Is Your Heart Seared

Recent events around the world have been appalling. I am sure we can all agree on that.  It seems as if evil is becoming more and more normal, and good gets press.  The prophet Isaiah prophesied this would happen many centuries ago in Isaiah 5:20:

"Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil; that dark is light and light is dark; that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter."

 

I recently was challenged in a sermon to see where my heart was in regards to this issue.  I was challenged to take a stand for good no matter what the culture says about it or me.  Paul also speaks about this to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1-2: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." 

 

In our country there has been many videos exposing an organization for their barbaric and calloused treatment of women and their babies: aborted babies are being killed for the sake of convenience and then their body parts and organs are sold tot he highest bidder all in the name of research.  Many refuse to stand up and do or say anything for fear of how they may look.  Many people have seared consciences and/or turn a deaf ear or blind eye.  Some are thinking "I am only one voice, what can one voice accomplish?"  But there are many examples though out history where one voice made a difference and changed the course of a nation.  We may not be able to make a large statement but we can still make a statement.  It doesn't matter what or where or who you are, you can still let your voice be heard and your voice maybe the one that changes the course of history.

 

It is not just this issue that seems to be seared in our culture.  I watch comments posted on social media all the time on news stories or even personal comments.  Many are taking the tone of anger, hate, and indifference.  I am sure some of these comments would never be said if it was done face to face, but many are using the anonymity of social media to speak what is really in their hearts and minds. Hate is being spread around as if its a good thing.  Name calling and belittling is being thrown around in the name of saying its a good thing.  Many have not been able to sensor their thoughts and words towards others.  We now live in a time when we think it is right to speak hate and bully others because they do not believe as we do. I have been deeply disturbed by this growing trend and MUST speak out.  I do not understand why we think it is necessary to put down some ones honest thoughts just because they are different from our own.  I know God commands us to love each other but it seems that many even in the Church has taken up the hate and bullying all because the culture says its okay to do so.  The apostle John writes in 1 John 4:7-12:

"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God-- for God is love.   God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us."

This love should be extended to everyone, from the womb to the tomb.  If we truly are followers of God, then we ought to love, and sometimes that may mean standing up for issues that are wrong or to people who are perpetrating evil.

I have heard the argument that this certain organization mentioned above is doing plenty of good.  so why should we stand up against them?  Why should we defund them?  But the same could be said about the guy down the street that seduces children, or the one across town that has killed someone.  Many times when these peoples crimes come to the light we are surprised because they are so kind and gentle and do a lot of good for the community.  But does that make what they have do for good outweigh the bad?  Do not these people come under the law and are punished for their evil deeds?  Yes they are.  If you look at Hitler's Germany, he created a place that was wonderful that did much good:  no unemployment,  the economy of Germany flourished under his rule, there was no inflation of goods, health care was free to all, and crime was almost completely eliminated.  These things sound good, but the things he allowed such as the concentration camps and the medical experiments on people was over looked by many all in the name of keeping the peace.  I am sure many did not speak up out of fear of being sent to a camp.  It was as if people forgot what it was to love each other.  Few stood up and spoke out against the evil being done because good was also being done.  For many they knew of the evil but because their heart was seared, they chose not to do anything.  We are seeing the same attitude today.  We MUST stand up against evil and do what we can to stop it; whether that is making our voice heard, spreading the word, or writing those who can make a difference, or whether that is doing something that is stronger, it must be done.  Most of all, we must show the Love of God in all we do, no matter how hard it may seem to do.  We not know how, but all we need to do is ask Him and he would be more than willing to help us take the stand in a way that honors life and honors God.  Do not turn a blind eye to the hate, bullying, and evil that is taking our society by storm.  It is time we stand up and do what we can to make a change for the better, a change for God and show people how to love each other again no matter what they may believe or how they live their life or how they may respond to that love.  What I propose will not always be easy, but if we want to see change and Good to be done, then we must do what we can and stop turning a blind eye, and we must do what we can to soften our hearts again so that God's love may win.



 

Touched by an Angel

A few years ago, some friends of ours had moved and put some things in storage.  They had asked us to bring what was still in storage to them. We rented a U-Haul trailer and loaded it up as well as the bed of the Toyota Tundra.  It was on a long weekend and we left our house in the early evening to head out.  As we took the exit onto the freeway, I felt like something was wrong with the trailer, but I just chalked it up to being inexperienced in pulling a trailer.  We started to get up to speed.  Before we reached 'cruising speed' the trailer began to fishtail.  I did everything I knew to do and had heard I should do in a moment like this.  Nothing worked. It just got worse.  It was then that we knew we were going to roll.  My daughter was in the backseat with a large T.V. sitting beside her.  My wife started crying out the Name of Jesus because she knew of nothing else to do.  When the rolling stopped, we were facing the opposite way on our wheels, and the hood was up on the motor.  My daughter was crying in the back and my wife could not find her glasses or cell phone.  I was stunned.  We then tried to get out and the doors wouldn't budge.  We tried again and nothing happened.  We both gave up.  It was soon after that the doors suddenly sprung open on their own, without our touching them. We got out and realized the copper on the back of the truck was smashed and the trailer had rolled up the highway a little more and rolled off the road.  No one as around us so on one else was involved in the accident.  Coming right behind us was a lady who had learned first responder techniques from her EMT daughter and was helping us.  My daughter was bleeding from somewhere but we didn't know from where. The T.V. sitting beside m daughter had had a pillow on top of it so she could get it if she wanted it.  The pillow was now UNDER the T.V. and looked as if it had not moved.  (The way we rolled, it should have crushed her.)  It was a frightful sight with boxes and papers and

Soon after this a man in jeans, red shirt and baseball cap showed up and said he was an EMT and could help.  He didn't have his equipment but helped my wife with my daughter as I called 911, who was quite surprised that I was calling them after being involved in a roll over accident going approximately 60 mph.  Soon after  I made the call a police officer showed up that had happened to see the accident.  He started directing traffic and helping to organize people to help clear the debris off the road.  We were less than 5 minutes from our house. My father in law immediately drove to the scene and did what he could do too, as well as some friends who lived close tot he scene.  The man in the red shirt seemed to stick close to me and my family as we did what we needed to do.  An ambulance came and took my wife and daughter to the hospital so they could be checked out while I stayed with the truck.  Finally the man in red told me I should go to the hospital with my family but he wanted to check me out first.  He had borrowed a First responder kit from the firetruck that was there and did what needed to be done.  I was fine so he let my father in law take me to the hospital while our friends stayed to finish what needed to be done at the scene.  By this time it was dark and the police had blocked all traffic going north so the scene could be cleared.  The man in red said that now that I was on the way to the hospital, he could leave.  He took the first responder kit back to the fire crew, and walked past him.  After analyzing what had happened, we realized that was no other vehicles sitting along the road helping other than first responders.  No one saw him get into a vehicle or even lights of a vehicle turn on.  He just seemed to disappear into the darkness.  After thinking about the events of the accident, we realized that the hand of God was on us in an incredible way, and that an angel must have been there with us (the man in the red shirt).   Even though I had taken pictures of the scene, the pictures with him in them never showed his face.  He always seemed to looking away. Whether he was an angel or a person,  doesn't matter, he was sent by God and the ONLY explanation to him being there and then disappearing into the night was that he was an angel sent from God to comfort and aid us in our time of need.