The book “Hit List” chronicles the many suspicious deaths of people, including Oswald, who were in some way connected with the assassination of JFK. Not only did many deaths appear to be murders, but the timing of them is suspect because most occurred around the time when they were called to testify at a 2nd government investigation into the assassination. By the way, if the Warren Commission came up with the right conclusion, why would they need to open another investigation? Maybe these witnesses had information that contradicted the Warren report.

The death of Martin Luther King, JR. is another high-profile assassination of the 1960s. From “Dead Wrong”, we read that a government investigation concluded he was killed by a man named James Earl Ray who shot MLK while King stood on the balcony of his 2nd floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. Ray supposedly shot him from his 2nd floor room in a boarding house directly across the street. The motel is now the façade of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. I visited the museum last year and saw inside MLK’s hotel room and the balcony where he stood when he was shot. The sniper’s nest across the street was pointed out to me. The bullet should have traveled in a straight line to the balcony and almost parallel to the street. But the book has a picture of MLK’s aides pointing from the balcony to where the shot came from moments after the shooting. They are clearly pointing to a spot one or two stories above the balcony and to MLK’s right.

Path of the shot that killed MLK

The autopsy confirms this as the angle and direction of the bullet because it entered his right cheek ,went diagonally through his throat, and lodged into his left shoulder. The bullet could not have been shot from Ray’s room. Furthermore, several ballistics tests could not identify Ray’s gun as the murder weapon. Ray was never given a trial because he pled guilty to murder. However, he later withdrew his confession stating that he did not shoot MLK but was coerced into pleading guilty to avoid the electric chair. He tried for 29 years to clear his name but died before ever receiving a trial. Even MLK’s family believed he was innocent and supported efforts to set him free. After Ray’s death, they filed a wrongful death lawsuit with the ballistic evidence proving Ray’s innocence. The jury came back with a verdict that MLK was probably killed by a conspiracy involving government agencies.

What can we learn from these tragedies? We can’t always believe the government or media’s version of historical events. We need to investigate all the facts ourselves and look to God for discernment and wisdom. He is the source of all truth. It is hard to tell the truth from the lies sometimes, but God never lies. We can be misled by half-truths or missing information.

One of my favorite songs is called “Eyes Wide Open” by the group “Out of the Grey”. It talks about seeking God for clarity when faced with misinformation. You might want to check it out from my post on Facebook or on YouTube.