Ian Huntley can be saved

Next week sees the 10th anniversary of the Soham murders.  We can all remember the deep sense of shock felt at the senseless killings of two young girls.  No doubt when Ian Huntley was convicted and sent to prison many people felt that his sentence was well deserved and that he was "beyond redemption".

However, while his sentence may well have been deserved no-one is "beyond redemption".  Even the vilest, most wicked of people can be delivered from the darkness of sin and its bondage to be brought into the light and liberty of the Gospel. As the Bible puts it, they can be turned "from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto God"  - Acts 26 v 18.

As a street evangelist I have sometimes been asked if it is possible for  murderers and other criminals to be saved and I answer emphatically "YES".  There are a number of examples of God's grace in action; a Baptist preacher in the North of England who used to be a terrorist before his conversion in prison, another Baptist preacher in Wales who used to be a drug dealer, again, before being converted in prison.

Then there are the numerous examples of people who have been involved in wartime atrocities who, after being convinced of the error of their ways have turned to Christ and become "Born again" of the Holy Spirit.  In this respect I think of the Nazis at Nuremberg  (8-9 of them came to know Christ as their personal Saviour while on trial) and the Jap pilate who led the attack on Pearl Harbor - Mitsuo Fuchida, who was converted some years after the war and went on to become an evangelist.

Indeed, people who have been guilty of bad crimes can be more likely candidates for salvation than law abiding citizens who think that they are so good they don't need to be saved.  Perhaps this is why prison ministry can be so fruitful as the evangelist doesn't need to convince prisoners that they are sinners in need of salvation, they know they have done wrong and need to change.  However, you try convincing law abiding people that they need to repent of their sins and accept Christ and they complain that you have insulted them!

Let us remember the words of Paul in 2nd Corinthians 5 v 17 "...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;  old things have passed away, behold all things have become new".

Where is she now?

News has come through in the national press of the death of Hollie Stevens at the age of 30.  Hollie who? I hear you say. Yes, I agree, I've never heard of her before but apparently she appeared in scores of pornographic  films and internet web sites.  No doubt she made a lot of money through living a life of extreme sinfulness but what good did it do her now she has passed into eternity.  Moreover, it has also come to my attention, again through the national press, that Sylvia Kristel is dangerously ill with an advanced form of cancer.  This "lady" starred in a number of extremely rude films in the 1970s.  I have never seen these films but the reviews made it clear what they contained.

These people, and many more like them, lead lives that are clearly in rebellion against God and His word.  They act with a brazenness which is, quite frankly, frightening; but what happens to them when death finally comes?  While writing I'm reminded of Oliver Reed, a so-called "Hell raiser" who died while engaging in a bout of  drunkeness.  Again, what good is their fame and fortune when they are roasting in the flames of an eternal Hell? 

In the case of Hollie Stevens, she did have time to prepare for death and one hopes that she repented and turned to Christ.  One also hopes the same for Syliva Kristel.  However, in Oliver Reed's case he didn't have time to repent as he died while in an act of sin - so we can say definitely that he is in Hell, and will remain so for all eternity without respite.

Of course, even devout Christians can contract serious illness, but at least we know our souls are saved and we have God's peace in the midst of trial - not so the unsaved.

The words of Psalm 37 are apt here viz. "Fret not thyself because of evildoers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.  For they shall soon be cut down like grass and wither as the green herb"  (verses 1 and 2).

It is very easy to get downcast because of the amount of extreme evil in the world today and, for the present, it seems that the wicked are in the ascendancy but they will be cut down, then it is the eternal flames for them.  As the Bible says "The triumphing of the wicked is short".  Job 20 v 5