{"id":39987,"date":"2017-03-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/man-robs-same-store-three-times-for-candy\/"},"modified":"2017-03-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T00:00:00","slug":"man-robs-same-store-three-times-for-candy","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/man-robs-same-store-three-times-for-candy\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Robs Same Store Three Times for Candy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As kids, we almost all inevitably faced the same temptation at one point or another&mdash;to slip our favorite candy bar into our pocket at the store without paying for it. So easy, and harmless, right? That&#39;s what Idris Allen, a 38-year-old New Jersey man, seemed to be thinking , when he robbed the exact same 7-Eleven store at knifepoint <em>four different times<\/em> in four days&mdash;just to avoid paying for candy. It started on December 8, 2015 and escalated to the third heist December 11th consisting of &quot;several Reese&#39;s Peanut Butter Cups.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Here&#39;s how one newspaper described the fourth and final theft:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Approximately, 14 hours later on the same day, the defendant wearing the same clothing from the robbery the night before, came back to the 7-Eleven, went to the back of the store, took merchandise, and left the store, only to be followed by the shift manager from the first robbery, who jumped over the counter, alerted the police and pointed him out around the corner.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Allen pleaded guilty to first-degree armed robbery.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Potential Preaching Angles: How representative of humanity&#39;s battle with sin! Over and over, &quot;as a dog returns to its vomit,&quot; we return to the same sins, even though they never succeed in satisfying us like we seem to think they will.<\/em><\/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":[3380,3770,3996,4010,4112,4482,4546,4644,4912,4916,4925,4982,5028,5134,5169,5265],"tax_ctp_topics":[395],"class_list":["post-39987","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-addiction","tax_ctp_tags-destructive-sin","tax_ctp_tags-flesh","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-habits","tax_ctp_tags-mistakes","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-physical-bondage","tax_ctp_tags-self-control","tax_ctp_tags-self-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-self-indulgence","tax_ctp_tags-sinful-pleasure","tax_ctp_tags-sowing-reaping","tax_ctp_tags-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-tolerance-of-sin","tax_ctp_tags-weakness"],"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>Man Robs Same Store Three Times for Candy - 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\/man-robs-same-store-three-times-for-candy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Robs Same Store Three Times for Candy - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As kids, we almost all inevitably faced the same temptation at one point or another&mdash;to slip our favorite candy bar into our pocket at the store without paying for it. 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