Inmates Corner, Rehoboth Jail and Prison Ministries

Testimonials

Dear Ron,

May you be deeply honored and encouraged by my sincere expression of love and appreciation for your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in how you have ministered and still minister unto the saints. I want you to know that I thank God upon every remembrance of you always and in every prayer of mine for you making request with joy for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now.

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Mr. Ron Baker,

Thanks for learning me the word of God, while I was incarcerated at D.W.C.C. When I came to DWCC in November 2010 I was one lost person. I gave my life to the Lord while in receiving at Powhatan in October 2010. Then listening to you and our Chaplin Armstrong, I have learned a lot about my salvation. Other people who spoke at DWCC while I was or am here also spoke good about the word, but I seem to be drawn to you and our Chaplin. You can step on toes and kick them, but still be full of the word.

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Dear Ron,

Hello, my brother and friend. May this letter find you in good health and spirit and well blessed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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As I had briefly referred to at your last bible study here, I did have my 27th parole review on the 23rd. The hearing went as well as could be expected. There weren’t much new things to present or mention to the Parole Board. I did put more emphasis on my faith and how I would like to acclimate my return into society through a faith based ministry and/or halfway house. That it was my intention to hopefully serve and facilitate in a ministry of my faith. I mentioned a few during the review—your name and ministry was mentioned as a preference of mine (smile), and of course I gave a brief history of you and your ministry. It was also noted that in February of 2015, I will have 40 years completed of straight incarceration. I’m not sure how much of a baring that has on the Board, but it was the first time during a review that my time served was specifically brought to attention. So, please keep the Board, myself and their review in prayer, and may God’s will be done in this circumstance.

Speaking of prayer, I’m keeping your stepfather in prayer. May the Holy Spirit comfort and guide him through his grief. My prayers go out for your church that you obtain what you need to have a permanent place to worship and serve our God- Praise the Lord.

As you know, next weekend is this country’s annual celebration of its Independence. As I reflect on Thomas Jefferson’s ideas and words documented within our Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed but their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” I question what he would think of the state of this nation today and how it has relinquished its morals and values of the true “American Dream”- “Liberty” and traded it for material gains and lust of the flesh.
Several years ago a local pastor preached that Americans have declared their “New Declaration of Independence from God” – “The cry for “freedom” from an oppressive god has no end in America today”. They don’t want His name on our coins, or our dollars and evicted Him from their search for wholesome pleasure. The American dream has taken a path of materialism and debauchery and the individual rights of honor, truth, honesty and purity that have come from God our Creator, have been discarded by a self serving society with little, or no moral responsibility.

It’s no wonder our nation is in its current state and that the World no longer reviews it as a “Light & Hope” to all. We need to point our current and future Leaders to II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”

I believe that our liberty is one of God’s special gifts to us as a nation. We dishonor God, His grace and His blessing as this nation and its leaders turn from God and corrupt His gift to us and our nation. I am sure you are more aware of the state and condition of our nation because you are living and seeing it daily (smile), but having given me more “something to think about” – “The Means of a Miracle”. I thought to return the blessing (smile). (This man is still incarcerated as of 1/21/21)

Your brother, friend and servant
For Christ Jesus……

My Profession of Faith –

For the past couple of weeks, since accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal Savior, I have been praying and reflecting about this moment. Honestly, I have been wrought with self-doubt, questioning if I fully understand the implications of this, if I am ready for the responsibilities and accountability that follows this profession of faith. Then I realize these self-doubts are the devil’s way of deterring me from my salvation as he has done so many times before.

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I turned away from God a long time ago. It’s not that I didn’t believe; but, my beliefs were perverse distortions of the truth. I believed God had abandoned me like so many others in my life. I grew up in a Godless, unstable, dysfunctional, addicted, and abusive home. I would pray for God to deliver me from the pain bestowed upon me and I felt my prayers were answered. I was denied a Catholic baptism until the age of 10 because my parents were divorced. So I took on the belief that if God didn’t want me, I didn’t want him either.
For the next 25 years, I embraced sin as if it was all I had left. I would sadly joke that I danced with the devil because he was the only one that would dance back. I had a festering hole in my soul that no amount of food, carnal desires, alcohol, drugs, or false ideologies could fill. I embraced schools of thoughts that recused me of all accountability of my sins. I didn’t believe in heaven, just the hell I was living in. I was unknowingly ushering my children to the hands of the devil through my false teachings. I was in such a state of suffering. My addictions became my God… my high my salvation. I lost everything and everyone and I cried out to what I believed was a cruel God, one word: “PLEASE!”

