Ann
Blackwood and Martin Suter were married in 1987. In 2003, their son Christopher had committed
suicide. Martin had blamed his wife Ann
for the death of their son which resulted in them divorcing a year later in
2004 but Martin’s anger and bitterness towards his wife did not end there as in
July of this year, Martin Sueter brutally murdered his ex-wife out of a shear
act of rage and unwarranted vengeance. [1]
Now,
I am not going to pretend to understand what it is like to lose a child---can’t
even imagine what that must be like for those who have---but the worst part of
such a loss is when a marriage fails because of it and when one or both spouses
hold anger and bitterness towards each other over the loss and when one or both
spouses hold each at fault even though they swore to love and cherish each
other at all times.
I
know I am probably going to get some flack for this, but there should not be
anything that should be so terrible and so devastating so as to tear apart two
people who swore to love and cherish each other in the bond of marriage, not even
the loss of a child and if it is such a hard and difficult thing to go through
such a loss with your spouse, then when makes anyone think that they will
receive any peace and closure without them?
Even
in the best of marriages, challenges of all sorts are inevitably going to come
our way and if we value our marriages and our relationships with our spouses,
then we must be resolved and committed to navigating those challenges with our
spouse and not apart from them and that does include the bereavement of
offspring and when faced with such a terrible loss, it isn’t just a spouse who
is irrationally blamed, but God is often blamed when tragedy or loss falls upon
us, even by those who profess to be followers of Christ and sadly, when men
should be pouring all of their feelings, pains, griefs, torments, and emotions
before their Creator, they will angrily turn their backs on Him and refuse to
speak to Him at all and spend the rest of their lives without the peace and
closure that they might have otherwise received if they had only taken their
grief and pain before the Lord.
We
are never promised a life without challenges, adversity or loss but what we are
promised is that there is a God who will help us through them and who will work
out all things for the good of those who love Him. (Rom. 8:28)
For
those of you out there who have suffered some form of tragedy in your life, I
would much rather that you, as often as it comes to mind and as often as you
are hurting, tell God exactly what it is you are feeling, ask Him all the
questions that you have for Him, express your doubts before Him, lay your grief
and pain before Him, and even rage at Him than to turn against Him entirely and
if you think that going through a devastating loss is difficult with God, what
makes you think it will be any easier without Him?
At
least when we bring all of our grief, doubts, and all the questions to which we
need an answer before the Lord, we will have more hope of receiving a peace and
closure about the losses and hardships that come our way than we will if we don’t
and it is when we make our peace with God about the terrible things that we may
suffer in life that we will be better able to make peace with others around us about
the things that take place in our lives as well.
But
when someone irrationally lays blame upon another person for something that
wasn’t necessarily their fault and holds such anger and bitterness towards them,
even to the point of blood shed such as what Martin Suter did to his ex-wife
over the loss of their son, then they obviously don’t have the peace of God in
their lives because if they did, they would have allowed all feelings of anger
and bitterness to subside, and they would not have continued to hold perceived
wrongs and offenses against those whom they might have been tempted to blame
for the evil things that came upon them.
They never would have allowed their feelings of anger and bitterness to
reach to levels that would result in murder.
The
tragedy of Martin Suter and Ann Blackwood which began with the suicide of
their son Christopher and which ended in her murder is not the first of such
terrible tragedies and as long as this present world persists with all the evil
and suffering within it, it certainly will not be the last but it is only when
we devote ourselves to the service of God Almighty and place our full unwavering
trust in Him for all things that we can at least diminish the impact of the evil
and tragedy that takes place in this world in our own lives and in the lives of
others but apart from God, tragedy can only beget tragedy and misery can only
beget misery but the good news that we have is that this present world with all
of its evil, suffering, grief, death, decay, corruption, and perversion will
not endure forever but will eventually come to an end and be done away with along
with all of the evil that is in it and in its place will come forth a new and
better world in which there will be no death, no evil, and no suffering, but
only peace, joy, happiness, and contentment before the Lord God Almighty (Rev.
