Sermon Illustrations on Revenge

I'm the Problem [2 versions]

David Burke, an angry ex-airline employee, pulls out a gun and shoots pilots, causing Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 to dive 4 miles and kill all 43 aboard. Cabin attendant said, "We've got a problem here." Burke interjected, "I'm the problem." He used a .44 magnum.

A revenge note was found in the wreckage: "Hi Ray. I think it's sort of ironical that we end up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family, remember? Well I got none and you'll get none."

Burke had allegedly stole $69 in in-flight cocktail receipts. He was known for being bright and affable but subject to dark and violent moods. A month before he was fired from his ticket agent job, he tried to choke his girlfriend Jacqueline and returned later to damage her car and cut up some of her clothes.

The most chilling of his closing acts was more methodical than impulsive: the FBI found a new will in his town house, dated Dec. 2, 1987, a short time before the crash.

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Another version by Roddy Chestnut:

On 11-19-87 David Burke, a Pacific SW Airlines employee, was caught by hidden camera stealing $69.00 in flight cocktail receipts. Called in by supervisor; fired. A couple of weeks later Burke boards PSWA flight 1771 (LA to SF) without passing through security. He gets on the same plane as his supervisor. While in air he writes (on air sickness bag): “Hi Ray, I think it's sort of ironical that we end up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family, remember? Well, I got none, and you'll get none!” Took out .44 magnum, emptied it into Ray & then the pilots. Jet went into a 4-mile nose-dive; crashed, killing all 43.

Christ's Love

Mark 5:2

On Monday, August 9, 1993, a 31-year-old woman, Sopehia Mardress White, burst into the hospital nursery at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, wielding a .38-caliber hand gun. She had come gunning for Elizabeth Staten, a nurse whom she accused of stealing her husband. White fired six shots, hitting Staten in the wrist and stomach.

Staten fled and White chased her into the emergency room, firing once more. There, with blood on her clothes and a hot pistol in her hand, the attacker was met by another nurse, Joan Black, who did the unthinkable. Black calmly walked to the gun-toting woman - and hugged her.

Black spoke comforting words.

The assailant said she didn’t have anything to live for, that Staten had stolen her family. “You’re in pain,” Black said. “I’m sorry, but everybody has pain in their life....I understand, and we can work it out.”

As they talked, the hospital invader kept her finger on the trigger. Once she began to lift the gun as though she would shoot herself. Nurse Black just pushed her arm down and continued to hold her. At last Sopehia White gave the gun to the nurse. She was disarmed by a hug, by understanding, by compassion.

Black later told and AP reporter, “I saw a sick person and had to take care of her.”

Jesus Christ looks upon us in a similar fashion, as persons sick and broken inside, in need of his care. And it is his embrace that disarms us.

Emotional Terrorism

Patti Chiles awarded $500,000 in emotional damage in divorce case against husband Jerry, 44, an oil millionaire in Houston. She walked in while he was having sex with secretary. He brought prostitutes to the home. She called it emotional terrorism. She made tape recordings of his prostitutes. He claims she set him up. Total award was $1.4 million. Was first time a husband or wife had won civil damages for pain endured during a marriage.

#183

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Bloodied But Unbowed

Luke 6

Once crime victims had no voice, but now they get their day in court. After Colin Ferguson shot to death five commuters on a Long Island RR train on December 7, 1993, victims got to vent their anger. “I feel this animal should suffer till the day he dies… Given five minutes with Colin Ferguson, this coward would know the meaning of suffering” said Robert Giugliano.

Carolyn McCarthy said, “… Hatred would take away the strength I needed… We will learn to laugh again. We will learn to love again, and we will survive. But you will not.” John Stein, a victim-assistance group’s deputy director, spoke at the trial of a man who killed Stein’s cousin a few year ago; he describes it as “an existential act, done for its own end, not to influence the judge … to express hatred for what [the defendant] had done, and hatred for him. Of all the various kinds of punishment we can inflict on any one offender, the one they most deserve is the rage of the victims they have hurt.”

The danger in victim’s rights is giving in to hatred and letting mob emotions rule the day.

#357

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Fantasies of Revenge

Charles Cerling is an American Baptist pastor in Michigan. A few years back he returned to his office after a vacation and began sorting through the mail. As he leafed through the minutes of the last deacons' meeting, one phrase stood out: “We discussed our leadership situation.” He knew what that meant; and sure enough, a few days later he was fired.

Cerling says his anger began to build in intensity. The church tried to be kind, and let him use all the stationary and phone calls he needed during the 90 days they gave him to find a new church. He used their postage and telephone lines as if money were water. Maybe Guam needed a new pastor. He called them. Spending their money was an expression of rage.

The entire time he entertained himself with fantasies of revenge, until he realized it was destroying him. He checked into a motel for 24 hours and did nothing but pray and study the Bible. God delivered him from the pit of anger.

Creative Revenge For Today's World

Nan Berman set up business in Newton, Massachusetts, called "Enough is Enough." Billed as "creative revenge for today's world." Mailed a three-foot dead bluefish to a philandering husband in California and delivered a burned and messy suit to a lawyer who implied his girlfriend was "unsuitable" for him. More common are 13 dead roses, sent in a beribboned black box for $25. She has invested $30,000 in venture. She bought a cactus to deliver to an insufferable boor with the sign "Sit on it."

Don't Get Even, Get Mad!

"Revenge."

1. Revenge fantasies inhibit constructive action.

2. They can perpetuate difficult relationships.

3. They can harm successful relationships.

4. Revenge fantasies only stifle anger for a while.

5. Rage can hurt innocent bystanders.

Some of worst revenge fantasies involve unrequited love.

Revenge fantasies can be channeled into organizations that seek justice rather than vengeance - MADD, Missing Children groups, etc.

#563

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Phoenixes and Pelicans

America's "Hatfield and McCoy" imagery. "The Godfather" shows the accommodations Christians allow themselves in the name of retribution. Reflected in the affairs of modern nations (N. Ireland, etc.). Culture is fascinated with war. People lash out because of self-preservation.

Eye for eye? Jesus goes beyond this. Jesus lashing out at money-changers has been over-used; more typical is his forgiveness from the cross, rebuking Peter for cutting off ear, etc.

Sometimes it worked, often it did not. Following Jesus is foolish, but it is the way of the cross.

#564

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Revenge Can Cost You

The feeling that something is not fair is perhaps the most morally offensive feeling there is, says Willar Gaylin, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. We all carry around an innate sense of justice. What should we do when our integrity is injured?

