Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I’m writing this letter from cell block 6B where I’ve now been locked-up for 135 days, away from my family and the life out there I love and miss. This has truly changed my life in so many ways, and I have so much I look forward to sharing with all of you when I get out. Everything about this situation is just truly crazy, and I understand why some of you who are praying for me are wondering, “What is happening? Why doesn’t God set him free? How can he be locked-up so many days?” And maybe some of you have even wondered how they can keep someone locked-up for such a long time if they are innocent.

Yes, I truly understand how these thoughts can come. and even though I have not committed any crimes or broken any laws, I’d like to remind you of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was the only One totally blameless and without sin, and yet He got arrested: 

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber?” (Luke 22:52)

Whipped:

Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him scourged (flogged/whipped). (John 19:1)

And crucified:

Now, it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. (Mark 15:25)

As a criminal:

And Jesus said that those who follow Him would experience how people will lie and say all kinds of evil against us:

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” (Matthew 5:11)

and how they will arrest us because we follow Him:

But when they arrest you; do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. (Matthew 10:19)

I can truly testify to all of you out there that I have a clean conscience both before God and man.

“In view of this, I also do my best and strive always to have a clear conscience before God and before men.” (Acts 24:16)

I truly fear GOD and know that one day we all will be judged by HIM for everything we have done in this life. I fear that judgment more than anything else, and that is why I’m always trying to live in the light according to the Word of God.

The reason I am not out yet is that God still had a work He needed to do in my life, and in this place, and in the Body of Christ. I have learned that no children of God will come into prison if God did not allow it for different reasons. One reason is to reach people with the Gospel, and another reason is to have us alone with Him so He can do a work in our life. Both are true in my case. God has truly done a great work in my life, and even though this has been the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, I’m truly thankful He did not let me out two months ago. God knows what is best. I would have come out with fear, and in shock over why God allowed this to happen, not strong and transformed like now. (James 1:2)

I have learned so much about suffering, and the importance of endurance:

Physically – I’ve lost forty pounds (18 kilos). It started with a long fast, and then I just kept exercising and eating less to get my body in shape. I’ve never been stronger than I am now.

Emotionally – I am learning the importance of living by the Spirit and not by our feelings. We need to walk by faith and nothing else. I still have a lot to learn there. I am trying but I still have days where I am crying because I truly miss my family, and it is hard to be here.

Spiritually – Whoa! It is truly time for the church to come back to the true Gospel we read the early church was living! I have felt a love for the Body of Christ I have never felt before. We need each other! We are not enemies, even though we sometimes see things differently. Please pray for the church! It is truly suffering, not necessarily by experiencing persecution as I am doing right now, but it is suffering by not living in the fullness Christ has for all of us! It is time for the Church! And I have so much I’d like to share with all of you when I finally come out!

But God has also brought me here for the other inmates, and I’ve truly seen God move in prison these last weeks in a way I’ve never seen before!

The Holy Spirit started to give people dreams, and so many things started to happen!

I gathered all the inmates (around 20-25 people, as people often come and go) for teaching every afternoon for four days. Then I found three people who spoke English who got their lives transformed! Most people here don’t speak English, and I don’t speak Spanish, so it has also really made the stay here very difficult and often complicated. But three had their lives transformed, and then I have had the honor to train them! And then with them,we started three Bible studies in Spanish, and every afternoon eighteen people were meeting together in the cells and studying the Bible, and people started to repent, and we saw even more lives transformed!

Yes, I just baptized two inmates in the last four days, and it has truly been powerful! One man, sixty-two years old, had never been baptized and knew very little about Jesus. But one day he got a dream, like so many other people. He dreamt how a black snake came to him, and then he took a stone and crushed the head of the snake. When he called his wife the next day, she told him how she’d gotten exactly the same dream, that same night. Through this dream, I could really share Christ with him, and he repented and got baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit a few days ago! It was truly beautiful! When I poured water over his head and prayed for him, the Holy Spirit came over him in a powerful way! He fell down and got set free, filled with the Holy Spirit, and was crying and praising God, thanking Him for this new life!

Afterward we gathered everyone here in the dorm, and he shared with everyone what had just happened to him. Yes, this is what we do every time someone is getting born again – we gather everyone and then they share their experience with their other fellow inmates, and they are all seeing how people are getting transformed one by one, and it is truly powerful! The other day I had seven inmates coming for our baptism teaching, so more are now on their way! But we don’t just want people to convert – Jesus wants true disciples! They need to be ready to repent and follow Christ with everything in them. So often we compromise and make it too easy, and then we don’t see the transforming power of the Gospel. Many of them here have tried religion before, but that had not changed their life, so now they need the whole truth and nothing else!

The whole atmosphere has changed in my dorm. Every afternoon there are Bible studies going on in different cells. People are reading their Bibles during the day and praying, and on Sundays we gather almost everyone for worship. It is truly beautiful what God is doing, and I’m so thankful for being allowed to bring the Gospel in this powerful way!

I have so many more testimonies to share with you all when I come out. And we believe that is the next thing that God is going to do that we will see a miracle and that I will soon come out to be with my family again. Its time for me to leave this place. It has truly been hard, also for my family, and they really need me now. I also see how the people here are able to continue the work God has started. Please stand together with us in believing for this miracle, and that the truth finally will come out to all of you, and that I can be released and come home and be the husband and father I’m called to be!

Please pray for this amazing work here to continue and spread to the rest of America as we truly need it! We are in a spiritual war, and this is so much bigger than me! There are evil forces that want to shut me down – yes, not only me, but everyone who is spreading the Gospel and making disciples! It is so much bigger than it looks on the surface, and the enemy has truly been busy in keeping me locked-up, but he will not succeed! Let’s stand together in this! Pray for me and the truth to be revealed, and pray for the church, that this revival we see here will spread all over!

I truly believe that we are on the verge of a major expansion in the Kingdom of God like never before, but also that persecution will come to the Body like never before. On our website FriendsofTorben.com, you can find more information about all of this, and there you can also see how you can stand together with us in this, and even how you can support us financially if you feel led to. I know many of you already have given, and I am truly thankful for that, but as this case just keeps getting bigger and bigger, so do the expenses, so we also really need to see a miracle there for us to keep fighting, as we are not only fighting for us, but also for everyone who is coming after us in the future. Please also pray for that, and stand together with us in this, and also that the right people with influence will get the boldness they need to stand up in a time like this, as the fight we are fighting is for ALL of us!

Be STRONG! Follow Christ with EVERYTHING in you! God wants to do so much GREATER things through us ALL!

Love and greetings to all of you in the name of Jesus,

Torben Sondergaard