How Can I Forget My Son While He’s in Prison?

Q: My son is in prison and my friends have told me to forget him because he is a hopeless cause. He puts me down for my faith in the Lord and says that no intelligent person can possibly believe in the Bible with its myths and hypocrisy. But how can I forget my son? — S.P.

A: There have always been skeptics who say that believing the Bible is for uneducated people (implying that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is anti-intellectual). This is contrary to truth. Understanding the Bible demands the use of the mind, but when the mind is diseased by sin it is clouded and confused.

Years ago a young man by the name of Joel was a living example of such a person whose mind was under attack. He was thrown in prison for trying to kill a man. When released, he was filled with hatred and did everything he could to show his scorn to society, only to land in San Quentin. Turned over to a prison psychiatrist, he was diagnosed as “criminally insane.” When released 11 years later his godly mother was there to greet him and said, “Joel you need the Lord Jesus, you need to ask Him to forgive your sins, to give you a new life.”

In time, Joel did just that. His mother’s faithful prayers were blessed by God and Joel’s life was transformed. He became a prison chaplain and won many criminals to Christ.

The Bible teaches that sin affects the mind. A person may be intellectually brilliant, but spiritually ignorant. “The natural man does not (accept) the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). An intellectual mind can be turned into a first-class mind when Christ penetrates the very heart of a person — his most inner thoughts. We must never give up praying for others.

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

(c)2019 BILLY GRAHAM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.