David Miller (11) (1952–)

I'm not sure what to make of this book. It tells the story of Bellavista prison in Colombia which was apparently transformed by God through an ex-prisoner within the space of a few months (years?) The story is quite disjointed as it includes testimonies from various people, these have been inserted into the narrative and sometimes I found it difficult to navigate these and to remember where I was in the actual story.

The author relates that at the start of the ministry there were several murders each day inside the prison walls and that the inmates had been playing football with a severed head....there were a lot of details of this nature that I felt were too graphic in places although I don't think the author was attempting to glorify sin. I think his goal was to depict how dramatic the transformation was in light of the original situation.

Despite this I found the details hard to believe. Details of mass sweeping conversions from the outset of the evangelist's ministry seem unlikely (although of course possible) in an environment of fear and daily homicides. Surely it would have taken time to build trust and relationships sufficient to even share the Gospel and to conduct effective follow up. The converts themselves were leading ministries shortly after their conversions. I guess the author believes there was a revival but I wonder if it was more a case of Easy Believism/Decisionism....the author frequently refers to a form of the "Sinners prayer" which seemed to be prayed with numerous people throughout the book.
It seems that everyone that was approached "accepted Christ" but there is little detail about what happened afterwards and this book is now pretty outdated. I hope these conversions were genuine and that lives were really changed.

I carried out some research and was unable to find supporting evidence for the stories told in the book but I believe this is due to the age rather than anything else. I did find a secular account of Bellavista prison which tells quite a different story of the reason for the sudden changes in the prison that doesn't have a lot to do with God. But obviously non-believers will always be keen to play down any true work of God so this doesn't necessarily help. I was pleased to read that one of the main evangelists involved in the story is still working in the prison but she now serves with OMS. Sadly the original evangelist it seems fell into sin and was removed from his position both as Pastor and with Prison Fellowship.

I wouldn't recommend this due to the graphic violence, the difficulty in following the story and the fact that it is now pretty outdated. Also, because it seems to be impossible to corroborate the events that are detailed in the book. The book is clean in terms of language.

Some readers of this review may question my critique. I prefer to look at it as an attempt to discern whether dramatic testimonies like this are really works of God or whether they are of the flesh due to surface emotions or something more sinister. As Christians we are told to "test the Spirits" and to "search the Scriptures." I believe we should do more of this and not just blindly accept everything 'good' that seems to happen in the name of Jesus especially when it doesn't accord with Scripture. We need to remember that the Enemy can counterfeit signs and wonders and that he also appears as an 'angel of light,' if only to confuse people. Some of these types of stories have later been found to be false; 'Taming the Tiger' by Tony Anthony is an example and this seriously damages the Christian witness in the eyes of non-believers. Therefore we must examine these stories for authenticity as well as trusting that God is more than able to bring about these supernatural events as He wills.… (meer)