There are 500 prisoners in 15 different Cuban prisons who are studying the Bible and holding church services
There are 500 prisoners in 15 different Cuban prisons who are studying the Bible and holding church services, according to Seventh-day Adventist Church sources in Havana.
“We are a church that lives in the present and has a message about a great future,” says Jose Antonio Ramirez, who is passionate about the emerging prison ministry throughout the island country.
Though the ministry to reach prisoners is only about three years old, the Adventist witness in Cuban prisons already offers tangible results in reaching the prison population for Christ. “It was in 1998. I was in prison. My life was in deep crisis. My family abandoned me; the society shut me out; and then, I remember, brother Felix comes to me and says, ‘Julio, Jesus has an answer for you. He is your Savior, and He loves you.’ These were his first words to me,” recalls Julio Medina Gato. “No one ever spoke to me like this before. How can He love me, I asked, when He does not know me. Everyone has left me, how can He love me?”
Julio Gato is 32 years old and has just left the Alamar prison where he served 10 years. He was baptized on Wednesday, November 29, at the Vibora church in Havana. He represents the first fruit of a Christian witnessing program sponsored by several local Havana churches.
“My life is changed now because of a small Christian book, ‘Christ is the Solution’ by Alejandro Bullon. Can you imagine a small book with so much power?” Gato asks.
“This little book with amazing content came to me when God was completely out of my life. I will be indebted to my church forever,” he adds.
“Christ is the Solution” has become one of the most popular Christian books in Cuba in recent years. Printed on the antiquated presses of the Cuban Adventist Church, it has seen several editions and became an extension of the missionary presence of the growing Adventist Church in Cuba. “It’s size may be small, but the message it contains is powerful,” says Ken Weiss, vice president of Maranatha Volunteers International, a supporting ministry of the Adventist Church based in Sacramento, California, USA. During the past six years, Maranatha has assisted the Cuban believers with church building and renovation and scores of missionary programs. “Adventists in Cuba did not keep the book to themselves. It soon found its way into the country’s prisons.”
It was not easy to get the book into the penal institutions, however. “When we managed to bring it inside the prison to my husband, who was serving a term there, we did it chapter by chapter. Later we got copies inside the bars,” recalls Adelaine Echarte. “God was with us all the way and helped us every time.”
Gato recalls that the book made its rounds throughout the prison where he was incarcerated, but not without difficulty. “We had to fight to get to read it. Just about. Everyone wanted to read it. Now, everyone has read it,” he smiles as he recalls his days behind bars. “When the guards came, we hid the book inside our shirts and trousers.” Gato is quick to add that every inmate in the prison read the book.
During the past two years, church services have been allowed to be conducted inside prisons. “But when it attracted a large group of prisoners, the authorities separated them to different sectors of the prison. This only resulted in several separate worship services and Bible studies,” Mrs. Echarte explains.
“All of this was possible because we all got involved, my entire church. We began by sharing the literature with the prisoners, but also we reached out to the families of prisoners,” she continues. Many of those families are now active in this latest of the outreach programs sponsored by the local Adventist congregations in Cuba.
“I have a different vision now. I want to do the same what others did to me. I want to be a missionary to the prisoners,” Gato concludes.