This man was the main focus of a newspaper article in my local paper. Seeing as I have no idea how the link will last for, I shall give you the basics of it: his name is Daniel Swarath. He's a convicted child molester recently released from custody and is now back home with his parents. He's been convicted six times of sexual offences involving young girls through his church, of which his father is the pastor. There are details about what had happened, but I don't feel led to share them. That is not what this post is about.
No, what I feel led to blog about is God's mercy and grace. Remember when I had posted back in 2009? My mindset is still the same as it was back then.
It's easy to agree with Jesus when He says to love your neighbour as yourself. It's easy to love your friends, your family, your co-workers, your church family, etc, etc. But what happens when that becomes a test? I believe that it wasn't a mistake that Swarath is now back in Sarnia. I also believe that it is part of God's plan. "Whoa," you may be thinking right now as you read this. "How can it be part of God's plan to have this criminal back?" I can't say I blame you. In fact, I may have been inclined to think the same. Truthfully, I actually did think the same. Then I read the article [somebody had posted this on Facebook].
When I had read that his father was a pastor of a local church, and still is, that's when God started to knock on my door. See, I wanted to know what kind of church he was a part of, what they believed, and the like. So I googled around, looking for it. And I found it. Guess what? They believe exactly what I believe. They are a Christian church and they are of the Christian faith. The knocking became louder and more insistent. I remember reading the church's core values and as I was reading them, I heard God ask me, "So what are you going to do about this?"
When God asked me that, I was floored for about five minutes. What was I supposed to do about this? I began to chew on it for a bit, wondering what God meant by that. The more I chewed and ruminated on it, the more my heart turned toward Swarath and his father.
Guess what, guys? Swarath is one of us [for those who are Christians that are reading this]. Like it or not, this guy, who is on the national sex offender registry in Canada, is a part of our family in Christ. I'll be honest, that's a bitter pill to swallow. See, we like our mindsets of what we think Jesus meant when He talks about loving our neighbours and other verses such as that. As long as nothing comes into our bubble we're safe.
I'm going to take this time now to bring up a real classy dude named Saul. This guy had a mission in life and that mission was to kill every single Christian he came into contact with. I mean, really. Not only was it his job to kill Christians but I honestly believe that it was also his hobby. He got a great amount of joy out of it too, in my opinion. Then one day Saul met the most amazing Man he could ever have met. The Man struck him blind and three days later Saul got his sight back. He was changed from that point on and Saul soon became the apostle Paul who became one of early Christian leaders. You can read about Saul/Paul in the book of Acts. Awesome book.
Point about bringing up the apostle Paul is this: if Jesus Himself cared that much about someone who was murdering His sheep, then surely He cares about sex offenders. And if He cares about sex offenders, and if we're in the army of the Lord, then shouldn't we be like the Army in real life and not leave a man behind? I was listening to a song by Casting Crowns last night entitled "If We Are the Body". One of the lines that really struck me was this:
Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ
A lot of times I think that we have forgotten who Jesus was and whom He chose to hang out with. I mean, all of His disciples were basically unpopular and poor Mary Magdalene has had to go through centuries with this unsavoury reputation that has been placed on her for reasons that aren't even true. I'm pretty sure that if He was still on this earth, He wouldn't be hanging out with me. No, I would be hanging out with Him and all the shady characters that would be around.
For the record, I'm not saying that we should throw Swarath back into the mix and see how he fares with the young girls. No. That trust has been broken. It has been proven that he can't be trusted. So what's the next best thing? Love him by praying for him and his family. That's all we can do for now.
(I was originally going to post this for Faithful Friday but I was writing this post in my mind as I was laying in bed last night. Or rather, God was)