
In times past, there were no firemen, fire engines or any electric fire alarms. People had to secure a way to keep themselves and their homes safe from fire. A whole town could go up in flames if there was no one to alert them to potential danger.
So, they built watchtowers that were taller than all the other buildings, where a watchman kept a lookout at all times. When he saw the slightest bit of smoke or fire he would sound the alarm. The townspeople would then stop what they were doing and form a chain between the fire and the nearest well. They would work together and pass pails of water with which they put the fire out.
On one such occasion a boy from a distant small village came to town for the very first time. He stopped at an inn on the outskirts of the town and suddenly heard the sound of a bugle. He asked the innkeeper what it meant.
"Whenever we have a fire," the innkeeper explained to the lad, "we sound the alarm with the bugle and then the fire is quickly put out!" "How wonderful," thought the village lad. "What a surprise I will bring to my village!"
He then bought himself a bugle and returned to his village full of excitement. He called all the villagers together and exclaimed, "Listen good friends, there is no need to be afraid of fire any longer. Just watch me and see how quickly I put out a fire!"
He then ran to the nearest hut and set fire to the straw roof. Very quickly the fire began and just as quickly it spread to other huts. "Don't be alarmed!" cried the boy. "Just watch me!"
The lad began to blow the bugle with all his might, interrupting it only to catch his breath and say, "Wait, this will put out the fire in no time!" But the fire did not stop, it merely hopped from one roof to another until the entire village was in flames.
The villagers now began to scold and yell at the lad. "You fool," they roared. "Did you think that the mere blowing of the trumpet will put the fire out? It is only the call of an alarm, to wake the people if they are asleep or to break them away from their work. It is to send them all to the well to draw water so they can put out the fire! You are a fool!!!"
This boy meant well and his true desire was to help his village. However, he was blind, he could not... would not... or did not understand the truth of the matter before him.
Still today, there are those people, that think just like this little boy. They presume that the "sound of the alarm itself" will do everything that needs to be done to put the fire out! They continue to "sleep or go about their business," with no thought of the dangers around them.
However, like the bugle in the story... it is just the "sound of the alarm!" In itself the bugle can do nothing to put the fire out!! The bugle alerts everyone to "wake up" and to think about what must be done to avert the danger.
This particular blog and this story are my attempts to begin the "Sounding of the Alarm!" You may not think an alarm needs sounding, if that is the case I have listed a few of the reasons below. I want you to see the changes that began years ago -- but continues today and I believe at a more rapid pace :
1952: the first American, Christine Jorgensen, had sex-reassignment surgery.
1956: American psychologist Evelyn Hooker shares her paper "The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual" at the American Psychological Association Convention in Chicago. Hooker's experiment becomes very influential, changing clinical perceptions of homosexuality.
1963: Madalyn Murray O'hare won her lawsuit against the Baltimore school system 8-1, soon all prayer was removed from our schools.
Since 1973: Roe versus Wade was established and the laws changed. There have been more than 53 million abortions in the USA since then.
1980: Ken Horne, the first AIDS case in the United States to be recognized at the time
is reported to the Center for Disease Control with Kaposi's sarcoma.
The flames of SIN are raging... and I haven't even mentioned, prostitution, sex-trafficking, child abuse, divorce, alcohol, drugs... etc. The fact is I could go on and on, only that won't change the problems we as a Christian nation face! If you live in America... none of the above is "news" to you.
Do you ever wonder, "I am only one person, what can I do?" I have been wrestling with that question for months.
Still, I want to say that with God's help... "It is time to "Sound the Alarm!" An alarm that makes my knees fall to the ground, seek God's forgiveness and pray for restoration in myself and in our nation!
God's Word says that if we humble ourselves, if we pray and seek the Lord God, if we "turn our backs on sin and wicked living" He would listen and hear our pleas. He will hear us, forgive us and He will restore our nation to health!!
We are God's children - we reflect Him or we ought to. We all need heart searching, self analysis by God's standards... not our own. I know there is much room for change in my life and as I seek God for His forgiveness and change, I hope you too... will join me.
This is Warfare! Will you stand with me and together we can... "Sound the Alarm?"