Then one day there was a knock on my door and before me stood some people that I recognized. Now you have to know, I barely knew these people. We had met a couple years prior at my kid’s baseball team. We exchanged salutations around Nelson but we hadn’t seen each other in a long time. To this day, I have no idea how they knew where I lived. The wife had seen some Facebook posts I had written. I forgot she was even on my Facebook. They asked me if I needed anything, bought me some groceries, and asked to pray with me. I was suspicious to say the least. “What did they want from me?” “Oh my there Jesus freaks!” were thoughts that came to mind. They asked me to come to church and I politely declined, but they kept coming back. They accepted me as I was and genuinely cared for me. They expected nothing in return and I decided the least I could do waattend church with these people. For the first time ever, I saw Christians that truly lived as they believed and I was intrigued. First time I came to church, I heard nothing but my own self-doubt, that I was too broken to be accepted or liked by you people; but, I was embraced with welcoming, loving arms. I was confused. This threatened every belief of God and Jesus and Church that sustained my bitterness, resentments, and fears.

I’d like to say at that point my conversion happened but I was uncomfortably comfortable in my suffering and sin. It’s all I ever had. However, a seed had been planted. Not long after, a day came when my suffering had hit its peak and I was contemplating making the ultimate sacrifice. As I sat on the bathroom floor of a skeezy hotel room, I looked up with swollen tear soaked eyes and cried out, “I’m DONE!” and the only thought I had next was of the people that came to my door and asked to pray with me. Although I didn’t understand it, I had surrendered to God. I knew that God had sent me these people to show me his love and mercy and to affirm that he has always been there. For the first time, I saw Jesus’ outstretched hands and if I truly wanted out of this hell on earth all I had to do was take his hand.

There are no words to explain the feelings I felt and the blessing bestowed upon me. That burning hole in my soul was filled with the love of God. Jesus became my light to guide me out of the darkness. I have 52 days sober (70 at the time I typing this) when I couldn’t draw a sober breath for over 10 years. I know a new freedom and a new happiness that I never thought possible. I am so grateful for the love and grace of God.

So when I ask myself, Do I understand the meaning of all this, my answer is YES! I believe that God gave his only son to die on the cross so that the only way to salvation is through him. No amount of suffering I endured surmounts to the suffering Jesus endured for me. Not only do I wholeheartedly believe this but I commit myself to grow as a Christian and live by the gospel so I can be an instrument of the TRUTH, as those people were for me.

(Since the time of this testimony this lady had had many up and downs but her testimony remains true)

I grew up in New Orleans Louisiana “Murder Capital of the World” My Mom was a smack junky and a prostitute. When I was 6 years old one of my mom’s boyfriends murdered my older sister and put me in the hospital with a broken arm and shoulder. So the state took us away. And it just got worse.

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My first girlfriend got murdered when I was 13 [raped] and stabbed 87 times. Then shortly after that my best friend dies in a carjacking when I was 16 I tasted his brains. I got shot 2 times but I lived. One year after that another one of my friends died in my arms, victim of a drive by. OH! When I was 14 I caught a murder charge and got dropped to involuntary man slaughter. The guy tried to kill me, but I got the gun from him and it went off. Then when I was 18 I went to Feds for 120 months for selling drugs, which I was sentenced to 140 years but my lawyers had my sentence commuted. I got out the Feds and not even a year later I was back in the business. I had some short term stays in jail after that, but got smarter so I thought. Now I’m in jail for fleeing and alluding, possession with intent, possession, possession, resist arrest so on and so on.

But this is the most important part when I ran from the police in my car I got out and ran on foot. I hit a tree going about 110 mph but I had a new Challenger and that car is really safe. All the air bags came open and saved me and my 2 passengers live. But I jumped out and ran and got away so I thought. But the police almost found me I heard the police talking to each other how they were going to shoot me in the leg first then shoot me in the head. So I prayed for the first time in my life then I felt chills all over my body, but the police shined the light on me and did not see me. But the chase continued the next day I was walking down the road and a sheriff saw me because they had me on the news. And they called and told the police where I was. But I ran again, I will not get into details about that but let’s say that I felt like Paul, except that Jesus did not make me blind for 3 days, I was blind my entire life and Jesus helped me see again. So when I was about to run again something inside me said surrender, so I did and was placed in cuffs. That was May 3rd, 2019. I never had a Bible before that day. But someone gave me a brand new Bible and I gave my life to our LORD JESUS CHRIST in a cell by myself and I confessed my sins and asked for repentance and I have been doing the LORD’S work since. I did back slide once. That’s because I let the devil influence me to do so.

The so called Christian brothers that were around me were not what they proclaimed to be.

