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While visiting with a friend recently, I happened to catch an episode of Deadly Women that he was watching on cable TV.
During the course of the program, there were several different crime stories about women who had committed horrible murders and were later caught and imprisoned.
The last segment of the show told the story of a psychotic young woman who had destroyed two innocent lives. One night, during a burglary and home invasion, she and her boyfriend burst into the bedroom of an elderly married couple and murdered them with a pick-axe. A detective who was interviewed on the program described it as the most gruesome murder scene he had ever encountered.
Police investigators later got a break in the case thanks to the female killer's cold-blooded bragging. Sometime shortly after the murders, she was at a local bar, getting drunk and desiring to impress her companions. She wanted them to know how tough she was, so she told them about how she had used a pick-axe to impale a couple who was sleeping in bed. Someone in the group tipped off the police, and psycho-killer-girl was soon arrested.
The woman was convicted and sentenced to death. No surprise there. But something truly incredible happened while she was in prison awaiting her execution. Psycho-killer-girl met merciful-loving-God.
On death row, with plenty of time on her hands, the former drug addict and prostitute started reading the Bible. One lonely dark night, her heart broken with remorse, she humbly surrendered her life to Jesus Christ and asked him to forgive her.
In response to that invitation, Jesus introduced himself to that miserable repentant sinner and gave her what he offers to every one of us: the unmerited gift of forgiveness and eternal life. In that moment, she was redeemed. She became a new creation. She was born again as a child of God
Several employees at the prison were interviewed for the program, and all of them testified to the dramatic turn-around in this young woman's life. Practically overnight, she went from being a dangerous, confrontational inmate to behaving like a model prisoner.
Everyone who knew her was amazed at the transformation. It got to the point where other prisoners on death-row were allowed to meet with her to attend Bible study. Even the guards came to regard her with genuine affection. Some of them admitted to crying on the day she was executed.
After her conversion, this redeemed convict admitted to her crimes, and apologized to the court and the victims' family. She accepted her death sentence as just. She testified to anyone who would listen about the boundless grace and love that Jesus Christ had extended to her. She was ready to die.
On her final day, as she was being strapped down to the table to receive her lethal injections, she was praying, praising God, and singing hymns. She had no fear of death, because she knew that she belonged to the Good Shepherd who had conquered death on the cross of Calvary.
Stories like this are a reminder to us all that God is no respecter of persons. Jesus died for sinners. That includes you and me and everybody else.
No sin is so great, no pit is so deep, no life is so lost, that the love of Jesus cannot rescue. If you have ever swallowed the devil's lie that you are so wicked as to be beyond the mercy of God, you have been deceived.
"But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:21-24 NIV)
President Obama is fond of comparing himself to great men in history, such as Lincoln, FDR, and on more than one occasion, Ronald Reagan.
Obama has stated that he would like to go down in history as a transformative leader like Reagan. A noble aspiration, to be sure, but Obama has forgotten that last portion of his oath of office where he swore to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Among his many admirable attributes, President Reagan had a profound respect for our Constitution and the rule of law. When Reagan wanted to accomplish a policy goal, he cajoled, negotiated and pressured Congress to work with him to make it happen. If, as was often the case, too many Democrats in Congress opposed his initiative, Reagan would simply go over their heads and appeal directly to the American people.
Reagan trusted the people to understand the worthiness of his ideas, and to apply sufficient pressure to their representatives to help push his agenda through Congress.
And it worked. That's why they called it the "Reagan Revolution." Reagan presented his ideas to the American people, and he persuaded them to support his agenda.
Reagan was dubbed "the great communicator" and rightfully so. Reagan used his bully pulpit to do what presidents are supposed to do, which is lead by persuasion.
President Obama is working on a revolution of a different kind. Unlike Reagan, Obama has repeatedly demonstrated his disdain for the Constitution and contempt for the rule of law.
President Obama prefers to rule by executive fiat. He weaves and dodges around the Constitution every chance he gets. Obama cherry-picks the laws he wants to enforce, and ignores the laws that "get in his way."
After cramming Obamacare down our throats, over the objections of a majority of voters, President Obama began granting waivers to selected union supporters and companies owned by dependable Democratic campaign contributors. There was no authorization in the law for waivers to anyone. Obama just did it, and he got away with it.
Recently, Obama decided to unilaterally waive Obamacare’s cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses for another year. This exemption for selected health insurers is not allowed for in the law as written, but again, our current president just makes it up as he goes - and gets away with it again.
Obama's favorite play is the "end-run-around-Congress" and so far it is working out well for him. (For the rest of us, not so much.)
Can't get Congress to pass a carbon tax that will shut down coal-fired power plants and cause electricity rates to skyrocket? Instruct the EPA to classify carbon-dioxide as a hazardous waste and regulate it without the approval of Congress.
Can't get Congress to pass the DREAM act? No problem, simply order the Justice Department to ignore enforcement of immigration laws. When your name is Barack Obama, the rules don't apply to you!
Obama's contempt for the rule of law is well documented. Unfortunately, you won't read about it in most of the national media outlets, since they are only interested in scandals that involve conservatives or Republicans. Can you imagine the outcry if the NSA snooping scandal or the Benghazi cover-up had occurred during President Bush's term?
My fear is that President Obama's real legacy will survive to haunt us for many generations to come.
He has established a dangerous precedent, at least for future liberal Democrats elected to the Presidency: You are above the law. Make the rules up as you go. Congress will not constrain your lust for power. The media will not hold you accountable. You don't need no stinkin' Constitution.
Since the limits on power specified by the Constitution are pretty much the only things that prevent a president from becoming a dictator, shouldn't we common folks be a little more motivated towards protecting our Constitution from abuse?
Barack Obama will never be another Ronald Reagan. To the contrary, he is the closest thing to a tyrant we have ever had.
He has become our first lawless president.
