There are so many cases today where men and women have been wrongfully convicted. Some of these individuals spend months and years incarcerated, only to be set free with little or no retribution. Sadly, many of these individuals are unable to function outside of prison — for them, being set free means nothing.
10 Years in Prison
Anthony Robinson, served 10 years in a Houston Texas prison after he was wrongfully convicted of rape. Robinson states: “Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I have to get up and walk around to make sure I’m not still in the cage,” It was only by God’s divine power that Robinson was released from prison in 2000.
After 12 attorneys refused to take on his case, he found Randy Schaffer, who had experience with DNA appeals and was impressed by Robinson’s determination to clear his name. After much resistance from the Harris County district attorney’s office, Schaffer was finally allowed to test the evidence from the case. On Sept. 19, 2000, the DNA test came back a negative match for Robinson. ”I had worked very hard to escape the confines of being raised in the ghetto,” says Robinson, who graduated from a top college and served in the military. “You finally get out and you say, ‘OK, I made it through’ and then all of a sudden someone says, ‘No you didn’t.'”
The One You Obey
Freedom should never be taken for granted, it’s a human need just as the air we breathe. However the physical prison that so many are locked up in, pales in comparison to the apparent “freedom” those in society claim to have. A prisoner is defined as: someone who has no freedom because their life is controlled by something or someone. An example of this would be Bad Habits — or chains of mental imprisonment, these habits they keep us where we shouldn’t be. Of course we think to ourselves I can stop whenever I want, I’m still in control, this is the last time. No, what controls us ultimately has us in bondage. The Bible states this very clearly in Romans 6:16. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? The scripture says death but yet these prisoners appear to be alive, why is that? We need to understand that there are many forms of death, if you goto any hospital you’ll find doctors pronouncing patients as dead, but to the untrained eyes the patient looks fine. These insidious diseases are subtle, as is the mental prison that holds many captive. Little by little our negative thoughts, grow into bad habits and in the end we are entrapped, until we’re no longer breathing.
Set Free
Romans 6:17-18 goes on to say however BUT GOD be thanked that we were servants. We are no longer slaves but now are free. Our obedience is to God and it’s important to understand that God takes our life away and gives us a new life. We receive the life of Christ. Nothing we do grants us freedom. James 1:17 states that every good and perfect gift is from above. It is then God who puts in us the ability to do good (Philippians 2:13). Jesus says he is the way, (the road, the means, the direction, the compass,) the truth and the life no one comes to God but by him. (John 14:6). To be set free we need only to allow God to take full control of our lives and it starts with our thoughts (Proverbs 23:7). The words we think, become the words we speak. In order to walk the Road of Liberty — we must read, listen to the word of God, it is this process that sets us free (John 8:36).
