Who is more innocent than a baby? But, look at him. He’s already been sent to the pen. Why is he behind bars?

If you think about it...a baby just doesn’t have much freedom at all. He has to stay in his pen almost all day long. When they do put him out on the floor, his mom stands guard over him all the time. When night comes, back behind bars he goes.

Mom puts him in the car and straps him into a car seat. He can’t get away. He is locked into a little world of his own...a world that he can’t understand. He is a prisoner of life.

You think you have it bad. They don’t even let him have a commode. He has to do the stuff in his britches and then hope the guards will have mercy on him and clean it all up.

Why are babies treated like prisoners? Is it because God hates them? Is it because their moms are mean? I’ll let you figure it out!

A Prisoner of Life!

-by "It"

I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t ask to be born. But there I was..stuck in this lady’s belly. Solitary confinement right from the start! You would think they would give me a break. You know... my first time and everything. But, no, there was no break for me.

You think I was in solitary for a week? A month? Ha! I was stuck there for 9 months! Nobody to talk to. No card games. No basketball. Nothing! I didn’t even see the guards. They didn’t open a window to feed me. Nope. They stuck some kind of hose into my cell and fed me through the hose the whole time I was there.

You think your cell is small. Well, you should have seen mine. Most of the time I had to curl up like a ball to be comfortable. I couldn’t take it...so I finally started doing some kicking. And do you think I got out just because I wanted to? No way! There was no ‘early out’ from that black hole?

Nope. No parole for me. I had to do the whole nine months. You would think that would kill a person. But, it didn’t. I’m pretty tough.

You complain because everybody treats you like a number. Well, that ain’t nothin’. They didn’t even give me a name or a number. They kept calling me an "IT". They would say stuff like, "Is it a girl. Is it a boy? What are you going to call it? Does it kick? I’ll sure be glad to see it." I think you’re lucky. At least you got a number. that’s more than I had.

OUT OF SOLITARY!

Yeah...I finally got out...but I had to push to do it. When I did get out...they put a guard on me 24 hours a day. You would think I was dangerous or something. I had walls and bars around me all the time...except when the guards picked me up and carried me around. But, that never lasted too long. Back behind bars I went.

Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. That’s all I did for a long time. I figured I could reduce my time if I played the ‘good behavior’ game. So I smiled at those jokers and tried to say the things they wanted to hear. It took a few months...but it worked. They started letting me out of my cell and let me crawl around in the big house. But, the guards were always there to make sure I didn’t get away.

Pretty soon, I figured it out. They weren’t ever going to let me out of their sight if I didn’t start learning something. So I signed up for walking lessons and speech class.

The walking was rough...but, boy that foreign language stuff is something else. It’s enough to scramble your brain. But, they kept making me learn. Every day, every day, every day. When I thought I was getting it down pretty good, they would start laughing at me again. Boy I hated that. The only way I could make them stop laughing at me was to ‘say it right’. So that’s what I started doing. It worked.

FINALLY...A TRUSTEE

They finally let me out into the yard and the sunshine. They let me walk around on my own. But, they had this big, high, white fence all around the yard. They watched me like a hawk. And when I got close to the fence they would start hollering. It was the gate that interested me. I saw them going in and out of it all the time. They wouldn’t let me do it though.

One day they slipped up and left the gate open. Soon as I saw that I was out of there. Free at last! I had escaped. Boy, did I ever make tracks. But, I guess I’m a born loser. I got a hundred yards from my prison and they caught me. No more yard privileges for a week. That was rough.

I dreamed about that escape attempt for three weeks. But, when I got to thinking about it, I wouldn’t have known where to go if they hadn’t caught me. I might have had a hard time making it on the outside. Who knows. I was only two years old.

After doing two more years of time...they finally trusted me on the other side of the gate. They gave me this little three wheel machine to ride and told me I had to stay on the sidewalk and not go past the big tree.

That’s like throwing meat in front of a dog and telling him not to eat it. So when they weren’t looking I left that tree way behind me. Boy, am I ever sorry I did that. When the guards caught me they gave me a beating. I think I cried half the night over that one. Guess what? I turned my machine around at the tree every day after that. I learned my lesson.

