Maslows Heirarchy of Needs

The other day I found myself in a high school health classroom.  On the board was a triangle divided into some parts and each one was labeled with different various things.  This Triangle was labeled as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  It looked similar to this following illustration.

Abraham Maslow was a Psychologist who became known for this Hierarchy of needs,  a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Maslow was a humanist.  In 1963 he was nominated for president of Association for Humanistic Psychology at its founding meeting.  in 1967 Maslow was named humanist of the year.


Humanism is a philosophy, or world view, based on belief in the dignity of human beings, informed by science, and motivated by human hope and human compassion.   Humanistic psychologists believe that every person has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential, to reach a level of "self-actualization".
 

Self-actualization involves fulfilling your human potential and becoming all that you can be.  The focus is on the self.  It is about advancing the human race, intellectually and evolutionally through the perfection of self and raising oneself into the state of self actualization to best benefit human kind.  The Hierarchy to achieve this is all about meeting ones own personal needs and developing those to a point of fulfillment.


If that sounds a bit religious, it is.  Many religions, especially the eastern religions are all about the self disciplines to achieve an ultimate human state.  Some would call it Nirvana, and others would call it something else.  Peoples of India actually believe that you can work on your perfection over many lifetimes until you reach that ultimate human goal.  Whether it is self actualization, self awareness, achieving nirvana, or whatever you call it, self is the main focal point.


Christianity is unique among the belief systems of the world in that it does not teach anything about the self.  In fact, it says the self can do nothing.  While the Humanist believes that self actualization comes through the meeting of personal needs on various levels to attain self actualization to then reach out to others, Christianity says that we are to set our own personal needs to the side, and focus on Jesus Christ and surrender to His will and He will then use us as an extension of himself to reach others, not to have a better life in this world, but to have eternal life in Heaven with our creator.


Let's take a little look at the Hierarchy of needs and compare them with scripture.


First off, at the foundation of Maslows humanist theory, a person has to meet their basic needs; food, clothing, shelter.  As the theory goes, if your basic needs are not met, you cannot advance and be any success in any higher levels of understanding.  In Christianity, Jesus teaches us just the opposite.  Matthew 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  He concludes by saying, 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Immediately we see the foundational difference right off the bat.  Humanists say my own needs are preeminent, where Christ says He is first.  1 Corinthians 3:11 No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.


Second on the Maslow hierarchy is safety and security.  The personal safety and security is in making sure that the personal physical needs are to be met without worry.  If you can have a stable secure source to meet your basic needs, only then can you move on.  Again, this is all about self, and securing material needs in physical ways.  It could be considered that this is the level at which a gold digger operates.  They want to gain enough security and stability to meet their wants and needs through marrying into enough finances to secure those personal needs.  Christianity again is just the opposite.  God makes no promises to the believer about personal safety or security.  In fact, persecution is promised.  2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.  But, Christians don't find their safety and security in physical things.  Again, it is found in Jesus, and it comes despite what is happening to us physically.  Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Maslow says that once we have our physical needs met, and have secured them and feel safe that we have them, then we can move along to personal relationships, friendships, love interests, family, and the like.  Others come in third behind our own personal needs, and are in fact only meant as a means to meet our personal needs for relationships.  The argument would be that good relationships cannot be had or maintained if we have not met our needs and feel safe that we will have those needs met continually.  Christianity again, looks to Jesus.  It is only through the Holy Spirit He gives at salvation that gives us the capacity for true love.  If we have Jesus as our foundation in all things, we find that the love He gives will lead us to meed the basic needs of others even at our own expense.  Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) takes the focus off meeting our own needs and places it on doing for others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:31).  Because we know God meets all of our needs through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), we can then go about meeting the needs of others.  Our relationship is with Jesus, who leads us to love others the way He loved us (John 15:12).


Next on Maslows Hierarchy is Esteem.  When our needs our met, and secured, and we have good relationships, we can then start feeling good about ourselves.  This here is really about pride.  You become proud that you have met and secured those needs, have stable relationships, and have accomplished things in life.  You are now a self made person who has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made a name for yourself.  Hard for others to speak ill of you when you have accomplished so much.  Again, The Bible says just the opposite.  Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.  For the Christian, all personal achievements in life are counted as nothing.  We know that pride comes before a fall (proverbs 16:18).  Mark 7:21-23 lists pride as part of the evil things that defile a man.


