Prison Ministries

Archive for the ‘Testimonials’ Category

Testimony – Jack LaFave
May 26, 2008

This testimony, more than any other event in my life, makes me know that Jesus is alive and that I will see Him when I die. It all started when I was a teenager, about 15 years old. I was living in Sterling, MA with my parents. I had gone to the drag races at the New England Drag way in Epping, NH with the counselor I was seeing at the time.

It was a beautiful summer day in New England. The loud ‘funny cars’ roared down the drag strip, tires smoking and parachutes launched to slow them down. After watching them for some time from the stands, my counselor and I decided to go down to the pit area on the other side of the track. On the way, we stopped behind the starting line.

It was then, that the cars with jet engines were firing up and getting ready to streak down the track. I was standing to the rear of two jet cars that were thundering at the starting line. I could feel the heat from the jet engine and the vibrations shaking my heart and chest cavity. The noise was unbearable but at the same time it was very exciting and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I felt fine for the rest of the day. But, at night when I went to bed at home, as soon as my head hit the pillow, my ears began killing me. I sat back up, screaming my head off. The next thing I remember, I was at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) in Boston, being stuck and probed with needles. I hated needles to the point where, I was told, that it took seven doctors and nurses to hold me down just to draw blood when I had a spleenectomy at age 10.

Anyway, I was there at MEEI to have tubes put in both ears that had been ruptured by the jet car experience. I was given a muscle relaxant to help put me to sleep. I had an allergic reaction of some kind and my heart apparently stopped beating. I was dead.

Immediately, I woke up in the middle of the woods – in the middle of nowhere. It almost felt like I had taken a little nap and woke up somewhere behind my house. I felt thirsty and then I heard water running so I walked over to where I had heard it running. It looked like a brook or a stream, not very wide or big – like a mountain stream coming down the mountain, although it was flat. The water was crystal clear. I had never seen water so clear in my life. I could see fish swimming around, algae on the bottom – it was remarkably clear. It was a nice sunny day, warm. I got down on my knees, cupped my hands and took a couple of sips of the water. Normally, I hated drinking water and never did unless my father forced me too. But this water was unbelievably great!

I then looked up and saw an open, grassy field like you would see in the spring. It was on the other side of the brook where I had the drink. The sky was clear. I thought I would go over to the field and get me a tan. I looked around to see if there was a way to get there without getting wet. Then I noticed a walking bridge wide enough for two people. I started toward it and then got half way across when I heard somebody calling my name – ‘Jack.’ I thought it was behind me so I turned around. No one was there. I heard it again, and then I turned back around and was almost blinded by this white light on the other side of the bridge. I heard a voice saying ‘turn around and go back; it’s not your time yet’. It was like a regular voice of a man. I looked up and said ‘What do you mean? Who are you? Where am I? What’s going on? What are you talking about?’

At that point, He came out of the white light so I could see his figure. When I saw him, I still wasn’t sure who it was. He held up his hand as if to say ‘stop’ and that’s when I realized who I was talking to. At that time, I was able to see the hole in his hand going straight through, with light coming through it. It was about the size of a round railroad stake. I did not see his facial features but I saw his beard, mustache and long white hair. He had on a white robe, all of one piece, like a dress you would have to slip into. He had a rope belt, tied and hanging down and I could see his toes and part of the sandals under the bottom of his robe. I knew then that it was Jesus or God that I was talking to. I couldn’t believe He would actually stop and talk to someone like me, a nobody, or want me to stop and go back.

Knowing, then, who He was, I did what He said! I turned around on the bridge and started back. As soon as my feet hit the dirt on the side of the bridge where I had started from, I woke up in the recovery room. The experience stuck with me very clearly but I never told anyone for years, not being sure if I were just dreaming or if I had really been with the Lord. I know now that it was real and that when he said that it was not my time yet, it meant that there would be another time in the future when I would again be with him. I’m looking forward to that day!

