Murder By Family - The Incredible True Story of a Son’s Treachery and a Father’s Forgiveness

Kent Whitaker dealt with the deaths of his wife and son by leaning on his faith in God. He also wrote a book about it - Murder By Family - The Incredible True Story of a Son's Treachery and a Father's Forgiveness. It's the story of a family shattered into pieces by a masked gunman and a father who must deal with their deaths and forgive his other son of the ultimate deception.

Murder By Family chronicles a family's story before the murders - a family who had everything to live for - the moments of absolute terror when the family encountered a masked man as they entered their home and the aftermath of the devastation. Kent Whitaker lived through the catastrophic event and then had to face the deception of his son, Bart, and the knowledge that Bart was the culprit who had planned the murders and even had himself wounded during the fray.

Whitaker led a normal life until tragedy found him - he went to school at the University of Houston and was a successful contracts negotiator for a Houston construction company. He met and married Tricia, the love of his life, and they had two sons - Bart and Kevin. Tricia and Kent were model parents and participants in the community, including their church.

Then, on December 10, 2003, the family was confronted in their home by a masked gunman who killed Tricia and Kevin and wounded Kent and Bart. But, as Kent would soon find out - that was only the precursor of what was to come.

What would it take for you to forgive a person who plotted the deaths of people you loved and it resulted in the loss of two of those loved ones? And, what if you discovered that the perpetrator was your own son? Most of us will never have to deal with that scenario, but for Kent Whitaker it became a hard reality. Whitaker wrote Murder By Family - The Incredible True Story of a Son's Treachery and a Father's Forgiveness to be an account of what can be accomplished through faith in God.

After the murders of Whitaker's wife and son, he reeled from the pain of the loss. He still had one son - and that was something to live for. But within days of the murders, the police became adamant that Kent's other son, Bart, had plotted the murders and someone else carried out the deed. It was difficult to believe, but as evidence surfaced and Bart suddenly disappeared, it became difficult to deny.

Murder By Family has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and CBS's 48 Hours Mystery and within weeks of its release was on the New York Times Best Seller List for non-fiction. Whitaker's book isn't only about the horrendous crime that was committed against his family - it's also about how, with God's help, Whitaker came to grips with the tragedy and how he came to forgive his son.

Whitaker's son, Bart, was eventually sentenced to death for plotting his family's murders, but the relationship with his father - although changed forever - continued.

After the murders of his wife, Tricia, and son, Kevin, Kent Whitaker made some vital decisions that would lead to healing and forgiveness. Armed with the knowledge that God is extremely proficient at mending broken lives, Whitaker began to face some of the issues that he was dealing with and has written a book intended to be an inspiration to others.

Murder By Family - The Incredible True Story of a Son's Treachery and a Father's Forgiveness is a true story of what happened on the night of December 10, 2003 when the
Whitaker family returned from home from having dinner together. A masked man was lurking in the shadows and ambushed them, killing Kent's wife, Tricia and son, Kevin and wounding his other son, Bart, and himself.

When police arrested Bart for plotting the murders and even having himself wounded to throw off suspicion, Kent began the longest road of his life - to healing and forgiveness. Besides his best-selling book, Whitaker now travels and speaks to groups about how God has worked in his and his son's life to help them have a relationship and become victorious in forgiveness.

Kent Whitaker is a riveting speaker who has been a featured speaker at meetings from coast to coast and on television, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. ABC's Good Morning America is also planning to feature it on their show. His accounting of the murders and his path of hope and forgiveness is a story of faith in God that will inspire us all.

When people hear that my wife and son were murdered, they often express surprise and confusion.

"But you were such a nice family! Why did God do that?"

Good question, but the wrong one.

It is true that we were strong Christians - my wife and I strove to model Christ's love to everyone, and we were active volunteers and financial supporters to many Christian organizations. Our late son was one of the most spiritually mature young people I have ever met, and at nineteen, already a mighty man of God. But that didn't stop the gunman.

On the surface, the question of why things like this happen seems reasonable. We like to think that we control our lives, and will be safe from such tragedy if we follow certain rules; but if you have lived very long you know that just isn't true.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

In the first place, unless the tragedy is God's judgment for our conscious sin, He doesn't cause it to happen. He is a God of love and compassion and His goal in our lives is always healing, restoration, and blessing. But we live in a fallen world in which sin abounds, and many terrible things happen as a result: Innocent people die in wrecks because someone chose to drive under the influence of alcohol. People die in terrorist attacks because of hatred. Property is stolen because of greed. Genesis chapter three tells us that even the earth was cursed by Man's fall from grace, and such things as cancer and Alzheimer's disease are consequences of this brokenness. None of it will be made whole until Christ returns to heal everything. Bad things happen because we live in a world polluted by sin.

While God doesn't cause bad things to happen, He does allow them, and that's a big difference. If it is true that God is in complete control, then it follows that nothing happens unless it first passes through His fingers. When this truth is coupled with His promise to work everything for good to those who love Him and are called to his service, as Romans 8:28 claims, then all of His children should be comforted. Whenever something bad happens to us, we should look up Romans 8:28 to see if it is still in the Bible; if it is, we need to remember that it applies to our situation, too.

Do we believe Habakkuk 1:13 that God is holy, and cannot look upon sin, much less allow it in Heaven? Do we believe Romans 3:10 and 23 which charge that we are all sinners, and that none are righteous? Do we comprehend that we are powerless to cleanse this sin through anything we do (Ephesians 2:8-9), and that (as it claims in Acts 4:12) it can only be removed through a saving relationship with Christ? We cannot understand our terrible need, and God's amazing grace, until we understand these things. Only then can we rely on verses like Romans 10:9 and have complete assurance that regardless of whatever terrible things happen to us as we pass through this fallen world we will have eternal life in the next.

But the only way to answer our question is to consider Satan's power in the world. Is Satan real? Does he actually rush around like a roaring lion looking for those he might devour, as described in I Peter 5:8? If this description is accurate (and I believe it is), then the real question we should be asking in the face of catastrophe is:

Why didn't Satan devour our souls before we understood our condition and asked Christ to save us?

The truth is that Satan would have if he could have. If he had been able, he would have killed us in our sins, and we would be separated from God forever. The truth is that God stopped him, perhaps a hundred times a day for decades, giving us one more day to come to our senses. How many times did He save us all from youthful folly? He wouldn't allow Satan to take our lives before we came to a saving relationship with His son Jesus.

This should give us tremendous hope when trouble pounds our lives: God makes no mistakes. He allows things to happen, but He loves us beyond measure, and He is going to use all those bad things (even the murder of loved ones, as with my wife and son) to further His plans. He really will work those things for good that the Evil One meant for harm, if we will just trust him in the hard times. We must look at events through Kingdom glasses or we will never see why God allows bad things to happen to good people.

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Kent Whitaker is a nationally recognized speaker and author, whose first book Murder by Family reached the New York Times Best Seller List. His story of faith and forgiveness has been featured on Oprah!, 48 Hours Mystery, and ABC's Primetime. Visit his website, www.Kent-Whitaker.com, or write to him at contact@kent-whitaker.com