Fox News and the AP report:
A woman who was convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, finally has had her name cleared after more than three centuries.
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday legally pardoned Elizabeth Johnson Jr.
Johnson's conviction took place back in 1693 — and she was sentenced to death amid the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is the final accused "witch" to be cleared, the Associated Press reported.
Wow, this was a pardon 300+ years in the making! And it took a bunch of middle school students to advocate on her behalf.
It turns out a group of 8th graders at North Andover Middle School in North Andover, Massachusetts, were studying the era when they discovered the last unpardoned “witch.” So they began researching ways to rectify the situation. The result was a piece of legislation which righted the wrong.
"We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight," Massachusetts Sen. Diana DiZoglio, who approved the bill to pardon Johnson, told the AP.
When sin signs, seals, and delivers our judgment, who will be our advocate? Who will leave the 99 to seek the one who needs rescuing and redemption, the last one left behind?
Jesus, that's who! It’s a pardon story, eternity in the making.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1, NIV).
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4, NIV).
In a bizzarre twist of irony, three Colorado armed robbers were thwarted in their effort to rob a check cashing store. According to a Fox News report,
The masked trio went into the Hi Lo Check Cashing in the Denver suburb of Commerce City just before 11 a.m., the Commerce City Police Department said Tuesday.
During the heist, a female thief "seized the opportunity to do what criminals do – steal what was very likely already a stolen vehicle," a Tuesday police Facebook post said.
Forced to flee on foot, two of the would-be theives were soon apprehended. Police are confident the third will soon be arrested.
Some might call it Karma, others might call it comeuppance, but whatever you call it you can be sure, one way or another, your sin will be found out, and thus you will sow what you reap, just like these foolish robbers.
"... behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23, ESV).
"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:7-8, ESV).
At work one day we were having a potluck and one of guys had brought his special recipe hot wings. His recipe was to blend the habanero chili peppers into a paste, mix it into a little Tabasco sauce, and bake it into the chicken wings.
So he called one of his buddies over saying, “You’ve got to try my hot wings and tell me what you think!”
His buddy grabbed a wing, stuck the whole thing in his mouth, and got about half way through pulling the bone out when the realization hit him that his mouth was on fire! Finally, after lots of water and stuffing anything other than those chicken wings into his mouth to try and put out the fire, he dried the tears in his eyes and got himself composed. Then you know what he did? He went looking for someone else to try those fiery chicken wings!
After the first couple of guys were fooled into eating those wings, with the same predictable results, enough people had gathered and witnessed their demise that they weren’t going to be able to fool anyone else. But then the strangest thing happened.
Guys who had seen for themselves what the others had gone through decided to try the wings for themselves! They were a little more cautious, not sticking the whole thing in their mouths, but kind of nibbling around the edges, yet the results were still pretty much the same. And it went on until all the chicken wings were gone!
You might think the moral of this story is “guys are stupid,” and given the facts, I would have a hard time arguing with you. But as all this was playing out, I started thinking how the spreading heat from those wings was just like the way sin spreads.
The one who made the sauce, knowing how hot it was and what would probably happen, still called out to his friend, “Hey, come on and try my chicken wings!” – He is like the false prophets spoken of in Matthew 24:11 seeking to mislead. "And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray" (NIV).
There are many people who will mislead you if you let them.
The one who first tried the wings and burned his mouth still called out for others to come and try them too – He is like the one who has fallen, and rather than picking himself up and putting up warning signs to keep others from the same fate, he calls out to see if he can get others to join him in his misery. As Proverbs 4:16 says, "For they [evil people] cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble" (ESV).
There are those who take pleasure in causing others to stumble.
And what about the ones who saw what was going on, but just had to try it for themselves? They are the ones who blindly follow the masses, even when they know they are going to suffer. And the result? Matthew 7:13 says that “… the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it” (NASB).
There are those who beckon to you to follow them on their road to destruction.
On that particular day I was one of the few who didn’t eat the chicken wings. But in my life, in the things that truly matter, that hasn’t always been the case. What about you?