There is no end to bad news today.

Today for my devotions, I read Genesis 16-19. Chapter 19 includes the story of the destruction of Sodom, so I read about how every last man of Sodom demanded that Lot bring out the men (angels, actually) whom Lot took under his roof, so they (the men of Sodom) could rape them. Great story to start my day with, especially considering how the rest of it has gone.

Mid-morning, I saw a revolting picture on Facebook, posted by a friend of mine, and I cannot get the image out of my head.

When I commented on it on my friend's page, I just left one word: "Disgusting." Then some other girl commented underneath and said she thought it was funny; a ****** is just a ******." So I've been just boiling underneath at the perversion of the world. And I've prayed and ranted and everything and my heart is still just scarred by what my eyes saw.

While I was ranting, I thought of the words from the song "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing": "Come, my Lord, no longer tarry," which just about sums up my attitude for the last couple years about living in such a strongly anti-Christ world, so I went onto YouTube to look up the song so I could post it with those words. I found a beautiful arrangement of the complete song, by a group called Jericho Road, and I posted it on my page without looking up Jericho Road. Something nagged me and I looked them up and found out their a Latter-Day Saints' choir. Those Mormons sure can sing well, but finding out they were a Mormon group, plus one little line they changed in the song that really, really bothered me, I decided to delete the link off my page. I do not believe Mormons are Christians, and the line in the song that they altered pretty much demonstrated their separation from true faith in Christ. The original line goes like this:

"Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I�ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home."

The words the Mormon choir sang were:

"Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I�ve come;
And I hope, by some good measure,
Safely to arrive at home."

This alteration demonstrates exactly where the Mormons are led astray. They believe that their good works bring them into heaven, and the Bible proclaims exactly the opposite of that, most notably in Ephesians 2 and throughout the books of Romans and Galatians. It was heartbreaking to hear this song and note this difference, because I have a lot of Mormon friends and part of me will always hope they don't actually believe that--but it is part of their theology, and so deeply entrenched that they will even change the words of hymns for it. SO heartbreaking!

I searched for other versions of the song to post, looking for one that included the final verse, and I found it nowhere. All the artists I found (Chris Rice, Mark Schultz, Jadon Lavik, Jars of Clay, David Crowder Band) end the song after the "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it" verse. And that is a great verse...But not the one that reminded me of the song in the first place.

Anyway...To get the filth from the Facebook post out of my head, I turned onto my favorite Christian radio station, KLOVE, and that helped a little, until the news highlights came on. I learned that there's yet another bill being presented to government officials about separation of church and state, which just translates these days to discrimination against Christianity. This one is in New York City, and the point of the bill is to make it illegal for schools to host services of religious groups. How many churches do you know of that host their services in a school because they don't yet have a building of their own? There are tons! So I had that to add to my plate of deep discouragement for the day.

So it's just been one thing after another after another and I am SO upset at the world and discouraged by their complete rejection of God. I have NO idea how to fix it, and indeed, it will not be fixed until Christ comes again. That's why I say, "Come, my Lord, no longer tarry!"

I could sure use some stories that tell me God hasn't just left the world to rot like it deserves. I know He doesn't do that, but I need somebody else's eyes to see Him at work today. :(

-Stephanie

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