But, I met a kid from another unit. He drove his machine all over the place and his guards didn’t seem to care. He tried to get me to get off the sidewalk, but I didn’t want another beating...so I wouldn’t follow him.

Obedience Pays Off!

One day I found out why I wasn’t supposed to go out in the street. My friend was out there when a big machine came around the corner and hit him. Then it drug him for a long, long ways. The next thing I knew, the whole world was out there looking at him. They carried him by me and all I could see was lots of blood. That kid never came back. I thought they had transferred him to maximum security, but the guards said it was too late for that...he died. I don’t know what ‘died’ means...but everybody acts like it is something bad. All I know is that I liked that kid and I can’t see him anymore.

BIG BOYS GO FARTHER

After doing a lot more time and learning to do what the guards told me to do...no matter what it was...they started letting me go past the tree.

At first it was to the end of the block. and then it was around the block. And I started figuring it out.

IF YOU DO RIGHT

FOR A LONG TIME

YOU GET TO DO MORE!

So I started learning to be patient. I knew that someday I could go where the others went...if I behaved. It wasn’t long before I was going to school and riding a bike. But, everywhere I went...there were rules - things I couldn’t do and places I couldn’t go. When I tried to break the rules and get out of line...I suffered. When I got big, like the rest of the dudes who used to be my guards...I figured I could do anything I wanted to.

Well, I was wrong again. I did that for a while. But, it didn’t work. I got in lots and lots of trouble. Now...I walk by cash registers with lots and lots of money in them. But, I keep on walking. I see fences and I walk around them. I see cars that are better than mine...but I don’t touch. I see pretty women...but they are not mine.

I’ve learned not to look past the big tree if I can’t go there. I learned not to want to go out in the street if someone said ‘no’. I’ve learned not to take what is not mine. And I’ve learned to wait and work for the things that I can have.

Yes. I’m still in a prison. It’s called ‘a body’. And I’m not supposed to try to break out before my time is up. I’ve got a life sentence! I’m not sure how many years that is, but, it doesn’t make a difference. Every year that I live, I’m going to live by the rules and help other people. If I do good IN THE BODY...maybe God will trust me with good things BEYOND THE BODY...in another place were I will never get tired or sick or hot or cold.

But...even then...I don’t think I can do anything I want to. Do angels go anywhere they want? Or do they obey somebody bigger than them.? Do they have streets they can’t cross?

Framed - Part 2 

Babies sometimes eat dirt. At first, they want to put everything in their mouth. But...they learn.

Some things are poison. Some things hurt. Some things taste yukk! Some things make them choke. Some things make them have a belly ache.

Big kids learn that alcohol is a poison. Smart kids learn that drugs can kill. They learn that drugs make them do crazy things...like stealing and killing. Why do kids run from snakes and go in the house when it rains? Is it too late for you to learn something new? Is it impossible for you to make good choices for yourself?

A baby touches a stove one time...and that’s enough to teach him to stay away from the stove. Lots of boys have gone down steep hills in a wagon WITHOUT BRAKES! But, they don’t do it again.

Sure. you have made mistakes. Jail and prison is just a learning experience. It’s not too late to begin running from the people and things that hurt you. It’s not too late to start thinking smarter. It’s not too late to grow up.

Babies gradually get new freedoms. The kids who obey soon get more liberties. The restrictions on teenagers eventually begin to lift.

Adults who honor the law and work with the system are soon promoted. They guy who works hard and thinks smart finds his world getting bigger and bigger all the time.

But...The world of those who rebel gets smaller and smaller. Freedom is taken away from those who disobey. The angry, hateful and violent people lose more and more of life every day.

Men have the chance to walk on the moon or rot in ‘the hole’. Which way are you going?

Borders

When you get to the border of Mexico or Canada you can’t go any further without permission. When you come to the Atlantic or the Pacific Oceans you can’t go any further without a boat. When I come to THE EDGE of the paper, I can’t put anymore words on it. When God gave the promised land to Abraham’s children and grand-children, He also told them what land they couldn’t have. He gave them borders and boundaries that they couldn’t cross.

