{"id":37581,"date":"2021-03-19T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/only-after-sundown\/"},"modified":"2021-03-19T14:54:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T14:54:00","slug":"only-after-sundown","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/only-after-sundown\/","title":{"rendered":"Only After Sundown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2013, New York City narcotics agents announced an unusual indictment of five Brooklyn men. These types of indictments are, unfortunately, commonplace in metropolitan areas like New York, but this one did stand out.<\/p>\n\n<p>The men who were charged were members of a Sabbath-observant drug ring. Though cavalier about New York&rsquo;s drug laws, the group was scrupulous about observing the Sabbath. Text messages from members of the gang show them alerting their clientele of their weekly sundown-to-sunset hiatus.<\/p>\n\n<p>Text messages, used as evidence against the group, included group chats to clients, &ldquo;We are closing 7:30 on the dot and we will reopen Saturday 8:15 so if u need anything you have 45 mins to get what you want.&quot; The name of the NYPD sting operation that led to the drug bust: &quot;Only After Sundown.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3715,3830,3911,4199,4200,4233,4294,4341,4360,4639,4640,4765,4862,4867,4913,4926],"tax_ctp_topics":[388,395],"class_list":["post-37581","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-crime","tax_ctp_tags-drugs","tax_ctp_tags-excuses","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrisy","tax_ctp_tags-hypocrites","tax_ctp_tags-inconsistency","tax_ctp_tags-jewish-people","tax_ctp_tags-law","tax_ctp_tags-legalism","tax_ctp_tags-pharisaism","tax_ctp_tags-pharisees","tax_ctp_tags-rationalization","tax_ctp_tags-rules","tax_ctp_tags-sabbath","tax_ctp_tags-self-deception","tax_ctp_tags-self-justification"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Only After Sundown - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/only-after-sundown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Only After Sundown - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2013, New York City narcotics agents announced an unusual indictment of five Brooklyn men. 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