Introduction

Lest someone thinks that these theological issues are irrelevant in day-to-day life, I want to convincingly dispel this viewpoint.  I have been the evangelist of a mission work of the RPCUS to Corpus Christi , Texas for nearly three years.  On September 12, 2007, a local jury rendered a shocking and discouraging verdict.  This verdict should put every Christian parent on alert.  Hannah Overton, a 30-year-old godly Christian mother of five young children was sentenced to life in prison without parole.  Her heinous crime?  Her pastor, Rod Carver , explains:

“A very gentle and loving mother of 5 was sentenced today (September 12, 2007) for failing to act or provide medical attention for her son, who, unknown to her, had ingested something that would ultimately kill him.  Nine months of CPS investigation could not find her guilty of child abuse.  Ten months of the DA’s investigation and 8 days of testimony could not convince the jury that she purposely poisoned this little boy.  What is she guilty of?  Not discerning the signs of salt intoxication from signs of a common flu.  Now five children are without a mother.” 

Some Facts About the Tragedy

It is my opinion together with a group of local pastors in Corpus Christi that Hannah Overton is the victim of a judicial system gone awry in our city.  Various local pastors have expressed great consternation over this jury verdict, and they are determined within a godly framework to bring public awareness to this travesty of justice on a national scale.  The consensus of these Bible believing pastors is that this event is revealing some serious problems in our city’s legal system and that Satan is viciously attacking the Christian community. The District Attorney’s office was determined to paint Hannah as some kind of sinister, religious sociopath. For months the local media was being fed slanted information, stirring very negative public sentiments against her.  One only had to read the blog site set up by the local newspaper regarding the case to see the public animosity. In many ways, she was tried and convicted in the media, which obviously was not privy to all the facts. Presently, the public is virtually unaware of the facts of the case.

A website, www. FreeHannah.com, has been created by friends in her church, Calvary Chapel Coastlands, to inform the public of this injustice and to rally national support for an overturning of this verdict in upcoming appellate courts.  In the meantime, this Christian mother sits in jail with a life sentence without parole!  Sometime in mid January (2008) her husband, Larry Overton, is scheduled to be tried for the same offense, and it is conceivable that he too will be given a life sentence without parole, leaving five young children to be permanently without their parents.  Once one learns about some of the details of the case, the godly reaction is one of righteous anger.  Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry, and yet not sin.” Our Lord Jesus was righteously angry when He passionately drove the moneychangers out of the Jerusalem temple for defiling God’s house of prayer.

The prosecution was determined for whatever reason to make a public example of Hannah Overton.  The prosecution’s charge was – capital murder (intent to kill), and they wanted life imprisonment without parole.  During the trial, the goal of the DA’s office was to construct a picture of an abusive home.  Here is one anomaly.  The four-year-old child that died was a foster child and was in the process of being adopted by the Overton family.  The agency handling the adoption obviously had no problem with the Overton family atmosphere. 

Pastor Rod Carver describes the attitude of the prosecution towards Hannah Overton’s Christian Faith.  He states:

“During the trial, the prosecution continually alluded to Hannah’s faith as something to be used against her.  Hannah never brought it up; we never brought it up.  The church was observed praying in the waiting room at the hospital where Andrew lay dying.  The prosecution found this both odd and offensive.  Hannah was observed praying during a break in her interrogation, and this was promoted to the jury as a show to get people to believe her.  One witness carried a Bible, and it was pointed out to the jury as something to note.  The closing arguments were filled with references to her faith and the church’s support as something sinister and wrong.”

The DA’s office was seeking to prove that this mother intended to kill her son by poisoning and gathered witnesses to testify to an abusive home.  Incredibly, the jury never was convinced of the prosecution’s contention, and yet the jury returnd a verdict of murder by omission.  In other words, the jury believed that Hannah failed to act in a timely and responsible way during a 1 hr. 49 min. time frame after her son began complaining of sickness.  They convicted her of murder by omission and gave her life in prison without parole as requested by the prosecution.  Once the jury rendered their decision, the defense team was granted permission to individually poll every juror.  To the defense’s dismay, the jury unanimously agreed that they did not believe there was child abuse, nor did they believe Hannah plotted to kill her son.  They all wanted to give her a very minimal jail sentence for acting irresponsibly. However, since a lesser verdict was not on the table, they felt they had no choice but to give her life without parole.  They found her guilty of capital murder by omission.  In other words, it is what she did not do during that 1 hr. and 49 minute time frame.  What did she fail to do?  What was her omission?  Apparently, it was that she did not immediately call 911 once the child began to complain of being sick.  How many parents call 911 if a child vomits once and complains of feeling cold?  The problem is that the jury was thinking of things in retrospect of what happened – a child eventually died; hence, there was a life-threatening situation present (which the facts do not verify) and that 911 should have been contacted. Such an action by a jury is a travesty of enormous proportions.  It is a miscarriage of justice; it is thoroughly unbiblical.  It openly violates the biblical principle that the punishment must fit the nature of the crime, nothing less and nothing greater.  This of course assumes there is guilt that deserves punishment.

Let’s consider some facts of the case that demonstrates what I believe to be a miscarriage of justice.  From ages 2 to 4 ½ Andrew was known for having a fixation on eating.  As a foster child, the child had been seen in public places eating out of trash cans and off the floor.  There were problems at home where he deliberately soiled his bed at times and threw excrement at his mom and siblings.  His eating problem necessitated the parents to have to lock pantry closets at times to prevent the child from eating uncontrollably.  On the fateful day, the mother had fed Andrew several cans of beef and vegetable soup purchased from the local grocery store.  Andrew had several bowls of soup and was demanding (screaming) to have more.  Hannah did not want to give him more soup.  If the child wanted the flavoring, why not sprinkle (two hand shakes) the Cajun seasoning into some water.  This Cajun seasoning, Zatarain, is commonly purchased at the grocery store. She put this flavored water into a tumbler. She then poured it into a sippy cup with the lid on and gave it to the child.  This equals no more than probably a ¼ teaspoon of Zatarain..  The prosecution contended all along that Hannah intended to kill Andrew by forcing him to drink this toxic brew of spices.

