No Way Out

By Christian Stronger

This book is a collection of poems written over a three-year period of imprisonment for crimes he had not committed. They reflect the emotional roller-coaster ride of a person suffering a miscarriage of justice but at the same time recording the faithfulness of God in speaking words of comfort, encouragement, and reassurance through the darkest days, proving the truth of 1 Corinthians 10:13. God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Drawing on examples from the Bible, they demonstrate the truth that no matter how desperate our situation may be, the words of Jesus remain true: I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the stormI will come to you (John 14:18, TLB).

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512753431

Christian Stronger

The author has been a committed Christian and active member of the same church for forty-one years; he was a youth leader, a deacon, then an elder, and a pastor. He was a lay preacher and a director of a successful company. Through the prison fellowship in New Zealand, he wrote and recorded Bible teaching tapes for prisoners, some of which were also broadcast.

Book preview

NO

WAY

OUT

CHRISTIAN STRONGER

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Copyright © 2016 Christian Stronger.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-5342-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5343-1 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/2/2016

Contents

Foreword

No Way Out

Why?

The Move

The Working Day

A Prisoner’s Christmas

Christmas In Prison

Putty In His Hands

Be Still And Wait For The Lord

The Faithful God

The Life Wreckers!

Isaiah 41

Who Pays?

Psalm 35

The God Of Jeremiah

The God Of Daniel

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

The Letter!

I Will Rise Again!

The Tide Is Turning Now!

Power Failure!

Eight Months On!

What If?

Lock Up Day!

Why Me?

God’s Hands

Genuine, Yet Regarded As Impostors

Waiting Patiently!

When Jesus Calls Come Forth!

God’s Promises

God Has A Plan Which Leads To Victory

The Great Recycler!

Stop Moaning, Start Trusting!

Roots Of Bitterness

The Day The Spirit Came!

Will Grandad Be Home For Christmas?

Righteousness Exalts A Nation!

When Doubt Brings Fear

Two Years On!

These Are The Days!

When The Storms Of Life Are Raging

Love Versus Hate

Daniel

Isaiah 50

The Desert Experience

Rely On The Love God Has For Us

What Am I Building For Jesus Today?

Which Way?

Baca, The Valley Of Tears.

No Way Out

Then The Birds Of Prey Came Down!

I Feel Like A Leper Again

Poem Written By Another Prisoner

About The Author

FOREWORD

I firmly believe my friend the writer to be innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.

This book reflects the anguish and agony of spirit he experienced during years in prison. He endured the loneliness of separation from wife and loved ones. We sense the times of depression and the struggle he had to keep hope alive. There are moments of anger too, the righteous anger of an upright man whose honesty has been impugned, and his sense of frustration in the face of injustice.

Allow yourself to identify with him in his situation, and you will feel something of his pain as you read what he has written.

Yet these are victory songs. They are not bitter laments, instead faith triumphs again and again, and the Lord’s words coming to him, bring comfort and strength.

This book will remain as an enduring testimony to a man’s faith under trial, and to the faithfulness of our Lord, who promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

2 Corinthians 4:6

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed…"

Retired Senior Pastor S.W. London

NO WAY OUT

Betrayed, falsely accused, wrongly convicted, imprisoned, such is the lot of those who find themselves victims of miscarriages of justice and history is littered with such people. Nearly four thousand years ago a man called Joseph found himself in this position. Betrayed by his brothers he was sold into slavery, being falsely accused by his master’s wife he was thrown into an Egyptian prison where he remained for many years.

Two thousand years ago another person was betrayed by a close friend, false witnesses came forward to testify against Him, the Judge admitted that he could find no fault in Him but still condemned Him to be crucified.

As we read about these miscarriages of justice in the bible we discover that God had a plan to use these seeming disasters in peoples lives to bring blessing to many other people. In the case of Joseph, after many years in prison, he was released and became Prime Minister, second only to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God used him to save his whole family and a nation from starvation.

If we are honest with ourselves, we all know that we do wrong things in life, in other words we sin and the ultimate punishment for sin is death. God’s love for us is so great that He had a plan and provided a way to save us from that punishment. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die in our place and take that punishment for us. Three days after Jesus Christ was crucified, God raised Him from the dead. with the promise that He would accept the punishment Jesus took, in place of the punishment our sin deserves, if we will confess our sin and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died in our place. Not only will our sins be forgiven but we also will be raised from death to eternal life.

These are but two examples of how God used miscarriages of justice in the lives of those prepared to serve