Ken Cooper - Held Hostage : a Serial Bank Robbers Road to Redemption

In Held Hostage , Ken Cooper describes the absolute horror and despair of prison life as well as any writer I have encountered. More importantly, however, Ken points his readers to the only Light that can penetrate the darkness of prisonor the darkness of the human heart. This is an amazing testimony.

Chuck Colson , founder, Prison Fellowship

Since I was a boy, I have been influenced by stories about one-time criminals who made a radical conversion to Jesus Christ while they were imprisoned molding my conviction of the transforming power of the Good News Gospel. In this book, Ken Cooper vividly displays that power and sustainable truth. He is living out what 2 Corinthians 5:17 clearly states: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Luis Palau , evangelist

Ninety-nine percent of us have never robbed anyone, much less numerous banks. But, like most of us, the gentleman bank robber had no clue what was really missing in his life. He was convinced that, given the right circumstances, he could find it. And he blamed God for what He did to him. Cooper finally found, in the most unlikely of places, what had been missing all his life, and confronts us eloquently and powerfully with an inescapable reality: The only thing that can satisfy our deepest, most intense longings is a personal relationship with God. Cooper lays it all out in this fast-paced, easy-read page-turner you cannot put down.

Ben Kinchlow , former co-host, The 700 Club;
bestselling author

I strongly recommend Ken Coopers gripping life story, which describes his criminal life as the gentleman bank robber dramatically transformed by God. Ken was sentenced by a hanging judge to 99 years in prison, where he survived cells ruled by gang rapists and, in those cell blocks, became a Christian. Then he started working with other Christian inmates to create cells of transformed prisoners, and in turn to transform cell blocks, until he was surprisingly released from prison. On the outside he created an organization to help inmates reform their lives when they got out of prison.

Kens life story is an inspiration. It also helped me understand what life is like in a maximum-security prison (near where I live in Florida). Truly, as a Portuguese proverb states, God writes straight with crooked lines. Held Hostage reveals the compassion of Jesus in a marvelous way.

Francis MacNutt , Ph.D., co-founder and director, Christian
Healing Ministries; bestselling author, Healing

Kens transformation is a living witness to the timeless healing power of Jesus Christ. His story serves as a reminder that Gods light can never be put out by the darkness. He will shine His timeless healing power on us when we call on Him, especially in moments of deep despair. Kens book points the way for others to tap into life, joy and transformation based in the love of a living God.

from the foreword by Robert H. Schuller , founding pastor, the
Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, CA; bestselling author

Were all junkies, addicted to what makes us feel good. Adrenaline junkies race cars, jump out of planes, live on the wild side. My friend Ken Cooper got high robbing banks. He was addicted to the adrenaline rush of crime until a cops bullet ended that career, and a prisoner named Jesus who was executed on death row captured his heart. Ken is now addicted to sharing the exciting truth of Gods love. A mustread, and excellent encouragement for people tired of madness and dead-end addictions.

Jack (Murf the Surf) Murphy , international director,
Champions for Life

Ken Cooper has written a shocking book that looks into the emotions of people running from God. Ken was obsessed by the thrill of the robbery as much as by greed for money. He experienced the high achieved in the wild excitement of wrongdoing and leading a double life. It was only in complete brokenness that Ken finally came to Jesus Christ and was freed from an addiction no different than the addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex or power. He discovered that the only true satisfaction is found in the grace of God through the Person of Christ. Ken Coopers story is a must-read for Christians as we attempt to evaluate our lives, living in the world as citizens of a higher authority. Cooper and I challenge you to be satisfied in Jesusand nothing less!

James P. Gills , M.D.

What a privilege it is to endorse Ken Coopers book Held Hostage and to know that our prison ministry freed him from his own bondage in prison. God set him free and Ken no longer is being held hostage by the adversary. Since then, his work in the prisons has helped thousands of prisoners accept Christ. This book is powerful and those who read it will certainly be set free.

Abe Brown , founder, Abe Brown Ministries, Inc.

2009 by Ken Cooper

Published by Chosen Books
A division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.chosenbooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cooper, Ken, 1937
Held hostage : a serial bank robbers road to redemption / Ken Cooper.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8007-9456-9 (pbk.)
1. Cooper, Ken, 1937 2. Christian biographyUnited States. 3. Prisoners Religious lifeUnited States. 4. CriminalsReligious lifeUnited States. 5.Bank robberiesUnited States. I. Title.

BR1725.C678A3 2009
277.3082092dc22

2009002779

[B]

Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Music lyrics taken from Roger Miller, You Cant Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd, Copyright 2002 STLyrics.com.

Music lyrics taken from W. D. Cornell and W. G. Cooper, Wonderful Peace.

I have lived long enough to look back on my lifethrough hard times, trying times, hard luck times. But when it was all finished and God was done with the whole thing, it was blessing that came out of it all.

So I preach a positive message. We have hope and fullness and every blessing in Christ. Yet to take hold of these blessings so that they take root in our lives, we must make a choice. Just by looking up, we see the hand of God at work in our lives. He loves us dearly!

Thats the secret that Ken Cooper knew. He has been down to the darkest places a man can go, both in his soul and in his life. Yet God was there with him all the time. God called Ken to Himself and kept him there, and He has used every failure and every flaw for the perfection of His plan.

What can we learn from Ken and his story?

Believe in the God who created you. Believe in the One who will not let anything happen to you unless He can pick it up, turn it around and make a blessing out of it. That is the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Kens transformation is a living witness to the timeless healing power of Jesus Christ. His story serves as a reminder to all of us that Gods light can never be put out by the darkness. He will shine His timeless healing power on us when we call on Him, especially in moments of deep despair.

I have often said, Its not necessarily how strong you begin, but how you finish that counts. Kens book points the way for others to tap into life and joy and transformation based in the love of a living God.