The Maladies That Afflict Us:

    The weeks that have recently unfolded have been difficult for me. Has it also been for you?  Having to bear with the news of loss of innocents (children) stuck in places of unrest and danger (war) and the loss of one (Robin Williams) to suicide because he could not shake his depressions and addictions took a toll on my mental faculties. It seems as if the pace of bad news quickens daily as opposed to the good news we desperately need to hear.  It is as if we are being shaken down to our roots and then viewing what it is that remains of us.  Without some sort of foundation that strenghens us where would we be?  We would be the same as Mr. Williams who succumbed to his personal weaknesses and his inability to shake them off.
     I know that the war between Israel and Hamas was deadly and I want to believe that the outcome was worth the price of the deaths that occurred, but I have my doubts.  In watching these events unfold it was my tendency to want to "choose a side" a side that was more right than the other. But it is difficult because I know the the governing powers of Hamas directly put it's own people at risk and the women, children, and innocents suffered the severest consequences of that power.  Israel, vilified for the destruction and loss  of life was made to be a scapegoat for the world that watched as they overan cities and  seemed to target buildings of hospitals and UN facilities while trying to root out the evil ( the hidden mortar installations and militants who convienently hid them within the cities buildings intentionally bringing risk to those who lived there also.)  The tunnels that run underneath the border between Gaza and Israel are not natural and are a portent for influx of terror, subterfuge and inflitration into another land with the intent of causing terror and death.  Israel had no choice but to root out this evil.
   Go back in time and read the Old Testament accounts of the establishment of Israels borders and read what was necessary then.  Did Joshua refrain his hand in destroying men women and children and those who lived in the city?  Did he want to? Probably.  But,no he did not.  Looking at the situation from our standpoint (man's) we see the innocent trapped and then slaughtered because they are there and are subject to the governing power (who were evil and corrupt and had insidious practices of sorcery, magic and human sacrifice, all of which are abominations to God). So, then we must see that ultimately God is in control of nations and of people.
     We who live in the United States also have governing authorities who daily make decisions for us and we know from experience we do not agree with all of them.  There are innequities and wrong decisions made every day.  It's just the we have more of a voice to stop some of the injustices done.  Or at least protest to make our voices heard.
   Islamic Jihad or Holy war is unbending in it's belief and it's methods deadly.  To eradicate the "other" belief systems is it's goal and how it does so would seem to them to "please God."   Murder, suicides, terror are not methods that God uses to obtain what he wants.  These works are the work of the "thief and liar from the beginning."  That is the Devil or Satan.  And so it was also the work of the Devil in Robin Williams life as well.  What ever that was available to him in drugs or alcohol only weakend him and strengthened that weakness so that he could not over come it.  It was a sad loss and magnified because of the ability that media had to introduce a side of him that was funny, moving, caring and intense and we did not see clearly the other side of him as maybe those close to him did.  So when we vilify Israel's decision to do what they did, do we see what they do?  The other side? Or is it cleverly hidden by the one who deceives and accuses?
     There is one who overcame the world and all of it's maladies, sufferings, and terror. One we can read about who willingly healed hundreds, thousands, and yes even millions ( given the time Christianity has been around).  So Robin Williams could have heard the good news somewhere, sometime, that there was a power to defeat all of the things he suffered.  Did he? I do not know. Yes he was also a rude, crude, dude and sometimes foul but..... I wish he did. I wish that Hamas did too.................