Participants:
Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ001145A
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00:33 Shortly after 4 a.m. on Tuesday the 17th of December, 1968,
00:38 two gunmen burst through the doorway into room 137 00:43 at the Rodeway Inn in Atlanta, Georgia. 00:46 What followed was one of the most bizarre and sensational 00:51 crimes in American history. 00:53 Inside the hotel room, Barbara Jane Mackle the 20-year-old 00:58 heiress and daughter of a wealthy Florida businessman 01:01 was recovering from illness. Her mother was there 01:04 caring for her and overseeing her recovery. 01:08 The kidnappers bound the mother and abducted the daughter, 01:17 then they drove their victim to an isolated pine forest 01:22 on the outskirts of town. They forced Barbara into a 01:26 coffin-like box and buried her deep underground. 01:29 Her only contact with the out- side world was a narrow air-tube 01:34 that reached to the surface. Nobody knew where she was 01:38 except for the kidnappers and they threatened that they'd never 01:42 reveal her whereabouts unless her father met their demands 01:45 and paid them a ransom of half a million dollars. 01:49 Her fate was sealed, if the money wasn't provided 01:54 that box would become Barbara Mackel's tomb and she would 01:58 die all alone. Her body would never be found. 02:03 There was nothing she could do. Barbara screams "Can anyone 02:05 hear me? "Barbara screams Can anyone hear me" again? 02:06 Her only hope of rescue depended on the ransom being paid. 02:13 Make sure you hear the inspiring story of a father's love 02:17 and his desperate attempt to rescue his kidnapped daughter. 02:21 and you'll be surprised to discover that there's more 02:24 to this Ransome story than expected and it may even have 02:28 implications for you and me. 02:47 Emory University is located on a beautiful campus in the 02:53 vibrant city of Atlanta, the capital of the state of Georgia 02:56 in the United States. 02:58 It was founded in 1836 and is one of the oldest private 03:03 universities in the United States. 03:05 Today it ranks among the worlds leading research universities 03:10 and is one of the top institutions in America. 03:14 Emory's 133,000 alumni include a U.S. Vice President, 03:20 a Supreme Court Justice, U.S. senators and representatives, 03:25 governors, university presidents, philanthropists, 03:29 entaupreters, entertainers, and even an astronaut. 03:33 The university attracts students from over 100 foreign countries 03:39 and from all 50 states of America. 03:41 In 1968 one of those students was 20-year-old Barbara Jane 03:47 Mackle, a wealthy young heiress from Florida. 03:50 Her father Robert Mackle was a multi-millionaire who owned the 03:55 65 million dollar Deltona Corporation, one of the biggest 04:00 real estate home-building companies in America. 04:03 In December an influenza epidemic spread through the 04:09 Emory Campus and hit the student body hard. Soon the university 04:15 infirmary was full of sick students, when Barbara came down 04:19 with the flu, there wasn't any room left in the infirmary, so 04:23 her mother Jane drove all the way from Coral Gables, a posh 04:28 suburb in Miami to take care of Barbara. The two of them moved 04:33 into room 137 at the nearby Rodeway Inn so that Barbara 04:37 could recover and prepare for her final exams. 04:40 Christmas was just eight days away and they were looking 04:44 forward to driving back home to Florida for a family holiday. 04:48 Barbara and her mother went to bed early that night 04:51 to ensure that Barbara got plenty of rest. 04:54 They wanted to get rid of her fever and give her the very best 04:58 chance of getting well again. Shortly after 4 o'clock the next 05:03 morning, Tuesday the 17th of December, they're awakened 05:07 by a loud knock on the door. A man who identified himself as a 05:11 policeman said that there'd been a terrible accident 05:15 and that Barbara's fiancé "Stewart Hunt Woodward" 05:18 had been seriously injured. He claimed that he needed to 05:22 talk to Barbara immediately. Mrs. Mackle went to open the 05:26 door, Barbara said no, don't but it was too late, 05:31 outside the door was a stranger, Gary Krist holding a shotgun 05:35 and his accomplice dressed as a man but actually Krist's 05:39 girlfriend Ruth Eisemann Scheir, she was armed with a pistol. 