By the grace and tender mercy of God, that assassin was forgiven, and Jesus made him a brand-new person.
This man, whom God had made a new creation, now travels the world and tells people his story. God caused all things to work together for good in this man, this former killer, because he was called according to God’s purpose. He answered that call and allowed God to give him a new heart and a new life.
Some people may wonder: How can God forgive a killer? What about all those people he murdered? Are they saved, too?
It’s a valid point, but here’s the thing: God will take care of all that. Those things aren’t for us to figure out; not for us to judge. God sees sin as sin. Stealing condemns us just as severely as an assassin’s murder condemns him. But there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ (see Rom. 8:1). I think people should look at it like this: If God loved this murderer and restored his life, then you should be even more convinced that He loves you and will do the same for you.
The hands of God are full of His love and mercy, which endures forever. It’s a mind-boggling thing that no human being can fathom. Jesus died in place of all of us on earth. Everybody. Even murderers! He chooses people and radically changes them to prove, without a doubt, that He actually exists. That He actually forgives. That He actually saves. Jesus enters those people’s hearts and changes their lives. And nobody can explain these transformations.
I believe that God chooses to radically change the lives of people such as this former Mexican Mafia member and a rock star drug addict like me because He wants to show the world the power and the reality of His love. So many people think that people like us are beyond forgiveness, but God has chosen to love us and give us a second chance in life. I think we all should follow God’s heart so that we can see this world radically changed.
If God could step into this assassin’s heart and change him, He can do it with anybody. It’s a spiritual change that no doctor, scientist or scholar can explain.
Sometimes I wonder if God changes people who are so evil as a way to reach the many people in the world who think they’re good enough already—the people who think: I don’t need to be saved. I’ve never robbed a bank, killed anybody or sold drugs. I’m a good person.
I believe that everyone needs salvation. If you’re a human being, you will one day face death, and it says in the Bible that Jesus is the only one who can save you from death. All of us need Christ. Nobody is good enough in God’s eyes. That’s the whole reason He sent Jesus into the world to save the world.
There are no other religions that have so many documented radical changes in the hearts and lives of human beings. Those miracles should be all the evidence anybody needs to know, without a doubt, that Jesus Christ is, like John 14:6 says, the way, the truth and the life.
From the book Stronger: Forty Days of Metal and Spirituality by Brian Wlech. Copyright © 2010 by Brian Welch. Reprinted by permission of GHarperOne, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Brian “Head” Welch was a founding member of Korn. In 2005, after years of struggling with substance abuse, he experienced an intense spiritual awakening that helped him overcome his problems with drugs and alcohol. He wrote about this experience in his 2007 New York Times best-selling memoir, Save Me from Myself, which was also the title of his first solo album. Today he focuses on raising his daughter, Jennea, as a single father and is dedicated to building his career as a solo artist.
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