The Power of Prayer Mar 11:23-26
The Changed Man John 3:19-21
Let not your heart be troubled John 14:1, 21, 24-25, 15:3
Ask and it shall be given Mat. 6:7-11

Those are scripture that just came to my heart. But back to the story. So I put my hands on one of them and hurt him pretty bad. But I did apologize to him for hurting him and told him why I did it. Now he has got it together. But I was wrong for trying to do GOD’S work he does his work in his divine time. GOD don’t need my help, he’s got it. But I did learn from that, the words says, James 1:8 but James 1:5 tells us how to handle that. So I just depart from brothers like that now. Jesus is helping me deal with kindness. Like James 3:17-18 says. I’m getting really good with the Bible and knowing where to find verses. But I want to be the Bible because people don’t have much time to read anymore and if they see the change Jesus has brought in this wretched vessel of me. It can help change their ways. Learn from my mistakes. There’s so much I can do for the LORD I want to help ex-gang members with covering up their tattoos (gang related) with something they will love. I am a great artist. Jesus maybe gave me that skill for that and I can put beautiful pieces of art over the numbers their obducter placed on them and that’s just some.

(This is from an inmate pen pal)

Before I came to prison I used to sell dope most of my life. My girlfriends always did the cleaning and cooking and I would bring home “the bacon,”

When I heard that there was no AC in the pen, my first thought was, “I’m riding with Jesus He will provide me with a good AC job and when I got to holiday unit I was a SSI cleaning toilets. Every day I dreaded getting up and going to work. It was horrible! I got saved in the county jail and was a babe in Christ a couple of years later when I got to that transfer facility.

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This is my story;
It’s sad, but true.
The devil took hold of me
As he has also done to some of you.

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I was a good person . . .
A good daughter, sister, soldier, and mother.
I became a bad one,
Not mindful of any other.

Crack entered my life
And slowly took over,
Causing so much stife,
Keeping me high and not sober.

Crack took my worldly possessions . . .
My house, my cars, my money.
It became my obsession . . .
My food, my drink, my honey.

Crack became my boss;
It created a liar, a cheat, a thief.
It led me to lose sight of the cross,
It became my life’s chief.

I neglected my responsibilities . . .
My family, my job, my faith, my son.
I gave up control of all of these,
All for a little “fun”.

I gave it parts of myself
That made me feel dirty and cheap.
I put all that on a shelf,
Retreated inside myself . . . in the dank, dark deep.

I cried out in despair,
To the One who’s always there.
He heard my desperate prayer,
And brought me back into His care.

He brought me back from the big, black hole,
That had become my existence.
He gave me back my soul;
I went the distance.

I clawed my way up,
From the pits of hell.
With His help,
I thought I was well.

Rehab and imprisonment
Had been my wake-up call.
I thanked Him every day,
I thought I had done it all.

However, Satan is a crafty adversary.
He claimed me again,
Even though I was wary.
He led me downhill . . . again . . . into the pit of sin.

Not once, but twice more
The devil oppressed my soul.
Each time, I cried out . . . God show me a door!
Help me find myself . . . make me whole.

I had shattered . . . like glass . . .into a million pieces.
I hated myself . . . I felt dirty . . . ashamed.
My life He re-framed.

How did He do that, you ask?
Good question.
Again, He took me to task.
He locked me down; held me captive, again!

He rescued me from my bad choices, from my
despair.
He showed me the way back.
Through His Word . . . His divine care.
He taught me to counter-attack!

The devil is still there.
His representative, Crack, too . . .
However, I can now show him the door . . .
I’m covered in the blood of Jesus.

I’ve found my way home;
God showed me the way.
I’m His again, now,
Under His sway.

God’s love for me is ever constant;
It has been there all the time.
I lost touch with Him for an instant,
But He said you’re still mine.

I was just waiting for you
to wake up,
And invite Me back in,
God said.

I never left your side;
When you could not carry yourself,
I carried your crack-riddled hide.
Through ME, you regained your self-pride.

I listened . . . to those He sent to witness.
I am now being true . . . to the Holy Spirit, who
lives within me.
I listened . . . I heard His words,
And asked His forgiveness.

It’s been a long journey
From there to here.
But now I’m well on my way
To happiness and success.

I’ve discovered God’s purpose for my life.
I’ve cut Satan out . . . like a cancer.
I’ve given Satan the knife.
God is the answer.

In God I’ll trust
To lead me through life’s way.
If I’d done that all along,
I might be in a different place today.

So . . . That was my story.
It’s still sad and it’s still true.
But what God did for me,
He can also do for you.

(This lady after years of service to the Lord is now a ministry volunteer for the pen pal ministry and shares her testimony with inmates she writes to.)