What is this world coming to?
On Saturday, September 4, 2004 the headlines in the News Tribune read, “Siege ends in slaughter,” “Death tolls 200 as militants shoot fleeing school children.” In Bleson, Russia Wednesday, September 1st heavily armed Islamic guerillas broke into a school and took hostage more than 1,000 students, parents, and teachers. They were held there for 52hrs before Russian troops came to rescue the trapped people. As the troops moved in, the guerillas started shooting the fleeing children and adults. In the gymnasium, where the hostages were being held, there were bombs set to go off. As they went off the two floors that were above the gym came crashing down on the scores of people, mostly children, as they were trying to escape. On September 8th 531 people were still in the hospital, of that 283 were children and 92 of them were in “very grave” conditions.Of the 200+ that were killed most of them were children. That’s about two hundred lives that will never have the chance to grow up, finish school, get married, have a family, or make a difference in their world. There is a little girl that will never have a best friend, because the roof fell in and she’ll never know what true love is, because he was shot trying to save his sister. There is a man that will never know the joys of watching his little girl grow up into a woman. He sits holding the broken, burned, lifeless of his 6-year-old daughter. “She’ll never get to be the dancer she dreamed about being when she grew up,” he whispers. There is now a hole in Russia’s future where those children should be, but aren’t because a few men fell into the trap of the enemy.
This story in the paper came as a shock to me. I was literally sick to my stomach for the rest of the day. And in small group we had been talking about this evil age we live in and what Christ has saved us from. Our main text was Galatians 1:4-5 - 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. We started talking about what Christ saved us from and several people found verses that talked about this current day and age.
· Matthew 24
· Romans 1:20-32 ~ For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
· Proverbs 6:16 ~ There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
· 2 Thessalonians 2
· Genesis 6:1-12 ~ The story of Noah
· 2 Peter 2:4-10 ~ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
· Genesis 19:1-29 ~ Sodom and Gomorrah
We had talked about this and saw what the Bible said and then this happens:
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http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/41508ebdz10e2d65e/fea9/__sr_/4102.jpg?phaLJUBBlHTkWscU
http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/41508ebdz10e2d65e/fea9/__sr_/7832.jpg?phaLJUBBs_Mvb6KH
posted by Kari @ 1:06:00 PM
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