FR OM YO UR H O P E F U L B R OT H ER IN C H R I ST

JAME S A L AN B US H

Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9
October 1, 2016
Timothy Ross #V92842
Pelican Bay State Prison
P.O. Box 7500 B3-225
Crescent City, CA 95532
Dear Brother Ross,
I received your letter concerning your perceived absence of God in your life, and the
faltering of your faith as a consequence, both of which, no doubt, were complicated
by my dilatory response. Please come to know, believe, rely upon and otherwise
accept that, the lateness of my reply notwithstanding, I have neither forgotten you nor
abandoned youand, neither has God.
I take such concerns seriously because anyone who purports to believe that Jesus was
the Christ, the Son of God should never lose hope nor faith nor lose sight of the
eternal future Christ died for them to have. It is the power of God that keeps you alive
in a place like Pelican Bay. I spent a considerable amount of effort authoring this letter
not to ascertain why you would feel abandoned by Godthats obviousbut how to
leverage the Word to alleviate your sorrow and despair. Believe me when I say this: I
suffer with you in spirit, daily. So, Im glad I made the effort.
Following is how you reason that God has not abandoned you, even when you feel
like He has:
Doubt arises. It happens during difficult times, and even to the best of us. In fact, the
last words uttered by Jesus before He died on the Cross expressed His dismay over
the apparent absence of His Father:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46

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He was in such agony in His final hour, it was too difficult for Him to find strength
enough in Gods promise to allay His doubts that He would be raised from the dead:
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Psalm 16:10
Even still, we know that God was indeed with Him during the lowest point in Christs
life:
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
Psalm 22:24
God despises abandonment. The very thought of abandonment is anathema to God,
who, by inference and implication, has promised to punish severely those who
abandon Him in the past:
You have abandoned me and turned your back on me, says the LORD. Therefore, I
will raise my fist to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.
Jeremiah 15:6
Faith is believing God. Like Abraham, we must believe God and rely upon His
promises, even in the absence of assurance other than His Word [Hebrews 11:8;
Galatians 3:6; Romans 4:3]. He declares Himself a promise-keeper, and we must
believe that He is:
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Psalm 89:34
Believing is through Christ. The failure or refusal to believe Gods promises is the
equivalent of denying Christ:
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen,
unto the glory of God by us.
2 Corinthians 1:20
God bought your trust with His Sons blood. Thankfully , we have more than just
Gods Word to tell us that He is with us, and to assure us that He means what He says:
the sacrifice of His only begotten Son.

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
That is a serious, emphatic statement of His commitment to His goal of bringing us to
Him, and is the most earnest plea for our trust that could ever be made. To believe in
Jesus is to believe God; doing so demonstrates the proper valuation of Christs blood.
Salvation depends on belief. To appropriate the free gift of salvation by and through
Jesus blood, we must first believe that Jesus died to instill a permanent, binding trust
between us and God, as well as a fellowship with Him, and that this was Gods
intention. If you want to be saved, you must believe this about Christs sacrifice:
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh
made by hands;

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That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope,
and without God in the world:
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in
ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby:
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:11-22
Jesus is with you. Jesus promised his disciples that He would be with them no matter
where they went, and also forever:
Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28:20
That role was Gods intention for Jesus, having reflected that intention in the name
God chose for Him:
And thou shalt call his nameEmmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Matthew 1:21, 23

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The Word is our assurance of fellowship. The fact that God is with us is not just
spelled out in Word and deed (the sacrifice), but also pervades nearly every message
in the Bible.
For example: We know the Devil never takes a day off; we are tempted by Him even in
our sleep. So, if we believe Gods Word by such a sincere demonstration as that of His
Sons sacrifice, we know that neither does God take time off. How else could He ward
off the continual and constant wares of the Devil if He didnt respond with at least
equal fortitude?
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that [which] ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
Feeling alone serves Gods purpose for you. Gods undoubtedly has a purpose for
such times when the uncertainty of His presence challenges your convictions and
beliefs; and, although, we may not be able to readily determine or ascertain His
purpose, we know that whatever it may be, it is always good:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
Romans 8:28
The mind of God is a loving one:
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace,
and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11
In his mind, are loving thoughts for and about youall day, all night:
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still
with thee.
Psalm 139:17-18
How a believer should feel. That should be clear to those who call Jesus their Savior,
and by clear, I mean that you should feel the way David felt when He wrote:
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
thou understandest my thought afar off.

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Thou compassest my path and my lying down,

and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue,
but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before,
and laid thine hand upon me.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;
but the night shineth as the day:
the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
For thou hast possessed my reins:
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
My substance was not hid from thee,
when I was made in secret,
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:2-5, 7-13, 15-16
I hope my next letter will be more timely, even though there appears to be no
apparent end to a life that has become unusually difficult, which became much more

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so as I began writing letters to fellow-Christian inmates (and two other, similar things
that advance the cause of Christ). Regardless, dont lose confidence in Christ; it is His
will that believers support one another, and it is my will, also. I am confident that, in
spite of my circumstances, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me
[Philippians 4:13], and, for by [God] I can run through a troop, and by my God I can
leap over a wall [Psalm 18:29].
That being said, I will write you sooner in the future. Please pray on my behalf to that
end. Also, write me to let me know how you are doing; and, also, what your prospects
are for assembling and leading your own group of individuals who want to make a
commitment to Christ, the materials and guidance for which I will gladly provide you.

Yours in Christ,

James Alan Bush

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