BETRAYAL
These things I have spoken
unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer; I have over come the world.
John 16:33
It has happened before, and it has happened again.
People with their own plans and agendas have somehow gotten close to me, posing as caring Christians, only to eventually
show themselves as having additional motives other that friendship.
As I’ve said many times, we who serve Him with hearts of love, will on occasion
be accosted by “false” brethren, those proverbial “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.
This, unfortunately, is part of the Christian’s walk. And it is only by the grace of God, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and by a knowledge of what the Bible
says, that will help a Christian to avoid the pitfalls and traps Satan has set
for him.
The Bible says that the devil is a destroyer. He
will kill me if he could, and he’s always seeking for ways to neutralize my testimony.
Sadly, he will even use other Christians.
And with this in mind, I know have to deal with an “enemy in the camp”. Several close friends, have, it appears, allowed an unbeliever, a media person, to
enter the fold. Now, as a result of this, trouble may be developing for me in
the near future.
I am of course, very disappointed by what these supposed friends have done. I forgive them, yet I’ve also had to ask the Lord to remove some bitterness which crept into my heart
as a result of their actions. But this is a potentially bad situation..They had
no right to share my private life with a stranger who only sought to develop a relationship with them for his own gain.
I have been betrayed, and it hurts. I’d
be lying if I said it’s no big deal. Now my relationship with these friends
has been altered. Nevertheless, the fact is, they sold me out. And as the pieces come together, I am seeing their level of deception more clearly.
They cultivated a friendship with me, and used to name of “Jesus”, with the
hopes of furthering their own goals. Unfortunately there are people who try to
attach themselves to me so that their own names could become known within the Christian community.
The people who befriended and ultimately deceived me, I believe, wanted to be seen. So,
sadly, they resorted to seeking out a Christian who is popular. And this kind of victimization comes with the territory . Now, however, I must cut them loose. They’ve
been exposed as “counterfeits”.
Moreover, as the situation unfolds, I know I am going to learn many deeper things about
spiritual warfare. I am confident that, no matter what damage may come to me
as a result of media distortions, God will ultimately get the glory from my life because I belong to Him. Jesus has a plan for me that, while it may be delayed, will one day come to pass. Hallelujah!
David Berkowitz
June 30, 2006
SURPRISE NEWS
This morning I was in an area of the facility which has classrooms and offices for the
inmates who are in the Sensorial Disabled Unit. These are the men who are sight-impaired.
And there’s also another classroom in the same area for the men from the prison’s general population, who
while not legally blind, are learning sign language.
And it was in the empty sign language class that I parked myself because at the time
it was not being used. I needed to stay here for several hours because the blind
prisoner I was escorting had to attend his class in the room next door. So I
had to be near him and on standby duty in case he needed my assistance with something.
Then, after I had been sitting by myself in the empty classroom catching up on my reading,
a man I’ll call Rodney* entered in. Rodney once was an active member of
in infamous and very dangerous street gang. Fortunately, however, a handful of
years ago he slowly began to detach himself from the gang.
Well Rodney sat down next to me and began to talk.
He was happy, he said, because he recently received a letter from his sixteen year old daughter, who he hadn’t
heard from in fourteen years.
Rodney explained that she was only a little baby when he came to prison. And as a result
of his lengthy sentence—Rodney has at least fifty years to do—his wife divorced him and took his daughter
and disappeared. For all these years, he said, Rodney had no idea where his ex-wife
and daughter lived. He had lost contact with them.
Anyhow, according to Rodney, his parents happen to be Christians who had been praying
for something like this to happen. As it turned out, Rodney explained, one day
his daughter, who had been curious about her father for many years, decided to
search for him on the internet. Then when she found out he was here, she got
the address of the prison and wrote. Rodney nearly fainted, he said, when he
saw the name on the return address of her first letter.
And when his ex-wife found out that her daughter tracked down her father, she too decided to
write. Now they’re all back in touch, and they’ve made their peace. But
Rodney said they won’t be getting married again however.
Listening to Rodney tell it brought tears to my eyes.
I’m happy for him. Yet his
story reminded me that I had lost contact with my half-sister more than twenty-seven years ago. I have no idea where she is, and I miss her very much.
I told Rodney that I needed to hear his story because, unbeknownst to him I’ve
been going though a difficult time of grief and anguish because I have been betrayed by several persons whom I thought were
close friends. Thankfully, though today my spirit was lifted a bit as I listened
to Rodney’s tale of hope.
*Rodney is not his real name,
David Berkowitz 