21-22) because that is exactly the kind of world that God had created in the
first place: A world in which there was no death, no suffering, and no evil but
a world in which there was only peace, joy, happiness and contentment and in
which existed a perfect and uninterrupted harmony between God, man, and nature
but the one who disrupted that perfect peace and harmony was not God, but it
was another power that had once been in the service of the Lord God Almighty in
Heaven and this power was a covering cherub named Lucifer who had once served
at the throne of God until he had become so lifted up in his pride and conceit
that he thought he could make himself equal unto God and have for himself glory
that was reserved for God alone and as a consequence, he and all who sided with
him were cast from their places in Heaven (Is. 14:11-21, Ezek. 28:12-19) and
what they were unable to achieve in Heaven, they sought to achieve on the earth. And it was in that day that Lucifer had become
known as Satan or the Devil.
After
the creation of the world, Satan then found an opportunity to accomplish on the
earth what he could not in Heaven. He
then crept into the newly created world and caused the first man Adam and his
wife Eve who was the first woman to do something that would prove astronomically
consequential to this very day and which would not only affect them, but all of
mankind and all of creation and it had to with a fruit from a certain tree
called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The
fruit from that tree was the only thing withheld from Adam and Eve having been
warned of God that in the day that they ate thereof, they would surely die (Gen.
2:16-17, 3:3) but with false assurances and empty promises, Satan caused the
first man Adam whom God had created and the first woman Eve, being Adam’s wife,
to eat of that forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:4-5) and instead of receiving the
greatness that they were promised, they were reduced to an inferior state (Gen.
3:7 and just as they had been warned of God, the sentence of death was placed
upon them (Gen. 3:19) for it was in that day when Adam and Eve ate of that
forbidden fruit that sin entered into them and from them, the sin which entered
into them and brought about their eventual deaths, was also passed down to all
of mankind for all of us are descendants of that first man and that first woman
and because we are their descendants, we have also inherited the sin that entered
into them (Rom. 5:12) and because of that sin which we have inherited, we all
sin in some form or fashion and as a consequence we all die for as it is
written, the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) but sin is not merely confined
to outward behavior or performance or even the words we speak, but it is rather
the inherent inward corruption of our very nature defiling our thoughts,
hardening and darkening our hearts, and corrupting our very motives which is
why it is written that we are not defiled from that which comes from without,
but that which comes from within (Mt. 15:11, 18-20) and which is why it is
written that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23)
which demands of us nothing less than moral perfection and not just in our outward
acts but also in our inward as well which is why it is impossible by our own
efforts and our own goodness to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, for sin
taints, corrupts, defiles, twists, and distorts more than we can comprehend and
the effects of sin are not merely confined to mankind, but all of creation is
subjected to a curse because of sin which is why it is written that the entire
creation groans and travails in pain to this day (Rom. 8:19-22) but not only
that, the transgression that Satan led Adam and Eve into committing made him
justified in claiming lordship over all the nations, kingdoms, and empires of
the earth, (Mt. 4:8-9, Lk. 4:6-7) which is why he is called the prince of this
world (Jn. 12:31, 16:11)
By
that transgression which, Satan, by a lie, led Adam and Eve to commit, did
darkness and evil come into the world by which all of creation was subjected to
the unprecedented and unimagined tyranny of sin and death which would be
followed by a multitude of other oppressions and tyrannies which would be built
upon a multitude of lies that would follow that very lie that brought about
that fateful transgression which brought sin, death, evil, and darkness into
the world and which made Satan the father of lies (Jn. 8:44) and by that lie,
he is also a murderer (v. 44) for it was by that first lie, that sin and death
came into the world through the first two people into whom it had entered and
then was passed down from them to the rest of mankind, subjugating all of
humanity to the sin which brings eventual death to all who are born into this
world; the effects of both not confining themselves to humanity, but also
subjugating all of creation to a slow and painful destruction thus making Satan
a destroyer (Jn. 10:10) and not only does the lie by which he deceived Adam and
Eve into eating the very fruit by which sin and death came into the world and
infected all of creation make Satan into a murderer and destroyer, but he is
also a thief and usurper for by way of the transgression was the dominion over
the earth initially given to Adam (Gen. 1:26) diminished by way of Satan
