Participants: Pr. Marquis Johns (Host), Wesley Shaw
Series Code: TNJ
Program Code: TNJ000025
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00:08 Welcome to the New Journey, a program about real-life people
00:12 with real-life testimonies doing real-life ministry for Jesus 00:16 Christ. I'm your host, Pastor Marquis Johns. Join us on 00:20 The New Journey. 00:21 ¤ ¤ 00:54 In the book of Revelation Jesus warns that people will be called 00:57 or trying to be called something that they are not. How would you 01:01 feel to be falsely accused of a crime? Well, our guest today, 01:05 Wesley Shaw, had just such an experience. Wesley, how are you 01:09 doing today? Fine, thank you. 01:11 Great, great. Now tell me first and foremost tell us a little 01:15 bit about yourself. Just tell us who you are. I am Elder Wesley 01:19 A. Shaw from Jamaica. The Big Island? 01:22 Yes, call it the beautiful island of Jamaica. Almost 23 01:27 years ago. I presently serve as one of the elders of the Willow 01:34 Seventh-day Adventist Church. I also serve as the personal 01:40 ministry director. I serve as the chaplain for the men's 01:45 ministry for the Delaware Valley and I am a part of the men's 01:50 ministry. So you're wearing a lot of hats? 01:53 Yes. OK, so, that's who you are. 01:56 Let's talk about where you been 23 years ago. Twenty-three years 01:59 ago an incident happened that changed your life on the isle of 02:03 Jamaica. Tell us a little bit about that incident. 02:04 Well, it was really in my 20's when I was in my early 20s. 02:10 Well, let's just pretend that was 20 years ago. (laughs) 02:14 Yes, OK. I was driving and I was pulled over by the cop and 02:18 he took me to the station and I was falsely accused of something 02:24 that I was not guilty of. I guess he had some family problem 02:31 and because of that he treated me very bad. And after I went to 02:37 court and the court trial, it was thrown out. And because of 02:42 that, I don't know what was on his mind, he committed suicide. 02:45 Wait, wait, before you say that, now that's interesting, I like 02:49 to paint a picture. So, so we have a young man who's driving 02:53 the road in Jamaica, having a good time, enjoying his life. 02:56 Now were you Christian before this? Were you Christian 02:58 at that time. Yeah, I was a Christian. 02:59 OK, so you were already Christian. You're driving along 03:01 the road, you're having fun doing whatever you're doing 03:03 and you're pulled over and the police officer pulls you over 03:07 and falsely accuses you of a crime. And I don't know if this 03:10 is personal, what crime was that What did he accuse you of? 03:15 Well he said I was driving a truck and my license says car, 03:19 but it was a small truck which was equivalent to a car. 03:23 OK, so, the semantics is real? Yes. OK, so, you're driving the 03:27 car, you're falsely accused and how long did the trial last? 03:30 How long was it that you were walking around wearing the 03:34 clothes of a guilty man? Was it a significant amount of time or 03:37 just a short time. It was like two weeks. 03:39 OK, so, two weeks you're walking around and the world and the 03:43 people around you believe, based on the word of this man, that 03:46 you were a guilty man? Yes. 03:47 OK, so, now you go to court and you're exonerated. Tell us about 03:51 that feeling. Ah, it was a good feeling when I 03:55 was dismissed. In fact, the judge asked me if what I was 04:01 doing, if I was guilty. I say, your honor, I don't think so. He said 04:06 why didn't you check your road, your road code book, your manual 04:11 to see whether... and I say I checked it and he said OK, first 04:15 time you come in here, you are free to go, because he found out 04:20 that what he was telling me was not in the book. So he had to 04:24 free me. Right, right. So, you had lived 04:27 a life, a Christian life up to this point, which contributes 04:31 to the fact that when you go before the judge, he's able to 04:35 exonerate you for the simple fact that there was nothing 04:38 there before, there were no priors or anything like that. 04:41 No, nothing. Because had you had some priors 04:42 there might have been a different story. (laughs) 04:44 It might have been a different story, yes. 04:46 So after this, subsequently, the guy who accuses you, do you ever 04:51 see him again? No, he treated me very bad in 04:56 the station. And shortly after the dismissal of the court, he 05:04 committed suicide. And that is a big part of this 05:09 story. Let's delve a little deeper into what we consider bad 05:12 treatment. Bad treatment is relative. So, so what happened 05:16 in this altercation when you were taken down to the station? 