05:43 They burst into the room and held their weapons to the heads 05:47 of Barbara and her mother. Do as we say and no one 05:51 will get hurt. The two women were defenseless and terrified, 05:57 the gunman quickly chloroformed bound and gagged Janet Mackle 06:02 and left her lying on the motel room floor. 06:05 They then forced Barbara at gunpoint from the hotel room 06:09 into the back of their waiting car, informing her that she was 06:14 being kidnapped. 06:15 They drove about 30 km to a remote pine forest in a wild 06:24 and uninhabited place near Lake Berkley in the Duluth area 06:28 on the outskirts of town. Barbara was forced from the car 06:32 and dragged to a pre-dug hole in the ground. 06:35 The horror of her situation became clear when the light 06:40 of the torch revealed a coffin- like box at the bottom of the 06:43 hole, they were going to bury her alive. 06:47 Barbara pled for her life, she told her kidnappers that she 06:53 would do anything if they would just spare her life and 06:57 leave her out of the box. She repeated over and over 07:00 I'll be good, I'll be good but her pleas were in vain. 07:06 Barbara was told that she would only live if she cooperated. 07:11 She was pushed into the hole and forced to lie in the box. 07:15 Kris took an opal ring from Barbara's finger and ordered her 07:20 to hold a crude sign that read "Kidnapped" while he 07:24 photographed her with a Polaroid camera, but he didn't like the 07:27 picture because she was grim- faced, he ordered her to smile 07:32 so that her parents would know that she was alive, 07:35 then he photographed her again. 07:37 Barbara was informed that there were supplies in the box 07:42 that would keep her alive for several days as well as a 07:46 narrow plastic air tube that reached to the surface to 07:49 provide outside air. Then came the dreaded moment, 07:54 the top of the box was closed and screwed down, 07:58 next, she could hear the sounds of frozen dirt being shoveled 08:03 on top of her, the first shovel full of soil were very loud 08:08 then they became muffled and then silence. 08:13 Within a few minutes she lay buried alive under a half 08:18 a meter of earth, she was hysterical, she yelled out, 08:22 she pushed with all her might against the roof of the box 08:26 she banged on the sides of the box hoping someone would 08:29 hear her, but there was just silence, she was all alone. 08:35 The kidnappers contacted Robert Mackel with a ransom message 08:39 they demanded $500,000 in ransom and gave detailed instructions 08:45 on how the money was to be prepared and delivered. 08:49 It was to consist of used $20 bills, not in serial order 08:53 and bound in $1,000 packets. 08:56 The full ransom payment was to be put in a single suitcase, 09:00 they threatened that they'd never reveal Barbara's 09:04 whereabouts unless all their demands were met. 09:07 If Robert Mackle agreed to the kidnapper's terms, 09:11 he was instructed to place a classified ad in the 09:14 Miami Herald Newspaper under the personal section. 09:18 He knew there was only way he would ever see his daughter 09:22 alive again, she was under a death sentence unless he paid 09:26 the ransom. The moment of decision had arrived, 09:30 Robert Mackle had to make the critical decision, 09:35 was he willing to pay the ransom? 09:37 Well, there was never any doubt in Robert Mackel's mind, 09:41 his daughter's life was all that mattered, he immediately 09:45 withdrew the money an followed the kidnappers instructions. 09:50 He placed the add in the newspaper... 10:02 That night the ransom payment was prepared, the money was 10:07 carefully counted and placed in a suitcase. 10:10 On Wednesday, the postman delivered a letter containing 10:14 Barbara's opal ring and the Polaroid photo of her holding 10:19 the kidnapped sign and then at 4 a.m. on Thursday, 10:23 exactly two days after the kidnapping Robert Mackel 10:28 another phone call giving instructions for the ransom 10:32 drop-off. Robert Mackel left immediately and placed 10:37 the suitcase full of money on a sandy strip near a bridge 10:40 just south of Miami along the bay as instructed. 