After lunch, Andrew began to complain that he was feeling cold and had vomited.  She got some blankets and wrapped him in them to warm him.  She called her husband Larry who came home. Larry took a warm bath with the boy to try to warm him.  At one point, the child seemed to be wheezing so Hannah gave Andrew a breathing treatment.  Within this 1hr. and 49-minute time frame, she and her husband decided to drive him to an urgent care facility only about 5-7 minutes from their house.  On the way, Andrew began to go into respiratory failure.  Hannah was in the back seat with the child, giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.  When they arrived at the emergency care facility, Hannah was still calmly administering CPR.  The medical staff was baffled as to what was happening.  At this point, the urgent care facility called an ambulance.  When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics gave the child an intravenous solution.  The paramedics and the hospital administered multiple concentrated Sodium Bicarbonate ampules in addition to the saline solutions.  The toxic sodium levels were discovered soon after his arrival to the emergency room and verified during autopsy.  The blood was drawn after the 1^st or 2^nd ampule was given.  From the urgent care facility, the paramedics took Andrew to Spohn hospital but then moved him to Driscol hospital, a children’s hospital.  It is at this hospital that the police began to question Hannah and eventually took her to the police station.  The Driscol hospital, for whatever reason, suspected her of child abuse.

Andrew survived until the next evening and died in the hospital, having been under hospital care for over 24 hours.  This is noteworthy.  The prosecution contended that her delay during this time frame was responsible for his eventual death.  Oh really? Why should the events of that time frame be conclusive proof that led to his death and not what happened at the hospitals during the 24 hr. period?  How do we know that the intravenous solution administered by the trained medical emergency crew is not what led to the child’s death?  This is not impugning what the emergency personnel did, for this was standard procedure apparently.  The point is:  it is not beyond the realm of possibility that if the child had a unknown salt disorder, then this act by medical personnel helped lead to the child’s demise.  Why was Hannah Overton the focus of ill intent?  Why did a jury find her guilty of omission, giving her life in prison without parole?  It is appalling.  It is a judicial tragedy of immense proportions.

The jury convicted Hannah for failing to act responsibly from their perspective during the 1 hr. and 49 minute period beginning when Andrew complained of feeling ill.  The prosecution said, “Why did you not immediately call 911 upon first signs of his illness?”  We are talking about 1 hour and 49 minutes!  This child is not comatose; he is simply feeling cold and has vomited.  When Hannah had to give the child mouth to mouth resuscitation in the car, the prosecution stated,  “Why didn’t you then call 911?”  The answer was that they had already arrived at the emergency facility.  Again, the facility was only 5-7 minutes from their home.  How is this irresponsible or negligence?

For her failure to call immediately 911 during this 1 hour and 49 minute period, the prosecution maintained that this delay irreparably harmed the child, leading to his death. Even though the jury did not believe she intended to harm her child for this delay, they thought it was negligence by omission, deciding to give her life in prison without parole.  She has the same sentence by the way that Charles Manson has with one exception.  Manson has come up for parole, but he has been repeatedly denied.  Other criminals of confessed serious offenses have been given lesser sentences than Hannah Overton.

Several of us in the Christian community find this verdict an abominable miscarriage of justice.  To convict her of capital murder, even though they believed her innocent of premeditation and only wanting to give her some minimal jail sentence is beyond belief.  What kind of judicial system would force a jury to such a decision?  An unbiblical, ungodly one.  However, I find the actions of the jury to be inexcusable.

It only goes to show the perspective of the prosecution- they were determined to make out Hannah Overton to be this vile sociopath.  In a front page article in the Corpus Christi Caller Times (September 24, 2007), the staff writer quotes District Attorney, Carlos Valdez, as saying:  “Our position has always been and always will be to charge someone with the most serious offense we can charge them with under the circumstances.”  One would think that “truth” is what one would be striving for?  The facts of the case did not point to some kind of “monster mother” who was determined to kill this foster child that she was in the process of adopting.  The jury did not buy the argument of the prosecution.  None of the jury (in the post trial poll) believed she intended to kill her son, but they still gave her life without parole.

Christian parents beware!  This could easily happen to any parent in the U.S.   What parent hasn’t waited hours or even a day or so before taking a sick child to see a doctor?  How many times have doctors told the parent to go home and watch the child? 

Because of this unknown salt disorder, Andrew was becoming seriously ill. His initial symptoms were not reflecting a serious problem.  I dare say that thousands of parents in this situation would have reacted no differently than Hannah.  Remember, we are talking about less than two hours, and during this time frame the parents were proactive.  How many parents would have immediately called 911 for a child who vomits once and complains of feeling cold?  If a parent doesn’t immediately call 911 if a child is sick and dies, will the parent be put on trial for murder?  Consider the ramifications for adopting children.  How many Christian parents will think of adopting children?  If a gentle Christian mother can be villainized by not responding in less than two hours, then who is safe?  The social ramifications for this verdict are far reaching. It is only demonstrative of how far our culture has degenerated.  It only shows how ungodly our judicial system is in many regards, standing in need of significant reform.  But, the reform of our judicial system must be in terms of reformation on biblical principles, being the only ones that reflect true justice.

As it stands, unless God intervenes to bring sanity to this case, 30-year-old Hannah Overton will spend the rest of her life in jail with no chance of parole.  Many convicted rapists will have a chance for parole but not Hannah.  Many confessed killers can have possible parole in 10 or 20 years but not Hannah.

The District Attorney’s office is content to allow her to “rot” in jail the rest of her life.  The DA simply views this godly, Christian woman as a cold-blooded murderer. A jury emotionally felt constrained to give her this sentence when each one said they preferred a minimal sentence. Apparently, it did not matter to them that she was a God fearing woman, respected by her peers, and known for being a loving mother. Hannah will be forced to live with known convicted criminals in a high security prison.

If this doesn’t make one righteously angry, I don’t know what will.   

