Besides this column, I write letters to prisoners. I send Bible lessons which have questions about God, His Son, man and the Bible. Those questions are followed by Bible verses in which the student must fill in the blanks. It is not an ideal way to study the Bible, but it is one way of reaching hard-to-reach people with the “good news.” Through this means, communication is established between instructor and student. As the prisoner comes to trust the Bible and the counsel he receives, the relationship deepens and Christ becomes the wondrous thread of humanity that unites student and teacher.

Many of these prisoners have very sad stories. I hear bits and pieces of these sagas as the student/teacher relationship develops. One learns for instance that a young fellow comes from hard working parents, but somehow, through peer pressure, ends up involved with drugs. Then, one night, high and drunk, he accidently kills a store owner in a small scale robbery. He is apprehended and sentenced. And then it dawns on him: the slow, dreadful understanding that prison is where he will spend the rest of his life.

This story is multiplied and magnified thousands of times daily in America. What is going to stop this tide of evil?  What is going to save our poor young men from this horrible existence?

In myself I can find no way to alleviate the horror of what is happening to our country’s men and women, especially our young people. But when I turn to God’s WORD, my spirit is restored to peace. He is the solution, the only solution. I accept the reality that many will not receive Him, but my mind and heart are brought to peace when think of the assurance that a way has been prepared so that all men and women who want to, “may be saved.” There is no need for anyone to be “lost” in the battle between good and evil that exists in every human being capable of reasoning powers.

In one form of Roman (empire) torture, a condemned man was chained to a corpse, and the worms in the corpse slowly ate into the flesh of the living man until they had eaten him alive. This is just what the devil wants to do to us.

What we have to do is cut ourselves completely off from that corpse which is the unconverted, or natural man. Yet, how can we do this? We are chained to him; he is us! (Romans, Chapter 7: especially verse 24) “Ah, here is the beauty, the blessedness, the security, the hope of the gospel:  I thank God, through my Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 7:25) He is the only one capable of cutting off those chains which bind us to that corpse of self, which is trying to eat us alive. How do I know? Here is a short summary of a Bible story that tells me so.  (See Matthew 8, Mark 5 and Luke

Two dangerous and crazy men live on the east coast of the Sea of Galilee. They are beyond any help; not even chains can hold them. There is no maximum security cell that they have not broken out of. The remnants of chains hang on their mangled forms. Bloodied and awful, they live in the tombs of the caves and no one dares to pass through that part of the country, for fear of being torn apart by these outcasts.

Then comes Jesus. He spent a memorable night on the lake, with his fishermen disciples. A storm had arisen, and the hardened sailors feared for their lives. Finally they succeeded in arousing their sleeping, Master. “Then he arouse, rebuked the wind and the raging water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said to them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! For he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8: 24, 25)

After this strange, miraculous rescue, Christ and his disciples land on the shore. The madmen rush down with blood-curdling screams towards them. The disciples run for their lives, but Christ holds out his loving arms, and the criminals fall on their knees and worship him. Part of them is drawn to Christ; the part that needs help, the part that is desperate, at its last straw. That part worships Him. This is God, and the outlaws recognize Him. Here is the God of law and order, and, in their lost hearts, the criminals know that this Mighty Personage holds the keys of life and death.

However, they are still chained. The demons have them sewed up tight. The demons also are aware that before them stands Someone with superior power. Someone who can tell them where to go! Someone who can free their captives. Using the human voices of the mad men, “…they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29) And then they begged Christ not to throw them out of the country completely, but rather send them into the local herd of pigs that were grazing nearby. “And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.”

Christ allowed the demons to leave the men and enter the herd of swine. And those pigs, now possessed by the demons, stampeded off the cliff into the lake and drowned! About 2,000 of them! (the Mark 5 account, only) Can you imagine the bundle that those business men lost that afternoon?!

From the cliff, the swine keepers saw all that happened, and they hurried away to tell their employers and the townspeople. In fear and amazement everyone who lived in that vicinity rushed out to the scene of the miracle. There they saw the two demoniacs, clothed and in their right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words and glorifying the name of their Healer.  But they did not rejoice in this wonderful scene. The financial loss of the swine seemed to them to be of greater importance than the deliverance of these captives.

It was because of God’s mercy to the owners of the swine that He allowed this experience to happen to them. They were absorbed in earthly things, and had no interest in spiritual life. Jesus desired to break the spell of selfish indifference so they would accept His grace. But regret and indignation over their temporal loss blinded their eyes to the Saviour’s mercy.

The manifestation of supernatural power aroused the superstitions of the people, and excited their fears. What other horrible things might happen with this Stranger in their midst! They feared total financial ruin, and therefore determined to get Him out of their territory.

Although the ones who crossed the lake with Jesus told the amazing story of what had happened on the preceding night, of their peril in the tempest and how the wind and the sea had been stilled, their words were without effect. In terror the people thronged about Jesus, begging Him to leave the area. He complied, immediately taking the boat to the opposite shore.

These people had living evidence of Christ’s power and mercy. They saw the men who had been restored to reason; but they were so fearful of endangering their earthly interests that the One who had conquered evil before their very eyes was treated as an intruder, and the Gift of heaven was turned from their doors.

We don’t have the possibility of turning away the human person of Christ like those people did; but still there are many today who refuse to obey His word, because obedience would involve the sacrifice of some worldly interest. They drive His Spirit from them.

But the restored madmen wanted, above all, to be in the company of their Deliverer. In His presence they felt secure from the demons that had tormented their lives. As Jesus was about to enter the boat, they kept close to Him, knelt at His feet, and begged Him to keep them, where they could always listen to His words. But Jesus told them to go to their homes and tell other people what great things God had done for them.

It was a challenging work for them to go to their unbelieving, superstitious families, and tell of the blessing they had received. It was hard for them to be separated from the Saviour. They were sure to encounter difficulties in their witnessing. And their long isolation from society seemed to have disqualified them from the work Christ had given them to do. But as soon as Jesus pointed out their duty, they were ready to obey. Not only did they tell their own households and neighbors about Jesus, but they went throughout Decapolis, declaring His power to save. This was to be a greater blessing to them than staying in Christ’s presence. It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we are brought the closest to the Saviour.

The two healed madmen were the first missionaries whom Christ sent to preach the gospel in the region of Decapolis. They were privileged to hear the teachings of Christ for only a few moments. They could not teach the people like the disciples who had been with Christ full-time. But in themselves they had the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. They could tell what they knew; what they had seen, and heard, and felt of the power of Christ. This is what everyone can do whose heart has been touched by the grace of God. ( John 1:1-3) “If we have been following Jesus step by step, we will have something right to the point to tell concerning the way in which He has led us. We can tell how we have tested His promise, and found the promise true. We can bear witness to what we have known of the grace of Christ. This is the witness for which our Lord calls, and for lack of which the world is perishing”.  Desire of Ages, page 340, E.G.White