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Consultation
Needed
Earlier
this week, the headlines read: "Colorado Court
Bars Execution Because Jurors Consulted Bible."
Kirk Johnson of The
New York Times reported: "In a sharply
divided ruling,
Colorado
's highest court on Monday (3/28/05) upheld a lower
court's decision throwing out the sentence of a man
who was given the death penalty after jurors consulted
the Bible in reaching a verdict.
The Bible, the court said, constituted
an "improper outside influence" and a
reliance on what the court called a
'higher authority.'"
The
ruling involved the conviction of Robert Harlan, who
was found guilty in 1995 of raping and murdering a
cocktail waitress near
Denver. The
jurors in his trial voted unanimously for DEATH.
The State Supreme Court's decision changed that
sentence
to LIFE in prison without parole.
Although
sentenced to death in 1995, defense lawyers learned
that five jurors had looked up Bible verses,
copied them, and discussed them behind closed doors
while deliberating Harlan's punishment.
Keeping
"improper outside influences" away
from jurors in their deliberation is important, but
NOT consulting the "higher authority" of
God's Word – AND criticizing those who do –
is deeply troubling, even destructive, to the moral
fabric of our society and our own ETERNAL well-being.
NOTE:
The ONE thing the Supreme Court is NOT... is SUPREME!
One
day EACH of us will stand before the
HIGHEST Court
(Romans 14:12;
2 Corinthians 5:10).
Jesus will be the Judge (Acts 17:30-31).
The standard of judgment will be the Word of
God. Jesus
said, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My
words, has that which judges him; the word that I have
spoken will judge him in the last day" (John
12:48).
EACH
OF US has been found GUILTY of SIN (Romans 3:23).
Because of our sins,
our sentence is DEATH (Romans 6:23).
But because of His love and mercy, God has
revealed through His Word, a PLAN by which we
can receive forgiveness of our sins!
The provision for our sins was made possible
through the death of God's Son, Jesus, on the cross.
Those who accept His GIFT of salvation from sin
through their faith
(Acts 16:31), repentance
(2 Corinthians 12:7-9), confession
(Romans 10:9-10), and baptism
(immersion) (Acts 2:38), have their past sins washed
away. One
is then KEPT CLEAN through faithful obedience to the
Lord's commands (1 John 1:7).
The
Word of God MUST
be CONSULTED and OBEYED if you and I
ever hope to be forgiven of our "crimes"
before God and to avoid the terrible punishment
that awaits the impenitent and disobedient (2
Thessalonians 1:7-9).
God's
Word: READ it... HEED it... and LIVE!
God
bless you,
David
A. Sargent /
Minister
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