Josimar Salum
After Sister Sharon Bergman Bisceglia have prayed with me over the phone when I was in Watertown, Massachusetts to pray for the whole situation involving the attack on the Boston Marathon, I was in that city where the two brothers, fugitives, had taken refuge and were found, we asked the Lord that the youngest would be captured alive today as the eldest had died earlier today while it was still dark in a firefight with the Police.
Today evening we learned that Dzhokhar had been captured as we have prayed, alive, although badly wounded.
I then had this thought too strong in my mind to visit him in prison to share with him the love of the true God.
I even wondered how this could happen.
So I figured that if he rejected the first time, our God could melt his heart, drawn him to the cross of Jesus and then we would read the news in a newspaper as "he is now following Jesus."
I believe that all things are possible with God.
But I confess that when last Monday afternoon I saw those scenes on the news of the attack that invaded our TVs, iPhone and PCs, I got very angry, I felt very angry.
I hate all evil, and just to think that just an hour away from my house those three people, two adults and one child had died and many others had been terribly injured, lost limbs and were torn apart by the fury of those two bombs... I could not contain myself. And also earlier today, while it was still dark, a 26 year old Policeman had been shot to death by the older fugitive.
But God shone His Grace also in my heart tonight and I could think of visiting this young man that is so hurt right now. He can die at any time without knowing the true Love!
Only the abundant Grace of God in the hearts of the wounded and their families, and the families who lost their loved ones, can spell out, even through the pain, the surprising good news of Jesus: Forgiveness. By Him and with Him because of what He has done we can forgive like He did, at the Cross.
Forgive unconditionally is the only decision that anyone can make, by the Power of Love, to heal all hearts, even a whole nation and every broken heart and their internal and external wounds.
God can do this, tonight, before the dawn of a new day!
Note: Although we pray and wish that the young terrorist who attacked the Boston Marathon is saved and transformed by the grace of Jesus, that does not mean he will not have to face all the earthly consequences of his evil acts before Justice.
3 comments:
Praise god and Amen!!
Josimar I would love to go with you if and when he accepts your request to visit him. For some reason he has been very close to my heart. I was very upset about Monday, but I have cried for him only. And prayed that he would be captured alive. God can do all things!
God Bless,
Sharice
Pastor, your confession, testimony, and faith are marvelous.
it would be wonderful if you could share the Gospel with this very young man! He’s so young, his brain is just barely an adult brain.
I wonder if the police would allow you to even see him. But your email gave me the idea that we can pray for a miracle.
Respectfully, with admiration and blessings,
Madeleine
Madeleine39@earthlink.net
My dear Brother:
My sentiments exactly. We shared with the church yesterday that this whole issue might make us angry but it proved to us that we cannot allow anyone in our presence to go without our taking the opportunity to minister God's word to them. Believe it or not, both Tony and I had such compassion for not only the victims but as parents, we could not imagine the apparent shock for this father/mother having to face the knowledge their two young boys developed and followed through, with such hate for people they did not even know.
We wondered if they had any compassion for the young boy Michael who was killed and the possibility that the father has to face the devastation of injuries to his wife and daughter, or the two young girls, one of which was a student at Umass or the young policeman or even all that have severe loss of limbs or shrapnel impeded in their bodies which requires a lifetime of adjustment?
Did they even understand they took so many lives to justify their mentor's infiltration of their minds? We know that evil deception was at work in their lives but as the youngest was an outstanding student in our area section of UMass/Dartmouth, we thought was it possible someone took the time to try to MINISTER GOD'S TRUTH to Dzhokhar, just as a person, before their horrific action? Whether anyone knew of their "secret" lives or not, can we ask ourselves perhaps there was a "lack of opportunity to share our faith and God's love?" If so, let us pray we never, ever feel we should have and didn't. It is a sobering thought for all Christians to ponder!
However there may still be time for the youngest to be "saved" in his heart though his actions will have the "law" employ its extent of justice and rightly so. Let us pray he "hears" and believes or one day he too will know the "darkness" of the enemy's lies.
Blessing,
Rev Beverly Rezendes
revbeverly@aol.com
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