His Love Frees

“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

I was flicking through YouTube channels late at night about a year ago, with my wife asleep next to me, when I came across an interview by presenter Dodge Woodall with Chris Lambrianou, a former associate of the Kray twins. They were renowned gangsters who lived on the east side of London in the late 1950s to 1960s. I’ve always been interested in that part of London because my late grandad Arthur, whom I never met, was an authentic ‘Cockney’ born within the sound of the bells of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside. He was a good man who served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War but so poor as a boy that he slept in a bathtub. 

In the interview, Lambrianou recalled gangster activities he was involved in during that period of time and I soon fell into a half-asleep stupor, absorbing the historically colourful and sometimes gruesome details being recounted on one hand, whilst the other part of me was whispering, “Why are you watching this? You should be asleep. You will be tired in the morning.”

It was late and my eyelids grew heavy as I listened to Lambrianou tell of the time he was given a 15 year jail sentence for his involvement in the aftermath of the murder of Jack “The Hat” McVitie in 1967. He told of the despair he felt, even suicidal, and how his life fell apart as he sat in a prison cell. And then, as my eyes closed from sheer tiredness, he suddenly said something which fired my fatigued, fogged mind into an excited frenzy. WHAT? I sat up in bed abruptly feeling an unexpected energetic buzz and pressed the ‘stop’ button, rewound the video and then watched it again.

This is what Lambrianou said, in the interview:- 

“I looked at the devastation in my life that I had caused myself. I had walked away from everything good. And I thought, how can I put it right? 

And three people appeared in my [prison] cell. Very smartly dressed. The two on the side of the man in the middle, I don’t know, I can’t describe them. But the man in the middle I saw and he looked at me like I’m looking at you now and I said, ‘How do I put it right?’ He said, ‘Follow us.’ That’s all he said. ‘Follow us.’ And that was the beginning of another road.”

The TRINITY! This former gangster – who has since led a life completely dedicated to Jesus (I found out later) – encountered the Trinity! Not only that, but God reached out to Lambrianou at that point in his life, when gangsters were often smartly dressed, in a similar visible fashion (literally) yet with a disturbing, wonderful power far beyond anyone’s comprehension. I was bowled over by this amazing revelation by the Lord of gangsters in that prison cell.

I have since read that Lambrianou, released from prison years ago, has helped countless people through his charity work, from those suffering from addictions to mothers worried about knife crime. He has shown tremendous compassion and care for others. I love how God changes former prisoners like that – and I have spoken and interviewed many of them for Christian publications. 

Shane Taylor, for example, once known as the most feared prisoner in Britain. He realised the forgiveness offered to him by Jesus and his life completely changed. After his release from prison, Shane shared his story about God entering his life and he is now a leader of the Alpha course in prisons.

Gram Seed is another illustration, in prison countless times with his face covered in scars and missing part of a finger from all the violence. When a lady approached to tell him about Jesus, as he slept homeless on a bench, he punched her face! But when she bravely returned to tell him again, he listened. Gram now leads a ministry helping young people know Christ for themselves. He visits schools and prisons and fearlessly witnesses to the love of God. I am helping him edit a new book he’s writing. What a privilege for me! 

I don’t know why but I feel a sense of affinity with former criminals. I think it’s because I know that I’m a type of former criminal myself. The crimes I have committed, whilst not recognised as such by modern society, equally deserve condemnation under Biblical teaching. I really don’t see the difference between ‘them’ and me. I mean that one hundred percent. Men like Chris Lambrianou, Shane Taylor, Gram Seed and Chris Eyte really grasp the good news of Jesus Christ deep, very deep in the heart because they know that God has saved them. It’s unsettling and beautiful. 

Nevermind the endless debates about “Does God exist?” and all that. It’s a blatant fact that He changes lives and brings a hope that usurps everything: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” Jesus once said – I am in that group.  

And when his followers asked him who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus presented a little child before them and said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

As the slave ship captain-turned-clergyman John Newton once wrote, and sang: “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch; like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.”

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