If You Do Not Obey The Voice Of Your Lord

I don’t know how many of you have been attentive to the news, but in the last three months there have been some happenings that should alarm everyone. For those that have not been paying attention to the recent events, allow me to recapitulate what has happened during these last three months that should have everyone alarmed, especially parents.

• August 26, 2006, in Essex, Vermont, a 27 year old man entered an elementary school looking for his ex-girlfriend and shot two teachers; one died and the other was seriously injured. After the incident the police discovered that this man had killed the mother of his ex-girlfriend.

• September 13, 2006, in Montreal, Canada, a 25 year old man entered a college armed with a semiautomatic rifle and began shooting. A young woman, eighteen years old, died and more than one dozen students and faculty were wounded before this man committed suicide.

• September 26, 2006, in Bailey, Colorado, a man between the ages of 30-50 years old entered a high school and took six young girls hostage at gun point. After sexually molesting or abusing the girls, he killed one of them and then committed suicide. It is said that this man had intended to kill all of the girls, but that the fast police action prevented him from doing so.

• September 29, 2006, Cazenovia, Wisconsin, a young man, fifteen years old, entered a high school, armed with a shotgun, and killed the school principal.

• And the most recent occurrence, October 2, 2006, in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, a man 32 years old entered an Amish school, and shot ten girls between the ages of six and thirteen, and later committed suicide. Up till today five of the girls have died.

The experts don’t have a clue as to why these things are occurring, and definitively they can’t explain the meaning behind these dreadful events. All of the experts, that is to say the psychologists, psychiatrists and sociologists are perplexed by these events. And now we must all ask ourselves, how can these things be happening? Something that I have said in numerous occasions is that we are living in very difficult and dangerous times. These incidents that I mentioned are the ones that have received the largest media coverage in recent months, but the reality of it all is that violent and horrific events take place on a daily basis, events that leave us horrified and alarmed. These violent events in the schools have impacted me greatly, and not only because I am a parent, but because I firmly believe that the children and the youth are the future of the church. What is happening is that our youth is being attacked by Satan and his demons more than ever.

Keeping these horrible events in mind, let’s now open our bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 28. In this chapter we find that Moses tells the people of Israel the blessings that they would receive if they remained faithful to God, and we also find that he warns them as to what would happen if they did not. Unfortunately the people did not listen and beginning around 722 B.C., they were conquered and taken into slavery. Although these verses describe events that took place a long time ago, the Word of God is alive, and in these verses will find very well reflected the events of our times, and we will discover the main reason as to why these things are happening.

Deuteronomy 28:15-21 - But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17“Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18“Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 19“Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20“The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. 21The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.

I think that all of us here will agree when I say that the first verse of the scriptures that we are studying today we find the reason as to why things are the way they are now days in our world. The reason is because the vast majority of the human beings, and unfortunately this also includes a large group within the church, have stopped listening to the Word of God completely. And seeing these type of horrific events unfold before our eyes prove beyond any doubt that due to the abundance of evil that exists in this world, this world is experiencing God’s curse. This is something that is also very well reflected in Malachi 2:2 when we read “If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name,” Says the LORD of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.” Please note that this verse also clearly states that if we do not hear His voice, we will be cursed. I firmly believe that the reason why we are seeing God’s curse in the world is because the majority of humanity has stopped listening to His voice. The majority of humanity has exchanged God’s truth for the lies of the devil. And this is something that we were warned about as we find in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 when we read “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” But as the people of God we must stand firmly, now more than ever, in God’s promises and in His Word. We must stand firmly in our faith and we must not compromise our beliefs for anyone or anything. We can not exchange the incorruptible truth of God, because if we do, then we will share the curse that has come to the world. This is something that is very well illustrated in Romans 1:21-25 when we read “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”