A Misguided and Irresponsible Jury:  The Result of an Unbiblical Legal System

I believe the jury’s verdict to give Hannah Overton life in prison without parole was ungodly.  It was totally irresponsible, void of true justice.  True justice, of course, is set forth in God’s Word, in His law.  The action of this jury is simply indicative of our society’s woeful lack of godly knowledge and commitment to justice.  The real problem is that there is no genuine fear of God in our culture.  We are thoroughly humanistic in our orientation, meaning that truth and justice is the product of man’s thoughts independent of God’s revelation in the Bible.  R.J. Rushdoony expressed it quite well:

The struggle is between God’s absolute justice and His law-order and man’s lawless self-assertion and autonomy.  God’s law-order requires the death penalty for capital offenses against that realm.  Man’s law claims to value life too highly to take it, but humanistic societies do exact death for those whom they deem to be their enemies. (R.J. Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 227) (emphasis mine)

Greg Bahnsen recognized the problem when he said:

Rather than submitting himself to God and God’s self-attesting word, man has attempted to deify himself; the consequence of this in the area of ethics is that God’s law is rejected or ignored in favor of a moral law which man himself will devise or validate. (Greg Bahnsen, Theonomy In Christian Ethics, p. 301)

Bahnsen continues:

The main problem with autonomous ethics is that it ignores God’s authority and revealed will; this in itself is immoral and rebellious. (Bahnsen, p.305)

So what is the solution to an arbitrary view of law?  Bahnsen continues:

God’s law is ethically self-attesting ; as such it cannot be questioned, appealed, ignored, or replaced…the ethics of theonomy is a genuine ethic.  “Good” is identified with God; anything which is good is God-like.  God reveals to man what is God-like behavior; He tells the creature how to practice holiness.  The law of God is good, for its Author is good; the law is the transcript of God’s holiness. ( Bahnsen,  pp.301-302)

Theonomy is pitted against autonomy; no man can take stand in between, for no man can serve two masters. (Matt.6:24) (Bahnsen, p.306)

The tragedy in the Corpus Christi legal system is that it is simply a microcasm of the ungodliness in our society.  What we have seen in the unjust conviction of this Christian woman and mother of five is the inevitable result of an abandonment of God’s law as the normative principle for all of life.  We saw a prosecution bent on using this woman’s Christian faith as part of the problem.  We saw a jury who had no concept of what justice entails.  They really cannot plead innocence by saying they had no choice but to give Hannah Overton life in prison without parole.  They did not believe the prosecution’s arguments that she willfully intended to kill her child; hence, they were morally bound before God to acquit her.  The jury chose to believe she was guilty by negligence( by omission) and wanted to give her a minimal jail sentence. They supposedly felt constrained to stay with the severe penalty because it was the only penalty “on the table.”  Nonsense, the jury should have declared that it could not in good conscience render such a verdict and penalty.   First, the sentence they gave her utterly violates the biblical principle of lex talionis.  The jury’s penalty is essentially life for a foot.  But even then, the jury obviously had no concept of what constitutes a biblical view of negligent homicide or accidental death.

R.J. Rushdoony makes this astute comment about communal responsibility.  He says:

Does the Bible teach nothing of community responsibility?  As a matter of fact.  Biblical law does assert community responsibility, a responsibility to see that justice is done.  There is community guilt, if justice is not done. (Rushdoony, p.270)

Rushdoony makes a tremendous comment about the obligations of our judicial system being regulated by God’s law:

Thus, a fundamental aspect of God’s order, of His kingdom must be and can only be manifested in and through the courts of law.  If the court fails to give the judgment of God by its apostasy from God, it will inevitably give the judgment of man in terms of the satanic principles of independence and lawlessness. (Rushdoony, p.625)

This is precisely what has happened in the Hannah Overton case.  God’s law was completely ignored resulting in the elevation of man’s autonomous law verdict that sends a Christian mother of five to jail for life without parole because in the mind of the jury, she should have acted differently in a 1 hour and 49 minute time period!  The bottom line is that this verdict is thoroughly contrary to biblical jurisprudence; therefore, it is satanic.  This Christian family is deprived of its mother for life.

Rushdoony has some very timely remarks regarding the necessity of citizens understanding biblical law:

The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay colony wee fearful of the tendencies of English society towards a lawyer-order, and they began by banning a professional, paid lawyer-class.  Every man had an obligation to know the law by means of the Bible.  The jury system was developed in America to a far-reaching power on the premise of a biblical law order in which every citizen knows the law.  The requirement that jury members be believers was not a church requirement but a state requirement:  the order required men knowledgeable in Biblical law.  The jury system was strong as long as the law was the common law of Scripture, not an esoteric doctrine open only to a professional class. (Rushdoony, p.517)

When lawyers turned instead to positive law (statist law) and statute law (in place of biblical law), they cut themselves off from the people and became steadily a by-word for deceit because they were beyond the comprehension of the people with their esoteric humanistic law.  A lawyer-society had replaced a law-society. (Rushdoony, p. 518)

In a Christian law order, “ignorance of the law is no excuse,” because the law is an open book to all, since it is biblical in nature and represents a common faith and order. (Rusdoony, p.518)

The sad reality is that America ’s judicial system operates fundamentally from a humanistic perspective that could care less what the Bible says.  Oh, how the gold has become dim!  Ignorance of true justice rooted in biblical law is epidemic.

For those Christians who have heretofore been skeptical about advocating a theonomic ethic because it would lead to some kind of tryrannical society need to step back and seriously re-think their past prejudice.  The truth is:  What has happened to Hannah Overton is the inevitable result of a humanistic, autonomous judicial system. A society regulated by a theonomic ethic would never have convicted this woman of this crime. Instead, she sits in jail with a life sentence without parole.

Biblical Principles Regulating Acts of Violence

What are some of the biblical principles regulating capital murder?  Excluding many capital offenses set forth in Scripture, I will emphasize those pertaining to pre- meditated murder, negligent homicide, and accidental death.

Laws Regulating Pre-meditated murder

Deuteronomy 19:10-13 states: 

So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you. But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel , that it may go well with you.

In Numbers 35:16-21 we see instruction for the civil authorities in these homicide situations:

But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.  If he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.  Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he might die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 'The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. If he pushed him of hatred, or threw something at him lying in wait and as a result he died, or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death, he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

There is a principle known as lex talionis (law of retaliation), meaning that the punishment for a crime should be in proportion to its gravity.  This principle is expressed in Deuteronomy 19:21, which reads:

Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

The principle of lex talionis is not revenge as many commonly believe.  When people manifest an ungodly anger to the point of personal revenge, this is seen in the expression, “an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  Most people in our society, even Christians, have no idea of the biblical principle of lex talionis.  The principle simply states that if a crime results in death, then the penalty is life for life, meaning the death penalty.  Yet, if the crime is an injury of the foot then it is foot for foot, not life for a foot.  Conversely, if there is premeditated murder or negligent homicide then the penalty is not a tooth for a life, implying that a murderer is set free on parole after a few years. The penalty is to be commensurate with the gravity of the offense.

Laws Regulating Negligent Homicide

 Exodus 21:28-30 states:

If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.

