Every Sunday I’d adjust the antenna on my analog TV, trying to get the channels to come in clearly. The reinforced block walls were not helpful, nor the bulletproof glass in my window, but I was desperate for some guidance. I was on my fifth or sixth study program and the contradictions were adding up. I needed the professionals to help me sort it all out.
The Adventists seemed to be onto something with the Sabbath thing. The first book of theirs really had me going, at least until the second half. Sometimes you don’t see the crazy right off. I can’t find 1844 in my Bible –– another dead end. The Baptists have immersion down but this stuff about grace … hmmm. God just looks the other way? Like a Baptist in the liquor store? I grew up here, I know where this goes.
Pentecostals … they have been helpful to me. This last Passover the Captain and his dad did a foot washing with me. His wife even baked us some unleavened bread. But his church does it every month or quarter, can’t remember why. Was that really what Christ had in mind? At least they seem to be having a good time on TV. The music is pretty cool.
Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelicals… God is still looking the other way. Why can’t I get an answer? They can’t all be wrong. Why didn’t I look at this sooner? All those years in Sunday school, what was I doing there? How is it that I walked around with this book for so many years and didn’t read it? How did I let these people sell me this nonsense?
Maybe I’ll get some clarification this week. Let’s see what the Sunday-morning preachers have to say. Oh, here is someone new. He’s in a suit; I guess he’s a preacher.
“When Jesus Christ returns to this earth, He will execute the death penalty on all those who oppose Him.” Whoa! Who is this guy? I don’t know much, but I know Jesus loves everybody. I can’t believe they let this guy on TV! What happened to “turn the other cheek?” I know God doesn’t ignore sin, but killing folks … the “death penalty?” This must be one of those “fire and brimstone” guys. I’ve got some time before chow; I’ll write this stuff down and send him a strongly-worded letter.
That was weird. He didn’t yell at me the entire show, never said anything about going to hell. Well, he did say Jesus was going to execute people, that can’t be right. I’m looking for help here, not another executioner. Let’s look at this stuff I wrote down … Revelation, Daniel, Matthew, Romans … the wages of sin is death (long sigh). This can’t be right. Has to be a metaphor or something.
That was over 24 years ago, when I first encountered Garner Ted Armstrong from the back cell in a Maximum Security Unit of a county jail. I had been seeking God desperately, but I couldn’t find Him in the Bible study courses or the television programs that claim to teach in His name … but He kept speaking to me from the pages of a book I hadn’t opened since my childhood. It was enough for me to see clearly truth from fiction, even if not at first glance.
Around this same time, God sent me a stack of publications from another organization that shared the common history … a history I knew nothing about. The first publication was less confrontational initially, but had the same confirming effect: There were people besides myself who believed what the Bible actually says, not some fairy tale that allows men to continue in debauchery while believing they are “saved.”
And debauchery (in part) is what got me a 48-year prison sentence. But God saves, in some of the most fantastic ways. I had been watching religious television for months, but that show had never come in before. I would have never responded to it the way I did, if it had. That stack of magazines from United was not even mailed to me, but they ended up in my cell, nonetheless.
I did eventually write to Garner Ted, after I realized I couldn’t disprove what he was saying. He responded to those few letters before his passing in 2003. That was the beginning of my journey, which lasted a total of 18 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections. It’s been seven years since that metal gate closed behind me, but what happened on the other side of it will always be with me.
Mrs. Melody Armstrong picked up the communications after that, along with correspondence departments of other COGs. God’s direction was reinforced day after day, and the printed materials gave me a means to test the truth on other prisoners. At first, I was amazed at how so few could understand what seemed so plain to me. But conversations were sparked and eyes were opened along the way.
By the time I reached the penitentiary in 2005, God began to open up other avenues to reach those around me. A print publication of my own (through the prison’s newspaper program) was soon spreading contact information for God’s Church to prisons all over the state of Tennessee, eventually by email to my Dad’s contacts and wherever I could afford to mail it. And COG magazines and booklets were spread throughout the prisons where I was housed.
Through the chaplain at Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX), weekly ICG sermons were aired on the closed-circuit station at the prison (I had to time them right, however, as the Muslims seemed to bristle at Mr. Mark Armstrong’s commentary … though I can’t imagine why). My nine years at MCCX saw daily COG content being aired, a weekly DVD Sabbath service conducted, a weekly COG Bible Study, lectures taught every month or so, and Holy Day observances held annually. God did a Work behind bars that is just now coming to light in the “free world,” to coin an old expression.
Covenant Concepts was born 19 years to the day of my arrest and one year after the parole board set me free. Of course, I was free before that, it just took them a while to realize it. God got ahold of me quickly when my former life tried to take me out. He conditioned me for almost 5 years in a solitary cell, 23 hours a day. GTA once said that folks in prison had time the “two-martini lunch crowd” didn’t, to contemplate the deep things of God. My Father made sure I was paying attention.
He combined His Word with continued help from His ministry and unrestricted access to state education departments at two different facilities, to ensure that people within the prison had access to the true Gospel of His soon-coming Kingdom. Following the example He laid out for me all those years ago, Covenant Concepts is designed to do the same.
Our initial contact with each prisoner earns them a free self-help book, a free educational book, and contact information for God’s true Church. Our self-help book, Finding the Fundamentals, is based on a lecture series I taught while I was sitting right where they are. The lectures were based on HWA’s Seven Laws of Success, and each book has contact information in the back for several of God’s Church organizations, including ICG. You see, Covenant Concepts isn’t a ministry in itself; it is a bridge between prisoners and the One True Church. Once the Elect have found home, they don’t need us anymore.
But as we know, not everyone is called. So our organization continues to help prisoners rehabilitate, regardless of their spiritual condition. Free educational books are sent once every six months to our 260-plus clients who request them, alongside a free COG publication, like the one you hold in your hand.
You see, God let me go for 30 years before He struck me down, placed me in a concrete box with bulletproof glass, and put GTA on my analog television. He is not a respecter of persons. His timing is always perfect, and He has a preference for the base things of this world, like me. My reception is now crystal-clear.
If you share in God’s mindset, if you are a baptized member of His Church, then join the Church of God Prison Outreach group on Facebook today, or visit our website at covenantconcepts.org to see how God is working with those who need His broadcast the most.
Garry W. Johnson is the founder and current president of Covenant Concepts, a 501c3 Church of God prison outreach. You can find him and his organization on most social media platforms and YouTube.
Email: garry.johnson@covenantconcepts.org
Office: (423) 408-8192
Write: PO Box 12, Eidson, TN 37731