1. Take attitude that the wrongdoer will be punished by their conscience.

2. The wrongdoer needs to be publically punished.

a. But justice is hard to determine. (Revenge is over-reaction).

3. Fantasizing can be cathartic.

4. Express your indignation. Most people don't like to be disliked.

One woman sent a colleague who had undermined her project a photo of

himself, cut into pieces. Years later he confessed it truly had

chastened him.

Cost of revenge:

1. Hurts yourself.

Divorcee agreed to sell her husband's Mercedes-Benz and split the

proceeds as part of their divorce settlement, signed over the car to

the first bidder for $25 and sent a check for $12.50 to the enraged

husband. She got back at her husband, but lost a lot of money.

2. Fantasizing revenge can take over reality.

Not Getting Even - Or Mad

Sermon on Revenge.

1. What revenge is.

2. Effects of revenge.

3. God's alternative.

a. Results.

b. Dangers.

4. Reveals our trust in God.

Illustrations used: 00052, 00383+, 00567+

The Bundy Carnival

Society excludes certain groups from the need to be treated with any respect. Convicted murderers are on the moral boundary, but Bundy fell beyond the line. An analysis of why students cheered at his execution.

Mad Housewife Marinates Hubby

Patricia Hager, an angry housewife in Osnabruck, West Germany, marinated her bound and gagged husband Albert in garlic sauce for six hours while threatening to cook him alive after she caught him with another woman. The bathtub was filled with salad oil (ten gallons) and garlic cloves (two pounds). Her barbecue had a raging fire going in it.

You Don't Look Too Bad, Here's Another

December 1984. Four black youths in a crowded New York subway surround a thin white man. They ask him for $5.00 so they can play video games.

Without saying a word, Bernhard Goetz pulls out a .38 revolver and shoots each one in rapid succession. He then checks the first three to see that they are “taken care of,” in his words.

When he comes to the fourth one, Goetz doesn't see any blood. So he says, “You don't look too bad, here's another.” The bullet strikes 19-year-old Darrell Cabey in the spinal cord, paralyzing him.

Let Me Go Out and Reason With Them

As a child I remember seeing a western movie on TV. The cowboys were hiding in a house that was surrounded by hundreds of murderous Apaches. The Indians were racing their horses in a circle around the house while the palefaces blasted away at them.

Suddenly a black-robed preacher among them told them to stop firing. He said, “Let me go out and reason with them.” So he grabbed his Bible and headed out the door. All was silent, then the pacifist was riddled by a dozen arrows. The cowboys resumed firing and, of course, saved themselves.

As a little kid I remember thinking - boy, that guy was dumb!

(Used In March 24, 1985, Sermon)

Tom Skinner was an angry black youth in New York City. Through violence and hatred he became the leader of the largest gang in the city, the Harlem Lords. Tom's conversion to Jesus Christ was so real he left the gang the next day and began preaching the gospel. He had an immediate victory over his past life.

Several weeks after he was saved, Tom was playing in a high school football game. During the game he blocked a member of the other team while his own halfback scored a touchdown. As Tom got off the ground and headed back to his huddle, the boy he had blocked slammed him in the stomach and threw him to the ground.

The white player kicked him and made racist remarks.

Under normal circumstances he would have pulverized the boy. But instead he got up, looked him in the eye and said, “You know, because of Jesus Christ I love you anyway.” As it turned out, the other boy later apologized. But even if he hadn't, Tom had honored Jesus Christ.

#987

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A Leg For A Leg

Parallels between Hammurabi and the Bible's principle of "an eye for an eye":

"If a man has shattered a rich person's leg, you shall shatter

his leg. If he has caused a poor man to lose an eye, or

shattered a poor man's leg, he shall pay one pound of silver."

Apparently some legs are worth more than others!

The Machiavelli of "Mc Paper"

Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today newspaper, believes in the old Sicilian saying, “Hold your friends close – but your enemies closer.” His new book describes how he destroyed his enemies by appearing to be their best friends. Some specific episodes are described.

[saying is also used in the movie “The Godfather”]

I Want My Neighbor's Cow Dead

Mark 12:31

A popular joke in Moscow has a Frenchman, an Englishman, an Italian and a Russian granted one wish each. The Frenchman says he wants to be the greatest lover, the Englishman, the greatest horseman, the Italian, the greatest singer. The Russian scratches his head and then smiles: "Above all, I want my neighbor's cow dead."

#1098

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The Choice

Andrew Jackson was known for being unforgiving and having a terrible temper. In a duel with Charles Dickinson, Jackson was wounded but had not yet fired. A gentleman would aim and fire into the air, but Jackson aimed and fired into his heart. His mean streak haunted him throughout his political life.

Version in sermon:

======================================================

Forgiveness as a character issue.

As New Jersey's presidential primary approaches, one consideration every voter must face is the character of the candidates. Negative campaigning is nothing new in American politics and neither is the character issue. More than 180 years ago a candidate for President had to confront rumors that neither Bush nor Clinton have had to face. Even though he was a forceful and proven leader, it was his inability to forgive that called his character into question. I am speaking, of course, of Andrew Jackson.

One scholar has said that when Andrew Jackson hated, it often became a grand passion. He could hate with a Biblical fury. He would resort to petty and vindictive acts to nurture his hatred and keep it bright and strong and ferocious. He needed revenge. He always struck back.

On May 30, 1806, Jackson met crackshot Charles Dickinson in a duel at Harrison's Mills, Kentucky. It appears that Dickinson had made some rude comments about Jackson's wife. Others had too - she wasn't actually divorced when Jackson married her.

So that morning they paced off for the duel. Upon the signal to "Fire!," Dickinson instantly raised his pistol and, as expected, got off the first shot. Kicking up dust from Jackson's coat as it entered, the bullet stuck him full in the chest. Everyone watching knew that Jackson had been hit. Astonishingly, Jackson did not fall but remained standing, ramrod straight. The 70-caliber ball had chipped off his breastbone, broken two ribs, plowed through chest muscle to come within an inch of his heart. Blood drained down his leg and began to fill his boot.

Dumbfounded, Dickinson had to remain on his mark to await his fate. He was now at Jackson's mercy.

A man in Jackson's situation customarily raised his pistol, aimed it at his disarmed opponent, then pointed it at the sky and fired. It was the gentlemanly thing to do and earned you much respect. Dickinson stood frozen, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes fixed on the ground. Jackson raised his pistol, took level aim - and pulled the trigger. A harmless "click" followed. The hammer had mercifully failed to strike.

