Lessons from Prison 5

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. (John 8:34)

I am revisiting my imprisonment to give a very pertinent lesson I learnt. And it is about sin as a master and the kind of imprisonment it produces.

I am sure you have heard of people who are waiting to eat life to the full before getting saved. From their side it looks reasonable. As if getting saved is losing out on life, especially fun.

I don’t know how many of you have had some time to talk with people who delayed salvation to have fun and had it for a long time. What are they now saying?

Have you ever heard anyone exulting over the great times they had had having fun twenty years into it?

As a minister, I get to listen to people a lot. And the only thing I have consistently heard is regret, I wish I had known, and such things.

I have never heard a fulfilled smoker, or drunkard, or sex addict.

They are all captives crying for a way out.

You see, temptation to sin is like bait to a fish. It tantalizes and attracts and magnetically draws. It implores and invites. It appears as if losing that opportunity is like losing on life itself.

But wait until you take that bite, even if just to know how it tastes. That is when you will discover than it was hiding a hook that you have no way of getting rid of. And the hook had a line being held by somebody stronger than you could never even imagine.

That will be the end of your choices.

The worst part of slavery to sin however is the deception that you are still in charge. And it is because the master of the prison is the father of lies. You will therefore start living for that small spurt of ‘pleasure’ in days of regret. And the longer you are in prison the shorter that spurt lasts. It then becomes a meaningless pursuit.

Then one discovers they are completely powerless against those they used to think were pleasures.

That sexual freedom and adventure they sought becomes a sex prison that they can’t escape from. That small puff becomes an expensive habit that messes your whole life even as it destroys it. That swig you took at a party becomes a living hell as it makes you unable to live. That lie you told to get you out of a tight spot becomes a pain in your whole life as it breaks relationships when you most need them.

Sadly, the prison of sin combines several vices. This means that there are many chains holding someone to prison. And one realizes they are in prison when they have been there for a long time for most.

Remember legion in Mark 5? Why was he crying and cutting himself yet he was so strong even for steel chains? Why couldn’t he look for employment lifting or pulling heavy loads?

He was a prisoner. He was crying for help and probably cutting himself looking to end it all in death.

No wonder the same demons that made him so strong were unable to block him from running to Christ. He had seen the only One who had power to break him out of that captivity.

Sin is a tyrant. A tyrant whose torture methods increase in intensity the more submitted one becomes to him. And it eventually destroys and kills all its servants shamefully.

But I want us to look at the desperation that prisoner of sin becomes. Whereas someone went to sin voluntarily, many times by invitation and pleas and much advertising, once they join in there is no mercy at all, just like a fish after being caught.

That is why they become very bitter. Though they may pretend to be having fun, as their master still uses them to trap others, they are as delicate as blown balloons near a pin.

You walk along a street with harlots and hear them talking and looking as carefree as the wind. But it takes an innocent remark of a passerby or a potential client and you can almost see the bitterness written on their faces. Or get to a group of buddies celebrating their last drinking party and you directly ask them to describe their fun and they most likely will insult you from pain in their hearts.

It is the novices who seem to truly have the fun they are looking for because they do not as yet realize that they are getting deeper and deeper into prison. Regret sinks in when someone realizes that they are captives with no way of getting out of that ‘fun’ however hard they tried.

And we are not only talking about illegitimate fun. Have you noticed that a pastor who starts using his congregation to access this or the other also becomes addicted to the same? It is only that he graduates from a phone to a car, a better car or house or holiday abroad in his pursuit. What may have started as the concern of his parishioners that he has good things becomes a compulsion, a prison. No wonder you see pastors who change church constitutions so that they do not retire because they really are prisoners.

But my short stay in prison taught me something else. There are different kinds of prisoners.

Did you know that there are prisoners who are responsible for other prisoners? Did you know there are prisoners who do not wear the boring prison uniform? Did you know that there are prisoners who live very comfortably? Did you know that there are prisoners who supervise others doing corporal work? Did you know that there are prisoners who even smoke with the wardens?

There are privileged prisoners. There are very trusted prisoners. There are prisoners who are the envy of other prisoners.

Did you know that this is the way the devil operates? There are adulterers who are shielded from the shame their lifestyle would normally attract. There are thieves who always seem to get away with it. There are murderers who seem to have more honor than pastors. There are conmen who occupy positions of power and influence.

Yet do you know one thing they have with those privileged prisoners? They are still captives. They are still in prison. The devil still holds the key to their freedom and will never surrender it.

In my recent post ‘The Reward of Sin’, I looked at a few people who seemed to get away with sin for so long. Until they either thought of leaving it or became useless to the devil’s purposes as they had become too old or were retiring. That is when they will reap completely what they had been sowing as they were making their imprisonment irrelevant.

A privileged prisoner is still in prison. An adulterer is still a fool whether they are respectable members of society or not. You see, you do not become a sinner because you have been caught. On the contrary, there is more hope when you are caught because then you can easily see the error of your ways and repent.

As long as David was ‘innocent’ his bones were waxing old as he was in the prison of sin. Being confronted was the door he required to access healing and of course get out of prison.

No wonder the devil conceals some sins to keep his prisoners enjoying the privileges of prison life. He then conceals the sin to make us think we are having the best of both worlds, especially as believers.

