Sharma's Dilemma...

I first met Sharma several months ago. He was arrested for being involved in the illegal trafficking of other Indians from Belgium to England. He grew up in a Hindu family, but had become a ‘pan-believer’, or in other words, “Anyone, from any religion, who believes in God will be accepted into heaven.” He would tell me how he had the Catholic priest to come, the Muslim Imam, and the (atheist) Moral Counselor, and that all were just fine, along with the Christian Chaplain. He said, “I meditate to Buddha, I do yoga to meditate here on my bed. I read the Koran; I read the Bible and pray to Jesus.”

Now, I have learned from experience how to deal with this type of belief, to carefully, yet directly, expose this error. I did it as carefully and clearly as possible. I asked Sharma to think about it, I prayed for him, and told him I’d come back next week to talk with him more about it. He agreed, and asked me to procure for him a Punjabi Bible (in his mother tongue). I told him, I would try to find one.

The next week, I returned and found him once again to be very friendly. I told him I’d tried to find a Bible for him, but there was none in stock, and that I had ordered one for him from the Bible Society. I asked him about his thinking and belief in other religions, and was assured that he understood that he needed to accept Christ Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. As far as I could see, he was serious. We then prayed on our knees to make the sin question for Sharma answered by the Blood of Christ Jesus. But, only God knows the true state of the heart of a man.

It was a month later that the Punjabi Bible finally arrived. With joy, I took it to Sharma’s cell. I have never seen anyone so happy to receive a Bible before! He thanked me, he shook my hand, he kissed the Bible cover over and over; He looked up to Heaven and said, “Thank you, O God, for giving me this Bible in my own language and Pastor Ken who got it for me.”

(By the way, this Bible and the many others that I am able to give to prisoners are provided by Light for the Lost funds for evangelizing the world for Christ.) We talked and prayed some more before I left him to enjoy reading God’s Word in his own language.

A couple of weeks passed before I was able to visit Sharma again. I came into his cell and could see that he was deeply troubled. He sat down on his bed and soon opened his heart as to what the problem was. He said, “I don’t know what to do. I am so deeply troubled. I have prayed to Buddha, meditated, I’ve read the Bible and prayed to Christ. But I’m still troubled, I have such a dilemma.” I was very disappointed to hear that he really didn’t understand before, that he should stop praying to Buddha, Allah, meditating the Hindu gods, etc. But when he told me just what his “dilemma” was all about, I had hope because I knew that God was trying to get through to him.

This is what was troubling Sharma: He had a girl friend and he loved her very much. He had a ‘dream’ or a premonition that during his time in prison, she was being unfaithful to him and going out with other men. It was so real to him, though he had no proof, that during a visit with her, he accused her of being unfaithful to him. She responded saying that she only loves him and that she is being faithful, and that he could have no proof of what he is saying.

With sweat forming on his brow, Sharma said to me, “Pastor Ken, I don’t know what to do! Can you help me?” I said, “Yes, I can help you, Sharma.” While he was telling me his story, the Lord spoke to me to tell him that his feelings toward his girl friend were God’s way of speaking to him about his praying to many gods.

I said, “Sharma, listen carefully; God wants you to know that He loves you very much, even more than you love your girl friend. There is only one true God and He has revealed Himself to man in Jesus Christ who died for you on the Cross of Calvary. A few weeks ago, you made a decision to accept Him into your life as Lord and Savior; Now, He is very jealous about you and wants you to follow Him and Him alone. Your praying and meditating other gods is unacceptable to Him, and He has given you these feelings about your girl friend to make you know how much He wants you to stop and worship Him alone. You have no proof that your girl friend is unfaithful to you, but God knows everything about you. He knows that you pray to other gods and is jealous over you and wants you to stop.”

