Forgiveness

Testimony of a former Soviet prisoner: One time I was put in prison in Siberia. I was taken to a cell in the middle of the night. There were about 20 prisoners already there. None of them were sleeping, even though it was after midnight. They were all upset about something.

When the door was locked behind me, immediately they surrounded me and their first question was, "How many men did you kill?"

I said, "Well, I didn't kill anyone. I am a Christian."

They said, "You are lying. In this cell there are only murderers. Everyone here has killed at least three men. Some of us have killed four or five. So prove you are a Christian. Let us see your Bible."

You can't have a Bible in a Soviet prison. It would be confiscated. But hidden away in my things I had a miniature Gospel of Mark that I used to read secretly. I showed it to the prisoners and immediately they said, "Let us read it." So I did.

The next morning I awoke late, and I found that none of the other prisoners had been sleeping. They were all sitting in a circle, and one was reading the Gospel of Mark aloud. They had gotten to the last chapter. They were having a kind of Bible study-trying to discuss what it all meant. Those men had never heard the gospel before, had never read a portion of God's Word. But when I awoke, their first questions showed me that they understood what the gospel meant.

Their first question was this, "Can God forgive us?" That meant that they understood the meaning of the gospel, what salvation is. I explained that yes, God can forgive you. Jesus Christ forgave the thief on the cross next to Him.

I spent a week in that cell, and we talked a lot about God, but then I was to be transported to another prison. They wanted me to give them my Gospel of Mark. I remember one of them said, "Your God will send you many more Bibles, many more New Testaments. We'll never have another portion of God's Word in this prison." That Gospel was very precious to me, but I gave it to those men. And it is still there with them.