LIMITATIONS

When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden, He gave them control over the whole garden...EXCEPT for two trees. When they broke past God’s limitations, they suffered. Why can’t people learn?

RULES & REGULATIONS

OUT OF BOUNDS

When the basketball goes out of bounds...the other team gets the ball.

The baseball player hits a FOUL BALL, and that hit doesn’t count. He has to try again. Every game in life has it’s boundaries, the places where you can’t go, the things you can’t do.

RESTRAINTS

A car has to have ‘BRAKES" so that its power can be restrained.

City streets have CURBS so that people will be restrained from driving on the sidewalks. Ropes and chains and pens were made to restrain things from getting Out of Control. Speed limits and cops were made to restrain and control wild drivers. Bridles were made to keep horses in line and leashes were made for dogs. Is there no end to the restraints of life?

PRISONS

Prisons were made for people whose lives have started getting out of control. Guards are hired to enforce control of rebellious prisoners. Solitary confinement and ‘lock down’ were created for those who can’t seem to learn. The more we rebel, the worse it gets.

SELF - CONTROL

All of these things are designed to teach people that they need to CONTROL THEMSELVES. If we don’t learn that valuable lesson then we will just have to keep on being controlled by others and by boundaries which we can’t break through. So, calm down. Get a hold of yourself. THINK! Self-control is the doorway to freedom.

BEACHED WHALES DIE!

Fish are commanded to stay in the water. The ones that flop out onto land will die. They get the death penalty. Why? Because God has placed some boundaries on their lives also. He has framed their little world by laws which they can’t change or overcome.

WORLD OF THE BIRDS

Birds, butterflies and bees can’t live under the water. If they try...they drown. God has given them the air and the sky. He has hemmed them in. They can’t just go anywhere that they want to. Other laws keep them from flying too high. They are limited and restrained by the framework of God’s command.

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

Yes...there are those things which cannot live under the water or in the sky. Many animals are locked onto a land prison. They have to walk or run wherever they want to go. All of these worlds have been framed by the Word of God. God made boundaries for everything. Can we learn anything from the birds, the beasts & the whales?

THE EARTH - THE SUN - THE MOON

THE PLANETS & THE STARS

The whole universe is governed by God. Nothing is without borders, limitations ad restrictions.

Pluto and Saturn cannot go out of orbit. Mercury cannot decide to slow down. Haley’s comet must come near the earth at a set time forever.

Every science depends on the order that God has commanded upon all things. Ships out on the sea are guided by the stars...because the stars must remain where God has placed them. They cannot decide to take a vacation or rebel against the ordered pathway that God has chosen for them. They become highway markers in the sky.

The sun will always remain the same distance from the earth. If it didn’t we would either fry or freeze to death. Aren’t you glad God has a framework of boundaries for all the worlds He has made?

The law of gravity is a restraint of God which keeps you from flying out into space where you wouldn’t be able to breathe. You didn’t think up that safety belt for yourself. God did. He cares about you. Why can’t we trust Him with our lives?

Why do we want to break through His barriers, cross His fences and trespass on forbidden territory? WHY? WHY? WHY?

Even the angels obey God’s every command. It is only men and demons who think they are smarter than the one who made them. Why?

FRAMED - Part 3

You should have been there! I was sitting in the counseling room at the county jail...waiting for my first customer.

I heard the lock buzz...and then in came George. Man...was he ever hyper. He wouldn’t sit down at all.

He kept telling me he was in there on a trumped up burglary charge.

"I didn’t do it", he repeated, "I didn't do it. They’ve got me in here for a burglary I didn’t commit."

I’VE HEARD THAT LINE

TOO MANY TIMES!

When I told George that...he came unglued. Boy was he ever angry. "I swear I’m telling the truth," he shouted.

"O.K. - O.K. You’re telling the truth AND I BELIEVE YOU," I answered.

George stopped pacing back and forth and looked at me. "You do?" he asked.

I knew that would calm him down. He wanted someone to believe him. so I said, "sure, I believe you George. Now sit down and let me ask you a question."

