January 15, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, she had no idea that her customer on that fateful day was the Panamanian dictator's daughter. Joe Garmen, founder of ARM Prison Ministries, tells the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Search for the Our American Stories podcasts, go to the iHeartRadio,
Apple Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Up next,
a story from Joe Garman. Joe is the founder of
Armed Prison Ministries, one of the largest prison ministries in
(00:33):
the world. While it's fair to say that he's seen
his fair share of prisoners over the years, one sticks
out for pretty obvious reasons. He was the infamous dictator
of Panama. Let's get into the story. Here's Joe with
our own contributor, Katrina Hine.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
When you go into the chapel, you don't know who
this guy is in this pew or who that guy
is on the platform. So when you met Noriega the
first time you met him face to face, right, oh yeah,
don't you remember when we invaded Panama. Remember that.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
The goals of the United States have been to safeguard
the lives of Americans, to defend democracy in Panama, to
combat drug trafficking, and to protect the integrity of the
Panama Canal.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Try they were broadcasting trying to get him to come
and surrender and playing loud music and all that.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
So, you know, talking about why he was such a
bad man.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh, he was a bad man. I'm telling you. He
was killed people, and I mean he was deep in
the drugs. He was a drug lord. They always called
him dictator, he called himself president. But I mean he
(02:13):
was a different person in that jail cell. After he
became Christian. Well, we build babtistries at my ministry, and
the man who brought him to Christ ordered a baptistery
from us, and that's what he was baptized in. That's
(02:36):
when I broke in and started writing to him, you know,
because we were the ones who provided this Baptist report.
And he wrote back and invited me anytime I was
in the Miami area to come and see him, and
he would schedule an opening for me to come in.
And he had a pod all to himself in that prison.
He was in solitary confinement at all times because they
(02:58):
didn't want him speak to the other prisoners, and they
didn't want the other prisoners speaking to him.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
What were they afraid of?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Drugs? He could he could have run that out of
the prison. But his pod was made up of two compartments.
The one compartment had his bed and his exercise equipment
in there, and the other apartment had a table and
(03:28):
kind of like a little office in there, and so
he would do his exercises and then he would go
and write his letters and whatever we had communion. I
took communion to him and he and his daughter. In fact,
she was my translator. She was my interpreter. We talked
(03:50):
about sin. She would talk about sin with him. He
was like a hungry man listening to the truth of God.
I'm telling you he was sincere in every way, and
it proved it when he was set back to Panama.
(04:11):
They put him in a home. Did didn't put him
in a prison. They gave him a house, and he
and his wife lived in that house. And he'd walked
to the store and back and stuff like that. But
hm mm, nothing like before. He was a changed person.
And Christ is the one who did it to him.
(04:33):
It all started with a beauty shop operator, thank God
for his daughter. She went to Thenzewela for something and
while she was there, she went into a beauty shop
to get her hair done, and the beautician, who was female,
did not know this was Noriega's daughter, and she asked,
(04:55):
She asked Noriega's daughter. I wish I could remember the
girl's name. I can't remember her name. But she asked
her if she was a Christian, and she said no.
And that beauty shop operator witnessed to her in that
beauty shop. And when she got out of the beauty
shop a couple of days later, she heard some of
(05:18):
our students. We had some students from most of our
Christian college down there conducting youth revivals. She went to
one of them, and she went forward one night confessed
christ And when they asked her what was her name,
(05:38):
she wouldn't tell them. But come to find out, they
baptized Noriega's daughter in the river, and Noriega's daughter then
witnessed to her mother. Her mother became a beautiful Christian lady.
Her mother eventually moved to Miami, had a Bible study
(06:00):
in her home for ladies. And they're sept Noriego with
a daughter and a wife, both shooting both ways. Adding
that beauty shop operator to this state does not know
what she did, But God, what do you think of that?
(06:29):
And here we are today talking about it. Because of
what she did, she could have been quiet, and you know,
things like this don't just happen. That'll make you scratch
your head, you know that. And God has done that
for me in so many ways, so many ways. I
(06:54):
s I had this idea and pooh, here I am over.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Here, you know, And Joe Garman is right, things like
this just don't happen. This one hairdresser in Venezuela shares
her testimony with the daughter of Manuel Noriega and his wife. Well,
she shares her testimony with the dictator, mass murderer. And
(07:18):
what do you know, A life has changed. A life
in prison, no doubt, a bad life lived, but a
life redeemed. The story of the hairdresser who converted a dictator.
