Andrew Williams…

15-Year-Old Fatal Accident   1-23-2009

Testimonial of Ivory Jones “Momo”

Written on 2-17-2024.

Accused of felony murder and robbery with a firearm at the age of 15.  With God’s hand on my life, even with a lot of transgressions on my hands, I was certain to be delivered from the first.

Starting with the County Jail booking process, a medical assessment being a part of that experience, coupled with waiting first on a medical assessment, and then waiting on the results of that medical assessment. In addition, all this occurred at the same time I was on a segregated lock down. This was due to the nature of my crime, which required solitary confinement for a 60-day period.

Eventually, I was removed from my cell by two nurses who informed me if I didn’t consent to a tech shot and what seemed to be 4 huge antibiotic pills, that in as little as 4 months, it would be impossible to eliminate the STD I was carrying.  So, I consented, and God delivered me from that disease.

I came to the sad conclusion that while preparing for my defense, I would not receive family support.  My mother said these exact words… “I wash my hands; the people got you now.”

Although a few weeks later, the only eyewitness against me was discredited. Yet my public defender continued to pressure me to plead guilty to the charges.  For obvious reasons that didn’t _{appear like good advice to me, I declined to do so. If the only eyewitness against me was} discredited as a reliable witness, why would I plead guilty? It simply didn’t seem right to me.

When I returned to the Juvenile floor, I shared what I had learned about the witness. We attempted to shape my defense for a better outcome, and not accept the 35-year sentence that had been offered. Our first effort was to fire the public defender, which to my dismay I learned was not possible.  He came in a week later with my request in his hand and in my presence wadded the request up and threw it into the trash. He stated that he was court-appointed, and he could not be fired.

He also confessed that he had already been in a 2-year long court battle on another murder case and again told me I needed to plead guilty to the 35-year term that was being offered.  I once again rejected the offer, and he pushed so hard I lost my temper and motioned for the Officer to remove me from the room.

A month passed and feeling defeated, I felt I had no option but to accept the 35-year offer, as I feared ending up with a (LWOP) which means life without parole. Immediately after agreeing to the plea arrangement, I was transported to a prison A&R reception center. Upon arrival my case manager informed me it was illegal for me to be there, and as I was using my REC-Time for a shower, she arranged for me to be the only inmate on the day room floor, which made the other inmates furious.

Normally once a person arrives at A&R it takes 30 days for O.C. to find a facility in which the new inmate will serve his time.  However, in my case it only took 3 days, and I was shipped out.

At my first yard, my first cell mate was a 42-year-old man, and I was still only 15. While I was settling in, he apparently informed his wife that they moved a 15-year-old in with him.  She then proceeded to call the facility saying it was illegal for us to be cell mates, and if I were to get hurt, she didn’t want her husband to receive any of the blame or responsibility.  So, I was made to report to the warden who warned me I was being closely observed because he felt uneasy about me being sent to his prison. Most likely he had the same fear as the wife of my cell mate, that he would be held responsible for any harm that might come to me.

And this was my introduction to prison life.

About a month later the administration informed me that I would soon be faced with a decision.  I would need to decide on whether or not I would give my testimony to some 17 – 18 year olds in the “scared straight program” aimed at high school students and would take place in the Chapel. This led to the yard being shut down during this time for a youth program based out of the chapel in which I was to be host. This program was based on my testimony and Gospel Rap revelation by Pastor Darren Elliot who was exalted in the church shortly after I named this program “God First.”

I would like to restate the conditions when I first entered into the prison system, and was only a freshman in High School. However, H.B.O. had created a new project titled “A Special Education & Incarceration Prison Project” to which I was a main and youngest subject in this documentary being aired across America in this series of edifying the Gospel by displaying my rap skills as part of my prison lifestyle.

As is the case with many young people who find themselves in this situation, without a support group, and not fully trusting in the Lord yet, I was struggling, and fell into following older familiar gang members. I picked up their habits and ways to survive. It led me to drug abuse, at first, just marijuana for a long time, until one day I tried “K2” a harder substance, along with a few other activities such as finesse and manipulation which goes hand in glove with practicing sorcery, fueled by gaining influence with gang leaders and facilitating drugs around different yards, and sad to say, I became a master at these activities.