At the top of the Maslow Hierarchy is self actualization, the successful human being.  Everything along the way, physical needs, security, good relationships, positive self esteem, are all tools to be used along the way to reach the highest state of human person-hood, the alpha being.  It is all about me.  Jesus tells a story about such a man who had reached self actualization.  Like 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  Here, self actualization is put into perspective.  All that we can gain or do or achieve in this life is a big nothing.  James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.


1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.


Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.


These are the things they are teaching our children.  The religion of Secular Humanism, man without God, is what is being taught our children.  Then people want to wonder what is wrong with this nation and why we are no longer the great nation we once were.  Well, everyone is to busy being taught to look out for number one, themselves, instead of looking out for each other as God teaches.  We are taught that we can ourselves become a self actualized being instead of being taught that we are sinners in need of a savior, Jesus Christ.  Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?



Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

14 Short Years

It's been 14 years since that awful day when terror struck our shores.  The memory of that day has become bittersweet when I look around and see what has happened in our country since that day.  Rather than being a rallying cry that brings us together, the effects have ripped us apart and caused us to turn against each other and against the very principles that our nation was founded upon.  Not that we were not already heading in that direction, but the rapid acceleration since that day has been staggering.  While we saw the towers crumble into a pile of dust in seconds, the nation has been crumbling into a pile a dust in the years since.


Who would have ever thought that those who we honored as heroes on 9/11 would now be looked at with such disdain and be targets for assassination in our cites.  At the same time who would have thought that they would have been transformed from  people who protect and serve our communities into a branch of our military force being used against us to prevent such horrible crimes such as organic farming or home schooling.


Who would have thought that our government would turn to spying on its own citizens or groping grandma's at the airport?  Who would have thought we would be flying drones over our citizens for law enforcement purposes?  Who would have thought that we would have to prove our citizenship to drive a truck?  Who would have thought that people would have to censor their own words for fear of losing their jobs?  Who would have thought that we would be jailing people for their religious beliefs?  Who would have thought that we would be so angrily divided as a people?  Who would have thought that we could pass a law to force people to buy something?  Who would have thought that an open socialist could be running for president and have any kind up support at all?  Who would have thought that the racial divide would spread further apart instead of coming together?


There are so many more "who would have thoughts" that I could list.  I could fill a whole paper with those questions.  It's a day I look at and think that it should have brought us together and turned us back towards God, that has instead caused us to defiantly turn our backs on him to the point where we now consider sin to be a good, and belief in him something worth being jailed for.


Our current administration has stopped our war against the folks who perpetrated the horrible attacks against us and have taken actions that have actually helped our enemies advance and grow.  We are making deals with  nations that want to destroy us and arming groups whose goal it is to overthrow us.  The war that came to our shores on 9/11 2001 has not ended and our enemies will continue to try and achieve their goal of world domination and every human being subject to sharia law.  Imagine the irony that we now fund this.


We lost thousands of lives on that day, and thousands more since with countless thousands maimed trying to put an end to this, only to now see us cowering in fear if we even make a cartoon, cowering in fear if we say no to  Muslims practice, cowering in fear to speak against them.  We have people who call others bigots for speaking up against Islam, but those same people who call others bigots think nothing of hating on Christians, taking away their businesses, fining them, jailing them, telling them they can no longer hold certain jobs.  Is this how we are honoring our fallen?


We lost a lot more on 9/11 than just those few thousand lives.  We have lost our way

A Dividing Line

A couple of months ago I started to notice something....  I wasn't sure what it was at the time.  As time has gone by it has been coming more and more into focus.  At first I thought it was just me.  Am I the only one noticing these things?  Or am I just viewing things differently now?  I realized that I was not the only one noticing these things.  Also I think in part that God is continuing to change me and mold me more and more into the likeness of His son.  What I was noticing were things happening and changing across society at large and things being exposed that were once hidden.  All of these things pertained to how we viewed God and whether we were submitted to His will and not our own.


The release of the abortion videos has frighteningly been largely a ho hum for many.  Most people who support abortion have not even bothered to watch them and think they are just conspiratorial lies.  Christians mostly have been totally appalled at the depth of the depravity to which we have fallen.  Unfortunately there seem to be some Christians who fall into the former group and not the latter.  It has further divided people and made harder their positions in most cases.  It is a situation that God cares a great deal about, and has judged nations over.


