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"I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me." - Matthew 25:36 (NKJ)

According to a judge in Iowa, helping the incarcerated is no place for God. Apparently, the Lord and His followers should stay in their houses of worship and leave the day-to-day running of society to the experts.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt has ruled that Innerchange Freedom Initiative, a faith-based program started by Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship to reach out to prisoners with a positive message of redemption through the power of Christianity, is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the state. Pratt's ruling states not only that the IFI program must stop ministering to inmates, but also that Prison Fellowship must repay more than $1.5 million it has received from the state of Iowa since it began working in conjunction with authorities in 1999 at the Newton, Iowa, correctional facility. (An interesting side note: Judge Pratt has stayed his own ruling pending appeal, an indication of how close to the fringe he knows his reasoning is in this case.)

Of course, whenever one of these ridiculous rulings comes along, one can always count on the leaders of the ACLU or some other anti-Christian organization to be found instigating close by. In this case, it is the "Reverend" Barry Lynn, front man and cynic-in-charge of the radical group "Americans United for the Separation of Church and State."

Charles Colson started Prison Fellowship thirty years ago. As a disgraced, condemned member of President Richard Nixon's inner circle, Colson found redemption through the Gospel of Jesus Christ in prison. Since that time, he has devoted his life to teaching, writing and ministering to those whom society has locked away and, for the most part, thrown away.

Working in conjunction with authorities in various locales across the country, Prison Fellowship's "Innerchange Freedom Initiative," started in 1997, has helped countless numbers of those throwaways to redeem their lives. When contrasted with the usual suspects involved in the "rehabilitation" of incarcerated individuals, IFI has a phenomenal rate of success. This is because IFI is the exact opposite of most secular programs, which take a therapeutic approach to helping prisoners. The success rate of such programs is dismally low.

The stated mission of IFI is "to create and maintain a prison environment that fosters respect for God's law and rights of others, and to encourage the spiritual and moral regeneration of prisoners. Therefore, they may develop responsible and productive relationships with their Creator, families and communities."

Colson has said that it was the power of Christ's Gospel and the Bible that enabled him to turn his own life around in prison, and that without spiritual renewal, any program is doomed to failure. "It is the Bible that caused me to hunger for righteousness and seek holiness," he has written. "And it is the Bible that continues to challenge my life today. That is radical stuff. It is irresistibly convicting. It is the power of God's Word and it is, all by itself, life-changing.

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