And, of course this led to several misconduct charges for possession of drugs & cell phones… somehow throughout, and in spite of all this, I managed to earn my G.E.D. I was able to obtain an Electrical license, learned to type, and Horticulture Management and have maintained a maintenance job for 4 years.  Now I can boast of 7 years clear conduct, by allowing God’s Holy Spirit take me over… I owe my life to Jesus Christ.

…

Taken From: http://www.examiningcalvinism.com/files/Articles/Gnosticism.html

UK Apologetics explains: “Manichaeism has been called the best organized, most consistent, tenacious and dangerous form of Gnosticism. Christianity had to wage a very long and persistent war against this heresy. It was, in a real sense, a rival religion and formed a syncretistic form of ‘Christianity.’ Augustine was much influenced and soon joined this group. Their metaphysical foundation was a radical dualism between good and evil, light and darkness, largely derived from Persian Zoroastrianism. They also upheld a most rigid asceticism which strongly resembled Buddhism. Based on the false presupposition that matter is necessarily and intrinsically evil, the morality of Manes was severely ascetic. The Manichaean’s chief aim was to become entirely unworldly, as in Buddhism. To renounce and destroy all longing for pleasure, especially all pleasures of the flesh, and, eventually, to set a pure inner soul free from all the trappings of matter. It seems without question that these ideals later developed into the monasticism of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.” (How Augustine Became the Father of Not Only Roman Catholicism but also……Evangelicalism!, emphasis mine)

Bob Hill explains: “The Manichaeans stressed rational inquiry over authority. Augustine agreed with this method of ascertaining truth. The Manichaeans disliked the Old Testament because it revealed an angry emotional God. … The Manichaeans believed God could not be mutable and retain his perfection. Augustine accepted this rationalistic philosophy as true and attempted to prove this doctrine with Scripture.” (Calvinism Unmasked, chapter 2)

Bob Hill explains: “Augustine agreed with the Manichaeans that a mutable God was totally unacceptable. In this conflict between the Platonic doctrine of immutability and the literal interpretation of Scriptures, what had to change? Augustine’s answer was that the literal interpretation of Scripture had to change. For Augustine the plain narratives of Scripture had to be reinterpreted by spiritual or allegorical methods to agree with his philosophical presuppositions. The Manichaeans believed the Old Testament revealed a God who was mutable or could repent. Since the Platonists believed that God was immutable this idea of God repenting was a source of ridicule for the Catholic Church. Augustine was so embarrassed by these arguments that he chose to reinterpret Scripture rather than refute the Platonic philosophy.” (Calvinism Unmasked, chapter 2)

Jacob Arminius writes: “All the Danish Churches embrace a doctrine quote opposed to this, as is obvious from the writings of Hemmingius in his treatise on Universal Grace, in which he declares that the contest between him and his adversaries consisted in the determination of these two points: ‘Do the Elect believe?’ or ‘Are believers the true elect?’ He considers ‘those persons who maintain the former position, to hold sentiments agreeable to the doctrine of the Manichees and Stoics; and those who maintain the latter point, are in obvious agreement with Moses and the Prophets, with Christ and his Apostles.’ … The preceding views are, in brief, those I hold respecting this novel doctrine of Predestination.” (Arminius Speaks, p.56, 57, emphasis mine)

Arminius explains: “The charge of holding the Stoic and Manichean doctrine, which is made by some against you, is not made by them with the idea that your opinions entirely agree with that doctrine, but that you agree with it in this, that you say that all things are done necessarily.” (Arminius Speaks, p.206, emphasis mine)

Arminius adds: “Such indeed is the state of the matter in Pelagianism and Manicheism. If any man can enter on a middle way between these two heresies, he will be a true Catholic, neither inflicting injury on Grace as the Pelagians do, nor on Free Will as do the Manichees. Let the refutations be perused which St. Augustine wrote against both these heresies, and it will appear that he makes this very acknowledgement. For this reason it has happened, that, for the sake of confirming their different opinions, St. Augustine’s words, when writing against the Manichees, have been frequently quoted by the Pelagians; and those which he wrote against the Pelagians, have been quoted by the Manichees. This therefore is what I intended to convey, and that my brethren may understand my meaning, I declare openly, ‘that it will be quite as easy a task for me to convict the sentiments of some among them of Manicheism, and even of Stoicism, as they will be really capable of convicting others of Pelagianism, whom they suspect of holding that error.” (Arminius Speaks, pp.363-364, emphasis mine)

