The Ultimate Forgiveness

[Sandy Zalecki]

Have you ever been falsely accused of something? I know people who have been falsely accused and have spent many years in prison for crimes they did not commit. How would you feel if it were you? You can never recover your good name when you are sentenced for a crime. You are branded and marked for life. It is a good thing that life is temporary and we have a final judgment with the true judge. Once He passes judgment it if forever. But his judgment is perfect and ours isn’t.

Jesus was falsely accused. His court proceedings were against every law and custom of the time. He was whisked away in the night, accused by a kangaroo court, beaten, and crucified. All were false accusations and the proceedings were illegal.

However, His death on the cross served a higher purpose. His death served to take away the sins of the world.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His Mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”

Isaiah 53:7-8

We very rarely believe people when they tell us they did not commit the crime they were accused of, but I believe these people are in good company because Jesus was crucified for crimes he didn’t commit. Jesus forgave us for the ultimate of sin of crucifying him when he was falsely accused. So why are people in churches today so reluctant to forgive people society calls “felons?” Is it because the world has somehow convinced us that felons are unforgivable sinners or are we forgetting that Jesus died for all? Everyone’s sin can be forgiven and there is no such thing as an irredeemable sinner. We as Christians should be the example and forgive as Jesus did.

 

[dUmPsTeR]

Yes, myself. I served time. Falsely accused. Now I have what is called a domestic violence charge on my record, all because of a lie.

Sandy, I see what you are doing here. And I feel your heart. Thank you, yes I thank you for all you do.

Part of my testimony follows. I was living in sin with a very dear woman that had years of abuse. We had a very beautiful gift of a daughter together.

Anyhow, I fell on hard times. Laid off from the best paying position I'd ever had. I was drinking heavily to drown my sorrow. I lost my drivers license which kept me from getting back into the occupation I was in for 18 years.

I wound up working with a neighbor that had a very ugly drug problem (crack cocaine). I never did do crack, even though it was offered. Especially after seeing what it did to people.

This neighbor/employer started using me because of my kind, giving nature. Well, he and I went and worked one day, and he didn't pay me because he had to have his money for his crap. I was very disappointed because I thought I would have money to give my partner/girl friend to help with the bills.

I had been drinking with this employer and smoking pot/weed that day too. But I had done all the work we had to do at two job sites while my neighbor/employer sat in the van. This is hard to remember and write so you can understand, I hope you can follow it.

After getting home from working, I went into my room, turned on some of my favorite music to try and relax. I laid in my bed and covered completely up to stay warm because it was cold. We didn't have the heat on to try and save on the power bill.

My girlfriend and daughter came home. My g/f came into my room and complained about the music. I said nothing and stayed under my blanket. I didn't speak because I knew I had nothing positive to say and I didn't want to provoke my g/f. Actually, at this point we were just room mates. our relationship had grown cold and we no longer shared a bed/room together.

So she complains about the music being too loud and then turns it down. She begins complaining and complaining until I utter two bad words that I didn't mean for her to hear, but she did hear them. She got very verbally distraught.

It's a lot to describe the whole situation, but to make a short story longer, she called the cops. I got arrested. She had told the police that I had grabbed her and pushed her. Something I had Not done.

After spending almost 4 months in jail, she came for a deposition and my public offender(defender) got her to admit that I hadn't grabbed her, nor did I push her. I was released a few day later. I couldn't go back to my home. I was on the street with nothing but the clothes I had on and a bible.

I went to a company that I had done work for with the crack head neighbor. They owed me some money. They owner said they had paid it to the crack head even though I had told them months before Not to or I'd never see it.

I was leaving the company feeling pretty low and I had no where to turn. One of the ladies that worked there followed me out. She was/is a good Christian woman. She drove me to a department store, and went in and got me something to eat, and with drew money to give me. She also let me use her phone to contact someone to help me.

That's just a part of how my life went into the toilet, and God helped turn it back around.