Posted by Jaypeeto on March 21, 1999 at 10:39:51 {MWfZlKV6ncg82}:
In Reply to: Realization posted by Rick on March 20, 1999 at 22:33:05:
Your comments:
"They are the ones I dearly look forward to seeing God kill at Armageddon
as he has promised."
Rick, have you prayed for God to enlighten these peoples' hearts and minds, before praying for or desiring for God to KILL THEM AT ARMAGEDDON??
Remember, Rick,
"there BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD, go YOU (RICK)."
You complain rightly about the corporations ruining the environment, etc., but do you, personally, BUY THEIR PRODUCTS if you don't absolutely NEED to? Do you WALK to 7-11 to get that extra half-gallon of milk, or do you take the car when it's only three blocks away and it isn't raining?
I'm not outraged by your sentiments against evil at all. I share them, but I try to keep them in check, balanced by the realization that I, too, am a seriously sinful human being, and would be much MORE sinful were it not for the grace available through fervent and PERSISTENT prayer, not only on my own behalf, but also by asking my friends to pray FOR me.
Rick, your anger is quite natural and understandable, but it isn't tempered by grace, as is shown here in this comment:
" I'm talking about those greedy, self-serving individuals who have
turned this world into a pitiful failure. Those who murder others in the
name of all sorts of justified reasons. Those who rape women and
children. Those who destroy lives pushing drugs. Those who exploit third
world
countries for economic gains. Those who ruin the environment for
future generations. Those who murder children and even the helpless
disabled if that's what it takes to cover their error or further their
cause. Will I feel
sorry when God puts them to death, or sorry they
might not receive a resurrection? NO. I will feel no remorseful than,
for example, a man who sees the murderer of his parents in cold blood in
a robbery put to death in the
electric chair or by lethal injection. Why
would anyone mourn the deaths of those who hate them and take pleasure
in bringing others suffering and death?"
----- Again, perfectly understandable sentiments, but kindly remember the People Of Ninevah in the biblical account of JONAH. These were regarded by the Israelites as the most VILE OF THE VILE. People who regularly committed a lot of the evil things you describe. Jonah was livid when they repented and God spared them. God had to put Jonah in his place.
And lets not forget King Manasseh, either, one of the most malicious of all the Kings who have ever sat on an earthly throne. For forty years this man ruled as a diabolical, murderous,
self-aggrandizing WRETCH. Yet, by grace, after he had been brought to his senses by CALAMITY,
the man----surprise!!!---repented, and God not only forgave him, he restored him to his throne.
Had you lived during those PRE-REPENTANCE
days of Manasseh's kingship, would you have been hoping for the man's repentance? Or trying to dodge his blade? Probably the latter, and with good reason!
We have to pray for evil people, Rick, because we too are very prone to these
very same sins.
There but for the mysterious and sometimes not-even-recognized-for-what-it-is "grace of God," goes all of us.
Best to you,
Jaypeeto :)