Judged Innocent

By Mark Rowan

This book is a page turner you won't be able to put it down! The reader will feel they are sharing in Marks rollercoaster journey of self destruction to be becoming an ordained minister. In a world of darkness, brokenness, isolation and desperation Mark becomes entrenched in crime, gangs and drugs, until that is he encounters God in a miraculous

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Rowan Ministries
• Release date: Dec 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9781739890346

Book preview

Judged Innocent

By Mark Rowan

© Copyright 2021 by Mark Rowan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the express written permission from the author. Reach him at:

[e-mail]

www.hubonthestrand.co.uk

ISBN-10: 1739890302

ISBN-13: 978-1739890308

Table of Contents

Dedication                                                                   

Acknowledgements

Forewords                                                                   

Introduction                                                                 

Chapter 1: Early Life                                                   

Chapter 2: You’ll Never Amount to Anything         

Chapter 3: Numb, Confused, and Out of Control         

Chapter 4: Sent Away                                                   

Chapter 5: Rivendell Children’s Home                       

Chapter 6: Castle Howard                                           

Chapter 7: Trying it out at Home Again                       

Chapter 8: John and James, Partners in Crime             

Chapter 9: Prison with my Pals                                   

Chapter 10: Slop Out!                                                 

Chapter 11: Exercise, Exercise!                                   

Chapter 12: Life at Armley                                         

Chapter 13: Judgement Day!                                       

Chapter 14: Beginnings of Addiction                         

Chapter 15: Smuggling Drugs into Armley                 

Chapter 16: Sent to Ever Thorpe                                 

Chapter 17: 28 Days of Solitary                                 

Chapter 18: Full-Scale Riot                                         

Chapter 19: Life of Crime and Addiction                   

Chapter 20: Giving a Go at Work                               

Chapter 21: Arrested, Charged…and Released!       

Chapter 22: Party!                                                     

Chapter 23: Heroin and Drug Dens                           

Chapter 24: Jenny and Roxanne                               

Chapter 25: The Never-ending Cycle                       

Chapter 26: Finding Heroin                                       

Chapter 27: Shipped to Ranby

Chapter 28: Out of Prison and Out of Control           

Chapter 29: Back to Prison                                       

Chapter 30: Another Crime Spree                             

Chapter 31: Heading to the Therapy Unit                 

Chapter 32: Discovering the Drug-Free Me             

Chapter 33: Matty, the God Squad                           

Chapter 34: Coming to Know Jesus Christ               

Chapter 35: My New Identity in Christ                     

Chapter 36: Leading Others to Christ                       

Chapter 37: New Life, New Friends, Drug-Free       

Chapter 38: Sensing God’s Presence                         

Chapter 39: A Doorkeeper in the House of God       

Chapter 40: Restored Family Relationships             

Chapter 41: Speaking into Precious Lives                 

Chapter 42: Miracles in the Mission Field                 

Chapter 43: Meeting My Wife                                   

Chapter 44: Sylvester the Cat Proposes to Andrea

Chapter 45: Our Wedding                                     

Chapter 46: Miracles at Weston-Super-Mare             

Chapter 47: Growing our Family                               

Chapter 48: The Beginnings of Full-Time Ministry 

Chapter 49: Pastoring My First Church                     

Chapter 50: My Own Miraculous Healing                 

Chapter 51: Miracles in Barnstaple

Chapter 52: A God-Given Vision for a New Community                                                 

Chapter 53: Jesus Can Change Your Life Today       

Dedication

I wrote this book in memory of my brother, Wayne Rowan, who sadly took his own life in his prison cell at HMP Armley Prison Leeds on Christmas Eve 2001.

You’ll never be forgotten. Love you always, Mark.

Acknowledgements

My sincere thanks to my friends and family for their constant encouragement and support during the writing of this book.

Thanks also to you, the readers, who encouraged me to extend my first book into this new edition.

Thanks also to Sue Jewitt for the cover design, to Donna Ferrier for the editing, and to Simon Ellery for photography.

