Make The Devil Pay

Recently, I delivered the eulogy for my niece who was killed in a car accident in Memphis, Tennessee. Patricia, her mom asked me to do the eulogy and I said I would. So my wife flew down to Memphis that Friday and I drove down the following Monday.

There was something stirring in me over that Saturday, Sunday and Monday before I left. I was really getting angry. And I know I was feeling the Lord’s anger over what had happened because Kisha was a Christian and she let people know that she was a Christian. I could feel the anger rising up, rising up, rising up so much so that when I was writing her eulogy I had to take a break.

We had the funeral that Thursday and the program said “Celebrating the Life of ...” As soon as I read that the anger hit one more time. Most of the time the person delivering a eulogy does not say what I said.

And I got up and I said “I don’t feel like celebrating.” People looked at me. I look at Patricia and I looked at John, her mom and dad and I asked them “Do you really feel like celebrating today?” They shook their heads in the negative.

I said I understand why we are here – Kisha was a Christian and she’s gone home. So I understand that part of the celebration. But she was 38 years old people. You’re not supposed to be going home at 38. You don’t see that in Scripture anywhere.

As I talked to them, it was almost like sharing what was on my heart – what was on God’s heart. The thing that kept coming back to me over and over and over – you need to make the devil pay. You need to make the devil pay. So that is what I talked about.

I said you need to make the devil pay. I said a lot of things as I was talking that people weren’t ready to hear. But truth is truth whether you’re ready to hear it or not. Now if I’m coming into your church from Ohio and telling you something that is foreign to you, trust me, Barry is not your problem.

So after the service we sat down for the meal I kept saying this is not a happy day for me because Kisha was robbed. Plain and simple. How do you celebrate a life that was robbed?

I put something on Facebook I want to share with you which will allow me to launch into the message tonight – Make the Devil Pay.

When you have a funeral and you are celebrating the life that was snuffed out – you see I’m still angry – when you celebrate a life that has been snuffed out, what you are telling me ladies and gentlemen is Satan won.

If all you do is celebrate the life by having a home-going, a funeral, Satan wins. It’s what you do because of what happened that determines whether or not Satan wins.

This is what I posted on Facebook.

“It has been 9 days since I delivered the eulogy for Akisha. When we gathered to celebrate her life, I told family and friends that I wasn't in a celebratory mood. Akisha was only 38 years old and her life was cut short. I looked at her mom and said ‘Trish, I don't know if you should have asked me to do the eulogy.’”

Most of the time when you hear a eulogy, it’s all upbeat and talk about the things that the person accomplished. We talked about some of that. There were family and friends who go up and talked about some of that. I pulled some things off of Facebook that people had said about Kisha.

We talked about those things but that was not the issue for God that day. He was not in a celebratory mood either.

Back to what I wrote on Facebook.

“I understand the celebration of a life lived -- truly I do. But I was angry. The devil had snatched another life. It wasn't her time. It wasn't the way she had to go, etc. etc. etc.”

You have Christians that when something like this happens they will say “It was her time.” Or they will say “This is the way she had to go. It had to be by a car accident.” You have Christians who say stuff like this ladies and gentlemen and they believe that stuff. It is not true! That’s just the way it happened but her death did not have to happen that way.

Picking up the Facebook post again.

“She was robbed. John 10:10 says the thief (Satan) comes not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy. The bible says God's desire is for us to have long life and I put in parentheses Psalm 91:16: ‘With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.’”