My friend,
 
I want to take a moment away from our series on Coming Clean and speak to you from my heart.  Recently I had the honor of visiting Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.   My dear friend and mentor Manny Mills invited me.  My first impression was that I was going there to provide hope for some of the 5800+ inmates incarcerated there.  Yet, when I was given the statistics about Angola and the fact that more than 90 percent of the men will die there, I was very hesitant.  Part of the message that I share when I speak at a prison is 'what God has done for me He will do for them'.  If God set me free, He will also set them free.  And, even though that statement is true, and true freedom is spiritual not physical, how do you present that message to brothers whom, most likely, God will never set free physically?  Angola would humble me and radically change me.  Let me explain.

I was incarcerated for almost 11 years.  April 5 will be the ninth year since my release.  I have experienced church services in many prisons and in many cities across America over the last nine years.  I have walked intimately with Jesus since July 1, 1990 when I gave my life to Him.  I have stumbled and at times felt abandoned.  But I have never let go.  Last Thursday and Friday, at Angola, I met Jesus like I never have before.  I saw Him in the transparency of the countless lives of man who have been incarcerated for 15, 20, 30, and 45 years.  I saw Him clearly in a prison chaplain who adores those men.  I saw Him clearly in prison guards who, though very tough and good at their job, praised Him with a transparency
that I have never experienced.  I saw Him clearly in wardens, whom, in times past, did not love their neighbor as themselves, yet today adore these men as much as they do Christ.  And finally I saw Him clearly in the lives of the many visitors, who through Christ, became ONE (John 17) with those man.
 
My friend, most powerful of all I saw HIM like never-ever-before in a message delivered by my brother Manny: "The Joy of Loving Your Neighbor."  You see, before Manny delivered his message he got on his knees and not only washed the feet of these men, he kissed their feet.  I have never experienced Christ like this before.  Now my heart will not settle for
anything less. 

I have written scholarly articles about the Priestly Prayer of John 17, where Jesus prays that we "be one".  I have written about its theology, and I have written about its Greek grammatical structure.  But, now I have experienced it.  My friend, I never thought that Jesus' prayer would ever be answered on this earth in light of the over 750 different Protestant denominations.  Great scholars have never figured out how this prayer would ever be answered, thus avoiding its meaning.  Yet, the men who live and work at Angola have found the answer.  They are one with the Father, one with the Son, and thus, truly one with each other.
 
Mathew 25:31-46 is a text I have read many times, especially verses 41-46, where the King says:  "away with you, you cursed ones . . . I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me."  In light of verse 45, where Jesus says, "I assure you, when you refused to help the least of my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me", we often deduce that Jesus is admonishing us for not visiting prisoners.  Therefore, we run to participate in some sort of prison ministry.  I have always read this verse in this manner-until I went to Angola.  At Angola I found new meaning.  I suddenly realized that I did not go to Angola to take Jesus to the men there; I went to Angola to SEE JESUS there!  I was broken and humbled.  I was broken to the fact that I thought I was going to bless those men and tell them about my Jesus.  In exchange, their love allowed me to meet the all-sufficient Jesus that lives right there at Angola.  Jesus has truly set their souls free, even when the State of LA says their bodies will remain at Angola.

My friend, at Angola I realized something new.  At times I get upset over the rising divorce rate in our "churches".  Although many of us, and our children go to church, participate in many events, and even go on mission trips, we still divorce, commit suicide, use drugs, and are not the example to others of what a follower of Christ truly is.  My human tendency is to blame others and I fight with the desire to believe that we are not having any impact.  Yet, I know this is not true.  I believe that most churches-remember, we believers are the church-, ministers, and pastors truly believe that we are fulfilling God's calling in our lives and ministry.  We build churches and create programs to feed the congregation and attract people, who do not go to church, to come to our churches.  But we must ask ourselves why things are not different?  Why do we believers give non-believers a reason to say the things they say about Christians?  Why is there not enough evidence in the lives of most Christians to convict them of being a Christian? 
 
The answer can be found at Angola.  At Angola I realize that it is impossible for Jesus' prayers not to be answered.  At Angola I experience the answer to John 17: 21, "My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one.  Father, that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe that you sent me!"  The church of Christ at Angola does not have a denomination.  People are not to busy leading others to a denomination; instead they are leading people into the joy of being truly set free by a living Christ.  Christ has called us to be one with Him and one with the Father.  If we are truly 'one with Him', then our non-essential differences are like a rainbow; it is beauty to be shared with the world.
 
I urge every pastor to go and meet Christ at Angola to bring that Christ back to our congregations and most important to our nation.  The Jesus that lives at Angola transformed America's deadliest prison to a place of healing and love.  I thank God for Warden Cain and his amazing staff that did not sell out to our societal pressures to separate church and state.  Let us remember that just as we, the people, are the church, without we, the people, there is no state.  Therefore, in essence there can be no existence of state without the church.  Please, my friends, pray for Warden Cain and his staff, and pray that the world gets exposed to Angola and the amazing Christ who is ready to do the same in our communities. 
 
Love,
Jorge

Jorge Valdes, Ph.D.
Founder and Speaker

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