Living In A Time When Murderers Are Called Heroes, And God Is Called Hateful

Who would have ever thought we would be living in a time when murderers are considered heroes?

I suppose, in one sense, it’s not surprising. Millions of children are murdered in their mother’s wombs, and those who murder them, the abortionists, are considered heroes or heroines. We now have this particularly alarming example of Luigi Mangione, who shot the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, being applauded.

Consider an interview conducted on the streets showing startling opinions from the public:

 

Question: What do you think about Luigi Mangione?

Person #1: I’m up in the air about it because he killed someone, but I can understand part of his reasoning.

Question: Luigi Mangione, do you think he is a hero?

Person #2: Yeah. I do think he is a hero.

Question: Should Luigi Mangione be free?

Person #3: Yes. He is fighting for the people!

Person #4: He is a man of the people.

Person #5: Taking someone’s life is objectively something that is wrong to do, but he is a hero, in my opinion.

 

ABC News had this headline‘Supporters of suspected CEO killer Luigi Mangione established defense fund.’

The article began, “As New York City prosecutors work to bring murder charges against Luigi Mangione in the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, supporters of the suspect are donating tens of thousands of dollars for a defense fund established for him, leaving law enforcement officials worried Mangione is being turned into a martyr.”

Then, adding to the absurdity, politician Elizabeth Warren stated in an interview about Mangione, “You can only push people so far, and then they start to take matters into their own hands.”

Oh, really? How about in reference to politicians? What if somebody said, ‘Well, you politicians can only push us so far, and then we’re going to eliminate you!’ It’s an egregiously irresponsible statement, to say the least.

Interestingly, Hannity on Fox News said, “Cheering for the murder of an unarmed man is beyond sick.”

I agree; it’s morally sick. However, what needs to be recognized is that a person must believe in absolute authority to be able to make that statement. If there’s no absolute authority—God, who sets the rules, who decides right and wrong—how then can we say that an action is ‘morally sick’?

Why shouldn’t everyone act according to their personal judgment and whims? In Judges 21:25, we’re told, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” That is the point. When there’s no absolute authority, everyone does what he believes is right. Right or wrong is subjective. What’s good or evil is subjective.

Our culture has increasingly abandoned God, deserted God’s Word, thrown Christianity out of the public education system, taught generations of people that there’s no God, and bought into the lie that we are merely animals. It is no wonder people think: ‘I can do whatever I want. I’ll define right and wrong. If I want to murder, it’s okay for me if I determine it to be the right thing to do. Why not?’

It reminds me of Jeremiah 17:9, which states, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

It’s a heart problem. That’s what we need to understand. The gun that was used to murder the CEO wasn’t the problem. Knives used to kill people are not the problem. What is the problem? The problem lies within people’s hearts. We’re sick; we have a sin problem. When people let their sinful nature rule over them, they do whatever is right in their own eyes.

There is a verse from Scripture that I have read many times over the years that I once thought, ‘I can’t imagine a culture being like that!’ We are now at a time when the verse in Isaiah 5:20 is precisely what we are witnessing in our society: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

We see Isaiah 5:20 happening in all sorts of ways, and now we see it happening in regard to murder. People are calling murder good, and those who want to condemn murder evil. Who would have ever thought that we would be in that situation?

It’s a reminder that the culture is sick—and you can’t just treat the symptoms; you have to treat the sickness. The sickness is man’s heart. Until people recognize that this is a spiritual issue, we will be unable to deal with the many ramifications happening as a byproduct.

We have to understand the true sickness and deal with the origin. Doctors don’t just want to deal with the symptoms; they must get to the root cause and deal with the disease. The root cause is a spiritual issue. We have to be pointing people to the truth of God’s Word, the saving Gospel, and see a heart change—from a sick heart because of sin to one regenerated by the work of the Lord, Jesus Christ, through what He did on the cross of Calvary and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

That’s the solution.


Source: Living In A Time When Murderers Are Called Heroes, And God Is Called Hateful – Harbinger’s Daily

Our Daily Bread – Why Me, God?

