Going to chapel at my first two prisons, I asked to read from the Bible (as below).  Grudgingly & suspiciously I was allowed to do so.  Word has got round however - & I am now banned!  ALL chaplains have run from me as fast as they could from me.  Regrettably, they are as hostile as the judiciary & the Prison Service to any prisoner who claims to be a victim of injustice!

Extracts FROM THE BIBLE, by Norman Scarth

ISIAIH 59.14:  Justice is rebuffed & flouted, while righteousness stands aloof, truth stumbles in the market place, & honesty is kept out of court, so truth is lost to sight, & whoever shuns evil is thought a madman.

ECCLESIASTES 59.14:  Moreover I saw here under the sun that, where justice ought to be there was wickedness, & where righteousness ought to be there was wickedness.  I said to myself “God will judge the just man & the wicked equally; every activity & every purpose has its proper time”.  I said to myself “In dealing with men it is God’s purpose to test them & see what they truly are”.

PSALM 35.4-28:  May those who seek my life be disgraced & put to shame.  They hid their net for me without cause, & without cause dug a pit for me.  They repay me evil for good, & leave my soul forlorn. 

When I stumbled they gathered in glee, attackers gathered against me, they slandered me without ceasing.  Like the ungodly, they maliciously mocked, they gnashed their teeth at me. 

Let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; let not those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye.

They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land.  May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame & confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame & disgrace.  May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy & gladness.

PSALM 54.3: Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life – men without regard for God.

PROVERB 18.5-11:  It is not good to be partial to the wicked, or deprive the innocent of justice.  The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, they imagine it is an unscaleble wall.

LUKE 23.35-36:  The people stood watching, & the rulers sneered at him.  The soldiers came up & mocked him.

PSALM 41.5-47:  My enemies say of me in malice “When will he die, & his name perish”. 

Whenever one comes to see me he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander, then he goes out & speaks it abroad.  All my enemies whisper against me.  Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

LAMENTATIONS 3.59-66:  You have seen O Lord the wrong done unto me … You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots laid against me – what my enemies whisper against me all day long.  Pay them back what they deserve O Lord, for what their hands have done.  Put a veil over their hearts, & may your curse be on them.  Pursue them in anger & destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.

HEBREWS 12.3:  Consider him who enjoyed such opposition from sinful men, so that he will not grow weary & lose heart.

PROVERBS2.23:  The Lord detests different weights, & dishonest scales do not please him.

6.12:  A scoundrel & a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks with the eye, signals with his feet, & motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart … therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will be suddenly destroyed – without remedy.

6.16:  Things the Lord hates … , a lying tongue … a heart devises wicked schemes, feet quick to run into evil; a false witness who pours out evil.

19.9:  A false witness will not go unpunished, & he who pours out lies will perish.

ROMANS 12.19:   Do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written ‘ It is mine to avenge: I will repay’ says the Lord.

LUKE 4.4  Jesus answered, “It is written, man cannot live by bread alone”        

JESUS SAID: “The sins of the parents shall be visited on the children unto the third & fourth generation”.  

I paraphrase MARTIN LUTHER KING:  “I fear not the words & actions of the wicked, but I DO fear the silence of the supposedly honest”.