Good morning everyone.
I had started last week trying to capture my days in photos to share here and on HighwaysandByways; but then I heard about the Boston Marathon bombings.
Sharing how I spend my days suddenly seemed irrelevant.
Mixed in with my normal activities, my days over the past week and a half have been spent keeping track of Fox News and their coverage of what is happening in Boston, and the debates and arguments that have arisen.
I have bounced back and forth between angry venom and sympathy and horror and deep sadness.
It infuriates me to think of the people that come into this country and take advantage of all of the freedom and amenities that we have here, only to turn around and use it against us.
It infuriates me to think that our government did not keep closer track of the older brother and stop this attack. It makes me even angrier that they are now trying to lie their way out of it and cover up their negligence.
My first response was fury and horror at the brutal attack on the people of Boston. My first thought was “Find whoever did this and make them pay.”
But as I looked at the photos of the younger brother, my heart was filled with a deep sadness for that lost young soul. I asked myself how many times had a younger person followed an older person out of love and loyalty, only to find themselves embroiled in something that made them wish for a second chance?
In an interview on Fox and Friends, Fox News Religion Contributor Father Jonathan Morris wondered whether the younger brother’s involvement stemmed from the fact that there was not enough love in his life. If he had love from another person other than his brother, could they have kept him from such brutal actions?
Questions that echoed what was on my mind.
Was his involvement purely out of loyalty to his older brother or was it motivated simply by an evil intent to hurt others? Only God knows for sure.
Should he pay for killing others with his own life?
Numbers 35 gives more than one example of capital punishment for murdering someone. Deuteronomy 19 explains clearly that if a person lays in wait and rises up against a neighbor and kills him, then the murderer shall be put to death.
That knowledge gave me an answer to my question. My thoughts ran along the lines of “Take his citizenship away and declare him an enemy combatant. Use him as an example to others that come into this country with the sole intent of killing us.”
But then I was reminded of Saul of Tarsus, of his part in Stephen’s stoning and his relentless pursuit of Christians in the book of Acts.
God forgave him. The New Testament if full of how God used Paul to bring sinners to repentance.
Do I think that God could reach the younger brother and use him for good? Yes, He could.
Will He? Only He knows for sure.
Does he deserve God’s mercy?
Do any of us?
I do not know what to pray for, and am relying on the Holy Spirit to give my prayers the right words. But as I write this, I find myself not only praying for the people of Boston who were hurt by this young man’s evil actions; but also for the young man. Not that he will escape justice, but that the Lord work His will into that young life.
And I am continually in prayer for this country that I love.
© Drusilla Mott and https://drusillamott.wordpress.com, 2013
On Faith and Writing 
This is good Drusilla! We received a Word from God in our service this last Sunday morning reminding us to pray for this young man. He will be judged and perhaps put to death for his crimes but much more than his mortal life is on the line now, and God is not willing that any should perish.
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I agree Pastor J. I am glad I am not the only one. I was wondering about putting this on here, not sure how people would react; but I felt the Lord wanted me to post this. If the Lord is talking to us, and we are in agreement, then maybe this young man can be reached for His Kingdom. Keep praying.
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Our thought processes are running along the same lines on this subject. So many influences contributed to the brothers’ lives and their choices, some we many never come to know or even understand. That is where my thinking keeps going, to choices, how we come to them and whether they produce consequences or rewards. As for our country, the answer lies with the people who claim Jesus as their friend… “If MY people who are called by MY name…”
Keep the Faith!
BTW… Frankly, I do not believe the public will ever know the truth behind this tragedy. As you pointed out, our political leadership is practicing self-preservation by attempting to cover its carelessness.
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Agreed, Karin. I don’t think we will ever know the truth. So many trying to protect themselves from any backlash. This country needs to return to the faith it was founded on and let that faith be shown to the world. And we need leaders that will do the same and follow God’s will. God bless.
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Morning
At times like this, we must rest in God’s knowing He, alone, is Almighty and He has a Plan for each of us and the World – keep praying for all involved and Do Not Fear
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Hi Susie. I agree, although lately I seem to find fear of the future sneaking up at various times. Fear for my family, fear for this country.
I keep reminding myself that God is the One in control and nothing is going to happen unless He allows it.
We must rest in the fact that we are in the palm of His hand and it is He that is in control.
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Good thoughts here, Drusilla. I’ve been through some similar processes. I’ve landed in an area where I’m praying for the young man’s soul. I figure there are enough people screaming for his head.
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Hi Jeff. I had that same thought – he has enough people against him and needs someone to pray for him. Yes, what he did was evil; but as I pointed out, not much different than Saul going after the Christians because he hated them for their faith.
