Saturday, December 15, 2012

"The Love Of Most Will Grow Cold"

According to Jesus, we should expect to see the following in the last days:


"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold" 
(Matthew 24:12)




Unfortunately, this school shooting shouldn't be surprising as we continue to see a general increase in evil in this world as the Tribulation approaches. 






Richard Wilford, the father of a 7-year-old in second grade who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School where the tragic shooting of 26 people, 18 of whom were children, said “there’s no words” to describe what happened in Newtown, Conn., Friday morning.
“It’s sheer terror, a sense of imminent danger…,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
The photos coming in from the scene certainly express this one father’s sentiments:






The way to prevent such horrific acts of violence, Scott explained, is to change the culture in the United States. He talked about a culture that often times encourages the “dehumanizing” of individuals, whether it’s violent video games or easily accessible pornography on the web.
“What happens when you are a person that grows up today and at school you’re not taught about character, integrity or values…at school you are picked on and bullied and at school teachers care more about your test scores and your knowledge and your academic achievement than the condition of your heart,” Scott said. “And when we were concerned about the heart we were number one in the world in education as a first world nation.”
“On the deepest level, these are spiritual problems that we are having in our country,” he added.






“Evil visited this community today,” said Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy.
Franklin Graham, head of the Christian Samaritan’s Purse organization as well as leader of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, agreed.
“The Bible tells us the human heart is ‘wicked’ and ‘who can know it?’” he said. “My heart aches for the victims, their families and the entire community.
“One thing we can be absolutely sure of is that God loves each one of the victims and all those who are suffering right now as a result of this vicious act.”

Longtime evangelist and prolific author Greg Laurie joined in. “All I can say is this was pure evil,” he wrote. “The heartlessness and wickedness of this man that did the shooting is really unimaginable.”

Laurie wrote, “At times like this we need perspective. An eternal perspective. We need to remember this life on earth is not all there is. There is an afterlife and there earthly wrongs are righted. There is a final judgment for this man and others like him that commit these heinous crimes and they will have to face God.








Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee attributed the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in part to restrictions on school prayer and religious materials in the classroom. 
"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News, discussing the murder spree that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, CT that morning. "Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?"

"[W]e've made it a place where we don't want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability -- that we're not just going to have be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment," Huckabee said. "If we don't believe that, then we don't fear that."

He said those suffering from a crisis from faith should look to God in the community's response to the violence. But he added that "Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we wouldn't have to call him to show up when it's all said and done at the back end."





In other news around the world:










For some reason the article below struck me as very very chilling and brings reminders of the WWII era and the holocaust:




"Never Again," they say, and yet even in 2012 Jews must be warned not to openly identify themselves as Jews in certain places for fear of a violent response to their ethnicity.
Such was the case in Denmark this week, where Israeli Ambassador Arthur Avnon warned visiting Israelis not to wear their skullcaps (kippot) in public, to hide any Star of David jewelry and to refrain from conversing loudly in Hebrew.
Avnon said this warning applies "irrespective of whether the areas [Israelis] are visiting are seen as being safe."
Israel Radio noted that Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, had experienced no fewer than 39 reported anti-Semitic attacks this year.
Local Jewish leaders confirmed that it has become increasingly dangerous to be seen as a Jew, and hinted that the problem stems from growing Muslim influence in the city.
A little less surprising was a report that Jordan's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities had sent out a letter to all local tour guides instructing them to advice Israeli visitors against wearing Jewish symbols or publicly worshipping in a Jewish way.
Present-day Jordan makes up part of the biblical Land of Israel, so many Israeli visitors consider points of interest in Jordan to be holy sites, and consequently like to pray there.
But the Jordanian government said it has received numerous complaints over these outward displays of "Jewishness" and felt compelled to bring the situation under control, both for the safety of visiting Israelis and to appease the sensibilities of local Jordanians
















10 comments:

GG said...

Good Morning All~

I know today is probably a day of so many mixed emotions. In reading some various news headlines, I was very surprised to see Fox use this time for such a topic below:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2036454447001/why-does-god-allow-evil/?intcmp=obnetwork

As always I am praying for many and hope all your families stay safe as well in their day to day activities. Trying to find the right words to tell our children without saying too much to give them a fear based living can be challenging in times like this.

I hope this will allow many Christians to help and comfort those who need it as well as help them see that God is not to blame. This can be a wonderful time to witness if someone seems very bitter about "Where was God when all this happened?" May God use you to help where needed.

Have a good weekend. Many prayers from here.

God Bless!!

GG

hartdawg said...

I wonder if that guy was demon possessed...not only was it evil i think it was demonic

WVBORN56 said...

Huckabee is correct but of course the far left is using this evil act as an opportunity to disarm America and drive a stake into the heart of the second amendment. Totalitarianism is just around the corner for America.

Mike said...

I posted this in the last post, but I wanted to here also....so here goes...

