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The Does God Exist? ministry received a letter illustrating the incredible power of forgiveness. Roy Willmon from Texas wrote that since the 1990s, John Clayton and this ministry have had “an enormous influence” on his family's life. After reading John's article “Life Is Hard, But There Is Hope” in our fourth quarter 2024 issue, he wanted to affirm that truth by sharing a story of how forgiveness can transform lives.
Mr. Willmon's daughter, Carla, was a student at Harding University when she was murdered years ago. After 20 years, the Willmons wrote letters to the two prisoners serving life sentences. The letters conveyed forgiveness and included an offer to study the Bible with them through correspondence. The men, who were in separate prisons, both responded with astonishment and expressed interest in learning more. That Bible study, aided by prison chaplains, led both men to be baptized into Christ ten years ago. Since then, they have shared their faith with other prisoners, resulting in the baptism of 17 inmates so far. Both forgiven prisoners continue to write to Roy Willmon twice a month “with words of praise and thanksgiving” for their new life in Christ Jesus.
One of the prisoners, Mitchell Skinner, is an artist who has sold his artwork to raise money for a scholarship at Harding University in the name of the murdered Carla Willmon. The scholarship is now fully funded, surpassing $50,000. Roy Willmon said, “The show of repentance and gratitude for salvation in Jesus Christ from both men is remarkable.” The extraordinary outcome of this tragedy was only possible because Carla's parents were willing to forgive the men responsible for their daughter's death.
Mitchell Skinner shared his testimony with fellow prisoners, and we want to share that testimony with you.
Mitchell Skinner's Testimony
I've been locked up now for twenty-four years on a life without parole sentence. When I first came down, I was bitter, and I felt like I didn't deserve the sentence I was given because I didn't murder anyone. In fact, I'm the one who came to the police station and told them what I had witnessed, which led to the arrest of my fall partner Patric Patterson. I knew I would receive some prison time for being with Patric, but to be given a sentence equal to his bothered me, and that bitterness changed me into someone that most people didn't like. Heck, I didn't even like myself. I'm sure some of you have felt the same way at some time in your lives. Life isn't fair. It sure wasn't fair for Carla Willmon, the Harding University student who was murdered at the age of twenty-one.
Seven years later, in 2002, my only brother was murdered. Now I knew firsthand the pain of loss from a violent act. It tore my family apart. We couldn't even mention my brother's name for many years without breaking down in tears. I promised my brother's two sons, at their dad's funeral, that I would get this guy, Ricky Taylor, when he came to prison, and I was able to run into him. But God must have been looking out for him … and me. He only did seven years in prison, and he did all seven at the Wrightsville unit. A prison I could never go to because of my life sentence. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Ricky Taylor is my son's father-in-law. My son's wife is this man's daughter!
When I had first gotten the news about my brother being killed. “Skinner! They want you at the chaplain's office.” (You all know the drill. It's never good news.) I said some things that I shouldn't have when allowed to make a couple of calls. I basically told April, my son's wife, that I had nothing against her, but her father is mine when he comes to prison. She's the mother of my four grandchildren, and because of this tragedy and the comments I made, I had never met any of them. Not only did I lose a brother, but I also lost a son and my grandchildren. I was getting reports from my parents that my son and his family were visiting Ricky Taylor on a regular basis. That bothered me a great deal. I started telling people that I didn't have a son. The weight of the world was pressing down on me pretty hard.
Then one night in 2014, I received a letter from someone in Texas. Texas? I don't know anyone in Texas. When I opened it and started reading, I realized what I held in my hands. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a letter of forgiveness from the family of Carla Willmon, the murdered Harding University student. How could they forgive me when I couldn't forgive myself? As I read further, Roy Willmon gave me the answer. He quoted a scripture from Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
This man and his wife, through their willingness to surrender their own emotions to serve a loving God, put God's love in action and wrote to me offering their forgiveness. It had a life-changing effect on me. Suddenly, I didn't feel so alone in the world. These people showed me that God's love is real. I wanted what this man was demonstrating. It was so powerful to me that I couldn't contain my excitement. That's the power of God's love. You have to tell others about it. Everyone I spoke to was just as amazed as I was.
As I continued to write and receive letters from Roy Willmon, he taught me what I must do to be saved. Not long after that, I was baptized. I felt the need to write a letter to Ricky Taylor, the man who murdered my only brother in 2002. I wanted him to feel the love of God as I had and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. I also wrote to my son's wife, explaining how forgiveness changed my life and how I wanted to show that same love and concern to her dad. Those letters opened up communication between us, which led to visits with my son and his family. That's the power forgiveness holds. It changes lives, it brings families back together. I'm a living witness that God can take a bad situation and make something bloom from it.
While nailed to the cross, Jesus asked his Father to forgive us. If we're in Christ, we should learn to surrender self and allow the love of Christ to work in and through us. May the love of Christ and his forgiveness be with you. If you are in Christ, may the Holy Spirit lead you to him and show you a more abundant way of living.
EPILOGUE
Roy Willmon submitted this testimony to us, hoping that it would help our readers to “understand the powerful promise of Romans 8:28,” which tells us that God can “work all things together in his own way, in his own time and to his glory and to our spiritual/eternal benefit.” He also said it shows “the necessity of forgiving others, if we want to receive God's forgiveness and how forgiveness can, with God's help, change the lives of both the forgiven and the forgivers.” It is our prayer that this story will encourage you to forgive.
Picture credit:
© Choat/Bigstock.com
Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website.