Jackson now had a second chance to consider his actions, to remind himself that Dickinson's wife was pregnant. Jackson himself was born after his father's death and knew the hardship of growing up fatherless on the frontier. As Dickinson waited helplessly in place, Jackson carefully recocked his pistol and again took deliberate aim at his opponent. And for the second time he pulled the trigger. This time the weapon did not misfire, and Dickinson fell mortally wounded. Jackson showed no remorse for having shot Dickinson in cold blood.

The episode would haunt Jackson the rest of his life. The full ounce of lead was lodged so close to his heart that doctors never dared to try to remove it. Thereafter he experienced sporadic chest pain that increased with old age.

During his first presidential campaign in 1828, the opposition compiled a list of his brutality and printed a handbill with 18 coffins on it. Each had the name of an individual killed by Jackson's gun or order. His harshness and inability to forgive almost cost him the presidency, not to mention his life.

Go Get 'Em, God!

Luke 18:1

Sermon on Psalm 109 and vengeance.

1. Difficult passage and concept.

2. Justice is important in Bible.

3. The emotions of justice.

4. Curses.

5. Relation of OT vengeance to NT.

6. Application to believers today.

Couple Meet, Forgive Slayer of Daughter

A dramatic, real-life story that portrays this faith appeared in the LOS ANGELES TIMES under the headline, "Couple Meet, Forgive Slayer of Daughter."

A father and mother from Dearborn, Michigan, whose twenty-year-old daughter had been brutally murdered, traveled to the prison where their daughter's convicted killer was being held. "We love this special person from the bottom of our hearts," the mother said. "We harbor no hatred, no revenge." Is this woman simply crazy? "We had the normal human reaction of grief and anguish," she declared:

"Didn't I have the right to be filled with red-hot hate? But where would it have gotten me? It wouldn't have gotten me my daughter back....God led us on this journey. You don't have to commit a horrible crime to be lost. You just have to ignore Jesus Christ."

This Christian couple are surely ushers for the Kingdom of God, proclaiming with their very lives that God's forgiveness has healing power in this world. As faithful followers of the broken, risen Christ, they demonstrate that death does not hold all the power in this world, that revenge is not the answer to evil but its consort, that something can be done, if only faithful men and women would dare to prepare the way for Jesus Christ to do it. "Do not let evil defeat you."

Why Execute A Killer?

Capital punishment is no deterrent for crime, but it quenches society’s thirst for blood. Revenge is generally the least-discussed rationale for capital punishment in a society claiming to be civilized but it is probably the one held by most people, since it addresses our emotions. An execution may provide closure to distraught family members and friends left in the wake of a painful, heinous crime. There are those who savor revenge -as barbaric as the thought may be. Revenge also allows for the expulsion and ventilation of harbored anger.

Less emotional reasons given for capital punishment:

1. It deters crime.

(but only applies to first deg murder)

2. It is cheaper than imprisonment.

(but not with endless court appeals)

3. It is only certain penalty.

(but too certain if innocent killed)

According to a recent Gallup poll, 79% of adult population favors capital punishment for murder. In 1990, 36 states plus the federal government have capital punishment laws. In that year, 11 states executed 23 prisoners, bringing the total number of executions to 143 since 1976, the year the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. Across the nation 2,356 prisoners await execution.

Revenge

Mark 7:22

In Judith Viorst's children's book "I'll Fix Anthony," the younger brother

complains about the way his older brother Anthony treats him:

"My brother Anthony can read books now, but he won't read any books to me. He

plays checkers with Bruce from his school. But when I want to play he says

"Go away or I'll clobber you" I let him wear my Snoopy sweatshirt, but he

never lets me borrow his sword. Mother says deep down in his heart Anthony

loves me. Anthony says deep down in his heart he thinks I stink. Mother says

deep deep down in his heart, where he doesn't even know it, Anthony loves me.

Anthony says deep deep down in his heart he still thinks I stink. When I'm

six I'll fix Anthony....

"When I'm six I'll float, but Anthony will sink to the bottom. I'll dive off

the board, but Anthony will change his mind. I'll breathe in and out when I

should, but Anthony will only go glug, glug,.... When I'm six my teeth will

fall out, and I'll put them under the bed, and the tooth fairy will take them

away and leave dimes. Anthony's teeth won't fall out. He'll wiggle and

wiggle them, but they won't fall out. I might sell him one of my teeth, but I

might not....

"Anthony is chasing me out of the playroom. He says I stink. He says he is

going to clobber me. I have to run now, but I won't have to run when I'm six.

When I'm six, I'll fix Anthony."

Most of us know the feeling of Anthony's brother. The Bible calls it

vengeance. #1883

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The Death Penalty: Two Sides of A Growing Issue

Romans 8:33

Account of a chaplain at a pre-execution prayer service:

At 8:30 p.m. on September 5, 1983, the small communion service began in the state penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. Among the five men was Jimmy Lee Gray, convicted for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl. Gray, 32, became a Christian in 1977 while awaiting trial. “I was waiting for a lightning bolt of justice and was hit by a lightning bolt of mercy.”

In a prayer circle, Pastor Joe Ingle could not come up with words, so he recited Romans 8:33-39. “...neither death, nor life...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Rev. Ingle later remarked: “Somehow the Spirit spoke through that prayer in a way that reached all of us around the circle. Then they took Jimmy out and put him to death. Yes, people will do horrible things in their sinful state. The question is: How do we respond when they repent? Killing them is not the answer.”

#1969

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Make Him Believe You Love Him [2 versions]

Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."

Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan. "Go home and act as if you really loved your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him."

With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!"

And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing.

When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"

"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds.

==================================

Another version from Wit & Wisdom:

A woman once came to Dr. George W. Crane for advice.

“Dr. Crane,” she began, “I hate my husband, and I want to hurt him. Will you tell me how to do it?”

Dr. Crane replied, “Why, certainly. How do you think you would like to hurt him?”

“I think I want to divorce him,” she replied, “because he has fallen in love with somebody else.”

“Oh,” replied Dr. Crane, “if he has fallen in love with another woman, a divorce from you is probably what he would like. That would not hurt him now. Before you divorce him, you must make him fall in love with you. Then when you divorce him it will hurt him.”

“Oh, good!” she exclaimed. “Now, Doctor, tell me how to make him fall in love with me so I can hurt him.”

The doctor quietly, and with a twinkle in his eye, replied, “I’ll tell you how. Give him three honest compliments a day.”

“Oh, I see,” she responded. And then-she hesitated. “But what is there about him I could compliment?”