 

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? Psalm 13:1

Today’s Scripture

Psalm 13

Today’s Insights

Psalm 13 is an urgent prayer for God’s aid (vv. 3-4) as well as a lament of the psalmist’s long period of suffering, which is experienced as if God is absent and hiding His face (v. 1). When the psalm asks, “How long?” (vv. 1-2), the point isn’t asking for a specific end date but lamenting how long something has been endured and urging God to end the long wait—to act and make things right. Yet despite Psalm 13’s intense desperation, it’s also a psalm of deep trust (vv. 5-6). Through our bond with a God who we know to be good and faithful, we have the confidence and trust to honestly voice our lament. The reformer Martin Luther called prayer like that expressed in Psalm 13 the “state in which hope despairs, and yet despair hopes at the same time.”

Today’s Devotional

Jim has been battling a motor neuron disease for more than a year. The neurons in his muscles are breaking down, and his muscles are wasting away. He’s lost his fine-motor skills and is losing his ability to control his limbs. He can no longer button his shirt or tie his shoelaces, and using a pair of chopsticks has become impossible. Jim struggles with his situation and asks, Why is God allowing this to happen? Why me?

He’s in good company with many other believers in Jesus who have brought their questions to God. In Psalm 13, David cries out, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” (vv. 1-2).

We too can take our confusion and questions to God. He understands when we cry out “How long?” and “Why?” His ultimate answer is given to us in Jesus and His triumph over sin and death.

As we look at the cross and the empty tomb, we gain confidence to trust in God’s “unfailing love” (v. 5) and rejoice in His salvation. Even in the darkest nights, we can “sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to [us]” (v. 6). Through our faith in Christ, He’s forgiven our sins, adopted us as His children, and is accomplishing His eternal good purpose in our lives.

Reflect & Pray

What questions do you need to bring to God? How has He shown His goodness to you, even in your darkest night?

Loving Father, thank You that You care for me. Please help me to trust that You’re making something beautiful of my life.

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer – Why Forgiving Others Is So Important

 

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.

Mark:11:25-26 (AMPC)

One of the greatest reasons why prayer isn’t answered among Christians is unforgiveness. Jesus gave His disciples a command to forgive, and then He told them plainly that if they did not forgive, neither would their Father in heaven forgive them their failings and shortcomings. He was blunt with them, because He knew what a stumbling block unforgiveness would be for their spiritual life.

It is important to note that forgiveness and having faith to move mountains comes in the same context. There is no power in speaking to a mountain if the heart is full of unforgiveness. Yet this problem is rampant among God’s children. If there is anything that will short-circuit God from answering our prayers, it’s a heart full of unforgiveness and bitterness toward others. You can’t go into your prayer closet and expect God to move mountains for you or on behalf of others when you’ve hardened your heart with unforgiveness. Extend abundant mercy and forgiveness just as God forgave you in Christ.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to always remember what it cost You to forgive me, and yet You freely forgave me. I want my heart to be like Yours and to extend mercy to others as well, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum – How much is Mariah Carey paid for one Christmas song?

 

When you read the words, “All I want for Christmas is you,” does the song by that title immediately spring to mind? If so, you’re not alone: the song by Mariah Carey, recorded in 1994, is one of the best-selling Christmas songs of all time. And it earns her an estimated $3.5 to $4 million every year.

Why is it so successful? The answer in part is Carey’s amazing vocals. But another is the theme of the song. In an interview with Good Morning America, she recounted its origin: “I was working on it by myself . . . on this little Casio keyboard and writing down words and thinking about, ‘What do I think of at Christmas? What do I love? What do I want? What do I dream of?’” She added, “My goal was to do something timeless, so it didn’t feel like the ’90s, which is when I wrote it.”

Her lyrics, whimsical as they are, do express something timeless: “Santa Claus won’t make me happy with a toy on Christmas Day,” because “all I want for Christmas is you.”

“The Western world has turned officially crazy”

We are created to want more than the “toys” this world can offer, because we were created for the eternal world to come. That’s why possessions must not possess us, since nothing we can make can fill the “God-shaped emptiness” with which God made us.