We must carefully note the nature of negligent homicide that deserves the death penalty.  Or, in our culture where the death penalty is not consistently practiced such as “life in prison without parole.”  Negligent homicide is no different in its penalty than pre-meditated murder.  But to be guilty of negligent homicide one must have been warned of a potentially dangerous situation, which means that one knowingly realizes the danger but does nothing to fix it.  The principle of this case law or as the Westminster delegates termed it, the “general equity,” is that there must be knowledge of a potentially life endangering situation and nothing is done to remedy it.

Another significant point is that a ransom of money could be given to the victim’s family in lieu of the death penalty simply because there was no pre-meditation to kill, if the family so desires.  The point is:  even criminal negligence does not mandate the death penalty without exception or some lesser form such as life without parole.

Deuteronomy 22:8 reads: 

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it.

This case law teaches us that citizens need to be proactive in protecting against life threatening situations.  Houses in biblical times were normally flat, and people entertained on top of their roof.  God’s law commands citizens to put a railing around their roof.  Failure to do this is negligence, and if one refused to obey the law and someone fell to their death, then the owner is liable for the death penalty.  Yet, since it was not premeditation to kill, the owner could redeem his life with a ransom also by the logical extension of Exodus 21:30.

Exodus 21:33-36 reads:

If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his. If one man's ox hurts another's so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally; and also they shall divide the dead ox. Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.

The general equity or principle of this case law is like the others.  We must guard against loss of life.  Even though the law refers to the death of an animal, by extension in reasoning from the lesser to the greater, we must affirm that it is applicable to human life as well.  So, if a human fell into the open pit, then the owner was liable.  There was criminal negligence involved.  But even here, we must also say that the owner could possibly ransom his life with money, if the family of the victim agreed.

Let’s apply this theonomic principle to the judicial case of Hannah Overton.  Where is negligent homicide in her actions?  Nowhere!  She didn’t know that sprinkling a salt seasoning into some water that was going to aggravate an unknown medical condition.  This assumes that her flavored water was the definitive act that sent the child into a life threatening scenario, but this cannot be proved.  The emergency medical personnel that gave him a saline solution could have been the definitive action, but then it is not about to take responsibility.

Where is failing to call 911 during a 1 hour and 49 minute period a guilt of negligent homicide?  Nowhere!

The jury determined that she was guilty of something, that she was negligent, that she omitted essential actions; hence, they found her guilty of capital murder by omission, giving her life in prison without parole.  Is this principle consistent with the biblical principle of lex talionis?  Not even close!

Why should a jury feel constrained to give her this severe sentence when they all unanimously said they did not really want to exact it?  Since they agreed there was no intent to kill, then biblically they should never have sentenced her with the same penalty that should go to cold-bloodied killers. If they felt constrained because it was their only legal choice, then this is indicative of a corrupt, ugodly judicial system.  Man’s law is the tyrant, not God’s law.

But as Rushdoony has written, every citizen is obligated to know the laws of justice.  This jury feigned sympathy but then handed out an ungodly penalty.  This does not excuse them.  Before God they have acted reprehensibly and will one day answer to the living God for their actions.

Laws Regulating Accidental Manslaughter

Deuteronomy 19:4-6 states:

Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies--he may flee to one of these cities and live; otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously (Emphasis mine).

Numbers 35:22-25 states:

But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or threw something at him without lying in wait, or with any deadly object of stone, and without seeing it dropped on him so that he died, while he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the blood avenger according to these ordinances. 'The congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

There is no civil penalty to be assessed to one who accidentally kills his neighbor.  Accidental manslaughter does not entail intent to kill or negligence in protecting life.  In biblical times there were cities of refuge set up for people to flee in case they accidentally killed someone protect them from the blood avenger.  Space does not permit me to go into the theology of the blood avenger.  It is not pertinent to our purpose.

One could easily argue that these laws of accidental manslaughter do not even apply to Hannah Overton.  None of her actions necessarily can be said to have directly led to her son’s death.

The Biblical Law Regulating Eyewitness Testimony

There is a very important issue that must be addressed in any attempt to rally support from other Christians in working to free Hannah from prison.  A valid question is:  Why should I believe that Hannah Overton is innocent?  I was not privy to the facts of the trial.  Why don’t we just trust this jury?  There is a certain risk involved in making a stand to defend someone who is a total stranger to us.  We are hearing second hand testimony, and why should we believe it as opposed to the case presented by the prosecution and its witnesses that supposedly painted the Overton household as a virtual den of terror for Andrew?  The answer to these questions lies in the Word of God.  Eyewitness testimony plays a prominent role in the administration of biblical justice.  Deuteronomy 17:6 reads, “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.”  Now why is that?  Why not one witness?  The whole idea is to confirm facts.  It is vastly more plausible that the facts presented are accurate when one has multiple stories verifying the course of events.  It is the similar principle in Scripture that says - in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

Of course, in a fallen world of sin, people can and do lie, and even genuine Christians can and do lie by falling into temptation.  The Scripture has safeguards here to prevent false testimony.  The most instructive passage is Deuteronomy 19:15-21 which states – “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

There is much to glean from this passage.  First, it confirms the principle that there must be multiple witnesses.  Second, it realistically envisions the distinct possibility of perjury (bearing false testimony).  There may be malicious witnesses.  If a malicious witness has it in for the accused, realizing that he can help put to death this man on eyewitness testimony, such as in Jesus’ mock trial, then he will lie if he can get away with it.  It is imperative then in a fallen world that judges investigate thoroughly as the text states as to the veracity of the eyewitness testimony.  It genuinely helps this determination if a warning sanctioned by God’s Word is given to eyewitnesses.  The warning is that if it is proven that the eyewitnesses maliciously lied about the facts in order to get a conviction, then the penalty that would have gone to the accused will be assessed to the perjurer.  In a capital murder case, a false witness would receive himself the death penalty, for he sought to murder his neighbor by bearing false testimony. 

The principle of lex talionis applies- life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.  The penalty is in proportion to the gravity of the offense.  Since false testimony in a capital murder case can result in the execution of the accused, it is only fitting that the malicious witness receives the same penalty.  Now what is the societal impact of such a warning on people?  God’s Word is truth and God the creator of man’s being understands man’s thinking processes.  The passage states that if a perjurer is put to death for malicious testimony in a capital murder case, then they (the society) will hear and be afraid, and they will never do such an evil thing again.  In other words this is clear divine sanctioned determent.  If people knew they could receive the penalty the accused would receive if they lied in court, then there would definitely be fewer perjurers.  The argument that the death penalty does not deter crime is a foolish argument and thoroughly unbiblical.  God says that such threat is a determent.  God’s word is truth contrary to man’s corrupt understanding. 