Then we had Donald Trump come on the scene.  His big entrance included some strong words on immigration.  People have further divided on this issue, but in this instance, it seems to have made people reverse course and go against what they had previously supported.  It also revealed more openly the hatred people hold in their heart for those who differ with them.  People have had horrible and yet superficial reactions to Trump.  He's just the facilitator as that would have come out at some point anyway, and has.  Whether people realize it or not, how we treat foreigners, strangers, and immigrants is very important to God.  I don't think either side has even considered that, nor when confronted with it seem to care very much.  Again, this was just another point exposed where people had to make a choice.  This too is an area where God has judged nations over. 


We had the gay marriage ruling in June that has now come to the point where the government is now jailing Christians for their beliefs in God.  This was a day long warned about but that most people felt assured would never come about.  How is two same sex people getting married supposed to affect anyone else?  It's their private business.  Except now we have Christians having their businesses, homes, livelihoods, and now even their freedom taken away as a result of this ruling.  This subject is even splitting the church as some denominations have become false religions that seem more interested in the lust of the flesh than the will of God.  It has completely finished removing us from our foundations on Godly principles with the judge jailing the clerk for her faith saying that it would be a bad precedent to allow Gods law to supersede the will of the court.  So we now have it declared that Government is above God.  Problem is, people are buying that argument.  Not surprising though since we are now in the 3rd full generation raised without the Bible or prayers being taught that we are just animals that sprang up accidentally from some prehistoric soup cocktail. 


Now more than ever before I feel this next election is not just about who our next leaders will be, but about whether we will accept or reject God.  Frankly, I think it is our last chance based on what I am seeing with God exposing all of the evils for everyone to see and forcing people to take a stand one way or another, for or against Yahweh. 


The silence of the Christian too may be seen as complicity in these things as well.  We not only have to just give lip service to our convictions in the Lord, but also stand up for what we believe with actions.  We need to speak out what we believe to a lost and crumbling nation.  We need to not fear what they may say or do to us, for if God be for us, who can be against us?  Now more than ever we need to be obedient to the word of God and set the example for others, even if it means jail or worse.  Again I hearken back to Esther, who knows if we were not put here for a time such as this?


The agenda of the evil one has been laid bare.  We have been given notice.  Choose this day who you are going to serve.  Will it be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of the universe?  Or will you reject that path and take your own route or that of another god?  Wide is the path that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads to life.  Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life.  no man comes to the father but by me.  You show that be being obedient to Him.  Jesus also says, if you love me, keep my commandments, not do as thou wilt.  


Judgment is coming.  God is still in control.  At this very moment He is working in the world and preparing His way.  We are either for him or against him.  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.  We ought to obey God rather than men.

Exposure

Is it just me or are have we been seeing a lot of things exposed recently.  Most recently we are seeing two major things exposed.  We are seeing a political party exposed and we are seeing the exposure of the abortion practice. 


In the political world, the Donald has been used to expose the Republican party, FOX News, and the "conservative" world.  We can see on full display how the republican establishment goes about choosing one of their own and doing what it can to grease the wheels for them, and how vicious and mean spirited they can be when someone like Trump crashes their party and doesn't play by their rules.  They have been out to get him, and it was none the more obvious then in the debate. 


I have been a bit naive in the past that the republican party should be one where freedom is expected, and ideas welcomed.  Trumps candidacy is showing otherwise.  Yes, we have seen it slowly rearing its head since the last mid terms where the "establishment" seized power and drove out those nasty freedom loving tea partiers so they could get on with the business as usual in DC of ignoring the public and working side by side with democrats to undermine the will of the people.  But this early on presidential run has proven, out in the open, the republicans disdain for anyone not in their exclusive little republican club.  They think they are right and special because of the R by their name and how dare anyone challenge them.  They show nthat they will use any dorty trick they can to destroy another fellow republican who doesn't tow the line. 


The other issue that has been exposed the last couple months is the absolute horror and evil that has been operating in the abortion industry hiding under the positive guise as "womens health".  The absolute ghoulish and cavalier way that these folks talk about procedures to kill babies in such a way as to customize the haversting of human organs (which is againt the law).  I can't find the words to describe how this sickens and saddens me.  And to think this rotten practice has been going on hidden in the shadows for all these years....


There is a relation here.  We have seen now how the republican party uses this disgusting practice as a political ploy to get votes.  The establishment republicans who run congress have their little vote so they can say they are gainst abortion, while at the same time still allow it to go on.  We couldn't get the votes, you know, the rules...  Except that they can make their own voting rules and could stop it if they wanted.  We saw Mitch McConnel using the abortion issue as a tool to punish Ted Cruz for calling out the leader as the liar he is.  How can you toy with the murder of innocent babies just to make a political point and punish a fellow party member.  Doesn't saving lives take precedent to any of that?