John Mason writes concerning Augustine: “He held to a dualistic view of the world even after his conversion (reflecting a popular religion of his times called Manichaeism) and emphasized an on-going battle between light and dark as well as flesh and spirit. This perspective influenced his attitude toward sexuality in such a way that even after people were married intercourse was viewed as ‘evil’ and something to be avoided.” (Calvinism: A Road to Nowhere, p.35, emphasis mine)

One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians explains: “If a man builds his house in a tree, he will defend that tree with his life, even when it is discovered that the tree is diseased, simply because his life’s investment (the house) is in that tree. I am convinced this is what happened to both Augustine and Calvin. Better to build one’s house on solid rock.” (SEA)

By analogy, Augustine’s tree house suffers from the disease of Gnosticism. Ultimately, then, Gnosticism never left the Church. It survived and endured under a different form.

Another member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians explains: “Augustine brought the Trojan horse into the church. Prior to him, everyone in the early church affirmed free will, denied fatalism, viewed all versions of fatalism as non-Christian and pagan thought.” (SEA)

John Calvin confirms that Augustine was accused of having a theology aligned with Stoicism:

John Calvin writes: “Those who want to discredit this doctrine disparage it by comparing it with the Stoic dogma of Fate. The same charge was brought against Augustine. We don’t want to argue about words, but we do not allow the term ‘Fate’, both because it is among those that Paul teaches us to avoid as heathen innovations and also because the obnoxious terms in an attempt to attach stigma to God’s truth.” (The Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Part 4: God’s Providence, Chapter 16, Section 8, emphasis mine)

Calvin writes: “But because the necessity of Stoicism seems to be established by what is said, the dogma is hateful to many who, and Augustine complains that he was frequently charged with it falsely. But it ought now to be regarded as obsolete. It is certainly unworthy of honest and wise men, if only they be properly instructed. The nature of the Stoics’ supposition is known. They weave their fate out of a Gordian complex of causes. In this they involve God Himself, making golden chains, as in the fable, with which to bind Him, so that He becomes subject to inferior causes. The astrologers of today imitate the Stoics, for they hold that an absolute necessity for all things originates from the position of the stars. Let the Stoics have their fate; for us, the free will of God disposes all things. Yet it seems absurd to remove contingency from the world. I omit to mention the distinctions employed in the schools. What I hold is, in my judgment, simple, and needs no force to accommodate it usefully to life. What necessarily happens is what God decrees, and is therefore not exactly or of itself necessary by nature.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp.169-170, emphasis mine)

In other words, it is not nature or the stars that determines the fate of all, but instead, the free will of God, in which God’s decrees are what necessarily causes all things to happen as they do. Thus, the difference between Stoicism and Calvinism is Naturalistic Fatalism vs. Theistic Fatalism. Yet, it is still a form of Determinism.

William Barclay explains: “Gnosticism was obviously highly speculative, and it was therefore intensely intellectual snobbish. It believed that all this intellectual speculation was quite beyond the mental grasp of ordinary people and was for a chosen few, the elite of the Church. So Timothy is warned against ‘godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.’ (1 Timothy 6:20) He is warned against a religion of speculative questions instead of humble faith. (1 Timothy 1:4) He is warned against the man who is proud of his intellect but really knows nothing and dotes about questions and strifes of words. (1 Timothy 6:4) He is told to shun godless chatter, ‘for they can produce only ungodliness.’ (2 Timothy 2:16) He is told to avoid ‘stupid, senseless controversies’ which in the end can only engender strife. (2 Timothy 2: 23) Further, the Pastoral Epistles go out of their way to stress the fact that this idea of an intellectual aristocracy is quite wrong, for God’s love is universal. God wants all men to be saved and all men to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4) God is the Saviour of all men, especially those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10) The Christian Church would have nothing to do with any kind of faith which was founded on intellectual speculation and set up an arrogant intellectual aristocracy.”