10:44 But the entire ransom process was disrupted when two police 10:50 officers who were totally unaware if the kidnapping 10:53 drove by and spotted two suspicious individuals 10:57 carrying the large heavy suitcase. 11:00 When they went to investigate, the kidnappers dropped the 11:04 the suitcase and fled safely only foot to the nearby woods, 11:08 however, the FBI found their nearby abandoned car. 11:12 Inside the vehicle, not only did the authorities find the 11:17 documents giving the kidnappers identities and former addresses 11:20 but they also found the other photograph of Barbara Mackel 11:24 in the box holding the kidnapped sign. Robert Mackel was 11:29 devastated when told of the accidentally bungled ransom 11:33 drop-off, he feared that the kidnappers would now abandon 11:37 the ransom deal and leave Barbara to die. 11:40 Nothing else mattered, he just wanted to get his daughter back 11:45 and he was willing to sacrifice everything to make that happen. 11:50 Robert Mackel placed a second add in the newspaper 11:54 for the kidnappers that led to another phone call and a new 11:58 ransom drop-off location. 12:00 The second ransom drop-off was successful, 12:03 now the Mackel family waited tensely for a response from the 12:08 kidnappers with information about their daughter 12:11 but no call came, they feared the worse. 12:20 Nearly 15 hours after the ransom pick-up, on the 20th of 12:26 December, Kris called the FBI office in Atlanta and left vague 12:30 directions to Barbara's burial site near Duluth. 12:34 More than 100 agents rushed to the site, they spread out 12:39 and began searching in a desperate effort to find her 12:40 before she suffocated, but they couldn't find any sign 12:47 of the living grave. The agents were about to give up the search 12:53 when one man noticed a patch of freshly turned earth 12:57 he fell to the ground for a closer inspection 13:00 and spotted the ventilation tubes. 13:02 Frantically the men began digging the ground with their 13:06 bare hands and sticks wondering whether Barbara would be dead 13:11 or alive. Twelve minutes later their hands bleeding, 13:15 the agents reached the coffin lid, they pried it off with a 13:19 tire lever and there was Barbara alive, the agents wept as they 13:26 lifted her out of the box. 13:27 After having spent nearly four days in dark cold confinement, 13:32 she was in remarkably good spirits, she was finally freed 13:37 thanks to her father's love and his willingness 13:40 to pay her ransom. 13:42 Barbara was flown in her father's jet back to Miami 13:48 to be reunited with her family and what a reunion it was, 13:52 Robert Mackel had shown just how much Barbara meant to him 13:56 and the family. He was willing to sacrifice everything 14:00 in order to save her and bring her home. 14:01 Do we need to wonder if Barbara ever doubted her father's love 14:08 after that? She'd experienced her father's love firsthand 14:12 in a very special way. She knew that he and the family 14:17 valued her above everything. Now consider this. 14:20 Did the half a million dollar ransom cause her father to 14:25 love her? or did it reveal how much he already loved her? 14:29 Of course, the money merely reflected the intense love 14:33 within the heart of Robert Mackel for his daughter Barbara. 14:45 That special love, that intense love is something humans desire. 14:50 We all need it, we were made to love and be loved. 14:54 If you were kidnapped, would anybody pay up to a $20,000,000 14:59 for you? Does anybody love you that much? 15:02 Yes, someone does, you were loved that much and even more. 15:08 Let me explain, one of the great themes of the Bible is the 15:14 ransom theme, in fact you cannot fully understand the 15:18 golden thread that runs all the way through the Bible 15:21 without understanding the ransom fee. 15:24 Notice what the Bible says in 1Peter 1:18,19. 15:49 There you have it, you were ransomed not with $20,000,000, 15:54 but with the precious blood of Christ. 