He may choose to conceal our sin beyond death to ensure we give him a godless posterity that is feeding on his evil harvests. You see, it is very difficult to stand for righteousness when you are feeding from the harvest of wickedness.

Let me repeat; sin is like a valve. I can only open it as I go in. Once inside, I can never be able to open or get back through it. Someone outside is the only one who can let me out. But I will be deceived when I think there is room to play around inside until I want to get out. And my desperate efforts will only exhaust me as well as add frustration to my pursuit.

I talk to many people battling captivity to sin who are trying to improve their lot before coming to Christ. Sadly many die trying because they are pushing through that valve on the wrong side.

But a few realize the futility of their effort and resort to the only One who can rescue them from that captivity, Jesus Christ. But someone must have realized the utter hopelessness of their effort at freeing themselves from their captivity to sin. Yet many seem to enjoy the privileged life in prison and forget that they are still captives.

Some preachers should look for their old sermons to realize the kind of prison they got in. I have pastor friends whose former sermons were fire to sin. Some preached powerfully against pastors who had been taken prisoners, sermons which were speaking prophetically to them as they have become what they were preaching against.

When you find yourself glorying in your past conquests in your sermons and testimonies, it might be a sign that you are in prison and remembering your former lives in freedom. God stopped manifesting Himself in their lives that they must look at their past when they talk about Him. The spontaneity of revelation stopped defining their preaching so much that they have rigid proclamations as if God speaks only once a year to give the direction of the preaching.

This might be an indication that the minister is in prison, only that he is a privileged prisoner, enjoying the best the manager of the prison can afford. And the manager is not scared of the crowds because the most part are prisoners as their pastor. In fact he manages to show the prisoner pastor that his enemies are those outside prison, even blocking them at all cost because he knows that there is a seed of God in them and coming too close to those outside prison will be able to realize that he can be set free from captivity as he sees those living in the freedom Christ offers.

I am sure many people wonder why I seem to focus so much on ministers yet even the flock has issues. Let me explain.

The first reason is that I am a minister called to minister to ministers. But you can overlook that as a point because not many ministers want to admit that, unless they are in a place that they must have my ministration. For ease of your conscience call me a minister with a burden for other ministers.

Ministers have their bar set way up by God who calls them. James 3 talks about us going through stricter judgment. It therefore means that if we are committing the same sin, and God forbid, my judgment will be worse than yours if you are not a minister. To whom much is entrusted, much is required. When God judges the world, there will be two scales, one for the believers and the other for believers entrusted with the lives of others. As an analogy, if the sentence for a particular sin is ten strokes, chances are it may be thirty strokes for the minister. I don’t know whether you realize that it means ministers will head to hell as per my favorite passage of Matthew 7: 21 – 23.

According to Ezekiel 3 and 33, a minister is responsible for more than his life. People will always die with their sins, but if for this or the other reason or excuse I fail to warn them of the danger they are exposed to, God will hold me accountable for their sin. I will not be accountable for not changing them, but for not warning them.

Let me give some examples.

Some young people start cohabiting. But they are also key members of the ‘worship’ team. As a pastor, you fear confronting them could have them move to another church due to their giftedness. You therefore keep quiet so that you can continue enjoying their services. Incidentally they may be the only skilled instrumentalists you have.

Or maybe there is a generous giver, extremely generous. And he has the resources. There are things you know you could not have accomplished as a church without his generosity. Then you discover that some of that money is from some shady and corrupt businesses. Of course you know that many other churches would appreciate him moving with his giving to their church even with that baggage to be able to advance as you have. You therefore preach roundabout sermons hoping he will hear and not be offended in the process.

Those are the people God was concerned about when He spoke to Ezekiel. And it was so important that He repeated it in two chapters.

Last is the fact that we are the closest to God the world gets. Our lives and words therefore represent the God these people are looking for. A minister’s blunder therefore goes way beyond any other believer. We see that when we read Malachi. Do you also realize that it was the reason Eli was judged so harshly? We are the clearest sign board to God the world has because we are showing God to the people we lead.

Now try to imagine a minister in prison, the prison of sin? What possibility is there for his flock to be living outside that prison?

Do you like me wonder how some people are unable to see small follies, even idiocies committed and preached by their pastors? Do you wonder how a pastor lives and preaches contrary to the scriptures yet has his flock increasing? How can a false prophet whose only claim to fame is scaring people get followers?

For the most part it is a fellowship of prisoners. Sadly, they are able to convince themselves, or their privileged prisoners (pastors, bishops, prophets) paint a picture of fulfillment in prison as they know that there is spiritual responsibility once they get out of prison. You see, in prison there is no cross to carry, there is no word you need from heaven and you are allowed excess of creativity (acting ability) to imitate the life you once lived.

Of course, that kind of life does not attract actual spiritual warfare as you have become a servant of the owner of the prison. No wonder he increases your privilege as they may even draw more people not clearly tuned to heaven to join you there and even support your life of privilege from heaven’s treasures. He knows this will deplete true ministry. You even start fighting those who are outside your prison, making them your enemy for no other reason but preaching freedom, a freedom from the prison whose privileges you are not willing to forego.

Repentance is the only solution. It is the only key out of prison.

Remember the times you had out of prison. Remember the joy, fulfillment, victory.

Read the letter to the church in Laodicea (revelation 3). Does it speak about you?

You can still get out of prison. God is waiting for you outside.