Here are on our American Stories. This is Lee Habib,
host of Our American Stories, the show where America is
the star and the American people, and we do it
all from the heart of the South Oxford, Mississippi. But
(07:40):
we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows
will always be free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, consider
making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories. Go
to our American Stories dot com, give a little, give
a lot. That's our American Stories dot com
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Search for the Our American Stories podcasts, go to the iHeartRadio,
Apple Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Up next,
a story from Joe Garman. Joe is the founder of
Armed Prison Ministries, one of the largest prison ministries in
(00:33):
the world. While it's fair to say that he's seen
his fair share of prisoners over the years, one sticks
out for pretty obvious reasons. He was the infamous dictator
of Panama. Let's get into the story. Here's Joe with
our own contributor, Katrina Hine.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
When you go into the chapel, you don't know who
this guy is in this pew or who that guy
is on the platform. So when you met Noriega the
first time you met him face to face, right, oh yeah,
don't you remember when we invaded Panama. Remember that.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
The goals of the United States have been to safeguard
the lives of Americans, to defend democracy in Panama, to
combat drug trafficking, and to protect the integrity of the
Panama Canal.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Try they were broadcasting trying to get him to come
and surrender and playing loud music and all that.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
So, you know, talking about why he was such a
bad man.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh, he was a bad man. I'm telling you. He
was killed people, and I mean he was deep in
the drugs. He was a drug lord. They always called
him dictator, he called himself president. But I mean he
(02:13):
was a different person in that jail cell. After he
became Christian. Well, we build babtistries at my ministry, and
the man who brought him to Christ ordered a baptistery
from us, and that's what he was baptized in. That's
(02:36):
when I broke in and started writing to him, you know,
because we were the ones who provided this Baptist report.
And he wrote back and invited me anytime I was
in the Miami area to come and see him, and
he would schedule an opening for me to come in.
And he had a pod all to himself in that prison.
He was in solitary confinement at all times because they
(02:58):
didn't want him speak to the other prisoners, and they
didn't want the other prisoners speaking to him.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
What were they afraid of?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Drugs? He could he could have run that out of
the prison. But his pod was made up of two compartments.
The one compartment had his bed and his exercise equipment
in there, and the other apartment had a table and
(03:28):
kind of like a little office in there, and so
he would do his exercises and then he would go
and write his letters and whatever we had communion. I
took communion to him and he and his daughter. In fact,
she was my translator. She was my interpreter. We talked
(03:50):
about sin. She would talk about sin with him. He
was like a hungry man listening to the truth of God.
I'm telling you he was sincere in every way, and
it proved it when he was set back to Panama.
(04:11):
They put him in a home. Did didn't put him
in a prison. They gave him a house, and he
and his wife lived in that house. And he'd walked
to the store and back and stuff like that. But
hm mm, nothing like before. He was a changed person.
And Christ is the one who did it to him.
(04:33):
It all started with a beauty shop operator, thank God
for his daughter. She went to Thenzewela for something and
while she was there, she went into a beauty shop
to get her hair done, and the beautician, who was female,
did not know this was Noriega's daughter, and she asked,
(04:55):
She asked Noriega's daughter. I wish I could remember the
girl's name. I can't remember her name. But she asked
her if she was a Christian, and she said no.
And that beauty shop operator witnessed to her in that
beauty shop. And when she got out of the beauty
shop a couple of days later, she heard some of
(05:18):
our students. We had some students from most of our
Christian college down there conducting youth revivals. She went to
one of them, and she went forward one night confessed
christ And when they asked her what was her name,
(05:38):
she wouldn't tell them. But come to find out, they
baptized Noriega's daughter in the river, and Noriega's daughter then
witnessed to her mother. Her mother became a beautiful Christian lady.
Her mother eventually moved to Miami, had a Bible study
(06:00):
in her home for ladies. And they're sept Noriego with
a daughter and a wife, both shooting both ways. Adding
that beauty shop operator to this state does not know
what she did, But God, what do you think of that?
(06:29):
And here we are today talking about it. Because of
what she did, she could have been quiet, and you know,
things like this don't just happen. That'll make you scratch
your head, you know that. And God has done that
for me in so many ways, so many ways. I
(06:54):
s I had this idea and pooh, here I am over.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Here, you know, And Joe Garman is right, things like
this just don't happen. This one hairdresser in Venezuela shares
her testimony with the daughter of Manuel Noriega and his wife. Well,
she shares her testimony with the dictator, mass murderer. And
(07:18):
what do you know, A life has changed. A life
in prison, no doubt, a bad life lived, but a
life redeemed. The story of the hairdresser who converted a dictator.
Here are on our American Stories. This is Lee Habib,
host of Our American Stories, the show where America is
the star and the American people, and we do it
all from the heart of the South Oxford, Mississippi. But
(07:40):
we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows
will always be free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, consider
making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories. Go
to our American Stories dot com, give a little, give
a lot. That's our American Stories dot com
Host
Lee Habeeb
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