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Glad I am not the only one not so filled with hate as to not pray for this young man. I do not believe we know half of what is really behind this, but regardless, this young mad is in the image of Christ as we are and deserves our intercession. Bravo Drusilla!
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Hi Gayle. I am so glad to find so many of a like mind here. I was a little afraid to post this, having read so many thoughts against him, but I am so pleased that I am not alone. I think the Lord must be working in each of us, making us all understand His love for this young man and the fact that He does not want to see him lost. Thank you so much for stopping in with your encouraging thoughts.
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There is so much going on anymore, it is hard to keep up.
To me it is like the birth pangs the Bible speaks of. The contractions sneak up on you slowly…and as time goes on, they become closer together and longer…and more painful. I believe we are feeling the birth pangs, and many of us are befuddled because we weren’t prepared for all of this.
Instead, not knowing really ‘exactly’ how things would happen, we thought we would be rescued immediately before anything bad happened at all, (and, I’m not implying that we still won’t…it’s just that many of us thought we’d escape most all bad things…) Yet here we are..and we don’t know what to do but pray. And in reality, that is what we should do: Repent, Pray, Serve the Lord, Obey, Witness, and no matter what, Praise the Lord.
Ahhhh…the sacrifice of praise. Now we know even more why the Bible calls it the “sacrifice” of praise. It is literally next to impossible to give shouts of joy and admonition when you are upset.
God bless you, Drusilla. This is a well-written, thought-provoking post. I must admit…I struggle to love Muslims. It is sooo hard! My flesh wants to hate them. To me, they are demons in the flesh. I see what they do to innocent people, women, children, babies…such atrocious and horrible things. I ask God to speak to them and to turn their hearts to Jesus..but as I ask, I am gritting my teeth. I hear you!
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I understand Lyn. I have trouble with this also; the same as I have trouble with atheists, liberals that spit on my Savior’s name, and those that practice witchcraft and Satan worship. I get angry when they defile His name and say things against Him, but I am trying hard to understand that God loves them and does not want any of them lost either. It is hard to pray for them knowing their hatred of us, but I also have to remind myself that it is not all Muslims that do such evil, the same as not all Italians are in the Mafia. Each culture and each set of peoples have both good and bad, and we cannot judge all by the actions of the few.
I think that is the lesson I have learned in listening to God’s talking to my soul these past few days. He made me see that young man as one of His creations, deserving of punishment for his crimes, yes; but also offered the same grace and mercy that we have accepted. I just pray that the Lord will put a worker in his path that will talk to him and show him God’s love and forgiveness. In our human minds and hearts we can tell ourselves that he does not deserve it because of what he did; but none of us deserve God’s forgiveness, grace and mercy. Yet we are all offered it – and if we are smart, we accept it.
Thanks for giving me your take on this. I can see that I am not alone in my circling thoughts.
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And yes, I have trouble just the same in all the other areas (atheists, etc) I’ll admit, I have an even more difficult time with lukewarm Christians who chastise other Christians for speaking truth. Whooh! They can make my blood boil and I have to go repent every time! LOL
The ones who know better but are out leading people astray… the ones who call us who speak truth (which is a form of love) hateful…they make me most mad. I’m telling you this just to be open and honest and admit that we all struggle with these things.
I am not justified in these feelings because they are brought about by the flesh..however, do know this. There is a thing called righteous anger..and righteous anger is okay. It is okay to be angry at sin and corruption.. God got angry. Jesus got angry. But there is a fine line.
Want to hear something, though? Out of all the types of people in whom I struggle regarding sin and evil…I hate my own the most! I get more angry at myself when I am caught up in sin and in bondage to something than I do anyone or anything else because I know better.
We all must remind ourselves of the terrible things we’ve done in our lives..whether out of ignorance or purposefully..and yet we were forgiven, At the same time, God knows there are some sins that are just incomprehensible to our minds…and we will ALWAYS struggle with. What He cares about the most is our heart… and that we try with all of our might to please Him.
I’ll add just one more thought. Sorry for going on, btw. Imagine the child these people who do evil were at one time… probably abused mentally, emotionally, physically…condemned from conception! Picture this man as an abused child…spiritually tied up, chained, and tormented even as a little boy. Screaming out inside for help..but no help ever came. And here is..that same boy in an adult boy… his mind crippled and corrupted by his caregivers…. and he knows know different than to hate. Born to hate! Brainwashed! Used, abused and confused. Reminds me of this song:
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Lyn, this is a wake up call to love others as we love ourselves, to lend a hand and give our time and compassion to those in our lives. How can we know whether one of those lost souls will turn against another because of our doing nothing? Thanks for sharing it.
