DAVID BERKOWITZ
FORGIVEN
FOR
LIFE
THE MONSTER IS
DEAD
In 1977-78, New York was terrorized by a monster in the dark.
Six people were dead and seven injured, before the nightmare came to an end with the capture of the gunman, who had written
taunting letters to the police, calling himself the "Son of Sam".
He was sentenced to six consecutive life terms in prison.
It turned out that the gunman, who was also known as the "44 caliber killer"
was a troubled young man who had been drawn into a cult of satan worshippers. In the short time he was a member
of this cult, David Berkowitz made a pact with the devil, and began to believe that his mission in life was to commit
murder.
He spent several months in prison psychiatric facilities. Then he spent ten
years just surviving from day to day in New York's maximum security prison system.
Then a fellow inmate told him Jesus Christ loved him, despite his sins. He
gave him a Gideon New Testament. David began to read the Psalms. He read the verse that says, "my cry came
before the Lord, even into His ears." He read the verse that says, "this poor man cried, and the Lord delivered
him out of all his troubles".
The God of Heaven that he had been angry at all his life, called to
David's cold, stony, demon-ridden heart. All alone, near midnight, in his lonely prison cell, David Berkowitz got down
on his knees and poured his heart out to Jesus. He let his heart be melted by the power of Jesus' love and forgiveness.
The chains the devil had put on his mind were shattered, and David felt the peace of a new mind, and a forgiven soul.
Since 1987, David Berkowitz has lived the life of a dedicated servant of Christ. He knows
he will never get out of prison. But the Lord has blessed and annointed David Berkowitz, even as he lives out his sentence
behind prison walls. The Lord has given him a ministry, even putting him in the position of pastor to the Christian
church in the prison.
As his crimes are known around the world, so now is the glorious hand of Jesus Christ in his
life, known around the world. Just like the Gadarene demoniac, who was so full of demons that he cried out, "my name
is Legion, for we are many", David Berkowitz is now "clothed, and in his right mind".
A few years ago, he started writing notes about life in prison, and the things he has learned
about serving Jesus, even in such a hard place as a maximum security prison.
This site offers the reader some of those notes.
When he served the devil, he called himself the "son of sam". The name has come to mean
mindless terror and violence.
When he came to Jesus, he began to call himself "son of hope".
There is a beautiful Hebrew word that means "son of hope".
"Ben Tikvah".
We gratefully present to the reader the notes written in prison from the reborn heart of a man
who was once chained under the basement floor of Hell, but is now walking in newness of life with the King of Kings.
"Ben Tikvah Notes"
