In a cold dank prison cell lay a pastor who was bleeding, bruised, and torture-weary. It was a cell reserved for the dying.There were others in the "death cell", prisoners beaten and suffering, preparing to die. Iseu, the pastor, though his strength was gone, spoke to the others about the beauties of heaven and the love of Jesus. His body was still on earth, but mentally he was already in heaven.
One of the prisoners was the Communist who had tortured Iseu to this point of death. The government had arrested their own comrade and tortured him. Now he, too, was near death.
The prisoner who witnessed the following drama described it as a scene from heaven saying,"You need not be in heaven to see heaven."
The despairing Communist awoke in the night and cried out, "Please, pastor, say a prayer for me. I have committed such crimes. I cannot die."
The agonising pastor, leaning on two of the other prisoners for support, slowly made his way to the torturer's side. Iseu caressed his torturer on his head and said," I have forgiven you with all of my heart and i love you. If i, who am only a sinner can love and forgive you, more so can Jesus who is the son of God and who is love incarnate. Return to Him. He longs for you much more than you wish to be forgiven. You just repent."
In the dark cell where hardness and hopelessness were the usual companions, the torturer found the most tender affection and the most unmerited mercy. The torturer confessed all his murders to the tortured one and they prayed together. Then the two suffering men embraced like long lost brothers. The heartless, embittered, tragically lonely hater of Christianity stared straight into the wondrous eyes of love... and melted. And he, too, became a lover of Christ.
It was that very night they both died. In the "death cell" it was death that usually got the last laugh.
But, where there is love, it is Jesus that will surely triumph.
-adapted from "when God writes your love story"
