UPDATED: 17-Year-Old Arrested in Shooting Death of ABQ Mail Carrier

April 23, 2019

358

Why is the World full of evil?

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” Eph 4: 17, 18.

The Scriptures call the mind of the natural man “blinded” 2 Cor. 4:4, “depraved” Romans 1:28, “corrupt” 1 Tim. 6:5, and “unspiritual” Col. 2:18. The natural mind thinks from a humanistic, sin-debased viewpoint. The viewpoint of the flesh directs its thoughts. The sinful mind is under the control of Satan and can never please God because it concentrates on things of the world and not things of the Spirit. The natural mind walks the road of hopelessness and self-destruction.

We are in prayer over this horrific tragedy. We mourn for the Hernandez family, friends and co-workers.

The teen faces an open count of murder in the death of 47-year-old Jose Hernandez, a longtime mail carrier.

ABQ Journal Report

Tribune Content Agency

What does the nature of sin mean?

Apr 25, 2019

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: What does the nature of sin mean? — S.N.

A: The notion of sin and the nature of sin have been debated from the beginning of time, and that debate continues today. Sin presents itself in the mind, manifests itself in word and deed, and is hidden in the heart of everyone. It will overtake the man and women who refuse to believe it will conquer them.

The Bible says that the whole world is a prisoner of sin. Sin has crippled human nature, but God has provided the cure. There is no sin that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse. And that’s good news indeed for a culture that still doesn’t know what to do with sin.

All the distress, bitterness, heartache, shame and tragedy can be summed up in the three-letter word: Sin. Its meaning — to fall short of God’s standard and to do contrary to God’s law — has an impact on every soul and overflows the boundaries of the human heart.

The world’s system claims that the notion of sin is old-fashioned. People “in” the world prove that claim erroneous. A national newspaper quoted a sociologist who admitted, “Secular people still believe there’s sin, judgment and punishment.” Sin is definitely “in” and it is “in” every single heart that beats.

Talking about sin does not make someone a sinner. The truth is that everyone is born in sin. While some may not think of themselves as sinners, God does. He hears every word we utter; He knows the hidden things. The Bible says that God “knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21). But He loves sinners more than we love sin. There is no greater love than what Jesus offers every person ever born.

========

(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

*********************************************************

ABQ Journal Update2019 is turning out to be a year of extreme violence in Albuquerque! The City is unsafe. Crime does not have a zip code, even VIOLENT CRIME!

We are praying for the family of the victim and all Postal workers.

KOB TV REPORTS:

A spokesperson with the United States Postal Service confirms the man shot and killed on Monday in a southwest Albuquerque neighborhood was a mail carrier.

The name of the victim has not yet been released as police work to notify next of kin.

KOB TV Report

We also have an awful problem of children being killed, babies being aborted….

My post from earlier today: New Mexico is Plagued with Child Neglect and Abuse:

Hearts need to be softened…..

It’s a heart issue……hearts need to be given to Jesus! You cannot regulate morality with laws. Jesus is the answer. ABQ Journal Report

Here in New Mexico God’s babies are murdered every month through abortion! God will not bless New Mexico as long as we abort His babies. Harden hearts result in evil things happening.

This post by Dr. Jim Denison points to the problem and solution here in New Mexico and our entire nation. As the Church goes, so goes the Country…..

How many religious Americans go to church?

Last Sunday, most churches experienced their highest attendance of the year. Next Sunday, many of these congregations will see half the numbers they witnessed on Easter.

Our culture has already moved past the holiday considered by Christian tradition to be the highest and holiest day of the year. Except for references to Sunday’s tragedy in Sri Lanka and post-Easter sales in stores, the day seems to be over.

Of course, the risen Christ is just as alive and just as relevant today as when he first rose from the dead. But his church seems to be less so.

According to Gallup, church membership in America is down from 70 percent in 1999 to 50 percent today. One factor is the rise of the “nones”: the number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has grown from 10 percent in 1998 to 23 percent today.

However, the number of self-identified religious Americans with no church membership is surprising. In the year 2000, 73 percent of those with a religious preference belonged to a church, compared with 64 percent today.

And church attendance is a significant issue as well. While pollsters report that 40 percent of Americans attend church on an average weekend, recent research puts the number at less than 20 percent. Only 23–25 percent of Americans attend church at least three out of eight weeks.

“We have lost our gods”

What explains the perceived irrelevance of the church to the culture?

One factor is a general decline in institutional trust. Sociologist Laura Hansen: “We have lost our gods. We lost [faith] in the media: Remember Walter Cronkite? We lost it in our culture: You can’t point to a movie star who might inspire us, because we know too much about them. We lost it in politics, because we know too much about politicians’ lives. We’ve lost it—that basic sense of trust and confidence—in everything.”

A related issue is the clergy abuse crisis and other church scandals. Confidence in the church has plummeted from 68 percent in 1975 to 38 percent today.

But a third factor, while often overlooked, is foundational.

Freeing the soul from prison

Socrates taught us that to “know thyself” was the key to knowledge. The ancient Greeks were convinced that our souls existed in a preincarnate state before they were imprisoned in our bodies. The point of life was to free our souls at death from the “prison house” of the physical world.

As a result, Western culture focuses on the individual. Our impulse is to be as free and independent as we can. Americans especially favor the frontier goal of personal self-sufficiency and limited government. We depend on institutions and other people only to the degree that we must.

Recent decades have made us more self-reliant than ever. Many can work from home using only a computer with an internet connection. We can order nearly anything we want digitally and have it shipped to our front door. We can find a medical diagnosis and treatment online.

Three ways the church can change the world

However, God’s word is clear: “Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT). Why? What can Christians do together that we cannot do separately?

One: Minister to the world. We are the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27), his hands and feet, eyes and ears. None of us possesses all the spiritual gifts we need to reach our culture.

How are you working with fellow believers to change lives?

Two: Serve each other. Early Christians gave what they had to each other “as any had need” (Acts 2:45). Paul pled with Christians in Rome “to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf” (Romans 15:30).

How are you serving your Father’s children?

Three: Offer community to the culture. God knew that “it is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). The proliferation of social media shows our hunger for relationships with others. The community of faith can offer grace as can no other on earth.

Whom will you invite to join you in worship next week?

Scripture warns that Satan is a “roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The lost people we know cannot afford for churches to complain about the lion’s progress when we should be assaulting the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18).

Where on the front lines are you?

*All links and references for The Daily Article are available on the web version.