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My Criminal Past

by Greg Williamson (c) 2008

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"And Christ did die for all of us. He died so we would no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died and was raised to life for us. We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be, though we once judged Christ in that way. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new."

-- 2 Corinthians 5:15-17, Contemporary English Version

By the Grace of God

In June 1986 I was arrested on two counts of armed-robbery ("robbery with a dangerous weapon"), and eventually sentenced to seventeen years in prison. By October 1987 I had reached the end of my rope, and I cried out to God for the help and hope only he can provide. I asked God to forgive my sins and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. From that moment forward I really and truly have been "a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new."

I served a little more than three and a half more years (for a total of five years in prison) as a model inmate. I studied the Bible in earnest, eventually completing several correspondence courses from Moody Bible Institute. My last year of incarceration was spent working on the inmate staff of the Governor's Executive Mansion. The governor commuted my sentence, I was given one year of supervised parole, and then things really got good with a wife, a college degree, and two children. (You can click HERE to read my full Christian testimony.)

A Daily Walk

Of course the road has not been without some rough spots. Besides the normal concerns of everyday life, I have discovered that my criminal past will always be an additional load I am forced to carry. I always have been, and always will be, completely honest about my past. However, my past criminal actions have kept me from getting some jobs, and it was the reason given for one termination (although there was actually quite a bit more to it).

I have discovered that no matter how crazy things may get, I will do fine so long as I keep my priorities straight: 1) faith, 2) family, 3) friends, and 4) fun. Regarding my number one priority (= my Christian faith), I need to stay focused on the basics of prayer, Bible study, and fellowship.

In Good Company

Despite the overwhelming evidence that I am not the same person who committed those crimes some twenty-two years ago, I know there will always be people who hold my past against me. But besides the fact that I count God's forgiveness of infinitely grater value than man's approval, at least I am in good company:

• The first human pair were also the first criminals. Adam and Eve broke the one law in existence at that time by eating of the forbidden fruit. As a result, the human race has experienced incalculable pain and suffering ever since. Despite Eve's criminal actions, God chose her to be the mother of us all and the one through whom would come God's Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

• Moses was a major law-breaker. He actually killed an Egyptian guard, buried the evidence, and then fled the country. After a life-changing encounter with God, he was used of God to: confront the most powerful ruler of the day; free an entire nation from slavery; and establish the Old Testament law code which is the basis for our modern laws.

• David, the only man in the Bible to be called "a man after God's own heart," committed adultery, had his lover's spouse killed, and then married her. Although God demanded the life of the child conceived in adultery, he also went on to bless David and Bathsheba with a son who would grow up to be the wisest man ever to have lived -- Solomon.

• Jesus Christ was condemned by the Roman government as an insurrectionist and made to suffer a brutal and agonizing public execution. In the greatest possible instance of bringing good out of bad, God used Jesus' foreordained death to bring salvation to the human race.

All of this is not some sort of elaborate attempt to justify my criminal actions. What I did more than twenty years ago was indeed a very serious crime for which I deserved the punishment I received. My point is that God can and does change people. In my own case, Jesus Christ took a convicted felon and made him into, among other things, a law-abiding, productive member of society.

Take It From Me

For the many people -- some young and some not so young -- tempted to pursue a life of crime, take it from me: Crime does not pay! Even a single conviction can dog you for the rest of your life. Instead, do what I did before I did it: Accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior before prison. 

To everyone else -- both nonbelievers and Christians alike -- tempted to hold a person's past against him/her, I would say: Consider that person's life today. Most importantly, remember God's mercy upon your own life -- and then go and do likewise.