Sheep in Wolves' Clothing: When the Actions of a Christian Turn Criminal

He accepted Christ at nine. By fifteen, he was a heroin addict. By his twenties, he was a career criminal operating in the U.S. military, arrested in Germany for robbery, and spiraling toward a fate that claimed every friend he had started with. None of them survived. He did.

Sheep in Wolves' Clothing is the gripping memoir of Joseph Williams, a Detroit man who grew up in church, left the fold, and spent thirteen years living as what he calls a "sheep in wolves' clothing." Inverting the warning of Matthew 7:15, Williams wasn't a wolf disguised as a sheep. He was a genuine believer who convinced himself, and everyone around him, that he was something else entirely.

This is not a sanitized testimony. Williams takes you inside heroin withdrawal in a converted barracks in Stuttgart, into the robberies and deceptions that sustained his addiction, and into the long years his mother prayed when every outward sign said to stop. It is her prayers, and the Psalm 23 she made him memorize as a boy, that Williams credits with keeping him alive long enough for the Good Shepherd to bring him home.

The restoration is as remarkable as the fall. Williams went on to found the Transition of Prisoners (TOP) program, which reduced recidivism by 70% among its graduates. He testified before Congress, visited the White House three times, was present at the signing of the Second Chance Act of 2007, and was recognized by Ashoka as an outstanding social entrepreneur. His program was replicated in New Zealand by Prison Fellowship New Zealand, whose director called it the best prisoner reentry program in the world.

Now in its third edition, Sheep in Wolves' Clothing speaks to three audiences who desperately need to hear it:

The parent who raised their child in the church and now watches them live in a way that seems to have left no trace of it. The lost sheep still clothed in wolves' attire, carrying a faith they have not yet returned to. The believer who needs proof that the Good Shepherd's pursuit is not canceled by a decade of rebellion.

Endorsed by Charles W. Colson (Prison Fellowship), Howard Dayton (Compass), Dr. Willie R. Richardson (Christian Stronghold Baptist Church), Karen Swanson (Billy Graham Center), and Rev. Haman Cross, Jr.

If you believe God can reclaim a wasted life, this book will anchor that belief in real history. If you have doubted it, this book may change your mind.