The doctor guided her bewildered thinking, “Does he dress well?”

“Oh, yes, he does,” came the quick reply.

“Well,” observed Dr. Crane, “you drop the remark in his hearing that he chooses becoming ties, or that he wears his clothes well.”

Guiding her again, the doctor queried, “Is he good looking?”

“Oh,” she exclaimed, “he’s handsome.”

“Well,” continued the wise doctor, “you tell him so.” Looking into her puzzled face, the doctor again inquired, “Does he support the family?”

“Yes,” came back the answer again, “he is a good provider.”

“Then,” continued the doctor, “tell him that, too. And as you give him the three honest compliments, others will come to you. And the man will fall in love with you. Then you can hurt him.”

“Oh,” she said, “good! Thank you. Doctor.”

“Return in about six months,” directed the doctor, “and I will explain the next step to take.” And with that, the woman was gone.

Several months later she was back again in Dr. Crane’s office. Her face was beaming. “Doctor, it works!” she exclaimed. “My husband is madly in love with me.”

“Fine!” replied the doctor. “Now divorce him.”

“But, Dr. Crane,” stammered the delighted wife, “I don’t want to divorce him now. I love him too much.”

________

Source: Path to the Heart, Glenn A Coon, C 1958 by Review and Herald Publishing Association

Forgiveness In Marriage

Concerning forgiveness in marriage:

"Forgiving will not immediately soothe your pain. Instead, it introduces a different pain, a much more hopeful pain because it is redeeming. You do 'deny yourself' and die a little in order to forgive. Pride dies. Fairness dies. Rights die, as do self-pity and the sweetness of a pout or the satisfaction of a little righteous wrath. You die a little, that the marriage might rise alive."

Confessions of A Racist

Hebrews 11

Martin Luther King, Jr., is often called a “prophet” because, like those Old Testament figures, he endeavored to inspire change in an entire nation through moral appeal. All the prophets followed a two-pronged approach.

First, they gave a short-range view of what God requires immediately. This usually consisted of an exhortation to simple acts of faithfulness: Rebuild the temple. Purify your marriages. Destroy your idols.

Second, they also gave a long-range view to answer the people’s deepest questions: How can we believe that God loves us in the face of so much suffering? How can we believe in a just God when the world seems ruled by a sovereignty of evil? The prophets answered such questions by reminding their audience of who God is, and by painting a picture of a future kingdom of righteousness.

Martin Luther King used that same two-pronged approach. His short-range view called for non-violence. King did many things wrong (like many of the “heroes” in Hebrews 11), but one thing he did right. Against all odds, against all instincts of self-preservation, he stayed true to the short view. He did not strike back. Where others called for revenge, he called for love.

King also reminded his people of the long view, that God is in control and the coming of His righteousness will not be long.

70 Times 7 Is A Gift

Luke 23:34

Carl Simpson, a carpenter, wrote the following after he was robbed at gunpoint:

History will note it as one man standing in front of his house with his two infant daughters while another man holds a .45 automatic to his head and goes through his pockets for five dollars and change. The police record it as an armed robbery.

I remember it as an invasion – a violation of parts of my life, my psyche, where no one should ever be. Jesus calls it a forgiveness-needing act.

Jesus knows that 70 x 7 times I will remember that night and be filled with hatred; and Jesus knows that 70 x 7 times the fear of that moment will resurface; and Jesus knows that 70 x 7 times the craving for revenge will well up inside me; and Jesus knows that 70 x 7 times I will weep in the pain that is planted inside me; and Jesus knows that 70 x 7 times he will be whispering in my ear the words of forgiveness.

Which is to say: forgiving 70 x 7 times is not so much a command as it is a gift. A gift of healing. A gift because that gun, that man, that night is branded in my memory. And for as long as I have the hatred, the fear, the desire for revenge, and the grieving, I will also need and have the forgiving – Jesus’ forgiving and my forgiving. And that is what Jesus offers, 70 x 7 times.

________

The Other Side, July 1983

The Martyr Zechariah

Luke 23:34

The martyr Stephen and Jesus, both filled with the Spirit, died unjustly with a word of acquittal on their lips. Stephen, on his knees among the flying stones, makes a last appeal to the heavenly court - not for his own life, but for mercy toward his executioners. Before he was finally put to silence and death, he was heart to cry aloud, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

There is an Old Testament story of another messenger who for his faithfulness was stoned to death, not (like Stephen) outside the city, but in the temple court itself, “between the altar and the sanctuary” - Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. But as Zechariah was about the breathe his last, he prayed, “May the Lord see and avenge!”

The martyr deaths were similar, but the prayers were widely different. Stephen had learned his lesson in the manner of him, who when he was fixed to the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Half-truths That Are Wholly Wrong

Mark 7:22

A cousin of gossip is innuendo. Consider the ship's first mate who after a drunken binge was written up by the captain on the ship's log: "Mate drunk today." The mate's revenge? Some months later he surreptitiously wrote on his own entry, "Captain sober today." So it goes with the word unsaid, the awkward silence, the raised eyebrows, the quizzical look.

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Another version:

On a sailing vessel the mate of the ship, yielding to a temptation, became drunk. He had never before been in such a state. The captain entered in the log of the ship the record for the day: "Mate drunk today."

When the mate read this entry he implored the captain to take it out of the record, saying that when it was read by the owners of the ship it would cost him his post, and the captain well knew that this was his first offense. But the obdurate captain refused to change the record and said to the mate, "This is the fact, and into the log it goes!"

Some days afterward, the mate was keeping the log and after he had given the latitude and longitude, the run for the day, the wind and the sea, he made this entry: "Captain sober today."

The indignant captain protested when he read the record, declaring that it would leave an altogether false impression in the minds of the owners of the vessel, as if it were an unusual thing for him to be sober. But the mate answered as the captain answered him, "This is the fact, and into the log it goes!"

This is a good example of how, by an accuracy of statement, but by misrepresentation of circumstances, one can injure the reputation of another.

________

McCartney

Want Some Revenge?

The following was an unsolicited email on the subject of revenge (good for illustrating the non-Christian's attitude):

~ ~ ~ WANT REVENGE?... Get It Right Here! - FREE SAMPLES !!!

Do you dream of playing a Light Hearted, Nasty or Gross "PRANK" on a friend or foe that you want to "EVEN THE SCORE" with? If the answer is "YES", please read on...

Below is a FREE sample listing of our "Light Hearted" pranks you might consider playing on someone you want to GET EVEN with!