It would almost seem as though Barclay was referring to Calvinism, as the aformentioned seems to fit Calvinism perfectly!

Here is a link to a Blog post on this subject.

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Question: What is Gnosticism?

Answer: A cult from the early Church period, with certain derivations. One branch of particular interest is Manichaeism, because Augustine was originally a Manichean Gnostic for nearly a decade before converting to Roman Catholicism. Gnostics denied Free Will, and affirmed Total Depravity, Original Sin and Determinism. They also used the word “elect” to denote the teachers, in contrast to the “hearers.” Later, after conversion, the former Gnostic, Augustine, coincidentally “discovered” a hearty Determinism in Scripture. Augustine was very careful not to quote or cite any particular Gnostic, and no quote from any early Church father was ever used in support of his newly discovered Determinism. Gnostic writings are no longer extant, and much of what is known of the battle over Free Will, comes primarily from the early Church fathers, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, who in opposition to the Gnostics, staunchly defended Free Will, even citing such passages as Matthew 23:37 in support. Ultimately, the early Church was a very strong advocate of Free Will, that is, until the 300’s, when the former Gnostic convert, Augustine, arrived on the scene. Naturally, Calvinism is frequently accused of being the enduring remnant and legacy of Gnosticism, and just as Gnosticism was identified by knowledge (Greek: gnosis), Calvinists of today are identified as Reformed.
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Let’s take another look at the impossibility of evolution through the perfect language of mathematics.
We have already covered a number of mathematical facts that dispute evolution, but let’s really attack it today, by using simple math.
This is going to sound rude, often the plain truth, offered directly without apology is rude sounding in this society where political correctness is the order of the day regardless of the truth.
I would like to remind you these lessons are for you… the Christian, and possibly the agnostic, and on extremely rare occasions the atheist who might have an open mind and be willing to consider the truth of creation. The fact is the atheist has a closed mind, they will offer up any argument they can, regardless of truth or reason. The very fact they claim to be an atheist is proof of this, remember what scripture says; anyone who says “there is no God is a fool’ We also see it demonstrated by practicing atheist who claims a Christian background. By “practicing” I mean those who support any law that goes above “Gods Law” such as condoning sexual deviation claiming it to be natural, something a person is born with, or the murder of the most innocent lives… the unborn child.
Enough of that, you get the point. Now for a second point, I once worked for a sales manager who likes to compare sales tools as bullets in his gun belt. Each point that refutes evolution is like another bullet in our gun belt of Christian defenses… the more we know from various sources and avenues, the stronger our belief becomes.
The goal is simple, to know the word of God, knowing we live by every word that proceeds from His mouth, not by any extra words we choose to add, or by any we decide doesn’t count, or has a different meaning. To know the true word of God is found in the Holy Scriptures we refer to as the “Bible”, not any other so-called “Holy Book”. And to know beyond a shadow of a doubt through Christian Apologetics that it is all true, and the “outside” evidence supporting the truth of the Biblical teachings, and claims is true beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Read Full Article

The Cosmos… Does it prove the universe just happened by a big explosion billions of years ago, where one single cell or molecule exploded and miraculously created the entire cosmos? Does that make any kind of logical sense to you? Or more like non-sense? It reminds me of the old joke that someone blew up a salvage yard and when the dust cleared a Boeing 727 had been created… perfect, and ready to board for a flight. Well, regardless of what you think, or feel modern science  expects us to honor and believe anything they might offer, regardless of how little  sense it makes… we are to believe whatever we might say. In this lesson we are going to look at “other” facts… facts that may not support their version of creation… well, I guess they don’t believe in creation but just a good roll of the dice.

Go to the complete Study on the Cosmos by Clicking here

The Human Body… creation of God in His image, or just a lucky break through the slow process of evolution? We are the creation of a loving God. In this lesson and videos we are going to show through mathematics that evolution is not only impossible, but laughable. What is strange is the number of people who are buying into this, and even more incredible the number of teachers who actually teach evolution as a fact to innocent minds, knowing full well or should know all the facts, that it is all a lie.

https://theparkprisonministry.org/evolution-science-or-fake-science/

Evolution: Science? or Fake Science?