Lookahead:  If we find ourselves in a position where we are unable to forgive a heathenish person who has behaved monstrously, God can do it for us.  We just need to ask Him for His help.  Forgiving does not mean that we condone the behavior, tolerate it any way, or allow it on our watch.  We forgive so that we can pray in line with God’s will that the person will be saved.  And we forgive because, IAW Julia Jackson’s unbelievable testimony from last week’s post, it sets US free.  

And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.  Jude 1:22, 23

A well-known pastor with a media ministry released a documentary about a deceased Hollywood star some years ago.  It was a beautiful testimony about the actor’s genuine Christian conversion during a mid-life crisis.  The documentary was done in very good taste and did not catalogue the details of the actor’s sex and drug addictions, or highly arrogant/ridiculous behavior on movie sets—which popped up during my Google search after I watched the documentary (so what was my point?).  In addition, the documentary reconstructed the framework of a horrific childhood that contributed to a lot of the aberrant behavior.  But that left me thinking, “Why the gentle treatment of this low life?  What was the viewers’ takeaway supposed to be—that this guy wasn’t so bad, so we probably should have joined his fan club?”  No, the takeaway was that this guy was bad to the bone—the type of guy who, depending on what social circle you were in, might be viewed as persona non grata even in this millennium.  But God forgave him and gloriously saved him anyway!!  And this wasn’t terribly long before he was unfortunately surprised by a death sentence from the medical community.  The actor mourned the fact that he didn’t have time to fully make amends and publicly spread the Good News—that he had finally found happiness and true peace on earth thru Jesus Christ.  But God didn’t care how many hours this man had labored through the full heat of the day à la Matthew 20:12 (i.e., productive ministry years the man had under his belt, the number of souls he had won to Christ, the number of sins he had confessed, the number of people he had forgiven, the number of people who had accepted his apologies, the number of Bible verses he had memorized…).  God just wanted him to be saved. 🙂

Someone snatched the celebrity from the fire by being at the right place and the right time to share the gospel with the latter, less than a year before this celebrity departed earth!  But we can also snatch someone from the fire in the sense of snatching them back before they cross that point of no return—no matter where they are in their timeline.  These intransigent people are the most difficult of all because their hearts have become so hardened that they are on the verge of turning 100% evil.  Their “clothing stained by flesh” frequently incites fear and hatred from anyone in their sphere.  I came across a chilling account of one of the hardest hearts in recent times when I found a Jewish Author’s testimony on One for Israel, wiki’d him, and discovered he had recently written a script on America’s biggest serial killer.  In Googling the serial killer, I found a litany of offenses that I would not include here (this is a Bible Study, not a Tabloid or Horror Show).  But I also found a book review on the same subject matter, which was appropriately watered down enough for your consumption:

“With all due respect, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep is not the season’s most frightening book. That distinction belongs to Gosnell’s Babies: Inside the Mind of America’s Most Notorious Abortion Doctor by Steve Volk. Because unlike the horror master’s tale, the doctor in Volk’s narrative is all too real — Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who will spend the rest of his life in prison for performing illegal abortions, including some when the fetus was born alive.

“He blames the preponderance of Catholics — presumably, all pro-life — in the Philadelphia law enforcement community; he blames restrictive abortion laws; he blames endemic poverty. But he does not blame himself, not for the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar in 2009 [over-medicated to mask horrific pain], nor the seven deaths of newborns that prosecutors argued were homicides (he was found guilty of three counts).

“Through it all, Gosnell remains unrepentant. ‘I believed my deeds were in a war against discrimination,’ he tells Volk, ‘disenfranchisement, undereducation and poverty.’

“In Volk’s brisk telling, Gosnell is an intelligent young man from a striving black family in West Philadelphia. He attended Central High, where a note in the yearbook reads, ‘Kermit is one of the more popular members of the class. We are sure he will make a mark for himself in his chosen field of medicine.’  Indeed, he would. As he tells Volk, ‘I did not choose abortion. Abortions chose me.’ He started performing abortions for women who simply could not afford having another child.  This is what led Gosnell to become a disciple of illegal abortionist Harvey Karman in the early 1970’s, before the Supreme Court made abortion legal in Roe v. Wade.

“According to his lawyer, he is adjusting well to prison, practicing yoga and learning Spanish. He even applied for a job training young doctors, after seeing an ad in The Economist. He didn’t get that one, nor another with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Kermit Gosnell isn’t sure why. ‘Maybe it’s my notoriety,’ he muses.”¹

And then a most surprising Christian response, recorded before Gosnell’s sentencing:

“Troy Newman of Operation Rescue is hopeful that Gosnell will receive life in prison. ‘I want to see people be given the opportunity to repent,’ he says. ‘I like the idea of extending grace even in the midst of judgment like God does in our lives – then [Gosnell] can spend the rest of his days in an isolated cell contemplating what he’s done.’  A life sentence, says Newman, is Gosnell’s only hope for repenting and coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”²

Say what!!!???

I’m sure there are people out there who think Gosnell should be murdered using the same techniques he developed for “dispensing” late-term babies who were actually born—breathing…and crying babies. 😦 However…vengeance is the LORD’s—and He will recompense.  Newman has it right—as Christians, it’s not our job to heap revenge on Gosnell.  Why?  Unbelievably, scripture reveals that God loves Kermit Gosnell—and I believe that He will mourn if Gosnell chooses the wrong path and does not repent.  The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost. 2 Peter 3:9

The “wants” word is boúlomai—To will, intend, desire, wish.  But it has components of intensity and zeal:  boúlomai (“resolutely plan”) is a strong term that underlines the predetermined (and determined) intention driving the planning (wishing, resolving).

God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.  1 John 4:8

You may say, ”Sure forgiveness might be feasible for people who aren’t direct or indirect victims of monstrous behavior like this; but when you’re a victim, that’s a whole different story.” ☹  The only words of encouragement that I can give—if we find ourselves struggling to live up to Jude’s seemingly impossible standard—are that,

• Although God loves the sinner, He hates and despises the “clothing stained by flesh,” i.e., the sin, more than we do
• If we find ourselves in a position where we are unable to forgive a heathenish person who has behaved monstrously, God can do it for us.  We just need to ask Him for His help.  Forgiving does not mean that we condone the behavior, tolerate it any way, or allow it on our watch.  We forgive so that we can pray in line with God’s will that the person will be saved.  And we forgive because, IAW Julia Jackson’s unbelievable testimony from last week’s post, it sets US free. 

++++++++++++

¹The Atlantic Website:  /national/archive/2013/09/kermit-gosnell-book-review/310537/  

²The Daily Hatch Website:  /2013/05/29/hope-for-kermit-gosnells-repentance/