05:19 Share with us, if you don't mind, a little about this bad 05:22 treatment that you refer to. 05:23 At first he asked me, do you have anyone to bail you, sir? 05:28 I said yes. I called my boss because I was on my way to work. 05:33 So my boss was asking me, what's wrong? He came and he took the 05:37 phone from me forcefully. Give me this phone. This belongs to 05:42 the government not you. So, you know, I felt very bad and at 05:46 that time he took my belt, my shoe laces, everything because 05:51 I was ready to be put in jail. And suddenly my boss turned up, 05:56 which he wasn't very far away. So he turned up and he posted 06:01 the bail and I was free, I didn't go in the cell. 06:04 (Laughs) This definitely tips your hand having not had any 06:09 experiences with the law before. One of the things I remember 06:12 one of the times when I was incarcerated, believe it or not, 06:15 the pastor was at one point not a pastor and had been 06:18 incarcerated. The first thing they did when they remanded me 06:21 into custody was they removed my shoe laces and they removed 06:24 my belt. Now at the time I was wondering, this is a strange 06:27 practice. Why are you taking my belt and my shoe laces. So I 06:30 asked the CO, the correctional officer, who was there at the 06:33 moment at the station with me. I said, why do you guys remove 06:36 the shoe strings and the belt? And you know what they said? 06:39 They said, the amount of people who commit suicide after being 06:43 remanded to custody was through the roof. So do ensure that no 06:46 one commits suicide the first thing they do when they put you 06:49 into custody is they remove your shoe strings, your belt and 06:52 anything that you could possibly hang yourself with. And so, here 06:56 the officer is forcibly removing your shoe strings and forcibly 07:00 removing your belt from you and in his mind he's probably 07:03 thinking he's doing the right thing, but he's not doing it in 07:07 the right way, because, again he has you pegged as a guilty 07:12 man. Right. And so, after you're exonerated, you're let out of 07:15 jail you say you don't see him again. When did you find out 07:19 about this suicide? When did you find out about that? 07:21 Ah, a couple weeks later my boss took the paper to me and showed 07:27 it to me because it was in the newspaper, that this same man, 07:31 and he said you remember that guy that was treating you so 07:36 bad? Here is his picture. In fact, he went on the roof of the 07:40 station and shot himself up there. Oh wow! On the roof 07:46 of the same station. So you know I felt so bad that it's a 07:51 possibility that innocent people might be in jail there. 07:56 OK so, when you heard and your boss showed you that indeed 08:01 the officer who pulled you over and falsely accused you had now 08:05 committed suicide on the roof of the police station, 08:09 internally, us a little bit about what you were experiencing 08:12 internally. As a young man, you're feeling guilty because 08:15 maybe some how, some way, he's done this because of his poor 08:18 treatment of you. Tell us a little bit about what you were 08:20 feeling at that moment. 08:22 I felt very bad because I said to myself, maybe I could witness 08:28 to him _ because I started witnessing from a very 08:33 early age. So that was inside of me. So I say I wish I have 08:38 the opportunity to just get a moment to tell him something 08:43 about Christ and that's not all bad. And it can be fixed, 08:48 whatever is there that's messed up it can be fixed. But I felt 08:51 very bad. OK, OK and so then you feel bad 08:55 and what is your first action after you come to some sort of 08:59 grips and understanding that wow, this may have happened as a 09:03 result of me. And not only that but also there may be some other 09:07 young men in prison, in jail who are there but they're 09:11 falsely accused. What were your first actions? 09:13 My first action? I tried to get in the prison ministry because I 09:18 want to see what's happening in there. I thought you know 09:24 I've heard so many different things but you want to 09:27 experience it for yourself by going in there. I tried, but it 09:34 did not work. So what I set out to do was to do some evangelism. 09:40 So I went to my church elder and I asked him how can I get in 09:48 this evangelistic program. So I was sent to a ministry. I was 09:54 sent to this institute where you would get some training and you 10:01 could become a layman evangelist. 10:04 A lay evangelist. Yeah, a lay evangelist. So I 10:08 took up the challenge and I went and not very many weeks 10:15 after, I started to preach. In fact, I did my first crusade 10:21 because I went to this church and I was asked to speak at the 10:26 church. But the elder that invited me did not know that the 10:32 pastor was coming there that day because he had several other 10:37 churches. So he turned up too. So he came to me and said I 10:42 heard you were invited here to preach, but I'm here. Can we 10:47 work this thing out. I say yeah you're the pastor, you preach. 10:51 I could do the prayer for you. He said, OK, we'll do it like 10:55 that. So I went up and I did the opening prayer. After the prayer 11:00 after the sermon and all that he called the other elders of the 11:05 church. Of course, I was just visiting. And he called me in 11:10 the pastor's study and he said I have to confess something 11:15 to you guys. The prayer that this man prayed reaches the 11:20 audience more that the sermon that I preach. How would you 11:24 like to be a crusade in this church. 