Corrie ten Boom, Her Story
20. Corrie's Message
IN NEW ZEALAND I visited a small prison, where there were probably no more than fourteen men. We had a good time together. The men were sitting with — their backs against a wall, and I was sitting in front of them, speaking about the great joy of knowing that you are a child of God.
I told them that when you ask Jesus to come into your heart and you confess your sins, then He does a great miracle in your heart, which He Himself calls "being born into the family of God." At that time you may say to God, "Father, my Father." And He says to you, "My child."
Four of these men made a decision. Each wanted to give his heart to Jesus, to be cleansed and born into the Kingdom of God—to be born a child of God.
Before I left, I shook hands with all the men. One was a very old man. He cried and held my hand and kissed it. I was a little bit amused about that, and finally said, "Now, friend, let me go, and the Lord bless you." Then he let go of my hand.
This man was sentenced to a long imprisonment for the crime of manslaughter. The woman with whom he lived had snored one night when he was drunk. He strangled her because of her noise. When he realized that the woman was dead, he was so scared he ran straight to the police and told them, "I have murdered my wife."
"Why are you crying so?" I asked him. He replied, "Because I am so happy. I have always had such terrible feelings of guilt because I killed the woman I lived with. Now I have brought it to the Lord
Jesus, and I know I am forgiven. I am a child of God! Jesus is in my heart."
A year later I went back to that prison, and I talked with some of the men there.
I asked where the old man was, and they told me, "He died some time ago."
One of the men took me aside and said, "I must tell you something. Whenever that man heard me going through the corridor, he called me into his cell. He would say, 'Let us talk about Corrie's message.'"
How happy I was that the Lord had used me to help that man!