This has been an ongoing practice in many other Law Enforcement agencies for decades. Officers have been and still are misusing their privileges and breaking public trust. Many have taken the lives of men and women, and yes even children, and it had nothing to do with self-defense.
The reason I'm posting on this particular case is because I am half police officer (now retired) and half civilian. Marine's say, "Once A Marine, Always A Marine." Well cops, usually say, "Retired!" After successfully retiring, you (in my opinion) are unable to forget the blue family that you have shared life with for the past twenty-five to thirty years. MPDC will always by my family in blue, and even though I have decided to stop attending police funerals, I still pray for my police family and I still pray that they would be not only safe, but also quick to listen and slow to use deadly force. I totally get the "fear factor." Feeling fear and being threatened cannot be a Monday morning quarterback conversation amongst people who were not there.
We have to first, "which is very difficult in this flesh and in social media" but we have to first hold our personal opinions until all the facts are released. Sadly, all the facts are rarely released and sadly again, when all the facts are released early on, the law doesn't always act justly!
I get upset when people are quick to say, "She did it/didn't do it. / He did it/didn't do it." And were not eye witnesses. I hate the news, but yet, I need the news. I will not live in a bubble and ignore all the things evolving and involving us as a society. Good and bad, I cannot sit here and just be concerned with only the things that are happening outside of my little circle in North Beach. I will not act unconcerned about all the persecution, poverty, human trafficking, orphans, racisms and other injustices that are occurring, as today's President wants to keep focusing on the economy. I know that money makes the world "go round" and money helps us to sustain life and prayerfully, give to SO MANY who are less fortunate. However, the economy has to take a back seat on what is currently happening world wide. In no way am I blaming the President, but in the midst of COVID-19 all I could hear was how great the economy was and how we are going to get back there....
PEOPLE are oppressed and have grown absolutely sick and tired. The volcano has erupted! We are all human beings and we have for way too long chosen to ignore certain people, certain ethnicities and certain classes so that we can have more for ourselves and also, so that we can step over others for the sake of self preservation.
FEAR and IGNORANCE fuels the man and women living without God. I was watching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last sermon on Youtube. HOW VERY SAD that it is still applicable today...over fifty years later...
I am a child of God. I am a Christian. I am walking in the truth and I am fully persuaded that God is the answer. The officers who have stained the badge and have stolen lives at the hands of their firearms, choke holds, night sticks and pure hatred.... do NOT have God in their hearts, but have partnered with the adversary of this world.
The bible clearly says that YOU are for God or against Him. The bible goes on to say that the god of this age has blinded the eyes of many...2 Corinthians 2:4-5...
We all know a lot of good people who do NOT have Jesus and want nothing to do with "god and religion." We all know lots of people who are of various faiths...
We have loved ones, friendships and many acquaintances who are not bible believing people. They are good, kind, loving and sadly, even more so than some "Christians."
However, the issue with them, the "bad cops" and yes, the believers too, is the heart.
WITHOUT GOD, you can do all the good deeds that you desire. You can get all the awards known to man and it means nothing to God. You can also be the meanest, cruelest and hateful person...intentionally abusing and killing others just because you want to.
This heart that God has given us was good. Adam and his God had a beautiful relationship in the beginning. AND then, satan, the one who wanted to be like God, took and tainted that relationship with sin. Adam had everything he could have possibly needed and yet he and Eve wanted just a "little bit more." TRUTHFULLY, that is you and I today. We want just a little bit more: more power, more money, more sex, more alcohol, more drugs, more shopping, more food, more spending ability, more square footage, more promotions, more of technology...just to name a few...
With that choice, that free will, that rebellious heart, they/we chose to sin against God. Therefore, the heart has been broken, bruised, deceived and longing every since.
"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT
GOD sent Jesus to reconcile us back to HIM and we want no parts of that reconciliation.
SO many know John 3:16, but very few know the remaining... verses 17-21.
We like our sin, we like our freedom to choose and we like the fact that no one is going to tell "me what to do!"
Hence, the ability to own "PEOPLE! We call use to call it slavery and it still exists today. It's hidden, but many have stolen people and brought them into their homes for house maidens and child care providers. Human traffic is SO NOT TALKED ABOUT in the NEWS!!! YES IT IS STILL HAPPENING! We are more concerned about the weather than we are about missing and exploited children!!!
It's also why we have the innocent deaths of many...the starvation of millions, the inability to see that every living being should have access to health care and the increasing population of homelessness. All of these things preached over 50 years ago by Dr. King.
Our heart's cry is how long O God...how long???
How is it that someone here with HIV or Cancer gets treatment, yet in Africa, they simple wait to die?
We have gotten to distracted with achieving, advancing, making money, materialism, social media and the so called "American Dream" that we have never gotten around to the real needs....human needs. PEOPLE matter to God and every life is a soul created in His image. The worst sinner receives forgiveness from God if he/she asks. HE is the GOD of all flesh says the bible.
This heart is wicked and yet, if we ask Him for forgiveness, He grants it.
I pray for all those who have lost a loved one through acts of violence of any king, and I pray for the offender also. I pray for this season of protesting to bear much fruit and for many closed eyes to be opened, and not just for the moment. And I pray for police officers everywhere who are being targeted because some of their peers are revealing their true colors.
I hate what has happened. But I do not hate the people who are causing all this hurt. I'm angry at the great deception that we think can do good apart from the Holy Spirit and apart from a life surrendered to God.
The works of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, patience, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, says the book of Galatians. WE cannot live this out in our own flesh. This is NOT a list of fruits, it is ONE Fruit, lived out in the Power of God's Spirit. It is not lived out perfectly, it is an ongoing journey, partnering with God, and allowing Him to transform you.
I cannot even imagine where my heart's (disposition) would be if I were still in my sin and still under the misconception that this life was all about me, my happiness and my entitlements.
BEFORE we allow our HATRED to fuel our responses, remember that it is a "heart issue." It is not a black or white issue, nor is it a law enforcement training issue. The man in uniform saw nothing wrong with what he did and daily, people like this man, have hard hearts and are freely living out their beliefs. They could care less if you video tape them because they stand firm on what they believe, what they have been taught and have been influenced by.
If you believe their is a GOD and that He sent His Son to the Cross of Calvary to die for your sins, than you live out biblical truths and godly principles in life. NOT perfectly, but with humility and a heart to obey.
AND if you do not believe in God the Creator of all flesh, than you do whatever you want, wherever you want and whenever you feel like it. Regardless of anyone else's opinion or approval. ME, MY and I is your heart's desire. AND we many not say this aloud, but our actions are crystal clear.
Spiritual truths: The heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure. Who can understand it? NIV
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? NLT
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Galatians 6:7 NIV
Don't be misled-you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. NLT
FORGIVENESS is extended to all sinners, regardless of how we feel and who we think should be punished. God is the JUDGE and at the end of life, everyone will meet with Him personally to give an account for the life they chose to live, says Hebrews 4:13.
In Christ love