DISCLAIMER: I cannot take responsibility for any actions taken as described in this text. I advise you to look at this text as a source for reading enjoyment only. If you do consider an action, also consider it's consequence, both for the victim and for yourself.

O.K., let's have some fun... !!!

LOST KEYS: Get hold of some old useless keys (car, house,etc.). Place victim's name, phone number and $50.00 reward... if found and returned. Drop the keys in one of the less desirable areas of town.

DOGS: Purchase a silent dog whistle. In the early hours of the morning (2am- 4am) go near the victim's house and blow the silent whistle and the dog will begin to bark uncontrollably until the owner awakes and disciplines the animal. When the owner goes back to bed repeat the process again.

GARAGE SALE: Place an ad in the classified section of your local newspaper advertising a GIGANTIC Garage Sale listing the address of your victim. Advertise televisions, camcorder, vintage automobile, antiques, etc. Sale begins at 6:00 a.m. Come early!

TAG ALONG ROAD KILL - Find a dead dog or cat along side a road. Take a 12-foot long rope, tie one end around the animal and the other end around the back axle of the victim's automobile. Balance the dog or cat on the back axle of the automobile. As the victim drives, the animal will drop off the axle and will be dragged about 8 feet behind the automobile, horrifying fellow motorists. This one kills me!

NOISY APARTMENT NEIGHBORS - Place a clock radio or portable stereo in a large cardboard box. Place open end of box next to the wall adjoining the victim's apartment. Tune the radio to whatever obnoxious station you choose. Turn-on when you are away and turn-off when you return home.

FAX MACHINES - Write whatever you wish on 9 pages of 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper and tape them together (end to end). Dial the victim's fax number and start sending the pages through. After page two has been transmitted, tape the top of page 1 to the bottom of page 9 making a continuous loop. The document will continue to cycle until the victim's fax machine has run out of paper. Be sure and disable your phone number from being printed on the fax and also disable caller I.D. This prank is great to get even with a business or individual who has somehow cheated you.

Hey, wasn't that FUN !!!

#2682

*

How To Kill Your Giant

Luke 14:26

Joke about Texan who was so rich everyone in area wanted to marry his daughter. He invited all the young men over for a party. When they got there, they found he had stocked his swimming pool with 30 alligators. He lined them all up on one side and announced, "Whoever can swim across this alligator-infested swimming pool can have my daughter's hand in marriage." They all stood there looking at each other, none of them about to do that.

All of a sudden there was a big splash as one of them jumped in the water and began swimming furiously. The alligators converged on him and snapping at him, and as he pulled himself out of the other end one just missed locking on his leg. He rolls on the side of the swimming pool gasping for breath. The big Texan goes over and says, "Congratulations, son, you get my daughter's hand in marriage." "I couldn't care less about your daughter -- I just want to get my hands on the guy that pushed me in the water!"

===================================

Another version:

A very wealthy man bought a huge ranch in Arizona and he invited some of his closest associates to see it. After touring some of the 1,500 acres of mountains and rivers and grasslands, he took everybody to the house. The house was as spectacular as the scenery, and out back was the largest swimming pool you have ever seen. However, this gigantic swimming pool was filled with alligators.

The rich owner explained this way: “I value courage more than anything else. Courage is what made me a billionaire. In fact, I think that courage is such a powerful virtue that if anybody is courageous enough to jump in that pool, swim through those alligators and make it to the other side, I’ll give them anything they want, anything -- my house, my land, my money.”

Of course, everybody laughed at the absurd challenge and proceeded to follow the owner into the house for lunch ... when they suddenly heard a splash. Turning around they saw this guy swimming for his life across the pool, thrashing at the water, as the alligators swarmed after him. After several death-defying seconds, the man made it, unharmed, to the other side.

Our rich host was absolutely amazed, but he stuck to his promise. He said, “You are indeed, a man of courage and I will stick to my word. What do you want? You can have anything -- my house, my land, my money,-just tell me what you want and it is yours.”

The swimmer, breathing heavily, looked up at the host and said, “I just want to know one thing -- who pushed me in that pool?”

________

Dr. Charles Garfield

=======================================

A third version:

Once there was a millionaire who collected live alligators. He kept them in the pool in back of his mansion. The millionaire also had a beautiful single daughter. So one day he decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he announces: “My dear guests, I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars or my daughter to the man that can swim across this pool full of alligators and emerge unharmed!”

As soon as he finished his last word there was the sound of a large SPLASH! One guy was in the pool, swimming as fast as he could, and the crowd was cheering him on. Finally he made it to the other side unharmed.

The millionaire was impressed. He said “My boy that was incredible! Fantastic! I didn’t think it could be done! Well I must keep my end of the bargain, so which do you want: my daughter or the one million dollars?

The guy says “Listen I don’t want your money! And I don’t want your daughter! I just want the goober who pushed me into that pool!"

I Want Him To Pay Even More

In 1994 a former pre-med student, Edward Summers, hijacked a jeep near a Nyack, NY, mall. He forced the two young men out of the vehicle, had them lay down in the snow, and shot them both in the back of the head. Michael Falcone died. Scott Nappi survived to point out the attacker in court. Summers was sentenced to 70 years to life in prison.

Scott Nappi says his life has been changed irreparably. Friends and family avoid him. He told the reporter he wanted to know about his attacker’s fate in prison. “Has he been threatened? Has he been beaten up yet? I want to know if he’s suffering yet. That’s what I’d really like. I don’t want him to go there and not be threatened. He’s paying for what he did, but I want him to pay even more.”

The reporter asked Nappi, “Can you see a time when you would ever forgive him?” “No, never. Never. Never, never.”

Forgive God?

Luke 23:34

Christianity Today article on forgiving God.

I. Does God need to be forgiven?

A. Forgiveness presupposes wrongdoing, which God is incapable of.

1) Bible teaches that God is sinless.

B. Yet we often find God guilty of "lapsing" when we face tragedies.

II. Forgiveness is totally against human nature.

A. We seek revenge.

B. God encourages, indeed requires, us to forgive. Eph 4:32

1) He also calls on us to forget. Jer 31:34

2) Required for full forgiveness.

III. Our forgiveness can be like God's.

A. It's evidence that we're made in his image.

B. Our forgiveness is not God's.

1) God not only forgives, he cleanses.

2) We cannot.

C. Forgiving cleanses us.

1) It erases memories that eat at us.

2) Perceived wrongs against us are as pernicious at the

real thing.

IV. Forgiving God.

A. We sometimes perceive wrongs done by God to us.

1) "Why?"

