Tuesday, August 4th, 2015
RAPHAEL CONTINUED
I met with Raphael one-on-one three times in the county jail following his salvation and before he was shipped off to a state penitentiary for 11 years. Since the Lord had used me to bring Raphael to Him, I felt obligated to disciple him. In addition, I wanted to make sure the conversion had “stuck.” – that is, that he had a regenerative spirit and not merely an awakened soul. After our first meeting, I knew that his salvation was the real deal.
Even with a severe reading disability, Raphael started plowing through the Bible, starting with the gospel of John and then to Isaiah. I was amazed at the depth of his understanding of what he read of Scripture. It was beyond his education and religious experiences. There was only one answer to it: he was being taught by the Holy Spirit.
In the county jail, he became an evangelist to non-Christians and an encourager to fellow believers. Everyone listened to him because they could see he was on fire for the Lord and wanted to catch what he had.
Now he is in the state penitentiary, and I’ll tell you the rest of the story in Friday’s post.