Nashville Scene: no justice on Rev. Maury Davis' path to redemption

A grieving son finds no justice on Rev. Maury Davis' path to redemption
http://www.nashvillescene.com/2009-06-18/news...
By Brantley Hargrove
Published on June 17, 2009 at 8:48am

It must be hard to watch the man who murdered your mother 30 years ago sermonize about the godly life. Ron Liles watches him gesticulate and stroll across a stage, not from a pew, but on his computer screen in suburban Dallas, some 700 miles away from the church in Madison, Tenn., where the preacher tells this story of profound redemption.

It's Liles' story too, though he wishes to God it wasn't.

He wants to tell Pastor Maury Davis that he's a liar for bending the greatest truth in his life. To remind the mega-church pastor that the price of his spiritual rebirth, his professed salvation, was the blood of Liles' 54-year-old mother, Jo Ella. That every good thing Davis has in this life is borne on the back of a grieving son, in whose home her blood was spilled.

Rev. Davis must know that each time he stands at the pulpit, before his flock at Cornerstone Church, there are those who still desire a full accounting for his mortal sin. How could he not?

From the path Davis set out on so many years ago, no one could ever have guessed that he'd end up here in Middle Tennessee. First he was the son of a well-to-do family in Irving, Texas. Then a convicted murderer.

Yet today he's a high-profile pastor, known for his brash style and conservative theology, with a branded media ministry and a house worth nearly $1 million in a gated Goodlettsville neighborhood.

Contrast this life with Liles'. He was the only child of parents who struggled to stay afloat, losing his mother to a senseless murder remarkable only for its viciousness. Now he's an unassuming pharmacist working the graveyard shift at a CVS in Texas, left to wear the garments of raw anger and heartbreak, which aren't easily shed.

Pastor Davis says he's been forgiven for his sins. Washed in the blood, you might say. After all, who can argue with God?

Yet in the eyes of the few who know the whole story, Davis wears an indelible stain, however faded before the eyes of his own congregation, for the violation of the most sacred law of God and man. And in this world, not even the blood of his Savior has been able to wash it clean.

At around noon on Jan. 27, 1975, a two-tone Cadillac pulls up to a vacant house in Irving, Texas. Two young men step out. One is Ricky Payne, 20, a bearded man police describe as a hippie. The other is Maury Davis, 18, a short, slightly built and clean-cut young man with brown hair slicked back from his forehead. He wears a pair of brown cowboy boots with white stitching.

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I am sad your unforgiveness has you so bound up. I truly beleive this is a very Godly man. He did a horrible thing and yes He will always live with the fact that he took a life but he has also been used by God to save a whole lot of souls He is not perfect but has turned his life around I know cause I use to go to his church and he is born agin and forgiven by GOD. I hope one day you will know that and be able to forgive

countrygirl49 wrote:

I am sad your unforgiveness has you so bound up. I truly beleive this is a very Godly man. He did a horrible thing and yes He will always live with the fact that he took a life but he has also been used by God to save a whole lot of souls He is not perfect but has turned his life around I know cause I use to go to his church and he is born agin and forgiven by GOD. I hope one day you will know that and be able to forgive

Why are women so gullible? It never fails to amaze me. Hope you meet your own Maury Davis one day.

countrygirl49 wrote:

I am sad your unforgiveness has you so bound up. I truly beleive this is a very Godly man. He did a horrible thing and yes He will always live with the fact that he took a life but he has also been used by God to save a whole lot of souls He is not perfect but has turned his life around I know cause I use to go to his church and he is born agin and forgiven by GOD. I hope one day you will know that and be able to forgive

((SMH)) Why should this woman's son forgive the Rev.? A good man because of God? Was this man's mother a sacrifice for The rev.'s relationship with God?

Gregoreo wrote:

<quoted text>
Why are women so gullible? It never fails to amaze me. Hope you meet your own Maury Davis one day.

You may as well go throw your money away to Benny Hinn then too lady. Wake up, enjoy your faith, but don't be so damned stupid as to follow that great deceiver at Cornerstone.

You lambs of Cornerstone have been duped by a deceitful man who had NO CHOICE but to put on a Christian robe and play this game after such a heinous and gruesome crime. You may as well send all your life's earnings to Benny Hinn too! It's fine to have your faith, but he is a master maniuplator and you have fallen into his lair. Plenty of good churches out there, go somewhere else.

judge not lest ye be judged, an we all will be judged but not by man, thank goodness.
The new testament tells the story of a young man on the road to Demantus named Saul, he also was a murder but of many christans. He was changed by God an became Paul, a beloved apostle for Jesus Christ. With God ALL things are possible. Before you go judging someone you better take a look in a mirror first.

judge not wrote:

judge not lest ye be judged, an we all will be judged but not by man, thank goodness.
The new testament tells the story of a young man on the road to Demantus named Saul, he also was a murder but of many christans. He was changed by God an became Paul, a beloved apostle for Jesus Christ. With God ALL things are possible. Before you go judging someone you better take a look in a mirror first.

I grew up with Maurey Davis his younger brother Rusty died from alcholism a few years ago. They had a step father that treated them rough. Rusty got the worst. I dont think Maury ever smoked drank or uused drugs. I am a recovered alcholic since april 12 1990. A year ago i took a man home from an aa meeting. He asked if I would make a quick stop to pick up plans from a clients house. I did. After he got back in the car I get sstopped and an entire swat team surrounds us. What the person had done was purchase herion. I was not charged with anything. The police did tell me to be more careful about the people i give a ride to. I believe that means I have to judge a person for his past actions...This person said they were sorry and got involved in a church. I wonder if you think God would see me as a better christian if I drove this person again, or some one grateful for recognizing it was because of God I didnt get arrested and the opportunity to make smarter decisions.