15:57 Now please notice what this means, ultimately somethings 16:02 value is measured how much another person will pay for it 16:06 or give up for it. And if that's the measurement, your value 16:11 is out of this world. God gave His only Son for you. 16:17 He didn't give just the best that He had, God gave everything 16:21 He had, and He did it just for you. 16:25 If you were the only person on this planet who was lost 16:28 and needed to be ransomed, Jesus would have still come 16:33 just for you. Can you imagine anyone paying a higher price 16:38 for anything. Once you internalize the fact that 16:42 God sent His Son to pay your ransom, you should never again 16:47 struggle with self-esteem or feel worthless. 16:50 God has eternally clarified your value. 16:54 You are worth everything, you are worth dying for, 16:59 you are worth going through the pain of the cross, 17:02 you matter. Jesus said He would rather die than live without you 17:08 and so He paid your ransom and mine. 17:11 But why was it necessary? Why do we need to be ransomed 17:16 in the first place? Well, to find the answer, 17:21 we've got to go all the way back to the very beginning 17:25 of human existence. In the very first book of the Bible 17:28 the story begins with a perfect world, there was no sin or 17:33 disease. Because God is love, He wanted to populate 17:38 this perfect world with people who had the ability to 17:41 respond to His love. He didn't want puppets of robots, 17:45 who are manipulated or programmed to behave 17:49 in a certain way, He wanted people who had the power of 17:53 choice. And so God created people with the capacity 17:58 the freedom to respond spontaneously to His love. 18:02 But when you give the power to people to choose, 18:05 you take a great risk because they may make wrong choices. 18:10 They may choose to love or not to love, they may choose to be 18:15 loyal or not to be loyal. But because God is love, 18:19 He was willing to take that risk and give people 18:23 the power of choice. 18:25 Sadly, as time went by, our first parents Adam and Eve 18:31 listened to the voice of God's arch enemy Lucifer 18:34 and chose to follow him, they chose to rebel, to reject God 18:39 and give their loyalty to Satan. 18:42 Just as Barbara Mackel's mother made the voluntary choice 18:46 to let the kidnappers in, so our first parents made a 18:49 voluntary choice to listen to the voice of the kidnappers, 18:53 Satan and let him into their lives. 18:55 And so, in a sense, our first parents were kidnapped by 19:00 Satan and held captive in sin. When Adam and Eve turned their 19:04 back on God and invited Satan into their world, 19:07 they were separated from God and life. Sin, rebellion 19:13 separates us from God. 19:15 Notice what the Bible says in Isaiah 59:1,2. 19:31 People were made for fellowship with God, to be in harmony 19:35 with their Creator, but when they sinned, they turned away 19:39 from God. They rejected Him and turned against Him. 19:43 But there is more, there are consequences associated with sin 19:48 with rebelling against God. Notice what the Bible says 19:52 in Romans 6:23. 19:59 The two people that God had created perfect and upright 20:03 were now separated from God, that resulted in destruction 20:08 and death. They had no ability to fix this situation 20:13 so the human race was doomed. The tragic end of their choice 20:18 to rebel was destruction and death. 20:22 Like Barbara Mackel in that dirt-covered box, 20:25 unable to deliver herself, the human race was doomed 20:29 unless help came from above. In a sense, we're all in a box 20:35 without hope, unless a ransom is paid. 20:38 And this is where God intervened, He couldn't stand 20:42 being separated from us, the people He loves. 20:46 He was both willing and able to provide that help from above. 20:51 He had a plan, He would come and pay the ransom Himself 20:56 to "SET US FREE". He would pay the penalty for our sins 21:00 and mistakes. The ransom wasn't in dollars or silver 21:04 or gold, it was paid in blood, Jesus blood, 21:08 He died in our place. 21:11 He died so we could live, He paid our ransom in full. 21:17 Listen to what the Bible says in Matthew 20:28. 