Every Cover-up to be Revealed—It’s a Promise
On Saturday, April 4, 2015, white police officer Michael Slager shot and killed an unarmed black man, Walter Scott. Officer Slager claimed Scott had grabbed his Taser and he had shot in self-defense. The story may have ended there except for one thing.
Feidin Santana, a barber walking to work, saw the officer “controlling” Scott and heard the Taser, so he recorded the unfolding events with his cellphone camera. When Santana later read the officer’s version of what happened, he turned the video over to the victim’s family.
On Judgment Day the Light will shine and every cover-up will be revealed
In the video, as the two men struggled, the Taser apparently drops to the ground, Scott breaks away from Slager and runs. Slager pulls his gun and fires at the fleeing man without warning. Scott falls to the ground some thirty feet away. Slager walks over, handcuffs him, returns to retrieve the Taser, and drops it next to Scott, in an apparent cover-up to make it appear that Scott had taken the Taser.
The family’s lawyer turned the footage over to the NY Times. Immediately after the video was made public, Slager was fired and charged with murder.
What Slager concealed the video revealed. If there’d been no video, Officer Slager’s story might have held.
On earth, that is.
Because here’s the promise that every person who’s been wrongly accused can hold to:
There is nothing concealed
that will not be revealed,
nor hidden
that will not be made known.
Matthew 10:26; Luke 12:2
Jesus said this is why his disciples needn’t fear those who can falsely malign and can kill the body but can’t kill the soul.
There’s a heavenly recording of everything. There’s a final judgment coming.
It’s a promise.
But it’s also a warning: “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5). We need to walk in the light by shunning hypocrisy, banishing lies, searching our hearts, and keeping our motives pure.
“The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.” 1 Timothy 5:24-25
Hello Jean
It’s important for us to think about this. I wonder what would be different if that video were running when the whole incident began. I think sometimes having partial video recordings, because they are fractional records of the event, provide the illusion of context without the complete picture.
It is encouraging to me to know that the scales of justice will be balanced by the one who not only knows the complete context of every sinful act, but who understands from personal experience what it is like to struggle against the personal forces of humanness.
Kevin
I agree, Kevin. There are a few minutes missing between what the police car’s video caught and what the cell phone caught, so police are relying on eyewitnesses. Having video of those moments would help. I am thankful the Judgment will expose all and bring justice.