Jack LaFave

TRAPPED BY SEXUAL LUST

If you’re a believer in Christ and you keep hiding your sin … especially if it is sexual sin … you may have to learn the hard way that there are painful consequences to pay. I speak from experience, in hopes of being used of God to keep others from ending up in prison where I am now.

I gave my heart to the Lord when I was eight years old. We had an evangelist named Cowboy Bill during a Vacation Bible School at the old Calvary Baptist Church. After one of his lessons he asked if anyone wanted to know the Lord. I did, because I wanted to make sure that I would go to heaven when I died. They had me go with a leader one on one, where she led me through the sinner’s prayer where I confessed my sins and asked Jesus into my heart. I felt peace, knowing that if I were to die, I knew I would go to heaven and not hell.

My parents were not Christians but they allowed us kids to go to church. I am the youngest of four children so I was the last to enjoy going to church and learning about Christ. Over the years I was able to encourage my parents to go to church, where they eventually came to know Christ as well. They even came to see me get baptized when I was 15 years old. My mom wanted me to be old enough so I could understand the significance of being baptized.

Throughout my junior and senior high school years I did my best in learning the Bible and understanding the Lord. I graduated from the AWANA club that I was in at church. My parents were very proud to see me learn so many verses from the Bible.

Throughout my high school years however, I became very rebellious. My grades suffered and I just barely graduated.

The one thing I was good at growing up was having a gift to listen. I believe that God had gifted me with a listening ear. So my friends knew they could come to me if they ever needed someone to talk to, but even with those gifts I was not a strong Christian.

After I graduated from high school I moved to Texas for a year and a half. But things were even harder there. I lost my uncle and my grandfather from my dad’s side.

After seeing how distant they were with each other before their deaths, I swore that I would not let that happen to me and my dad, so I decided to move back home to be close to my parents. When I got back, I quickly found a job and went back to church. However … I was playing secretly with sexual sin, and God allowed me to get trapped by it, which landed me in jail.

For eight – nine years, my greatest weakness was sexual lust. I had gotten into pornography really bad and that led me into cheating and ruining two marriages that actually had a good chance of being happy and successful. It also ruined a great relationship with my high school sweetheart, so you can see the consequences of sin if you don’t surrender it completely to God. All the counseling in the world doesn’t mean a thing unless you are truly willing to give your heart completely to God. It’s all or nothing when it comes to God to be set totally free from sin. Like He says in His Word, “I am a jealous God.” (Deut. 5:9). In my life, my “idol” that I “worshiped” or paid more attention to was pornography than God. Many days and nights I prayed for the strength to overcome my addiction but my spiritual walk with the Lord was so weak that I didn’t have enough discipline to make it happen.

On the outside, I came across as a loving dad and husband. On the inside, there was a sin that had ahold of me, and behind closed doors I had this obsession that eventually would make me lose just about everything.

Thank God, at least I still have my immediate family and some friends from my home church. I caught my case in 2002 but it happened two years prior. I won’t go into details except that I am now taking my earthly punishment. I’ve been locked down for 2½ years now and I have had a LOT of time to reflect on my past sins and to see how by the grace of God His love has brought me thus far. Had God not allowed my sin to be exposed, only He knows how many more lives I may have hurt if I had been allowed to stay on the destructive path I was on.

Sexual lust, like all lust, is simply a heightened state of selfishness. Sexual lust will almost always look for greater thrills than constant, incessant masturbation. The only thing that holds it back is a guilty conscience before God, and getting caught and punished. Once others are contaminated by your sexual lust, it begins to slowly keep spreading like a wildfire out of control, scorching everything in its path.

I can honestly say that for the first time in a very long time, that my heart and mind is the clearest it’s ever been, thanks to God. I am not perfect, and I won’t be until I get to heaven above. Satan does and will attack me, even here in prison, but I know that in Christ I am free. He paid the ultimate penalty for my sins way before I ever knew, but I can proudly say that I am His child and He watches over me. There are days when I have a rough time, but that’s when I turn to God and trust in Him more than I have before. As I read my Bible everyday and spend time with God in prayer, my spiritual strength grows more and more. By the time God lets me go home from prison I will be more than ready to be in God’s army. I will also be well equipped to live the life that I was supposed to have had before.