B. We can forgive God for these "perceived" wrongs.

C. It is for our benefit, not God's.

Forgiveness Is An Unnatural Act

Luke 23:34

Forgiveness is unnatural, but necessary. It must come from God.

I. Forgiveness is difficult.

A. Memories linger.

B. Forgiveness is UNNATURAL.

1) It is blantantly unfair.

C. Story of Joseph and his brothers. Genesis 42-45

1) Joseph swings from harshness to blubbering sorrow.

2) He finally forgives them.

a) The sounds of his grief and love mingle together.

II. Forgiveness is against all instincts.

A. Animals don't forgive predators. (sharks and dolphins)

1) Dogs eat dogs.

2) Nations and economies operate on this principle.

3) Freud: "One must forgive one's enemies, but not before

they've been hanged."

B. Christianity is suffused with forgiveness.

1) Lord's prayer.

2) Best-known saying of Jesus:"Forgive your enemies."

a) Seems suicidal.

b) Hard enough to forgive rotten brothers.

III. Why forgiveness is so central to our faith.

A. It is the only way to break the cycle of blame - and pain -

in relationships.

1) "Karma" provides a more satisfying sense of fairness.

a) (6,800,000 incarnations are required.)

b) Example of marriage ruined by a bar of soap.

2) Forgiveness doesn't settle all questions of blame.

a) It often evades those questions.

b) But it allows relationships to start over.

c) Only humans can forgive, and develop relationships that

transcend the law of nature.

3) Forgiveness is tit-for-tat.

a) Blame is this way, and so is forgiveness.

b) We would not want to get caught up in such a cycle with

God.

B. Loosening the stranglehold of guilt.

1) First official act of free parliament in East Germany was

to ask for forgiveness of Jews.

a) It did not bring any Jews back to life.

b) But it helped to loosen the stranglehold of guilt.

2) "Les Miserables."

a) Double-edged - Valjean learns forgiveness, detective

does not.

3) Forgiveness transforms individuals, both forgivers and

forgiven.

a) Joseph's tears were a sign of liberation.

b) Jesus led Peter through a ritual of forgiveness.Jn 21:15f

C. Bridging the gap.

1) Forgiveness puts both parties on the same side.

a) Through it we realize we are not that much different.

2) In Incarnation, God puts self on our side. Heb 4:15; 2 Co 5:21

a) Forgiveness is not easy for God, either.

b) Words from the cross: "They know not what they do."

IV. Resolving the unfairness.

A. At its core, forgiveness remains unfair.

1) It is unjust to let dastardly deeds go unpunished.

B. In the final analysis, forgiveness is an act of faith. Rom 12:19

1) We trust that God is a better justice maker than us.

2) We defer to him.

C. Wrong does not disappear when we forgive.

1) But it loses its grip on us, and is taken over by God.

2) He knows what to do.

Forgive and Forget, and Other Myths of Forgiveness

Luke 23:34

Forgiveness is not a matter of "forgetting."

I. Forgiveness and vengeance.

A. Thoughts of enemies inhaling excrement. Isa 25:10-12

B. Does forgiving open us up to further abuse?

C. "Forgiveness is too often seen as merely an exercise in releasing

bad feelings and ignoring past harm, pretending all is well."

II. The myth of forgetting the harm.

A. Does God forget our sin?

1) Ps 25:7 and Jer 31:34 say he does.

2) Judgment Day assumes he does not. 2 Cor 5:10

3) Taken away and buried sin are metaphors. Ps 103:12; Mic 7:19

B. Emphasizing forgetting fuels a spirit of denial.

1) It warps the perspective.

III. The myth of releasing anger.

A. Forgiveness is usually not a sudden deliverance from anger.

1) It is an on-going work of God.

B. Anger or hurt is not necessarily contrary to forgiveness.

1) God feels anger and hurt at our sin.

2) An absence of strong feelings implies a lack of heart

involvement.

3) Anger can be a loving response.

IV. The myth of not desiring revenge.

A. Many see revenge as incompatible with forgiveness.

1) Revenge involves a desire for justice.

2) A true hunger for vengeance is our commitment to destroy sin.

B. Vengeance belongs to God.

1) We should not seek it on our own.

2) We anticipate the Day of the Lord.

V. The myth of peace at any price.

A. Offenders are not always won over by unconditional love.

1) Turning the other cheek is the not same as fear-based service

offered to avoid guilt or attack.

2) Overlooking harm in order to achieve a sentimental but not

substantive peace actually encourages sin.

3) Forgiveness is a weapon of wisdom that is designed to

disrupt and entice.

B. Shrewd sacrifice exposes the heart of the one doing harm.

1) This generosity has a redemptive bite.

VI. What does it mean to forgive?

A. A central image is the master who mercifully cancels an

incomprehensible debt. Matt 6:9-15; 18:21-35

B. The only debt that remains is to offer others a taste of

redemptive love.

C. Working definition of forgiveness:

"To forgive another means to cancel a debt in order to provide:

1) Opportunity for repentance, and

2) Restoration of the broken relationship."

My Good Enemy

Luke 6

We can learn from people who oppose us. Enemies can be good for us.

1. Enemies can be right.

2. Enemies can clarify our beliefs.

3. Enemies can strengthen our faith.

4. Who can take care of enemies?

Jesus will do a better job with them than we can.

The Most Subtle Temptation

Sermon in King David series. David forswears revenge on Saul. 1 Sam 24

==========================

THE MOST SUBTLE TEMPTATION

==========================

I. Do you get mad or get even?

II. Hard facts about revenge.

A. We are tempted to seek revenge in many situations.

B. The vicious cycle.

C. Verbal gymnastics.

D. How God feels about revenge.

III. When your enemy is in your grasp.

A. The Situation.

B. The Temptation. 24:4

C. The conscience at work. 24:5

D. Temptation conquered. 24:6-7

E. The Conversation. 24:8-15

IV. Fight by the Spirit, not the flesh.

A. David chose to do what was right in eyes of God, not men.

B. Tough principles to practice against revenge.

C. God can make even our enemies be at peace with us. Prov 16:7

D. Christians must conquer resentment.

#3392

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John Gotti's Version of Forgiveness

One day in March 1980, a 12-year-old boy named Frank borrowed a friend's motorized minibike and rode it out from behind a Dumpster and into the path of a car driven by John Favara, a neighbor. There had been friendship between the families and the kids had often slept over at each other's houses. The setting sun was shining into Favara's eyes when his car hit Frank. The boy was killed.

