This Monday, I stood in front of 600 male inmates at a prison in Izalco, El Salvador. The men were dressed in white T-shirts and white drawstring pants, and many of them sported tattoos on their faces and necks. All the men were members of violent gangs when they were incarcerated. About 20% of them were affiliated with the MS-13 gang—a group known for horrific attacks on women, children and police officers.
Yet I felt no fear as I looked out over the crowd and shared a message from Luke 15 about the prodigal son. Most of the men were carrying Bibles, and when I announced my text, they immediately turned to the passage. I could hear them yell, “Amen,” or “Gloria a Dios,” when I stressed an important point. And they clapped and cheered when I reminded them that the kosher Jewish father in the story welcomed his wayward son home even though the boy smelled like pigs.
Almost every prisoner in this huge group became a Christian after arriving at the Izalco prison. Two churches now operate inside the facility, pastored by men who were once tough criminals. All the men now gather for Bible study every day, they hold prayer and fasting vigils, and they are helping each other to grow spiritually.
When the men worshipped on Monday, six guys used plastic paint tubs for drums while an inmate with a huge smile led the praise choruses. The men sang louder and with more passion than I’ve witnessed in most churches in the outside world.
I told the inmates: “!Jesucristo vive dentro de esta prisión!” (“Jesus Christ lives inside this prison!”) The men screamed with approval.
“Our government is encouraging this movement,” says Oscar David Benavides, director of the prison. He says in 2016 he was allowed to encourage evangelism among inmates. When men experienced conversions, he intentionally moved them into buildings where there were non-Christian inmates.
Faith was never forced on anyone, but more and more men began to find Jesus in a chain reaction of grace. The new converts changed dramatically. They were no longer angry and depressed. They became cooperative and friendly. Their frowns turned to smiles.
Today, El Salvador’s government leaders see evidence that Christianity is good for violent offenders.
No serious crimes have occurred inside the Izalco facility since the prison revival began. The inmates treat each other with respect, even though they were affiliated with rival gangs. “The transformation is an obvious miracle,” Benavides says.
This was certainly obvious to me as I walked through the crowd and shook hands with the guys after my message. Most of them wanted to give me a hug. They all had big smiles. All were eager to say, “Dios le bendiga,” or “God bless you,” when I looked their way.
“Some of these men participated in massacres or other forms of gang violence,” Benavides told me. “But today they have been changed by the grace of God.”
I felt I was witnessing a true miracle as I looked into the eyes of these men, some of whom may have participated in massacres or beheadings a few years ago. The feared MS-13 gang has even been responsible for setting fire to public buses with people inside them. Salvadoran gang members who traveled to the United States have also spread terror within our borders.
I told the men in Izalco that I was honored to be with them. “There are many people in my country who are afraid of you,” I said. “But I wish they could see what I am seeing today.”
They cheered again as the drummers pounded on the plastic tubs.
Here in the United States, we are skittish about mixing government and religion. We don’t want prayer in schools. We don’t want the Bible to influence public policy.
And yet our prisons are so dangerous they are like hell on earth. A report released last year by The New Republic said 428 inmates died in Florida’s prisons in 2017, hundreds have died in prisons in Oregon and Washington since 2008, and the rate of prisoner-on-prisoner violence has doubled in Alabama in the past five years.
I’m not going to hold my breath until America’s prison officials try El Salvador’s unusual method of reform. But why wouldn’t we? In this tiny Central American nation—the only country in the world named after Jesus Christ—a true miracle has happened. We are foolish if we ignore it.
Unless they were brought into a real scenario of conviction by the courts of men, they could not be motivated to a voluntary repentance through acceptance of conviction by God, and experience the revelation of mercy in Christ.
To the Author: Of course, you were not afraid within the structure of their imprisonment and mandated docility, by the domination of the prison system.
The truth is, many jailhouse conversions do not pan out in the environment of their release to actual responsibility required by greater freedoms.
May God forgive, save, and keep some of them, as they develop a community of faith among the imprisoned, and maybe some of them can become productive citizens of El Salvador.
The deportation of illegal citizens from America is entirely appropriate, and if they do well in the country of their origin, they may actually become change agents there, maybe even Abrego Garcia will get saved in the community of saints imprisoned for their past deeds, and be at some point released to the population of El Salvador.
It is more difficult for him, though because he has not yet apparently been convinced of his own error, to a place of repentance, for his illegal entrance and continued activity of criminality by the, false premise of allowance, and fake demand to remain here, by the ineptitude and malfeasance of the previous administration in our Nation while he was here in America, and still he cannot consent to it, because of those who do not apply the same rule of judgement and mercy to him.
In the proper application of the “weightier matters of the law” in the context of Matthew 23:23
However, I pray for the many illegals returned to their nation of citizenship, having tasted and seen what they have of God’s favor and blessing among us, while visiting here illegally, and of the glory of Christ which is invested in America for a more perfect union among us, maybe they want the same for themselves and fellow citizens of their own origin.
The current administration is offering, for those who return to their own nation voluntarily they may have an option to return legally. However those who refuse and await their forceable removal will not be able to. [Abrego Garcia can never legally migrate to America.]
Many Nations will turn to the Lord, when they see how much it matters they found their constitution in trust with God the creator of all human beings, and follow on to know the Lord as He is exalted and enthroned Immortal over all the Nations, remained on earth until His coming.