claiming lordship over the nations and kingdoms of the earth; hence why he is
called the thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy but not only is Satan a
destroyer of lives and of creation, he is also a destroyer of souls for by way
of the lie which brought about the transgression which brought sin and death
into the world and which subjugated all of creation to pain, misery, and suffering
that would have otherwise not been, a separation and estrangement stands in
between God and man and it is because of the sin into which we are born that we
are estranged from our Creator with whom there would otherwise be a perfect and
uninterrupted harmony and fellowship, for that which is in sin cannot be
allowed into His direct presence or into His Kingdom lest Heaven itself be
defiled just as the earth has been defiled and a day is coming when sin will
reach its full measure and will have to face eventual judgment and that
includes all who remain in their sin and they who remain in their sins have
nothing to look forward to but a terrifying and everlasting punishment in the
never-ending torments and darkness of Hell and it was in the day that sin and
death had entered into mankind and into the world that the age-long war between
God and Satan became a war for the souls of men to this day and that war for
the souls of men and one way that he destroys souls is by turning them against the
very God who is able to deliver, restore, heal, and is able to bring peace and
closure even in the midst of pain and grief and by filling their hearts with
anger and bitterness by bringing upon them devastating losses, heartache, and
misery that cause them in their anger and bitterness to turn away from their
Creator and away from those whom they should be loving and cherishing until the
only thing they have left within them is pain, bitterness, and anger which do
nothing more but deny them the peace, comfort, and closure that they might
otherwise have if they would but call upon their Maker and lay before Him their
anguishes and griefs.
Many
are so quick to blame God for the evil that comes upon them and even the evil
and suffering they see abounding in this world but why is it that Satan is
never blamed for the evil and the suffering that we witness and experience in
this world for it is Satan that is the one who comes to steal, kill, and
destroy. Why is it that men rage at God
for the evil that comes upon them but never the devil who is responsible for
the sin, death, and suffering that abound in this world? That I must admit that I will never
understand, but no matter what it is that we face or may befall us, God has promised
us that one day that all of our tears will be wiped away and all of our griefs
will be removed from us if we will but let Him do so (Rev. 21:4) for He is not
willing that we should forever bear the griefs, sorrows, and heartache that we
bear and He is not willing that any should perish in their sins and face
eternal damnation, (2 Pet. 3:9) but that all would come to repentance so that
one day all of their tears and griefs will be wiped away and the brokenness of
their hearts may be mended and in His love, mercy, and compassion for us, He
has done for us what we could never do for ourselves in that He, in His
graciousness has purchased redemption on our behalf in Christ Jesus, His only
begotten Son, (Jn. 3:16) who came to us in the flesh, (Jn. 1:14) and being
without any sin (2 Cor. 5:21) was made that perfect sacrifice (Heb. 7:26-27)
that was needed to take away the sins of the world and because of His perfect
goodness, He was able to offer Himself up on our behalf to satisfy the demanded
penalty for all sin and granting mercy and grace through the shedding of His
blood on the cross and after having died, rose again from the dead three days
later that we might be justified in Him (Rom. 4:25) if we will but call upon
His name so that we might be saved from what would otherwise be a terrifying
everlasting punishment if we will but call upon His name (Rom. 10:9, 13) and
believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9) for it is
by calling upon His name in sincere repentance that salvation is granted and
our souls made clean from sin thereby liberating us from the threat of eternal
damnation and with that cleansing comes a new spiritual transformation (2 Cor.
5:17) that causes us to no longer desire to follow after selfish and worldly
pursuits but after those things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven,
to
no longer take pleasure in those things that are evil and displeasing in the
sight of the Lord, but in that which is good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to
no longer desire to walk in the lies of this present world, but only in the
truth that comes from Christ Almighty who is the source of all truth, (Jn.
14:6)
no
longer placing our hopes in the things of this present world, but looking
forward to that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to
no longer rely on worldly resources, men, or even our own power, abilities,
skills, and wisdom for our needs and provision but upon God who is able to meet
all of our needs, recognizing that the resources of this world and even the
people He brings into our lives are but instruments and vessels through which
God meets our needs and that the skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which
we might acquire our provision are provided and instilled in us by God, (Mt.
