Don Holt's December 1996 Newsletter

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I can’t describe to you the joy I feel as I sit here writing you this letter. One year ago today I was given a new liver and a new chance to serve Him, to whom I owe it all. I wish there was some way that I could give you a double measure of the peace and joy and gratitude that He has given to me. Many of you prayed diligently for me and He gave us a miracle. I have been restored so that I can serve Him some more in this life and then live forever. Praise the Lamb of God! Thank you for your prayers and support.

Sometimes when I stop and reflect upon this past year I am filled with amazement at all He has done and I can’t help but wonder if you, who prayed, had any idea that things would turn out so neat. May God bless you forever for exercising your faith. Thank you for your faith, your mountain moving faith. That is the kind of faith that Jesus spoke about.

During this holiday season I want to do something a little different than usual. In this issue I am sending a letter to you as a gift. All year long we have worked together as a team. Our focus has been directed at fulfilling the great commision. Part of what I try to do is find certain prisoners who exhibit the heart of Timothy who taught others to teach. This letter represents the attitude that all Christians who are incarcerated should have. He represents true repentence and he has a desire to win lost souls at all costs . Here is that letter:

Men in prison share a similar problem, we tend to go through each day like some long-eared mule, seeing freedom as a big juicy carrot on the end of a department of Corrections stick, forever just out of reach. We groan and moan because our lives are so dull and boring, refusing to admit and accept the debt we owe. When we do come back to God, so many of us expect God to just open the gate and let us go home, but that’s not how it works brothers’.

No matter what we do, no matter how many times we fall on our face, no matter how mean and ornery we become, God has an undying, unquenchable love for us, which can NEVER be taken away from us by any man.

None of us are useless to God, NEVER in our lives have we been useless to God. There is strength in the love of God, and each of us who accepts Christ as our Lord and Savior, on that day, Almighty God will bring forth our abilities to his glory.

When we come back to Almighty God, and obey his Son Jesus Christ, and take him as our Lord and Savior, ALL of our sins are forgiven of God, but we STILL OWE SOCIETY it’s pound of flesh. We stand forgiven by God through the blood of His son, Jesus Christ, but we still owe for our crimes against society, which haven’t been forgiven by man.

Most of you know that I’ve been locked up in prison for the past 30 years, and I don’t even come up for parole consideration until 2005, but I DON’T CARE.

I didn’t get on my knees, and cry out to Almighty God that night in the Prison Chapel, so God would let me out of prison. I cried out to God to forgive me of all that I’ve done in my life, I cried for forgiveness and eternal life, and Almighty God gave me what I asked for. When I walk this prison yard here at Stringtown, Jesus walks with me, and NO GOVERNOR can take away the PARDON that God gave to me.

Brother’s we ALL need to keep our eyes on Jesus, stop looking at the prison gate, and accept the debt we owe. I don’t care if your doing 10 life sentences, if God wants you out of prison, your gone, but don’t for a second believe that God OWES you your worldly freedom. Come back to Almighty God and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, confess your sins and be baptized into Christ, then our Heavenly Father will add you to Christ’s Church.

I may be just a Long-Eared Mule to the Department of Corrections. but to my Heavenly Father, I’m a priceless jewel. Yes more than likely Ole Buddy Fesmire will die an old man in Oklahoma’s Prison System, SO WHAT, for in my Father’s Kingdom, I will live forever.

I will gladly stand and pay my debt to society for the crimes I’ve done, and in my heart I am truly sorry for the hurt I’ve done to my fellow man, but I WILL NOT chase that Ole Carrot anymore, for I’m already free in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That same freedom can also be yours.

TO ALL MY BROTHERS BEHIND THE HIGH WALLS AND BARBED WIRE FENCES, MAY YOU ALL COME TO KNOW THE LOVE AND FORGIVENESS OF ALMIGHTY GOD!!!!! F.W. Fesmire

I thank God for each one of you. Please pray for me that I have a lot of wisdom as I seek to reach into the prisons. Its a tough ministry with a lot of disapointments but if we can teach them the right things and then teach them to transfer it to others we have done our job well. Anything less is just no good at all.

As my ministry grows so does the expenses. I am trusting God to raise additional monthly support and one time investments. I am thankful how god has used each one of you in different ways to meet the needs as they arise. I know that at the end of the year many of you look for opportunities to make charitable contributions. Would you consider giving an end of the year gift?

Thanks again for your prayers and support. Have a wonderful Christ filled Christmas and New Year. Don.