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Jonathan was born in Ireland, lived in the UK and graduated from Eton and
Oxford with a law degree, became a journalist in Vietnam and Biafra then
became a Conservative MP. In 1992 he was made a Minister of the State and
was tipped as the next leader of the Conservative Party. He resigned in
1995 after allegations of corruption. He was vilified by the media and was
sentenced to 18 months in jail.
On 8 June 1999 he was taken
from the dock of the Old Bailey in London to prison where he was
fingerprinted, strip searched and interviewed by a prison psychiatrist who
asked, “Does anyone know you are in jail?” Since 700 journalists had been
outside the Old Bailey he replied, “Probably 10-20 million people know” to
which the psychiatrist responded, “Have you ever suffered from delusions?”
That night in jail the men in the next cell to him started a chant saying
exactly where he was, who he was and what he had done. He was terrified
and got down on his knees and prayed. He did that because about eight
months previously when the newspapers had gone wild over his case and his
wife had left him a man had come to his door and offered to pray with him.
The man returned again with a friend and a personal letter to him from
Chuck Colson. They kept praying with him and suggested he go to an Alpha
course, which he reluctantly did and by session five he had developed a
new and real relationship with Christ.
“I thank God for these mentors who came alongside me and gave me
strength,” said Jonathan, explaining that the first man who came to pray
was just a “very ordinary bloke” who felt called by God to go to him and
“it was a very profound thing that he did”.
The next morning in jail his cell neighbours explained that it was
“nothing personal” and “you are one of us now”.
A few
days later a chap who could not read got a letter saying his family was
going to be evicted from their home and asked Jonathan to write a letter
to help them. Since this was the sort of thing he had done a lot of as a
politician he had no trouble doing it and soon found that one third of all
the prisoners could neither read nor write so he had a steady job writing
letters for them.
He
started chatting to the men and with one man whose love life was in a mess
he suggested praying. “Before I knew where I was we had a really unusual
prayer group – your original cell group I guess,” he joked.
“There were a couple of murderers, robbers, fraudsters, but all were
praying genuinely for repentance and restorative justice. It grew to about
20 regulars and five years later we all still keep in touch. 17 of them
have stayed clean and out of jail thanks to Alpha and Prison Fellowship
and one was a lifer. Only two are returnees. People do change with God’s
help and I have changed too.”
Jonathan said that while he was in jail Nicky Gumble from Alpha had
visited him and said he would travel around the world and be a wonderful
witness for Christ. “I thought he had lost his marbles but when I got out
I went to theological college for two years, where the food was even worse
than in jail and I found that I enjoyed being an amateur kind of
evangelist.”
Jonathan has published two books telling his story: Pride and Perjury,
followed by Porridge and Passion. He has also written Psalms for people
under pressure and Prayers for people under pressure. All are published by
Allen and Unwin.
The luncheon began with a short video from Prison Fellowship and Alpha.
There are 20 million prisoners worldwide including children and Prison
Fellowship aims to reflect the light and love of Jesus Christ into the
darkest corners. A former prisoner, now PF worker, said, “God has got a
sense of humour. I spent 10 years trying to get out and now all I want to
do is get back in. If God can change me He can change anyone.”
Together Prison Fellowship and Alpha reduce the re-offending rate by
caring for ex-offenders, reintegrating them back into the community and
providing them with ongoing support.
The day before this event a Religious Vilification court case against
Alpha in a prison in Victoria had been thrown out after a paedophile witch
had complained about it and that day a new Alpha course was being started
in that prison by the Salvation Army.
For more details about the work of Prison Fellowship contact PO Box 549
Northcote 3070 (03) 9482 9228, pfvic@vicnet.net.au and for more
information about Alpha contact 2C Denham St Hawthorn 3122 (03) 9438 5260,
e-mail: vicoffice@alpha.org.au.
Both these organisations are in every state.
Source:
New Life 18 Aug 2005
Link:
www.nlife.com.au
Author: Helen Woodall
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