I watch what could be termed “a lot of TV.” I’m a sucker for a good series – and one that the wife and I have watched a fair amount of over the years, is “Criminal Minds”, the show built around the FBI’s Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU).
In my honest opinion – I don’t really like it. But I watch it anyways. As much as I’m constantly baffled that there can be those out there in the world who can actually murder other people… I’m at least placated in the knowledge that there are dedicated servicemen and women who spend - and sometimes give up – their lives in catching these lawbreakers.
And every now and then, whilst watching an episode and relaxing on the couch, I’ll get a “thought.”
In the season five finale of “Criminal Minds” we, the viewers, are introduced to a most evil and heinous individual, Billy Flynn, portrayed immaculately by Tim Curry. Nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness”, Flynn has terrorized American homesteads across the breadth of that country for the last 25 years; leaving in his wake a swath of death and destruction; both emotional and physical. A more evil character on the show I have not yet encountered.
With the credits rolling on the cliffhanger that was the last show of season five, when I realized that we had the first episode of season six – as much as I don’t really like the show – I had to watch it and see how Billy Flynn’s story played out. Surprise, surprise! He get’s caught in the end. Well, shot dead really… but it’s the moments that take place before this that got my brain turning.
Corralled and surrounded by police in a suburban house, Flynn has a brief heart-to-heart with a lone member of the BAU, Derek Morgan (played by Shemar Moore). In what seems to be an honest moment of clarity, Flynn – somewhat – acknowledges and renounces his crimes, and asks Morgan if he would ever see Heaven when he dies. The answer is not forthcoming and Flynn subsequently dies when he draws his weapon on Morgan, who responds by drawing first and shooting him dead.
Now, most of us – when confronted with the awful reality of an individual such as Flynn – would cheer and say “Good riddance!” - a fitting end to a truly horrible and monstrous beast. And yet, in those final few moments, all Flynn is looking for is forgiveness, and the chance to go to a better place, where the pain that he has suffered in his life – and caused to countless others – doesn’t exist. And here’s the kicker…
God would forgive him, and welcome him home.
The human condition cannot fathom the true Grace and Forgiveness of God. How could a murderous villain such as Flynn ever be forgiven his crimes? The answer, again, is something that the average human being battles to grasp: his crimes are no worse in the eyes of God than that of telling a lie or being angry at someone.
To God, all sin is equal. Jesus Christ himself said that anger amounts to the same as murder, and the Bible tells us further that even liars deserve to be thrown into Hell. Two crimes - in God’s eyes - that every person on earth has committed; and so all deserve the same fate... but for the forgiveness that Jesus Christ offers us, based on the sacrifice He has already paid for us on the Cross of Calvary.
I can’t help but wonder, what could have happened had Derek Morgan shared the Gospel of Grace with Billy Flynn before he gunned him down. Had he then died he would have lived for all of eternity in Heaven with a loving God; instead of dying in his sins and being judged as unfit to enter the presence of a Holy, sinless God. Which in essence, is exactly where we all stand; guilty because of the equally criminal mind inside us all.
We don’t have to have physically committed the atrocities against humanity that Billy Flynn did, in order to be doomed and destined for Hell. We just have to stay exactly as we already are – unless we bring Jesus Christ into our own tragic lives, and rely on Him to pronounce us innocent of all wrongdoing.
