{"id":49146,"date":"2002-05-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-05-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dead-man-walking-finding-real-love\/"},"modified":"2002-05-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-05-27T00:00:00","slug":"dead-man-walking-finding-real-love","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dead-man-walking-finding-real-love\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Dead Man Walking&#8221;: Finding Real Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The movie <em class=\"citation\">Dead Man Walking<\/em> is based on Sister Helen Prejean&#39;s mission to care for the soul of death row inmate Matthew Poncelet. Poncelet awaits execution for brutally killing a young man and woman. Throughout the movie Poncelet vehemently denies any wrongdoing, even though the evidence contradicts him. At one point, Sister Helen gives him a Bible and tells him to read the Gospel of John. She persistently tries to help him face the truth, but he resists, blaming anyone else he can think of.<\/p>\n\n<p>One emotional scene\u0097the climax of the movie\u0097shows Poncelet finally admitting his guilt.<\/p>\n\n<p>Poncelet recalls, &quot;My mama kept saying, &#39;It wasn&#39;t you, Matt. It wasn&#39;t you.&#39;&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>&quot;Your mama loves you, Matt,&quot; responds Sister Helen.<\/p>\n\n<p>Grieved by guilt, Poncelet begins to confess, but lapses as tears flood his eyes. As Sister Helen probes him further, Poncelet admits, &quot;I killed [the boy].&quot; Sister Helen then asks about Hope, the raped and murdered girl. Again, Poncelet forthrightly confesses.<\/p>\n\n<p>&quot;Do you take responsibility for both of their deaths?&quot; probes Sister Helen.<\/p>\n\n<p>Poncelet responds, &quot;Yes ma&#39;am.\u0085 When the lights dim at night, I kneel down by my bunk and pray for those kids.\u0085 I&#39;ve never done that before.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Sister Helen comforts Poncelet, saying, &quot;There is a place of sorrow only God can touch. You did a terrible thing, Matt, a terrible thing. But you have a dignity now. Nobody can take that away from you.\u0085 You are a son of God, Matthew Poncelet.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Sobbing deeply, Poncelet says, &quot;Nobody ever called me no son of God before. They called me a son-of-you-know-what lots of times, but never no son of God.\u0085 I just hope my death can give those parents some relief. I really do.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>&quot;Well,&quot; continues Sister Helen, &quot;maybe the best thing you can give to the Percys and the Delacroixs is a wish for their peace.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Poncelet says, &quot;I never had no real love myself. I never loved a woman or anybody else.\u0085 It about figures I would have to die to find love.\u0085 Thank you for loving me.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, this scene begins at 1:34:39 and ends at 1:37:25. Note: Before showing the clip it may be helpful to mention that the conversation can be difficult to understand at points.<\/p>\n\n<p>Content: <em class=\"citation\">Dead Man Walking<\/em> is rated R for depiction of rape and murder as well as for profanity.<\/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":[3663,3689,3715,3737,4010,4088,4395,4460,4788,4805,4877,4977,5022,5040],"tax_ctp_topics":[393,396],"class_list":["post-49146","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-confession","tax_ctp_tags-conversion","tax_ctp_tags-crime","tax_ctp_tags-death","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-grace","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-mercy","tax_ctp_tags-regret","tax_ctp_tags-repentance","tax_ctp_tags-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-sin","tax_ctp_tags-sorrow","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-death"],"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}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Dead Man Walking&quot;: Finding Real Love - 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\/dead-man-walking-finding-real-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Dead Man Walking&quot;: Finding Real Love - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The movie Dead Man Walking is based on Sister Helen Prejean&#039;s mission to care for the soul of death row inmate Matthew Poncelet. Poncelet awaits execution for brutally killing a young man and woman. Throughout the movie Poncelet vehemently denies any wrongdoing, even though the evidence contradicts him. 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