Free on the Inside: God's Grace in Unexpected Places

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Why This Book?

Chapter 2: Preparation for Life – 1968 to 1982

Chapter 3: God Moves me to the Next Stage

Chapter 4: Getting into Prison Needs a Miracle

Chapter 5: Visit to Poland in 2009

Chapter 6: Miracles do Happen Nowadays

Chapter 7: When God Apparently Does not Answer

Chapter 8: Publicity

Chapter 9: God Works in Dark Places . . .

Chapter 10: You Don’t Have to be ‘Inside’

Chapter 11: Miracles at the Workplace

Chapter 12: What This all Means for Christians

Appendix A: What is Meant by ‘Conversion’?

Appendix B: The Healing Prayer

Free on the Inside

GOD’S GRACE IN UNEXPECTED PLACES

Copyright 2013 - Martin Tuson

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-62020-111-4

eISBN: 978-1-62020-228-9

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Foreword

This book by Martin Tuson is a fascinating insight into the life of an ordinary man from Northern Ireland whom God has used to do extraordinary things. It speaks of his personal faith in Jesus Christ and tells the story of how Martin became involved in Prison Ministry.

Prisons feature prominently in the New Testament with some of the early Christian Apostles incarcerated for their faith. Likewise, they have featured highly in the life of Martin Tuson. Two of them are in my Lagan Valley constituency, the former Maze Prison and HMP Maghaberry. It was whilst in a light aircraft flown by his father back in 1977 that God made His first move to set Martin apart for this special calling. A ‘near miss’ with another aircraft 2,000 feet above the Maze Prison can only have been a divine intervention, not only saving Martin and his family but symbolically indicating to this boy that prisons would be a big part of his life and he must view them and those within their walls from a heavenly perspective.

When delivering His sermon on the mount, Jesus said this: ‘I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25:36. Giving such prominence to the visitation of prisoners in this exposition of the Christian Gospel demonstrated that Jesus envisaged such activity to be a key element in the ministry of the Christian Church. So it is that Martin Tuson has been obedient to this call upon his life and devoted himself in the pursuit of bringing the message of salvation and a very powerful healing ministry to some of the most reviled people in our society. ‘The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives’.

In his book you will read of the many challenges Martin has faced and, with God’s help, has overcome in his prison ministry. The reader will also share in the moments of triumph, with prisoners putting their faith in Christ or experiencing the power of God’s healing touch. Throughout it all, Martin’s devotion to his Saviour and his absolute faith in Christ shines through as a bright beacon of hope. Hope to those within prison walls for whom it must seem that all hope is lost. Jesus is the source of that hope. 1Thessalonians 1:3.

The Right Honourable Jeffrey Donaldson MP

Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley

Lisburn, Northern Ireland

Introduction

I first heard of Martin Tuson and his prison ministry in 2005 through a friend, John Wilson of Dumfries, who had done 16 prison sentences before a dramatic conversion in 1989 at the age of 28.

What brought us all together was involvement with prison ministry and the setting up of associated websites. As I initially perused the various documents that would be part of the Setfree Prison Ministries Bangor website, I realised that Martin’s view of the New Testament was similar to my own, namely that today’s church ought to resemble the church of Paul’s day. Sadly, many Christians nowadays lack the vitality and power, accompanied by various miracles, that characterised the early church as described in the Book of Acts.

Having personally experienced physical healing from God on a couple of occasions, I firmly believe that the fuller picture of God’s dealings with us, the human race, should be more widely known. Thus I was happy to accept the task of working with Martin to set down a number of examples of how God intervenes with healing of our physical bodies as well as providing for the salvation of our souls. To include all of the documented testimonies to healing that I have seen in Martin’s files would require several books, but, in the spirit of what the apostle John says in John 20 v.30-31, what you will read here is designed to awaken Christians, and those not yet Christians, to what they are missing by neglecting vital aspects of New Testament Christianity.

Robb Alcorn,

April 2013

Mum, Martin, Gregory, Dad

Chapter 1

Why this book?

They say that you only live once, but that, like most one-liners, is one of those statements which, for the sake of impact, leaves out a great deal of important detail. Everyone has a life, but some people experience it as if it were several different existences in succession. Let me explain what that means in my own case.

For me, life began in 1967 – July 8th to be exact – at Barratt Maternity Hospital in Northampton. My parents had moved from Northern Ireland to Northampton some time previously in connection with my father’s business, and when I was eight months old our family moved back to Northern Ireland, which was to be home for all of us in the following years. For the first two years we had to stay with my grandmother in Coleraine (County Londonderry) before moving to a house of our own in Bangor (County Down). It was just at the time when ‘The Troubles’ were about to blight the lives of many innocent people in Northern Ireland.

Then, fifteen years after coming into the world I embarked on another life journey, every bit as significant as the one starting at physical birth. In the Bible this ‘new start’ is referred to as being ‘born again’ or ‘the new birth’. While these terms are frequently misunderstood, misrepresented and misused, the reality of the genuine article is unmistakable to the person involved, and should be undeniable to other people, whether they call themselves Christians or not. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about just now, all will become clear as you read my story, and religion is not part of it.

To avoid misunderstanding . . .

My purpose in writing here about my personal experiences is not to bore you with religion. Religion is really man’s attempts to achieve some sort of peace with God by self-effort or human ideals. However, what you will read here is only one story among many which illustrate the fact that anyone – you – can live a totally fulfilled life, as long as you are willing to submit to God’s requirements, as set out in the Bible.

And please don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s anything complicated or intellectually demanding about what God says to us in His Word, the Bible. No, the problem is not so much about how to worship or obey God; the problem with us humans is our will and how some of us will do anything except face up to realities and admit that we need God to give us the real life He offers. As to how that applied in my case, more of that in Chapter 2.

The universal problem

The Bible states unequivocally that our human nature is fallen, in the sense that by nature we are estranged from God (you can read all about it in the first few chapters of Genesis), and so, to get back to a position where God will even listen to us, there has to be a reconciliation. This is where God’s plan for human salvation comes in. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has been to this earth and experienced life like the rest of us. Then, since we with our sinful nature can’t do anything to earn God’s favour, God Himself has paid the penalty for our sins, by allowing the sinless Jesus Christ to be crucified as the perfect sacrifice (around 32 A.D. on the outskirts of Jerusalem).

. . . and the solution

But to take advantage of God’s mercy, we have to repent – turn away from anything sinful and receive a new life from God. It’s as simple as that, but our human will sometimes needs a lot of persuading to comply with God’s simple requirements. My story just proves the point that we often have to go through difficult times before God can get our attention and start giving us real fulfilment.

Yes, we all live once, but when confronted with the facts, we have to make a conscious decision to allow God to take control if we want the new life He offers. I would like to show in the following pages that