21:30 Our ransom has been paid, we don't have to be held captive 21:36 any longer, captive to sin, captive to guilt, 21:40 captive to fear, captive to despair, we've been set free. 21:45 Please notice the words of the most popular text in 21:49 all the Bible. 22:02 Yes, Jesus has paid the ransom to set us free, to give us life, 22:10 and here's the good news, not matter how deep or dark 22:15 your situation may be, Jesus will find you and set you free. 22:20 No sin is too bad, no hole is too deep, 22:25 no case is to hopeless, He's here to give us hope 22:30 to forgive our sins, to give us peace and happiness, 22:34 all you have to do is ask, and he will set you free. 22:39 Why not ask Him to do that right now as we pray? 22:44 Our Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Jesus our Saviour 22:49 and our deliverer. We are so grateful that 22:52 He has paid our ransom in full, and paid the penalty 22:56 for our sins and mistakes. We are so glad that we are 22:59 no longer separated from You. We are so grateful that you are 23:03 a loving God. Thank you from freeing us from sin, guilt, 23:07 and despair. Thank you for the peace and happiness you give us, 23:12 we commit our lives to you and pray for your blessing 23:16 and guidance. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen! 23:33 The story of Barbara Mackel's abduction and the father's 23:37 desperate attempt to rescue her, has fascinated and inspired 23:41 people all over the world. Being buried alive 23:45 deep underground was a terrifying experience. 23:48 Her situation was hopeless, her father knew there was only 23:53 one way he would ever see his daughter alive again, 23:56 she was under a death sentence unless he paid the ransom. 24:01 Robert Mackel's love for his daughter was so great 24:04 that he was willing to sacrifice everything in order to save her 24:09 and bring her home. He paid the ransom in full to set her free. 24:13 Sometimes we can feel buried alive under the burdens and 24:18 challenges of life, Jesus has paid the ransom to set us free 24:24 and to give us life. And so, if you are struggling with the 24:28 challenges of life and are looking for inner peace 24:31 and true happiness, if you would like to get closer 24:34 to God then I'd like to recommend a free gift we have 24:37 for all our viewers today. It's the book 24:41 The Greatest Rescue Ever. This book is our gift to you 24:46 and it's absolutely "Free". There are no costs or 24:49 obligations whatsoever. Thousands have been blessed 24:53 and inspired by this book, The Greatest Rescue Ever. 24:57 So make the most of this wonderful opportunity 25:00 to receive the gift we have for you today. 25:03 Here is the information you need. 25:06 Phone or text us at 0436.333.555 or visit our website 25:15 at www.tij.tv to request today's free offer 25:22 and we'll send it to you totally free of charge and with 25:26 no obligations. So don't delay call or text 0436.333.555 25:33 in Australia, or 020.422.4202 in New Zealand 25:41 or visit our www.tij.tv to request today's offer. 25:48 Write to us at P.O. Box 5101 Dora Creek NSW 2264, Australia 25:58 or P.O. Box 76673 Manukau, Auckland 2241, New Zealand. 26:08 Don't delay, phone or text 0436.3332.555 in Australia 26:16 or 020.422.2042 in New Zealand or visit our website 26:23 at www.tij.tv to request today's free offer. 26:30 Call or text us now. 26:36 If you've enjoyed today's journey to Atlanta and our reflections 26:40 on the Bible's Ransome theme, and the hope and peace 26:43 Jesus brings, be sure to join us again next week 26:47 when we will share another of life's journey's together 26:50 and experience another new and thought-provoking perspective 26:55 on the peace, insight, understanding and hope 26:58 that only the Bible can give us. 27:00 The IncredibleJourney truly is television that inspires and 27:06 changes lives, until next week, remember the ultimate destination 27:11 of life's journey. 27:13 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth 27:15 and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, 27:19 there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, 27:22 there shall be no more pain, for the former things 27:26 have passed away. |
Revised 2021-06-10