While Brenda and I have been targets of more than ordinary degrees of malice in our lives, we consider ourselves to be overcomers, not victims. This is not just a state of mind, but, rather, a fact demonstrated by the fruits of our works in many respects. As a friend once wrote, the work of Christ in our lives is undeniable.
Probably a product of childhoods devoid of justice, all we have ever sought with regard to those whove sought our harm is to be left alone, but that doesnt negate our natural desire for justice. We have patiently trusted that God will ultimately repay everyone according to their works, including us, which has drawn our attention towards doing the best we can with what we have instead of seeking vengeance. Its a basic tenet of our faith: When you ask the Lord to write off the debts you owe, you must also give Him the debts others owe you. Many have derailed their own faith by failing to heed this.
That said, we have observed a number of our offenders over the years from afar and have neither been surprised nor sympathetic over the justice we have seen wrought in their lives. Most or all have ignored or snubbed the natural urgings to repent when faced with the adverse consequences of their own works, sealing their own fate. We do not delight in the suffering of the wicked, per se, but do rejoice over the manifestation of God's justice.
Gods servants have always been just as inclined to rejoice over the execution of His justice against unrepentant sinners as they have been to refrain from avenging themselves. Thus, when I caught wind that someone who did us great harm over 30 years ago was presently serving a prison sentence, it provoked me to do a little research on others whove committed egregious offenses against us in the past.
Thanks to the information age, I was able to find significant information on 29 of 38 people who would seemed to have gotten away with serious crimes against us and was not disappointed in my findings. Of course, there were those who seemed to lose more than we would have expected, and others who seemed to have gotten more out of life than we would have thought they deserved. Yet, the overall picture suggests that our general prosperity in life has gone against the accounts of those whove done us wrong and then some, and our hope for all the books to be balanced in the end has been increased.
Although a lot of information pertinent to the study is unknown, enough is being shouted from the rooftops (i.e. the internet) to show a solid pattern of lives marked with various calamities and distresses. A summary of the findings follows:
- A total of 29 subjects were investigated. All had deliberately and maliciously sought our harm in various ways, most of which would have been prosecutable by Old Testament and/or American legal standards. Some were included on the basis of intent alone, even though circumstantial limitations prevented them from causing the degree of actual harm they sought to inflict. Some were included on the basis of bearing false witness or being willful accessories to the crimes of others, in which case their offenses were measured according to the harm they sought to or enabled others to inflict.
- Due to lack of available information, 8 or more that would otherwise have been included were not. I'm still searching these out.
- Offenses were rated on a scale of 1-5 with 5 representing the highest level of crimes against others like murder, rape and adultery, and 1 indicating minor offenses like petty theft or misdemeanor assault; all selected subjects were rated at 2 or higher. The number of subjects by offense rating is [# (%) @ Rating]: 7 (24%) @ 5; 7 (24%) @ 4; 10 (34%) @ 3; 5 (17%) @ 2.
- Of the 29 subjects, 4 died between ages of 19-55 (average 38), 4 are currently serving prison terms (3 Missouri, 1 Federal), 1 recently completed a 3 year sentence in Missouri state prison, and 1 has an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear on criminal charges. These and a couple others have long histories of criminal actions, probation, and county jail terms; 4 have records of DUIs, and 3 have had 1 or more protection orders related to stalking and/or adult abuse filed against them.
- 13 of the 21 who are not dead or imprisoned are known or likely to have life-controlling health and/or addictions (like alcoholism, narcotics, gambling, morbid obesity, diabetes, etc.), and any or all of the remaining 8 could be likewise afflicted.
- Combined, a total of 22 of the 29, or over 3/4, are dead, imprisoned, or suffering from life-controlling health and/or addictions, and there is not enough information available to conclude that the other 7 have fared any better.
- On a 5 point scale roughly equating U.S. average household income and wealth percentiles, the overall group average ranked in the bottom third (1.6 / 5) in income and bottom fourth in wealth (1.3). If compared only to their respective age groups rather than overall averages, the group would rank significantly lower since almost all are in the highest earning age group (45-54).
