We are Living Amid the Beginning of Terrible Times

Today, in the United States, some are unaware of where we are living. Concerns over the killing of unborn children, the sadness that biblical marriage is pushed aside in so many ways, not just in the gay community but the many who forgo marriage and simply live together or go from pardner-to-pardner troubles many and should. But there is a deeper darkness spreading among us. A chilling darkness that places us very near the gates of hell. Christ loved us and died for us even when we are sinners—we have forgotten the love and compassion of our Lord. We have forgotten kindness. 

When my husband began his journey downward with Alzheimer’s I did not understand at first his new world. My ignorance too often caused problems. I encouraged him to watch movies and television with me. I had just ordered a movie that as a ten-year-old had begun my journey to Jesus. The movie Quo Vadis is the story of the early Roman Christians and their horrific persecution. As we watched, one of the first big scenes was of Nero’s wife performing a huge pagan rite. My husband got very angry, “this isn’t a Christian movie,” he said. I had to turn it off he didn’t understand the sitting. 

One of the next things we watched was a news program on PBS. There was a segment about how the pythons were taking over the Everglades in Florida. As they showed the huge pythons my husband jumped out of his chair, hid behind it and started throwing pillows at the TV. And then I knew his world was now so different then mine. I needed to protect him from the horrors that frightened him although to me they were not horrors. And such is our world today. Because we belong to a loving, compassionate, forgiving Savior we cannot ignore the pain of the strangers in our midst. They are experiencing horrors that we can only see or read about. 

Yes, some are criminals but most are not. They are being nabbed and carried off to such places as Alligator Alcatraz where both alligators and pythons which roam the outskirts of their prison are not just images on a video. (Every time I have read or seen videos of this detention center, I think of my husband hiding behind his chair.) I hear Trump laughing that the prisoners if they try to escape will need to learn how to zig-zag when running. And Laura Loomer, Trump's confident, suggesting that now the alligators will have at least 65 million dinners. There are 65 million Hispanics in the United States. 

And what I’m trying to say, to write, is that we are living amid the beginning of terrible times. We can live as though nothing’s wrong; we can live as though all of these strangers deserve what is happening to them. But God’s laws and God’s love is greater than any nation and his word is filled with admonitions to care for the stranger, the needy. 

 There is a beautiful scene in the movie Quo Vadis where Peter leaving Rome is stopped by words from Jesus telling him to go back to Rome, “my people in Rome have need of thee.” He will go and die with the Christians in the arena. I believe the Lord wants his people in the United States to care about those who are truly being kidnapped off of the streets, farms and churches and sent away. At least speak up and pray.