Forewards

Mark is one of the men who is proof of the power of the Almighty Saviour to save. I have had the privilege of being a prison chaplain for forty years and am now retired. Watching Mark grow in the ministry has been one of the rewards of my many years of ministry.

—Rev Bill Hill

As the little saying goes, Every face tells a story, and Mark’s story is definitely worth reading.

Having known him for over twenty years and following closely his wonderful testimony of grace and God’s call upon his life, I can 100 percent recommend this excellent book that will certainly bless and encourage every reader.

—John Partington

Introduction

Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that even as he was being formed in his mother’s womb, God knew his name and planned him for a purpose. Friends, before you start reading this book, I want you to know that you were planned for a purpose. God knows your name. There’s purpose and destiny on your life. God calls you his masterpiece. You are completely unique, and he has created you to do great things in this life.

For half my life, I lived on this planet, disconnected from God, feeling as though I had no purpose. At times I found myself questioning if there was any meaning to life at all, until I found God, connected with others, and discovered my purpose.

This is my personal story of how one encounter with God radically transformed my life forever.

As you read this book, I pray you will see that believing in Jesus Christ really does set you free.

  Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

—John Newton

Chapter 1

Early Life

The year 1970 was a great year in the UK. It was the year the Concorde, our first supersonic jumbo jet, went into service.

It was also the year of our first isle of white rock festival and the year Apollo 13 landed on the moon for the third time. Another amazing thing happened somewhere in Dewsbury District Hospital: I took my first breath and got my first glimpse of the world.

People who have known me for many years are amazed that I am still alive to tell this story. We all have a book in us and a story to tell. I just wrote mine down.

I have lived a crazy life of guns, gangs, drugs, and violence. I was lost, broken, and needed help. I found that help. Jesus rocked my world and changed everything in it for the good. He can do the same for you today. So, sit back, fasten your seat belts, and enjoy the ride. This is my story.

I was four years old in 1974, and my family, consisting

Of my two brothers, my parents, and myself, lived in a small, terraced house in a place called Heckmondwike. We were brought up as hunters. My dad always had ferrets and hunting dogs, and we were putting out traps and skinning rabbits as soon as we could walk. My dad had a bit of a reputation as a fearless fighter. Unfortunately, he also loved to drink. He often came home drunk. If he didn’t make it home, the police would knock and let my mum know where he was. We had no phones in our home back then. The nearest phone was a phone box that everyone shared a few streets away. Sometimes my dad never came home at all, and we would be taken to visit him in some large scary building that looked like the hammered house of horrors. One of my earliest childhood memories was visiting my dad in a high-security prison. I remember the overpowering smell of urine and cigarette smoke and seeing the bars on the windows and the razor wire on top of the high walls. I also remember seeing the guard dogs patrolling the perimeter inside those walls. I remember being squashed in a room with lots of people waiting to visit their family members. I wondered why I was being searched since I was only nine years old. Suddenly the door opened, and an officer shouted my dad’s last name at the top of his voice: Rowan Visit! My grandma stood up, held our hands, and walked my brother, Danny, and me through the hall. There were rows and rows of tables full of men waiting for their visits. For a moment, I couldn’t find my dad, but then I saw him waiting for us at

the table

I wondered what he had done and why he was there. We never asked him, and he never told us, but he was my dad, and I wanted to be just like him.

We never had much at home. When Dad was in prison, Mum would walk us miles to our gran’s house to get breakfast or dinner. My gran was a legend and always smothered us with love, chocolate, and smoky kisses. She kept her teeth in a glass next to her still-burning cigarette in the ashtray, which was a bit scary when I was a kid, but I got used to it.

When Dad was finally released from prison, he came home steaming drunk. I remember him teaching me how to box. He showed me how to make a fist, and then he would punch his hands and shout, Left! Right! Right jab! Right! Left!

I’ve still only seen my dad a few times throughout my life, but the one memory that sticks out was when he came home drunk and gave the only food we had left to the dogs. I still remember my mum saying, Billy, that’s all we have left, the tin the pie is in. He threw the pie at my mum because she protested about it. I remember its sharp edges sticking in the door near me as I was in her arms.

Mum soon left my dad, taking