Look, what is the natural response of us if we are driving on the interstate going 10 miles per hour above the speed limit and we see a State Trooper beside the road?  I guarantee you, that probably all of us would immediately put our foot on the break hoping he didn’t clock us as speeding.  Just the “sight” of the police car affected our behavior, putting on the brakes.  Why?  We don’t want to pay the speeding ticket that’s why!  Putting it in greater perspective, don’t tell me that if a person knew he could die for bearing false testimony in a capital murder case that he would not think twice before lying.

So what should judges or juries do with determining the truthfulness of what has transpired?  When Hannah Overton pleads innocent, insisting she is innocent of ill intent, even innocent of negligence, then what is a jury to believe?  Well, they should be privy to all eyewitness testimony without the often-technical rulings that can stop some eyewitness testimony from ever reaching the jury.  A juror should seek to confirm eyewitness testimony from all angles to determine a person’s fate.  In Hannah Overton’s case, the penalty on the table if found guilty was life in prison without parole.  Hence, a juror had better be sure he is hearing ALL the facts.  If there is any doubt to the accuracy of the testimony, then one should not use it to convict a person. 

Grant it, the rest of us in society are left with a choice.  Do we believe that the juror had all the facts?  And what do we do with a host of people who begin to bear testimony to the past godly character of Hannah Overton?  It is vitally important what her track record is, that is, her reputation.  In being objective, I would put more stock in a testimony of someone who has known Hannah for years, seeing her react with her children, etc. as opposed to some medical personnel who sees Hannah one time in a urgent care facility, giving her opinion of how Hannah was behaving or should have behaved when she brought in her child.  The facts of the case showed Hannah helping her son by giving him CPR while the staff was bewildered as to what to do.

If I am a third party trying to decide if I should defend a cause such as helping to free Hannah from jail, I would want to know several things.  What do the accused themselves say?  They emphatically declare to the world they are innocent.  It is no minor evidence of their innocence if they repeatedly turn down plea bargains that would “save their skin.”  Why on earth would a woman refuse a plea bargain that would give her a very minimum penalty if she is really guilty?  You would think that the guilty would look for an “out” right?  So why consistently turn down the plea bargain and run the risk of life imprisonment, if you know you are guilty?  It doesn’t make sense for a person to deny these chances if they are really guilty.  The only other plausible explanation is that they are really innocent and are people of real conviction, a commodity that is sorefully missing in our culture these days.  The world doesn’t grasp an action of a Hannah Overton, but then the world is not accustomed to people of conviction either.  Some Christians, to the dismay of others, would rather suffer than deny their Lord Jesus Christ.  This is called fanaticism by the world.  Well, the world can call it what it wants but so what?  The true Sovereign reigns, and He expects such fidelity to Himself.  In the end, I would rather hear from my Lord on the Day of Judgment, “Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord ( Matthew 25:23) rather than the terrifying words, “Depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

When you have the accused saying I am innocent, when you have the accused suffering rather than lie, when you have her pastor presenting testimony that he can vouche for her character, when you have multiple eyewitnesses testifying  to her godly character, then one has to decide, “Is she innocent of the charges?”  If the facts of the case can be viewed from another perspective that plausibly explains the course of events that would lead to no ill intent, no negligence, and no omission of rendering care, then one should side with the defense, not with the prosecution.

As one examines all of these factors, one should surely think that a verdict of life in prison without parole was an unjust, ungodly verdict.

Yes, I, John Otis, have made a stand.  I have looked at all of these factors.  I have thought it over.  I sought to look at these facts from the perspective of God’s Word. I understand that I am “putting my neck out” in defending her.  But, I am willing to take that stand.  I have looked into the face of this woman; I have heard her gleefully speak of the things of God.  I stand amazed frankly.  I will go to spiritual war for this woman.  I will fight lawfully with all my strength to defend her, all along praying that God will bless the fight.

I pray that God will vindicate her stand for Christ.  I look forward to the day that she walks out of that jail into the arms of her loving husband and children as a free woman.  I look forward to a praise service unlike one I have ever seen in praising God for His deliverance.  I long for the world to see that God lives to intercede for His children.  I look forward to how God will confound the world.  Hannah hopes for that day.  I hope for that day.  I plead to others, “Come join us in this fight.”

Hannah Overton:  A Profile In Christian Courage

I believe it is imperative for me to recount my recent one-hour visit to see Hannah in jail.  I was granted ongoing clergy privilege.  I had several intentions.  First, I wanted to ask her face to face to tell me as God is her witness, the ultimate judge of men, that she is innocent of any deliberate intent to harm her child and that she tried as best as she could to help this child.  She unhesitatingly affirmed that she loved this child and meant no harm.  Now, why would I ask her this as I did her husband face to face?  I am seeking to learn something of the character of an accused.  I want to know if they are confidently willing to stand upon their verbal statements.  I want to hear testimony from the most important witnesses of all.  I want to hear eyewitness testimony from the very ones who were part of the incident.  In biblical law, we cannot dismiss the value of this testimony; moreover, a Christian understands that there is one who knows all and who sees all.  Men can lie to other men, but before God, all thoughts and actions are fully exposed.  When as a Christian, I swear to something to be true, then I am calling on God to be witness to the truthfulness of my statements.  If I am lying, then I have God to contend with and not mere man.  Some would say, “So what.”  It was Jesus who said in Matthew 10:28 – “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  The one who can kill soul and body is only God; hence, to bear false testimony in terms of intending to harm someone is no minor thing.

Secondly, I visited Hannah to encourage her.  I take very seriously Jesus’ words that He will speak on that great Day of Judgment as recorded in Matthew 25:39-40 – “And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly  I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”  I wanted to assure her that God had not forsaken her, that the saints (Christian believers) loved her and were praying for her by the thousands across this country.  I wanted her not to lose hope but to entrust herself to the sovereign God who does all things for good to those who love him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  I wanted her to know that God had been aroused by the prayers of the saints to vindicate her.  She needed to know that the same God who freed the great heroes of the faith was indeed still able to move wondrously, causing His people to stand in awe of His redeeming power and terrifying wrath upon the perpetrator’s of wickedness.