11:27 Wow, wow! And this is another aspect of your testimony that 11:33 resonates with me. I too, after becoming a Christian, someone 11:37 approached me about going off to be trained and I was trained 11:41 for a short period of time working at the Amazing Facts 11:45 Center of Evangelism and from there the Lord led me into a 11:49 life of ministry and so again the point that is very, very 11:54 important, that I don't think anyone should miss is here you 11:57 were falsely accused. Now I know a lot of young men who they're 12:01 pulled over by the police. They are falsely accused. They know 12:04 they're not guilty of whatever they're being accused of and 12:07 instead of doing what you did, which is going on the right 12:10 track, they take that as an opportunity in the charge to do 12:14 the wrong thing even more. So here we have in your story, 12:17 Elder Shaw, a beautiful illustration of what to do even 12:21 when you're falsely accused. You don't wear the guilty man's 12:25 clothes. No. You don't wear the guilty man's clothes. So you 12:28 made the decision at that moment not to behave, act and think 12:32 like a guilty man. But rather to walk in a new life and a new 12:36 path where now... Tell us what you're doing now. 12:38 Well, right now I did not get the opportunity to go into 12:44 prison ministry in Jamaica. So when I got here, shortly after 12:48 I got here, I was a member of the Germantown Seventh-day 12:52 Adventist church in Philadelphia They have this prison ministry 12:56 thing going. Right away I join in. So I'm in this prison 13:01 ministry over 22 years now. And I have gone to the prison many 13:08 times. Going there I have seen pastors there in prison, deacons 13:14 elders in prison and I mean this thing shocked the... it was very 13:21 amazing and shocking. I say what these people are doing in 13:24 here. Because being the first time going to the prison, I 13:29 didn't know about elders and pastors and deacons were in 13:34 prison. So this was an opportunity for me to share good 13:40 news to people even behind bars. 13:45 So you're going into the prison system and you're able to 13:48 witness to people who some may have been falsely accused, but 13:51 others have been rightly accused Yes, yes. 13:53 What has that experience been like? Tell us some of the things 13:57 that you've seen in your tenure in prison ministries, tell us 14:00 some of the things that you've seen behind bars and you're back 14:04 there ministering to people who maybe have been falsely accused 14:07 but others who have been rightly accused? Tell us some of the 14:09 things that you've seen. 14:11 Well, there was one remarkable thing that happened. It was 14:15 during the month of February, which America celebrates as 14:20 black history month. OK. So when I went in there that night, 14:24 there were some other people which were supposed to be there 14:29 but for some reason they did not turn up. I guess because of the 14:32 bad weather and all that, they did not turn up. So I ended up 14:38 being in the prison with 123 inmates, sitting before, I being 14:44 the only person present to minister to them. And that night 14:49 I decided that, in fact, I had this already planned to preach 14:55 about Shem, Ham and Japheth, about the story of what happened 15:01 there. And to cut a long story short, when I finished 15:07 presenting that story, because people have it all twisted up at 15:13 times about what happened there and who people become black and 15:18 all that. So when I finished presenting that, the story of 15:22 Shem, Ham and Japheth and Noah with the grape and the 15:27 curse and all that, I have those men, I'm talking about all 15:33 different race, color and creed line up and came to me and shook 15:38 me, some hugged me and said for the first time we really 15:44 understand what those illustration or what the three 15:49 boys there meant. For the first time we understood it clearly. 15:53 Because we were having it a different way and all that. So 15:58 you know I was very surprised the way they acted but when God is 16:04 in the lead in there, there is absolutely no fear because he 16:10 takes over. Yes, yes. So you've seen prison 16:15 inmates. You've see their eyes open to the beauty of the gospel 16:20 You've see them get a new take and a new spin on an old story. 16:24 How has this affected some lives. Can you tell us about 16:26 maybe a life that you have touched and impacted 16:29 individually that you have seen or that you have found yourself 16:32 going back to and having some... Have you had those 16:35 experiences? Well from that group, from that 16:39 group a lot of them decided that they wanted to take their step, 16:43 the stand, rather, for Christ. We had a baptism there, this 16:49 was in Philadelphia. We had a baptism... 