George looked at me like a little boy waiting to get some candy.

That’s when I looked him right in the eye and asked, "George, did you ever rob a house and not get caught?" He nodded his head and said, "Yeah."

Suddenly, it seemed like God started giving me information about George. I looked at him real serious like and said, "George...you’ve robbed lots of houses without getting caught haven’t you?" he admitted that was true.

"And you have had sex with young girls who were under age haven’t you?" A funny look crossed his face and he said, "Yeah, how did you know?"

I ignored his question and went on. "the parents of those girls never did find out, did they?" He shook his head, "NO".

I started naming off some other things that he did without getting caught and he had to admit that all of them were true.

That’s when I said, "George, you may not have robbed the house that they say you did, but you are guilty of much more than that...and you deserve to be in here don’t you?"

George hung his head and stared at the floor. He didn’t answer me, so I went on talking.

I told George how I wanted to find people in trouble and help them get their lives straightened out. But, I couldn’t just go out on the street and grab anybody I wanted to and try to help them.

I told him that I had been praying that GOD WOULD ARREST the right guy and BRING HIM TO ME. I said, "George. I believe you are the man! I believe God has brought you here so I can warn you about the punishments that are ahead of you. When you die and have to face those girl’s parents, what do you think they would want to do to you? And when you have to stand before God for every wrong thing you have done...how will you plead?"

GUILTY!

That’s how George felt right then. And that’s what George was, GUILTY!

But, then I started telling him about a man who really had been innocent...and yet was framed and had to die.

When George found out that this guy had died for George’s crimes and sins...he felt pretty bad. But, I went on to tell him how he could be free from the charges that had been written up against him.

George began to believe the simple story of how Jesus, the innocent one, had died for all the guilty people in the world.

He began to believe that God could give him the power to get his life fixed up. He tried to tell me that he couldn’t change. But, I told him about the crimes I had committed and how God had given me new thoughts and desires. I had changed. And I was God’s proof that George could change too, with God’s help.

I’M NOT TRYING TO PUSH SOME RELIGIOUS JUNK DOWN YOUR THROAT

I knew George couldn’t stand to hear a bunch of religious garbage. So, I didn’t tell him what he couldn’t do and what he had to do.

I just told him that if he would go to God and plead guilty for all the wrong things he had done...that God would be merciful. I told him God could put him on probation or give him a full pardon for all his sins.

I told him how he could die and not have to stand trial and be punished for all those things. George believed me. I hope you will too.

THE PERFECT FRAME-UP!

Jesus was a man who was truly innocent.

And yet the Jews broke many, many of their own laws so that they could convict Him and sentence him to death.

False witnesses lied and testified against Jesus. He was entitled to a quick and speedy trial and He got it.

Evil men railroaded Jesus onto death row. But there were no lawyers to appeal His case. There was no one around to object to capital punishment.

He didn’t holler and scream about injustice and unfair judges.

He didn’t promise to come back and take revenge on His murderers.

He didn’t complain when the guards beat Him or when they made Him carry His own cross.

He didn’t curse and complain when they gave Him vinegar to drink instead of water.

He didn’t get angry. He didn’t hate. And He didn’t feel sorry for Himself.

On top of all that, He FORGAVE THE PEOPLE WHO WERE HURTING HIM...WHILE HE WAS STILL IN PAIN.

You don’t have to believe this...but, THE INVISIBLE GOD wanted everyone to see exactly what the invisible God was like.

He came down to earth....lived in a human body...and TOOK THE RAP for a bunch of rotten sinners.

Why did He do such a thing? Was it because His T.V. went on the blink or because He ran out of comic books to read?

He not only decided to DROP CHARGES on us, if we would believe in and trust Him, But, He promised us extra power so that we could be changed and become like Him.

Man, that’s tough stuff! Is it really true? Oh I know. You probably tried religion before...and it didn’t work did it?

Well, ya gotta go past religion to get the ‘real stuff’. A lot of people line up at the door, but then they take off before the store opens.

Only one man was innocent - Jesus the Savior of the World!