The death was ruled accidental, and no charges were filed, but the boy's family, frantic with grief and fury, didn't see it that way. The days after the boy's death were followed by a series of threats against Favara. At one point the epithet "MURDERER" was spray-painted on his car. Favara was a stolid, mild-mannered man, not easily excited or frightened, but the succession of threats rattled him. Especially considering who they came from - Frank's father was John Gotti.

Favara asked a friend, who happened to be a member of the Castellano Mafia family, what he should do. The friend advised him to get rid of the death car. The sight of it enraged Victoria Gotti - so much that in May, two months after the accident, she attacked Favara with a baseball bat. He went to a hospital for treatment of his injuries but refused to press charges. Nevertheless, Favara followed a second piece of advice from his friend: He put his house up for sale.

Toward the end of July, John Gotti decided to take Victoria off for a week's vacation in Florida. "My wife is still mourning my son and I took her down there to get her mind off things," he would later say. "She's still on medication."

On July 28 John Favara came out of his factory and headed for his car. He'd nearly reached it when a stocky man rushed him, clubbed him with a two-by-four, seized him by his belt, and heaved him into the back of a van. "Our friend is sick," the stocky man explained to a witness who wondered what was happening. "We're taking him home." The van disappeared down the road. Another man got into Favara's station wagon and drove it way after the van. John Favara would never be seen again.

Several days later the Gottis returned from their holiday in Florida. When Queens police asked John Gotti about his neighbor's disappearance, the bereaved father replied: "I don't know what happened. I'm not sorry if something did happen. He killed my kid."

Soon after, an informant told the FBI that "the individual responsible for Frank Gotti's death was killed recently at Gotti's direction, and Gotti wanted a solid alibi of not even being in New York at the time." Another told a New York cop that Favara was kept alive until Gotti's return from Florida so that Gotti could kill him himself. The informant claimed that Gotti cut Favara in half with a chain saw and had his body crushed in a compactor along with his car.

According to Jesus, Christians should handle grief more constructively.

_______

January , 2009: Court documents disclose that Favara was forced into a van, shot in the legs and killed. His body was then submerged in a 55-gallon drum of acid and dissolved.

Traded for catfish

Professional athletes get traded routinely. Somebody needs a center fielder, and another team has two good ones. A team seeks to shore up its pitching staff and goes player swapping. Unless the trade involves a superstar, most don't make headlines. Let me tell you about one you may have missed.

Ken Krahenbuhl was playing minor league ball for the Pacific Suns in Oxnard, California. He was having a decent season, but he wasn't about to be yanked to the Big Show -- player jargon for the major leagues. In late July of this year, he was traded to the Greenville (Mississippi) Bluesmen for some cash, a player to be named later, *and ten pounds of catfish*.

So how do you spell insulted? “The Suns could have gotten some players in exchange for me to help their ballclub, instead of the stinking catfish, but they just don't care,” Krahenbuhl said. “They traded me for catfish. Can you believe that?”

Do you have any idea how he felt when word reached him of the trade? Perhaps it rings bells for you of a poor grade on a pretty decent science project you labored over in junior high. Or maybe it reminds you of not making the high school chorus or church choir -- knowing full well there were other voices no better than your own that were accepted. Or perhaps the slight was even more serious.

You worked hard for the company and passed up an offer to work for your competitor, only to be let go during a slow quarter. You really tried to make the relationship or marriage work but were dumped for somebody else. You tried to do the right thing in a given circumstance but were misunderstood or misrepresented, so you wound up being the goat to a situation you tried to salvage. So what's the use, right?

“I still can't believe they traded me for some catfish,” Krahenbuhl was still saying several days after the trade. “It's totally ridiculous.”

So how did he handle his slight? Tear up the old team's clubhouse? Get into a fight with his manager? Promise to get even with somebody for humiliating him? He reported to Greenville, put on his new uniform, and pitched the next night.

That's the *right* way to handle a slight. Just take care of business. Buckle down to the new situation and its challenges. Make lemonade from your lemon. It sure beats making yourself and everybody else miserable by whining and giving up.

By the way, Krahenbuhl went to the mound that Friday and pitched a perfect game for his new team. Way to go Ken! And I hope you get to the Big Show someday.

*

As A Man Soweth

Ruth 2:12

When I was in junior high, the eighth-grade bully punched me in the stomach. Not only did it hurt and make me angry, but the embarrassment and humiliation were almost intolerable. I wanted desperately to even the score! I planned to meet him by the bike racks the next day and let him have it.

For some reason, I told my plan to Nana, my grandmother - big mistake. She gave me one of her hour-long lectures (that woman could really talk). The lecture was a total drag, but among other things, I vaguely remember her telling me that I didn’t need to worry about him. She said, “Good deeds beget good results, and evil deeds beget bad results.” I told her, in a nice way, of course, that I thought she was full of it. I told her that I did good things all the time, and all I got in return was “baloney!” (I didn’t use that word.) She stuck to her guns, though. She said, “Every good deed will come back to you someday, and every bad thing you do will also come back to you.”

It took me 30 years to understand the wisdom of her words. Nana was living in a board-and-care home in Laguna Hills, California. Each Tuesday, I came by and took her out to dinner. I would always find her neatly dressed and sitting in a chair right by the front door. I vividly remember our very last dinner together before she went into the convalescent hospital. We drove to a nearby simple little family-owned restaurant. I ordered pot roast for Nana and a hamburger for myself. The food arrived and as I dug in, I noticed that Nana wasn’t eating. She was just staring at the food on her plate. Moving my plate aside, I took Nana’s plate, placed it in front of me, and cut her meat into small pieces. I then placed the plate back in front of her. As she very weakly, and with great difficulty, forked the meat into her mouth, I was struck with a memory that brought instant tears to my eyes. Forty years previously, as a little boy sitting at the table. Nana had always taken the meat on my plate and cut it into small pieces so I could eat it.

It had taken 40 years, but the good deed had been repaid. Nana was right. We reap exactly what we sow. “Every good deed you do will someday come back to you.”

What about the eighth-grade bully?

He ran into the ninth-grade bully.

________

Obituary of Louis Woudhuysen

Obituary Of Louis Woudhuysen:

Graveside services for Louis Woudhuysen, 87, of Montclair, a Holocaust survivor, will be held tomorrow in East Hanover.

Interned in a Nazi concentration camp in Mechelen, Belgium, during World War II, Mr. Woudhuysen had been a member of the Witte Brigade, the Belgian underground resistance movement. At the end of the war, the Brigade members gave him a gun and permission to kill ex-Nazis, who had been rounded up and put in cages in the Antwerp Zoo. He refused to do so, saying that in spite of the cruelties he suffered and witnessed, he could not bring himself to descend to the level of the Nazis.