6:25-33)
to
no longer fear what men can do to us, but rather fearing the God before whom we
will have to one day give an account for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to
no longer look to corruptible institutions within our society for direction and
order in our lives but to God who, by His written Word has given us laws and
precepts to be applied to our lives and which serve to produce and maintain an
ordered life, and who, by His Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon
repentance, establishes in our lives a course and direction in our lives to
pursue for His glory,
to
no longer seek our own glory but the glory of God,
to
no longer rally behind corruptible men, but instead behind the incorruptible
God in Heaven bearing in mind that those men and women God raises up for our
edification are but instruments and servants of His for that respective purpose
to which He has called them,
to
no longer seek to align ourselves with the things of darkness but only with the
things of the light,
to
no longer trust in the wisdom of the world but only on the wisdom and knowledge
that comes from above, (Jas. 1:5) nor depend on corruptible earthly authorities
to swiftly administer justice, but only in the power of God to deliver us from
evil.
And
it is this new inward transformation that reconciles us to our Creator (2 Cor.
5:18) from whom we had once been estranged and just as our souls are cleansed
from sin and our spirits regenerated in Christ Jesus thereby liberating us from
the eternal tormenting punishment that must come upon all who remain in their
sins, so one day we look forward to the liberation of our bodies from death
itself when our mortal and corruptible forms are transformed into that which is
immortal and incorruptible and from that which is imperfect to that which is
perfect (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) and lastly, creation itself will be
delivered from the curse placed upon it because of sin when it is made into a
new and better world (Rev. 21-22) and liberated from the hand of our adversary
Satan, who presently claims dominion, when he is given his final sentence and
cast into an everlasting tormenting fire prepared for him and his followers
(Mt. 25:41, Rev. 20:10-15) and in that new world which will be made, there will
be no sin, no death, no decay, nor any curse, nor any evil, or violence,
suffering, misery, grief, sorrow, mourning, pain, or hardship of any sort for
all of these will pass away with this present world. Instead, there will only be light, life,
happiness, joy, contentment, peace, and rest before the Lord God Almighty.
If
you do not feel at peace and find yourself in need of it and have not done so
already, then I urge you reader to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of sins so that you may experience a peace that you have
never had before. It is but a simple
prayer of repentance away:
"Lord
Jesus I need you.
I
realize that I am a sinner
who
has fallen short of the glory of God
and
that my goodness falls short
of
your standard of Moral perfection.
Please
forgive me of all of my sins.
Come
into my heart and into my life
to
be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make
me into the servant and follower
that
you want me to be.
In
your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know
that God is not concerned with the words that you use to call upon Him
forgiveness, but with the attitude of your heart and if you have, with all
sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive you of your sins, placing your trust in
Him only for your salvation and in nothing else, then your sins are forgiven
and your place in Heaven is certain.
End
notes:
1.
Tom Rawstorne, “The mother stabbed to
death at her teenage son's grave by ex-husband who blamed HER for their tragic
loss... before he uttered sickening confession on phone” The Daily Mail, November
22, 2025
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15315295/mother-stabbed-death-sons-grave-ex-husband.html?ito=push-notification&ci=1DT3R5Fo46&cri=vly7tjQi3M&si=DjsGEsUcCwi7&xi=8102ee85-8eee-4c80-adf9-4540e8140d66&ai=15315295
Scripture
references:
1. Romans 8:28
2. Revelation 21-22
3. Isaiah 14:11-21, Ezekiel 28:12-19
4. Genesis 2:16-17
5. Genesis 3:3
6. Genesis 3:4-5
7. Genesis 3:7
8. Genesis 3:19
9. Romans 5:12
10. Romans 6:23
11. Matthew 15:11, 18-20
12. Romans 3:23
13. Romans 8:19-22
14. Matthew 4:8-9
15. Luke 4:6-7
16. John 12:31
17. John 16:11
18. John 8:44
19. John 10:10
20. Genesis 1:26
21. Revelation 21:4
22.
2 Peter 3:9
23. John 3:16
24. John 1:14
25. 2 Corinthians 5:21
26. Hebrews 7:26-27
27. Romans 4:25
28. Romans 10:9, 13
29. 2 Corinthians 5:17
30. John 14:6
31. Matthew 6:25-33
32. Matthew 10:28
33. James 1:5
34. 2 Corinthians 5:18
35. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18
36. Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10-15
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