Well, after an hour visit, I was the one blessed immensely by our God.  Here I was seeking to encourage her to have hope, and it was I who soon realized that I was looking into the face of a modern day heroine of the faith.  Several times I had to hold back the tears as we talked.  It was Jesus who told his disciples that he had never seen such faith in all of Israel as He saw in the heart of a Gentile Centurion.  Here was a man who simply believed that the spoken word of Jesus was powerful enough to heal his dying child.  As I talked to Hannah, I was astounded to see the courage and the unswerving commitment to Christ and the willingness to pay any price to advance the cause of Christ, even if it meant being in jail.

I have been told that some who have visited her in prison have the same assessment.  They are the ones blessed by the faith and courage of this woman.  Now some skeptics might say, ‘Oh, it is all a show, it is a fake; it is designed to dupe one.”  This is how the prosecution portrayed her faith during the trial.  In essence, our judicial system, the District Attorney’s office, mocked the Christian faith.  They even used her praying during the police interrogation as a ploy to gather sympathy.  Why should we be shocked in one sense?  We shouldn’t.  Those who walk in darkness cannot comprehend the light but hate the light as Jesus said (John 3:19-21).  Why should we be shocked at the callousness?  Why should we expect the unbelieving world to fathom the ways of the Lord?  We shouldn’t.  I Corinthians 2:10-16 says that only the Holy Spirit can discern the things of the Spirit of God, but the natural man (non-Christian) does not understand spiritual matters because he does not have the Spirit.  Hence, the actions of Christians seem foolishness to him.

I have been in Christian ministry for nearly 30 years, and I have had my fair share of listening to people who are testifying about various things.  The listener has to decide the genuineness or the sincerity of the testifier.  We are not God; we cannot look into their hearts and know with certainty as God knows.  So how do I determine sincerity of faith?  For one, I liken it to this analogy.  Suppose you are talking with someone you have just met, knowing nothing about him.  In your conversation, you bring up the subject of football, and all of a sudden there is this glimmer in the eyes, a big smile, and then for the next 30 minutes the stranger is passionately telling you everything about football.  What is my analysis?  Wow, this person really likes football; I just hit on their favorite topic.  I am here to bear witness that this analogy applies to Hannah Overton not in terms of football but in terms of a passion to honor and serve Christ. 

When I introduced myself to her, she soon started to tear up, saying, “I am so glad you came by pastor because I have been having a rough day.”  I said, “How is that Hannah?”  In tears she said that she terribly missed her other children, that she is concerned how they are doing.  Here was the heart of a loving mother torn asunder; here was the heart exposed in its clarity to me.  As we talked, I began to share one passage after another.  This was when you could see the glimmer in her eyes, the big smile, and she began to talk about passages that God was using to minister to her.  I could unmistakingly see the passion in her as she talked about the Christian faith.

I asked Hannah point blank, “So, Hannah, what is God teaching you by being in jail?”  As she spoke, I could hardly restrain my own tears.  She told me the same thing that her husband told a gathering of pastors.  When Hannah and Larry moved back to Corpus Christi , they had a burning desire to see the city of Corpus Christi revived for the glory of Jesus Christ.  Hannah told me that what concerned her and Larry was that it seemed that each church feared losing their sheep to other churches so much so that it impacted their relationships to one another in terms of the true bonds of Christian love.  She wanted to see unity in the body of Christ at large, and with tears in her eyes, she said to me, “If my being in jail serves as the means to bring about this unity, then I suppose I will be content to stay here for a time.”  Here was a loving mother behind bars for the rest of her life without parole testifying to me that she loved the body of Christ so much that she was willing to sacrifice for it this way.

The remarkable thing about Hannah and her husband Larry is that they have and continue to insist on their innocence to the point that they have refused, and in Larry’s case, continues to refuse to take plea bargains that would reduce the penalty enormously.  Some of their defense team cannot fathom this at all.  Hannah expressed to me that there was several times when offers were given for lesser offenses if only she would admit that she was guilty.  At times, Hannah said she was urged to take the deal.  As Hannah was relating this to me, she said (and I am paraphrasing), “Pastor, if I had took those deals even though it meant a drastic reduction in the penalty, I would have been bearing false witness.  I am innocent; I could not lie to save myself when I know it wasn’t true.  How would this be honoring to Jesus?. No, I will stand firm on Christ and His promises believing that if God wills He can vindicate my cause.”  As I looked into the eyes of this woman telling me these things, I thought, “Am I really hearing these things?  Here is a woman carved out of the mold of the great heroes of the Bible.  She is standing tall with Meshach , Shadrach, Abed-nego, and Daniel, all of whom would rather die than compromise the Faith.  She is standing tall with all the great saints who have preferred the jaws of lions and wild dogs rather than deny Christ. 

Hannah related to me a dream that she had several months before her trial.  Her dream was about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-neggo.  This spurred her to look up the story again in the Bible.  She noticed that the three courageous Hebrew men believed that God could spare them from the king’s fiery furnace, but if He chose not to spare them, they would still not bow down to the king’s golden image (Daniel 3:17-18).  Hannah said God gave her a peace about her own trial.  She said, “These men were not delivered from the fire, but from out of the fire.”  Hannah believed that God may very well keep her in bondage so that her redemption would be more honoring to God.  If one looks at the news clip on www.freehannah.com of her sentencing, it ends with her walking down a corridor with chains between her ankles.  Hannah told me that when she was walking down that corridor she thought of Daniel being rescued from the lion’s den, and that she was looking in faith to her God for her deliverance.

If only we had more Hannah Overtons in this world who are willing to stand upon godly convictions and not be wooed by the world.  If only we had Christians willing to sacrifice themselves for the cause of Christ on this magnitude.  She longs to be free; she wants to be a loving wife and mother to her family, but if need be, she is willing to suffer in jail.  I tell you this, rarely have I seen such faith in action in all my years of ministry!  Here is a Christian who truly hopes in her God.  She is willing to stand on the promises of God to the end.  Her convictions ought to drive many of us to repentance for our lethargy in service to Christ.