16:54 Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you telling me that you went 16:58 into the prison, you preached to some people in prison and then 17:02 they requested Bible studies? Yes. And then requested baptism? 17:07 Yes. And so, Elder Shaw, you are in 17:09 the prison system. I want to make sure that we have this 17:11 clear. Yes. You're in the prison preaching? Uh huh. Doing Bible 17:16 studies? Yes. And even baptizing? 17:19 Yeah, we baptized 24 people... 17:22 Twenty-four people!? ... people on Sunday morning. 17:23 My lord, my lord. So 24 inmates are able to walk in newness of 17:27 life? Yes. Even though they're in prison, they can see the 17:30 light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They can see 17:33 that in the prison system because the Lord is using you 17:37 behind bars and 24 inmates come to Christ. How did that make you 17:42 feel? You feel like you were elevated, 17:46 like you are going like on a different level. But this was 17:50 not about me really. This was about the man, Christ Jesus. 17:55 That's it, that's it. 17:56 Because we have it sometimes twisted. Nothing is really about 18:00 us, it's about Christ. Yes. Because he was the one that came 18:04 and bridged that gap so that we could walk to the other side. 18:09 Yeah, yeah. And because of his stripes we 18:12 are healed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 18:14 So, of the 24, have you established any personal 18:17 relationships and maintained contact with any of those 24 18:22 inmates? Unfortunately no, because I have 18:25 moved to a different area. This was in Philadelphia, but now I'm 18:30 in Willow Grove, which is the Montgomery County so I go to the 18:35 Montgomery County prison. 18:37 So everywhere you go you're going to the prison looking 18:42 for... looking amongst the possibly rightly accused, the 18:46 falsely accused, but showing them that irrespective of what 18:49 they've been accused of, whether rightly or falsely, that there 18:52 is a Man that died for them on Calvary. Yes. So, tell us about 18:55 some of your experiences in the Montgomery County jail. 19:00 Well, I love to go there. Occasionally my wife, she 19:05 accompanies me to the prison. She don't like it very much, but 19:11 sometimes. She hates to hear those gates, you know, slam as 19:16 you go out or coming in. So occasionally she would go with 19:21 me to the prison and we sing together. We sing duets every 19:26 where we go. So whenever she comes she does the song service 19:31 for me and she would do other stuff like the testimonies and 19:36 all that and we would sing together. So it's a blessing 19:41 to have her coming to the prison with me whenever she can. 19:46 And those people like good singing and we organized choir 19:51 in there. We organize people that write poems. We give them 19:57 the opportunity to do what they want to do. So we get them 20:02 involved, organize them. 20:06 Right, right. So you had... And this is incredible and I 20:09 think that our audience needs to know this. Because Jesus 20:11 warns us, Jesus warns... and I may harp on this a little bit 20:14 on this show, but Jesus warns us that one of the things that 20:17 will qualify us for eternal damnation, if you will, or 20:22 damnation and eternal separation excuse me, from Jesus Christ 20:27 is our inability to recognize the needs of others. He said 20:30 Lord you didn't feed me, you didn't clothe me, you didn't 20:33 give me water to drink, you didn't shelter me, you didn't 20:37 visit me in prison. And they say Master when did we see these 20:40 things and he says as much as you did it not to the least of 20:44 these my brethren shows you didn't do it unto me. And many 20:47 of us because of the way we are organized as a denomination 20:50 we're looking for the Elder Shaws to go inside the prisons 20:53 for us and bring us back the testimonies. There is a charge 20:56 that's been laid on each and every one of us that we should 20:58 visit Christ as often as we can wherever we can find him and not 21:02 just depend on the Elder Shaws to do the prison ministry. 21:05 And so what would you say... Say for instance right now 21:08 you're looking and this is being broadcast in a church or in many 21:12 churches across the division and across the world even. 21:16 What would you say if you could look into the camera right here 21:18 and speak to the church, speak to the body of Christ, about the 21:21 importance of going into the 21:27 prisons where you have seen men take Bible studies, where you 21:30 have seen men baptized, where you have seen people organize 21:34 into choirs, what would you say to a church? I want you to look 21:38 in this camera over my shoulder and I want you to now speak 21:41 your heart to the church and tell them the importance of 21:44 prison ministries. What I need to explain to 21:47 everyone across this nation. The last time I checked, on this 21:54 planet we have approximately 6.8 billion people and every 42 22:02 people on this planet one is in prison. In America alone we have 