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Pastor Letter (March 12, 2021)

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Pastor Letter (March 12, 2021)

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Pastor Letter (March 12, 2021)

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Pastor’s Letter,  March 12, 2021

 

         What Was It Like 60-70 Years Ago?

 

Dick Van Dyke                                                                   Bonanza                                                                                Ozzie &                                                            Mary Tyler Moore                                                                                                                                                               Harriet

        

                The Good Guys Always Won; Bad Guys Always Lost …

                                         and Life Was Less Complicated

If you recognize these programs                                                                                                            then you are a Baby Boomer                                                                                                                                                                                                             and grew up in a less complex world…

      Ricky Nelson was not selling cocaine, Beaver & Wally Cleaver were not gang members in East Los Angeles, Sheriff Andy Griffith was not taking bribes, Jackie Robinson was not on steroids, and Dr. Marcus Welby was never charged with practicing medicine without a license. Neither was Dennis the Menace ever a racist nor Mr. Ed facing tax evasion, nor was Robert Young ever charged with embezzlement at his office. Also Dobie Gillis did not have needles and Captain Kangaroo did not hate kids nor think to steal one.

      Yes, there were problems...but not to the same magnitude as there are now. Society is becoming increasingly dysfunctional. Today’s world is riddled with gargantuan problems  described by such unanticipated new terms such as: “road rage”; “unhinged”; “sleeper cells”; “going postal”; child abuse; child abduction; “rolling blackouts”; “9-11”; and “online porn”. In addition, 60 million abortions have been performed in America. Calls to defund police have led to inner city riots while Americans have gotten accustomed to hearing of indiscriminate shooting sprees taking place in elementary schools, high schools and colleges.

                    One does not have to be a Baby Boomer to understand

                                          

                                        Like A Frog Adjusted to Boiling Water

      There is a major danger that, as people get bombarded with endless false teachings and perverted values, they can become calloused, desensitized, and indifferent. If people in the 1950s could somehow suddenly time travel to 2021, they would be shocked and perhaps horrified to see today’s state of affairs. They would wonder how 60 million American babies were put to death, how the government did not protect its citizens, and how indiscriminate mass murder could all too frequently occur in elementary schools. 

 

 

 

 

 

       Columbine Massacre                             Homeless without Hope                           Insecurity in Portland                                                   

 

Although the love of many waxes cold (II Timothy 3 & Matthew 24:12)  the love of committed Christians must remain hot. It seems that too many are “lukewarm.”

Lukewarmness is an unacceptable compromise between good and bad behavior and likely represents the first step to getting cold. There was a classic assault of a woman in New York City years ago in which an assailant stabbed her almost 100 times until she died on the street. Apparently scores of neighbors in a near-by high rise apartment building heard her screams, yet not a single person called the police for help. Must it be that we have to be in danger before we lift a finger to establish support and concern? It could be easy to retreat from caring as we might try to insulate ourselves from the rest of society but that would be counterproductive to caring for others – at least where it is safe to do so.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                             Like the Frog who died in boiling water

      We dare not lose our spiritual sensitivity  … We dare not become indifferent. Otherwise we could drift into these problems ourselves and become increasingly tolerant of sin. Are we still able to be shocked…and do we sigh and cry for the horrors that evil-minded people propagate? I am reminded of a hardened American soldier in the South Pacific during World War II that saw so much bloodshed and killing that he became inured to basic sensitivity. He recalled eating a lunch while sitting on a dead body that conveniently was located near-by. He had become that calloused. It was years later that he regained his sensitivities as he persisted in asking God to help him develop a caring heart for others.

  Ephesians 4:19 and Ezekiel 9:4 both show that God is looking for Christians with caring hearts. With God’s Holy Spirit, even the most calloused among us can develop a caring heart. We all need to guard our sensitivity regarding what is right and what is wrong.

 

 

Don Knotts                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Andy Griffith                                                                                            

 

 

                                                                       Father Knows Best                                                                                               

             At least in prime time major media markets, programs such as the “Flintstones,” “Father Knows Best,” and “Andy Griffith” might plummet in the Arbitron ratings because they are not lurid enough with diabolical infighting and hatred. Unless Alfalfa, Beaver, or Timmy Martin sold cocaine, got into fights, or stole money, they could never attain high ratings nowadays. The principles brought out in Robert Young’s “Father Knows Best” would  probably be objected to as being politically and socially incorrect. The sad fact is that insensitivity breeds more insensitivity and today’s audiences (as well as today’s lifestyles) suggest that society needs more and more shocking sensationalism to hold peoples’ interest.

      We can’t afford to follow society’s retrogression. We must isolate ourselves from evil. At times like this we need to “remember Lot’s wife” in Genesis 19 whose heart never left degenerate Sodom and who died as a result. During this spring festival season, we need more than ever to protect our sensitivity to sin.

 

Services this week:

FT MYERS     Randy McQuien will be giving the sermon this week.

OCALA     Bob Orosz will be speaking this week.

TALLAHASSEE    I will speak this Sabbath in Tallahassee at 1:30 at the Marriott Hotel (1972 Raymond Diehl Rd. near I-10).

 

 

"Father Knows Best" by pdwroswell is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0"1959 ... Bonanza!" by x-ray delta one is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 "Andy Griffith" by Michael Vance1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0"Don Knotts - with the Andy Griffith TV show - 50s - 60s" by Movie-Fan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet 1954" by Northridge Alumni Bear Facts is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0    "Flintstones' car (ca.300000BC)" by Karwik is license "Boiling The Frog" by purpleslog is licensed under CC BY 2.0under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0     "frog in a pot 1" by jronaldlee is licensed under CC BY 2.0 "The spectre of Columbine is with us still" by Laura Ess is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 "020 Homeless Fisherman" by Jason Fiori is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 "File:Defund the police.jpg" by Taymaz Valley is licensed under CC BY 2.0