Sinners can no more save themselves from sin than drowning people can save themselves from drowning. And our fallen world is far too unpredictable to be a reliable source of stability.

There was a day when people viewed the future as a time of progress and even glamour. Radios and record players brought music into homes that could not afford pianos. Movies offered inexpensive theater tickets. The Model T and its successors afforded ordinary people the kind of personal transportation once reserved for the coach-owning elite. The material abundance of the post-war era brought new suburban homes, televisions, and kitchen gadgets.

That was then, this is now.

Looking ahead to 2050, Pew Research Center found that:

  • 66 percent of Americans think the US economy will be weaker.
  • 71 percent say the US will be less important in the world.
  • 77 percent believe our country will be more divided politically.
  • 81 percent say the gap between the rich and the poor will grow.

From avian flu in California to drought in the Southwest to declining American air superiority in the world to an emerging military threat in Pakistan, today’s news offers no shortage of reasons to fear the future. As one geopolitical analyst wrote recently, “One would be forgiven” for thinking “the Western world has turned officially crazy.”

“A pessimist is never disappointed”

We fear the future in large part because it is, by definition, unknown and unknowable, and we fear what we do not know. Why?

In part, such fear is a primordial survival response—if we anticipate the worst, we think we are better prepared if it happens. “A pessimist is never disappointed,” as the saying goes.

But such fear also says something about our view of God. Most of us believe that he is so omniscient that he knows the future and so omnipotent that he can do what he chooses to do. We’re just not always sure his choices for us are what we would choose for ourselves.

The ancient Greeks and Romans depicted Zeus and their other gods as capricious and unkind, reflecting the world these deities supposedly ruled. Our world is just as fallen and chaotic as theirs, which leads us to wonder if our God is just as capricious and unkind.

This is why Christmas is such good and essential news.

“Perfect love expels all fear”

The next time you wonder if God loves you, remember his decision to send his Son to die for you. Remember his Son’s decision to give up his glory in heaven to take on human flesh so he could die for human sins. Remember the humility of his birth, illustrating the unconditional compassion of his grace.

Scripture declares, “Perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (1 John 4:18 NLT). A. W. Tozer commented:

“Love casts out fear, for when we know we are loved, we are not afraid. Whoever has God’s perfect love, fear is gone out of the universe for him.”

In this light, consider some wisdom from the esteemed Wall Street Journal opinion writer Peggy Noonan. On her recent book tour, she was asked, “Are you an optimist?” Her response:

Optimists tend to think the right, nice thing will happen, and I don’t necessarily. But I have faith and I have hope. Life takes guts. Don’t let all the bad news enter you and steal your peace. Keep the large things in your head. Two millennia ago a baby was born and the whole ridiculous story—the virgin, the husband, the stable, the star—is true, and changed the world. Compared to which our current concerns are nothing.

“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take”

The English poet William Cowper, who struggled mightily with depression and despair, nonetheless pointed the way to the hope we need:

Deep in unsearchable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

What “clouds” will you trust to your loving Lord today?

Tuesday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The great God not only loves his saints, but he loves to love them.” —Jerry Bridges

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise – Prepared for You

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

In context, this wonderful promise may apply specifically to those living believers recognized as “sheep” by Christ when He returns to judge the nations (or “Gentiles”) at the end of the age. For them He has prepared a wonderful kingdom in which they can fully serve their great King here on Earth. The “goats,” on the other hand, will be sent away into “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

But we remember also that the Lord Jesus Christ has also prepared a mansion in heaven for His faithful disciples. “In my Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

He is, even now, preparing for us that glorious place. One day, it will be fully prepared, and we shall see it when He brings it down from heaven, as John did in his great vision. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).

It will, indeed, be a wonderful place of “many mansions,” and John describes some of its beauties in the Bible’s last two chapters. But that is not all. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Therefore, we can say with Paul: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). He has indeed prepared a great eternal future for His redeemed children. HMM

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – “And Every Virtue We Possess”

 

All my fresh springs shall be in Thee. — Psalm 87:7 (PBV)*

Our Lord never patches up our natural virtues, He remakes the whole man on the inside. “Put on the new man” — see that your natural human life puts on the garb that is in keeping with the new life. The life God plants in us develops its own virtues, not the virtues of Adam but of Jesus Christ. Watch how God will wither up your confidence in natural virtues after sanctification, and in any power you have, until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through a drying-up experience!