A self-employed professional diamond cutter for many years before retiring 20 years ago, Mr. Woudhuysen was respected for his artistry by members of the jewelry industry in Antwerp, Belgium, and New York City. He was the first to design and cut a Star of David into a diamond's facets, which was made for an attorney in Perth Amboy.

Walt Frazier keeps cool

Productive Anger

Many years ago during a Knicks-Bullets playoff game, one of the Bullets came up from behind the great Walt Frazier and punched him in the face. Strangely, the referee called a foul on Frazier. Frazier didn't complain. His expression never changed. He simply called for the ball and put in seven straight shots to win the game, an amazing display of productive anger. If you want to get huffy about it, it was a great moral lesson as well.

I'll Dance On Your Grave

An elderly couple would constantly argue about everything. The woman often ended the arguments by stating vociferously, "I'll dance on your grave! I'll dance on your grave!"

Well, sure enough, the man died first.

His last request was that he be buried at sea.

The Skunk and the Grizzly

Theodore Roosevelt was a rugged outdoorsman. He loved traveling and exploring the great Northwest. On one of his trips, he observed something quite phenomenal -- A SKUNK EATING WITH A GRIZZLY!

As the bear came sauntering into the garbage dump, the skunk came right along with him, fearing nothing. The ole' griz' could have taken him out with one swipe, but he didn't. He knew the high cost of getting even.

Smart grizzly! Smarter than most people. He was quite aware of the price he would have to pay by reckless behavior.

Doctors now attribute many illnesses to worry, anxiety, resentment, hatred, etc. “Grudgitis” kills. Many people spend sleepless nights and untold energy thinking up ways “to get even”. Strange as this may seem, they become their own worst enemy.

Jesus is ridiculed in some circles for his ethics of “loving your enemies,” “forgiving those who have wronged you,” letting the past go.” It is a well-known fact in the discipline of psychiatry that these principles are health. It is therapeutic to apologize, to forgive, to let go, to say, “I'm sorry.”

We might be grouchy as an old bear sometimes, but one thing for sure, he knew when not to fight!

Bulletin Digest

Glenn Randolph

Santa Fe, New Mexico

I'll Come With You Only If You Forgive Me

Mark 6:19

In his book FORGIVE AND FORGET Lewis Smedes recounts Michael Christopher's play, THE BLACK ANGEL. It the story of Herman Engel, a German general sentenced to 30 years in prison for his part in WW2 war crimes. Engel survived his sentence. He and his wife built a cabin in the woods of France, where they hoped to live out their days in seclusion.

But a French journalist named Morrieaux was waiting for him. Morrieaux's family had been butchered by Engel's army and Morrieaux felt he had gotten off too lightly. For 30 years he had nurtured his hate. Now he intended to do something about it.

Morrieaux worked up the fanatics in the village near where Engel lived. That very night they were to burn Engel's cabin and shoot him and his wife. But Morrieaux wanted to get to Engel beforehand. So he approached him, introduced himself to the nervous couple, and spent the afternoon squeezing from Engel the detail of an isolated event that took place three decades before.

As Engel spoke, Morrieaux became confused. Engel was a tired old man and his memory had faded. This created doubts in Morrieaux's mind. Meeting him face to face he seemed less a monster. His hate now mixed with compassion, Morrieaux blurted out that the villagers were coming that night to kill him. He offered to lead Engel and his wife to safety.

“I'll come on one condition”, Engel said. (“What?” thought Morrieaux. “Is this guy crazy? He's in no position to offer conditions!”) “I'll come with you only if you forgive me.”

Forgive him? How could he? His hate for Engel had become his friend. He was asking Morrieaux to give up a part of himself. He would save the man's life, but forgive him? Never!

That night the villagers came. They burned the cabin and shot Engel and his wife dead.

Saudi Justice

Many prefer the principle of "an eye for an eye!" We like to see wrongdoers pay! But it is not always that easy. Ibn Saud, king of Saudi Arabia (1932-1953), once had a woman demand the death of a man who had killed her husband. The man had fallen out of a palm tree while picking dates and fell on her husband, fatally injuring him. Woman persistent and asked for the man's death, as was her right as a Saudi citizen. Finally the king said, "It is your right to ask for the man's life; it is my right to say how he should die. The man will be tied to foot of a palm tree. You will climb the tree and fall on him, killing him." Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth!

Spoiling watermelons

A farmer in the country has a watermelon patch and upon inspection he discovers that some of the local kids have been helping themselves to a feast.

The farmer thinks of ways to discourage this profit eating situation. So he puts up a sign that reads "WARNING: ONE OF THESE WATERMELONS CONTAINS CYANIDE!"

The farmer returns a week later to discover that none of the watermelons have been eaten, but finds another sign that reads, "NOW THERE ARE TWO!"

Churchill Retorts

Winston Churchill had a running feud with Lady Astor. Once, following a crude remark by Churchill, Lady Astor said: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."

"If you were my wife," he responded, "I would drink it!"

On another occasion Lady Astor told Churchill: "Winston, I believe that you're drunk." Churchill said: "Lady Astor, I believe that you're ugly, but I'll be sober in the morning."

Kicking His Seat

Romans 12

Junior had just received his brand new drivers license. To celebrate, the whole family trooped out to the driveway and climbed into the car for his inaugural drive. Dad immediately headed to the back seat, directly behind the newly minted driver.

“I'll bet you're back there to get a change of scenery after all those months of sitting in the front passenger seat teaching me how to drive,” said the beaming boy to his ol' man.

“Nope,” came dad's reply, “I'm gonna sit here and kick the back of your seat as you drive, just like you've been doing to me for sixteen years!”

We relish the opportunity to “get back” at someone who has done us wrong. As Christians, we are aware, however, that such an attitude is wrong. We are familiar with the passage in Romans 12 where we are told “Do not avenge yourselves.” Perhaps you may have always believed that to be one of the “new commands” in the New Testament. But, vengeance has never been pleasing to the Lord. Listen to these words from Solomon:

“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart

be glad when he stumbles....Do not say, 'I will do to him just as

he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his

work.'" (Proverbs 24:17,29).

Though we often say that “revenge is sweet,” the truth is that it ends up leaving a bitter taste in the mouth. May God give us the strength to resist the temptation to pay back all those who have wronged us.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

Boone church of Christ

Boone, NC

100 Sermon Illustrations on Revenge