How much more must we endure with the evil of death?

The words of the prophets warning God’s people of the certainty that we shall not escape the tenure of evil through suffering and death.

Prophecies express judgments of the people’s moral conduct, on the basis of the Mosaic alliance between God and Israel. They teach sublime truths and lofty morals. In content, the literary genre of prophecy uses warning and threats besides extortion and promises to declare in God’s name events of the near and distant future. (Taken from the introduction to The Prophetic Books.”)

We cannot exclude the oracles and warnings given to the Israeli nation as something long past. God attempted to reach the chosen people via prophets who could reach the ears of a declining people first with a promise of salvation if they would only adhere to his call.

How many times do we need to extort the need of turning away from the evil that confronts all of humanity as the words fall as soon as they are spoken? It is the very same scenario that we who write are reiterating the very quest of reaching those who have fallen away from moral standards and do not promote the respect for life in our society. Of course the element of standing up for the unborn is primary, but the current rise of murders with guns has surpassed any evil since the 1920’s. What is so gruesome is most of these attackers are teenagers as young as 14 years of age. Some may occur among family members but the gang mentality has taken over and we seem to watch copy-cat shootings with no real reason for any of it.

The leaders, (mayors and other officials) have their hands tied. Not because rules and regulations are absent, but how do we control the sale of weapons? The other grim statistic is many of the weapons used come from stolen or hand-me-down guns from gang members. It almost looks like the 1920’s except men are not involved. The children we all cherish and want the best for them have become public enemy number one.

Where is the teaching from parents and/or guardians that should be promoting Christian guidelines and getting these children to church right after baptism and with the parents attending as well?. Is it wrong to stay home on Sundays and show the youth that it’s ok to stay away from God, and blame him for everything that is wrong except to put him down?

Is it any wonder that for children to repeat the Pledge of Allegiance in school is just a way to satisfy some adult’s promotion of something most children do not understand. Removing that alliance has also removed any semblance of God from our knowledge of him. We are raising our youth to carry a gun instead of a bible! It is ok to kill than to pray and find God within us.

There is a monstrous challenge ahead for all of us who promote the rights of all and yet stand like the ostrich with its head in the sand. We can no longer say let someone else take care of it.

Ralph B. Hathaway