Two years ago four young people--police officers with families, in the prime of career and life, and serving in their community were senselessly executed by an evil mad man. Later that week he attempted to kill another officer only to meet his own demise--for which many of us are grateful. Yes, that man and others prove that evil and all that is of the Kingdom of Darkness (Satan's domain) is alive on planet earth. It will remain so as things go from bad to worse. While we have an eternal hope in Jesus Christ, there is more in this life than that of some future utopian hope. Such hope is not without present practice. It is within that present practice that God's "good" is to answers such evils as was witnessed two years ago and as well other evils be they personal, national, or international.
Just as the Pacific Northwest, here in the USA was on alert for the despicable killer of those four young people, we too need to be on alert since the Devil and his ilk are on the prowl to create chaos, dissatisfaction, disconnect, and yes even murder etc. There can be no doubt that the killer who is not worthy to have his name repeated, along with his cronies were evil--desperately evil and each worthy of the full measure of such punishment as society might impose upon them! Not many will agree that the punishment of even those on the periphery was nearly enough.
Such evil bring suffering but it did not end with the four families, their police department, and the community in which they served. Such evil brings suffering wherever it is allowed to roam unchecked! This was not only true in this case but also on a broader scale.
One need only look at the suffering Christians in Muslim countries such as Egypt and in places such as Africa to understand that being a Christian is a serious business. No other faith group has suffered what Christian have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of Godless communism (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) and at the hands of other religious ideologies such as the one just mentioned.
Yet, just as those four served to keep order, preserve right, and stave off lawlessness in their community so too, we who serve the risen Christ must stand for those and other things. Other things such as those that bring unity among Christians who are not so in name but in relationship with the risen Christ. That is so be they Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.
Also, we who serve Christ, must seek to preserve that which is right, and live out the laws of the Scriptures--those things that keep us in right relationship with God, then right relationship with one another, and finally right relationship with self. As my mother used to say, "JOY = Jesus, then Others, then You."
We as Christians often have been taught that we are a hospital for those injured by the world's treatment, fleshly failures, and Satanic attack. That thought sounds so good and contains some truth but not the full measure of truth for no army has ever been victorious, nor has it held one centimeter of ground by being a hospital for the injured. Aggressive armies win and so the Kingdom of Heaven's army--the Lord's Army, the Church must march forward in Scripture and prayer, living out the Lord's commands, doing good to all first to other Christians and then outward into the uttermost parts of the world.
God's Kingdom--the Kingdom of Heaven is divided into those here on earth and those now departed to be ever joined with Christ. The earthly portion is to be the aforementioned army that fights with the weapons of earthly warfare at times but more often wages war with weapons of a spiritual nature, wages war by doing good, wages war by living out ethical truth no matter the cost, and expressing love in practical ways. You see the weapons of the Christian are mighty to the tearing down of the strongholds built by the Kingdom of Darkness.
We who claim Christ will never be understood by those of the present world order. Even so we must be ever on guard to do good, stay to the tasks, fulfill our calling, be ever alert at our station be it in the pew, behind the pulpit, in the work place, as a volunteer in some humanitarian enterprise, at leisure, or some other place. All are responsible to go forward in the Lord and the strength of his might, to be spiritually strong, do good, to do their part! All are to withstand the chaos of evil and the unraveling of this present world order.
Onward Christian, unite with one another, remember that no matter how many times an evil demented sick and despicable person such as killed the four officers attacks us, no matter how many people seek to defame us, no matter if we are martyred for Christ, lose our reputation in the cause greater than ourselves, if we die of some dread disease in a foreign land, or if we die of old age, we win. We win because the Kingdom of Heaven of which we are a part ultimately is victorious--eternally victorious until there is but one Kingdom, that of Jesus Christ the Lord!
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