Sharma looked at me very seriously and said, “Oh, is that right?” I said, “Yes, that’s right. You have no proof that your girl friend is unfaithful to you; and your feelings only reflect to you the feelings of your Heavenly Father who wants you to be His and His alone. Please pray to Him only, and stop looking to Buddha, Mohamed, Krishna, the Virgin Mary, or any other of man’s replacements for the one and only true God, revealed to man in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Sharma nodded his head, showing his understanding of what I said. Hopefully it would only be a matter of time before he makes the decision to cut out all the ‘false gods’ from his life.

A few weeks went by until it was my turn to hold the chapel service again. Sharma came to the service. The message was on “The Uniqueness of Christ” from John 14:6 and Acts 4:12. After the service, Sharma came forward and asked for help. I am excited to return to St. Gilles this week to have a personal talk once again with him in his cell to see if he has made his decision to turn to Christ alone for the help he needs. Please pray for him and for me as I go to reach the lost on behalf of Christ who died for us all.
-----------
I’m thankful to be able to add here that Sharma did make a personal decision to ask Jesus Christ into his life as Lord & Savior. The last that I heard, Sharma was transferred to another prison (Leuven, Belgium) where he has been attending the chapel regularly and continues to follow the Lord. Sincere thanks for praying for him. Ken Barickman

Wolves in His Cell

Muslim Wolves - Now and then, I am very touched by the dangerous element that every Christian prisoner encounters when put in a cell with other prisoners. The experience of being cut off from friends, family, and loved ones is already traumatizing; but, when put in the same cell with dangerous or even disrespectful co-prisoners, the negative situation is doubled.

Recently, as I entered the cell of Bayambudila, I sensed the tension there to be very high. Normally, there should only be two to a cell in the Forest Prison. However, over the past few months, there has been an over-population to the point that there are now three to a cell in over half the cells there. Bayambudila, a Christian young man from Africa, was 'in' for a minor offence. His family had come to visit him and gave him a Bible to have in his cell. When I came into the cell, he was sitting in a chair with his back to me. He was clutching tightly to his Bible. His two cellmates, both Muslim, had been unrelentingly trying to persuade him to give up his faith in the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ.

I was able to share scriptures with him before I prayed with him. Also, I was able to give him some other Christian literature and a book to read. The two Muslim cellmates backed off when they saw that I was there to support him in prayer. I was also able to give Bayambudila a Christian magazine called "Victory" to help keep him strong in the faith. The Muslim wolves would love to destroy his faith in Christ, but through prayer, I believe the Lord to keep him safe in His arms.

And, indeed, the Lord has been faithful to keep his faith and testimony for Christ strong. Bayambudila was transferred to the St. Gilles prison where I was able to visit him. He told me that “nothing will be able to separate me from my faith in Jesus Christ!”, Romans 8:38,39. Praise God, He is able to keep that which we have committed to Him through our belief in the Holy Scriptures, II Timothy 1:12 “.For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Please remember to pray for him. Thank you.
God bless you, Ken

Lionel K.

Lionel K. – An Educated Man Who Becomes Wise in the Things of God

Please pray for a young man named Lionel K who recently met the Lord in his cell at the Forest Prison. Having graduated from college in Atlanta with honors, Lionel returned to his native Liberia, W. Africa hoping to be a successful businessman. The revolution and civil war broke out not long after his return. Having to flee for his life with his family because he was closely associated with the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, he made his new home in Abidjan, Iv. Coast. Because of the pressure upon him to feed and house his extended family of 20 people, Lionel began to deal in one of the illegal aspects of the business world: laundering money for the underworld. One of his connections was in Brussels. Here he came and was arrested and put in prison. Things could not have been worse for Lionel, except for a Christian praying mother and father who loved their son, though they knew he was in trouble.
I have had the privilege to visit with Lionel in his cell once a week over the past three months. He had a lot of questions & lots of doubts; but being confronted with the truth that outside of a personal relationship with the Lord by faith in His name, he was headed for judgment and condemnation be¬fore a Holy God, he realized it was time for him to obey God's Word and ask Jesus Christ to be the Savior and Lord of his life. This he did three weeks after arriving at the prison, praise the Lord! He has been praying, reading the Bible, witnessing, and doing many good ICI Bible Courses since then. He is always present in the chapel services and prays sincerely that he will hold strong to the faith once he is released. Please lift up Lionel to the Lord in prayer that surely God's Grace will be sufficient for him.

