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[Dennis Vogel]

Getting ready to have two Thanksgiving dinners today.

Maybe after Thanksgiving and if you have some time to kill, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4OmcKddq8s

North Korea is the most miserable place on the planet (IMO).

[Craig]

These are very good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSrcLC6Zz54&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb8wIToRyUY&feature=relmfu

[Joel]

I was thinking today about Thanksgiving, and remembered how Ray talked about falling asleep at night thanking The Lord for everything that came to mind.
Then a scripture in Deuteronomy came to mind, where God is talking about blessings and curses.
Deuteronomy 28:47
Because thou severest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

I shouldn't always go to God in prayer asking for something. But pray with a spirit of thankfulness for all the good things he has already done.

Joel

[ez2u]

this is so terrible and what can be done and why are these things going on its so very hard to understand such evil

[Dennis Vogel]

The insane evil in this world is something Ray and I talked about many times.

Neither of us understood why it has to be so bad. But it is what it is.

[Gina]

You know how Ray pointed out that we don't know what up is unless we've been down.  And we don't know peace, unless we've experienced war.  We don't appreciate health until we've been sick, and riches until we've been poor.

The evil really is bad -- it's really low down.  And it scares the living you know what out of me to think that there are people in the world that don't give a rat's poh-poh about others. 

I like to think that the goodness of God is as "high" as evil is "low."  You know what I'm saying?  Like, as far "gone" as some people's minds and deeds are, is how right and good God's ways are. 

Let's say we only experienced a little bit of evil or wickedness, well then God would only have to show us a little bit of goodness and peace -- because that's all it would take to balance things out-- how exciting and awesome would that be?  Not very. 

But if we want to see how truly awesome and loving God really is and can be, we need something really grotesque to compare it to.  Or. something. like. that... 

And the darkest hour is just before dawn....

Johannesburg - Kevin Carter, the South African photographer whose image of a starving Sudanese toddler stalked by a vulture won him a Pulitzer Prize this year, was found dead on Wednesday night, apparently a suicide, police said yesterday.  He was 33.  The police said Mr Carter's body and several letters to friends and family were discovered in his pick-up truck, parked in a Johannesburg suburb.  An inquest showed that he had died of carbon monoxide poisoning




His picture of an emaciated girl collapsing on the way to a feeding centre, as a plump vulture lurked in the background, was published first in The New York Times and The Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg weekly.  The reaction to the picture was so strong that The New York Times published an unusual editor's note on the fate of the girl.  Mr Carter said she resumed her trek to the feeding centre.  He chased away the vulture.

Source:  http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/ultimate_in_unfair.htm

Instead of helping the little girl he took time to set up his camera equipment  and get just the right angle while that little girl struggled to get food with that vulture waiting for her death. 

The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.

[cjwood]

Damn.  Just heartbreakimg gina.  I was wondering why the photographer didn't pick up that child and carry her to the feeding center.  Surely such tragedy will be replaced with a joy and comfort that is unimaginable to us now.  Surely.  Come Lord Jesus.  Come quickly.   

claudia

[Gina]

Well, my thoughts on the picture were also that he should have helped that starving child.  But then...

I read the rest of the article and I came to the conclusion:  there, but for the grace of God, go I. 

Upon further reflection, I realized the photographer was not hoping the child would die, he didn't starve that child in order to get the shoot.  He was in fact exposing famine in such a way that it would shock people and make them take notice.   Someone commented on that picture article that the child and the photographer were alike in that they were both starving and on their way out.  Both had vultures on their backs.

I know we're supposed to judge ourselves -- as judgment is on the house of God now.  I apologize if my post in anyway sounded condemning towards that photographer.  I admit I was very angered by that photograph at first and didn't mind that he was haunted by his work and that's why he ended up taking his own life.  I even wondered why he didn't just find a different line of work.  But the same can be said of many of us.

Passing judgment:  easy. 
Doing the right thing:  not so easy.
The flesh is weak.

[Rhys 🕊]

Wow that's a powerful picture Gina, actually moved me to tears as never seen it before. I was thinking about your comments in another post about loving one another and how it covers a multitude of sins. Made me think of the plight of many around us with there issues not being as obvious as this but we often don't know what is going on inside others and a bit of love can go along way. Is something I need to focus on more instead of letting all of the stuff in life get in the way.

