Praise the Lord Jesus. Praise God. I was in Walla Walla Prison last week. Biggest prison in Washington, one of the biggest in the United States. And I was able to speak and preach to the entire prison in there over their closed circuit television. They were in lock down because of tensions, and because of some stabbings. I was able to go into death row. And, Lord, I never thought there would be a day when I would fight to get into death row. :) But, I'm tellin' ya, it was tooth'n'nail gettin' in there. Right down to the very moment before I went in to see the men, there was a question as to whether I would be allowed to go in.

Now, I want to share somethin'. And I'm being transparent. I know we have television cameras runnin' tonight. But, I'm not gonna allow televison cameras to intimidate me from saying what I believe we can all use. And a lot of the men here, and maybe men by television, if it does wind up goin' across the airways..... I'm not real proud of what I'm gonna share, but I'm just gonna tell you the truth about what happened.

As I was gettin' ready to go into death row, some inmates were walkin' past me. And they began to slap hands with me. And one broke from the ranks, and hugged me. And as he hugged me, one of the guards yelled and cursed at the men, one of the officers. Another inmate broke from the line. And when he broke from the line to come over towards me, the officer came after us. And when he came after us, the inmate hugged me, let go of me, and then went out the door quickly. It was at that point that the officer, who I was to be in submission to, cussed me out. And told me to sit down. And got in my face. Now, I didn't handle it the way I should have handled it in the Lord. I didn't cuss at him, I didn't do things that I would have done before I was saved. But he told me to sit down and shut up, I put my finger in his face. And I said, 'You sit down and shut up.' I said, 'Don't you be talkin' to me like that.' And we had a major confrontation. And I realized what I had just said.

You see, I had been in there witnessing in front of thousands of men. We battle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, and principalities, and against rulers of darkness, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. And, I'll be honest with you, sometimes I feel like I just breakdown, for an instance. And that was one where I didn't do what God would have me to do. If I'm gonna be terribly open, I wanted to deck him. :)

I stepped sideways, but instead of decking him, I realized that I had just told him to sit down and shut up. And I was speakin' to a man in authority there in the prison. So when he got up in my face and started yellin', I started bindin' spirits. I said, 'I bind you, satan, in the name of Jesus.' And I started orderin' the devil out of that situation. And this guy started cursing me, and cursing God. And he started yellin'. He said, 'Maybe the inmates want to listen to your baloney, but I don't want to.' And I realized I was in a spiritual conflict, here, with an officer. So he said, 'You're out of here.' And when he said, 'You're out of here', I know that I had just blown it. And that I wasn't gonna be allowed to go to death row, or to lock down to see the men that I wanted to see.

So, I repented. When the guard went away, went into his little bullet-proof room and got on the telephone, I repented before God. I said, 'Father, I am sorry that I raised my voice towards this man, whom I'm to be in submission to. Father, take charge over this, in the name of Jesus.' And so, the man was callin'. And he was still yellin' at me. Saying, 'You're out of here. You're out of here.' I said, 'Well, you know.' So the next thing I knew, I saw a man comin' in with a gold badge. And I knew that this the big one, you know? So, he walked in and he looked around. And he said, 'Where's the trouble maker?' And I pointed at the officer. And I said, 'There he is!' :) And the lieutenant couldn't help but laugh. :) Then I started praying. And the lieutenant looked at me. He said, 'I don't know why I'm doin' this, 'cause I should have you out of here; but, I'm gonna let you go into death row.' Then he got right up in my eyes, and he looked in my eye. And he said, 'Are you alright, now?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sweet, cute, and nice. :) Didn't mean to cause trouble to anybody.'

Then I went into death row. And the first guy that I met, I'm not even gonna talk about him. I'm not even gonna talk about what happened, but it wasn't pleasant. After that was over, I went to the Lord. And I said, 'Lord, I need help with this. Because, you know, I guess it's still somewhere in my nature, even when some one in authority rises up and says, 'Sit down and shut up'. Something in Jeff wants to take out a sword and cut off his ear. :) Ya know, like Peter. And I said, 'Lord, how do I handle that?'

Now, this is for you men out there, especially. And women, too, but especially you men that have had problems in your life with violence. Or that have had problems submitting to authority. God spoke very clearly to me. My Lord Jesus spoke very clearly to me. And He said, 'What you should do when ever you are faced with a situation like that, is keep quiet physically. And pray to Me. Rebuke the devil silently through Me.' Then I spoke to God, and I argued with the Lord a little bit. But not heavily. But I just said, 'Lord, would this have me to believe then, that I'm to just back off and let people think that I'm afraid? Because I've always had a problem with that. I don't want people thinkin' I'm afraid. So, am I to make this man when he cursed me and told me to sit down, am I to just sit down and be quiet? And have him feel that I'm afraid so that he can just run roughshod over me?' And, this I believe was a word from the Lord Jesus, my Savior. Jesus said, 'No. The way you are to handle it, is you should look straight in his eyes; so that when he looks in your eyes, he will know that you do not fear him. By your actions, he will know that you fear Me. There are different types of fear. By not reacting in any way verbally, or physically, it will be a witness to Him that you fear Me.' How many of you men can relate to that? Or understand what I'm talkin' about?

My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Winter, 1992