00:27:38.35\00:27:42.26 hardened, form together to make a choir. I'd say this was 00:27:42.29\00:27:47.10 truly a miracle. And someone today has been touched and I 00:27:47.13\00:27:51.90 believe they will dare to dream. They will dare to dream while 00:27:51.93\00:27:55.20 they're in bars and incarcerated of what life will be if they 00:27:55.24\00:27:58.47 were free and they may even realize as a result of this 00:27:58.51\00:28:01.88 television program that even though they're incarcerated, 00:28:01.91\00:28:05.21 they are free in Jesus Christ. And so this is what I would say 00:28:05.28\00:28:08.38 to you at home. God Bless You and continue to Dare to Dream. 00:28:08.42\00:28:11.49