I can understand your anger. I myself just want to pick up the child and get help as soon as possible. God had his reason for him to take the picture and I think he did what he had to do.

Excellent line by the way:

Passing judgment:  easy. 
Doing the right thing:  not so easy.
The flesh is weak.

Well praise God as with every person God has made, that child will be just fine in the age to come.

Blessings to each one.

Rhys

[zvezda]

if there's extreme evil, then there should be extreme good, right?

one thing i don't understand is that why's God dragging it for so long.

Job's trials only lasted a couple of weeks, but those poor kids have been suffering for many years and probably many more years to come.

it reminds me of another thread not long ago:
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,14633.0.html

sure, we know we will be all in all eventually, but the key point is: it seems like a million years away...  

[ez2u]

ignorance is blessed  what can we really do to make a difference in this evil world?  only what the Lord tells us to do.  I remember hearing Ray in his audio's talk a little about the insanity of this world.  It seems a long road at times this world we are traveling in 

[acomplishedartis]

I believe that watching this contrasts with the right perspective and context can be able to personally bring us many positive outcomes (compassion, thankfulness, patience, etc...).

One bad perspective that is usually common when knowing about hard trials that we haven't experienced ourselves, is to feel very astonished and worry regarding situations where we personally doesn't have much say or blame.

If, the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of justice and righteousness, thou see in the province, do not be astonished over the matter,—for, ONE HIGH ABOVE THE HIGHEST, IS WATCHING, YEA, THE MOST HIGH, IS OVER THEM. (Ec. 5:

Is good to remember that in the spiritual throne of judgment we are all going to be judged in according to our deeds. We are NOT to be judged by groups; as a family, as a local church, as a country or as members of the world community, No, THE JUDGING IS GOING TO BE INDIVIDUAL and nobody is going to give the face for the mistakes of others:

‘‘And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and, death and hades, gave up the dead that were in them; and THEY WERE JUDGED, EACH ONE, ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.’’ (Revelation 20:13)

Evaluation by groups would not be fare because no one think exactly equally to anybody else. Everything that we do willingly come out of our heart, so God surely will take in accounts our intentions and motivations.

The more we advance trough this issues; it seems to me that the main issue to resolve in us humans becomes more and more of a spiritual nature.

[Craig]

The more we advance trough this issues; it seems to me that the main issue to resolve in us humans becomes more and more of a spiritual nature.

Hmmm....."for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."

Craig

[Kat]

Well the only way that I do not constantly dispair with all the wickedness and evil that is in this present age is by the knowledge of the truth. I know that right now we see only this part of an extensive plan, obviously the worse of it and can not imagine how He is going to reconcile all of this. So I believe we judge God as being too harsh, because we cannot see how all this will be put right. But God has it already worked out, no matter how much or how long somebody has suffered, our God will have justice for all... we have to trust in that.

So even in the face of so much evil, God already has something in store for every single person to satisfy what they have to go throught in this life. I just hold on to that fact.

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Rhys 🕊]

I recall one night when praying and I was in a lot of turmoil and all the bad things going on around me and I was praying about something at the time and in the middle of that I heard a voice in my spirit say "all is well" and then felt a overwhelming sense of peace. I tried to question God over it, sort of reminding him of all my problems at the moment but the same message came back "all is well". I guess I realised at that moment that God truly is in charge and we don't need to fear. Mind you my heart still breaks when I see many of the evils in this world.

God bless

Rhys

[ez2u]

very comforting Kat and Rhys  thanks

[levycarneiro]

I recall one night when praying and I was in a lot of turmoil and all the bad things going on around me and I was praying about something at the time and in the middle of that I heard a voice in my spirit say "all is well" and then felt a overwhelming sense of peace. I tried to question God over it, sort of reminding him of all my problems at the moment but the same message came back "all is well". I guess I realised at that moment that God truly is in charge and we don't need to fear. Mind you my heart still breaks when I see many of the evils in this world.

God bless

Rhys

Rhys,

this reminds me of an occasion when I was so desperate for God to solve a problem in my life. I was in such way emotionally that I can't put it in words. At that moment God reminded of the verse:

"Be still, and know that I am God..." Psalms 46:10

And a great piece came and I was at rest. A few moments in my life that happened, always in moments of extreme despair. God is strange, but He's great

God bless!
Levy