- The overall group also shows a high degree of indebtedness, legal collection actions, divorces, child support obligations, and other common distresses of life. Several are known to have been victims of adultery, and one man even lost his wife to another woman. Several are also known to have estranged children, no sons to carry forth their name, or no children at all.
Probably a product of childhoods devoid of justice, all we have ever sought with regard to those whove sought our harm is to be left alone, but that doesnt negate our natural desire for justice. We have patiently trusted that God will ultimately repay everyone according to their works, including us, which has drawn our attention towards doing the best we can with what we have instead of seeking vengeance. Its a basic tenet of our faith: When you ask the Lord to write off the debts you owe, you must also give Him the debts others owe you. Many have derailed their own faith by failing to heed this.
That said, we have observed a number of our offenders over the years from afar and have neither been surprised nor sympathetic over the justice we have seen wrought in their lives. Most or all have ignored or snubbed the natural urgings to repent when faced with the adverse consequences of their own works, sealing their own fate. We do not delight in the suffering of the wicked, per se, but do rejoice over the manifestation of God's justice.
Gods servants have always been just as inclined to rejoice over the execution of His justice against unrepentant sinners as they have been to refrain from avenging themselves. Thus, when I caught wind that someone who did us great harm over 30 years ago was presently serving a prison sentence, it provoked me to do a little research on others whove committed egregious offenses against us in the past.
Thanks to the information age, I was able to find significant information on 29 of 38 people who would seemed to have gotten away with serious crimes against us and was not disappointed in my findings. Of course, there were those who seemed to lose more than we would have expected, and others who seemed to have gotten more out of life than we would have thought they deserved. Yet, the overall picture suggests that our general prosperity in life has gone against the accounts of those whove done us wrong and then some, and our hope for all the books to be balanced in the end has been increased.
Although a lot of information pertinent to the study is unknown, enough is being shouted from the rooftops (i.e. the internet) to show a solid pattern of lives marked with various calamities and distresses. A summary of the findings follows:
- A total of 29 subjects were investigated. All had deliberately and maliciously sought our harm in various ways, most of which would have been prosecutable by Old Testament and/or American legal standards. Some were included on the basis of intent alone, even though circumstantial limitations prevented them from causing the degree of actual harm they sought to inflict. Some were included on the basis of bearing false witness or being willful accessories to the crimes of others, in which case their offenses were measured according to the harm they sought to or enabled others to inflict.
- Due to lack of available information, 8 or more that would otherwise have been included were not. I'm still searching these out.
- Offenses were rated on a scale of 1-5 with 5 representing the highest level of crimes against others like murder, rape and adultery, and 1 indicating minor offenses like petty theft or misdemeanor assault; all selected subjects were rated at 2 or higher. The number of subjects by offense rating is [# (%) @ Rating]: 7 (24%) @ 5; 7 (24%) @ 4; 10 (34%) @ 3; 5 (17%) @ 2.
- Of the 29 subjects, 4 died between ages of 19-55 (average 38), 4 are currently serving prison terms (3 Missouri, 1 Federal), 1 recently completed a 3 year sentence in Missouri state prison, and 1 has an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear on criminal charges. These and a couple others have long histories of criminal actions, probation, and county jail terms; 4 have records of DUIs, and 3 have had 1 or more protection orders related to stalking and/or adult abuse filed against them.
- 13 of the 21 who are not dead or imprisoned are known or likely to have life-controlling health and/or addictions (like alcoholism, narcotics, gambling, morbid obesity, diabetes, etc.), and any or all of the remaining 8 could be likewise afflicted.
- Combined, a total of 22 of the 29, or over 3/4, are dead, imprisoned, or suffering from life-controlling health and/or addictions, and there is not enough information available to conclude that the other 7 have fared any better.
- On a 5 point scale roughly equating U.S. average household income and wealth percentiles, the overall group average ranked in the bottom third (1.6 / 5) in income and bottom fourth in wealth (1.3). If compared only to their respective age groups rather than overall averages, the group would rank significantly lower since almost all are in the highest earning age group (45-54).
- The overall group also shows a high degree of indebtedness, legal collection actions, divorces, child support obligations, and other common distresses of life. Several are known to have been victims of adultery, and one man even lost his wife to another woman. Several are also known to have estranged children, no sons to carry forth their name, or no children at all.