22:10 approximately 2.3 million people behind bars. When we check it, 22:18 a lot of those people are innocent. And I'm just saying 22:23 to America, I'm just saying to the whole world, God loves 22:28 people wherever they are. If you are behind the bar iron curtain, 22:33 if you are... wherever, if you rich or poor, God specializes 22:39 in people. Not so much your qualification or your status, 22:44 or what you have, but in people. And people right now are in 22:48 prison waiting for you to come and visit them. They need to 22:52 see you. They need to see people and often times I go in prison 22:58 because I was there the other day and this lady, I went to the 23:03 female section. Not every often but for some reason they asked 23:08 me to go there this time. This lady was crying her soul out 23:13 because she wanted to call her daughter which was celebrating 23:19 her birthday out there, and she could not because she had to 23:24 give some special benefits to the wardens in order for her to 23:29 call her daughter and she was crying and we went on. So I was 23:35 telling those people that some of us that are out here is that 23:40 because we don't get caught yet why we are not in there with 23:46 you. So don't feel bad that you are the worst and in God's 23:51 domain there is no step children and in God's domain there is no 23:56 illegitimate child. God loves us all. God loves us equally and 24:02 let me just advise you out there that we need to take time out of 24:06 our busy schedule and realize that God loves people. God's 24:13 people are in the prison and we need to sometimes get up from 24:20 watching the television. We need to sometimes get up from 24:25 watching all those things on television because people are 24:31 dying out there and I just admonishing you to take time 24:36 out and visit the prison and one day when Jesus Christ will 24:42 ride on the clouds in his skies and gravity will lose its power 24:48 and we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, somebody's 24:54 gonna look and say it was because of your visit to the 24:57 prison why I'm here today. So do it and you will love it. 25:01 My lord, my lord. So we have gotten our message across to 25:04 the people that we think should be going to the prison. Just in 25:09 one minute, one minute, one minute, right now someone in 25:14 prison is watching this show. Right now someone in prison. 25:18 And you said a lot. But I want you in one minute, right now, 25:22 just to speak to the heart of the person who may be watching 25:26 this in prison. I'm just saying to you, my 25:33 brothers, my sisters, God loves you and his love is everlasting. 25:39 The Bible says past finding out. And what you need to do is to 25:46 pray, pray without ceasing and ask God to direct your path and 25:52 remember yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but 26:01 remember today is a gift. That's why we call it the "present. " 26:07 So do what you're supposed to do because remember that his eyes 26:12 is still on the sparrows and he watches over you and he watches 26:17 over us right here. So do it God's way and God will take care 26:22 of you. And even they can Dare to Dream. 26:24 Hallelujah. Amen. So the reality is again here we 26:29 have in Elder Sharp a young man, enjoying life. One day 26:34 interrupted, interrupted it would seem, at that moment, 26:40 by the enemy. Pulled over in your car. Police officer pulls 26:45 you out and accuses you of a crime that you're not guilty 26:49 of. He takes you down to the station, roughhouses you, gives 26:54 a hard time and you're let out and for two weeks you're walking 26:58 around wondering will the court believe his word over mine. 27:03 Will they believe him, will my freedom be compromised. And sure 27:08 enough, because there was nothing in your past that could 27:11 be held against you the judge let you go free. At that moment, 27:15 you determine that what you're going to do is walk the straight 27:18 and narrow. You're going to forget those things which are 27:21 behind and you're going to press toward the mark of the high 27:24 calling that is in Christ Jesus. Yes. You're going to go into the 27:27 prisons. You going to look for people like yourself that were 27:29 falsely accused, but while you're there you're going to 27:32 speak to those who have been rightly accused. And God has 27:35 blessed in such a way that you've seen people come to 27:38 Christ in baptism through Bible studies. Men who are criminals, 27:42 hardened, form together to make a choir. I'd say this was 27:47 truly a miracle. And someone today has been touched and I 27:51 believe they will dare to dream. They will dare to dream while 27:55 they're in bars and incarcerated of what life will be if they 27:58 were free and they may even realize as a result of this 28:01 television program that even though they're incarcerated, 28:05 they are free in Jesus Christ. And so this is what I would say 28:08 to you at home. God Bless You and continue to Dare to Dream. |
Revised 2017-04-20