Greetings!
TED BUNDY | THE REAL STORY
By Dr. Stephen Phinney
Was Ted Bundy “extremely wicked” or shockingly redeemed?
As the movie of the life portrayal of Ted Bundy comes out this month, "
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
," I am reminded of a promise Ted asked me to keep –
Tell my real story when God gives you the opportunity.
Thirty years later, I continue to keep my word!
Shortly after my ministry partner and I ministered the Gospel to Ted, I was placed on a brief speaking tour, primarily speaking to professional people helpers and educators of psychology. The reason I say brief, the audiences found it impossible to believe that a serial killer known for his heinous acts could be redeemed in the end. In one of the final speaking forums, I ask a question, "
How many of you here today, after hearing this true-to-life story, still believe Ted deserves hell-fire & damnation
? All but two hands went into the air. I realized that day; this is not the audience I should be addressing. After that, I and Ted's
real story
faded into nonexistence.
January 2019 was the 30
th
anniversary of the execution of Ted Bundy. This man was publicly known for his irresistible looks, charm & intelligence. Unfortunately, he used these qualities to win the trust of others while capitalizing on an
inner demon
of depravity.
Yes, it is true that Ted had a horrific childhood that was built upon lies, as in the case of most of us. One of those primary lies was his mother telling him she was his sister. Shortly after his "first love" dropped him, he discovered that his sister was his mother. These are the catalytic events that Ted references as "setting him off." Now being filled with rage & revenge, pornography became his venue of release. This modality became the training ground for his demise. Pornography has four phases to its potency – the final phase is "snuff-porn." For those of you who are not familiar with this categorization, it is where the sexual victim is murdered during sex. It is within the private confession of Ted that he revealed it was this depraved form of sex that perfectly matched his rage and compulsivity of revenge. From this, he launched his sociopathic behavior into reality, which resulted in his pathological depravity. Meaning, he moved fantasy to fact.
From that day forward,
most remember him as a serial killer who lured his victims in with charm, kidnapped each, performed lewd acts of immorality as an organized lust killer. The legal system estimated 30+ victims fell at the hands of Ted.
This description is not how I remember him!
My ministerial work started with Ted two weeks before his execution, amid the final phase of his mere existence – a time when all control battles were fruitless, the lies and cover-up were useless & his certain death & eternal after-life was closing in on him by the moment. The following words, spoken by Ted, became the foundation of our outreach:
"Murder is not about lust, and it's not about violence. It's about possession. When you feel the last breath of life coming out of the woman, you look into her eyes. At that point, it's being God."
Even though this statement was recorded
, few understood what he was saying. We were not of the few. We capitalized on two critical confessions within this statement,
It's about
possession
, and
it's being God
. Through the years, Ted bragged about being possessed but rarely referenced
being God
. Before Ted's execution, he was delivered from being possessed by this
inner demon
, confessed that Jesus Christ is the only One who can claim to be God and then received Christ as his Lord and Savior. Instead of fantasy to reality, Ted left the earth knowing life was about being possessed by the Holy Spirit through indwelling salvation. Once he "got" that, letting Jesus be God was obvious.
The psychologist and sociologist that were involved didn't understand, nor believe, in being
possessed
by an
inner demon
, let alone being controlled by such a force. Few were making the connection of his confession. Since the world of psychobabble thought his admission of
possession
was being in control and
being God
was narcissistic or having the Messiah complex, everyone was missing the God-sized opportunity to reach Ted's soul until God used two immovable "nobodies" to hear the real confession.
If you think that Ted is
an unusually extreme case of degradation, then you aren't reading the news. Ted's struggle with this
inner demon
is not isolated to the serial killers. I can assure you that there are people in your church and neighborhood that suffer from the same two ideations that Ted suffered – being possessed and people thinking they are "God."
Yes, I did indeed commit to Ted to tell his story whenever God provided an opportunity. In the end, he was just like the rest of us born-again believers, and he wanted the world to know the redeeming story of true salvation. It shouldn't be that a converted serial killer is the only one who can clearly state that all are
extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile
before they receive Jesus Christ as their indwelling Savior. This Biblical doctrine should be common knowledge for all authentic Christians. If Ted's sin was/is worse than yours, give me a call, we might need to talk.
You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
(Matthew 5:21-22)
The statement that Jesus made
about "Loving One Another" is not some cheap Post-Truth fable; it is costly and evangelistic in nature. Consider joining the few who live to
love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you
. You might find salvation on the other side of that door.
Even though I do NOT recommend you watching this movie, you won't be hearing these details in any scenes, but I will leave you with a statement Ted left us in a long letter he wrote to the two of us shortly before he died:
Thank you for sharing the Gospel with me when others would not
. - Ted
Loving One Another In Christ,
-Stephen
