2008 - 05 - May
THE Grapevine NEWSLETTER > May 2008
Matthew 25 Ministries, Inc., A Ministry of Prison After-care
P.O. Box 5690, Lake Worth, FL. 33466
Dick & Maggie Witherow
Contact Us | (561) 432-9072
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DID YOU MISS IT?
What a wonderful banquet!
We had over 180 in attendance. Rocco Morelli shared how he was about to kill the man who informed on him when God intervened. He now has a most vibrant prison ministry.
Bill Huckel (who along with Frank Merriam) facilitate our Alcoholics Victorious program at Glades Corr. Inst. is honored as our Volunteer of the Year
We have a Great Board of Directors
Dick shared how we are hoping that God is getting ready to fulfill our vision for a City of Refuge able to house 200 ex-offenders. We are looking at a piece of property that could meet those needs.
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DICK’S REMARKS:
Did you know that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world? That our prison population today stands at 2.2 million. In addition almost 5 million more are either on probation or parole. That when these prisoners are released, two thirds of them will return to prison. We have followed the hue and cry of our leaders to “Get Tough On Crime.” We are giving longer prison sentences and adding more law enforcement officers. Our nation spends over 500 billion per year on fighting crime. This was supposed to make our streets safer. Do you think it is working?
With 75% of released prisoners going back to prison within 5 years, this is a failed system! The only thing that has been a proven success in reducing the recidivism rates are spiritually based programs. Programs that change a person from the inside out and teach them constructive ways of dealing with their pain, rather than medicating their pain with alcohol, drugs, or sex.
Why is it that there is so much resistance to these programs? There are those who say, “because prisons are big business, they want prisoners to return; it’s job security”. I don’t buy that. I think most politicians and prison administrators would like to stop the bleeding, they just don’t know how. The god of this world has blinded their eyes. What is the answer? 2 Chronicles 7:14. God’s people need to take these issues before God in prayer, and they need to support prison ministries.
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Ministry to Ex-offenders
As in the parable of the “prodigal son” we see how those who are judged undesirable are infinitely desirable to God. When the lepers asked Jesus to heal them, He made the unclean whole. We are called to extend that mercy, to be conveyers of grace, not avoiders of those we think are contagious.
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THE EPIDEMIC OF ADDICTIONS AND ALCOHOLISM
The epidemic of drug addiction and alcoholism has been rising exponentially and in a matter of time there would not be one person in the world who would not be affected by this plague directly or indirectly. Our way of life, economy, education, family structure, international relations and culture in some form or other has been influenced by the commerce of drugs and alcohol. It is almost as if a cancer is eating away into the moral fiber of our society. Denial is the main attitude that keeps addiction going strong and unfortunately for our society, it is also what keeps us in the dark about this problem. In the United States our prisons are filled with men and women incarcerated for drug and alcohol related crimes. Many youth offenders are in jails or prisons right now for crimes as a result of addiction or drunkenness. Sadly the movies and television portray “coolness” with orgies, drunkenness or stoned students that cannot even keep a passing grade. Being in college is now synonymous with drunken orgies all over the globe thanks to “Wild On” and other TV programs that consent to these kinds of behavior. A 2005 survey by the US Department of Health and Human Services reported that 51.8 percent of American’s ages 12 or older are current alcohol drinkers. Among them between the ages of 18 to 22 years old, college students drinking alcohol was reported at 19.5 percent higher than those who were not enrolled in college.
Taken from a recent newsletter of Canaan International a Christian Recovery Center in Columbia
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Mathew’s Testimony
I am 23 years old. A year ago I was facing hard time in prison. Except for God’s mercy and Matthew 25 Ministry I would be there today. I lost my mother when I was three and my father died when I was seven. After Dad passed I started getting into trouble. I became a ward of the state and bounced around from home to home. At age 15 I took off and at one point I joined a traveling carnival. A co-worker asked me to come to Florida with him and stay with his folks. I got a job changing oil and tires. I met a girl and fell in love. We dated for several months and I asked her to marry me, and we decided to move in together. Several months later I got into an argument with a friend of my fiancée and she told the police that my fiancée was under 18. I was arrested and had no one to turn to. I am now listed as a sex offender. Coming to Matthew 25 was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I now have God in my life. I have been taught to believe in God and in myself.
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MINISTRY NEEDS
Portable Sewing Machine
Small Portable Typewriter