And this takes us back to the original point, that the party is being exposed for who they truly are; democrat lite.  The democrats had come out of the closet at the onset of the Obama Presidency and are now openly statist and anti constitution.  they make no bones about it.  Now the Republicans too are being exposed as being not all that different.  They disdain those who truly love freedom and want us to return to constitutionality.  It eats away their power.


My other thoughts on all the exposures over the last decade or two, including things like molestation in the Catholic church, and how gay issue has exposed denominations, and other issues too, is this; with the exposure, it makes people responsible.  With the knowledge of what is going on, it makes people have to react to it.  When you don't react, you become complicit in the wrongdoings.  You become hard hearted towards wrong.  Judgment will be coming after exposure.  How that plays out will depend on how we react to these things. 

I Won't Tolerate Intolerance

Tolerance:  the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with ~Oxford dictionary


This word people on the left like to throw around when Bible believers point out what Jehova has said in His word.  They use it as a bludgeon to try and beat down what God has said.  Those who use the word do not practice what it says as they don't put up with dissent or allow other opinions and behaviors they do not agree with.  It is a hypocritical double standard.


One of the arguments they use is that Christianity teaches tolerance; that Jesus himself does so.  Is this true?   Does God tolerate sin?  Let us take a look.


The bible quotes Jesus, John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  Is this a tolerant saying?  Is Jesus here allowing for any other belief, or opinion on how to get to the Father?  I think not.


When Jesus confronts the pharisees, is he tolerant of their actions?  Mathew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?


Seems to me that Jesus, by action, thought, or word lays it out that He expects that there is only one way and that no other way is tolerable.  We cannot get to heaven through Mohamed, Buddha, our own good deeds, or any other way.  The ONLY way that we can be saved from our sins is through Jesus Christ.  Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.


The other argument that those on the left give in response to this is that Christianity is hate because it does not allow for other views.  The odd part about that argument is that the left itself does not tolerate Christian views.  Christianity is barred from being taught in schools.  Its symbols are barred from public display.  It's practices are being increasingly criminalized.  Again the left hypocritically does not practice what they preach.  What the left calls hate, is actually what the Bible calls love.


John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.


The same Chapter goes on to explain why so many reject Jesus as a symbol and embodiment of love and acceptance.
 

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.


For a variety of reasons, people reject the notion that, Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  They do not want to recognize that what they do is sin, therefore they hate the light.  Yet, somehow, they want to turn that around to say that Christianity is hate when the exact opposite is true.  Jesus came to give us all life, and life eternal, but what they can't deal with is having to do it Gods way.


We as believer try to tell people what is going to happen for their rejection and we are called the haters.  How can we hate someone that we care for so much that we are willing to share with them the way to avoid eternal punishment?  How can it be hate to want what is good for others?  The bible describes this too.  Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  They reverse the order.


So the questionis, is God tolerant?  No.  God will not accept evil.  God will not accept sin. 
Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.


But that does not mean he hates people.  He loves them enough to give them a way of forgiveness.  He loves them enough to send his followers out to tell them the good news.  Yet these same folks who claim to be so tolerant can't stand this notion and do everything in their power to stamp it out so they can continue to live a sinful lifestyle apart from God.


Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,


As much as people like to complicate things, a simple line really says it all.  Matthew 12:30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

A Time Such As This

Esther 4:14
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?


The story of Esther is one of the most dramatic books in all of scripture.  The story of  Jewish girl taken by force to be part of the Kings harem to choose a new bride from who is chosen to be queen.  Dire circumstances fell and increased government persecution of Gods people came to a boiling point when a descendent of a former enemy of the Jews gains power and influence and tries to have all the Jews put to death.  Esther must then use her position, defy the formal protocols of the land, possible facing death as a result to stand up and make it be known to the king exactly what was up.


The above verse came at the time when she was being asked to stand up for Gods people and proclaim the truth, even if it meant her demise.  We today are facing hard times.  While we are not yet at the point of being annihilated, we are at the point of having our ability to live and express our faith openly taken away.  The full force of government is being used to try and make us go against our God with the threat of loss of property, livelihood, family.  We are regularly ridiculed and lied about, demonized by those who wish to silence us.


