The late Rev. Billy Graham once said, “Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful words in the human vocabulary.”
One Pennsylvania pastor recently showed that he truly knows the beauty of the word when he offered instant forgiveness and love to someone who had just tried to murder him.
Glenn Germany, the pastor at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock, was simply giving his sermon on Sunday when a stranger walked into the church, pointed a gun at him, and shot, according to Fox News.
Dramatic video footage captured the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Bernard Polite, approaching Germany with a gun drawn. According to Fox News host Steve Doocy and Pastor Germany’s own account, the gunman pulled the trigger, but the gun merely clicked as the bullet did not discharge.
WARNING: The following video contains images some viewers may find disturbing.
USA: When a lunatic attempted to shoot a pastor during his church service in Pennsylvania – the gun jammed!
We praise God for that, and also for the church members who rushed to subdue the attacker. pic.twitter.com/YxgeK7vuh5
— Christian Emergency Alliance (@ChristianEmerg1) May 7, 2024
AMAZING!
JESUS SAVES INDEED!— Scout8004by (@scout8004by1) May 7, 2024
According to Germany, officers later dislodged the chamber, showed him the markings, and said, “This bullet had your name on it.”
Have you ever read the Bible?
As Germany fled for cover, a deacon tackled Polite and was able to disarm him.
“A lot of times we preach about God’s divine protection, and we have a chance to witness ministering angels being about you,” Germany said, adding that the gun could possibly be the same one used in the murder of another person before he came to the church.
It can only be GOD!
— Abraham (@KingDayzz) May 7, 2024
Germany was referring to a relative of Polite, who was found shot to death in Polite’s house on Sunday evening, according to WTAE-TV.
Polite told the police that he tried to shoot Germany because “God told him to do it,” according to WTAE, but Germany told Fox that Polite told him that “spirits told him to ‘go in and shoot the pastor.’”
Unbelievably, instead of dealing with his own trauma at just being shot, the pastor talked with the tormented man and instantly forgave him.
“I forgave him twice,” Germany said. “When I was holding him down, I let him know I forgave him because some of the congregation members was upset. But I had to ask them, you know, to move away and let me talk with him one on one, and I let him know that I forgave him,” the pastor said.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the pastor then spoke to Polite again after he had been arrested and put into a police vehicle, not only offering forgiveness but also a chance at redemption.
“At the last point when he was in the car, that’s when I let him know, ‘I forgive you, I love you, and my name is Glenn Germany, and I want you to remember my name. And any way I can help you, I’d like to help you,” the remarkable man of God said.
“Ten years from now, when you tell people what happened this past Sunday, what are you going to say?” Doocy asked, shaking his head in amazement at the grace shown by this follower of Christ.
“To be honest with you, this Sunday the lesson won’t be on this incident,” Germany said, “because I believe the people of God need to learn the word of God.”
“It’s like when you go to school, you don’t want to talk about current events, so when you come to church, we want to talk about the Bible. We want to teach people about the Word of God. So my focus will be the Word of God and not current events,” the pastor said.
Speaking of the incident, Germany pointed to God, saying, “I would not be with my family today, so I’m definitely grateful to God because he definitely had the upper hand on me because I did not see him coming.”
It’s easy to talk about forgiveness — much harder to release it especially after being so viciously attacked.
We all know the famous words of Jesus on the cross from Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Over the centuries, thousands of Christians have repeated those words, even to the point of death.
Glenn Germany may not want to talk about his experience from the pulpit, but his willingness to extend forgiveness to his would-be murderer proves that the Word of God is just as powerful now as it was on the day it was written down.
The Christian writer C.S. Lewis said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
Only those, like Glenn Germany, who truly know the grace of God can understand this.
