Joe Warnock, incarcerated in Indiana

Dear brother Mayberry [editor of Truth Magazine],

It’s my honor and privilege to write a letter of testimony on how God totally changed and transformed my life, and how I went from a life that was in complete ruin and despair to a whole new purpose and life in Christ that offers tremendous hope. I trust that telling my story may help encourage someone else and keep him from bad choices and the life of sin and ungodliness that I lived prior to surrendering my life to Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, I am incarcerated in prison for a very long time and deservedly so, for the grievous crime of murder that I committed against my wife in June of 2009. It was the culmination of a life of sin that I previously lived. Due to my sins and bad choices, I committed the ultimate expression of anger, which landed me in prison.

I am so very sorry and remorseful for what I did. As I look back and reflect, I can see the error of my ways in going back many years to when I started college. I was raised in a Christian home and always went to church, but as I got out on my own, I started hanging out with ungodly people and using alcohol and drugs. Drinking and doing drugs most definitely were negative influences in my life, and I deeply regret the bad choices that I made in partaking of these dangerous things. I hung around unbelievers; there was always ungodliness and sin running rampant around us. I was able to hide my private life to most because I had a good paying job, two daughters, and was married. Although I was in and out of rehab five times, I was never able to maintain any long-term sobriety. I never made a clean break from the negative and sinful influences in my life.

Looking back, I now see the error of my way and the errors in my judgment, especially regarding the ungodly people with whom I associated. I was living a life of fleshly desires and sin. I should have known better. I was raised better, coming from a Christian home. Inevitably, living a life of ungodliness and sin led me down the road of destruction. I am now facing the consequences of my former life by having to live and survive in a maximum security prison. In hindsight, I could have easily died in my sins prior to coming to prison. At the time, I was in no spiritual condition to meet God. It was not until experiencing the consequences of being in prison that I finally humbled myself and returned to the Lord.

When I arrived here in prison, I finally hit bottom, realizing what my life had become, and understanding how I was lost. Yet, when I was at my worst, God was at His best. I started attending church here, and I was “re-baptized” after repenting of my past sins. I jumped in with both feet, so to speak, in obeying the gospel, and God started working mightily in my life. I suddenly felt like I had hope again, and that there was an ultimate purpose for me. It became my goal and desire to make my life count, albeit in an ungodly and unpleasant environment. Seeking God became the defining passion of my life. I have a better understanding of who Jesus, the Son of God, really is, and why we all need Him. Suddenly, I realized that the purpose and meaning of life is to praise and glorify God, to live for Him, and to do His will according to His word.

I have to say with all my heart that God has completely and totally changed and transformed my life, purpose, meaning, etc. He has opened many doors of opportunity to preach, evangelize, and minister to the lost. I have been able to grow so much spiritually. I try to let my light shine in a dark place. I have put all of my faith, hope and trust in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My faith in Him means more than anything in the world. Although I’m physically confined, my heart, mind, and soul have been set free. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). All praise, glory and honor to God the Father in Jesus’ name.