In my quest to study forgiveness (which began circa 2008), one of the books that I read was by a man named Kent Whitaker, who wrote "Murder by Family" ...
As he and his family were coming back to the beautiful home they had, after a celebration supper for one of his sons who was about to graduate college, an intruder shot at them ... Kent lost his wife and his youngest son; he and his oldest son, Bart, were gravely injured ... That night, in the hospital, Kent - already a fine example of a Christian - talked to God and forgave the then-unknown shooter - something he clung to even when police revealed it was Bart who was the mastermind!!! ...
So I was in a bookstore the other day and I happened upon "Savage Son", by Corey Mitchell ; it wasn't too long into reading the outside statements that I realized -oh! THIS is the true-crime treatment of "Murder by Family"!!! Had to have it !!!
The book was excellent, and revealing ... I applaud Mitchell for stating word for word from actual court transcripts what Kent Whitaker said about forgiveness of his son - it was like having a handheld American flag, when the color guard in a parade is walking past you with a two-handed American flag ...
Where it was revealing was to show me that Bart - well, if Bart was transformed by Christ, it was (a) between him and the Almighty and (b) happened fully while he sat in a jail cell awaiting the needle ... that earlier, he had a form of Godliness but didn't actually walk it out. In other words, he read like a master manipulator as well as a young man who put half his family in a cemetery, and twisted so many lives looking for co-conspirators, because of - well, sir, I recommend you read it -- along w/ "Murder by Family" - they are two bookends, I rightly feel!!! If you're not feeling well and just want crawl into bed and can't stand daytime tv, this is the pair to have /w y'all!!!
Today, btw, Kent Whitaker has remarried, has a website, and is a speaker, one very much worth doing a Google on.
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