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Prison Ministry

by Alphonso Bonilla

Riker's Island Stories
High profile cases:

I will attempt with the limited amount of space, share with you some of the tragic accounts of prison stories of Riker’s Island. As a retired Correction Captain, that spent nine years as an investigator and nine years working at 111 Centre Street, at the State Supreme Court, in lower Manhattan, many of my friends have moved up in the ranks and have invited me to visit their jail and share my stories with the teenage prisoners. Today, the Vapors of Faith.org prison ministry team visits several jails inside of Riker’s Island every week.

We have a Q & A with the prisoners, whereby I take the prisoner’s question and answer it on my radio program Thursday 12 midnight on 1330 AM on Radio vision.net. I am often asked, ‘How could you spend your time with a prisoner, they only want jail house religion while they are in jail, and when they get out, they return to their sinful practices?’ That may be the case, but Jesus said, ‘When you visited that prisoner in prison, you visited Me! Matt 25:36 I was in prison and you came to Me.' verse 45-46 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' NKJV. So friend, if you want to visit Jesus, you’ll find Him in jail.

The second point I want to make, is that, we can sit back and do nothing, or do something. We decided to do something and we have been in prison ministry since 2003.

The high profile case I want to share, is the account when I was ministering with Desiree Bernstein, (Warrior Gal) and a prisoner walked out of the clinic and asked us if we were Christians. ‘Yes.’ I said. ‘Can you pray for me, I killed my two best friends?’ ‘He quickly caught our attention. He wasted no time in searching for an answer. Friend, as you read this account I challenge you, ‘How would you respond to him?’ ‘Sure.’ I replied. Somewhat baffled, before I could go on, he began to tell us his story. ‘We were out partying one night, we were all a little high, drinking and all, it began to rain, driving home, I crashed into a tree, and now my best friends are dead and I can’t forgive myself. Please pray for me!’ He said. ‘You may not forgive yourself, but Jesus did at the Cross, it’s a mystery, just accept it.’ I said. I instructed him to read Acts 26, the Apostle Paul, would suffer much in Jesus’ name. We enrolled him in a free correspondence course and prayed for God to heal his broken heart, and to heal all those hurt in this case. 'How much usage can the devil get out of you before you die?' I asked. 'No more, I'm done with that lifestyle.' He answered. Amen!

Pray for me!
Easter Break 2009 - Youth Warfare Training Camp, April 14-16, 2009. Parents bring your children to the mountains and let them be mentored by PO-4-Christ and Law Enforcement officials with special guests Beyond the Veil, The Well, Jeremy Sears & others. For registration call 518-239-4178 or visit www.goodtidingsfellowship.com.

Alphonso Bonilla, a retired Corrections Captain is the Founder of Vapors of Faith. VOF is a ministry of Mothers Against Peer Pressure, Inc., a non-profit organization. Visit www.vaporsoffaith.org.


NEWSFRONT FEATURES REGIONAL EVENTS UPCOMING EVENTS TRI-STATE NEWS THE CLASSIFIEDS FOLLOW US ABOUT US	FEATURES Prison Ministry by Alphonso Bonilla Riker's Island Stories High profile cases: I will attempt with the limited amount of space, share with you some of the tragic accounts of prison stories of Riker’s Island. As a retired Correction Captain, that spent nine years as an investigator and nine years working at 111 Centre Street, at the State Supreme Court, in lower Manhattan, many of my friends have moved up in the ranks and have invited me to visit their jail and share my stories with the teenage prisoners. Today, the Vapors of Faith.org prison ministry team visits several jails inside of Riker’s Island every week. We have a Q & A with the prisoners, whereby I take the prisoner’s question and answer it on my radio program Thursday 12 midnight on 1330 AM on Radio vision.net. I am often asked, ‘How could you spend your time with a prisoner, they only want jail house religion while they are in jail, and when they get out, they return to their sinful practices?’ That may be the case, but Jesus said, ‘When you visited that prisoner in prison, you visited Me! Matt 25:36 I was in prison and you came to Me.' verse 45-46 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' NKJV. So friend, if you want to visit Jesus, you’ll find Him in jail. The second point I want to make, is that, we can sit back and do nothing, or do something. We decided to do something and we have been in prison ministry since 2003. The high profile case I want to share, is the account when I was ministering with Desiree Bernstein, (Warrior Gal) and a prisoner walked out of the clinic and asked us if we were Christians. ‘Yes.’ I said. ‘Can you pray for me, I killed my two best friends?’ ‘He quickly caught our attention. He wasted no time in searching for an answer. Friend, as you read this account I challenge you, ‘How would you respond to him?’ ‘Sure.’ I replied. Somewhat baffled, before I could go on, he began to tell us his story. ‘We were out partying one night, we were all a little high, drinking and all, it began to rain, driving home, I crashed into a tree, and now my best friends are dead and I can’t forgive myself. Please pray for me!’ He said. ‘You may not forgive yourself, but Jesus did at the Cross, it’s a mystery, just accept it.’ I said. I instructed him to read Acts 26, the Apostle Paul, would suffer much in Jesus’ name. We enrolled him in a free correspondence course and prayed for God to heal his broken heart, and to heal all those hurt in this case. 'How much usage can the devil get out of you before you die?' I asked. 'No more, I'm done with that lifestyle.' He answered. Amen! Pray for me! Easter Break 2009 - Youth Warfare Training Camp, April 14-16, 2009. Parents bring your children to the mountains and let them be mentored by PO-4-Christ and Law Enforcement officials with special guests Beyond the Veil, The Well, Jeremy Sears & others. For registration call 518-239-4178 or visit www.goodtidingsfellowship.com. Alphonso Bonilla, a retired Corrections Captain is the Founder of Vapors of Faith. VOF is a ministry of Mothers Against Peer Pressure, Inc., a non-profit organization. Visit www.vaporsoffaith.org. Home \| Regional Events \| Features \| The Classifieds \| About Us \| Commentary \| Community \| Links ©2007 The Love Express. All rights reserved. Serving the Christian Community for over 20 years.