To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE


SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

"Prayer Changes Hearts": President Trump Honors God's Redemptive Work in Former Bank Robber's Life

Talia Wise : May 7, 2018  CBN News

"Your story reminds us that prayer changes hearts and transforms lives. It uplifts the soul, inspires action, and unites us all as one nation under God." -President Donald J. Trump

(Washington, DC)—[CBN News] Jon Ponder was an inmate that was given a second chance and he says it did not come from a prison reform program, but from the hand of God. (Screengrab: President Trump shakes Jon Ponder's hand as he honors him in the Rose Garden at the White House/via CBN News)

"I invited Jesus to be the Lord of my life and life just went in a 180-degree turn," Ponder told Fox & Friends.

President Trump honored Ponder and the work he is doing with prison inmates during the National Day of Prayer [last] Thursday.

"Your story reminds us that prayer changes hearts and transforms lives," the president said. "It uplifts the soul, inspires action, and unites us all as one nation under God."

Ponder took to Twitter hours later to thank the president.

"What an absolute honor to have the @POTUS @realDonaldTrump acknowledge the transformative power of God at work in my life and validate the great work God is doing through the ministry," he wrote.

Ponder, now the CEO and founder of Hope for Prisoners, Inc., spent his time in and out of prison starting at the age of 12. He was arrested for bank robbery and sent to a maximum-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

"Jon soon ended up in federal prison relegated to solitary confinement. That's where God found him," Trump told the crowd gathered at the White House Rose Garden Thursday. "Jon began to read the Bible and listen to Christian radio."

That's when the transformation took place.

"I remember one time I was in prison in solitary confinement and I had a little transistor radio and in that transistor radio, I heard a Billy Graham sermon," Ponder told Fox News. "I woke up in the middle of the night and Billy Graham was sharing a story of the prodigal son and at the end of that message he made the call to surrender your life to the Lord and I invited Jesus to be the Lord of my life."

Jon spent the rest of his time in prison praying, studying the Bible and leading fellow inmates to Christ.

Jon was released from prison years later at the age of 38. The day after his release he was visited by the man who put him in jail, FBI special agent Richard Beasley.

Richard told Jon he had been praying for him while he was in jail.

The pair are now best friends. (Screengrab: Richard Beasley and Jon Ponder/via CBN News)

"I love him," Jon told Trump at the event.

Jon now shares the love of Christ by helping other former inmates receive a second chance by providing them job training, Christian discipleship, and financial literacy courses.

"When a person gets out of prison, he or she wants to change, but many don't know how to change," Ponder told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2016. "It's our job to help the ex-offenders become a valuable part of society."

"I tell people that Hope for Prisoners is something that God impregnated me with many years ago while I was in prison," he continued.

Trump told listeners at the White House that there is power in prayer.

"Jon and Richard, you are the living testament of the power of prayer," he said. "Our country was founded on prayer, our communities are sustained by prayer, and our nation will be renewed by hard work, a lot of intelligence, and prayer."

Click here to watch the CBN video report on the event.







SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Other Recent Articles from Breaking Christian News

Give Him 15: Prayer Strategies after the 2024 Election; Going Forward

'Beautiful, Symbolic': The Bells of Notre Dame Cathedral Ring Out for First Time Since 2019 Fire

California Family Council Issues Dire Warning Over Passage of Proposition 3

Media Elites Fume Over Their Inability to Force-Feed Narratives to the American People

Putin and CCP's Xi Jinping Ready to Restore Relations with the US Under Trump's Administration

Wow! Trump Shares His Plan to Dismantle the Deep State

President-Elect Donald Trump Appoints the First Female White House Chief of Staff in History

Court Rules in Favor of CA Firefighters Who Refused COVID Shot Due to Religious Beliefs

RFK Jr. Talks Fluoride, Vaccines With MSNBC the Day after Trump's Victory

How Republicans Tackled Election Integrity Threats and Swept 9 Ballot Integrity Measures

Foreign Leaders React to Trump's Imminent Return to Presidency

Arizona and Nevada Finally Called for Trump, Giving Him 312 Electoral Votes and a CLEAN SWEEP of ALL Battleground States, Plus the Popular Vote

What Will Happen to Those Indictments Now That Trump Is President-Elect?

'Numbers are Shocking': Christian Voters Played Key Role in Defeating Kamala and Her Abortion Agenda

Abortion On the Ballot: Where Voters Protected Preborn Children, and Where They Didn't

Donald Trump Wins the 47th Presidency in Historic Landslide Victory

Reactions to President Trump's Historic Victory, from the Right and the Left

Soros-backed L.A. District Attorney Gascón Loses in Landslide

Netanyahu Congratulates Trump on 'Huge' Victory, Fires Defense Minister Gallant

Huge Blow to Gavin Newsom: Prop 36 Passes in 71-21 Landslide, as California Votes to Increase Penalties for Theft and Drug Trafficking



Search the Articles Archives

Keyword:  
Author:  
Words Posted On:  
Day Month Year



BCN Plus

Follow BCN on Twitter
Are You Praying for Our Government Leaders?
BCN Staff

Steve Shultz
Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner


Aimee Herd
Aimee Herd, Editor


BCN Plus
Are You Praying for President Trump?
 
 

All articles on this site and emails from BCN are copyrighted property of Breaking Christian News. Permission is given to link to, or share a BCN story if proper attribution is given to both the original writer and summarizer of the story. Breaking Christian News 2005-2019. All Rights Reserved.


Breaking Christian News is a division of Elijah List Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved


Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source articles linked to; do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Breaking Christian News.

editor@breakingchristiannews.com