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What I think of is this. When we witness to someone and get rejected..it doesn’t mean that we failed or that our witness failed. Here’s the thing. We have planted a seed. A few weeks later, a few months later, a few years later…MANY years later.. something will happen in that person’s life. They will suffer loss of some sort, or heartache…they will hit rock bottom. At that moment, for whatever reason..that very thing you said will spring forth and take root..it will grow in them.. They will remember it! God will use it to speak to them and bring them to repentance. So let us never think that just because we were rejected that the witness was ineffective. For everything..and I mean EVERYTHING there is a season! Amen?
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You are right, Drusilla! Amen and amen! It is a wake up call to go the extra mile and love others even more than ourselves. Wow…that is very trying! It is hard to love our enemy even less than ourselves…let alone more??? How outrageous! But we are a peculiar people, and we serve an awesomely outrageous God! 😉 Just like the song that is popular now..Jesus in disguise. Let’s all be Jesus in disguise. It’s not easy..in fact, it’s next to impossible! But praise the Lord, with God, ALL things ARE POSSIBLE!
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And I meant adult BODY and Knows NO different..sorry! LOL
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Lyn, I’m glad you brought up the questions about his childhood. I think that those thoughts of his childhood are where my feelings started to change.
All of this has made me also think about the differences in these two “religions”. Here we are, the United States Christians that he targeted, banding together to pray for him. Would any of the radical terrorists pray for us? Don’t think so!
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Amen. A few months ago, I was struggling with anger and hatred toward my two boys’ dad. I said, “Lord, I don’t know how I am supposed to have love for this man who does these things to me!” (we are not together..and he has no respect for me at all. He also is a flaming liberal). Anyhow, the Lord showed me an image of him in a dungeon in chains..and a group of demons were kicking him and beating the living daylights out of him as he screamed in anguish. The Lord revealed to me that this was his spirit. Then the Lord showed me a scenario of him in the flesh answering the door to a couple who came to minister to him. He slammed the door in their face. Then the scene went back to the spirit…in the dungeon…with him screaming, “No! No! No!” in regards to the demons causing him in the flesh to slam the door in the face of the witnesses of Christ.
The Lord said that in spiritual places, he wants rescued..he is in bondage..he is crying out! But the dark forces of evil bind and blind him and keep him in prison. Then the Lord explained, “Every time you feel hatred for him, remember this I have given you.” So the next day after this happened, I came across the below video I will post. I was blown away! The way it starts out is very similar to the vision I had…as if God was confirming Himself to me.
Now, when you watch this video…let us all together in sight of these words and this video imagine the Muslims, the liberals, the communists, the lukewarm, the adulterers, the murderers, the child abusers, alcoholics…everyone. Let’s all imagine these people..
Even though what they do to us is a living hell at the moment..it is only for a short, temporary time…our eternity will be a most unimaginably wonderful one in heaven! But their eternity will forever be in extreme, excruciating torment in the pits of hell..far worse than whatever thing they did on this earth. So let us agree for a miracle..for their salvation! For a great awakening of the Holy Spirit and an outpouring on all flesh! We are more than conquerors…we must conqueror hell in this world… and hell is IN these people..but praise God…we’re going to agree for the hell to come out and Jesus to enter in. Amen?
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Jesus died for the murderer! The pornographer! The Muslim! The godless! The child abuser! The thief! He died so they could REPENT and be forgiven. He died for what sin took away so everyone who called upon the name of Jesus could be clean enough to kneel in the presence of God. But first, everyone must repent. In order to bring a spirit of repentance, we’re going to have to put on our armor, take up our sword, and fearlessly fight the devil! They lift their sword to remove our physical flesh… we lift up our swords to remove their fleshly bondage! And in Christ, we reign victorious over all powers of hell! So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light! Let us shine before the eyes of all men..and blind the devil!
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Amen Lyn. Thank you for sharing the videos and for sharing your thoughts on all of this. God bless.
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You are welcome. Sorry for posting so much and taking up so much space! God bless you, I don’t know how to say things simply some times! LOL Well, most of the time!
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“This little light of mine…” is what sings through my mind while reading through these comments/replies. The difference between a relationship with the Person of Jesus and other religions is pushing aside the human emotion to see things through His eyes, to shine His light of love in the darkness.
Keept he Faith!
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Exactly, Karin. It is a lifelong lesson that I am learning and improving on daily. Thanks for the thought.
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Very honest and thoughtful post, my friend.
I join you, praying with a broken-heart.
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Thank you Debbie. This whole month has been full of heartbreak, and sorrow for this country, and for the world. Praying for you and Heidi during the rain and flooding in TX. God bless.
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Lanza, 24, seemed unaware that his younger brother, Adam Lanza, had gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown before taking his own life.
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Thank you Kelli for stopping in to share your thoughts on these tragedies.
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