“What did I do?”
By Elizabeth Prata
Yesterday was the last day of a two-week school Christmas Break. It was eagerly anticipated and much needed. I’ve enjoyed it.
I set goals for the time off. I allow myself to “slunge” the first 4 days till after the actual Christmas day. Slunge is a made up word I use that’s a combination of slack and lounge. After a few days of rest, I energize myself to meet other goals and get some things done I’ve been wanting to do.
Anyway those first few days I binged media content and read a lot. The bingeing consisted of Season 17 of Project Runway, the first season of Reacher, and season 2 of Homicide Hills (A light hearted German police comedy. Yes, the Germans can be funny…).
I also watch a lot of Youtube police-suspect roadside interactions and court dockets. I love law stuff. Some years ago I considered attending Law School but opted for something else instead. With the advent of Youtube now I can be an armchair lawyer, lol. Current favorite judges are Judge Gauthier in MI and Judge Boyd in TX. I also like Judge Cedric Simpson. Anyway, the police-suspect videos, I’ve gotta stop watching. They aren’t edifying, except maybe to illustrate biblical points about sinful man’s nature.
But in my watching roadside interactions with suspects over the last year or so and my binge last week, I noticed something. The roadside suspect is one who is accused of crimes like criminal trespass, shoplifting, or driving under the influence. It is interesting to see the suspect’s reaction to an authority who has stopped them and is asking them to account for their erratic behavior.
The first thing to notice is their utter disregard for legal authority over them, embodied by the police. Very few if any of these people are polite and compliant. I realize that the videos uploaded to Youtube are probably mostly the ones that show something dramatic, and a polite suspect easily placed in handcuffs isn’t going to generate hits and views. But anyway, these suspects argue with the cops, ignore the cops, deny their crime, or run away from the cops (either on foot or in the car).
Fleeing and resisting are two things in a tense encounter with the police that will always get you into handcuffs. And so it is. As the police finally wrestle the person into the cuffs, one thing the suspecty always yells:
“WHAT DID I DO?”
Police smashes window of unruly driver.
Over and over, they play the aggrieved innocent, asking what was the cause of their arrest. ‘What did I doooo?’
The police answer. Over and over. They explain, tell, list, all the behaviors that got the person restrained and into the police car. The person rejects the facts, and continues asking ‘What did I do?’
This is an interesting pattern with perps. In one incident, the woman fled in her car for miles with police on her tail with lights and sirens. When finally cuffed, she not only kept asking ‘what did I do’, but complained that there was no secure place to stop. The crawl on the video from the uploader stated,
“The suspect passed 7 parking lots, 2 turn lanes, a gas station, and a church before finally pulling over.”
Another kept asking what did I do, and the police told her that she hit 2 cars, a light pole and she’d been driving with sparks flying from her tireless rim for a mile, with all fluids leaking out.
These suspects know what they did. They know because they just did these acts moments before. Their mind is either busy rejecting their lawless acts, or they are so deep into their drug or alcohol induced mania that they can’t think straight.
You know where this is going, probably. Matthew 7:21-23,
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Lawless sinners will meet the Lord one day. They will be amazed and shocked that their lawless deeds were not overlooked. They had convinced themselves that their deeds were reasonable, lawful, or non-existent. They’d denied, denied denied. They literally can’t think straight. Sin has made them drunk and their thinking is futile. (Romans 1:21). The mind of the lawless is amazing in its ability to suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18).
The suspect always seems totally ignorant of their crime, or denies it, or argues it away. It is amazing to see that done to an authority like the cops. But they will still do it in the Judgment to THE Authority, Jesus.
They THOUGHT they were OK. Even if deep down, they kind of knew they weren’t-
Remember Lot’s Wife: her will was never really brought into a state of obedience to God; her affections were never really set on things above. The form of religion which she had was kept up for fashion’s sake and not from feeling: it was a cloak worn for the sake of pleasing her company, but not from any sense of its value. She did as others around her in Lot’s house; she conformed to her husband’s ways; she made no opposition to his religion; she allowed herself to be passively towed along in his wake—but all this time her heart was wrong in the sight of God. The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. In this state she lived, and in this state she died. ~JC Ryle, tract, excerpt “Remember Lot’s Wife“.
Don’t let this be you. I plead frequently in prayer to the Holy Spirit for Him to assure me that I am not performing religion, but that my heart is truly converted and submitted to the will of God. The ability to delude one’s self is potent. The warning from Jesus Himself to “Remember Lot’s wife”.
It means we must be sure to be submitting to the right authority.
“Joab was David’s captain; Gehazi was Elisha’s servant; Demas was Paul’s companion; Judas Iscariot was Christ’s disciple; and Lot had a worldly, unbelieving wife. These all died in their sins.” JC Ryle, “Remember Lot’s Wife“.
Proximity to religion will not save you! Arguing with the authority after the fact will not save you! Jesus knows the heart. Only the converted, repentant, faithful heart will be the standard by which He accepts anyone into His kingdom.
Let’s do our best to witness by word and by our lives, to pray for the lost, and to encourage one another to good deeds. We do not want to be the ones at the Final Court asking, “What did I do wrong?”
