“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12 KJV
This week another video went viral on You Tube. This one is 10 minutes and 9 seconds of middle school students cruelly and profanely taunting the bus monitor, an adult, a grandmother, and apparently a gentle and kind woman. It’s difficult to watch. In fact, I did not make it through the entire thing.
It seems everywhere we look today we see violence, cruelty and hatred in one form or another. It’s expressed in situations such as the guy who cuts you off in traffic and shoots you a vulgar gesture as if it were your fault. It’s demonstrated in torment and torture to children and creatures who are wholly defenseless and wholly dependent on the milk of human kindness. It manifests in thievery and murder. It’s certainly expressed in Karen Klein’s experience, documented on a child’s cell phone.
We rightfully observe such goings on with incredulity and outrage. We are stunned by what is happening to our American society. Some years ago the Fields Museum in Chicago hosted an outstanding exhibit on persecution, specifically on the events immediately preceding Germany’s Final Solution. The exhibit concluded with an exhortation to watch for early warning signs of that same spirit, such as, mocking and discrimination. Warning signs clearly manifested in the taunts of those middle school children.
You can visit the Holocaust Museum in Dallas today and listen to recorded testimonies of survivors (one after another after another), all of whom were caught by surprise at the demonic juggernaut that fell upon them, suddenly and frightfully. Is it any wonder the most popular Christian fiction immerses readers in better times and places – Little House on the Prairie times and Andy Griffith Show places? Community was strong and neighbors looked out for one another. Children respected adults.
John the Apostle proclaimed, “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Revelation 12:12) It’s a really good time to be seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, yes? (Ephesians 2:6) Moreover, it’s pretty clear whose agenda we are dealing with in the earth, and it’s not human.
Perhaps there is no other circumstance to which 2 Corinthians 10:4 is more applicable. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (because our enemy is never a man, woman or child). Our weapons are mighty. They pull down strongholds. There is no need to hide, no need to fear. We are armed and dangerous!
What are these weapons? Love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. (Romans 5:20) By mercy and truth iniquity is purged. (Proverbs 16:6) A soft answer turns away wrath. (Proverbs 15:1)
The devil will have his day until he is forever banished to the lake of fire, along with all who consort with him. It’s our job to hold up the light that dispels the darkness. To expose the works of the enemy, as they were exposed at Nuremburg. Even as they were exposed after the bullying of teenagers who should have known better. How many souls might we pull back from the brink if we challenge the darkness? “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter!” (Proverbs 24:11) Let whosoever will repent and be saved. Let him who is evil be evil still.