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)