Looming in the backdrop of all this is an old enemy of Christendom; Islam.  For 1400 years those who follow Mohamed have been venturing on a quest for world domination and the extermination of Christians and Jews.  Unbelievers here side with them and give them favored status, while attacking and removing all symbols and remembrances of Christendom from our national memory. 


In modern memory we can still look back and see what happened in Germany to the Jews and see very eerie similarities to what is starting to take place in the US.  The German government too gave favored status to Muslims while attacking and removing anything Jewish from German memory.  They, like has begun here, were being made as the scapegoats.  All that was wrong could be placed squarely on Gods people and if only they were not there, we could evolve into the great human utopian era. 


Now is the time for believers to stand up and proclaim the truth of God to the nation and to the world.  It is time we stand up and live our beliefs faithfully and recommit ourselves to do that which God wills us to do.  It is time to stand up and call out the evildoers and expose what they are doing.  For if we remain silent at this time, God will raise up those voices elsewhere and we will not be spared.  Who knows whether we have been placed here for a time such as this?

Sexual Misconduct

Luke 8:17 For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.


This verse has been so true.  How many times have we seen dark hidden scandals come to light in recent years.  Somehow, they all seem to revolve around sex in some way.  If there seems to be one gotcha thing, sex seems to be the one temptation that befuddles many and brings the mighty down low.


There are two high profile cases in the news right now.  We have Denny Hastert who seemed to be one of the only squeeky clean politicians who we find out has been secretly paying to keep quiet homosexual encounters with former underage students when he was a high school wrestling coach.  Then we have the Duggars who has a child who while still a child molested his younger siblings.  Locally we had a high school swim coach having a lesbian affair with a student, and a custodian who was accused of assaulting an underage girl.  Even a local youth pastor was caught with child porn in his computer.  It seems to be everywhere.  Go look on any sex offender list and you will be shocked how many are right in your neighborhood. 


It is not really new though, but over the last years has really had some spotlight cases.  Tonight, as an oddity, and could seem almost intentional by the DJ, the radio station right after news about Hastert played the molester Michael Jacksons PYT (pretty young thing) which now really has a sick connotation knowing what we know now about the Jackster.  Recently we found out about sex island where underage girls were trafficked for the pleasure of the rich and famous.  We had the assistant to one of the most famous football coaches ever, Joe Paterno, who was found to have been molesting boys right on the campus of Penn State and everyone seemed to have a blind eye to it.  We of course know about the Catholic Church and its scandals with homosexual pedophiles.
 

Seems to me it was a part of the "sexual revolution".  I remember watching a late 60s movie starring William Holden who played an old rich widow who took up with an underage teen hippie.  In the end of the movie, he decides that love is love and it is OK and beautiful as he knowingly commits statutory rape.  You had Buddy Holly who married his 13 year old cousin.  Songs on the radio about "Sweet 16" and "Young Girl" as well as others skirted the idea of sexual relations between adults and underage girls.  It's always been a wink and a nod as girls as young as 12 are allowed backstage to have sex with rock stars.



2 Tim 3:13 tells us about these things when it says. "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."  That has been pretty much all I have seen since the first Catholic pedophile story broke and all of these evil deeds began to be brought to light over the years.  Our morality is degenerating to where folks thing they can get away with and even in cases celebrate their perversions.  Groups like NAMBLA are now seeking normalcy on par with what the homosexuals have done in their war on sexual morals. 


Many of these predators are imposters who pose themselves as persons of good report who can be trusted, and in the end do untold damage not just to themselves but to entire organizations, groups, religions, and the like.  They are doing the Devils work in making a mockery of the word of God and His standards by posing as an angel of light and doing dark and dirty deeds behind closed doors in the secrecy of darkness. 


Each time one of these cases arises, I can hear the anger and hurt in the responses of folks who have been victims of these activities.  They lash out, seeking to avenge their pain on others.  The cycle of hurt and heartache can last into future generations.  There is only one cure for this.  Jesus Christ. 


It saddens me to think how many folks will reject the one who can heal all of their pain from being victimized by these predators because they posed themselves as representatives of Jesus to be able to get that access.  I've seen this especially with the Duggar case where folks are lashing out against Christianity and acting with hatred towards God, not understanding that what happened was against what God says and wants.


Psalms 34:18 says, The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  God wants to heal your wounds.  If you have been hurt by abuse in any way, God knows and He cares.  He wants and desires for you to turn to Him.  He can wash that pain away.  He can teach you to forgive.  He can replace the pain with love and tear down those protective walls and set you free from your anguish.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  Whosoever the Lord sets free is free indeed.