1971  John Wayne Gacy or Manson?

Believe it or not- I have stories about both of these villains!

Okay- today we’ll do Manson.

The other day we brought a new guy into the halfway house.

When I first saw Bret he was bad- I never saw someone with withdrawals so bad.

We talked for about an hour- he told me some of his story and I told him I’ll post about it.

Bret is my age- 50- he has hitched all over the country and has been to the local AA meetings on and off.

The other day David saw him at one of the meetings and saw how bad he was doing.

He volunteered to go thru the halfway house.

As I talked with him I told him a story from the bible- I have found this one example to be helpful with a few other people who have tried the 12 step programs before.

There seems to be a real sense of hopelessness when the guys [or girls] mess up- especially after being clean for a while.

So- the story is in the gospel of John.

Jesus is with his men at the meal- and he begins to wash their feet- an act of true leadership- being a servant.

When he gets to Peter- Peter says ‘no Lord- I am not worthy for you to do this’.

Jesus says ‘if I wash you not- then you have no part with me’.

Then Peter says ‘okay- then give me a complete bath’.

Jesus says ‘he that is already washed- does not need another whole bath- but just a foot washing- and then he is clean just like before’.

I used this with a couple of people already- right after they fell off ‘the wagon’.

And I told them that Jesus was saying don’t lose all hope- don’t feel like all the ‘clean time’ served no purpose.

He that is washed [had a period of cleansing] does not need to start from scratch- in the sense that he needs another ‘whole bath experience’.

No- he or she simply needs to get a foot washing.

So- I found this helpful in a couple of cases.

Yes- the goal is total sobriety- whether from drugs or alcohol.

The apostle John said ‘these things write I unto you that you sin not- but- if any man sin- we have an advocate with the Father- Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the sacrifice for our sins- and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.’

Okay- let’s get to Manson.

As I talked with Bret- I told him that God has a purpose- even for those who seemed hopeless by the worlds standard.

I told him I started praying for people on death row- because even in those cases God can still do something for his glory.

He agreed and told me when he was in prison in California he was locked up with a couple of the guys from the Manson gang.

One of the guys- Davis- gave him a bible and became a real Christian while in prison.

Bret told me that Davis’ witness to him got him into the bible for the first time.

So yeah- even a Manson disciple has hope.

Jesus will even wash their feet.

NOTE- We visited Bret in the hospital yesterday- he was so bad the Detox clinic could not admit him.

When the ambulance picked him up- we found out later that he almost died that day.

He will be in the hospital for a few days- going thru Detox- then he will move to the halfway house.

You know me with the pictures- I’m sure I’ll be posting pics of Bret soon [on Facebook].

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] - I have posted lots.