The nation is under siege of criminals.
These are indeed evil days.

The crime rate is accelerating; murders and kidnappings are occurring on a daily basis. Bombs have exploded in our capital city causing much havoc and injury. Criminals are ruthless, criminal activities are heinous, cold blooded and brutal. Human life has been reduced to a mere commodity; a life can be assassinated for paltry sums of money.
Fear is gripping the nation.

In the backdrop of all this, the authorities are finding it increasingly challenging to provide a solution. The people are daily losing confidence in the government's and protective forces' ability to fight back.
A nation is in crisis!

This series attempts to analyze the present state of the nation, postulating from a scriptural perspective what has gone wrong and offers to the people of God a reminder of His promises to us and a strategy for what the church can do to fight back.

Remember, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Eph. Ch. 6 vs 12.

The first matter I wish to raise in this series is the issue of the heinous, cold blooded and brutal crimes that are being committed. I often wonder how one human being could inflict such atrocities upon another human being. We hear of kidnap victims being mercilessly tortured.
Victims are being beaten and battered, kept in holes in the earth or in small boxes which have become virtual sweat boxes. Some are burnt with cigarettes. One victim's ear drum was eaten away by maggots. Some victims have been tortured and executed.

I remembered an incident a few years ago whilst ministering at a youth correctional facility. At this facility we met boys aged from under ten to about eighteen years.
We greeted the children with a loving smile and a warm embrace. Much to our amazement many of them were motionless and expressionless. They did not know how to receive love nor did they know how to express love. These children did not know what love is.
I was saddened.

The scripture says "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John Ch. 4 verses 7 and 8.

I reiterate, "he who does not love does not know God". In these words is the answer to why one human could be cruel to another human.

Today we are living in a society that is becoming increasingly godless. Many of the criminals have come from a broken home, a dysfunctional environment. Many may not have known their father or in some instances both parents. Many have been rejected from birth and throughout their lives.

As the father of a young child, I am learning that my primary role to my son is to help him understand God's love for him. I achieve this by loving him the way that I know God loves me.
My love for him should be unconditional. I should nurture him. I must correct him when he goes astray whilst at the same time tempering mercy and forgiveness. I should provide for him and protect him.
I am learning that my son should have an understanding of our heavenly Father's love from the way in which I love him.

The scripture says that "unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it". Psalm Ch. 127 vs 1.
By expansion I wish to state that unless the Lord builds the family, they labor in vain who build it.

The institution of the family in this nation needs to be restored. Fathers have an important role to play in the growth and development of their children.
Fathers need to be present in their children lives.
Fathers need to assume the leadership role of the family.
Fathers need to become the prophet, king and priest of their households.
We need to bring God back into our homes and into our lives.

Parents need to take an interest in their children. Parents need to talk as well as listen to them. The family needs to spend quality time together. The family needs to partake in daily devotion.
The family needs to attend church together.

My prayer is that the Lord will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
in Jesus name,
Amen.