Old Timer’s Day in Forest Prison

Two very well known figures from the crime-world of 20-30 years ago have found themselves once again in the Forest Prison. Old question marks remained on their files, and they were “by chance” returned for questioning. But God turned these return visits to the Forest Prison for these two former gangsters into glory as each, now in their sixties, took time to reflect on life’s true meaning after the visit of the Protestant/Evangelical chaplain.

Leon had spent 10 ½ years in prison and was well know in the grand-theft crime world. He recounted to me that he had it all: money, luxury cars, vacation resorts, women, villas, but an ever-present emptiness in his soul. He did his work in crime as his job. Professionally speaking, he did his job well; but it wasn’t until he was in his sixties that he slowed down enough to fall in love with a fine woman. This changed his whole way of thinking: this love was what he had been hoping for all his life, but he had never taken enough time to experience the benefits of closeness to another human. I keyed in on this thought and mentioned to him that human love is a very wonderful experience, but that it is only temporal. I mentioned to him, “Human love is satisfying for a period of life here on earth, but experiencing the love of God is eternal. You can have an experience of the love of God that surpasses that of human love, and God’s love will last for eternity.” I then asked him if he wanted that kind of experience. He said that he had read the Christian materials that I had left with him the week before, but that he thought it was “too good to be true”. “I really don’t have faith to receive all of that.” I then explained to him how through believing the Good News of Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection, that faith would arise in his heart by simple belief that God’s Word is true. He said, “I do believe that.” I said then that he could turn his belief into faith through acting on his belief by praying to receive Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. After praying the sinner’s prayer of repentance together, Leon rejoiced in knowing that his sins were forgiven and that he had made his first steps in coming to know the greatest love of all, the love of God for a sinner willing to confess and repent of his sins.

Léopold, another Belgian man, simply took another copy of the same Christian materials that Leon had, read them, filled out the Bible studies, prayed the sinners prayer of repentance, filled his name in on the decision card and reported to me when I came into his cell, “Now I know the truth, and I am converted.” I prayed personally with him also, and he now has a radiant smile on his face. He has already begun another Bible course and knows that what he has is of much more value than all the booty of his former life in burglary and drugs.
Ken Barickman

Ghislain Comes to Christ

How God Led Ghislain to Salvation…

Three boys going out for a walk around town. Nothing so unusual. Laughing and joking, getting some time together with good buddies. But what two of the friends didn’t know was that the other friend had another friend who had a bad habit of stealing cars and even doing ‘car-jacking’. That is stopping a car at a stop light, or fooling the driver to stop and pick up the person, and then that person forcing the driver and car to go somewhere where they rob and usually injure the driver. The bad friend had done just that and was forcing the driver to ‘joy ride’ around Brussels, Belgium.

As the car made a turn in the car-jacker’s neighborhood, he saw his friend and his two companions. He made the driver to stop the car and let his three friends in without telling them what had really happened. As they drove around, still with the owner in the car, now as a passenger, afraid to say anything for fear of harm, the gas gauge read near empty. They stopped at a gas station and agreed to split the cost for about $10 worth of gas, enough to get around town for another hour or so.

Ghislain volunteered, still not knowing that he was riding around in a ‘car-jacked’ auto, to go into the gas station and pay with the money that he had received from the others. While inside waiting to pay, he saw a police van pull into the station. The car-jacker ‘friend’ upon seeing the police arrive, took off running into the night and was not caught. The three unsuspecting buddies, were taken into custody. Two of them were born again Christians attending the New Jerusalem African church. Ghislain had been attending for a few weeks, but had not yet made a decision for Christ. He was wondering what it was all about, but hadn't yet learned enough about the differences between his parents’ religion, Roman Catholicism, and the New Jerusalem church’s beliefs.

