Once there was a Presbyterian minister who was conducting an illicit affair with another woman in another city. As such things go, his wife found out about it when she discovered some papers in his briefcase that revealed he was planning to meet up with his amour when he traveled to presbytery the following week, and there was strong indication that he might be leaving her for good.
She kept it to herself, but as the day approached, she was finally overcome with rage while he was getting ready to go presbytery. So the wife went and got their gun and shot her husband stone cold dead. There was of course, a great scandal about the whole matter, and the wife was tried and convicted for the murder.
While visiting her in prison, a wise old man (who was an old friend of the family), well-versed in spiritual things, was talking to her about her plight.
“When I found out he was going to see her, I couldn’t help myself,” she said. “When he just said, ‘bye! off to presbytery!’ I just thought, ‘oh, no, you don’t!'”
“My dear,” said the wise old man. “This was your mistake. You cannot stop the wicked from going to presbytery by killing them.”