The sign that God is at work in us is that He corrupts confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but remnants of what God created man to be. We will cling to the natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us into contact with the life of Jesus Christ which can never be described in terms of the natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people in the service of God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them, depending on what they have by the accident of heredity. God does not build up our natural virtues and transfigure them, because our natural virtues can never come anywhere near what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every bit of our bodily life into harmony with the new life which God has put in us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.

“And every virtue we possess
Is His alone.”

*PBV: Prayer Book Version. The Book of Common Prayer for the Church of England includes a translation of the Psalter, or Psalms of David.

Zechariah 13-14; Revelation 21

Wisdom from Oswald

The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham – Why We Have the Bible

 

These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God . . .
—John 20:31

God caused the Bible to be written for the express purpose of revealing to us God’s plan for His redemption. God caused the Book to be written that He might make His everlasting laws clear to His children, and that they might have His great wisdom to guide them, and His great love to comfort them as they make their way through life. For without the Bible this world would indeed be a dark and frightening place, without signpost or beacon. The Bible easily qualifies as the only book in which God’s revelation is contained.

There are many bibles of different religions; there is the Mohammedan Koran, the Buddhist Canon of Sacred Scripture, the Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, and the Brahman Veda . . . They all begin with some flashes of true light, and end in utter darkness. Even the most casual observer soon discovers that the Bible is radically different. It is the only Book that offers redemption to us and points the way out of our dilemma.

Want to read the Bible? Read Billy Graham’s advice on where to start.

Lea este devocional en español en es.billygraham.org.

Prayer for the day

Lord Jesus, as I read Your Word, Your truth shines through and illuminates a dark world.

 

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Guideposts – Devotions for Women – Prepare for a Fresh Start

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!—2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

This time of year is perfect for letting go of past mistakes and regrets. Trust God’s grace and forgiveness, and look forward to the fresh start He offers you. Embrace the opportunity to grow closer to Him and to follow His guidance in your life.

Lord, help me let go of the past and embrace a fresh start.

 

 

https://guideposts.org/daily-devotions/devotions-for-women/devotions-for-faith-prayer-devotions-for-women/

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck -Satan, the Crooked Mechanic

 

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  ––John 8:44

If you’ve ever been ripped off by a dishonest auto mechanic, you know how frustrating and infuriating it can be. $300 for a new “Johnson rod,” only to find out much later that there is no such thing? Yeah, it’s the worst. Satan is a crooked mechanic, always looking to pop the hood of our spiritual lives and mess around. We have titles for the tinkering of Satan and the malfunctions he causes:

Materialism: One who has bad relationships because they worship inanimate objects without souls or emotions. My Mercedes and my money can’t give me a hug, laugh, cry, or be hurt by stupidity. Things are safe to love because they require no character, but unsafe for your soul because they are soulless.

Hedonism: One who has bad relationships because they pimp people, seeing them ultimately as objects of—or a means of—achieving self-gratification. No one I have ever known enjoys being prostituted for someone else’s high. Hedonists love “feelings” or physical sensations or risky behaviors.

Narcissism: One who thinks life’s all about them. They are the god of their life: relational narcissism is an oxymoron. All of their relationships are meant to reflect back on them in a positive way. You can’t be addicted to yourself, your appearance, your titles, and your control over others, and genuinely serve someone else’s needs.

Satan will dress up these rip-offs in powerful ways; he pops the hood and suggests things we don’t need that will give him the profit. He suggests and we buy it. Same ol’ story … remember Eve? Everything we buy begins with thoughts that are suggested under our hoods. Our mind is a wonderful thing when it is properly cared for by the right mechanic.

By the way, I got a guy. Everybody’s got a guy. My guy is the perfect Mechanic because He built my engine.

Father, thank You for the thoughts You provide for me to buy.

 

 

Every Man Ministries