In Belgium, suspects in a crime are considered guilty until proven innocent, so Ghislain and his friends were put behind bars in the same prison where murderers and hardened thieves are incarcerated. Ghislain was shaken to his very soul by this experience. When I came into Ghislain’s cell, I sensed that Ghislain was a very sensitive young man who needed and wanted to talk about life’s real meaning. I felt urged by the Holy Spirit to pass quickly on to eternal matters and the plan of God of salvation. Ghislain sat down next to me and for the next fifteen minutes, we searched in the Bible for the truths that set the prisoner free. I asked Ghislain if he would be ready to ask Jesus Christ into his life as Lord and Savior, confessing his sins and asking the Lord for the Holy Spirit to come into his heart. He replied immediately that that is what he wanted.

As we ended our prayer, the door opened and the guard announced that it was time for Ghislain go outside for his daily hour walk in the enclosed prison courtyard with the others in his wing. Just in the right moment, the Lord made the way and the door opened for salvation as well.

Some prisoners have looked at me when I come into their cell and say, “I know God has made it happen so that I have ended up in this prison, now I want to hear what He has to say to me.” God can use any method He desires to bring a young man into the place where he can hear God’s Word and be saved, I just want to be there and be ready with the Good News of Jesus to offer to them. It is just in that way that God has chosen for His Salvation to be received into a life, just like Ghislain did that day.
by Ken Barickman, Brussels Prison Ministry

Ali Comes To Christ -

(Feb. '09) Yesterday, Ali, a quite violent young man originally from Palestine (Gaza), Italy, & Germany, gave his heart to Jesus. I first met him by error (I went to cell 1025 instead of 1035) when intending to go visit a Christian. When I opened the door, I realized I was at the wrong door (but this was a divine appointment arranged by the Lord!). There must have been an angel behind me who just pushed me on in, because, as soon as I was inside, Ali just broke down like a boy and told me all his hurts & problems. He had never heard about salvation in Jesus before! What a privilege it was to give him his very first Bible (in Arabic). We spoke in German because he didn't speak any English or French, and I don't speak any Italian or Arabic! That was over a month ago.

Then, a few days ago, when at the Forest prison, I remembered him and decided to see if the miracle took place... Sure enough, when I went into his cell, he was overflowing with praise to God and almost wanted to bow down to me for having come to help him come to know the truth of the Bible. He said he had read it through and was convinced that it was the truth for his life. So, I shared some Bible verses with him, like John 1:12 about receiving Jesus personally and Romans 10:9 about how to receive Him and be saved. He was so happy after praying to receive Jesus into his heart. He pointed to the Bible and with a big smile on his face, he said "That book is now everything to me."

You know, it wasn't easy to leave home and then first go to Africa and then here to Europe, but miracles of salvation like this make me aware that the Lord really did it and that it was worth it, going where He leads so that I can help in making the Good News known to those who have never had the opportunity to hear the message of Jesus Christ and accept Him into their lives. Thanks very much & Please remember to pray for Ali.

Ali's Sad Experience

Some are no longer living in victory- I share this with you in sadness... Back in February of this year, Ali for the first time read the Bible and made his decision for Christ. Being from Gaza, he has an Arabic name. This means that in the Belgian prisons he is considered a Muslim and they usually put them in the same cells. As a new convert to Christianity, he was a weak believer when put into the same cell as a devout Muslim. His Muslim cell-mate convinced him that his Christian faith was corrupt and wrong. When I visited him last week, he refused that I even pray for him, stating "I am now a Muslim and will stay one until I die!". In response, I warned him saying, "I understand that is your personal choice; but remember your eternal life is in danger, and after you die, you will discover what the truth of God's Word is all about. I will pray for you." Please remember to pray that a miracle of God's intervention take place in his life.