Article January 18, 1999 Issue

GOD'S POWER, REGENERATING THE PRISONER

Barry Brown

I am presently incarcerated in a correctional institution in the state of Florida. Being confined at an institution housing approximately a thousand inmates, I have been exposed to plenty of negative thinking and deeds. Amid the confusion and turmoil of this environment, I observed a fellow inmate who seemed undisturbed by the physical events around him. He had a certain tranquillity, or equanimity, as he read the Bible. I later learned he was studying the Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly. After asking whether I was honestly seeking Truth, and receiving an affirmative answer from me, he arranged for me to receive a copy of Science and Health.

Initially the book was difficult for me to understand. So I would read a little, set it aside, and then start reading again. But my thought would always return to this book no matter what other activities I was involved in.

One night as I opened my Bible, having no particular chapter in thought, I went directly to the tenth chapter of the book of Joshua, which tells about how Joshua dealt with five kings who made war on the Israelites. I became appalled at how Joshua summarily ordered the execution of the kings, and made a spectacle of their executions (verses 22–26).

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