I would be remiss if I did not tell this story that occurred a day after I visited Hannah in jail.  I had dropped off my wife at her work at about 7:30 A.M. as I do every weekday, but on this day, I decided to take a different route back home.  Ocean drive in Corpus Christi is one of the most beautiful drives in the country, especially in the early morning hours.  The sun rises over Corpus Christi bay, and it can be quite splendid.  On this morning, I said to myself, “I am going to go down Ocean drive for the view and stop to pray at a little parking area where I can sit in the car and pray about various things, particularly about Hannah.”  I pulled into this parking area, and it was wonderful.  A slight breeze was blowing, the sun was rising over the bay and there was this majestic group of clouds shielding the rising sun, but the sunrays were reflecting off of the clouds.  God’s creation was in full array, and it was a glorious setting to pray.  As I prayed and watched the sunrise, I noticed a woman sitting on some steps looking at the same glorious spectacle as I was.  I noticed a book beside her and thought, “I bet you she is a Christian out here for a morning devotion.”  Soon, she began reading the book, pausing occasionally to look at the magnificent sunrise.  I even thought about getting out of the car and saying something to her, at least, let her know there was another Christian here doing the same thing she was.  After about 10 minutes, the lady gets up and walks across the parking lot about 20 feet from me.  For whatever reason, I blurted out the following, “So what church do you go to?”  I could see that this caught the lady by surprise, and as I think about it, it was sort of “blunt” although I did want to see if she was a Christian and what church she attended.  She hesitated momentarily and said, “Calvary Chapel.”  This is Hannah Overton’s church, which has stood faithfully by her.  It is the church pastored by Rod Carver , who has defended one of his sheep courageously even to the point that some view him as some “cult” leader.  When this lady said she attended Calvary Chapel, I was absolutely astonished and then blurted out, “You serious?  Are you kidding?”  She walked over to my window, and I said, “I am pastor Otis.”  She immediately greeted me with a smile saying, “I am Rod Carver ’s wife.” She knew who I was and appreciated that I had taken a stand to defend Hannah’s cause.  I am sitting there in the car thinking, “Is this for real?”  What are the chances of me coincidentally meeting the wife of the pastor of Hannah Overton’s church at some random place alongside the bay?”  As coincidental as the odds of the universe coming into existence arbitrarily by a big bang – zero chance!

Mrs. Carver and I talked briefly.  I told her that I had seen Hannah the day before to which Mrs. Carver replied, “She is precious isn’t she?”  I said that I was blessed beyond measure by my visit, and Mrs. Carver said that everyone who visits Hannah in jail says the same thing.  Mrs. Carver related how the Overtons stayed in their home for months before Hannah’s trial.  She said that Larry and Hannah Overton were the last couple on earth you would ever think of being abusive, even to the point of being cold blooded  murderers.  She said, “They don’t yell at their children; they are very patient with them.” 

I realized that this is also what those closest to the accused have testified.  The Bible speaks of the importance of having a “good name.”  What has been the testimony regarding the Overton’s name?  It is been “good.” Here is a loving, gentle couple.  Now skeptics can assert, “Why of course, what do you expect her church members to say?  They are biased; they are protecting one of their own.”  When one walks in darkness, he is blind and cannot see the light.  He is biased to his preferences, and he is not interested in any other view.  So, it doesn’t matter how many people testify to Hannah’s good name; they don’t care.  They have preferred to hear media reports.  They prefer to believe the prosecution without investigating further themselves.

As Mrs. Carver and I spoke, we discussed what purpose God might have in all of this tragedy.  Mrs. Carver made a very astute observation.  Paraphrasing her, she said, “What better couple for God to choose to display the glory of His power than this couple?”  I readily agreed.  Here we have this mild spoken, gentle Christian mother who Satan has determined to make a spectacle to the world.  I consider it in the same vein as what Satan demanded of God with reference to Job.  Satan contended before God that Job trusted in Him only because He had put a hedge around Job, blessing him immensely; however, if God removed the hedge, then Job would curse God (Job 1:6-11).  God granted Satan limited power under the sphere of God’s ultimate control (Job 1:12).  It is through Job’s sufferings that God molds Job into even a greater man of God.  As Job testifies, “but He  knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).  His trials were a severe test, but they led to an end result that God controlled and one that magnified Him.

I believe that God in His matchless sovereignty has determined to use the Overton family as the focus of several things: One, to bring about a greater unity among Bible believing Christians in the local community, a purpose already transpiring.  Second, to use this tragedy as a stage for Almighty God to display His marvelous power to deliver His people. And third, to expose the need for a revival in our nation in order to show the need for a reformation of our judicial system, bringing it in conformity to God’s moral order. We must repent of our humanism as a nation.  We cannot say, “Oh, I serve Jehovah while I have idols of Baal in my home.”  It is always either autonomy or theonomy.  It is either man’s law or God’s law.  It is either man’s convoluted, corrupted, and tyrannical view of justice, or it’s God’s orderly, pure, and just law order.  As the great prophet Elijah asked the people of Israel before his showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel – “How long will you hesitate between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”  (I Kings 18:21).

In cases like Hannah Overton, it is difficult to discern God’s ultimate purpose. Sometimes, God allows His godly ones to die martyr deaths, and at other times, He has powerfully come to deliver them from the jaws of their oppressors.  In my visit with Hannah, I saw her earnest desire to be with her children.  She wants fervently to be delivered, but she acknowledges that God’s ultimate glory is her desire and if that means remaining in jail, then so be it.

One of the passages that Hannah and I discussed was Luke 18:1-8.  This was a parable that Jesus taught on the value of persevering prayer.  The point of the parable is that the persistence of a widow before an unjust judge finally caused the judge to grant her legal protection from her opponent.  We read in Luke 18:6-8 – “And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?  I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth.”

Hannah told me that on Sunday God had comforted her with that passage reassuring her that He had not forgotten her.  I told Hannah, “That’s interesting because I preached a sermon in my church on Sunday about this judicial tragedy using this text in my sermon.”  I asked Hannah before I told her that I had preached a sermon, “When did God comfort you with that passage?”  She said, “Oh about 11:30 or 12:30.”  I responded, “Well, that is in the time frame that I was preaching a sermon about this tragedy.”  I was exhorting my congregation that God had been aroused.

Regarding God’s promise of a “speedily” justice, I clarified to Hannah that as 2 Peter 3:8 says, a day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.  God’s timetable is not always our timetable and any seeming delay is only for the purpose of God getting the most glory and us the greatest benefit by waiting.  After all, the Scripture does say, “Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14).

We can sit around and contemplate these great theological truths and do nothing, which does not honor the Lord, or we can contemplate these truths by ACTION.  Jesus gave the parable to teach us to pray with perseverance.  The value of intercessory prayer must never be minimized.  A sovereign God is moved by godly means - persevering, believing prayer is one such God ordained means to accomplish His ordained purpose.  As James 4:2 tells us, “… we have not because we ask not.”

The prayers of God’s people will arouse the I AM THAT I AM to go forth in great power.

