2014-06-10 Reflection by a Nigerian inmate in a Hong Kong prison

My Happy Life in Prison – by "Joseph"

When I was a young boy, my mum always called me ‘Joseph’. I didn’t understand why until I grew up to know who Joseph in the Bible was. The greatest thing that happened to him was that he was sold by his brother to the Egyptians where the Lord God made him a famous leader. We all remember why the brothers sold him out – that too is part of my life today. I was loved so much by my mother that it made my brothers jealous and that was why I had to leave Nigeria to come to Hong Kong in 2005 as a born-again Christian. Later everything changed and I became a different person due to doing all the wrong things. Previously I had been going to church every Sunday, my hobby was singing Gospel songs to the Lord, and I was blessed and things went well in my life, including the gift of my wife, who had the most beautiful heart I have come across. When we came to Hong Kong, we opened an African restaurant in the city – it was then I came to focus more on business than on God. I forgot the promises I had made to God and to my wife. I lost my relationship with the Holy Spirit, and I have so many problems today because of my own self-interest and greed. How about you ? You may be out there thinking you are safe from sin – my dear brother or sister, without God, you are never safe. Please do something now !!

"Arrested by the Holy Spirit"

No matter what condition we find ourselves in life, God is the only solution to it. Everything we go through has already happened in the Bible 2000 years ago, and whatever we do now, God is watching us. Stay away from the bad things you do, please ! I was arrested by the HK authorities and sent to prison and it was then I realized how much I had been disobeying the words of Almighty God. Thank God, I can now confess my sins again to Him and I have been re-arrested by the Holy Spirit who has filled me with happiness and the knowledge that many of us are now living "in the flesh" ,not the Spirit. I understood that my being in prison was not a mistake but was for a purpose. My brother or sister, you may be out there thinking that those in prison are all bad people, but it is not true. Prison is a ‘Bible school’ where we "eat and drink" with God. When I was outside, I could not read or write the Bible, but it is here where God has taught me; here every prisoner has a spiritual space to speak to God. I do not regret being a prisoner, because I had been wasting my 38 years outside. Now the Lord has revealed to me his mission for me in jail - which I am doing now by sharing my faith with my fellow inmates. Recently I was reading 2 Samuel 12: 5-15 and Deuteronomy 26: 16-19 where I realized once again how much I had been disobeying God’s word, but now I have handed my life over to God – and how about you ? My dear brothers and sisters, inside and outside prison, we have 3 choices before us: firstly to know why we are in trouble, secondly to confess our sinfulness to the Lord and thirdly to live every remaining moment of our life for our Lord. I don’t know what trouble you may be in today, but I believe that all locked doors have been thrown open for us; no warder or police can shut them again, for the Lord Almighty is with us, Amen !!

"Hold for the Light of God"

What kind of life do we live on earth daily? And what are we looking for? Is it money? What does money teach us? Only evil things… we are in trouble today because of money, or will have trouble, and how can we come out of it? - "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these other will be given to you" is the word of God to us in Matthew 6: 19-23. If David could get honey from a lion, what good things await us when we ask God in faith !!? I am a living witness to this – when I got into trouble, I thought I had lost everything precious in my life, including my lovely wife. But God turned things to good: my wife had been pressured to leave me by her family, for their own self-interest, but God heard my prayers for her and filled her again with the Holy Spirit, from whom she had been apart for so long, and now she is my guiding angel. We all know that when a baby is touching something dangerous, his father will immediately take it away from him and replace it with something else – why? Because he loves his child. You who are outside prison might misunderstand by thinking we are worse off than you – it is not true. God has taken us away from the bad things we have been doing, and given us the Light of Life in prison. So whether you are worrying about your freedom, or your sentence, or your family, I put this to you – we in prison are the privileged people where we have a quiet place where we can call directly to God. Do you have His number ? If you don’t, use now this number: J-E-S-U-S. You will be answered at once ! And by God Himself, you are blest, our Light is shining !

While it is wise to learn from the past, we should not live in the past, or try to undo it, but by God’s grace, press forward to serve Him faithfully. The life of faith is a journey forward, as we become more like Christ. We urge God to touch the hearts of the HK Govt. to give us a second chance to show our good behavior to the world – we will not disappoint them !