John Walsh on Fox’s America’s Most Wanted television program said, “Somebody knows where this guy is.” With keen interest I listened and prayed that this man would be caught. Within an hour of the airing of the program, he was captured by the authorities. The owners of the Edgewater Lodge in Long Key, Fla., were watching TV and recognized the man staying in room 14 as the suspect.
His name was Paul Michael Merhige. Why would I be so interested in him? He had allegedly murdered the niece of a close friend, David Sitton. Her name was Makayla Joy Sitton. On Thanksgiving Day, after having dinner with 17 members of the Sitton family, Merhige allegedly started shooting on a rampage. His twin sisters, Lisa Knight and Carla Merhige, his aunt and his 6-year-old cousin Makayla were killed. Lisa Knight was pregnant.
“The Thanksgiving Massacre,” as it was labeled, continued to be in the headlines, talk radio and cable news. Week after week there was this massive manhunt. What would cause a man to do such a dastardly act? How evil can a man be?
This I do know, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Without the restraint of God’s grace we would all be capable of such an act. Some might say, “I couldn’t do such a thing.” “I am not capable of doing something like that.” Let me ask you, have you ever been angry and hated someone? Jesus said, “But I say unto you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment … But anyone who says, ‘You fool’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Jesus judges motives and the vileness of our hearts. Only God knows the heart. I must say that without the grace of God I am capable of such a heinous gross sin.
Makayla Joy Sitton was a Christian martyr for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before she was killed on that Thanksgiving night, Makayla earlier had recited Psalm 100 and played the piano and sang praises to the Lord. She was an avid reader of her Bible. She had memorized not just verses of Scripture, but chapters. But God had a wonderful plan for her life. She lived to the glory of God a full and complete life that was ordained by God. She didn’t live one day longer or one day shorter than God purposed. “Our times are in his hands,” God says. “We spend our years as a tale that is told.” Our days are numbered and at the precise moment God will take us home.
David Sitton, Makayla’s uncle and a missionary, said at the memorial service, “Makayla has taken her place among the martyrs for Christ. On Thanksgiving night, God did not abandon Makayla or our family. The very last eyes she saw were the eyes of her earthly father as he put her to bed, and when she woke up, she looked into the eyes of Jesus. As a family, we choose to say, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’”
David Sitton, founder and president of To Every Tribe Ministries, was in Dalton for the TETM World Missions Conference held at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in late October. The theme of the three-day event was “The Privilege of Suffering: Jesus is Worth It!” Sitton spoke on suffering for Christ’s sake. Little did he know that the suffering would be so soon. On his Web site he writes, “God calls all believers to be imitators of Christ and to live lives worthy of his name. There is nothing more powerful in evangelism than a life humbly laid down for Christ!”
“When all around, my soul gives way,
“He then is all my hope and stay,
“His oath, his covenant, his blood,
“Support me in the whelming flood.”
Ron McKinney is pastor of Kinsey Drive Baptist Church.
