A Time to Reflect

As I sit here in the relative safety of my home and watch the news coverage of yet another terrorist attack, my heart aches and my mind fills with questions.  I ask myself how can someone strap explosives to himself and set it off? What goes through your mind that makes you think that blowing yourself up is a smart idea? Why kill yourself along with many innocent people? What sort of person, group or religion would condone such behaviour?  Though I’m no expert in world religions, I do know for a certainty that our loving Creator Jehovah does not in any way condone such evil acts.

Many of you know that three years ago I dedicated myself to Jehovah and became a Jehovah’s witness.  Growing up as a Roman Catholic, I always believed in God and His son Jesus but it has been through my study of the bible as a Jehovah’s Witness that I have come to know our heavenly Father Jehovah.  It is through this study that I can say that these bombings have nothing to do with religion or God.  All evil and violent acts are the work of ‘the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.’ (Revelation 12:9) He has been, and will continue to be, the cause of much suffering and pain.  He continues to manipulate and misguide the people of this world.  It’s his trade mark.  He did that with Adam and Eve, (Genesis 3:1-5), the Egyptians in Moses’ day, (Exodus 5:2), the people in Noah’s day, (Genesis 6:13), the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Genesis 19:4-11), the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day, (Matthew 26:3, 4), Judas Iscariot, (John 13:2), and many others.  He has become a master of deception.  But his day of judgment will come and he will not escape punishment, neither will those ruining the earth (Revelation 11:8).

You may be asking yourself how can I be so sure of this?  Well simply put I have faith in Jehovah and the promises He has made that are found within the bible.  Since the first lie was uttered and the first earthly rebellion took place, Jehovah has done everything to fix matters and to re-establish His right to rule.  He has allowed Satan to continue as proof to all nations that Satan is not a reliable leader.  God has allowed Satan and his demons to further demonstrate why man truly needs God because with Satan all man has received has been heartache and pain.

Sure God could have eliminated Satan right from the beginning of his rebellion but what good would that have done to the other angels present? They would then start to question God and His motives.  It would have been like a parent killing off a wayward child in the presence of their other children.  Instead, like a loving parent who removes a rebellious child from their home to protect the other children, Jehovah removed Satan from heaven giving him time to change his ways and to return to Him.  But instead of learning from his errors, he continued on and even formed his own posse. He now manipulates others to do his evil deeds. Like a rebellious child who eventually must face punishment, so will Satan!

Jehovah has established a time to carry out His judgment and punishment. God does not ask humans to go out and destroy other humans. He doesn’t need to wage war on humans to help promote their own agendas.  He doesn’t even need a human ruler to help make earth ‘great’ again. Why? Because He already has a King in place in Heaven that will come, along with his co-rulers, to cleanse the earth of all wickedness.

Jesus, unlike Satan, is a perfect ruler. He has always been obedient to His Father and has done so much for mankind. Jesus willingly left his heavenly position to come to earth as a man and gave up his life for the forgiveness of our sins, (Philippians 2: 5-8).  He came to re-establish what was lost in the garden of Eden.  He is the only one whom Jehovah gave authority to, to wage war.  None of the past, present or future bombings will ever have anything to do with God.  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Did you notice what that scripture says? “Might not be destroyed.” God doesn’t want mankind to die. Yes He wants the wicked to be done away with but should any of these ones repent truly from the heart and begin to exercise faith in Jesus in an approved manner, then they will also benefit from Jesus’ sacrifice and gain everlasting life.

Tomorrow night at sundown, millions around the world will gather together to remember Jesus’ sacrifice. They will gather together to listen to a bible based discourse that will highlight his sacrifice and how his death benefits all of mankind.  Will you be one of the millions around the world? I know I will be.

If you would like more information about the Memorial of Jesus’ death, visit jw.org.  In the meantime, why not grab your copy of the bible and read the gospel accounts about Jesus’ sacrifice and take the time to reflect and meditate on it. Ponder over the world’s events and how things will be so much better if everyone exercised faith in Jehovah and Jesus.

To all those who have suffered losses in any act of violence, my prayers and thoughts are with you. Please may Jehovah God give you the strength to endure and overcome this tragedy.  May you seek comfort in Him and in his son Jesus Christ.