David Ignell: The faith that calms the storm during the roughest of seas

By DAVID IGNELL

Over the past few years, I’ve written several articles about three Alaskan Christians persecuted by Alaska officials.

They were of diverse backgrounds. One, a married white man in his late 40s from a big city in the south with a stellar career in law enforcement. Another, an unmarried white woman in her early 60s who had lived in Alaska for decades and worked as a registered nurse. The third, a married native man in his early 30’s from a small village who operated the local power plant.

Despite this diversity, they shared common traits. They were blameless and upright members of their communities with excellent reputations of caring for others. They feared God, shunned evil, and attended church regularly with their families.

Out of nowhere, their lives were shattered by the Adversary. Flimsy allegations were brought against them which the evidence overwhelmingly did not support.

State officials, short on facts but long on resources, manipulated the proceedings. The pursuit of truth took a back seat to wins and promotions.

Like Job in the Bible, these Christian believers and their families didn’t deserve what they got. But they all shared one indispensable virtue – an unwavering faith in God, which enabled them to remain standing and not succumb to the Adversary.

Their trials and tribulations are not yet over.  They continue to pray that justice will be served, not only for their families, but for other Alaskans similarly persecuted.

The stories of their faith are an inspiration for any Alaskan going through hardship and a wake-up call for the rest of us.

Former Ketchikan Police Chief Jeff Walls

Chief Walls arrived in Ketchikan in 2022 with his wife Sharon. They came from New Orleans, where he had served as the Police Commander for the French Quarter. In Chief Wall’s first year of leadership, the Ketchikan Police Department’s fentanyl seizures increased by over 500% and it gained recognition from the FBI.

At the end of that first year, the Attorney General’s Office brought bogus felony charges against the chief. Over the course of the next two years state officials manipulated the facts and law to gain indictments from three grand juries in Ketchikan and Juneau. A Ketchikan judge dismissed all three.

Chief Walls told me that reading Psalms 56 helped get him through the persecutions of his adversaries. A profound peace came over him, a feeling that God was going to make things right.

“When I am afraid, I trust in You, in God, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I am not afraid; what can mortals do to me?”

I believe God has a plan for Chief Walls’ ordeal. It exposed corruption at high levels within the Attorney General’s Office and State Troopers. Once resolved, the flow of deadly drugs into Alaska cities and villages will be greatly reduced.

AK Mom

AK Mom was doing a remarkable job in the Mat-Su area raising her five Alaska Native children, ages 10-15.  She had adopted each of them as babies, with the blessings of their biological parents and tribes.

Each of the children suffered from the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome and other diagnoses. Two were autistic. AK Mom helped her children overcome these challenges by enrolling them in Christian schools. The results were outstanding, the children were thriving and overcoming the odds.

On false charges of medical abuse against AK Mom, the State of Alaska took custody of all her children. The State split them up and, over the course of the next three years, her kids were bounced around between an aggregate of 80 foster care placements, including two homeless shelters.

In the ensuing legal battle over custody, AK Mom exhausted her life savings. It cost her three years and $300,000 to get her children back.

The trauma experienced by the children has deeply scarred them, perhaps for life. The family needs help but the State has shown no interest in repairing the damage they caused.

AK Mom recently told me that she would be dead had it not been for her faith in God. From the beginning, verses she already knew like Exodus 14:14 began to take on even more meaning:

“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

During court hearings, AK Mom would bring her Bible and lay it on the table in front of her. She found strength in Ephesians 6, with verses like 13-14:

“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

AK Mom has given me dozens of verses which sustained her and gave her peace. She’s also talked about songs like Toby Mac’s Help is on the Way and Natalie Grant’s Praise You in this Storm, which always seemed to come on the radio at just the right time.

“And I will lift my hands, For You are who You are, No matter where I am, And every tear I’ve cried, You hold in Your hand, You never left my side, And though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm.”

I believe that the ordeal of AK Mom and her family also has a purpose. It exposes corruption in the Office of Children’s Services and exposes another layer in the Attorney General’s Office.It casts the spotlight of truth on a foster care system that is out of control and driven by greed.

Indeed, AK Mom’s children are named parties in the federal class action lawsuit against the State’s foster care system. The Department of Law is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to fight the lawsuit and prevent long overdue reform. In Alaska, innocent children and families don’t stand a chance against money and power.  Until now I pray.

Thomas Jack, Jr.

Thomas, who was born and raised in Hoonah, has the strongest faith of any person I’ve ever met. The violations of his constitutional rights by State officials are unparalleled and an embarrassment for Alaska’s entire criminal justice system. Those violations continue today.

During one of his trials in Juneau, Thomas and his wife Angela marched around the courthouse seven times, just as the Israelites did before the walls of Jericho crumbled.  But Thomas and Angela were not joined by Alaskan priests blowing the shofar and multitudes of believers raising a mighty shout.  Instead, the Jacks were abandoned by many out of fear.

Prosecutors sought a 50-year prison sentence. After his first trial resulted in a hung jury, they dangled a plea deal in front of Thomas which offered as few as two years in jail.

But Thomas wouldn’t bend or bow.  His unwavering faith reminds me of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Book of Daniel.

Those three Jewish men refused to fall down and worship the statue of gold that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.  They chose to trust in God and be thrown into the fiery furnace.  Their faith eventually changed a nation, causing the Babylonian king to declare, “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures throughout the generations”.

Thomas has been imprisoned for 15 years during the prime years of his life.  Last month he turned 50 years old.  The State keeps him in Wasilla, far away from his Southeast family and friends.  The passing of his father last summer, who he had last seen several years ago, caused additional tremendous pain.

I asked Thomas what Scripture keeps him going in the face of all this adversity. He replied with Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians 10:

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Thomas’ story has the same potential as the Jewish men in Daniel – to change a state.  His wrongful conviction exposes a government that has lost its way and is on the eve of destruction.

The Book of Isaiah is full of verses citing the perversion of Justice before the fall of Jerusalem.  The prophet marks a society, like Alaska, where honesty stumbles in the public square, the vulnerable are robbed of their rights, and judges deny justice to the innocent.

The State’s persecution of these three Christians shines the spotlight of Truth on We the People.  It marks our descent from a Biblically based moral code into a chaotic state of individualism, a “me first” attitude in which we elect officials who insult the Lord by word and deed.

The hour is getting late. It is time for all Alaskans who believe in the Word of God to unite, for priests and ministers to blow the shofar, and for believers to raise a mighty shout.

David Ignell was born and raised in Juneau where he currently resides.  He formerly practiced law in California state and federal courts and was a volunteer analyst for the California Innocence Project. He is currently a forensic journalist and recently wrote a book on the Alaska Grand Jury.

Alaska Supreme Court says citizens have no right to petition grand juries for investigations