Put up your sword

My sister, Virginia, lives in Baton Rouge and 3 of my daughters live in Lafayette, La. So the shooting in the theater where one of my daugthers and her hildren were when a gunman killed 2 people.  And now the murders of police officers are hitting close to my family. The hatred of the last few years since 9/11 only shows what happens when we take Prayer, the Bible and the name of Jesus Christ out of our society.

More children and adults responded to the invitation this morning when I finished preaching than any sermon ever. For that I am grateful.

Lee is in the states visiting his children.

The New York team had a formal meal for the university girls. They even bought complete place settings for all of the girls.

I do not know who said, “If everyone practiced an eye-for-an-eye soon the entire world would be blind”.

Martin Luther King Jr said,”Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love… Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding.

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

When Peter pulled his sword and slashed the ear of a Roman soldier Jesus said to him,”Put your sword back in its place for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

My heart aches for those around the globe who have had their famalies destroyed by senseless, sinful hatred.