Capital punishment, and then refuse pardon?

Kosha, sentenced to death

Kosha was a young man. One day, while playing cards, he got terribly angry. Suddenly he saw a revolver within reach, grabbed it, and shot his opponent.
He was arrested, tried, and eventually sentenced to death.

Friends and family filed petitions highlighting his blank criminal record and asking for a pardon. Many interested parties also signed that request. But time went on; meanwhile Kosha had been in prison for several years.

One day he was visited by a gentleman. He immediately saw from his clothing that it was a clergyman.
“Get out of here!” he shouted. “I don’t want to see you! I’ve already had three of your kind visiting here. And besides, I was already fed up with religion at home…!”
“Wait a minute, young man,” said the visitor. “I have good news for you; the best news you could receive. Please let me tell you.”

But no matter how the visitor insisted, Kosha angrily refused to listen to him, even threatening to have him thrown out. With a heavy heart the visitor went away, leaving him alone …

Later, curiously, a guard appeared.
“Well boy,” he said, “I saw you had a visit from the minister of justice.”
“What … what are you saying …” Kosha shouted in dismay, “I thought it was a clergyman! Was that the minister of justice …?”

“Yes sure, and he had Grace in his pocket for you, but you wouldn’t even listen…!”
Trembling all over his limbs, he now said, “Give me a pen and paper,” and he wrote a long detailed apology to the minister. But the minister, after he read the letter, wrote under it: “No more interest in this case”

On the day of his execution, Kosha was asked if he had anything else to say.
“Oh yes,” he said, “Tell everyone that I am not dying for my crime, but because I have refused the Pardon!”

Hyun Hee Kim, terrorist

Read now the story of a young woman, Hyun Hee Kim, 26 years old.
It was on November 29, 1987 that a South Korea Airlines Boeing 707 crashed off the coast of Burma. All 115 aboard were killed

The investigation revealed that two North Korean agents had brought a time bomb on board in Abu Dhabi.
A 70-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman had acted on behalf of Kim Yong Iel, the son of the North Korean head of state. The purpose of the action had been to force allowance for North Korea to participate in the Olympic Games.

The young woman herself says: “We had done our job very well. But then, totally unexpected, an officer at the airport in Abu Dhabi checked our tickets and passes very carefully. We already understood that things could go wrong, and wanted to go through Bahrain. But while waiting for a plane to Rome in Bahrain, it was discovered that our passes had been forged.
In a police cell, we both took a capsule containing the deadly cyanide, to take our secret into death”.

Old Sung Kim died on the spot. But young Hyun Hee Kim survived her act; she woke up in a hospital three days later.

She still believed that her action would contribute to the reunification of North and South Korea. That was how they had influenced her.

She says, “I was born in the capital of North Korea. From kindergarten to college, I was instilled in the philosophy of communist dictator Kim Iel Sung almost daily and learned to worship him like a god.
As a student I was chosen for the secret service. We lived in a secret place in the mountains. I was under pressure in terms of soul and body.
We were taught to despise all religion. We were shown propaganda films entitled: ‘The Worst Forms of Superstition. A scene in it showed missionaries building a hospital. They pretend it’s built to treat patients, but in the basement of the hospital they take their body parts to sell in their home countries, we were told.
That’s how we were brainwashed. Finally, I was prepared for the bombing.”

After the hospital stay, she was extradited to South Korea. Her eyes opened as if condemned to death. She had the lives of 115 innocents on her conscience. After all, she was desperate.

A guard gave her a Bible and told her to read it. While reading she was surprised and deeply moved. Her interest in the Word of God grew, she read a lot.

She herself continues: “At first I found the stories of Adam and Eve and the other persons amusing. They seemed like myths to me; I couldn’t believe them. But gradually I noticed how God’s Word changed my inner life. Until one day I read the verse:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
(Romans 5: 8).

Then tears came …, because I suddenly became aware that the Christ went to the Cross for my sins out of love. By now I have read the Bible twice, and the more I read, the stronger my faith in Jesus, the Christ, the Resurrection, and Eternal Life grows.”

On April 12, 1990, Hyun Hee Kim was pardoned.
“That’s undeserved grace,” she said, “just as much as that new Eternal Life that God has given me in spite of my great sin. I want to serve Him now as a new man.”

Finally, young and old, who read this:
If one day you are no longer here, and you see that you are lost forever, it will not be only because of your sins, whether they have been very great and many, or small and little in your own eyes, but also because you refused to accept His pardon, also because you despised His grace!

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross and gave His blood in order to save you.

He, the Innocent, wanted to be the Substitute in order to grant you a Pardon.
Because of His death, God wants to forgive you all your guilt. You probably haven’t committed any crimes against humanity, but each of us needs GRACE from God.
Therefore, get on your knees, confess, tell Him your sins, believe and trust in the work that the Savior has accomplished on the Cross, and be saved forever.

If your end will be in eternal death, yes, in hell, you will have to recognize that it is deserved for your sins. But besides that, on top of that, because you have rejected the Grace, the grace of God.

In 1 Peter 3:18 it says:

For Christ also died for sins once for all,
the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God,

And the Gospel of John says in 3:18:

He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The choice is personal for everyone. What will it be?