 Biblical Mandate For Action

The fact that you are reading this story, you are mandated to godly action.  Every Christian must have a heart of compassion and seek for true justice to prevail.

Proverbs 24:11-12 states:  “Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. if you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?” 

I John 3:16-18 states:  “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in his little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”  This passage contextually pertains to helping our brethren in terms of physical needs, but we can reason from the lesser to the greater as a broad principle.  We have seen our sister in Christ unjustly convicted of a crime.  If we did nothing, then we are guilty of a heinous sin of negligence, a sin of a lack of love. 

God is a God of justice.  God is the one who properly defines justice.  The Hebrew word translated as justice is “tsadaq,” and the corresponding Greek word is “dikaios.” As with any word in Scripture, its meaning is dependent upon its usage in context.  The various nuances of this word conveys righteousness, being justified or made right, and to declare righteous.

W.G.T. Shed speaks of God’s justice as “a mode of His holiness.”  We could say that righteousness is as Louis Berkhof states, “the fundamental idea of righteousness is that of strict adherence to the law. Among men it presupposes that there is a law to which they must conform… there is no law above God, there is certainly a law in the very nature of God, and this is the highest possible standard, by which all other laws are judged.” (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 74).

The fundamental idea of righteousness is the conformity to a standard.  Whatever God says, then that is our standard.  No man has any right or audacity to question God’s standard.  His law is a reflection of His holiness.  Justice then is what God says is justice, not what we think or prefer.  As the creator, God imposes upon the creature a just law, which promises reward for the obedient and threats of punishment for the transgressor.  God is a God of justice, and He expects all men to do justice as defined by the Almighty.

As I set forth the case laws regulating the death of our neighbor, God expects us to comply with these laws as a reflection of His justice.  When we see these laws openly ridiculed and violated, we must call men to repentance.  We must expose deeds of darkness as Ephesians 5:11 commands us.  When a judicial system flagrantly opposes God’s law order, then we must call it to repentance.  Sometimes men act out of ignorance, which does not excuse their ignorance, but their conscious opposition to God’s moral law order determines the gravity of their culpability.

I believe the moral culpability of the prosecution of Hannah Overton is morally more grave than the jury’s ignorance of applying true justice.  This does not lessen the seriousness of the jury’s irresponsibility, but the wickedness of the prosecution’s case is most heinous and must be condemned by Christians everywhere.  The District Attorney’s office should be ashamed that they aggressively sought to villanize this woman and her Christian faith.  They distorted facts to advance their purposes.  This is wicked.  They sought harm to this woman, and before God they will face His most dreaded anger.  Habbakuk 1:4 states, “Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.” Men can scoff at these ideas, but it doesn’t change the truth.  The Lord God reigns from above and is sovereign over the affairs of men, and the living God will vindicate His righteousness on earth.  One does not want to be found resisting the will of the true God.

Luke 18:7 states, “now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to day and night; and will He delay long over them?”  Psalm 37:28 states, “For the LORD loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.”  There are multitudes of God’s people raising their voices in intercessory prayer for Hannah Overton to rise, hear, and see this great injustice and vindicate her cause.  Rest assured that the warrior God, the Lord Sabbaoth, has risen to deal with the pleas of His people.  As He rose to vindicate Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego, and Daniel millennia earlier, He has been stirred by the prayers of the saints to go forth in great power.

The imagery of God rising to vindicate His holy name and to rescue the afflicted is marvelously depicted in these psalms.  “Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand.  Do not forget the afflicted” (Psalm 10:12).  “Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; Lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries, and arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment” (Psalm 7:6).  “Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause; Remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day long” (Psalm 74:22).  “Arise, O God, judge the earth for it is You who possesses all the nations” (Psalm 82:8).

Will we be found aligning ourselves behind God’s righteous cause?  I surely hope so.  God commands us to carry out His justice.  Zechariah 7:9-10 reads, “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.”

We must align ourselves with God and His righteous judgments and fight with Him in the cause of truth.  This is so wonderfully exhibited in Psalm 82:1-4, “God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”  God expects earthly rulers, civil authorities in every capacity, to judge righteously and not favor wickedness.  It is the duty of civil rulers under the mighty hand of God to defend those unjustly afflicted.  How abominable it is when those who are supposed to be the defenders of the innocent become the tormentors themselves.  When the judiciary becomes the persecutor and afflicts the people of God, God’s people must rise with united voices saying,” Enough is enough and plead to their God to aid them in lawfully freeing their afflicted ones.”  Christians are to use lawful means to rescue the afflicted.  Christians are not revolutionaries.  By lawful means we infer intercessory prayer, petition to other civil authorities to rectify the injustices.  We use our courts to overturn unjust verdicts; we call upon our elected officials in their respective capacities to influence people toward righteous judgments; we plead with our executive officials to pardon if necessary those unjustly incarcerated.

A Special Word To Pastors

If you are a pastor, then you have a moral obligation even greater than your church members to help correct biblical injustices.  You are their leader; you are to be an example; you have pledged yourself to advance the cause of Christ no matter what it costs.  Pastor, you are the shepherd of the sheep.  The shepherd, if necessary fights to the death for his sheep.  He, as the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, leaves the 99 to search for the one. The shepherd loves his sheep.  He will fight spiritual bears, lions, and wolves, just like David fought physical bears and lions in rescuing a sheep (I Samuel 17:34-35).

In many ways pastor, you are the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem – “On your walls, O Jerusalem , I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (Isaiah 62:6-7)

Specific Areas Where Christians Must Help

1)      Dedicate oneself to the ministry of intercessory prayer.  It is our duty to pray for the afflicted among us!

2)      Spread the word to other Christians informing them of the injustice, encouraging them to pray earnestly for the afflicted.

3)      Use your financial resources to aid in the cost of defending the afflicted.  These costs for the Overton’s defense have been enormous.

4)      Stay informed of progressive developments.  Frequently visit www.freeHannah.com and see what is happening.

5)      Write elected officials informing them that you are angered by a miscarriage of justice and ask them what they intend to do to rectify the situation.

6)      Write to the persecuted words of encouragement.  Jesus said that to the extent that you visited your brothers and sisters in prison, you visited Me when I was in prison (Matt.25:39-40).

Pray this passage regularly on behalf of Hannah Overton.  “Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Send out Your arrows and confuse them. Stretch forth Your hand from on high; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hand of aliens whose mouths speak deceit, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood” (Psalm 144:6-8)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, DO YOUR DUTY!