Tuesday, January 14th, 2025
God Loves a Murderer
God has a special place in His heart for Shawn Tyler Benson, who shot a woman in the back of the head some years back and is presently serving out a 40-year sentence in a Minnesota prison.
I’ve written about Shawn before. He’s a gentle soul who committed murder when he was so high on meth that he didn’t know who he was or what he was doing. He was not saved then but became born-again when he picked out a Gideon New Testament from a jail book cart and started reading from the Gospel of John, a very good gospel to read if you aren’t saved, or even if you are and want to know why Jesus came to earth, why he had to die on a Roman cross to redeem us from our sinful selves, and what our reaction to Him should be.
I met with Shawn in that jail for more than a year – every Monday afternoon. He calls me about once a month from prison to share the amazing things God is doing in his life. He’s more blessed, peaceful, and alive in Christ than many believers not incarcerated. His natural life is in a prison, but his spiritual life is in the Kingdom of God here on earth, and that’s what’s most important to him.
Shawn called me last week to tell me how much God loves him. He had read about a devotional he very much wanted to obtain, but he hadn’t told anyone about it. The next morning the devotional was sitting on his bed when he came back from breakfast. He checked with all the believers in that prison that he knew and who might have done something like that, but they had not put it there, much less able to get into his cell. He checked with the guards in his cell block. They knew nothing about any book being put in his cell. There was one option left. God loves Shawn so much that He put the devotional in his cell [in Shawn’s prison, no one has a cell mate].
Lest you think there must be some natural explanation for the devotional suddenly appearing, ask yourself what the natural explanation is for anyone being born-again, for cancers to be suddenly healed without explanation, for one person to step out of a plane crash alive, or for one house to be standing amidst blocks and blocks of devastation in the Los Angeles wildfire.
God loves a righteous person who is obedient to Him, who seeks Him with all his heart, and who follows Jesus with every fiber of his being. Yes, God loves a murder and continues to bless Shawn right and left. I could tell you many more stories about Shawn’s blessings, but then this would be a posting of several pages.
January 14th, 2025 at 3:44 pm
An amazing story of redemption, mercy and God’s grace.
January 15th, 2025 at 8:46 pm
Patrick, Good word about Shawn. A major point in my book, The Jesus Exchange, is that the prophecy of Isaiah 53:6 pertains to all of us, of which group Shawn is simply one member among billions of humans: “All of us have wandered about like sheep; we each have turned to his own way; and Yahweh let fall on him the iniquity of us all” (Lexham English Bible). All of us in our old selves had a hand in pushing those thorns into the head of Jesus; all of us had a hand in pounding the nails into his body. Jesus took on all the sin/iniquity/wickedness of us all by having the entire rotten mess inflicted upon Himself. Even though Jesus’ death was part of God’s plan, and Jesus willingly accepted His mission, the question is: Are we willing to wake up and accept that we are all murder accomplices . . . and that yes, God loves all of us murderers, including Shawn?
January 16th, 2025 at 5:50 pm
Just like God to meet his need in this supernatural way!! Praise God!