I want to encourage you, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to stay strong and keep in the Word because in the worst of times that is where you will get the encouragement and strength to turn to God. He is always there but it is up to YOU to ask Him for help, then to accept His help.

I also want to warn anyone reading this that if you are a Christian and you are struggling with sexual lust of any kind, and you refuse to say no to it, or refuse to seek Godly help to stop your addiction, you are playing with fire. Lust of any kind is the bait of Satan. Lust for fame – lust for power – lust for money – lust for drugs and alcohol – lust for unhealthy food – lust for sexual gratification that is usually fueled by pornography … Satan wants to entice you into constantly gratifying your lust. Why? Because he knows that sooner or later, God allows judgment to come upon those who practice on-going sin. Judgment always involves pain in one degree or another, and Satan is into inflicting as much pain as he can upon Christians.

Though many have given their heart to Christ while in prison, very few of those same people would recommend others purposely commit crimes to get sent to prison just so they can find Christ too. Give yourself completely to Christ now so judgment doesn’t come knocking at your door, and that way chances are very good you’ll never have to go to prison. Trust me, it’s not the greatest place to be.

Thank you for reading my testimony, and may God bless you greatly!

Twenty-six years ago I entered the MA prison system as a young man of 20. A “good kid” from the

I can’t give you a cops-and-robbers story—no drama here, just shame and regret. Stuffing my hurt, it became toxic, and then leaked out onto those who didn’t deserve it. Misery, my daily companion, reminded me I could never undo the damage I had done… Head spinning, weak in my knees I stood dazed, to heed the verdict of guilty and pronouncement of life imprisonment. Stuck in some bad dream, I hoped desperately to wake up somewhere else, grateful it was all some awful mistake. Instead, I awoke in a prison cell, to live out the nightmare I had created, for many years to come.Like some Greek tragedy, the wretched story could of ended there. God had other plans. He met me in that darkest hour, to begin a work that would change everything forward—first, me. Over 18 years later I emerged from the prison, broken and changed. No longer the hurting, angry and naive kid who entered once. Today I embody a message for my brothers and sisters still in chains! The enemy knows this. He has tried to discourage and silence me, and he will you too. Instead, this has made me stronger and more determined. I recall the poetic and powerful words, etched at the city’s entrance of

Hear me brothers and sisters: Today I am a soldier of the Cross. When the Enemy comes banging and clanging with his lies of depression, hopelessness and accusation, promptly refer him to the One Who is greater than every lie, deception and stronghold from the pit of the hell. For years I was told: “IT’S OVER! IT’S TOO LATE! GIVE UP…!” Really? God’s apostle, Paul, says otherwise. “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. Receive him as my own heart” (Philemon 1:11)Behold the life of the one who writes these words today. Allow me to boast in my King. But, look past all the hard-earned college degrees since, rather, consider the miracle of a life once crushed—a huddled mass, prostrated on a cold cell floor—pathetic, wretched, longing for death… “Show us a sign!” they demanded of Jesus. Read this one: Blood-bought, ransomed, redeemed, restored, and empowered; snatched from the powers of darkness, equipped, educated and sanctioned for the Kingdom of light. A life forever changed. Glory be to God!!We have been asking, “What Would Jesus Do…?” He has already done it! Now He asks, “What Will My People Do?” Awaken Church! Let us rise up and live out this all-powerful, transformational life of faith, that can never be silenced or confined to the walls of some building. Never apologize for being forever set free! No demon on earth nor power from hell will prevail against a blood bought, Bible believing, Holy Ghost sanctified, and yielded child of the resurrected, living Christ. Hallelujah!

Be steadfast, and encouraged. 1 Corinthians 15:58. Never give up! Your reward waits in Heaven. I’ll see you there.

His Blessings to you, brother Mark P. Collett