In June 1998, two nineteen-year-old girls in a lesbian relationship, and both Satanists, viciously attacked without provocation, an elderly woman at Noosa, almost killing her. The crime received national publicity. The leader, Sarah Bird, was sentenced to 18 years in jail. Her accomplice was sentenced to nine years in jail.
Four months later, October 1998, Sarah Bird was converted by the grace of God. Her conversion was a result of studying the Emmaus Correspondence Course, What the Bible Teaches. I learned of her conversion by letter. She wrote:
As you know, I have a very dark past. My interest in Satanism started late 1995 and until my conversion my thoughts and feelings had become so terribly evil, but now I’ve been born again. I have to tell you how it happened. I was lying in bed at night and I thought of all the things your study book told me, and so I just began to pray, asking for forgiveness over and over again for my crime, and all the other filthy things in my life. I cried and cried and cried. That was three weeks ago, and since then I have never turned back. Every day my love and faith seems to grow. Already I have become a much more gentle, forgiving, and loving person. In spite of all the ridicule I get because I’m a Christian, I wake up in the morning happy and rejoicing in the Lord.
Eighteen months have now passed since Sarah became a Christian and her faith has not wavered; rather she has continued to grow as a Christian. It would be difficult for anybody to recognize her now, such is the transformation in her appearance from the girl whose picture is still shown on television when she was arrested. She has now changed and is a new creation in Christ. Her outward appearance reveals what has happened within.
Noel Sheen (Regional Director for the Emmaus courses, Australia) visits her frequently. On a visit about three months ago, she asked to be baptized by immersion. This, of course, had to be inside the jail. Corrective Services gave their permission (they have seen the transformation in her life). The State Minister for Corrective Services, the Director General, and other senior officers were there, the six chaplains, and so were her mom and dad–still unconverted, but lovely people who are pleased at what Sarah has done. Sarah asks prayer for them that they will also accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.
Yes, there were catcalls, and cries of derision from some of the other prison inmates, but then there were the tears of joy in Sarah’s eyes, as she made her confession of faith in the Lord Jesus before going under the waters of baptism. It had been overcast all day, but incredibly as she came out of the water the sun shone through. Of course, we might call it a coincidence, but it had a dramatic effect on those present.
Sarah then, by way of testimony, sang the first verse and chorus of:
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He has made known,
Nor why, unworthy as I am,
He claimed me for His own.
But I know whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
She has a lovely voice and attended the Queensland Conservatorium of Music for almost a year before she dropped out. What she sang had a profound effect on everyone there.
Sarah still has many years to serve in jail, but she makes no excuses. When the Government Minister for Corrective Services asked her if it was her involvement with Satanism which was to blame, she was quick to point out that all of us must accept personal responsibility for everything we do. We can’t blame anything, or anyone else. After all, that is how all men and women will finally be judged. It is evident he was quite impressed, judging from what he told others afterwards.
A number of Christians in the assemblies in Queensland are now writing to Sarah, and praying for her. Would you also pray that she will continue to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? And please pray for the Emmaus Correspondence courses that have been such a blessing in Sarah’s life, as well as the lives of so many other prisoners.