Chapter Two - New Engagement and New Theology

OK, I was officially engaged. But, making only ten cents an hour, how was I to make it “real” with a ring? A couple of weeks later, one of the inmates I knew got a “Dear John” letter from his fiancé. In it, she returned his ring and the prison mail-room had mistakenly let it pass through to the inmate, instead of confiscating it as contraband and making him send it home.

He was so despondent that he was going to throw the ring away, and not keep it. Seeing my chance, I offered to buy it off him for a carton of cigarettes. He agreed, and when Nancy came to visit the next time, I presented it to her. It even fit! We were “officially” engaged, and we wouldn’t be able to get married for another three-and-a-half years.

In 1973, the institution changed their policy, and disbanded the Inside Parole Office, as far as inmate clerks was concerned. I had to find another job before I was left to the uncertainties of the Classification Committee. I discovered an opening in the office next to the Parole Office, which was used for drug therapy. Although the institution called it “Narcotics Anonymous,” it had no affiliation with the twelve-step group with the same name. The prison just “borrowed” the name without the effective program behind it. Using “Reality Therapy” and “Transactional Analysis” (I’m OK, You’re OK) group sessions, the institutional group attempted to help the men who were ordered to attend. I was the “NA” clerk, doing all the paperwork.

The main problem with the “NA” program was that the prison did not want to spend any money on the court-mandated drug therapy, so the program was always scrounging for donations of such basics as copy paper, typewriter ribbons (this was before word processing), and such.

After about six months of this, the employee in charge of the program resigned in frustration, and I had to, once again, find a new job. Fortunately, my dream job was available, and I became a Chaplain’s Office clerk, and eventually the head clerk of a twelve-man inmate staff. It was there that I spent the remainder of my four-and-a-half year prison stay.

Nancy would visit me as often as she could, and we tried to write each other on a daily basis. I would share with her some of the things the Lord was teaching me, and she would share what the Lord was doing in her life also.

As a leader of Cons for Christ, when inmates got religious literature from some source, often they would ask me if it was good or bad teaching. I remember one time quite vividly.

The item in question was a correspondence Bible study from a group in Downey, CA called the Jesus Free School (Dick and Janelle Handley). I agreed to take the course to “test” it for “doctrinal purity” – I was still indoctrinated in Baptist theology at this time. Lessons one through six were great!

Then came lesson seven – a lesson on the “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” I was crestfallen! It was a “charismatic” Bible Study! I wrote them a seven page letter explaining how “wrong” they were!

Janelle Handley wrote me a very concise and gentle reply, with a very “sneaky” challenge. She told me to ask the Lord what was truth. (I was always a sucker for a challenge!) I prayed and asked the Lord to show me His will, sure that He would give me more “ammunition” to use to correct these charismatics!

Being the Head Clerk of the Chaplain’s Office had one perk (or quirk). When a person got a religious book that they didn’t want, they would throw it in my cell to deal with. The first evening after my prayer, I found a book on my floor. It was called “Prison to Praise” and in reading it, I discovered that it was charismatic. I took it to work the next day and added it to our book shelves. That evening, when I returned to my cell, there was a book on the floor! It was called “They Speak with Other Tongues.” I read it and took it to work.

That night – you guessed it – this book was “A New Song” by Pat Boone. Another charismatic book! Next was Don Basham’s “Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism,” followed by “Power in Praise.” I told the Lord, “I give up! I’ll accept it, I’ll believe it!”

I received the baptism, and wouldn’t you know it, the books ceased! I was now a full-fledged charismatic, a “holy roller!” I wrote Nancy and told her what had happened. She responded that she had gone to some “full gospel” meetings, and believed as I now did!

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