My name is David and I want to thank you for taking the time to hear me out. I want to rap with you just a little bit as I have something very important to share.

You see, right now I am behind prison walls where I have been for the past twenty-two years. I'm locked down and shut out from society all this time because, when I was in my early 20's and living in New York City, I was running wild and living like an animal.

It's a long story, but at the time nothing made sense and I thought it was okay to mess with the occult and to talk to the devil. I let a lot of evil thoughts take over my mind and those thoughts and the demons behind those thoughts took over me and used me to destroy other lives. I was charged with six murders! I had been living like a terrorist out of control yet being controlled by something evil. Well, needless to say, I was eventually caught and was locked up with one life sentence after another. I have 350 years to do if I live that long.

I came to prison back in 1977. This was before most of you were even born! I was so angry at everybody and especially at myself. I felt as if it didn't matter if I lived or died. When I walked through those prison doors I had given up on life and I wanted to be left alone.

Prison is a horrible place where guys play all kinds of macho games and where men fight dirty. There is little respect amongst the prisoners and the guys have a lot of anger inside them.

Well this is the place I came to, at the age of 24, to spend the rest of my life. So I just lived from day to day and my name, David Berkowitz, became just a number: 78-A-1976. You lose your name in prison and your inmate number takes over. This is the way the system is. It was ten years into my prison sentence when another inmate told me about Jesus Christ. We became friends and although I didn't believe in all his "Jesus stuff" at first, I gave him the courtesy of hearing him out. I listened to what he was saying, and what he was saying started to make a lot of sense.

Over the weeks we rapped every day. I began to realize that I was empty inside. My life was like the living dead. I had no hope, no reason to get up in the morning and step out of my cell to face the noise, tension, violence and all the crazy things that goes on behind the concrete walls and razor-wire fences.

In these ten years I lost my name and became just a number. But as I began to look at Jesus Christ and the words He said, I began to realize that He was reaching out to me.My friend had something I didn't have. Come to think of it, he had a lot of thing I didn't have... things like peace, joy and contentment, all without being square. As for me, however, I felt dead inside. Ten years of prison had all but killed my insides, and I still had a whole lifetime to do.

But when the day came for me to repent and to place my faith in Jesus Christ, something came alive inside me. I'm telling you, hope was birthed in my heart. I didn't understand everything about God, but I began to realize that my life was going to be different.

Jesus Christ made me a whole person again. His word showed me that I was loved and that I could get a new start in life even after messing up so bad.

For many years I was believing the devil's lies that I was nothing but an animal and a number. But God showed me that He cares about me and that, to Him, I have a name.

When I asked Jesus Christ to forgive me and to come into my life, it was like a light went on. All those years I was walking in darkness. Then when I began to see what life was about, I knew that Christ was and is the answer. He says in His word: "I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

I have been speaking from my heart. I don't want this to be just words. I want to speak person to person, soul to soul, heart to heart. I care about you and I don't want any of you to take the same path I was on.

There are a lot of roads that lead men and women to an early grave or to the hell of prison. Drugs, crime, suicide, the occult, joining gangs and running with the crowd are all expressways to death. I know what I'm talking about because I see young men pouring into prison every day. There are about seventy prisons in New York State alone. The doors to these places cannot swallow up men and women fast enough. And prison, like death, is no respecter of persons.

So if you're listening to this, it means that God is giving you a chance to get out of the mess you're in. He is willing to forgive you of all your sins. He wants to come into your life and be a part of your life. Give Him the chance and let Jesus Christ help you get off the road to destruction.

Jesus cares. He will help you. Your life may feel all broken down right now. Maybe you wish that you were dead. With all you've been through, it is easy to think this. You feel you have no name, no hope, no life. But Jesus Christ can give you a new name, a new beginning, a new reason to live as well as a reason to walk away from crime. I hope you will choose Jesus.

God Bless You!

Yours,
David Berkowitz
March 1999