Several years ago I spent time with a young woman who had been part of the Charles Manson gang.  She had been convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to die in the California gas chamber.  Shortly before she was to be executed, her sentence was changed to life in prison.  During that time she received Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.  She subsequently led a number of young women in prison into a salvation experience with Jesus Christ.

When I heard about this, I sought and received permission to visit her in her cell at the California Institution for Women near Chino.  We became good friends during these visits.  On one of these visits she told me how she had received Christ.  The first week after she arrived in prison, she received a Bible through the mail.  She tossed it to one side and didn’t even look at it for more than a year.  But unknown to her, a large number of people were praying for her. She received several letters from strangers, telling her about God’s forgiving love.  Then one day she took the Bible off the shelf in her little cell, brushed the dust off the cover, and settled back to read. Knowing virtually nothing about the Bible (although she had attended Sunday School as a child), she began to read—starting with the first page.

It was tough reading, but she was determined to find out what the Bible was all about.   When she got to the book of Exodus and read the story of the Children of Israel, she became angry. Here was the story of God’s love and provision.  He delivered the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, opened the sea sot they could escape, protected them from harm, and provided water from rocks and manna every morning. Still the people griped and complained.  Why, she asked herself, would anyone who was loved as much as God loved the Israelites refuse that love and respond so selfishly?

She read on through Psalms--- those beautiful love songs by David.  Time after time she had to put the Bible down because tears filled her eyes. All she had ever known from childhood was hate.  That was why she joined the Manson gang and participated in those horrible murders.  Now she was reading about a tender, loving Heavenly Father.  She had never known such love existed.
           
The books by prophets all told her of a Savior—one who would take away her sin and give her power for living.  But they didn’t tell her how to find Him ---- just that He was coming.  In the Gospels she read the life story of Jesus.  He was all she imagined Him to be loving, tender, kind, yet a man of justice and righteousness. It was she hand longed for all her life.  She read on through the book of Acts and saw how those early Christians, full of the Holy Spirit, had gone out and performed the same miracles Jesus performed.  How she longed for the same power in her life.  It wasn’t until she finally reached the last book in the Bible that she discovered how she could be forgiven of her sins and receive power for living.

Reading through the book of Revelation, she came upon the words of Jesus, an invitation she sensed was given just to her.  "I am the One who corrects and disciplines everyone I love. Be diligent and turn from your indifference". (Revelation 3:19)  She paused in her reading, letting the words sink in.  Could it be she was in prison not because she was a murderer, but because God loved her and was waiting for her to repent so He could give her power for living?

She read on.  "Look! Here I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear Me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.  I will invite everyone who is victorious to sit with Me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat with My Father on His throne."   (Revelation 3:20-21).

With tears streaming down her face, she slipped off her cot in her lonely prison cell and knelt on the concrete floor.  The Son of God was knocking at the door of her heart, asking to come in.  Even though she was a murderer, He was waiting for her to repent and ask His forgiveness. She opened the door of her heart and prayed a simple prayer.  "Come in. Lord Jesus, take over my life”.

Susan Atkins is still in prison, but she is a free woman.  She has been set free by the Son of God. She has found new life right where she is --- and she has received power to live that life through Jesus Christ.

The Bible, to Susan Atkins, was more than an ancient book.  It was—and is—the Book of Life.