David and Dylan, i will keep your requests in my prayers, as well as the families affected by yesterday's horrific shooting.

I am updating on a very similar request to that of Dylan. I promised I would keep you posted Scott, and many others who have specifically said they would pray, and those who didnt specifically say, but I have no doubt have been.

Regarding my friend, Michele, who I gave a copy of Scott's book to...and asked her to read the last 9 pages. We have spoken several times since, and like I said when I first asked, she was as far away from believing as could be. Well, the update is, she has acknowledged that she does believe...that we have sinned, need a Savior, and that Christ came, died, and rose again to pay for those sins. She DOES believe, and I believe she is very sincere.

There is one thing she hasnt done yet, and that is to confess it to the Lord (even though she has verbally acknowledged in a repentant, accepting way)....now, without getting into "what is necessary" to become saved, I am asking for continued prayer as God draws her to commit to Him, and say that prayer that she willingly accepts Jesus, and wants to give her life to Him. I believe she has by our conversation, but to specifically make the declaration seems to be difficult for her. Please continue with specific prayer for Michele.

Thank you all....our time here is very short....

Mike

Shazza said...

Hi Mike

That is wonderful news we will keep praying.

Thank you Scott and everyone for this site, learn so much.

Gods Blessings on you all

Dave Down Under said...

Good morning all. I'd just like to express my sincere heart felt sympathies for all the families who have lost little ones, parents and relatives in this heartless demon driven mass murder.

The anquish being experienced by the families of those lost is something I can only vaguely imagine. Losing a family member, wether they be children or adult, is having the family chain broken, and once that particular link is broken it can never be replaced. But they can live on in our memories, in love.

The institution of America may be just about "done and dusted", but God still calls its individuals to;
"each of you MUST turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles- all who have been called by The Lord our God" Acts 2: 39-39.

"Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins. Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of The Lord, and he will send Jesus your Messiah to you again". Acts 3: 19-20.

"For Jesus is referred to in the scriptures, where it says, 'the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to be saved." Acts 4: 10-12.

God loves you America and so do I.

Blessings Dave






mary said...

Dave,
Thanks for a beautiful letter written from the heart.
We love you too, and hope to see you all soon.

nathan said...

Thanks Dave down unda ....very nice of you . I've been trying to talk my wife into moving to Australia (but you guys have really stringent migration policies) Where's a good city to live in with mountains (Gotta have my mountains) . Is it true that minimum wage is 15 dollars an hour ?

America proved its moral decine yesterday . Our financial declines pretty obvious . The FED is now buying 90 percent of the treasury bonds .....tick tock tick tock . And we're just way to extended with non-stop wars .
I love my country but have this sense that its not coming out of this anytime soon .

God bless all
Nate

Dave Down Under said...

Hi Nate, where do I start? If you like mountains I would recommend the blue mountains in Sydney. The townships of kurrajong, Richmond and various other surrounding townships are beautiful. My wife and I lived there for 5years. The climate is warm in summer and can get to below in winter; no snow though.

Or there's Tasmania I've heard that's nice, don't know about employment opportunities. Or there's my neck of the woods; Brisbane, toowomba area. Toowoomba is up on the great dividing range. Because of its hight the weather is good, usually a couple of degrees cooler than Brisbane. Employment opportunities I believe are good to ok ish.

The minimum wage varies according to skill level. I'm employed in the logistics industry and yes my recommended minimum wage is $15/hr but my employer and most other employers are happy pay their workers above and beyond the minimum wage. For instance it's not uncommon to be paid above $20/hr in my industry. I'm employed on a casual fulltime basis and get above $20/hr, but if the company changed my classification(if you'd like to call it) to permanent fulltime, my wage would drop to around the minimum wage, but I would receive four weeks leave per year and sick days.

It's not all gloom and doom living here Nate(tic). It's free( one of the last great democracies), everyone minds their own business and we still wish everyone a very merry Christmas. Department stores, malls and McDonalds still play Christmas carols that sing about Jesus. We have public medical and i can show up at a hospital with a broken leg for example and know that I can get it set, free of charge.

You yanks are most welcome and I think us Aussies just love sitting and listening to your accent.

With what's happening in the states Australia is becoming an untapped and often overlooked alternative to living. We don't have kangaroos jumping around everywhere and yes we do have deadly spiders and snakes, but you've got to be looking for them and poking them to get them to bite you. They keep to themselves is what I'm trying to say.

Technology wise we are just as civilised as your country. We have houses and cities. Suburbs, dams, recreation parks and...hell it's a beautiful country.

Hope that helps Nate

Dave Down Under

Dave Down Under said...

Nate, as for the immigration laws, I would say to you, how bad do you want to move over here? What are you willing do, go through and sacrifice to move here. Other families have done it and so can you.

Seek the Lords will Nate and if the 3 cords (you, your wife and Jesus)are in agreement then by all means do it. If it is Gods will then everything will fall into place...so to speak.

Have good day my friend

Dave