Freedom Can Be Yours

Only four people ever successfully escaped to freedom from the federal prison on Alcatraz Island. The following story is an excerpt from my book, Free For All, which explores the different ways we can experience God’s amazing grace. It is only by God’s grace that we can be truly free!

Alcatraz Island sits in the middle of San Francisco Bay, surrounded by almost two miles of turbulent and treacherous water. For nearly one hundred years, the island housed a prison, and the place earned the nickname “The Rock” because it was inescapable.

Constructed by the United States Army in the 1950’s , the twenty-two acre island became an army prison in the Civil War. In 1933, Alcatraz was turned over to the Department of Justice to be used as a federal penitentiary, and during the next thirty years it housed some notorious criminals- Al Capone, Whitney Bolger, Bumpy Johnson, and Arthur “Doc” Barker, son of the infamous Ma Barker were among its denizens.

Prisoners sent to Alcatraz did not escape, and those who tried served as a caution to the rest. Doc Barker successfully climbed the prison walls but was shot to death on the beach while trying to construct a makeshift raft. Joseph Bowers was shot while trying to climb the fence and died from his injuries sustained by the fall. Aaron Burkett overpowered a guard while taking out the garbage. He jumped into the water and tried to swim, but his body was found two weeks later floating in the bay. Over the years, fourteen documented escape attempts ended in prisoners being killed or presumed drowned in the San Francisco Bay.

There is usually an exception to every rule, and someone did escape Alcatraz. No swimming and no makeshift life raft however. Four inmates simply walked out in 1903. An inmate who was the brains behind the operation worked in the prison print shop. He created a copy of a piece of letterhead bearing the War Department logo and wrote on it a letter remitting the sentences of himself and three other prisoners. He forged the signatures of Judge Henry Morrow and Major Williams. A second prisoner, who worked as a prison postal clerk, smuggled the letters out of the prison. An outside accomplice mailed them to the prison commander, Major Paxton. Believing the documents to be authentic, Paxton released the four prisoners. These inmates who escaped by means of a fake pardon were never found.

Did you know you have been granted a pardon - a genuine one! You’ve been set free and your release orders were signed by the One who judges all humankind. That is the whole point of these verses found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

“God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a (free) gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)

The message of the Christian faith can be summed up in one word: Freedom. Jesus said in John 8:36, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and teachings, we can experience spiritual liberation from our sin, guilt, addictions, unhappiness, shame, habits and hangups. The hope we have as Jesus followers is based on the fact that we are justified (made right) by our faith in God’s grace which frees us to be in right relationship with our loving Heavenly Father and our Creator. Jesus has set us free! Our freedom has been bought with a price. And it is free for all by God’s grace!

On another note. I would like to express my deep appreciation for the Alabama Gazette, and congratulate the Gazette on its 26 Anniversary we are celebrating this October. I appreciate the fact that they encourage and promote free speech across our great state, and I am humbled and honored to write for this great, state-wide newspaper each month!

Happy 26th Anniversary Alabama Gazette!! Keep standing for Freedom as you have done these past 26 years!!

Love God. Live Free. Lead Well.

THE VIEWS OF SUBMITTED EDITORIALS MAY NOT BE THE EXPRESS VIEWS OF THE ALABAMA GAZETTE.