The Gomez Blog

I’ve been a Grisham fan for a long time.  I think I’ve probably read all of his novels.  They’re all very much alike but I still enjoy them.  I’ve heard rumors that he’s a believer, a Southern Baptist I think.  His books will occasionally deal with spiritual issues, like the missionary in The Testament.  I just got a hold of his latest book, The Associate, and, while it has some objectionable elements that won’t allow me to recommend it wholeheartedly, it did have a pretty clear gospel message.  Consider the following passage:

Manny is a pastor and former addict who is counseling Baxter, an addict who has just left rehab and is in Manny’s halfway house.  Manny is the first speaker.

“. . . My life was all about myself, much like yours.  I loved the bad things, just like you.  Pleasure, selfishness, pride–that was my life, and it’s been yours, I suppose.”

“Oh, yes.”

“It’s all sin, and it all leads to the same end–misery, pain, destruction, ruin, then death.  That’s where you’re headed, son, and you’re in a hurry to get there.”

Baxter nodded slightly.  “So what happened?”

“I got lucky and lived, and not long afterward I met an inmate, a career criminal who would never be eligible for parole, and he was the gentlest, sweetest, happiest person I’d every talked to.  Had no worries, every day was beautiful, life was grand, and this from a man who’d spent fifteen years in max security.  Through a prison ministry, he’d been exposed to the gospel of Christ, and he became a believer.  He said he was praying for me, as he prayed for a lot of the bad guys in prison.  He invited me to a Bible study one night, and I listened to other inmates tell their stories and praise God for His forgiveness and love and strength and promise of eternal salvation.  Imagine, a bunch of hardened criminals locked away in a rotten prison singing songs of praise to the Lord.  Pretty powerful stuff, and I needed some of it.  I needed forgiveness, because there were lots of sins in my past.  I needed peace, because I’d been at war my entire life.  I needed love, because I hated everybody.  I needed strength, because deep inside I knew how weak I was.  I needed happiness, because I’d been miserable for so long.  So we prayed together, me and those bad boys who were like little lambs, and I confessed to God that I was a sinner, and that I wanted salvation through Jesus Christ.  My life changed in an instant, Baxter, a change so overwhelming I still can’t believe it.  The Holy Spirit entered my soul, and the old Manny Lucera died.  A new one was born, one whose past was forgiven and his eternity secured.”